Posts by Matthew Collier

Everyone who has commented on here...

...clearly has an opinion, so, go tell Nominet what it is! I have (or forever hold your peace ;) )

Surely a new market...

...for Sat Phone connected DSLRs and Video cameras, with instant auto upload back to base, for the Journos of the world press then?

Of course, that won't help when the Jackbooted thugs pretending to be law enforcement smash the equipment up...

AppAmour

As has been said, but it's worth pointing out, that anyone on a Debain based Linux distro, can use AppAmour. (K)Ubuntu comes out of the box with it installed, and profiles already created for the common Internet facing applications.

You can lock down these further, which I would do for Firefox (or any other web browser you might be using.

Of course, if you're this paranoid (nothing wrong with that! ;) ), then you'll probably be using NoScript, so the Java won't run yet anyway, and you'd also probably spot the oddity of why it wants to run a JAR in the first place...

Simples.

What I really want to know is...

...if IEEE1901 "regulates" against the leakage which causes interference for Radio HAMs and apparently, if the new bands go ahead, various other radio spectrum users?

Assuming 1901 does, then, you have the problem of finding any decent tests, of if anybody makes a pair of PLT units, that actually abide by the spec (and the law).

I recently did my best to investigate this, and in the end bought a pair of Netgear AV500s, as they seem to be one of the few IEEE1901 approved devices currently on the market, but I've no idea if they are actually causing anyone any problems (as I would like to not, if I can help it!).

Matt.

P.S. They were for the in-laws, and no, wireless or Cat5/6 are both not an option in this case! ;)

@Jonathan Rowe

Plenty of people will probably beat me to it, but that's what hosts files from mvps, NoScript, AdBlock Plus, and Privoxy are for... ;)

+1,2,3,4,5 or whatever...

...number of people have already said, I can't abide yum, apt has never given me a problem, and the Debain/Ubuntu repos nearly always have what you're looking for, out of the box. That alone is enough to stop me ever considering any non-Debain based distro, except for very specific, targeted purposes! (which usually, are far from the desktop)

I'm not a huge Gnome fan, run Kubuntu 8.04 (Hardy) (LTS) at home on the desktop, Linpus Lite on the Aspire One Netbook ('cos I'm lazy and haven't put Ubuntu on it yet), and Ubuntu 10.04 on everything else. To the AC who suggested Kubuntu, I can't believe what a horror show KDE4 (still) is, which means I'm looking at having to switch to Ubuntu, when the time inevitably comes. I'll put that off as long as I can though, 'cos almost everything in Hardy is perfect and functional (as long as you're not after shiny UI effects! ;) )

Matt.

That attitude....

....IMHO, is part of the problem, and shows how "they" are winning in the "War on a noun"...

Even if he *did* ask if the Police were on board, so what!!!???

NoScript not a defence??

RE: "Potential fixes implemented in the free DNS replacement OpenDNS and the Firefox NoScript plug-in won't prevent his exploit, Heffner adds."

I don't see how a vuln that relies on some JavaScript being run to execute the exploit, will work, when NoScipt doesn't allow the script to be run in the first place? (obviously, if it's injected into a "trusted" page, you're out of luck).

My kids, my responsibility...

...so, they are not allowed to touch "the buttons", they are not allowed to use the Internet unsupervised etc. etc.

The (unfiltered) world isn't for kids, that's why we all spend years "growing up", learning how it works, and how to react in/with it...

Why is personal responsibility such a supposedly "backward" idea, these days?

Jeez!

@Martin

"The difference is that police drivers are (a) massively more competent than the average driver and (b) trained to use Airwave and drive at the same time."

The very vast majority of "normal" Police officers receive mostly zero training. I once heard a senior copper state, we expect not to have to teach them how to write, so why do people expect us to have to teach them to drive".

Police were once given Advanced Driver Training, but it's too expensive, you see....

+1

LOL, me too....closely followed by Medibuntu and Restricted-Extras, to get <spit>FlashPlayer, core fonts, css, all the multimedia codecs, closed source or otherwise, etc...

