Posts by Mahatma Coat
881 posts • joined Thursday 11th June 2009 14:00 GMT
It doesn't matter about the cost...
...because England will be paying.
"Extremist green campaigning group WWF"
I really couldn't be arsed reading beyond that first line. I just know everything after that is going to be utter bollocks.
Posted in Kim Dotcom to hit the big screen
Kiwi Kim Dotcom
Kiwi? I was under the impression that's he's still German.
£200bn?
Sounds perfect for a collaborative free software and open hardware project. It could be used by any city that wanted it and costs would be shared. I'm guessing it would save, oh, around a fucktonne or thereabouts of taxpayers' money. Just a thought.
Re: Why Not Here?
I've lived in Aus long enough to realise that the various governments here will promise the voters lots of nice sounding things but very rarely deliver. A bit like the UK in that respect.
They even need to ask?
Enough data for billing. That's all.
Re: Oh dear, apologies forthcoming?
Don't worry, dear, it's just the usual fanbois expressing their sadness in the only way they know how that the Gods of the Chocolate Factory have let them down yet again. Bless.
Oh dear, apologies forthcoming?
Not from Google - although they should - but from the two Google fanbois that downvoted this.
Re: Imagine if it was your govt doing this?
"My understanding is that it was approx. 600Gb worldwide."
So what about the content of the data collected? It was full of information entirely unconnected to what they were supposed to be collecting.
Assuming they filtered out all the rubbish when they got the collected data back to the chocolate factory and assuming the output file was smaller than the input file then surely they would have noticed. They are either incompetent or it was done deliberately. Or both.
Imagine if it was your govt doing this?
Google are cuddly and do no evil and therefore get away with it. Did they not notice the extra terabytes of data collected? Scumbags.
Re: Cue Monty Python Yorkshiremen sketch...
Monty Python? I guess you're not old enough to know that was originally a At Last the 1948 Show sketch.
Try telling the young people of today that and they don't believe you :)
Eagle Computers?
Their first IBM compatible was also launched in 1982 although they had been producing pre-DOS personal computers for years before that. They were built like brick sh*thouses thanks to their multimedia pedigree. They had to survive being thrown into vans and planes on a daily basis.
Jesus H Christ
I really freaked when I saw Bush's name next to Gore's. Whew.
Re: Because China has nothing worth stealing?
They may specialise in fake eggs, quack medicine and other such fripperies but what they will have pretty soon is the world's largest economy. I'm sure the Yanks would like a bit of that back.
Economies aside, the Yanks and other countries would love to know what Beijing is planning next, their military capabilities and so on. I'm guessing the Yanks aren't just sitting on their hands and waiting to find out from a Wikileaks release.
I'm puzzled
If the western media are to be believed only the Chinese are involved in digital espionage (or whatever it's called today) but surely pretty much every other country does the same thing to their perceived enemies. Why wouldn't they?
Are the Chinese just inept at covering their tracks or are we only seeing one side of this story?
A statue has already been made to celebrate early adopters
Coding isn't for everyone...
...but then again neither is geography, PE, chemistry, maths or any other subject currently taught at schools. The point is, of course, to expose the pupils to the subject and see if they have any interest or talent in that field.
We may not see the programming equivalent of an Einstein or Newton but we may see a few kids that come up with ideas that make a difference.
Posted in BYOD sync 'n share
Re: Not good enough on its own by a long chalk
It's a joy to tinker with a spreadsheet in the morning on my iPhone
An utter joy, assuming the spreadsheet is no more than 2x2 cells.
Re: Obligatory webcomic reference.
Yes, that. Exactly that.
I imagine it'll be like all the other "hacker" films...
...geek sitting in darkened room typing furiously and then saying "I'm in!"
As if I needed yet another reason to not bother with locally made TV content.
Small typo in the article
"contact details of users on Mark Zuckerberg's siloed network."
Soiled, surely?
Re: Tricky
I read a comment by someone the other day about Google vs Facebook. It was along the lines of:
I saw an article on the [insert big news site here] that had over 20k Facebook "Likes" and less than 100 Google "Pluses".
That's the scale of problem Google is up against with Faecesbook.
Re: Asimov's little known Fourth Law...
Seriously? I did search for this before I posted it, just in case.
Posted in Web hosting
I have use a great hosting outfit...
...but it's in Australia. All support (not that it's needed) is by local staff. The downside is that the $Aus is very high so may not seem such good value to people overseas. It's VentraIP if you want to have a look.
