Posts by The BigYin
2779 posts • joined Tuesday 25th March 2008 12:38 GMT
Page:
That VIC-Pro...
...is just a Cybernetman ZPC-GX31. See?
http://www.cybernetman.com/en/all-in-one-pc/Keyboard-pc/ZPC-GX31
Good luck finding a public outlet other than Commodore through.
How about...
...less websites that are simply a PR stunt?
If the government does not already know what red tape is driving industry nuts (due to the various lobbying groups), then the government is incompetent.
If the government actually wants to ask the great unwashed, then this site is completely the wrong way to do it and they won't get answers they want. e.g. the public might want the ridiculous brake/swerve exercise from the motorcycle test scrapped; the public won't give to craps (or possibly even know) about strange sales regulations and what have you.
Actually, here's some red tape I'd like to see: all EU committees must publish public accounts and a public record of meetings. EU accounts must be signed-off by an auditor and publicly available.
That, you can be sure, will lead to greater costs savings across the EU that soem snazzy site and a bit of PR puffery.
Posted in Open source .NET mimic lands on Android
Wrong
"Mono is an open source mimic of Microsoft's .NET platform"
No!
Mono is a sub-set of [a previous version of the] Microsoft .Net. If you want a proper cross-platform language, then choose a proper cross-platform language. Not MS patent-encumbered bollocks.
You can bet your last penny that MS are just waiting for Mono to become ubiquitous on Linux derivatives so that they can torpedo it and thus remove any viable competition from the marketplace.
All respect to the Mono team, they really know their cheese, but they are not helping anyone by their efforts. this is just going to lead to future pain.
Anyone depending on Mono should be deeply, deeply worried.
Posted in Anonymous hacks Sony PS3 sites
@KB 1
Rootkits, for one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal
Posted in Facebook Comments kill web freedom
Situational dependency
People may not wish their personal views to be known outside certain circles.
For example
One may hold a political view that they do not wish their employer to know about for fear of discrimination (or dismissal). e.g. What if you are a member of Greenpeace, but your employer is bidding for a contract with a big oil company? If the employer knows your views, it could be detrimental.
One may have a sexual preference that one does not wish to become known outside that community. e.g. I have attended clubs that my friends have refused to attended for fear that they will be dismissed by their employers for doing so.
The list goes on and thus there are many cases where some form of anonymity is essential to freedom and free speech. The fact that Facebook et al tie you directly to comments, memberships and associations can have life-changing impacts; even if you are not doing anything "dodgy".
Posted in Facebook Comments kill web freedom
I think the point was...
...if Facebook "becomes" the Internet then you are verifiably tied to everything you say /and/ you have no control over that content.
I really like the look of the Freedom Box idea, if I can get the time/skills it is something I will deffo be looking into.
Wrong
It will only be shutdown/broken up if it acts illegally or to restrict free enterprise*.
This is why MS go spanked and Apple has (so far) been left alone. One was a monopoly and acted illegally, the other wasn't.
You can argue that Google has a monopoly on "web search" and a few other techs. Whether or not it has acted illegally is up to the courts. Google has a choice:
--- Re-organise/re-structure to avoid the accusation; or
--- Fight it in court
---------------------------
*There are exceptions; cartels such as BPI, RIAA and MPAA who actively engage in restrictions on trade with impunity. And no, I do not mean cracking down on pirates. I mean, restricting free trade.
@Lamont
"Is it costing me money? No, so why would I care?"
Because it costs you? Even if you value your privacy at zero (and it seems you do), it still costs you.
Company pays for ad.
That cost is recouped through prices.
Customers pay those prices.
You are a customer.
You have paid (in part) for that ad monetarily and by giving you privacy away for free.
@Steven
Also, it is rarely (if ever) Linux that gets hacked. It's usually some poorly configured web application that has had the security set to "Ass out window, underpants optional".
@Myselfl
Well some digging around Launchpad got Unity working (install vanilla, update packages, install dkms, install vb-ose-x11 doofer - NOT the one provided by Oracle!)
And....yes. Great on a fondleslab is my guess, I can really see the potential there. Some nice UI features (not sure I like the Apple menu thingy though).
But for a desktop? That I have to work at each day? No. Takes too bloody long to find anything.
The complicated a UI gets, the more I feel the urge to become more proficient at the CLI.
I'd like to be able to say "Yes"
But an install of the Natty beta into VirtualBox is not stable.
Without the guest additions, you can see the Window decorator crash.
With the guest additions it doesn't boot properly (can't get to the login screen).
From what I could see (before I put guest additions on) is that the basic Gnome is even more of an Apple rip-off. Obviously I can't comment on Unity as it doesn't run, but speaking to people who have used it the reviews are not good. Sort of a bastard love-child of iOS and Win7.
