* Posts by McMoo

44 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Oct 2009

The police are WRONG: Watching YouTube videos is NOT illegal

McMoo

Re: They've got you...

I think they might be able to argue that you have caused the video to be transmitted by requesting the video. Perhaps they could get you as an accessory, in the same way that giving a thief a list of things to steal, but not actually stealing them yourself, would?

Sounds to be clutching at straws - and I have no intention of watching the video, but I resent being told legal things are illegal.

Alphadex fires back at British Gas with overcharging allegation

McMoo

Actually, similar happened to me

Scottish Gas, this time, so same company.

Commercial premises in Edinburgh - we noticed (admittedly, as soon as the bill arrived, not 30 months later...) that our bills were massively over what they should be.

Turned out Scottish Gas were charging 25p/kWh (about twice what one would expect in a commercial premises with our usage of electricity).

We arranged to switch to another power company, but this was blocked because we were apparently still in contract with Scottish Gas.

They had, without our knowledge, entered us into a new supply contract at double the price of our old contract. They claim they had sent us a contract, and that having not received a reply, assumed that this was okay.... erm right, really? Anyway, they argued, and they only backed down after we made it quite clear we'd take legal action.

So - I can sympathise.

Brits upscaling their TV buys

McMoo

Smaller the income, larger the TV

Large TV sets are vulgar. It often seems the larger the TV, the lower the household income.

Virgin Media wipes out websites with routing blackhole

McMoo

UDP allowed, TCP not

This has nothing to do with DNS as some people have suggested. It seems that UDP traffic was allowed, but TCP wasn't - in all cases.

This wasn't a 'routing issue' in the conventional sense. Virgin wasn't not routing to specific carriers or IP ranges, this issue related purely to random IP addresses for random customers.

I run a fairly large website, and received complaints about access to one of our servers. Customers affected were in one geographic region only: between Birmingham, West Yorkshire, Liverpool and Manchester. That whole area. Customers from other areas were not affected (in relation to blocks to our services).

When we've had issues with ISPs previously, we've found our entire /24 inaccessible via a given route, and are able to route around it.

In this case, it was specific IPs, for specific geographic regions, and only TCP traffic being blocked.

Apple stores getting close to overload

McMoo
Stop

.... and yet none for Scotland's capital

Fancy that, Edinburgh is too insignificant a city for Apple to bless them with a store.

Google adds 24/7 support for business Apps buyers

McMoo

LOL - for what it's worth

Two years ago we had a Google paid Apps account - despite a major problem causing thousands of customers to need to contact us over the course of a week, Google told us that our account had hit outgoing mail limits, and so we couldn't reply to the incoming mails (yes, replies, not new mails!)

Google couldn't care less about the SME.

Google mum on AdSense payments failure fix

McMoo

Don't worry

i'm sure they won't have forgotten to charge advertisers!

Voda to plug not-spots with mini-masts in boozers

McMoo

Let's hope it's better than the domestic femtocells

My Voda femtocell sucks. Often it'll work fine, but sometimes, it'll lose internet connectivity without warning - despite other devices and traces showing no loss.

Sometimes it can take several days for the femtocell to find its connectivity again.

Hackers breach chocolate recipe on Hershey website

McMoo

But why?

Misleading headline... but even so, had it been true, I'd wonder why anyone would want the recipe - they make awful chocolate!

Anyway - what good will a mailing list of people with no tastebuds do?

Anonymous hacks US gov contractor, airs dirty laundry

McMoo

Nothing worth reading

I downloaded this - it was full of really boring crap.

Basically human resources files, a tonne of staff profile photos, a few contracts and that was about it.

Couldn't they find any juicy stuff to leak?

Apple unveils 'World's First Thunderbolt Display'

McMoo
Thumb Down

Totally unusable

Why do Apple (and many others) insist on making everything as glossy as sin.

I don't want glare, reflection, or shine. I want quality matt screens.

Refusal to unveil scuppers French refusal-to-unveil trial

McMoo

I fail to see the problem

Just have her in court, in her damn veil, and when she inevitably loses, jail her, in her veil.

Anonymous vows to attack Federal Reserve

McMoo

Anonymous kids

Liberals - you are boring as hell. What's with this "Anonymous vows to attack Federal Reserve". What good will that do? None.

The reality is, Liberals, that you're just trouble makers looking for an unpopular target against which to break the law.

You geeks behind your computers won't be able to stand jail. Go back to playing Dungeons and Dragons (or whatever it's called).

Scottish news site admits coding mishap caused outage

McMoo

Of course it wasn't.

It was obvious that it wasn't.

Some news site that nobody has ever heard of is being DDoS'd? Of course it is, poppet.

