* Posts by Far Canals

17 publicly visible posts • joined 11 May 2010

WikiLeaks accused of tapping P2P for secret docs

Far Canals

@blackworx

I get the whole 'expose the stuff people need to know' angle, although to me it doesn't seem to be about that . Why? Because:

1 - We don't need to know every itty bit of detail, but we do need to know about duplicity, corruption, deception, dishonesty et al.

2 - So much of what it done seems to be driven by a vendetta rather than truly being what is in the public good

3 - There is no public good in so many of the things released, such as diplomatic chatter, he said/she said - unless of course that's evidence of things in point 1 above

4 - If it were truly about public good, there would be some editorial effort made, and details that could endanger lives etc would be redacted.

A reporter who stumbled upon this information would check his or her sources, make a judgement call on the value of items, and ensure that the story got told without prejudice to the saftey and well being of others. This is what, IMO, Wikileaks needs to do to be seen as a serious service for the public good rather than a mischief maker.

Far Canals
FAIL

But....

They don't need to 'link' Wikileaks to 'hacking' groups. Assange is a convicted hacker, so there is a fairly obvious link there.

OTOH, by the sounds, this isn't so much hacking as searching public / semi-public data. Hacking would be accessing non-public data. By inference, if people don't secure their data it is publically accessible.

I think it's a pretty even playing field really, and you would expect the US (or any other) government to defend itself in any way legally possible. Wikileaks cant whinge about being exposed when their self-assigned role is to expose.

Overloaded drug-smuggling pigeon nabbed by Colombian cops

Far Canals
Happy

Not so much Goodfeathers

Given that it landed at the cop shop, it's obviously a stool pigeon.

Acer takes on iPad with Android, Flash, own UI

Far Canals

I have played with one and....

The 10-incher. It was very nice, even for an engineering sample.

@M1 - yes there is a front faing camera (and a rear-facing one)

@Arctic Fox et al - the 10 was definitely Android.

The AMD chips that I heard bandied about were the Nvidia Tigra (from memory).

The whole thing was very well built and the screen was up there with the iPad. It's looking very compelling, especially with the front facing camera and true multitasking.

The Acer man did say (and I did not see this item) that the docking station it can sit in will project a keyboard on to a flat surface. That will be very cool if it is true.

I like the iPad but this was more like what the pad should have been from day 1.

Google sacks Eric Schmidt memo leaker

Far Canals

Well

Probably fewer people on the MAnhattan project, which probably makes them brighter still.

Porn and pirates hide Android's money maker

Far Canals

Some key words here

Expectations.

OK so it was only one key word.

Just because someone is not making as much as they expected to, that doesn't necessarily mean that teh problem is with the Android (or Ovi) market - it may well be that the developers were overoptimistic in their expectations of returns. Would be good to see some proper research in that area, as this ('how realistic are my forecasts/expectations) could be of much more use to developers than the 'how happy are you' survey that seems to have been done.

Aussie broadband is slower than a slow thing in a slow town

Far Canals

Not quite true

There are other options being looked at for remote areas, such as microwave links.

You can get well over 100Mb/s on a MW link, with low latency and, from a small mast, ranges of 100 km are feasible. 150km has been achieved but you do need a mast the height of say Ayers Rock...

Yes they are susceptible to rain fade/dust depending on the frequency used, but they can be very cheap to install and run. You could be up and running for about AUD $2K . Not great for mission-critical apps but then 'Alice' probably isn't that way inclined.

Apple antenna guru 'warned Steve Jobs' over Judas Phone

Far Canals
FAIL

Got a motor then Charlie?

If one person in 11 had a car with defective brakes then it wouldn't be so good to say that 10 out of 11 cars won't ram you up the arse if you stop sudden like.

Things aren't perfect, but manufacturers of products with known defects should stand by their products and put it right. Free 'bumpers' for anyone with an issue would sort it I'd think, but that's not a strategy that Apple want to embrace. That would be admitting failure...

Dead Pink phone fallout hits Microsoft's top brass

Far Canals
Headmaster

Always be careful when correcting someone

You mean past tense, not "passed tense".

If you're going to be a Pedantic Grammar Nazi, it is always best to have your own grammar beyond reproach...

Conviction and confusion in Microsoft's cloud strategy

Far Canals

I concur

There are lots of thorny issues with 'cloud' at the moment which need to be resolved...

> Terms and conditions are generally in huge favour of the provider, and aren't generally negotiable

> Who owns the data

> How is the data secured

> Who REALLY owns the data....

> Can your data be looked at by Governments (i.e. where is it held)

> What happens if it all goes titsup? Can you get your data back?

> What happens if you miss a payment (say you are in dispute)? Some Ts & Cs I've seen say that they terminate your service immediately and you may lose your data

> Can your organisation survive spade fade / last mile type outages because they will equal loss of service

> Is it really cheaper. Make sure you know all the costs on an apples for apples basis

There's a lot to think about, and I don't see that the answers are all there yet.

Steve Jobs unveils iPhone 4

Far Canals
Boffin

Seems OK

A: All manufacturers have such specs. My Wii, for example, and my Nokia E-series as well.

B: The operating temp is the one you want - and you won't be operating it in your pocket. After all, it's an iPhone so you will want everyone to see it. It'll be on your ear. Plus, they always build in some tolerance with t'specs.

C: I've lived in the UK and it would have to be a super hot day to reach 35 degrees. You guys take your shirts off at the first hint of sun and you're swimming in fountains at 25 degrees. However, in San Diego, anywhere in Australia and many other places besides, 35 will be a worry. More of a worry for the UK (and I don't mean this in a mean way) is the 0 degrees minimum operating temperature. It will be happy in your pocket then, but too many phone calls outdoors in the winter and it just might give up and hibernate.

Far Canals
Paris Hilton

Well that depends

On whose backside it is.

<<

Mac spyware infiltrates popular download sites

Far Canals
Happy

Of course

Everyone knows that apples get worms. It's worse when you only find half a worm though.

Oz government in filter paranoia meltdown

Far Canals

Not quite

I've seen it happen oftentimes in the UK, USA and New Zealand as well.

Google: Street View spycars did slurp your Wi-Fi

Far Canals

Admitted??

Only after they were sprung.

Far Canals
Badgers

Accident??

From t'article, but moved a bit for some sort of effect:

There's some question whether Google was violating US wiretap laws by collecting such data. Federal wiretap law criminalizes interception of communications only if it was intentional, and that requirement is generally read fairly strictly[...]

[from Google} A year later, when our mobile team started a project to collect basic WiFi network data like SSID information and MAC addresses using Google’s Street View cars, they included that code in their software — although the project leaders did not want, and had no intention of using, payload data."

So.. they wrote some code to effectively wiretap. Remember that they didn't just store some SSID data. Surely they would have known what code was running in their camera cars. It's not like Google will have rubbish code management processes, I'm sure. Their code seems quite well managed and tested from my use of it. How can that not be intent?? Especially when you realise that Google Maps subsequently uses this data to help you locate yourself via WiFi SSIDs... Cause AND effect.

Still I'm not going to hold my breath that anything will happen. There are some serious double standards going on here, and regulators are playground bullies - they'll whack a member of the public for this sort of behaviour, but when they come up against a big, hairy-arsed, muscular Rugby-playing boy named Google in the playground they'll have all the balls of Sheik Abdullah's favourite Eunuch.

UK hot-swaps leaders - Brown out, Cameron in

Far Canals
FAIL

Hot Swap is appropriate

As you usually hot swap a drive when it FAILS.

Farewell Gordon. No longer willI have to watch that 'thing you do' with your mouth when you pause talking.