Posts by e^iπ+1=0

@allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

"Why does HMRC advertise on Facebook?"

Some algorithm maybe? I hardly imagine a Whitehall mandarin picking ad spots by hand.

Re: A quick question....

"...but why would you have corporate data stored on a domestic product?"

BYOD?

Maybe Amazon doesn't any longer want the Fire to be acceptable for that purpose.

Re: There is only one app that should be talking to Facebook

"And that would be the Facebook app itself. I have never seen an app that actually needs to communicate with Facebook"

What about a web browser? I can't see the point of a bazillion apps instead of just using the browser.

Case in point, I visited tripadvisor.com on my mobile browser today and was repeatedly prompted to install the app when I clicked on a link, with the option to 'continue with mobile site' tucked away out of sight beneath. It didn't remember my previous choice just a couple of click later. Bleagh.

Re: Spellchecking budget cut again?

... "missing on the mobile Reg page?"

The mobile Reg page is unloved by the maintainers.

A couple of years ago I asked for links from the mobile Reg page to 'Channel' articles to point to the mobile page. This got fixed in a few days, then broken again:

http://m.forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2014/08/08/ei10_Mobile_site_El_Chan_links_broken/

Re: This is getting dumb now...

"Until you hit an adwall where blocking the ad also blocks the continue button."

In ublock, try the anti adblock killer 3rd party list.

Re: Whatsapp?

"Last night it told me I would not have to pay this ever, so I did ponder on how the system will be paid for."

Yeah, whatsapp no longer incurs a fee. Maybe Facebook can monetise it in some other way. Or maybe they're just doing it out of the kindness of their hearts.

Re: cc

'Now a prompt that says "I see you're sending this message to more than x recipients - are you sure you want them to see each others addresses?"'

Were it my client list, I don't think I'd want the users to even have the option to email the clients directly from their outlook or whatever. Recipe for disaster.

"Is that 1,400 salespeople in each of the six locations, or 1,400 salespeople in total, which would mean 233.3 in each of the six locations?"

Yes! Obviously. The alternative doesn't even warrant consideration.

Re: why gift cards?

"I mean, what economic service do they actually perform."

Gift cards discounted to face value (e.g. 10% off Dick Smith gift cards at Coles recently) offer a discount to the purchaser, whilst offering the shop a chance they may never get redeemed.

Re: Tried to communicate with their Postmaster

I have a domain that never receives mail from virgin sent via SMTP.ntlworld.com, curiously I get it if sent via their webmail.

Nobody at Virgin seems bothered by this, including their postmaster.

Re: In defence of teachers

"Well, if they can have automated essay marking programs, let the students use automated essay writing programs, it's only fair. Then the teachers can get 100% free time."

That's all well and good, however how are automated essays going to help in subjects where essays are relatively unimportant such as, say, maths?

Don't tell me - automated maths solutions. Nowadays one can bring in a device to certain maths exams which facilitate answers, such as a calculator.

Re: Late to the party, much?

"So what would non-gratuitous beheadings, rape and slavery look like?"

Game of Thrones, or some kind of Viking thingummy?

Re: So a hash matches, then what?

"First off, how is this hash to be generated? Will google et al calculate a hash for every image before it can be uploaded and simply not accept (sight unseen) anything that produces a hash they don't like?"

Generate hash on client. If it matches, silently dial 999 (or whatever) whilst not doing anything to make the (suspected) criminal suspicious. Send data to law enforcement.

Re: Something smells fishy

@999 I'm pretty sure 72 year old grannies don't suffer from 'The Curse'.

HRT says otherwise.

Fuck, what's happened to Alice and Bob?

"IOW, how can you trust that Trent is really Trent and not Gene or Mallory?"

Re: Even the best non-smart phone phantom dials...

"Seriously thinking of taking a nearly two decade old mobe out of retirement to spite the feature rich pandemic."

The phone may be all peachy and work perfectly after a couple of decades, but is there still a network that supports it?

I have a perfectly functional Telstra (Nokia) CDMA phone, less than a decade old, which may not be supported by any network on this planet.

