* Posts by Simon Davidson

16 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jan 2009

TalkTalk downplays extent of breach damage, gives extra details

Simon Davidson

Luhn Check to Retrieve card details

I don't understand how they say credit card details are safe if they have only masked 6 digits. It would be relatively trivial to work out valid remaining numbers by simple luhn checking. Find a particular card that has relatively few valid luhn options (using the existing details) and reverse the encryption based on that. I believe PCI-DSS should be much more restrictive than it currently is and not allow masked details to be included in the same detail as the encrypted card number as you are basically making breaking the encryption easier.

WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

Simon Davidson

These babies are going to pay for themself

FIVE Things (NOT 10: these are REAL) from the WINDOWS 10 event

Simon Davidson
Big Brother

Cortana Always Listening?

Do you remember the Xbox One Kinect "Always Listening" privacy concerns? How long before its announced that Cortana will always be listening for your prompts and the anti Microsoft brigade start screaming "think of all the children".

Star Wars: Episode VII trailer lands. You call that a lightsaber? THIS is a lightsaber

Simon Davidson
Childcatcher

Merchandise

Isn't it obvious, its about the merchandise. How many years have they been selling lightsabers, and then they started selling double ended lightsabers with E1. Now with E7 all the kiddies are going to chuck out their old ones and want a new one!

Euro boffins plan supercomputer to SIMULATE HUMAN BRAIN

Simon Davidson
Childcatcher

Ethics of killing a computer...

I wonder if anyone has thought about the ethical considerations. Imagine they build this computer, and it does have cognition. Is it then murder when you turn it off?

Microsoft has no plans for a second Windows 7 Service Pack

Simon Davidson

Re: PCI Compliance

Sorry to reply to my own post, but Microsoft states "Main Stream Support" ends in 13/01/2015. So does that mean they will still release monthly updates till then?

Simon Davidson
WTF?

PCI Compliance

What does this mean for PCI Compliance. My understanding is that you can't use software that is no longer patched or supported so next year I'm going to have to upgrade to Windows 8 on my payment machines!

Puny US particle punisher finds strong evidence for God particle

Simon Davidson
Paris Hilton

Re: Ugh - God particle

I've been wondering about that as well? Isn't the Higgs supposed to be a fundamental particle, so eventually Protons are made up of Higgs? So how is it heavier?!?

Maybe I'm just having a Paris Hilton moment...

Insect vision a template for computer ‘sight’

Simon Davidson

Re: Is this why Bee's are on the decline...

Language evolves with the times... If we all stuck to the rules all of the time we'd all still be speaking Latin....

Simon Davidson
Stop

Is this why Bee's are on the decline...

Because scientists are busy disecting their brain to bring ever close judgement day!

Nokia cries patent 'Havoc!', unleashes dogs of law on two continents

Simon Davidson
Alert

Have you tried Windows Phone 7.5

I don't know what everyones problem is with Windows Phone 7.5, have you actually used?

I have a Nokia Lumia 800 and it so much better than my old HTC Desire (I know its an old phone). Its display is sharp and quick, battery lasts longer than my old HTC, despite Nokia admitting their are problems with the battery. Call quality is some of the best I've had.

Yes there are issue with the number of apps on the marketplace, but lets face it, most people get a couple apps that they stick to and the rest are all fart apps, or other rubbish.

I really do hope Microsoft succeed because having only 2 competitors on the market is not good for the consumer.

Now I'm no Microsoft zealot, I can see their failings as well, I'm particularly annoyed at the lack of clarity on the Windows Phone 8 upgrades, and the lack of VPN support on Windows Phone 7. But in my honest opinion its at least on par with what Android and Apple are offering...

Microsoft seeks to woo developers with Windows 8 store

Simon Davidson
Go

I actually think this arrangement will be better for "indie" developers. The smaller developers often can't afford to stamp CD's and develop boxed editions. Yes the web is an option, but if it becomes popular you go over your bandwidth cap and end up with big charges, probably more than the fifty or so dollars that Microsoft wants.

Outsourcing your distribution and marketing to Microsoft, good idea I think...

Can a user really do BI from the desktop?

Simon Davidson
Facepalm

They already do, but should they?

In my organisation at least, people already do using mostly Excel to produce custom reports, and this is causing me massive headaches. To be able to produce a report and / or business intelligence thing (KPI, Dashboard etc) I think you need to understand the data your working with. I can't count the number of times there have been disagreements over something because someones custom report says one thing, and another users says another.

IMHO, IT should be responsible for setting up OLAP cubes, reports etc so that there is a single cohesive report structure for an entire organisation. If key knowledge workers need more, let them access the cubes through things like PowerPivot and SharePoint.

iPhones 'excellent for doing experiments on their owners'

Simon Davidson
Black Helicopters

Apples Cut?

How long before Apple asks for the cut of 30% of the data. I imagine having psych profiles of your customer base would be very tempting for them.

Dual-screen Microsoft 'booklet' uncovered

Simon Davidson
Thumb Up

Thank You Microsoft

I was geniunely excited about the Apple Tablet, strange for me as I've never really bought into all the commercial hype around the iPhone and iPod. This looks very sleek, hopefully its not burdened by an awfully bloated OS.

Microsoft delays first Windows 7 public beta

Simon Davidson
Thumb Up

Windows 7 Now Available

Just had a look on the website and its now available. Going to take a couple hours for me to download though :(