Re: So?
Stephen Hawking's voice synthesiser was running on a Raspberry Pi in the last months of his life.
176 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Nov 2007
"a matter of public concern" to the public who in general haven't a clue how big engineering projects work. Especially if they are Scum readers. There isn't a single large ship in the water that didn't have defects that needed ironing out.
Expecting to stick a 70,000 tonne ship in the water without a single issue is like expecting the the Sun to publish a single newspaper without a spelling mistake or lie in it. Will never happen.
The air frame also needs to be suitable for being catapulting off a deck and suitable for landing on a moving deck.
BAE would make considerably more money selling Typhoons rather than the F35. Unfortunately the MoD didn't want to pay for a Marine Typhoon and didn't want a nuclear power plant to produce the steam. The options were the F35 or something French.
I enjoyed it. But I agree. When GTA was first mentioned as part of the make it digital campaign I couldn't imagine how it was going to be related to teaching kids to code. I was right.
GTA is one of the best games I've ever played. Completely insane to use it as part of the campaign.
As a huge Pi fan who will defend it to the death against all comers ... the micro:bit will be better for younger kids as it is easier to get up and running. Crocodile clips and banana plugs are a lot easier to deal with than 2.54mm headers, easier to run off batteries etc
I see the micro:bit as something you use for a year or two before moving onto the Pi.
Caps Lock still doesn't mean you are right.
ALL device sellers report storage in this way. It has been like that ever since devices have been sold with internal storage. Walk into ANY shop selling technology and you will see this is just the way things are. I agree it is misleading as it implies you've got 16GB to store media ... but the Hudl is no different to any other PC, laptop, tablet or phone.
What device are you using to type your messages?
The truth is that Industry designed the carrier that was asked for. The MoD kept changing its mind.
You design the carrier around the aircraft. It is hardly the fault of the supplier if the MoD changes its mind every five minutes. You can not expect to design a carrier for fixed wing and STOVL aircraft and expect the budget to not increase.
Go and order a car from a car dealership. Then change your mind every 5 minutes about the colour, engine size and fuel type. See how you get on with that.
Or contract a builder to build you a house extension and then half-way through the build move its location. Then stand back in shock and amazement when the builder dares to ask for extra money and says it will take longer to build.
"There is very little that is truly innovative. For me, the barrier should be set high indeed. If you are the only one, then it is probably innovative. If there are a number on the verge of the invention, then it is not a proper subject for patent."
Completely agree. Rounding the corners on a tablet is a good example.
Good to see Apple taking what they love dishing out. Patents should be for proper inventions. Not ideas someone can come up with in 3 seconds while standing at a urinal. Swipe to unlock etc etc etc
"Tried downloading a tv episode yesterday and the first 2 mins play fine then it goes into slow motion, I thought I'd grabbed a dodgy torrent, tried another copy.....same thing! This would explain it!!"
I think blaming VM for videos playing in slow motion is a bit unfair. It would be difficult for the Superhub to do anything to a downloaded video file that would simply affect its playback speed. That is far more likely whatever it is you are using to play it. Downloading "another copy" isn't going to help if your hardware or installed software can't handle the video codec required.
I think I must point out at this point that the VM cable internet service is amazing as far as I am concerned. I pay for 30Mb/s and get 3.5MB/s. No other service in my area can come close to that value for money. I could ditch the phone and TV services tomorrow but I would never swap cable internet for that ADSL thing where you pay for a service and get half the speed (if you are lucky).
However the VM guy really needs to appreciate that amazing hardware is pointless if the the firmware is flakey. No point having a perfect engine in your car if the engine management software is running Windows ME.
My SuperHub works fine for basic functionality and wireless around my house. The only issues I have experienced lately are :
1) VM "upgrading" it and completely changing the user interface without telling me
2) Port forwarding not working at all
3) The DHCP Reservation table losing its settings depending on which way the wind is blowing.
This is with firmware "R36" and hardware version 2.0.
"It also seems safe to say that few Nexus 7 users will ever max out their devices' capacity."
This is the most ridiculous thing I've read in a Nexus 7 article. It's easy to max it out. 2 or 3 films will do it. Or 2 films and a couple of decent games.
The storage usage reporting is also broken. On my 16GB device the numbers it is reporting simply don't add up. Deleting files doesn't change the reported free storage. Now we discover that touching the last 3GB causes performance issues.I hope Asus and/or Google sort it out because it will spoil what is otherwise a nice device at a sensible price.
