Posts by Ian McNee
403 posts • joined Friday 2nd March 2007 00:17 GMT
Cautioned?
One would have thought that he could have used the defense that he was simply emulating the author. I don't recall Alan Sugar getting nicked for being a very public w@nker. There is no justice...
Shock-horror: Lord Sugar found to be pompous ar*ehole...
...and in other news, boffins discover ursine lavatory in arboreal area
Truly shocking...
...probably the kind of company that hosts their critical apps and data on Windows servers!
Will someone please, PLEASE think of the children!
Posted in Boffins devise early-warning bot spotter
Statistical methods and pronouncable domain names??
Oh no! xkcd.com will be blacklisted! My life is now meaningless!!
LOIC more interesting...
...being the London Organ Improvisation Course (http://www.loic.org.uk) featuring Otto Kraemer, presumably a top improviser with his...ermmm...organ.
*titter*
Double smug mode: defence in depth
As the article notes, this is a relatively rare occurrence, a critical 0day for Firefox. But it highlights an important security principle: defence in depth. In this case the vulnerability it either partially or totally mitigated by a number of other factors: (i) a secure OS like Linux; (ii) the ability to browse without your pants down (NoScript, AdBlock, etc.) and (iii) not using administrative logins for day to day usage.
Too right...
...but that truth was also a lot more painful for the tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians slaughtered by British and American military forces in these illegal wars. And for the millions still suffering the ongoing consequences.
Actually: how to be genuinely open and make it a success
Try reading the article: this is nothing to do with Firefox. It is all about an excellent Open Source developer producing a genuinely open service to monetize its investment.
At the same time they are exposing the "open" hypocrisy of Google by creating an app store framework that is: (i) usable by everyone; (ii) essentially browser & platform independent and (iii) standards-based. In my book that makes Mozilla very brave and worthy of our support in this endeavour.
Stick it to the man Mozilla!
Posted in Ballerina canned for flashing her assets
Anschluss 2.0??
You've not heard the rumours? I think I read it on Wikipe...oh...
Not a bloody Yank though, so yes <shame> should have engaged brain before typing </shame>
Posted in Ballerina canned for flashing her assets
But check out Wiener #350...
...none other than the Web2.0rhea bitch himself: Zuckertwat. Perceptive these German rags, even if <gross-national-stereotype> they have no sense of humour </gross-national-stereotype>
FoTW?? FTW!!!!!
Sorry but that's a bit lame for FoTW. At no stage did our correspondent from Tesla:
(i) call into question your parentage;
(ii) include a sentence that if read aloud on daytime radio would be more *bleep* than wordiness;
(iii) type so furiously as to lose all control of grammar and spelling.
I rest my case.
Posted in Google pops warning on Popbitch
Ever read my post?
I didn't actually mention Popbitch...bitch :-p
Posted in Google pops warning on Popbitch
Oxymoron...
"edgy" + "celebrity gossip"
Now... "utterly pointless crap" + "celebrity gossip" - perfect demonstration of tautology
Burn them, burn them all, NOW!
Holy Shit!
How long have we been waiting for VM (and it's predecessors and other ISPs) to do this? And surprise-surprise it coincides with VM trying to extort another buck from it's customers - but that is just coincidence of course.
Oddly enough as a VM customer I've not received any communication about the introduction of these letters. The only thing we ever get (e-mail or snail-mail) goes along the lines: "You're our customer and you're GREAT! We LOVE you! We at VM are GREAT too! And to show how much we LOVE you we want you to pay us more money for <insert pointless service here>!" *yawn*
</cynicism>
Posted in Memory shortage could spike PC prices
Doh!
That'll learn ya for buying those cheap alcohol-soluble DIMMS! But even so, why are you wasting good alcohol by pouring it into your bloody PC?? Some people...
Private browsing??
So...you don't want your *mate's* wife to see that you've been browsing donkey porn but you're OK with your own wife knowing the explanation for your sticky keyboard...hmmm...
Just a shot in the dark but I suspect the inadequacies of private browsing may be the least of your problems!
Mines the one with the dark glasses and wet-wipes in the pocket...
Gotta love that line!
