* Posts by BristolBachelor

2200 publicly visible posts • joined 30 Jan 2009

Apple wants life ban for clone maker

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WTF?

"copying its intellectual property"

Now I'm sorry that I haven't read all of the stuff about this, but I'm lost. The comment that got me lost was:

"because otherwise Psystar will not stop copying its intellectual property"

But I missed that part entirely. I thought that they LEGALLY BOUGHT software that is sold by Apple, and then they installed that software on some hardware they put together.

If I particularly like the new Ford car radio, I don't see why I shouldn't legally buy it and install it in my Toyota. Even if I have to shave a few corners off the radio to get it to fit in, that should be up to me, I bought it after all.

So was the "copying" bit because they used it in a way that Apple doesn't like? Using this as a basis, can Toyota reposses my car because I put a different radio in it?

What if I use my Apple Mac to post a comment on a website that Apple have appaling customer service? Surely this is against their wishes! Can they now sue me too?

iRiver Story

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How well does it handle SCANNED pdfs?

Before you send this thing back, can you test it reading PDFs that are scanned files?

I want an ebook reader partly to keep all manor of datasheets, papers, processes and procedures. Unfortunately most of these are scans of very old type-set documents, or scans of official signed documents, rather than electronically produced PDFs.

I need something that can handle these types of files without falling over and giving up, like the Adobe bundled PDF reader on most smartphones.

First Nokia X-series phone priced up, release scheduled

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Nokia phones

I'll take mine with Android or iPhone OS. If it's that or death, maybe I'll consider Win Mobile.

Otherwise, no thanks. My wife and I have had no end of trouble from Nokia's S60, and I'd rather go without a mobile.

I'm not too happy with Nokia's "once you've paid for it, we don't give a s**t" policy either.

Drobo restrings boxes to double-up product range

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Re: Ouch - 2 PCI cards for 10 sata ports

AC @ Monday 23rd November 2009 15:42 GMT

Please tell me the cards you use, and how reliable are they?

I currently use LSI cards and they are great, but your total budget of 200GBP doesn't even buy one 6-port card. The LSI cards I use do all the RAID in hardware, and I don't really need that but I haven't managed to find anything even without hardware RAID for anything approaching your cost.

UK2 email migration still not finished

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Email still not working properly

Emails "sent" from "their" new webmail service are still not being delivered.

Emails sent to their new email service are bouncing with messages that they cannot be delivered.

Connections to the new email service by POP3 are only working intermittantly, and some applications cannot ever access it (but they did reliably before).

Service tickets are not being responded to.

Is the MD still giving interviews to the press, or has he filled his suitcase with all the money from punters and legged it to Bali?

Is it 2012 already? Has London been swallowed by the Earth, but the rest of the world doesn't know about it?

Macs not all that for reliability

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Not surprised HP last

John Oats says "It seems for laptops, as so much else, you really do get what you pay for. " (still having a dig at people on UK2?)

Well I bought an HP HDX-18 laptop. Cost 2000 hard-earned pounds. Classed as a "Premium". Even recommended in the Reg review.

Broke in the first month. On the support site, others with similar complaints. Took a month to fix. Within 3 months, the same fault again (I'm just ignoring the fault now unless it turns off the sound or WiFi again)

I would've bought the Asus or Sony if it weren't for their keyboards. Lenovo lost out (or I did!) because I couldn't justify another 1000 quid. Apple chose to be out of the race because they didn't have anything with the resolution (I mean, honestly who wants HD? certainly not media creators or editors!)

Samsung N510 Nvidia Ion-based netbook

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Mirror screens

"As always, opinion will de divided on this issue - glossy screens are better for watching video while matte screens are less reflective."

I have never come across any divided opinions on this. Even if you are watching video, unless you are in a dark room, all you can see is what is behind you reflected on the screen. Even if you are in a dark room, you have to be careful where you look otherwise you see your own reflection. (I don't want to see my reflection, there's a reason why I am always on the other side of the camera!)

Anti-reflection screens only give a lower resolution and image quality if the anti-reflection finish is because of a rough finish that would make a cowboy builder blush.

