* Posts by Matthew Collier

113 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Oct 2007

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Apple didn't engage with the infosec world on CSAM scanning – so get used to a slow drip feed of revelations

Matthew Collier
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Re: Notice how quite Samsung is?

I have an LG OLED C9 connected to the internet and it doesn't show me adds. I think there is an option for a service to extend it's functionality which you can choose (or not) to subscribe to (I didn't), which might then induce ads, but I'm running:

YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, iPlayer, ITV Hub, Channel 4 and 5 catchup, without seeing ads (except within YouTube, obvs...)

without ads. I do keep meaning to setup a PiHole though, for all non-PC devices to run through...(belts and braces)

HTH!

Lenovo spits out retro ThinkPads for iconic laptop's 25th birthday

Matthew Collier
FAIL

Funny (but sad) review...

This:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxQGhqF60zE

His presenting style cracks me up (lots of swearing (but it's funny)), but he's accurate in his condemnation of this new Thinkpad.

As he says, check out the 1080p 16x9 screen :( and the crappy U CPU (check out the CPU Benchmark score, it's pretty shocking!)

And again, as people have said, no proper indicator lights, no hardware buttons etc.

Such a missed opportunity. I was waiting to see the specs, I've decided to buy an old (2011) W520 and upgrade that for relative peanuts in cost (and will run a modern linux pretty damn quick (don't need any games)). I really like the old keyboards, this is the newest old Thinkpad with a reasonable sized screen that you can buy, sadly... :(

(I bought a fairly recent E550 too, but it's crap compared to the "proper" Thinkpads... :( )

Probably going to have to spend some serious money next time to get a decent keyboard (via a "gaming" laptop).

It's not just your browser: Your machine can be fingerprinted easily

Matthew Collier
Stop

I did scan the doc, though I admit I didn't read the whole (wordy) thing completely. It seems to me that they use in order of magnitude:

1. WebGL

2. Javascript

3. Canvas

for their method to work. It seems to me that WebGL is the main attack surface here? When WebGL came out, it sounded like a bad idea to me, so I switched if off on all my Browsers and machines, and I have to say, in all the years since, I have run into one single website that needed it (an interactive "how to solve the rubik's cube site, which seems like the kind of thing it was actually designed for!).

Honest question, what is WebGL supposed to be needed for, because I can't really see a good reason to have something running that exposes such a low level to your system, via your browser? It never seemed like a good idea to me when it was new, and it seems worse now, and seems not to be worth having it turned on, based on how little I seem to have missed it.

Obviously, you can't lock everything down completely, as then you have quite basic browsing capability, though, the TOR browser is surprisingly usable considering, but you can do your best, as much as the time as possible, to try and keep the wolf from the door!

The paper also doesn't state what differing underlying operating systems makes to the equation either (that I could see in the paper)?

Matt. (with an uncommon OS and a lot of Firefox features turned off, and a lot of privacy/security extensions in the browser, plus lots of O/S and network level stuff on top... (just do the best you can and hope! ;) ))

WileyFox Swift 2: A new champ of the 'for around £150' market

Matthew Collier
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Spark

Just a note to say that whilst lots of people talk about the Swift (1 & 2), I bought the Spark for my daughter in the summer, and for £89 I can't believe what an amazing phone it is! If you don't care about the absolute latest greatest features in each area, but just competence in all of them, I can't imagine how you could beat the Spark for VFM! (it has dual SIM + MicroSD but I haven't tested it with both SIMs in operation).

Seems fast and responsive in most regards, the pictures it takes seem decent (if not the best, but, did you see the price!? ;) )

The CM OS plus the price/feature set was the reason it got bought, so that I could lock down the apps better than vanilla Android. Seems worth that alone for a fully working CM OS build!

HTH!

If the Swift 2 is £60 better than the Spark then it'll also be fantastic VFM!

Will US border officials demand social network handles from visitors?

Matthew Collier
Stop

Re: Simple answer

Me too! I stopped going to the USA after 9/11 when the current stupidity at the border started. I *do* have a reason to visit (family), but I refuse to go there and the reasons keep multiplying!

