* Posts by JimmyPage

3214 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Mar 2010

Google promises policy review after several big brands pull YouTube ads

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Ah, Shrodingers advert ...

you know, when it's for something bad (like ISIS) then

"oh, advertising doesn't affect peoples behaviour|"

but when it's for something you want to make money from ..

"people respond to adverts"

Remember how cigarette companies tried to claim - for decades - that cigarette advertising was only intended to encourage people to switch brands ....

Google borks its Drive Windows app – after pushing out unfinished buggy version to public

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FAIL

Seems the new paradigm ...

How much modern software would you trust to take into battle ?

Microsoft kills Windows Vista on April 11: No security patches, no hot fixes, no support, nada

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Laplink

for me the only newsworthy part of the story was the realisation that Laplink (yellow cables anyone) are still going ...

This week's top token gesture: Google Chrome chokes energy-hungry background tabs

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Flame

Re: Shurely Siri, Alexa, OK Google

OK Google (which I have a lot of experience with) is shit. Or rather it's still at the gimmick stage. YOu might impress a few pissed up "tech" "journalists" with it on a boozy exhibition stand. But plug your phone into your power socket, and try and use it handsfree when driving, and you realise how far we are from the goal.

You have to put up with only "Google" apps being baked into it (naturally). Then you might be able to launch an app by voice, but that's it - you can't control the app. So even though I can launch HERE maps (because Google Maps are shit as a satnav) that's it. I can't actually start it navigating without additional finger input. At which point Mr. Plod pulls me over, and fines me £2,000.

One thing we're not seeing with all this smartphone goodness is reliability. I often imagine how the Apollo missions wouldn't have gone if they had a smartphone guidance system ?

For most smartphone applications, we're between toy and tool.

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Mushroom

Re: Second, it's impossible to foresee the next big use case or form factor for mobile devices.

I disagree.

We're 10+ years from the iPhone, and there are already 60+ year olds still wedded to theirs.

After battery life, the next challenge is a smartphone that can *easily* be used with poorer eyesight and co-ordination.

And we are a loooong way from that.

Unless Apple, Google, Microsoft are all happy to see their well-heeled customer base drop off a cliff to be replaced by an equivalent number of able - but poor - youngsters ??????

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Re: Wouldn't a good way of extending battery life

Yes. But then you'd have a Nokia 3310, not an iShiny.

Smartphones have invaded userspace, whether it was planned, or just happened; it's here. Whether you are just googling for the nearest Costa, or managing a deal while having lunch.

My wife has mobility and visual problems, and finds Google Maps invaluable for navigating the city centre.

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Pint

Re: Yeah, but in those days the average battery life on a phone was 7-10 days

Touche ! ->

But that's a very good point - psychologically.

I suspect somewhere, the tacit goal is to deliver a realistic 7-days battery life on one charge.

*Maybe* 5 days, given the average working week.

Personally I still think - for all their alleged smartness - the mobe manufacturers have missed a trick. There is surely a market for being able to buy a a matched-pair of mobes (you could even present them in a case like antique pistols) where you simply have one on charge, and one in use at any one time. Probably in a charging cradle which triggers the switch between active-mobe/charging-mobe.

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re: this is about extending battery life

Because that is the biggest challenge facing mobile makers.

We have as much processing power/memory/functionality in our devices as we need. Heck, we have waaay more than we need. But it doesn't mean a cent if you have to recharge during the day.

Without removable/exchangable batteries (presumably they need a trade off elsewhere) then I predict we will see a slew of features all aimed at extending battery life. Either better batteries (although that seems to have stalled), or ideas like this.

It's noteworthy that (Apple excepted) the industry move to a standard micro-USB connector has resulted in the emergence of a "universal charger" - when was the last time you were more than an office away from a phone charger ? (Anyone old enough to remember the dark Nokia days when you'd have an office of 10 people - all with Nokias - and no charger would fit another phone ?).

Malware infecting Androids somewhere in the supply chain

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FAIL

TBH, I wouldn't even bother to try and hide malware ...

The amount of shite that network/operator supplied devices come with pre-installed (uninstallable and in some cases undisable-able) you could smuggle a forest of malware past the average user.

"What's this app for ?"

"What's that app for ?"

Oh look, there's an app with the operators logo. What's that for ?"

In years to come, one of the sever ages of man will be when he gets fed up of network/operator locks and cruft, and buys a plain unlocked phone as standard.