Samsung get my vote for not going with the mirror screen.

BBC publishes Freeview HD timetable

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FAIL

Can I get a refund?

Well I bought a TV because it had the "Digital freeview" symbol, and the TV advert said I should get one that has that, because there will be a switchover and it's the guarantee that the new TV I buy will get all the new channels.

It even showed an example where if you didn't, you would get some soppy black and white girly flick instead of football...

Well I bought one, and now they are telling us that they lied, the symbol doesn't mean it will get all the new channels. The switchover hasn't even happened yet, and the one they told me to buy is already out of date.

Who do I sue?

Can I also get damages because I had to watch the stupid bloody adverts too?

UK2.net still sorting email service

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New system just a coincidence?

So is it just a coincidence that after the failure occured, there is a new mail system?

It's bad enough that the email's been down for a week, now we have to sort out problems with the roll-out of a different system as well.

Does the register's contact say why emails sent from the new webmail interface don't arrive?

Does the register's contact say why the webmail interface can't be sent FROM a particular email address? (for example one of the ones I pay UK2 for) Why does it always say it's from the address of the POP3 box? How am I supposed to route emails according to their TO address if they are all the same because they are replies to emails that all have the same FROM address?

Does the Register's contact say why every email now goes out with the address of the mailbox in it, even when sent from a normal mail application? I don't want people to see the address of the mailbox; I want them to see the sender's email address as put in by the senders email program. The address of the mailbox is just a frigg to avoid UK2 having SMTP forwarding servers for their customers.

Does the Register's contact say what is happening with new service tickets? Are they being "saved" on the old RAID array?

MS forensics tool leaks onto the web

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FAIL

MAJOR FAIL

So MS is _STILL_ producing software that will run any old crap that it happens to sniff on a USB drive?

No wonder the world is full of zombie crap infested computers clogging the 'net...

I'd love to see the Bill Gates scene from the South Park film come true. Line-up and shoot all the execs at MS until they get the message that their software must work properly.

Symbian channels iPhone love into Android scrap

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Jobs Horns

Suggestions for Nokia and Symbian

Fix the bugs. Fix the bugs. Fix the bugs.

If you want to know what they are, read the posts on the Nokia forum. Then FIX THE BUGS!!!

All my digital only phones have been Nokia, mostly communicators. After my E90 I doubt I'll get another Nokia again for a long time (if ever).

I'm so impressed with what my iPod touch can do apart from play music I'm going to marry the devil and get a Jesus phone.

'Something may come through' dimensional 'doors' at LHC

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May I be the first...

...to recommend that Mandelson be sent though the door. Tell him that the controllers of all filesharing are on the other side, and if that doesn't work; push him.

Even if the door doesn't open, the family car travelling at 1000mph can get him.

Form an orderly line please:

Mandelson

Waqui Jacki

Bush

The other Bush

All the execs of:

RIAA, FAST, MPPA...

Barclays, Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of America...

.....

Don't panic over the secret copyright treaty

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FAIL

Elected representatives for the elected, not for sale

"The legislation banning technologies that break content encryption will also be bracingly familiar to UK residents"

But I was hoping to use that the part of the copyright acts that says copying in order to use something is allowed (e.g. the output of your cd player is "copied" into an output from your amplifier to driver your speakers). At the moment, it is the only way that I can get the HD content from my HD Blueray discs out of my HD Blueray player onto my HD TV. If I don't use this potentially illegal technology, all I get out of my HD Blueray player is an HD message saying that I am not allowed to view the content.

Now it seems it may get even worse.

Why are our elected representatives not representing us to prevent the sale of items that do not deliver what they promise?

Messenger beams back colour snap of Mercury

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RE: Eh?

The expenditure is a lot easier to justify than the multiple times this that are spent on invading other countries (Iraq, Afganistan, Vietnam....)

But for starters, how about the weather forecasting that is only available because of spacecraft like Envisat? Or spacecraft that can tell the best time to harvest crops for maximum yeald? Or spacecraft to measure the level of water in the soil and salinity of the oceans (SMOS) that can improve weather forecasting, help further with crops and help model and predict things like El Niño?

