Posts by JCDenton

Waddawewant? Free video codecs! When do we... oh, look, the last MPEG-2 patent expired!

Re: Fees

"Firewire has won the technological battle emerging as the basis for USB 3"

I don't understand. How is Firewire the basis for USB3?

FCC douses America's net neutrality in gas, tosses over a lit match

Re: The clearest example

Not seeing where it says "free". Only seeing where it says "aid". Aid does not equal free, FYI. I have received financial aid from the state as citizen of America, it helps, but it does not pay for everything. If you are quite poor it can make college feel free, for how much you end up paying. Scholarships do not always include the entire tuition from start to finish, they are also earned via academic or extra curricular performance. Nobody is giving away college education, they are making it more accessible.

Also, those were passed by local governments, not the Fed. It has nothing to do with the last administration.

Maybe read your sources next time.

Pro tip: You can log into macOS High Sierra as root with no password

Re: Patch now available

That was fast. As embarrassing as this bug may be, at least Apple patches severe issues very quickly.

Apple’s facial recognition: Well, it is more secure for the, er, sleeping user

Re: Biometrics

Read up on it a bit more. FaceID incorporates an IR camera among others. It isn't easily fooled. Amazingly, Apple thought of all this when they made it.

That last line sarcasm, FYI.

Insert coin: Atari retro console is coming back

How can it be a good idea?

No way to tell yet, but if it is a new console, then it is doomed. Very difficult to compete with Sony/MS/Nintendo, and technically Valve.

If it is a retro console with pre-loaded games, that is a much better idea. It won't last since, as somebody mentioned, you can already buy a Joystick Console with Atari games on it. Also the Mini NES was sold largely as a novelty. I never met somebody who was hardcore into actually playing it.

A retro Atari console with the best of the 2600/7200 library could sell around Christmas time, but it will still just be a novelty.

Apple gives world ... umm ... not much new actually

Don't care where is my PowerMac?

I think it is good Apple has embraced "pro" users once again, albeit with some of last years hardware. But it's the iMac, a laptop shoved into a desktop form.

Where is my new, actually upgradeable, Intel PowerMac?!?!?

The Trashcan Mac was a failure, Apple really needs to recapture the truly professional environment once again. Their OS is much better than the latest Windows versions, but their hardware is ridiculously overpriced for what it is.

‪WannaCry‬pt ransomware note likely written by Google Translate-using Chinese speakers

I thought North Korea did it.

Apple fights off iTunes patent spat appeal

Fuck patent trolls

Intel pitches a Thunderbolt 3-for-all

USB-C is the type of connector, not the standard. USB-C is supported by USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 3. TB 3 is also backwards compatible with USB 3.0.

Don't gripe if you hand your PC to Geek Squad and they rat you out to the Feds – judge

"and the engineers called in the FBI"

Did TheRegister just refer to a GeekSquad employee as an "engineer"? Oh, lol!

Volvo is letting Android 'take over underlying car software' – report

Just use Security Software!

No problem. I'll just install anti-virus software. Let's see here..."download Avast" Okay!

Hey, what happened to my GPS!??!

QNAP users: It's your turn to patch in a hurry

Photo Station gone so me no worry

I removed unnecessary apps such as Photo Station so I consider myself immune to this exploit as well as all other exploits in the future, past, and present.

Avast blocks the entire internet – again

Re: checking calendar

top comment

Solution: Uninstall Avast, don't reinstall

Avast is such buggy garbage. 5 years ago it was fine, now it is too much hassle to be worth the minor protective it provides.

Also, when they say "uninstall Avast", make sure to use the Avast cleaner application after. You can't trust its own uninstaller these days.

Facebook fake news: Sort it out yourself, readers

"Stop being yourselves!" says Facebook to its users

But isn't the problem with fake news caused by the users themselves? A user posts it, somebody likes it, then somebody shares it, and the cycle perpetuates itself.

Russian RATs bite Handbrake OSX download mirror

Re: Malware? On a Mac?

It's limited compared with Windows. According to the President or CEO (iForget) of Kapersky, finding virus writers for Mac OS is difficult because there aren't enough iCriminals who know anything about it.

But that is changing, probably since Mac OS has so much more success in businesses than ever before. Antivirus software may become a lucrative market for Mac OS in the future.

Re: another problem of "free" software

This is just as likely to happen to paid software that is not hosted on Apple's appstore. Software fronts like the appstore are not immune also. Just look at the GooglePlay store.

