* Posts by DLKirkwood

23 publicly visible posts • joined 20 Nov 2014

Apple's OS X App Store downloads knackered by expired security cert

DLKirkwood

Steve Jobs WAS Apple

I switched from PC to Apple in 2007. Was not happy with lack of phone support but once I taught myself Apply language, vs PC I loved all my apple products ! My computers never crashed, they were fast, I never had a problem.

Then Steve died. Apple began falling apart. They introduced Lion, at a too good price to be true. My guy said RESIST, RESIST ! I didn't listen. Then Siri became more cheeky, took time off (just you needed her guidance) with a message, I can't help you now, I'm sorry. No explanation other than she was mourning for Steve. Lion teamed with Micro Soft's iCloud - Apples competitor - continued to reek havoc on my computer ... files disappeared, slow deliver of content, the difficultly of trying to keep my item ON my computer and out of some floating space up in the sky where potentially any hacker can grab and run.

Now trapped in the world of indecision --- wait it out until Apples finds an intelligent CEO / COO with the desire to his best for disillusioned Apple loyals, or to jump ship and go back to buying the slightly less expensive PC's that seem to be working better these days and anti-virus software on a yearly basis that (in past) slowed down performance.

On the very worse of days I long for the time live was simpler: a time one could phone the library to get information, and say real life kitty memes in action, and a time we had friends face to face (with bodies attached) and going to Dairy Queen, playing baseball in the park, meeting 'downtown' to just hang out and be 100% devoted to the others - not mobiles, iPads, or any such distractions. A time when life was much simpler, and far richer. But still....I miss you, Steve !

Microsoft's OneDrive price hike has wrecked its cloud strategy

DLKirkwood

Don't give me cloud storage !

Personally, I am intelligent enough and experienced enough to NOT want cloud storage.

I don't want my critical items floating through the air where any hacker can snatch them if they get lucky enough to do so. HELLO, you've read how credit card readers by walk-by crooks lift the CC's information from the card you are using for a second so they can later use your money for their own personal pleasure, haven't you? So, why would anyone be okay with bank number, friends lists, job information, your family's photos flying through the air?

That is the least of why I hate the Cloud. Besides it being a playing field for hackers to steal money, identity, set up all sort of illegal activities (rape, spying, kidnapping, future criminal plans of learning delicate company information, etc) it is also the stealer of personal files from your own computer because it 1] it always reverts to holding everything hostage on its server (making it time consuming to downing everything back into the computer at once quickly and efficiently) should you need a reformat, and 2] it is related to a washer and dryer which swallows up one sock at a time. Files go missing for no reason - they just disappear, kaput.

I have tried to rid my computer of iCloud but it keeps coming back and sneaking its way in despite the fact that I am too intelligent to keep full account numbers in my Quicken, nor do I download from my back, not do I keep any other financial items within my computer. Occasionally I may order from a reliable online source, but I never keep CC numbers on their site - I'd rather enter it each time, or else it is linked with my secondary bank account that has less than $50.00 in it at any given time.

So, please ---- KILL iCLOUD and make computing easier for all of us! After all, who needs to save all that garbage people collect, because you can't take it with you when you die anyway. (tic)

UK ministers, not judges, to sign off on Brit spies' surveillance

DLKirkwood

Re: Trust judges more than politicians?

Just slightly.

DLKirkwood

Welcome to America in the UK.

Nip this in the bud before it gets worse.

Americans failed to act far too long and its such a mess now Corporations are calling all the shots and there seems to be NO recourse for consumers anywhere these days. Band together and threatened to vote out any bribe taking politician that allows the citizen majority voice to go unheard.

Many intelligent people are finally standing up and putting money on Bernie Sanders, who is not accepting any campaign money from corporation, only from citizens. Like Obama there are still lemmings who are led by the nose and do what their party tells them despite the fact they have no clue how their representative votes on any issue but keeps ranting that abortion is murder, or the terrorists are ready to strike again (right before election time).

Too lazy or stupid to get off social media and do a little investigating they put blind trust in the very parties that sold out their jobs and stole their livelihood and deposited it into their own bank accounts. As Mycroft Holmes once said to Sherlock, I live in a world of goldfish.