Perhaps also looking at the other planets orbiting the sun, we may be able to understand more about the one we live on...

Europe plots black boxes for cars

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Airbag systems already do this

Most Airbag systems already do this. In the event of an airbag activation, they record a number of parameters immediately before, during and after the "crash". These can be recovered from the units after an accident "to allow the design of safer cars". Can't remember all the data stored, but there is a standard for it.

I believe that there have been cases of this data being used in court in the USA. Of course in court it doesn't matter that the accuracy of the data cannot be traced to any standard, and therefore there may be a large error factor in the numbers presented...

Unfortunatly none of these sytems record anything useful, like: Where the driver was looking, or what else the driver was doing at the time.

eBay.co.uk blocked for smelling phishy

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WTF?

RE: Just resolve the damn address...

DITTO to that, but unfortunately I have no choice where my corporation resolves addresses.

Working in a Working in Spain I also use online translation a lot, but it seems that "babelfish" and "translation2.paralink.com" seem to disagree with OpenDNS far too often as well...

In fact OpenDNS often throws up errors saying sites don't exist when they do. I don't think scope creep is their biggest problem. Not actually meeting their original scope is worse.

Russia planning nuclear-powered manned spaceship

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RE: Shielding?

I don´t think that magnetic sheilding will have much effect on galactic cosmic radiation. It will have zero (approx) effect on the neutral stuff, and the high energy charged stuff will just hit a different part of your body after the magnets stear it a bit. One of the most powerful superconducting magnets ever is going to fly to the ISS, and it´s only expected to stear particles so you identify their mass and charge.

I´d guess that any radiation leakage from the reactor would be fairly low energy and easier to shield. Plus the nuclear power plant is normally put on the end of a long boom away from anything sensitive (in this case including fleshies).

As for propulsion; chemical is the only way to get into orbit. After that I´d guess that they´re looking at ion drive. The Russians have been using this tech in space for some time, even before ESA´s SMART1 and the more recent GOCHE. However to make a difference on a big craft, you would need LOADS and LOADS of power...

Hands on with Acer's 3D laptop

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3D from JPEGS

Does anyone know how this works?

I could really use something that can extract 3D information from JPEGS. It would be great to allow me to add focus blur to images to change the depth-of-field after a picture has been taken.

It could also mean people can avoid buying those expensive new fangled 3D cameras (as in a new-fangled version of something that has been around since the 70's)

Bloggers go ballistic over non-existent wireless tax

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Jobs Horns

Not so far beyond Oftel^H^H^Hcom

I'm not sure that Ofcom wouldn´t try this anyway...

They are forcing everyone to buy a set-top box so they can convert TV to digital only transmission. Before that is even complete, the specs have changed so the box you bought with the Digital logo meaning that it will work after the switch-over is now out of date, and you need a newer one to get all the channels.

The space left after compressing all the channels to the point of being almost unwatchable will be sold to companies at high cost who will then charge the public high costs for their services to recoup the money.

They are trying to do the same with radio (including with the same issue: the radio we told you to buy is now out of date; get a new one) Again the airwaves left over will be sold at tremendous cost to companies who will have to pass the costs on to their customers.

All of the costs of this are bourne by the public. So the idea of Ofcom imposing a tax for people to use wireless technology - sounds like just the next step to me...

Picture of the devil for ofcom.

Nokia sues Apple over iPhone

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FAIL

Death throes

I've had almost every Nokia communicator. Unfortunately I gave my 9300 to my wife when I got my E90, and she won't give it back. The E90 is the last Nokia I will buy. I'd swear that my 9110 is a better phone (since I need two, I use both side by side).

I would've never got an iphone, but to be honest I've started using my ipod touch for email, web, calendar and apreciate that it does what it's supposed to. I could imagine me getting an iphone once I can get it on a network other that Movistar. I'm not keen on on-screen keyboards, but it's easier to use than the one on the E90.

Nokia should go back to making wellinton boots.

Telecoms package prob must be sorted or snuffed out in 8 weeks

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FAIL

"…save when public security is threatened"

Yeah, cause "…save when public security is threatened" will NEVER be abused will it?

