* Posts by Aitor

57 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Mar 2007

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Profs: Human race must become Hobbits to save planet

Aitor

Hobbits

Well, if we all became hobbits, then we would have a problem, as the favorite passtimes of hobbits are eating and smoking.. so I guess that it would be more of a problem than a solution..

As for solutions, it would suffice to eat less meat and not throw away so much food..

Microsoft: Judge us by our deeds on open source

Aitor

Some Open S. supports windows so we support OS..

I guess his sons must be in school, and one of them just got to the tansitive property.. but the fat that there is open source software that supports windows doesn't mean that microsoft supports open source..

As for the assertion that they have worked for standards.. well, it just seems as a joke. They FIGHT them to try to push their propietary ones.. and get royalties and/or lock the market.

HP UK pulls Linux from all new netbooks

Aitor

Windows/Linux

There is a reason not to use Ubuntu for HP: legal threats (read: SW patents).

As for Hp pulling linux, I really understand it.. most people are too dumb to use it.. and they are used to use the "known" software.

As for Ipods, etc.. well, I just don't care and use the player I like most: in this case I use my laptop (windows) or my mobile (propietary).. or my linux powered HD decoder.. and I just don't care about the OS as long as it does what I need...

As for HP not using linux.. well, I think they just got it all wrong..

SpaceX assembles Falcon 9 rocket

Aitor

Sean, are you serious?

Your number are totally incorrect.

First, how many maintenance and safety hours does a plane need to take off? learn that and you

will be astonished.

Second: the word is plasma/ionic, and not only for the speed & power: you can have acceleration all/most of the way to mars (think about art. grav), you get very strong magnetic fields (defense from radiation) and you get there faster, all with a fraction of the weight. The ionic reactors are in actual use, and the plasma ones will be in a couple of years o a bit more.

But you can get there with chemical ones, and while complicated, that's why we have ph's and computers...

Third: you don't want yo build something like the shuttle? why? something of that weight woul be good to go to pluto and beyond, and not mars.

You don't need a strong structure: no reentry.

That huge wait called thermal tiles is useless.

Wings?? what for? Tail? redundated aerodinamic control surfaces and related hidraulics?

Landing gear?

So you see, you actually don't need MOST of the weight..

Let's assume you need 10% of that weight. (200.000 Kg? are you crazy? that's roughly the wait of the whole ISS!!).

And let's use the cost to geosync.. for example the cost for Sealaunch:

6000Kg max.. at about 15000$ per Kg.(if you contract sutch a volume, costs are way lower)

You would need 34 launches, and a launch cost of 3.000.000.000.

But if you put that weight up, I assume you would like to put colonists on mars, right?

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=301

Aitor

No cargo? --> innertia

If things fail, you certainly want the pod to be empty.. or the innertial forces could destroy /severely damage de space station...

Wireless neutrality: Not if we can prevent it

Aitor

Bandwidth issues

The problem they is have is bandwidth.

Telco technology right now is all about convergent technology: the lines between fixed, mobile, voice and data are things that soon will be part of the past.

And here we have companies that like to charge for switching, not for data (after all, with IP Phones it is all about charge per data..), and at outrageous prices!!

Problem is: they are used to charge for switching, so their data capacity is very very low..

US wireless pioneer to carriers: Don't be European

Aitor

Yep, he certainly is an idiot

They can't really own content.. they can just be a mere access platform, and serve tv, internet, etc.. a walled garden is of no use today... so, what are they going to offer? they want to best internet? X)

Why the US faces broadband price hikes

Aitor
Unhappy

250GB? nay

Ok, if i want to watch Internet tv, or netflix?

Let's say I watch 20 movies x3GB -> 60Gig. Well, ok, it's reasonable...

US to give some rendition info at Gitmo trial

Aitor

Nothing to hide..

Matt, so if you look suspicious, I guess it would be OK if the police torture you 2 YEARS until you sign a confession, so we can grab more people to torture and execute you, right?

So we are now torturing, kidnaping, and making secret trials, in the name of "freedom". It really sounds as KGB in hungary, or stasi, SS.. you name it.. we should be ashamed, and the ppl responsible for this should be hanged for crimes against humanity.

Unencrypted traveler data laptop disappears then reappears

Aitor

ummm

I regualry carry some 80K names and ids in my laptop.. and these are certainly NOT encrypted: i have to choose between encryption and compression, and I don't have enough space...

Only 'unlawful threats' would invalidate McKinnon extradition

Aitor
Jobs Halo

USA et al

Ok, let's be clear here. It was mainly Russia who won the european front in ww2. That doesn't make stalin a good person, or his regime a "nice" one.

