* Posts by Velv

2756 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jan 2010

Bad Microsoft patch trapped you in a boot loop? Here's your fix

Velv
Unhappy

Better late than never, I guess, but I'd have thought most people would have performed a rebuild (or taken it to a shop for rebuild) by now.

PEAK APPLE: Fondleslab giant no longer world's biggest biz

Velv
Joke

<<troll>>

Hmm, looks like Apple shares are as reliable as BitCoins

<</troll>>

Win a Nexus 7 with reed.co.uk and El Reg

Velv
Go

Ah, just how many fancified Job Titles can we come up with. Let's start with:

Plate Glass Maintenance Engineer

TalkTalk ads banned by watchdog over 'misleading' YouView offer

Velv
FAIL

Hypocrites!

Free should mean free, but unlimited does not mean unlimited?

Caveats should NEVER be allowed in advertising. It is, or it isn't!

O2 tries something completely new: Honesty

Velv

Re: ??

As the article says, it's about honesty.

Does the contract contain a subsidy, or a credit agreement?

It's a marketing ploy. At the end of the day, you still fork out £37 a month, although it should make it easier to stop paying the credit part at the end of the credit agreement and drop to the line rental only (£17).

Velv
Paris Hilton

I struggle with the whole 2 year contract thing these days. Is it socially responsible lending to be offering 2 years credit to buy a fancy phone?

I can see an argument that a mobile is an essential these days, but then you can buy a basic handset from Tesco for £9.00 (it makes and receives calls, the primary function), or a smartphone from £50.

Would we consider it socially responsible if high street shoe shops were offering 2 years credit to buy a pair of Christian Louboutin's or Jimmy Choo's? (I know way to much about women's shoes, hence Paris!)

Dell tried gobbling doomed Brit IT giant 2e2 for £350m, say insiders

Velv
Alert

Either the shareholders have been exceptionally greedy, or the board have been misrepresenting the financial position of the business.

If it's the later, the directors may have broken the law, and criminal proceedings could now follow. Watch this space...

Silent Circle adds private email to hush-hush communications

Velv
Go

Re: Is it open source?

I don't entirely agree - it's about layers of security.

Security by obscurity alone is no protection - totally agree! But adding a closed source security layer on top of standards based open source layers does add some additional protection - the more layers you've got, the more difficult it is to crack.

How many locks have you got on your front door? I bet there's a keyhole on the outside, but you've probably also got a chain or bolts (multipoint) on the inside that can't be seen from the outside. Would you argue this door is less secure than just a visible lock? I bet you still deploy the additional bolts, because its more secure.

Ban drones taking snaps of homes, rages Google boss... That's HIS job, right?

Velv
Big Brother

Flying toys are not new. I've still got my fathers Frog (with petrol engine) from well before I was born (I think he got it in the late 1940s)

So all this talk of "flying over my property" is just a red herring as the issue of flying objects has been around a LONG time. Banning flying objects is therefore pointless.

So it comes down once again to privacy laws and their existence and application - should you have the right to a private life? If the law covers a photographer with a long lens, then it covers camera equipped flying objects. If the law doesn't cover photographers....

Apple the victim after Chinese scammers exploit returns policy

Velv
FAIL

Re: Seems like...

If your average annual earning are <£25 a year, £105 is quite a good profit

Dubai splurges on 700hp, 217mph Lamborghini police cruiser

Velv
Headmaster

@AC 06:37 ".... Women of course are not allowed to drive cars, restricted visibility of the burka could lead to loss of life."

I think you'll find that the restricted visibility of the burka has nothing to do with women not being allowed to drive and that it is entirely down to narrow minded religious shite!

P2P badboys The Pirate Bay kicked out of Greenland: Took under 48 hours

Velv
Happy

Alongside another article today about gTLDs, perhaps they should apply for .pirate

UK ad-slingers spent TWICE as much smearing sales-bluster on mobes in 2012

Velv
Devil

It's EASY to spend twice as much on Marketing when you have an UNLIMITED* budget!

*subject to fair use policy

Who wants a smart meter to track'n'tax your car? Hello, Israel

Velv
Go

Re: Brill!

Never mind the sickie, I'm working from home today :)

Finance bods probe RBS over bank-crippling IT cock-up

Velv
Big Brother

Re: Investigation preview

Maybe.