Why is that even in there? If someone is SOOO bad that their mere use of the internet threatens public safety, then they should be locked up under the laws that already exist for people who threaten public safety. Simply stopping their internet connection will not prevent someone who is a threat to public safety from being so.

I can see all the ways this will be twisted by my former country to knock anyone off the net. e.g. public safety would be harmed by twittering about something that someone said in parliament that the papers have been banned from reporting...

EPIC EPIC FAIL

Windows 95 to Windows 7: How Microsoft lost its vision

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FAIL

Spaces in Long filenames

I don´t think that MS did get long filenames right. They allow the use of a normal whitespace, and underneath Windows still uses that as a delimiter.

I´ve come across several PCs that throw up errors such as "Cannot find C:\Program" because the name of a program contained the space in "Program Files" and windows gave up looking as soon as it saw the space, or links to files only containing the first part upto a space.

Yes, I know about all the bad things you can put in filenames in Unix, but MS had the opportunity to do this right from the outset.

Liquid electrocar batteries could be replaced at pumps

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Boffin

Re: How do you price it?

A redox battery normally has two tanks, one for "charged" electrolyte and one for "discharged". The fluid is only pumped through once, at the rate the energy is used. Think of it like a fuel cell, where hydrogen & oxygen go in one side and water comes out the other.

In fact in some redox situations, the "battery" used to charge the fluid is a different one including different voltage, to the one used to discharge the fluid.

The only problem in a car is that you don't want twice the volume. Maybe they can work on a single tank with a membraine or internal sliding piston separating the new and used electrolyte. I think I will patent the latter, with a motor to drive the piston to pump the fluid from the new to the used side - oh making it public just put the kybosh on that!

This is the ideal type of battery where the instantaneous power required is low compared to the total energy storage requirement. The active part is sized for the power requirement; the tanks are sized for the range. You can double the range by simply increasing the volume of the cheap tank part.

Fanbois howl over data-munching Snow Leopard bug

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FAIL

Another HD is a backup? Against what?

For everyone that says just plug in another HD to backup, that is fine as long as you are backing-up to prevent loss if your mail HD fails.

BUT

If you are backing up to prevent the OS (or a virus etc.) from deleting all your files, I don´t see how that helps because:

1. You are relying on the same OS to faithfully copy all the files to your backup HD - and this is the OS that you don´t trust to look after the files anyway. (The fact that it didn´t also wipe all the data on the TimeMachine backup at the same time was just luck)

2. You are relying on the same OS (or virus etc.) to not delete (or corrupt) all the data on your backup HD when you plug it back in to copy it back to replace the data that just got wiped. Again, this is the same OS that you don´t trust.

I don´t trust backing up to a HD because in an instant any program on your system can render the entire backup almost useless. Unless your backup HD has a hardware write protect, it can go the same way as the original data.

PS. Just because you're not paranoid, doesn't mean that they are not out to get you.

Wi-Fi body to highlight 802.11n aerial counts

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Streams and co-existing

STREAMS

So the standard logo will clear things up by saying that a unit has either dual ( which means "2") streams, which is the minimum, or multi (which means "more than 1") streams. That is __SO__ much clearer, thanks. Much better than saying "2 Streams" or "4 Streams", "10 Streams", etc.

CO-EXISTING

So at last they recognise that there will be more than 2 WiFi units within 50 miles of each other. The units will have a way of ensuring that they do not all sit on only one channel, even though they are not all part of the same network? no?

Swedish military combustobra: Jubtastic snap

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Coat

(untitled)

I had to re-read the text carefully because I mis-undertood the picture first time.

I thought the guy in the back on the left was the typical "National Rifle Association" member - just popping to the shops for some chewing gum, while listening to his i-pod.

I thought the kid in the back on the right was his son, a junior "National Rifle Association" member - on his way to school, wearing his American football outfit.

Nokia lets operators screw with customise the N900

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Unhappy

Buying SIM free doesn´t help

My Nokia E90 was supplied direct, without any involvement of any network operators.

