* Posts by Michael H.F. Wilkinson

4245 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Apr 2007

Compact Cassette supremo Lou Ottens talks to El Reg

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Pint

'Successful products are created by normal people who just follow their intuition'

Very true, but many a failure is created in the same way

On the other hand, failures may be produced much more efficiently by committee

And, yes, I too have many a fond memory of cassettes. One favourite one was when a friend and I, after crossing many borders in Europe, and never getting stopped (when they still had border control between France and Germany (yes I am that old)), we decided we wanted to get stopped at least once. We stuck an AC/DC tape into the portable player, and as we approached a particularly humourless-looking German border guard, we had "Highway to Hell" blaring out of our old VW Beetle (a 1300). It did not work, we were simply waved through imperiously. Our faces must have looked so honest.

So I will join in raising a pint to those brilliant people who made the cassette possible

Snowden journo's boyfriend 'had crypto key for thumb-drive files written down' - cops

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Facepalm

Crypto key written down!!!!!!!

Crypto key written down!!!!!!!

ID 10T error code

Facebook strips away a bit more of your privacy – but won't say why

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Big Brother

Re: Facial Recognition

This is why my kids are not allowed to put a photo up on Facebook, or alternatively should post this one.

I myself will not join (or if I join, it is only to see what the kids are up to). If I do, the obvious mug-shot is the icon beside this post

Revealed: HUNGRY frosty Arctic cleft that could eat 2 Grand Canyons

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Alien

Nah, clearly Atlantean architecture, or my name isn't Von Däniken

....

Hang on

Vulture 2 spaceplane rises from the powdered nylon

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

Great work. Looking forward to the rest of the saga

NSA: NOBODY could stop Snowden – he was A SYSADMIN

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Coat

Re: In response

The NS did it lre dy to my workst tion

De ry me, time for me co t

Boffins lay bare exotic Lara Croft meteorite element ununpentium

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

Were are DOOOMED when they find

element 666 of course

Google plonks down cash for Foxconn's head-mounted display patents

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Black Helicopters

Re: I'm sure I saw

Several planes have similar head-mounted displays linked to the look-down/shoot-down radars and the like.

Usually slightly (or even) less fashionable than google's glasses, however.

Black helicopter for obvious reasons

Google cripples Chromecast third party replay

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

Re: local media

That mantra should read:

The Cloud exists. We have need for working broadband

The Cloud exists. You have need for working broadband

The Cloud exists. They have need for working broadband

The Cloud exists. I have need for working broadband

....

Not so nice when the broadband connection has multi-hour outages as on my vacation in Italy. Long live my local media.

Pulsars: the GPS beacons of the cosmos

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Boffin

Known and used (differently) in Pioneering days

The Pioneer 10 and 11 space probes (1972 and 1973) each had a plaque indicating the position of earth relative to 14 pulsars, s the principle is well known

Ballmer's emotional farewell to Redmond: I LOVE THIS COMPANY

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Joke

Re: Say what you like about Ballmer...

Say what you like about Ballmer...

<stands back with hands in ears for several minutes>

.....

Finished? Good

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Pint

He will be missed for his bouts of .....

unintentional comedy

Our Vulture 2 spaceplane sprouts sleek pointy beak

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Thumb Up

Something in that shape reminds me of Victor

This Victor

Great looking design for LOHAN

Holiday HELL: Pourquoi, monsieur, why is there no merdique Wi-Fi here?

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

During my holidays the internet connection was very patchy, much to my relief. I did manage to get a message through to some students: don't bug me, I am on vacation. Bliss.

Acorn’s would-be ZX Spectrum killer, the Electron, is 30

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

Never used the Electron, but the lab I used to work in had dozens of the old Atoms controlling various kit, as late as 1995. Neat, durable machine built in the UK.

Nasty BOFHses. It burns us! It burns...

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Thumb Up

Loved it!

"You mean... al Qaeda?" I ask, using the words that can add a zero to the end of a security budget with the flimsiest of supporting evidence.

