* Posts by jubtastic1

967 publicly visible posts • joined 11 May 2006

Microsoft lines up with the good guys on identity tech

jubtastic1

4 pages later

and I'm no wiser as to how the system works, any chance of a summary beyond 'limited disclosure'?

Adware slips between pages of e-book

jubtastic1
Pirate

Heh

Factory worker accidentally infects device image master? totally plausible scenario.

Apple orders 10m 3G iPhones - analyst

jubtastic1
Jobs Halo

Remember when mobile phones were new?

and stupidly expensive, with a battery that looked like it could start your car and anyone that bought one was obviously a pretentious asshole?

After using one of Apple's dinky phones for a while I'm convinced that for the vast majority of people this will be all the computer they need. Bluetooth keyboard, mouse and a dock to monitor lead and iPhone 1.0 would do for a large chunk of office workers, in 5 years time mobile computing is going to be a massive Market.

Keep em coming Steve.

Buggy Flash code continues to plague the web

jubtastic1
Stop

re: backwards

Agreed, the flash plugin needs fixing not the content, otherwise malcontents will be torrenting old copies of dreamweaver to create more vunerable content.

Wacky Apple patent application shows dual-screen 'iPhone 2.0'?

jubtastic1

Are you sure?

That second image looks more like a laptop with a block of glass where the trackpad is, allowing you to see through to a portion of the main screen when the laptop is shut. still a daft idea though.

Heartless Apple form letter 'confuses' Jesus Phone disciples

jubtastic1
Stop

Colour me shocked!

100,000 applicants and they didn't all get accepted for the beta program? :o

Steve Jobs rescues freetards from BBC iPlayer wilderness (for now)

jubtastic1
Thumb Up

Just because no one else seems to have mentioned it...

The reason they've not bothered DRM'ing the iPhone vids is because you can't download anything on an iPhone, I repeat, Nothing, nada, all download links are disabled, and the reason is because there is nowhere to save anything you might want to download*. As such all you can do is stream video, if you lose your connection or the Beeb takes it off-line it's gone for good, no downloading and watching on the tube to work.

Mighty nice of them to trust user agents to identify iPhones though, I'd have expected more people would have been happy with this rather large loophole instead of seizing the chance for another pointless rant about DRM and Linux, kids these days eh?.

*Subject to change without notice, may not apply to jailbroken hardware.

Steve Jobs unveils plans to dominate RIM BlackBerry, Life, the Universe, and Everything

jubtastic1
Thumb Up

w00ty

App store was a given, free apps are free though, one off fee for comercial devs seems reasonable. Didn't realize the platform was at all suitable for games but there's some cool demos on the video. SDK is way more polished than I imagined, guessing we'll see some more updates to 1.0 arcitecture before June.

Exchange support worked as advertised, only fly in that ointment is the lack of availability until June.

Looking forward to seeing what turns up in the store.

Asus to offer Linux-less Eee PCs globally

jubtastic1
Stop

No Linux

And I won't be buying one.

Anyone want to take a bet that if they sell XP and Linux versions they will be priced the same or the linux version will cost a little bit more/have degraded hardware specs.

You can't beat free*

*Does not apply to Microsoft.

Apple's Time Capsule: is its HDD really 'server grade'?

jubtastic1
Stop

RIS?

They said the disk was 'server grade' and it is, as in: 'used in servers', the specs and the manufacturer also tell the same story.

I'll admit there's specialist areas where 15K disks make all the difference but for the vast majority of servers on this planet they're overkill, on this box though, which isn't a server and doesn't claim to be*, they'd be a retarded way to double the price, quarter the capacity, and demolish the sales.

* get a fecking grip, it's a consumer network backup box FFS.

Terminator Salvation is go for May 2009 release

jubtastic1
Stop

T3 & Skynet

I know there's that old myth about t' |ntertubes being safe from nuclear attacks by design but key word there is 'myth'.

if Skynet really was 'distributed on home computers and servers worldwide' then at the end of T3 it clearly commits suicide with the WW3 style nuckage. ROTM indeed.

Toshiba Portégé R500 slimline laptop

jubtastic1

I'm reminded of this

comment on Japanese industrial design vs Apple industrial design.

http://brockerhoff.net/bb/viewtopic.php?p=2417#2417

As night follows day, broken follows flimsy.

HP's Linux sub-notebook spied on web

jubtastic1
Thumb Up

This Apple user

Is drooling at those pics, that's exactly what I was hoping for instead of the Air. I'll take the Linux version please.

Teen hacker re-unlocks Apple's iPhone

jubtastic1

Why it's tied to networks.

