Posts by Dillon Pyron

Ex-MI5 agent Shayler claims to be chav messiah

Drugs

One of two things. Either he needs more drugs, or less.

Dutch police arrest six in 419 scam

Stupid "victims"

Then there's the American public official who embezzled money to pay for a 419 scam, thinking he could return the money before the audit. Or the guy who lost so much money he committed suicide. There was a guy about 5 years ago who met his fleecers in a hotel and killed all three of them. I guess in that case there might be a downside to meeting a victim bringing you "a suitcase full of money".

Hey Mark, are those American dollars, Canadian dollars or Australian dollars? Not that 20 million of any of them is anything to sniff at.

China to map 'every inch' of the moon

China's plans

Lucy, I've bookmarked this page. I'll come back to it in 2012. It took the most technologically advanced country in the world 7 years to get to the moon once its plans were fired up.

Of course, America doesn't have the will to do that again.

'Wild West' internet needs a sheriff

Re: Only ISPs?

neil, I think I'll sue AT&T for all the money I've lost on pump&dump scams forwarded to me via fax. Of course I have enough health insurance to cover me for any disease out there and I have $99 vacations planned through 2150.

UK gambling ad ban hits overseas operators

Yeah, it'll work

Advertising unlicensed pharmacies is illegal in the US. That ban has certainly worked! Advertising for prostitution is illegal in the US (I think even in NV). Open the NYC Yellow Pages to Escort Services.

Advertising bans are very effective. Especially in international media like the internet. I'm sure you Brits will be as safe from such scurrilous operators as we are.

We welcome our censoring overlords.

Doctor Who signs up thinking man's crumpet

Tate vs Freeman

I've never seen Tate, so I can't comment. But I love Freeman. She's a skilled actor and, as someone else pointed out, very pleasing to the eye.

Since Kylie said she was giving up on thongs, I really haven't watched her (actually, never did before).

And Gerrit, how about a spoiler warning! We just had the episode with the Darlek-human hybrids here. Torchwood is coming, although not to SciFi. I guess they thought it had too much science fiction content and not enough monsters and rasslin'

American sent to the slammer for faking Windows certificates

No parole

There's no parole in the Federal system. The best he can hope for is 4 months for good behavior. And the prosecutor has a significant say in where he goes, so you can probably bet he won't go to a Club Fed.

I'm willing to bet that MS takes him to court when he gets out. And Uncle Sugar will go after civil forfeiture. Add on his legal expenses and he'll be a pretty poor man.

Civil forfeiture: They can take your money, your house, your car, etc. If they can prove that you spent even one dollar of your ill-gotten gain on something like your house, the whole thing is their's.

Pentagon chief: no more oil for blood, man

Smoke

Wow, and I thought the BUFFs smoked enough running on JP4. I'm guessing they won't change the fuel for the Aurora, since it runs on, oops, never mind.

French teen held over online Potter translation

Copyright infringment?

Lets see, it's been my experience as an author that you need to have an actual text to copyright the material. If the publisher has a text, then we should be seeing the book come out forthwith. If not, then the lad in question didn't violate copyright, since one didn't exist. As far as forgery is concerned, that only applies when you claim that an item is genuine. From the other articles I've read, he made no such claims. Sounds like another case of money over rights.

IANAL. I am a copyright holder.

NZ parents may lose battle to keep baby '4real'

Name Nazis?

Didn't take it long for this discussion to hit Godwin.

4real = 4skin? Sure. Dillon became dildo when the punks in HS decided to try to get my goat up. So I let half the air out of their tires and super glued the valve stem covers on. Sticks & stones and all that crap.

Maybe they should name him Rufus Uticus 4real.

Or they could us some unpronounceable symbol and call him The Baby Formerly Known as 4real.

Blockbuster reels in MovieLink

DRM and viewing platforms?

Can't get to the site, proxy blocks it saying "MP3 Site".

So, what kind of DRM do they use? Can I watch the movies on my regular TV or only on my computer screen? Can I rewind/pause/fast forward? Is it time bombed? Are the movies at least 720p or 1080i?

By the time I get home this will be old news. So I want to know NOW!!!! I'm an impatient, petulant 3 year old. Or a geek.

Segway builders develop speedy swim fins

Giant stride entry

The photo makes it look like a bitch to do a giant stride. Maybe a back flop. And they don't look easy to don.

As long as they don't kick up too much turbulence (silt out), cave divers might like them, but they'll never catch on with the general diving public. But cavers like scooters at present.

Man, the debate on these would make Force Fins sound like a friendly discussion.

Hacker cracks Netflix copy restrictions

early DRM sucked even worse

Who's old enough to remember Macrovision? That certainly made for a pleasant viewing experience on some VCRs.

I have 16 different versions of deCSS sitting around. Most are pretty nice, some down right elegant. But all equally effective. I don't rip the DVDs, but sometimes I'm on my Linux partition and don't want to reboot to XP.

DRM has its uses. It keeps semi competent designers and programmers employed and allows high school juniors a way to stay busy cracking them during the summer break. Of course, once DRM is rolled out for a particular product, any future releases have to be backward compatible unless you want a lot of screaming, howling and, most distressing, litigating from consumers who own the 2 week old and now obsolete DVD player.

Poll time: Would you pay iTunes (pick your favorite site) $.99 for a DRM free cut or would you still go out and download it from some unvetted source? Would you pay $10 for a DRM free movie or pull it down from a torrent? DVDs are going for what, $30 a throw? No manufacturing costs, no middle man (I'll let the studio sell it direct to me), almost no overhead. I suspect the studios would still come out ahead.

BUT NOOOO! They can't get it through their heads.

Ban texting while driving, say Americans

O gr8 whts nxt

Yet another law gone unenforced. It's illegal to run a red light. I regularly see three cars go through one light I have to drive through on the way to work.

If you're not paying attention to your driving, you'll be weaving, tailgating, speeding (or driving way too slow) and probably a host of other violations.

I think in the case of the NY accident, all 5 girls' phones had sent text messages (erh, txt msgs) within the approximately 2 minute time frame prior to the accident. IIRC, all five (under 21) were also over .08. Five drunk teen girls in a car texting away. As the song goes (Brits, look up "Take Me Out to the Ball Game") "and it's one, two, three strikes, you're out".

Get your Ultra Wide Band from Monday

printers

We used to war drive neighborhoods looking for open APs. And shared printers. We'd then print a message telling the user that they were wide open along with instructions on how to close the hole. Quite a lot of fun, actually.

UWB is power limited, huh? That never stopped the criminals from jacking up the power and using high gain antennas.

Oh yeah, my head hurts, I can't concentrate, I think my skin is turning red. Either it's UWB or I need to quit drinking so many margaritas while I'm laying in the sun.

PDF spam tsunami hits email inboxes

My filters work

Eudora does a pretty good job, I haven't seen any of these get through. According it's stats, I've had three false positives and 16 false negatives in the last 6 months.

I send out a monthly newsletter in the form of a PDF attachment. I just sent out a reminder to the recipients to whitelist me.

In the US, just hook up a fax machine. I receive important faxes at any time, so I have to leave it on. I also have a service that pursues junk faxers and pays me $100 a pop for successful prosecution. I think they collect about $1000 from each. But all I have to do is put them in an envelope once a month.

Vodafone hedges bets with WiMAX Forum membership

Intel's motives

"in which it owns key intellectual property."

Is the IP the chips or the underlying methods? One means they profit from the standard's broader use (the more people that buy the chipsets, the better). The other means they profit from everyone who implements the standard. But at least they would be upfront on this, as opposed to certain others who hid these facts until after the standard was adopted. And were then clubbed down because of this ethically challenged approach. Not naming names, but they used to make QUALity COMMunications products.

Project Hostile Intent plans 'non-invasive' DHS brainscan

Hostile intent

"Sir, please step over here, you're thinking hostile thoughts about President Bush"

"Okay sir, proceed. You're thinking hostile thoughts about Senator Clinton"

It's pretty much agreed that liars frequently look up and to their left while speaking. It's a quick glance, but usually works. Except for the pathological liar. And the true believer.

Got to walk through a puffer machine at Indy this summer going home after the Gran Prix. What a waste of time. And barefoot. Can you say bromodosis? (See Frank Zappa or any medical dictionary).

LG brings the cinema to your living room

All-in-one

I hate all in one's. It's a single point of failure and an expensive upgrade. We lost the laser on our HT unit and it was too expensive to replace. So we wound up buying a new A/V receiver and a progressive scan changer. That was last year. Of course, both are hopelessly out of date now.

What kind of HT system would come without some sort of HD player?

Pipex invites customer to get 'c**ted'

VMS passwords

Around 1990, DEC introduced VMS 4.0, which came with a password generator. It used random letters arranged in pronounceable formations, complete with suggestions on how to actually say it. Now it also had a "naughty word" filter, but a few slipped by. Like a woman (who also happened to be another admin, although she was Solaris and I was VMS). She laughed and called us all over. The suggested password was Urc**t2. She used it. Also saw poofter once.

419-lite scammers target pet lovers

Travel scams, too

I have a side business as a travel agent. I frequently get email addressed to either "Dear Sir or Maam" or "Dearest Friend Travel Agent" that want some sort of air ticketing. Usually it's from Africa (either Nigeria or Ethiopia) or from Paris or London. They want a specific route on specific dates via specific airlines. But all coach at the lowest possible rates. "Please advise me of costs tax inclusive and I will provide you with credit card information". They'll use a fake/stolen credit card and then get a cash refund for the tickets at the airport. And the agent gets stuck for the charge back. The worst part is that for the tickets, I might make $30.

I've been playing two of them. It's a delightful way to spend a couple of hours. And when I'm done with them, I throw away the Yahoo! account.

PC buyers: 'Vista Capable' machines weren't Vista capable

Named class actors

As the named plaintiffs in the suit, they'll make out handsomely. The other poor schmucks will get a $5 Amazon gift card. That's the way it always works (see my other comment today on this subject).

UK VPN security is outstandingly mediocre

SecureID

Everybody knows that SecureID is cracked, right?

Apple unwraps trio of aluminium iMacs

Apple rox

You guys don't know what you're talking about. Apple rocks and Steve Jobs is Jesus Christ resurrected.

</phan boi troll>

Or at least that was the case when they used the PPC.

Cameraman drops first YouTube suit to join class action

Lack of benefits in class action

Tur is probably a misunderstanding fool. Unless you are the named class actor, the typical class member gets squat. I've been a member in dozens of suits. Remington: $2.35 per shotgun. Doubletree Inn: a free day's stay, within a specific time period. American Honda: a free tune up for a car I no longer owned. etc, etc, etc. Unless he's cut some deal with Premier, he'll get a couple of dollars.

Sharp sues Samsung over patent claims

Another one?

Man, when is this going to stop? The PTO needs to stop giving out patents to anybody who has the fee.

I'm going to take out a full page ad in the Tyler Morning Telegraph (which I threw as a kid) explaining patent trolls. Let them find another jurisdiction. Then I'll do the same. etc, etc, etc.

Yangtze river dolphin is an ex-cetacean

Anonymous trolls

As long as you and your ilk continue to post anonymously, you'll be scorned by me and others like me. I may disagree with their statements, but they're entitled to them. You, on the other hand, have no such entitlement as long as you post behind a curtain.

This is just the first of what will soon become a flood of extinctions. Followed closely, I suspect, by several species of shark. All killed for the greater good of China.

Websites could be required to retain visitor info

Legally binding contract?

If my privacy policy (which states that I won't collect any information other than that required to provide the actual service and that that information will not be retained or provided in any shape to any third party) is a binding contract, than an order to the contrary might be considered tortuous interference. IANAL, but I serve on the board of directors of a home owners association and testified at a state house committee hearing on legislation that would have changed how we dealt with our members. The bill died in committee.

I actually record the IP address, but delete that data after a day or so.

Dell brings the cha-ching to buy Zing

Price point?

The price point for this hypothetical player will have to be around $30 US if it's going to sell in the 3rd world market that all the computer makers seem to think of as their saviors. Otherwise why would Lenovo come out with a $199 computer? I would imagine that all of the electronics makers are taking the position of accepting razor thin margins and making up for it in volume. Talk to American grocery stores about the viability of that concept and what happens to branding and brand loyalty.

Orange dismantles Bristol Tower of Doom

Electromagnetic radiation causes cancer

My wife got a mobile in December of 2004. In January of 2006 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. A clear connection.

Idiots confuse causality all the time. In Texas, the lege recently passed a law allowing municipalities to install red light cameras. And people whined that this would increase the incidence of rear end collisions. The cameras wouldn't cause it (dolts!). The tail gating and speeding would cause it, just like those same factors result in more intersection collisions due to people running red lights.

Causality, it's not just for breakfast, anymore.

Boffins flick Quantum vacuum switch from suck to blow

Zero Point Modules

Stargate got it right!

http://scifipedia.scifi.com/index.php/Zero_Point_Module

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZPM

Teaching hacking helps students, professors say

CEH

How many people teach "certified ethical hacking"? It's, at least in the US, a certification program. Of course, you have to have qualifications like so many years in the industry to take the test, but anyone with the bucks can attend the one week class. Let's see, 15 weeks, three hours a week. 45 hours of instruction time. 5 days, eight hours a day. 40 hours of instruction time. But 40 concentrated hours.

Now that I've got all my certifications, I think that anyone who takes a class like this and hasn't taken the exam should be put on a terror watch list. Or maybe I'm already on that list and no body's told me. Must crack DHS tonight, for educational purposes, only.

Wife of Rambus CEO outed as message board troll

"Pillow talk"

Erh, my wife wouldn't tell me any details of a large contract she had signed until it went public. But we couldn't have made more than a couple of thousand dollars on it. But a couple of million?

Ethics is a nasty and gray area for some people. And in corporate America, it seems that the higher you go, the grayer it gets.

Did she do anything illegal? I can't say, IANAL, but it doesn't seem so. Did she do anything unethical? Hmm, that is left as an exercise to the reader.

First Response issues ID theft alert after burglary

Godwin rocks!

First post and the law already applies.

Broadband claims mislead on speed

Marketing words

I used to be a sysadmin for an advanced micro devices manufacturer here in Austin (shouldn't name them). We sat next to the marketing guys. They all but admitted that the phrases they used were known in the business as "weasel words".

I've got Road Runner. Advertised 4 Mb/s. Last night got 6, Saturday afternoon got 8. No throttling.

Yahoo! denies! China! claims!

The humor (or is that humour) of the Reg

Some people forget that "way back in the day" The Register was created as a satirical send up of IT. Even the byline (bitting the hand that feeds IT) is a clever pun that escapes many readers.

Yahoo! publishes! Paris! Hilton! iPhone! pix!

There, I believe that's today's trifecta.

Poker for potholes initiative makes run at California ballot

Taxes and lotteries

Texas introduced the lottery in the late 90s as a way to add funding to education. Well, what it's done, as others have pointed out, is to take that money and use it to replace money coming from the general fund. So no new money. And worse, the popularity of the various lotteries has declined, with a decrease in revenue. Texas has a huge property tax to fund schools at the local level. And despite Dave's claims, our tax burden is pretty high. Last year my wife and I paid 40%, plus however much sales tax sucked down.

UK Information Commissioner: protect your own data

We own our data

Yes, jeremy, that's the way it should be. But this is the genie-lamp problem. The only way we will ever be able to get control of our own data involves a massive EMP. All we can do is legislate for more say on how it's used. Gramm-Leach gives me some control over my financial data in the US, but doesn't do much for the rest of it. And then there are countries that have seen a lot of call center business go to over the last few years that have NO data protection laws, even those that are ignored by our governments.

Planting trees will not save the planet: official

Dead trees

What happens when trees die? They decay. And how does decay work? Well, part of the process involves oxidation. And what gets oxidized? Amongst other things, carbon. And what does that produce? Why, carbon dioxide, of course.

Researchers ease LCD viewing angle woes

Tracking the remote

It will, of course, primarily track whoever holds the remote, aka "the instrument of ultimate power".

Beeb exterminates Tomorrow's World rumours

Steal a US show

If Tomorrow's World was as fun as it sounds, then you folks need Mythbusters. As Adam Savage put it at a con, "we get to blow shit up and the feds help!" Any time you get to blow a concrete truck off the face of the earth, you have a great show.

Astronomers wave big thermometer at universe

Those Chileans!

Those people are stealing all the glory from Hawai'i!

Of course, it you're going to visit an observatory, which would you choose?

US govt password security still dismal

Poorly paid, poorly trained

The employees the article is talking about are amongst the least paid individuals in the US bureaucracy. And the worst trained. The IRS gives most of these people a few hours of training about their job and then drops them into the fire. Most of it is either OJT or some beneficent co-worker helping out a little. But security training? That might be a passing "don't give your password out and change it from time to time. Now we'll break for lunch".

Of course, we Americans then call these people with questions about our taxes. No wonder so many people have errors.

Aussie senate blocks CDMA switch off

I meant to do that

"The company is now claiming it never intended to switch off the older technology until the new had the same coverage anyway, so the minister's new license conditions are redundant."

That's like watching my neighbor's cat fall out of a tree, bounce off the roof of their car on to the hood (bonnet) and slide off on to the driveway. Then stand up and look at us as if saying "I meant to do that, I've been working on it all week".

Their only real concern was probably the realization that they couldn't charge the new 3G customers enough to make up for all the customers they'd be losing.

AT&T just switched all of their customers to GSM about a year ago. Of course, by then their GSM coverage was actually better. But 3G is localized. That's probably the reason that the iPhone (got it in there) is only 2.5G. But they're really pushing 3G phones.

Feds cuff 18 in $126m pharmacy bust

"Masterminds"

Of course, the "masterminds" of this were all idiot American citizens who live in huge mansions, thinking that they're safe.

I suspect that Costa Rica and Israel, to stay on the good side of Uncle Sugar, will do their part in this operation.

I wonder what will happen to the doctors who took part as "approvers". It's not really clear from the article whether these are the same doctors who were popped or if there are many more. They'll probably all get censured and a show trial will yank the licenses from a few (all immigrants who don't make the huge salaries required to pay for the types of lawyers required).

AMD's Opteron goes to 3.2GHz

8224 SE

Yeah, I've got a quad dual-core Opteron box. The processors aren't cheap, but since these are "enterprise servers", the manufacturers more than make up for it. Only a fool or a gamer would pay more than $2000 for a box, but corporations think nothing of shelling out $20,000 for one. Four dual core Operteons, 16 GB of memory and a 100 GB hard drive with two piddly performance Intel Gb NICs.

100 GB! What is this, a mid line laptop?

Yahoo! faces! investigation! over! China!

It's the lying

I agree with you John. They aren't being investigated for turning over the data, they're being investigated for lying. Not that the committee won't turn it into a witch hunt about that data.

NASA nuke-bot to tackle space boulders of doom

Apophis

Of course, as any fan of Stargate: SG1 knows, Apophis was a real threat to the Earth, but he's now dead. First he died on base and was shipped to Anubis, who used a sarcophagus to revive him. Then SG1 nuked the planet, which appeared to kill him for good. So Apophis is no longer a threat and NASA is wasting their time and my tax dollars.

Hacking for hijinks

Very illegal

Yes, Joe. Very illegal, everywhere. But you can buy plenty of mod chips, look at R&T or C&D for ads. Or you can buy software for your laptop and do dynamic adjustment of your engine mapping. Just like Formula 1 used to do, before two-way engine management was banned. Although I'd recommend having a second person in the car either driving the car or the laptop.

Martha Stewart criticised for swoop on town name

Housewares

So if I were to open a business in Katonah called "Katonah Housewares" I'd be protected from Martha's wrath? I didn't think so.

And yes, McDonald's could get exclusive use. They more money than Scotland.