Posts by Whomesir?

Weeks with a BBC Micro? Good enough to fix a mainframe, apparently

Re: hot plug

I remember my previous BMW Hybrid used to plug in and charge quite happily in the garage and without any bother due to the cooler temperature in there until one day it didn't.

I regularly did a quick 'hand on the plug top' when charging it and it was always at a Goldilocks temperature. Then one day I didn't check it and maybe it wasn't happy with me for paying it no attention but with a very loud crack and spark, it blew the faceplate of the socket across the other side of the garage.

I'm putting it down to old plastics but I never plugged it in overnight or if I was going out again, just in case.

Why Chromebooks are the new immortals of tech

Re: Data

Of course the options I suggested are unrealistic but, and this is the important bit, you seem to have taken the step to identify the point I was making. You cannot stop the data slurp but you can reduce the exposure.

There was no mocking involved, I was merely pointing out your apparent browser based bigotry is flawed.

I too prefer to avoid Google products where possible along with the appropriate obfuscation of who I am and where I am but I know that, and you finally comment on it, they will always have some data.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that your original stance which seemed akin to putting your hands on your hips and shouting “Google Bad! Never use Google”, is a fruitless exercise.

You know, in all my time of commenting on el reg I have only ever been triggered to respond in the way I did and maybe (definitely) it was uncalled for however your comments were the straw to break the proverbial.

We are all intelligent enough to know that rather than trying to run away from the data harvesting and the ‘game’, we need to utilise our experience and knowledge to minimise the risk of giving our data lives away.

Re: Data

Interesting point but also rather uneducated, probably like your good self.

You say I’m stupid, I would prefer to consider myself as managing and mitigating by the use of careful use of my personal data.

We are never going to stop the ever-growing content slurping that occurs by the data merchants, large data farms and organisations whose products we use daily.

Rather than living my life in an air-gapped broom cupboard with a huge faraday cage around the building I choose to pro-actively manage what I put out there. I use tech tools to my advantage to filter, block or re-route all those little packets that could share what I don’t want them too.

It’s not possible to hide away completely but if you take a cautious approach you don’t need to sit there, arms folded and pouting like a petulant child that you aren’t going to use ‘x,y or z’ because they “might discover my hidden stash of cats playing the piano “or whatever it is you store on your devices.

I might be stupid but at least I’m stupid and managing what I’m putting out there.

Not anonymous because I’ve already obfuscated who I am.

Re: Data

There’s a generation of people who think like you and fortunately they will be phased into their nursing homes soon.

In the modern world we live in there is only one place your data is safe is written down and stored in a safe at home. Data mining is pervasive (I know it shouldn’t be of course) so rather than burying your head in the sand or getting angry about it you might find getting rid of your phone, tv and pretty much most other connected devices and set yourself up on a desert island.

Sorry if you think I’m being incredibly rude but these forums seem to have a small but noisy group of folk who claim to be tech savvy then make comments like yours.

Another RAC staffer nabbed for storing, sharing car crash data

Childish idiot

I’ve had my details shared with ambulance chasers at least once in my life so I occasionally still get the odd call asking about my car crash and injuries.

I either get them talking and ask them to give me more info as a prompt because I have memory loss as a result of the accident or keep them on for a few minutes chatting banal nonsense before advising them I did sustain terrible injuries. By this time they have usually bitten and then call me all the names you can think of when I add “yeh, was so bad I died” and just leave that hanging. Some persistent buggers will try and start the conversation again thinking I mean I died and came back to life but there aren’t many of those.

I like to annoy most cold calling call centre staff in some way, it’s just a case of picking the right bunch of cobblers for the call.

Oh, it also annoys the hell out of my better half who’s heard it too many times so there’s that added bonus.

Why I love my Chromebook: Reason 1, it's a Linux desktop

Why so judgemental?

Why do the comments on Reg articles usually come down to two main topics?

1. Windows = bad, Linux = good

2. Big scary company x,y or z should be avoided because they are spying on you.

1. Users prefer what they are used to in most instances as it’s easier than trying to learn new ways to do what they have always done. I have both Win10 and Linux Mint devices running and they have different uses because IMHO they are great at doing the tasks I’ve assigned to them. Would I go 100% one way or the other? Not a chance.

2. Unless you want to live off-grid completely in the middle of nowhere then you have to accept that we live in an age of profiling. It used to be that supermarkets tracked your mobile phone signal/Bluetooth or Wi-Fi around the store to see where you’re going but guess what, they don’t need to do that now. What are you going to do, buy everything from small independents? Good luck as I’m sure many of those have cctv.

Common sense and sensible behavioural practices make for a safe and happy life - not getting all superior over others.

(Sent from under a rock in a faraday cage with my tin foil hat, via my potato peeler and a wet piece of string)

Instant Ump: HP Inc's subscription ink services hiking prices from next month

Decent deal

I find the convenience of having ink shipped to me before I run out at a modest charge worth it.

I used to have access to office printing until a change of job and so this is ideal for me, no more dried out cartridges from any manufacturer.

It also makes me popular with my daughter as she can print what she wants, when she wants.

I get why some people consider it stupid but it’s like any subscription service, nobody forces you to use it.

Happy with your existing Windows 10 setup? Good, because Windows 11 could turn its nose up at your CPU

Oh dear…

Maybe I’m overthinking this but the current hardware drought will end soon but are we going to see people start delaying upgrades and replacement because they want to minimise the risk of compatibility issues?

I get MS covering their backs with hardware from around 2018/2019 being more likely to be compatible - it ties in with the idea of corporate refresh every 3 or 5 years but if organisations decide to wait another year or two to sweat their assets so that ensure compatibility this surely could cause a drop in hardware sales. MS driving a hardware boom/bust cycle. I’m probably wrong and I really hope I am.

For blinkenlights sake.... RTFM! Yes. Read The Front of the Machine

Bloody painful

As an enthusiastic and rather stupid 19yr old I once did myself a mischief whilst lugging boxed explosives out of their blast-proof shelter to my ‘intelligent’ and experienced colleague.

Working as a trainee alongside a aging and very experienced shotfirer on a hard rock quarry I was roped in to help pull the packaged explosives from the stores and onto the truck ready for loading in the holes.

As blast shelters are low in height (as you’d expect) even at my humble 5’10” I had to lean over to move about. Trying to prove how ‘ard I was I ignored all of the manual handling training and lugged these heavy boxes (30kg I think) from waist height, a couple of metres to the door and onto a waiting trolley.

Cue several hours later, a trolley bed in A&E and a very red face after throwing up some blood and straining my back - a slightly torn oesophagus and pulled muscles meant all my bravado was for nought and I spent a week of work and several months of ridicule.....oh the fun we had....