* Posts by Andy Worth

594 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Aug 2007

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Why the US faces broadband price hikes

Andy Worth

250GB and more.....

Somebody further up said:

"Because of the Freetards who leech off people like me (who pay for music)"

Sorry, but if you don't want them to leech off you, stop sharing your music collection online. Of course, if you are actually referring to the financial cost, (illegal) music downloaders actually were the reason that paid online downloads were made available. These subsequently have made it cheaper to buy your favourite songs as you can now download them instead of forking out for a CD. So in essence, they've actually saved you money.

I don't download anything these days, with the exception of PS3 demos and games from the Playstation Store. Even that though can swallow 10-20GB of bandwidth in a good month.

250GB seems like a very nice cap though. A normal user, watching internet TV and films, browsing, downloading LEGAL demos and software would be quite hard pushed to hit that limit, certainly on a regular basis.

Another poster asked why they should have to pay the same as somebody else who uses 10x the bandwidth that they do. The answer to that is simple...ISP's have long and often advertised "unlimited" internet. If you choose NOT to take advantage of this "unlimited" connection then whose fault is that? The fact that the ISP's can't actually support what they have advertised is not the fault of your heavy-downloading neighbour.

I'm all for appropriate caps or metering, as long as the numbers are fair and it does not breach the conditions of any current contracts.

'World's largest TV' sports super HD resolution

Andy Worth

Resolution......

Actually it seems that the screen has got twice the horizontal or vertical resolution on a screen 4 times the size. So when you look at the actual pixels per square inch it'd be a pretty appalling figure in comparison with normal HD screens.

In other words, up close, this screen would look shit, and would only start to make sense once you were standing 20ft+ away.

Ofcom considers termination charges

Andy Worth

Sorry but....

....I totally and wholeheartedly disagree with anyone who says it seems "fair" to have termination charges for end users. I don't want to pay for "johnny no-credit" to call me. I pay my bill so that I can have credit to make calls when I need to, not to receive them when somebody else needs to contact me.

The only people it would benefit are the network operators and the cold calling telemarketing companies.

Data watchdogs did not want to see eBay bank server

Andy Worth

New Natwest advert?

Exec 1:"Ok, we need to think of a way of combatting the credit crunch and persuade people to spend more money"

Exec 2:"I know! Let's sell a couple of computers on ebay containing everybody's bank details. That way, the fraudsters can spend it for them...."

Will:"Why don't we just give the customers what they want, and keep their data secure?"

Exec 1:"Don't be daft Will......THIS is marketing!"

Exec 2:"Yeah, Will!......"

Blu Christmas coming, format fans forecast

Andy Worth

Re:Another

"Credit crunch.. but buying the Rambo box set in BluRay is more important than feeding my proverbial kids."

Sadly, there are people around who could actually say that without any hint of sarcasm.

As for me, well I have a PS3 and I do buy some BR films, but as others have mentioned, they are still too expensive to take over as my main medium. At the moment I only buy BR's for films which I think will benefit most from the extra res, and I still buy more DVD's than BR's.

Dabs.com courier goes titsup

Andy Worth

Oh well...

Personally I would have switched couriers after the first time they went into administration, but then they probably can't get the same rate from anywhere else.

MS beefs up WinXP Pro's anti-piracy nagware

Andy Worth

Re:M$ lost the plot...

Is the S button broken on your keyboard?

iPhone passwords not worth the paper they're written on

Andy Worth

@Fanboi....

"Any devce's security is useless once you have physical access."

While it "might" be possible to break into more or less any device and retrieve data from it, at least sometimes it actually takes a bit of effort or equipment/software. This "back door" can be achieved in the time it takes you to go to the toilet, without even removing your phone from the table you left it on.

I am sure they will fix it soon(ish) but it IS a pretty big oversight, and if it were an MS product then there'd be about a million Apple fanboi's saying exactly the same things.