With my old O2 SIM, no problems, but my new Vodafone SIM contains stuff that the phone automagically installs everytime you switch it on. There seems to be no way to get rid of the pesky stuff either :(

Microsoft confirms IIS bug gives complete server control

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FAIL

Priceless comment

"Admins can also detect attacks by reviewing log files."

1. or by noticing that their webpages now say "Kilroy woz ere"

2. or by the phoncalls from users asking why all the online apps have disappeared and the server is not responding.

3. and because admins never have anything better to do than constantly review the log files of all their servers. Although after getting full control, who leaves evidence in the log files?

And now that they have detected the fleeing horse, they can look at the open stable door...

Rogue admin charges cut to size

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Troll

Keeping the password safe?

So he's being sued because he had a password that would let anyone completely knacker their entire network (even without malicious intent) and he kept it to himself?

Over here, you'd be sacked and sued if you had such a password and allowed it to leak...

Ducks and waits for the flames.

...on second thoughts, if you worked for the government, you'd be OK because they can loose anything and it's no problem.

Sony to make rechargeable batteries last 4x longer

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Boffin

Hash

"To read the Sony press release, you’d think that it had virtually invented the Lithium Ion battery in the first place"

I didn´t get that from the press release, however they virtually did invent the Li-Ion battery. They were the first to manufacture them (as in manufacture, not make 1 or 2), and certainly did some of the work on this, even though they did get a lot of help from John Goodenough.

As far as the cells themselves go, they are good, and do have a much longer cycle life (I have some); although at a lower voltage, and hence store less energy. Expect your laptop to have about 1/3 to 1/4 the runtime with these particular cells, so I don´t see them going into laptops anytime soon.

As for power tools or Li-Ion portable vacuum cleaners, they would give similar runtime to the cells currently used in them, but offer a much longer product life. I expect to see the cells in this type of application very soon, unless the manufacturer is a cost-cutting vacuum cleaner manufacturer who manufactures everything in Malaysia from cheap low-quality Chinese copies.

Oh yeah AC, and in cars / delivery vans soon too.

Microsoft warns of 'irreparable harm' on court's Word injunction

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Flame

But software patents are only good?

But we were told that software patents are good and the only way to safeguard software, so there can´t be a problem.

Besides, from what I´ve seen they are only upset by the new version of Office. MS (& partners) could simply restart shipments of office 2003, which is all a number of customers want anyway, so all the doom and gloom for parters and business is not so bad.

On another point, since copyright only exists to allow the copyright holder to exploit the copyrighted works, if MS fails to exploit the copyright on Office 2003, by refusing to sell (license) it, does that mean that they have forfeigted the copyright?

NEC fumbles towards MRAM flip-flop

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Boffin

Re: Confusion of static and dynamic power

If you are describing a fully static system, then no, clocks are not required to keep the state. However a fully static system requires more transistors per state storage "bit" that latch the bit as a 1 or 0 with feedback to keep the bit latched, despite low levels of leakage that occur. This type of memory is SRAM.

Nowadays, most systems are dynamic (including computer RAM; hence the term DRAM). This requires far fewer transistors per bit and hence allows for smaller chips, or chips that do more stuff. Unfortunately there is always a small leakage from the bits, so they need to be read and written back peridically to refresh them and this requires clocks.

The comic-book guide to SIM hacking

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GSM, cryptography & chip'n'pin

I thought that GSM was European (hence the French name) and thre handsets are made is Eastern Europe, or Eastern Empire, so why does it matter about American export laws? or was Team America, World Police a documentary?

Besides, wasn't the cryptography was chosen to be deliberately weak to help the boys & girls in Cheltenham?

As for cloaning chip'n'pin, I thought a white-hat showed that you didn't need to. You just have a chip in a card that outputs a signal "the pin was correct"? problem is that someone with influence didn't like it so he disappeared?

That said, this sounds like a better deal than a buy it monthly, get one resistor and a line of code a month; takes 10 years and £1000000 of subscription to complete - First issue only 10 pence!

'Get cameraphones out of nurseries' plea

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FAIL

Was she dropped on her head as a child?

