* Posts by ratfox

3721 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Sep 2007

Facebook files for IPO, seeks $5bn

ratfox
Boffin

Regulations are the point

They have to show their data, whether they do an IPO or not. They have too many shareholders to keep it secret. They don't have a choice.

As for raising more cash, what for? Considering they have $3Bn on hand and are not using it, what would they do with more? Buy random companies for the lulz?

Microsoft ad campaign savages Google over privacy

ratfox
Happy

"Not as evil as the other guy!"

What a great tag line

Court defies Apple demand to ban Samsung tablet

ratfox
Flame

Let the patents be ripped off!

Burn them in the streets! Dance around the fire!

RIM's cartoon superheroes inspire caustic Tweet-storm

ratfox
Happy

Oh come on, it's not that bad

I mean, compare to the London Olympics... The logo AND the mascots...

US judge rejects Oracle's fraud claim against HP

ratfox
Happy

Good, good

Oracle cannot lose enough lawsuits for my taste.

Google dings missive to lawmakers: 'We're misunderstood'

ratfox

Account deletion

Considering the number of accounts that get hacked into, with the hacker then deleting all messages, I actually want Google to hold on to the data for a few weeks after deletion...

Google lets youngsters in to Google+. Officially, that is

ratfox
Paris Hilton

ZitFaceBook?

What is the Zit about? Do you mean pimpled teenagers? But Facebook already allows teenagers to join.

Apple takes smartphone lead

ratfox
Angel

Google was hit relatively likely?

That spelling was unlikely, though.

Google Maps to dish out disaster alerts

ratfox
WTF?

Google tried to claw back the moral high ground...

Huh? Is this a soap opera? "Oh no, they found out about our nefarious plans! Quick, do something good to distract them!"

Apple tops estimates with earnings leap of 118 per cent

ratfox
Boffin

@foxton

If you think that android phones overselling iPhones means roughly the same amount of profits, you haven't been paying attention. Apple's margins are way above the rest of the industry.

MPAA threat sparks White House petition for bribery probe

ratfox
Facepalm

Now that is shooting yourself in the foot!

Though as a former Senator who got a cushy job in the industry he had protected, he must know what he is talking about...

Plus is king now: Google shutters more products

ratfox

Shirley you mean

In the hall of the Mountain View King?

Pom-pom-pom-pom-po-po-pom, po-po-pom, po-po-pom...

'Hannibal' leaks '100,000 Facebook logins'

ratfox

Pissing contest

Somehow, I find it slightly less amusing between pro- and anti-Israel than between anonymous and the Church of Happyology.

Romanian who hacked NASA spared cooler stint

ratfox
Trollface

No jail in Rumania, god knows what in the US...

...Or in the UK, since he would undoubtedly be extradited to the US.

Windows Phone to overtake iOS in 2015

ratfox
Trollface

Apple does not care

They will still make 90% of the profits in the market

Quantum physics to encrypt clouds of the future - boffins

ratfox
Paris Hilton

You mean that it is actually practically possible?

So far, the only true quantum computing stuff I had heard about was that one where they factorized 15. Using a vat full of chemical products.

American search team fails to find women's G-spot

ratfox
Joke

Well, natch

Google fails again to deliver G-spot. Apple will soon come out with their competing iSpot, and everybody will find it!

Hold on a sec - leap seconds granted a last-minute reprieve

ratfox

Do seconds really matter?

Couldn't we wait until there is, say, a difference of one hour, then simply skip one daylight-saving change?

Google shares tank after disappointing financial report

ratfox
FAIL

Oh please

Remove your blinkers: the OSM thing is a blip causing by one or two guys acting on their own. Google itself has nothing to do with it. OSM just jumped at a publicity.

SOPA is dead. Are you happy now?

ratfox
FAIL

IP of Les Miserables??

Victor Hugo has been dead for over a century, and you can stage Les Miserables whenever you want. You can also copy paintings of Van Gogh, down to the last detail, signature included and sell them... As long as you do not claim they are originals.

Woz praises Android, blasts iPhone limitations

ratfox

Point in case

When I install something on my computer, I can block it from accessing the internet. And why would a Sudoku app access the SD card anyway??

ratfox
Stop

@Security is 100%

Erm: In practice, that means that almost every app from Angry birds to wallpapers asks for every permission in the book. So yeah, you can refuse to install these apps... if you don't want to have any apps on your phone.

Try to find, say, a Sudoku app that asks for NO permissions. Go ahead, I'll wait.

German ISP doesn't have to block foreign 'illegal' betting sites

ratfox
Childcatcher

You mean, this icon?

Right?

ratfox
Pint

Sense prevails

That is not always the case. Cheers!

Chocolate Factory moves into the fridge

ratfox
Paris Hilton

Can patent holders withhold licensing?

Ie, is it possible to patent an idea, and then refuse to let anybody use that idea? Or, say, ask for a gajillion per second for the license (assuming it is not FRAND)?

Genuinely interested. Logic would dictate it is not, but then again, patents and logic do not mix well.

Boffins quarrel over ridding world of leap seconds

ratfox
Angel

No centrifugal force?

A laughable claim, Mister Bond, perpetuated by overzealous teachers of science. Simply construct Newton's laws into a rotating system and you will see a centrifugal force term appear as plain as day.

NSA constructs hardened Android, unleashes it on world

ratfox
Angel

Released the code?

Lawsuit coming from Oracle in 3... 2... 1...

