Gold dust
This info would be gold dust. Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISP) would then know which areas would be good for a 2Meg service and which would require a 4Meg service to beat ADSL.
Posts by Wayland Sothcott 1
365 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009
'Up to' broadband claims out of control, says Ofcom
Google: Go public on Profiles or we'll delete you
Chinese coal blamed for global warming er... cooling
Wednesday 6th July 2011 12:02 GMT
Remember Y2K was going to end the world
There is an Alex Jones rant from 1999 before he predicted 9/11.
Y2K was going to end the world as nukes would be launched and VCRs would malfunction whilst toasters would be OK.
I single handedly fixed all the Y2K bugs in 1999 and saved the world.
OK, I fixed a couple in my code but was the world saved due to our efforts or was it never going to be a major problem.
Same with Global Warming, you are claiming that Acid Rain and I expect the Ozone Layer were saved by mans actions.
Wednesday 6th July 2011 11:47 GMT
Fucushima?
Can things be as bad as you say? Reg was saying how lucky we all were that Fucushima was so mild and how it proves we should all have more Nuke power plants if that's the worst that can happen.
As a warmist you probably love nuclear too and think that Fucushima was mild and nothing to worry about yet you want us to worry about Global Warming?
Wednesday 6th July 2011 11:46 GMT
Lump all the nutters together
You just lumped Climate Change Deniers with Truthers. I know people who don't believe in Man Made Global Warming who happen to agree with the official version on 9/11.
In many cases as with Creationists there are huge problems with the official Darwin version. The fact that that there are huge problems with the Creationists argument does not mean Darwin was spot on.
With Global Warming the official line is that "if this does turn out to be real we will be glad we took action now rather than waiting until it was too late". The problem with that is the obvious doubts this leaves. These are glossed over with rhetoric.
Has Steve Jobs killed the consumer hard disk industry?
Thursday 9th June 2011 08:58 GMT
Optional?
It's optional for us. We understand the implications of the options offered by Apple. However the normal user loves stuff which is cool, inexpensive and convenient. This always on data sync'ing will be a massive hit if it works well and does not become a joke like Sony's servers.
The outcome of this will be that government regulation of personal data becomes possible and then essential for our safety. Apple wanting to stay on the right side of decency will impose tougher rules than the law requires.
I know I left my old Nokia in here somewhere.
Thursday 9th June 2011 08:56 GMT
SD is the new floppy
If you need cheap simple removable storage then the SD card is it. It's less complicated that fitting a USB slot to a device and certainly less fiddly than a CD-ROM burner.
As for ZIP drives, they are long dead. It was just one of the replacement floppy technologies.
It does seem they are trying to kill the SD card. To begin with the camera companies all kept coming out with new FLASH card formats. At least that's stopped, now they just keep coming out with new SD card sizes.
Thursday 9th June 2011 08:43 GMT
A title maybe enough
we are talking about sync'ing with the iCloud here, not streaming everything. You still have the flash memory in the device. Unless you need all your movies in your hand all the time then you only need the one you're watching actually in the flash memory. Also remember that there is WiFi in most places, especially at home and at work. I have recently noticed that most of the devices connected to WiFi are not laptops but iPad type things and hand held games consoles.
I recently fixed a laptop by wiping the HD and putting Windows back on. No need to save any data what so ever, everything this person does is online. In effect he is using his laptop as if it were an iPad.
I do share your concerns about this happening but I have thought for many years that this is the way it would go. For example people used to believe that the faster their Internet became the faster they could download stuff to their hard drive. Indeed this was the case, hard drives got bigger and people managed to fill them with crap from the Internet. Once the Internet is as fast as your hard drive then what's the point of the HD? Obviously that's a long way off but the Internet is already as fast as a hard drive for looking at web pages, if you save web pages on your hard drive, they won't come up any quicker off your hard drive, well not enough to make any difference. The same with music, it plays perfectly fast enough by streaming.
The only thing you might need to save would be the URL or Title of the content.
Farting death camels must die to save the world!
Contract can be formed by company's actions, High Court rules
Tuesday 24th May 2011 08:41 GMT
This is well established already
If you do a regular job for someone and they regularly pay you for it, that's a contract. It's a bit unusual for a written contract to be re-written by the actual way the parties carry on, there is usually a clause that says you can't do that, you have to actually change the written contract.
Falun Gong lawsuit skewers Cisco's 'little red' sales book
Tuesday 24th May 2011 08:41 GMT
Cisco show you how it works
So you buy a Cisco router, it's a bit complicated, no easy web interface point and click but hard core command line driven stuff. So you get some training from Cisco to try and learn how to make it do the things you know it can do for you.
Are the Cisco trainers going to say, hold on there, we can show you how to set up firewall rules to stop people accessing sicko porn sites but not rules to stop people accessing Falun Gong sites.
Surely they are the same technical problems and what the tool is used for is a moral issue that Cisco has limited sway over the customer?
Explosion in iPad factory kills two, injures more
Monday 23rd May 2011 09:35 GMT
WAKE UP
You seem to be stirring but not really with it yet. Choosing which brand to buy based on these values is very good for your soul and your integrity. However it makes bugger all difference to the bigger picture. You need to be more awake than that. The world is not this cosy place where a few bad people exploit some poor people for profit and enough do-gooders can put it right with their buying habits.
There is a powerstation spewing out nuclear waste because some greedy idiots built it on a fault line. But there is more, governments start wars and call it humanitarian aid. You need to learn how this all fits together.
It's going to take a massive awakening to shift the world on it's axis, not simply changing some buying habits for this years pocket toy.
Apple proposes even tinier SIMs for future iPhones, iPads
Did PlayStation Network hackers plan supercomputer botnet?
Monday 2nd May 2011 16:35 GMT
stealth botnet
If the botnet herders were to introduce a virus that instead of killing the PS3 introduced some bugfixes and performance improvements then who would realize it was there? If they only draw a small percentage of the CPU power then no one would be seeking to remove the intrusion.
What's to say they have not already succeeded in this?
Monday 2nd May 2011 16:30 GMT
That plan is called the NWO
We may not be standing back whilst this happens but they are doing it anyway. I expect it will fail, as with cloud computing. As soon as you centralize too much then your system become vulnerable. The level of control Microsoft has via Windows Updates is cause for concern, except there are plenty of people who can rebuild a Windows computer when it's screwed. The PS3 is deliberately made hard to hack.
The success of the Internet is that it is P2P with millions of possible centres. Millions of people able to do their own thing. Soon after you become the monopoly you stifle development, then you die and the people do their own thing.
TomTom sorry for giving customer driving data to cops
Thursday 28th April 2011 11:02 GMT
Jarrad you don't get it
The point is that TomTom are supposed to assist the motorist. That's why the motorists pay for the service. So behind their backs TomTom assists the police in setting up speed traps, which are the sorts of hazards that motorists try to avoid.
It's not the use of location data which helps motorists that's the problem. When the data was used for planning better roads or avoiding traffic jams then the motorists are pleased.
There maybe some motorists who believe that speed traps are there to help them, but on the whole motorists are against them.
Thursday 28th April 2011 11:01 GMT
Accident Cameras
If you place cameras where people have accidents then those are the places where the speed limit is too high, surely. How will cameras in places where the speed limit is too high make money?
It's the places where there are no accidents that you need the speed cameras. Wide streatches of road with good visibility and very few junctions and a low speed limit. You would think the police and road planners could work together to create such opportunities. How about 40mph speed limits on motorways?
Windows phones send user location to Microsoft
Wednesday 27th April 2011 19:50 GMT
Storm in a tea cup exactly!
The whole point of this is to get it over with. None of us really want to think about how bad this is so we are glad when we learn;
1. It does not work very well
2. They tell you they are doing it
3. It has a reasonable purpose
4. It's turned off by default.
Having permanently learnt what a NON-STORY this is we will forget about it and never want the subject brought up again. When someone discovers in 18 months time that they are tracking us with live google streetview through webcams and CCTV we will all say, "heard it all before".