I see my family only when they come to a slightly more "free"* country, i.e. here in Blighty.

It's a sad old world, but there are so many better places to go and visit than the arse states, so when I've exhausted good places to go visit, perhaps I'll re-consider... ;) :D

* - increasingly less by the day, sadly...

Music's value gap? Follow the money trail back to Google

Matthew Collier
Facepalm

Re: bitch and moan...

RE: "i've wanted digital multi-track HD audio for over 15yrs now (i'm in my early 30s), and it's been entirely possible this whole time. THEY JUST WON'T GIVE IT TO US."

Err, for a long time, that was me too. However, for a few years now, they *have* been releasing multi-track "HD" audio, so I'm not sure if you missed it! ;)

First SACD (some of which some new releases are still taking place), but more commonly now, on BluRay (both in "Video disc" guise but now also in "Pure Audio" guise - and also, various on-line services as well (I'm quite partial to Qobuz).

Sure it was slow in coming, and the range of content is limited, but it is there and growing by the day! (thank god). The only real problem is the lack of reasonably quality of description of what you're buying, generally, by the vendor, and the odd charlatan that is selling "HD" when it's either not or barely (and/or not willing to define what "HD" means...)

HTH!

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

Matthew Collier
WTF?

There are adverts on YouTube!!???

I noticed this at a friends house recently, and he's running Windows with Chrome.

I didn't realise!!! (how long has this been going on? (I've been running Firefox on Linux with AdBlock and all the other usual suspects for quite a few years now....so...))

Remember Netbooks? Windows 10 makes them good again!

Matthew Collier
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AOA110L

Acer Aspire One (AOA110L, Atom N270, 1GB RAM, sloooow 16GB SSD) from 2009 here (paid £140). Came with crappy Linpus and new lease of life with Lubuntu (10.04 LTS, then 12.04 LTS then 14.04 LTS on it (Xubuntu was waaaaay too slow to be useable on this, IMHO)).

In use as portable device for actual work (but of course, a lot of web browsing too) continuously since then (makes a good spare machine for running Spinrite and Clonezilla on too).

1GB on Linux is enough for most "average" tasks, TBH, and you're not that likely to run that many concurrent tasks on an 8.9" screen anyway (I've got /tmp & /var to tempfs (RAM drive) too, so the SSD is still going strong after all these years (and speeds *buntu up nicely too!)).

It's useful to know that W10 may actually make it usable once more, if you're in Windows land, but I'm never going back... ;) (on any machine)

Thousands of UK drivers' details leaked through hole in parking ticket website

Matthew Collier

Why would Debt Collectors turn up at your door? Yes, *if* it went to court and you *lost* and you *then* didn't pay, eventually, Debt Collectors would turn up.

They don't turn up for an unenforcable contract which has been alledged and not proven in a civil court. (ignoring the non-civil stuff).

My advice (based on expereince), is to ignore the trolls compeltely, rather than appeal to their "appeals" service.

Apple deliberately wiped rivals' music from iPods – iTunes court claim

Matthew Collier
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Re: "Unexpected files"

Not true. Not wanting to be a pedant, but to clarify, back then, I was buying muisic in MP3 format from MP3.com and other sites now sadly defunct, that were standard, non-DRM'd MP3as (as you can't DRM MP3).

You are probably correct in that most *major* labels at that time hadn't yet started to allow the sale of MP3s of *major* artists but to say you couldn't legitimately buy any music in standard MP3 format, is very wrong.

When I realised that not only were files you bought from iTunes (way back then) were DRM encumbered, and that the actual file system was pissed around with to make it difficult to access your music without iTunes, that was the first and last Apple product I bought (and will buy).

Call me old fashioned but I like standard and open formats, using standard/open (ideally) protocols, that don't enforce when and how you access content that you own. I don't and won't put up with being controlled in this way, so Apple had me as a customer, that lasted the duration of one product (as it turns out, one pretty shitty iPod G3). Never again (this goes for Amazon with eBook also and anyone else of that mold).

This flashlight app requires: Your contacts list, identity, access to your camera...