Unfortunately powering the Pi directly on the USB port means your hub is badly designed by someone not bothering to follow the USB specs. A hub should not "back power" the device it is plugged into. Not sure I would trust such a device with my Pi. I would certainly never trust something like that with a PC.
Yeah everyone on the internet is a criminal. We know this already. Which is why most people have given up caring less about any of the stupid details within our crazy copyright laws.
I browse web pages and my browser illegally copies the content onto my PC. Sometimes I use social media to spread this content without the web master written consent. For years I have been "remembering" bits of music and clips from films without paying a penny.
Come get me.
Richard Branson doesn't own Virgin Media. He has a 15% stake.
Unfortunately cable internet wipes the floor with ADSL so it would take a lot more than blocking 1 site for me to consider leaving. With cable internet I pay for 30Mbs and get 30Mbs. With ADSL I would pay for 20Mbs and get 1.5Mbs!
So I've got to ask people if my sites can use cookies ... but I'm not allowed to remember the answer because that would be bad. So every page they visit I have to shove a message in their face?
Have the idiots that have come up with this junk even thought about it?
Luckily the ICO is a lame duck. They've set the bar pretty high for law breaking so I don't think anyone need worry too much. When they actually fine companies for putting people's bank details into the public domain (Sony, BT etc) then I might think about it. Until then I'll be having cookies with my tea every day.
If you don't want cookies, turn them off. If you don't like Google don't use their services. If you don't like Ads use an adblocker. If you don't like the Internet then go back to Ceefax ... oh hang on ...
So in conclusion another article where Lewis makes it clear the UK would be better off if we let the entire country be run by foreigners. Preferably the US but at a push the French.
It is better to have average, expensive kit that was made in the UK by British workers than fancy stuff that was made abroad. If our Government realised this we would still have a car industry as Rover could have existed purely making police cars, taxis and ambulances.
As we will find out in the future we won't be able to afford any US or French equipment because we will have no wealth to buy it with.
The US can proceed with a carrier build and take the risk that the electric catapults will work. We can't. They have got plenty of other carriers. This can't be taken as a guarantee that the technology will work. The F35 is over budget and barely flying despite US reassurances to the contrary. Assuming the technology must be on-track because some US Senator gives the green light for a carrier build is a silly mistake to make given all the examples in recent history.
Is this story a joke? So BAE is getting paid to look after a ship. Do you expect them to do it for free?
Maybe we should throw it away and give the money to the US instead. Doesn't matter what we get in return, as long as it keeps Lewis happy.
Comparing the maintenance cost of Victory to its original purchase cost is the most hilarious attempt I have ever seen to imply BAE is fleecing the tax payer. Why not just write an article saying BAE eats babies and be done with it.
The digital copies on triple play discs are useless. You are better off just ripping the DVD and making a portable version yourself in your chosen format.
As for the movie industry rewarding its customers? don't be silly. They have a proven track record of milking genuine customers. They want you to buy multiple copies of the same film so they've got no wish to offer Brits a "buy once watch forever" service.
I was surprised to hear Bluray sales are increasing. According to the movie industry they went bust back in the days of VHS.
"Atheists often forget that the non-existence of God is also a matter of faith,"
No it isn't.
You don't need faith to not believe in something that someone else has invented.
It's up to someone who claims something exists to demonstrate it.
There is no all-you-can-eat-Burger-King on the dark side of the moon. I don't need to prove its non-existence. You don't need faith to not agree it exists. Otherwise you would need "faith" that the infinite number of things I can imagine don't exist. That's an awful lot of faith. Which doesn't say much about faith does it?
The tabloids are describing him as the World's number 1 hacker. This is clearly rubbish. He got arrested for a start so that pretty much crosses him of the list.
The CIA, FBI and police are just annoyed a teenager walked all over their security ... when security is sort of their job. Not that they have actually proved anything yet.
The whole Sony story is only a story because they were storing passwords in plain text. Whoever breached Sony was doing their customers a favour by highlighting how poor Sony's grasp of data management was. Sony should be prosecuted for breaching the data protection act.
But I forgot. Our laws only apply in the UK. Shame the data protection act wasn't a US law and then it would apply to everyone.
