* Posts by Phil Kingston

874 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jan 2008

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Car-crash television: 'Excuse me ma'am, do you speak English?' 'Yes I do,' replies AMD's CEO

Phil Kingston

Re: F1 is a Car Crash

They do need to sort out the media rights again. Hopefully something more along the lines of what Formula E are doing - their emphasis seems to be on fan engagement and large audiences.

An next year's Formula E car looks like something straight out of the Hot Wheels factory http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/january/introducing-the-gen2-formula-e-car/

SpaceX's Falcon 9 poised to fling 350kg planet-sniffing satellite into Earth orbit

Phil Kingston
Alert

I'm no rocket scientist, but dang, having to hit a 30 second launch window seems like quite a feat to me.

Android apps prove a goldmine for dodgy password practices

Phil Kingston

Re: There's Nothing Wrong With QWERTY...

I've always been more of an ASDFGH kinda guy

It's April 2018, and we've had to sit on this Windows 10 Spring Creators Update headline for days

Phil Kingston

Where's the obligatory "just install Linux" comment?

NUC, NUC! Who's there? Intel, warning you to kill a buggy keyboard app

Phil Kingston

Have to wonder if this is linked to this interesting story from yesterday: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-06/porn-site-pornhub-displayed-on-perth-yagan-square-touchscreen/9624428

Intel admits a load of its CPUs have Spectre v2 flaw that can't be fixed

Phil Kingston

Re: So since Intel have now confirmed that are unwilling to fix...

Depends on the definition of faulty I suppose.

Car analogies are always a good bet on a downvote, but let's say a car maker were hauled over the coals for using glass in their windows. That glass can be smashed and used to gain access to the car and have a good rummage around the glove box.

Would the manufacturer be liable in the same way? After all, the window served its purpose just fine until someone decided to unearth the hidden weakness in it, much like these CPU bugs.

Still, common sense has no place in the US legal system.

Here's the list of Chinese kit facing extra US import tariffs: Hard disk drives, optic fiber, PCB making equipment, etc

Phil Kingston

Re: Hats off!

Don't forget to narrow it down to only those machines used in making hats out of felt.

Lenovo sends EMEA exec into metaphorical burning building

Phil Kingston

Re: They could have it so easy

Was the ThinkLight the little LED above the screen that illuminated the keyboard?

Always struck me as a bit twee.

Microsoft patches patch for Meltdown bug patch: Windows 7, Server 2008 rushed an emergency fix

Phil Kingston

Re: Microsoft should be held accountable for there defective code

"Microsoft should be held accountable for there defective code"

I'm not normally one to go all there/their/they're on someone, but in that sentence it's gold.

Amazon warns you have 30 days before Music Storage files bloodbath

Phil Kingston

I'll doubt storage space is really their concern. Probably more that it's either not cost-effective to keep the service going, they don't have a more glamorous roadmap for it, didn't see the take-up they forecast, they're concerned about some aspect of regulation, or they simply can't be arsed any more.

Software gremlin robs Formula 1 world champ of season's first win

Phil Kingston

Re: Why not ban pit stops when the safety car is out.

Safety. If a car is an unsafe condition, such as dangerously worn tyres, then the driver must still be able to pit and change them. Sure, that means pit stops are gamed as Vettel did, but safety has to be their priority.

Reflection of a QR code on PoS scanner used to own mobile payments

Phil Kingston

Re: How to retrofit bonk-pay to your existing Smartphone

That can lead to scratching the phone. A better option may be to grab a sticker/coffecup/keyring/wristband/ring with the chip in from your provider of choice e.g. https://www.optus.com.au/shop/mobile/phones/wearables/optus-pay, https://www.westpac.com.au/personal-banking/mobile-wallets/paywear/, or www.inamo.com. In Australia at least. Not sure about other countries.

Phil Kingston

Re: Tokens "...when a card is swiped..."

I was confused over MST/NFC too. Hadn't heard of MST before. Happily, Sammy has what looks to be a reaonable explanation at https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00043949/

So MST is a contactless way of replicating an actual swipe.

Me though, I prefer bonking.