As for the US helping the allies, well, of course they did, but the good part is called marshall plan. THAT was really nice.

We did not exist at that point in history.... so no blames or pats ok?

The US is a good ally, that's for sure, but it is also an empire, and you just can't be truly an allied, you more of a vassal. If it's ok for you, OK.

As for "alternatives"... umm would you prefer china? russia? burocrateurope? guessed not.. it may not be the land of the free, but it is certainly a better place..

Aitor

re: Blinkstr

Ahem.. you did leave the uk and france alone. Both world wars, for YEARS. You fought just when the europeans where almost defeated and you had their money in your banks.

Lend lease? You just SOLD equipment to the UK.. a big, huge money making, empire dissolving bussiness.

Sweden and switzerland also sold military equipment (to the axis), and they are not considered part of the axis.. so why should the us be considered part of the allies before commiting troops?

As for judging someone in the US for doing something in the UK.. well, it is just not right.

Dud Nvidia GPUs tip up in Dell laptops

Aitor
Unhappy

ATi too

Funny thing is, it affects ALL their product line, not just mobile GPUs. And it also happens to ATI GPUS.. after all, we all know that a GPU, after a year or so of heavy use can start to fail.. not my current ati one, but my previous ati and nvidia ones failed just like than, and my laptop is failing just like that.. I hate those cheapo manufacturers..

Raptor and Eurofighter go head to head

Aitor

Human life value

If you ask them, the human value is the replacement value, and a pilot is VERY expensive.

Shrinking Sun under the gun

Aitor

Servers

Hey, I make the offers to our clients... and while they like Sun stuff... they don't like their prices.

Yes, they may last a decade... but what is needed is faster and cheaper stuff... even if it breaks down in 4 years or so.. that is the reason we have high availability... and no, HP stuff doesn't break in 4 years as a yugo....

Prius hybrid to get rooftop solar panel

Aitor
Thumb Down

Clarkson

His reasoning seems as sound as burning a caravan.

For building a "normal" car, you also have to transport the iron ore, the coal, etc-

As for the battery, they will be recycled: it is mandatory in most countries, and in ALL countries that the prius is sold it will be recycled (not only because it is mandatory: it is also composed of valuable materials).

Not only the prius consumes much less, but the fuel that gets burned is burned in a far cleaner way that your "usual" petrol engine.. and that is way more cleanear than a diesel engine.

Would an electric car be better? well, just a little bit, and in that case just make sure that you recycle your batteries...

The solution? Drive less.. what about using your bike? I could conmute to my work using a bike IF I had both a locker and a shower (witch I don't have)...

Mini-Me sues online celebrity muckraker over 'stolen' sex tape

Aitor

Missing? Stolen!!

Most people have domestic services, this is, pleople who clean your house.

If they know you are famous, they might look at your tapes searching for gold....

AVG disguises fake traffic as IE6

Aitor

Just band AVG users

As simple as that, and show them a plain screen telling them why they were banned.

Microsoft says ‘hasta la vista XP’ - well, kinda

Aitor

Kernel

The windows vista Kernel is very very good. As a matter of fact, it is way better than the Linux Kernel (this is a fact most techies should recognize).

The problems come from services, drivers and, mostly, the GUI.

As for copying large files, etc, the problem isn't DRM: if you copy the same files from command line, there is no problem. It is the GUI witch gives problems: some parts are still single-threaded and blocking.... as long as these guys don't solve that problem windows will go slowly...

Drivers: Microsoft knows that a lot of stability problems come from dodgy drivers. That's why they have decided to change the drivers model and take a "hard line" against the manufacturers.. so they make drivers the way they should..

Services: way too many services are running in Vista. If your pc is from Acer, Toshiba, etc.. you will have more problems.. they are plagued by bloatware....

Is Vista a good OS? Yes.

Is Vista better than XP? Yes and No. Y you have more than 3 gigs of ram, the answer is yes.. if not, stick to XP, or explore Linux.... witch is not better, but refrains from loading sutch bloatware.. that's the main reason it goes so fast!!

Comparison: Vista is a Ferrari towing a huge boat "just in case you want to go to the coast". Very slow and demands lots of fuel.

Linux is a econobox not towing anything.

Could pen-sized GPS jammers paralyse UK shipping?

Aitor

Radar & Fog

Well, as someone pointed out, radar and fog make a bad mix.. some older radars can't detect ships if you are surrounded by fog, the obstacle is very close or another ship is near the coast and comes from that direction...

Boffins prove the existence of jet-setters

Aitor

Anonymimous data?

Yo just can't have anonymous data... as some ppl have already pointed out.

