Posts by Greg J Preece
1995 posts • joined Wednesday 10th June 2009 08:25 GMT
Page:
They're obviously guilty
"After the trials, BT and Phorm sought advice from the Home Office over whether their planned national deployment would be legal under RIPA. Officials gave the opinion - since disputed - that it would be if customers gave consent."
By deduction then, the trials were illegal, as customers did not give consent. And BT didn't ask for advice before the trials, either.
2 + 2 = guilty, surely? No number of brown paper envelopes stuffed with cash could help them wriggle out of that one.
Better...
...but still shit. £1 per MB? Phht. In England you can have 1GB of data over a 30 day period for as little as a fiver. Is continental data really that much of a delicacy that it costs 200 times as much?
Not sure about this
I mean, yeah, getting rid of Flash would be nice (though I'm one of those that wants to see OGG be improved and used as the video standard in HTML 5). So in that case I agree with Mr Jobs. HTML 5 looks like a very good thing, even if it will take aaaaages before most sites convert to it.
On the other hand, walking into somewhere and asking them to change their product - at no small expense - so that it works properly on your new product, is a bit cheeky. Well, no. A bit cheeky is making a pass at the receptionist on the way into the meeting. What Mr Steve is asking for is downright brazen. If he tried that where I work, he'd be told "piss off, we'll upgrade to HTML 5 when we're ready, not when it suits you and your marketing company."
Still miffed about Iris
That was shaping up to be a great little browser for WM until RIM bought it.
Mumble grumble...
Cheers!
Ta for that! Had an O2 user confirm to me today that his contract phone can use SSH. Our Orange business phones can, but that's a business account, so it may be different.
3 reckon they can, and so do I, but I've not been able to confirm it.
Vodafone gave me a really weird answer. They said that they do block ports, but they couldn't tell me which ones, as they've no idea - apparently it changes "on a whim." Nice to know they can sell me a data tariff without knowing what it does...
I'll go into T-Mobile next time I get chance and see what they can tell me.
1GB?
I was under the impression it was 3GB. That's what they told me when I signed my contract.
Honestly, there needs to be some kind of regulatory involvement on this. Staff who do not have the answer (or have conflicting answers) to even the most basic of technical questions should not be allowed to sell Internet access!
Uh-oh
The reason I use T-Mobile's network is the existence of Web and Walk Plus, which guarantees that I can use SSH, etc from my phone. Now that they've only got one level of net access, who's betting that it's the usual shite you get from mobile networks, with everything blocked except what good boys and girls use?
Serious question: which mobile networks allow you to use SSH/FTP from a phone? I've already asked the networks, and got various degrees of "uuhhhhh...dunno."
Posted in BBC clambers onto iPhone bandwagon
You act like they weren't already on it
"BBC clambers onto iPhone bandwagon"
Hah! The BBC has been an advertising arm of Apple for quite some time now. Can't think of another company that gets all its product announcements - never mind releases - featured on headline TV news. I remember watching their gushing fanboi report on the iPhone launch. And try spotting a laptop/phone/other piece of kit used on the Beeb that doesn't have an Apple logo on the back.
Just clambered on? Get real - the BBC *built* the bandwagon.
It's because...
...and you'll be astonished by this - OTHER people might have gone for Office 2007 instead. I know you'll find it hard to believe, but sometimes we receive documents from outside the company! Wowzers. What an age we live in, eh?
I have one
But that's mainly because - for only one month longer - I still use one of these:
http://www.digitaltechnews.com/news/images/t_mobile_ameo.jpg
Try holding that sucker up to your ear to take a phone call. Oh, and I also use it for driving, natch.
It's not mandatory
You don't *have* to install it, but they make you go to an effort not to. If you've got automatic updates, it's installed with them. If you go to the Windows Update site, it's selected by default.
Posted in Chip and PIN security busted
Agreed!
If it were about security, the PIN would be more than 4 bloody digits!
Posted in BOFH: The PFY Chronicles
Woah woah woah
Simon's dead?? As in, actually dead? Not hanging-onto-a-misplaced-Cat5-bundle-in-a-riser dead?
:-O
Been on the Interwebs too long...
>>the standard that will be applied is the "local community standard".
I read that as the "lolcat community standard"...
OMG, IZ PR0N! Yoo is bad hoomin, no cheezburger fuh yoo.
Bovine Excrement
"Microsoft said the update would scan for over “70 known and potentially dangerous activation exploits” in its latest operating system."
Dangerous?
“I’d like to stress that the Update is voluntary, which means that you can choose not to install it when you see it appear on Windows Update.”
...automatically selected, in the "Critical Updates" section, which your system is configured to install from without asking first...
Posted in OpenOffice 3.2 is on tap
Woah, that's fast
Just tried it out on Kubuntu and they weren't kidding about load times. The whole thing feels a lot nippier. Nice one!
Shouldn't be funny
"The Rongelap islanders in particular suffered a nasty surprise as they had not been told about the test, which was supposed to be secret."
I should not be laughing at this, but the notion of a "secret" nuclear mushroom cloud amuses me.
It's a proven system
Opera Mini runs on a hell of a lot of devices, and quite successfully at that. Is it Mini that's installed on the Wii?
I use Opera Mobile myself, which has had its ups and downs, but the latest beta is turning into an excellent piece of kit.
Going back to Adaptec
I mentioned them above and completely forgot to explain why. I once bought a SCSI controller off a certain online tat market, and bugger me, it was buggered. I phoned Adaptec for advice and they said to send it to them. I had no warranty card, no receipt, not even a box, but they cared not a jot. They give a 5 year warranty on all their cards, the card in question had only been on the market for 2 years, so send it on back. I got a brand new card in return, in the box, with a whole bunch of accessories I never paid for thrown in for free as a "sorry it broke."
If only more companies had that kinda sense.
*Bzzzerrt* No, the correct answer is "England"
We automatically get a year's warranty under UK law, no messing around. In fact, isn't it 2 years under EU law? I know some companies like Adaptec give you 5 years, which is cool.
The truth is not the right truth
"The suit had alleged that WGA was falsely advertised as a security update. "
Which it was and is. It is listed as a high-priority update, a section of the update system previously reserved for patches and security updates. This also meant that is was installed automatically, despite not being an essential system upgrade. These two things together would easily mislead the majority of users, not clued up on technical schtuff, to assume it was a security update of some kind.
Calling it "Windows Genuine Advantage" - surely the world's most bullshit and meaningless name - didn't help either.
Of course, if you are actually running a legit/downgraded system, you've nothing to worry about (now they've fixed it not to accuse downgraded users of being pirates), but God Almighty, it is annoying as hell.
Posted in MTV Mexico pulls South Park episode
Spider sense....tingling...
Something tells me this had little to do with the flag...
Offline?
Why is it necessary to take the store offline for an entire day to add new products? That doesn't sound like a very well-built store!
Unless, of course, this is all to generate extra publicity/hushed awe amongst the cultists. But only a cynic would think like that. ;-)
I blame my father
A childhood full of sitting in the back of the car, listening to Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, the Eagles, Bread, the Traveling Wilburys, etc, etc, etc.
Hey, don't get me wrong - no-one messes with the Wilburys. I am the Monkey Man at the End of the Line. But there comes that moment in the charity shop where the cute girl helps out the oldies behind the counter, Radio Ancients is on, and suddenly you and the 75-year-old shop manager are the only two people singing along to Laughter in the Rain.
Epic fail.
Posted in UK suffers videogame 2009 sales blow
It's because the games are shit
End of. OK, OK, PC gaming is dying a death thanks to the rise of stupidly powerful console, along with the rise of stupid DRM that continually punishes PC gamers for not being console gamers.
But seriously, how crap are the games these days? Aside from the next Call of Duty or God of War game, what is there to look forward to? What game took your breath away last year and threatened to take your social life with it?
Games just don't draw me in any more. They're high on production values and graphics, and low on innovation. (And before you say it, the Wii turned out to be exactly the useless fad I thought it would be. 101 mindless party games for 6 year olds? No thanks.) I've started playing a lot more "retro" games, because they're simply more entertaining. The occasional game breaks through with great appeal, but on the whole they're bland, generic, and not worth 40 quid a pop.
I know my expectations of games are high - I lived my teenage years straight through the Golden Age of Gaming, and it was *awesome* - but 90% of the crap put out for the modern market simply isn't worth bothering with.
Much like Hollywood, in that respect...
Posted in Yes! It's the iPad jacket!
Nice idea, but a waistcoat?
I carry a million gadgets every day, and I have to stuff what pockets I have full. I'd love something like this, but it's just so....ugly. Give it some sleeves, add a bit of length, make it a looser fit, make it out of leather....
So yeah, just take a proper jacket and sew some more pockets in it. Damn, I should try that. I could make money...
Come-a come-a down dooby doo down down
Breakin' up is haaard toooooooo do!
Oh for the love of God, I'm 23. How do I know Neil Sedaka lyrics? In fact, how do I know it's Neil Sedaka/The Partridge Family in the first place? Aaa!
Oh, right, the article. Woo yay, IE sucks, FF rules, blah blah, all that nonsense.
Posted in eBay cans free P&P requirement
That's better
While I have taken advantage of free P&P on DVDs as a buyer, it did seem a bit unfair to the seller. A postage cap seems more appropriate and better for one-off sales/attic sellers.
Odd quote, but in fairness...
"Macmillan pushed for an increase in e-book titles from $9.99 to $14.99"
That is f**king ridiculous. Arbitrary 50% price increase on a medium that costs approximately $0.000001 per reproduction, and was already extortionately priced to begin with.
Version 7?
Why version 7? This is continually annoying me.
Every time I see a group of people declaring that they're finally moving from IE6, they move to IE7. Why not 8? If you're going to move, you might as well move to the latest version, right?
Oh, go away
Firefox came out in '04, Opera started 8 years earlier in '96. Wow, Opera have built more stuff in more time. Funny how they never managed to get any market share with all that inherent genius...
Posted in Mozilla unfurls first mobile Firefox
I know, it's ridiculous!
It's almost like it's not a finished version or something!
Posted in Mozilla unfurls first mobile Firefox
It is quite nice
Got my grubby hands on an N900 in a Voda store and had a play - Fennec is rather spiffing, though, as you say, it didn't seem very happy with Flash.
Posted in Sun takes over MoD's UFO bureau
Hold up
"It's fate remains unknown to this day."
Eh? I thought they found Beagle 2. Or at least, what they reckon is Beagle 2:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/20/beagle_spotted/
Wala?
Someone doesn't know their French.
So there's a battery alerter in Windows that drains the battery? Hmmm, what does that remind me of... Oh yeah! The "feature" in Windows Mobile that turns on the screen when your battery is dying, then keeps the screen on to make sure it dies as quickly as possible.
Posted in Next from Apple: The Pocket iPad
Don't worry Sarah
Some of us keep a few braincells around for articles such as this one. Liked it very much - more please!
Ahahahahaha
*That's* the iPad? That thing?
I don't even need to mock it! Sure, every chump in range is going to want one, and the Mac-adoring BBC are already masturbating wildly over it, so expect to see every newsreader with one as soon as they come out, but that doesn't stop it being a piece of crap.
And to all those who believe that anything hugely popular has to be good, I give you: The X-Factor, Big Brother, TV soaps, the Daily Mail, and the Audi TT.
Posted in Aussie man convicted for Simpsons smut
Undernet is fucked
I've seen undernet sites where the porns ads down the side were Family Guy/Simpsons porn. Am I now automatically an 3vil peed0?
Take reading lessons
That's what he said, but nicking full URLs is just as bad. There can be all sorts of stuff in a URL that you don't want tracked - page parameters, session IDs, files you don't want people to know are there, and so on.
That's nice...
...perhaps now they'll get back to administering the list, seen as it's two weeks since they falsely marked one of my sites as malware-ridden, prompting endless pop-ups and confirmation screens in Firefox, and preventing me from using that browser to access my account. Grrr.
2014
I have little faith in Cameron, and I'm planning to emigrate anyway - my passport runs out in 2014, I believe. 4 years left...
A different kind of missile, surely?
I'm thinking there would be a difference between the ICBMs designed to level Russia and the kind of space-destined missiles designed to neutralise a flying cathedral. So perhaps Mr Obama McJesus' statement could be changed to say "no nukes aimed at this particular ball of rock."
How long until....
...Windows 7 Mobile Edition? Hell, WM is on v7, and so's the desktop version - it could happen.
Might work better, too. Trying to sell my old WM phone today, and will it talk to my Win7 desktop so I can back it up? Not a chance.
Thank God my next device comes with Linux.
Posted in BT to throttle P2P for faster broadband
Well, you do surprise me...
BT, an ISP that has time and time again shown themselves to be not just arrogant and greedy, but plain old-fashioned eeeevil, is touting a high-speed line where people using the advertised speed for any length of time are punished?
Shocking. No really, I never saw that one coming.
If it's all the same, I'll stay over here on Titan, where they don't illegally dive my data, or throttle my connection, or restrict arbitrary protocol use, or charge me through the nose for the privilege.
Hmmm
Half decent range...
Decent enough speed...
Charges up pretty quickly...
Actually looks like a car and not an inflatable kid's toy...
Compared to some electric cars, that thing's not bad.
Posted in Lenovo talks up LePhone launch
I like it!
Though the keyboard looks a bit weird, other than that, that looks pretty damned cool!
Posted in Firefox 3.6 goes live and final
Ah, FACTS!
I love people who yell "FACT!" at the end of their posts. They remind me of Speak You're Branes.
And as I'm on Linux, am I still a sheep? Please, do tell.
Posted in Firefox 3.6 goes live and final
You can always not use it, you know
It is an option.
Personally I like the new address bar. If I forgot to bookmark something and I can't remember the address, I can type in a few vaguely related keywords and feck me, there it is. No rooting around in the history, just use the address bar.
And this is FF - if you don't like it, switch it off. Or go onto a news website and have a good old moan about "bloatware".