Matthew Collier
Happy

Re: security intermediary

It already exists. You need root and install the Xposed Framwork, then the XPrivacy plugin. You can randomise just about everything the apps want to get hold of, or, provide a specific "fake" (IMEI, UUID, Contacts, Networks, MAC addy, Location etc. etc.).

Very good, use it all the time :)

Banks lob sueball at Trustwave, Target over breach

Matthew Collier
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Trustwave...again...

*Now* I remember why the name Trustwave rings a bell....

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/14/trustwave_analysis/ - Trustwave to escape 'death penalty' for SSL skeleton key

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Mozilla-Asked-to-Revoke-Trustwave-CA-for-Allowing-SSL-Eavesdropping-545114/

Volunteers slam plans to turn Bletchley Park into 'geeky Disneyland'

Matthew Collier
WTF?

e-petition

Seems like the e-petition could do with some more signatories:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/59686

Ubuntu? Fedora? Mint? Debian? We'll find you the right Linux to swallow

Matthew Collier
Happy

Coupla Points....

The proprietry nVidia drivers, on Ubuntu and Kubuntu at least, are offered to you, as a choice, by the hardware wizard, once booted up inside the O/S. Obviously, the installer goes with the standard open driver to start with and you are offered the choice of a change (which of course, you can choose not to, and even if you do, can also choose to change back if you wish).

Adding Reops, again, you do not need to drop to the command line to do if you want to use the Software Package GUI that came with your distro to do it that way. You can do it either way, which ever you prefer.

Kmail2 was a disaster zone in the re-write from Kmail1->2, but they have pretty much nailed it, finally, on KDE 4.95/4.10 (which will be the default on Kubuntu 13.04). In fact, I would say they nailed KDE4 overall, finally, on 4.9.5/4.10 also.

Kubuntu, is not "deprecated" or in any way anything other than going from strength to strength. The fact seems to be that people didn't understand that all that changed was, Canonical stopped paying the wages of the single dev they had employed (J Riddel), but he continues anyway (the rest of the Kubuntu team were "community" anyway/already). So now, Kubuntu is in the same place with regards to Canonical as Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, i.e. support other than financial, from Canonical (and all with their very good points).

Kobo Glo illuminated e-reader review

Matthew Collier
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"Don't understand how people can read book on an LCD tablet display, e-ink is better in every respect. Just no way you can read on a tablet in anything like normal daylight, either the backlights are not strong enough, or the reflective surface means you spend most of the time staring at your own face (not pleasant, in my case...)."

If you compare the two screen technologies side-by-side, there is no comparison! I can't beleive anyobdy who has done this would ever opt to use an LCD for reading for any length of period, and if it's dark, or very bright, forget it on an LCD! (it's possible, but it's not "nice")

"Also 10 hours might be good for tablet, but e-ink battery is measured in days, not hours. I use my Kindle every day but only charge once a month."

eInk devices (when not also being used for other stuff like listening to music, a la early Kindles), are measured in weeks, not days, or hours!

Matthew Collier

Some points

This is the Reg with a supposedly "techie" reader base, so:

1. You don't have to register it *at all*, if you don't want to (SQLitre is easy for the one liner you need to acheive this)

2. Battery life. Even with approx 1-2 hours use per day, and lets say , 2 hours per week with the light on, my Glo is at 25% charged, and I only charged it the night I bought it, 3.5 weeks ago. Try getting anywhere near that with an LCD (and on holiday, you might just not have easily available, a power supply at the right time).

3. Tablets and LCDs are nice for what they are good at, but IMHO are not a patch on eInk for reading. Eye strain on LCD, especially when reading in a dark room, I find quite uncomfortable. The Glo in the dark is nothing like that, and perfectly comfortable for me.

4. Page turns are quick and I can't say I've noticed the "all black" full page refresh, nor the ghosting or other problems, so am happy with the 6-page refresh.

As an aside, my 9y/o child also likes the included Chess, Sudoku and simple drawing software as well.

