* Posts by Shades

910 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Mar 2008

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Google emails Virgin Media subscribers ... about privacy

Shades

Have you got...

...a YouTube account, Blogger account, Picassa account or an account with some other Google owned service? Google unified the accounts for their various services a while ago. If you have got an account with one of these services try going to Google and signing in, just don't be surprised if your login is successful!

Flag-waving Lego Canuck soars to 80,000ft

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Thumb Up

There is some hope...

...for the youth of today then after all!

Google finally admits it wants to OWN YOU

Shades

RE: "Google's results are all Google URLs that redirect."

After some (quick) experimentation it seems that Google still serves[1] their links with direct URLs. However, via some Javascript trickery - which naturally won't work if its not enabled - the direct URL is changed on the client machine to direct back through Googles servers (so they know which link you clicked and track you more effectively). This "slight of hand" is also poorly[2] obfuscated in the status bar.

As you seem to have already realised, NoScript prevents the URL changing code from running and so you get to see the direct URL. However if you, like me, use other Google services which require Javascript to work correctly then the above Grease Monkey script seems to be a workable solution to prevent Google directly tracking the link you clicked on without having to enable/disable Javascript all the time.

[1] If I had my tin-foil hat on I would say Google do this so they can still say they serve only direct URLs. which probably satisfies the "average"[3] user. Remember, the "slight of hand" happens AFTERWARDS on the client machine.

[2] Google, again using Javascript, tells the status bar to ONLY show the direct URL when you hover over a link and not the full re-directed URL. However, this falls over when you right click on the link... the true (re-directed) URL is then displayed for that link from that point on until you refresh or navigate away from the page. (This behaviour happens in both Firefox and Chrome)

[3] Like my nan. Or the other "average" user, the one who thinks they know what they're talking about but haven't actually got a sodding clue... Everybody knows one. A perfect example being numpty unknown who recently advised my ex that her BLACKBERRY shouldn't be used for EMAIL!

Shades
FAIL

Your problem...

...in common with a LOT of other people, is that YOU FAIL to read the T&Cs. I'm not trying to be a smart-arse about this but YOU gave them permission to make changes to the services they, or others on their behalf, provide after you signed on the dotted line AND give your information to third parties in the course of providing those services.

Also, to be fair to Virgin they DID give notice on their website, and send out an emails to the same effect, that they were switching to Google as their email provider rather than continue running their own in-house services inherited from Blue Yonder, NTL, etc.

The following is from: http://shop.virginmedia.com/the-legal-stuff.html

B (1): General

f. Some parts of the services (for example, television channels that form part of our television services and other content on, or accessible via, our television services) are supplied by other organisations. As a result, due to matters outside our reasonable control or for commercial or contractual reasons, Virgin Media Ltd may change, cancel or postpone all or any component part(s) of the services without notice, but giving you reasonable notice of any withdrawals and changes where it is possible to do so. You will be entitled to end these agreements if the changes are significant, as described in paragraph J5.

G (2): By having the services provided by us installed in your home and/or by using them you are providing your consent to use your personal information together with other information for the following purposes:

a. providing you with the services, service information and updates;

Occasionally third parties may be used to process your personal information in the ways outlined above. These third parties are permitted to use the data only in accordance with Virgin Media Ltd's instructions (as applicable).

H (2): Virgin Media Ltd and/or Virgin Media Payments may at any time improve, modify, amend or alter the terms of these agreements and/or the services and their content if:

b. Virgin Media Ltd decide that the services should be altered for reasons of quality of service or otherwise for the benefit of customers or, in Virgin Media Ltd's reasonable opinion, it is necessary to do so;

c. for security, technical or operational reasons;

f. if the changes or additions are minor and do not affect you significantly or we wish to have all our customers on the same terms and conditions; or

g. in all other events, where we reasonably determine that any modification to the relevant system or change in trading, operating or business practices or policies is necessary to maintain or improve the services provided to you.

Shades

RE: FF plugin to extract the real URL

I used to use CustomizeGoogle, then OptomizeGoogle (which used the Customize code-base after the original dev moved onto other things) for years. However OptomizeGoogle, IMHO, got steadily worse and worse at doing its job. I don't think this was the fault of the new dev, more Googles fault with their constant changes (which I'm pretty sure they do on purpose to frustrate these kind of addons/scripts). Its a shame really as OptomizeGoogle had some really neat features. I might give it another try just to see if the situation has improved.

But as someone else mentioned above, the GreaseMonkey addon script above does work.

Kiwis collar Megaupload kingpin, Anonymous exacts revenge

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Stop

Is that...

...you again "Morris D"? You really should change the record... tape, CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, MP3, MP4 or whatever next format you're going to try and spout the same old shite to us in!

The Register to publish other sites' blacked-out content in SOPA protest

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Stop

Go back...

