Posts by Steve Gill

As Zoom bans spread over privacy concerns, vid-conf biz taps up Stamos as firefighter in totally-not-a-PR-stunt move

Allowed by Cheltenham?

It was probably suggested by one of the special advisors and never checked if the security was adequate.

Similar to the widespread use of WhatsApp groups by politicians to bypass using their secured email system.

Peak Apple: This time it's SERIOUS, Tim

Re: RE: BigSLitleP

It's not a corruption thing, it's just that CocaCola inc had the money to invest in soft drink distribution whereas the nations couldn't afford the water distribution infrastructure

Peak tech! Bacon vending machine signals apex of human invention

Re: Strangely enough ...

But bacon doesn't need to cook for a whole minute - anything over 40 seconds and you risk it drying out and hardening :-o

Peers to HMRC: Digital tax reforms 3 days after Brexit? Hold your horses, how 'bout 3 years...

Re: what a mess...

I'm guessing it's the usual HMRC game of wanting more detailed information while simultaneously wanting to reduce their costs and effort. Obviously every small business has spare cash to invest in a compatible commercial system and the time to learn to use it or they have an IT department sitting around with nothing better to do.

Six critical systems, four months to Brexit – and no completed testing

Re: Is the UK ready for Brexit in any way?

"You mean the sort of 'planes falling out of the sky' fear press and media often pushed (hey, doom sells papers (and religions))."

For Y2K I was working on preventing planes falling from the sky - part of my work was on the fuel calculations to prevent planes only being given enough fuel to last them to midnight 31 December plus a reserve.

Palliative care for Windows 10 Mobile like a Crimean field hospital, but with even less effort

Re: Must have been a regional thing.

If I could suggest an upgrade to the Mugen Power 6200mah battery for your Lumia 950 is a lot cheaper than a new phone

Re: Hmmm...

The better half gets 3 days use from her Blackberry keyone. Can't understand why anyone would think a phone that doesn't last a full working day on a charge is any use.

Re: Hmmm...

Nope, I meant it with the two days on a new standard battery (not one with 3 years of use already). Moved to a double capacity battery and get 4 days normal use, 2 days of heavy use out of it.

Still can't find a replacement phone with as good a camera, decent battery life and such well integrated productivity software as winpho 10 and nothing comes close to winpho 8.1 yet.

Re: Hmmm...

If you do get a 950 make sure you get an extended battery - with the OS 'updates' the standard battery on a 950 will struggle to make it through 2 days normal use

Developer goes rogue, shoots four colleagues at ERP code maker

"That's also a reason why many service pistols do not have a safety - there is a chance that it will fail to function due to user error in an emergency situation, which is very unsafe."

It's a design feature of revolvers that they don't need a safety if you carry them with the hammer on an empty chamber

I predict a riot: Amazon UK chief foresees 'civil unrest' for no-deal Brexit

@ManMountain1 > "I'm amazed why people think things are suddenly going to be so different. It's like Y2K levels of hysteria again ... planes will drop out of the skies, etc. Sod all happened."

Sod all happened because an awful lot of us did one hell of a lot of work over a few years.

As someone who specifically designed code to prevent planes from running out of fuel over the 19/20 cutover I can promise you it was a lot of work and maybe just a bit of luck at times.

Re: make up your minds

I have close family in about twenty different countries (mainly Commonwealth) and all say the same thing about the national mood re the UK.

Re: make up your minds

@codejunky > "Isnt Aus one of those lovely places who made good suggestions to our leaving as it is a good idea. Pretty sure they also want a trade deal... Sorry you were saying?"

No, Aus was one of the countries saying they'd be OK with making a deal with us once they've finished setting up an FTA with the EU but not to expect such nice terms as the EU is getting.

Re: make up your minds

@codejunky > "Our reputation is already sound. The EU already have a reputation as a law breaker and incompetent as well as being untrustworthy in their agreements"

When was the last time you spoke to people around the world? People feel sorry for us as individuals for having to live in a country that is so stupid economically it likes to shoot itself in the foot then yell at others for not doing the same. There is currently no trust at all in the UK.

