Posts by Ian Yates
783 posts • joined Tuesday 12th June 2007 08:17 GMT
Tim
Do you need us to buy you a pint?
Posted in Bug-Byte Manic Miner
All together now!
Dur dah dur dah dur dah dah, dur dah dah, dur dah dah...
Posted in Facebook gets awesome with Skype
Standards
I'm glad to see they've picked one of the many interopable and open video-chat standards that are already in use. Oh, wait...
Resolve
Why would any browser or OS use a DNS lookup for something that fits the pattern of an IP? I can't believe any browser out there doesn't attempt to go direct to IP addresses, so his example is a fail - but it does highlight the kind of attacks that people will be thinking about,
I wondered that
What do they mean by "leak users' IP addresses"? If they didn't provide servers with their IP addresses, I think users would have a bigger problem.
Monday apathy prevents me from actually trying to find out what they mean. (but doesn't prevent me from typing this reply)
Troll
I can't believe you picked that icon over this one ;)
meta^meta studies
That reminds of some reading I was doing around environmental tobacco smoke (passive smoking).
Big tobacco funded loads of reports to prove it didn't exist or it had no harm (and eventually admitted some of the reports were fake). But even better was a meta-study that came to the conclusion that ETS didn't exist because there were more high-quality studies showing it didn't than ones showing it did. (Don't have the reference at home)
Genius! It just made me wish (and hope) that someone's done a meta-meta-study in to how well meta-studies are done.
True
I think the article could have changed the wording on "increase, not ban, the production of child pornography".
Surely just not banning it would have the same effect? Increasing circulation, maybe, but production surely is abuse, no?
Good article, though
Posted in 17 flock to see Gordon Ramsay turkey
Re: Read The Grauniad One
The trailer review is excellent.
I also like the wikipedia "Critical Reception" understatement:
It took £121 on its opening weekend in June 2011, comparing *poorly* [emphasis mine] with the same weekend's biggest opening film, Bridesmaids, which took £3.44 million.
Thank F for that
How long did that take them? Seriously?!
Fring and NimBuzz had it so long ago, Skype should have bought of them out instead of shutting them down.
Too late now, though; everyone's looking for better (or "non-MS") alternatives.
Problem solved?
What exactly are they trying to solve here?
I work for many large corporations in IT, some with 10,000+ employees. None of those companies would consider using an online office suite. Hell, they generally blocks docs.google and any other site that could potentially be used to get data on or off site.
It sounds more like a solution for personal/SOHO users, but they're currently disallowed. Plus, I'm increasingly hearing of such people switching to Open/Libre Office because it does the basics well enough without costing anything.
IMHO, MS Office peaked with 97/2003.
Android
Update to Android? Like what? We're still waiting for video calling through Skype.
I may be in the majority, but video calling is the main reason I have Skype at home, to keep in contact with my distant friends/family.
Skype on Android would be a killer app if it did video calls, but it's months too late with apps like Fring allowing a get-out to a lot of people.
As soon as I've found an easy-to-use Windows client that supports video-calling, I'll be switching the silver surfers in my family.
And a browser-based solution is not an option: they need an icon they can click and leave running in the background.
Husband
"this time... for good" /Russian accent
Makes me wonder if he was also holding some kind of heavy implement as he said it.
Posted in Kiwi gals swig shots of horse semen
Here's the solution
Put it in a vial and sell it as horse semen.
Posted in So, how many rhinos does a tram weigh?
Headphones
With or without headphones, these things are dangerous. The ones in Manchester are silent killers! Sneaky little things.
I don't know Manchester that well, looked the wrong way first (thinking they always travelled on the same side as cars) and stepped as I looked the other; jumped back just in time.
My Manc friends nicknamed them Population Control Devices - reducing the city's average age one person at a time ;)
Posted in Dungeon Siege III
Torment
Where's the next PlaneScape?! There was so much room to explore more parts of that universe with different storylines.
Hell, I'd pay for a higher-res version of PS:T that ran properly on W7. Assuming I had enough time to sink in to it
Trend?
