* Posts by ratfox

3721 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Sep 2007

Apple gives Palm the boot - again

ratfox
Flame

Still pissed off

Michael C: "they're just not required by law to make it easy, nor do it at their own expense."

If you followed, in this case, it is at their own expense that Apple is making it harder.

It is difficult enough to get computers to do what you want already,

without having companies stopping them ON PURPOSE from working.

I dream of a world where companies try to make it easier for the customers...

Google Maps reborn as world's largest Monopoly board

ratfox
Welcome

This is Google executing simulations

for its plans of world domination.

I, for one, welcome our new 27-words master...

'Exomoonologist': NASA can detect forest moon of Endor

ratfox
Coat

Moon of Endor?

Is that where the real Amulet of Yendor is?

Mine's the one with a rubber chicken in the pocket...

Apple sneaks malware protection into Snow Leopard

ratfox
Happy

Everybody likes a challenge

I wonder how many hackers will rise to it?

Woman charged with cyberbullying teen on Craigslist

ratfox

I still don't get it

Why do we need special laws against cyber-bullying?

I'm sure if I put an ad with somebody else's name and coordinates

in the sex column of a printed journal, I can also get prosecuted.

Not that I care about what happen to people who harass others...

on the web or otherwise.

EU turns beady eye on flaming iPod menace

ratfox
Coat

Clearly it is...

An unintended activation of the self-destruct ability of the iPhone!

Apple did say they would fight against jailbreakers, didn't they?

Mine's the fireproof one...

38% of large US companies have full-time email monitoring staff

ratfox
Happy

Duplicity

Watch the movie!

Blade Runner tops sci-fi movie poll

ratfox
Thumb Up

Pretty much agree

Predictably, the list takes into account the influence of movies. Blade Runner fairly established the cult of dystopian megacities...

Among recent movies, I'd say Matrix would definitely have a place too. It will obviously become one of the greatest classics. The sequels will fade into oblivion, though.

I'm surprised anybody here suggested having sequels like Terminator 2, or even movies that evolved out of TV series like Star Trek. Being original, or at least more famous than previous works, is a necessary condition to be a classic, in my opinion.

Palm slams Apple, hoodwinks iTunes

ratfox
Flame

Pissed off

Yes, it's Apple's product... They want to choose what devices work with it... They want to lock out competition... It is their right, apparently. Perhaps.

Apple might have the right to do all that. I still get royally pissed off that they restrict on purpose the usefulness of their products. It is hard enough to get computers to do what you want without having these people working against you. It reminds me of DVD region codes.

BTW, here is the description of the latest version of iTunes:

"iTunes 8.2.1 [...] addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices."

They would not say "will not synchronize with non-Apple devices any more". They know people would get pissed off. I cannot help feeling it would be more honest.

Apple says jailbroken iPhones endanger cell towers

ratfox
Pirate

What? Hush-A-Phone?

And you want to attach these Hush-A-Phones to OUR phones?

NEVER! NEVER!! NEVER!!!

Truck drivers! Don't go texting now

ratfox
Thumb Up

@Why have an extra law

The point is to have a good reason to blame the texting driver after the accident.

Otherwise, the lawyer will counter the argument "driver was not paying attention

because he was texting" with such wonders as "it has never been proved that texting

diminishes the attention of a driver" and "if it was dangerous, it would be forbidden".

US tactical bot has no taste for humans

ratfox
Black Helicopters

that's not our mission

...The whose mission is it?

Gamer embezzles virtual cash to settle real debts

ratfox

pocket change

These $6000 are relatively pocket change compared to what gold farmers make...

The interesting thing is that he apparently was not bothered by the law for that. There are interesting discussions to have and is/should be legal with relation to virtual worlds...

'Get cameraphones out of nurseries' plea

ratfox
FAIL

How come...

It is STILL legal for lab assistants to take pictures of the fetus??

Conviction overturned in MySpace suicide case

ratfox
Thumb Up

On the side of the judge

What that woman did was wrong, but repeat after me:

"LAWS SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR OTHER PURPOSES THAN WHAT THEY WERE CREATED FOR"

I.e. if you cannot find a law that makes it illegal, don't twist the rules of logic to make it so.

BTW, my name is not ratfox.

Notorious phone phreaker gets 11 years for swatting

ratfox
Thumb Up

@Jimbo 7

It does not sound too much to me. Remember that prison terms add up: he got one year for this, two for that, and he did so much that he got eleven years...

it was more than just pranks. He was terrorizing innocent people.

