Posts by Graham Bartlett
1617 posts • joined Monday 12th March 2007 11:03 GMT
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Re: Dunno -- there's a point
Oh yes.
If I had to pick one thing which exemplifies what's wrong with Android, I'd look at USB support. Suppose you want to get pictures off your phone, so you plug a USB cable into it. Pop quiz question 1 - what's the first thing you need to do on EVERY Android phone? Yep, that's right, turn off USB debugging and turn on USB drive mode. Pop quiz question 2 - how many users have EVER needed USB debugging? Yep, that's right, down in the low fractions of a percent. Pop quiz question 3 - is is possible to make your phone default to USB drive mode? Congratulations if you answered "no" for the Samsung Galaxy Ace.
This is a shining golden example of what happens when engineers decide how a user interface should work. You end up with a total disconnect between "this is what works best for the few hundred people developing it" and "this is what works best for the few hundred million people using it".
"The Angels Take Manhattan"
I'm so looking forward to the Weeping Angels doing the Busby Berkeley thing down a massive staircase. "Start spreading the news, I'm petrifying today..."
Re: Fixed.
OK, "should". Sure, I've seen some which don't. Still, I think that with physical access to the car, I can figure out easier ways to make it lose power...
Re: Do Intel (owners of McAfee, right?) do much business in vehicles these days?
The amount of business they do is a round number, for sure. Namely zero.
You'll find a few WinCE thingys in satnavs, radios and other in-car entertainment stuff. Even then though, it's mostly ARM. And since none of this stuff ever gets to talk on the engine/transmission CAN bus, they physically can't get to anything safety-related.
Re: Fixed.
Dead right.
All theoretical attacks WITHOUT EXCEPTION need physical access to the vehicle's CAN bus. There are so many other ways you can sabotage a car, even without getting inside the car (hint: wheelnuts), that this is utterly pointless. For precisely this reason of safety, a wireless CAN bus is not going to happen. Sure a wireless sensor network in a car may come about sometime, but it's not here yet, and only an idiot would assume that the automotive engineering industry wouldn't think about security.
Even then, all modern ECUs are designed to cross-check sensors and reject anything which looks bogus. If the vehicle speed sensors are reporting values which are not physically possible given the engine RPM and gearbox output shaft RPM, all modern ECUs will flag up the speed sensors as faulty and ignore them. I'm sure you may be able to find ECUs which don't do every cross-check they possibly could, but the investment in time and effort to make this happen with a car you already have sat in your garage is ludicrous.
Posted in Assange calls for help from … Quakers?
Re: @ Scorchio!! "a man wanted for criminal offences"
Rape and sexual assault.
One possibility is that both women were recruited by unspecified organisations to seduce Assange and then claim rape/assault. Another possibility is that they are both lying for their own purposes. And a third possibility is that they have both actually been assaulted by a sex offender who is now happily hitting the front pages of the papers whilst they're trying to recover from the damage done to them.
Consider yourself reminded.
Re: Ordered the 'B' flavour of Pi yesterday.
Oulu?! Went there back in 2007 in the middle of winter. Still got the fleece under-trousers which make me look like Mr Tumnus but stopped me getting chilled to the, ahem, bone. I guess you're now getting mozzie/midge blizzards instead.
Of course, me and my boss had not a word of Finnish between us. So in a quest for food, we stopped a random passerby. Initial question of "do you speak English?" turned into an in-depth questioning of exactly what kind of restaurant we wanted. In said restaurant, ordering reindeer got the waitress giving us advice on not ordering reindeer well-done because it just tastes of liver; medium-well is much better. It's somewhat embarrassing when you go to a foreign country and not only do you not speak their language, they may actually speak your language at least as well as you do.
Yes, the parka please. No, I don't want any salmiakki, thanks.
Re: As always...
Unless you're a femme already, although in that case I'm not sure "Cherchez la butch" is correct French.
Re: True Cost/Efficiency
"Huge natural supply of hydrogen": how's about the world's oceans?
Yes, I know you said "hydrogen gas". Thing is though, cracking water into H2 and O2 is well understood, and the technology to do it is a *lot* less hassle than the big dangerous refineries needed to turn crude oil into kerosene, gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, etc..
It would also be an incredibly nifty adjunct to any power station. Regular power stations assume near-constant load, and renewables have a hugely variable generating capacity. Neither of these will match the national grid's demands very well, so a hydrogen electrolysis plant would provide a perfect sink for any excess juice when the lights get turned off. Also, currently there's a lot of fun and games trying to match power demands, but if you can permanently run all your power stations at 10% (say) above the worst-case demand and instantaneously reduce/cut power to the electrolysis plant when you're hit by a peak, then life would become a lot easier for national grids.
The problem with hydrogen has always just been storage and distribution. If they've truly sorted this (and see Nigel11's comment above about energy density), then the game is on.
