* Posts by Ged T

169 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jul 2009

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So it appears some of you really don't want us to use the word 'hacker' when we really mean 'criminal'

Ged T
Happy

You were hacked - Ha!

I didn’t vote in this poll - I just hacked the result! Haha!

2001: Linux is cancer, says Microsoft. 2019: Hey friends, ah, can we join the official linux-distros mailing list, plz?

Ged T

Re: New Wisdom Cometh

Contact your MS Account manager for licensing and monthly subscription pricing of your, once free but now with added ‘Experience’, product...

Ged T
Facepalm

Where have I seen this before?

I can’t quite recall - I think I need Sun, some Java and I’ll have to consult the Oracle about hostile takeovers of an Open platform...

BBC to demand logins for iPlayer in early 2017

Ged T
WTF?

What does the 'Login' protect, exactly?

iPlayer is largely used to deliver 'another chance to see' content that has already been broadcast, free-to-air (I know there's the minor exception of BBC!!!). I don't need a 'login' to view the 'free-to-air' content, be that delivered on Freeview/Freeview HD DVB or over FreeSat DBS/S2 (which broadcasts free-to-air to the entire footprint of western Europe, as a minimum, and wider still with a larger receiver dish..)

It seems to me that the BBC and the public would be far better served if the BBC were to spend the cost of this nonesense on much better content, rather than yet another 'technology for it's own sake' project.

IF it has to be technology for it's own sake, I'd like to see the BBC put much better effort into transforming content delivery by dropping FlashPlayer - Newer technologies have the DRM that BBC would adore and would also allow the tracking of users, their points of presence, devices and capabilities in a much more efficient and effective way than a 'home-grown' approach would muster.

Finally, there seems to be (deliberate) ambiguity about the proposal to require a Login and the use of the consequential data that will be gathered. The BBC will need to be clear what the 'defined use' will be of the (meta-)data they will collecting, who it will be shared with and host of other Ts&Cs declarations. To turn over the datasets to Television Licencing, for other 'tracking with punative intent' purposes, sounds like a major Data Protection and Data Misuse proposition...

UK tax collectors' IT boss Mark Dearnley steps down

Ged T
WTF?

HMRC is a governement department...

"It is also bringing 300 Capgemini and Fujitsu staff in-house via its privately-owned but HMRC-run limited company."

How can a public body that is a govermennt department 'privately own' a limited company? Who is/are the owner(s) of this company? Is this some sort of ruse to deguise employment by a government dpartment that can avoid Civil Service pay and pensions obligations? A private company handling UK citizen data - When did any of us consent to that Data Processor dealing with our data?

There are so many other questions about the nature of this setup - I do hope the Information Commissioner's Office and Public Accounts Committee investigates this arrangement...

Dutch court says BREIN should get e-book uploaders' names

Ged T
FAIL

Hotmail email headers?

Strange that the order (pdf) doesn't demand that hotmail records for the parties concerned are sequestered...

BT: We're killing the dabs brand. Oh and can customers re-register to buy on our site?

Ged T
Unhappy

BT Shop instead of DABS.com?

Clearly, the 'genius' at BT that thought this one up has never used the BT Shop not BT Business Direct to do anything significant or useful - these sites are designed to frustrate attempt to achieve a successful outcome!

DABS website needs nothing more than an update - less 'journey'/'experience' navigation to wade through in order to get to product specifications - Put it into BT Shop/Business Direct (split the market - I'm retail for myself and also a business consumer, too) and the entire line of business will sink without trace shortly after the dabs brand ceases to be redirected...

Microsoft files patent for 'PhonePad', hints at future Windows plans

Ged T
Alert

Prior art like iCloud and its inter-device / application / data / Photos / Music OS independent syncing?

TalkTalk confesses: Scammers have data about our engineers' visits to your home

Ged T
Joke

If only...

...there was a regulator of the UK Telephony Market; one that would oversee correct observance and act as the governance of Service Providers and Other Licensed Operators obligations, as per some licensing arrangement...

Lights out for Space Vehicle Number 23: UK smacked when US sat threw GPS out of whack

Ged T
Holmes

Dependency exposed

This should be a wake-up call for many product and solution vendors in the broadcast, cellular wireless and the emerging 'rush to market' /'Wild West' of IoT, as well as the obvious risks for navigation and emergency services.

