* Posts by The Original Ash

617 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Jun 2009

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Three brothers jailed for credit card factory

The Original Ash

@Aristotles' Horse

Chip and pin is different. This is card skimming and pin stealing at the ATM.

Saying that, though, most shops allow you to bypass the chip and pin saying that it doesn't work, or you can't remember it, and let you sign. With a cloned card, the counterfeighter signs it him/herself so the signature always matches at the checkout.

Sports site sues Facebook for click fraud

The Original Ash

@Robert E A Harvey

Sure, if you want adverts on www.thissiteisempty.com or www.nobodygoeshere.com

The most popular websites use Google for advertising. I've no impirical data on it, I just have a very strong suspicion that it's true. They put Google code into their website and Google serves advertisments.

That's like saying that if an engineer isn't getting money from big business in the city to try and get work in hamlets.

Unlock your iPhone, miss your messages

The Original Ash
FAIL

The second reason I didn't get an iPhone

Just bought a HTC Touch Diamond2; Powerful, feature-rich, and with an excellent application pool and custom software scene with xda-developers.

Win all-round.

Staten Island manhole swallows texting teen

The Original Ash

Ugh...

The irritation is that this is a situation where someone *should* face legal action, but not civil from the parents. Tribunal should recommend that the DEP fire the workmen for gross negligence, and that be the end of it.

Sueing for a grazed shin is just idiotic.

Mel Gibson to put hand up Jodie Foster's Beaver

The Original Ash
Thumb Up

No problem

It can't be worse than any movie Mel Gibson directed himself.

Connecticut man misses dental appointment

The Original Ash

Failure to comply with fingerprinting?!

You mean they don't bring over two of the largest coppers in the station to beat you with truncheons until you can't resist any further?

Apparently the definition of "reasonable force" in the US is slightly lower than it is here.

Police decline to reopen mobile phone hacking case

The Original Ash
WTF?

What do we do now?

Do we petition Downing Street?

Do we assemble peacefully in London?

Do we assemble peacefully outside Scotland Yard?

Home Office gets another ad agency for ID cards

The Original Ash
Thumb Down

I have an idea...

GIVE UP.

Teen cuffed for bomb threat webcam pay-per-view

The Original Ash
Big Brother

Really... What the hell?

Not only does this disrupt the emergency services, but it also desensitizes the staff and students from this kind of threat in the future. They more than likely the students wouldn't know (treating it as a fire alarm to prevent panic) but the point still remains.

Whatever sentence this kid gets, I say double it. Once for disrupting the emergency services, once for disrupting the school.

Retailers prepped for Windows 7 family pack

The Original Ash
FAIL

@ Geoff Mackenzie

You're preaching to the choir, so I'll play Devils' Advocate and play Luser for a moment:

WHERE'S THE START BUTTON WHY CAN'T I FIND WORD WHERE'S THE INTERNET GONE WHY CAN'T I USE MY PRINTER WHY CAN'T I FIND MY WIRELESS NETWORK WHY DOESN'T 4ONDEMAND WORK WHY CAN'T I PLAY ANY GAMES WAAAA WAAAAA WAAAA I WANT WINDOWS.

Ubuntu is ready for users. Ubuntu is ready for nerds. Ubuntu is not ready for geeks; Geeks being the 14 year old who will unjam your printer, set up your router (using the web interface), and upgrade your ram. He doesn't know what grep is, and he's the one who will get the flack when stuff doesn't work. He's the one who will be put off Linux, and he's the one you REALLY want to get to like it. He's the one who will sell it to his family and friends.

KIlling ID cards and the NIR - the Tory and LibDem plans

The Original Ash
Heart

Hashes

Take hashes of biometric data and store those instead. If the data on the chip and the data on the person don't match, check with the central database.

There. I've solved your problem. No ability to forge identity as you can't return to the root from the hash, a good centralised check for verifying suspected ID. The same checksum has to be on the passport and the person, and that means they need the hardware for creating the passports in the first place.