Or maybe the new FCA will want to make its mark early. It might just go the other way and make wide sweeping revelations that people with time served SITE KNOWLEDGE cannot be replaced with "cheaper" people who on paper have similar technical qualifications. It might even go as far as to say that replacing onshore people from your own culture with offshore people from another culture leads to a substantial additional risk if you don't fully manage those culture differences.

One can only hope (he says even more cynically than the expected whitewash)

Maggie Thatcher: The Iron Lady who saved us from drab Post Office mobes

Velv
Boffin

Close

BT wanted it as part of the privatisation deal, and it would have given BT the unique position of being a total monopoly on the UK market (like a public sector service) but with the economic might of private industry.

No wonder the government said NO!

Pyongyang to unleash NUKULAR horsemen of the Norkocalypse?

Velv

Re: Missile fuels and testing

Given North Korea's record on human rights, do you think the regime gives too hoots about the welfare of a few rocket technicians?

I don't see the NK HSE shutting down the facilities any day soon.

The HSE would be shut down first.

Permanently.

New rules to end cries of 'WTF... a £10 online booking fee?'

Velv
Go

Total Cost Display

Perhaps one answer is to force businesses that apply such surcharges to publish the price as a range for all payment methods and mandatory inclusions (i.e. payment is not optional, so payment method is not considered optional).

So that "£29" flight would need to be published as "From £49 to £89"

Anonymous blitzes Israel in new attack

Velv
Mushroom

M.A.D.

Mutually Assured Destruction.

Israel has nuclear weapons, and in the MAD twist of fate that is nuclear, it will wipe itself out shortly with a pre-emptive strike against Iran.

Anonymous and Mossad will probably do the same in CyberSpace very soon too.

Not taking sides, just pointing out the M.A.D. world we live in.

Movie bosses demand Google take down takedown notices

Velv
Go

Re: Recursive copyright convulsion

And by making a strumash about the notices, they've drawn even more public focus on where to alleged material can be found.

BSkyB punters drown in MASSIVE MYSTERY Yahoo! mail! migration!

Velv
Pirate

Re: Wait, they run an ISP...

If you're not paying for it, you're not the customer. You're the product being sold.

Google offer ISPs great deals to host the mail in gmail simply as it gives them access to search LOTS of detailed information about identifiable customers.

OK, so you think you're paying the ISP for the full service - but would the costs be higher if the ISP had to host the email too? (Don't shoot the messenger)

Velv
Pirate

Re: Reg Readers Fuming?

Never let the truth get in the way of a good headline and story

Anonymous joins forces with arch-enemy The Jester against Norks

Velv
Mushroom

In what Universe does anyone from Anonymous think that attacks against North Korea won't be spun through the regime as attacks from America?

North Korea needs persuading not to restart its nuclear programme and to start playing better with the other children, but Anonymous et al need to remember that it is the ultimate petulant child and it will retaliate in random ways if you interfere with its lollipop.

(icon for obvious reasons - you don't want to be living in the city they attack because the NK web was hacked)

Tech is the biggest problem facing archiving

Velv
Boffin

Lifecycle

You need to understand the CONCEPTS behind the data life cycle, and it will only ever work if you classify your data correctly.

An archive is an active part of the life cycle of data. An archive is the PRIMARY copy of an item of data. You move it to cheaper storage as you need to maintain the data for a defined period of time. Ergo, since it remains the primary copy, you will always need to keep the data on your active technology. You change tape drive types, you move the data to the new tape types. It is therefore vital that you fully understand the life cycle of your data, and delete it at the earliest opportunity once it has served its (regulatory, legal, business, analytical) purpose.

A backup is a secondary copy to allow you to recover in the event of loss of the primary copy - a completely different scenario. Backups are NEVER an archive. (Tape is just a media, a tool, like disk, paper, CD, stone, etc).

To many people and businesses confuse the two when they are fundamentally different use cases.

How the iPad ruined the lives of IT architects

Velv
Alert

"how do we learn to trust a face-less cloud service provider"

Why should a cloud provider be treated any differently to any other supplier? If the Architect is doing his job properly, the service will be properly scaled and agreed, SLAs in place, and penalties for failure.

The cloud is only face-less if you design it that way.

Boffins probe into moons – and associated rings – 'beyond snow line'

Velv
Joke

Clearly all this science boffinry is bunkus.

God created the universe. God created Saturn. And he liked it. So he put a ring on it.

Google Glass to carry 'Made in USA' label

Velv

Re: How are Foxconn going to do this?