US calls for China to revoke censorware plan

ratfox
Thumb Down

I don't get it

Which is the country again which tried to impose DRM to the whole world? I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure it's not China.

Honestly, this has very little to do with free trade. They might complain about the censorship, but that's all.

Disney punts hetero luuurv to wide-eyed kiddies

ratfox
Thumb Down

Hang on, wait a few years

Disney barely got to the idea of having a BLACK HEROIN... Give them time!

(and critics are complaining that her counterpart is kinda light-skinned)

Joke aside, most of Disney's movies use old traditional fairy tales.

These stories are usually devoid of homosexual love.

In fact, the first gay main character in history to appear in a story for

children may well be Dumbledore, and that is at most hinted at in the books.

Don't call me Ishmael

ratfox
Coat

How about...?

server1

server2

server3

Obama disconnects 'obsolete' cell phone tax

ratfox
Thumb Up

Makes sense

Taxes should be fair, but there is such a thing as going too much into details.

This is a good example.

The next thing they could do is to simplify how to pay tax over a nanny or

a babysitter. Currently, you need to register as a business in order to declare

your employee. No wonder few people do it...

Gartner: Windows 7 upgrade catch for XP converts

ratfox

Dangerous game

Didn't they try to force companies to change to a new OS a couple of years ago?

Didn't that failed?

All right, Win7 is much better than Vista by any account, but you would think

they would try to make it easier on the companies this time, given how much

the strategy failed last time...

Periodic table adding new element

ratfox
Paris Hilton

This is a case

where I wonder why those scientists get funding. What is the point? So that they can try to get 113 now?

All right, I suppose the way it decays gives them potential insight on the way atoms are built... Still.

Pressure group demands UK apes China net filter plan

ratfox
Thumb Down

Increased risk for developing sexually deviant tendencies

I wonder what they mean EXACTLY by this. As far as I know, there is no law in UK restricting people to have straight, plain vanilla sex in the missionary position (though there is such a law in Florida)

What is their criteria to call a sexual preference "deviant"? Anything they would not do?

Bing 'better' than Google for advertisers

ratfox
Happy

So it's Google for me

Since I try to avoid looking at advertisements, which I consider as the first step to brainwashing and mind control.

When by chance I see an ad which does interest me, I google the product rather than clicking on the link. I do not want them to know their ad was effective :-P

Engineers are troublesome 'expert loners', says prof

ratfox
Thumb Down

Working in a team

Anybody who has worked in a project knows that it is often best to break tasks down.

If done properly, this is much more efficient than group work. Decisions should be

taken at meetings, implementation should be done separately.

Twitter Yi not, as Beijing bins Bing

ratfox
Coat

The you-know-what that happened you-know-when

When you-know-who ordered you-know-what to you-know-what you-know-who

...Children in China must be wondering if they're stuck in Harry Potter...

The one with "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" in the pocket, please

David Carradine found dead in Bangkok

ratfox
Coat

Bill Killed

So she got him in the end...

Mine's still... in the wardrobe...

LoTR fan film set for net premiere

ratfox
Thumb Up

Looks great

I'm sure the budget would be far higher if they had not had millions of fans pitching in for free

Apple moves to patent mobile color

ratfox

Process can be patented

Of course, coloured carbon fibers are nothing new, but a new process to make them coloured can easily be patented.

Windows 7 gets built in XP mode

ratfox
Thumb Up

That's one problem solved

Now that companies now they will be able to use their existing solutions, they need to be convinced that upgrading is worth the price of new, faster computers...

Because that's the main problem of Microsoft: companies have found they can actually survive fine with an older OS.

US lawmakers to de-silence electric cars

ratfox
Paris Hilton

Jesus H Christ

Bicycles have existed for centuries without that being a problem...

Most cars can be really silent too.

PH, because even she knows when to shut up.

Apple eyes patent for web silence

ratfox
Thumb Down

The only question is...

Why the HECK hasn't this been standard for ages?

OY, Mozilla?!! Where's that volume control I've wanted since 2002??

I sure hope Apple cannot patent it, because then I would be forced to use Safari.

Pizza-polluting YouTube plonkers soil Domino's

ratfox
Thumb Down

@Dick Emery

You do not seem to understand. Domino did not overreacted; if anything they underreacted. Their pizzas have become associated with boogers in the mind of millions of people before they ever knew about it. That stuff can easily cost them millions.

Conspiracy theories aplenty as Amazon delists gay books

ratfox
Paris Hilton

Might be "honest" glich

If they classified all gay stories as "adult", then the only books left about homosexuality are right wing anti gay propaganda, and "why Heather has two mommies" books for kids. They'd better fix it though. I understand the ire of the authors.