I win, give me a £x00,000 job as a government consultant on the whole thing.

Cops to step up use of phone and net records

The Original Ash
Thumb Down

Right then.

Sandboxed VM configured to connect through Tor / VPN for using VoIP / web browsing / email / accessing online storage, then.

Encryption will get you some truncheon love, so just keep your PC squeeky clean except for the VM and some iPlayer logs.

Freecom adds RFID to HDD

The Original Ash
FAIL

Do I really need a card?

Or do I just need a screwdriver and a different SATA2USB converter?

I'd answer my question, but there's no link to a product description. In fact, no evidence at all except for a photo.

Moderatrix to gain even more sinister powers

The Original Ash
Thumb Down

Yes please!

SPOON FEED me my moral guidelines!

While you're there, could you please wipe my arse, too? I seem to have some lingering ReputationShare on my taint.

UK Palm Pré carrier confirmed

The Original Ash
Thumb Down

Samsung Galaxy on O2 too

Android 1.5 Handset, 5Mpx camera, la-di-dah etc.

I'd much prefer an Android handset, plus GSMArena has the handset cost at €410 (Guestimate, but usually accurate).

If only I could convince my mates to get Cloud subscriptions and Fring / Truphone instead... £10 a month in stead of £35 and all the VoIP calls you could want. Hell, SkypeOut for regular use, even.

Blears sackee nothing to do with TheyWorkForYou

The Original Ash

@Alpha Tony

An honest statement with political implications is still a political statement.

Why do you think politicians are so against answering questions directly? Culpability. A true statement made by a politician is going to be written down and analysed by press, internal investigators, and opposition members for any hint of either fact-giving or expression of honest opinion, neither of which are allowed by current politics.

Amazon may plug in-book advertising into Kindle

The Original Ash
Unhappy

@Charlie Stross

Two things. Firstly, the Writers' Strike in Hollywood did nothing but cause me to wait a little longer for the latest series of Heroes to be finished. I didn't notice an appreciative dip in the quality, or quantity, of fluff that it produces, but maybe fiction authors are significantly more important than Hollywood screen writers. I just don't know.

Secondly, and here's one for the lawyers, Kindle is not a book. Kindle is an electronic device which displays pages of text. Picture a similar issue to Copyright as is occuring now in music; An outdated law / contract term which is not compatible with modern technological advances and becomes unenforceable in any meaningful way apart from suing your customer base. You should renegotiate your contracts to include digital representations of your work to be covered by similar non-advertising terms, if you haven't already. Lawyers will pick through ANY technicality.

Apple admits to iPhone 3GS heliophobia

The Original Ash
FAIL

"listening to music while in direct sunlight"

No iPhone on the beach, then?

Epic, EPIC fail, Apple. If I had bought one of these devices, I'd return it as unfit for use.

Police told to use Wikipedia for court preparation

The Original Ash
FAIL

Sounds like good reason...

... for any case like this to be dismissed.

Gamer embezzles virtual cash to settle real debts

The Original Ash
Pirate

@Richard Drysdall

This wasn't a CCP run banking institution, this was a corporation run by players who offered returns on investments in exchange for letting them use other peoples' money for coroprate activities.

CCP wasn't involved; These were just game players, not admins.

Glasgow unbans Life of Brian

The Original Ash
Pint

Huzzah!

Celticus aeunt domus!

Spanish boffins develop bat-like sonar-vision superpower

The Original Ash
FAIL

Only three year old news...

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1212568,00.html

Ben Underwood - The Boy Who Sees with Sound.

Man jailed for snooping on police database

The Original Ash
Thumb Up

No ID card for me!

This is the string to the bow we've needed.

Google boasts of melting data center antidote

The Original Ash
Headmaster

@MIke007

No.

They want to shift workload away from the datacentre BEFORE it hangs, not after. This is supposed to be pre-emptive avoidance, not post-disaster clear-up.

