Posts by Kevin Johnston
588 posts • joined Sunday 6th May 2007 13:04 GMT
I despair
Once again the low hanging fruit is selected because the more probable routes (PAYG mobiles etc etc etc) are too hard or too numerous to deal with.
Do they really expect us to believe that the real terrorists are even less intelligent than their Hollywood representation? Just how hard is it to work out that if you use real names and objectives then you may get caught?
One thing puzzles me...
From the various reports in the more financial style media, they mention that some of the Irish 'entities' in this tax labrynth are not classed as resident in any jurisdiction for tax liability. I can understand setting up a company in a low tax environment but just how in the hell is it possible to create a company with NO country taking tax from it.
As for the idea that they have observed both the letter and the spirit of the law, well...the letter maybe but they have driven a fleet of cash-laden tanks through the spirit of the law.
Definitely time for some simplification of tax law as the less it says, the harder it is to 're-interpret'.
Ah the golden age of gaming returns
There are so many things you could say about a digital equivalent of scratch'n'sniff but I will contain myself with....never forget the high standards of 'Leisure Suit Larry'
Multi-purpose deal
The were probably a lot of factors in the deal that was (almost) done as it would have had guaranteed income for Apple with little or no effort to achieve it, higher income for the publishers as they could set the same price for eBooks as for the dead-tree variant and it would have frozen out any competition due to the 'favoured nation' clause.
Of course there would have been two distinct losers in that scenario, Amazon and every single person who anted to buy an eBook.
Until Amazon put in the effort there was effectively no eBook market, once they had done the work and showed possible volumes then suddenly the publishers woke up and realised there was a cash cow to beat to death. They just needed a partner who had the right moral stance.
Oh, the HMRC
aren't they the government body who work in buildings owned by a company based in Bermuda? Seem to recall a lot of publicity when it first happened which then rapidly went quiet. Couldn't have been to do with those that shouted loudest got the most aggressive 'investigator' could it?
Good observation
I think the 'spork' comment is the best parallel here. There will be people for whom the Windows 8 experience goes well but they will be people with a fairly light requirement who would probably have been equally happy with almost any offering (Apple/Linux/Generic tablet etc).
The problem comes with people who put some serious mileage on their PC through a variety of paths be it spreadsheets or large documents or even just gaming. These people will not be happy with the Windows 8 experience and mostly because it does things differently for no significant gain. It may well be that the hardware requirement is lower, it may even be that it boots faster or makes perfect toast but the effort to either relearn how to get to everything or to remap all the functions to where you expect them to be is just too great.
Business opportunity?
i feel the urge to start offering installation of small faraday cages (around one cubic foot) fitted into a cabinet of your choice. Failing that I could label them as secure cabinets to prevent people tampering with their meters....
Re: Just give us voice quality
You will find that the decision to not send the full Caller ID is a deliberate policy decision and relates to having external people call through a defined route rather than direct to a desk. If the person at that desk chooses to hand out their direct number then that is fine but to be able to monitor call handling you want it coming through set routes.
Microsoft vs RealWorld
This is going to be a flame-bait article and it may seem I am chipping in some fuel but I really think that Microsoft have been doing a bit of an IBM here.
Like them or loathe them, their product was (and mostly still is) everywhere and with the way UK schools (and probably other countries too) taught MS Office as though it was the core of IT they must have thought they would be here for ever. On that basis the changes for Windows 8 are not so shocking as of course everyone will follow along, what other option is there?
IBM fell into the same trap (no-one ever got fired for buying IBM kit....heard that one recently?) and while they are still making money, they are having to fight for it instead of just sending out bills. If Microsoft do not open their eyes and, more importantly, their ears then they are likely to head the same way but for them it could be more problematic as replacing software is a lot cheaper and simpler than replacing 'big iron' to run business critical systems on.
Re: Laudable but...
Perhaps I should have mentioned Nokia and HTC One to help out.....it was only a matter of days ago in this very august website though...well, two weeks ago anyway
Laudable but...
just hope they don't make the mistake a certain microphone manufacturer did.
Ah...bless the good old media
Never let the facts get in the way of a good rant. Oh, and remember, anyone that disagrees with you must have an agenda or is part of the problem
Re: I like this guy!
He does seem to be going about this in a much more enlightened way than some. There is no point issuing threats you cannot enforce on even a 'shampoo Advert' sample of the population, far better to speak to people as though they are real people and ask them politely to be good about this.
I tried to resist but....
it's all just fun and games until someone loses an eyebrow...
....then it's SCIENCE
Thank you Mythbusters
ah, schoolday 'pranks'
The rage when I was at school was using crushed match heads in a rapidly closing volume such as a bolt in either end of a nut which was then thrown to add the final compression.
Heard of one guy who favoured the old sugar/weedkiller in small tins with a length of Jetex fuse but that was going a bit far for most kids.
Worst anyone suffered from the powers-that-be was the proverbial clip around the ear before being taken home to explain the events to their parents
Re: Too exciting
If you watch it, it doesn't boil
Gosh
Well bugger me....who would have expected that etc etc etc
Apart, of course, from anyone with any technical expertise who has been in the IT industry for more than a couple of weeks.
Re: Mach 1.2?
Problem with building a new Concord is that the design may be complete but it is rather dated. In addition, my Dad was involved in the Wind Tunnel/Ditch Tank tests and some of the stories about how the French adjusted parameters to ensure they 'passed' some of the tests, well.........
Re: Re "Royally Fucked"...
Just as an aside, the TWOC bit came in when people claimed no intent to permanantly deprive or make money etc etc etc. The crooks tend to know exactly what is needed to prove an offence and so are one step ahead of the legislation...
The TWOCers then started using 'pool cars' with no declared owners so they had to be dealt with through no insurance etc etc.
Re: Re "Royally Fucked"...
I may be wrong (it has happened before apparently but I don't recall when) but I think you will find that this removal of metadata already is illegal as it is the removal of a mark of ownership to avoid having to acknowledge the originator or to pay them a fee for the use of the photo.
It is covered in the Theft Act ...
"A person appropriating property belonging to another without meaning the other permanently to lose the thing itself is nevertheless to be regarded as having the intention of permanently depriving the other of it if his intention is to treat the thing as his own to dispose of regardless of the other’s rights; and a borrowing or lending of it may amount to so treating it if, but only if, the borrowing or lending is for a period and in circumstances making it equivalent to an outright taking or disposal." - Theft Act 1968
Fully agree. If you are large enough to need some form of data-centre and are looking at Cloud or similar then you may well have looked at all the technical aspects for backup/restore and disaster recovery etc etc, but what if the company you are using simply goes belly-up? Worse still, what if the company you are using gets bought out by someone who is in competition with you? All the contracts in the world will not help you if there is no-one picking up the phone.
Consider as an example what happened to anyone using Megaupload. Could the same action be taken against your cloud provider? If so you had better hope that you have a spare copy of the data laying around.
Re: True but misleading
Here too. I have a couple of password roots I use for middling grade websites which can be readily split into very easy or very complex depending on the site requirements but I care not a jot if they are compromised. For the real stuff I have some equally easy to remember but apparently complex passwords which relate to some role-playing scenarios I created in my youth which only four people ever played.
When advising people on password strength I always point them at silly information they would never forget like inserting their shoe size as the second character (2nd and 3rd for the sasquatches) or suchlike so they can run with more easily remembered passwords.
How odd
after watching all these wonderful 'follow the cops' TV shows where people who have unwittingly bought a stolen car have to watch it being taken away with no chance of getting their money back, why is the same not happening here. With all the geo-location info and images of the person in possession of the Mac it can't be that hard for a local officer to knock on the door. Plus it puts a tick into the 'crime solved' column.
Re: Wait, what?
response from ASA when I com,plained about there assumption we would all accept some limitations included .....
services featuring provider-imposed limitations that involve charging or suspension of service for usage that is considered excessive should not be described as “unlimited”
Re: What kind of installation is needed?
like they say though, you are not paying for the mechanic to hit it with a hammer, you are paying for him to know where to hit it
Alternatively
it could mean the death of those restrictions which some smartphones currently suffer from such as delayed software updates or restricted functionality. Either would be a damned good reason to say thank you to O2. Would it also mean that the phone really really was yours so you could have it unlocked anywhen you wanted?
Re: Built on top...
Matches the problems at Heathrow Airport....People move nearby and complain about aircraft noise so get given extra sound insulation and quadruple glazed windows even though it has been an airport for longer than most of these people have been alive. Hey, guess why the house was so cheap???
Re: Can we all stop pretending
.....is my enemy's enemy
No snakes?
I thought that was because the spiders had eaten them all......or was that in Australia (XXXX for the knowledgable)
To be fair
2 million a year is actually peanuts for Public Service IT projects. Just be grateful the plug was pulled before it hits the 'tens of millions per year and not yet working' levels of the NHS
and a Chris 3 says, they may have had some very good use of the system in the time it has been around, if that is the case it was seriously cheap. By current standards would 7-8 years count as a generation for that type of system?
Can anyone remember the last time a change to regulations or business practices lead to a cost saving for end-users?
No, stop laughing at the back I was actually serious
Hmmm...crowd sourcing...
So how many identical (but curiously wrong) updates does it take to create a loop condition like the recent article about photograph ownership. Anyone fancy adding 'the world's best fish and chip shop' to the middle of the Magic Roundabout in Swindon?
Re: We already have a system that you pay more the more you drive...
Aaargh noooo....another one who has fallen for the PR version of taxation mathematics.
The Tax level on fuel is 300% so it's proportion of the Gross price is 75%
Re: Vinyl
especially the case with double albums where the space available allowed for some amazing art while still showcasing the artist(s)
Re: Maybe Not..
That was only one factor that got me looking around for alternatives. When I spoke to the disconnects team they went on and on about how 4G meant I could get my emails at least twice as fast.....big whoop. So that five lines of text comes across in 2mSec instead of 5mSec. Like I react that fast to an alert anyway. Call me old-fashioned but the biggest factor in having a mobile phone is call quality and texts. Yes I have a 'Smartphone' but that is because I can, not because I need it and all these billions they spent on 4G just mean higher bills as far as I can see.
Re: Is the movie intended to be silent?
Don't care, just as long as it doesn't have Tom 'Big Man' Cruise any where near it (except possibly as the first target).
Re: Misleading Headline?
Yep...been there and when I mentioned it to a colleague he didn't believe me so phone the Taxman to ask them directly???????
Muppet
Re: Believe it when I see it
Seem to recall they also add the processing fee per traveller per leg even when it was all part of one transaction so your 'nominal' £5 fee suddenly becomes £40 for a party of four on a return trip even though it is only one debit card transaction.
Subsidy?
Reading the article and some other reports of the transaction I am not sure that calling it a subsidy is either fair or accurate. As indicated in the article this is a very long standing commercial activity where the loan cannot result in a loss so although it may be a low interest rate loan it is still a loan.
I also think that unless you insist on buying an unlocked SIM-free full fat smartphone direct from the manufacturer you will still not be paying full price. In fact I am not so sure that it is possible to determine what a full price is and the closest you could probably get is the Manufacturers Recommended Retail Price which is normally treated as the 'look how much you save buying from us' figure.
Try speaking to an airtime provider about why your monthly bill doesn't come down once the 12/24 months is up and you have paid for the phone and you will be left wondering if the true cost of the phone is thousands rather than hundreds as they all but claim they are making them available to you at a huge loss.
Re: Compromise
Unfortunately the various Government departments keep forgetting they need to 'Replace' the text with a bar and think that black text on a black background is good enough
Re: I wish...
Was about to put much the same comment. I have to suffer the hardship of working in Switzerland for most of the time and can only get the BBC/ITV 1 to 4 plus oddments in English and it really isn't worth the effort. The supposed mainstream channels seem to be totally filled with soaps past their sell-by date, cooking programs designed to promote the presenter rather than the food, DIY shows for people who can get a TV channel to pay for the work and 'quiz' shows. When they do show films it appears they have a list of films for the week and they show them all EVERY NIGHT.
Re: Landings and takeoffs are controlled from within the theatre of operations
Surely the management phrasing is 'unintended interactions at the ground/air boundaries'
Sadly...
this is an example of how normal processes can be corrupted if it can save more than it costs to implement. All the oft castigated companies use licensing fees and suchlike (transfer pricing?) as a need to shift the bullion to a more lenient jurisdiction but this was setup to allow normal businesses to account for costs. As an example, if you were a one man band franchisee for 'SupaKlean Floors' you may have to pay for branded kit and consumables and that is a legitimate part of the cost of doing business. What the big-boys have done is squeeze every possible penny through that route (such as buying their coffee beans from the franchisor) to minimise their apparent profit margins.
All perfectly legal and a perfectly created minefield for anyone to try to return it to the original intent rather than the predominant usage.
As I have mentioned before, these are textbook examples of the difficulty in converting good intent to clear and precise laws. No matter how careful you are they has to be a boundary zone and this is where the lawyers feed.
Re: BWAAAAAAA!!!!!
@ge
forget the typo, it is just one of those things. Wonderful quote by someone I have completely forgotten....The man who has made no mistakes has made nothing......well something like that anyway
Industry Average?
How can you have a meaningful Industry Average when there are so few players? When you look at the actual numbers, TalkTalk and BT had broadly similar stats and Orange had a single issue bad rating so should the focus of the report not be praising Sky and Virgin for having so few complaints? They each had a third or less of the complaints of the next best ISP and well under a half of the 'Industry Average'.
Re: Funny
Just for giggles I have posted a response to this ruling through the ASA website as I do not appreciate their assumption that the general public expect to be short changed and only get upset if it by an unreasonable amount.
Fortunately I am not expecting a reasoned reply so holding my breath was not required*
*breath holding may occur as part of normal daily activity but this should not be confused with the above statement except when it suits us
Re: He doesn't need to go on a search for a better condom
Good mob Pasante...had a mousemat from them (courtesy of my wife who was a Sexual Health Nurse at the time) which showed a range of their condoms with sizes. You wouldn't believe how many people at work tried to steal it from me, had to take it back home in the end or risk losing it.
A Thought
am I allowed to mention Microsoft, condoms and (in)security holes in the same phrase?
Re: Ahem, numbers...
and me....my how the years have sneaked past since then
About that pint...
Posted in Build a BONKERS gaming PC
Re: PC gaming is for sadists
So agree to the extent that before I was allowed to accompany my son online for XBox games I had to get a keyboard/Mouse adaptor so I can now swivel with the same smooth elephantine grace I have on the PC
