Posts by Mark 65
1859 posts • joined Thursday 11th June 2009 04:48 GMT
Page:
Re: Warnings from History: Wikileaks... Cyprus....
Wikileaks funding was blocked as the payment gateways of Visa, Mastercard, and Paypal are all US based and controlled. That is an entirely different proposition to blocking financial transactions in all currencies, or at least in all stable ones that would be reasonable to use.
You are worried about laws being passed to block cashing out of bitcoins just like Cyprus?
1. The Cyprus cashing out blockade wasn't that effective as the wealthy could just withdraw their money from the UK branch of Cyprus Bank. Plenty of money rolled out but that method or others.
2. Again, to prevent cashing out you would need to block it happening in all reasonably currencies on the planet simultaneously.
3. There would undoubtedly be a drop in value but, given you cannot take my bitcoins from me like you can my savings I am still free to trade them for goods and services which, after all, is the point of money.
Unless you can block all the exits and prevent acceptance for goods and services you fail. I may not be able to swap them for dollars but as long as I can swap them for things I want I can accept them myself. I don't have to take all payment in them.
This inability to control and take what is not theirs is what frightens Governments, especially as they are all increasingly bankrupt, both morally and financially.
Re: MS Office 365 Security / Legal / FAIL
If you'd have mentioned using ClearOS or something else based around CentOS/RHEL instead of just Mint + LibreOffice and not claimed zero TCO you might have retained an ounce of credibility. Just an ounce mind.
Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery
"It's pretty cost effective to upgrade a Mac by selling it and buying a new one. Unlike the market for used PCs, the market for used Macs is pretty active. It's not uncommon for people to pay half retail for a Mac that's 4-5 years old. I've done this several times."
I have a macbook from 2008. Get me half retail price and I'll happily sell it. No? Didn't think so. You may get ok money for a top of the line macbook pro but not much else.
Re: Can companies really make ever increasing revenues/profits?
No, they cannot without an ever increasing market and/or ever increasing share of that market. It is these such unrealistic market and shareholder expectations in part that have led us to where we are today. Look up articles referencing the hunt for yield, it's partly why finance went nuts and still is. With unrealistic expectations to fulfil you come up with ever more creative ways of achieving them.
"In evidence to the Joint Parliamentary Inquiry into the National Broadband Network on Friday April 19, the junior member of Australia's three-strong mobile carrier club identified Telstra's near-monopoly over some regional backhaul routes as a constraint to competitive service outside Australia's cities."
Perhaps they could explain why their network is so shit in cities then?
Re: No
Except that turn down the AC at certain times will be all the time.
Re: You takes your chances..........
Oh my god, are you that naive? Settling out of court is there precisely in order to not admit culpability. It's what corporations do in the US all the time. Taking them to court is, in part, about getting them to be found culpable. A blot on the copybook for future cases.That you should be left out of pocket after winning merely cements the "justice for the rich only" image of the legal system. In local parlance, get a clue.
Re: WTF?
"Welcome to Australia, fuck you, get over it"
Seems to be the legal spirit.
Re: You takes your chances..........
Also, the perverse Australian legislation means that they offer $1 or similarly non-covering amount perhaps not taking the piss as much, you reject, then it's hard to get awarded greater costs afterwards?
Seriously, how can she have a bill of $224k but be awarded costs of $18k and have to pay Oracle's bill when they lost? That is one seriously f*cked up piece of legislation right there. In my opinion what this wanker of a judge is saying is "fuck you, don't sue". Totally nuts.
Re: I'm confused...
"Google files court order for Ebay to give them the seller's name and address. Then they cross reference that with a user that setup the required Wallet account and deactivates the associated unit."
Two points
1. You cannot get a court order unless a crime is shown to have been committed. Maybe in the US, never in EU.
2. This is all likely illegal in EU under restraint of trade etc.
Re: I can, therefore I should
@jdx: with your fit woman example where do you draw the line? If I could be upstairs in my house ogling her or hovering a drone above my property is that still allowed as long as I'm not taking photos or video? Is it only wrong if her property isn't naturally overlooked? Where's the line?
