Posts by Sarev

Three things...

Three things I'd require before I'd touch this with a bargepole:

1. A clear EULA stating the data (blobs) belong to me (as the owner of the device upon which the data were generated) in perpetuity and a reasonable mechanism exists for me to exercise my right to be forgotten.

2. Also clear in the EULA, a statement of intended use for the data (tracing potential transmission of COVID-19 while there is still an outbreak), and that the data will not be used, shared, sold for anything other than that intended use. All harvested data is automatically deleted once the outbreak is determined to have passed.

3. The app is Open Source.

Whitelist == censorship == dictatorship

Why is it when I read this article, all I hear is Google saying "all your programs need to be authorised by us"? Then, later they will be saying, "oh, and by the way, we need a cut of your revenue".

£35M per person in London per year

You could hire a 1:1 ratio of private detectives to people and save > £25M a year. That suggests to me there might, just, be a case that the Met IT systems aren't entirely cost effective.

This can only mean one thing

Microsoft bring their patented estimation technology to mobile phone charge remaining indicators.

Obligatory XKCD link.

Discombobulate

Makes me smile every time I imagine Rowan Atkinson saying it. Especially the "bob" bit.

A question for The Register

So, we've had five articles about Elite: Dangerous thus far. When might we expect to see a review?

Riveting

The ESA live feed is truly shambolic. They've had 10 *years* to script eight hours of content... muppets.

P.s. Thanks for the xkcd link!

Weathering

It looks to me like a collection of more dense matter than the rest of the surface, which has clearly 'weathered' away, perhaps due to being bombarded by solar radiation. Presumably, this blob of more dense matter was inside the structure of the comet until it gradually got exposed as the surface around it was stripped away.

It'd make an interesting target for drilling - assuming it formed at the same time as the rest of the comet then it might be like the speck of dust that a raindrop forms around. Perhaps these dense aggregates of matter are the seeds of comets?

Routers

I'm waiting for them to target (ADSL) routers - but I suppose the majority use ash rather than bash so that'll hopefully mitigate it.

Windows had this back in the days of XP

It was one of the XP PowerTools. And yes, other OS have had this for decades. I implemented this feature on RISC OS back in 2006 and there were already several pre-existing apps that did similar.

Just what we need

The solution to TV being "stuck in the 70s" will no doubt include:

* a TV that you need to replace every two years

* requirement for another Apple device to actually control it

* piles of unskippable adverts everywhere (unless you pay more)

* a rental model for everything

* Apple keeping tabs on everything you do

Erm, no thanks.

Can I have that job?

I quite like the idea of being well-paid to sit and talk about how we can talk less. Even better would be to be well-paid to pretend to listen to people talking about talking less while "taking notes" (doing my own thing) on a laptop. Three jollies per year to all kinds of interesting locations. I'd subcontract the actual, mundane, talking notes and "doing stuff" to my lovely and well-paid assistant, of course.

Reminds me a little of the Gimp

I know, I know, you get what you pay for but this reminds me that I could write a book about all the shit things I keep finding in the Gimp. Yes, I could use Photoshop but they want to move us all to a subs model. F*ck that.

Presumably processed in the cloud...

I'm guessing the Siri function would be passing your audio (or some representation thereof) to the cloud in order to calculate what you've actually said, giving the potential for Apple to be tracking what you're asking Siri to do. I imagine that's just another seam of personal data to be mined.

Why 3000mAh?

Why do people insist on writing 3000mAh - why not 3Ah? It'd save all that extra typing - phew - I need a brew after that.

Photoshop

A photo worthy of Photoshop disasters there... must've taken, ooo, 20 seconds to create that one.

RISC OS Pico

If you like JSBeeb, then you're bound to like RISC OS Pico - so you can boot your Raspberry Pi directly into BBC BASIC.

Try BBC BASIC on your Raspberry Pi

Free download or pre-installed on an SD card for a fiver. What's not to love? https://www.riscosopen.org/content/sales/risc-os-pico

25 and 50GB free - erm, who?

The headline and subheadline state that Ubuntu can't compete with "Dropbox et al" and we've got their statement saying "particularly with other services now regularly offering 25GB to 50GB free storage."

Genuine question here from a Dropbox user who regularly hits the top of his free 6.25GB quota - who are these mythical(?) providers offering 25 to 50GB free? All I've found is:

* Dropbox - you start at 2GB free and earn extra by inviting other people

* Amazon Cloud Drive is 5GB free - but it's Amazon :(

* Google Drive is 15GB free - but it's Google :(

Oh, and I'd still be needing/expecting the desktop client integration on Linux, as per Dropbox...

Lights flash when your phone rings

Right, so even the lightbulb manufacturers are getting in on the act of syphoning their customers' call logs. Or am I the only one who immediately connects hearing "we have an app" with "we're grabbing as much data from you as we can"?

Commercial flight

Of course, the Senators will be permitted to continue using their phones on their private jets, but that's because rich people are better than us therefore deserve more freedom. Yes, what the plebs need is more laws to tell them how to better to behave like the unthinking cattle they are.

Good news!

You weren't KILLED by doomed GOCE satellite's fiery reentry

Er, I was.

Oh no, no I wasn't. False alarm. Sorry.

Ah, just like 3D TV

Massive increase in sales predicted? Bound to be a runaway success story then.

How about protecting metadata...?

It should be your right to not have third parties strip your metadata out of your works. If I upload a photo onto Facebook, they shouldn't be permitted to strip out my EXIF data (at least by default).

Donny Darko

I'd say it's one of my favourite sci-fi films - certainly one of those films I find myself thinking back to the most.

Zap on RISC OS

It's worth using RISC OS just to use Zap. Mind you, it's probably as hard as vi to the uninitiated.