Pillock

"I have in the region of 50 sites I deal with that use my ntl email for validation or sending me information"

Who in their right mind would do that?

Try this then (when you can)

http://m.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/29/laser_shaver_kickstarts/

Could be just the ticket.

Re: The Land of S̶m̶i̶l̶e̶s̶ Kim Jong-Un Jr.

"Take Assad in Syria, for example. Him, you kill. No hesitation."

Are you sure? I might have agreed as recently as, say, 2 years ago, before Isis had gained any traction. Now, no. Too risky.

Previously the Russians might even have waved it through. Not any more.

Re: 215,000 users - 2 weeks - one prosecution

Hitherto.

Re: The power of open source

"The sad fact is that either open or closed is equally as likely to have cockups in it and these are only usually found when somebody either spots a problem and looks for the cause or runs across it while modifying the code for another reason."

The advantage for me as a programmer using the open source code is that when my program doesn't behave as I expected I can just read the source code for the api / subroutine I was trying to use rather than just moan about the (closed source) api's behaviour.

Re: Bizarre

Something I'd like to see in the reviews (for in this instance android phones) here as a matter of course is the availability of 3rd party ROMs.

Obviously I can go and look elsewhere; however I happen to be here at the moment.

With regards to this particular phone, it is mentioned as a downside in the review that it does not come with CyanogenMod. Useful information. Does it support CyanogenMod would also be useful information.

We often get such info here for Chrome boxes, laptops (it worked with Ubuntu, for example). I'd like to see similar for Android devices.

Re: I might have a look at one of these...

"Lollipop screwed my Nexus 4 too. Has killed the mobile data."

I stuck the lollipop version of CyanogenMod on my daughter's Nexus 4 around 6 months ago and it appears to be stable.

Re: Works for me, too

"When's the last time you saw some genuinely original content online, that wasn't available in a zillion other places too?"

I'm thinking www.plagiarise - might make for a great new tld. Perfect get out - surely you realized we quote you??? - wtf !?! have you even heard of "fair use"?

But what if - "A super-cookie is a token unique to each subscriber that is injected into every HTTP request made through a telco's cellphone networks, except for requests to amibeingtracked.com"

More realistically, only injected for partner websites: I have my own website, check the logs, no super-cookie visible because I'm not a partner.

Were I to approach the telco and get invited to join the partner program, only then would my site get to see the super cookie.

Re: @Pascal Monett ‘fishing in a cesspool’

@Pascal Monett Re: ‘fishing in a cesspool’

"Do they really think that people searching for wank fodder are going to pay attention to ads ?"

Hell yeah, after seeing what was going on the bonnet of that Lexus, I want won two.

Re: Well who knows ?

More likely that they're hoping that someone who knows about the provenance of the weed will "grass them up".

Re: True - but unlikely

"Seriously? What could look more like spam than an email from a dating site you've never heard of?"

Um, maybe something like:

'Investment opportunities

PPI - you have a case

Your (Windows) computer is infected with a virus

...

Bootifull ladee want fun time

I have $100m (one hundered meelion dollas) I must move from maah cuntry. I am happee to pay u a coommiission of ...'

I think I've been on the receiving end of quite a lot of spam.

Tyvärr.

I only really check my spam folder frequently when there's a mail I've been expecting which is overdue. Much of the content therefore goes sadly unread.

Re: Invasive hiring process?

Hypothetically, this could be positive:

"Have you at any time been a member of a terrorist organisation?" yes/no"

Yes, I was freedom fighter against (e.g.) the Nazis / Viet Cong / Apartheid regime, under the circumstances that you were applying for a job with some government organization that just happened to be against the same mob.

Re: Sharing such files over the LAN should help...

"EDIT: it seems that there is an option for this, although from what people say it's not obvious."

What is obvious is that those people who don't bother to check (average disinterested user) are sharing.

bsd?

'And remember kids, Linux is the only fully-functional piece of software you can install on your hardware without needing an internet connection to "phone home".'

BSD springs to mind also.

However, I know that some open source platforms are configured to "phone home" out of the box for updates.

Don't forget, if you trust nobody you can just build your own hardware and software.