Posts by S4qFBxkFFg
177 posts • joined Monday 6th February 2012 10:19 GMT
They're only using Vodafone, whether it's roaming or not, is up to them. Presumably, a deal has been done so that it's not considered roaming.
This is interesting, because if the SIM in the BMW can talk to "Vodafone", instead of "Vodafone UK", "Vodafone Portugal", "Vodafone Deutschland", etc. then why can't a SIM in a handset do the same?
One of the networks is eventually going to figure that it might make sense to have one identity across Europe, and do away with the concept of roaming, at least within the continent.
Re: Billy Bookshelf...
To be fair, if you avoid anything with fibreboard, their products are quite good.
That stuff should be taxed to oblivion.
Re: Oh really?
Upgradeable phones - I would love this to happen; I don't know if we'll ever get to the stage where it's as easy to customise as ATX, but we can hope.
I have actually seen easily upgradeable laptops - when I did some work experience at IBM in 1997 (I think) they were all over the place - release and flip up the keyboard, pull out hard drive (no screws or catches there, the keyboard held everything down), slot a new one in. It was easier than changing a phone SD card now and it applied to more components than the hard drive; can't remember what though.
Re: Just goes to show
Agreed, although I would argue that rigorously segregating your online activities is a better jail-avoiding route.
For anyone doing anything dodgy, it's idiotic not to USE A PHYSICALLY SEPARATE BOX, one that's permanently Torred-up (or whatever suitable alternative is preferred). Otherwise, eventually, the would-be terrorist / child pornographer / leaker is going to have a "Waitaminute - if I'm using Tor why is my ping so low at the mome... OH SHI-"
Re: Oh and...
Agreed. It is sensible to pay as little tax as is legal, so the blame is squarely with the politicians that wrote (or, more likely, nodded though) the relevant laws and regulations permitting the extreme forms of avoidance.
Sometimes I think a small tax (say 1p or 1% - whichever is higher) on every transaction (capital gains, income, trades, purchases, loans) would be the way to go - it might even shorten supply chains...
Posted in Amazon launches own currency
Re: Marketing gimmick
If I'm reading the article right, this means it's going to be possible to get a 10% discount on every Amazon purchase over $100 - buy $100 worth of AzCoins for $90 and spend immediately, the only risk being that Amazon goes bust in the meantime (like with all voucher schemes).
Useful if you use it like that, so not what I'd call a gimmick.
I suppose Amazon's bosses think this 10% hit will be offset by a greater benefit from all the AzCoins bought that never actually get used.
Re: If more proof were needed...
"The average child murderer or terrorist bomber that actually gets caught does seem incapable of emptying (much less wiping) their Internet browsing history and cache - let alone fathom VPNs, anonymous proxies, MAC obfuscation etc."
Fixed.
(Although, I accept your point; there aren't that many unsolved bombings / child murders.)
"Our current suspicion is that Opportunity rebooted its flight software, possibly while the cameras on the mast were imaging the sun,"
Staring at the sun - not a good idea, even at ~1.5AU.
"is there a way to make a watermark that's not obvious, but is still there when meta data has been stripped?"
Steganography. Use the least-significant bits for the RGBα. For 24 bit colour, this gives 4 bits per pixel, meaning for 1600x1200 you could have about 940kb of uncompressed byte-per-character text using lossless image compression, if my maths is right.
The trouble is, if it's that low-level, any sort of image processing would probably get rid of it. Something could perhaps be done with ratios of dominant colours, but that sounds horrendously unreliable and would itself mess up an image.
I fully admit I know very little of this area, so probably best to wait until someone more knowledgeable contributes - I know movie studios do it with their output so there must be a way (but that might just be audio...?).
Re: "Have you ever uploaded a photo to Facebook, Instagram or Flickr?"
"My stuff is on my systems."
Out of interest, how much did that cost you?
Good to know - I've never actually had a bad paid of Sennheisers, even if some bit the dust (we've had three in total - one a cheap-ish set the wife's cretinous brother broke, one a £50 set our kitten tried to eat, and a surviving, seemingly quite durable, aviation headset).
I always assumed they were a safe choice, but staying away from anything with "boost" does sound like a good idea.
I got some with my current phone (HTC Sensation XE). They're OK, but the materials choices are bizarre, to put it mildly.
The cord insulation appears to have a large enough frictional coefficient that it grips everything - its own loops, insides of pockets, fingers; combine this with the reverse being applicable to the ear buds and they pop out while walking.
Also, it seems impossible to get the same amount of "sealing" in each ear, which is annoying.
Compared to my headphones from Shure (who seem to be very good about replacements if anything whatsoever is wrong), Beats are just bad.
Re: Android permissions design
I think there are apps that will do this (restrict permissions for other apps) - although I've not actually encountered one that would cause me to need something like that. The "opt not to install it and find an alternative" method works well enough.
This is optimistic in the extreme, car manufacturers already have a very profitable upgrade path - buying a whole new car.
Stealing is bad.
Nicely done sir!
"No thank you, I've probably already switched supplier several hundred times today."
There is a slim chance this will work out all right; I am reminded of Cameron's (possibly batty) proposals to force utility companies to switch people to tariffs which would save [the consumers] money.
If we're lucky enough that the media remember that when smart meters become big news then someone might actually start asking: Why not build this functionality into the actual meter?
Every so often*, it would poll a list of the various prices (probably compiled by Ofgem and cascaded to the kit that's actually in contact with the meters) and switch to the best.
* i.e., once per minute or so; if stocks can be bought and resold in microseconds, meters can switch tariff by the minute.
"...and nothing of value was lost."
OK, that's a bit harsh, but the loss of a few PC assemblers is probably inevitable; those that are left can just get bigger slices of a shrinking pie.
Re: Not such a bad idea
While everything you say is right, I fear for what happens when/if electric cars are common enough to significantly hit the fuel tax take.
The nightmare scenario is that we end up with two types of electricity - road electricity, liable to duty, and the normal sort we have now.
I am imagining an indignant junior minister for transport (or the environment), with a much-furrowed brow, having the Permanent Under-secretary explain (yet again) exactly why electrons can't be dyed red.
"If it can be done for diesel in the tank, it can be done for electricity in the battery."
Re: It Wasn't That Long Ago...
Drop the 'A' maybe; imagine some poor RN Intelligence Rating fast-forwarding through hours of video tape, pausing and noting reg/model/colour every time he sees a vehicle.
Posted in The ten SEXIEST computers of ALL TIME
(mainly for Frontier: Elite II, if you wanted to know)
Another one with fond memories of the ST here - it appeared monolithically indestructible to my young self and if it had had an analogue joystick and more CPU grunt I'd probably still be playing it.
Re: Still get some income
would a telco or handset maker take a chance and ban the Facebook app?
That sounds like it would be far too obvious.
Crippling VOIP by applying some extra latency might work though (for all I know, it's happening already).
I bet the shareholders are hoping a lot of people went over their data allowance because of this.
Check the chip AND the phone.
Four constellations (plus whatever Japan and India decide to do): great, but you will have to be careful if you want to take advantage of it.
Case in point: I bought an HTC Sensation XE, apparently its chips can handle GLONASS as well as GPS, so I thought the navigation would be slightly better than otherwise.
However, even after rooting/flashing, the phone's firmware proceeds to happily ignore any GLONASS signals, which is irritating.
What is even more irritating is that the wife's Samsung S3 uses both constellations by default.
In summary, once all those new satellites are up and transmitting in a few years, CHECK the phone before buying it if the capability is important to you; never just rely on the fact that it's enabled in hardware.
"Sadly there is very little you can do. There is no mainstream party you can vote for which offers to dismantle these crippling stealth taxes which achieve so little (and which are then, to add insult to injury, then taxed again via energy VAT!)"
Therefore, the question is: who are the non-mainstream parties offering to remove these taxes?
Ideally, instead of banning dodgy advertising, the ASA would have the ability (and obligation) to make the advertising true.
So, in the case of CrapISP providing "unlimited" connections, they would be compelled, further than unreasonably impracticable, to provide unlimited connections, with jail time for the board if they manage to weasel out of it (e.g. by going bust).
great - but bring on the garment recognition
A robot capable of recognising rubbish and binning it (or recycling if that's your thing) would be nice to have, but what I'd find vastly more useful is one that can do the washing and hang the clothes up to dry and put them away again.
I realise that clothing might be too deformable for computer recognition by shape (yet) but going by colour (not necessarily in human-visible light) might work too.
Re: Kiss of death for Adwords
If I'm reading it right, it's more for retailers - so if someone sells your products, they should be allowed to mention your trademarks.
It might also be for competitors - e.g. an advert saying "Try Pepsi - it's better than Coke!" You could argue that it's not a provable statement, but it could be taken as an opinion, which is probably still allowed.
Seriously fucking dodgy would be if this allows someone to (falsely) claim or imply their product is actually someone else's - if this starts happening with Google's knowledge, then they have a big problem.
Re: How does this affect people with adblock installed?
That will depend on whether you have disabled display of "non-intrusive" adverts and whether these particular adverts are regarded as "non-intrusive".
After some experimental googling, it appears they are blocked, so probably no difference.
FFS, wouldn't a return ticket and physically posting the stuff to the embassy have been better ideas?
Re: RIPA abuse all over again....
"When the next political scandal hits (like expenses) who's going to publish?"
News organisations could probably base themselves in the USA for this purpose, the First Amendment being relied upon to stop interference at the border.
There is also the option of publishing on a .onion website, or similar. You could legitimately question whether anyone would ever read it though.
Re: Spooks' nightmare
"But it's hard to imagine why anyone in the USA would go to the trouble and expense of printing a gun when they seem to be pretty freely available for sale."
They might not, but you can be sure they want the ability to do so.
Rightly or wrongly, lots of them believe universal firearms registration, followed by confiscation, is the ultimate goal of their Government.
Re: Part of the process
I can see them making piles of money if they get into this sensibly (i.e. doing what you described).
However, as it's GW we're talking about, that's probably a 72 point "if".
to Andrew Moore
Presumably, that requires certain skills (choosing and working the wood, attaching feathers and points, nocking/stringing etc.); these would take time to learn and possibly a teacher too. The same could probably be said about "traditional" gunsmithing.
Compare with pressing "Print".
Although, I'd accept that if two people tried these different approaches, starting today, the aspiring bowyer/fletcher would probably have a useful product before the aspiring firearm printer.
The technology is a long way off, but part of the "spooks' nightmare" is probably the ability to print functional firearm parts, googling the name Cody Wilson gives you an example of one of the movement's more famous publicists.
Essentially, their goal is for every citizen (in the world) to be able to download a CAD file for their weapon of choice and print it in their own home. Presumably, all that would be required is the computer, printer, electricity, and raw materials (steel, plastic, gunpowder, etc.).
One of their quotes is: "How do governments behave if they must one day operate on the assumption that any and every citizen has near instant access to a firearm through the Internet?"
Posted in Build a BONKERS gaming PC
It is ironic that RAM is an acronym for RMA.
This applies to all components, but check the reliability (forums of dissatisfied customers etc.) before buying. I've had to RMA Crucial chips twice now (not yet for Corsair, hoping this continues), they did replace the chips without an argument but that wasn't the main problem. Apparently, if you buy a RAM "kit" (i.e. more than one module comprising a single item) you have to RMA both, even if only one is faulty. This can result in scrabbling through drawers to find a crappy interim replacement - which may not be possible if those were the first you bought with that pin count.
Re: You don't think of laser beams with millimetre ranges,
They will not be open to dust, or air or anything like.
I was imagining a tripped-out spider, who'd managed to accidentally stand where all eight eyes intersected different data paths and therefore believed it was receiving the mysteries of the universe.
Out of curiosity, where (on the dial) does OFCOM's jurisdiction stop?
I imagine it's somewhere in the microwave/IR bit at the high-end, but are they in charge of the ELF stuff too?
This got me thinking, has anyone ever tried pirate TV?
I'm not sure if pirate radio is still a big thing in London, but it's possible someone already involved in dodgy radio might try switching to TV.
I'm aware the kit for broadcasting a digital UHF signal is probably completely different to that required for analogue VHF, but is there any reason it can't be done?
Re: Maybe if they bought relevant ads?
If the seller's username was something like OsborneGid12, I would not have a problem with this method of reducing the national debt.
Posted in BT engineers - missed appointments
Re: Hmmm
"He came bounding up, never knocked, slipped a "Sorry I missed you" card through the door - carefully - and was on his way back to his van when I ran out and collared him..."
Experiences like yours make me think I should add another doorbell switch, but connected to the letterbox.
Posted in BT engineers - missed appointments
Technically, I've seen an improved service as when I had them out for a fault about a year and a half ago they first missed the appointment, then discovered the fault was in the exchange. All I got from that was a line rental refund for the time between the two appointments.
A recent visit was to install a pluggable master socket as the property hadn't had one before - connection was working fine though so I wasn't caring when/if it got done.
Re: But How
No need, the truck transmits its company's cryptographic signature to your (physical) drop box which opens to receive the package. When you get home, unlock the box (hoping it's secure enough to defeat the local delinquents and ex-drivers who make a living following the Googazon trucks).
Flip a coin to decide whether the boxes or the trucks ends up getting the robot arms to transfer the package.
This reminds me of playing with the Ada rocket package, and being impressed with myself getting a perfect pad landing on the other side of the screen; possibly with a loop or two, although I can't remember if I cracked that. Admittedly it was only 2D, and open-loop to boot, but still fun.
rant
Why the Westphalian FUCK do we even still have roaming within the EU?
The fact that, for example, Vodafone UK and Vodafone Italy are allowed to be separate entities isn't exactly in accordance with the spirit of the single market.
Sort it out Neelie!
(rant over)
Re: I doubt it
Incidentally, this could be another argument that RBS is just too big.
... and why the fuck are they allowed to have BOTH a banking licence and limited liability? ... mutter mutter .... moan ...
Re: "jam jars with rulers stuck to the side"
"Rain gauges, even the spiffy modern ones, are notoriously inaccurate for several reasons."
Very true, when I was about 8/9 I tried to make one out of a plastic bottle with the top 3rd cut off and stuck back on upside down.
It fell over and ended up full of snails (some of which appeared to have shells bigger than the opening to the bottle).
That was the end of my meteorological career.
Re: He has a point about privacy
Laws, mobs, etc. might well happen - but will become largely irrelevant when someone figures out how to make them look like a contact lens, instead of half a pair of glasses.
Version 5.0 perhaps?
Re: I'm not entirely sure whose ideology...
As an AC further up pointed out, that guy who contacted them asking for a free sample and wouldn't take "no" for an answer might have the motive.
It would be a bit stupid though, if he's widely identified himself previously.
Maybe she had to.
For all we know, her original contract obliged her to work on ALL sequels - at the same rates.
