* Posts by foo_bar_baz

752 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Oct 2007

Virgin Media site goes titsup in Pirate Bay payback attack

foo_bar_baz

Re: My first Matt Bryant upvote ... almost

You are "silly posturing" there yourself, Matty.

foo_bar_baz
Headmaster

My first Matt Bryant upvote ... almost

Please drop the rightwing nutjob "theft" crap and you might actually have a point.

theft -> copyright infringement

they're -> their

'I'm no visionary': Torvalds up for $1.3m life-changing gong

foo_bar_baz

@ goldman sachs

Selective reading is the main underpinning making up the tin foil hat brigade. Try reading the final paragraph of the article you linked.

How far do you think the Goldman Sachs conspiracy extends? Choosing brands of toilet paper and soap? If you are right, we should have lots of empirical evidence right here, IT professionals wanting to buy Microsoft or Sun being told by top management to go with Linux instead.

foo_bar_baz

Re: So ripping off MINIX and giving it away for free counts as "innovation" now?

I stopped reading at "GUI". Which one is that? Media Crossbar on my Sony TV? Android? One of the web interfaces used by Linux based Appliances? And who uses a GUI on a *nix server?

Someone who measures Linux by the desktop (same ones shared by the BSDs BTW) is just being an idiot.

Death Star dinosaur aliens could rule galaxy

foo_bar_baz

Hmm

Is it deterministic that dinosaurs must evolve first before mammals? Disperse some amino acids to 100 suitable planets, and dinosaurs spring forth in all of them. Kill all dinosaurs, and mammals will take their place?

What if the planets are suitable for life, but provide different stimuli for evolution? One might favours flying creatures, another could be 95% covered by water. Can't the same amino acids seed totally different kinds of life forms with different appearances, organs and reproductive systems?

Google shows off Project Glass augmented reality specs

foo_bar_baz

Re: Google sell ads

They show you ads, but more importantly your data is the product they sell to advertisers. What kind of data can & will they gather from your glasses, for selling to others?

No thanks. Having an Android phone already makes me feel dirty.

Use the holy word of God to stay secure online, says bishop

foo_bar_baz
Linux

Re: urandom

I posed a serious question, I wanted to know the utilty of the first "head". Thanks for the answer and for the thumbs down. I guess.

foo_bar_baz
Paris Hilton

Re: urandom

Why not:

tr -dc [:print:] < /dev/urandom | head -c 20

Facebook: Your boss asks for your password, we'll sue him! Maybe

foo_bar_baz

Shut down application != account deleted

"And anyone in breach of the Facebook regulations can have their account deleted.

We’ll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges"

Application = FB application, not user account

Ten... stars of the Geneva Motor Show

foo_bar_baz

Mazda

Sex on wheels. I've always liked Mazda styling.

Global warming COULD SHRINK THE HUMAN RACE

foo_bar_baz

My thoughts exactly

"It's not the first time that scientists have noticed that mammals seem to be smaller in hotter climates, and have speculated that evolution takes care of this, because smaller animals will thrive in high temperatures because their bodies are easier to cool."

What? Have these people ever been to Africa and Asia? Tigers, lions and leopards vs. lynx? Eland are bigger than moose. African buffalo aren't smaller than bison or wisent. Not to mention elephants, giraffes, etc.

Temperature might have an effect on size, but surely other things like availability of food and other evolutionary quirks like elephants' ears.

RIP: Peak Oil - we won't be running out any time soon

foo_bar_baz

Re: Re: Well, given the rate at which the Chinese are buying new cars . . .

Andrew, you just keep repeating "synthetics". I'd like to read about the viability of growing our fuel. Let's forget about the economics for a moment, just focus on the projected availability of land and the demand for food and fuel.

foo_bar_baz

@Dan Hall

So, on the one hand you have scientists who just want more money. On the other hand, you have Big Industry and Big Banking, who are totally objective on the matter.

Right.

Those money-grabbing scientists, always flouting their wealth with their flashy cars, hookers and blow. Glad I've got industry lobbyists and their "reports" looking out for my best interest.

Daniel Craig like Connery, Skyfall helmsman suggests

foo_bar_baz
WTF?

Re: I like Craig's Casino Royale

How do you get those links in, dagnabbit?!

