* Posts by frank ly

6077 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

Boffinry breakthrough OF THE DECADE: Teens 'influenced' by friends

frank ly

Time for some social engineering

Flood Facebook with pics of neatly dressed, well scrubbed teens reading books while helping elderly people to cross the road.

'Peeping while you're sleeping' NSA parody T-shirt ban BACKFIRES

frank ly
Happy

Re: The "Streisand Effect"

"But my goal of learning something new each day has been accomplished, thanks to El-Reg!!"

That's the main reason I read this site, and the comments of course.

Canon climbs atop Facebook with over-the-top pic wrangler

frank ly

re. energy drinks

I'm waiting for replies from combat wombat and mutated wombat.

Microsoft's $7.1bn Nokia gobble: Why you should expect the unexpected

frank ly

How the heck?

"... 8,500 Lumia and Asha phone patents ..."

How on earth can you get 8,500 patents from developing two smartphones.

South Carolina couple cop cuffing for shed shag

frank ly

Re: Not exactly flashing

Indeed. I'd claim 'reasonable expectaton of privacy'. The cops had to make a deliberate effort to find them so it's their own fault for seeing what they saw.

ICANN destroys Google's dotless domain dream

frank ly

re. Refused domains include .AFRICA and .GCC.

Did they give reasons why? Would/did they also refuse ASIA, EUROPE, ...etc? Has anyone applied for ATLANTIS?

World+dog left counting costs: Still can't bury corpse of titsup Brit IT giant 2e2

frank ly

Re: The latest progress report filed at Companies House today revealed that JP Associates (JPA),

There's no way they would have taken the job on unless they had guarentees that they would be paid for their work.

Brit music body BPI lobbies hard for 'UK file-sharers database'

frank ly

Re: The solution is simple...

I've got some readily available technology - a little piece of masking tape; it's simple.

China confirms plans for first Moon visit later this year

frank ly

@Chris G Re: The year is 2050 re. Lox/methane

I was hoping you'd finish your post with a 'cow jumping over the moon' reference.

frank ly

Re: I honestly do not care who does it...

I just wish they'd do an international effort, which would result in more resources being available for any effort. I can imagine engineers and scientists working together on a project of this nature but I doubt that political interference would be far away though. Woud the ISS or the LHC be a good model for joint projects of this nature?

Tencent offers 10TB of free cloud storage for all

frank ly

Re: All your phone are belong to us

If that aspect bothers you, buy a second phone on e-bay and run it purely for data transfers between the cloud storage and the phone and/or your local LAN storage. You don't even need to have a SIM card in it if you limit yourself to WiFi connections.

China: Forget running water, bumpkins. Have some lovely broadband

frank ly

Economies of scale

"...gathering all of its cable players into a single company with 200 million connections ..."

I wonder if this will result in lower prices to the domestic consumer?

Hey, Bill Gates! We've found 14 IT HOTSHOTS to be the next Steve Ballmer

frank ly
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+1 for 'Innovagineer'

See title.

Selfie twerks its way into the dictionary

frank ly

Re: Selfie, Girl Crush, Twerk

When I was a teenager, there wasn't a web to post teenage photos on. Kids nowadays eh?

Eggheads turn Motorola feature phone into CITYWIDE GSM jammer

frank ly

Re: Shame its' not very portable

Strip the case, display, buttons and individual batteries from the phones. Replace the laptop with a custom ARM powered board; etc :)

Boffins' keyboard ELECTROCUTES Facebook addicts

frank ly
Happy

Re: Must ... say ....it .....

Let's talk about the meaning of the word 'injure'.

frank ly

Must ... say ....it .....

It doesn't electrocute them. It gives them a small electric shock.

Top 10 Steve Ballmer quotes: '%#&@!!' and so much more

frank ly

I realise this is totally childish, but ....

.... would it be possible to modify the GPL, etc, so that Microsoft was not allowed to use the code?

Holiday HELL: Pourquoi, monsieur, why is there no merdique Wi-Fi here?

frank ly

re. switching off the cable modem

If you switch off your cable modem for a long time, you risk having a new IP address when you switch it on again. I use my consistent IP address for convenient access to my little home FTP server. It's very useful for saving those 'irreplaceable' holiday photographs, etc.

