* Posts by Silverburn

1609 publicly visible posts • joined 24 May 2011

Anatomy of a killer bug: How just 5 characters can murder iPhone, Mac apps

Silverburn
Thumb Up

Re: MWN?

oh man - tech overload for a mere mortal brain like mine. But in a good way.

Snowden: US and Israel did create Stuxnet attack code

Silverburn
Black Helicopters

Re: Just to add

I don't think it's anything we didn't already know.

It's sheer scale and bare-faced audacity of it all that's rather alarming.

Galaxy S4 way faster than iPhone 5: Which?

Silverburn
Thumb Down

Re: iSheeple are easily fooled.

Then the new iFolly is released, you rush out to purchase a new status, and suddenly this observation becomes void. Funny That!

That's a sweeping assumption on your behalf, and you missed by a country mile.

Actually I came to the IP5 as an experiment after a Galaxy note. Naturally the fandroids will downvote this as a failing on my behalf, rather than - god forbid - find fault with the Note. But that's a very long post for another time.

Silverburn
Gimp

Time to get some of that "innovation" into useability Apple, rather than tinkering with the form factor so much it's now hard to produce. Time to admit you misread the market, and get back to what people want.

Though in their defence - my iphone 5 is hardly slow in my usage model, so one does wonder why we need nearly 2ghz of quad core in a phone?

Review: Beagleboard Beaglebone Black

Silverburn

Quads

Interestingly, this is now my preferred option for a remote target tracking processor on a quad, instead of the Pi.

1. because of the dedicated 5V in, which is an easy wire in job to the BEC. Running USB convertors adds weight and complexity, and then you probably still need to run a BEC anyway if you running greater than 4S. Also means the bridges/capes will not brown out the processor either.

2. The extra CPU cycles will be useful, and the H264 is not required.

Only downside is the lack of 3G/LTE bridges/capes (that I can see)

Apple's Tim Cook: I'm risking my own MEELLLIONS if we sink

Silverburn
Facepalm

a) Fisher price is cheaper

b) Fisher price is still cool (Have you seen the Space shuttle??? Cool....)

c) watches? Coffee grinders yes, watches no

Glasgow subway's new smart tickets aren't, moan passengers

Silverburn
Go

Re: Train Journeys are too expensive anyway.

You probably forgot to include vehicle depreciation in your calculation, but then again...the prices are so ridiculous now, that even that can be factored in and still be cheaper.

UK railways are the worst in Europe, for how much we pay. FFS - with a flat rate 50% discount card (which everyone can get, and can be for almost *any* journey), even rail travel in Switzerland is cheaper.

Silverburn
Thumb Down

Re: What a joke

Where is all the money going? Or what's wrong? Can anybody enlighten me?

Probably to Edinburgh, to pay for that beacon of efficiency, the trams.

Silverburn

You lucky bastards.

It's the model of efficiency compared to the Edinburgh trams, and they're not even running yet.

Silverburn
Facepalm

Re: Sorry, this post may be slightly on-topic

This is less efficient and will cost me more

Ha, ha, that's not inefficient. If you want a true masterclasss in creating an epic clusterfuck of an "efficient transport system", travel 40 miles east to witness the glorious Edinburgh trams. An epic failure on so many levels it defines all logical explanation.

Silverburn
Thumb Down

£22???

Ive been on it.

*They'd* have to pay *me* to travel on it again.

Using encryption? That means the US spooks have you on file

Silverburn
Pint

Re: Use one way encryption

You need some "salt" with that too. More specifically...beer.

That will turn it from english into something truly uninteligible to any sober person, but will make perfect sense to anyone who's consumed the right amount of "salt".

Exclusive Halo game coming to Windows 8 and WinPhone 8

Silverburn
Happy

Re: Meh.

Neither was creeping around a level in Doom on 9% health trying to find a health pack

Pfft - ya big Jessie. Come back when you can do the boss level on 3%...

First look: iOS 7 for iPad

Silverburn
Stop

See also "Control centre".

Or "Center", as we will likely be forced to use, given our US-based companies' preference for forcing their mutant offspring of a language onto us.

Tip for Apple/MS/Oracle/etc...when I set my language preferences to "UK" in the OS, I expect your apps to honour that decision.

Silverburn

Re: Phone, Face Time and Message blocking.

"over-informed journalists"...you mean there's more than one??? I thought informed journo's were a myth...

Silverburn

Re: Bravo if the skeuomorphism is goes away!

...current beta, you can hide both of those in a folder, which you could stick on the last page of apps ..

But that's what we do now! And it's a surprisingly full folder....

No, we want full delete or hide capabilties, not a variety of the "Apple's Junk" folder.

New material enables 1,000-meter super-skyscrapers

Silverburn
Facepalm

Ropes are so passé.

Rockets. That's what you want.

Or even better...a vertical maglev. (aka...rail gun!)