McCain: Keep Shuttle flying, don't trust Russia

Andy Worth

"Tensions".....

Never mind the (well publicised) Russian jolly into Georgia. I think there's probably more tension between Russia and the U.S. due to the U.S. making agreements with Poland to build their missile shield there. Of course, this is not nearly as well publicised.....

Fringe box office FAIL pushes sales down 10%

Andy Worth

Re:Aye @Andrew Fenton

That doesn't bode well for audience participation. Well, at least the comedian didn't have to worry about being booed off by too many people.....

Million bank details sold on eBay

Andy Worth

Err.....oops?

I simply can't understand why it isn't standard policy to secure-wipe these drives before they are re-sold. Jeez there's even free software on Sysinternals that lets you delete files to DOD standards.

Breakup with Sadville lion ends in kidnap plot, duct-taped dog

Andy Worth

Exactly why I left that sort of thing.......

I used to be into MMORPG's and even played around in Sadville for a while, but people taking it all too seriously took away all of the fun, and in cases made it actually quite scary.

As for a sanity vetting process, well the sane people generally have enough of a life to spend quite little (or no) time in virtual worlds. So if you happen to find the same person online, no matter when you sign in, the chances are that they are probably crazy.

NASA test rocket explodes

Andy Worth

Heh

"This debris could be hazardous"

It could also be top secret, for those who like wearing their tin foil hats.

Game sharer gets £16K fine

Andy Worth

Err £6000+?

That's probably more than they made from sales of the game in the first place......

iPhone 3G isn't necessarily

Andy Worth

@WTF

"That's why, if you get seriously bent about this sort of thing, you never buy v1.0"

Which is exactly why I NEVER buy first-gen hardware until it has been well tested :)

Game rating system needs legal backing, claims supporter

Andy Worth

Re:I felt for the poor bloke selling the game...

If the rules aren't already the same as for alcohol then they should be. If a shopkeeper suspects that an adult is buying an age rated game for an underage child, they should be able to refuse the transaction and in fact it should be their legal responsibility to do so.

The problem is (and I point no specific fingers here) that a lot of shops are quite happy to continue selling games to parents for their children, as if they refuse then it would affect their profit.

I know that it should be the parents responsibility but seen as it is obvious that a good proportion of parents just don't care, then the law needs to be changed to help enforce it.

I also consider there to be a different type of decision-making process where a parent plays a game themself, judges the content and decides if their child is mature enough to play it. I personally would encourage this approach, but sadly most parents who buy games will never see the content of them

No wireless sex please, we're American

Andy Worth

Accusations are thrown.....

I just remember the fuss that the Merkin guvment made about China blocking off parts of t'internet they didn't want their people to see. Funny, but this looks to be exactly the same.

They should also remember that if it wasn't for porn, most of the internet probably wouldn't even exist yet. Streaming media for example, was pushed through development mainly to give us better ways of looking at porn online....because they were the ones willing to throw money at it.

UK.gov pushes £50,000 fine for online copyright infringement

Andy Worth

Oh no!!!!

Where will knock-off Nigel buy his DVD's from now, if they're going to scare all the dodgy traders away?

Those copyright protection films make me laugh. I think it was best summed up by one of the comedians on "Mock the Week". He was referring to the "You wouldn't steal a bag...." trailer on the beginning of Hostel 2. He said something like, "I'm just about to watch a film about a bunch of women being tortured and mutilated......how the hell do they know that I wouldn't steal a bag?"

Research firm emails 20,000 addresses in the clear

Andy Worth

a small number of people?

Over 22,000 email addresses, so assumedly it went to 22,000+ people (excluding the fact that some addresses may be defunct). So when exactly do they consider it to be a large number of people?

Muppets.

Teens admit to Grand Theft Auto-inspired petrol bombfest

Andy Worth

Yeah

Like others, I too learned how to make molotovs studying a book during my school days. I think we should ban books.