A prize for the first MP to have the balls to tell the US to stick their one-sided extradition arrangement.
"according to a Pakistani officer" who is unnamed.
So a completely anonymous and unbiased then.
If it was true why would he have to remain anonymous? There are certain countries that need to blow their own trumpet because their military, in general, sucks. Pakistan is one of those countries.
"I'd like to see the ICO take action against them for this. Bastards."
The ICO take action? Now that is funny ...
Sony deserve all the bad press they get. They have continued to treat their real customers like dirt. Their understanding of the most basic security is so useless I am surprised they are still in business.
Plain text passwords? You have got to be kidding me ...
I stopped even considering Sony products once they started installing illegal trojans and rootkits on people's computers.
"So you'e saying you don't mind people from the sticks with their incredibly slow broadband paying exactly the same price as you do for your fast broadband? "
I think what he is saying that people that live in the middle of no-where should probably be paying more. People in low population areas are not subsidising everyone. Its the other way round.
"Would that be fair?"
Only as fair as everything else in life where you pay a fixed amount regardless of your usage.
Here's some examples :
Council tax
TV Licence
Road tax
Gym membership
Entry to most entertainment attractions
Leisure centres
etc, etc, etc
to name but a few.
"its economic 'viability' is completely artificial and in a free market it would be a dismal failure"
Unfortunately a "free market" doesn't give a stuff about pollution, the future availability of resources, foreign control of fuel etc etc. Just like bankers don't give a stuff about an investment once they've got their bonus. (I think that has been proven beyond all reasonable doubt.)
A free market isn't stopping fossil fuels running out and it doesn't give us an infinite supply of uranium (yes it's limited too).
Nuclear energy is hardly operating in a free market.
Who is paying for the clean-up in Japan?
Who is paying for the decommissioning of power stations in the UK? (not that they have worked out how to do that yet)
Who is paying to store toxic waste for hundreds of years?
Who paid to build the reactors in the UK in the first place?
The nuclear industry? Not without a huge, fat hand-out from the tax payer.
If the economics of wind look less than perfect, Lewis, why don't you do an article on the true economics of nuclear power. The TRUE economics. It won't be easy because many of the costs related to the nuclear industry are open-ended and unknown. It's easy to generate "cheap" electricity when you are running the whole show with free money and you quietly ignore half your costs and get someone else to pay for the waste you produce.
Got to love the Mozy website. Doesn't actually tell you anymore how much stuff you can actually backup. I suppose you have to give them your money before they give you the terms and conditions?
Neither the "Pricing" page or "Features" page mentions anything about storage limits.
Muppets.
So these super advanced hackers didn't use someone elses computer network to do their work?? Doesn't that sound a little bit unlikely?
Either they aren't super advanced hackers or they aren't Iranian. They can't be both.
Smells like a smear campaign to me. More likely to be be anyone but the Iranians.
More likely to be Russian, Chinese, US or Israeli given recent developments in cyber-terrorism.
"effects on the public look set to be nil."
Nil? So there have been no effects on the public? Strange the facts don't seem to support that. Being evacuated from your house (if it was still standing) can hardly be described as "nil". If a few wind turbines had fallen over the effects would have been smaller I can assure you.
The effects of radiation leakage are open to debate and some of those effects may not be known for years but to say the effects of the nuclear situation are "nil" is just plain crazy.
As well as being untrue.
"wind power has already caused scores of deaths in a brief period"
Not really a fair comparison. Some workers falling to their deaths from the towers is more due to poor safety standards. Those workers would have fallen to their deaths whatever they were building whether it was a wind turbine or a telegraph pole. Some of deaths are due to "transportation" but I can't see how that is any more dangerous than transporting any other building material.
Claiming wind is more dangerous than nuclear based on these (probably American) stats is silly.
Also most of those deaths are construction workers. They have the ability to determine their own safety to a large extent. They can choose whether to bother with the safety harness and hard hat. The public living around a nuclear power station do not have that luxury.
Also the Japanese tsunami and earthquake wasn't that unusual. A once in a hundred year event maybe (they had a big quake in 1923) but nuclear power stations need to be designed to cope because somewhere in the world a power station is going to have to deal with one of those events. Especially given how long they need to exist (based on the industry not having any way of disposing of them). As this event proved. Designing to only withstand an average earthquake and then forgetting about any resulting tsunamis is simply slack design (or probably deliberate to maximise profit).