The 'precision clock' that can be derived from GPS (and similar sources) is as precise as its system controllers want it to be - So not a reliable enough single source for any critical application.

NSA’s top hacking boss explains how to protect your network from his attack squads

Ged T
Black Helicopters

Nice of 'em to get so SOCIAL...

...rather than just ENGINEERING...

Safe Harbor 2.0: Judges to keep NSA spying in check – EU justice boss

Ged T
Holmes

It should be a different objective - To hold citizen data in the EU as a default

It would seem much simpler to me that the EU mandates that EU citizen data is processed by EU resident businesses OR, for those businesses from outside the EU that choose to operate in this market, they do so accessing EU citizen data stored here.

To afford the better protections of our data we should all seek, the default and primary choice should be that EU citizen data is held in storage facilities actually in the EU, with 'sensitive data a rest' and ALL data 'in-flight' being encrypted.

A data processor from within or external to the EU would have the same access regime to negotiate and would therefore be auditable and accountable within the EU and they would also need to be granted access, with auditable key management, to encrypted data.

Citizens should have the right to insist that their data is processed in the EU, again by primary default, meaning that businesses from outside the EU should establish and use facilities in this region, if they choose to operate here. That way would prevent EU business 'off-loading responsibility' through, all too often, opaque 3rd-parties whilst massively curtailing the huge abuses exercised by U.S. authorities on EU citizens.

EU storage and data processing businesses might get a boost from this; offering a more secure data management and processing regime would be a strong play in 'The land of the Free' and I suspect in other countries, too.

If the EU wants to exercise control, it needs to take control and stop wasting money and effort, floundering on the rocky shores of "Safe Harbor" and failing to land any usable catch...

Windows 10 in head-on crash with Nvidia drivers as world watches launch

Ged T

About KB3073930...

But that just takes you into a rather contrived updates management routine, after installing that KB, then install a tool to remove the offending update, then run an 'over-the-air' cab to TEMPORARILY do a 'hide' on the update, once it presents in the list of available updates....

This is going to be quite an issue, not just for Nvidia but lots of other software and hardware drivers, in its myriad configurations, out there in Windows desktop land.

Obviously your average user will find such a procedure a cinch to execute... For each 'offending' update... I'm sure they'll relish and praise Microsoft for allowing them to spend time acquiring systems administrator skills, rather than using their machines to run the applications that are the true raison d'etre for having their machine(s)....

Ged T
Facepalm

Driver only option?

It is not at all necessary to use NVidia's GeForce Experience software - You only need the drivers, not the bloatware.

In fact, remove any software which has the marketing-inspired descriptive 'Experience' in its name...

...but that would include Windows, too...

Blessed are the cheesemakers, for they have defined the smidge

Ged T
Joke

Thank you, Cheesers

...for saving us...

Universal Pictures finds pirated Jurassic World on own localhost, fires off a DMCA takedown

Ged T

You've all been 'nudged'

...so thanks for talking up our film.

Marketing Universal

Microsoft customers on the great (hybrid) cloud migration

Ged T
Alert

..customers migrating in droves (to Office365...)

Is it lack of choice of solutions to 'on premise' Office that's doing the driving?

Microsoft suspends Windows 10 new-build downloads ahead of launch

Ged T
Facepalm

Re: One wonders as to

I share the concern about the effect of distribution but less on the source server side; I'm much more concerned about the impact on each country's internet providers and the available bandwidth.

If 'the many' have simply accepted the GWX/Get Windows 10 updates installed over the last few months, then those machines are going consume an awful amount of bandwidth... Caching the updates by content delivery platforms, such as Akamai (many other platforms are available) to help distribute the load on the source servers, does not remove the significant data volume that has to get to those machines on July 29th/30th...

Google's new view of the world takes two pics to make 'DeepStereo' 3D

Ged T
Alert

EU proposal on copyright of building images

If the EU goes ahead with the proposal that the copyright of a building's photographic image is owned by the building's architect, it will be interesting to see how Google's library of such images will fare in any legal challenge or any other prior-established library of such images...

Windows 10 is due in one month: Will it be ready?

Ged T

Infrastructure readiness?

Is the, particularly UK, broadband infrastructure going to have the capacity to upgrade all the qualifying Win 7 and the relatively few Win 8.1 machines to Windows 10?