Top-secret Android handset surfaces on YouTube

Andy Worth

Smacks of publicity stunt.....

.....no really....it does.

McKinnon UFO hack 'looked like cyberterrorist attack'

Andy Worth

@Charlieman

But you'd still have to be a complete idiot to leave your front door open when your not in/key in the ignition etc.

If you truly believe that "this cretinous argument" has no bearing, perhaps you'd like to put it to the test, leave your house door open and post your address on here?

No? I didn't think so.

The point is.....well that you've completely missed the point of "this cretinous argument". It's not about the morality of whether you should or shouldn't hack into a system, it's the fact that there is always somebody willing to hack a system (or likewise rob your house) if you make it easy for them......so if you DO choose to make it easy for them then you kinda have it coming.

As for McKinnon, well to be honest I couldn't give a toss what happens to him, but as he never set foot on U.S. soil while committing the offence, it seems to make sense that he should be tried here. If he does get extradited, it would set a dangerous precedent for anyone caught filesharing for example.

Linux risks netbooks defeat to Microsoft

Andy Worth

Re:It's the Channel, stupid

It makes me feel dirty, what I'm about to say (defending Microsoft)....but you're not making a fair comparison.

For a start you missed out the steps of having to download or obtain a copy of OpenOffice....free or not you still have to download it from somewhere. Then you compared it to an install of a completely different product. How about describing the install process of OpenOffice on a Windows based PC? Oh, that's right, it's just a case of double-clicking the install file and following the prompts.

The unfortunate fact is that Linux is still a niche product, at least in the terms of the home PC market. Most of the target audience are almost completely PC illiterate, and don't have the competency to work with Linux. I don't see that changing in the near future, and that is why they are unlikely to sell many PC's with a Linux install.

Secret of invisibility unravelled by US researchers

Andy Worth

I am invisible!!

As once said in Mystery Men.....

"Shoveler: So, let me get this straight. You do have the ability to become invisible?

Invisible Boy: Yes.

Shoveler: But you can't give us a demonstration?

Invisible Boy: No. I can only become invisible when no-one's watching.

Shoveler: So, you're only invisible to yourself?

Invisible Boy: Oh, no. If I look at myself, I become visible again.

Furious: So...you can only become invisible when absolutely nobody is watching you?

Invisible Boy: Yes."

American man too fat for execution

Andy Worth

Suing people for making you fat.....

The trouble is, using common sense that lawsuit would fall down on one main point. Even in prison, nobody picks up the food and forces you to eat it.

But then, when did any legal system use common sense?

Unencrypted traveler data laptop disappears then reappears

Andy Worth

I don't understand....

I just don't get why companies (including the one I work for) have been encrypting laptop hard drives for years to protect industrial data, and yet the governments don't encrypt drives holding the personal data of xxxx thousands of people.

I don't know what laws apply in the U.S. but I strongly believe that those responsible in cases like these should be held accountable under the data protection act. They have wilfully neglected to protect peoples personal data thus allowing it to be stolen and potentially used for a purpose other than the one it was collected for.

If they started introducing criminal proceedings in cases of e-security neglect then I am sure we'd start to see an improvement.

Webcam hacker-ogler jailed for four years

Andy Worth

Easy....

Just put the lens cover down if it has one.....or cover it up with something. It has the added bonus of stopping your PC from spying on you should it ever become self-aware.

Mac users urged to ditch Safari

Andy Worth

Re:No nagging

I was just about to say, I've never used an anti-phishing toolbar, purely because I trust in my own ability not to be fooled into giving away my details to dodgy sites.

Cuil feasts on Salmon of Nonsense

Andy Worth

Re:Fishy Story

"Apparently "cuil" means "crap search engine" in English."

They're American....they don't speak English. Mind you, neither do half of the people living in England at the moment, and I'm not even counting the immigrants. Actually most immigrants would improve the general knowledge of the English language as they actually paid attention in English lessons.