It's all very well attempting to stick to open source, but who suffers if you can't open/use the formats everyone else is!

Pragmatism and realism in similar does are required to effectively operate Linux (but at least these days, at least it's highly usable, everyday, after taking some of this medicine...)

Deleting cookies...

Just set Firefox to turn all cookies into session cookies, deny 3rd party cookies, have a blacklist of "bad" cookie providers, and a whitelist for the very rare occasion where you need to keep one, then just use Scroogle SSL as well.

For the extra paranoid, like me, either Firefox's add-on BetterPrivacy, or, just schedule a script to delete Flash Cookies at regular intervals...

@kdrak

I got a disturbingly long way into these comments before I found someone who seems to understand how MAC addresses are used, and due to that understanding, not being bothered much about this.

I'm the opposite of a Google fan (I block most of their stuff), but they can't identify anybody, nor their computer, using this method so I think it's largely a non-story.

Any excuse to bash Google though, so hopefully, the Germans have some law which Google *have* broken on this, and they can give them a good slapping, just 'cos, Google deserve it in general... ;) :D

re: Send him to prison et al

Yes, that's right, how dare he resort to recourse legally available to him. If the argument is rubbish, he's not going to get anywhere, is he? Should that mean he shouldn't be allowed the chance to appeal against a clearly, ridiculous ruling?

Repeat, copyright infringement, is a civil offence, and is not stealing...

Another shout for O2/Be...

Was on BT business, 2.2Mb who told me the max I could get would be about 4. Went to O2, bought an 8 and get a rock steady 6.5 since day one (they estimated I could get 13.5 max, put that in your pipe, BT), and it hasn't changed since. Not one problem in 18 months, not even with the crappy aforementioned Thomson Box (got my own inner Firewall, so don't care too much about them having access to their "outer" one), other than it's ability to drop (guest) wireless connections after about 20-30mins of use.

Spoke to Customer Services once, before signing up, and spoke to a technical guy who actually understood, and had the correct answers to my pre-sales technical questions.

If the hardware is really cheap...

....who cares about the locked down GOS - super cheap hardware plus "proper"/normal install of you favorite flavour of Linux will be just the ticket...(and the chances of an onboard 3G modem sound likely, which is handy, in a Netbook)

RE: Being a solicitor...

...I'm not sure it would help all that much, judging by some of the actions of the cops here (and associated links), despite the members of the public involved seeming to have a very good grasp of the law also....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfQrDK9YHas

@Andrew Moore

Not just Foxit, there are a host of alternatives, for Windows and non-Windows alike. KPDF is what comes preinstalled on my OS/distro of choice.

@MinionZero and David S

Unfortunately, I fear you are both absolutely spot on...! :(

KDE too...

KDE has done this for quite some years also, and, like Gnome (and presumably other decent desktop managers), it's a little smarter. If you put in an SD card (or other type of storage card), USB stick, USB storage device of other kind, CD/DVD, etc., it will always give you a menu of context sensitive choices, which crucially, can't be changed by the device that has just been plugged in (Microsoft's second mistake, after default autoplay/autorun). The option to open with a limited "open in a file manager" type option, is always an option also.

How it should be!

Matt.

Phorm in death throws...?

Stop Phoul Play (http://www.stopphoulplay.com/) sounds like the last gasp flailing of an organisation not long for this world to me (we live in hope!).

It's so unfair isn't it, how all these nasty people are ganging up on poor ol' Phorm, who just want to improve BT customers (not me, I jumped ship when the news came out) web experience and safety....sic ;)

Matt :)

Not enough mention of Scroogle...

...but plenty of AdBlock etc.

Of course, Scroogle *could* be untrustworthy also, but, they don't have the global reach of Google, so are comparitively, a safe bet.

If I were Google, I'd be asking Scroogle how much money they wanted, for selling their IP logs!

Perhaps TOR to Scroogle, just to be sure? ;)

Matt :)

@Liam

Actually, some of the Freesat SD channels use a lower resolution compared with Freeview (ITV, mostly, IIRC), so that is not always true. I would say that with the combination of differing bitrates and resolutions, Freeview just has the edge, but it's so close it's a pointless discussion.

However, the point of Freesat, is for people who can't get Freeview, with the added bonus of BBCHD and a small amount of ITV-HD (I think the FTA HD was an afterthought).

The other thing often not mentioned in these reviews is how the picture of both HD, and particularly, SD, of the Humax vs. the Sky HD box, is much better, which to some people, is important.

With regards to the network port, it's part of the Freesat spec (Freesat, after all, is just an EPG, and a hardware spec, all the channels were already up there being broadcast anyway FTA), and rumours are of integrating the BBC iPlayer into the platform at some point, which would be handy, if true. It would be handy if it would be possible to ship recordings on and off the box via the network in the future also, rather than via USB, as at the moment.

The unit is a bit buggy at the moment, but most owners seem overall, very pleased with them:

http://www.hummy.org.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=74

I don't have one of these boxes (yet), but am considering as an augmentation to TiVo, but am currently enjoying Freesat HD content via a Panasonic TV with built in decoder.

Matt :)

I am staggered...

...that there are so many people who think there is a defence for:

1. A law which is clearly ludicrous, the ability to "patent" "a method", a "way of doing something", usually obvious

2. Even assuming you beleive that this crazy law should be respected, that the "patents" in question themselves, have any merit whatsoever!

To my mind, it's nearly as ridiculous as someone "patenting" "a method where a human being uses two legs and feet, in an repeating alternating fashion, to transport themselves", or somesuch similarly ludicrously obvious thing.

It's not really even a Microsoft vs Linux debate, it's just the latest demonstration of the broken system that is the US Patent system.

To the poster who said the post change support on Linux is harder than on Windows, I've never successfully changed a motherboard on a Windows machine (due to the old one blowing up, and being too old (more than 6 months ;) ) to replace like-for-like), for a different type (chipset, specifically), and Windows has been able to cope with it, unlike Linux where it is (usually), a breeze. Same goes for changing network cards, post install, easiest thing I've ever done in Linux (zero config changes or driver install, on boot up), sometimes, this can't be said for Windows, even when you *have* the new drivers.

Windows and Linux are both good at some things, not so good at others, but against all odds, Linux is catching up on the desktop, fast, and is already there in the datacentre! What I don't get is why people can't see the advantage in not being locked into endless cycles of patch updates (all desktops have this problem, but so do Windows servers, Unix and Linux servers do not), being told how to use their computers, and what they are allowed to do with them...

Matt.

I have to say...

...the naivety displayed in this BBC discussion thread really does astound me!

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=1&forumID=6079&start=30&tstart=0&edition=1&ttl=20090219151627#paginator

Matt.

WRT the contract

Wasn't there an option to cancel the contract just after sign up (can't remember the details). So, if there is no contract WRT which carrier you are using, there is no case. Of course, that is true in the EU, but I doubt it is, in the US (not sure about elsewhere).

Just a thought.

Another is, I'd expect anybody who's got one, who wants the device they paid for, to do whatever they damn well like with it. if they see fit! ;)

Here we go again...

...with hundreds of comments about "just install another browser", and "what about Apple/Ubuntu" comments, missing the point that it's about:

1. The interwoven nature of IE (and it's supporting rendering engine) into the OS, that you can't get rid of, even if you wanted to (and have everything still work). This covers the "just install the browser you want", argument.

2. A monopoly (in one market) abusing it's market position to influence it's position in another market. This covers the "Why not go after Apple for Safari, and Ubuntu for Firefox, too", argument.

Personally, I only care from the point of view that their continuation of this practise will continue the status quo where many sites (that sometimes I need to use), only support a non-standards compliant browser that I don't have (as I don't run Windows).

Matt.