PH, she's apparently classified as "adult"

Goldman Sachs seeks Goldman sucks site suit

ratfox
Thumb Up

@kain

The lawyers? Stupid? If somebody told me I could get paid 1'000$ an hour for threatening legal action which would obviously fail, I'd do it. And if they'd say I have to dance in the courtroom in a tutu, I'd ask which color the tutu.

Of course, maybe they could have TOLD Goldman that they would lose, and spare them the expense... But that would have been integrity, and lawyer swear off integrity when they get their degree.

UK police bust lottery scam centre in Somerset

ratfox
Paris Hilton

Sometimes, I'd like to meet one of these people

In this day and age, how come anybody is still answering these??

Mandatory PH icon

Naming the Palm Prē: Strategy Boutique OD's on joss-sticks

ratfox
Thumb Up

I wish all the luck to Palm

They'll need it...

Honestly, it's their last hope.

HK movie star porn snap thief faces trial

ratfox
Paris Hilton

How come so slow?

You mean the pics were stolen and burned on a CD in June 2006, and they did not appear on the web until Feb 2008?? I find that pretty incredible...

I can't imagine anybody sitting on all those pics for a year and a half. Maybe they tried to blackmail him in the meantime?

PH icon - HER pics are usually on the web after a day and a half at most...

Students Union reps vote to ban cheap booze for students

ratfox
Thumb Down

And people wonder why I am anti-union

Honestly, when that is the best union leaders can come up with...

It is a huge problem of society that it is possible for a small percentage

of fanatic zealots to take decisions with which the large majority disagrees,

but simply did not bother to show up. Yes, sometimes unions are useful;

but the leaders are too often self-important pricks who believe in ruling

the masses for their own good. Here is a typical example. /rant

Google advises flushing your website

ratfox
Paris Hilton

Whatever floats his boat

I'd guess few people would notice the difference, especially if their connection is less than optimal.

PH, because she floats my boat...

Unauthorised Wolverine claws his way onto interwebs

ratfox
Paris Hilton

I wouldn't steal a car...

But I did ride the bus without paying. Which is closer to what illegal downloading is, I guess.

PH, because I'd like to ride her without paying, too...

Palm opens up, and goes back in time

ratfox
Happy

Good move

Having a PalmOS emulator... I believe many people like these PalmOS applications, no matter how shitty the platform is to program on. Myself included.

My mind tells me that shorters are right, and the Pré is a really desperate effort. If Palm manages a comeback, it will be from the jaws of death.

But hey, people used to say the same about Apple ^^

Texas senator wants to ban Vista purchases

ratfox
Thumb Down

Vista may be sh1tty but...

I wonder what a senator is doing proposing laws on what OS to use or not to use.

I mean, does he want to regulate the size of donuts in state agencies, too?

UFO fleet menaces east London

ratfox

Pulled pic

The guy is still giving the finger in the pic just south of that one...

Germans announce: Revenge is inefficient

ratfox
Paris Hilton

@Alice

Actually, this could be easily the subject of a study:

"dumb people are more happy"

I believe it's likely to be true.

PH icon... well, no need to explain!

Google Voice forbids itself

ratfox
Thumb Down

Another example

of why EULA should be ignored.

Hopefully, the whole concept will be challenged in court, on the grounds that nobody reads them anyway.

German police boot down doors of Wikileaks offices

ratfox
Flame

Revolting

Searching wikileaks for distribution of child porn... Don't they need to have a reasonable suspicion before doing something like that??

Palm bets the farm on WebOS

ratfox
Unhappy

A bit late

I have nothing against palm (I have a treo), but they should have tried that years before. It's been clear for a while that their stupid palmOS was horrible to program for, and that they should change it...

Of course, this would have meant the apps painstakingly written for palmOS would have been so much garbage, but maybe they could have kept a few developers at the time. Now they are long gone.

TinyURL, your configs are showing

ratfox
Joke

Main use

From my observations, most tinyurls point to Rick Astley...

Lights out, Britons told - we're running out of power

ratfox

CFL bulbs and heating

There is an actual argument for using CFL bulbs and cranking up the heating.

Electricity is a "high-quality" energy, which is produced by burning coal far away,

producing steam, using turbines to produce electricity, which is brought all the way

to your house. You lose an appreciable portion of the power in the process. Using

that electricity to heat up the house via lamps is rather inefficient, with comparison

to using a gas heater.

But of course, the amount of energy saved is tiny.