Ok, don't give me your name, just tell me your age & whereabouts, and I'll get your name.. It's just a matter of cross-referencing.. nothing too hard if you have more info.

As for GSM location precission.. well, it isn't 3Km.. in high population areas it is more ike 100-200 m... because there are many base stations, and the stations have DIRECTIONAL antennas.. so you know where someone is on a 15-45º arc with a precission of +-100 or 200m ... just couple that with more databases (postal, fixed lines..) and you will get to know the names of a good portion of that "anonymous" population..

Blu-ray movie sales gathering momentum

Aitor

Full HD

I've seen the same J.Bond movie in DVD a BD on a 42" Full HD Sony Plasma TV 1080i)

Both played with a PS3.

The video difference is huge. More than going from Divx CD to original "Collector's" DVD.

As for the sound, the difference is even bigger. But you do need a good optical receiver/decoder.. and a nice set of speakers (no, those you bought for 80 pounds including the DVD are of no use here..)

As for the PS3 as a BD player.. i for one don't like it at all. It has rendering speed bottlenecks with some titles (last Potter movie, for example).

EU project scans air passengers for terrorist tendencies

Aitor

Fantastic: more intrusive surveillance

So now, again, in the name of "security", we get more intrusive cameras.

As for their feasability, I would like to say it is s***. How are you going to diff a nervous passanger from a dangerous one? how many false positives?

And, how much will it cost in money and personal intrusion? perhaps it would be better to use it in public health... and actually save lives and not only lies..

Phoenix beams back Martian postcards

Aitor

Camera & more

The camera is low resolution.. but it works from -50ºC to +75ºC.... try that with your (or my) camera...

As for comparison to the viking projects.. this is viking on asteroids.. same idea, better tech.

By the way, space machines are almost always made from outdated technology.. my boss has designed quite some space things things (and these went to space).. and they always used outdated technology that worked for sure and was totally tested. You can't send to space a system that may crash...

Games consoles not green enough, claims Greenpeace

Aitor

energy consumption & more

The use of Ftalates in consoles is innecesary. I really serves almost no purpose.. they should use rubber instead of softened plastics.

As for using fire retardants.. there is no other way for consoles that get so hot.. and are used by children. Remeber: they may do a lot of nasty things with the poor machines...

But the really bad part is the huge use of energy.. couple that with a nice 42" plasma tv....

Aitor

Licked.. or burned...

I would like to remind everybody that most electronic devices end up on the landfill, leaching posonous elements, or burned to recover valuable metals.. so these products WILL be released...

'Mad Scientist' developing powered suits for US military

Aitor

WH40k

To be fully resistant to 7.62mm fire you need 10mm hard faced steel equivalent. This will also make you resistant to most .50cal MG at a distance and angle.. but:

It will be very expensive, and you would need chobam/composite armour to reduce the mm of armor.

You can't angle the armor: the soldier need to be standing!! so it would be 10mm at 0º..mmmm bad idea.

The soldiers would be almost impossible to kill by low-tech infantry, but a RPG would penetrate that armor..

My guess: excellent for urban assaults against bank robbers, etc, and also very low tech militias. But RPGs would be letal for them.

Amazon sues New York over Amazon Tax

Aitor
Happy

Amazon resides in your pc?

Pardon me, but that concept is absurd. You just have some html + images that someone sent you. Amazon is not in your pc. I can also assure you that if someone takes a photo of you, neither you or your soul will reside in that photo.

What they are trying to do is to legislate companies that reside in other states.. and for me, it is clear that it is illegal. As they know it, they should be tried and sent to prison.

And if you ask me about the fraudsters (people who don't like taxes..), they shoul also pay jail time.

Were the snatched Brit sailors in 'disputed waters'?

Aitor
Pirate

Uninformed comment: clear error.

First, I would like to point out that I am not well informed, so excuse my errors.

As everyone knows, we (and by we, I mean US and associated bullies) are strongarming Iraq and the sorrounding countries, specially Iran. The idea behind this is that we have tried to negotiate with them for years, so the only language they understad is that of the force (not the "Force", but "force": bombs).

So it seems reasonable to put british armed men 2km away from a daily menaced country, that sees that their "diplomats" are snatched in Iraq by the US and UK.

But if we follow this reasoning, it would also seem reasonable to think that they will reply with this with the only language they Know:brute force.

Umm... ¿snatching brits? And why where they there? My guess: that was no "usual" merchant ship, but a surveillance ship.. and a good target for Iran.

The clear victims are the soldiers that were sent to sutch a dangerous mission without support.. for me it is clear that they had to have some kind of support..

