* Posts by Greemble

34 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Jun 2010

How politicians could end droughts forever But they don't want to

Greemble
Holmes

Re: @peter wegrzyn

@15:28 GMT peter wegrzyn

"... even though I'm a single person"

And

@16:27 GMT peter wegrzyn

"Wife demanded a hug..."

--------------------------------

Curious domestic arrangements you seem to have.

Another typo, forget you were married or does she live somewhere else?

Sherlock - there's a mystery here...

Hospital data boob: Records left in bin room got binned

Greemble
Go

US Keyboard does - sort of...

Type Alt+0163 to insert the £ sign

Greemble
Big Brother

Fairly close

Except for the fine.

- It doesn't look like that was one. Or a statement required from the hospital, either.

I wonder how these records were destroyed ?- They're probably sitting in a skip waiting to be taken to land fill, still.

BB icon - He'd know how to look after records.

Carphone Warehouse whipped for cheap Jesus mobe ads

Greemble
Paris Hilton

Peer review

Yes, this would be a pain for the company involved as they'd then have to design a whole new set of adverts with the printing & distribution costs. etc to add.

Except for the fact that in the majority of (if not all) cases, the particular campaign has run it's course and been finished long before the ASA get around to delivering their final verdict.

BT to fibre-up another 114 exchanges

Greemble
Facepalm

Re: AC 15:41

Have you not seen graphs such as these?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.992.1

or

http://www.techtir.ie/book/export/html/1002307

Just how long is / was your line? I don't mean how far from the exchange you are, but how much copper there is joining you to it.

Sounds to me more like your connection had been throttled or your connection wasn't too good physically & electrically - Moved to a different tariff / ISP / LLU or did they repair / upgrade the equipment in the exchange? Oh, wait, newly upgraded exchange...

Greemble
Linux

Re: AC 09:01

It was the ISP that 'phoned me and pointed out the connection soon after the line was reconnected, I confess I hadn't noticed, due in part to only lightly surfing. A web page taking longer than 30 seconds to load I just assumed was due to general Internet traffic.

Plusnet was very good for customer service at one time, before they expanded too fast for the call centre to keep up.

Yes, there are lots of routers still that don't like that kind of thing - those supplied by ISPs, usually. Yes, I got one from Plusnet, just because I could & also no longer wanted to use the Smoothwall machine I'd build from old bits - too much electric being eaten.

Tux - because I mentioned Linux

Greemble
Boffin

Re: One More Time...

They're not upgrading so many exchanges to ADSL2 because they're upgrading more to FTTP.

While I'd agree with your overall post, there are one of two errors/oversights contained within it. Such as, ADSL2 and ADSL2+ are very nice - if you can make use of them. The problem being that the signal drops below the noise even faster and on long lines this is of little or no use. As a general rule of thumb, if you're not getting more than 2.5-3Mb/s then you'll see no improvement - less than 2Mb/s it's worse AND you'd have an unstable connection.

As an example, when I changed ISPs (TalkTalk took over Pipex & I ran away) the new bunch put me onto an ADSL2+ connection.I went from a stable 2.5Mb/s to a very flaky (several disconnections throughout the day & night) 2Mb/s, until I was switched back to ADSL. It returned to 2.5Mb/s & remains stable.

Second point - Lovely idea to charge by the speed. However, you just know that those on sub-2Mb/s lines would still pay the same as now, while the price would then rise with the data rate...

Injunction suspended: EU can buy Galaxy Tabs again

Greemble
Stop

German court - EU ban

Probably not make much difference, but I'll try to explain

The injunction was placed on the German subsidiary of Samsung - that is:

Samsung Electronics GmbH

Am Kronberger Hang 6

65824 Schwalbach/Taunus

Thus it was to prevent the import and distribution by the German company throughout the EU member states. The injunction did not apply to the Korean company and could not prevent Tabs from being sent from Korean directly to any of the EU states - except Germany, of course.

Even then, if a German wants a Tab, there's nothing to prevent him/her from crossing the nearest border (e.g. into France or Belgium, no passport required), buying a nice new Tab (in Euros - same currency) and then taking it home.

