* Posts by Paul Hayes 1

56 publicly visible posts • joined 28 May 2010

Page:

Version 252 of systemd, as expected, locks down the Linux boot process

Paul Hayes 1

Re: For a second....

It was also my first thought.

I suppose Mark E Smith was also a control freak and liked to twiddle around with things people thought he shouldn't (e.g. the rest of the band's amplifiers at gigs).

Latest Androids have 'god mode' hack hole, thanks to Qualcomm

Paul Hayes 1

My Nexus 6 still shows as vulnerable to two of them. It is patched up to 5th July 2016 as well. There should be a monthly update pushed out any day now so I'd expect this will fix them.

SimpliSafe home alarms transmit PIN unlock codes in the clear – ideal for lurking burglars

Paul Hayes 1

Re: 1900 feet?

+1

but the stupid thing is, if you do that you are more than likely invalidating your house insurance. Whereas these hopelessly insecure systems will be on approved lists I bet.

IP freely? Your VoIP phone can become a covert spy tool...

Paul Hayes 1

I see the story on the BBC site has been quite substantially edited now and quite a lot of the snom specific stuff removed.

The link to the (in my opinion) much better written and factual blog post of Paul Moore seems to have been removed too strangely.

Paul Hayes 1

seems odd they've decided to pick on Snom phones with this.

Their phones at least tell you to set a password on the web interface and on the LCD screen. No other IP phone even does that and many of them can be controlled in the same way if they're not secured.

I don't understand how the web site you visit that includes the exploit code knows what IP address your phone is on (or is it doing a network scan?). Finding it hard to see a real attack vector there.

Why the BBC is stuffing free Micro:bit computers into schoolkids' satchels

Paul Hayes 1

I do wonder if kids will really show any interest in this.

I am of the BBC Micro/Sinclair Spectrum generation and my ZX Spectrums got me started programming. But 90% of the time I was playing games on them. If the only thing they could do was allow me to program myself then I dare say it'd have been consigned to the back of a cupboard.

This device looks quite cool and I like the idea of an online development chain to get going easily & quickly. I just fear that kids will soon get bored of making LEDs blink in different patterns.

Finally! It's the year of Linux on the desktop... nope

Paul Hayes 1

I will shed a small tear. Mandrake was one of the earlier linux distros I used in 1999/2000, I switched to it from redhat because it seemed more user-friendly and less hassle to get things working. They tried to do what Ubuntu later achieved, perhaps they were a bit too early to the party?

Ten things you always wanted to know about IP Voice

Paul Hayes 1

What a terrible article. Has the writer had any experience of telecoms since 1987? You don't use DASSII for anything any more, it's a pretty rare to find it still in use anywhere. Even q931 is ancient technology.

This whole article reads like a review of "VoIP" from 2005, not 2015. Things have moved on.

Why, hello there, Foxy... BYE GOOGLE! Mozilla's browser is a video star

Paul Hayes 1

can't dial out to phone numbers...

Looks like Telefonica are providing the backend service for this. So no doubt it wont be long before a paid for "skype-out" style service is available. Telefonica certainly know how to route phone calls.

Tough Banana Pi: a Raspberry Pi for colour-blind diehards

Paul Hayes 1

I looked a this a while ago for building a low power NAS. Apparemtly the Sata port is connected to the usb controller so it is no faster than using a usb hard drive. The usb controller is supposed to be a touch better than the rpi but its not enough of a benefit for me compared to the lack of software support.

its like the 80s all over again. Companies bringing out hardware platforms without realising that without software, they are useless!

How much is Microsoft earning from its Android taxes again?

Paul Hayes 1

I think $3.29 is a colossal amount per device. I was expecting more like $0.002 or something along those lines. It'll be far more than simsung is probably paying for any individual hardware component per device (except maybe for the screen and the battery).

Samsung wont see anywhere near the retail price for the devices, probably not even half and that's before you consider that they had to make the thing! The distributors, resellers, service providers, retail shops etc.... will all want their cut from that price.

Whoah! How many Google Play apps want to read your texts?

Paul Hayes 1

Re: Maths

I think you've misunderstood.