As regards other comments about google cars only taking images of what is publicly viewable I believe that has been held to not be true in several jurisdictions due to the pole extending from the roof of the vehicle giving it greater than normal viewing height.
If this fool cannot see that he would just be creating a gouging opportunity then he shouldn't be in the job.
Rod, the telco's friend.
Mad
Cost spiralled from $6m to over $1000m. You couldn't make it up. Makes UK Govt procurement look efficient.
All very nice...
but slightly one-sided. As many have questioned the bang for buck of the Coalition's plan I would like to know the following
What chance is there of either coming in on their respective budgets? I mean, I may get 100Mbps from Labour's plan but if the cost spirals out of control the bang for the buck is somewhat diminished.
Two choices
Strikes rarely achieve their intended outcomes.
They should:
1. Lump it, or
2. Move on
Striking will no doubt just ruin them rather than the greedy bastards at the top.
Re: Dude just use Mint
"The problem with Linux distros is that many of them (I do not know them all) are ill maintained and have poor documentation. "
In desktop terms i hear you. One option is possibly to use Centos which will then leverage off of the underlying RHEL albeit lacking some specific mods. Originally I thought Ubuntu offered hope but that's gone off on a tangent. Maybe LMDE is another option?
Re: The discrepancy in law..
Also worth noting is that most of these places aren't public they're private, hence the unenforceable parking enforcement. Private land in most cases.
Re: Windows XP was considered a failure when it was first introduced
Switch sooner next time and you could have Win7 instead of 8
Re: Party politics
Don't attribute to malice etc etc. This is just your standard gouging of the Government on a large project. Telstra took them for $11bn so it's open season.
Audis, BMWs etc
They only need proximity sensors so they can sit right up your arse on the motorway and then box you in when they park.
Re: 8 processor core? 8?
"I can assure you, my 6-core workstation will beat the crap out of your 4-core on almost any process. Depends on if you need speed or not."
and I can assure you that you'd be surprised at how single-core dominated most software currently is. So, in all likelihood, his 4-core will probably have a higher clock rate than your 6-core and hence his will beat the crap out of yours on almost any process. PC benchmarks tend to be more multi-threaded than most typical use applications and their dominant tasks/workflows.
Two points
"Australia escaped the worst ravages of the global financial crisis, experiencing neither a technical recession nor a major bump in unemployment"
A lot of people were moved from full time to part time so, whilst not unemployed, making ends meet will be tough. This has been widely documented in retail and manufacturing.
Point two is that 457s are widely abused, especially in IT. The typical ploy is the job advert for all the skills under the sun and 5-10 years experience but paying an unrealistic, typically grad+, salary. When you obviously get no suitable replies you play the old skills shortage card and bring in the Indian or other low paid worker of your choosing. It's disgusting and needs stamping out. Other industries such as engineering have more valid claims as there seem to be well paid opportunities going begging.
Re: Bloody tired of freetards
I'm also an amateur photographer. I have a question for you...
Why would you publish a photo on the internet of sufficient quality that you could lose revenue? Surely most photographers make an income from selling hi-res versions of their images in printed form? If you publish on the internet (it is broadcasting all over planet accessible to anyone except perhaps the Chinese, a point sadly lost on most) a suitably hi-res picture then, legal or not, you are asking for trouble. I also have the expensive kit and lenses and I'm pretty certain that if ever I were to showcase my work for sale that I would only put up images that would facilitate the transaction without the ability to undermine the sale.
Cost
"At launch, the Wi-Fi tablet will cost $299, plus $99 a year for a minimum of two years for access to the tablet's contents."
So it'll cost $497 then?
Posted in Firefox to spit out third-party cookies
Whilst they're at it
Can they also consider fixing the situation currently whereby I receive multiple requests to store or update cookies from the same domain even though I've already given my answer once with the relevant checkbox checked. It really is irritating to continually have to respond to requests from a.domain.com one after the other.