This time we really are all doomed, famous doomsayer prof says

Ged T
Joke

Re: Bing Professor?

No - It means he's searching for the microwave oven....

Cops turn Download Festival into an ORWELLIAN SPY PARADISE

Ged T
Big Brother

What will the police do with the images they collect?

In order to perform the facial matching, the images of individuals (there will be MANY images of each individual taken throughout the event) will need to be captured for comparison with the images held in the police "custody suite"

- Will the images captured at this event be added to that collection?

- Will the images be grouped into associative sets - What was that family doing?

- Will the event organisers get copies of those images?

- Will the images be sold, along with purchase details and any associative insight, to advertisers and marketing organisations that may bid for this info?

- What else are the event organisers and police collecting? Mobile/Smartphone records, for example?

- Will anybody attending be told of the "justified purpose" of these surveillances?

What an 'anti-citizen' state Britain has become...

Yahoo! must! face! class-action! suit! over! email! snooping! – judge

Ged T
Holmes

Facetube!

You, too, should worry...

French BIONIC EYE sits IN your peeper, feeds infrared light into nerves

Ged T
Pirate

French cyborg sheperds!!!

....are developing prosthetic devices to be applied to human subjects.

Be afraid - Very afraid....

Apple Watch fanbois suffer PAINFUL RASH after sweaty wristjob action

Ged T
Joke

Rash reporting

Does it detect and report the rash as a health defect of the wearer?

Microsoft discontinues Media Center with Windows 10

Ged T
Thumb Down

take up was also poor due to...

- Custom, DRM-ridden recording file format and

- The binding of those files created on a given machine to that machine only, so you couldn't share, even with members of your own workgroup nor record onto exchangeable media...

- Poor 3rd-party codec support...

Hey, Microsoft, we can call Windows 10 apps anything we like – you're NOT OUR REAL MOM

Ged T
Joke

WOW32 + WOW64 + AOW + UAOW + ...

So, will Windows 10 simply be a collection of compatibility layers?

Ged T

@Midnight

No, no, no. Tuk! Are you Midnight or are you Zanthros or are you actually, Zanthros?

ALIENS are surely AMONG US: Average star has TWO potentially Earth-like worlds

Ged T

Re: It's a long way to the chemist, etc...

...and at density of 1.4E-4 stars/cubic ly and, at 100ly, a spatial volume of

4/3.pi.(100E3) = 4188790 cubic ly

Number of stars within 100ly radius is 4188790 * 1.4E-4 = 586 stars

However, the number stars that are of the right type AND with suitable (goldilocks-zone) planets is VERY small...

Tragedy strikes Vulture News Central but details remain scrambled

Ged T
Meh

So, how much did VC have to...

...shell out to her family in compensation?

p.s. Used the 'Meh' icon, as it seemed the only thing close n' ouef...

'Turn to nuclear power to save planetary ecology from renewable BLIGHT'

Ged T

Re: How convenient...

Well, what would be a better legacy for the UK - £50bn spent on a vanity rail project between Birmingham and London to save 25 minutes (which will need electricity to run, btw, already in short supply...) or would it be better spent on FIVE, modern (not compromised to produce weapons grade materials) nuclear stations to benefit the entire country?

Just when you thought you were alone in the bath: Hi-res mapping satellite ready for launch

Ged T
Joke

Re: how long before . . .

Don't mean to brag but I've done it, already, within the era of existing tech...

Nadella: Apps must run on ALL WINDOWS – PCs, slabs and mobes

Ged T

You're not batshit bananas - I think you've pretty much encapsulated what many have as frustrations about Microsoft's 'strategy'. They seem to have no appreciation about the negative impact they have created with those who have IT investment decisions to make for their businesses.

Fast is the new Black: WD gives laptops' spinning rust a new whirl

Ged T

Re: Data density?

My guess: some of the above plus a firmware tweak or two?

Apple's Oct 22 WORLD-SHAKING San Fran party: New iPads or what?

Ged T
Facepalm

Re: Doh!

It could be literal - Apple vould be announcing a whole new range of covers, in an exciting range of textures and colours, for their products...

Whodathunkit? Media barons slit own throats in flawed piracy crackdowns

Ged T
Happy

Re: Same old same old

Maybe they could make a movie out of that scenario...