Unpatched, passcode-free smartphones. Yes, they're everywhere

DLKirkwood

Capitalism at its worse.

As far as security the iPhone seems better, however since Steve Jobs died Apple has been slowly falling down into the pits of hell imho.

Siri is too busy to help much of the time, and when she does she's been hitting the bottle because she can't find the obvious, or understand plain English and she's suppose to get better and better over time to how the user enunciates their words. Instead she seems to be getting worse since the later update that I did as my phone (that had to be reset).

The iPhone was plugged into my Pro Mac desktop charging during the install and I unplugged after the update but before the reset. Still, I discovered that the update wiped out all ringtones ON MY DESKTOP! which I had converted to MP3 format from my Android phone so that I could use with the IPhone. In other words, if it didn't come from the iTune store out it went. FIFTY MP3 or Tone files.

Their tech support solution was 'buy then again' yet iTunes does not offer them. Their ho hum attitude apparently changed after 20 minutes of rather heated debate as to their right to take anything out of my computer without permission, and my hanging up on them just after a threat of a class action law suit. Funny, those ring tones slow reappeared in iTunes again although they swore there was nothing to be done. Is there such a thing as honest business dealings these days?

DLKirkwood

Re: Re:

How about the iPhone solution? A Mac OS seems to be a bit more secure than PC, however these days kids are far smarter (it seems) than the developers these days. Personally I don't worry about my iPhone mainly because I don't do much business on it (or my computer for that matter) that is sensitive. I put in a partitial end number of my bank accounts, but never link to my actual bank, or example. I will take the extra work to remain secure. One another thought, though....

Personally, I have to wonder if all the "your not secure enough" rhetoric is real, or a front to make sure we all upgrade to the latest OS with new and improved spyware from our own governments and the alleged 'six families that hold the majority of wealth in the world' to keep the rest of us in our place.

Funny that what happens in the US seems to follow suit a mere months after to the entire rest of the Civilized (?) countries. Something to consider if you ask me ... as a writer I've learned how to research deep to see some interesting things; such as, before the stock market and housing crash rental property stocks was taking a steady 4 1/2 year dive. Quite the coincidence, which did not really explain why it took banks 4 - 5 years to put most of those repossessed homes up for sale to the public. The numbers taken back did not come near to those on the market until apartment rent had increased by close to 40%.

UK TV is getting worse as younglings shun the BBC et al, says Ofcom

DLKirkwood

Re: Hmm

I live in the US and I assume you have been here because you are so right!

I stopped paying for Cable or Satellite television four years ago because I was SICK, SICK, SICK of 18 month contracts at close to $100.00 each month to pay for company selected channels - 85% of them I would not watch: Multiple shopping channels, sport channels with all manner of sport one can imagine (from all over the world) except the ones you are actually interested in, religious channels of every persuasion that was no my own (mostly catholic, fundamentalist, or preachers telling you how to live but rarely mentioning a Bible verse. Then there are the numerous music channels of ever sort outside of Swing, the 1980’s, Celtic or Classic Hymns which are the genres I prefer. Television channels? For the bottom rate (mentioned above) you had the option to pay for porn, or watch sitcoms with situations and language that most respectable person would find highly offensive. I can handle innuendo and appropriate swearing, and even some of the social situations of controversy if its not crammed down my throat or thrown in my face. I am certainly no prude, however the lowest of low were in the ‘cheap packages. If you wanted something that was more refined or respectful you had to pay more than than the $100.00 each month or block 85% of the programming. I enjoyed HGTV, Discovery, and other educational programs very much - but not for that price.

HBO, SHOTIME, and other channels that offer current theatre movies or interesting well-written shows came at additional cost ($20.00/mo each). Even the Encore channels (a group of five at the time the offered classic movies or older, cleaner television programs) became grouped as specialty.

Did I mention the Duplicate channels? More of the above mentioned rubbish but identical in every way other than being in High Definition, or spoken in Spanish. They counted this in their tally of over 100 channels. If wanted to watch the BBC (as so many Americans did do like some of the program offered: Miranda, IT Crowd, Doctor Who, Sherlock, Masterpiece, etc) it was inot included in the lower rung packaging, only in the more expensive package of $150.00 + each month!