I've also had a play with the Paperwhite (3 weeks ago, in Waterstones), and thought it was very similar indeed to the Glo. It has a finer grained control of the light, and it's an advertisers wet dream, but I would say they are largely, the same. You can of course buy Amazon books if you don't want an alternative DRM encumbered Kobo book, but you would need to strip the Amazon DRM (which is something I would do regardless if I had a Kindle, for a useable long-term backup).

I choose to "sideload" books regardless (and would also, even if I had a Kindle), so that I am in control of my library, not the device manufacturer. +1 to Kobo for supporting epub (and Mobi) and -1 to Kindle for not supporting epub!

HTH!

Matt :)

Kobo Mini 5in compact e-reader review

Matthew Collier

Re: 2gb? But only 1 for books?

What it's using that 1GB for is a) it's OS b) it's recovery partition (so that you can always reset it back to factory defaults, no matter how broken it might be from a software perspective) c) space for it's internal workings (SQLite DB, image files for book covers, config info etc.).

As someone else has already said, you can activate via WiFi if you want to, no PC needed (and you don't *have* to activate it at all, if you don't want to ;) )

Calibre and ePubs sideloaded, FTW :)

Barclays Online Offline again

Matthew Collier
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Re: Do they want to keep customers?

"That AJAX site is already flaky in secured copies of Firefox and Chrome."

+1. I can't lower my security enough on Firefox to get their pile of steaming crappy AJAX heavy site working! (and nor should I have to).

The old site worked fine, for years, on all the same computers I use at home and work, but now works on none (a lot of the problems when the site is "working", seem to revolve around the crappy response times from the analytics site they have outsourced to).

I too have had to resort to the mobile site, and not use some of the functionality I used to have via the old, main, useable, working site.

I lodged a complaint and got back a very poor, generic response which didn't really deal with any of the specifics of the complaint. I must follow that one up by letter.

Bunch of arse, will probably look at dumping them after 22 years, once my mortgage with them is finished (current deal too good to dump/switch). Finding any bank not as crap, is the challenge though!

Ten... Ultrabooks

Matthew Collier

Worthless/useless netbooks?

Well, personally, for portable computing, I don't think the netbook can be beat. You can easily take one plenty of places I wouldn't ever take a £1000 "Ultrabook" (like, in a rucksack or tail pack on the back of my motorbike), nor would I let the kids take an Ultrabook *anywhere*.

Just because some people prefer something more than a netbook, does not devalue the netbook, just different kit for different uses (and I don't think you can really compete with the size weight and price of the netbook, unless you really do need a portable desktop replacement).

Personally, I think for pure portable web surfing, a tablet is tops, for all round useage and portability, a netbook, a full blown laptop for portable desktop replacement and/or an Ultrabook for the same, but more portability/less weight, but with much greater cost, and of course, a desktop for permanent convinience and high-power processing requirements and/or, anything else you want to do.

Right tool for the job! :) (if you don't want/haven't got space for a desktop, then IMHO, everything else is a compromise of one sort or another...)

And: "No one wants to use desktop Linux on a tiny screen with a cramped keyboard and even worse trackpad. They just provide and poor overall experience. They're not "good old" anything. They are and always were a bad idea. Just a way for OEMs to keep volume up during a recession."

Well, apart from myself, I can think of quite a significant number of people I know who would disagree with you! :) Linux runs well on netbooks, but I note, XP just about, and Win7 is like wading through treacle! :(

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS: Like it or not, this Linux grows on you

Matthew Collier
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Kubuntu 12.04 here...

...on an old Core2 Duo T5250 (2 x 1.5 GHz CPU) with 2GB of RAM. It absolutely flies, and KDE4 (at 4.8), finally seems ready for prime time! (finally KDE 3.5.9 can be put to bed). I haven't found anything that doesn't work yet (all hardware out of the box and initial install, all working fine on this Acer 5920 lappy).

I tried Unity but I really didn't like it, and have stuck with Ubuntu 10.04 on the kids pc, and may go either Cinamon, or Mint when the time comes for that one. Kubuntu will now be the default desktop for this house (once again), now they sorted out the unholy mess that earliy KDE 4 was.