"Google will soon delete this application from the Market, as well as retroactively removing it from the phones of everyone who installed it."
Citation needed, methinks.
Yes, they certainly *could* do that, but I think it's unlikely they will.
From what I've seen, Google have remotely uninstalled less than a handful of apps from phones - and they were all malicious or PoC exploits.
Google hold a lot of power in their hands, but I think it's unfair to accuse them of having abused it just yet.
Finally: "I bet I don't." Really?! Have you a) looked around the Internet for this answer or b) thought to ask Google?
Nice
"unlike windoze: suspend works reliably every time on laptops and desktops"
Maybe it's just me, but my "Windoze" boxes suspend/hibernate every day without issue - and I've done this for years.
I think you need to update your trolling.
Posted in Ten... festival survival gadgets
RF
I noticed the number of these gadgets relying on RF of some kind. How many channels do they support?
I'm just wondering who's tent you might end up finding, if enough people brought them.
Definitely worth the walkies, though. My sets take AA, so easy to "recharge" without mains power. Even if others are on your channels, you don't normally use them for long conversations. over. out.
A nice idea
But the truth is that a patent holder doesn't always know their patent is worthless until they test it in court.
If you mean about claiming someone's infringed when they haven't, I think that's a different matter to what's being discussed here.
Regardless, if you don't win you have to pay court costs and you may lose your patents.
Posted in UK census data is safe
Top priority
So, you know, we're going to put it on a network that isn't accessible from teh Interwebs.
Oh no, wait, everything has to be accessible for some reason no one knows. Or maybe I'm just missing the obvious non-cynical reason for having a shit-ton (official term) of personally identifiable information on a non-private network.
This goes for all government departments.
Posted in Apple will 'own games industry'
What rubbish
First, there's his stats fail about Apple's growth.
"Oh, look; they're market share grew from 1% to 3%*. That's 200% growth, therefore in 5 years they'll own the industry."
No.
* Figures are to illustrate point.
Then the comment about expensive single-player games becoming rare... I don't buy it. There are certain narratives that work better with only one player and they'll continue to be produced.
Sure, companies may scale back the massive budgets they throw on them, but I can't see them becoming rare.
If anything, MMOs should be rare. I find it odd the number of new ones that keep getting announced. At this rate they'll be SMOs because everyone will have their own niche game to play.
Security
Security in other peoples' hands - what could go wrong?
It might cost slightly more and not be as well polished, but SpiderOak does at least ensure that things like this can't happen to your data (assuming SO aren't lying, of course).
Posted in Alice: The Madness Returns
Awesome
Couldn't tell from the screenshots, but how would you rate the level design compared to the first game?
Alice was an average platformer, but the design was the thing I loved about it - whole worlds changing shape, etc.
Looking forward to playing this one, once it hits a reasonable price.
Posted in Dolphin Browser HD
When a browser is not a browser
I don't know what El Reg or Dolphin did to upset you, but arguing what is and is not a browser is a bit odd.
Yes, Dolphin renders pages using WebKit and some native API calls rather than reinventing the wheel and rolling their own rendering engine - that's hardly the same as a skin on the native browser.
Are you saying the all WebKit browsers are not browsers because they didn't invent WebKit themselves?
Personally, I use DolphinHD (a browser) on my Transformer because it provides an actual desktop-like browsing experience, which the bundled browser comes no where near.
Innovation
I'm sorry, I think the PS3 is a good piece of kit (I'm not sorry for that), but this line: "the competition is trying to add features that already exist in PlayStation 3"
Pure comedy.
sixaxis controller, PS3 Move? Sony can hardly claim they haven't done exactly the same thing.
Posted in Aunty squirts serendipity into TV apps
Censor
What do you mean by "censor"? I had assumed the same as Fred in that you meant restricting access (which is fair), but if you mean posting edited content based on IP address, that's something different.
Rather than screaming bloody murder, have you contacted them to find out why? I'd be interested, personally.
