* Posts by John B 1

15 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Jan 2010

AWS offers $20 bribe to derps who buy old IoT condom-o-matic dunce dobbers

John B 1

Re: Useful in specific circumstances

How many times can a bored child push a magic bogroll button? Aleph-null, that's how namy.

HMRC research finds 'resistance' to proposals to shift contractor tax compliance burden

John B 1

Not just IT

The haulage industry is watching this with interest. There's a scam whereby agency staff join an "umbrella company" that treats them as PSCs for tax and NI, For an extra £1 ph (yup, a whole pound) the driver gives up pension, SSP, holiday pay and workplace rights. Nor is he treated differently to a staffer. His workload is allocated without his input, he must protect the brand, he must comply with any reasonable instruction and his infringements are managed in-house. HMRC intend to rip this up, and there's a rumour that the agency will be made liable for unpaid revenue.

Which is why I'm PAYE.

LEAKED: Samsung's iPhone 6 killer... the Samsung Galaxy S6

John B 1

Give me stable rather than shiny

I'd quite like a Samsung that didn't a) burn out when the major Android version changes b) burn out when the ambient temp goes over 20 C c) grip the SIM properly when the ambient temps drops below 15 C.

Anyway, I shall buy an S6 just to annoy my daughter, who's locked into her S5 until next year.

The Facebook job test: Now interviewers want your logins

John B 1
WTF?

"You want my password? I'm going to assume that's a trick question, because if it isn't I will take you to court under Article 6 ECHR. I will also ring Facebook UK before I leave the building to inform them you're in breach of their T&Cs. Oh, and the Information Commissioner. I assume you've already looked me up: could you give me the name of your data controller? I'll need their CRB check, which will have to be enhanced as some of my FB friends are minors. While I'm here, might I also remark that I've been taking notes, which I intend to statutorily declare before a Commissioner for Oaths.

Good day to you."

World's Raspberry Pi supply jammed in factory blunder

John B 1
Thumb Up

Re: Whoa. I. Want. One.

Debian-squeeze is good as well. If you want to play with it get Virtualbox and set the RAM to 256 with the HDD at 8 GB. Get an .iso and aim the VM installer at it.

Most of the Ubuntu wiki applies so the docs are the same. The standard test for a Linux newbie is NTFS shares and printer installation. Crack those and you're on your way.

1TB USB stick shoved into Swiss Army knife

John B 1

It's called an S2. Actually, for documents it would improved by a hard keyboard, but for random web menting the soft one will do.

Samsung shifts 10 millionth Galaxy SII

John B 1

A handheld computer with a phone attached

I love mine, and the more I play with it, the more I love it. I'm an HGV driver, and it fits my job like a glove.

Inspecting a vehicle at night? Flashlight.

Want to check traffic in real time? Maps or road watch.

Need to see exactly what the entrance to that next delivery looks like? Street View.

Short of reading material on a long wait? Kindle.

Tricorder will also find buried pipes and cable in walls, which means NFC could be in the next update but 2.

NO iTUNES!

OK, so the above things are Android rather than the S2 in particular, but the implementation is "just fucking works".

And of course it means annoying Jobs and his cultists.

New Apple move against Galaxy Tab on Euro front

John B 1
Devil

They can have my S2

...when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.

Time for Jobs' liver to go on holiday; the man's a menace far exceeding Bill.

Groupon hug from small businesses? Not so much

John B 1
FAIL

Not just b*****t but radioactive b*****t

In ever heard of groupon until I saw an article in the Guardian. Working on the maxim "Wrong about everything, every time" I signed up to see what they had on offer.

Nothing for my city, a national deal for the crappest smartphone on the planet, some stuff in Cambridge that the fuel cost renders uneconomic...coupled with the hagiography of the CEO, this one has TimeWarner/AOL written all over it.

Contract can be formed by company's actions, High Court rules

John B 1
Boffin

It implies at least one side doesn't employ enough lawyers

Seriously, in-house counsel would just said "pay up", although internal politics usually play a part in this sort of thing.

The case law on this situation goes back over a century, and it's clear: if you behave as if there's a contract, there's a contract. In shipping and industry, there'll be common practices which the court will imply the parties intended to be bound by.

Trust me, I'm not a lawyer.

Yet

Google borgs fledgling price comparison site

John B 1
Big Brother

An offer they couldn't refuse

"So when Google showed up and suggested we could work together to turbocharge our efforts, we just couldn’t pass it up" = "these horses' heads are ruining our duvets".

Ubuntu seeks Android-packin' Windows deserters

John B 1
WTF?

Got Linux? Everything you own is now a paperweight

I have an oldish printer, an Epson C1100. Cheap to run, good quality. Installing it in Windows takes under a minute. Installing it in Linux takes 30.

I've got a phone with bluetooth. It's proprietary phone manager allows me to compose texts, sync with Outlook, create notes, move and copy files and play music. On Linux, it just doesn't work. Well, I can browse it, after spending hours downloading the packages, binding the rfcomm port, and spoofing bluezutils.

Scanner? 6 years old, has always worked in Windows, has never worked in Linux.

After the last Ubuntu upgrade, anti-aliasing in Firefox just...stopped.

Why do I persist? Well, if you want to move partitions about, having 2 systems renders it less likely they'll break. It boots like lightning, which when you want to browse RIGHT THIS MINUTE is handy.

Yank fires up iPhone-controlled beer cannon

John B 1
FAIL

Oh dear

American Beer != Beer.

Beer in Tins != Beer

Beer thrown across room != Drinkable Beer.

New inside out hover-magnet fusion reactor debuts at MIT

John B 1

Unforeseen consequences

There's one small problem associated with a working fusion reactor, delivering industrial scale power.

Can you guess what it is? Clue: It has nothing whatever to do with the technology.

New Labour bring old Nuremberg Laws to Britain

John B 1
Black Helicopters

Gospodin, propusk pazhalsta!

Don't forget as well that the courts will no longer reimburse successful defence costs: if the Gov't takes a violent dislike to you and fits you up, they win both ways. Either you go away, or you go bankrupt.