Re: BT
@Colin: Much as I hate BT, for the uninformed out there such as yourself, BT used to be a major league R&D house in its past and have plenty of stuff on fibre optic comms for example and the associated science.
Re: Bloomberg "new energy financing" Press Release
Oooo, another sane comment with a downvote. Appears the windtards are out in force today.
Christ
"Once the subscription Office apps are loaded, they also require almost zero administration. Not only are bug fixes and security patches applied automatically, but even major new features can be streamed from Redmond's servers without user intervention.
For IT managers, this could be a godsend. No more installing new versions of Office onto hundreds of desktops every three years. No more pushing out Service Packs and patches. Instead, you install Office 365 once, and from there on out, the applications keep themselves up to date."
Great. Now what if those bug fixes break something? What IT manager desires a desktop SOE out of their control? A shite one in my opinion though I guess some wouldn't give a toss.
As for the Microsoft puff about updates coming regularly but only for 365 subscribers I'll believe it when I see it. Large corporates have a way of getting the deal they want out of MS when there's big $$$ involved. Let's not forget it's these people that are really keeping the Office boat afloat, everyone else can use Libre Office.
Re: VS2012
"Is it just me or do the Windows8 ads all look like a tampon commercial ?"
You'd have to be a c*nt to use it.
The other part to the story I have issue with is this...
"No fiddling about trying to stuff gigabytes up into cloud services through narrow pipes, no wireless transfers: just easy rapid copying from old card to new bigger card (probably using a costs-pennies USB gizmo plugged into an actual computer)."
You don't copy anything rapidly from one sd card to another especially over USB and especially not at the 64GB size point. Copying photos off of 8 or 16GB professional grade flash cards takes long enough. Poxy little files from 64GB would be a nightmare. Rapid compared to cloud yes. Rapid in terms of localised storage transfer rates, no.
Indeed it is the bit they don't seem to get - people only watch the shit because it is free.
Re: How retro
Yep, I saw this
"the Dell machine is certainly light enough for prolonged two-handed use in tablet form."
and laughed. 1.45kg light enough for prolonged use. I think not. Great if you're into weight training.
Google now
Sounds like an Orwellian nightmare. It knows when you're going home, it knows what team you support etc. sounds like they have their hooks into literally every piece of data that passes through your device. Still, nevermind, it's all convenient and for our own good and would never be put to a non-beneficial use would it?
Re: Err...
@Ac: this is not about picking on someone this is about someone being a persistent prick in denying anything was their fault when it blatantly was. When you get someone this steadfastly in denial there comes a time when "in private" just won't do as they continually ignore you. This sound like such a case. In such situations other methods need to be used to shock them back into the real world. If you want understand this then your touchy freely only management style is of little use.
One reason I still maintain my yahoo account is those free disposable addresses, a real godsend.
Re: Specify destination, not route
There's nothing wrong with specifying the technologies to be used. If you are a Microsoft shop you are not going to want to have to support Java and vice versa. Nothing wrong with specifying authentication either if you know the pluses and minuses but want anything to fit in with your current tech stack. I can certainly understand why a client would do this. The more important point is the one raised by the article and several posters regarding the desire to "do it the same way as we currently do it". I've seen off the shelf systems turned inside out to try and shoehorn them into current processes that are themselves horrendously inefficient but "the way we've always done it". Sometimes defies belief.
US Governance
Rotten to the core.
Re: @Tom 35 RE "How is this copying Apple's playbook?........
"that is definitely not Apple's style yet that is how the original "Galaxy Note" came into being. There were plenty laughing then when Sammy launched that "monster", they are not laughing now, hmm?"
Yes they are. The S3 is a better phone and the ipad mini or nexus 7 a better tablet. This thing is too large to be practical as one and too small for the other. Jack of all trades and master of none.
Re: Maps worth more to Google than Apple?
"Do you not think Nectar/Clubcard et al don't collect and analyse your habits?"