Now, if you could get a reliable temperature monitor for a CPU linked to every box in the datacentre, link it up to the load balancing system, AND have MapReduce redirect tasks from an overheating (but not failed) datacentre to many others across the globe, and THEN when that failing centre is repaired / back to normal operating temperature redirect tasks back to the datacentre, in REAL TIME, *THEN* u can haz moneez.

Sun's VirtualBox 3.0 exits betaland

The Original Ash
Headmaster

@askvictor

VirtualBox OSE comes as source only (not compiled) and has less of a feature set than VirtualBox.

Pedant or not, "VirtualBox" is not open source, and "VirtualBox OSE" is not "VirtualBox."

Nokia admits killing off Widsets

The Original Ash
FAIL

I used it every day

Facebook, weather updates, following Bruce Schneier's blog, notalwayright.com, latest symbian freeware...

I'm getting an Android handset next because of this.

Child exploitation chief to defend net snooping plans

The Original Ash
FAIL

You know, I'm actually not bothered!

I spent a couple of minutes thinking about my use of mobile phones and the internet, and I have figured out that I use the internet for playing WoW, receiving mailings from a couple of online retailers, and updates on my Open University course. My mobile phone I use to contact my mates about going out, tell the g/f when I'm working late, and occasionally to check my bookface.

For everything else, there's SneakerNet.

Bloke uses nail clippers to go roundhead

The Original Ash
Coffee/keyboard

"Roundhead"

"cavalier fashion"

Win.

Ten of the best... iPhone beaters

The Original Ash
Thumb Down

@Defiant

Yeah, but it's still a S60 device. My E51 is S60 and the browsing is less than stellar. Plus, while you can get an HTC Magic for free on a £30 18 month contract, you can't get an N97 until you hit £45 24 month (At least from Phones4U, where I went yesterday to look at both of these phones).

YMMV

US kids busy bullying, sexy texting

The Original Ash

Ugh...

Misguided morality. Better they send pictures than get up to that stuff in person without being educated properly.

Great Australian Firewall to censor online games

The Original Ash
FAIL

Amagad!

Proxy / VPN was that?

Every single Australian should get a proxy / alternative DNS service set up and boycott this system. Shame it out.

Safari 4: Apple's crash-happy shipper

The Original Ash
Joke

Serves you all right!

Smug gits with your virus-free platform, pretty UI, high quality hardware...

Fifty Quid Bloke, meet Spotify's 14p man

The Original Ash
FAIL

Was Premium, now Free

I used Spotify for around a week for free, and promptly paid for a Premium subscription. I found that after a week, however, that the experience while using the Free version was so very close to Premium, there was no value for money in paying for a subscription.

Now, I know the reduction in advertising is a good thing for my listening time, but for 30 seconds every half an hour, I can afford it. £10, however, pays my phone bill for a month.

Guess which loses out.

Spotify are a victim of their own success; They can't drop the quality of service for the "freetards" as they'll just leave, and the paid service has nothing to offer worth £10 a month which the Free service doesn't have.

Too popular to succeed.

Is your cameraphone an oxymoron?

The Original Ash
Paris Hilton

@Sarah Baucom

I agree; Soft focus covers a multitude of sins.

Just which dark-haired colleague was photographed in the store cupboard in an "unhygenic" position with the boss, for example!

Paris? You can figure it out...

German old timers torture financial adviser

The Original Ash
Joke

Business name?

Compuglobalhypermeganet?

Designer pitches flat-pack power plug

The Original Ash
FAIL

WHERE is the "live" wire running?!

Through that flimsy, "Just begging to be snapped with a clumsy vacuum swipe" plastic on the back of the plug?

Sweet baby Jeebus, that's an accident just SCREAMING to happen.

El Reg commentards offered extra iconography

The Original Ash
FAIL

@Mike Richards

You mean like this? http://www.theregister.co.uk/odds/headlines.atom

No, I work in a Primary School. I need to not get NSFW content, which almost certainly appears on the Odds feed. It's why I've removed the Reg RSS feed from my desktop.