So the facts are these:

1. She wants camera phones banned or controlled in nurseries, lest a member of staff take a picture of a child there.

2. She acknowledges that the staff already have (superior) digital cameras at said nurseries which they use and will continue to use to take pictures of the children there, and this will not change.

Therefore if a dodgy member of staff IS prevented from taking pictures with a camera phone (and the chances are that they will just ignore this rule, like the others), they will just have to take better ones with a normal camera.

The question is:

Was she looked after properly as a child, or was she dropped on her head... Repeatedly.

Race to pinpoint VoIP callers in emergencies

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If you are lucky to get emergency services, just tell them

Well when I dial 999 from my phone, I get nothing. If I call 112, I get the emergency services in Spain. Ofcom says that they don't want me to be able to call a "geographic number", because my service provider will route the 112 call; which they do... to Spain (It's the obvious thing to do, since my IP address is also registered in Spain you see).

I can this this working really well. They will dispatch the emergency services to where the IP address is registered. See lots of ambulances at the Linx, docklands, or to the address where all the Vodaphone IP addresses connect to the hardlines...

Microsoft, Asus launch anti-Linuxbook campaign

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unfamiliar environment, major compatibility issues

Sounds like my new laptop. Came with Vista and office 2007.

Very unfamiliar, especially Office 2007. Also incompatible; Acrobat keeps crashing and Microsoft's answer is to buy a newer version (The newer version is unfamiliar *and* keeps crashing). Vista is also incompatible with the CAD software I use.

Now if HP hadn't used weird hardware so I could get drivers for XP or Linux, everything would be fine...

Call for heads to roll over failed spook IT system

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Why only sack them?

The way I see it at least someone has been negligent, resulting in the public purse being defrauded of a large sum of money (large to me).

Sacking them isn't enough; they 'll just go on and do the same again. Hold them to account. Take all their assets and sell them to recover the money, then lock them up.

If they don't tell you where all the money is, wire up their genitals to the mains until they do. (I think that's how it's done these days?)

RFID goes Underground

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Stop

Excuse for a use

So the whole idea of this is so that an "enigneer" (greese monkey with 2.5 GCSEs) can find out which steps are fitted to an escalator. Worse still, someone was paid a lot of money for this "solution".

Here's my solution, but I just patented it first, so you'll have to license it from me:

When you put the steps in, WRITE DOWN THE SERIAL NUMBERS! Then your greese monkey can find out what the serial numbers are in only 5 mins, and without having to do it on overtime!

Admittedly, it will take the aforementioned 3 hours per escalator to populate the lists, but glueing RFIDs to each step probaly takes longer (you still need the 3 hours to get the serial numbers to cross reference to RFIDs) plus there is the cost of the RFIDs and readers.

Videogame history project successfully emulates CRT on LCD

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Lightguns and reflections

The most important difference is that using a CRT allows the use of a proper light-gun. You can't beat TimeCrisis (unless you work for the Metropolitan Police and head to your nearest tube station).

As for reflections; my old CRTs have a lovely anti-reflection coating meaning I can sit in a bright room and work all day. The new LCD types; especially this laptop mean I have to sit in a dark room unless I want to use it as a mirror.

Swedish factory fined $3,000 for robot attack

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H&S is everyones responsibility - FINE HIM!

In the UK, the health and safety of every worker is the responsibility of every worker. If he didn't take the proper responsibility for his own health, HE should be the one fined.

IANAL; that is why this is written in clear English and makes sense :)

Microsoft retires AutoRun (kinda, sorta)

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Stop

Disable Autoplay too

I have a fully patched Vista 64 system (I'm sorry too). All the options for autorun are disabled, however when I plug in my external drive array, it still decides to scan the WHOLE BLOODY THING to decide what autorun options to present, even though they are disabled!!

I've tried the registry hacks to disable autorun and autoplay on all media types in WinXP and Vista but then it doesn't automount the drive, and unlike Linux I don't know how to force windows to mount a USB disk that is plugged into it :(

Although to be honest the BIGGEST security aspect with all versions of windows is that you either don't allow a program to run, or you allow it to ravage unchecked. It is the real world equivalent of either not answering your doorbell, or openning the door and saying "come in go through my house, take anything you want, change anything you want, I don't care". Programs can delete / change anything to do with windows or any other program; install services, redirect associations, etc.