...to The Inquirer* "Morris D"

"These foolish blackouts are a waste of tiem. They will be as ineffective as the "occupy" protests were. The world ain't going to allow piracy to go unpunished so the pirates might as well get in touch with reality. It's very simple: pirate and be punished."

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/comment/2139716/mpaa-opposes-sopa-blackouts

No point hiding behind Anon Coward now is there?

*I only went there to check out their take on SOPA/PIPA, I don't make a habit of it. Please don't cancel my subscription El Reg! ;)

Intel caught faking CES ultrabook gaming demo

Shades

As it happens...

"Care to elaborate? The NC10 only has a resolution of 1024x600. Have you tried hooking up a Full HD TV and running it as a second display of 1920x1080?"

Yes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h42cm6gI25k

My NC10. The (then) girlfriends TV.

Shades

Something...

...is not quite with right your netbook then. My Samsung NC10 plays 720p easily and can, with the right codec, do 1080p.

A preview of SOPA: Web shut down before my eyes

Shades

I'm more interested...

...how you managed to sneak markup past El Regs input filters*?

*unless those filters were otherwise known as moderators, who no-longer prowl these lands.

New stealthy botnet Trojan holds Facebook users hostage

Shades

I don't necessarily see...

...how this is a problem?

I mainly use Facebook to post funny things I've found while meandering in odd corners of the internet and for occasionally keeping in touch with people I don't often see.

If this kept a few of the idiots off Facebook it would be a more pleasant place!

Ferguson Hill FH009 home theatre system

Shades

Just for once...

...could we please have an audio review without any of the pretentious Hi-Fi magazine b*ll*cks?

"the stereo horns need some air to breathe" - Why, do they have lungs?

"the soundstage is wide and lithe" - Lithe? Bending readily; pliant; limber; supple; flexible

"re-creating crowd ambiance" - Isn't that more to do with the sound editor/mixer?

"fleshy, realistic vocals" - Fleshy? Having much flesh; plump; fat.

Comet 'sold 94,000 pirate Windows CDs', claims Microsoft

Shades

Shh, Mr Harris...

...don't give them any more bloody ideas!!

US military's non-lethal weapon plans revealed

Shades

Nonsensical Hyperbole

"will blind people for ten seconds and subject them to a bowel-watering 143 decibels"

Bowel-watering? I'm guessing either "bowel-loosening" or, at a stretch, "pant-wetting" was intended but got merged by the CPU's hyperbole algorithm before being sent to the output device(s)?

Apple’s Siri gets sweary with British child

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Pint

It shouldn't be...

...that funny, but I've just had tears streaming down my face imagining it! Bravo!

Anti-piracy laws will smash internet, US constitution - legal eagles

Shades
WTF?

I can't quite figure out...

...if you're a troll or a complete and utter tool?!

Bah, humbug! Virgin Media censors Charles D**kens

Shades
Thumb Up

Thanks

See left and above.

Shades

Any Questions?

Is that anything like Question Time?

Belkin LiveAction Camera Grip

Shades

Another contender...

...as far as the camera is concerned at least: The Sony Satio.

My ex had one when it first came out. For a week, until she lost it. The pictures from the 12Mp snapper were fantastic, and it had a proper Zenon flash too.

Shame the rest of the phone was utter rubbish though, including the shonky touch screen (it was resistive, but still awful!). Although it was pretty cool that you could output the phones screen to TV as well as any video playback.

Homeland Sec., RIAA Torrent lists published

Shades

I call...

...hoax.

For the people who stopped reading after "You could just be very good at covering your tracks...for now"

...

"However, it looks like we’ve picked up some activity from your friends or family. Maybe it’s time to give them a stern talking to about the importance of legally downloading their music and movies and how Lady Gaga is starving and how George Clooney won’t get proper royalties because of pirates like them!!! Oh, the HORROR!!!"

Carrier IQ meets feds 'to educate them'

Shades

Thats what...

...I've been saying all along.

Google's Schmidt strikes Carrier IQ off Xmas card list

Shades

It really IS that open...

...The only bits that aren't are the GApps (Google Apps), but other than that you can download the source and (almost) change anything you want, to do anything you want. You can even swap/edit Linux kernals to get it running on devices that were never intended for Android. My HD2 for instance, which now has a version of CyanogenMods CM7 Android build as a daily driver, has a modified kernal to get Android to work with the hardware. So, its not beyond the realms of possibility for CIQ to hide stuff away in there too.

Carrier IQ VP: App on millions of phones not a privacy risk

Shades

48 hours El Reg?

This has been going on for over a week now! Carrier IQs first reaction was to send in the dogs and threaten the little guy who found their software with a lawsuit, which they very, very quickly dropped once the EFF got involved. This, in my eyes, tells us all we need to know about CIQ and their software... They used scare tactics and then quickly withdrew them in the hope that TrevE would consider himself lucky and not pursue things further. Something to hide fellas?