Google testing 'Helpouts' video support service

frank ly

I know how to make the perfect bacon sandwich ....

... if anyone is interested.

Workers at world's largest – and most remote – telescope go on strike

frank ly

@AC 03:22

"Should have found .."

Shirley, you meant to type 'should of ..'

'Congressional watchdog' reports patent trolling rising fast

frank ly

Re: why is this unexpected ?

I think shelf-stacker or floor sweeper for a six month trial period, at first, so that your basically good idea doesn't ruin any corner stores or small engineering companies.

Battery-free e-ink screen grabs screenshots from smartphones

frank ly
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Re: Secondary Smartphone Screen

I do use my Android for a shopping list (among other uses) by using a note-widget on the lock screen. This would save me the trouble of having to turn it on then off again every time my short term memory failed me (often). You could also use it for a map (if high enough resolution) for quick reference during a car journey.

Four ways the Guardian could have protected Snowden – by THE NSA

frank ly

How about strapping a micro-SD card to a homing pigeon's leg?

It sounds like a fun thing to do, regardless of effiency or reliability.

New use for old iPhones: Watch your house get robbed in REAL-TIME

frank ly

Re: CCTV warning notices

A family friend had small CCTV cameras monitoring his large gardens and home. He tells me that the police advised him to angle the cameras so that they did not show anything happening on the public road or on the neighbour's property. As far as I know, he hasn't placed any notices. I assume that you don't need notices on private property? What about at the front door, where unknown callers can be reasonably expected to be (postman, meter readers, insurance salesmen, etc)?

frank ly

It would be cheaper .....

..... to sell your old iThing and buy a second-hand Android device. This company needs to develop the application for Android to give a much bigger potential market.

India's subidised student tablet lands in US schools

frank ly

Re: Just like OLPC

..... and access to a good library and GOOD TEACHERS.

Microsoft fights Google for kids' attention with ad-free Bing for Schools

frank ly

'A typical lesson plan for maths students...'

If a supplier of tablet computers builds a few more devices than it can sell, and doesn't sell as many as it wants to, after spending more on the advertising budget than it recieves in revenues; then by how much can it discout the initial retail price before the situation becomes totally embarassing?

Mystery of Guardian mobos and graphics cards which 'held Snowden files'

frank ly

Re: The Guardian had a chance to ....

"Stating he was refused a lawyer, he wasn't, he refused the lawyer."

According to an article in The Independent today, his solicitor says that he went to see him and was prevented from going to the room where he was being held, until the final hour of his captivity. So, two versions here - your version and the version of the solicitor who actually went to see him. Who do you think I believe? The article also says that it was never explained to him who was actually interrogating him and that he wasn't allowed to take any notes during his interrogation.

3D printers stroke LOHAN's shapely midriff

frank ly

re. .. 'hewn'

It's not being hewn, it's being precision laser sintered - 'plintered'.

Climate change made sea levels fall in 2010 and 2011

frank ly

Will that water stay in Australia?

I assume much of that rain soaked into the ground or topped up lakes and reservoirs, if it is still resulting in a reduction in sea-level. Will it stay in the ground and maybe benefit farming or will it evaporate eventually?

iWatch rumours grow as Apple hires Nike fitness guru Jay Blahnik

frank ly

An obvious choice

"... a coiffured head of blonde hair, a glowing complexion .."

He's their golden boy; or possibly champagne.

'BLING BLING, BLING BLING' 'Hello, yes, my iPhone is made of GOLD'

frank ly

@Steve Davies 3 Re: More lipstick on a pig. 6310i battery

You can get them for less than £4 on e-bay. I got the high capacity ones about 4 years ago, still going strong.

Nokia 6310i - great phone. I have a Nexus 4 running Android 4.3 - great phone.

Windows NT: Remember Microsoft's almost perfect 20-year-old?

frank ly
Happy

Re: Ah, good old NT

So, there is a good use for 'hidden' files.

Microsoft announces execution date for failed QR code-killer

frank ly

Re: Shame, but inevitable

If you want funky looking patterns, do a Google Image search for "QR code art". I'm amazed and pleased that they seem to work fine.