Really the only seasonal weekly television shows in the 100 + channels package were the five major networks we used to get for free (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS) before these corporations coerced the legal changes for High Definition frequency ‘because the old signal interfered with airplane frequency” ! I believe the polite word for this thinking in the UK would be Bollocks, and a little more strongly would put be to refer to the ones who precipitated all of the changes would be referred to a Wankers.

I finally said NO MORE, and refused to continue on this path of highway robbery, and deceit. I am now quite happy paying Netflix $8.74/months with no commercials, and my son pays HuluPlus $9.00 month for current programs, and pull in some PBS programming free through ROKU - along with a few other free channel offerings. Lets see ... $100.00 per month for rubbish vs. $18.00 per months for an endless array of the sort of programming I personally enjoy watching with $82.00 each month left over for wonderful books, music, leave the apartment entertainment, and .... Well, you do the math. It’s a shame corporate executives aren’t able to.

North America down to its last ~130,000 IPv4 addresses

DLKirkwood

Another scare tactic to charge more money

I don’t believe this for a second. This A simple tweak of how the system operates can be done to create endless IP addresses. All IP addresses right now are numbers and dots. All one needs to do is insert a letter into only ONE of those places, ie [24.113.158.191] changes to [24.113.158.19r] or add onto the current formula for endless combinations.

Conglomerations have gotten by with stealing so much from the consumer that they now believe we will swallow any lie they feed us. I for one have long wished the Internet had stayed buried. I miss face to face interaction with intelligent individuals like myself. I detest the dumbing down that has occurred to our children, and especially to those who used to have common sense before Bill Gates made computers affordable, and crooks designed another way to scam the susceptible.

Just a reminder: If you read it on the Internet and have not seen it on the news it is probably a LIE.

Amazing how may fish swallow what they hear and see hook line and sinker. I know exactly how Mycroft Holmes feels when he said ‘I live in a world of goldfish’.

Don't pay for the BBC? Then no Doctor Who for you, I'm afraid

DLKirkwood

Beware from America !

The terms a different, but this sounds like what the US weasled in about a decade or more ago under the guise of television waves interfering with airline jets - so everything must go “digital” cable or broadband wire, and not “analog” through the air. Of course we all needed to purchase either a convertor box, or a new flat screen that already had a built in digital system. And prices of watching television has climbed ever since and controlled by a very few - until small companies like NetFlix, Hulu, and the like bought the rights to show older tv, movies, documentaries, and forth to offer an alternative to people sick, and tired of paying $100.00/month or more, for what the big companies wanted to package together. Of course, the most popular channels were mostly on the largest package - costing nearly $200.00 a month or more.

I fired Cable and Satellite five years ago and now pay $10.00/month for thousands of varied and eclectic offerings - free to watch what I find entertaining and an unlimited supply of it, too. With the huge amount of money I have saved I can purchase entire series of boxed sets, go out to the movies or sports event, enjoy a fancy restaurant on occasion now, buy new clothes - or better still I can buy a very entertaining book that I can savor for days.

So, beware what your people are doing and hopefully they have not learned greedy new tricks from the crooked Corporations in America!

What will happen to the oil price? Look to the PC for clues

DLKirkwood

Allow me to further this analogy.

Yes, PC’s brought prices down so that most households could afford them. They, at one point, be bought for as low as $200.00 laptop, to $450.00 desktop, however today the prices have once again increased drastically and PC’s have brought with it illegal activities, such as, hacking, theft, and damaging viruses.

No worries, along came the MAC which - although a bit more expensive in the beginning - has proven to be a far more reliable and sustainable form of cruising the web. So the moral of this exhaustive, not partial look, into the industry teaches us one thing.

Put a bit more money into it and avoid the problems altogether. Forget fracking (which threatens ones environment and is also limited) and develop alternative systems to begin with.

What do UK and Iran have in common? Both want to outlaw encrypted apps

DLKirkwood
FAIL

Here’s an Idea

Do away with encryption is the silliest thing I have heard. I must agree. How about another silly idea that is more thoughtful?