Re: "can soak up so much of the stuff ..."
This is why I'm on here. Not only did I not know about liquid hydrogen's density before, I also now have a nifty party trick which AFAIK no-one I know is aware of. :)
Re: ...wife Joan, who passed from...
'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!
Never mind that - why was she out of the house on her own?! Clearly she was bringing dishonour to her family by not having a man with her to make sure she didn't give in to the urge to strip naked and participate in a mass orgy right there in the street, which everyone knows women would do given half a chance. So running her over was socially responsible and an act of kindness for her family by saving them the trouble of killing her themselves.
Re: Optional
So long as they haven't bred, that's Darwinism at work.
Caroline of Brunswick and the Dey of Algiers
Lord Norbury: "She was happy as the Dey was long."
Re: I don't quite follow.
Wat?!
If he doesn't know there's this thing called assembly language and there's this thing called a manual, he's in desperate need of someone to give him a boot up the jacksie and tell him to sod off until he gets a clue.
Re: "at least 3 decades"
Plus "Drop the dead donkey" featured great writing, great comic acting, and bang-up-to-date context for jokes which they managed by filming each episode the day before transmission. Of course, after the success of DTDD we've had a number of similar programmes using the same formula, like... erm... oh.
Re: Does this mean...
Cue Blondie...
And you get in your car and you drive real far
And you drive all night and then you see a light
And it comes right down and lands on the ground
And out comes a man from Mars
And you try to run but he's got a gun
And he shoots you dead and he eats your head
And then you're in the man from Mars
You go out at night, eatin' cars
....
NASA should be worried.
I'm mildly amused by the right-hand image that El Reg captured. Is it just me, or does it look like someone should be saying "That's not a moon, that's a space station"?
Re: 1 completed, one to go
This isn't a U-turn. That would imply they had some moral direction, which clearly they don't.
Any communication medium?
Presumably this would use a baa code...?
Re: I am still wondering why
"Yet to be identified other"? It's Bart.
Re: Correct ingredients:
Amateur! The tendency to curl is easily mastered by turning regularly, as any fule noe. But yes, bacon without intraporcus injection is definitely the way to go.
Wild Wild West
Is there anywhere for a wheelchair?
Re: Take a letter...
If the person was 28 years old and you said you were going to put a gag on her or tie her up, then definitely yes. Seriously, that's all it takes.
Re: Missionary position, lights off and dont enjoy it
Too right. And lest people think this is a one-off,
* Simon Walsh, who worked for Boris Johnson, was fired for having two pictures of naked men. One was young but definitely over 18; and the other was wearing a gasmask. The CPS are pressing charges for kiddy porn in the first case and extreme porn in the second case.
* A woman using the pseudonym "Legally Bland" was sacked from her job as a social worker, because she attended BDSM parties and had some photos taken of herself. Never mind that the policemen she'd worked with turned up to speak for her at her hearing. She's currently fighting this (with the help of an organisation called BackLash) under unfair dismissal laws.
There's a bitter irony in these people having their lives destroyed at the same time as "Fifty Shades of Grey" is topping the bestseller charts...
Posted in How one bad algorithm cost traders $440m
Re: Gamblers deserve to lose
Oh, it's better than that. It's going into a casino, losing your shirt, and then asking for a break with the justification "I had a system but it didn't work".
How ironic
...that these days it's EL James at the top of the bestseller pile instead.
Bad writing
I will declare a certain interest in the subject matter of these books. And go no further. Whilst it's illegal to fire someone for being black or gay, people are dismissed on the spot after being outed for being interested in BDSM, or arrested for having photos of adults engaged in safe BDSM. Think of where laws on homosexuality were in the 50s and 60s, back when Alan Turing was driven to suicide, and you're exactly where BDSM is today.
I've no interest in reading them. Partly because I like well-written books, and when even casual readers are saying it's badly-written, I know I'll just end up slinging it in the bin out of disgust at crimes against the English language. And partly because if this is something you'd enjoy, then get the f**k out of the closet, get your hand out of your knickers, and go and actually do something about it. Fetlife, Alt.com, CollarMe, InformedConsent...
Or if you really must go for fiction, then watch "Secretary" instead. Still somewhat stylised, but at least it's well-written and well-acted.
All that said though, if a badly-written bit of fiction can blow the current bad laws and discrimination out of the water, then it won't be a complete loss.
Re: I for one welcome our new dignified Chinese expo overlords....
I'll take that on.
If it was just that there was no benefit, then sure, let it go. But when the result is actively bad for everyone, then it's time to plant the stake through its rotting heart.
Usually I wouldn't piss on the Chinese gov if they were on fire, given their usual disregard for human rights; but in this one case they're ahead of the rest of the world.
Re: virgin (but not the producer)?
