* Posts by John Tserkezis

2242 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Jun 2007

VCDX: The elite certification just 105 people hold

John Tserkezis

Grab it while it's still worth something...

...before it turns into what Certified Netware Engineers became.

I used to know a few who weren't certified to operate a can opener.

Falling slinky displays slow-motion causality

John Tserkezis

They can explain why a slinky does its thing...

...but they can't explain why Internet access in hotels is obscenely expensive.

Another Apple maps desert death trap down under

John Tserkezis

I don't get it.

When travelling on out-of-the-way areas, or even some out-there tarmaced roads, we have at LEAST two or three separate maps covering the land we'll be on. And that's just in the digital realm, he have other paper maps that seldom get used, but you never know when hardware failures happen.

Heck, one of the guys I know has two lots of hardware too.

It staggers me to hear that people are getting lost using a mere iPhone with online maps.

Well, not that they're getting lost, but that they actually trust this...

I bet they don't have comms, food and water either.

I guess you can't trust against idiocy.

Tweeting bankers warned: U better not mislead customers...LOL

John Tserkezis

Re: Why?

But of course it's cool and elitist to scoff at anyone who uses social media.

Nothing to do with cool, or elitist.

Social media, along with third party mail handlers involve company-related documents that cannot be traced.

Be prepared to deal with the perils of that if you think tracability doesn't apply to you.

Internet Explorer tracks cursor even when minimised

John Tserkezis

I've given up on trying to get people off IE onto something else - anything else.

Same with trying to get people to back up.

You don't have to take my advice, but you lose the right to cry and whine about it after the fact.

Apple updates maps to remove Australia’s ghost-city in the desert

John Tserkezis

Re: So....

"There is nothing wrong with the data, they are just using the wrong method of getting the centre coordinate of the town. It is a simple software bug."

Not really, it's actually quite complex.

Yes the data is technically correct, and yes they're using the wrong method of getting the centre, but that's only part of the issue, and it's not a simple case of a few lines of code to "fix" seemingly obvious problems.

Google works because they've put a lot of work into it, not because they're miracle programmers.

These Apple problems show that they're using raw data and little work put into it.

Boffin: Android's on-board malware scanner utterly FAILS

John Tserkezis

I don't care about malware.

No really, based on numbers, malware is the least of my concern.

What I DO want, is a scanner that'll tell me when an app grabs my calendar and/or contacts and/or notes and/or anything else and send the entire lot out to a site that collects and counts that data.

Because malware scanners NEVER(*) count back to base for advertising data apps.

(*) Well, almost never, because datamining is considered kosher for some stupid reason.

Apple's iOS 6 maps STILL muddle Mildura

John Tserkezis

To all those who have made fun of me refusing to use autorouting...

THIS is why.

I manually plan my trip beforehand, with at least a couple of broad, and more detailed maps.

I make sure I have suitable and reliable OFFLINE maps for the area I'll be covering.

Although I have a paper map/compass background, I use GPS because it works so much better.

Using this method, I've been led astray a total of zero times.

And yes, I've covered a fair amount of land on dirt tracks too. On purpose.

Twitter forced to cough raw feed after PeopleBrowsr wins temporary order

John Tserkezis

Everyone hail Jodee Rich.

For he's moved on from illegally ripping off money, to *legally* ripping off money.

Why do Smart TV UIs suck?

John Tserkezis

I thought about this long and hard...

...even way before we bought our first LCD TV.

Looked at all the smart TV features, how they worked, what they did, would they do what *I* want...

I settled on a PC, merely using the TV as a monitor.

If I don't like something, I change it.

If something doesn't work, I fix or update it.

I can almost every video format known to mankind. Well, I haven't met one that didn't work yet...

A bit over a year of use (and talking to others), it is by far the best decision I ever made.

"Smart" TV my arse.

Licensing snafu leaves Windows 8 open to PIRATES

John Tserkezis

Re: Been using it today

"try this for starters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuJBoq_iC2s"

I went two minutes into the video before I hated Windows 8 more than before...

4chan founder Moot threatens site for using his handle

John Tserkezis

He makes 4chan look like pompus, arrogant, childish whiners.

No wait...

World's oldest digital computer successfully reboots

John Tserkezis

"without needing toilet breaks, sleep, or a social life"

Sounds like me in my early years.

Heck, it sounds like me today, except for maybe the toilet breaks...

EINSTEIN'S BRAIN had unusual lobes and cortex

John Tserkezis

I thought his brain was chopped up and either sold or given away as a souvenir?

Been a while since I read the biography, but as I recall, some of it was given away for medical study.

The rest of it kinda, vanished.