I'd guess it's either licensing restrictions (the Beeb content providers can impose odd restrictions about what can be broadcast where) or to do with editing in order to fit in to designated segments for Beeb Worldwide. But if it's truly censorship as you say, that's concerning.
/sigh
Unfortunately, while I'm a big believer in the freedom to be anonymous online, I agree with the AC: I think this directive is mostly a waste of time.
Yes, I'm not an average user so I understand that a) a cookie is *not* a piece of software, and b) I am in control of said cookies.
What actually needs to happen is for all browsers to implement simple and secure cookie policies (i.e., never share cookies across domains, zero-day security bugs excepted). The whole idea of forcing every website to ask a user if they can store cookies is a joke, when this would be far simpler to be implemented at the browser level - oh, wait! it already is!
Hats of to the EU for raising awareness of the evilness of cookies and the lives they've destroyed, but I don't really see what problem they've solved here. The companies that want to track you will continue to do so in another way.
Posted in Aunty squirts serendipity into TV apps
Que?
The licence already applies to computers receiving live streams.
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/technology--devices-and-online-top8/
Long live the Beeb
Burqa?
I thought they banned the niqab, the face-veil? Think of burqa as the 'union set' of the three Islamic coverings ;)
That aside, her arguing it being part of her religion opens a difficult discussion:
1) Is it? I'm under the impression that even Muslims don't agree whether the niqab is a requirement
2) Should someone's religious views enable them to avoid standing trial or giving a defence?
Not easy. All eyes are on France
Posted in AMD trumpets next-gen GPU architecture
So basically
Your computer will be the Beowulf cluster. Cool
Posted in LucasArts Day of the Tentacle
Some list
A lot of my favourite games on that list.
Whatever happened to good storytelling in games?
/old fogy icon
Posted in LucasArts Day of the Tentacle
Sound
I used to love all of the options before games like this.
"What video type? VGA, XGA, CGA, etc."
"What soundcard? SB Pro, SB16, SB 2.1, Audigy, etc."
Never quite being sure which options are best, so always trying a different one only to have the game bail when the first character tries to speak.
Ah, the "good" old days.
Posted in Asus Eee Pad Transformer Android tablet
Pre-ordered?
Assuming you're in the UK: You know it's out, right? And has been for some time.
I'm not a fan of Curry's, but I couldn't find the Transformer (with keyboard) cheaper (and available) anywhere so went with them. Paid for the next day delivery and it arrived exactly when they said it would.
Haven't regretted it for a minute.
Posted in Asus Eee Pad Transformer Android tablet
Thirded
I guessed they'd give 80% before opening the review, but was still kind of shocked.
Apart from the lack of Honeycomb-specific apps, I think it's the perfect media-consumption device for me.
Actually, one niggle I have is that having two separate accounts running on it is tricky. While the OS lets us both be logged in for calendars and market (assuming you trust the person), other apps (facebook, twitter, etc.) just don't support it.
Easily 90%+, in my eyes
/bias
Really?
My rooted Gingerbread-running Desire (with Sense 2.1) says otherwise... runs flawlessly.
Posted in IATA: this iPad could BRING DOWN A PLANE
Skeptic
I've always been massively skeptical of the claims about interference (and sorry to those that travel on the same flights as me, I always use my MP3 player during takeover/landing).
If airplane instruments are so sensitive that a MP3 player, iPad, etc., can set them off, I'm seriously shocked. How can they possibly be fit-for-purpose?
I remember when a Merkin friend was flying over with some special tech gear; he asked BA if it was alright for him to carry on his expensive, delicate gear (can't remember the details, some kind of wireless equipment that he was going to use to set up a proof-of-concept long-range wireless network with - pre-WiFi days). They replied that it was fine as long.
He pushed it and asked if he could use some of it mid-flight, and gave them specs; they said that it would be no problem. (He did and said that he found no interesting signals up there)
Alas, this was ~15 years ago, and I no longer have the email that he forwarded around. We were all pretty shocked, though.
Final bugbear: Why don't airlines put the interactive entertainment system on straight away? Passengers would be far calmer watching a film during takeoff/landing.