Loved it to bits

Bradley Manning is no more. 'Call me Chelsea,' she says

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

Re: Really?

Frank.N. Stein, the doctor just called. He says certain parts weren't sewn on correctly, please report to him for urgent replacements and refits

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
WTF?

Re: Not surprising

Lamo? Seriously, the guy's name is Lamo? Did his parents give him that name? If so, did he sue them (the song "A boy named Sue" springs to mind)? If not, did he pick this as a pseudonym or nom de plume?

Anyhow, the name Lamo seems curiously appropriate to me, given that he first suggests the information will be treated confidentially by his words:

"I'm a journalist and a minister. You can pick either, and treat this as a confession or an interview (never to be published) & enjoy a modicum of legal protection."

And then he blabs. Lamo may have felt he was in a cleft stick, of course, but it was at least in part of his own cutting.

BILLION-TONNE BELCH emitted from Sun to hit Earth this weekend

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

Re: Fireworks

I am hoping for that too, but a very large waning gibbous moon may reduce the visibility

Four ways the Guardian could have protected Snowden – by THE NSA

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Joke

Re: All good points

Buy a computer?

The truly paranoid make their own silicon

'Symbolic' Grauniad drive-smash was not just a storage fail

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

Re: Correct

Or the Silly Party. I voted Tarquin Fin-tim-lim-bim-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olè-Biscuitbarrel, last time, although I did consider voting Kevin Phillips-Bong, the Slightly Silly candidate.

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: brought to you by the same people who want a "porn filter"

"You just don't understand technology do you politicians ..."

As if they fully understand non-technical stuff,

like ethics.

Marissa Mayer in Vogue fashion shoot

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Pint

Re: I think she looks nice.

You, sir, have a very sick mind. ;-)

Now I am infected as well! Cannot get that image out of my head. Imagining that the furniture collapses beneath Balmer's weight helps a bit, I find. Imagining he will throw it at somebody helps more.

Either aspirin or loads of beer might erase the image entirely

Guess what I will try ;-)

Alien antique show: Egyptians wore JEWELRY FROM SPAAAACE

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Joke

Daniel Jackson? Sounds more like like Jack Daniel's speaking

Windows NT: Remember Microsoft's almost perfect 20-year-old?

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

Ah, good old NT

I installed it at home essentially because it had a clear separation between administrator and regular users. This prevented the missus from removing clutter from the root directory (like command.com, config.sys, or autoexec.bat) as she had done under Windows 3.1 (seriously, she did ! (and she was upset at the fact that I was angry, obviously)).

I did take one look at Win 95 but didn't like it, so decided to go for NT instead. Worked quite solidly (although I would tend to boot to SUSE (6.X I think) at the time.

Getting worried, Assange? WikiLeaks spaffs out 'insurance' info

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Joke

Re: You know what the data is don't you

And inside that image is one of a two-fingered salute

After that it's turtles all the way down

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Joke

Re: Hello is that I.T.?

But surely they have backups of the backups of the backups?!

British spooks seize tech from Snowden journo's boyfriend at airport

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Joke

Re: No need for a third runway at Heathrow

"And exactly how are you going to get to Schipol from Blighty?"

Easy: swim the Channel

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Black Helicopters

But

why would I be carrying sensitive data around on my electronic devices, knowing it could be confiscated, or at least searched? I could instead store the data using one-time-pad encryption, and hide it steganographically in a bunch of files containing photographs of various tourist attractions and send it to a computer back home (stuck in the back of a disused toilet with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the leopard") using scp or the like. You could even upload them onto the very cloud services PRISM scans, because even the NSA would have trouble with a one-time pad.

Appalling treatment of the guy. It does very much sound like bullying.

Curiosity looks up, spies Martian double-mooning

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Thumb Up

Great stuff by Curiosity

Haven't been able to spot Phobos or Deimos myself (despite observing Mars many times). I need a bigger telescope!

(that's called aperture fever)

T-Rex tooth find shows dino may have been a pussy

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Boffin

Re: Spine?

