Posts by Will Godfrey

Crack CERT warriors arrive to save UK from grid-crippling hack attacks

Re: What's that sound ?

Quite true. You can tell because they used the prefix "Cyber"

A storage press release FROM the FUTURE

I knew you were going to say that

See title

No, Minister. You CAN'T de-Kindle your eBooks!

News at 11

Government ministers don't know their arse from their elbow.

Dear Reg: What is a 'Lag' and a 'Jacksey'?

Pah!

If he/she/it is offended by things like that what about some of our towns and villages?

Dorking (the mildest)

Hucking (not nice)

Throcking (possibly illegal)

Research bods told: Try to ID anonymised data subjects? No more CASH for you

La La La La

So if we discourage the (reasonably) good guys from poking around for weaknesses in our 'anonymity" process it makes certain the bad guys won't have a chance of doing so.

It's 2014 and you can pwn a PC by opening a .RTF in Word, Outlook

This actually come closer to what I was thinking. Also I have known occasions where re-use of 'good' code has been a disaster because the new dev didn't properly understand it and tried to use it as-is.

I know this to be true cos it wos me!

Recycled plastic - good

Recycled code - bad

GSMA: EU net neutrality reforms are the enemy of business

As a 'lady' famously said...

"He would say that, wouldn't he?"

Extortion racket borks Basecamp servers with 20Gbps web bombing

So where are NSA & GCHQ when they could actually do some good?

IBM PCjr STRIPPED BARE: We tear down the machine Big Blue would rather you forgot

Re: Bit of a whimp

... and then get wiped out by the far more dangerous 700V DC boost supply which has some real power behind it.

Bah. Kids today (gerroff my lawn).

Re: Ah the 7400 series ICs...

Very true. Even the 4xxx(x) CMOS series are getting are getting a bit thin on the ground

Microsoft exec: I don't know HOW our market share sunk

Apology in advance

Recently someone asked me the difference between Windows and an abacus. It totally threw me for a while, but the answer is quite simple really.

An abacus helps you solve problems :)

Grav waves: Moment when 'father of Big Bang inflation' learns he was RIGHT ALL ALONG

Really impressed with his restrained and cautious response.

Scotland Yard defends single supplier IT gig with Insight

Gives a whole new meaning to Cops & Robbers

Tony Benn, daddy of Brit IT biz ICL and pro-tech politician, dies at 88

Liked him

Not so much his views, but as a person he stands well above the crowd.

Battery vendors push ultracapacitor wrappers to give Li-ions more bite

I guess battery wrapping V separate unit would rather depend on the optimum profile for a supercap.

My work-from-home setup's better than the office. It's GLORIOUS

For over 10 years my work PC was the oldest one in the company.

About 6 months ago all the 'office' PCs were upgraded - for about the 3rd time. When I asked about mine, I was given one of the discarded ones.

My work PC is the oldest one in the company.

Sysadmins and devs: Do these job descriptions make any sense?

I read it through several times but think I still know just as much as I did before

Hubble 'scope snaps 200,000-ton chunky crumble conundrum

Guess I won't be seeing this then

Could not load plugins:

File not found

CIA snoops snooped on Senate to spy spy torture report – report

Memories of the old Spy-V-Spy cartoon

If you don't GRIP it tightly, lonely enterprise cloud will WANDER

The scary bit is that I think these people might actually believe the crap they're coming out with.

Triple-headed NHS privacy scare after hospital data reach marketers, Google

Re: Summary Care Record? Brill Idea... Sharing that data? moronic.....

Actually no.

I do want someone to confirm my name address etc. every time I go for a hospital appointment. I really, really don't want a flip of a digit to result in me having a leg amputated instead of a cyst removal.

Also, the more varied and different parts there are to your overall ID, in totally different locations (preferably some of them paper) the harder it is for anyone to fake it.

Not surprised

Annoyed - yes, but not surprised.

Massive new AIRSHIP to enter commercial service at British dirigible base

As a matter of interest...

Any other commentards been to Cardington? Those hangars are almost unbelieveable. You can see them for miles.

Labour calls for BIG OVERHAUL of UK super-snoop powers in 'new digital world'

I dispair

Is there no end to their lies, deceit, arrogance and ignorance?

Bill Gates is BACK... as CHIEF RICH human of PLANET EARTH

With all that money and no need to lift a finger for it to continue to grow, maybe such charity donations are the only way his life has any meaning for him.

Apple investors fall for CEO Cook's product-presentation prank

Disappointing

Mostly I'm OK with El Reg reporting. I accept that individual writers have their own pet obsessions, and in the main these tend to cancel out. However, on this occasion you've almost done a 'Daily Mail' on us.

Fortunately I've read the coverage of this on several other sites, so am aware that Tim Cook a) has the support of the vast majority of Apple shareholders, and b) Publicly and totally exposed the NCPPRs short-term greed.