City of Atlanta's IT gear thoroughly pwned by ransomware nasty

Phil Kingston

Re: Unfortunate names

Agreed, something's not right there

Windows 10 to force you to use Edge, even if it isn't default browser

Phil Kingston

Re: That will be an improvement

Usually caused by another piece of software incorrectly editing the default file associations, so Windows reverts them to out-the-box defaults.

Chemical burns, explosive fires, they all come free with Amazon power packs

Phil Kingston

My, that's a big brush with which to tar an entire country.

Broadcom's buyout of Qualcomm bogs down as DC blocks merger

Phil Kingston

So is this decision less about blocking Broadcom or more about setting up a nice opportunity for Intel to swoop in?

Microsoft says 'majority' of Windows 10 use will be 'streamlined S mode'

Phil Kingston

Not just that - the "switch out of" bit suggests that the default for a newly unboxed PC will be S mode. Let's see how that goes down.

Android P will hear no evil, see no evil, support evil notches

Phil Kingston

Parma Violets

After all, who doesn't love the taste of soap.

FCC levies largest ever fine: $614m on Verizon (that's about three days of profit for telco giant)

Phil Kingston

I'm sure someone can enlighten me - where do fines such as these actually end up?

Chilly willies: Swedish nudie nightclub opens in -11°C to disgust of locals

Phil Kingston

Love that when I looked at this there were "69" comments.

Symantec ends cheap Norton offer to NRA members

Phil Kingston

"The loss of a discount will neither scare nor distract one single NRA member from our mission to stand and defend the individual freedoms that have always made America the greatest nation in the world."

That's exactly the kind of quote I'd expect out of <insert name of favourite terrorist organisation>

Intel's announced PCs packing 5G, and that's just plain wrong

Phil Kingston

Re: "Microsoft's eSIM-Based Always Connected PCs May Unlock Untapped Segment Growth"

Translation : "Microsoft's eSIM-Based constantly spying PCs May Unlock Untapped data slurping"

Should have gone full hog and thrown a "just install Linux" line in there too.

This job Win-blows! Microsoft made me pull '75-hour weeks' in a shopping mall kiosk

Phil Kingston

If true, then MS do indeed need a slap.

But I do sometimes wonder why people feel "forced" to work to strange demands and only raise it months later via a lawyer.

When Samsung reveals the S9 at MWC, at least try to act surprised

Phil Kingston

"no more than 18 months after which you're on your own. I'm sort of surprised that no trading standards authority has gone after them over this". A lot of manufacturers won't even do that long. Not sure quite what Trading Standards could do unless Sammy stated that they would provide software updates for X number of months. A device doesn't suddenly become unusable just because updated software isn't available for it.

Phil Kingston

They fell foul of Australian Consumer Law too. Long story short, if they sell a device with a 2 year plan then the device should last 2 years minimum.

Now with handset prices >$1500 starting to appear it won't be long until 3 year contracts are the norm, then it'll be required for a device to actually last that long.

Phil Kingston

How many times do owners of phones with user-replaceable batteries actually do so?

Australia's new insta-pay scheme has insta-lookup of any user's phone number

Phil Kingston

Whilst registering a real name is the default, I'm fairly sure my PayID sign-up offered a choice of names to be associated with. I regret not going with something creative like Heron Fluffytits.

Oi! Verizon leaked my fiancée's nude pix to her ex-coworker, says bloke

Phil Kingston

Re: Need more info..

I've got $10 that says the images arrived on that device by a method other than Verizon's cloud.

Phil Kingston

"Fuller said Verizon hasn't explained how the highly private images escaped onto the other guy's phone, but he speculated that something went wrong with Verizon Cloud, the US mobile gisnt's online storage service for photos and files."

Well he would say that wouldn't he? He's gonna be raking in lawyer fees and hoping Verizon pay Smith off just to make the case go away and Fuller can pocket a sizeable percentage of that settlement.

Everyone else though, I suspect we've got a more believable idea of how those photos ended up there.

Wow, MIND-BLOWING: Florida Man gets an earful from 'exploding Apple AirPod' bud

Phil Kingston

"went off to get an LA Fitness staffer for help"

Begs the question "what exactly did he think an LA Fitness staffer was going to do?"