Unfortunately, as I recall, very little was done with it as a whole piece.

Facebook lets admen have a rummage through your shopping bags

John Tserkezis

I see a repeat of MySpace happening...

Trying to drum up business, once you purchase something, a note is sent to your "friends" saying you did, and asking if you would be interested in buying one too. It sounds so good to marking droids on paper.

"Your friend JoanBloggs had just purchased a Dildo, would you like to purchase one too?"

I had heard of something like this happening at least a couple of times, once to a friend. And yes, she was suitably embarrassed.

Windows Phone 8 reboot woe causes outpouring of forum misery

John Tserkezis

Why is anyone surprised?

I mean the crashing and rebooting has been happening with CE and WP from seven versions ago, and everyone expects 8 to be any better?

Two scam apps stink up iTunes store, pulled thanks to Reg reader

John Tserkezis
Joke

Wait, wait, wait, hold up a second here...

"They were eventually pulled last night after we contacted the fruity firm."

You mean apple is taking calls from el reg now?

Humans becoming steadily STUPIDER, says brainiac boffin

John Tserkezis

You never know...

"For instance there is no need for 1000 people to invent the wheel, just one - then pass the knowledge on."

The wheel is documented at the patent office, just in case anyone forgets and needs to recreate it:

<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn965-wheel-patented-in-australia.html>

Skype fixes flaw that let anyone with your email address hijack you

John Tserkezis

Re: Skype's getting too annoying

"I decided to go back to version 4.2 for Windows"

Skype v4.x stopped working for me some time back. It linked up and pretended to work, but calls wouldn't connect properly and was 'buggy' all round.

Skype v5.x worked normally. I presumed at the time they forceably stoped v4 from working due to its handling of advertisements, and ability to make them go away. With v5, you have no choice, you WILL get an ad of some flavour, one way or another.

Kim Dotcom's Mega pops up AGAIN, now in New Zealand

John Tserkezis

Let's hope he never tries to sell a paid model.

After his last attempt, and the impossibility of valid legal users getting their data back, he can only hope on a free model, and a properly free one at that.

So much for people sprouting the virtues of the cloud being "you never lose your data".

One in four don't clean their stinky old browsers - especially Firefoxers

John Tserkezis
FAIL

Re: The reason firefox users don't upgrade

"If you click on 'About Firefox' it wanders off to check if it's the latest version all by itself."

"Plug ins and add-ons are auto-checked as well."

You make it sound so easy, streamlined and surrounded by fairies and rainbows.

Too bad it's all bollocks.

I'm running some 18 add-ons, with Greasemonkey, and at least another half-dozen scripts that go along with that.

Of those, some are not updated regularly, and won't install without another add-on, or at least some tinkering, and then, after forcing it to work, I need to test it - some don't work, in which case I need to find an alternative or, wait till a suitable alternative comes along.

That's along with several regular boxes, and a portable drive to keep up to date.

On top of that, I have to keep an eye on the odd bugs and breakages that happen with upgrades - I don't test every facet mind you, but I've caught the simple oversights.

"I've never had to upgrade manually and it still works."

Well, good luck to you, and say hello to the fairies for me.

'iPhone 5S' said to begin trial production next month

John Tserkezis
Coat

If the report is right...

...at least if they can't get the buggy software corrected, they can make it buggy twice as fast.

Ok, I'm leaving.

Angry Birds Star Wars game review

John Tserkezis

Dare I ask about background data usage?

Not the first time they've tried it...

Australia backs down from Internet filter plan

John Tserkezis

All I want to know...

...is will I be able to vist the website of that Queensland Dentist now?

Ok, ok, I'm leaving...

Judge denies move to ban ad-skipping DVR

John Tserkezis

Re: Might be good for the viewing experience, but what does it do to the business model?

"Well youtube began forcing you to sit through some adverts."

At first, it was additional overly text on top of the regular playback of video, but when you embed the ad into the video stream you're looking at, it's a little more difficult to deal with.

I've long since been using DownloadHelper to extract the native stream, and trimming it on my local box before "consuming" the video. I download all the parts of a multi-part video, convert and patch them together before watching too.

I haven't sat down to watch live youtube video since, well, forever. I never liked it back when it was ad-free, what makes them think I'll be more inclined to watch the raw stream now?

My PVR from well over a decade ago had a 30 second skip feature, with capability of storing recorded programs indefinitely. Why would I go for a product that has more strings attached today? I haven't watched live TV for so long I've forgotten what it's like...

Office for Android, Apple iOS: 'REALLY REAL this time' - report

John Tserkezis

Re: LibreOffice may be coming too

What's with the drive for waiting for Microsoft to come to the party?