68% of apps request SMS send access

28% of that 68% request SMS read access as well as send.

Is how I read it.

Running Cisco's VoIP manager? Four words you don't want to hear: 'Backdoor SSH root key'

Paul Hayes 1

This really is a colossal f**k up. Expect CUCM phone system users to receive huge phone bills any time soon once the hackers and dodgy international calling-card folks get their hands on that private key.

Cisco looking at your call records is the least of your worries :)

Dutch firm passes the world's first e-spliff to the left hand side

Paul Hayes 1

kids stuffing actual gummy bears into their mouths non-stop is probably more dangerous than a gummy bear flavoured e-cig anyway.

Ban gummy bears altogether I say! ;)

Android to drop Dalvik VM for high-performance ART in next version

Paul Hayes 1

I switched to ART some time ago on my nexus 4. It runs well for me, there were initially a couple of issues with the odd app like Whatsapp, these soon got fixed by the app developers.

I can't say I've noticed any appreciable difference in performance or battery life but I remain convinced that is has more to do with this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_v._Google

than anything else.

Apple plots HOME INVASION at WWDC

Paul Hayes 1

Re: Thought I was getting old

Controlling heating is about the only really useful thing I can think of. But not so "impress" people but because if you finish work at different times regularly or when you're on your way home from somewhere, it's nice to be able to remotely turn on the heating so it's warm when you get in.

I made my own device using an Arduino for that purpose.

Most other things like controlling lights etc... don't seem to be of much (any?) benefit to me other than the geek factor.

I'm just waiting till the first (of no doubt many) security breaches is reported in one of these systems with "cloud" based control. Or even just ones connected to wifi or some other proprietary wireless protocol. Soon it wont be people trying to get your ebay password, it'll be people opening your front door and nicking your TV or disabling your house alarm.

Lost artworks by Andy Warhol found on 80s-era FLOPPY DISKS

Paul Hayes 1

Re: Story not as ludicrous as at first sight

Yes, until I read the first part of that PDF this story seemed a bit stupid to me too.

Especially the BBC version of it with lines such as:

"The recovery project was initially thwarted from viewing the actual images as the data was saved in an obscure format that modern Amiga emulators could not read."

Which just makes no sense.

But when you realise that what actually happened was that the image format was only ever used in some pre-release version of some already obscure software. The effort required makes a bit more sense.

I bought an A600 and an A1200 from ebay a couple of years ago for nostalgic purposes and the big box of floppies that came with them still mainly worked, some were original software some were copied discs.

Sadly I never kept my original A600 and was never lucky enough to be able to afford an A1200 before they disappeared and everything went IBM-compatible.

ZX Spectrum game devs allege Elite Systems Ltd didn't pay their royalties

Paul Hayes 1

I didn't understand why anyone would back this anyway. That 48k rubber keyed spectrum was one of the worst keyboards to use ever! Back in the day I re-shelled my Spectrum into a clicky keyboard breadbin type case. The 128K +2 was an ok keyboard.

I guess it is somewhat iconic but if you just want one of them to sit on a shelf, buy a broken 48k spectrum off ebay.

I'm quite shocked to hear that Elite hadn't paid the developers though, I used to own various Elite published games.

Android VPN redirect vuln now spotted lurking in Kitkat 4.4

Paul Hayes 1

"Is it impossible to write software that isn't full of security holes?"

Yes, it is very much impossible.

Anyone who says they have made some software that is 100% bug free is either lying or doesn't know what they're talking about. Even for relatively simple software, for an entire operating system there's going to be bugs and lots of them no matter what system it is or how the development process works.

ZyXEL router attack: HUNDREDS of Brit biz bods knocked offline

Paul Hayes 1

I swapped out a P660R-D1 we were using on an ADSL at work last week, it was playing up and I assumed it was just the age of the router causing it to die. I guess it must have been this.

We liked those routers because we could use them more like a modem and the ADSL chipset was robust and got decent sync speeds. This particular one had been in use for six years or so and until now caused no issues what so ever.

Google gobbles Wi-Fi thermostat maker Nest for $3.2 BEEELLION IN CASH

Paul Hayes 1

Where on earth did they get the company valuation from? They must know something we don't.

