re: Simple maths!

sqrt (D * D) != abs(D)

sqrt (D * D) = +/- D. Or I think you were probably aiming for abs(sqrt (D * D)) = D

40GB UK Fat

"any way, I have the 40GB UK Fat module, and it haven't misbehaved since I installed the update."

Me too, the report says it's only the 60/80GB UK Fat models playing up though. So I think "phew" or more likely "odd, the size of the hard disk shouldn't matter" and then subsequently "or is it all just FUD and it's just older models doing the thing they do best - failing with old age?"

I don't know, just speculation... :-P

Hang on

A female CAPCOM - hello! It's just gotten interesting..

The flasher one please

Approaching... approaching...

They're currently 80ft away and the commentator has just said they'll be docking in about 17 minutes. The tension is unbearable!

And

Encouraging cliques is an inevitable outcome too. Usually made up of extremely arrogant players that mock new-comers and have their age-old "friends" to back them up.

@LPF

"The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!" - Abe Simpson, 1995

Facts

In a case like this, it's very very unlikely that you'll get full disclosure from Sony as to how they f**ked up. To do so will be akin to accepting full liability in a legal sense and I think they'd be reluctant to do that as doing so would leave them (even more) open to lawsuits and the like.

Hypotheses and deductive reasoning is all we'll get.

Second!

No... wait...

Doesn't matter

I believe they chop their way quite merrily through high voltage cables as well. Massive insulation on the wire cutters and you're fine - and cut through them one at a time for good measure.

The also steal optical fiber as well, mistaking it for copper and dumping it as it's too difficult to offload. Basically if you wrap a piece of string in PVC, chances are they'd nick that too.

Scum of the earth. Have had a network outage and several massive delays on trains due to them.

Spurious logic

"What evidence do you have for this statement? [... ] Hmmm, but you've used the words "As far as I can tell". How is that different to extrapolating and assuming?"

I don't need to evidence it. Someone needs to show that there IS a link. I'm basing it on the information I have, instead of making up information I don't have.

@Joefish

They're looking for anyone of any ability to turn up - those who struggle will be helped by "experts"

Though probably not much point in entering the compo if Jeff Minter or the Oliver Twins turn up...

@dephormation

There are two different systems. The one everyone is upset about doesn't (as far as I can determine) track, identify or even link two URLs together. Customer A visits google.com. customer B visits theregister.co.uk. As far as I can tell, Talk Talk have just harvested these two URLs as links to be added to their malware scanner for future use. They don't identify customer A or B, even specifically or as an anonymous ID.

You're extrapolating this and assuming that there is any record of *who* visited the sites and when, thus constructing browsing habits. My point is that to gain a list of URLs for scanning (as Talk Talk are doing) does not necessitate tracking who and when.

But carry on down-voting folks, I can take it.

@Chimp

"That doesn't mean public money should be spent on his tattoo removal. Family, friends, religious charities. He has to make a case to people who know him."

You've never dealt with heroin addicts then, recovering or otherwise. Most have no friends or families who want to know them and find it very difficult to fit back into society - they're not all Russell Brand. As for "religious" charities, you'd be surprised how few religions (ironically) are keen to help the really needy. I'll leave it to you to argue whether desperate people should be shepherded into organised religion. But maybe anyone who has made a wrong or misguided choice should be left to kind-hearted people (charities) - let's put smokers with lung/heart diseases into that category. Or AIDS/HIV sufferers. After all, they're both groups of people who have diseases that could be prevented.

Nice one

Appreciate your suggestions for the recovering heroin addict I met who was trying to turn his life around but unfortunately had the word "C**T" emblazoned across his forehead - he has no idea when/why he did it. He was 6 months clean and doing well, but unsurprisingly finding it difficult to find work. But maybe he should be punished for all eternity eh?

@Richard

Actually yes, that's true and often overlooked. I'd completely forgotten, but had to do the same rigmarole when I worked in a branch many years ago. I could only say "I'm calling from his/her bank".

Ditto

They often think that handing out a phone number so that you can call them back proves their identity, which it doesn't. I've had many an argument with them, saying that I've got no way of verifying the number they're asking me to call back on is actually a genuine number belonging to the company. Often it's a private (ish) number that isn't mentioned as a customer facing number.

@Tom 38

"On the back of the crappy ID card is contact details for the operator you are working for, who will then verify your identity for the old biddy who thinks you want to open up her gas meter for some nefarious reason"

Or, the number of your mate Bob who will pretend to be British Gas and say you're legit?

@Sam

The coincidences of timing would be damn-near impossible to get right.

+1,000,000

"And that's useful. I had an update completely brick my iPhone about a year ago."

