Posts by BristolBachelor
1769 posts • joined Friday 30th January 2009 10:36 GMT
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RAID NAS
But if your NAS has RAID to protect against a drive failure, which is what you get in WHS (but not by RAID), then you can't just stick the dive in a Linux box and get something off it.
With WHS, every disk has full files, and the format is NTFS. Take any drive adn stick it in almost anything and you can read the files off it!
Posted in Ofcom mulls popular number charge
1000 number blocks
for "technical reasons" WTF??
So how many possible telephone numbers are there, and how many internet addresses? DNS works to say where to route an address, why not use the same system for telephone numbers? You shouldn't have to route a number by only looking at the first few digits any more, you should be able to route the whole thing. Just have a single directory for number vs. routing location!
Posted in Blu-ray barely better than DVD
greater picture quality than DVD
"consumers think Blu-ray did offer greater picture quality than DVD"
Isn't that because the aforementioned British Video Association helps push the notion that "Blu-ray offers greater picture quality than DVD"? (Plus companies wanting to sell new bluray players, HD TVs and more expensive DVDs but in blue cases?
So they tell people Blue ray is better, and then quote research that says people think Bluray is better. All that means is that marketing works (and maybe people are gullable)
Posted in Brits blow millions on over-priced ink
Same here on Epson
Same here; tried an own label instead of Epson ink cartridge, and the printer had to go in the bin. Even after 100s of cleaning cycles, replacing all the carts with cleaning fluid carts, trying cleaning the head directly (using everything available in the cleanroom at work), etc.
At that point I decided that I didn't want photo quality printing at home, and bought a color laser. It just works (tm), the only maintenance is to load the paper tray every so often.
Thing is using Epson carts in an Epson printer, if it goes wrong I talk to Epson. If I use Tesco carts and it goes wrong, who can I talk to?
Kernel ?
@AC @amehaye
Probably because the article says that the code in question seems to respond to user input and runs with KERNEL priviledges. This is a bit like the first internet worm that was so bad because everyone ran the finger deamon with root priviledges, so the worm automatically had root priviledge.
To be slightly fair to the programmers, you loose a lot of processor cycles switching between different privilage modes, part of the reason that the graphics system also moved (unless Intel has changed that).
In a perfect world, the only thing that would run with kernel privileges is the code that needs them to look after everything else; task handling. Everything else should really just run with a lower priority so it cannot crap over everything.
Posted in AV Receivers
High-speed cable
Hasn't anyone learned from the mess that is USB?
So the cables can only be called "high speed cable". Presumably, when they increase the link speed again, the new cables will be called "Full-speed cable", and then the next time "Ultra-speed cable" and then no-one on earth will remember if a "high-speed cable" will work with HDMI 2.5 because they cannot remember the order of the speed grades, or what HDMI x.y needs what.
Been done
Someone has already done a load of "research" on the landing habbits of buttered toast. I think that it might have even been covered by the ignoble awards (or the reg!). The research was flawed* though, and the results were wrong.
*Perhaps they used "it tastes like butter" (but doesn't fall like butter).
OK now I'm starting to believe what the misses says about remembering everything I read!
Posted in Sex abuse fax leak costs council £100k
Fax vs. post & email
IANAL but I had experience of this from some IP legal cases...
Sending by Fax (but to the RIGHT number!) is secure, because you have a direct contract with the company that provides your telephone service. This means that the information you send remains confidential.
Using email on the other hand (even to the right individual) traverses any path through the internet to reach it's destination. You only have a contract with your ISP, and therefore the contents of the email are effectively "published" and "public". You have to use strong encryption and then argue that the use of that means that the information was not "published" and made "public."
A similar agreement works when you send things by courier too, however numerous people will tell you how easy it is for them to loose CDs :)
However, nothing is fool-proof, you just need to employ a more stupid fool.
Posted in MP wants age verification for net smut
In addition...
...if the parents actually pay attention to their children rather than just ignore them, then there is more chance of them growing up normal and not turning into asbo collectors.
That's all
Easy to foil
Instead the ACTUV will use an "artificial intelligence engine" originally developed for use in NASA's Mars rovers
So to get it off your tail, you just have to drive your sub past a sand-trap?
Posted in Tech firms warn Ireland on bailout
Irelands low corporate tax
Yeah, lots of companies funnel their income through Ireland to declare it there and pay the lower tax in Ireland. The tax is pretty much the only thing that Ireland sees. The employment is all over Europe. The money is spent all over Europe.
The companies don't want to pay more so they say don't raise it, but if Ireland raises it a bit, they will still pay it. If Ireland raises it a whole lot, then maybe they will funnel their money elsewhere, but that is better than bankrupt.
On a side note, why is it that if I did it, it would be called tax evasion or money laundering, and I would be branded a terrorist?
Posted in Apple files patent for iPad weight loss
More likely...
...that they would make the back out of glass. After all, there is no display and nothing that you need transparency for, but yet it makes the thing look awful when cracked (Just ask the guy at work with a new iPohne!) The stainless back on my iPod has taken a real beating, but a few scratches and dents aside is fine.
As for using the battery cells as the case; the outside of the cells is a pouch. In the business it's known as a coffee pack (it is exactly like the pack your ground coffee comes in). Inside the pouch are very thin layers of aluminium, copper, carbon and insulation. Very easy to pierce the insulation even without piercing the outside. Can you say iPad inferno?
Posted in Apple files patent for iPad weight loss
F1 cars
"Do F1 cars look plasticy?"
Yes, very. (If you can see beneath all the decals :)
Posted in Apple files patent for iPad weight loss
US Patents
I have to agree with the original post and RTS. But, from what I have seen of the US patent system, patent application ≡ patent granted. It seems that it is the courts job to decide if a patent should have been granted or not.
If this is not the case, I really have to see some of the patents that were rejected (although obviosuly not with any coffee near a keyboard!)
Posted in Brits say 'no, no, no' to 3D TV
When I want 3D, I'll go outside...
Buy that person a beer!
Although maybe a little cruel to the couch potatoes
Posted in GSMA opens the way for Apple SIM
Only benefit
The only benefit I can see from not using a network's SIM is that you could have 2 (or more) virtual sims in a phone to allow it to register on more than 1 network / tarrif at a time.
In theory, this leads to more consumer choice. Tell me again why we should expect this benefit from Apple.
(Before you think I'm a MS fanboy, I have a iPod Touch and I love it, but it only does what Apple wants it to, and always will.)
Posted in US may disable all in-car mobile phones
Half-baked
To detect a 911 call, there needs to be a 911 call. For there to be a 911 call, the phone must be able to log-in with the base station. For the phone to communicate with the base station, the jammer must be off. GOTO 10. REM Repeat forever.
Posted in US may disable all in-car mobile phones
Also
They could cover up all the windows to stop drivers being distracted by those large bill boards that are put up next to roads, just to distract them to buy something. This will also stop people being distracted by attractive ladies/men.
To prevent passengers from distracting the driver, all cars must have only 1 seat.
To stop drunks getting into cars and driving, the doors must be welded shut. All drink-driving will stop overnight.
All similarly good ideas (or are they?)
Re: Changing ISP
I agree with what Lee and AC said, but:
My parents have changed to teleworst for phone, 'net and TV. If teleworst suddenly decide to de-prioritise VOIP packets, then my Dad has a right to cancel, right? But then does he cancel the whole lot (it's a special package)? Does he get a refund for the installation charge? If it was Sky, would he get a refund on the cost of his dish?
Then who does he go to? What if BT decide that they don't like the way that VOIP eats into revenue? What if the other ISPs take money from Skype and drop SIP VOIP? What choice does he have then?
Also from what I've read, people who change ISP loose the net for anything upto a couple of weeks. Very customer friendly.
Posted in Adobe update tackles PDF peril
Adobe update tackles PDF peril
I doubt it.
Like busses, there will be another along any minute.
realistic cost for their education
Perhaps T.T. will be happy for us to abolish the NHS system whereby your treatments are paid on your behalf by the NHS. Instead, they should just force everyone to pay for their own treatment?
Of course this will make no difference to T.T. who paid for his or her own education directly, and only uses private medical cover anyway.
I'm not saying that they had a right to act like a mob, but they had every right indeed to protest.
Condition of subsidy
So on the form it said that the information would be published? I would say that makes it a condition of the subsidy; make them repay the money.
It's the same way that if I submit one of my photos to a competition on the understanding that the competition organisers can use it royalty free, I cannot then sue them for damages for using it!
LoadIntegrityCheckPolicy
So MS added protection to 64 bit and then gave it a registry key called 'LoadIntegrityCheckPolicy' that roughly translates as 'IWantMyWindowsInsecureRapeAndPillageMe' and that malware can set to enable loading other malware?
Rainforrests not doing so well
This is just a theory but in actual fact, the rain forrests are being cut down at a high rate to plant crops for "eco-diesel".
Oh the irony that higher temperatures would be ok for the rain forrests, but some spanner throwing monkey means that they'll all be cut-down to "stop global warming". And then further irony that the Earth has been warming for many thousands of years before man burnt his first piece of wood or coal, and in fact is the reason that the galciers no longer meet at the equator!
Amnesty international == "Malicious website"
Perhaps from now on the writers of the alerts (especially MS) will not say that the exploit only works if the user is co-erced into visiting a malicious website.
I would not describe the nobel prize foundation or Amnesty international as malicious. Given that these exploits can be hosted on almost _any_ webserver, the alerts should say that they can be exploited by visiting _any_ website.
HTML in emails
Simple, just remove all the "<" from the email and send it back to the sender asking if they can send the email in English.
What gets me is the number of emails that contain a text version of the HTML including things like "Click here to see this email in your web browser", but that don't include the link in the email text so nothing happens!!
I also hate the fact that it means that my phone will try to roam to download all the images in the email, costing me a fortune if I don't stop it.
Posted in iPhone 4: the best built smartphone...
Reliable only with 0% RH
I thought that there was a special blob of gloop that changes colour if you take an iPhone indoors after being outside in the cold, or if you breathe too hard on the area where the dock connector is (and where your mouth is for phone calls).
It is said that this blob of gloop invalidates your warrantee, because the phone has been damaged from the humidity.
So Apple says that the iPhone is damaged by bringing it in from the cold or talking into it?
Rule 2
Don't put something on a computer that you don't want others to see....
The fire-extinguisher
1)You could spend £150 to get a PC of 4X the performance
Yeah, but you have to add at least that much again to get a poor monitor of similar resolution, then add the price of a generator and the trolley to make it portable.
Now see how portable your 4x PC is. Try explaining to airport security that it's just a cheaper Apple laptop while they check your liver for alcohol damage from the inside using rubber gloves.
carry on...
Schengen club
So there is a Schengen club, and you refused to join, but now you want to have access to part of it, but still not join?
Join and be in, or don't join and be out. You can leave now, get your own coat and shut the door.
log of a private online chat
So a private online chat was deemed to be "obscene" by certain people in the CPS. And what's more, a log of it constitutes "publication".
If I can vividly remember having sex with someone, is that the same? Can I be prosecuted for it?
(Note to CPS I probably wouldn't remember it at all after a few days, so you can leave me alone!)
Minimum charge
Why is the minimum charge on any of these £10 ??
I already have my phone, and I paid for it myself. All I want is a telephone number that still works when I don't use my phone for 2 months, and I just pay for what I use.
My dad has an (old) excellent contract like this, no monthly fee, just his calls and his number doesn't jsut disappear into the either.
disturbing the peace
"and disturbing the peace"
So pray tell, what bail conditions did the kids get?
Windows experience, only mobile
"...has an irritating habit of shutting down Wi-Fi in the middle of downloading a file if one isn't interactive enough."
So it's exactly the same as windows default laptop settings then. Think you've left it downloading/uploading? Nope it's decided to sleep instead...
Already thought of
They have already proposed this. LU was going to set up it's own network to do it. Problem with the idea was that it was too hard for them.
Meanwhile here in Madrid, all networks work in all of the Metro (platforms and tunnels) and also work in the tunnels of the Cercanias (local trains), and there is no extra charge (just the normal rip-off network charge).
Backhaul
How they do the back haul from the bus I don't know. In some ways I guess I should be interested, but to be honest I don't care how they do it. Just the fact that they offer free WiFi on the bus.
Oh and yes AC, the WiFi does connect you to the internet, just in the same way that your 3G dongle does, or your ADSL / leased line does. What would be the point of a WiFi AP not connected to anything?? Do you work at PC World?
Multi-SIM simultaneously
You can get phones that take two sims and connect to 2 networks simultaneously, but the networks here don't like them (obviously!)
If the iPhone could do this, so I can have a single phone with both my UK number and Spanish number then I would buy one at the drop of a hat.
Old hat
Here in Madrid, they are putting WiFi in all the busses. It's already in over half of them, and it's free, as in beer (you have already paid for the ticket after all).
I don't see much benefit in saying that you can use WiFi in the station, but not on the trains, and you have to pay extra for it because yopu paid so little for the tube ticket.
England watch out! Spain used to be a bit behind the times, but it's going to over-take you if you're not careful!
Only 1
...but they did catch him a number of times.
However it was a total success; there were no terrorist bombings in Chatham, so it must work!
Weight change
One of the contaminants that they found on it just before the official polisher retired was mercury. They wondered where the hell it came from and then realised that people were breathing it out from their fillings.
I think I am never going to breathe in through my mouth again; mercury poisoning is not very nice!
Posted in BA slams stupid security checks
Stupid "security"
Last time I flew from Heathrow, there was a "security" person who would not let me pass until I put all of my carry-on into ONE bag. I was only allowed 1 bag, and it was a "security" risk if I did otherwise (anyone else seen the hilarious clip of the American bloke who got tape from the BA counter and taped his 2 bags together to get through "security"?)
After that, I had to pass another "security" person who made me take my laptop out of my ONE bag. This had to be done for "security". Then when they scanned my ONE bag, they couldn't work out what was in my ONE bag, because it had everything in it, and they then made me take out every single piece so that they could scan it all separately.
So the conclusion: If it isn't all in ONE bag, then it's a "security" risk, but if it is ONE bag they cannot scan it properly, so it is a "security" risk. To be honest the incompetence there worries me more than any "terrorist".
As for shoes; at Frankfurt they asked me to sit down and they took my shoes to the machine. In Bristol they make you walk around barefoot for about 200m over quite a disgusting floor that everyone else walks over.
@lglethal
I'd have to say yes and no. I use a specialist currency transfer company (and sometimes paypal!) to transfer money.
Where I work in Spain, you have to pay to transfer money from one Spanish bank to another, and my bank card does not work in the machines of all banks, and the other banks that it does work in charge me 1.75€ for a withdrawl! This is like banking in the UK 20 years ago...
What gets me more is how cheap it is to post something to someone in Spain near the border, but if it is to someone 1 mile the other side of the border... You wouldn't believe it!
Posted in iPhoto 11 ate my library, say users
No excuse
Ok, so all our photos and videos are backed-up. Some are still on slide, even though they have been digitised. Almost all are backed-up to DVD (the older ones also to DAT but I can't use the DAT drive easily anymore). DVD has the advantage that any disc can be read, and all the discs can be stored away from the house. Adding to the backup does not involve moving the existing backup media around (as a couple of external HDDs would).
But if you are suggesting that it is ok for software to trample all over my system, because I can always restore everything from ~300 DVDs, I think that you can do the restore!
Better WiFi
For a better WiFi (IMHO):
1. Make the devices talk to each other and work out which channels they use (instead of every single access point in my building using the same channel as my access point. I can't even change it because the AP does not belong to me so I cannot change its settings).
2. Have a standard way of identifying the "owner" / operator of an AP, to be able to talk to them about the AP.
3. Come up with a better encryption model than either no encryption, or encryption that you have to set up manually, and even then you have no encryption from other users. Instead have no encryption to set-up a connection, THEN negotiate and set-up encryption on your connection, and make the encryption different to all the other connections on the AP.
Oh you can go on incresing the "speed" you can get between 2 devices inside an EMC chamber if you want, but until lots of units can play nicely together that won't help the real-world experience.
Posted in XP? Thanks for the memories
Lets try Win 7 64-bit
..Core App one...No, not under Win 7
..Core App Two..Nope..not with 64-bit
Core App Three...yes, well kinda, in a fashion.
..Core App four. Nope.
..Core App Five YES!
..Core App Six..Nope
Oh well. XP it is :)
The United States
If the United States doesn't want a particular person on a plane from Europe to the United States, then it should inform the authorities in Europe, who can then ensure that said person does not in fact get on a plane to the United States.
From what I read of 11-09-2001, weren't those responsible already in the United States? Weren't they trained there on how to fly the planes into buildings? How would a list of people on other planes have helped?
On the other hand, I know a few Spanish people. One of them had great problems in the United States, because their profiling system said that he had been on lots and lots of flights all over the world, because it said so in their list. Given that the Spanish people all seem to share about 12 firstnames and a similar number of surnames, it is hardly surprising that their system was confused by just matching names from every single flight that ever takes place. But then to ban him from a flight because too many people called "JOSE" had been in a plane this year ?? !!
Yes, much simpler
Yes, it is in fact much easier. You see, in your 2-dimensional word, you only have to fail to control things properly for maybe 100ms and you have crashed. You are also maybe 2.5M wide, but the lane you are travelling in is only 3M wide, with objects just outside this space.
Now in 3-D (apart from landing), you have several hundreds (thousands) of meters in each direction, precision is not really required, fast response neither (unless your aircraft is unstable), and the closest objects are a very very long way away.
Once everyone and their dog has a flying car, and there are hundreds all travelling in different directions between lots of high buildings; then it will be harder. (Although probably before then there will be an agreement that all of them have a common type of control system with co-operating control)
Coolaid is not required (unless you want to see practical flying cars now)
Extra €180 billion ??
"result in an extra €180 billion being "available to businesses"."
So where does this extra €180 billion come from? Surely if it from businesses to another, then also 180€ billion has been lost by the paying businesses? So this new law also results in the loss of 180€ to businesses? Doesn't sound so good now does it.
However, ignoring the complete spin, this is an excellent law, as long as there is a simple, quick and cheep way to use it.
Posted in Powermat iPhone 4 wireless charging kit
Re: A really expensive way of charging batteries
In fairness to Harry the snot gobbler, he didn't say specifically Apple types, he said fanbouy, and I would say that anyone who spends £50 on a mat instead of a charging cable, that also stops you using the device in your car, or using the video out on your telly, is indeed a fanbouy with more money than sense.
The only time inductive charging makes sense is in an environment where you don't want bare connectors, for example on electric toothbrushes; but then your iPod would fail the moisure markers test and be out of warrantee.
Posted in WTF is... DLNA?
Steaming pile of *%&*
DLNA is a marketing cartel, and therefore is evil squared!
You have barely touched on how bad it is. I have tried several products to get a simple working system. My (DLNA) Sony TV will not play files from a (DLNA) Iomega NAS. An MPEG2 file will not play from the MS DLNA server, but will play from the PSP server (with no transcoding). My Denon will play FLAC files by DLNA, but the DLNA servers will not serve them to it.
And that is before the whole issue of what is a movie file or a sound file. It is supposed to make things easier for the general public, but to get it to work, you have to find out all about different containers, different codecs, even if the original encoder uses motion estimation coding or not. And with the dumbing down of things, if it doesn't work, there is no way on earth to find out why, or to change settings to make it work.
Calling DLNA a steaming pile of shit is an insult to shit.