I do know that the smart home/smart office market is on the verge of exploding, you only have to look at the adverts on TV now to realise that something is going on. Not to mention the level of fuss about products like this.

A couple of years ago I built my own smart-thermostat using an arduino. I also have a web interface to it so I can turn heating on and off from a web browser (more often than not on my smartphone). I don't really understand why the Nest tries to detect if people are in the house or not. If anyone goes into my house and then it decides to turn the heating on, it's too late. I wanted it on 1/2 an hour ago so it was warm when they get in. More often than not, I don't want it to turn off if we go out for a bit either.

Typical! Google's wonder-dongle is a solution looking for a problem

Paul Hayes 1

rubbish!

The problems this solves are very clearly defined:

1) How do I consume Internet content on my big TV screen?

2) How do I achieve the above without having to subject myself to the horrors that are the user interface designs of so called "Smart TVs"?

And this device solves them both.

The fact that there is currently very little in the way of content that'll work with it is not the same problem. It's simply because it is a brand new device and until someone brought the device out, no software companies are going to (or would even be able to) make software/content for it.

The fact that it'll no doubt be very long before custom firmware for the device pops up which allows you to use applications not necessarily designed for it is just a bonus.

Report says Cisco offloading Linksys

Paul Hayes 1

skimming the fat

Cisco have bought Linksys, rebranded the products they want as "Cisco Small Business" and are throwing away the leftovers. Cisco Small Business switches, VoIP products etc.. all came from Linksys and it's obvious from looking at the software on them.

Cisco has been trying hard to get into the SOHO market for the last few years and Cisco Small Business is doing it. They've got what they want from Linksys (which doesn't have a very good reputation in the commercial world).

UK digital terrestrial TV turns 14 today

Paul Hayes 1

fond memories

we got ondigital at the house I lived at when I was at university from 1998-2001. It was certainly a welcome addition to a house with 6 students all not doing too much for most of the day.

We had to have a big aerial put up (which last time I drove past the house in Lancaster, is still there) but there was still plenty of interference every now and then.

We moved out of the house due to finishing uni right at the time it changed to ITV Digital.

Torvalds: I want to be nice, and curse less, but it's just not in me

Paul Hayes 1

nowt wrong with a bit of constructive criticism

He has a blunt way of saying things which can also be construed as being rude sometimes but can anyone honestly say that the things he says are wrong?

Gnome3 was stupid to start with, requiring a user to enter a root password to add a printer or join a wireless network is daft.

Without his relentless fighting against poorly implemented code the Linux kernel would surely be far, far worse than it is now. If all these companies were allowed to merge code designed to suit their own needs and no one else's, Linux would probably be no more than a museum piece by now.

Anyone here saying they don't use Linux, you are using it right now by looking at this website which is hosted on a GNU/Linux system!

Kaspersky Lab to create new OS 'to save the world'

Paul Hayes 1

Security by obscurity

Presumably by that they mean they will keep it closed source.

So they're admitting they've failed their goal of producing an OS kernel with zero defects or vulnerabilities already. If it was 100% bug free then releasing the code would only be a good thing. They know as well as anyone that 100% bug free code is impossible, one of the first things I was taught in software engineering years ago was that!

It’s official: Google shrinks the world!

Paul Hayes 1

Re: Errmmm...

Because in the calculation where it comes out at about 6 metres, it still has the same mass as it does now. So something with the same gravity constant and the same mass as earth but 1000 times higher escape velocity must be much smaller and dense (like a neutron star).

Dodgy audio connections conceal more than just words

Paul Hayes 1

chicken and egg

The post my "A Non e-mouse" goes to show why this isn't likely to take off any time soon.

The general public don't want HD phone calls, it sounds "weird". I turned G.722 on for internal calls in our office and it takes some getting used to.

There's no point in the businesses paying a load of money to BT for HD audio since it'll only work if the entire call path is in HD, including the physical hardware the person at home has.

People are too used to 64kbps G.711a for fixed lines and even lower quality on GSM.