It is also possible that their mission was to destroy and throw overboard critical equipment, so they didn't were there to fight, but to prevent some equipment to fall on Iranian hands. I suppose that they were succesful in doing that, as they didn't had to fight.

Pirate flag, as this was an act of piracy.

Windows Vista update 'kills' USB devices

Aitor

Bloated?

Is Vista Bloated? Sure. But it is bloated per user demand... that's why Microsoft rules... bloated almost beta cheap software. Did I mention cheap?

As for dodgy drivers.. please put the blame on manufacturers, not on Microsoft. What they are doing is trying to guarantee at least some quality drivers.. to have stability!!

Dutch transit card crippled by multihacks

Aitor
Unhappy

Security by obscurity

This is the main problem of security through obfuscation.. as there are no external checks for security, security tend to be sloppy at best.

If you start shouting "open source" as a mantra, please consider that if everyone knows what you are doing, someone will eventually crack your public system, and chances are he won't tell you....

So companies should propably use public and secure algorithms and then, not tell anyone witch ones they are using. That is secure... but illegal (as you must say you are using XXX open source code..)

Blu-ray Xbox 360 to be sold at a loss?

Aitor

External Bluray?

Bluray can't be external, as the maximum Bluray bitrate exceeds that of the connection.. and this isn't good.

So forget about quality external drives...

Yahoo! outsources! India's! giant! supercomputer!

Aitor

Pile of blades?

Is it really a pile of blades? then it is a piece of s***, as HP blades share Ethernet fabric.. I would (and do) design these things as piles of Proliant doalprocessor servers.. and hey, you can put multiple multi-giga-ethernet adapters there!!

State Department workers snooped on all three prez candidates

Aitor

c'mon

C'mon, If you had access to private info, you would access it!! I have had access to this kind of info a lot of times, and I have accessed it, just for fun. But you just have to be carefull.. no gui access, just SQL you stupid!!

How big an eco-hazard is IT equipment?

Aitor
Gates Horns

CRT vs TFT

It is clear that CRTs consume way more power than comparable size TFTs..

So, why do the new TFT sets consume more than old CRTS? SIZE. If you double the size, you cuadruple the surface.. and there it is...more power requirements.

A good researcher would mention the SIZE as a problem, not TFT technology, because TFT technology is more efficient even using CCFL backlight, and even more using the new led backlight units.

Germany to Nokia: Give us back our subsidies

Aitor

Tenfold? Nope

It certainly is not tenfold, except certain very specific jobs.

But it IS way cheper to hire people in Romania... but I certainly doubt that the quality can be the same...

But don't try to cheat yourselves, wages are a small part of the costs that are associated with a Factory. I suppose that electricity and waste disposal is also way cheaper in Romania..

Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax dies

Aitor

Roll a D20 for him..

It is a shame that he died.. perhaps due to WOTC's D20 system ?

Anyway, the world is now a darker place...

but today I will roll a D20 on his honour.

Dutch tax office deletes 730,000 tax returns

Aitor

Aging systems?

Aging systems can be difficult to adapt to new procedures, slow, and experience low uptime. But they just don't delete data.

And.. what about no backups? This can only be incompetence.

Eye-o-Sauron™ man-tracker masts now fully online, says DHS

Aitor

How-to

First of all, to put it right, the EU is full of inmigrants, more than 10%. In Spain the numbers are: 15% of the population are legal inmigrants, and at least 7% more illegal. In big cities it is more than 30%.

Now, how to come across the border: you just need a pickup & a scoped rifle. With your pickup you go near the tower (Mexican side). Just aim with your scoped rifle using a rest to the sensor/electronics (ie:computer), and shoot several times, until the desired effect is achieved (sensors damaged). Simple, inexpensive & secure, as the guards can't pass from the US to Mexico.. If you want to get more cozy, just use a sound supressor (you can make one easily if you have a garage shop and know what you are doing).

The solution to this, of course, is to put the towers at least 600m (about 2400 ft) inside US soil, or, better, 1200 m (4800ft) just to take care of sharpshooters. But then the would be illegal inmigrants would just crawl into US soil to shoot at posts..

So a humble rifle can kick in the mouth an expensive array.

Of course, the mafias that bring illegal workers could just buy some night scopes ,high power rifles & sharpshooters to "clean" the "line" in about a week.

As for this being irreasonable, in Spain the traffic radars (speed ticket dispensers) are shot on rural areas.. so they now have armor.. but they still get destroyed by hunting rifles aimed at the optics), so the chance of this happening in a place of the world full of weapons...

Judge accuses hacks of hacking cannibal ruling

Aitor

Her own fault?

You must be joking.

It is not her own fault. She used non secure methods, but in no way that is her fault.