Anyone not liking their Ubuntu options, really should give Kubuntu a try! :)

Matt,

Commodore founder Jack Tramiel dies at 83

Matthew Collier
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Re: Headed Commodore and Atari yet forgotten

>> "And Tramiel was a two-hit wonder."

I guess, technically, he was a "four hit wonder", if you want to argue the toss (PET, Vic20, C64, Amiga). All four were cutting edge at their time, and prolific (and relatively speaking, cheap). There was no competitor to the PET, the ZX80 and 81 were blown away by the Vic20 not long after they came out, the Spectrum wasn't a patch on the C64 (the BBC-B was about similar or slightly better, for non-gaming, but much worse for just gaming), and the Amiga was probably on par with the ST, but a huge hit and sold plenty.

>>"None of them saw the need to sell their existing product *AND* build on that success sustainably".

You don't think a 12-13 year span for Commodore, counts for anything (selling 10s of millions along the way)? The razor thin margins though does explain why they didn't last (along with the commoditisation of the (IBM) PC (clone) through the mid-late 80s and largely complete by the mid-90s).

Until the (affordable) PC came along (in the late 80s/early 90s), many small businesses were running themselves using Vic20s, then C64s, then Amigas! (not to mention the thousands of PETs installed in schools, as far back as the very late 70s).

US shuts down Canadian gambling site with Verisign's help

Matthew Collier
Stop

Re: Outsourced

"Probably because they still own us after we hired them as cannon fodder in the second world war with a load of our gold and all of our US-based international interests...

Oh, and because our government has been spineless and suckup for decades now.

It's the 'Special Relationship' that the UK 'enjoys' with the USA"

How exactly do they own us? If you mean the loan we have been paying off, it's now paid off:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4757181.stm

Also, wasn't the "Special Relationship" recently re-defined (and downgraded) to "Important Relationship"!?

If it were down to me, there would be not much of a relatoinship at all, and I would mirror all US travel and Visa entry requirements they setup for us, just to be fair, you understand! ;)

See how they like having to pay for a "pre-authorisation", having to register that on a website (and by no other means), being denyed entry 'cos they said something about us we didn't like, and us taking their picture and their fingerprints when they get here... :D

As far as I can see, the yanks are taking the piss, trying to enforce local law on a foreign company, and the sooner ICANN looses it's grip, and the US looses control of the root domain, the better!

Demand for safety kitemark on software stepped up

Matthew Collier
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SecureSuite is a phishing site, no? ;)

It sure does act like one. Succinctly put here: http://ambrand.com/2006/09/06/is-securesuitecouk-a-phishing-scam/

Halifax once had the temerity to tell me, the first time I encountered SecureSuite.co.uk, was that "it is actually Halifax Secure", which is clearly bollocks! I too, like in the link, did most of those checks, and came to the conclusion it was probably a phishing site, and had trouble believing Halifax that it wasn't (in the end, they convinced me, because they managed to find a link, buried deep in their own website, which linked to it).

I doubt things have improved much, and I notice that all the major card companies seem to use them these days.

It's still shit though!

A preview of SOPA: Web shut down before my eyes

Matthew Collier
Thumb Up

NoScript +1

Indeed. Why would you want to run scripts on sites that don't need it, routinely anyway? I had to turn scripts on, as at first, I couldn't see what the "blacked out" page looked like. It was still working until I did that (I just wanted to see what it looked like).

The Commodore 64 is 30

Matthew Collier
Unhappy

So many C64 geeks in one place...

...so, who can tell me where I can get a "proper"*, Competition Pro joystick to replace my trusty old one? ;)

In my school, almost everyone had a C64 (I previously was lucky enough to have also had a VIC20), a few had Speccies, and about one or two had BBCBs (I never did know *anyone*, with a BBCA!)

*- none of that poor imitation/USB rubbish!