The Original Ash
Pint

Approved

Now, how about an RSS feed which includes everything but Odds and Sods? You know... *I.T.* News...!

kthxbai!!1

Microsoft: 18-month Windows 7 downgrade rights

The Original Ash
Thumb Up

Fine

I just won't conform with the license. It's not like I have for a fair few years anyway... O:-)

Sweden: IP numbers are personal...unless you're a pirate

The Original Ash

Easy peasy

Everybody write any rubbish song you can think of; Sing A capella into your webcam microphone, if you have to, or film your dog cleaning itself. Post it on your own website, and hey presto! You're a rights holder, and can demand information from the ISPs until they fall down under the influx of requests.

January's Windows 7 hole still open

The Original Ash

Ahhh...

I always thought the age-old joke about Microsoft "Undocumented Features" was *just* a joke!

Intel tears up CPU branding scheme

The Original Ash

Star rating?

As long as I get to view the core stepping as well, this system will certainly help Jo Sixpack pick his next upgrade.

Wait a minute... Why would Jo Sixpack want a CPU upgrade? WHY DO WE NEED THIS?! RUBBISH!

I'm so confused right now...

Phorm incinerates $50m in 12 months

The Original Ash
Thumb Down

Makes no difference

With IMP, I'll be getting VPN out of the country anyway.

Home Office kicks ID cards into touch

The Original Ash
Thumb Up

As Prof. Hughbert Farnsworth would say,

Good news, everyone!

AT&T rethinks iPhone 3G S upgrade fee

The Original Ash
Thumb Up

Goon news!

It means the iPhone 3G will come down in price to a sane amount on eBay, now :D

iPhone 3.0 - born on schedule...

The Original Ash
Heart

Landscape keyboard?

Once again, I am reading a smartphone software review which doesn't show me the landscape keyboard, a fundamental requirement for any person with everso-slightly larger fingers than usual and uses their device for email and text messaging predominantly..

Here, I'll spend a little time on it for you: http://www.fonearena.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/iphone_30_email_landscape_keyboard.png

Looks plenty big enough to me, even if some text space above is lacking. Is it easy to type on?

Gov considers website to teach tech skills

The Original Ash
Black Helicopters

I can picture it now...

"Welcome to the Get Online website, where we hope to teach everybody how to access common sources of information on the internet."

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS COPYRIGHT HM GOV. ANY COPYING, LENDING, REPRODUCING, IN PART OR IN FULL, OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF HM GOV IS PROHIBITED BY COPYRIGHT LAW, AND TRANSGRESSIONS SHALL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF APPLICABLE LAW. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD. PIRACY IS BAD.

Click on the "Next" button below to see how we are planning to monitor every single communication you make with your computer and telephone!

Chief constable caves to judges on disk grab

The Original Ash

Lost the plot.

"Each time these images are viewed it is a fresh victimisation of the child,"

Wrong. The child is not involved, the abuser is not involved, there is no new victimisation. This doesn't detract from the severity of the initial incident which is depicted, and the full weight of the law should be brought to bear upon them, but it doesn't class as s new "abuse" either.

See the "Lost sale" arguement for copyright infringement for a (loose) analogy.

Samsung N120

The Original Ash
Thumb Down

Good product

1. Take components designed for a low spec, cheap system

2. Put them in a laptop case.

3. Sell for laptop prices

4. ...

5. Profit!

Anyone who buys this is a mug.

Tories research increased net censorship

The Original Ash
Thumb Down

Curing the symptom

The cause is lack of education. Low intelligence / poor education mixed with a health dose of brainwashing by immoral fundamentalists (whether based on religion, race, or political affiliation) cause extremist behaviour.

Being the moral nanny of the population by filtering "objectionable" material isn't going to stop extremism, it's only going to force them into more subversive methods of dissemination of material. You will never beat the Sneakernet.

Take your £XXXm budget and spend it on educating the populace.

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