Posts by tony

Apple reportedly planning to revive the MagSafe charging standard with the next lot of MacBook Pros

Re: I like the Touch bar.

Same especially when they brought back the esc key... but was always disappointed that they never brought a version out for the desktops and because of that I always felt it was still in beta stage

EU declares it'll Make USB-C Great Again™. You hear that, Apple?

EU rules & regs are definitely not set in stone, for example take the rules around 0 vat rating for sanitary products, they've been in discussions since ~2006 and i think it should be settled in the next couple of years.

So more set in Tar.

Re: I don’t see how USB-C solves the charger-zoo problem......

When you buy a device do you get the one packaged without a charger? or just throw the charger away when you get rid of the packaging?

Tesco parking app hauled offline after exposing 10s of millions of Automatic Number Plate Recognition images

Hopefully the regulators etc. will give the parking company the same level of compassion that parking companies give when somebody either make a simple mistake or are incorrectly charged...

Overzealous n00b takes out point-of-sale terminals across the UK on a Saturday afternoon

Picoseconds...

I don't know about anybody else but I would have realised I'd written the command wrong picoseconds after hitting enter.

The bathroom break would have been taken care of in-situ.

Crowdfunded lawyer suing Uber told he can't swerve taxi app giant's £1m legal bill

Re: Who is ultimately responsible for collecting/paying the VAT

> he wants to make Uber pay VAT.

Wouldn't it be the customers who pay VAT, so he's hoping Uber customers having to pay 20% more may be enticed to take black cabs?

UK should set its own tax on tech giants if international deal isn't reached – Chancellor

Re: A thought experiment

"Clearly you're not in a circle of parents with school aged children."

I think that proves the OP's point, when these school aged children eventually have school aged children they'll communicate via Whatsapp, Chime, Gato... whilst their kids are finding something their parents don't understand.

AI sucks at stopping online trolls spewing toxic comments

Re: Possible Explanation?

"..dealing with offensive language, sarcasm, irony and humour..."

Suprised to see that Jeremy Corbyn has an account on here

Thousand-dollar iPhone X's Face ID wrecked by '$150 3D-printed mask'

Re: When will they learn

A ~£5 hammer will crack most peoples password / pin code.

Tech billionaire Khosla loses battle over public beach again – and still grants no access

EL Sol

Reminds me of El Sol which is owned by the state, since 1974, but Disney has been fighting to prevent any access being constructed.

Worth making the effort to get across to it when the tides right.

Hey, remember that monkey selfie copyright drama a few years ago? Get this – It's just hit the US appeals courts

Defence

So why does Nauto live on Endor?

'My dream job at Oracle left me homeless!' – A techie's relocation horror tale

Re: my relocation bundle

"You took the comment out of context."

On the internet? that must be a first.

Robo-Uber T-boned, rolls onto side, self-driving rides halted

Re: Pattern emerging...

It would be interesting data to see the amount of near hits where the autonomous vehicle took self preservation actions where somebody tried a chicken manoeuvre.

New UK laws address driverless cars insurance and liability

Appropriate

"negligence in allowing the vehicle to drive itself when it was not appropriate to do so"

Phew, at least theres a nice unclear term for lawyers to argue over on somebody elses dime.

UK Home Secretary signs off on Lauri Love's extradition to US

Re: He doesn't help himself..

And if you didn't leave your front door open*, what counts as secure enough?

You can always add more locks / alarms / guards but there's always somebody willing to take penetration to the next level.

*I take it all back if there was zero security on the systems he is accused of hacking

Re: He doesn't help himself..

"I don't think he should be tried at all, the onus should be on the system owner to secure it."

Do you use that rule for property / personal theft?

New MacBook Pro beckons fanbois to become strip pokers

Re: Typical views from those want to buy but don't like the price.

My guess is usb c isn't ubiquitous enough to force people to buy an adaptor for older machines.

If theres an iPad refresh in the spring maybe they'll ship the c-Lightning cable in the box with an adaptor...

But there does seem to be some incongruity in the adaptors from Apple at the moment.

Samsung halts production of Galaxy Note 7

Re: A lesson to be learnt

If you've got a removable battery how would you indicate on the exterior of the phone that the removable battery had been replaced?

