* Posts by frank ly

6077 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

US Army loses 16,000 personnel records in South Korea

frank ly

"...banking details and classified data was not compromised."

Maybe they should have stored the other data to the same level of security/isolation? Maybe that would be too inconvenient?

There must be a way of allowing a civilian/admin worker to generate an enquiry about my job application and print out an envelope addressed to me without allowing them to do a data dump of everybody else on the system.

Plastic is the new rock, say Geologists

frank ly

Re: OK, let me get this straight.

Coffee ...too much .....too little .... a delicate balance.

Euro judges: Copyright has NOT changed, you WON'T get sued for browsing the web

frank ly

Re: OMG Mirrors!

If a newspaper is copied in the forest and there's nobody there to read it, does ....er ......

US escalates Stingray mobe-snooping secrecy battle as judge unseals evidence

frank ly

Re: "US Marshals raiding Florida police"

They were protecting them from themselves. It was an act of caring firmness.

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi! 3D HOLO-PHONE hinted in Amazon vid

frank ly

A possibility:

"... tracking the position of each of the user's eyes and projecting the appropriate image into each."

Is it a phone with frickin lasers?

Australia's first public swatting victim a nice bloke

frank ly

"...it's dangerous to the police responding to the people inside the house,"

What?! It's dangerous to the victims inside the house. The police do risk sprained ankles with all than crouched running, maybe.

TrueCrypt hooked to life support in Switzerland: 'It must not die' say pair

frank ly

Re: CryptTrue

Cry 'Puter

Oh, wow. US Secret Service wants a Twitter sarcasm-spotter

frank ly

Meanwhile, at a secret location ...

... a specialist team have been assembled to analyse the comments on The Register. It's a dangerous job and specialist counselling is not only available but is compulsory.

Former Microsoftie becomes US ambassador, opts to swear in on KINDLE

frank ly

I suppose ...

... that if the appropriate document is displayed on the screen then it's a legally valid oath.

Please be seated at your FOUR-LEGGED PC

frank ly

"The desk itself is unremarkable:" ?

It's remarkably ugly. Or is this 'gamer chic', in which case I'd have expected a bigger monitor?

Balls to the World Cup: Brazuca wins in the wind

frank ly

I remember the old leather footballs

You pushed a new bladder in through the opening and laced it up then inflated it to what you thought was a good pressure. On damp grass the ball got heavier as the game went on. When you headed the ball, you hoped that the lacing wasn't in the 'right' place to leave an impression or even a cut on your forehead. Footballers nowadays .......

Telstra kills ZOMBIE BOXES all over Australia

frank ly

Detailed Analysis?

I wonder if all the drop in power was due to 'zombie' equipment not being replaced or if the replacement (and more modern) items were simply less power hungry.

This is a very good example of why money spent on dull and dreary audits can save money for a company. Perhaps they didn't do audits before because of 'cost saving' measures. As every good executive knows, it's important to improve the bottom line quickly, soon after you start and before you move on.

Linux users at risk as ANOTHER critical GnuTLS bug found

frank ly

@Oliver Jones Re: Open source was supposed to be secure

I've upvoted you because I like your sarcastic cynicism (or is is cynical sarcasm?). After a year of running Linux at home I'm now a fan, but I'm not blindly in love with it.

Open source wasn't 'supposed' to fix any and all security problems, it was intended to give people choice, enable them to make informed decisions and give freedom of action in their use of software. It does all that very well. As with all software products, unless you're a software wizard with lots of free time, your informed decisions are dependent on other people being wizards and there aren't enough of those to go around.

US bloke raises $250k to build robo-masturbation device

frank ly

Imagine ...

"... I deeply apologize to those who were offended by the sight of artificial human penises."

... how they'd feel if they saw a real one.

Remember Anna Kournikova? Come with us on a tour of bug-squishing history

frank ly

Re: Oh, yes!

And thanks to Google Images, you can refesh your hard disk with happy memories.

Samsung in a TIZZY: OH PLEASE make apps for our Tizen Z mobe

frank ly

Re: App Revenue?

" ...operators want in on the app shop cash."

The water company want to sell me high priced multicoloured perfumed toilet paper, but they're just plumbing infrastructure people and ought to settle down and get used to it.

The fresh Mint of dwell there: This is a story all about how 17 is here for a while

frank ly

Re: Going off the rails

"But what happens once you stray off the path?"

You download the binaries and do your own private installs and make appropriate symbolic links and check the specialist forums for consensus advice about which library is needed. You kludge the application default choices and MAKE it do what you want it to do. GRAAAAAH! You beat your own path through the jungle and become your own systems admin. Sometimes you wonder if it would be a good idea to write a record of what you've done. That self doubt soon passes. Great fun!

frank ly

I'll try it in a dual-boot setup ...

... then wait quite a few months before I commit to an upgrade from Mint 13. I'll test the heck out of the MATE panels because they were behaving strangely in Mint 16 (Petra) in a VM. I'll also check the forums for the inevitable confusion, pain and anguish.

Flying saucer with 'stadium-sized' orb to INVADE Earth's skies

frank ly

So ....

.. it's about 1.7 GBags (Giga Bulgarian airbags).

Quantum teleportation gets reliable at Delft

frank ly

Re: *Ahem*

You forget about Ronnie Soak (Kaos). Everybody forgets about Ronnie.

http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/index.php/Kaos

frank ly

Re: Now listen here sonny...

As I understand it, Einstein was one of the original group of physicists whose work predicted quantum teleportation and he didn't feel comfortable with the prediction. He wasn't 'wrong'.

DIY IoT computer smaller than a square inch

frank ly

Re: Cute

It's actually a little router, so it's entire purpose is to talk to other devices.

Apple: Scrubbing may not yet have cleansed iThings of BLOOD

frank ly
Coat

Re: Is this an iDagger I see before me?

Out, damn Siri!

frank ly
Coat

Is this an iDagger I see before me?

Ok, I'm going.

TOADOCALYPSE NOW: Madagascar faces down amphibious assault

frank ly

What happens if you squeeze it and lick its 'eyebrows'?

Such an interesting shade of blue.

Boffins: How to generate crypto-keys using a smartphone – and quantum physics

frank ly
Happy

Re: Just wondering

I hereby relinquish all rights and claims to the random number generator method known as the 'Frank Ly Generator' and gift it to the world. (I retain the right to bask in any reflected glory.)

Note: I had to press a 'Sumbit' button to get the post published. Vulture lawyers might have a say in this.

frank ly

Just wondering

" ... the right number of photons needed to balance getting the maximum quantum uncertainty, while not saturating the detectors."

That indicated they were using a bright 'scene', if they were worried about saturating the CMOS detectors. I'd have thought that quantum effects wouyld be more noticable at very low levels of illumination.

Has anyone tried generating a 'random' number my performing a checksum on all the pixels of a photo of a natural scene (flower beds in a park, woodland glade, etc)?

French Hacker Legion is West's foremost snoop squad says Robert Gates

frank ly

L'Etat, c'est moi!

Let them eat freedom fries.

Ballmer SLAM-DUNKS $2 BEEELLLION bid for LA Clippers

frank ly

In my world ....

... I dream of having a bigger/better car than my neighbour.

TrueCrypt turmoil latest: Bruce Schneier reveals what he'll use instead

frank ly

Re: Alternative explanation

So, that's not your name, it's your pet's name :)

Samsung wants to 'thingify' your BODY with Simband

frank ly

Just wondering

"... developers can access the data and leverage it to create entirely new applications.”

How much will they pay me to let them view and use data from my body?

How about printing your electricity?

frank ly

"... the inkjet printer's annoying habit of skipping pixels ..."

Is that true for all inkjet printers, or just this one?

LG G3 fights off screen-res war rival Samsung with quad-HD cutie: In pictures

frank ly
Coat

Re: I really can't see a point...

I think that's their point.

frank ly

The 'porthole' front cover

I hope that could be removed because that does not go well with how I like to hold a phone, or cameraphone, or anything.

What's up, Zuck? Facebook asks Brussels to probe its GIGANTIC WhatsApp deal

frank ly

Instant Messaging

If 'instant messages' are carried over the telcos' networks, why would the telcos care who sends and receives them?

Amazon turns screws on French publisher: Don't feel sorry for Hachette, it's just 'negotiation'

frank ly

I smiled

“When we negotiate with suppliers, we are doing so on behalf of customers. ..."

Hey, we'll do 4G for £15, says O2 (just mind how you go on the 1GB limit)

frank ly

Re: May be worth mentioning...

The last time I looked in detail and read the T&Cs, the 'all you can eat' didn't allow tethering; it was 'The One Plan' that alowed tethering. Has this changed recently?

Edit: Must type faster.

Smut-spreading copyright trolls lose John Doe case

frank ly

Latest News

TPB servers floored by Popular Demand for a particular video title. (I'll be searching soon).

Skype to become 'Star Trek' style real-time translator, says Redmond

frank ly
Coat

My hovercraft is full of eels

etc.

Watch: Kids slam Apple as 'BORING, the whole thing is BORING'

frank ly

When I were a lad

I used to play all day with a stick and a hoop and I was happy and grateful for it. Kids nowadays.......

ARG! A GHOST SHIP! Pirates sunk by UK cops return from watery grave

frank ly

Re: This: ... catch some proper crims

That's hard work and needs expertise and some thought and planning and getting off a fat arse and out into the real world.

Microsoft Cortana EULA contains the Greatest Disclaimer of ALL TIME

frank ly

"... personalized experiences provided by Cortana."

Would you want to have a personalised experience with an assistant like that?

Tech that we want (but they never seem to give us)

frank ly

Re: Non-reflective laptop screens.

Go to eBay (or similar) and get an Acer Travelmate 8000 (or similar). Also on eBay, get a replacement battery and an SSD PATA drive for it, 16GB or 32GB will be fine. Install LInux MInt (or similar). Enjoy using it. I already had the Acer so I just had to get the battery and PATA SSD :)

128-bit crypto scheme allegedly cracked in two hours

frank ly

Re: Better password needed

123456 isn't a prime number so if course it's not secure. (I may be getting confused here.)

Samsung WRISTPHONE – for those who wanna whisper to strap-ons

frank ly

Re: So memoryloss, and a very unimaginitive brain is what it takes to become a regreporter?

Would the toothpick/stylus fit into a small recessed tube in the wristphone, or would it be tied to the strap with a short length of stylish string?

Congress divorces NIST and NSA

frank ly

After Heartbleed and other similar problems, I'd hope that many eyes are now looking over the crypto and security functions of Linux and its various distributions. At least people can do that if they want to.

Bondi shark alert systems beams warning to nobody on Google Plus

frank ly

Am I correct in assuming ...

... that they use an SMS to send the warning? I hope so.

Google brings futuristic Linux software CoreOS onto its cloud

frank ly

Re: Someone fell for the autocorrect

You mentioned it. That could be the spark :)

Google: 'EVERYTHING at Google runs in a container'

frank ly

Re: Oo Exciting..

Paragraphs 7-10 explain the differences and the relative advantages betwen virtualisation and containerisation. Nate Amsden's excellent comment is very interesting.

NOT APPY: Black cab drivers enraged by Hailo as taxi tech wars rage on

frank ly

Did this crowd ......

... have torches and pitchforks, or were they brandishing buggy whips?