Oh...it was just "bad communication" when M$ tried to f*ck the standards bodies up the arse over OOXML! We just didn't understand that Ballmer & Co. were simply showing their affection by attempting to shaft everyone else - how silly we are!
All these years, I wish I'd realised how much good Redmond had to show the world and felt the love *sigh*
<solitary_tear> *sniff* </solitary_tear>
The (non-)ubiquitous Nexus One
Actually Google sold very few phones - that's why they killed it. Just about the only company selling fewer phones was Microsoft with their unloved KIN.
<patronise>
What you mean is that lots of Android phones are being sold (which in itself generates zero revenue for Google). As these are smart phones they are likely to add a few web-clicks to sites that generate ad revenue for Google.
What Google is probably aiming at in the long-term is a variety of Android-based devices that are dependent upon Google's search, e-mail, cloud, etc. displacing regular PCs and laptops - thus generating a lot more revenue for Google.
</patronise>
The phone is *NOT* a peripheral in this case
Mike is quite right here, the dilemma is that the phone is the primary device that Android is there to make work, just as a regular Linux distro makes a PC work.
Imagine if your DVR skipped the last five minutes of a film it was recording because the Linux distro it was running decided that it was more important to download and install some software updates - you wouldn't be pleased.
I know this is not a direct analogy but there has to be a "socially acceptable" way forward, as quoted in the article, to bring Android back into the mainstream. Yes, Linux does need Android, but Android also needs Linux and the OSS community, in fact it wouldn't exist without them.
Missing the point...
Read what is written and engage your brain rather than your patriotism to analyse it.
In summary Mr Page says:
(i) the F-22 is an amazingly impressive if pointless and extortionately expensive bit of kit that even the Pentagon has decided it cannot afford;
(ii) the Eurofighter is, in comparison, an unimpressive if pointless and extortionately expensive bit of kit that most of Europe is now deciding it cannot afford.
Overcooked broccoli??
That truly is cruel and unusual punishment! Say it's not so! Will somebody please PLEASE think of the children!
I for one welcome...
Perhaps the peculiar antenna is in fact an extra-terrestrial mind control probe and Steve Jobs is a pod person spearheading the forthcoming alien invasion!
Meh...
I thought: "I'll be fair to this Jobs character and his messianic phone: I'll check out his speech on the Apple website"
Of course when I got to Apple's website it tells me that my already-Quicktime-capable browser needs the genuine Quicktime to see the messiah perform. The link takes me to downloads for Quicktime for Windows. So...no Quicktime for Linux and Apple's website won't allow my OSS Quicktime plugin show me the messiah in Firefox.
Ah fuck it then. I'll believe what everyone else is saying about the iPhone 4 if Apple won't let me view their content in the way I want to view it. I'll stick to my unattenuated Android phone. Fuck you Apple!
Posted in Cyberpower Ultra Scylla six-core AMD PC
Gaming PC =/= Quiet PC
Let's be honest about it: this PC is designed as an affordable gaming rig. To that end it has value-for-money grunt with the CPU/GPU combination, a bit of economical bling with the case and some minor gamer kudos being mildly over-clocked.
It's not that hard to design a near-silent gaming box but it probably wouldn't sell to the people this PC is aimed at as it would be designed around a much more understated case: cases with a thermal/airflow design aimed at low noise + good cooling only have holes where they need to let air in (usually front/fanless/covered by door or baffling to prevent direct sound path) or out (usually rear/fan directing sound away from user). No side fans and just quality efficient/quiet 120mm fans (Nexus/Scythe/Noctua) running just fast enough to cool components sufficiently. All this means there's no point in having those LEDs as you wouldn't see them!
So while our chap from CyberpowerUK may have a point about ducting it certainly is not necessary to have lots of fans with a case like the bling-free Antec Solo.
Posted in Cyberpower Ultra Scylla six-core AMD PC
Don't forget...
...an empty washing-up liquid bottle and a pair of Val's old knickers.
On a less serious note, aside from Steven's valid point about the cooling, it's nice to see a sensible custom-built PC reviewed with quality mainstream components and coming in under a grand rather than the usual water-cooled multi-GPU behemoths that dim the lights in your house when switched on and require an extension to your mortgage to purchase.