Hold 'em, don't fold 'em: How to bite Bitcoin pools

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Happy

RE:what's the world going to do with all this spare processing power

Piss on the bad guys chips and crack things like the Dharma ransomware ????

WikiLeaks promises to supply CIA's hacking tool code to vendors

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Assange seems to have done a deal with the new administration

He can do a deal with Noddy, for all I care.

He will still be subject to UK law - which he egregiously (not a word I use often enough) flicked two fingers to by absconding.

The UK has no statute of limitations - he will have to do the time sometime.

Scammers hired hundreds of 'staff' to defraud TalkTalk customers

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If only someone had foreseen this ...

Oh, they did. When it happened. Here, on El Reg.

Many commentards at the time highlighted that given such a massive breach, there was basically a red carpet for call scams such as this to fleece a few unwary victims.

Once again UK law is not fit for purpose, if it continues to insist that data breaches cost the victim "nothing".

Remember, in some cases, a data breach may lead to kidnap or murder.

Solarwinds sends customers each others' complete client lists

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FAIL

And in other news, an industrial size call centre

has been uncovered devoted to scamming Talk Talk customers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39177981

Some data breaches are so serious, there *has* to be restitution to the affected.

(We'll gloss over how I predicted this would happen back in Nov 2015 ...)

UK Home Office spy powers unit pretended it was a private citizen in Ofcom consultation

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Facepalm

And we're supposed to trust these muppets ?

as title ...

RAF pilot sacked for sending Airbus Voyager into sudden dive

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Townshend’s actions cost the RAF almost a million pounds

Prosecutor Nigel Lickley QC told the court martial that Townshend’s actions cost the RAF almost a million pounds

£207,000 on repairs to the aircraft, tail number ZZ333

£827,000 on chartered civilian aircraft to replace the rest of the RAF Voyager fleet for the 13 days they were all grounded as a safety precaution.

Er, maybe maths isn't my strongest suit, but how much coimpensation for :

injuring passengers and crew

and

Townshend’s co-pilot’s back was broken and he also suffered nerve damage and a ruptured disc

So, a clear statement of RAF priorities there ....

Congratulations IBM for 'inventing' out-of-office email. You win Stupid Patent of the Month

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Actually there is a tiny gem in there ...

The suggestion that OOO is actually connected to the users calendar.

It always struck me as odd that when you created an OOO appointment in Outlook it didn't automatically set OOO replies too.

If it had, it might avoid the classic OOO fail where you email someone whose OOO has been left on a week after they got back.

Blighty floods with techies' tears as Capita boss Parker quits

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Re: such a diverse range of businesses

Clearly you are a youngster, otherwise you'd know this is the SOP of western capitalism.

1) Start a business. Do well, become successful

2) Acquire other business you believe are related to your core business (1)

3) Go to (2). Rinse and repeat until

4) you "discover" that trying to align several differing business models, cycles and markets costs you more as a conglomerate than it would if the business units were discrete so:

5) Divest yourself of the superfluous business to concentrate on your "core business"

6) Goto 1

This is all the better if it can be achieved with tankerloads of taxpayers money ...(see Rolls Royce, GEC, British Aerospace, British Leyland, British Telecom ....)

Frustrated by reboot-happy Windows 10? Creators Update hopes to take away the pain

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Linux

The one reason I took up Linux ..

I had been running Dapper Drake as a bit of a toe-dip, and Edge was released. For some reason it borked my soundcard.

I called my brother (linux guru) and he said: "Don't worry, I'll SSH in." Great I said. Let me know when you're done.

"Oh, no need for that" he said "just carry on doing whatever".

I did, a a few minutes later the webpage I was on started playing. My brother had manged to recompile the driver, and load it without me even logging out, let alone reboot.

Try THAT on Windows !!!!!!!

Smart meter firm EDMI asked UK for £7m to change a single component

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FAIL

...nope ...

still don't want one.

still wont have one.

Uber: Please don't give our London drivers English tests. You can work out the reason why

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RE: I've said it before (and now I'm going to say it again)

The corollary to that, is that if your business relies on selling something "special" at an inflated price that could be as easily achieved by a smartphone and software,then you my friend are doomed.

(Does anyone remember that company that got all upset when it turned out you could get an iPad to do what their $5,000 box'o'tricks did ????)

New prison law will let UK mobile networks deploy IMSI catchers

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Big Brother

re: Fixing entirely the wrong problem.

Depends on (a) what the problem is, and (b) what the *real* point of the fix is.