What a crap PR move, and I'm surprised El Reg bothered to publish it in the first place.

4chan invades Tea Party website

McMoo

Liberals

No doubt the liberals in here will be busy praising this criminal activity.

These losers need prosecuting.

Vodafone shares subscriber info with world+dog

McMoo

Seven

It is reasonable for Vodafone to keep account information for seven years due to UK tax laws.

If they destroyed accountholder info after four years as you suggest, they would fail an audit if required.

Orange goes High Definition

McMoo
WTF?

Jumping the gun

Perhaps they ought to concentrate on their network, rather than silly gimmics.

I regularly receive text messages from Orange, saying that I missed a call from someone, despite the handset being in a 5-bar signal area, and having it next to me - and it certainly dindn't ring.

I've tested this with my landline, on several handsets, on several simcards, and Orange seems, at random, to simply not connect calls.

Expand your network, make it work, don't piss around with this rubbish.

iPhone users get more sex than Android fans

McMoo
Heart

Girls don't like boys

Money.

Android users are poor. Girls aren't attracted to poor guys.

Airline ejects passenger for being hungry

McMoo
Stop

El Reg - you have been played

This incident has been discussed extensively in Flyertalk's Safety and Security forum.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-safety-security/1107515-passenger-pulled-ua-flight-misunderstood-question.html

The conclusion was that the chap:

- may be telling porkies to gain publicity

- is a publicity guru on the way back from a marketing conference

To be honest people think he's a swizz

Postcard App has stamps licked

McMoo
Go

Works fine :)

I tried this a month or so ago - works fine. Not stunning quality, but not shabby either.

Statistics prof nails Blackpool hoopla scam

McMoo

Braindead?

Seriously? A doctor got taken in by this obvious scam? Whip away his medical license, he's clearly a moron. Any fool can tell this sort of game, like the "grabber" machines have a low chance of winning and should be played for novelty purposes, rather than in the genuine hope of winning a prize.

If the vendor really was "bullying" people to part with money, there are any number of public order related offences hd could have been booked for.

I'm incredibly underwhelmed by this story - I despise the continuing cotton wool we wrap Britain's morons in.

Typical example of a local authority taking a very long winded route round a very basic problem.

Murdoch's paywall: The end of the suicide era?

McMoo

Doesn't bother me either way

I'd be quite happy to subscribe to El Reg - the articles are generally of excellent quality.

Google halts deletion of Street View Wi-Fi data

McMoo

Legals don't matter

Regardless of the legalities, Google swore blind that they'd collected this data accidentally and that it's existence was a surprise.

If this is really so, why have they just not zapped it outright?

Easy: because it wasn't a surprise or accident, Google are huge liars intent in collecting stupid amounts of information under the guise of not being evil.

I wish people would see them for what they are.

Email 2.0: Trying to catch up with the web

McMoo

Why this will never work

You can have trusted domains and signed emails, but ultimately, if your machine is compromised, the bot will sign emails itself and send from your own desktop, just like legit email.

Workers scared to befriend bosses on Facebook

McMoo

As an employer, I agree

I run a small company (7 people) and I unlinked my employees two years ago, both from Facebook and Twitter.

While we are friendly with each other, I found myself over-analysing Facebook posts.

For example, one lady who does a good job had posted a comment to the effect of: "So bored today, why does nothing interesting happen".

At first, I was a little cross that since she'd posted this in working hours, she was clearly bored with her job. I then figured that since this was a comment on Facebook, she was basically addressing her friends, and that this is nothing more than idle conversation she might have in a bar or at a friend's home.

Employees aren't going to love every day of their job. Heck, I'm the boss, and have days where I think "why bother". It's important to give employees space, and reading their Facebook comments can be unhealthy.

Obviously there's a huge difference between "my boss is a c*nt" and "I wish my working day was more interesting".

Unlink your bosses / employees!

Opera alerts EU to hidden Windows browser-ballot

McMoo

Moan moan moan

You don't hear Firefox bleeting the way Opera do.

Why not?

Easy: Firefox is a browser people WANT to use. Opera isn't wanted, and only hopes people are duped into installing it on this crappy screen.

Maybe if Opera took the time spent whining and used it to develop a product people want to use, they'd find people would actively seek out their product, as they do Firefox.

Greenpeace labels Dell 'a bloody marketing machine'

McMoo

Who cares?

Greenpeace are a bunch of idiots. Who really cares whether their new technology harms anything - sod it, I'm after number one.

Facebook faces Home Sec over lack of 'panic button'

McMoo
FAIL

There already is one...

.... in the top right hand corner, a wee red 'X'

Gay site says bank shut account over 'objectionable' blog

McMoo

Spam, spam , spam, spam....

Let me translate the article for you:

"A website yet to launch, has decided to generate free PR by getting a throw-away bank account closed".

Fair play to them... big boo to El Reg for not spotting the spamvertisment.

Watchdog takes hard line on 'adult film xtras' ad

McMoo
FAIL

Moron

"the ad did not make clear that obtaining work through the advertisers would involve significant financial outlay"

... But rather than walking away like any sane individual, he decided to pay up anyway ...

False Moscow CCTV feed scam leads to fraud charges

McMoo

I suspect a stitch up

Faking it, with the high risk of being caught, is likely far more troublesome than just running the feed correctly in the first place.

I suspect he has been stitched up.

Orange punts quality calling

McMoo

I'd rather....

I'd rather they fixed their network.

I get random call drops, and sometimes my calls just go to voicemail without ringing, even in a 'full signal' area. This seems worse with 3G, but has always been a problem.

The quality of voice is fine - just improve network reliability.

Chocolate Factory does url shortening

McMoo
Thumb Down

I'm glad they chose a crap name

Google really is getting too big, too scary, and too evil.

I'm glad the chose a crap name for this service, and I hope it doesn't catch on.

What's worse, is the way Google pretend to be saintly, but in reality are damn evil. That makes me sick. They get away with what MS never can, all because of the lies they and their fans spread.

Opera on Google Chrome OS: what me worry?

McMoo
Stop

Woah... Microsoft?

When MS do this it's evil, but a Google monopoly is cool and sexy?

Google and its fans scare me. At least everyone *knows* MS is evil. Google is worse, by doing what MS is prohibited by law from doing, while sugar coating the lot.

Not good news.

AT&T to choke your iPhone

McMoo
Stop

British

El Reg is a British website, so it kinda narks me to see a headline like "AT&T to chocke your iPhone" - AT&T won't be doing anything of the sort to *my* iPhone.

Please, keep American issues catered for, but not written as though they are primary issues. The Register is British - there are may American websites where we can read things from an American viewpoint.

EU to approve more banking data for US spooks

McMoo
FAIL

In return....

..... it's okay - the EU will be getting info on USA accounts in return.

Oh, we won't?

Fck you America!

Villagers revolt over BT chairman's broadband

McMoo
FAIL

1,000 lines

The guy claims to have 1,000 lines with BT - he's a liar. I just Googled his name, found his company, Abacus Recruitment, and looked at their website.

If they have a quarter of that, I'd be surprised.

Liar.

Border agency to start fingerprint checks

McMoo
Stop

Do we want to be hated as America?

I thought these tactics used by the USA were universally recognised as discouraging tourism and encouraging a loathing of the country.

Are we determined to become like the USA at any cost?

This sort of crap makes me ashamed to be British.

Google grabs another ad company

McMoo
Stop

This is a problem - everyone uses Google Policy

This is a problem.

I run a network of websites that aren't themselves adult, but allow adult content. Because of this, Google often refuses our adverts - which causes us huge problems.

Our adverts aren't graphic - often they'll simply feature good looking women or men, fully clothed, smiling - that sort of thing - with the branding of that social/dating website attached.

Google don't like us, because inside our gated-community, we allow people to display any pictures they like, so long as they are legal in the UK.

Because of this, Google has us down as a porn site - even though we aren't.

This means that Google won't accept most of our advertising.

Now that Google is buying more and more advertising companies, it's making it much harder for us to promote ourselves.

This isn't good.

Web manhunt child abuser gets 20 years

McMoo

@boltar

As much as I hate the USA attitude - this isn't unique to the USA.

You can be tried for sexual offences outwith the UK, by a UK court, upon your return to the UK. And yes, that includes buggering 14 year old Spanish boys.

Libel reform campaigners seek £10k damages cap

McMoo
Stop

License to do damage?

If the damages are capped at £10,000 and I want to discredit my competitor, to the tune of many millions, surely £10k is a reasonable sum to lose?

World's first iPhone worm Rickrolls angry fanbois

McMoo

Written by Apple

I wonder if Apple is making a point?

Opera in top secret iPhone talks?

McMoo

Naff off Opera

Opera really are a boring pain in the arse. Moan moan moan.

I would rather see IE on the iPhone, simply because it's not Opera

ATM pays out credit for unwanted gadgets

McMoo

Smug

"Plans haven’t been announced to install Eco ATMs in the UK"

Thank God!

Can you just imagine the huddle of smug, vegetarian, fair-trade-coffee drinking environmentalists, crowded around these machines, desparate to out-recycle each other?

Smug twunts.