Why bother shipping below minimum wage workers from China - lots just South of the border

Furious Stephen Fry blasts 'evil' Reg and 'TW*T' Orlowski

Velv
IT Angle

In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King

And so it comes to pass that the nations favourite luvvie appears to be technical because he says things with authority. And it's easy to laugh at him when he gets the techie wrong.

And so it comes to pass that an El Reg hack appears to be technical because he says things with authority. And it's easy to laugh at him when he gets the techie wrong.

People who live in glasshouses (Andrew Orlowski) should be carefull what stones they throw.

Free speechers want into Apple and Samsung sealed court filings

Velv
Boffin

Re: What is 'evidence'?

"If either party wants to present something is evidnce(sic) then it has to be published for all to see"

NO

It needs to be published for all those involved in the trial to see. Plaintiff and defendant (and their representation), Judge, Jury. (Other court recognised entities may also have access). It does NOT automatically mean it should be public domain. Some of it may be, but not necessarily all.

Courts are a representation of the people, not ALL the people. (And long may representation continue, I agree trials should never be conducted in "secret")

West Virginia seeks Google Glass driving ban

Velv
Boffin

Training

Fighter pilots spend many hours in the simulator learning to use all the tools in the cockpit (HUD, moving maps, FLIR, helmet mounted screens, etc) before they are let loose on the similarly equipped aircraft.

Head mounted driving aids will have their day, but until drivers are properly and fully trained in there use, the message has to be that they are banned.

Some people claim it is common sense not to do certain things while driving. The trouble with common sense is that it isn't really that common.

Apple debuts two-step verification for Apple IDs

Velv
Boffin

Two Factor authentication. Three? Four?

Paul Ducklin has highlighted an interesting debate - "what is two factor authentication" Or in other words, should it be three factor authentication that he is suggesting (since he suggests excluding the device on which you want to use the broken ID, so you need the broken item, something you know and something you have).

And this goes FAR beyond Apple since there are several "soft" two factor solutions out there for all sorts of access.

Good security is not about how strong something is, but about understanding its limitations and balancing the risk of that being exploited. By including a physical device (mobile) in the loop you greatly reduce the risk of solely the soft options being exploited to reset the credentials. Yes, if the hardware device is stolen or cloned then a hack is still possible - that is a limitation. But ultimately how likely is that in comparison to pure social engineering a phone call.

We could make security VERY tight. So tight it becomes unusable. Several thin layers are stronger than one thick layer.

Apple pulls iForgot password recovery system over security bug

Velv
Trollface

Troll Season

OK, so we all like a good laugh. Schadenfreude is such fun. And it's easy to think you're big if you can troll.

Right kiddies, time for a lesson:

There are lots of Apple devices out there - I know because I have one. There are lots more Android devices out there - I have some of those too. They BOTH have flaws. I DON'T TRUST EITHER OF THEM

It's worse than the Muslims and the Christians on here - "my imaginary friend is better than your imaginary friend". ffs

Right, off for an El Reg bacon buttie until someone takes that bait :)

Is UK web speech regulated? No.10: Er. We’ll get back to you

Velv
Mushroom

Re: Remind me again...

"If the press in the UK has any backbone at all it will refuse to go anywhere near a press regulator and bait it mercilessly until it dies of shame."

The Press in the UK doesn't have a backbone. It doesn't have a single bone in its body.

So it went after some washed up actor with his pants down. But it ignored the washed up hack and his editor. Or the man down the street. Or the thousands who play away from home every week. All because they can sensationalise it.

It published details of a murder suspect "named locally as" but took no responsibility for clearing his name when he was proved innocent.

Proper investigative journalism will not be affected by the regulator. Publishing hearsay just to sell papers or airtime needs to be brought under control. There are a few good journalists out there. Sadly a lot more live by the mantra "never let the truth get in the way of a good story".

IT contractors lose thousands as 2e2 collapse hits recruiter

Velv

Permie's always talk about "overpaid f'ng contractors" - well this is another example of why contractors are paid the rate they are paid.

You're a business, there is a small risk of debtors defaulting, You can get insurance against it (PCG offer it as part of membership, and there are others).

Drunk driving: No more dangerous than talking on handsfree mobe

Velv
Boffin

There's been plenty of research into this before.

The voice quality on phones is low and therefore the brain needs to divert a lot more attention to decoding the sound waves than it does for an in-car conversation or a radio station. This is true for landlines too, but tend not to be able to drive too far when using one of them.