Top Euro beaks to probe ACTA for rights breaches

foo_bar_baz

Welcome to the Internet, Shane

Crap from China, Brazil, Russia, the Middle East and East Europe hits every Internet host out there. ISPs are dumb pipes, they shouldn't go firewalling your Internet facing hosts on their own, it's your job to secure them. If they are supposed to offer you a firewall or intrusion detection service, that's another thing.

Brit pair deported from US for 'destroy America' tweet

foo_bar_baz

... and in other news

Aouth arrested and charged with intention to vandalize city, after tweeting they'd "paint the town red".

foo_bar_baz

Incentives

@Dr. Mouse:

That would be the right thing to do. But do the officials have any incentive to double check and take the "risk" of letting them in? Or do they need to cover their asses so they don't get blamed in (diminishingly unlikely) case that these guys do something stupid/illegal while in the country?

Got to fill the quotas and cover ones ass, when a bureaucrat.

foo_bar_baz

Subtlety not their forte

Someone explain to our American cousins the difference between figurative and literal. Fundamentalist muslims with explosives on one side, then these guys with killer robot drones and nuclear weapons on the other. I see a bright future ahead.

Also an excellent demonstration of Internet and surveillance. The older I become the more luddite tendencies I'm beginning to have.

How can family sysadmins make a safe internet playground for kids?

foo_bar_baz

Which works as long as the ISP is able to determine what is adult content and what isn't.

Netgear ReadyNas Duo v2 network storage

foo_bar_baz
Thumb Up

Another vote for MicroServer

Good value machines.

Eurocom Panther 2.0 Core i7, SLI notebook

foo_bar_baz
Happy

Notebook

A printed volume weighing 5.3 kilograms is in the tome-encyclopaedia range. In computer terms it's almost pushing into portable-luggable territory. Calling it a laptop is already tenuous, deffo not a notebook.

</nitpick>

Judges probe minister's role in McKinnon extradition saga

foo_bar_baz

I don't know about PC World, but here's some wiki reading for you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_off-the-shelf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nmap

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nessus_%28software%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metasploit_Project

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OWASP_Mantra_Security_Framework

...

Nokia partners with EA in major WinPho game push

foo_bar_baz
Mushroom

@Bob Vistakin

Please, you've already shown your colours. You realize we can see your message history, right?

It was so predictable you'd be trolling this thread, as you have every other Nokia / Win Mobile news item, with your probably-paid-for "views". As such we know exactly how much value to assign to your spewage.

Where's the squelch option?

Nokia sheds light on latest Lumia

foo_bar_baz

@giles jones

There are 3 Lumia phones. The third one is the 710. http://www.nokia.com/gb-en/products/phone/lumia710/

US deploys 1.8 gigapixel helicopter surveillance drones to Afghanistan

foo_bar_baz

Units

"The 35 foot long Hummingbird can operate at a ceiling of 30,000 feet, has 2,250 miles of range and can fly at a maximum of 165mph, with Boeing claiming an endurance record in its class with an 18.7 hour flight time."

What's that in midget spans, furlongs and Standard Spaghettilengths per Venutian mooncycle?

Apple's TV killer 'on shelves by summer 2012'

foo_bar_baz

@MD Rackham

It seems to be particularly rampant on these .co.uk sites.

Lumia sales fail to set world alight

foo_bar_baz

Astroturfing sockpuppets + nerdy hate frenzy

Check the posting records of accounts posting actively in this thread:

admiraljkb

Bob Vistakin

For the record I have an Android phone, would have got an N9 if it weren't so expensive. Could have been an Apple or WinPho just as well. It's just a phone.

foo_bar_baz
Mushroom

LOL

Just look at "Bob Vistakin" who's signed up to reply *5 times* - so far - in this thread. Astroturfers only in Microsoft payroll?

foo_bar_baz

Strange

All the other stores are pushing them because they want to dump their poorly selling stock...

...if you are to believe the posts above.

Which is it? Oh, it's just a nerdy forum hate frenzy. I get it now.

Four Romanians charged with hacking 150 Subway shops

foo_bar_baz
Trollface

Evidence would suggest Subway Malaysia and the Subway USA are different in this regard, then.

FWIW, I pay with debit and credit at Subway here in Eurotopia.

Fragged, fragged and thrice fragged! 20 years of id Software’s Doom

foo_bar_baz
Coat

nostalgia aside

I saw a glimpse of the screenshot on the side bar as I was scrolling the front page and it looked very disturbing indeed. Freud me down.