</Minor Rant>

Wünderbra! German policewomen take 'Action Brassiere'

Andy Worth

@Gerhardt

"simply confirms the dim view of England that most non-English people have of it"

Believe me, it's not just non-English people who share that view. Mind you, anyone who gets offended at something like that SS joke really needs to go out and find a life.

Depp for Dark Knight follow-up

Andy Worth

Personally...

As long as they don't turn it back into some poor gay joke (Batman and Robin anyone?) then I truly don't care who they cast.

Thailand bans GTA after video game style murder

Andy Worth

@adnim

"I just need to find a stray dog, a can of petrol and a cigarette lighter to complete my arsenal."

Have you already got a cat to stick on the end of your M16 then (to use as a silencer)? I must say, setting fire to the elephants was always fun.

So, can we get soap operas (Eastenders, Coronation St etc.) banned on the basis that watching them gives people ideas about beating their wife, murdering people, stealing, cheating and so much more?

@qDr - No they don't, otherwise I'd have killed someone already. The only people it advertises anything to are those with a vague grip on reality in the first place. Those of us who still have the intelligence to be able to tell the difference between games and the real world just enjoy being distracted from real life, which in a lot of cases is shit.

Compulsory mental testing is the only way to safely determine who should buy these games. It's not about age, as some 10 year olds can quite easily separate games/TV and reality while plenty of 30 year olds cannot. Just like people who send death threats addressed to Eastenders characters because of something written in the script for their character. But until they psychoanalyse you while you queue in Game stores, there's always going to be this issue.

Holographic Wii storage en route?

Andy Worth

Nah....

If they incorporate something like this into the Wii, it will push it on to complete along the same price range as the 360/PS3. I don't see it happening.

Blu-ray to rule by 2011

Andy Worth

I have to point out.......

I have had a HD LCD TV and a Blu-Ray player for almost a year now, and to be honest until fairly recently I was struggling to tell the difference between an upscaled DVD and a Blu-Ray.

Then I got my eyes tested and discovered that I needed glasses for a relatively minor sight issue. My sight didn't seem bad, but I was getting tired looking at VDU's all day.

Now the difference is plainly obvious between Blu-Ray and upscaled DVD.

I'm not saying that everyone should go and rush out to buy one because there's no point in watching anything not in HD. My purchase was the result of "post-bonus money spunking" and I still buy as many DVD's as I do Blu-Rays, if not even slightly more. But I AM suggesting that those people who say they "can't tell the difference", are either using the wrong kit, or should consider a visit to the optician.

Open Wi-Fi network wraps Mumbai man in bomb blast probe

Andy Worth

@Ru

"Because secure wireless really are unhackable?"

That's essentially the same argument as saying that you would leave your car unlocked with the keys in the ignition, just because if somebody really wanted to steal your car then they could anyway.

Unless the people who did it had a particular grudge against the bloke, they more than likely just searched for an unsecured network. Sure, they may have been able to hack it anyway, but why would they bother?

Put it like this. If you were a car thief and stood looking at a car park full of identical cars (let us assume that for the purpose the bombers needed it, one wireless network is just as good as the next) - say there's 100 cars and you know that a few of them will have the keys left in (unsecured network). Would you break into one of those that are still alarmed/immobilised, or search around until you find one of those completely unprotected ones?

Just like any other form of theft, it's all about minimising your exposure. And of course, if you do leave your keys in the ignition, wave your wallet/phone/ipod around and leave them on tables, leave a laptop on your back seat etc. - you just serve to increase the chances of having something stolen.

George Orwell joins blogging fray

Andy Worth

Cool

I actually look forward to reading some of this, being a fan of some of the man's work. It should provide an.....interesting...insight into his everyday mind.

Dutch vacuum salesman pumps Google for €1m

Andy Worth

Perfectly at right....

Good on him....even if he wasn't using it for company business he has the right to own the domain based on the fact that it matches his surname. I wish him all the best in screwing as much as possible out of Google, as there's bugger-all else they can do about it, other than change their plans.