If a have a thin door, is it my fault if some "nice" people break into my house, beat and rob me? NO. It is THEIR fault.

Finland censors anti-censorship site

Aitor

Kiddie porn? bullocks

Some time ago I read some news similar to this, and someone from the US posted an interesting idea:

People are hysterical at kiddie porn, but not for the kids, but because the persons who like that are very different from their sets of ideas.

The reasoning: If it was for the kids, we would not mind if it was virtual. But then think: do you mind of virtual k. porn? I do, so it is NOT for the kids... I still think it is sick..

As for the authorities, it is a good excuse to censor and pass authoritarian laws, using the exception to legislate the common. But don't blame them: there are evil shepards only because there are stupid lambs: ie. the general population (witch, by the way should not vote, as they aren't interested)

Time to rewrite DBMS, says Ingres founder

Aitor

Non Acid?

I would NEVER touch a database that does not support ACID for anything important.. for the rest, we have mysql..

Bush orders US Navy to shoot down rogue spy sat

Aitor

Bullocks

My guess is that they are doing this for two reasons:

1.- To demonstrate the world (i.e: china) that they are able to shot down satellites, despite those "litle papers" they signed about it.

2.-To be able to say that the antiballistic system has a purpose.

2b.-To test the missiles.

Can someone with a bit of brain agree with the official statement?

Man siphons info for 300 credit cards from hotel kiosks

Aitor

CCs

Ever heard the word "keylogger"? That is the problem: he was logging all the keys pressed.

Toshiba borgs into IBM's 32nm alliance

Aitor

Why should Intel join

There really is no reason for Intel to join. If they plan to actually ship product in 2009, that means that they are already making trial runs.. so they do have the process NOW.

If they joined, thay had almost nothing to gain and a lot to loose.. and remember this is a capital intensive game: investing a lot of money is a way to bankrupt your oponents... just ask the USSR..

Dutch regulator slaps spyware purveyors with €1m fine

Aitor
Boffin

Cheap

They should have been fined at least the damage thay caused. This would mean at least 450.000.000$.

It is certain that they didn't gain that much, but that is irrelevant: the fine should be proportional with the damage, and 10$ per hijacked pc is way less that the damaged done (at least 100$ in IT services per computer).

Music DRM 'dead by next summer'

Aitor
Happy

320 Kbps? -> better 600-700 lossless

Quality is not what they sell. To use a lossy compression algorith on an already compressed track (remember: volume war) does not seem to me as "quality oriented".

Why don't them sell tracks using lossless codecs? There are a few, and they reduce the size of the track to about 60-40% of the original size. They could be played with winamp or compressed by the user to suit his needs.

Companies still clueless about their software spend

Aitor
Thumb Down

Wrong analysis

Sorry, but you got it all wrong (In my not so humble opinion).

They do not know how much is spent on software because only big projects have to pass stiff barriers (this is: project bids, etc etc).

There is a good reason for this: it is reasonable to have these measures for big & slow to implement projects, but when you need a software tool, you need it FAST, you just can't wait three months for approval. So each department gets its own software using their "expenditure budget". That is the reason for it.

So, if you did what this report suggests, you would need approval for everything you need.. and the company would have to resort to outright piracy to function. You might suggest that you only have to "inform", but accountants need both a figure and a reason to buy things, and some things are necessary but hard to explain to an accountant.

My suggestion: it is OK as it is.

Panic in smartphoneland

Aitor

Price, screen

First of all, it is the question of price per MB.

some have argue that price is not so great.. well, it is except for casual web browsing and perhaps some emails (without attached files please!). This discounts your mobile as your "internet access point".

So it must work as a standalone gadget. But the screen will allways be way too small for everything except messaging or voip.. but, hey, wait, we have no qwerty (or azerty for you germans), so no quick mesagging, except if you hace a brick, err, a full keyboard.

So size DOES matter after all...

DARPA looking to verify imported military chips

Aitor

Real danger

They are not paranoids or part of the "tin foil army". There is real danger.

If you use common processors (ex: PICs & clones), someone may alter your shipment in order to include a small bug.

Then, in case of war, if these chips are used in the radar, for example, you may just send a certain pattern to the radar in order to cause a disruption.

Remember those Syrian radars? That is the kind of thing that you can do... so they are right to be afraid.

You may argue that you need detailed information: this may be true or not.. depending on the design and chip "hijacked".. but it is not hard tu suppose that they may be able to get the bluprints..

The big question here is: Why do they rely on foreign chips? and, why are foreign (not chinese) chips more secure than US chips? Perhaps it is that they do not trust their "chinese pals".

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