The system's powered up, so that's not the reason; it's normally showing the stupid "flight info" screen to some boring classical music.
/Beer: need one
Scale?
Can we scale this up to, say, sharks?
No reason - just thinking about the savings on water-proof, cranial-attached hardware.
Surely
++C++
Numpties
While I had the same thought as you, the tech-illiterate who have picked up an Android consumer-focussed phone are likely to perceive anything in the market as being legitimate by the very fact that Google "owns" the market.
Perhaps Google need to add a rewards scheme for security firms identifying malicious apps in the market? That way, they don't need to expend any effort themselves, if that's their issue here.
Posted in Phishers LAMP web hosts
root
You touch on something there without mentioning it explicitly:
A lot of these attacks are pre-scripted and assume many things like directory names and user names.
Simple tasks such as using unusual usernames for admin tasks and not using the pre-supplied directory names can foil scripts enough that the majority of attacks won't even bother following up.
I see enough 404 attacks to things like "phpMyAdmin" (all case variants) to know never to have that as a root directory.
Publishing Apache or webapp version numbers publicly doesn't help, either.
I'm not saying this is the answer to security, but it's a simple fix to a lot of attack attempts.
Posted in Phishers LAMP web hosts
Phishers
Except phishers need somewhere to host their fake bank sites.
Fair play, though, I had the same thought to begin with. Not sure why the Reg went with "phishers" when I'm sure this applies to any script-kiddie-based activity.
Intrigued
Some hands-on previews I've read have said that it is good but there may be some hyperbole in what we've been told.
Specifically, they were referring to the usual grind in fighting swamp rats (etc.) and masses of similar quests with some names/locations swapped out; though they did emphasise that these have all been previews.
Still, worth a watch - loved the KOTOR games.
facepalm
+1 Internets to you both
My ill-thought argument can rest their for posterity.
Stats
Wait... someone help me out here.
"8 per cent decline in text messages per customer"
So "text messages per customer" is the total number of text messages sent divided by the number of customers (assuming we're talking mean here), and they've seen a decline in this figure of 8%.
Isn't that *exactly* the same as saying "8 per cent decline in total text messages"?
(Thursday-afternoon-brain don't do me wrong!)
Posted in Apple bars WinXP users from iCloud
"Vista and Win7 are mainly about eye candy."
To be fair, OS innovation died a long time ago.
XP covers 99% of what people want in an OS. Vista did a lovely job of shaking up the underlying hardware APIs, but the end user benefit was negligible.
MS (and others) make a lot of money from OS's, so they need to do something new.
However, I completely disagree that DirectX/3D are bad - maybe you're thinking back to the DX3 days when MS were catching up with the emerging 3D market? Nowadays, they're streets ahead of OpenGL (as painful as that is to admit), but they have the massive disadvantage of being platform-dependent.
OpenGL is a reasonable multi-platform solution, but it's been playing catch-up to D3D since about version 8. In terms of features and API, that is.
Personally, I like Win7, but the big things I like are simply usability improvements that *could* have been applied to WinXP if MS could have made the same margins from it.
I don't begrudge them a new OS, though; if I owned an OS I'm sure I'd want to constantly improve it as well - Linux and OS X do exactly the same.
Posted in Smart Fortwo Electric Drive e-car
All it needs
is for a manufacturer such as Smart to tie up with BP, Total, etc. and offer the ability to switch your dead batteries for charged ones at a "petrol" station.
Sure, it requires a modification to the car design, but the station can store ready-charged batteries and charge you for a) the cost to charge and b) the convenience of an instant charge.
This way, if you can't charge it home, you can pop in to a garage on the way to/from work and quickly swap your batteries.
Assuming they're making their money, the only other concern for the driver is that they remove old batteries from circulation.
I think this is the only viable solution until almost-instant charging is possible.
Posted in FT sticks it to Apple
"which has since taken the world by storm"
I assume this is my irony fail, since I've heard nothing about it since about a week after its launch.
I can't say I've noticed any amount of iDevice users reading it on the tube or at work either.