It's better than that. Stores track your purchases without reward cards - the card you pay with is an Id source for them. Store all your history against this Id and attempt to link different payment methods together in future. i.e. if you order online and get it delivered to your house - do this with different cards and those Ids can all be linked back to you and your address. Move house and pay with an existing card online and they can all be relinked etc. There is a whole industry around it. They profile you for future purchases. There's a piece on the internet somewhere about Target in the US and the lengths of analysis they go to.
Posted in Review: Apple iMac 21.5in late 2012
Re: mechanical harddrive???
People order these with a mechanical drive because Apple, in their infinite wisdom, don't offer a solid state only option.
Posted in Review: Apple iMac 21.5in late 2012
Re: When are they going to stop?
@JT: Using the rationale of moving parts making devices more prone to failure it would be nice if they offered the SSD upgrades for a lower price or even made them standard. It's a £200 upgrade to a fusion drive only available on the £150 more expensive model. No SSD only option. Pfft.
Re: The Outback
I think if I were driving in the outback, apart from the various essentials, I'd be using a proper GPS.
Re: €300....
I don't understand why he paid, they either downloaded or they didn't and if they didn't then what's the crime? That is an extortion racket, nothing more, and should be exposed and prosecuted as such.
Re: Low tech fix?
@Oninoshiko: I think you''re confusing your Super Glue with your Araldite
Re: Cor blimey, guv'ner.
If the issues are that obvious maybe someone should pass the article to Matt Assay.
Re: More detail
My issue with this theory, as much economic theory, is what's to say that the money left free from having little or no taxation doesn't just get held offshore in rich bastards' accounts? i.e. it doesn't re-enter the economy in any meaningful way as you'd hope (wages, spending, etc).
Posted in Epic e-tail fail down under
Re: Amazon
Sorry, but they're not located at the perimeter, mainly a couple of spots on the East coast. Almost 50% of the population live in just 3 cities - Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Nearly 11m people in three cities. Postage for items is costly, not because that's what the vendor gets charged, it's because it's another area where the bastards profiteer. How can you justify $15.95 for postage on a USB stick? It's not lack of reasonably priced internal air delivery it's that the business model of most companies here is "rip-off" and it got that way through protectionism and lack of competition/monopolies. We need an Amazon to break this cycle. Amazon is widely credited with bringing about the boom in online shopping in the UK - the need for a reliable, well priced service that people could trust. Here, we still have companies offering the same crap as their bricks and mortar stores for no discount which, considering the goods will come from the central distribution point, is taking the piss. Even Dixons offers web pricing.
Posted in Epic e-tail fail down under
Amazon
...would absolutely clean up if they moved into the market here. Most retailers (with bricks origin) will sell you exactly the same item at exactly the same price with delivery thrown on top. No online discount and postage is often another profit making exercise. I recently bought a particular type of memory stick I was after online and was fortunate to find it with no postage. Some outlets offering a similar sale price wanted $15.95 postage! That's £10 postage for a memory stick! Australia doesn't even seem to have decent distance selling laws forcing the retailer to cover return postage for broken/faulty/not as described items.
Retailers have zero clue over here and just want the Government to levy taxes on overseas purchases in an effort to shore-up their uncompetitive business model. It would really screw them if Amazon came onshore. What then Mr Harvey?
Posted in Ten four-bay NAS boxes
Re: For when the world isn't perfect
FYI - smallnetbuilder.com is the site to checkout on these matters.
Posted in Ten four-bay NAS boxes
Re: For when the world isn't perfect
QNAPs will email alerts, same goes for Synology I would imagine. As for power interruptions, if you worry about your data enough to be using a RAID equipped NAS then I suggest you spring for an APC UPS that can send notifications via its USB connector that the NAS will act upon (configurable in the GUI). I used to have a UPS on my PC before I bought the NAS to guard against power failures as it seemed only sensible. Array rebuild time will be a function of the processor as it's doing a fair amount of work. 2TB disk replacement caused a rebuild taking hours on a QNAP rather than days. It will also real-time sync to an external backup, send data to Amazon S3, Elephant drive or sync to another remote NAS. Both companies have built-in SSH amongst other things on their appliances.