Many, many people experienced this or a subset of this on upgrading to iOS 3.x as I recall. Didn't brick it, but lost all the data. Had three friends email out after upgrading to say "lost all my contacts when updating iPhone, please email me your number". I pointed out they'd probably backed it up inadvertently and got a lot of gratutude in my direction (though one poor sap had always cancelled the backup process).

Has happened to me on 3 occasions (turned out to be a dodgy USB cable causing it) and the restore helped every time!

re: Facebook

"...well looks like people here still don't know how to do a search."

Nobody says Facebook doesn't do email, they (including me) just noted their surprise. Should I be Googling to see if Twitter do email? McDonalds? BA?

Good, but

Although TV catchup is brilliant, it doesn't really make sense where this product is aimed - i.e. outside of a free/cheap wireless net connection. The 3G iPads would rack up a fairly hefty bill, and wifi iPads would be stuffed.

@Mage

"I'm still mystified as to why people [snip] Install OSX on a non-Apple box rather than Ubuntu, Fedora etc which is more open, runs more applications"

Simple really - because it's there :-)

In my case though, I've got a copy of Snow Leopard available in a Virtualbox machine in order to help support my clients who have Macs. It's a lot easier to talk them through some steps or diagnose a problem if you've got a copy running in front of you when/if you're on the phone to them and remote desktop won't work.

@Shannon Jacobs

"Maybe I need a tin hat, but I don't like coincidences"

Well you live in the wrong universe and are the wrong species then. You exist due to a series of coincidences and are primarily programmed to function by looking for coincidences, its how humans evolved.

Assuming that all coincidences must be a conspiracy does give you a bit of a necessity for a new hat. It's a coincidence that the sun rises each morning I suppose...

re: Yes, they track you

"How else would they know which database points you need. And this 'prediction' shows where you have been in the past"

Please just think this through. EVERY location request request via AGPS requires a vague location check via Apple or some other provider. Cell towers do not broadcast their position (they're capable of it, but don't in the UK) - your phone has no idea where it is unless it does a cold GPS lock (takes a while, or about a minute at any rate). The better it can narrow down its predicted position, the quicker it can obtain and accurate GPS read.

From the server side, they can't consolidate requests - your IP changes to frequently to do that. From the client side (consolidated.db) there is no method by which Apple receives that file (as accepted by the original researchers).

@BristolBachelor

Genuinely asking - where does it say that an app can get access to consolidated.db? As far as I was aware it wasn't an accessible file to anything but iOS. I'd be rather surprised if a "naff but possibly catchy game" was able to read it.

Ploys

Shirley they would be trying to get rid of 3GS hardware ready for the iPhone 5? Past behaviour shows that Apple automatically relegate their #1 product to #2 when a new product is launched, and the existing #2 (in this case the 3GS) is dropped completely. Should the iPhone 5 be launched, the iPhone 4 will continue to sell, but likely at a lower price (and probably only in 1 storage configuration, but wouldn't be difficult to cripple the higher capacity one to appear lower capacity).

I like your eagerness to find a bit of subterfuge, but I think yours is a bit far-fetched.

"every detail" = more than one?

While you're beholding the innovation from Apple, I'm still trying to work out how he implies that there was more than one detail to get right, yet I can only see one. Perhaps I'm missing something and the RDF is being blocked in the UK at the moment.

@AceRimmer

"I can't use the PS3 to get to the lovefilm service which I paid for. Happy now?"

So complain to Lovefilm then.

@mraak

"I can't get what I paid for"

Really? You pay for the PSN? Funny, I thought it was free... You really do get what you pay for. While its a slight inconvenience for me, I've carried on playing my games in single player mode.

re: Cue the whining

Yes, Linux removal was a small thing, but can you honestly not see the precedent they're setting? That's what the major fuss is about (or where my annoyance is anyway). Just because you don't see it as a feature you mind losing, doesn't mean it's irrelevant.

Although less likely, Sony could decide that BD playback isn't worth the hassle and remove it from the firmware. But that's OK because not everyone uses it for that and you can still play games...

@Black Betty

"Then why hide your name, if ...you have nothing to hide?"

Yes my irony-o-meter exploded when I realised the troll in the first post had posted a/c :-)

Dream following

"at least she's doing something and following her dream. How many of us get that far?"

Erm, mummy threw $4K at a record company to write and produce it as a gift for her little darling. While the hatred thrown her way is obscenely unjustified, let's not credit her for chasing her dream. If my parents had spoilt me that way, I'm sure I could have been auto-tuned into producing something similar.

re: the "WIN" icon

Patrick Stewart's image for it? I think not, may I modestly suggest Charlie Sheen instead?