* Posts by Oliver Mayes

574 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Nov 2008

Page:

Universal Credit has never delivered bang for buck, but now there's no turning back – watchdog

Oliver Mayes

Re: uk.gov IT

And apparently if your pay goes into your account a day before the system is expecting it, it just assumes that you're being paid twice this month and adjusts your benefits accordingly.

Tech rookie put decimal point in wrong place, cost insurer zillions

Oliver Mayes

Yes, meant a new column into a mysql database. Old code only referred to the fields by number, $row[0], $row[1], so a new column in the middle offset all the subsequent ones.

Oliver Mayes

We had a guy once who inserted a new row into a table, offsetting the others. That month we accidentally billed all of our customers using the timestamp field instead of their total charge.

If only one of them had just paid the bill without looking we could all have retired, but no. We had to recall and reissue all those £1.3 billion invoices.

PETA calls for fish friendly Swedish street signage

Oliver Mayes

Please stop calling PETA an "animal rights organisation", they kill thousands of healthy animals every year and are just generally a terrible group of people. They're about as interested in animal rights as [insert topical comparison here].

DIYers rejoice: Hitting stuff to make it work even works in space

Oliver Mayes

All good technicians have a selection of hammers, from the precision toffee hammer up to the majestic rubber mallet. Knowing precisely where to hit, how hard, and with which hammer is a skill all of its own.

Un-bee-lievable: Two million Swedish bugs stolen in huge sting

Oliver Mayes

You had a chance to use "Cops honeycomb the area" in the subheading, but you blew it.

The glorious uncertainty: Backup world is having a GDPR moment

Oliver Mayes

Re: Not a problem

"5 or so old types of type drive somehow being connected and bought back to life."

If it's that difficult for you to restore a backup, do you really have a backup?

Headless man found in lava’s embrace

Oliver Mayes

Re: I've got the Looney Tunes theme stuck in my head now

I wonder if he heard the sound of a descending slide-whistle in his last moments.

Max Schrems is back: Facebook, Google hit with GDPR complaint

Oliver Mayes

Re: Only £3.1M for Google?

They're probably only able to take action against one of the smaller shell companies. You know, the ones that funnel all income to the parent while claiming zero profit for tax purposes?

Petty PETA rapped by judges over monkey selfie copyright stunt

Oliver Mayes

We're not monkeys, we're apes. I know a certain librarian who would love to discuss the difference further if you need more information.

'Dear Mr F*ckingjoking': UK PM Theresa May's mass marketing missive misses mark

Oliver Mayes

I once got a local election leaflet from the Labor party addressed to "Mr. . #0106".

No idea where they got that from, I've definitely never given my details (real or fake) to any political party.

Uber hid database hack from FTC while FTC probed Uber for an earlier database hack

Oliver Mayes

Re: Hold them accountable

Start a gofundme to raise enough money to buy your own politicians.

Doctor finds physical changes to astronaut's eyes after ISS stint

Oliver Mayes

@DanceMan

"Inertial Dampeners"

The sufficiently-advanced technology that could suppress g-force for anything the ship knew about, e.g. acceleration and turning. Didn't work so well with unexpected movements like weapon fire, it would take a moment to compensate for the sudden changes.

NASA budget shock: Climate studies? GTFO. We're making the Moon great again, says Trump

Oliver Mayes

Re: Privatize the whole thing

Science should not be profit driven.

The strange case of the data breach that stayed online for a month

Oliver Mayes

"a test and development server had been exposed to the internet."

Live customer data should never go anywhere near a test or dev box. Those boxes should also never be able to touch the outside world like this, sounds like a lot more than a single server being misconfigured to me.

In America, tech support conmen get a mild slap. In Blighty, scammers get the book thrown at them

Oliver Mayes

Re: Too mild in both cases

Hanging has a very low rate of reoffending.

All your base are belong to us: Strava exercise app maps military sites, reveals where spies jog

Oliver Mayes

Re: Collect all the data, ignore users privacy...

There are all kinds of privacy setting the users could have employed. If they couldn't be bothered to switch any of them on you can't blame the service.

What do voters want? An IRL Maybot? Sure, give that a whirl

Oliver Mayes

"That would be an ecumenical matter."

