Posts by Peter Simpson 1
521 posts • joined Wednesday 10th June 2009 14:14 GMT
Re: Another idea
Shame you couldn't get some kind of Royal Charter or something...I hear one of Them is an SAR pilot. If you'd made the extra effort to get him interested in the project, maybe...oh, wait -- he's got something else on his mind right now, doesn't he?
Well, it was a good idea. Better luck next time, guys!
(and thanks for the stroy, tracking, photos, videos, etc, so we could follow along)
Re: Total bollocks, all right
"The innovative bit about the patent is the re-radiating of power from one device to another"
Let me get this straight: "re-radiating" is somehow better than just letting the end device pick up the power on its own? Recovery of radiated power by the re-radiator is necessarily inefficient, as is the process of "re-radiation" (whatever that may be). I guess it'll work as long as the battery in the "re-radiator" holds out.
Up to a meter, huh? I'll believe it when I see it work without something melting or the disc on my electric meter spinning faster than light.
//it's the one with "Secrets of Free Power" in the pocket, thanks
Best of luck!
Let's hope LOHAN doesn't get "busted", like its namesake:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/lindsay-lohan-fight-manhattan-nightclub-article-1.1209996
Clear skies and smooth landings!
Re: Not just OS X
...and on Ubuntu 12.10 here as well
Posted in Data cop slap for Brit text pests
Re: Or on Three network
Hmm - interesting. It's the exact same process on the AT&T network here in the US. I wonder if they're all using the same 7726 software? Typing in the sending number is a pain, but I try to remember I'm helping to build a database to shut down these b@stards.
Maybe there is hope after all. It seems to be working here, I haven't gotten SMS spam for a while now. It does seem to come in bursts for several months, then dies out. I'm currently getting robocalls offering me [lower interest rates, free alarm systems, or dead air!)
Posted in Data cop slap for Brit text pests
Re: 7726?
Assuming that the carriers actually care (or are encouraged to care by the regulators), the first step in shutting down SMS spam would be to gather statistics.
The carriers can't seem to stop the spam at the source, but 7726 allows them to automate the process of identifying the sending number and enables them to block it almost immediately (simple script -- if you get 10 complaints on the same number to 7726 inside of 10 minutes, block the number).
It may not end the problem, but at least it makes life a bit more difficult for the spammers (they need to buy more SIMs, as they're being blocked more quickly) and collects evidence (we have all these compaints of spam from this number, and here we have a SIM registered to that number, perhaps you'd like to explain?)
Posted in Ten technology FAILS
Re: The Newton was not a technology failure
I beg to disagree. Jimbo seems quite displeased with the performance of its handwriting recognition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxZJsGuUfew
//one of my favorite Simpsons moments
Re: clarification for foreigners and the young
I believe the Honorable Gentleman was attempting to cram a large number of currency notes into his suitcoat at the time he made that statement.
Posted in Ten technology FAILS
Re: Palm Pilot never tried to be anything more than a digital diary and contacts list.
I had a satellite tracker on mine :-)
//worked a treat!
Posted in Ten technology FAILS
Just threw out
- a Palm V.
Audrey is still in a box somewhere (but I got her cheap -- $75 from Tiger Direct IIRC)
So that's two for me
//it's the one with the pockets filled with techno-trash, thanks
"legitimately CE marked..."
Call me a sceptic, but in my mind, the probablility that a no-name PSU has legitimate CE and/or UL markings is so small as not to be worth mentioning.
//"China Export", my Aunt Sally...
Excellent!
Nice to see old hardware being reborn! Well done, those men.
Posted in BOFH: Hasta la Vista... luser
A "friend"...
....acquired a corporate WinXP Pro install disk. No more crapware on "his" PC, and "he" can wipe and reinstall any time without any pesky activation requirements. Works under VirtualBox as well.
Posted in BOFH: Hasta la Vista... luser
I only fix Windows machines once
...and only for very good friends (and family, of course). If they can't afford an upgrade to a Mac, I explain to them that even if I succeed in removing all the malware, it will just eventually grow back. Then I ask them what they use their PC for. It's usually mail, browsing, music and digital camera. If iTunes is involved, I recommend a Mac; if not, I ask them if they'd consider trying Linux, with the caveat that we'll save their Windows drive and they can go back to it any time. So far, all have chosen Linux...and stuck with it!