Unlocked iPhones = most users picking them up without unlimited data plans.

iPhone without unlimited data plan = half the functions don't work without incurring massive charges.

Half the functions not working = terrible press reviews and no 90% user satisfaction rating.

Terrible reviews = no momentum, no iPod effect, no future.

Everyone assumes that the Networks were all courting Apple for exclusivity but the reality is that Apple absolutely needed to ensure every iPhone came with unlimited data, it's the key to the phones future.

iPhone-friendly mobile digital telly tuner demo'd

jubtastic1
Stop

Nothing to see here.

The places you are most likely to ever watch mobile TV: bored antisocial passenger in car, train or tube are exactly the places it's clearly not going to bloody work because well, you're moving for a start and in the case of the tube, like underground.

Just another thing to run your battery down and frustrate those punters naive enough to think it might actually work.

Sony Ericsson goes Windows Mobile with Xperia X1 'arc slider'

jubtastic1

Is that a mock up?

Because both pictures show exactly the same screen graphic even though one of them is in landscape orientation, not flipping the icons would be a serious UI faux pas.

Microsoft! snuggles! with! Yahoo! on! OpenID!

jubtastic1
Stop

YASI

Yet Another Stupid Idea, aggressively pursued by great big corps that can't ever know enough about us.

One login for all my sites? why exactly would I ever want something as retarded as that? Even in the remote case I was so lazy/damaged that I really thought one pass to rule them all was a cool idea why exactly would I ever trust my details and that single point of failure password with a comically mismatched bunch of bloated corporate muppets?

Same rant for all of you IT people working on Biometric ID's, you know who you are and you know what complete ass suck it's going to be when victimised punters start turning up at their banks asking for new fingerprints, irises or DNA because some cad seems to have cloned theirs and made happy with their hard earned.

Yours Cuntingly,

Jubstastic1

16GB iPhone to launch today

jubtastic1
Jobs Halo

The iPod touch got bumped

to 32GB, cool the way flash prices are falling, interesting that Apple are keeping the touch storage higher to distinguish them.

I bought an iPhone last month, can't say I'm that bothered about missing this extra 8GB though, waiting for a proper specs bump before my wallet opens again.

Remains by far the best phone I've ever owned.

Healthy? You're a burden on the state

jubtastic1

@ Retarded Coward

"Dead people don't contribute anything in tax."

it's only a matter of time...

Microsoft! bids! $44.6bn! for! Yahoo!

jubtastic1
Thumb Up

I Heart it

$50bn down the shitter just brings the day when MS throws in the towel that bit closer.

I say Go for it you nutty bastards!! and buy more Facebook as well, it may be dying but you can barely notice any smell.

Secret bidder delivers 'open access' to US airwaves

jubtastic1

What exactly does connecting grant you?

I mean I could set up a VPN account for a private network with no internal or external accessible resources, so while I could claim anyone can connect a fat lot of good it will do them. Does the FCC requirement include specifics as to what access permissions a device connecting to this spectrum might actually have?

Microsoft's smiley browser face turns sour

jubtastic1
Stop

why even bother

pretending they can code a web browser? MS should stop fucking everyone around, stick a skin on Firefox and call it quits. What is the point of coding a piss poor redundant browser?

Apple applies to light up laptop touchpads, iPod clickwheels

jubtastic1
Jobs Halo

After playing with my new mobe *cough*iPhone*cough*

My laptop trackpad looks awful dull, I don't think some flashing lights will jolly it up much either. Why not just jam in an iPhone display instead? and while you're at it pop in some 3G and GPS chips, so it's always online like my phone and with a useful mapping do-dad. I'll be first in the queue for that lappy.

Malware authors target Mac emerging markets

jubtastic1
Stop

Industry that cried wolf

Once every while one of my Mac clients phones me worried they have a virus, in every case so far, further inspection reveals the software responsible for the system malfunction to be none other than the badly ported AV shiteware some well meaning but misguided soul infested their machine with.

The whole AV industry is as much a racket as the malware they ineffectively protect the low hanging windows users with, clued up users don't need AV and AV can't protect the clueless.

Israel electric car project aims to wipe out oil

jubtastic1

Disposable cars

If they design the cars to be easily upgradable (skin, powertrain, features), then the cars as mobiles idea might actually work.

USB 3.0-sporting devices start to appear... sort of

jubtastic1
Unhappy

Never mind all that

Will it operate at the stated speed or will this new 4.7Gb/s wonderplug operate at a more likely 1Gb/s*

*On a good day, wind behind you etc...

