* Posts by Colin Millar

1241 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Jun 2007

Google locks Wallets – no new customers for now

Colin Millar
Pirate

This tech is a joke

whether you like it or not and there is no evidence to suggest that tech = inevitable

The problem with this tech is that in retail use there is no redundancy available. if the system is down you need plan B. And once it starts to become more widespread it will fail like every piece of customer operated retail machinery ever introduced. It always ends up back wioth some kind of operator supervision and that kills the whole pint.

If Plan B is robust enough and not greatly more inconvenient than Plan A - well - who needs Plan A.

Indian ministers quit in parliament smut flick scandal

Colin Millar
Joke

scum-sucking bottom feeders ?

Careful - the lawyers are proud of that label

As in

What's the difference between a catfish and a lawyer?

One's a scum-sucking bottom feeder

And the other is a fish

UK.gov: We really are going to start buying open-source from SMEs

Colin Millar
Big Brother

I'm not sure that Maxwell understands what open source actually is or the reasons why SMEs struggle to get work in the public sector. Hint - it's got more to do with accountants than techs.

You can build black box software with opensource and you can build modular accessible software with prop tech. What is needed is better procurement so that people don't buy systems that lock up the data. The "Black Box" is more a product of the licence than any technical ability to extract the system data.

Big Brother wants to record you but doesn't know how to programme the VCR.

IT guy answers daughter's Facebook rant by shooting her laptop

Colin Millar
Coat

@ Armando

I know the chain needs to be clenched tightly but you really shouldn't be using your backside.

High Street chains vow to play fair on warranties

Colin Millar

It will never fly

Dixons et al can't do anything that will be effective or they will go bust - they are after all just insurance salesmen with a sideline in overpriced electronics.

UK.gov's mega-cloud VIP biz list kept under wraps

Colin Millar
Big Brother

G-Cloud - paying for the right to work

So that's what happened to the Cosa Nostra - it moved to Britain and took over Whitehall.

Big Brother will be getting his bit of anything that's going.

Apple vs Amazon in ereader format smackdown

Colin Millar

Amazon appear to be ambivalent here

They don't seem to care that awz is easy to crack cos it means that people with non-kindle devices can still buy kindle books.

In fact the only major uncracked books DRM is iTunes.

I think you are right though - amazon (and the other sellers) won't let that continue indefinitely.

Colin Millar

Not the format wars - more like the format border tensions

I don't think that iBooksAuthor is anywhere near a point where it could be considered as a game changer - it looks a bit niche and difficult to use as a selling point for a format in the main business - I thik consumers are going to have loads of priorities way ahead of this.

Also - don't fall for the Betamax/VHS comparison - it isn't particularly apt for this market which is showing no signs of tiring of supporting multiple formats and hardware - BetaMax/VHS and BluRay/HD showed those tension almost from the start.

Finally, EPUB may be an open standard but Apple's implementation certainly isn't - they don't get any bragging rights for open standardliness - although quite frankly I for one think that open standards doesn't deserve the sainthood it seems to be accorded in some quarters.

Brazil sues Twitter over police checkpoint tweets

Colin Millar
Pirate

Merkins have more than 1 pov shock horror

Demanding freedom of speech AND deporting people for making jokes

In a country of only 300m+ people so famed for its homogeneity - I am shocked to the very roots of my fundament.

Has Microsoft finally killed off Windows 8 Start button?

Colin Millar
Pirate

Oh noes - not "Improved search" again

Every time the say these words it gets harder to find anything

UK gov rejects call to posthumously pardon Alan Turing

Colin Millar
Coat

Did someone forget to tell the executioner?

There shouldn't have been any criminals executed since the death penalty was repealed.

Or are we talking SAS/Gibraltar type operations?

Apple tells authors: All your books iBook files are belong to us

Colin Millar
Facepalm

No seriously - read it

"includes files in the ibooks format"

Which, if you exported it to {formatX}, it wouldn't - so this part wouldn't apply because "the work" wouldn't "include files in the ibooks format" because it would be in {formatX} which you just exported it to.

You are reading words that are not there.

Colin Millar
Boffin

OK - lets try again

No - that is not what I am saying - read what I wrote - here's a step by step guide

1) I think that apple things are dear for the spec

2) I to think that this story is anti-apple nonsense

3) These thoughts are not logically exclusive

Colin Millar
FAIL

RTFA

30% for distribution through Apple in iBooksAuthor

Nothing, free, no charge at all to export to PDF (made easy by iBooksAuthor) and distribute some other way including printed - yes that is nada, not a sausage, bugger all, SFA.

Where did you get the impression that

"you repackage as PDF and sell it - Apple want 30%

- you print it out and sell it as a Hardback - Apple want 30%"

It wasn't from anything your read here - unless your definition of reading is skim over the headline and make up some stuff based on your preconceived notions on the evility of fruit companies.

Colin Millar
Unhappy

I don't get it

If you wanna take advantage of Apple's distribution network you pay their fee - otherwise you take your work which you own and distribute it some other way of your choosing.

Nothing like Photoshop or Adobe or any of those other products which you pay for.

Not an Apple user - wouldn't even consider buying their overpriced crap but this iBooksAuthor stuff is one of the worst examples of partisan rubbish I have ever read in the Reg.

An NT-powered Windows Phone? Not so fast...

Colin Millar

MS needs to do what they do best

Offer a platform for diversity which neither Apple nor Android are currently offering.

Apple are doing their usual thing and will continue to make money precisely because they don't want to be all things to all people - it's not their game.

Android is just amateur rubbish with not a single player serious about the future of the platform. Seriously - it is the most insecure computing platform I have ever seen and no-one seems to care. I wouldn't touch anything in Android apps if I was wearing a BNC suit.

If MS can get their act together with a serious mobile OS and a proper apps environment they will push android aside as the mass market alternative to the iPhone without any problem.

Opinion poll: Anti-regulatory 'hype' unwarranted

Colin Millar
Big Brother

Couldn't agree more

Arensmeyer makes a massive leap in faulty logic to come to his conslusion.

Most small businesses recognise that regs are just there and get on with it. They see poor demand as something that can change so they list that as their priority.

It's a bit of a reach for any political party in any country to claim that they are the friend of small business. It's not the consumer protection regs that are such a burden - in fact consumer protection regulation in the UK is piss-poor because of the need to allow the big boys to run scams at their customers as it is the basis of our whole eceonomy - PPI, inertia selling, automatic renewals, unfair contract terms etc - it's the Kafkaesque nightmare of dealing with HMRC that is the single biggest headache for anyone.

Kia Rio 1.1 CRDi EcoDynamics

Colin Millar
Thumb Down

Er - since when

Did anyone buy a car because of the warranty? If the warranty is featuring that much in your decision then FFS don't buy it cos its obviously a piece of crap.

And if someone spending loadsadosh doesn't consider all their options including the second hand market then they are as dumb as a bag of spanners.

Colin Millar

Yeah - but the Hyundai Coupe did have those other problems

No performance, no speed, no reliability, no handling, high emissions, high consumption.

The car was an absolute dog.

New dole system is 'digital by default', like it or not

Colin Millar
Big Brother

Libraries?

A lot fewer of those around these days.

Big Brother says - if you are poor, disposessed, unrepresented and marginalised - well done for practicing for the future - have a banana.

Doctors sick of anonymous-coward NHS feedback commentards

Colin Millar

How wrong can you be

It is a complete defence to a charge of defamation to show that the defamatory information is substantially true.

Facebook's Googly IPO delivers on Sun man's vision

Colin Millar

Not just data volume

They also have to be a bit worried about the actual value of the datasets.

How many different users, how many changes to preferences etc, the effectiveness of identifying more sepecific preferences in targetting - eventually all these things will be profiled by the advertisers.

I can't see the value holding - it gets more expensive to be more specifically targetted and the information is less reliable. There will come a point at which the drill down is no longer worth it and then it all just goes back to trending - although in much smaller groups. There may be value in assessing individuals strength of affiliation to trend groups but once the mass data input is over FB could be in real danger of being of very little value to advertisers.

BT Vision throws Microsoft Mediaroom under a bus for Linux

Colin Millar
Headmaster

Technically probably not *

The market value of the copper is a Gross Asset Value. NAV is defined as the (Gross) value of the assets minus liabilities.

As you point out - the liability they would face to retrieve the asset would offset (probably completely wipe out) the asset value.

* only "Probably not" because you can get audiitors to say anything if you feed them enough cheese

Colin Millar
Headmaster

Flak is actually AAC from the German for anti-aircraft cannon "{Fl}ieger{a}bwehr{k}anone"

Facebook IPO: Boom or bubble?

Colin Millar

Bubble bubble toil and trouble

(With apologies to WS)

Interesting quote from Richard Nunn at Charles Stanley Securities

"Facebook is worth the expected $80-$100bn valuation because we believe it is and will be the dominant social media platform globally"

Translation - "A grossly overvalued stock = lots of trades = lots of commissions - YAY!"

Never take investment advice from a man who profits when you lose money.

Cabinet Office moves step closer to killing Directgov

Colin Millar
Big Brother

Lining up the pencils

The mantra of the clueless crat

"If we can just get everything filed neatly all our problems will be resolved."

Still - at least this bit of navel-gazing only cost OPM1.7m *

*Other People's Money

Big Brother will be watching you as soon as he has organised his CD collection alphabetically (or was that last month).

Zuck plots carefully considered Facebook IPO

Colin Millar

Zuck is quite the conservative

On the figures available 100bn suggests a PE ratio of 160+ - that's a lot of money chasing an assumption of a 20 fold increase in earnings in a very short term - that's a lot of expansion for a firm that is fairly narrow in focus and hedged about by strong competitors in the big money areas of it's comfort zone.

5-10bn range looks more realistic for Facebook - although if there is confidence in future earnings maybe 20bn.

I think Zuck is quite right to be concerned about a massive overvaluation - the last thing a company like facebook needs is constant bad news on its share price.

Super-powered 'frankenmalware' strains detected in the wild

Colin Millar
Headmaster

on the other (more realistic) hand

Computers riddled with multiple malware are probably already so compromised that there is nothing left to hack

memo to BitDefender - viruses do not "accidentally" infect other files unless you are using the word "accidentally" in its little know alternative meaning of "deliberately"

Google plays the long game with Chrome OS

Colin Millar
Pirate

The usual way

1) Identify gullible education procurement director

2) Send salesman

3) Profit!!!

The real question is how can they have only sold 27,000 units into 3 states in the US public education sector - presumably the other 38 that are "using" Chromebooks have not been convinced to open their wallets yet.

Outside-the-box thinking literally can't be done inside a box, say profs

Colin Millar
Megaphone

let me get this straight

A bunch of shrinks wants to think about creative thinking vs constrained thinking so they study embodying facile SAOLs (aka metaphors).

Maybe they are sponsored by the self-improvement book publishers association.

If they want to see just how crap metaphorical thinking actually is I could recommend a few commentards for them to read.

Gov.uk loses 2 top techies, needs some new ones

Colin Millar
Holmes

McCluggage playing that old management game

Keeping 1 step ahead of the responsibility - the old government game

1) Write a buzz-word rich strategy

2) Bugger off to another job before someone asks you to actually do something

3) Blame the poor sods who have to try and pay lip service to your steaming pile of manure while still doing the day job of keeping the creaking public sector running

Public sector imperatives

Colin Millar
Big Brother

Public Sector thinking remains firmly inside the box

Your questions at 3.2 and 3.3 illustrate the public sector malaise very effectively.

Analysis in these terms simply accepts the existing corporate view that the direction of travel is right.

The underlying assumptions for most of the public sector need to be questioned as we seem to have forgotten why we are doing the things that are done.

Why do we want people to be educated properly, treated when they are sick etc? Instead the questions that get asked are how can we do it cheaper, how can we do less of it, are more people less pissed off with us than last year.

We need an honest COBA approach in the public sector if we are ever to do anything other than chase pennies and approval ratings.

Big brother is in the counting house counting out his money.

UK.gov marches on with solar 'leccy cash slash by spring

Colin Millar
Pirate

His point

It was all just another government scam to give tax money to middle class people in a crass attempt to buy their votes - just the same as scrappage and the leccy car subsidy.

Russia and NASA plan to COLONISE the Moon

Colin Millar

If you get it into space

Why wouldn't you just fire it into the sun?

SOPA is dead. Are you happy now?

Colin Millar
Alert

IP not dead

Museums, Theaters, Art Galleries, Live Performances - you think these materials are not protected by IP rights?

Try staging Les Miserables or Cats, try photographing in art galleries or museums with anything more than a compact ( or anything at all in an increasing number) - I think you will find that IP is quite well protected.

The biggest problem in all this mess is that both sides are entirely reactionary and the politicians just go with where their interest is. In the US it is very difficult for a politician to adopt any stance which could be caricatured as anti-property rights so they usually end up on the side of the property owner and we end up with legislation which is basically a list of banned activities and sanctions - generally recognised as the worst sort of law-making.

The freetard opposition meanwhile presents itself as standing up for us ordinary folks and our right to HAVE STUFF NOW. Nothing of the sort - they are at least as self serving as the politicians and IP owners. Modern day hippy movements with a whole load of stoners being lead by people whose self-promoting agenda is all too plain to see and keeping their mug followers in line with a promise of free sex/movies/rock 'n' roll.

French court fines Google $65k over search suggestion

Colin Millar
Thumb Up

Is this the WWF?

So - we've had the Mafia vs the Pirates (BT sues Google)

And now we're on to Pirates vs Bandits

I hope they all kick each other to death

Govt tells science to budge up for arts at new hi-tech uni

Colin Millar
Holmes

Yes - it looks like it

Perhaps Willets slept through C18 history - or maybe it's compulsory for politicians to reject the enlightenment and all of its evil works as part of their initiation to the House of knee jerks, sound-bites and self-servitude. Either way - I'm sure his mates will soon put a stop to all this "rounded education" nonsense and get the clones back to their cubicles in good order.

Ferguson Hill FH009 home theatre system

Colin Millar
Boffin

Thumping and humming

Needs a proper on/off control and a proper PSU.

On/off should

1) reduce the vol setting to 0 (very important)

2) isolate the (pre-amp and) amp from the input (less important)

3) cut the power

Sounds like this unit does the old cut the power with the bolt cutters approach - which has the benefit of deteriorating that already cheap PSU they have stuffed in there and getting you back to spend another £800 squids on another poorly built, nasty looking piece of chav crap.

Vomit virus drives punters to NHS Choices over Christmas

Colin Millar
Pint

Not a prediction

"There will be an increased level of vomiting during the christmas/new year period"

It's almost a truism

Steve Jobs action figure set for shop shelves

Colin Millar
Go

Consumer testing needed

How does it do on the blender test?

Virtual sanity: How to get a grip on your home PCs

Colin Millar
Thumb Up

No need to download

Store the main downloads centrally and copy them out as required to endpoints using a variety of techniques including any decent file backup app - you could probably even use the Steam built in backup facility. You can also delete unused games off the endpoint knowing that you can get it back pretty quick.

Of course that is an incidental benefit of the system described here but if you've got a lot of Steam games and a lot of users it's a pretty major one.

Fans lose grace with Star Wars MMO

Colin Millar

Oh dear

People with such a complete lack of ironing should be dragged out and shot in front of their families.

Colin Millar
Flame

EA games and customer service

EA knows that its customers are a bunch of thieving pirates and will continue to treat them accordingly.

BT's gift to Google: A patent war over ads and Android

Colin Millar
Thumb Up

Should be fun

Given BT's previous extortionist efforts on the hyperlink and Googles form as the world's biggest IP thief I guess were going to see who wins in the battle of Pirates vs The Mafia

Salesforce gobbles 'Facebook for the office' startup

Colin Millar
WTF?

How sad

Says Molly Graham of facebook

"Our idea of fun as a company is people staying up all night working"

???

Whitehall Post-Its, Ministers' GMail to come under FOIA?

Colin Millar
Mushroom

Yep

To the downvoters - just because you don't like something doesn't make it untrue.

It was a veto - the changes now being proposed are using a completely different approach because DC blocked the treaty changes route they wanted to go down as the latest in their series of distractions. The laughable thing is that neither route actually meant anything and they (DC and Merkozy) are all just grandstanding and lining themselves up with other people to blame for the shit that is still headed our way.

I don't agree with DC effectively making policy on future UK membership of the EU by this route but neither do I have any sympathy for Merkozy who continue to refuse to see the elephant in the room. These muppets make the Gidiot look almost as advanced as an amoeba compared to primordial slime.

The UK economic policy may not be what I would consider to be the right one but at least it has some focal point - even if it is just to use the current "difficulties" as an excuse to let their mates steal the family silver. Merkozy's policy consists of saying "oh look up there is that a flying pig" and hoping that will distract everyone from the fact that nothing is actually being done - they are the modern day equivalent of the orchestra on the Titanic.

The moment a computer crash nearly caused my car crash

Colin Millar

Not ABS

ABS and TC are different things. And neither of them will work on ice cos you got no traction to start with.

What is described in the article is classic oversensitive TC. The conditions seem to have been fairly poor as there was ice on the road at least in one place - the TC should have been turned off because in these conditions it is not just useless - it will work against you and can be a positive danger. What is needed is TC always off below 30.

Learn about your equipment before you use it.

Super black hole about to scoff speeding space dinner

Colin Millar
Headmaster

Sorry to be a pedant but

Shouldn't the sub-heading say "Gas cloud barrels away from event horizon"

UN, IMF join opposition to ICANN top-level domain plans

Colin Millar
Thumb Down

Pointless bit of geekery

What use is a gTLD - most of the world never looks at a url anymore. The only reason for doing gTLDs?

Because we can

York CompSci student pleads guilty to Facebook hack

Colin Millar

Welcome to ostrich land

"This attack did not involve an attempt to compromise or access user data"

Not because FBook actually give a shit but simply because the hacker was not so motivated.