* Posts by David 45

613 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

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US taxman blows Win XP deadline, must now spend millions on custom support

David 45
FAIL

Re: Incompetant

Agreed. You were ahead of me there! Typical of anything IT-connected that has anything remotely to do with government or politicians. Haven't got a clue have they?

Russian deputy PM: 'We are coming to the Moon FOREVER'

David 45

Bon voyage and happy landings

This could prove interesting, bearing in mind that Russia's soft landing record on other planets is not exactly spectacular. I wonder if they really have the technology to pull this off or have THEY been spying on the Yanks?

UK regulators: We will be CHECKING UP on banks' IT systems

David 45

Antiquated?

Bring back the quill pen, parchment and abacus, I say!

Australia's opposition backs warrantless metadata collection

David 45
FAIL

Save us all

And this will, of course, save all Australians from the same number of forestalled terrorist attacks as has happened in the USA - probably a grand total of nil. Governments are elected by the populace at large to serve those who actually took the trouble to vote, NOT to go around conjuring up half-baked laws which either don't work or serve their own interests. All the recent Snowden spying reports show, without a shadow of a doubt, that so-called democratically elected representatives are just working to their own agenda, with absolutely no consultation with the people who put them in power. Depressing, ain't it?

UK cops: Keep yer golden doubloons, ad folk. Yon websites belong to pirates

David 45

Deemed illegal?

By whom, I might ask? Is this the police acting as judge and jury again, as per. the City Of London police not too long ago? Due process, anyone? On the face of it, looks like an attempt to by-pass the courts yet again.

Dutch doctors replace woman's skull with 3D-printed plastic copy

David 45

Great achievement

This is obviously what 3D printing is REALLY for! Great stuff to use it to save a life. Presumably the scalp, complete with hair is somehow reinstated? It would have been good to have a bit more in-depth information in a separate article or video, as this type of pioneering work (though possibly a tad gruesome in parts!) fascinates me.

Hold on, everyone ... Prez Obama thinks he's cracked this NSA super-snooping problem

David 45

Same for UK?

Is GCHQ going to be cut back as well?

Middle England's allotments become metric battlefield

David 45

Rent

I expect the rent is calculated in groats (look it up!).

ROBO-SNOWDEN: Iraq, the internet – two places the US govt invaded that weren't a threat

David 45

Re: Stay tuned...

Short-sighted attitude, my good man. Keeping a steady trickle going keeps a bit of public interest going in the case. People (and I include myself in this) just would not want to wade through a huge data dump released in one enormous pile. I would suggest that folks would rapidly lose interest and the publicity value would be lost. At least this inspires interest from non-nerds/geeks and keeps the general public informed about the devious NSA/GCHQ antics that they might not otherwise have known about.

MPs urge UK.gov to use 1950s obscenity law to stifle online stiffies

David 45

Re: So...

Oh no - they couldn't possibly implement a simple plan that requires more than a couple of brain cells. Besides, then they couldn't exert any control or censorship over the net itself, which is what it's REALLY all about! Nothing to do with kiddie protection in the long run, methinks.

Snowden: You can't trust SPOOKS with your DATA

David 45

Encrypt everything?

As has been inferred (and I have posted a similar thought elsewhere in the past) encryption has to be somehow seamless. I've played around with it for e-mail, and it's too complicated at present for the average user in my opinion. This is always assuming that world governments don't promptly pass laws making encryption, VPN's, etc. illegal! Nothing would surprise me, looking at the antics of the NSA and GCHQ of late.

166 days later: Space Station astronauts return to Earth

David 45

Re: that man-made dot in space

"Dim, moving star"?

Must disagree there! I also signed up for the alerts and have seen it loads of times here in SE UK and on every occasion it's been extremely bright. Goes across very rapidly, so have to be quick! Must just have been lucky that it reflected so much light.

UK spies on MILLIONS of Yahoo! webcams, ogles sex vids - report

David 45

Re: Translation:

Yup - their boiler-plate statement in response to virtually anything and everything that's thrown at them is getting more than a little tiresome. We need a UK equivalent of Snowden here to get the real deal as to what they're actually up to, although it doesn't take too much guesswork to fathom.

Apple investors fall for CEO Cook's product-presentation prank

David 45

Re: Thank You Tim Cook!

"Apple has become the biggest, most important technology company on the planet".

Can't make up my mind whether this is for real. My sarcasm antennae are twitching but, knowing the attitude of dyed-in-the-wool, poor misguided and brainwashed Apple fanbois, nothing would surprise me!

What the world really needs: A telescopic SELFIE STICK

David 45

Novel angles now available

Will this be used for the conventional overhead or face shot, or is there an ulterior motive for some......er.......ground level vertical titillation?