Silverburn
Happy

Re: A note on elevator safety

He broke both his legs and probably never got in a lift again but otherwise was completely unharmed

It would have made a better story if you mentioned "He broke both his legs and probably never got in a lift again but otherwise walked away completely unharmed"

If you've ever broken a leg, you'd probably realise that "completely unharmed" is somewhat underestimating your injuries.

Silverburn
Thumb Up

Re: Uri

Geller. Because while the science lags behind expectations, they still have to make shit up and sell it to the public as real.

SCO vs. IBM battle resumes over ownership of Unix

Silverburn
Coat

Re: IBM & Novell's Failure

Double taps and triple shots. The bane of Pre. Ej. sufferers everywhere.

Silverburn
Holmes

Re: Jarndyce vs Jarndyce is not that fictional

QI = Questionable Integrity

Silverburn
Mushroom

Re: @Daniel

Nukes only work against stuff with substance.

But since SCO has no substance...

MacBook Air now uses PCIe flash... but who'd Apple buy it from?

Silverburn
Happy

Re: I want one...

There will be a PC version on goodluckbuy or alibaba next week. Probably.

Silverburn
Gimp

Re: Cost

I don't think it really matters what you estimate.

At the end of the day, *all* of the prices will be in the "Are you sitting down for this one, sir?" territory.

Silverburn
Happy

Names...

..so it's a cross between R2D2 and a G4 Cube.

R2Cube2?

C(ube)2D2?

G4C2?

Apple at WWDC: Sleek new iOS, death of the big cats, pint-sized Mac Pro

Silverburn

Internal vs External

Personally, I don't see the problem with this.

If I'm gonna spunk many thousands on fast, massive storage etc for 4K processing - possibly a number of times more expensive than the Mac itself - I want it to be transportable away from Apple if I choose to do so. If the external connectivity cable/controller is as fast as an internal one, going external shouldn't be a problem, gives more flexibility, and it makes the array portable.

The only advantage of going internal would be access to the PCIe bus for storage, but the costs of scaling this sort of capacity would be prohibitive for 4K, so you'll look to localised editing anyway, but the raw stored on an array.

The only wrinkle is the video cards. Red Rocket is indeed out, but we'll just have to see how well the Fire Pro's do. I notice the brief wording doesn't highlight whether realtime 4K playback is possible. If it is, then the *new" 4K editors won't need to fork out on a RED. RED might even introduce a new breakout box if it can't do full playback. But by far the biggest issue is the non-standard video card form factor. Of all the new "lock in" technologies in the new Pro, this is the worst. Shame on you apple...

Look out, fanbois! EVIL charger will inject FILTH into your iPHONE

Silverburn
FAIL

Let me get this straight...

I want your contacts, passwords etc. to get them from your iphone I need to:

- break into your house or office

- take photos of your iphone charger

- go home, replicate charge as close as possible

- devise the internals, and a bit of malware to get uploaded

- break into your house or office again

- replace charger with mine

- hope you don't notice that your charger has been replaced. Or that your house was broken into. Twice.

Chances of exploit: Slim...?

Much easier to write/buy an exploit for the software platform based on open source and has the largest market share, surely...

Microsoft reveals Xbox One, the console that can read your heartbeat

Silverburn
Happy

Aaaah, that's better...

...an MS article, and EADON is out in force.

His posts are like popcorn for the soul.

Acorn founder: SIXTH WAVE of tech will wash away Apple, Intel

Silverburn
Boffin

Re: Oh S*&t! - point of order

What would have been better is that all the robots are kept in sync over TCP/IP, which meant that all would be in tune, but none of them were actually in time.

Use a BT homehub, and frankly some of them will be on a different verse of the song, the network would be so crap.

Copyright minister admits: Google has better access to No. 10 than me

Silverburn
Happy

It's telling that I don't know who you're referring to - Google or the politicians.

Top guns doomed as US Navy demos first carrier-launched drone

Silverburn
Boffin

Re: So who will be flying these drones?

Not sure why you were downvoted...piloting skills will still be required to fly these. You won't be recruiting from my local RC club, put it that way (who's vehicles lifespans are usually measured in seconds).

Maybe not in the same way as conventional piloting, but skilled all the same. Less balls and "into the danger zone" shit, more brains I like to think. Especially to overcome the lack of "situational awareness" inherent in remotely controlled craft.

EU wants the Swiss and pals to cough up IT giants' hidden bank info

Silverburn

Re: Swiss shouted at for hiding stolen gold.

You can shout all you like, but if you were sitting on a gigantic pile of gold (ill gained or otherwise), would you listen to someone complaining about it...?

Silverburn

No...they're (most western governments) only targetting the "Tax havens" now, because post 2008, everyone now realises how skint they are, and persuing the "tax dodgers" is popular.

The actual revenue they'll get back won't really make much difference in the grand scheme of things, but hey ho, "saved pennies make pounds", and it's popular...

Silverburn

Re: it's not only companies

He is legally evading paying his fair due of taxes...

No he's not. He's "legally avoiding paying more tax than he needs to". Everyone does this. Even you. It is your moral obligation to your family to pay only as much tax as you have to pay, to help provide more money to your family.