So for (a): just whip up a mediasyteria campaign about <insert bogey man>. Be it child abuse. Child porn. Drugs. Cyber bullying. Whatever.

then (b): draft some laws which are promoted as "the answer". Not too many questions from the supine press, and if you did (a) right, you will get any criticism silenced with a "friend of the paedos" type slur.

NOTE: In Tory2017, you plan (b) *before* working on (a).

All this will be enthusiastically cheered on by the masses who forgot the fairytale about the wicked Queen who was tricked into devising her own worst punishment.

"Ah but" say the tabloid readers "that's only for criminals" - also forgetting a criminal is only what the (Tory) government says a criminal is.

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Mushroom

re:what about those who live near a prison?

Who cares ?

I get it *you* do, but - as you are finding out - unless you actually matter (i.e. can directly affect the chances of the next Tory general election victory) you can fuck off with your whinging.

I expect a slew of downvotes, but in 2017, it's just calling it as it

Is the comment on what the government cares what you think.---->

Linux on Windows 10: Will penguin treats in Creators Update be enough to lure you?

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Go

Like automobiles ? Diesel ? Petrol ?

Are we seeing desktop development mirroring auto technology, where the car is the same, just the power plant varies ?

It's been a while since we've had any suggestions for a new commentard icon. So may I propose a "thoughtful beard/chin stroking" icon. As in "interesting ..."

'First ever' SHA-1 hash collision calculated. All it took were five clever brains... and 6,610 years of processor time

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Stop

Stop using PDFs ?

And any other fancy formats ?

Could you carry on using SHA-1 with bog-standard ASCII documents, like a .TXT ?

I'd like to see two of those identical in length, with the same SHA-1, where one could be a acceptable version of another.

Ex-employees sued for £15m over data slurpage ordered to pay up just £2

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Were the real lawyers on holiday ?

It's UK law 101 that you need to demonstrate a financial loss before launching into the courts. (To be exact you need to be able to translate any loss you are claiming for into money. And no, your time doesn't count).

Radioactive leak riddle: Now Team America sniffs Europe's skies for iodine isotope source

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Happy

Re:Upvoted coz

"Vlad The Emailer"

first time I have heard that one

BBC admits iPlayer downloads are broken

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Re: "LG TV"

It's the closest way to get iPlayer on the TV. If it fails, I have:

TiVo;

Chromecast;

Firestick;

Cast tablet to TV

Laptop.

Which is why paying for any "smart" feature is a mugs game, The sooner the ̶T̶V̶ panel manufacturers realise that, the better.

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FAIL

They ****ed something up

sometime last week. My LG TV (has an iPlayer app) has - for the past year or so - faithfully built up a history of iPlayer progs I have watched. And remembered where I was, if I paused part way.

As of Saturday - no. All gone.

But in a clue as to what they have fucked with, I did get asked the question about a TV license.

Again.

4th time in a month.

So I can have a good guess at what activity has SNAFUd things.

Google agrees to break pirates' domination over music searches

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FAIL

Ouroboros

UK Snoopers' Charter gagging order drafted for London Internet Exchange directors

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Re: Cheers Tory voters - United kingdom = worst kingdom

depends ...

|C.S. Lewis had a view:

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

So it's a question of Labour tyranny, or Tory Tyranny ?

UK recruitment biz Coal Intelligent Technology ceases trading

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FAIL

re: Nuclear Intelligent Technology

Not in the UK. We don't do nuclear.

Wind-powered Intelligent Technology ?

No wonder it failed, the signs were all there.

Virgin Media swallows 215,000 new fibre customers in Blighty

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Re: Bizarre management of the expansion plan

It was like this TWENTY FIVE YEARS ago in London. Brand new housing development in Hillingdon had to wait "at least five years" to be cabled. Despite the fact that when my friend moved in there was no pavement.

I'll bet a pound to a penny it's because the developers wanted a bit of money from the CableCo (which was Videotron in those days) for "permission" to lay cables.

SQL Server on Linux? HELL YES! Linux on Windows 10? Meh

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Re: not everyone is comfortable running stuff in the cloud right now

More accurate to say not everyone understands the cloud right now.

UK defence secretary: Russian hacks are destabilising Western democracy

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Re:businesses make much more money in peacetime than wartime

Not US businesses. Remember the US came out of WW2 in profit - hence *their* 1950s boom.