Netgear debuts first next-gen powerline network kit

Matthew Collier

Indeed

"Now that would be a piece of journalism..." When I last looked, there was very little information about how IEEE1901 compliant kit was the same, worse or better than the older kit. *If* any kit out there doesn't have this problem, it would be nice to know it could be recommended, guilt-free, so to speak, where PLT is the only or best solution. C'mon Reg, how 'bout it? :)

Ten... mini hi-fi systems

Matthew Collier

Cambridge Audio ONE+

The Cambridge Audio ONE+ is possibly the best product in this category, IMO, but doesn't even make the list. It's also got the best combo of inputs (USB, SD Card, iPod/Phone dock, CD player, FM/DAB radio). It's got an AUX input as well, IIRC, so you could also add, my personal favourite, a Squeezebox.

Anyone looking for something like this should IMO, check this out first (I've no interest in such small systems, but my Dad got one and loves it!).

HTH!

Apple said to threaten legal action over Steve Jobs doll

Matthew Collier

True if...

....the Chinese company has a US presence. If they don't and choose to ignore any suit, they could just sell the thing from their, presumably, Chinese website, and spend nothing on legal costs!?

Am I missing something? ;)

WHSmith launches e-book reader rivals to Amazon Kindle

Matthew Collier
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According to the WHSmith website.....

...non Touch will be £89 and the Touch will be £109. I popped into a WHSmith in the City (of London) at lunchtime and they have them to sell now. Official launch on Monday, when they will have them on display/to play with.

I might just jump in (not willing to support a locked down platform, so have been waiting (and the prices keep on coming down too).

Like most (all) other eBook readers, they act as a standard USB mass storage device, so will work fine with Linux. You'll need to install their app (Windows/Mac/Android/iOS) though, to install any DRM bought content, like the stuff from their (Kobo's) online store.

Matthew Collier

That may be so....

but perhaps there is a niche market for people who don't want to give money to a locked down platform...

Besides, with that thinking, nobody would ever try and innovate in, or enter, any established market.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro Qwerty Android smartphone

Matthew Collier
Thumb Up

X10 Mini Owner here...

...and my experience of the old phone is, 4 days battery life, sometimes nearly 5 (power sapping features off when I don't need them). Yes, I don't use it much for the web, and mainly as a phone (which it excels at!), but I don't know any iPhone owners who can make a whole day on one charge! I even know people who after charging their iPhone overnight, need to put it on charge, when they get to work!!!

I bought my X10 Mini for it's size, and competance as a phone, and it's the best phone I've had. The new phone, looks to me, to be a moderate upgrade but basically similar, and I'll be happy to buy one, if/when my current one dies. I've also "sold" 4 or 5 more when friends have seen it in operation (and we all love it's size (you can actually just fit in in a jeans money pocket!!).

New flash RAM tech promises 99% energy drop

Matthew Collier

Title is misleading

I think that Flash "RAM" as per the title, isn't actually RAM, but Non-Volatile RAM, NVRAM (also known as Flash memory/storage).

So, we're comparing with Flash storage, not with RAM (SIMMS/DIMMS etc.).

Got a non-iPad tablet? Weirdo

Matthew Collier
Stop

@Jedidiah: Couldn't agree more

Why is it deemed acceptable that to access your own content, you have to jump through hoops, and convert to stuff into formats Apple deem to be acceptable (and use their tools to boot). Why isn't there more outrage at Apple telling people how they will format their content as they say so???

My DVD/BlueRay ripped collection and TiVo archived recordings, are many TB, and are in formats where quality is great on the "primary" playback device, a large HD panel. But, because it is in a *standard* format (H264/MKV), it can be played on all my devices (none of which are Apple), with no conversion. This is very convenient, especially when travelling.

Why would someone want to cede this control and convenience to someone else? I just don't get it!

(the guy should have done his research before buying the thing though!)

Cambridge Audio Sonata NP30 hi-fi streamer

Matthew Collier
Thumb Up

Not quite

Full disclosure first, multiple Squeezebox owner here. However, contrary to the article, the current SB, the Touch, does indeed natively support 24bit/96Khz (and the Squeezebox Server supports 24-bit/192Khz files, which it downmixes before streaming to the SB). It also has a Web frontend (in fact, the server with Web frontend, is free, even if you don't have any physical devices, and there is also a software "SoftSqueeze" player that runs in Java). There is also an iPod like "Controller" for hand-held, colour screen, high-speed navigation/control including artwork. There are iPhone and Android apps, some free, which don't have multiple second delays to the controls.

