Posts by David Barrett

OccupySF BOFH runs protest network on pedal power

If there is any hope, it lies in the proles.

The life and times of Steven Paul Jobs, Part One

"This is not the way to do things in business as I see it"...

Maybe, but I think the stock price would suggest otherwise.

Giant iPhone 4 brings Mac OS X to the table

letters.

Hey, its a giant white galaxy tab 2... Oh wait..

Curved light drives boffin one-upmanship

letters, digits to follow.

No, but ill bet Apple has :)

Hobbyist killed by home-made hovercraft

only if...

... you're over 14 if your under 14 then it is a legal requirement that you wear a helmet.

'Up to' broadband claims out of control, says Ofcom

because....

How fast is your connection? 15mb/s

Download something big, watch iplayer and do a speed test at the same time, whats the speed test saying now?

Any results from an app like this would be skewed by whatever is happening on the users pc/network.

It would be an option but it would have to be built into the router so that only when there has been a period of inactivity is a speed test done. There is little point if one PC is watching iplayer, at the same time as some one else in the house plays xbox live.. or indeed when some one has left the PC on overnight downloading movies (Not that anyone does that.. its naughty).

Mole says Apple A5 chip runs too hot for iPhone

exactly...

IPhone 4 over 24 months ~£1700 my HTC Mozart win pho 7 same 24 months ~£750

I don't care if it makes coffee and womens clothes fall off in its presence I'm not paying £45 a month for a bloody phone.

Many parents are only on Facebook to stalk their kids

Rivise your estimate on age...

Im 29 and I dont know any better... But that might be a problem that is restricted to me... :)

Google dumps all 11+ million .co.cc sites from its results

read article again

Unaffected.

Aussie retailer accuses UK shops of HDMI 'scam'

"It was just a 1m lead with 1.5mm jacks on either end"

Are you sure? Or was it an actual digital cable (Fibreoptic) like all of the MD players that I had in the late 90s sported (look like 3.5 jacks but with a pointer end and fibre core down the middle) - in fact if I remember correctly on my old sharp MD player the fibre cable actually went into the headphone socket... so EXACTLY the same as a standard 3.5 jack.

Although I agree its been going on for years... there were fibre optic cables on offer with Gold Plated contacts...

US air passenger cuffed over low-flying pants

almost but...

...not.

Nothing to see here (literally), move along.

Facebooking juror gets 8 months

yes...

Me.

Not 1 not 2 but 3 police cars came while 2 pricks tried to knick my motor bike whilst threatening me with a bottle.. So yes.

Indecently, they got 2 years each and I went home on my bike (police also turned a blind eye to my slightly overdue road tax ;)

iTunes Match is iPiracy, claims loopy Oz industry troll

How does it actually work?

So I dont upload my music, it scans my library, matches to itunes and then gives me access to that music on itunes..

How does it check that the music it finds on my PC is actually the track that it says?

Could I for instance take an mp3 of me singing in the bath, add the metadata for something else and then get cloudy access to the something else?

Or (as may be more likley) have I misunderstood the whole thing?

Apple, Amazon trademark spat turns surreal

Not really

You are missing the context.

Boots (foot ware) != boots the pharmacy.

I think that you'll find it difficult to open a pharmacy called boots, however you are still free to sell boots in your shoe shop.

If your making your argument in support of apple I think that you'd do well to remember that there are green spherical objects which predate the companies trademark but are unnafected by their trademark on the word.

HP pets network-connected mouse

So..

I need to keep a spare corded mouse on standby incase something happens to my wifi router?

Ill stick to my CORDED (Yes, corded.. in 2011!) keyboard and mouse.. The battery life is spectacular!

CATS to be saved by BLASPHEMERS after the RAPTURE

Signed up.

Well thats me signed up.

Should there be a rapture Ill have a nice list of fresh meat for at least the first few weeks..

Or as I put it on the form:

Question: How many pets can you handle?

Answer : 3 a day as long as theres ketchup.

Any one fancy a BBQ on the 22nd?

Dear Mr Beefy ex-soldier: Your BT needs you

Is this news?

As far as I am aware BT are members of the DCP (defence career partnerting) program... So this is part their daily hr activity and has been for some time.. why report it now?

BT Trying to generate more interest in the service rather than who installs it methinks.

Nissan Leaf electric car

Hire?

I can see a market for hire companies here... eCar for weekly commuting cheap hire for long haul.. how many people need to travel more than 50 miles to work? (Probably a few and for them Id suggest a normal car for now) - that assumes that you cant recharge at your place of work.

Russian jailed for 6 years for smutty billboard stunt

HAHA

Not seen that for years!

Angelina Jolie .. MMMMNNNN

Sir Elton outs iPad 2 release date

Mr Tumble?

Wouldnt Mr Tumble have been on cbeebies?

I believe the CBBC tech corespondant is Roy...

Official: PhD in 'Essential Oils' or 'Natural Toiletries' = 'a Scientist'

Water 'remembers' what was originally put into it...

No one is claiming that water can 'remember' what is put into it, thats just spin added by non believers like you... you have to put the water into a jar and hit it on a HORSE HAIR and LEATHER pillow for it to take an impression of the molecule that you have long since diluted out of the jar...

:)

To be clear on this... If you have a 200C dilution of anything in water, what you actually have, is water.

Google's cloud printing goes physical

Or

Or 30 sheets of solid rainbows followed by 1 page page of cartridge adverts.

Christians vs metalheads in FB flame war

HA

No one expects the australian inquisition.

Our main weapon is surprise... Surprise and facebook, our two main weapons are.. Look can we just come in and start again?

@copsewood

" I don't see any human right in being able to hire a private or public venue where offensive stuff someone wants to do is unwelcome."

It is not possible to be offensive, it is only possible to take offence. So really the issue lies with the group taking offence rather than the "Offender".

With regard to your comments about a muslim country... Im not sure that you're right about that, in fact I think that you may be buying a little too much into the BNP/EDL 'Anything not white and Brittish is Evil Kill it, Kill it' mentality.

On a more general note it would be useful for Christians etc to realise that Satanism is really just an extension of their own faith, without their god there could be no satan, to believe in one you must believe in the other so really this event was a validation of their faith... just not the side of it that they follow.

Of course its all bollocks and the sooner that we all accept that and get on with our lives the better!

Examples, or I dont believe you.

"No other faith position can make such claims. Atheists still dream they can create a more perfect society, but the human rights track record of the atheistic regimes of the last century and earlier is pretty appalling."

Evidence, Please.

Story gone

Huh?

Why wasnt I aware of this? I have spent almost a year swearing at your site because there was no mobile version... dont force us... but perhaps a pop up for mobile users on the main site?

Cameron promises boost for tech companies

I may have missed the memo...

I dont generally keep up with twitter... but last I heard it wasn't actually making money.. am I to understand that its now generating billions?

BT quietly recalls shocky adapters

Interesting..

I have 2 of these and have heard nothing from BT about it.... No replacements, nothing... Guess a call is in order.

Spycam school to pay damages for kiddie snaps

but...

There may well have been intent, the issue I suspect is proof of said intent.

Can you prove that this was the result of the school wanting to gather this info, or was it a monumental cock up with some features enabled without thought/knowledge/understanding of the implications?

The decision to prosecute would be based on evidence available and I suspect that without a whistle blower within the school all you really have is speculation... (and a shed load of pictures)

...........

Just lucky no one in the school had organised the pics into Fit/Munter Directories.

Google ordered to pay out for automated defamation

Really?

The man in question had been previously convicted of "corrupting a minor"...

Does he want all evidence of his crime removed from the internet? Id imagine that google instant looks for other related words when you type something in so if there are loads of articles suggesting you are a kiddie fiddler its gonna reflect that.

Luckilly the worst that I get is a Country and western singer with the same name comming up... Wait... maybe thats worse!

Christian group declares jct 9 on M25 cursed

Return To Mean?

"I do believe we will see far fewer incidents"

Would that be return to the mean then? If something is at its worst it is likley to get better... no amount of chanting will change this... but Im sure that when it does get better it will have been the almightly sky pixie that did it.

Apple in 873-page legal claim to word 'Pod'

iPood?

iAlmostWetMyself !

Moms stand firm against antenna madness

Ok, but

Its all well and good saying that people having kids is causing problems, yes over population is going to be a problem, but having more people retired than working in 20, 30 40 years will be just as much of a problem...

Also when your in your 90s in a retirement home... whos gonna wipe your arse?

Only the first post and already its completly off the topic of the original article.

Channel islanders attack Street View car

umm

So some one walked up to what is basically a camera on wheels and damaged it? I hope it got a pic... but Im guessing it was parked up with the camera off at the time...

v2. The Google tank.

Harrow flicks pirate thrown in slammer

Ahh

This maks some sense now, previously I have commented that its not really needed to ban phones/laptops from cinemas because the quality is so low..

It would seem that some people just dont care and will watch a fuzzy mono copy of a movie to save a few quid..

Devil manifests in Hungarian bathroom

Wow

Im grinning like a fool now.

Well done!

Girl, 3, buys iPad apps, using mum's credit card

Ohhh yeah...

"... which meant every time my wife got her iPhone back off him she had to spend a few minutes re-arranging everything..."

Been there... Spend 5 minutes srolling through seemingly endless empty screens bacause he decided that there shoudl be a 20+ page buffer between the first page of icons and the last... Guess which one the phone, messages and safari apps were on? :)

Social Engeneering?