Rich or poor, only paying the amount of tax you are due is what everyone does. It just so happens, the rich have more efficient means of doing so. You buy a "to go" drink from Macdonalds, and drink it outside, saving the VAT. They channel large sums through offshore accounts, or pay themselves $1 salaries, and the rest in shares, saving hundreds of thousands by paying a different tax rate based on how that "income" is declared. It's all the same...just at different ends of a perfectly legal scale.

So enough with the hypocracy.

Silverburn

Re: it's not only companies

Evasion != avoidance.

One is illlegal, the other is either financial efficiency or immorality, depending on your point of view.

El Reg drills into Office 365: What's under the hood?

Silverburn

Re: Can anyone with experience comment on compatibility

My experience is that there are multiple compatibility issues between Office 2013 and Office 365. Can anyone else with experience comment on compatibility please.

I think you meant:

My experience is that there are multiple compatibility issues between Office X and Office Y. Can anyone else with experience comment on compatibility please.

Replace X and Y with any versions you want.

Silverburn
Mushroom

The Popping sound..

...is Eadon's head exploding with rage at all the positive points going to MS.

Your Flying Car? Delayed again, but you WILL get it, says Terrafugia

Silverburn

Re: Yes yes yes, but

...and my holographic-without-back-glass-and-yet-still-haptic computer interface that holywood keeps promising me?

Silverburn
Happy

Pic on page 2...

...Now that's an unhappy looking fish.

Silverburn
Joke

Re: Hole, money, pour

4D routes?

That's funny...because when I program a route into the GPS, I always arrive within a minute of the ETA. And I alway keep left on our UK motorways. It's recommended in my Audi user manual I'm sure, if I ever chose to read it.

<-- observe before pressing red button.

Penguins in spa-a-a-ce! ISS dumps Windows for Linux on laptops

Silverburn
Linux

Re: They have created a reason for a Linux virus

Does it involve guess the password in 3 attempts while some sinister action music plays in the background?

Adobe price hike: Your money or your files, frappuccino sippers

Silverburn

Price

Personally, whether it's up front "buy" or ongoing "lease", I don't care. Suits me fine either way.

It's the massive, wallet-gouging prices Adobe charges in the first place I refuse to pay. One off or on a subscriber basis...a shit load of money is still a shit load of money.

China: Online predator or hapless host?

Silverburn
Black Helicopters

Re: Oh yes?

Hacking state systems only really benefits the ones who are "behind" in any specific criteria.

Once China has Stealth tech, nanotech, pharmatech, biotech, insertothertech that is superior to "ours", then there will be strategic advantage for us to hack them.

Until then, it will be surface surveillance only and a generous helping of plausible deniability.

Apple asked me for my BANK statements, says outraged reader

Silverburn

There's no mention of or link to MS, so he's probably not bothered.

However, it's never stopped him before...

Boffins plan to drop €250,000 TEST-TUBE BURGER on London

Silverburn
Happy

Dilema...

...eat 200,000 MacDonalds Cheese burgers and die from a heart attack caused by cholesterol poisoning, or eat one £200,000 burger and die from a heart attack caused by imminent bankruptcy.

Decisions, decisions....

I guess it comes down to whether you get fries and "diet" coke with the lab-burger.

Rules, shmules: Fliers leaving devices switched on in droves

Silverburn

Critical "mass"

I'm a firm believer that one low-power rx/tx device (which all phones/tablets are) is not going to crash a plane.

However...would 10? 100? 500?

500 devices (not unrealistic) all pumping out 0.5w each = 250watts. That's a lot of RF noise, even if it is limited to a particular band.

On the upside, general RF noise from the electronic components will be tiny, especially by the time it reaches the flight electronics and sensors.

PEAK iPHONE? Apple mobe growth slumps to ‘lowest in its history’

Silverburn

Re: @RogerThat - Sweet Jesus, dude...

That's the responsible thing to do! You won't have to spend days setting everything up again, will you?

Lets gloss over that bloated pile of turd that is itunes for the moment...and recall that it does actually allow you to restore the last backup of your old phone (usually made automatically when you plug in the phone) to your new phone. Time to setup new phone...30 minutes tops, and most of the work is done for you. Use icloud for various settings, and it's even simplier. You're hardly going to be spending "days" getting everything back to just the way you want.

Whether you like iOS or not, the restore-old-to-new process is actually quite painless.

Java still vulnerable despite recent patches

Silverburn
Thumb Up

Re: As always, the victim would need to fail the Java user IQ test

Java's assumption that a security dialogue is the resolution for their shortcomings in security is, well... meh.

+1. Breaking out the sandbox via API - biggest fail of Oracle, regardless of what muppetry the user tries to inflict apon themselves.

Silverburn
Happy

Re: As always, the victim would need to fail the Java user IQ test

Java user IQ test?

Does it involve the response to only one question: "Double click to install Oracle JRE - YES/NO"?