Re: make up your minds

Phil O'Sophical: "I think you're missing the key part about this being a negotiation. Of course you go in with a big wishlist of your ideal situation, and then you negotiate to some mutually-satisfactory solution."

Ah, I think I see where you're misunderstanding the EU stance.

This is not negotiation as in when a couple of relative equals strive to make an agreement that suits them both.

This is negotiation where the EU as the controlling party is offering a series of options (membership, CU, SM, EEA, WTO, etc.) with some fine detail regarding the trimmings being discussed. We get to tell them which of the primary routes we would like to go down and which options we want and then we can discuss the details within that framework. That's all there is on offer, and all that ever was on offer, anyone claiming otherwise is deluded.

It's more akin to a family buying a car with various options than it is to a business negotiation, the biggest fights will be between the husband and wife not between them and the dealer.

The big wishlist is just that, a wish, it has nothing to do with what will be discussed.

Re: @John Brown ... Vogon

As nobody reads election manifestos and none of the parties other than UKIP pushed leaving as a policy we're still in grey area

Re: Vogon

Eh?

Leave broke the law and have been referred to the police for it.

There is credible evidence that the Leave campaign not only broke election law but also committed treason.

Where do you get the idea that Remain broke the law?

Re: @John Brown ... Vogon

Only because Labour was redefined as pro-Leave because of Corbyn's personal views after months of courting the pro-Remain voters - the majority of Labour members and activists were (and still are) pro-Remain.

UK Home Office sheds 70 staff on delayed 4G upgrade to Emergency Services Network

I spend a lot of time out in the wilder parts of the country - where if you can get any signal at all it'll usually be on O2 and you'll get a far better signal if you're on an old fashioned 2G/3G phone than a fancy 4G one.

EE is great in city centre coffee shop zones but seems to fade out just moving to the quieter suburbs and semi-rural areas.

Welcome to your sci-fi dystopia: Sonic firewalls to crumble inaudible ad-tracking phone cookies

Re: JTFC

But the permissions definitions used are far too wide ranging and nowhere near granular enough to have any control over them.

BOFH: Their bright orange plumage warns other species, 'Back off! I'm dangerous!'

Re: Best BOFH in recorded history

If not THE best, definitely one of the best

Ongoing game of Galileo chicken goes up a notch as the UK talks refunds

Re: Let's not question the EU

Did you kneejerk respond without reading the whole post?

"Brexit was just a sort of nebulous idea when the vote happened. The negotiations are making things clearer and hardening the idea into a reality. This means a second referendum would be an actual informed vote. This does not mean "keep having referendums until you get the answer you want" it means have a vote based on the actual reality of a brexit deal."

HMRC opens consultation to crack down on off-payroll working in private sector

Re: "most contractors would go permie"

What huge hit in take home. With all the current uncertainties added to the government increasing their cut your average contractor is probably on a lower total package than the permies in the equivalent role.

Tesla forums awash with spam as mods take an unscheduled holiday

Re: That sandwich is an abomination...

Bagels are notoriously tricky to fill properly but looks like that sandwich builder just gave up

Wheels are literally falling off the MoD thanks to lack of cash

This is why the govt rushed the Trident vote through straight after the Brexit referendum - they knew it wouldn't get through once the pound started slipping

Trump accuses Facebook of bias, collusion with his least favourite newspapers

He also bases what's right and wrong on what he just saw on TV or Breitbart

Deloitte is a sitting duck: Key systems with RDP open, VPN and proxy 'login details leaked'

And they probably get the services at cost

'Clearance sale' shows Apple's iPad is over. It's done

Re: ipad/whatever copy

"Now, if someone could do something a bit like an oversize psion series 5 where I can use a touch screen and then a keyboard for those email messages and put it on a desk, and ... you get the picture."

You mean like coughing up a tenner for a Bluetooth keyboard, maybe a touch more if you want a stand built in?

King Battistelli's swish penthouse office the Euro Patent Office doesn't want you to see

He's doing a great job of pushing the boundaries and proving where the flaws in the system are by exploiting them for his own profit

Watt the f... Dim smart meters caught simply making up readings

Re: There's more to it that that...

>> Maybe, but your washing machine/tumble drier/dishwasher all have selectable 'wait X hours' modes which do allow for this kind of usage.