Asimov's little known Fourth Law...
...4. A robot is no bloody good unless it can make and deliver a decent cup of tea.
Posted in Steve Jobs biopic
Much better idea...
...get Omid Djalili to play Jobs. He's always playing Arabs in Hollywood films.
And yes, I do know he's not an Arab.
Sounds like a great idea
What could possibly go wrong?
Re: What NBN?
1. My place is not on the roll-out map (Just 1 street off)
It runs past the end of our road but isn't stopping. In fact there's nothing between Townsville and Cairns. This is a major cyclone area and some decent communications after a big one would be more than handy.
Re: @Khaptain
A couple of things that I truly wish for :
- A spell check option on ElRegs comment box.
If you use a decent browser such Firefox and install a dictionary extension you will find that the comment box is spell checked for you.
It looks like almost everyone involved in this case is a wanker in one form or another.
re: Properly done FLAC
I have lots of properly done FLACs. I do them myself from the CDs I buy.
There's a portability issue for me. When we have to evacuate the house for weather reasons I can pick up my entire music collection with one hand. The car would be stacked to the roof with CDs and other circular media if I took the physical originals with me. The missus would complain if there wasn't room for her in the car.
How exactly do you wrap up a digital file?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_paper
Needs a bit of rebranding...
...ASIOpost.
Even better...
...Think twice before installing Google Chrome.
Posted in Queensland Police go war driving
Err....
....haven't they been doing this for a couple of years already?
http://www.reghardware.com/2009/07/17/oz_plod_wardriving/
Re: How easily we forget...
I was referring to those people that think screwing around with Australian wildlife is the way forward. They are the ones that have forgotten.
How easily we forget...
...the bug eating miracle known as the cane toad.
Of course it's 80s software...
...that's when a govt IT project with a 2012 deadline needs to be started.
<-- Sherlock icon because he knew what he was doing.
Just a suggestion...
...but maybe this technology could be used for Italian cruise ships.
Already invented
You just need to use the same ink that petrol receipts are printed with. That seems to disappear completely before the end of an accounting period and you're left with a shoe box full of blank receipts for the VAT man.
Touch screens
"You're getting smeary finger tracks all over the display"
Every Apple toy I've seen close up looks more like a Petri dish.
Where's the MRSA icon when you need it?
Meh, too easy
I've done council stuff and it's really not that hard to get right.
Pretty much every council in any given local government area has to abide by the same rules and carry the same content: rates info, news, etc, etc, plus local stuff specific to any area. Common content such as privacy policies and other legal stuff can be written centrally. It adds consistency and reduces costs.
The frequently accessed info should always be linked from the home page. Don't make the rate payers pissy by hiding things. If councils can't work out what is going to be popular then check the logs and search data and you'll see what people want. If it's not on the home page then put it there.
Most important tip for all for councils: Beware internal empire builders that don't have a clue about web sites but "know someone who does". They will cost the rate payers squillions for no noticeable return. Your council shouldn't be paying 25k for a slightly modified WordPress theme. Leave this stuff to people that know what they are doing.
Sheesh, it's 2012 and people are still struggling over web sites?
Re: @ Mahatma Coat
I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm saying it is what it is.
I wouldn't want to get into a discussion about the pros and cons of various electoral systems but Cameron became PM because that's the way the system currently works. Don't like it? Contact your MP and lobby him to change it. That's how the democratic process in the UK is supposed to work.
WTF?
I like the WFT? area. A great feature.
I've played with Win 8 for a couple of days in a VM and the Metro interface looks very nice but it's a half-arsed implementation. Lift up Win 8's skirt and it's a pair of old Win 7 knickers underneath. With holes in.
If you want to see an interface that is both slick and fast just have a look at KDE on openSUSE.
Re: @ Mahatma Coat
Brown wasn't elected. I was referring to Cameron.
Democracy at work
"there are people who threaten our way of life that have to be stopped"
Yes, and you were stopped. Sadly a clone of you got your job.
Posted in Labour targets Tories' Google problem
"No-one could imagine how we would survive without Google"
As someone that actively blocks anything that is remotely connected with Google I can confirm that it is not only possible to survive without Google but life is immeasurably better.
My maths isn't the best...
...but isn't that one sixth of the world's population* losing privacy in one fell swoop?
* I know they don't all have BlackBerrys.