We can pretend to do away with encryption (to catch terrorist), then instill a code system to protect the good guys privacy. How about the Navajo Code Talk system? It worked for WWII to defeat the Germans. (TIC)

US and UK declare red-team cyber war – on each other

DLKirkwood
IT Angle

Sounds like a good plan but … what if the terrorists are just smarter than US or UK intelligence? There is something to consider.

BILL GATES DRINKS 'boiled and treated' POO. Ah, 'delicious'

DLKirkwood
Boffin

The short explanation

So, basically he miniaturized the waste water treatment plant; sort of like using another person's work to miniaturize computers into cheaper models so households could eventally afford them. My first computer in 1995 cost $2400.00 with a huge 1 GB of memory that "would last a lifetime without being able to fill it". Let's look at Zuckerberg, also, stole the twins idea for Facebook and put it out there before they did.

Is this the road to success? To steal other idea, tweak them and take the credit for oneself? If so, I'll keep my integrity and stay amoung the working class.

Windows XP beats 8.1 in December market share stats

DLKirkwood
Coat

Why this PC user switched to MAC

The majority of Win 7 and 8 users hate it (or else it is one of the first systems they had) and prefer

the XP OS; why? Because XP finally got all the patches it needed to be a dependable system, and 7 - present is a failed attempt for PC's to work like MAC's - except they still can't figure how to keep their systems protected against hacking and viruses.

I stated out with Win 95 and when up from there in a relatively short peroiod of time 1996 − 2016 history:

Several PC's and Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME (which I worked well fo rme and I liked but MS killed it after 6 months), then XP for a couple years. All except ME had multiple fixes and patches, and needed antivirus software every year to keep them working, as you typed with your fingers crossed.

Finally bit the bullet and said NO MORE. Switched to a Mac Pro model 2007 and I have only needed to increase RAM (less than $100 US) because I did it myself. MACS only SEEM more expensive. But the investment of the cost for quality, and getting the couple programs I needed for my work (Word for MAC, ADOBE PROFESSIONAL PDF, and Photoshop) still is not as much as I speant for multiple computers and anti-virus software (and time spent in repair parts, etc) - and the MAC is still going strong.

And from what I hear the new systems even do well with those who like gaming, and such. Still, I would buy one more PC laptop IF I could find one that was built compatibly for the XP OS I still have so that I could install the two software packages I have for PC: Coral Draw Suite, and PC Study Bible Reference Library that I paid close to $800.00 +/- at the time.

What an ACE-HOLE! This super-software will whip you at poker, hands down

DLKirkwood
Alien

Re: Numbers printed without challenge

I do research and find it is wise to always look at who is presenting news to see how legitimate their information is; these days people think bloggers are proper journalists just because they can give an opinion linked to a legitimate website. Also, (at least here in the US) you really need to get news from Reuters or BBC, or ??? and not rely on getting all but slanted "facts" if it comes to politics.

One thing to consider with this research …. ;-) does anyone remember the movie (was it Alien?) and the computer "Al" ? Not sure I like a computer being smarter than I am after seeing that movie, and I am brilliant.

BAN email footers – they WASTE my INK, wails Ctrl+P MP

DLKirkwood
Facepalm

Know how to use your printer, or….

My printer had the option to not print certain areas of an online page, many computers have the option to hightlight and print only what is hightlighted. But when all else fails by not just highlight, copy and paste what you want onto a blank page of WORD, or whatever, and print THAT without the extra bits on it? It's not really rocket science these days.

Police radios will be KILLED soon – yet no one dares say 'Huawei'

DLKirkwood

Re: Trolleyism

That can be true, but not with all mobile carriers to my knowledge - during Katrina where the entire city was under water and winds got up to 120 mph I can see it but would any other service hold in that? Or an earthquake on the 7 richter scale where mobile towers and underground cable may be damaged? Is there a better solution I am unaware of?

We have had the 3G and 4G combination for at least 6 years now. Depending on where one lives will be dependant on which mobile service works best for you. Verizon works best over all because they have the most towers and cables (I guess) and Verizon is the opnly service that works in the Rocky Mountains areas - but some other services are starting to now because they pay "rent" to use their towers - then the customer may be billed for "roaming" charges.