US boffins create darkest material ever

jubtastic1
Go

Re: Void

Coating the inside of a small box with this stuff would create a cool 'bottomless pit in a box' effect as well.

also "It's the weird colour scheme that freaks me. Every time you try to operate one of these weird black controls, which are labeled in black on a black background, a small black light lights up black to let you know you've done it. Hey, what is this, some kind of galactic hyper-hearse?"

It was the MacBook Air sub-notebook

jubtastic1
Paris Hilton

Well colour me disappointed

I was [s]hoping[/s] praying for an ultraportable, something to replace my aging and battle weary PowerBook 12". Instead Apple deliver a feature crippled ultrathin with a very dodgy precedent setting sealed in battery.

When exactly did thin become such a desirable goal that it became ok to leave out everything else? Am I supposed to get a new thinner laptop case to reclaim that .5cm? MacBook Air? PHBook more like.

This long time Apple fan/technician is going to get an EeePC, it isn't exactly what I want but at least it's light and small, two qualities that tend to be top of your list when you have to lug the bastard thing around all day.

Orange France says 'testicules' to unlocked-iPhone-not-unlocked claim

jubtastic1

Question

Having paid double for the unlocked variety are the phones guaranteed to be safe from brickage after running an iTunes supplied firmware update?

Canadian runs up $85,000 mobe bill

jubtastic1

Unreasonable contracts.

Basically, it shouldn't ever be possible to run up an $80,000 mobile bill.

There are no exceptional circumstances where this sort of sharp practice is ok and to allow this to occur on a $10 a month data plan is simply criminal.

Daring Register raid snatches key government URL

jubtastic1

Top URL gov people!

Really rolls off the tongue with that uk at the front, although I'd have recommended "www.ukictmarketingstrategy.co.ck", less redundant and more descriptive.

'Heavy' handset challenges all comers to prove its mettle

jubtastic1

Reminds me of

http://www.trashbat.co.ck/t12/index.html

It's well bum!

Ofcom grabs reins on premium rate scams

jubtastic1

Another scam.

A couple of times I've had someone ring my mobile and say "hello, hello, can you hear me?" in a noisy environment and hang up, as an IT support company I expect to get phone enquiries, the number looks like a mobile, so I returned the call, happily Orange intercepted this and informed me that the number I was dialling wasn't a mobile but was a premium rate line, I hung up before the call was connected.

I'm sick of all the scum that think it's ok to rob the rest of us rather than do an ounce of work, but more than that, I'm disgusted with just how easy Ofcom made it for them by using the same 07 prefix for mobiles and premium lines.

Amazon's $399 folly book reader

jubtastic1

Never going to be a real market for this tech.

By the time they get these gadgets down to a price where joe public doesn't just point and laugh, the market for them will have already been borged by Smartphones.

Only positive aspect is that they encourage epaper development, because I want eWallpaper™ stuck on my walls one day.

How I wrote an iPhone application

jubtastic1
Stop

hmm

Here's a useful resource for anyone that mistakenly thought this article would be useful for anything other than starting fires: http://groupaware.mobi/iphone/#_Samples

Animal rights activist hit with RIPA key decrypt demand

jubtastic1
Thumb Down

This is Justice?

I'd bet that you can take any modern desktop computer that's been used for more than a six months and find some encrypted files on it that the current user has either no knowledge of or has long since forgotten.

Assuming the readership of El Reg are mostly IT pro's, Answer me this:

A client asks you to audit their network to ensure that every encrypted file can be decrypted and take responsibility (2 years jail-time), for any that you miss.

How many of you would you take that job on?

How many of you expect a regular user would stand a chance in hell of successfully completing that task?

This law as stands means as near as makes no difference, all computer users are by default criminals, a threat that our supposedly elected representatives and policing authorities are clearly going to use whenever it suits their agenda, which will inevitably mean always.

That it's being used now against a group that the majority see as 'gagging for a slap' is SOP, next soft target will be the filesharers, after that you're all game.

Guilty till proven innocent, Churchill is no doubt turning in his grave.

Microsoft hopes to patent 'automatic goodbye messages'

jubtastic1

RIS?

I don't get it, are they really that bloated and incompetent that they can piss away money on something like this without anyone with even passing interest in the target market remarking that it's already been done?

LaCie Golden Disk 500GB external hard drive

jubtastic1

yes but...

do they tile?

Microsoft to search browsers for JavaScript compatibility

jubtastic1

If MS had half a clue

They would follow Apple's path, take an open source browser that already works then stick a badge on it.

There's only one reason MS bothers at all with IE and that's because they get to control the search box (and the ad revenue that represents).

They could take Firefox, 'tweak' the search box to default to Live Search, slap on a bit of chrome to make it blend in with the rest of the system, Job done, *everyone* is happy.

Operators say 'told you so' on iPhone security

jubtastic1
Jobs Halo

Isn't it obvious?

If Jobs says the phone will ship on June 29th that's when it ships.

So the Devs had 5 months to turn a prototype into something that will reliably work on the network, and it had better look damn good doing it.

A result of this is the very visible slippage of Leopard as devs were appropriated to ensure the iPhone Just Works™

A less visible result was the massive focus on the UI rather than the underlying OS, funnily enough it's probably only Apple that would ever develop in this manner, 'ensure it's pretty and a joy to use, we'll clean up the insides later'.

So basically, if you want to know how the code inside the iPhone will evolve over the next few firmware updates just head over to Apple.com, and peruse the security features in Leopard.

How long will that take? Jobs says February, and those Apple devs won't make him a liar if they know what's good for them.

UK gov advisor proposes 'licence to smoke'

jubtastic1
Stop

Fascists

"There is nothing evil about smoking as long as you are just hurting yourself"

Funnily enough that's exactly what the 7 year long 12 nation study into the effects of 'second hand' smoke undertaken by the WHO embarrassingly revealed, turns out we really are just hurting ourselves, you might object to the smell just like I object to your BO or veggie breath but that's all it is, a very subjective annoyance.

But why rely on science when old wives tales are good enough?

Ban everything, barcode everyone, nothing could ever be safe enough for us children of the State.

Safe drinking guidelines 'plucked out of the air'

jubtastic1
Stop

When they came for the smokers

I remained silent;

I was not a smoker.

1 Fabricate facts.

2 Ban it.

3 ???

4 Profit!

Orange's Apple deal to bear unlocked iPhones

jubtastic1

Can someone clarify?

I've read other reports that say this French law only applies after six months, is this the case? and if not how does Orange selling an even more expensive unlocked phone remove them from the legal obligation with the normal iPhone?

If I can daytrip to Paris and pick up an unlocked iPhone for €399 I'm buying one, otherwise Apple won't see my Sterling until v2 with 3rd party apps.

eBay: Botnets are Linux-happy

jubtastic1

Heh

When you need to infect a million Windows boxes a day you need the right tool for the job.

Free-market think tank urges EU to unbundle Windows

jubtastic1

pft

The current situation, where most punters don't even realise Windows isn't part of a PC and the few major brands that will sell Linux based machines somehow manage to make them more expensive and with inferior specs is pure lunacy, this is not a free market, there is no competition, it's a racket.

This solution isn't the answer though, all it's going to do is confuse the hell out of joe public and allow MS a great opportunity to double/treble the windows tax while blaming someone else. Some commenters seem to be suggesting that your average PC Planet staff member not only knows what Linux is, but might endorse it, shame on you, in your heart you know this to be pure fantasy.

The root of the problem is clearly the contracts MS is making with OEM's that pretty much forbid them from either selling alternative OS machines or bundling other OS's in a dual boot machine. Crack down hard on those deals, mandate the software costs are prominently included in PC Prices and lets see how the market deals with dual boot machines, because I guarantee you that when Windows inevitably slows to a crawl and dies those Linux partitions are going to get used, and a whole bunch of people will discover it's more than capable enough for what they need.

Left-handeders finally unlock the closet, researchers find

jubtastic1

Nothing to see here

This is exactly the sort of pointless, wasteful, nonsense science that makes me fear for our future.

Senate to call Boeing's 2009 raygun nuke-zap bluff?

jubtastic1

Not that it would ever happen...

But if say they missed the missile with one of these bastard big lasers, what would be the effect on anyone unlucky enough to have their eyes open in the jumbo's line of sight?

Adobe captures ebook standard. What now?

jubtastic1

Have you seen the prices at MobiPocket?

It's f'king insulting.

Amazon Paperback: $8

Amazon Nardcover: $16

MobiPocket eBook $20+

Sadder still there must be muppets out there that think this is a good deal or they wouldn't be trading, the same muppets that click on spam and buy ringles no doubt.

The Golgafrinchans had the right idea.

Apple lobs $100 credit at iPhone buyers

jubtastic1

default

What Ian Davies said.

I've enjoyed this site over the years but you're losing the plot. sort it out.

Moller touts flying-saucer hovercar, again

jubtastic1

Typical BBC tech story

The Beeb get a real hard on for any new tech that pisses energy away, seems they don't have anyone over there with the guts to call bullshit on these 'never going to happen for many, many fucking obvious reasons' type ideas. Muppets have gone all tabloid on us.