Let's not label it "nerdy", because that implies lack of social skills but enhanced intellect. Let's just label it "misogynistic", "degrading", "moronic" and "juvenile".
And yes, that does apply to all the people involved in the souped-up-hatchback side of motorsport.
Forward planning
Hang on, let's get this straight. They spent $2.5billion getting this thing designed, built and sent over to Mars. And they're only just now thinking about planning their landing procedure?!?! Anyone else think this is a bit f*cked up on the planning front?
Posted in Jackson’s Hobbit becomes a trilogy
Re: hmm
Sure it is. It also happens to be one of the funniest things ever put on film.
"the existence of this burns unit is heartwarming"
I think the problem was excess warming in other areas.
Re: Downes wishes they'd think again.“SD looks just as good on a PC screen,” he said at the event.
The limiting factor on yer average camcorder is not its HD-ness. Shaky hands and dodgy lenses are not improved by upping the pixel count.
Re: Dystopian
Too damn right!
Although I got myself Dan Abnett's "Eisenhorn" in an airport for some light reading, and was pleasantly surprised. WH40K tends (naturally enough) to fixate on the fighting forces. But there has never been a roleplaying equivalent of WH40K (unlike the WH Fantasy setting), so it's always been pretty light on how the background of how the society works. I wasn't expecting more than a disposable flight-occupying read, but Abnett actually did an extremely good job of it.
Posted in HTC disses Dr Dre by diluting Beats deal
Re: a shit pair of headphones
So why do you need things like a headphone cable and stuff? If it's just about how it looks, then make it just about how it looks.
Ferraris look great. But they also happen to have superb performance, and their shape is largely dictated by their performance. A Ferrari which looked like the most amazing car ever invented but which got beaten at the traffic lights by Segways would not be considered a great idea. Why should other functional things like headphones be different?
Posted in HTC disses Dr Dre by diluting Beats deal
That's the bunny. Headphones optimised for people whose idea of "awesome sound" is the stereo in their Renault Clio turned up full.
Re: British TV drama is NOT crap, merely rarer than hen's teeth
Nothing much clever and novel about Outcasts, unless you truly have no interest in sci-fi in book form. The only novel thing was the dreadful script, lousy plotting, cereal-box sets, and pacing that made glaciers look like Usain Bolt.
Re: Looking in the wrong places
Although sadly the BBC decided that despite being the best home-grown TV that year (not just my opinion; it won awards), "The Fades" wasn't worth a second series. Go figure.
Re: British TV drama is NOT crap
Hustle, Case Sensitive and Spooks are "period dramas"? Eh?!
For that matter, the US has also produced period dramas such as Rome or Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Or there's Game of Thrones, which is near enough mediaeval period drama.
Posted in Russians in audacious stratobeer mission
Stating the obvious
"Whatever the case, the beer cans were actually empty"
Well, natch. These are Russians.
Posted in Darth Vader is a pansy
Re: "Whitney Houston’s foghorn cover of Dolly Parton’s funeral-favourite I will always love you"
A guy I worked with at the time said, "there's a gob looking for half a ton of cement".
Posted in Darth Vader is a pansy
Re: t-shirt
Another domain name proving that punctuation (or at least whitespace) serves a purpose.
Re: Where's the science?
"Including the Creator in science, suddenly it all begins to fit together."
But not in ways that match reality. Remember Galileo and his telescope? Bit of a problem back then, when evidence disproved what the Church was teaching. And the current Pope himself thinks it was completely OK for the Church to arbitrarily imprison Galileo and suppress his work because of the consequence of the Church being seen to be wrong.
Closer to home, how's about morning-after pills and early abortion? Down with that sort of thing! Except for the unfortunate fact that the vast majority of fertilised embryos get flushed out on the next period or otherwise miscarry early, proving that there's nothing sacred about a fertilised embryo. Something the "pro-life" religious folk don't like to tell you, right there.
Irreducable complexity! Except that it's easy to show that you can either start with something less complex and each small improvement gives survival benefits. And equally that you could start with something complex and a small change to something *different* (possibly even less complex) will also give survival benefits. In all cases quoted by creationists, the route is identifiable.
Cue the Metallica
Messenger of fear in sight,
Dark deception kills the light.
...
Drain you of your sanity,
Face The Thing That Should Not Be!
(That's the closest logo to metal horns.)
Given that they have multiple tentacles
... how would you tell that a squid was walking a bit bow-legged?
Re: $310million for assets and 310 staff. but how much will those staff get?
How much? Zero if they're not also shareholders. That's how a company works.
But at least they shouldn't be at risk of "right-sizing". If you buy a company for its intellectual assets, you'd have to be pretty moronic to fire those assets.
Re: silly questions...
I believe you'll find there's this thing they call a "parachute". Chap called Leonardo Da Vinci invented it, so perhaps it's still a bit of a newfangled idea...