Here, they advertise 4G as "faster for Internet use for videos, searching the web, etc" - but personally I haven't seen any difference with my own service speeding up because of it. The less expensive mobile carriers are always going to be a bit slower than the most expensive - until a law is passed that disallows the narrowing of bandwidth a "renter" can us.

However, for myself: who does use my mobile for Facebook, watching videos aor television, etc., I am satisfied with paying $50.00 for unlimited talk/text and 2 GB of Internet use to receive important email, use Siri to get information or direction, or to perhaps do the occasion odd bit of price comparison.

MY CONCERN is that our governments may (require) these new shut down features on phones NOT so that thieves can be traced; but so governments have a way to shut down all towers in case of rebellion. If you recall it was cell phone transmissions that let the world know the reality of what was happening in Egypt a few year ago. Now THAT is definitely something to be concerned about.

Zuckerberg asks the public to tell him where to go in 2015

DLKirkwood

What IS the point in asking what he should do with Facebook when he refuses to listen to the majority anyway? I think he KNOWS where most Facebookers want him to go.

Apple deliberately wiped rivals' music from iPods – iTunes court claim

DLKirkwood
Facepalm

To all the Apple haters out there . . . SERIOUSLY?

How many stores, banks, government buildings have been hacked into trying to steal CC or Debit

card numbers? And you don't think a smart hacker would attempt to hijackApple information to sell

a competitor?

Hacking is a very real threat, and even if the above type of hacker does not get through, do you really want one to ride in from piggyback from outside the iTunes store with a virus or malware on its back that could potential destroy the software in your expensive phone?

All ABOARD! Furious Facebook bus drivers join Teamsters union

DLKirkwood

Re: Taxes

You are forgetting Social Security tax one must pay into, Property tax built into one's house payment that pays for schools, fire, police, etc., no matter if you have children or not. You have already mentioned state tax, and federal tax. Is there a sales tax? I am sure there is, orly_andico.

DLKirkwood

Re: inequality and entitlement...

If they did that how would the Engineers get themselves from San Francsisco to Menlo Park, CA in rush hour traffic, and back (again in rush hour traffic)?

As for someone wondering where the bus drivers lived that they can't get home in a reasonable timetime. Look at a map of the area. I can assure you they do not live near San Franscisco where a tiny 2 bedroom home cost $150,000.00 more than 15 years ago. I suspect they live inland past Oakland. Considering we do not get free healthcare $15 - $20 per hour (with 6 of them UNPAID while waiting) is pauper wages in this part of America.

.https://www.google.com/maps/dir/San+Francisco,+CA/Menlo+Park,+CA/@37.6383362,-122.2627676,11z/data=!4m19!4m18!1m10!1m1!1s0x80859a6d00690021:0x4a501367f076adff!2m2!1d-122.4194155!2d37.7749295!3m4!1m2!1d-122.4850915!2d37.6708149!3s0x808f7b841e291cb1:0x791b80bcb3f38727!1m5!1m1!1s0x808fa6b1117280ff:0xebbf998e5df289ab!2m2!1d-122.1817252!2d37.4529598!3e0

DLKirkwood

Re: Disparity @Phil W

We live in world today where we can't believe what most media reports because they are owned by one side or the other of the political extremes - and rarely do people investigate what the truth actually is. If they did, all Polticians would strighten up or be voted out for their crooked ways.

DLKirkwood

To not sound stupid, read article before posting

The "Loop" is from San Fransciso to Menio Park, CA. If you had read teh article you would have learned what loop driving is. I saw walk out and let the suits drive themselves to and fro. Let's see how long it takes the passengers to complain to Zuckerberg about the long six-hour not paid time without provisions to relax other than one trailer for 40 drivers mentioned below.

" Loop Transportation employees described starting work at the crack of dawn, driving Facebookers to work before clocking off for a six-hour unpaid break.

Many workers live too far away to get home during this down period, so spend the day snoozing in their car or hanging around in a miserable trailer with up to 40 other drivers."