Self-forming liquid metal just like a TERMINATOR emerges from China lab

David 45
WTF?

Re: Chick @ unknown time and date stamp

Huh? Can somebody translate this into recognisable English? Sounds like some ostentatious and pompous art critic!

Bosses to be banned from forcing new hires to pull personal records

David 45

ICO has put its teeth in

Blimey - the ICO actually producing something useful for a change. I have queried things with them in the past that I thought were clear-cut (e.g. a company that I used to drive for passing on my personal details to a third party, namely one of those nasty so-called private parking enforcement outfits) and got pretty well nowhere. Perhaps they have got a new set of teeth at last.

Just like Elvis, dead Steve Jobs to appear all over America in 2015

David 45

Some sort of god was he?

Oh, for goodness' sake! Not only is his former boyhood home being turned into some sort of shrine, but now his face on a stamp? Blimey - the bloke was only the boss of a company, not some sort of messiah who (allegedly) saved the world! This really will get the fanbois' hearts a-fluttering.

Snowden documents show British digital spies use viruses and 'honey traps'

David 45

Statement

Their boiler-plate comment is getting a little tedious and more than a little wearing by now. How can any of their cyber-shenanigans (if true) possibly be legal? A head or two needs to roll but who's going to do the rolling if all the powers-that-be are all in this together? Seems that certain judges have deemed some recent nefarious acts legal and the question has to be......... whose pockets are they are in?

US Senate bill would mandate 'kill switch' on all smartphones

David 45
Alert

Could be useful.......but.......

Hmm. I'm dubious about this, bearing in mind the exposed nefarious activities of the NSA and GCHQ. This facility won't get abused, presumably - oh no, not much! Could be I'm getting a tad cynical, I suppose but I would imagine they would love to get their hot sticky hands on an easy way of bricking phones!

California takes a shot at mobile 'killswitch' mandate

David 45
Alert

Just for stolen phones?

And this "feature" won't be abused, of course - oh no!

Unmanned, autonomous ROBOT TRUCK CONVOY 'drives though town'

David 45

Location?

And just WHERE, exactly, did this take place, I wonder? Pictures, also, please.

Cameron: UK public is fine with domestic spying

David 45
FAIL

First-rate cattle excrement

More indications that Cameron is not in the real world.

UK internet filtering shouldn't rely on knee tappers, says Tory MP

David 45
FAIL

Evening TV viewing

Surprised she hasn't got her teeth into the late evening, so-called "adult" free channels on Freeview and Freesat that show considerably more than the copies of "Parade" that were floating around my local gents' hairdressers when I were a mere stripling. I felt quite cheated when I had to actually get up for the haircut but I seem to have escaped unscathed and I've no doubt that current tech-savvy youth, who can easily find their way around the likes of a VPN or other ways to by-pass the filters, will also emerge into adulthood untouched. Grandstanding politicians trying to disguise internet censorship (as that's all it is, basically) as child protection is the worst form of government, especially when they quite obviously haven't got the foggiest notion as to how the net works. They are, putting it bluntly, talking out of their collective arses.

Elderly Bletchley Park volunteer sacked for showing Colossus exhibit to visitors

David 45
Thumb Down

Heartless move

Sounds like a theme park with no soul is the idea. WRONG!

UK smut filter may have sent game patch to sin-bin

David 45

Re: Filters are folly.

Here, here, sir! Cracking good comment and I couldn't have put it better myself!

MPAA spots a Google Glass guy in cinema, calls HOMELAND SECURITY

David 45

Heavy-handed

Surprised he wasn't stood up against the nearest wall and summarily executed!

Plusnet is working on a network-level filter to block pirate sites

David 45

Re: Court Orders.

Surely if they're doing it off their own backs with no court order, a suing would be in order!

David 45

Re: So instead of "We'll do you proud."

Me too. Happy up until now. If they block so much as one iota of my service (or even a mega-iota!) then I shall be considering my options, as the saying goes.

Obama reveals tiny NSA reforms ... aka reforming your view of the NSA

David 45

First-rate cattle excrement

"Well folks - we gotta appease the people somehow. This oughta do it".

Hmm. Us Brits can recognise b*llsh*t when we see it and I've just seen a pile to beat them all. Cosmetic posturing only I reckon. It's obvious that nothing will really change. Abuses WILL continue and nothing will be safe on line. Just who does Obama think he's kidding?

Cybercrooks slide fingers into TELLIES+FRIDGES, spam splurge ensues

David 45

Protect?

Hmm. Have often wondered about my so-called smart telly connected to the net. It's only a computer after all! No protection, other than being behind a router and, as the LG fiasco showed, TV manufacturers don't seem to have much idea what the mini-computers built into their smart tellies are up to.