There again, change always scares people.
Unity?...
...Disunity more like. Why do we need yet another sodding DE/WM/guff? Would it not have been better to throw some weight behind Gnome/KDE and help make them fit-for-purpose? I mean, at least Gnome is accessible to the optically different, unlike Unity!
Open Source is great. Choice is great.
But really, guys, have you never heard of "United we stand, divided we fall"?
Simple test
Did public money pay for the research?
Then the report and raw data must be made public.]
End of discussion.
Question
Is it problem elephants? Or problem people?
Have the elephants encroached on to the farmland, or has the farmland encroached into (or has farming drained the water and killed) the elephant's normal habitat?
It is amusing...
...how many people seem to support the near Communist totalitarianism that MS imposes on vendors. I would have thought that many readers would be in the USA and would support the free market, enterprise and survival of the fittest.
Guess I was wrong (or USA politics has taken a seismic shift at the grass-roots).
@Panda
Yes, you are missing the point. The point is to allow Google to increase their profile granularity and better target ads at you.
Unless you block the hell out of Google Ad Services etc.
We prefer FF to IE...
...that's for sure. And FF defaults to Google. Maybe we care more about our browser than we do about our search engine?
Tell you what MS
YOU stop forcing OEMs to sell PCs with MS Windows and then we'll look at this search thing. However, it is much easier to switch from Google to Bing to whatever than it is to find a vendor who isn't forced to bundle your OS.
@Tom
"spend their OWN money on going out?"
No - spend ours. Remember, the poor must subsidise those bars in Westminster whilst being told about the dangers of drink.
The pot...
...of course. I did say "£500 or so". Allow an error margin of 20%...
Something's wrong with your eyes...
That -65% is the growth, not the absolute share.
Simple answer
Add £5 to the ticket price.
All the £5s are collected into a pot (so £500 or so in the pot).
There are three questions to answer about the safety briefing.
All the answers get put into a hat.
First three correct entries drawn win part of the pot (£300, £200, £100).
OR
Cabin crew are legally permitted to punch non-observers in the face.
Seriously people, it's sub-5 mins (not all aircraft are the same, equipment does get changed).
Oh, and one more thing: after landing, sit down until the light goes off. Can we legalise breaking people's legs too?
You're two days early
Unless there are some seriously dodgy back-room deals, Win7 won't grab that much. Mobile!=Desktop, MS cannot manipulate that market so easily. The sheer number of players, markets and the fact that fashion plays a big part are all against them stitching up the mobile market like they have done to the desktop PC market.
And look at the traction Android is getting beyond the phone (e.g. tablets). Sure, many of these devices are under-powered and not great, but these are companies doing it off their own bat and for CHEAP! Win7 won't be able to apply loads of proprietary and anti-competitive hooks as it won't work with other people's devices.
And these companies will get better and better at making competing products, innovating and sniffing out the market.
As for those bleating about "integration", with more being consumed via the browser (and assuming the apps are written to the standards and not proprietary extension) it matters not one whit the client OS. Also, if governments follow through on their threats and go F/OSS, then the barriers to entry and proprietary APIs (the only thing keeping MS entrenched) come tumbling down. People are then free to choose of capability and I am sorry, no one in their right might picks MS based on capability.
MS is the enforced choice due to lock-in. Not a choice made with freedom.
iPad?
I thought that government advice was to use non-proprietary/open products? Seems like they can't follow their own rules.
Again.
A fool...
...and their money...
Posted in Nokia lobs more patent claims at Apple
Who cares
Apple sues Google
Nokia sues Apple
LG sues Sony
Sony sues...
Look, guys. Get a clue. You are wasting more on lawyers than it would cost you to just ditch the patents and stop the bitch-fight.
Unrequested applications...
...that are a cost to remove? Gosh. Who'd ever have thought of that?
Apart from Dell.
And HP.
And Toshiba.
And Sony.
And every other box shifter.
On a second look...
...this looks a bit like the kind of thing the "Yes Men" would get up to.
Posted in Nintendo 3DS
Business application?
Take a CAD drawing, generate the 3D model (probably on a server) and have the DS overlay that on to what it can see?
Might stop people making the turbine hall doors 1m narrower than the actual turbines....
Posted in Plane or train? Tape or disk?
Umm...
...can this entire article be summarised as "There is no one answer, pick what suits your particular needs"?
@XMAN
"open" != "free"
Just ask RedHat
They are...
...a week early.
The correct decision
For the new to Linux it is often annoying that MP3s, DVDs, Flash etc will not play on most distros. There is the 5 minutes of "This is utter crap! I am going returning to Windows. A pox on this backwards OS, get with the 21st century freetards!"
And then one finds that a script or an apt or a yum gets the missing bits.
Then one finds out why they are missing.
Then one begins to understand the poison that patents et al often are in IT.
Then one begins to avoid the proprietary formats as much as is possible (with pragmatic exceptions).
Given that FF4 just landed and FF (along with Chrome, Opera etc) all agree on what video formats to support, I can see an end to Flash on YouTube (once Google figures out how to insert ads). Certainly in the EU, IE is no longer the major browser and hasn't been for some time.
h264 is a patent minefield and should be avoided if possible. It is also a licensing boobtrap waiting to be sprung.
There may be trouble ahead...
...but while there's lawyers,
And finance,
And patents,
And greed,
MS attacks Linux again.
Posted in Brian May stands up for Welsh badgers
Nice idea...
...but cows, badgers etc are not dumb enough to smoke.
It takes a real moron to deliberately inhale carcinogens for "pleasure".
Posted in Brian May stands up for Welsh badgers
No IT angle
It's filed under "Entertainment".
Do try reading, most people find it a pleasurable activity. Especially on a text-heavy website.
Posted in Brian May stands up for Welsh badgers
Nyes...
...because the P.E. really knows its science. These are the Public School Toffs who went to bat in a big way for Wakefield. Really know their stuff, those Latin spouting P.E.-ers, oh my yes. :rolls-eyes:
The P.E. is OK for a bit of satire, politics and tasteless jokes, but for science? May as well read Fortean Times.
@AC
I detect a high ferrous content in JaitcH's post.
As much...
...as I like seeing MS get a kick in the balls, there is no doubt that the USPTO is no longer fit for purpose. If a jury is not to question the crap that the USPTO approves, then who can? The state? Hardly, they will just follow the money.
Judges? Hardly, they will just follow the money.
USPTO? Hardly, these are idiots who got it wrong in the first place.
Software and business patents should be disallowed, and retrospectively cancelled. It's the only way to encourage development (yes, I did say that) and cut down on the costs involved. They only people who will squeal are the lawyers, but that's OK as they need a kick in the particulars just as much (if not more so) than MS.
BT...
...who engaged with Phorm are worried about their dear wee customers? Pfft. It's the costs they care about, nothing more.
The only thing that is damaging Equity and BPI member's businesses is ther so-last-century business models (regional releases, region locking etc). Get with the program idiots, the Internet has no borders.
@Tom
Get your router (or install a service) to not download the crap at source. I've still got to get around to this, but using the g/f's Mac at home is a nightmare with all the ads, pop-ups, highlighting, surveys and general crap that gets in the way of the content.
The web is on usable with NoScript, AdBlock, Flashblock, BetterPrivacy, CookieCuller and Ghostery all installed and running. Oh, and the odd Greasemonkey script.
These plugins are why IE (even 9) is a waste of space as a browser.
Umm...
...why is the missus seeing your session? She can just move things around where she needs, or she can run a local copy of FF3.7. It's not hard on a decent OS.
Oh.
Wait.
You're using Windows aren't you?
Commiserations.
Teetoal?
Are you stark-staring-bonkers? Home brew!
Two words.
"Hot". "Coffee".
Discuss.
@James
The Daily Hate? Nah, I await the Currant Bun getting in a strop over it.
"It makes young boys objectify women, seeing them as weak and little more than sex objects. Innit?" Many 23,36,28,34 (in pink thong).
Got nothing against the idea of a misogynistic lead myself ("Bond" anyone?) What would be cool would be a mod where you could have "Daisy Duke" Nukem run around and save the blokes. Would satisfy the misandrists out there.
Then a further mod where "Daisy Duke" saves the girls and where Duke saves the boys. The pink pound buys games too y'know.
I draw the line at either of the dukes saving sheep. That's just sick.
Yeah
Cuz Joe Blow/Wahid Ahmed who run your local IT shop/corner store can afford to operate their own warehouse on the Channel Islands. It's Joe and Wahid who realise profits in this country, pay taxes in this country and add to the social value of this country. The multi-nationals don't.
This law was meant to help flower sellers? Fine. Then change the law to explicitly state flowers!
Do I understand this correctly?
Steal some code.
Social cost of crime: negligible.
Punishment? 8 years in jail.
--- Vs ---
Trade in dubious products, mis-sell loans, misrepresent assets, evade taxes, evade regulatory controls.
Social cost of crimes: massive to the point of being incalculable.
Punishment? None. Instead you get bailed out by the people you ripped off and can still pay yourself billions in bonuses.