Qualcomm to demand US iPhone import ban

Re: The Gods are at war again...

AirPods aren't necessary at all. Just use any Bluetooth headset.

Microsoft sparks new war with Google with, er, $999+ lappies for kids

Everything thing they talk about looks like they are trying to make schools dependent on their complicated and expensive ecosystem. The reason Chromebooks are such a success with schools is their expense and simplicity.

Problems with a Chromebook are easily solved. Screw it up big time? Replace or reimage. $999 for a base model? Why??? American K-12 schools don't need much, just office apps. Google Docs is a platform that already exists, and is already popular. If MS wants to beat Google at the education game, they need to show how it is better than Google, not say why it is better.

eBay denies claims it's failing to thwart 'systematic fraud'

No surprise. eBay is full of "legit" scams, too.

By legit, I mean vendors who intentionally mistag or mislabel genuine parts in order to get a sale. Bought a part I thought was compatible, it was not. The vendor hid behind eBay and refused to give me a full refund. They even made me pay to ship back their mistake. Then they re-listed the item for a higher price. They also tried to communicate with me over the phone instead of eBay's messaging feature. I contacted eBay and got my full refund, not including all of the shipping. The vendor in question had a nearly flawless rating, like most vendors.

Apple's zippy silicon leaves Android rivals choking on dust

Re: Android on an iPhone would have been a fair comparison...

Not necessarily. When the first iPhones and iPads came out, they were sold at a loss. Whether it was AT&T's loss or Apple's, nobody can be sure. It is the same issue with game consoles.

When the PS3 first came out, it cost ~$894, if I remember correctly. It's models retailed for $600 and $500. They take a loss because they will make it back in software and peripherals. It's the same with high end smartphones. Naturally, things get cheaper and so the first party profits off the hardware. But the majority of their revenue comes from services and products for the platform.

Re: $150/month?

That's because they have 5 GB+ plans. Mine is 1000 minutes, unlimited text, and 1 GB of data for $54/month. When you want more data, that's when it gets expensive.

Facebook, Google, etc: Yeah, yeah, we'll work on the nasty stuff about bombs – but we ain't doing no backdoors

Preventing terrorist organizations from uploading content sounds like a good idea, until you realize how small of a leap it takes from "terrorist organization" to any organization that opposes the government. A group fighting for human rights in a country with almost none, can be classified as a "terrorist organization" by the government. Their videos and writings would be considered extreme by that government. They are fighting for you rights, which is good, but that opposes the government, so they get labelled and blocked.

Remember that the founding fathers of America were a bunch of rebels when they started. Look at what they created. In the eyes of history they are good guys, at the time they were enemies of the Crown.

Your internet history on sale to highest bidder: US Congress votes to shred ISP privacy rules

""American consumers should not have to be lawyers or engineers to figure out if their information is protected," Pai recently told Democratic lawmakers."

So...the solution is to just remove all protections? Oh how fast America has fallen. Not even 4 months now...

"Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) argued today that the privacy rules "hurt job creators and stifle economic growth." Cornyn also said the FCC's privacy rulemaking involves the "government picking winners and losers," and was among the "harmful rules and regulations put forward by the Obama administration at the last moment.""

Stifle economic growth? You mean prevent monopolies from making buckets of money while limiting their customer's privacy. Welcome to Trumpmerica.

User jams up PC. Literally. No, we don't know which flavour

Is that Black Currant jam!??!?! I love that stuff, but I can't get it normally because I am filthy traitorous bluecoat.

Apple urged to legalize code injection: Let apps do JavaScript hot-fixes

Re: Ugh...

"Also, am I the only one that thinks the whole approval process thing exists solely because they can't be arsed to put in proper security measures?"

By actually reviewing submitted software, they are using proper security measures. They are protecting the integrity of the product. Compared with Google's approach, it's working great to keep worthless software and malware off the App Store.

"A company whose business model is moulded out abuse and breaches."

What?!?!?

Instagram phishing apps pulled from Google Play

Yes

Last I heard, Google scans apps in a VM, similar method that anti virus software uses. In other words...NOT effective. Not sure, but I vaguely remember Apple runs the software on some big iPhone server thing, very closely simulating an actual iPhone. Not sure of the specifics, of course.

So to summarize...Yes. It is a big 'ole self-policed free-for-all storm of crap. Google really needs to fix it, it makes their platform a complete mess.