Basic anatomy shows that the spine of a Hadrosaur runs all the way through its tail as well (in line with quite a majority of land-based vertebrates). As the article states the the tooth was lodged in the caudal section of the spine, the article is accurate

Microsoft lathers up Windows 8.0 Surface RT for quick price shave

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

Re: I just got two nicely working Android tablets for less than that

Yes, indeed.

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

I just got two nicely working Android tablets for less than that

One for the kids, one for the (alleged) grown-ups in the house ;-)

Both sport 1280x800 resolution, dual core processor with quad core graphics, so quite decent spec for (ultimately) fairly light use. OK, they have a "mere" 16GB storage (and micro-SD slot for expansion), but they run LOADS of useful apps, and I do not need MS-Office. Why should I go for WIN-RT (RT for runt of the pack?), if I can get two android tablets for less money?

Man sues Apple for allowing him to become addicted to porn

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Joke

But I thought

Owning a gun was legal in his neck of the wood

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Happy

Re: Did I create an account just to call this guy a bellend of the highest order?

Rest assured, there are worse reasons for joining ;-)

Welcome aboard

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Facepalm

Somebody

Really, really, really, needs to get a life.

I thought the US ethos was all about citizens taking responsibility (not a bad thing) and small government (the jury is out on that one). This person seems to think responsibility ends when there is a rich company you might fleece. I am not a fan of Apple or its products, but in this case I have no choice but to side with Apple.

Microsoft biz heads slash makes Ballmer look like dead STEVE JOBS

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Devil

Re: In the process of this discussion

He who must not be named is back, hence the down votes

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Joke

In the process of this discussion

some people are going to miss Eadon

Hubble spots ALIEN NAVY world – and it's pelted with GLASS RAIN

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Coat

Alternatively, it might be home

to super-intelligent shades of the colour blue

Mine is the one with the cassette tapes of the Hitchhiker's Guide in the pocket

Giant human-powered quadricopter wins $250,000 Sikorsky Prize

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Happy

Brilliant achievement

And now, for a tilt-rotor version

;-)

US Navy robot stealth fighter in first unmanned carrier landings

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Coat

Better landing than Topper Harley

Sorry, time for me coat

US Congress proposal: National Park will be FOUND ON MOON

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

"Now if the UN decided to give the sites protected status, that is a different matter..."

Maybe they could be voted UNESCO (Out of this) World Heritage Sites

That would make a lot of sense (and is not at odds with the National Park idea), as these sites are a monument to one of mankind's greatest achievements.

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

Re: @ Don Jefe - Eh??

Images have been made of the Apollo landing sites, not just by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO, from NASA, so "suspect"), but by the Chinese Chang'e-2 probe (1.3m resolution, so good enough). Some of the LRO images show the LEM base, its shadow, and tracks from astronauts and rovers.

US gov SMASHES UP TVs and MICE to nuke tiny malware outbreak

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Pint

"Someone saw a way to get all their ancient PCs replaced with brand new ones."

Someone who is called Simon, maybe

Pass me the sledgehammer and the cattle prod please

What, no BOFH icon? OK, off to the pub then

Inventor lobs spherical, throwable camera

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

I think in the case of serious fast bowlers you would get some serious motion blur as well

Neat device, nonetheless

Universities teach us a thing or two about BYOD

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Thumb Up

Eduroam is very nice indeed. It is very handy for me to have internet access in the universities I visit.

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Mushroom

Alternatively

People bring their own devices because those provided are not up to scratch.

Star Wars missile intercept fails for fifth year running

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Joke

The BASTARDS!!!

How dare they attack us with missiles without transponders! It's not fair!!!!

D-Wave IS QUANTUM, insist USC scientists

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Joke

Uncertainty about quantum computing?

Well, it's quantum, innit?

At last: EU slashes mobile roaming fees

Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
Thumb Up

Just got a message from Vodafone

saying how nice it was of them to decrease roaming charges.

I smiled and thought how nice it was that somebody (Steely Neelie, I think) in the EU is forcing to do so.

The thumbs up it to the EU (this time), not Vodaphone