Staffs Police face data protection probe over 'drink drivers named' Twitter campaign

David 45

Guilty unless proven innocent

Title says it all. This is totally wrong on many levels. Maybe (and that's a VERY big "maybe"), a touch of naming and shaming for people actually found guilty might be JUST in order but to do that with folk who have been charged only and not gone through due process is totally out of order, in my opinion. Cases fail for a variety of reasons. If it was me, I would certainly be on to a solicitor with a view to suing the pants off 'em!

Italian woman stunned by exploding artichoke

David 45

Ka-boom!

Curries can also be quite explosive......er......so I've heard. Best keep the loo paper in the fridge.

Mars One's certain-death space jolly shortlists 1,000 wannabe explorers

David 45

Make it compulsary.

I can think of a few names that really ought to go........David Cameron and Theresa May to name but two.

ICO to focus only on 'serious, repeat' data-protection offenders

David 45

A smell of.......what?

In my experience, they have been down to their gums for most of their existence. I complained twice to them about a small company that I used to drive for, re. passing on other folks' phone numbers and personal details without express permission and for also passing on my own personal details and address to one of the many extortionists........sorry......... so-called private "parking enforcement" companies without my permission. All I got back was waffle and a distinct sensation that here was yet another government department sitting pretty on their backsides actually doing very little - a bit like OFCOM, really!

US Department of Justice details Kim Dotcom evidence

David 45

Guilty unless proven innocent?

I'm no legal beagle here in the UK but surely the DOJ have shot themselves in the foot by releasing any so-called "evidence" prior to any form of trial? To my mind, this would bias any court or jurors. Is this allowed? Surely "evidence" should be produced in the proper place, namely a court of law, not bandied around the streets or the media beforehand. This sounds like an extreme form of damage limitation to divert attention away from all the alleged illegal skull-duggery that happened in New Zealand, which, if true, would preclude any legal action by the DOJ, or anyone else, come to that, if correct procedures have not been followed, as does seem the case.

BT warned: Speed up Openreach repairs or face PUNITIVE FINES

David 45

Monopoly?

We had a state-owned monopoly once. It was called Post Office Telephones. I was a maintenance engineer for said government department - and then Maggie Thatcher sold it off, with a name change to British Telecom, putting maintenance and fault-finding on the back burner, as it quite obviously doesn't make any money. In MY day, faults had roughly a 24-hour turn-around. I looked after a rural area and, despite that, I could be with someone within hours of them having reported a problem and, hopefully, also have it sorted in short order. The fault control was staffed by older ex-field engineers who knew the ropes, instead of the current off-shore call-centres who, quite frankly, don't have a clue. My own home phone line goes noisy every time it rains. Nothing wrong with it - testing OK says useless off-shore call-centre wallah. "I think not" says I. I have fibre-to-the-cabinet, which is just down the road, so the fault must be pretty local. I tell the idiot that it needs an engineer to actually LISTEN to the line from my end and work backwards but the words "banging heads against brick walls" come to mind. We argue a tad and in the end, the accent and the dreadful "phasey" line quality to India, or where ever, defeats me and I give up. BT in its current incarnation is useless as far as faults are concerned. All they want is the money for more and more new connections - not to mention broadband.

NSA alleges 'BIOS plot to destroy PCs'

David 45

Damage limitation

I will say no more - over and out.

Brit inventors' GRAVITY POWERED LIGHT ships out after just 1 year

David 45

De ja vu

Thought I'd seen this attempted quite a few years ago.

IT MELTDOWN ruins Cyber Monday for RBS, Natwest customers

David 45

Hide the dosh!

Seems safer stuffing it in the mattress!

UK.gov's web filtering mission creep: Now it plans to block 'extremist' websites

David 45

Think of the children - again!

Oh dear - once more into the breach, dear friends, with grandstanding politicians who think they can wave a magic wand and everything on the net will be warm and cuddly. Well - I'm here to tell you, friends - it ain't gonna happen. This is absolutely nothing to do with keeping children safe on line (that's the parents' responsibility in my opinion) or offending folks' sensibilities but has EVERYTHING to do with outright censorship. Who is to decide what is "undesirable" and should not be seen? I expect they will appoint the City of London police to oversee all this business, as it seems they can order alleged file-sharing sites in other countries to do their bidding. Doing the same to other sites deemed "extremist" without any due process whatsoever should be child's play to them. I believe there may be an election coming up. Anything to do with that, possibly?

GCHQ was called in to crack password in Watkins child abuse case

David 45

Blimey, or words to that effect.

GCHQ doing something useful for society? Well......THERE'S a turn-up for the books!