Hopefully the damage is done and no amount of attempted limitation is going to put the genie back in the bottle... well, until another, similar company sneaks in the back door and we get to take another spin on the privacy merry-go-round... again!

Thank goodness we've got inquisitive guys like TrevE looking out for us, and, when companies decide to "shoot first", they've got the EFF to back them up.

Shades

48 hours El Reg?

This has been going on for over a week now! Carrier IQs first reaction was to send in the dogs and threaten the little guy who found their software with a lawsuit, which they very, very quickly dropped once the EFF got involved. This, in my eyes, tells us all we need to know about CIQ and their software... They used scare tactics and then quickly withdrew them in the hope that TrevE would consider himself lucky and not pursue things further. Something to hide fellas?

Hopefully the damage is done and no amount of attempted limitation is going to put the genie back in the bottle... well, until another, similar company sneaks in the back door and we get to take another spin on the privacy merry-go-round... again!

Thank goodness we've got inquisitive guys like TrevE looking out for us, and, when companies decide to "shoot first", they've got the EFF to back them up.

(Apologies if the is reposted El Reg, something odd happened and it didn't appear as "submitted" in my "My Posts" page... actually, looking at it my last few comments haven't?)

NASA busts booster booster

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Joke

What surprises me...

...is the plumbing is a lot smaller than the bell-end, and that you get so much thrust from something so small.

Yeah, yeah... Thats what she said! ;)

NASA probe now closer than ANY OTHER spacecraft to Pluto

Shades
Stop

AND...

...the other BBC annoyance: Bullet Point News

If I wanted to read news designed for those with short attention spans, whom are unable to digest anything longer than a sentence or two at a time I'd go and read the dumbed-down BBC Sci/Tech section*!

* or pretty much ANY section of the BBC website.

Google rejigs search bar (again)

Shades

Opposite applies at the minute...

Today an additional blue bar has appeared, directly below the black one, declaring "Click here to start sharing on Google+"

I'm thinking its time to begin investigating the Grease Monkey Firefox addon again to see if that can do anything to "restore" the search page to its once clutter free design. OptomizeGoogle can't seem to keep up with Googles constant changes (Google actively appears to be trying to circumvent OptomizeGoogles circumventions... causing a little battle of wills between OptomizeGoogle removing stuff and Googles scripts adding them back while the page constantly refreshes!)

BUSTED! Secret app on millions of phones logs key taps

Shades

Not sure...

...if trolling, or just stupid

http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/131351-futurama-fry-not-sure-if-x

Shades

Slow

I was about to post the same link. Seems El Reg has been a bit slow on the up-take with this one (it all started around Nov 14)

Best Buy fires parting shot at Dixons with closing down sale

Shades

Ive never, ever...

...had a problem with Overclockers and I've brought LOTS of stuff from them over the years (from laptops to motherboards, and components to peripherals). Mind you, they are walking distance away from me (well, walking distance if you're not lazy, but 2 minutes by car lol), so I get to speak face-to-face with a real person.

Ice Cream Sandwich

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Stop

@Eponymous Cowherd

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzt - Wrong!

"With the screen now playing host to a row of virtual system buttons – as well as a five-button dock – you need to get used to the complete absence of fascia controls"

Did it completely escape your attention that the pics in the article are *screenshots*?

This *doesn't* mean to say that manufacturers are going to forgo hardware buttons altogether, these new soft-buttons can be removed... the guys over at XDA Developers have already kindly done so for those of us with phones which still have physical buttons as they were just eating up screen real-estate and duplicating functionality that we already had.

Can't wait for a 100%* working Cyanogenmod ICS ROM for my HD2 :)

Asus Eee Pad Slider SL101

Shades
Paris Hilton

Eh?

My HTC HD2, which was released in 2009 and originally had WinMo but now has the TyphooN CM7 v2.3.7 (Gingerbread) ROM in NAND, can do 720p video absolutely perfectly (tested with around 2000kbps AVC / 150kbps AAC). Surely the Transformer, designed for Android and with its newer Tegra 2 chippery, should easily be able to do 720p? Perhaps your friend has a shed load of stuff going on in the background, syncing, calling home, etc?

Toyota unveils 'smartphone on four wheels'

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Thumb Up

Want...

...want, WANT! :)

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Android smartphone

Shades
Paris Hilton

Do you not mean...

...this is the first COMMERCIALLY available phone with ICS? I'm pretty sure some of us already have it on our phones!

