Posts by frank ly
2124 posts • joined Wednesday 10th June 2009 09:17 GMT
Page:
re. " ... the dumb pipes they really are ..."
Yep. The Post Office don't take a percentage of the value of cheques I post in the mail. My cable internet ISP don't take a percentage of the credit card and Paypal payments I make using the internet. They just shovel my data, which is what I pay them for. Why do the mobile operators think they can interfere and dip their fingers into any data transactions between me and a vendor?
Is that a bonking wallet in your pocket?
... or are you just pleased to buy stuff from me?
Posted in Firefox to spit out third-party cookies
Use 'Request Policy'
I recommend the use of the Request Policy plug-in for Firefox. It blocks all requests to third party websites and indicates that it is doing so. Then, you can temporarily or permanently lift the block for all requests to that site or only requests from the site you're using at that time. (It's easier to understand if you just use it and play with it.)
On many sites I use, there are an amazing number of third party sites that are blocked by Request Policy without my use of the originating site being affected at all. If an image is blocked, it shows the image box as greyed out with a little red flag in the middle that can be clicked to indicate the name of the site being blocked.
The first time you use it, there is the minor frustration of having to go through the list it presents and deciding which ones to allow, since many sites use third party sites to deliver required content. However, I feel it's worth it to avoid the shedload of crap and all the inevitable tracking stuff that will be there.
Re: Reg: May I propose....
You lose additional points for misspelling 'Treknobabble'.
Are those candle-holders for sale?
If so, you need to get them up to speed with data mining techniques, referencing all their previous sales and searching Google etc. for potential leads.
@vmistery
" ...brief sessions on Google to find out the latest butterfly facts or something similar."
Ahhh, Painted Ladies and Red Admirals, phwoooar.
'Ole Juul : Re: Not surprising, but nice to see some stats
Thank you for that well explained and thoughtful response.
Familiarity -> Contempt -> Amusement
I've stopped being surprised by this sort of thing and the armchair indignation faded after a while. Now, I just smile and shake my head. Why, oh why ...... awwww, forget it, lol.
Re: Not surprising, but nice to see some stats
"... disabled people are often hooked on drugs ...."
Do you mean 'dependent on strong prescription medication', or do you mean 'addicted to illegal drugs'? If the latter then that is very worrying. If your 'local' experience is in fact common, then this is a tragedy.
@Efros Re: Cut my ties
"Moved to a PAYG outfit who offer unlimited voice/text/data for $45 a month, you just have to pay full price for the phones. "
That isn't what I'd call Pay As You Go, here in the UK. That's what we call a SIM only contract. PAYG is when you buy and load credit onto your phone account which then gets reduced when you consume minutes/texts/data. I wonder why the difference in terminology?
Posted in Apple files 'iWatch' patent application
Re: In Redmond Microsoft fire the photo copiers up.
I started reading without even looking at who wrote it. By the time I got to the end of the first short paragraph, I knew it was you. You have a certain style.
A sleeping giant awakes
"These acts also diminish US export prospects around the globe and put American jobs at risk."
So, they're going to do something about that unpatriotic group of American companies that have their manufacturing done in China? I skim read it; have I understood this correctly?
Between the lines
"Due to an unprecedented rate of return of employees following the Chinese New Year holiday compared to years past, ...."
Translation: We were amazed when so many came back to us after we allowed them to leave the factory. The economy must be bad out there.
Dante was an amateur
"Since streams of information have become the paradigm of choice on the web, we’re introducing a newsfeed with infinite scroll, letting you experience a virtually endless feed of news articles."
It's the Yahoo! circle of hell!
@P_O
Further, the hands, feet and head are generally not closely covered by material that makes a good wick.
A good question would be: have there been cases of apparent SHC where the victim had well defined, uncovered areas of their body that did not suffer serious burning, or had a different kind of burn pattern to covered areas? e.g. bare forearms or bare lower legs?
All your data monetised for us
It's not just the NHS. When my mother died, after winding up her affairs I had her mail redirected to my address for six months. Soon after, I got a letter addressed to her at my address, from SpecSavers (high street optician). Note: this was not redirected mail from the Post Office - SpecSavers had her name with my address.
I phoned SpecSavers and got put through to their IT deartment (eventually) and was told that the Post Office redirection database was available to 'selected companies'. The IT man told me he would remove her details from the SpecSavers database.
So, if you have an abusive spouse or a stalker and they work for SpecSavers (and other companies who've paid the Post Office I assume), there's no point in moving to try to get away from them - unless you're careful not to use the Post Office redirection service.
Re: FFS
Can you set up a VM, with virtualised hardware that has _all_ characteristics under your control - i.e. hard disk ID number etc.?
If so, you can effectively carry the same 'PC' around with you for many years, running on different host systems. There is a 'soft' ID number on a hard drive that is created when it is formatted, which is a 'random' number based on the date and time during the formatting process. There is a small utility that will change this for you, which can be useful for some types of activity. As I understand it, there is an internal ID number of a HD that cannot be changed. So, can VMs deal with this situation?
Cloudy confusion
I'm always interested in 5GB of free cloud storage, but it seems this is only for people who buy a Drobo 5N box, which is understandable.
Also, there is another cloud storage business called Copycloud which had me on the wrong track initially. I suppose there's a small limit on the number of obvious names for cloud/storage/file-copy companies.
If you do a Google search on Barracuda Networks, there are some interesting things that other people say about them.
Triax
I remember fitting many triax connectors to triax cables for a 1553B test rig in the late '80s. Ahhh, those were the days. I wouldn't want to do it again, that's for sure.
Re: Help a fella out
I am nothing if not helpful.
@ukgnome Re: 70's Maths question of the day
We're all wondering: How do you know how many beans there are in a can? Furthermore, what size of can and what brand?
2G for me
I've set my phone to use 2G networks only, with a noticeable improvement in battery life. Try it, live slowly.
re. " ...mythical string physics,..."
String theorists, the Microsoft of the physics world. They're holding us back!
Just wondering
Does your iPad boot instantly, or does it return from sleep instantly? There is a difference.
re. Tesco passwords
When I renewed my contract with TescoMobile (a simple matter), they sent me an email thanking me for renewing and 'helpfully' telling me what my e-mail address and TescoMobile user password were. As you say, stored in plain text on their servers.
However, the one capitalised letter in my password was shown as lower case. This might have been security by obscurity or it may be that they do case stripping when they accept the password.
Re: When bubbles collide!
"Let's talk about angles on pins instead."
How many angles can subtend on the head of a pin? That would be a trigonometrical matter.
Wheel - turn - full circle
Does this mean that to save budgets, people will be organising work into overnight batch jobs?
Re. interior minister Ögmundur Jónasson,
I hope his nickname is Oggy. I'd love to hear people shouting for him across a crowded room.
Re: Parental Responsibility
I tend to agree with you in principle Mike, however ...... Consider if 'legal' pornography was in plain simply labelled packages at about two feet off the floor on newsagent's shelves. It's legal, it's not 'on show' to affect innocent minds. You need to pay for it so it can't be casually browsed. So, what's the harm? After all, it's up to parents to stop their children being exposed to this.
@h3 Re: Airdroid.
On second thoughts, it was probably 72Mb/s .... I just remember the 72M part.
I was using my Asus Transformer tablet as a WiFi hotspot with my Nexus 4 WiFi connected to it. I used Airdroid on the Nexus 4 and the browser on the Asus tablet (easier than using a browser on a phone). The phone and tablet were a few inches away from each other. The 72M[B-b]/s figure was the one that caught my eye and it was wobbling around a bit but stayed there for a while. I transferred an 80MB file. It was very fast compared to FTP transfer via the domestic router.
This was direct WiFi between two adjacent devices. No router and no internet based host to slow things down.
".... an alert controller box from Monroe Electronics had been abused ..."
Has it been offered counselling?
Re: Airdroid.
Oh yes. I transfer files between my phone and tablet using Airdroid and a direct WiFi connection. It just works, at about 72MB/s peak.
@El_Fev
"... what our fecking results rocket!"
It should be "watch our..." Your use of vulgarity is also noted. Report to the Deputy Head at break.
@Ronald J RileyRe: Grammar
"Socializing software inventions will ..."
What does that mean? e.g. 'Yesterday morning, I socialised four software inventions. Now they can talk and make friends with people.' Is that the sort of thing you mean?
@eldel Re: Some hints for beer
"Hi thee south for about 450 miles, find the Stone brewery. "
Starting from where? Why not tell us the destination in the first place? Have you been drinking?
After I've read ¡Bong!, everything else makes sense
It's wonderful and does explain a lot.
@Lee D
You don't understand the importance of ritual. It's the personal talisman branch of sympathetic magic and it really does make a difference. Ask any dedicated tea drinker.
@Lance 3 re. " ... the closet donut shop ...."
There's a joke in there somewhere.
Re: EPIC WINDOWS FAIL!
You're suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Go and install Linux on an old laptop and you'll be fine.
They should have gone with Android
They could have made their own curated and moderated app store and made all the icons larger and square to fill the grid.
I'm starting to like him
Really, I look forward to reading his posts. We should keep him as a pet. Outside in a kennel of course.
re. Pirate Bay ship
I always thought they'd copied the Blue Peter badge. (I had one, many years ago.)
It takes 8 years ...!
... to get a trademark application approved in one country?! That's ridiculous. The Brazilian government must be running on molasses.
@Annihilator Re: There are multiple complex roots
A quick check will show that +/- sqrt(2).i doesn't give -4 if raised to the 4th power.
The other two roots are (-1+i) and (-1-i). If you draw them on the complex plane, the symmetry is obvious (which is how I figured it out).
Wet blanket time
"...embed charging into the M25 and you could be sure of everyone in London getting a couple of hours charging daily."
Not everyone in London drives around the M25, or even drives a car. Who is going to pay for the massive infrastructure costs and associated installation disruption costs; and how will the cost be recovered?
What is the running energy efficiency of this system compared to parked charging of electric vehicles and what is the energy cost of the installation?
I'm a cynical and miserable old git and I ask awkward questions, but they must be asked and answered. I have a feeling that the answers will not be satisfactory.
Re: Fixed?
-4^(1/4) is the 4th root of -4, which is not -1.4142.... The 2nd (square) root of -4 is 2j (where j is the square root of -1)
I'll leave the 4th root to your imagination and a bit more calculator fondling if you're in the mood.
Posted in Boffins make bio-chip breakthrough
re. "Messy collection of data aside, ..."
You're not thinking this through. Combine this breakthrough with DNA from electric eels and fireflies, then the bacterial sensors will be able to send data via bluetooth or by encoded flashes as they lay steaming in the pan.
The possibilities are endless and potentially very entertaining (your sense of humour may vary).
Re: Apps store
> Someone suggested tome that "bad English" .....
Was it a weighty tome? A learned tome? Pedantic minds kneed to now.
Buyers are getting full?
“Tough economic conditions, shifting consumer preferences and intense market competition weakened the worldwide mobile phone market this year,"
I don't understand how 'intense market competition' could weaken sales.
Eventually, perhaps soon, everybody who wants a feature/smart phone will have one and then the market will be limited to upgrades and replacements - until the 'next big must have thing' comes along.
It would be interesting to see figures for sales of second hand mobile phones, from eBay etc. to gauge the total number of people buying phones.
Re: 1984
Stop slouching over your keyboard JamesC! Sit up straight and at least try to look interested.