T-Mobile US let hackers nick my phone number, drain my crypto-wallets, cries man who lost $20k

Phil Kingston

I must have missed that bit, thanks

Phil Kingston

Go on then, how were the crims able to do this? Are there any online crypto exchanges/wallets that only require a mobile phone number to get in? Surely a username/password was also required? How did the criminals get those? I wonder if he's not telling the whole story and is simply trying to put the blame for his own poor security practices onto someone else.

Lenovo literally has a screw loose – so it's recalled flagship Carbon X1 ThinkPads

Phil Kingston

They're probably having internal torques about who will get fired

HP coughs up $6.5m to make dodgy laptop display lawsuit go away

Phil Kingston

How on Earth did lawyers manage to spin that one out for 13 years? That's some leet skillz.

New Zealand joins the Space Race

Phil Kingston

Good point

Phil Kingston

Tin

Nin

Ight

Sivin

Sex

Fayv

Thri

Teh

Wen...

Blist Off

Who's using 2FA? Sweet FA. Less than 10% of Gmail users enable two-factor authentication

Phil Kingston

Re: No

"I will not be giving Google my cell phone number".

you might not have given them permission to do anything with it yet, but they've got it.

Phil Kingston

Re: Of course they don't use it

I was looking at Authy the other day. The idea of being able restore/migrate 2FA generation between devices (rather than having to set each one up again) appealed.

But it's another "free" app so it's not clear how/when they intend to monetise their customer base. And I'm not sure I'm comfortable handing over my multitude of 2FA code generators to them for "free". At least I know what I'm getting into with giving my mobile number to Google.

Phil Kingston

Re: What range of options do Google offer for 2FA?

They offer other options as a preference to SMS - hardware token, voice call, authenticator app, smartphone prompt and there's also 10 backup codes that can be regenerated any time.

Those wary of potential SMS hijacking should be well covered with the other options.

Australia won't prescribe its national broadband network a high-fibre diet

Phil Kingston

"a three-stage process that starts with a scoping visit, after which external works are carried out, and ending with an internal build visit to complete the connection"

I guess they've done the maths and found that multiple return visits by multiple subbies across extended time periods to the same address (and associated admin and customer services' time) to remediate basic issues is cheaper for them.

OK, Google: Why does Chromecast clobber Wi-Fi connections?

Phil Kingston

Re: when in tandem...

I was very pleased with the Vigour 130 I tried, the only issue being a ~10% sync speed drop compared to Broadcom-equipped modems on the same (VDSL) line. YMMV of course.

Phil Kingston

Linksys, Asus, TP-Link, Netgear, Synology all affected.

Good to see this getting some coverage now (issue started early December).

Would be good to get at least an acknowledgement of the issue from Google.

WikiLeave? Assange tipped for Ecuadorian eviction

Phil Kingston

Wait... he's still there?

IBM melts down fixing Meltdown as processes and patches stutter

Phil Kingston

"Big Blue’s remaining employees..."

Ouch

Memo man Damore is back – with lawyers: Now Google sued for 'punishing' white men

Phil Kingston

He'd probably best hope this doesn't come before a judge who identifies themselves as any particular minority

Boffins use inkjets to print explosives

Phil Kingston

"the only sacrifice at this point of development is that the nanothermite" and a warranty

If Australian animals don't poison you or eat you, they'll BURN DOWN YOUR HOUSE

Phil Kingston

Re: But how do they spread fires?

as per the article, carrying and dropping burning sticks would do it

Shopped in Forever 21? There was bank-card-slurping malware in it for, like, forever

Phil Kingston

Re: Question

Any number of ways from physical access to a terminal, back office server, head office PC, plugging their own lappy into a live LAN socket in store (or weakly password-protected in-store Wi-Fi), infected website payload downloaded on the back office PC by staff at lunchtime etc

Mix together electronic payment processing and (often, but not necessarily in this case) elderly POS terminals running embedded/outdated/ne'er patched OSes and it's not long until something stinky cooks up.

If you could force an honest answer from a tech company what would it be?

Phil Kingston

Now that you're done disrupting, can we get on with some homogenisation please.

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