Re: "ultimately it is against the law"
"These copyright terrorists need to be taken outside and shot."
And the footage uploaded to vine?
Posts by Red Bren
1649 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Oct 2007
Page:
Premier League wants to PURGE ALL FOOTIE GIFs from social media
YES YES YES! Apple patents mousy, pressure-sensing iVibrator
Friday 15th August 2014 20:28 GMT
Stupid buttons on the side of the mouse
@ psychonaut
My mouse has stupid buttons on the left side, but because I drive my computer left handed (not because I'm sinister) they are out of the way of my thumb and forgotten about. But your post has prompted me to discover their purpose and they are indeed just for going forwards/backwards through browsing history. I guess that's why the southpaws aren't up in arms [sorry] at this dexterous favouritism
Hollywood star Robin Williams dies of 'suspected suicide' at 63
Tuesday 12th August 2014 16:42 GMT
Demons, Drugs and Genius
@Bullseyed
Are you assuming that mental illness is a result of drug use? How much drug use is an attempt to self-medicate? How much artistic genius is driven by mental illness or drugs and what would be lost without those drivers?
I'm going to make an assumption you don't take drugs, or suffer mental illness. I'm also assuming you're not a world renowned comedian, musician, author or artist. That's not to denigrate whatever it is you do, or suggest you're not good at it. Like me, I suspect you do a job that's necessary, but probably won't cause the world to mourn our eventual passing. But I celebrate the fact there have been geniuses like Williams or Cobain because they add colour and meaning to the human condition, regardless of what gave them their inspiration.
Ancient pager tech SMS: It works, it's fab, but wow, get a load of that incoming SPAM
Edward Snowden's not a one-off: US.gov hunts new secret doc leaker
Evidence during FOI disputes can be provided in SECRET
Remember Palm's WebOS? LG does – check out its smart TVs
Monday 4th August 2014 20:16 GMT
Re: privacy agreement
It's not the first time an entertainment system manufacturer has given its customers a Hobson's choice of "Install the new firmware or we'll turn (y)our product into a brick!"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/29/sony_ps3_to_nix_linux_support/
Sadly, because this post-purchase bait-and-switch wasn't killed at the earliest opportunity, we've all lost effective ownership of our electronic goods.
Has Europe cut the UK adrift on data protection?
Thursday 31st July 2014 22:20 GMT
In, Out, Shake it all about...
If Scotland votes for independence, it won't happen overnight, so how long will the transition take? If the 2015 general election results in a Conservative led coalition or minority government that relies on UKIP support, an EU referendum could take place before Scottish independence is completed. If the Scots vote to remain in the EU while the rUK votes to leave, then the Scots could inherit the UK's membership. But if Wales and Northern Ireland also vote to remain within the EU and effectively join with the Scots in a new federal UK, the end result could be England no longer being in the UK or the EU.
As an aside, I'd like to know how many "better together" supporters of maintaining the United Kingdom are also "better off on our own" supporters of withdrawing from the EU...
Just TWO climate committee MPs contradict IPCC: The two with SCIENCE degrees
WTF is ... Virtual Customer Premises Equipment?
Tuesday 22nd July 2014 07:54 GMT
Flashing my firmware
In my experience, it isn't normally possible to do anything other than tweak minor settings from the customer end of ISP supplied kit. Even changing DNS settings is prevented on some kit so I doubt that carriers give a damn about firmware upgrades by customers.
Rather than switching my VM Superhub into modem mode, I'd rather they gave me the option of a basic cable modem and let me sort the rest.
May: UK data slurp law is fine, but I still need EMERGENCY powers
UK gov rushes through emergency law on data retention
New NSA boss plays down impact of Snowden leaks
Coulson GUILTY of conspiring to hack phones between 2000 and 2006
Tuesday 24th June 2014 15:37 GMT
Re: Brooks is FOUND innocent
Brooks has not been found innocent. She IS innocent. It sticks in my craw to say it, especially after the witch hunts against innocent people that occured under her watch. But the principle must stand that it is the job of the prosecution to prove guilt, rather than the defence to prove innocence. Hence innocent unless proven guilty.
MIGHTY SOLAR FLARES fail to DESTROY CIVILISATION. Yes!
Wednesday 11th June 2014 18:24 GMT
Re: Stone Age?