Assange: 'iPhone, BlackBerry, Gmail users - you're all screwed'

foo_bar_baz

To sceptics

Two questions: can it be done, and is there a market for it. If you answer yes to both, you know it's being done.

Regarding OS bashing, the fact that the software was found so easily on Android goes to show that open is better. Much harder to see what is running on other more closed platforms. BTW, "dumb" phones aren't any safer. Just because it requires a more esoteric and less common environment to make software for them, does not mean they are less capable of this kind of applications. Oh, never mind esoteric, Java runs on "dumb" S40 phones: http://www.developer.nokia.com/Develop/Series_40/Platform/ though tbh I'm not familiar with what APIs it exposes.

BUSTED! Secret app on millions of phones logs key taps

foo_bar_baz

The phone OS and phone manufacturer are irrelevant

If you don't want a phone with operator installed crap on it, don't buy/rent your phone from an operator.

Toyota unveils 'smartphone on four wheels'

foo_bar_baz

Car to car networking

What could go wrong?

Pirated software hard drive on display as art

foo_bar_baz

@Neil Barnes

What's being displayed is totally irrelevant. It's art because it highlights a matter of great contemporary importance in a rather clever way. See the discussion in this thread. Artist's mission accomplished.

Back to your crayons now.

Chinese £200 iPhone killer unwraps for Xmas

foo_bar_baz

Still think

Nokia should release an Android phone to compete with these guys?

Manning to get day in court

foo_bar_baz

@AC troll 6:19

"Endanger the welfare of all Americans and many other countries"

Yeah, the fallout from the leaks has cost so many lives. Oh, what? None? How about bringing the perps exposed by the leaks to justice?

Nokia's Great Lost Platform

foo_bar_baz

Scratching the surface of canned projects

Oh if walls in Espoo and Helsinki could talk ...

Vacuum cleaner set Swedish nuke plant on fire

foo_bar_baz
Thumb Up

Just what I was going to say

Have they done a headcount of their cleaning staff? What else was left inside?

Deep-sea squid go from transparent to dark as fast as a Kindle

foo_bar_baz
Coat

Missing the point

One octopus is clearly a single pixel on a display.

Eurozone crisis: We're all dooomed! Here's why

foo_bar_baz

Blame Germany and France too

I don't blame just the loose governments in the Mediterranean countries. Germany and France, along with almost every Euro member, broke the Maastricht Treaty by taking more debt than they were supposed to, without any penalties. This was a direct license for the PIGS to do the same.

Flawed treaty with no penalties for breaking the agreement, bad example by those who could afford to break it, bad judgement in the countries that could not.

People of those countries that did abide by the treaty now have to foot the bill.

Eggheads crack open web troll brains

foo_bar_baz
Thumb Up

Well done

By the book corporate image management. £££'s well deserved.

foo_bar_baz

That's a false dichotomy. You don't have to be a nihilist to agree that there are shades of grey.

Being always right, which trolls usually are, is much more suspect than having a rigid view of right and wrong.

Nude lady recreates Star Wars tauntaun scene in dead horse

foo_bar_baz

She's using a knife, so my guess is they're there for grip. Slippery hands + sharp knife != good idea.

foo_bar_baz

She has promise

It tells the prospective employer she's not squeamish, unlike the spoilt brats they show on the sundry model wannabe shows on TV. Not that I'd ever admit to watching those. No no never.

Binned PCs were stuffed with MoD and Sun staffers' privates

foo_bar_baz

Vertical drill press + bend pins for physical destruction.

A rapid first hands-on: Nokia’s Windows phones

foo_bar_baz

It's "USP"

Don't say there aren't any until you've seen the bundled sat nav. People buy Nokia phones just for that alone.

Apple iPhone 4S

foo_bar_baz

My point still stands

There are people (including a friend) driving 199x 5-series BMWs. They do it for the love of technology, and get their vehicles dirt cheap because those perfectly good cars are worthless to the people who buy them new.

Imagine BMW bringing out the next 5-series looking exactly the same as the last, with all the improvements under the bonnet. Like Volvo does with the "classic" just before an update, but not actually doing an update at all. The got-to-be-hip crowd would have to resort to buying another brand.

Oops, I made a car analogy. Sorry.