Posted in Ten Essential... Budget Compact Cameras
Flash? No, not THAT Flash...
As these happy-snappers are likely to pocketed for use on nights out a sample shot with flash in low light would have been useful - it's also an area that produces a lot more variability of performance between brands/models as it's tricky to do well with a small lens/sensor/flash.
Oh and a landscape too next time? Surely Vulture Towers can stretch to bus fare and a sandwich to get the intrepid Mr Cole away from the ceramic frog in his back garden...
Posted in Scroogle resurrected once again
Try reading the actual article rather than the one in your head
Scroogle uses feeds that are necessarily *not* laden with ads as they have to pay for their bandwidth. And far from throwing a "hissy fit" Daniel Brandt just got on with the job of finding a way of continuing to provide this service to those who want to use it. WTF have you done for the rest of us??
If Google believed Scroogle was hurting it's revenues in anything other than an infinitessimal way you can bet they would have made sure they were closed down forever, one way or another.
Posted in Gateway DS50 Core i3 desktop PC
Nostalgic Desktop...
Nice to see on the benchmarking on page 2 that the Gateway has more "Memories" than the older Dell and Fujitsu! Impressive accumulation of recollections in such a new machine!
And for that matter, Mr "USA IT, where it *DIDN'T* all start"...
...check out Babbage, Lovelace, Whitehead & Russell, Gödel, Turing...and a host of other non-American mathematicians, scientists and engineers who were laying the foundations of computing while IBM were still making typewriters.
And you didn't capture the bloody Enigma Machine either! Even Wikipedia is slightly more accurate than the Yank/Hollywood version of history.
And it gets worse...
I have an Android phone - love it, best mobile device I've ever had by a long way, but it's association with Google leaves a bitter taste in the mouth that just seems to be getting worse and worse.
Aside from the meaningless "do no evil" mantra that Google spouts they do say something very meaningful about Android: that it is Open Source (eventually at least). Part of that meaning to me is that the development and functionality of the OS is accountable to the user/developer community.
Thus as I have a handset made by Motorola running an Open Source OS connecting to Orange's mobile network. What part of that package allows Google to determine what software I will or will not run on my device that I have paid for?
Jon Oberheide is right to point out the pontential security issues with this but at least as important is the question of Google overstepping the mark again in seeking to snoop/control on-line activity. I'm no fan of M$ and Apple but at least they don't try to use Open Source as a fig leaf for their monopolistic activities.
Yeah VMs...they'll never catch on...
Kudos to DarkStranger and Mr Brush.
Products like Oracle's VirtualBox (free for personal use) make it so straightforward to play with guest OSs it's hard to argue with this option. As Mr Brush suggests, play around with dual-booting for any length of time and you will bork your boot loader - something that will make most people feel like they are a weenie first time around.
And once you're happy with your fave Linux distro do a native install and run your old copy of Windows as a VM for your legacy requirements that can't be satisfied by Wine.
Finally, if you're trying Ubuntu/Linux Mint for the first time I suggest Ubuntu and one of the "Perfect Desktop" guides at http://www.howtoforge.com - for an extra hour of effort you will end up with Mint-like functionality and you'll have learned a few Linux essentials about configuring your system and installing packages.
A clueless old chump writes...
FYI a small group of self-congratulatory Web2.0rhea w@nkers does not a "major browser" make.
Yeah Farcebollox (et al.) can be a diverting bit of froth occasionally and as a clueless old chump I'll keep it open on a tab that I can't see until I choose to look at it. Like most sane human beings I will cope with not having live pointlessness in my peripheral vision as I use my browser.
Oxymoron...
"work in social media"??
Call me an old fart but I've always thought of work as an activity that either (i) produces something tangible, or (ii) provides a beneficial service to a third party.
As for Frock...Fluck...Phrack...or whatever it's called since it rose without trace, all I can say is: meh.
Drive replacement?
Good round-up, two small points though Tony: with the large percentage of geeks in the audience it would have been nice to see you get busy with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers to see how easy it is to replace the drive in these units.