I like CA stuff, I have some myself, but this player seems a bit rough and ready, and expensive, for this market (though they should do well, as Richer Sounds, being the only distributor, don't sell the Squeezebox, nor push the Sonos much (I was in there last week enquiring about Digital Streamers in fact, and it's currenty not their thing)).

The mention of the WEP key made me check CA's website, it does support WPA, so that's alright then ;)

Good luck to CA though, anybody that helps get the message across that Digital Music playback doesn't have to revolve around Apple, the better!

Man reveals secret recipe behind undeletable cookies

Matthew Collier
Stop

mvps.org...

...hosts file already blocks this.

Netizens mobilise to recover precious stolen guitar

Matthew Collier

@AC 12:01

...have you got the message yet?!

Dolphin Browser HD

Matthew Collier
Stop

But...

....Opera are compressing the stream on the fly for mini, which also means they have a very good insight into everything you do via the browser.

Even if you don't care about your privacy, I'd not trust my security like that to someone else!

BBC Freesat tech switch zaps HD channels from 'old' boxes

Matthew Collier
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Nothing wrong with S2...

...as has beeb said, it's part of the Freesat HD spec, but the stupidly short notice, on a Blog only, is crap! Not only did I not know about the change, but having an "older" Panasonic Freesat HD TV, I just got No Signal messages on the BBC channels.

Of course if they had actually planned the release, they could have made announcements on the channels in question in the run up, warning people of the upcoming changes, and what actions they might have to take (a channel rescan in my case did nothing, I am also already on the latest firmware. I had to find via the 'net, that I needed to do a full factory reset (and spend ages putting all my settings and added non-Freesat channels back in)).

BBC, I am a supporter, but you are your own worst enemy these days! :(

What is UltraViolet™ and why should you care?

Matthew Collier
Linux

RE: Catch?

The price, the lock-in, the DRM, the central hosting/management, presumably, the lack of wide platform support, etc. etc.

Glad to be proven wrong, but, I doubt I need to worry about that! ;) :(

UK.gov 'falls short' of legal obligation to enforce EC cookies Directive

Matthew Collier
Unhappy

What do you mean, remember....?

....those bad old days never left. Now, on top, you've also got sites which display no conent at all, until you allow half the planet to run Javascript on your machine...

Google rolls out fix for Android security threat

Matthew Collier

What?

"I think I have not put a damned thing on the calendar out of fear of being exploited. But, prior 2011 (IIRC), Google made it MANDATORY that the android phone and the google contacts be sync'ed up."

If you don't want to use Gmail, contacts, Google calendar, or in fact, *any* Google service, you don't have to! If you do, then you're outsourcing your privacy and security to them, you have the choice.

My Android is bent to my will, the only interaction it has with Google is the Gmail logon I created the first time I turned it on, just to enable the Market, with no personal details, linked to nothing else and not used.

That's the thing, whilst Google is almost as bad as Apple, but you have the options to not give them anything you don't want to.

Garmin intros roadcam-fed satnavs

Matthew Collier

Nice fluff...

...but the Traffic receiver that you can already get for Garmins, does this job fine without the camera feeds to back it up. It works very well (as long as you are not "blessed" with a still buggy firmware that causes shutdowns with the traffic add-on), without the extra distraction, and the service is FM based (so reliable), and reasonably priced at £30p/a.

I keep hearing that dedicated Navs have no future, and I couldn't agree less - some of us find the focused, single purpose unit extremely good at what it does, which is way better than any "generic platform" based similar version. For touring across Europe, on a pre-planned route, taking in specific roads/tourist hotspots, for decent routing, for good screens in direct sunlight, for waterproof usability (I use my Garmin on the motorbike and in the car), coupled with the range of mounts, bluetooth conectivity, and travel apps, I think at the non-basic navigation end of the market, navs will be with us for a long time yet (with or without traffic cam feeds).

(I certainly hope so, anyway!! ;) :) )

Ofcom refuses to interfere on powerline networking interference

Matthew Collier
Unhappy

DAB reception is so patchy....

....how would anybody tell the difference? Why would people complain (more than usual) about poor DAB reception, when that is the norm?

Oddjob Trojan keeps banking sessions open after victims log out

Matthew Collier

Because Trusteer Rapport...

....is well known for it's high quality....right?

German Foreign Office kills desktop Linux, hugs Windows XP

Matthew Collier

What "Linux Desktop" would that be then?

I don't know which desktop they went with, but to make that comment, you must presumably know? Which one was it?

I would say that perhaps Gnome might confuse a full dullards, as it is a *little* different, but KDE is pretty damn similar, so is XFCE, and LXDE, and of course, XPde is extremely similar (as it's designed to be).

You can't away from the fact that OpenOffice isn't 100% compatible, but the latest version is very close, and I have met very few people who use more than the very most basic feature set.

Huawei to gift underground coverage to London

Matthew Collier
Thumb Down

What about the phones ringing though?

OK, so most twats will realise quite quickly that calls are probably not possible, but it won't stop all those bloody phones ringing constantly, often loudly, and often with some loud, annoying, shitting "tune"?

Worse, in many cases, the culpret won't even be *able* to turn it off, even if they wanted to...

Personal mobile phone blocking bubbles whilst travelling on the tube, for all, soon, I predict! ;)

EU agency calls for clear consent on indelible and zombie cookies

Matthew Collier

@ Charles 9 & AC @ 18/02/11 23:20 GMT

Steve Gibson at GRC.com wrote his own eCommerce system for the purchasing of Spinrite, and he has managed to do it without cookies (by including an encrypted session key as part of the URL)

It can be done, but people who write these systems choose not to take the hard path, but the quicker and easier path (which is no surprise, they are trying to make money selling their system, and time is money...)

Personally, I remember the web before ads, and it was a better place, and I have no problem paying for things I value, but I realise, that is probably a minority view. Also, people often forget, ads are pointless to someone who doesn'/t/won't click on them anyway - why bother displaying something you're never going to click on?

Matt :)

Virgin tempts Brits with fee-free TiVo

Matthew Collier
Unhappy

S1 Lifetime Service +1

I too still have a (hacked) Series 1 Tivo, connected to my Sky box, and it's still the best bit of consumer electronics kit, ever, by a long way. My wife is far more upset than me about the loss of the service, as she uses it far more than me, but after 10 years, you really do take for granted all the stuff it records automatically for you (I've got about 50 season passes and wishlists, most of which were setup years ago), both via long forgotten season pass/wishlists, and via it's "I think you might like this programme" thing. I also think the display a list of up comming programmes by type/name/category/other criteria you select, is fantastic.

I am now investigating replacing it with Myth, to record both the Sky channels, and Freesat HD, because one thing is for sure, I don't want anything to do with Virgin Media, and certainly not at those prices, nor do I want a locked down TiVo, now I've got used to archiving off stuff I want to keep.

Here's hoping someone clever in the UK TiVo community, can firgure out how to slice in an alternative EPG supplier before June!

TiVo calls time on ageing set-tops

Matthew Collier
Thumb Down

Arse!

Not that I was ever naive enough to believe they would actually honour the lifetime subscription I paid for, but.....arse! (there is still no product on the market that is anywhere near as good, IMHO!)

O2 to raise broadband prices by up to 27%

Matthew Collier
Thumb Up

Another satisfied customer

Got my letter today, phoned Customer Retentions, gave them the opportunity to think again, before I go out to the market, mentioned I'm not *that* heavy a user, which they confirmed when they looked, but I told them I could be, as I could always start using peer-to-peer ;)

Result, rather than £12.77 going up to £14.50, now gonna be £12.00, with explicit agreement that I stay on the Unlimited, un-shaped tariff. Service has always been great, never had to call them, I get a rock stable 6.6Mb from an 8Mb connection, 1 mile from the exchange, LLU in a home counties small town, with very low latency. Very happy.

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