However, I'm sure the Daily Express/Mail readers would rather complain about the EU than look for the real story

Major overhaul makes OS X Lion king of security

Greemble
Facepalm

Delibrately mssing the point?

How exactly does running Windows on a Mac constitute 'upgrading' to Lion?

Besides, as you say MOST business software can be run on a Mac (by which I take it you mean OS X) - not all, though.

I also note you've omitted the games part of his question, too. - No, a console requires buying separate hardware to do what one PC already does better.

Bill seeks to decriminalise pianos in pubs and schools

Greemble
Headmaster

Kids with more than two parents

Some single parents and orphans - yes.

Also count step-parents, adopted parents, legal guardians, grandparents and foster parents.

- With some kids having a mix of all the above. Average of two may actually be an underestimation.

Teacher icon - well, it's to do with school...

Custard pie activist slams IPCC 'grey literature' habit

Greemble
Boffin

Peer review

This is the process used to decide is a report is correct or not.

In this case the peer review was lead by the author of the original report - Guess what... it was found to be absolutely correct!

BT earmarks 66 more exchanges for fibre-to-the-cabinet upgrade

Greemble
WTF?

Re:FTTC is my A***

Kesgrave Exchange? I guess you've not read this?

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/broadband/363349/bt-to-trial-gigabit-broadband

I wish BT would provide "no help" like that to my exchange...

Unless you're at another exchange out of Ipswich - Nacton or Waldingfield. In which case, no - you'll be in the final 10%

Mesh Computers goes titsup

Greemble

Agree fully - especially about the ICO

The only worry it raises, IMO, is for those that may buy a system from the 'new' company. That is, does the new company really exist or is it just a grab the cash & run operation?

Displaying false information should certainly ring alarm bells, especially if the company has done so deliberately. Granted, the info might be there from before the 'buy-out' & it just hasn't been updated.

However, if this is the updated version...

Remember Evesham and the extra cost warranties? For the sake of new & old Mesh customers, I hope my suspicions are unfounded.

Greemble
Pint

Observation / Comment from PC Pro By nickramsden

"On the Mesh web site terms and conditions page PC Peripherals do quote their company registered number(4070792) as required by law, although its prominence is questionable.

However the T&Cs immediately go on to say "We are licensed under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (Consumer Credit Licence Number: 154771) and registered with the Financial Services Authority (reference number 204572)." They also claim to have a Data Protection registration entry under number Z5750586. In reality all of those registrations refer to Santander Cards UK Limited. For them to say "We are licensed..." is extremely dishonest IMHO.

Also PC Peripherals [Limited] do not have any Data Protection registration entry of their own and, if they have "bought the database" from the Administrator of Mesh Computers Limited then they are already breaking the law. The Information Commissioner and OFT should take note, I think."

Pint for nickramsden - Well spotted that chap!

Might be worth looking into by El Reg?

Apple, Amazon trademark spat turns surreal

Greemble
Big Brother

'1984' by George Orwell explains the reasoning.

The filing also concedes that the Oxford English Dictionary defines an app as "[a]n application, esp. an application program," and that a store is, indeed, "a retail establishment selling items to the public: a health-food store."

And...

"Apple denies that, based on their common meaning, the words 'app store' together denote a store for apps,"

-------------------------------------------------

The term is 'doublethink'

"To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it... Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink." From the diary of Winston Smith.

Is there anything to find on bin Laden's hard drive?

Greemble
Black Helicopters

"sent to a secret location in Afghanistan"

So, they took the body to a US carrier where it could be dumped overboard and took the hard disks for examination to a place 'full' of the best cryptographers / hackers with the latest equipment.

Sure, that will stop anyone speculating what (who) they might have stashed away - NOT on US soil, where any inconvenient human rights / lawyers / newspapers may apply / be watching / asking too many questions...

US spooks to build 60 megawatt data center

Greemble
Headmaster

Proof reading?

"has about 100,000 of data center floor space and comprises over 1 million of total space."

- I'm sure it's a commonly used unit, but which unit of measurement? 100,000 miles? 1 million carrots?

"These machines pair the ThreadStorm processors, designed by Burton Smith and James Rottsolk,..."

- Pair them with what?

Although

It does make one wonder exactly what they need all this processing power for, though - considering they've not even finished their previous 65 megawatt Salt Lake project

Google location tracking can invade privacy, hackers say

Greemble
Big Brother

@M Gale - Very interesting...

I just tried it too (from a proxy address located in Germany, apparently) I got the same results as you...

Did you use the MAC address that was in the search box or did you put in your own address manually?

This had me wondering about tracking over the web, until I noticed the WLAN/LAN MAC address (as collected by Google/Apple/Skyhook/et al) will be different to the WAN/External MAC address (as seen/collected by any web site applet visited) - at least, they are on my router.

For all those that believe the government should do something about this, don't worry, they are monitoring the situation closely and if it looks as though this becomes too invasive, they'll take control over the information - and use it themselves.

Big Brother - you don't seriously think any government would not use such technology to keep tabs on it's citizens?

Feds subpoena Twitter for info on WikiLeaks backer

Greemble
Black Helicopters

Just to get this straight

The U.S. authorities have taken the correct legal procedures asking for a copy of all the 'tweets' from a specific account and asked Twitter to (presumably) identify the account holder.

Firstly, isn't the point of Twitter a means to send messages publicly? That is, not privately.So the 'Feds' (whichever branch is asking) just want to be sure they've not missed any - publicly - sent tweets. Not really invading much in the way of privacy there, I'm guessing.

Secondly, the 'Feds' want to know who the account holder actually is. "Do they realize I'm a Member of Parliament in Iceland?" Probably not, otherwise why would they be asking? Unless they are looking for confirmation.

Of course, how would Twitter know the account holder actually is who they say they are - does Twitter require some sort of verification?

Black helicopters - They must be up to something - this is probably a distraction or decoy operation...

Facebook riddled by 'my first ever status message' scam app

Greemble
Badgers

Really need a title?

The scammers don't care, they get a commission just for it being filled out.

No idea if the survey owners care or not - never filled one in to see what questions they ask.

BT fibre-up-your-exchange poll in 6-way Mugabe style pileup

Greemble
Stop

Re: infinity is a con

Let's see, presently having 4.5Km of copper line from the exchange, getting 1.5-2.5 Mb/s.

OR 4.45Km of fibre to the street cabinet with 50m of copper line to my house

- No, the signal doesn't travel very far on copper, so the less there is the better. I'd be willing to bet a large sum that the connection speed would be much greater than it is at present.

Yes, FTTP would be much better, but given the choice of FTTC or copper all the way, I know which I'd sign up for. - And let's be honest, really - that's the current choice for most of us for the foreseeable future, unless we have the cash to do it ourselves. I know I haven't got the kind of money needed for digging up roads & paving, especially living in town.

As for Liv Garfield's statement, I doubt if she'll be in the job forever and company policies change - but then, there's no date for upgrading my local exchange for fibre to anything.

British-born NASA astronaut Piers Sellers becomes OBE

Greemble
WTF?

"an American citizen -

- a requirement for any wannabe NASA spaceman whose birthplace is outside the US."

I would assume the requirement is the same for those born inside the U.S. too - or does the reg know something more?

Queen set to outlaw ID cards today

Greemble
Big Brother

The UK firewall thing

The security services no doubt have several backups already - although they're not going to be interested in the vast majority of those on it. These are the people who are volunteering to be watched, after all.

I certainly hope you're right about the firewall, though I'd not pin too much hope on any underling setting their minister straight - Remember the Digital Economy Bill? Look how well that turned out...

BB - He knows the value of data backups

Assange: Text messages show rape allegations were 'set up'

Greemble
Heart

Swedish police to have the highest suicide rate in Europe?

The suicide rate was a question - you understand this concept? Ask and then someone else answers, yes? Or is it that as you seem to know all the answers this is not something you ever do?

As for "pony up the data showing the Swedish police to have the highest suicide rate in Europe?" Aside from your references, who said any thing about the police? If you wish to know the relevance of this, maybe have a read of the URL in the post. Although the responses are not academically rigorous, some give an indication as to why I put forward the question.