Also a price/performance/robustness comparison with a bare external caddy with A.N.Other 500GB 2.5" drive would be useful next time.
Posted in Google geek slammed over XP exploit
Not so simple
A lot of medium to large organisations with significant numbers of end users doing their jobs on Windows boxes use Remote Assistance to support them. It would be a brave sysadmin who simply disabled the Help & Support Centre. Even the more nuanced forms of mitigation suggested in the disclosure would not be deployed without some serious testing in a support environment that relied significantly on RA.
More Mountain View Proprietary Tech!!
C'mon Google! If you're as open as you say you are when are you gonna share this light-speed tech under the GPL? I for one am not holding my breath!
Very poor!
Not one reference to jetpropulsionmeetsvolcanicdust-based boffinry! Boo!
Actually...
...the short answer is: yes (probably) - most AM2+ mainboards will work with AM3 CPUs, though as Snobol4 says you may need a BIOS upgrade. Check your mainboard model+PCB revision+BIOS version on the manufacturer's website.
The way is works with AM2/AM2+/AM3 is that newer processors may work in older sockets but not the other way around.
Large payload?
Maybe I'm being a bit picky but are you sure a paper aeroplane is capable of supporting a 4x4 with a camera attached to the dash?
Posted in El Reg April Fools 2010
Wha...
You're saying that this is true: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/01/microsoft_open_source_gm/ ???
*faints*
Now where is that inter-dimensional portal? I've clearly strolled into the wrong universe by mistake...
So size does (anti-)matter?
One thing is for sure: the Tevatron is now facing stiff competition!
Come back...
...when you've started taking your meds again and post a proper flame :-)
Darwin Award!
What to say? You run an *upgrade* with a *beta* on your *main system*? And then you scream about change management? Oh wait...is my calendar wrong? Is it 1st April?? Uh...no...
You obviously don't work in a production environment where the phrase "change management" has any real meaning, in fact I'd be surprised if you have any technical experience in an IT environment at all. If you do then I pity your end 1u$3Rz - because that's what they will be with you looking after their IT systems.
Free advice: next time you want to play with the latest OS (beta or release) swap your hard drive for an old one and install it on that or install Virtual Box on your live system and install it as a VM. Your next support call gets charged.
Linux should be for everyone, not just us geeks
Nigel: there's always the Ubuntu Alternate distro if you want to remove the "commercial" parts that you don't like or you're free (in every sense) to use Debian if you want to be pure of heart.
Don't diss the mainstream Ubuntu distros for doing just that: going mainstream to popularise a quality Open Source OS among non-geekdom. If this happens then maybe one day us geeks can give up our Virtual Box Windows VMs as Linux gets much broader support from software and hardware vendors.
WTF?
Including those Sta-Prest nylon outfits?? Surely not! :-o
And presumably...
...the hats would be like the ones they wear on Thunderbirds - suitably shaped so that the hydrogen atoms simply bounce off the shiny sky-blue plastic coating. Sorted.
Hard Data
Yup it's true: the Open Office 3.2 32-bit Debian package is a whopping 139MB - I mean talk about bloatware! Whereas M$ Office 2007 is so svelte and neatly trimmed that it fits on only 3 CDs! Oh...erm... *cough*
As for the inclusion of AbiWord (and presumably Gnumeric as with Xubuntu) it seems a sensible compromise as an install of Open Office is only a couple of clicks away. And I would imagine GIMP was removed as it's fairly processor intensive, overtaxing the Atom.
p.s. Andy: nice to see the merits of Umbongo are growing on you at last :-)
Meh!
Google employing fleshies to talk to other fleshies? It's not April 1st is it?
Next you'll be telling us that Nexus One owners are making voice calls instead of simply plugging the device into the USB port behind their left ears for direct brain to brain digital communication! Preposterous!
Exactly!
And also it's not like:
- Google have another allegedly open source OS in the pipeline that they might want to strong-arm vendors into supporting rather than the main-line Linux kernel
- Google are fashioning said imaginary OS to coincidentally support their Mountain View Chocolate Factory ad-opoly money hoovering/printing machine.
As if!