Yours may have but my ten year old washing machine and tumble drier definitely don't unless I use an alarm clock to tell me to go down and press the start button

Trump signs 'no privacy for non-Americans' order – what does that mean for rest of us?

Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

Cheers for that. Yup, zooming in confirms lots of space at the back of each of the sections as reported but the image also demonstrates why the Donald would view it as full from his point of view

Canadian rotter abducts giant Playmobil fireman

Just don't get it too accurate in case of incriminating yourselves

Google to unleash Android Pay on UK shoppers within 'months'

Re: Android Pay on millions of un-updateable devices...

For extra convenience don't even bother looking at your bank statements

Oh, sugar! Sysadmin accidently deletes production database while fixing a fault

Probably thought he was doing a test restore but had the wrong database active

You say I mustn’t write down my password? Let me make a note of that

Re: stick notes ?

Why does the mind boggle? Many people struggle to remember things, even things they use every day for years. I have a friend who can't remember his wife or kids' names, drives him nuts but he just can't do it.

First OS X ransomware actually a scrambled Linux file scrambler

Malware developers go full service

It looks like they're trying to make sure all options are available for their customers

Brits still not happy about commercial companies using their healthcare data

Re: No, just no.

>"Councils make money flogging their (compulsory) electoral register"

>Do you mean you didn't opt out?

Which sadly means nothing as the scumbags can still access your records from the registers taken prior to being able to opt out

Outsourced Virgin Media techies botched this infosec bod's Poodle fix

I've always found it to be that way too

Every time you get put through to the outsourced centre you get a script monkey with zero-to-dangerous knowledge and no intention of being helpful

Every time you get through to the UK based centre you get someone who is knowledgeable about the subject and helpful

Everything bad in the world can be traced to crap Wi-Fi

Re: "... to blow its secretive mates ..."

Given the following reference to heavy petting I'd presume it was correct first time

ICO fined cold-call firm £350k – so directors put it into liquidation

Having 'bought' the hardware on the cheap in the liquidation sale

Between you, EE and the lamppost ... this UK cell network is knackered

Re: But I'm more curious, if they're so shite, why you're with them after five years?

In oh so many areas of the country they're the only network available as the others 'focus on' (i.e. only cover) dense metropolitan areas so they can claim, quite honestly, that they cover over 90% of British homes.

The last 5% have little to no chance of ever getting a signal off anyone except O2.

Stylish Vaio biz mobe is flying this way – ah, it's got Windows 10 inside

Re: As a 950 XL user

Only had one for a couple of weeks but very happy so far

Agreed on the big improvements recently, a few more of those and it'll be great

Wonder how much they've 'updated' the software, could be interesting

Bank fail: Ready or not, here's our new software

With banking it's even worse though.

As a customer I need to be absolutely sure that everything works perfectly. Any glitch, bug or issue will reduce my confidence in the bank as a whole rather than just the software.

BT broadband is down: Former state monopoly goes TITSUP UK-wide

From the beeb

"It is true that we are down at the moment. We are aware of the problems and are working on them as fast as we can."

"Sorry if your [sic] are experiencing network problems. Engineers are on site now. We will keep you updated,"

@BTCare

Safe Harbor crunch time: Today's the day to hammer out privacy deal

Re: It should never have exsted!

Except that still wouldn't work as according to US law the US govt and state authorities have access to any data held by a US based company.

The only way to make the data safe enough for EU laws under current the current US laws would be to store the data in Europe on servers owned by wholly European companies. Those big US companies would have to spin-off all their European activities into totally independent entities.

Re: Easy Peasy

^[ The opinions expressed above are not necessarily those of the author ]^

Simply an expression of the truth

Chip company FTDI accused of bricking counterfeits again

Re: Are these really "counterfeits"?

Except the whole root of the issue is the counterfeits are dependent on FTDI drivers

Hell, high water, and ice: Facebook's Dublin data center choices

Ouch

I'm sorry, but I just couldn't finish the article.

Are the editors on strike or was this a case of publishing the first draft?

"Tech firms jobs, local spending and taxable revenue to a region for governments."

"In Europe, The Ireland is favored by many ..."