Trashman arrested for YouTube threats

Andy Worth

Re:How stupid?

I use a hotmail address, purely to direct any spam or mailing lists to. In fact, it's exactly this sort of site (social networking type sites) that I'd use that address for, mainly because I never check it.

Although granted in this case it does seem like the rule fits.

Google: 'Even in the desert, privacy does not exist'

Andy Worth

Re:Give Google a googly <ok I'll break my own legs for that!)

I already suggested that we should pull a moony at any of these cars we see.

EA preps video game PCs

Andy Worth

Terrible idea....

It's just an excuse for EA to not spend as much time making their games compatible with different systems. Instead they'll say "well you should have bought one of ours" rather than releasing a patch or two.

Anyway, what happens when they release their next game with a slightly different spec? Do you have to then buy ANOTHER PC, or worry if the spec you have will actually play the game?

If you want convenience, buy a console. If you want upgradability, build your own PC.

Quantum porn engine foiled by strawberries and muffins

Andy Worth

Re:You're not paying for strawberries and muffins

I'd love to see any sort of real evidence that shows that buying strawberries and muffins for your staff and letting them wander in and out when they please increases productivity. You can maintain worker happiness without having to pander to every whim and desire of your employees.

Is Apple readying a MacBook redesign?

Andy Worth

@Stu Reeves

I swa the joke alert icon but am still waiting for the joke. Can you tell me when it is coming?

Driving some value into Google's Street View

Andy Worth

Think about it....

If you see a googlecar.....moon it. Give them a flash of the pearly whites, and I don't mean your teeth.

Sony profits down, but PS3 sales up

Andy Worth

Re:PS3s are loud and overheating too

Ahh, a comment that somebody daren't even put their name to. I think that the fanboi before you was trying to point towards the overheating issues that cause the 360 to RROD, because the already loud fan doesn't actually do its job well enough.

It was actually the reason I chose a PS3 while two of my colleagues bought 360's. A choice which turned out to be justified when BOTH of their consoles recently died and had to be sent back for repair the second the weather started to warm up.

Vista 'perfection' dream over for iPhone?

Andy Worth

Hah!

You'd have thought that with the poor take-up of Vista (despite Microsoft's "claim" to the opposite), they'd have grabbed any bit of free advertising they could get.

Microsoft slams 'sensationalist' Vista analysis

Andy Worth

Vista = Fail

The only reason why they have sold so many licences is because of both downgrade options and companies buying PC's pre-equipped with Vista and then reimaging them. For example, all of the machines we now buy are Vista with XP downgrade and I think a lot of other companies do the same. I am sure though that they count this in their "180 Million" licences sold, which is purely because people cannot buy just XP any longer.

Microsoft did with Vista what Hollywood do to Japanese horror films. They threw a lot of money at it, some fancy special effects but at the end of the day, deviated too far from the winning formula that they had to start with. Like many recent Hollywood "remakes" (The Eye, The Grudge, The Ring to name but a few) Vista just doesn't work as well as what they started with. If you don't understand what I mean, try watching one of the original Japanese versions of the aforementioned films.

US man cuffed for executing lawnmower

Andy Worth

@Sam

"The bootnote appeared AFTER I commented."

Yes but unfortunately it was the second paragraph of the main story rather than the bootnote that AC was referring to.

Conspiracy theory request denied.

Virgin Galactic to unveil tool to fling rich people into space

Andy Worth

Am I the only one.....

.....who with the mention of the word "flung", pictured a giant catapult throwing rich people high into the air?

NASA's robotic moon-dirt grubbing contest is go

Andy Worth

Aww

And here was me expecting some Moon-dirt digging style robot wars.....

US nuke missile crew falls asleep on the job

Andy Worth

Pleh

Give em a bollocking and a bit of a slap, honestly it's hardly worldwide headline news.

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