Given the billions of pounds of public money that has been shovelled into the pockets of the nuclear industry I would expect them to protect their "backup" systems from the very event that took out the primary systems. Otherwise it is simply like backing up your computer data onto a another hard drive within the same PC to protect it from theft. It doesn't matter how many hard drives you have if they get stolen or destroyed at the same time.
So if there are any Japanese power plant designers reading, how about you flood proof your backup generators given you live on the Pacific ring of fire and are subject to earth quakes AND tsunamis. Just a thought. And I didn't even needed a billion pounds of government subsidies.
How is it we can't even get a digital clock to work these days? How much of our money was spent on something that most people could build themselves with bits from Maplin?
Why are they using Apache/SQL when all they needed was a £1.99 digital watch?
Just another bit of the rather expensive white elephant that is the Olympic Games. If people want to watch some people running round a track then fine. But please make the ticket price reflect the true cost of organising the whole thing.
Haven't we got better things to spend our tax money on?
Yeah. It's so safe that the US navy has engaged reverse and moved its carrier out the way.
I'm sorry but they built reactors and didn't consider tsunamis? They didn't consider a large earth quake? When you build something that is going to exist for hundreds of years (they still haven't decommissioned a nuclear power station because they don't know how to) surely it makes sense to consider events that may happen even if those events don't occur that often?
"though this has had basically zero effect on the world in general nor even much impact on the area around Chernobyl"
Of course. Nothing wrong with Chernobyl. Don't know what the World was moaning about. Little bit of radiation never hurt anyone!
This continues to prove that despite the industry claiming everything is safe and under control it clearly isn't. They either can't be bothered or don't know how to take into account real risks. It would be like designing a power station in the UK to withstand 100mph winds ... because we only ever get winds faster than that a few times a century. Great until you happen to live at the time it does. Unfortunately safety costs money and you don't get rich by considering the welfare of people in 50 years time.
Any we are going to let these muppets build more nuclear power plants in the UK? They can't even deal with the ones we've got! Their solution to nuclear waste hasn't changed in the last 60 years. It still involves digging a hole, chucking it in, and then leaving it for someone else to worry about for the next 10,000 years. The containers are shinier and more hi-tech but the technology itself is still prehistoric.
I just bought a TV. By shopping around and not buying it from Currys I saved hundreds of pounds. That meant I avoided paying a stack of VAT.
So all you tax payers out there ... I robbed you HA HA HA HA
If Vodafone are operating legally then fine. If you don't like the law then protest against the law. Moaning at Vodafone is hardly going to change anything.
Direct action is great. Just make sure you direct it in the right direction, numpties.
@Argus Tuft
"Those posters need to get out of their ivory data centres and into the real world where people do actually need to give data to others (eg customers) on unencrypted USB's."
Sorry but we are talking about Council data here. There is no need to pass anyone Council data about members of the public to anyone in an unencrypted form.
If the recipient can't cope with it they are clearly not to be trusted storing or processing it.
No exceptions.
Until the ICO actually take any action they are pointless and might as well be disbanded to save us all the cost.
Every major DP act breach there has been has resulted in no action. Apart from the odd fine.
Where someone has deliberately circumvented security processes they should be given the sack at the very least.
It's funny how the council thought issuing new usb sticks was enough. How about making it impossible to use anything but the new usb sticks.
I bet the council employee used their own stick because it was a nicer colour than the official one.
The way to go is :
1) encrypted usb/cd/dvd hardware/software
2) an IT system that does not allow any other devices to be used
3) colour coded sticks so that everyone present during the data transfer is aware if the stick is official
4) the use of any other hardware to be considered data theft
oh an the ICO growing a pair.
Job done.
First rule of Facebook
1) Never, never, never, never install any "app". Mainly because they are all crap but also because they are full of security holes and you've got no way of protecting yourself.
Also by not installing stupid Farm-ville-pillow-fight-stalker-shite you can go and do something more productive with the time.
Ah poor Jacqui. She is so innocent.
Not innocent enough to avoid working the system for financial gain. Not innocent enough to avoid charging the tax payer for her premium TV services. How is a premium TV service required for her to carry out her duties as an MP?
Sorry Jacqui but no one cares what you think.
The only shocking thing on the internet would be if her husband released a Paris Hilton style video of them together. That would have me burning my router.