But even before LibreOffice for android, there is currently a handful of options to choose from right now anyway.

'iPhone 5 is so easily scratched we just can't get them out the door'

John Tserkezis

Am I missing something....

...or is Apple the ONLY one who's complaining their phones are getting scratched during manufacture?

They're not the only ones being made at Foxconn, so can't really blame them.

Apple cite "exacting tolerance requirements", but I don't buy that, it's a cellphone FFS, not a space shuttle part.

It's smellling more and more like a marketing ploy to justify their long lead times.

ACCC weighs in on IT pricing

John Tserkezis

Ahh, ACCC, the tiger without teeth.

Actually, more like a pussy cat without teeth, or claws for that matter.

Besides, it's not really the local vendors that are marking up the prices, rather than the overseas suppliers.

Making that entirely transparent isn't going to fix the price difference.

But it appears the aim of the ACCC in this case, isn't that you're getting screwed, it's knowing WHO is screwing you.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some overseas webstores to visit...

Kim Dotcom's new Mega site barred by Gabon

John Tserkezis

"Gabon cannot serve as a platform or screen for committing acts aimed at violating copyrights, nor be used by unscrupulous people," the minister reportedly said.

About 80% of Gabon's export is oil <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Gabon>,

And since no-one involved in oil can possibly be called "unscrupulous people", Gabon has every right to refuse Dotcom's new site. Cough.

Pandora sues publishers over online music royalties

John Tserkezis

"A lot depends on the Pandora-sponsored Internet Radio Fairness Act – IRFA (H.R. 6480/S. 3609) – which seeks to cut the amount of royalties paid to musicians by 85 per cent"

So, 85% of virtually nothing is still virtually nothing, right?

Seems everybody else is lining their pockets EXCEPT the artists...

If this whole royalty deal was a broken windows box, I'd be formatting the hard drive and starting again from scratch.

Apple's anti-Googorola patent lawsuit tossed by US court

John Tserkezis
Alien

Did I blink and miss the alien invasion?

You know, the one where the aliens inhabit the bodies of all the judges and make them suddenly sensible?

Did they think that no-one was going to notice?

I'm not complaining mind you, I for one, welcome our sensible alien overlords....

Accidental discounts land Apple in NZ's Disputes Tribunal

John Tserkezis

When are real dollars different from advertised dollars?

Kinda like what cellphone carriers do, when they charge you a REAL $60* a month for your contract, and include "$800" worth of calls.

They just leave out the bit that says each of the $800 dollars is equivalent to about $16 REAL dollars per 30 second block of talk time.

Perhaps there should be a Real/Pretend Dollar conversion rate stated on each website?

(*) Just to make my point, I'm purely making up the numbers, but evidently, so are Apple...

Files aren’t property, says US government

John Tserkezis

It's a cloudy day today.

When you learn that you don't actually own that stuff you thought you owned.

Chrome extension blocks political speech on Facebook

John Tserkezis

I'm still mourning the loss of...

...the fecking justin beiber Firefox addon that blocked out his name on any website you visit.

It stopped working after I upgraded several versions ahead.

Oh well, at least he's almost vanished into obscurity by now...

Optus says age of mobile growth is over

John Tserkezis

Customer retention means longer terms.

Expect three to four year contract terms to be the norm.

I hope you like your mobe, you're going to have it for a while...

British IT consultant talks of his three years as an Iraqi hostage

John Tserkezis

It certainly puts into perspective..

...the whining you get from users about their email not working...

Yahoo! will! ignore! 'Do! Not! Track!' from! IE10!

John Tserkezis

Yahoo! will! ignore! 'Do! Not! Track!' from! IE10!

Why! Am! I! Not! Surprised!?

There are no laws against ignoring DNT anyway.

Seriously, how long did you think it was going to take before websites simply ignored it?

Facebook's stock rally may be shortlived: Small advertisers enraged

John Tserkezis
Happy

I'm going to get out my foldup chair, the one with the drink holders on the armrests, and the footrest that streches my legs out, I'll position myself front row centre, and wait to watch the impending implosion of facebook, and the associated aftermath.

It's not a special event (this kinda thing happens every so often), but it'll be fun. ;-)

Minnesota backpedals from online education ban

John Tserkezis

But it WAS a backpedal.

Even if it was nothing official, and merely a public statement that recommonds residents don't partake in free online education, the fact they retracted it means - by definition - they backpedalled.

Facebook won't pull unmarked police plates page

John Tserkezis
Thumb Down

Not going to make a difference.

This page won't affect police security at all.

We spot undercover cars a mile away. Well, nearly anyway.

If undercover cars were truly undercover, they would be entirely indistinguisable from any other car.

But they're not, there are clear tell-tale signs, installations, tints, wheels etc that make them stand out.

Added bonus, no need to memorise plate numbers the rest of the clues are quite clear enough.

I'm sure this guy was thinking he's doing everyone a justice, but by missing the visible clues, and relying on plates as identification (we don't all have photographic memories) he's only proved that criminals really are just plain stupid.

Nokia puts Symbian out to pasture ... why not release it into the wild?

John Tserkezis

Re: "It's like saying Microsoft should release the MSDOS source code"

"What would anyone use it for?"

Believe it or not, a lot. Or at least back in the day, free flavours of MSDOS compatible operating systems were being used extensively for embedded electronics. It enabled the use of standard development tools on standard PCs to write software (firmware) for these boxes.

It pretty much made the day for not only commercial operators, but home DIY'ers because you didn't have to buy a new dev tool, nor learn a new language.

Microsoft didn't HAVE to release any code (nor would they have) as there was at least a couple of free alternatives to choose from anyway - this made all of it possible. In fairy land, if Microsoft DID release it, we would have had options open up even sooner and wider.

Not quite the same deal with sybian though, unless you're already set up for writing software for symbian, but a cheap OS for small devices is always welcome - just because an OS was originally designed for a phone, doesn't mean it MUST be used in phones, there's lots of need for small computing, and sybian would fill that need.

New Oz road rules forbid touching mobes

John Tserkezis

Re: cyclist's perspective

"change the law so that after every collision, phone records are checked."

No need to change anything, that's how it works now. However, it's only done as part of a court case, along with the time it takes the court order to get through, and the telco to investigate and report by the time you get back to court with the data, it's been a fair while and fair few dollars later.

So while it CAN be done, they usually only bother for big deals, like when people have been killed.

They're certainly not going to go to court for some moron that's been talking at traffic lights.

Mozilla debuts Firefox Marketplace for Android apps

John Tserkezis
Thumb Down

#$%$#ing upgrade merry-go-round again.

With a regular browser:

"Desktop support is temporarily disabled (learn more). Please try this app in Firefox Mobile on your Android phone."

On my phone:

"To use this app, upgrade Firefox".

I've had enough. I've upgraded to firefox 14 on the desktop, made the mistake of blinking, and now they're at 16.

To hell with firefox for android, i'm not going to bother upgrading that.

Air China passenger arrested for in-flight phone abuse

John Tserkezis

I'm surprised they bothered policing that at all.

Next thing you know, they're paying attention to Quality Control, and actually pay for their licenceable software.

Naw, never going to happen.

Foxconn: THESE child workers were NOT making Apple products

John Tserkezis

Some of you don't seem to understand...

...that if China labour operated under the same US laws and ideals, they would *cost* the same as a US counterpart, and in effect, be a little more expensive than manufacturing within the US in the first place.

So, you can pick either a cheap product made with slave labour, or, a significantly more expensive product manufactured with TLC, sweet flowers and rainbows where all the workers are deliriously happy.

Pick one, and only one. Remember if you pick the expensive option, you're pricing several ranges of products outside the ability of a whole bunch of people.

That would make smartphone users confined to young urban professionals with lots of liquid funds to throw around, and out of the hands of idiot teenagers who need to twitter their idiot friends what they're doing at every bloody moment.

Which some would say is a good thing.

325 Dicks sell for AUD$20m

John Tserkezis

This is a good thing.

This gives DSE a chance to eventually flourish after being royally bollocked by Woolworths all those years.

I'm not ignoring the other comments on this thread - they're all valid - but remember it was woolies driving the bus, at least blame the right people.

After what woolies did, things can't *possibly* get any worse for Dickies now can they?

Single NFC bonk subjugated Samsung Galaxy SIII and slurped it out

John Tserkezis
Unhappy

Turned mine off.

Especially since we have no NFC commercial offerings here in Oz that work anyway (yet?), and I tried to get file transfers to work between two S3's and failed every time.

After twenty mintues of getting what looked like two turtles to mate, we gave up hoping everyone else didn't think we were weird or something.

We failed. :-(

Swiss railways ticked off at iOS clock knock-off

John Tserkezis
Thumb Down

You are mistaken.

Rule Number One: Apple owns the patent to that clock design.

If in doubt, refer to rule number one.

'Cloud' services to bag $109bn in 2012

John Tserkezis
Happy

Not from me!

iPhone 5 has 'laser keyboard, holographic images'

John Tserkezis

Ah yes, but can it make phone calls?