Good God, we've found a Google thing we like – the Pixel iPhone killer

Re: Uh... what?

> Android is just as much of a lock-in as Apple.

Exactly, when I next decide to upgrade i'll stick to the same garden a) because all my stuff is already in that garden and b) going through the process of setting up a new phone with all the settings I've forgotten I've set over the years isn't appealing.

Smartphone lost on QANTAS 'began hissing, emitting smoke and making orange glow'

Re: Is it just me

"should any resistance be met?"

Would being a fat bastard* count as resistance?

(* actually just a being would do it)

No-fly zone suggested for Galaxy Note 7

Wouldn't it be easier for air screening staff just to ban Samsung phones rather than have to work out which model / iteration the flyer is carrying, then they can get right back to their core job of fondling balls.

Pains us to run an Apple article without the words 'fined', 'guilty' or 'on fire' in it, but here we are

Re: Sad face

Similar problem here, I'll probably switch the headphone cable for a lightning cable for the commute but the dock (as suggested above) only has a 3.5mm out... so then it's switching cables. Will probably leave the current 3.5mm cable plugged into the dock and get in the habit of unplugging the headphone cable at the other end.

Reminder: iPhones commit suicide if you repair them on the cheap

Nope it's more like owner has car stolen, thieves replace ignition and door locks with mocks and happily drive around.

With a phone connected to Apple Pay (and I'm guessing Google & Samsung pay...) this mocked phone has a link to your bank account.

Releasing a tool that any body can authenticate replacement parts means that anybody can also authenticate bogus parts.

The security procedure doesn't go far enough as its not checked regularly enough, if a mismatch disabled touch functionality that may be better but afaik replacing the touch sensor with a mock means Mr & Mrs Dodgy have already got your passcode.

New Horizons: Pluto? Been there, done that – now for something 6.4 billion km away

Let's hope Kerberos wasn't placed there by an ancient machine intelligence with an aversion for people investigating them.

Uber is killing off iconic black cabs, warns Zac Goldsmith

Cabs,

If every black cab had at least a card reader, I'd be happier to take a cab

Pro tip: Servers belong in dry server rooms, not wet cloakrooms

Re: Backup

Knew somebody who had been diligently creating a dated copy of "shortcut to my documents" for some time in a year\month\day folder structure...

A 16 Petaflop Cray: The key to fantastic summer barbecues

Chair,

That Cray picture disappoints me; where's the natty mix of raw computing power and 70's era futuristic furniture gone?

Screw you, Apple! We're still making phones no one wants – Samsung

Re: Battery & Micro-SD?

"Note that the phone should be no deeper than 1.5 meters, in your pocket"

Hopefully will see the rebirth of pushing people into a pool type comedy.

BUZZKILL. Honeybees are dying in DROVES - and here's a reason why

Re: Simon uses bees to make cosmetics.

Or as slave labour?

Like a Dell factory but what comes out is a LOT more fun: We visit Aston Martin

Shopped.

Just wondering what was used to resize the main picture, yellow car in the pond, looks to me like maybe a spoon and hammer?

A gold MacBook with just ONE USB port? Apple, you're DRUNK

I'm thinking of refreshing my old Air and this is currently ticking the boxes. Originally I thought uh-oh zero / one connector isn't enough but then I've had a think and I can't remember when I last plugged something into my laptop other than when I'm on holiday and I wanted to take a better look at the pictures I've taken. So that's one adapter for use 2 or 3 times a year and the better screen will do a better job for previewing...

Once they're in the shops I'll take a better look.

Apple Watch: Wait a minute! This puny wrist-puter costs 17 GRAND?!

Re: cheapo's cable TV?

Is GoT5 going to be dumped Netflix binge style?

This could be a case for Mulder and Scully: Fox 'in talks' to bring back The X-Files

Re: Just shoot me!!!

Always felt that most "alien conspiracy" episodes ended with spaceships flying around behind Scully and her refusing to turn around.

Sony boss: Nork megahack won't hurt our bottom line

Re: Given that several unreleased films were leaked online

"I think the bean counters are a little overjoyed that this fiasco has transformed a flop into box"

Looking at Bom, a Seth Rogen film usually has a better rate of return than the ~$14m loss.

Elite:Dangerous goes TITSUP

Frontier: First Encounters

Somehow reminds me of the last Elite release...

Working in retail at the time there were a few boxes of patch discs shipped to the stores to give to customers.

Gaming's driving ambitions: The Crew and Grand Theft Auto V

Social Gaming...

I'm getting too time poor for the investment in a social gaming experience, no matter how good something looks initially.

Apple knob refusenik Sir Jony Ive handed award - for talking BOLLOCKS

Re: Talking of plain English

"I've inherited a rather rare omega wristwatch and a WW1 era pocket watch from my late grandfather. Both are shit, but goddammit they look good."

I also inherited a rare wristwatch first purchased by my great grand father the day he went to War, after the war he took it off and kept it in a coffee can until his son, my grand father, was called into service during the Second World War...

What a pity: Rollout of hated UK smart meters delayed again

Don't Worry About That

Having no mobile signal at your house is your problem; You can probably pay for a mobile booster box to enable you to get the benefits of scheduled brownouts to make up for the lack of investment in generation.

"If the device can't connect at regular intervals it'll regulate the power by default... "

Or so I was informed when I mentioned the Faraday like properties of my porch.

APPLE set to Air PLUS-SIZED iPAD – claims mag

They've got it backwards...

..I'd use a 12" (+) iPhone but I'm after a <3" iPad

Blade Runner sequel might actually be good. Harrison Ford is in it

Wizards

Hopefully they'll set it in wizards school, with maybe some vampires / teen peril.

Vodafone: For Pete's sake! Apple’s 'soft' SIM's JUST AN EE SIM

Re: Sounds like Vodafone is unhappy

"And does that get you out of the contract?"

If you sign up for a contract theres no technical solution that can fix that, I've got two sims at the moment and changing those doesn't affect contract law.

What I do find amusing is people clutching the idea of a sim card like it's a religious object passed down from a higher being eons ago and any attempt to change that how things function around it are an act of heresy. Rather than a sim being a standard agreed upon a few years ago (90/91 iirc) which now Apple (and others) are trying to change for something they think will make things easier.

They could be wrong.

And unfortunately technology moving on makes things, like old phones, obsolete.

Even a broken watch is right twice a day: Not an un-charged Apple Watch

Seiko

I've one of the early Seikos, possibly from around the time you brought yours 98/99? what I did find irritating was the need to change the capacitor every 5/6 years when it wouldn't hold it's charge overnight.

My thinking was; you sold me this with the promise that I don't have to change the battery every five odd years, changing something else with a similar time frame isn't a massive improvement...

DVLA website GOES TITSUP on day paper car tax discs retire

"not true, it's the same as it is now"

No, the difference is that now if I were to buy your car taxed up till end of oct then I'd have to sort out tax from 1st nov and you would factor that into the selling price.

Now I have to buy the tax from 1st Oct and you'd have a piece of virtual paper costing £x but worth zero for the partial month of October. So for quite a lot of transactions they'll be two people paying for the same month for the same vehicle...

Netflix bullish after six-country European INVASION

Back Catalogue

To me the catalogue is films you may watch if you happened to flick past them but not something I'd actively choose to watch.

Bendgate backlash: Apple claims warped iPhone 6 Plus damage is 'extremely rare'

Re: Apple is a startup

You can almost taste the pent up rage in that comment.

Let it go, Steve: Ballmer bans iPads from his LA Clippers b-ball team

Re: on the bright side

"Microsoft has warehouses full of the albatrosses to give away to VIPs."

That's assuming the staff in corporate gifts work out what that ringing sound is..

Half a billion in the making: Bungie's Destiny reviewed

So It's Generic Shooter 2014 8th Edition

From some of the hype I'd followed I was expecting a story to play rather than another '<Recent Film Character>18' & '<Garbl3d Rud3 w0rd>' running around shooting each other...

Experimental hypersonic SUPERMISSILE destroyed 4 SECONDS after US launched it

Re: Why?

It's in the article...

"Both China and Russia are also developing these weapons"

Govt control? Hah! It's IMPOSSIBLE to have a successful command economy

Re: "Mega Corp" proves command and control can work!

"It's that POLITICIANS can't run anything,"

People think a politicians job is to run something, when actually it's to get elected and the way to do that now is find a group of people to blame.