Make America, wait, what again? US Army may need foreign weapons to keep up

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Happy

Re: Time to watch

here

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Time to watch

"Pentagon Wars" again...

Google hardwires its Android app store into new Chromebooks

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Actually

I'd be happier to dump the need for a gmail account. They are a spam magnet.

All the cool kids are doing it – BT hikes broadband and TV bills

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Holmes

Proof of that adage ...

the best place to hide a tree is in a forest ....

IT team sent dirt file to Police as they all bailed from abusive workplace

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Stop

er ... you can't sue over something illegal ...

"people must approach the court with clean hands" principle.

Also UK courts will not enforce an illegal contract.

Google loses Android friends with Pixel exclusivity

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Re: Go Google !

So ?

Make sure the *next* phone you get suits your requirements. If enough of us did it, the networks and operators would have to accommodate us. But why bother ? There are plenty of ways to get a non-network phone in the UK. AFAICS the only reason to use a network is to get a contract phone you couldn't otherwise afford.

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CyanogenOS phones aren't pre-rooted.

Bingo !

One of the key reasons I chose it.

The HTC my wife used, I did root (have to practice somewhere) but it caused no end of trouble. Updating the ROM is certainly not a beginners task.

I want MY phone to be MINE. With only software I choose. I have yet to see a branded phone without a significant amount of unremovable (and unremarkable) cruft.

I have oft-recounted how - thanks to network locks - I found myself with 12 fully working phones, not one of which could be pressed into service. After that I vowed I will never buy a network branded or locked phone again.

(p.s. thanks to the PP for the Axon heads up - I'm off WileyFox due to their non-existent customer service).

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Happy

Go Google !

(I appreciate I may have to retract this ....)

but right now, giving the market a slap is probably a good thing. MrsJP has had 2 Android phones that were doomed to obsolescence the day they were shipped, thanks to a rapacious alignment between Motorola/HTC and Tesco. As a hardware platform, the phones were both perfectly adequate. But as for updates ... unless I rooted them and did all sorts of monkey business, that's how they stuck.

(Compare and contrast with my Wileyfox which has been updated via CyanogenMod several times since Jan 2016).

IBM: Hm, medical record security... security... Got it – we need blockchains

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Re: Blockchain is a state machine

Not sure of the downvotes ? I've just worked on a project which has created a Hyperledger application which only releases information when predetermined criteria embedded in the blockchain are met, and which can revoke that permission at any time, if the right criteria are submitted.

Already the Australian government is sniffing around, with an eye to using such ability to state-sanction (and by implication un-sanction) commercial contracts.

Smart fingerprint padlock startup to $320k backers: Sorry for the radio silence

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FAIL

Sounds like a crap product to start with ..

quite aside from the amateur "our prototype wasn't compatible with the real world" excuse.

If these ever see the light of day, I suggest they are not sold in the same shop as Gummi Bears

Or are these startups so fresh they forget 15-year old research ?

Rollout of smart meters continues at a snail's pace

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I know it's El Reg

but I dislike your choice of words ... hence at least one downvote.

If you are Merkin, be aware that Cerebral Palsy is the correct term for the illness in the 51st state.

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FAIL

Sometimes, just sometimes ...

capitalism can benefit the little man.

In this case, the desperate behind the scenes "you pay for it" "no you pay for it" between the various profit-oriented players has meant such a woeful investment that failure was the *only* option. Coupled with the desire of the manufacturers to try and make everything proprietary and disincentives open standards.

(I will admit that I have no evidence for that last statement But I bet it's true anyway).

For some reason I am reminded of the really crappy music/sat-nav system in my Citroen, which they wanted £800 for, and which is out performed by a basic Moto G.

Netflix US Twitter account hacked

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Re: SMS isn't really "secure" for 2FA

They could.

And for a high-value account it would be worth the effort.

I think the average Joe is safe though.

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Facepalm

"Not enabled 2FA" ???? FFS ?

*If* 2FA was enabled, how was it defeated ?

If not, just why ?

Landmark EU ruling: Legality of UK's Investigatory Powers Act challenged

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FAIL

We could leave the EU, of course ...

but the point is that with an ECJ ruling like this, no EU country would ever do business with a non-EU UK anyway.

And there's nothing the UK can do about it - the EU27 countries will act as one, so no chance for any sneaky behind the scenes deals (a la Nissan).

Stupid law of the week: South Carolina wants anti-porno chips in PCs that cost $20 to disable

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Stop

3 pages, and no one remembers

the clipper chip ?