Wednesday 27th April 2011 19:50 GMT
Maybe you get it
The modern world has come as a bit of a shock to many people. However you seem comfortable with the changes since they offer you convenience.
I must admit I love Google Street View. It seemed they did nothing wrong when they photographed everything from the street and published the pictures. Anyone can take photos in the street and publish the pictures. No law against it.
The difference is when it's done on a massive scale outside of your control then it has even more massive implications. Clearly the WiFi logging done by Google is part of a bigger plan where it gets used as location tracking.
DNA fingerprinting changed the world and this development in mobile phones changes the world some more. You know what they say, if you done nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide.
Five amazing computers for under £100
Cops raid man whose Wi-Fi was used to download child porn
Wednesday 27th April 2011 09:38 GMT
re: BTFON
I am not on BT but bought a FON router for £40 so I can use for free any of the millions of BTFON HomeHubs all over the country. For my part of the bargin I just leave the FON router plugged in to my LAN.
Any users do not come out of my IP address, they are routed to come out of BT's. Since they sign in BTFON has a record of their connection including their name and any details linked to their BT Internet account.
RAF Eurofighters make devastating attack – on Parliament
Thursday 21st April 2011 11:17 GMT
RE: RE: All that money
Of course you could be right. However the speed which the video came out obviously indicates they want people to know about this success. The timing indicates it's a political move. Pardon us for being cynical about the reality of what we are shown. Farm more important that the jet is seen to be doing a good job than any damage done to any tank no matter how dangerous to the freedom fighters (sorry peaceful protesters).
Thursday 21st April 2011 10:56 GMT
Not my job to fly crappy planes
You're right, it's about where the money goes. The RAF will fly what they are given and do as they are told. Wars are stupid anyway and if it was not for the death and destruction this latest 'no fly zone' folly would be a funny joke. The worst hardware we provide the forces the more unsuccessful their wars will be, which pleases me.
Dig deep! Radio asks taxpayers for blank cheque
CPS: We won't prosecute over BT/Phorm secret trials
Tuesday 12th April 2011 17:57 GMT 
I understand the anger...
...but some people here seem genuinely surprized.
Surely this result was entirely predictable. At the time this was haappening Wacki Jaqui Smith was promising to ban pedophiles from the Interwebs using unknown technology, Phorm perhaps?
You just need to understand that we live in a developing fascist dictatorship. Phorm would have been a cheap way for the government to monitor web activity and filter web content. I expect the next step will be to grant BT Phorm a license to spy providing they do a bit of spying for the government.
How is SSL hopelessly broken? Let us count the ways
Tuesday 12th April 2011 10:18 GMT
The point is the scary message
When using a secure connection it's usually because confidential data is being transmitted.
You can eliminate that problem entirely simply by using an open connection, no scary message, however no encryption.
What's needed is a method of using an encrypted connection without all the scary messages which put people off using the safer encrypted connection.
There is nothing wrong with a self signed certificate as long as this is expected and understood. The message that pops up should helpfully examine the certificate and be scary only if the cert seems to be impersonating a site that supposed to have a CA cert.
As long as I can tell that the cert has come from the site I am accessing then there should be no drama, just an informative message about the certificate.
Apple pressures Toyota to kill jailbreaker ad
Irish cop child abuse image plan attracts data protection ire
BT, TalkTalk in court seeking axe for Digital Economy Act
Fukushima is a triumph for nuke power: Build more reactors now!
Monday 14th March 2011 18:36 GMT
WTF icon, I wish I had used that
The saterical comments are as in bad taste as the main article. Why have you been shot with so many red arrows? Surely no one thinks that another Chernobyl is good for anybody? Surely the incompetance of the Japaneese cutting the electricity to the cooling system cannot be praised?