Brit boson boffin Higgs bags Nobel with eponymous deiton

Ged T
Pint

A chance for pure science to celebrate

Cheers.

A £30,000, 295bhp 4G MODEM?!? Must be the Audi S3 Quattro, then

Ged T
Facepalm

To 62mph...

"How fast? Well, the S3 can sprint to 62mph in 4.8 seconds and charge on to a limited top speed of 155mph."

Is that "...sprint to 62mph" in 9.6 litres?

Analyst says Brit rail broadband plan is TRAIN CRAZY

Ged T
Joke

Re: It's ok it's been thought through

...but in providing network access for travellers on "a super fast train", surely the business case to provide super fast mobile broadband becomes very difficult - They won't be on the super fast train long enough to use their super fast mobile broadband consuming phone-i, tablet-i or dongle-i-thing...

Look out, world! HP's found a use for Autonomy - rescuing Win XP bods

Ged T

Re: I wonder...

"Is it legal to make a product stop working after a certain date, after you bought it?"

You didn't buy the product, you bought a licence to use install and use it. Microsoft are expiring the licence, as they enshirned in the agreement that you acknowledged and accepted by using and registering the supplied licence key.

I wonder, too, how Apple users running WindowsXP on top of Parallels or Boot Camp will manage, beyond the license cease date...

Ged T
Meh

Windows XP data - Securing the data is fine...

...I'm less certain that, having secured a Windows XP Office 2000 Access database's content, say, that I'll find some "automagic inside (tm)" Android or iPad tablet app that's going to help me make sense of that data...

Dodgy 'iMessage for Android' app deep-sixed by Google

Ged T
Joke

Re: buy the front door and sell the carpets!!!

or maybe cell the carpets...

Hunt's 'paperless', data-pimping NHS plan gets another £240m

Ged T
Joke

Re: Stupid Hunt

They tried that but could find disc pools big enough to dilute to a satisfactory homeopathic concentration...

ISPs scramble to explain mouse-sniffing tool

Ged T
Meh

..how much we are prepared to share before...

Of course, there is the dependency we all have on the browsing platform you're using and its ability to provide you with the necessary controls to exercise the level of information sharing you're prepared to tolerate, even when, as in this case, that data is quite oblique...

NASA: Full details on our manned ASTEROID SNATCH mission

Ged T
Go

Re: multiple spacewalks = lots of air?

Yep!

So, given the effort to capture an asteroid, insert it into lunar orbit, get a manned mission to the moon with multiple moon-asteroid excursions then a return to earth for the crew and samples, wouldn't it, instead, be worthwhile getting the asteroid into the same orbital path as the ISS, to allow a crew from there to explore the asteroid? To avoid thermal and atmospheric artefacts from being a factor, the mission could include a 'significant sample return' of the asteroid using the ATV or similar to examine structure and composition back on Earth...

Ballmer's emotional farewell to Redmond: I LOVE THIS COMPANY

Ged T
Joke

Re: lots of notice

Maybe he just discovered the new 'Start' button and decided he better use it...? After all in Microsoft world it's Start ---> Shutdown, isn't it?

Rasp Pi skydive: Ballsy Baumgartner best beware Brit bionic Babbage Bear

Ged T
Terminator

Terminator Beginnings: The Bear Truth

With so much on-board tech, cameras for eyes, Sky-high launch platforms, dead-pan expression, is this the start of real life imitating art?

Farewell, plucky bear...

Lenovo to ship all new PCs with Start Menu replacement

Ged T
Thumb Up

Re: Uninstall

A "Thumbs Up" for sharing your experience of adopting a sound, alternate approach.

Ged T
Happy

Re: Oh, to be a carpenter - No worries

M$ probably have a contract carpenter who's mandated to us power tools without a Start button, too...

'Symbolic' Grauniad drive-smash was not just a storage fail

Ged T
Holmes

Re: And why aren't the Government using the law for these things?

OK - I'm familiar with the Act and it's sections.

The really intertesting questions, for me, are framed in this: In what way does the *UK* Offical Secrets Act apply to Edward Snowden, a U.S. citizen, or indeed, to a Brazilian friend of the journalist that met and reported about the U.S.-sourced data and that journalist's employer?

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