I'm also quite aware that It doesn't matter if I, personally, recognize the definition or not - that was in answer to those that don't seem to understand why Assange doesn't appear very keen on "just going to Sweden to clear things up". Yes, it has cultural relativism - it was intentional, to be in line with what MAY be going through the mind of others when they read about this case. Note: before accusations of mind-reading, I said may be.

Besides, Assange might well be some kind of nut-job, I don't know that man so cannot say. However, given the way this case had been dropped, his application for residency refused and then the case to be re-opened, just as his site is under attack and the U.S. start making noises about spying charges - can you seriously blame him for feeling somewhat paranoid?

As for passing through whatever European legislative bodies - Not being a citizen of the E.U., I very much doubt if they'd take much notice of any workable, objective definition I put forward. So sorry if I disappoint, but I'll decline your kind invitation.

Greemble
Unhappy

Certainly much BS all over.

Although, it's not just in this thread, it seems.

He MAY be a 'rapist' but their definition is certainly not one I recognise. Consenting, then deciding to change her mind a few days later is not rape - maybe the Swedes have another word for it.

Go to Sweden & get these charges sorted? - I'd not be too keen either.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/12/02/when-it-comes-to-assange-r-pe-case-the-swedes-are-making-it-up-as-they-go-along/

Unhappy smiley - Does Sweden still have the highest male suicide rate in Europe?

Greemble
WTF?

Get him to Sweden - for what?

"The setup plot was all about getting him in to Sweden, so they could send him to the US."

If the U.S. wants him, why not just ask the U.K. under the 'hugely one-sided' (anyone remember Gary Mckinnon?) arrangements already in place here?

Somehow I doubt Sweden has any such arrangements with the U.S.

Ofcom proposes UK phone numbers prefix re-org

Greemble
Paris Hilton

Ofcom making sense

Don't worry, it's the same universe. Ofcom do actually come up with good ideas - occasionally.

However, they then tend to ignore or reject these ideas before putting into practice.

How GCHQ keeps tabs on FOI requestors

Greemble
Headmaster

What's the coalition going to do?

They'll deal with it after the next election, of course.

This is similar to the Spanish word 'mañana'

- often miss-interrupted as 'tomorrow', when it's more often meant as 'not today'

Greemble
Headmaster

what's the coalition going to do about this stasi stuff?

They'll deal with it after the next election, of course.

This is similar to the Spanish word 'mañana'

- often miss-interrupted as 'tomorrow', when it's more often meant as 'not today'

UK.gov insists e-petitions won't be ditched

Greemble
Big Brother

Any petitions taken notice of...?

Not just e-petitions, those that get handed in to Downing St all hand signed are ignored too.

These never worked, they just get binned as soon as the door's shut - don't know why people still try them, to be honest.

BB - because he wouldn't listen to them, either.

Except perhaps to note the names and addresses of those adding their names...

Apple in 873-page legal claim to word 'Pod'

Greemble

Dealing with lawyers

Groucho Marx had the right idea

http://www.mamohanraj.com/Amusing/warner.html

When are they going after Santa Pod Raceway?

I wonder how long before Apple's legal dept decides the fruit has to be re-named?

Apple inks Ping trademark deal with golf gear maker

Greemble
Go

I wondered about Bing, too

Until someone pointed out that it's Because It's Not Google.

If it's not true, it should be

Punters still puzzled by broadband ads

Greemble
FAIL

"making our predictions even better - and to confirm them in writing.”

And this will help, how?

Last time I changed ISP, the website told me I'd get 9Mb/s - I queried this over the 'phone as I was getting around 2.7Mb/s and was told again, yes it should be around 9M/s, maybe a little less but certainly close to 9Mb.

Signed up... and got 2Mb/s.

So, exactly what is to stop the ISPs giving false estimates?

By the time your line has finished it's 'training period', it's too late to cancel.

nigel11 has it right - no tie-in period & the bad ISPs will disappear

Microsoft dubs Windows Phone 7 'ad serving machine'

Greemble
Thumb Down

Cost / security

Presumably then, as an end user, any device that has this system installed will be free.

Or do they expect me to buy their 'ad-serving machine'?

I wonder how easy it is to send an advert to the device with their 'toast' system - who else might send desktop icons to it?

"Click here to renew your on-line banking, Paypal account" etc.