Google shreds Reader in new round of 'spring cleaning'

Velv
Big Brother

"If you're not paying for it, you're not the Customer, you're the Product"

And I guess there isn't enough product on the shelf to attract paying customers. Shame, I like reader. It's how I get El Reg

Marvel: 'Come and get 'em! 700 first-issue comics! FREE!'

Velv
Paris Hilton

It all started with a BIG BANG (Theory)

Penny

Nuff said.

Ten ten-inch tablets

Velv
Coffee/keyboard

Conclusion?

After reading all that, I can't help feeling let down.

There is no real conclusion here. Yes, some of it is subjective, and different users will have different requirements. However all the text could have been summarised in one nice all-encompassing table which would have permitted much simpler comparison between the devices.

If I was marking this article out of 10 (and I can hear the teacher now), its probably in the 4-6 region - "nice try, but could have done better".

BAN SMUT, rage MEPs: Purpose of internet must be EXTERMINATED

Velv
Gimp

Re: Unfairness?

Dirty Mac? You Apple fanbois!!!

Velv
Childcatcher

So I know that in reality this proposal doesn't stand a whelks chance in a supernova, but...

We've seen how quickly Pirates got round blocking and filtering and have encrypted traffic - can you image how much more quickly porn would become encrypted and hidden?

And on a more serious and sinister note - can you image how much harder it would be to identify pedophile encrypted traffic from normal porn encrypted traffic!!!

Velv
Happy

Re: Not all bad

Except with all free time people would also have gained they'd probably start streaming more mainstream material. I guess it could be good for the likes of NetFlix and LoveFilm

'Mainframe blowout' knackered millions of RBS, NatWest accounts

Velv

Re: I reckon the other source had it spot on

Which is how it might work if you have manual intervention required.

Highly available mainframe plex's like RBS run active/active across multiple sites.

Velv

Re: I thought one of the features of a mainframe...

Multiple hardware components are fine as long as it is a discreet hardware failure.

Firmware, microcode or whatever you want to call it can also fail, and even when you're running alleged different versions at different sites they could have the same inherent fault.

The only true way to have resilience is for the resilient components to be made by different vendors using different components (which is what Linx/Telehouse has with Jupiter, Cisco, Foundry and others for their network cores). IBM mainframes don't work this way

Don't believe the IT hype: Ye cannae change the laws of physics

Velv

You are of course 100% correct. In most cases the Open Source option performs just as well.

But when it breaks (and they all do), somebody is going to get kicked! But who?

If you've paid Oracle et al for that support along with the product, you get to kick them. If you pay for support for the Open Source, you get to kick the support supplier. If you didn't pay for support, time to slide a tea tray down your pants.

I'm not saying its your fault, I'm saying you're getting the blame. Open Source can be cheaper - but never view it as free.

Bank Muscat hit by $39m ATM cash-out heist

Velv
Boffin

I understand the concept of duplicated cards used multiple times, but the numbers don't stack up.

£39,000,000 stolen. Assuming an ATM allows £1,000 per transaction, that's 39,000 transactions!!!

Assuming you got 1,000 mules at 39 transactions each in one day, you're chances of a snitch being in there are quite high.

Health pros: Alcohol is EVIL – raise its price, ban its ads

Velv
Childcatcher

Re: More strange thinking

@BlofeldsCat : You forget that the printed press still has a substantial market in this country. Like you I haven't bought print papers or magazines for years, but I'll bet there's a corner shop near you selling it.

And the type of people buying print versions of The Sun, etc are more likely to fit into profile of the unhealthy groups.

Don't remember seeing many alcohol ads in Razzle though, but then maybe times have changed.

Velv
FAIL

Re: It's enough to drive you drink

So I get flagged as an alchie because I buy my 85 yr old aunts shopping every week which includes a couple of bottles of gin?

And who's going to collate the card data? You really want the government, or worse, a QUANGO to be storing your personal spending habits?

Why not just introduce a National Identity card and flag all alcohol sales via that?

FAIL!

Keyboard, you're not my type

Velv
Childcatcher

N S F W

Can't beat the G Point Mouse:

Just google g+point+mouse+images

Wikileaker Bradley Manning pleads not guilty to 'aiding the enemy'

Velv
Coat

J.A.G.

But what we really need to know is who is defending?

Is it Captain Harmon Rabb Jnr or is it Lieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie?

I think I'd prefer Mac!