Skype is coming to Windows Phone - really

ratfox

@tin hat

I think that would clearly go into antitrust domain... Leveraging Skype's market share to pull W7 adoption.

Angry Brides lob stilettos in dowry shakedown takedown

ratfox
Go

Good, good

The dowry practice is especially nonsensical now that eligible brides are becoming scarce, what with the skewed gender ratio in births and whatnot.

Apple iPad 3 to sport LTE '4G'

ratfox

Apple iPad to come in five colors!

Tangerine, Bondi Blue, Strawberry, Sage and Flower Power...

Apple iPad to have $CLICK_BAIT feature!

Apple iPad to have $SUCKERS feature, etc.

Kenyan startup claims Google 'scalped' its data after staging a STING

ratfox
Devil

Tsk, tsk...

Claiming fake business relationships? Spreading FUD? Bad Google. Will it be blamed again on a subcontractor?

Android devs get schooled on style

ratfox

I would say that if you find it boring...

You're doing it wrong.

More generally, you need to live with nongratifying jobs.

Apple, Amazon and Google take lazy punters hostage

ratfox
Go

brands are losing their hold on consumers

I for one will not complain about this...

The "sloth" argument sounds a lot like: these winning companies are offering a good customer experience! And it actually works! Who would have thunk it?

Google's social search mash gets EPIC FAIL

ratfox
Go

You can still do that, it is just hidden

Click on the link you do not want, then click "back" right away. The results page now contains a link proposing you to block all results from that site.

I guess they thought having a link on every result made the page too cluttered.

Gartner: Ultrabooks aren't tickling anyone's fancy

ratfox
Paris Hilton

Very little understanding and awareness of Ultrabooks

Count me in that lot. The Ultrawhat?

I'm curious what name they will invent next. Newbook? Coolbook? Webbook? Cloudbook?

Go Daddy not liable for cybersquatting, US court rules

ratfox
FAIL

Too much legalese... Can't... Think...

Seriously, would it be possible to explain in less detail, but more clearly? Half of the paragraphs in the article are direct quotes from the ruling. I can understand that courts need to use such language, but the Reg does not. Would you report a new scientific discovery by quoting half of the original article?

"A claim for contributory cybersquatting does not exist under the circumstances of this case, as a company providing an internet routing service does not exercise the type of direct control and monitoring that would justify recognition of a contributory infringement claim"

Why force this on your readers?

Google attacks Twitter's search bias claim

ratfox
Devil

Indeed, Twitter is hypocritical on this one

This would be rather equivalent to Apple bitching that Microsoft is refusing to pay them for having a Windows version of iTunes. If Twitter really wants their feed to be included, they can offer it for free. It is downright bizarre to claim that Google is "choosing" not to include Twitter results.

Suicidal Foxconn workers talked down from factory roof

ratfox

Major of Wuhan?

Is that a military organization?

Google merging more personal data into search results

ratfox

Results from other, dominant, social networks

I think this mostly depends on the willingness of those networks... No?

Apple, RIM deny claims of data backdoor for Indian government

ratfox
Stop

Two words

Court order.

As long as the company has presence in the country, the data is within reach of the government.

Intel ignores Steve Jobs, adds touchscreen to Ultrabook

ratfox

Trackpad for me, thanks

After using a MacBook for a few years, I find using a mouse a comparative waste of time, going back and forth from the mouse to the keyboard.

Similarly, I don't believe in touch screens for laptops, because moving the hand across the screen is simply too time-consuming and tiring.

iPad SURVIVES FALL FROM SPACE

ratfox
Boffin

@Steve Evans: Sorry, weight does very much come into it

Terminal velocity is attained when the force of gravity is equal to the force of friction (i.e. the sum of forces is zero). It is correct that the force of friction does not depend on weight. However, the force of gravity does depend on weight – and so a heavy object will have to fall faster for both forces to be equal. Since the force of friction is roughly proportional to the square of speed, an object that is say four times heavier with the same surface will have a terminal velocity twice as fast.

That is, terminal velocity is the solution of the speed variable in this equation:

9.81 * weight = constant * surface * speed^2

ratfox
Paris Hilton

Shirley he meant...

The guys doing the test would never have told anybody about it?

Apple shoots for Premier League soccer streaming rights

ratfox
Trollface

That cannot be possible

If the word had been invented on this side of the pond, it would be called soccre, as in center and centre. Or possibly, souccre, as in color and colour.

BlackBerry PlayBook in US price plummet

ratfox
Go

Amazon gets it

They see no problem with having a loss leader.

Apple accused of starving French reseller of hot stock

ratfox

Is this illegal?

Genuinely, I don't know the answer.

Apart from that, well, it's Apple. What did they expect?

Apple land-grabs fuel cells for mobiles

ratfox

Yeah, but this patent is for powering stuff with rouned corners

Completely novel and innovative. According to the USPTO.

Chinese confirm Beidou satnav system is operational

ratfox
WTF?

"providing location data and SMS messaging"

...Wait, what? SMS messaging? What the hell is this doing in a satellite system? Do they plan to make the system profitable by overcharging 10 pennies for a handful of bytes transferred?

Reg review of 2011: Jobs, floaters and 90,000 tons of radioactive water

ratfox
Pint

That will be 36 Olympic swimming pools

Please stick to proper Reg-approved units!

Hidden Dragon: The Chinese cyber menace

ratfox
Trollface

China creating loads of patents? Good!

Maybe the US will finally get around to reforming patents, then... When it is in their interest.