Raspberry Pi served with Ice Cream Sandwich

Paul Hayes 1

Re: "To see all your apps, touch the circle."

or using the mouse pointer that appears in android with a mouse plugged in perhaps?

Have you actually watched the video?

Droid X360 hybridises PS Vita and Android

Paul Hayes 1

and they already do make and sell emulators for their more closed and controlled platforms such as on the Wii and PS3. You can buy Megadrive, NES. SNES, N64 etc... games on these already.

Paul Hayes 1

They don't make emulators for things like Android phones, iPhones etc... because they wouldn't make enough money from doing so.

They can't get away with the half-working, hobbyist things you can get on there now. If someone like Nintendo wanted to release an N64 emulator then it'd have to work and they have to support it. The cost of doing that will outweigh any profit from selling emulators and games.

I'm fairly certain these companies will have already done the sums on this. Also need to consider that it's not suddenly going to make the piracy market disappear, how many of those people could be converted into paying customers?

Review: Samsung Chromebox

Paul Hayes 1

If it was £100 then I could see why some people might want one of these. As it is, you are paying more money for a system that will only run limited software and is almost useless with no internet connection. I just don't get who these things are aimed at.

Charles Calthrop - sorry but you are going to be very disappointed. Desktop environments on the Pi are currently /very/ slow to the point of being unusable in my opinion. The device is great for command-line programming but until someone writes a GPU accelerated driver for X it's not usable as a desktop PC for things like web browsing. But then that's also not really what it's designed for. To put things in perspective, the 700MHz ARM11 CPU it uses is roughly the same real speed as a Pentium II 300MHz so no where near the performance of that 1.9GHz Celeron.

Disappearing space dust belt baffles boffins

Paul Hayes 1

Well, the thing about space dust - its main distinguishing feature - is it's black. And the thing about space, the colour of space, your basic space colour, is black. So how are you supposed to see it?

Dixons and Best Buy start selling Google Chromebooks

Paul Hayes 1

Google should be pushing to get it's Nexus 7 tablets into these shops. Chromebooks would only work if they are significantly cheaper than a normal laptop. As it is, you can buy a normal laptop and still use google docs, gmail etc... on them but have the option of using it offline too if you want.

Strong ARM: The Acorn Archimedes is 25

Paul Hayes 1

happy memories of being shouted at by the teacher at school for trying to sneak in a quick game of lander during a lesson.

Final countdown for NASA's NuSTAR X-ray black hole telescope

Paul Hayes 1

yes, the event horizon is the very outside edge of a black hole.

A singularity is at the centre

Commodore outs Linux-running Amiga Mini desktop

Paul Hayes 1

amigaos

proper AmigaOS is still under development:

http://www.amigaos.net/

And it's owned by a company who have nothing to do with this Commodore USA outfit.

Commodore USA can't exactly be thought of as Commodore to me, it's just someone who has acquired the name and using it to sell what seem like massively overpriced x86 PCs. I have to say, their GUI does look quite funky.

Carmageddon

Paul Hayes 1

ah Carmageddon. One of my favs as a kid. Memorable not only for it's shock factor and comedy but also as one of the first car games I was aware of where you could just explore the whole map. Endless fun.

I particularly enjoyed being that big heavy police car you get to be after completing the game. Any opponents car would just be wrecked as soon as you hit them.

Just looked it up, it's called the "Suppressor" :D

Tomorrow's smartphone tech today

Paul Hayes 1

Re: Scanning stuff in shops

this has happened, the supermarkets assume you are a secret shopper/price researcher for a competitor.

T-Mobile hails first 'truly unlimited' smartphone tariff

Paul Hayes 1

marketing rubbish

anyone who thinks they have "unlimited" Internet is being deluded. It's a technical impossibility, try saturating the connection 24/7 and see how long it takes for the ISP to do "something". I really wish Ofcom or someone would step in and stop this silly marketing rubbish.

GiffGaff boots freetards off mobile network

Paul Hayes 1

unlimited

The sooner people realise that an "unlimited" Internet connection is a technical impossibility and the sooner the marketing muppets stop using the word the better if you ask me!