..."4 yo bought Angry birds on wife's iphone, he had asked for a free app prior to purchase"

Sounds like he knew exactly what he was doing! :)

Try this.

Download an app (paid or free doesnt matter)

Enter your password - app installs.

Now within 15 minutes go back and download another app (again paid or free)

App installs.

The issue is that iOS caches your password for around (possibly exactly) 15 minutes.

The reason I heard for this is that its to save you time when you are setting up your phone for the first time installing loads of apps...

Just do what I do, when your card expires dont update your details with itunes if I want to buy something I have to go and buy an iTunes voucher... yeah its a pain in the arse and it takes longer but at least I know that the most my kids can spend when they are playing with the phone is the £10 of pre-paid credit that i put on it... no nast surprises when mr visa sends a bill!

Robots capable of 'deceiving humans' built by crazed boffins

Great...

ME: "Oi Roomba, did you hoover in here? Its still a mess!"

ROOMBA: "Yes, I did it.. you must have been burgled."

[Roomba exits room leaving an easily followed trail... Wait a minute.]

US raygun jumbo jet fails to beam down test missile

Well its about time...

We are 10 years into the 21st century, I want my raygun damnit.

Death by iPod: beware the zombie trance

Ummm...

"Maybe the driver is tuning in the radio" -- " Its not always the drivers fault when someone steps off the road just in front of them"

I think you'd have a hard time offering that as an excuse... "Sorry, I didnt see you, I was fannying around with my stereo..."

Driving without due care and consideration?

Whilst pedestrians need to remember the GCC and stop & check before crossing drivers need to remember that in pretty much every circumstance a pedestrian on the road takes priority over the vehicles...

I quite like the idea of having cameras fitted to cars, but whos going to pay for that? I know Im not.

Mines the one with the electro-bastard ray on the back (no need to wait for them to step out that way)

Apple fans drool over Liquidmetal widget

I..

I Use a paper clip. I have no idea what type of metal it's made of.

Facebook bug spills name and pic for all 500 million users

exploit?

Im not sure if some one has already pointed this out.. But to call this an exploit is a bit of a stretch.

FB has always done this (Well at least as long as I have been using it) and as far as I can tell its the designed functionality when you try to log in it shows you a picture and your name.

Its perhaps not very well thought out because it can be used in the way described in the article but its hardly an exploit.

Apple preps iOS fix as Germany warns of iPhone peril

Dont Do It!

I have a 3G, I upgraded to iOS 4... I had it for a week before spending several hours downgrading back to 3.1.3 due to speed issues.

Simply put the 3G cannot cope with iOS4, camera took 30 seconds to load first time, 20 seconds after that, Settings took 10 seconds, Messages longer... and keyboard response was piss poor... Typed whole sentances then wait for all the key presses to register before contuinuing...

I really cannot advise you strongly enough NOT to upgrade.

iPhone thief nabbed by GPS, cops say

or...

just hold it in your left hand?

Zuckerberg: I'm 'quite sure' I own Facebook

And...

Why has it taken them 6 years to decide that they are entitled to this share?

Im not 100% on any of what has gone one but Im reading it as:

1. Zuckerberg does freelance work for company x

2. Part of that work was creation of a social media site.

3. Zuckerberg delivers site requested by company x

4. Zuckerberg creates own social media site, possibly using similar code to that found in the site created for company x.

Unless the contract explicitly states that all code is the propertly of company x or if it has a clause that says that he could not work on a similar project within a certian timescale then I dont see what the problem is...

I do freelance work, and I would expect to be able to re-use any code that I develop unless the company I am working for explicity forbid it.

EG. if some one wants a DNN module, I create it and they take delivery, I would expect to be able to modify that module so that it would be useful to others with similar requirements and then re-sell it...

That said I may be completly mis reading the situation and maybe Zuckerberg did rip off ideas and code from company x... but thats the thing unless the contract states that he was not permitted to do this then I dont see why thats a problem (Unless he lifted the whole thing unmodified and used that... but thats just cheeky).

Consumer Reports: 'We were wrong about the iPhone 4'

I did wonder...

When they came out saying it was a software fault I did wonder how they were going to explain the you tube videos showing the fault ONLY when they are bridged... Waiting to see them backtrack again will be fun!

Im going to go an patent rubber coated arials before apple get onto the idea...

George Lucas rattles lightsabre at Jedi laser firm

Ahh...

isnt a light sabre just a tube with a light at one end... I had one of these when I was little, Used it for finding stuff in the dark, back in those days we called them torches. Those were the days.

In other news he is also suing monkeys for looking too much like chewy and Harrison Ford for bearing a striking resemblance to Han Solo...

Apple reckons light shines between iPhone customers' ears

I did this too...

... but i got a crack on my screen.