Posts by Barry Tabrah
137 posts • joined Wednesday 16th January 2008 12:30 GMT
Fun with robots
You might wish to check out Katy Levinson's talks on the defcon website. It may save a lot of pain and heartache. If nothing else it's entertaining. For example, velcro is your friend. Battery plus C-clamp equals fire.
Note: It's been a while since I listened to the talks so I cannot recall if they are completely safe for work.
Translation
"...After the browser ballot screen was reinstated in Windows, downloads shot up by 150 per cent to approximately 50,000."
There are approximately 30,000 people every day that will click on something they know nothing about because it popped up on their computer screen.
UV filters
"...a file that will play in suitable software no matter where you bought it from."
I'm guessing that doesn't mean another region though.
It's a piece of a Mars Bar wrapper
Now stop messing around and get back to making sand castles already!
Let's test Siri
I'd love to see what Siri has to say when posed these questions.
Also, wouldn't this test discriminate against lawyers, politicians, and other similar lifeforms?
More meaningful statistics
I'd like to see the stats comparing corporate to personal. I'm not sure if it's possible to do this via IP address ranges or other means but browser usage is heavily influenced by usage environment and these statistics would be more meaningful if we can see the difference between choice (home users) and policy (corporate users).
The problem with ideal world thinking
There are many organisations which cannot operate without the dreaded three: IE, java, and flash.
When you work in an environment in which your systems need particular versions of Java, and these are mission critical systems that are no longer supported by the original vendor (who may or may not still exist themselves), the idea of removing or even patching Java is a non-starter.
The best we can do is lock out external devices, have draconian AV policies, and filter all website traffic. It's not a guaranteed catch-all but with luck and close systems management we can avoid disaster.
I, along with many others I'm sure, have sleepless nights over these issues. This story is going to haunt me for the next few weeks I'm sure. I think I'm going to need a drink.
And thus..
Coffin, meet nail. Nail, this is coffin. You're going to be spending a lot of time together. In a deep, dark hole. Covered with dirt. Where nobody will ever see you. It's been fun.
Migrating spam
Step 1) Open spam list
Step 2) Substitute 'hotmail' for 'outlook'
Step 3) Business as usual
Posted in Win a monster laptop
Not sure about the processor
Just checked the official Samsung website and apparently this puppy runs at 2.00Hz.
Re: Am I missing something?
Informing the user never works. Send them ads for Elf Bowl 4 - the Santinator and link them to the cleaning tools and they'll install them in a flash, practically clearing the infected PCs in a day. Then break early for a pint.
Re: Another option...
A solid state free fall sensor may be more reliable than mercury and should theoretically be easy to construct. Something like a small spherical weight resting on a microswitch in a tube.
Posted in Acorn Archimedes is 25
Two abiding memories
Atelier - an art package, written in basic.
If you pressed the reset button you lost any basic program you'd written. If you pressed it again then you got the program back.
No AV but...
I bet every one of them has at least one, possibly four, registry boosters installed. And Google toolbar. And Google Chrome, even though they don't use it.
Actually they probably still have McAfee 30 day trial installed from when they bought the computer.
Posted in ITU adopts two ultra-high def TV specs
Staring deep into my liquid crystal ball
I see televisions plastered with the number 8. Namely 8K compatble and 8 megapixels. Although they shall only be 4K televisions.
In 5 years time
Touch based interfaces for desktop PCs were so dated and cheesy.
Oh, wait a minute. Did I say 5 years?
faildangerous
A launch is preferable to a no-launch, so I suggest a simple timer override set to launch after all other measures should have launched.
What is the difference between "neither agree not disagree" and "not sure"?
If light is too quick
Why not use sound to determine range? It has the added advantage of deterring pets.
Also, why not put the sticks / LEDs / markers in the garden rather than on GAGA.
Stop stealing our abbreviations!
I am sick and tired of abbreviations being hijacked for the latest fad. We fought hard to establish our abbreviations. Many computer companies died for them ... Tandy, Tiny, others beginning with T.
It was bad enough when politicians stole it for Political Correctness, now our own industry is stealing it again.
Well no more! This is where we stand and fight for our abbreviations! We shall establish a standard set, and all others shall abide. Are you hearing me Reg? Don't think I haven't noticed your headlines awash with the latest abbrevicreations! You're on notice as well.
Easy fix
Just remove compatibility with the iPhone 4S. Then it'll be exactly the opposite of Siri.
Bad news about Office
In my opinion the one thing that could have launched wide scale Windows 8 tablet use would be the option of a metro-optimized Microsoft Office. I hope that Microsoft are considering developing some Metro office viewers at least.
Definitely got a text
I got a text last week from O2 informing me of this. Not sure what the percentage of customers that didn't are, but some people definitely did get prior notification. In fact, I seem to recall getting a notification before Christmas from O2 about this happening as well.
Posted in Fans goad Valve for Half-Life 3 gen
Okay, I need to get out more
... but until I get out more I'm spending my life playing computer games. More Half Life!
Next on the agenda
Okay, now let's go after the fat Tenor with the mustache! Infinitely more annoying than excessive volume levels. Who's with me?
Versions compared
Chrome 12 and 13, IE9 and Firefox 5.
It would have been interesting to see how IE8 and Firefox 3.6 fared, as there's still a pretty decent user base for those versions.
Liability
If the Carrier IQ software is compromised and the vendor fails to address the vulnerability, will the vendor be liable for any data loss or fraud? After all, this is software loaded by the vendor that is not necessary for the operation of the phone.
Windows 8 tablets for business
Sure, consumers aren't going to buy a Windows 8 tablet. I mean, why would they want to? The kind of thing that the average user wants to do with a tablet doesn't require Windows.
But business on the other hand certainly will. That's the market where the Windows 8 tablet will really appeal. And that's where I think Microsoft should be aiming. And they'd better have a Windows 8 enhanced touch-friendly version of Microsoft Office ready to rock on release date. Because THAT will help sell those tablets like hot cakes.
Posted in 'Apple's iPhone 4S ate our SIM cards'
It's not just the 4S
I'm getting the same issue on my previously mostly reliable plain ol' 4, so it looks like it's most likely a software issue. And shoving tape all over the SIM card doesn't make a blind bit of difference.
We know aliens use light
All abduction stories seem to feature bright lights, and based on that scientific observation all aliens must be using bright lights at all times. I know that sounds technical, but that's what makes good science!
One area I'd gladly give up my freedom
The main crippling point for most home PCs is malware removal. The software most users run, commercial and shareware, cause their machines to be slower and more unstable than the malware they're supposed to protect them from. And that's the last thing we need on our mobiles.
Once again I believe that Apple's restrictive marketplace is the better of two evils. Sure, we're tied down to what Apple deem "suitable". But at least the devices remain responsive and relatively safe.
I believe that Android developers should offer a similar approach, particularly in vetting the apps before they make it onto their marketplace. Let those that seek the freedom to twist their devices to their will do so with impunity, but give the mass public the safety, security, and performance that comes from a controlled and regulated marketplace: locked down with the option of opening rather than the reverse.
Posted in El Reg in SHOCK email address BLUNDER
Security Protocol
Thank goodness I only gave you my garbage (see HotMail) email account. At least you didn't post my password, which is unique to this site and highly secure (note to self, must change password - probably add a 1 on the end. Yeah, that'll do it)
Posted in Future Firefox to slurp updates silently
Not punching through, working around
Chrome is running as a user and is only installed in the user folder using user rights. This is the decision they made to allow for rapid updates. Sure, it breaks standards a little but it keeps the security layer intact.
Chrome does offer an Enterprise installer that installs to the Program Files folder but sticks with UAC for updates.
Posted in Future Firefox to slurp updates silently
Get around UAC? Kind of missing the point here
'The Firefox team is testing a "Windows service approach" to get around the UAC issue; the service would install an optional component that would automate the update install without giving the UAC prompts, Bondy said.'
Chrome gets around this by running with user privileges in the user folder. What Mozilla are suggesting seems to punch a hole right through a rather important security layer. One small coding bug now makes the entire Windows platform vulnerable to malware, all to prevent a pop-up every 6 weeks.
Something tells me that this would NOT be the preferred solution for Enterprise. The preferred solution for Enterprise would be a pre-packaged MSI update that they could control the deployment of.
Am I the only one to feel a sense of dread?
Java innovation invariably means broken apps. I'm not saying that Java shouldn't evolve, just that talk of evolution in Java usually gives me a sense of dread.
Posted in Brits not keen on 3D, reveals poll
Why 3D detracts from the experience
Films are still being made because of 3D rather than being enhanced by 3D. It works best when we don't notice it, like CGI. A good 3D movie should never wave 3D at the audience and should really never project much beyond the screen.
Microsoft is irrelevant in this argument
It's the OEMs that are going to have to allow disabling of this feature. Many organisations rely on older OS models and the arguments for keeping XP as an option are already pushing OEMs towards backward compatibility.
This requirement for legacy support from medium and large business is why I'm not worried about this. Any decent OEM is going to include an option to disable this just to keep the business.
Statistically it makes sense
Why do I get the feeling that the Government will have no problems in obtaining statistics that this is the best use of funds?
Needs touch friendly MS Office
It doesn't matter how it looks or how it runs, if people can't use Microsoft Office on it effectively then it's going to flop. Office is going to need some simplified interfaces for working on the go.
Also, there's definitely going to be a market for Office add-ins such as a Survey designer so that tablet-wielding survey takers can tally up trends on the go. I've lost count of the number of tablets that are gathering dust because people couldn't use them this way.
Sandbox a priority
They'd better get the sandboxing right or this could punch a rather large hole in their phone's security.
Android has an opportunity here
Trying to get anything added to the iPhone or Windows phone is near impossible, and we won't even mention Symbian. However surely it should be relatively trivial to persuade Google to add a minimum security option to Android without too much effort. If you could prevent the phone from dropping to a lower encryption level, particularly in an environment where the phone never leaves a particular country, then that's all for the good, right?
Why are we still using decades old protocols?
Email protocols were created in the days of implicit trust, where spam wasn't a problem. Isn't it time that we created a more trustworthy protocol which would nip the whole spam issue in the bud?
If all emails were signed for example then any spam that made it through would at least be traceable to source, or if signing was compromised could be blocked by ISP blacklisting.
Posted in Desktop Linux: the final frontier
Why Linux is not popular for home users
It doesn't look like Windows, it doesn't run Microsoft Office, and it doesn't run iTunes.
Remember that I'm talking about your average home user. They are using Windows at work. They've used Windows for years. It's friendly. It's familiar. It's what they know.
You can't just chuck the Microsoft Office disk into a Linux machine and be using it 5 minutes later.
You can't download iTunes from the Apple website on Linux.
Basically if the end user can't do something on their own within 5 minutes then they're going to go running back to Comet to replace it with something that can. And they're certainly not going to go crawling around web forums in order to learn how.
Aimed at the wrong market
They need to make Windows Phone 7 attractive to business, and then market it as a business phone. If Microsoft can make WP7 a viable alternative to RIM then they'll sell them by the bucket load.
It may well be worth them investing in building a WM6 virtual machine for the WP7 to allow legacy applications to run.
If they keep marketing it as a consumer device then they've already lost the battle.
Yeah, but...
I haven't got any friends.
Nice idea in a lab
but how adaptable would a system like this be in a living environment where mobile phones, DECT phones, furniture, etc. don't remain stationary and could all potentially affect the EM field.
Not worth my time
I'm not going to waste an hour of my time with an update designed to placate the paranoid. I'll be waiting for something more substantial before I update my phone again.
Intensive research for this movie
Bloke in pub: You hear about that love bug computer virus that happened a few years ago?
Hollywood hack: Hey, that's a good idea for a movie.
Research complete.
The joke's on them
We've got stacks of old kit that we can replace broken and damaged kit with. You break it and you might end up with something that's even older. Just because you break it don't mean there's any money to replace it.