I watched a documentary (sorry no sources) that claimed that the UK power grid was actually pretty resilient to CMEs because at any given time, a significant proportion of the network is not in use. In the event of a CME, the procedure is to connect all the dormant bits of the network rather than taking things offline, as it spreads the impact of the induced currents.
This article also suggests the UK Grid would not be badly affected.
Redmond is patching Windows 8 but NOT Windows 7, say security bods
Sunday 8th June 2014 09:33 GMT
@big_D
My old Escort didn't have airbags, when the newer version was introduced with airbags, Ford didn't retrofit them in my Escort either.
Your car analogy is flawed. Ford do carry out recalls to fix issues, rather than telling their customers to just buy the latest model.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/safety/ford-recalls-695-000-vehicles-for-airbag-transmission-software-updates
I am NOT a PC repair man. I will NOT get your iPad working
Ballmer SLAM-DUNKS $2 BEEELLLION bid for LA Clippers
Robins' inbuilt navigators pecked to bits by AM radio
Virgin Media sales are a bit flat under the Cable Cowboy's reign
Wednesday 7th May 2014 18:52 GMT
Re: @ James 51
Surely OFCOM should mandate that every newbuild housing estate should have a minimum of two comms suppliers? If VM won't take the opportunity to expand their network, then other suppliers should be allowed into their franchise areas.
As a satisfied VM customer of many years, continued access to their service is a major factor when moving house.
New Reg mobile site - feedback here!
Tuesday 22nd April 2014 12:24 GMT
Where is the content?
I navigated to the mobile site on my SGS3 stock browser. Top half the screen taken up with an advert for Microsoft Cloud, bottom half filled with a picture attached to the main story.
Now I don't object to adverts on El Reg, its a fair price for the service, but its not much of a service when you have to scroll a whole screen before you can see the headlines.
R.I.P. LADEE: Probe smashes into lunar surface at 3,600mph
Sunday 20th April 2014 18:53 GMT 
WTF is PDT?
This is a technology and science focused news website, based in the UK, reporting on an event that occurred on the moon, which is not part of the USA. So why is the author of the article quoting times in some provincial, season dependant time zone? We're geeks and we expect values to be quoted in the appropriate format or El Reg equivalent. UTC or it didn't happen!
</rant>
Never mind the HORSE MEAT, trading standards cuts'll hurt IT crowd, too
Broadband Secretary of SHEEP sensationally quits Cabinet
Wednesday 9th April 2014 12:56 GMT
@billse10
"It is a ruthless inquisition, how can you question that?"
When it comes to keeping politicians accountable, I'll take ruthless inquisition over sweeping it under the carpet every time. She's not the first politician the press have gone for and she's done herself no favours by:
Obstructing the enquiry into her expenses
Threatening the press with regulations if they investigate her expenses
Showing absolutely no remorse for her actions
And most importantly, fiddling the tax payer in the first place!
Had she cooperated with the enquiry, paid all the money back and said sorry, it would have all blown over. But she tried to brazen it out, even after her fellow MPs gave her an easy way out, paying back just a fraction of what she claimed (because they're all in it together)
if this was a housing benefit claim, you can bet that she and her colleagues would be baying for an inquisition. She's lucky not to be facing prosecution for fraud!
The plot to kill Google cloud: We'll rename Windows Azure to MICROSOFT Azure
ICO decides against probe of Santander email spam scammers
Oxfam, you're full of FAIL. Leave economics to sensible bods
Thursday 20th March 2014 11:08 GMT 
Leave economics to sensible bods
Who are these "Sensible Bods" we should leave in charge of the economy? Are they by any chance related to the bods who's mantra of "Deregulate! Deregulate! The market knows best!" led us into the current economic collapse? Where were they when banks were lending money they didn't have, to people who couldn't afford to repay, to buy property that was overpriced?
As for the idea that Oxfam should stick to their core mission of feeding the hungry; Starvation and poverty go hand in hand with conflict, economic and environmental change. It is well within Oxfam's remit to address the cause of the problem, rather than just focusing on the symptoms.
Police pen shortage threatens Irish public order
Got a Netgear router from Virgin Media? Change your admin password NOW
Monday 10th March 2014 18:25 GMT
what kind of moron leaves the wifi enabled on a superhub anyway?
Not every one is as tech-savvy as the average El Reg commentard. When a well known company offers a product or service with useful features, you can hardly blame people for expecting it not to be riddled with vulnerabilities and needing all the useful features to be disabled.
VM and Netgear are the ones who should be castigated for this. Not their customers.
Blighty teen boffin builds nuclear reactor INSIDE CLASSROOM
Dell charges £16 TO INSTALL FIREFOX on PCs – Mozilla is miffed
Jobless mum claims Spanish councillor told her to 'go on the game'
Mens sana in fibro sano: Virgin Media network-level smut filters are ON
Booze and bacon sarnies: A recipe for immortality?
Apple's Windows XP moment: OS X Snow Leopard left to DIE
Thursday 27th February 2014 20:56 GMT
Re: OSX Mavericks
Hardware from 2007 is supported
My 1st Gen MacBook Air (core 2 duo, 2GB ram) is not supported by Mavericks, or Mountain Lion for that matter. The limitation is hard-coded in the OS, it's not that my hardware can't run it. Tim is so concerned I might have a poor user experience, he wont let me have any user experience at all!
There are tools available to get ML to install on unsupported hardware but I'll probably just migrate to linux instead.
MtGox accepted new customers JUST DAYS before collapse
Thursday 27th February 2014 14:02 GMT
Standard Business Practice
Keep up the appearance of normal trading, right up to the moment the administrators come hammering on the door. For example
To be fair, to do anything else would probably precipitate the kind of collapse a genuine business would be trying to avoid. But how is the punter supposed to tell the difference between a company trying to stay in business or a scam trying to fleece all it can?
No, pesky lawyers, particle colliders WON'T destroy the Earth
Friday 14th February 2014 08:27 GMT
Stop eating pasta!!!
Based on the assumptions that:
1. The Flying Spaghetti Monster exists
2. S/He has the power to destroy us all
3. S/He doesn't want us eating his brethren
we must immediately stop eating pasta or face the consequences! Unless (3) is incorrect in which case we must eat nothing but pasta!
Someone call a lawyer...
'Wind power causes climate change' shown to be so much hot air
It's a scientific fact: Online comment trolls are sadists
Whitehall and Microsoft negotiate NHS Windows XP hacker survival plan
Gene boffins: Yes, you. Staring at the screen. You're a NEANDERTHAL
Thursday 30th January 2014 16:18 GMT
Define extinction
If neanderthal genes make up a sustainable 20% of human DNA, why are they described as extinct? There may not be any genetically "pure" neanderthals around but are there any genetically "pure" humans either? Even the most rabid white supremacist will have some surprises in their generic make-up.
Virgin Media's 'little(ish)' book of deals contained BIG FIBS, rules ad watchdog
Wednesday 22nd January 2014 13:19 GMT
ASA - still a waste of space
A slap on the wrist and don't do it again, while the perpetrator has long since moved on to the next scam. How about some proper enforcement like making companies provide what they advertise? In this case, half price line rental. But the ASA is a toothless, industry lapdog that allows broadband to be sold as "unlimited" when the opposite is true, with speeds of "up to" X mb that most punters get half way to achieving.
Five UK banks sign up to hook up customers' ACCOUNTS to their MOBILE DEVICES
British Second World War codebreaker Alan Turing receives Royal pardon
Snowden to warn Brits on Xmas telly: Your children will NEVER have privacy
Wednesday 25th December 2013 11:12 GMT
@chrisp1141
"There's an argument to be made that those companies are much worse than the NSA."
I can choose to use the services of Google et al, or their competitors, or none at all if I want. It's a free market and I decide if I want to exchange personal data in return for their services. There is no equivalent free market in espionage. I don't get to choose which government agencies snoop on me, what personal data they gather or who they share it with, and I certainly don't get anything in return.
Wednesday 25th December 2013 10:53 GMT
Re: Definition required
"Well, what happened back in the old days when there was basically no expectation of privacy because everyone in the community kept up with you?"
You kept up with everyone else, so there was a balance. You also knew who could be trusted with sensitive information and who could be relied on to gossip to anyone who would listen. You had a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Now the balance has been upset. Governments routinely snoop on their own and other nations' citizens, with no oversight - they "keep up with you" while ensuring you cannot do the same with them, all justified using the opaque and unassailable argument of "National Security"
Biting the hand that feeds IT