Credit insurance tightens for geek shack Maplin Electronics

Oliver Mayes

Re: Hobbyist

I was in there last week looking for some cables to use with an Arduino circuit I'm building on a breadboard. £6 for 10x 4 inch wires. There's no way I'm paying that much.

Video games used to be an escape. Now not even they are safe from ads

Oliver Mayes

Didn't Theme Park open with a video advertising a bank? (It's been a long time, my memory is hazy)

Physicists win Nobel Prize for spotting ripples in fabric of space-time

Oliver Mayes

Re: Eddies in the time-space continuum

And this is his sofa, is it?

Trump accuses Facebook of bias, collusion with his least favourite newspapers

Oliver Mayes

He was born into a life of extreme wealth and privilege. He has always had things handed to him, never had to work for anything he has. He's not used to anyone telling him "No", so is stuck in the mindset of a spoiled toddler.

Virgin Media's profanity warning triggered by chief exec's name

Oliver Mayes

Our old spam filter didn't like the word specialist, as it has Cialis in it.

BT's Ryan Reynolds helicopter Wi-Fi ads 'misleading', thunders ad watchdog

Oliver Mayes

So an advert that hasn't been show in months isn't allowed to be shown any more? Nice work there ASA, useful as ever.

Virtual reality headsets even less popular than wearable devices

Oliver Mayes

VR seems like it has a huge amount of potential, I'd love to try it out... but unfortunately I don't have a spare £700 I can spend on the hardware.

UK council fined £150k for publishing traveller family's personal data

Oliver Mayes

Re: Grrrr

We don't vote for the minions in council offices across the country. Changing the colour of the tie at the top doesn't have any effect on these sorts of people.

Alaska dentist 'pulled out patient's tooth while riding a hoverboard'

Oliver Mayes

Re: My takeaway from this..

I assume that it's unlawful if they're doing anything that jeopardises the patients safety. You wouldn't want your dentist working while on stilts, or doing it blindfolded.

Please don't call them Facebook chatbots, says Facebook's bot boss

Oliver Mayes

Re: Hmm...

I look forward to trying "Give wax lips to tremendous moose"

Coppers 'persistently' breach data protection laws with police tech

Oliver Mayes

> Big fines for any Force found to be in breach

Except that those fines are then paid by the taxpayer, not the people responsible.

Two-thirds of TV Licensing prosecutions at one London court targeted women

Oliver Mayes

"98% convicted rapists are men"

Because most courts refuse to accept that it's possible for a woman to rape a man. It normally gets reduced to assault instead.

NHS patient letters meant for GPs went undelivered for years

Oliver Mayes

"Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date."

They fail that principle by archiving 200000 change of address forms, ignoring the information in them leads to their customer records being out of date.

"Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary."

5 years is far longer than is necessary.

Failed cancer data integration project means labs can't see patient histories

Oliver Mayes

Yet something tells me they will still be collecting their full payment, despite not actually delivering.

You want WHO?! Reg readers vote Tom Baker for Doctor 13. Of course

Oliver Mayes

Re: I'll bet those tentacles have never been torn off

Ahhhh, You have a WOMANS TARDIS!

Update or shut up: Microsoft's choice for desktop Skypers

Oliver Mayes

Re: Another Cloud con

Skype used to be P2P, your client connected directly to the person you were talking to.

Now it goes through the MS servers, allowing them to easily record everything that happens and hand it over to whatever government agency wants your data today.

Who do you want to be Who? VOTE for the BBC's next Time Lord

Oliver Mayes

Re: Thirteen?

The Timelords gave The Doctor a new set of regenerations in Matt Smiths final episode.

Oliver Mayes

My vote would go to Dylan Moran.

Brexit White Paper published: Broad strokes, light on detail

Oliver Mayes

Re: Page 33, Chart 7.1

It also claims that everyone is entitled to a minimum of 14 weeks paid leave each year.

https://twitter.com/i/moments/827149090614079489

Waymo robo autos way mo' primo at avoiding-o wreck-os (yeah, yeah, we ran out of rhymes)

Oliver Mayes

How is that any different than normal carjacking? Just having a piece of meat in the drivers seat isn't going to make a lot of difference to the kind of criminal you're describing there.