I'm also a bit disappointed by some of my fellow commentards treating the whole thing as a bit of a larf (innit).

Q&A: Schneier on trust, NSA spying and the end of US internet hegemony

Good article

The guy presents a depressing picture - unfortunately it seems to be entirely accurate.

Wot a COCKUP: Poorly NHS websites spawn SPAMMY VIAGRA ads

This can only be an improvement

That is, if they are now punting Pron + Viagra. It seems a perfect mental health treatment.

UK citizens to Microsoft: Oi. We WANT ODF as our doc standard

Interesting read

Just had another look at the gubbemint site and there have been quite a lot more people commenting.

Just one sticks out like a sore thumb. It is overlong, very densely formatted and full of marketing speak.

No prizes for guessing which format it supports.

Final LOHAN test flights codenamed 'Punch' and 'Judy'

Re: Sir Thomas Knyvet

Seems he was a rather explosive character.

Prez Obama cyber-guru: Think your data is safe in an EU cloud? The NSA will raid your servers

This simply underlines the bullying arrogance of these people.

There are very many SF stories going back decades based around the idea of America isolating itself from the rest of the world. They are all looking rather prophetic now.

Yes! New company smartphones! ... But I don't WANT one

The geek in me is alive and well

... which is probably why I've no interest in smart{thingyness}. The company gave me Samsung about three 'upgrades' ago. I tried to like it, really I did, but nothing could be configured the way I wanted it, the battery life was pathetic and I've got fat (engineers) fingers so was forever hitting everything except what I wanted. I have to use other engineers phones in the same work environment from time to time and find them all the same (but different in details of course). Eventually I got the boss to agree to me having a plain ol' dumb phone, and since then, I'm the only one who has no problems at all.

P.S.

I'm surrounded with some real 'smart' techy gear which I get to play with all day - and get paid to do so!

Nokia launches Euro ANDROID invasion, quips: 'Microsoft knew what they were buying'

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Ha ha ha ho ho he he {wheeze} Ha haha {gasp}

Oh how my sides ache

Battle of Bletchley Park: TNMOC chief calls for review of museums' Mexican standoff

Having visited both in the past I'm pretty clear that it is only TNMOC that I'll be visiting this year.

Up to now my own website has had links to both. It look like I need to edit it again.

Something rotten stalks the Cloud Kingdom

Re: Good, gawd/ess Trevor.

No life is not a game... It's a joke, and the joke is on us. Best just have a good laugh when you can.

Self-forming liquid metal just like a TERMINATOR emerges from China lab

Re: Chick @ unknown time and date stamp

@David 45.

I don't recommend dissing AMFM. He's our very own and quite special.

Microsoft asks pals to help KILL UK gov's Open Document Format dream

Quite!

Already made this point 'over there'. Hope some other here also do.

BOFH: He... made... you... HE made YOU a DOMAIN ADMIN?

The BOFH is slipping

Leaving a logged in pooter, even for a moment is asking for trouble, especially with a PFY around. I do hope we're not seeing early onset Alzheimer's.

Magnets to stick stuff to tablets: Yup, there's an Apple patent application for that

Hold on a minute

What about those little cubes you could get a while ago that were autonomous, but when you stuck then together (they had magnets) they would communicate with each other.

Office Online rises from ashes of 'confusing' Office Web Apps

My concern with all these on-line offerings is one of security. There is no telling what data scraping will be going on.

Another U.S. state set to repeal rubber duck ban

Re: Appeasement

You may wish you hadn't said that. You're probably now on some secret list as a terry-wrist sleeper.

You'll NEVER guess who's building the first Ubuntu phones in 2014

I wonder if you'll be able to use it to make voice calls with.

LOHAN gets intimate with 50,000 hot-blooded pilots

I'm a bit concerned

... about all this automation, and the psychological effect it may have on the brave playmonaut. He (or she) may feel it impinges upon their credibility and status as a sex symbol.

Computer expert and broadcaster Ian McNaught-Davis dies at 84

He had the knack of making you stop and really listen, with you realising you were doing so.

R.I.P.

Devs angrily dismiss Absolute Computrace rootkit accusation

Don't Want

This is something quite new to me, and highly disturbing. How on earth do we find out if our machines have this 'feature' and if some nasty cretin has activated it?

Reports pump fuel into iCar gossip: Apple in 'talks' with Tesla

Nooooo

Has Elon just had a minor stroke or something?

US Senate bill would mandate 'kill switch' on all smartphones

But it was never intended...

Hmm. Seems I've said that before

Flappy Bird becomes massively multiplayer PHOENIX

No need to get into a flap.

Devs SLAM UK.gov's JavaScript-astic, 'shoddy' security education website

Oh come on now

Is anyone really surprised? I'm actually quite impressed. They have a huge range of website usability to get below... and they succeeded!

P.S.

I wonder how their 'immersive' site would help a 40 year old blind woman, who runs a small music promotions business.