All hail XDA Developers! :)

GiffGaff blames O2 gaffe for mobile outage

Shades

O2 Coverage

Thats odd, I'm currently sitting looking at my phone (a HD2 with a flashed Android ROM, so definitely not stock) that has a 'H' for the data connection and I'm, as the crow flies, about 110 miles outside of the M25. In fact, I've never had any problems with getting a 3G/HSDPA signal where I've been. I think sometimes the signal you get is often down to the phone itself rather than the network.

Man sues boss for 'condemning him to eternal damnation'

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Thumb Up

@Can't think of anything witty

Thanks for taking my comment in the spirit it was intended :)

Perhaps I should included a winking emoticon for the two humourless team talkers, managers or golfers (or a combination of all three I suppose) that we have amongst us.

Shades
Stop

Going forward?

*shudders*

Please save that kind of language for patronizing "team talks", tedious management meetings, and the golf club.

Thank you.

Mysterious sat-pic China desert markings - EXPLAINED

Shades

Does what now?

"satellite calibration patterns" on US military bases in the UK which are visible on Google Earth. According to the US mil they are actually motorcycle training areas but that sounds far too reasonable... so let's not let the "truth" get in the way! :)

New anonymity rule on Euro airport body scanners

Shades

Does what now?

So we'll now have the right to opt-out of being scanned which, being a right, they can't refuse. I know what I'm going to do from now on... leave for the airport that little bit earlier, then opt-out. I bet I can make them more uncomfortable than they make me...

"Ooooooh, you like your job don't you cheeky! No straight man can be THAT good with his hands. I feel like I should be paying you after this. Carry on like that and I'll be carrying a semi" etc etc

Adobe's future is controlling what you watch, not delivering it

Shades

Does what now?

1. Goto YouTube.

2. Search for video.

3. Click on 1 button.

4. Choose from all available resolutions (including 720p/1080p if available) in either FLV or MP4

5. Recover from the stess of it all!

The Register Guide on how to stay anonymous (part 2)

Shades

Actually,

I find, rather than collapsing pages into a unusable mess, it actually makes pages better by cutting all the unnecessary crap 'n' candy. Most websites have a "fall-back" mode for users without Javascript, Flash, etc enabled, and if they don't, then they don't get visited again.

HTC prepares quad-core smartphone for 2012

Shades
Stop

This was NOT...

...the news I wanted to hear! My contract is up for renewal early 2012 and I was considering switching to Giff Gaff and installing Android on my HD2. I wonder how much this phone will be SIM free??

Hack reveals Android tablet within Sony e-reader

Shades

Bootless?

Fruitless?

Ten... small screen HD TVs

Shades

I once...

...got major down-votes for commenting upon a review of a 30"+ TV that was suggested to be ideal for the kids PLAYROOM. These reviews, while not having the audacity to suggest that a 30"+ TV in a kids playroom is nothing out of the ordinary, are almost just as bad for suggesting that TVs up to 28" would be acceptable in a childs bedroom. This assumption is wrong on sooooo many levels and is indicative of the attitudes of some parents towards raising their spawn, or rather letting devices (such as TVs, internet, games consoles, etc) do it for them.

Anyway, serious question: Why do smaller TVs, often costing MORE than their larger brethren, seem to be half-arsed? I know of a 40" 1080p Samsung set (can't remember the 10+ digit product "name"), which costs LESS than some of these smaller sets, that, considering the price, is pretty decent picture wise, looks fairly attractive (as far as TVs can be "attractive"), has about a gazillion options and pretty much plays anything you care to chuck at it through its USB port.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro Qwerty Android smartphone

Shades

Where...

...exactly?

Biker gang plunders Covent Garden Apple Store

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FAIL

Aimee

Please try to be a bit less humourless when reading El Reg.

You do yourself no favours in moaning about commonly accepted names for Apple products.

Chill Out.

Obama+world pays tribute to Steve Jobs

Shades

As someone commented...

...in another story...

This is a forum/comments section not a book of condolences

Belgian telcos ordered to blockade Pirate Bay

Shades
Flame

SELL! SELL! SELL!

You SELL something, or you put something up for SALE!

WhyTF are more and more people starting to do this? Is sale and sell becoming the new loose and lose?

Logitech fined for bogus bug-busting keyboard ad

Shades

Why just Logitech?

I'm looking at a sticker on my Samsung NC10 that says it has a Silver Nano Keyboard and I'm pretty sure that was touted as an anti-bacterial keyboard.

Open-source hardware group puts out vid system-on-a-chip

Shades

If you're running...

... a PC with enough oomph to run Win7 then you sure as hell should be able to get WinAmp+Milkdrop to do damn-near-as-realtime-as-makes-no-difference visuals! My XP Netbook has no problems DJing with video (thats two AVI video's playing at the same time!) with a USB hardware controller/soundcard... and of course, DJing with them it HAS to be realtime (well, a buffer of less than 25ms). I suggest you need to check your buffer settings.

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