Shhh! Shazam is always listening – even when it's been switched 'off'

Oliver Mayes

Re: Language

I'm anaspeptic, frasmotic, even compunctuous to have caused such pericombobulation.

Leaked paper suggests EM Drive tested by NASA actually works

Oliver Mayes

Re: Easiest way to check this...

One is being sent up on a cube-sat in the near future. It'll be told to try and maintain orbit for as long as possible, if it stays up for longer than the fuel will allow, the EM drive aboard must be working.

Citizens don't trust UK.GOV with their data

Oliver Mayes

Re: I dont trust the government...

> The outsourcer bid for that job, but on commencement discovered that the old bulb was still in place. As this work was out of scope the costs tripled....

Then when they get to the end of the contract they discover that they were unable to change the lightbulb at all due to; lack of specifications, unanticipated consultancy fees, and increased cost of stepladders. The new lightbulb has been placed on a shelf in an MOD depot somewhere near Droitwich and tendering has begun to find a new contractor to complete the work by 2025.

Of course, since the original contract didn't actually specify that payment was contingent on completing the work, the full £15,000,000 (up from the £3,000,000 originally quoted) has to be paid regardless of the outcome.

But hey, it's all just taxpayers money, right?

Microsoft deletes Windows 10 nagware from Windows 7 and 8

Oliver Mayes

Re: Now lets hope...

The Windows 10 telemetry feature was forced into Windows 7 & 8 months ago.

'What this video game needs is actual footage of real gruesome deaths'

Oliver Mayes

Re: Here's an idea, PETA, write your own damn game

Candlelight Supper Simulator 2016

Pre-order bonuses include the Royal Doulton plates with Hand-Painted Periwinkles.

NASA to begin first asteroid sample mission: Seeks 'pristine' specimen

Oliver Mayes

Re: Pristine

Asteroids have negligible gravity, no rockets needed for a soft landing. Just some soft thrusters.

Gaming apps, mugging and bad case of bruised Pokéballs

Oliver Mayes

Re: Journalism?

"Drop lure-thingy in a nice secluded spot"

The lures can only be deployed at an existing Pokestop. You can't just drop one anywhere.

Oliver Mayes

Pretty poor research here

"Well, you get what you pay for – which here in the UK so far has meant paying nothing at all, since impatient players are sideloading dodgy Android installers for free."

The official game is free. No-one pays anything unless they choose to make in-app purchases.

"The cynic in me suspects the supposed negative publicity generated by such stories will simply heighten the demand for the legal version of the game when it reaches these shores"

It was released officially yesterday.

Wannabe Prime Minister Andrea Leadsom thinks all websites should be rated – just like movies

Oliver Mayes

So every website worldwide will be required to submit themselves to an independent British organisation, likely charging extortionate fees al la the film board for each rating. Those people will be required to review all content on the website before reaching a conclusion.

How will they handle dynamic content? Will all news organisations be required to submit their articles to the board for approval before being allowed to publish? There's obviously no risk of censorship there.

What about forums, where anyone is allowed to comment, will this board be reviewing individual comments before they're allowed to be displayed?

Sounds like yet another politician trying to regulate something they have zero understanding of. Perhaps they should just encourage the parents to actually do some parenting instead of requiring the government to act as an online nanny service for their spawn.

Kent Police handed domestic abuse victim's data to alleged abuser – a Kent cop

Oliver Mayes

Police screw up, taxpayers get fined. Business as usual.

That naked picture on my PC? Not mine. The IT guy put it there

Oliver Mayes

Re: Another reason...

Maybe that people shouldn't be using work computers to browse and store that stuff? Keep it on your own machine so I don't have to deal with the inevitable viruses you've brought in. Not to mention having to replace your suspiciously stained keyboard that suddenly stopped working.

Brits still not happy about commercial companies using their healthcare data

Oliver Mayes

To date, I still have heard nothing about this from the authorities involved. I only know it's being done because of the news articles I've read online criticising it.

If they're not making an effort to actually inform the population then their motives are seriously questionable.

Page: