* Posts by frank ly

6077 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

US military readies drone submarine hunter

frank ly

Re: Salvage?

The laws of salvage only apply to a vessel that is somehow damaged or 'stricken' in some way. Salvaging military vessels (without the owner's permission) is against international law.

frank ly

Where there's a will ....

"... controlled via satellite by landlubbers in air-conditioned cubicles, ..."

I used to work a couple of desks away from a man who kept a bottle of rum in his desk. You could catch a smell of it when he added it to his tea. It was an open plan office so he couldn't have sodomy or the lash.

Old tech, new battles: Inside F-Secure’s formidable Faraday cage

frank ly

Re: colour...

The old domestic plug colour coding was green = earth, red = live, black = neutral. These were 'sensible' in terms of their representation but the problem was that people with red-green colour blindness could easily make a lethal mistake in wiring them up.

The modern colours are yellow/green striped = earth, brown = live, blue = neutral.

Neutral is the same as earth potential under ideal conditions and serves as a current return line.

Identifying terrorists: Let's find a value for needle in haystack

frank ly

Re: Needle in an database stack

"... abuse by organisations well known for abusing even the smallest oportunity."

Also, where are the legal penalties for agency employees/contractors who misuse the data?

What the Investigatory Powers Bill will mean for your internet use

frank ly

Isn't the UA header only seen by the web server you're accessing (after decryption at that end)?

All cooped up and nowhere to go, US and German spooks spied on each other

frank ly

We were practicing on each other

Everybody does it!

Ice volcanoes just part of Plutonic pandemonium

frank ly

Pluto .... Pandemonium ....

That's one hell of a coincidence.

Oz insurer offers Basis breathing-bangle-for-your-data swap

frank ly

Possibilities

What would happen if you fastened this thing to your dog's leg? I'm assuming you have (or have access to) an active outdoors type of dog.

Buffett would take a $2bn hit on IBM shares … if he cashed in now

frank ly

Understanding

Warren Buffet once said that he only invested in industries that he understood, when his strategy of not investing in internet type stocks was questioned during the 'dotcom' boom. He was regarded as a wise man after the dotcom bust, of course. Maybe his understanding of IBM and the 'computer industry' is a little behind the times?

Touchnote breach: Wrote a postcard with us? Thieves have your pal's name, address

frank ly

About 3 years ago (maybe), the staff at Asda started asking people for their postcode when buying things at the tobacconist counter and paying by cash. This lasted for a few months. The first time it happened, I said that I couldn't remember but after that happened I started giving them the postcode for the Asda store, which they typed into the till terminal. I assume it was an experimental marketing exercise and I know it was bloody annoying.

Victorian government teacher-laptop scheme illegal, says judge

frank ly

Will the teachers get refunds?

It seems reasonable that they should.

Doctor Who's good/bad duality, war futility tale in The Zygon Inversion fails to fizz

frank ly

"... Thunderbirds back in the 1960's didn't require the suspension of disbelief ..."

They managed to keep the location of Tracy island secret despite regular rocket launches and the purchase and delivery of large amounts of rocket/jet fuel? etc ....

Let's get to the bottom of in-app purchases that go titsup

frank ly

Maybe this is one of the reasons why ....

.... people downoad from torrents?

Startup founder taken hostage by laid-off workers

frank ly

re. "a mass streamlining ....etc"

Anybody who says that deserves to be locked up.

TPP: 'Scary' US-Pacific trade deal published – you're going to freak out when you read it

frank ly

Re: Source code

It seems to mean that if you do want to have access to the source code then you need to go with FOSS software.

Agreements where the source code is placed in escrow, in case the supplier goes bust, would seem to be prohibited by this statement, even if the supplier is happy to do so.

Maybe it should have said, "You don't have to give your source code unless you want to."

Lithium-air: A battery breakthrough explained

frank ly

How delicate is it? etc

The discharge process requires oxygen, which I assume would come from the atmosphere for any simple applications. Given the apparently delicate chemistry, would there be any atmospheric pollutants that might 'poison' the battery? I'm thinking about nose to tail commuter traffic.

Given that oxygen is a consumed reactant, how much oxygen would be needed to generate adequate power for a car to accelerate in town traffic? The battery might need a compressed air supply to give adequate power for practical applications.

The charging process generates 'waste' oxygen .... be careful.

UK cyber-spy law takes Snowden's revelations of mass surveillance – and sets them in stone

frank ly

Re: I have said it once, I will say it AGAIN

There aren't many people who are capable of doing that, let alone understanding it. Maybe you could set up a commercial web-based service?

I've lost the remote! Fury as Samsung yoinks TV control from its iOS app

frank ly

re. "your precious opinion"

This shows how important it is to clear all important communications and statements with a native speaker.

UK govt sneaks citizen database aka 'request filters' into proposed internet super-spy law

frank ly

@Andrew Jones 2 Re: Can someone explain this?

A family home, yes ... but it said "... many internet users ...". Maybe they mean libraries, internet cafes, universities, companies, etc? (I should have thought of that, thank you.)

frank ly

Can someone explain this?

"However, each IP address cannot be resolved to a single individual because at the known time it has been simultaneously shared between many internet users. "

I know what my domestic IP address (from Virgin Media) is and it's been the same for over four years. If I go to whatsmyip.com and similar sites, it tells me. Also, from outside my home network, I can access my domestic FTP server using that address. I thought that nowadays it was only people on dial-up connections who had an IP address that was the same address as someone else had, but at a different time. What have I misunderstood or missed here?

RIPE rebrand whiffs slightly of joss-sticks

frank ly

If you look at their website, it's ripe.net so even they can't get it right.

Sennheiser announces €50,000 headphones (we checked, no typos)

frank ly

Re: Tube Amp

Looking at the size of those valves, they are not running at a few thousand volts. So, there is probably still a transformer tucked away in there if the headphones really do need that high a drive voltage.

Microsoft's OneDrive price hike has wrecked its cloud strategy

frank ly

@Krillin Re: reality check

Could you make your garage zombie resistant as well?

Spanish town trumpets 'Clitoris Festival' thanks to Google snafu

frank ly

re. "tiller"

It's what you use to steer the love boat.

Skype founders planning non-drone robodelivery fleet. Repeat, not drones

frank ly

"It gets ravaged by an angry dog."

If it's delivering your weekly sausage and bacon supplies, you'll open the door to a robo-drone surrounded by a pack of hungry dogs, along with an army of children who tag along to see what all the fuss is about.

In-a-spin Home Sec: 'We won't be rifling through people's web history'

frank ly

"world leading oversight arrangements"

There's not much competition so that _should_ be easy.

Windows 10 growth stalls during October

frank ly

Re: " Folks using that venerable OS to cruise the web"

I was very happy using XP for many years. It did everything I needed it to do and it did it quckly and quietly without fuss on my old laptop. I can understand why some people like to keep it going though I realise that it no longer gets security updates. I do remember that just before Win 7 was released, XP got a load of updates that made it really, really slow and so I felt that I 'had to' move on to Win 7 on a newer cheap laptop.

Maybe the people still running XP blocked out all updates except for security updates and run it in a cautious and technically/security aware manner?

(I avoided any further Windows 'upgrade' experiences.)

Boffins solve bacon crisis with newly-patented plant

frank ly

Bacon flavoured crisps

Does anybody know what the flavouring is? Is it related; etc.?

Vodafone UK blocks 1,800 accounts after 'external source' accesses accounts

frank ly

Re: CC last 4 digits?

"But who's next for the slurping?"

I'm with Virgin Media and Tesco Mobile so I feel a bit left out. VM have my bank details and TM have my credit card details. Maybe my time will come one day.

Net neutrality debate: If startups want to rival Google, they must show some green to telcos

frank ly

A bit like leeches

"By our reckoning, they would pay a couple of percent for this in the form of revenue-sharing..."

The Post Office could charge extra fees for parcel delivery based on the profits of the company sending parcels to customers.

"This would be a fair contribution for the use of the infrastructure."

No, a fair contribution would be to pay the standard rate, whatever that is, the same as all the other customers of the telco.

Wasn't it the boss of another German telco, some years ago who said (paraphrasing), "I see all the money that Google makes from its internet services and I think it's only fair that we get a percentage of that".

Top cops demand access to the UK's entire web browsing history

frank ly

What about ....

.... people who use ZenMate browser plugins (and similar arrangements) to enable them to sidestep their ISP's blockers so that they can download the latest Linux ISO from popular torrent sites?

Get 'em out for the... readers: The Sun scraps its online paywall

frank ly

Innacurate reporting

I just tried a text and image serach for "Lucy from Daventry" and El Reg is the only site that has a hit. So, how do I get to see the pictures? If this is one of the gold badge members only things, I shall cancel my subscription.

China, Germany moving closer to no-hack pact

frank ly

Clarification please

"... agreements already signed between China and the the US and UK."

Does this mean that the US has agreed not to hack the UK for economic espionage purposes?

Has Voyager 1 escaped the Sun yet? Yes, but also no, say boffins

frank ly

Wondering about the need for assembler

I'd think that the specialist assembler skills were to maintain and test the ground based copies of Voyager systems. I'm sure thre wouldn't be any 'reprogramming' of Voyager at its current distance. Can they still send it commands (which would need to be tested on the ground based systems)?

Fuming Google tears Symantec a new one over rogue SSL certs

frank ly

Re: Internal testing?

It would have been a simple matter to set up dummy/fake corporations in the real world and give them certificates (and websites, etc) and then practice/play with those instead of real customer certificates. You could even give them bank accounts and play/practice with secure financial transactions and so on.

How Microsoft will cram Windows 10 even harder down your PC's throat early next year

frank ly

Re: Microsoft...

When I first installed and used Linux Mint, over two years ago, I thought that the system update wasn't working properly because it only took about two minutes and didn't insist that I rebooted after it had finished. After that, for a while, I used to watch it in amazement as it downloaded and installed system AND program/application/package updates at what seemed to be incredible speed. I'm never going back.

Verisign, .xyz and the ABCs of a cutthroat domain-name industry

frank ly

Paying lawyers to bring suits against the competition

How is this different from paying thugs to throw bricks through their windows (apart from the fact that lawyers are more expensive)?

Yamaha unleashes motorcycling robot

frank ly

It was a long time ago ....

"... The task of controlling the complex motions of a motorcycle at high speeds ..."

As I remember, the motions of a motorcycle at high speed are quite simple. It tends to go in a straight line unless you force it to turn. It's when you ride it slowly that it can get a bit wobbly.

Cops use terror powers to lift BBC man's laptop after ISIS interview

frank ly

Re: Works for me

"... it promotes/validates their agenda to kill innocent people."

So if I read or watched such an interview, I'd be 'infected' with terrorist opinions and beliefs? Your attitude is patronising, insulting and offensive.

Microsoft's 'Arrow' Android launcher flies into Play store

frank ly

My clutter is good clutter

"... so Android users don't have to sift through the clutter of an OEM's can't-delete-but-don't-use house apps."

On the Android phones I've used (three different ones over 5 years), you can put any application you like on any of your many screens and not have an application icon on any screen if you don't want it there. In this way, I customise my phone's appearance according to _my_ needs and preferenes. Maybe they were using a different kind of Android phone.

Aussies' distinctive Strine down to drunk forefathers

frank ly

@Swarthy Re: Snigger

"... Scottish, British, and Welsh; ..."

That's Scottish, English and Welsh; also Northern Irish, which is quite distinctive.

Ex-Microsoft craft ale buffs rattle tankard for desktop brewery

frank ly

If it's fully automatic ....

.... can it be called "craft beer"? Where is the craft?

New DMCA rules mean you can fiddle with your tablets, routers, cars (as if you weren't anyway)

frank ly

That is a picture of a stereotypical librarian.

TalkTalk attack: Lad, 15, cuffed by UK cyber-cops

frank ly

Difficult to guess password?

He was probably trying to get past the 'child protection' filters and ended up mashing the keyboard in frustration. Next thing he knows, there's an unencrypted database spewing up onto his hard drive.

TalkTalk attack: Small biz customers may also have been targeted

frank ly

Future Precautions

"The telco said that small businesses may have had their name, address, email address, telephone number, TalkTalk account information, password and bank details nicked by malefactors."

For some time, cautious/paranoid people have used different email adresses for contact with different people and organisations, in case of leaks/compomise. Perhaps it's time for businesses to use separate phone numbers and bank accounts for dealing with different suppliers and customers.

You own the software, Feds tell Apple: you can unlock it

frank ly

Hypothetical situation ....

If I manufacture high security doors and locks of my own design, can I be compelled to break into a house that has 'my' doors and locks fitted?

Mostly Harmless: Google Project Zero man's verdict on Windows 10

frank ly

re. "ultimate bug bear"

Did he manage to take a picture of the bug bear?

TalkTalk attack: 'No legal obligation to encrypt customer bank details', says chief

frank ly

Sauce for the goose

"... 400,000 people who have recently undergone credit checks for new service with the company."

That's 400,000 people who, sadly, neglected to perform 'best security practice' checks on Talk Talk. However, I don't think there's any way they could do that since we rely on these organisations to police themselves.

If MR ROBOT was realistic, he’d be in an Iron Maiden t-shirt and SMELL of WEE

frank ly

I find that a large straight sided plastic bucket/tub is much more convenient for emptying and for filling as well as being less likely to be knocked over. You can put a small rubber duck in it to lend an air of jollity to the room if you wish.

Google stock buy-back: You'll groan when you realize where that $5,099,019,513.59 figure came from

frank ly

Re: Stock is way up after results.

Will this affect executive bonuses?