Watch out spooks: STANDARDS GROUPS are COMING AFTER YOU

David 45

KISS

"Keep It Simple, Stupid" has got to be the order of the day. One-click (or even automatic) encryption is about the only thing that non-techie friends of mine will go for. I've played around with encryption and I reckon it's too involved for the average user to fathom out.

Lavabit, Silent Circle form Dark Mail Alliance to destroy email snooping

David 45
Thumb Up

Good show, chaps!

Good luck to this venture. The good ol' boys (not) of the NSA need a good slap in the face after all their antics. The question remains, however - which country is actually safe to host this service? It seems that most governments are spying on each other. If they can get something together, the whole world and its wife should be interested.

iPHONE 5S BATTERY: It may NOT just be you, it may be RUBBISH

David 45

The few

Have you noticed that when anything, anywhere goes pear-shaped, it only ever effects "a very small number" or "a very limited number" of people/items/software or anything else you care to name?

Digital radio may replace FM altogether - even though nobody wants it

David 45

A con

In my opinion, DAB was the biggest con ever pulled on the great British wireless-listening public. I was an early adopter, buying a tuner, seduced by the promises of "better than CD" quality. Initially it sounded no more than just OK and what do we get? More and more stations shoe-horned in at ever- decreasing bit-rates (one in MONO, for goodness' sake!) and bloomin' 'orrible sound quality, There was also a mention in the early days (and I'm sure I didn't dream it) of user-adjustable audio compression but that appears to have vanished in a black hole and now everything sounds like the dreaded Optimod (or something similar) is still being used to flatten dynamic range to such an extent that I feel most of the stations (and this applies to FM as well) are painful to listen to. Some are audibly "pumping". I suspect sound quality is suffering because I understand DAB encoding is lossy, like mp3, and I am also guessing that the stations' computer music storage is not exactly .WAV standard either (imagine the storage space THAT would need), and the combination of the two, together with the way the raw audio is butchered before it enters the transmission chain, conspires to emit sounds which are nowhere near the quality of a good CD. I have reel-to-reel recordings made many years ago from FM and they sound fine with plenty of dynamics - unlike contemporary efforts. All in all, as someone else has mentioned, I think the whole system meeds a complete re-vamp. Current transmissions seem to be tailored to the lowest common denominator, i.e. portable radios and in-car systems. Given a half-decent hi-system, DAB fails miserably.

Canadian operator EasyDNS stands firm against London cops

David 45

Waste of money

This is a pathetic waste of taxpayers money. It makes me (to say the least) hopping mad! Never mind about REAL crimes like murder, burglary, assault, rape and so on. No - the great music industry has to be appeased - at great cost, it would seem. I fail to see how the police can unilaterally decide what is and what is not a crime without the case having been brought before a court of law. It is NOT their position do do this and any suggestion that they should have carte blanche to make these types of decisions needs be stamped on ASAP. The suggested re-direct (http://83.138.166.114/) is disgusting, containing links to other sites and pages "supported by" British recorded music industry etc. The police are supposed to be impartial, not the puppets of the music industry and all links should be removed forthwith. This situation of a potential police state needs to be sorted in short order as certain people seem to have grandiose ideas of bypassing the courts completely.

Cook invokes GHOST of STEVE JOBS in Apple-wide memo

David 45

Spit!

This has got to be one of the most syrupy, obsequious, sycophantic, vomit-inducing comments about anyone I have ever heard. The guy was obviously a ruthless, charmless, humourless money-grabber, seemingly devoid of most social skills (according to many reports) and I would suspect he never really had any sort of life outside of Apple.

Universal's High Fidelity Pure Audio trickles onto Blighty’s Blu-Ray hi-fis

David 45

Done before?

I have a certain déjà vu feeling about this. Were there not audio only DVD discs and there were certainly "Super" CD recordings some years back, followed up with HDCD, none of which were well received by the public, as they thought the existing CD quality was good enough (never mind that the sound had already been butchered by audio compression, etc!) and even the audio geeks' response was luke-warm and they never sold very well. I can't see yet another so-called "high quality" format taking off, when the majority of the great unwashed public don't seem to give a hoot about what recorded music actually sounds like and probably have never experienced anything "live" to make a comparison.

Two years after Steve Jobs' death, how's that new CEO working out?

David 45

Overpriced trinkets

Apple's products are just grossly over-priced trinkets hyped up to appeal to the posers and "must-have" fanbois. Pay through the nose if you want to for a touch of styling (just like Bang and Olufsen audio and TV gear) but there are products around that will do the same job quite adequately without sacrificing several arms and legs and taking out a second mortgage in the process. In my opinion, an awful lot of folk have been conned by Apple's continuing rhetoric but I suppose that's the company's ruthless Jobsian legacy which must be maintained.

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