Huawei uncloaks sleek, slim, sexy smartphones

Paul Hayes 1

ROM

ROM = read only memory. I highly doubt you mean that :)

"but have companies not learned that most people don't give a crap if it's the most world-record breaking thinnist phone?"

are you serious? Say what you will about Apple's operating systems, they are very good, but you cannot deny that a significant percentage of people buying Apple kit do so based almost purely on the physical design of the hardware. People very much take this into account when buying things, especially the latest piece of pockey-shiney to show off to their friends.

NEWSFLASH: Chips cheaper than disks

Paul Hayes 1

not so good news really

It seems unusual to be touting this as good news. It'd be good news if SSD prices had dropped below HDD prices but HDD prices rising so much is not good news.

I can only see this increasing demand in SSD hugely now which will then drive the price of that up when demand far outstrips supply.

Lemmings

Paul Hayes 1

spectrum version

I remember buying the ZX Spectum port of this game. It was really more than the graphics on a spectrum could handle, the sprites need to be too small. It also crashed....a lot! I ended up taking it back and swapping it for Bart Simpson vs The Space Mutants which was OK but not nearly as good.

Spent many an hour/day/week/month playing Lemmings when I got an A600 not too much later. I can hear the music in my head now.

Windows XP and iPod: A tale of two birthdays

Paul Hayes 1

not a fair comparison

comparing a single version of a product (windows xp) with all generations of a while range of products (iPods) doesn't seem to make much sense.

XP is still about because it is actually pretty good at what it does. After suffering years of woe with win98 and the monstrosity that was winME, XP was a godsend. And it still does it's job well. We still have more XP machines in our office than Win7 ones because there seems little point in upgrading other than for some eye-candy.

Plenty of win2000 installations still in use too (although not in my office I might add) but that does seem pretty silly, how can they cope being stuck on IE6?

Oh and all this is coming from a so called "...bitter linux user with ... irrational Microsoft hatred..." who hasn't used any version of windows himself at work or at home for years.

Murdoch muscles BBC out of Formula One driving seat

Paul Hayes 1

disaster

This is going to be a total disaster for F1! Who on earth wants to watch half the races?!? It's unbelievable that the BBC's announcement is trying to put a good news spin on this.

Now F1 coverage is subscription only, I'm not paying for a full sky sports subscription to get F1.

Viewing figures in the UK will plummet. ITV coverage was bad enough with adverts all the time but this just takes the biscuit.

Music on plastic discs still popular, apparently

Paul Hayes 1

another reason

as I've just found out from trying to update my ipad which has caused a loss of all apps on it....

If the ipad/ipod/hard drive containing downloaded music fails, you've had it. Bye bye music. Short of my house being burgled, it's highly unlikely that I'm going to suddenly lose all my music at once (and they're insured anyway...).

I know you can backup and I do have at least 3 copies of everything on my file server at home but I know from experience of working in IT that most people don't even consider backups as necessary until it's too late.

Paul Hayes 1

never mind CDs

I still like to buy records, never mind just CDs.

I much prefer browsing shelves in my house full of CDs and records to decide what to listen to than looking at a screen with a folder of file names in it on a computer.

Other reasons I still buy CDs are:

- album art

- the feeling of actually getting "something" tangible rather than just a load of 0s and 1s on my computer hard drive

- better quality than most download music at the moment

But as for buying on the high street, I very rarely do this any more. I buy the vast majority of my music online, it's just I order CDs and/or records online, not mp3 downloads.

It will be a very sad day for me if buying music on physical media stops. Hopefully there are enough other people in the world who agree to mean this will never really happen.

SeeSaw video-on-demand service to close

Paul Hayes 1

no iOS

I think lack of support for iOS also played a big part in reducing Seesaw's audience. I certainly know I'd probably use it loads if it worked on my ipad.

Cisco refuses to deny it will sell off Linksys

Paul Hayes 1

what's left of linksys

what I find quite interesting is that they recently re-branded a lot of the Linksys kit as "Cisco Small Business", certainly this happened to all the IP telephony stuff that came with Linksys. So it looks to me like they'll rebrand what they want to keep and then sell off the Linksys brand along with whatever products they don't want.

Page: