* Posts by MountfordD

19 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Feb 2011

The LINUX TABLET IS THE FUTURE - and it always will be

MountfordD

Absolutely right. The writer is confusing Linux with the desktop (that's what years of using Windows does to you).

Furthermore, he says:

"Pair a Linux tablet with a hardware keyboard and mouse and you'd have a great little three-piece laptop replacement"

... already done - the Raspberry Pi.

Rifle-waving Yank's premature detonation ruins city's big bang

MountfordD
Alien

Blame the Colonists

If they hadn't won the War of Independence then there would be no cause to celebrate and none of this would have happened.

Stephen Hawking seeks geek to maintain his unique wheelchair

MountfordD

Indeed

But I do...! He'll be just another one I could manage but not full time I'm afraid.

MountfordD

The advert has worked

Judging by the comments here, most have already filtered themselves out of applying. I agree with GeorgeTuk that not all jobs are about the money. A lot of people do stuff they enjoy doing and for the challenge, etc. (why climb a mountain...?). Furthermore, there is something called philanthropy and charity.

Everything Everywhere boss jacks it in

MountfordD

I love this

"Swantee currently runs France Telecom's European operations, excluding France."

Hmmm... so he's going to be in charge of Everything Everywhere, excluding everywhere or is it excluding everything??

Chambers of Commerce say UK recovery is weak

MountfordD

Interest rise? Not in any bank's interest

"It called on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee to postpone "premature interest rate rises"...."

No chance of that. Bankers looks after their own and the BoE is a bank by any other name.

Low interest rates = cheaper for all banks to repay the billions in loan owed to the British public. They shaft us once and they are doing it again (we get bugger all for our savings) except that nobody has cottoned on to this new scam.

Android Market goes commercial in 131 countries

MountfordD

The reality gap

Unfortunately the model and reality differs quite a bit. I have found that more and more apps on the download Market are not free. A lot of developers are also publishing "lite" and full-strength versions along the lines of the shareware industry.

Very sad, but if your livelihood as an Android apps developer depends on it, then you have no choice but to maximise your profits. The good news is that a lot of developers only charge about $1 USD but that is a day's earnings for a lot of people. By the same token I guess these unfortunate souls won't be able to afford an Android phone anyway so it is a moot point.

What treasures will the US really find on bin Laden's hard disk?

MountfordD

Alternatives?

Are non-human virgins acceptable too?

Google faces another privacy probe

MountfordD

Is there REALLY a privacy problem?

OK so Google may be collecting info about your phone and location. So what? Frankly I am quite pleased that someone, somewhere knows where I could be simply from the point of safety. The UK authorities use this to good effect when tracing missing people.

As long as my phone conversations, texts and internet content usage remains private and not monitored, I really couldn't care if Google knew the make and model of my phone, MAC or IP address , whether it was in Afghanistan or in my pocket.

If these users are so paranoid about Google intruding on their privacy, turn the phone off, don't use the Internet or whatever location tracking facilities. Don't use an Android phone or Google! It is a free world after all (for some).

Ubuntu 'Natty Narwhal' breaks the surface

MountfordD
Pint

Look forward to it

Tried going Windows-free for a while but had to succumb to the might of Redmond and had to run XP under VirtualBox, so I am looking forward to a non-Royal Wedding day too. Thanks for the info.

Russian security start-up kits up 30,000 state bank ATMs, terminals

MountfordD

Quite - what could possibly go wrong?

...and "By taking advantage of Windows technology" too.

Clegg'n'Cameron seek Director of Digital

MountfordD

Like attracts like

I predict that this is going to be yet more squandering of public money.

"The job spec is written in the appealing mixture of civil service jargon and management consultantese..."

So what are they going to get? Anyone decent will be rejected because they can't talk the talk at the interview or put their qualifications in management-speak on their CV. What are you left with? Mates of Cameron and Clegg and the bullshitting gobs whose primary motivation is the smell of the £142K in their bank account. They will produce a totally incomprehensible 1000-page report in management consultantese after a year in the job, have all their mates in the department being paid no less than £60K and the taxpayer will fork out at least £5 million.

US Army inks $66m deal for Judge Dredd smart-rifles

MountfordD

The inherent weakness of today's technology is...

Electrical power. Every device we use is "intelligent" therefore requiring power. Disrupt power supplies and most of Western society will come to a halt. Nothing different about the XM-25.

So you are cut off behind enemy lines and your battery runs out. The nearest wall socket is back at base which the enemy, armed with an AK-47 that requires nothing more than a supply of ammunition and a trigger finger, is attempting to disrupt its power supply. At that point a 1914 Lee-Enfield would probably be more desirable.

Berlusconi calls George Clooney to his defence

MountfordD

Or even

"an attempt to get sexual-what aid into Darfur."?

Antarctic ice breakup makes ocean absorb more CO2

MountfordD

Absorbtion of Carbon Tax too?

Will this also mean a reduction in the highly dubious Carbon Tax that gets added on to everything that has even the most tenuous link to a carbon energy source?

Government needs to bring IT skills in-house

MountfordD

Ignorance added to snobbery

Is there such a thing as a "vocational manager"? I don't think so. The typical British manager has got to that position by climbing the greasy pole through sheer determination. Let's be honest - how many of you managers reading this can say "I love my job as a manager - it is so creative and I get a real buzz from looking after my staff. I would freely give my time to ensure the well-being of the people and department I look after." No? I'm not surprised.

This results in that most if not all managers do not really have the relevent skills in the subject that they are trying to manage. The standard procedure is: "We don't have the skills (especially me - in a quite voice), so let's outsource the lot and if the supplier f*ck up, we can beat them up and blame any failure of the project on them."

True, decent managers are worth their weight in gold but fortunately for the coffers of most companies, they only have to pay for cheap, lousy imitations. Not so good for the drain cleaners unfortunately.

Wordpress traces 2nd DDoS assault to China

MountfordD
FAIL

How to lose credibility

If up and coming countries particularly ones like China, Russia and India want the rest of the world to take them seriously, demonstrating macho attitudes by the way of cyber terrorism is not the answer. The entire world knows that any 14-year old techno-savvy script kiddie can launch DDOS attacks and inject malware into an unsecured system, so by demonstrating the ability to do this is not a demonstration of techno power.

If such actions are politically motivated, it simply shows the immatureness of the authorities and not really credible in the eyes of the world. It would so much better if the authorities (in all countries) clamped down on script kiddies and came down hard on cybercrime and spammers, thereby proving that they understand the meaning and power of technology. The world and all its users therein will soon welcome and embrace their techno-savvy overlord.

Official: Booze prevents senile dementia

MountfordD

So does smoking I hear

I have been informed that smoking prevents dementia too. My colleague swears that this bit of information is based on solid clinical statistics. Would it be that smokers die of smoking related diseases before they get to the point of developing senile dementia?

Florida lag packs prison survival kit up jacksie

MountfordD

Rubber vs eraser

"...one empty syringe with an eraser over the needle..."

I see you have catered for our American readers in using 'eraser' rather than 'rubber'. I suppose he could have included a condom within a condom - probably a very useful item in view of where he was going.