Kiwi jetpack gets all-clear for manned tests

frank ly

Just wondering....

"... users could drop into an ordinary service station for a top-up. "

Would it be legal to do that in NZ? Or other places?

Google proposes eye-tracking ad-tracking

frank ly

Re: Eye predict

If Google were willing to reward me in some way, I'd be happy to spend my free time gazing at lingerie adverts. In fact, if they outlined the ads with a distinctive marker of some kind, I'd be happy to gaze at any advert. Can I patent that idea?

Google Glass is high fashion in September Vogue magazine

frank ly

I always thought that Google Glass ....

would be in vogue one day.

So fondleable Windows 8 didn't work out so well: Why not try it IN 3D?

frank ly

@Kubla Cant re.

I assume it monitors keypresses, since that's what happens when you type.

Microsoft DMCA takedown requests targeting OpenOffice

frank ly

Could it be ....

.... that Microsoft see Open Office as a competitor to one of their own products and are trying to stifle it? One interesting aspect of this is that Open Office is free, so there is no company has its sales and therefore its profits affected - so no damages can be claimed.

Data protection bods Bocada list dog on senior management team

frank ly

I can imagine

"The board and I had some differences about the direction of the company"

The board had noted her lack of interest in chasing squirrels or patrolling the perimeter of the premises, with no inclination to bark at strangers. She didn't even mark her office so how was anyone supposed to find her? It was felt that she was not a good fit with the company ethos.

Boffins harvest TV, mobile signals for BATTERY-FREE comms

frank ly

Re: And is illegal in the UK

The near field of a transmitter contains stored energy that forms part of the operation of the transmitter and tapping into this certainly constitutes 'stealing'. When the radiated field has been 'launched' and you tap some power from it, you are not affecting the transmitter in any way. If you created a large enough signal shadow to affect people who wanted to receive the signal, I'm not sure what the legal situation would be.

Evernote hobbles third-party apps... but is it pulling a Twitter?

frank ly

Evernote on Linux

The Evernote Windows application runs ok within WINE on Linux (MINT 13), in my simple and limited useage experience. The fonts are a bit rough but I haven't made an effort to improve them.

Does Gmail's tarted-up tab makeover bust anti-spam laws?

frank ly

@Ad Fundum

Are you funded by the Ad industry?

Philips' smart lights left in the dark by dumb security

frank ly

Getting the entire story

It would be interesting to talk with the actual designers/developers for this product and ask them what their initial ideas were, what time and budget pressures they were working under and what management/marketing interference they were subjected to. However, I'm sure that Phillips would fight tooth and nail to prevent that and would quietly threaten dismissal to anyone who spoke to the press.

Would any ACs like to give information?

DARPA calls Big Data boffins: Help us lock up everyone's privates

frank ly

I watched "Oranges are not the only fruit"

Does this mean that I'm a closeted lesbian?

There she blows! Mid-October release date for Windows 8.1 sighted

frank ly

@Spoonsinger Re: It's like a bad movie with no review showing in advance

"... telestial TV ..."

Is that like a joint venture between terrestrial and celestial TV? Oh, the rapture!

No distro diva drama here: Penguinista favourite Debian turns 20

frank ly

It's a slippery slope down that rabbithole

" ...some disdain for the gateway distros .."

I've been snorting Mint for four months now but the thrill has worn off. I'm worried that I might move into trying Debian and then start installing from the CLI.

Violent Hamlet 'bard' by British Library Wi-Fi filters

frank ly

@Pete 3 Re: Excellent re. Titus Andronicus

I believe that sort of fiction is now illegal in the UK, or is it just pictorial representation (for the moment)? I'm a bit worried that I downloaded Oedipus Rex, but that's freaky anyway so I suppose I deserve to have the book thrown at me.

ZTE to flog Firefox OS mobe worldwide via eBay

frank ly

@Zola Re: Lackluster

If you want a weekend/party phone, there are lots of cheap unlocked ones to choose from on e-bay, especially if you're used to Android and don't want the hassle of learning how to use a new phone OS. I bought my first two Android phones on e-bay and they are both still working fine.