Re: Custom
"Banhammer available in case of penis."
OW!
me.ga
[ring, ring]
Gabon Minister of Telecommunications: "Hello?"
FBI numpty: "We'd like to speak with you about a recent application for a .ga domain name and the future level of your foreign aid from us."
GMoT: "What domain name application? It's already been cancelled."
FBIn: "Thank you. Have a nice day."
Re: Spot on
"have they started selling Tasers to mebers of the public yet???"
No, but you can make one easily from the guts of a disposable flash camera :-)
Re: Spot on
"I need a cattle prod..."
...and a roll of old carpet in the corner of your office?
I *will* not buy this iPhone 5...
...it is scratched!
Linus, Jobs, Ballmer
Linus would be the most fun at a party, and a more interesting neighbor.
Re: Is that really???
It does appear to be one of HP's greatest. I still have mine, though nowadays I tend to use its virtual version on my iPhone (i41CX) and my desktop (V41)
RPN forever!
Re: But the important question is
Shouldn't it go "Ping!"?
Re: Once upon a time they might have been able to kill Skype
" People use Skype because everyone else uses Skype. "
And everyone else uses Skype because it's the only available cross-platform audio/video chat app (that works).
It even works on Linux...
Re: I wonder how he feels
Made in Worcester, MA, I understand (not 30 miles from my own abode). So, his space suit has actually put money in the pockets of my neighbors, which could be considered saving a small portion of the planet['s population]...
//point stretched to the breaking point, I believe
Re: If they didn't have all their electricity cables above ground...
You folks in the UK may not have it, but over here in the colonies (New England, specifically), we have this stuff called 'bedrock". I invite you to try burying cables (or anything else) in it.
Re: Lost power probably...
"...why arent they fitted with some sort of built in auxiliary power (barrel solar arrays or built in generator)?"
The one down the road from me has three (or four?) providers on it. Each one has a generator and an associated large underground propane tank. Of course, that tank only lasts a certain number of hours...and refueling it when there are downed trees across the road is...problematic. Wind generators, solar panels, etc don't produce enough steady power to run the site, and would require large batter banks.
All of which is why I still have a land line :-)
Here's what CNET says
"Genachowski said that as of 10 a.m. ET today, 25 percent of the nation's wireless companies' cell sites were not operational..."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57542642-94/fcc-on-sandy-cell-service-likely-to-get-worse-before-it-gets-better/
Misunderstanding?
25% cell towers *blown down*???
That doesn't sound right. Those towers are built to survive. What the FCC actually said isn't clear, but other news sites are reporting the 25% number, with the terms "down, knocked out, damaged". It seems more likely that what the FCC meant to say, was that 25% of the cell sites are inoperative.
If you've seen one of those towers up close, they're built to stay standing through worse than Sandy.
Meh
I've seen bigger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Mirqab_%28yacht%29
Re: Am I the only one that
No, you're not.
Though I always see one of these:
http://www.ozcamera.com/photo%2030/3038.JPG
I had one as a teen...worked well
Re: Helicopters (one) can have eject systems!
"... a explosive charge blows and releases the main rotor blades and then the pilot is ejected..."
Important to get the timing right, then?
//leather flight jacket, thanks
Why don't they...
play him some "Yellow Submarine" and see what happens?
//maybe he'll sing along
Only a matter of time...
..before I can download my new proto-Elamite.TTF font file, then.
BP power consumption
With all these old machines and their power and cooling requirements, BP's electricity consumption will soon be back at wartime levels!
Re: Microsoft going for the Apple lock-in.
"Once you buy Metro apps, then you will be locked in Microsoft in a way that make Microsoft marketing men jump about in excitement. It no longer matters how shit Windows Phone is, you will buy it, because you bought aload of Metro apps...."
Until, in typical Microsoft style (Zune, Plays for Sure, Kin1 and 2), they go off on another tangent, leaving you and your Metro apps in the dust.
VOIP gateways
Target the entry points into the phone network. These folks have got to be using a significant call volume. Should be easy for the carriers to spot them and shut them down...IF they wanted to.
Re: I took the (extreme) cure
Been there, done that, when we moved my M-I-L into a nursing home.
TWO 30 cu yd dumpsters.
//this may be of use to someone, somewhere
//but not me and not now, so it goes in the dumpster
//powerful motivation for me...
You have inspired me
to fill the trashcan this weekend.
Thank you.
(and my wife thanks you as well)
Only choice
Randy Rhino
Re: What about Apple?
He does have a receipt from Apple for the machine, right?
Go to the store, ask to see the manager, tell him you're not leaving until you get a written notice from him giving the date you can pick up your machine. No written notice, you're not leaving. Tell him he can call whoever he has to.
If no notice received by closing time, write to Tim Cook in Cupertino, giving the details and the manager's name, and mention he'll be going to the press in 3 weeks if he doesn't hear anything. Betcha he'll get a nice shiny new MacBook and an apology within 3 weeks.
Re: I often fix for free if its less than 5 minutes....
Good on ya! Seriously, if more (competent) places behaved this way, they'd put the dodgy shops out of business.
Re: carriers being lazy^H^H^H^Hgreedy
And that is exactly what I suspect is happening. The carriers are accepting something under the table, and supplying an internet gateway for SMS spam.
Here in the US, they seem to have moved on to autodialler spam with spoofed caller ID, sent through several layers of obfuscation: an out-of-country autodialler which plays a recorded pitch, then (sometimes -- very unreliably) passes you to a call center located who knows where, which then takes your information and passes it on to some local "franchisee". It's all a scam of course, I don't believe it really is ADT offering me a discount alarm system -- all they want is my credit card number and my address. But there's a lot of money involved -- I get several of these calls a week -- different recorded sales pitches from the same autodialler number. They're running non-stop and it's been many months now.
Network operators can stop this if they want to
"For the network operators, spam texts present an interesting problem too, as they have a contractual responsibility to deliver messages which have been paid for."
Bollocks.
They know d@mn well who is sending these messages and can nip it in the bud when and if they choose -- simply by looking for one number sending tens of thousands of messages a day -- how many can there be?. And since the carriers write the terms and conditions for service (oops, sorry, your unlimited data plan isn't really unlimited), they can change the rules at any time. Do you really think the "lads" are going to bring suit because their SMS spam is blocked? These SMS spam are all scams anyway. I haven't seen one from what I would call a reputable business yet; they're all [hot dates now, need money fast?, you have already won!] or variations of the same.
I find targetted ads...
(...annoying, but also...)
...more useful at identifying what I've already bought, than what I might intend to buy in the future.
I also use the same Amazon account (and credit card) to buy stuff for work and personal use. This must play havoc with my "profile".
Aside: I own a Kindle (a very handy device), and often find that the Amazon price for the Kindle edition of an older book is several times the cost of a used paperback from Alibris or ABEBooks. You can imagine where I end up buying the book...
All that's missing
is the Bollywood sound track.
//wonder how long it will last in the market?
I have heard
Ada was better at maths and programming, than she was at playing the ponies and the roulette wheel.
//perhaps statistics wasn't her thing?
Re: Imperial Units are god's law.
[Bill Cosby]
Riiiiight! What's a cubit?
[/Bill Cosby]
//metric for me, please...is 25/64" bigger or smaller than 3/4"?
Re: Re Article.....
You sound bitter...
Posted in USAF declassifies ‘flying saucer’ design
60 years later
And I *still* don't have my flying car. I blame the Jetsons for this.
Tiles?
WTF is with the tiles on a workstation? I can understand why they might be useful on a tablet, but you'd expect MS to acknowledge that they are not a good fit on an office desktop. Perhaps they could even detect the type of hardware the OS is running on and intelligently configure the default UI accordingly?
IF I am ever forced to use Windows 8 on my desktop at work, the first thing I will do is disable the tiles and go back to the traditional desktop. I agree with Allen that the bimodal UI is confusing, and the hidden gestures required to move between the modes go against everything I was taught about UI design -- mode switching controls should be visible and obvious.
//evaluating Win8 in a VM right now.