Monday 14th March 2011 18:35 GMT
Article is a joke in bad taste
The fact that radioactive heavy metal isotopes have been released into the atmosphere means the metal cores are in meltdown and the cooling systems have failed. The other three will probably melt down too unless they can fix the cooling.
To say this shows nuclear power in a good light is sarcasm at a bad time concidering the loss of life the event will cause.
BBC accused of coming out for porn opt-in?
Tuesday 8th March 2011 10:44 GMT
Lies and deceit at the BBC
This is perfectly normal for the BBC. Just because someone claims to be unbiased does not mean it is so. TV tells a story, it's never reality, how can it be on a little flat rectangle! The important thing is are they attempting to tell the truth or persuade us of something important using lies?
The BBC is mostly about persuasion, possibly with the best intentions. It's a bit like the scene in Family Guy where the educational film shows gays has having corosive acid for blood. Obviously a lie but if it puts people off gays the makers feel it's justified.
I suspect that the only people who enjoyed Jackie Smiths programme are those who already agree with her. By now most people must have figured out that the BBC is like a parent who lies to their child to keep them safe.
I think the TV licence fee is worth it because I do watch Family Guy and can only get Radio 2 on the car stereo. Mind you if I fixed the radio and stopped watching Family Guy I could save some money. Come to think of it, they keep showing the same episodes, not really worth the fee.
Hacker kills his own Pwn2Own bug for Android phones
Tuesday 8th March 2011 10:12 GMT
Oops we seem to have killed our bug...
...luckily we are always adding more bugs. I think the situation is like the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies in which Carver gets his software developers to leave plenty of bugs so users are upgrading for years to come.
It should be pretty easy to release software without holes. Just don't base it on an operating system. What you get when you buy the thing is how it stays. All apps run directly on the metal and are complied together with the library but no OS. Considering people only keep these smart phones 18 months, that's hardly a problem. This works fine for DVD players and engine management systems.
Eurofighter Typhoon: It's EVEN WORSE than we thought
Monday 7th March 2011 10:13 GMT
the £12 screw
I think the overspend on these projects and the aparent lack of interest in making decent aircraft belies the real reason they cost so much. The money is really being spent on secret projects. Obviously to remain secret they have to launder the money through a public non-secret project.
I have chosen a black helecopter but I expect it's really hypersonic ramjet attack drones.
From messiah to pariah: The death of open source on mobile
Friday 4th March 2011 10:14 GMT 
Free Open Source does not have to be given away
If you want to charge for Open Source I understand that's up to you. Since normally you would be competing against other servers offering the download for free then you would be unlikely to make any sales. However if you have to charge 99c to get the software onto the Apple store then you probably would take money if people can't be bothered to look for the free version.
I don't see how this hurts open source.
DEC founder Ken Olsen is dead
Tuesday 8th February 2011 15:28 GMT
I had a Rainbow
We messed about with a PDP-11 at collage but I never really understood why it was better than the P.E.T. At poly I discovered the excellent the VAX VMS system, truly great, better than Unix.
In the 1990's I picked up a DEC Rainbow at a computer junk sale. It worked but it did nothing, totally useless. However I did meet an underground computer hobbyist whose club was working in secret towards the dethroning of the IBM PC and setting the DEC Rainbow to it's rightful place on the throne. His Rainbow had a huge hard drive and massive additional RAM. I left him to it.
I understand that you can run VMS on standard PC hardware now. That could be a very useful thing to do since the operating system lends itself to backend processing of data the way that Windows simply cannot.
Facebook's position on real names not negotiable for dissidents
Tuesday 8th February 2011 15:05 GMT
If you have nothing you value then you have nothing to hide.
Facebook is about real world contacts and going by your real name. This is dangerous and why it should be adults only. We tell our children not to give their real names and addresses to strangers online. Obviously this is what happens when you stick up a web page with these details.
Facebook perhaps is the wrong tool for protesting against the government or your employer or if you're a child or if your doing something your partner might get upset about.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