BBC botnet investigation turns hacks into hackers

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@Scott Evil

The problem is that the newer computers are like that when they arrive.

I have an aged Win2k box; Task manager shows ~20-30 tasks (including DNS, Web, FTP, etc. servers).

My wife's new laptop shows ~70 tasks doing nothing. Runs like a dog, brand new before even being exposed to the 'net.

Oh and then there's the fact that the nasty tasks don't show up because Sony hid them...

Superfast-charging batteries? Whoa there, MIT

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Boffin

Power isn't the only problem

I designed some fast-charge, fast discharge Li-Ion batteries into a well-known brand's first cordless vacuum cleaner. It would have been possible to give it a 15 minute charger, however the cost of just the charger would have added about £400 to the price of a £100 cleaner!

A similar project used the same batteries for a wheelchair. They specified a charger that could charge it in 30 minutes. The charger was the size of an under-counter fridge and cost several thousand.

You would have to really need it to have e.g. a mobile phone where the phone part that is used 24/7 costs a fraction of the charger which is only used for 20seconds a week.

Where I worked it was an honour to be known as a Boffin. The model makers were known as "Cardboard Cutters" and the designers were "Flower Arrangers".

Google Earth faces terrorist target airbrush bill

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Stop

Eyes are useful to terrorists; Blind everyone

Being able to see must be hugely useful when planning and implementing a terrorist attack.

There should be a new law that everyone has to be blinded. If you find anyone who isn't blind, or requests to not be blinded, they are a terrorist! The punishment for that should be death.

Oh hold on; is it only 2009? Oops this new law isn't due until 2012...

Hospital boss slams patient records system

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new X-Ray system

I had an X-ray recently. It was done on the hospital's digital x-ray machine, and put on the new NPfIT system. Aparently on the old system, my doctor would get the digital x-ray (using the sopftware supplied with the digital x-ray system. Now the x-ray goes on the NPfIT system, and then a new administrator has to print out the x-ray and fax it to my doctor (can't even do it as a paperless fax!)

Both the radiographer and doctor are upset about the progress.

Rogue admin faces court delay

BristolBachelor Gold badge
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@Gis Bun

Well I hope that your idea doesn't become too popular with employers. In the UK it is now a crime to do practically anything, so that almost everyone has a criminal record.

A new one being considered is to make it a criminal act to be involved in a road traffic incident (crash); it seems that there weren't enough people being convicted already...

UK.gov to send your holidays to sunny Manchester

BristolBachelor Gold badge
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How does that help?

Illegal immigrants arriving at Bristol International airport outside office hours are given a card and asked to report to immigration on the next working day. Apparently not all of them do...

The pan-European Office for the Ecodesign of everything

BristolBachelor Gold badge
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A good idea if done right

I used to work for a big corporation. They are even sold on "inventiveness" and "innovation".

They didn't care about anything unless it made more money. As far as approvals, just enough to sell it; as far as safety, just enough to prevent lawsuits; as far as the environment, who cares? This corporation only has 1 shareholder who can hardly spend the £140M profit each year; imagine a whole load of shareholders jumping up and down for dividends!

The A+ system for fridges and washing machines actually drove innovation in those areas. The WEE directive has driven innovation in recycling technologies.

As far as small inventors go, regulations are easier to deal with; you can get a list of all the ones (in Europe anyway) that apply, and if you know your subject, you can meet them. A bigger problem is patents. Even large corporations with several full-time patent searchers can struggle to find everything relevant to design around. It also seems that the most obvious things can be patented, and although it theory you can contest it, no-one can afford to.

Linux to spend eternity in shadow of 'little blue E'

BristolBachelor Gold badge

re: Hardware support and Vista

Just got my new laptop and it's running Vista.

Plug the mouse into a different USB port (or re-learn my bluetooth mouse because It decided to stop responding).

Vista says it found new hardware (It's not that new!)

Then it says it is installing the drivers (weren't they already installed?)

Then it says I have to restart windows to use it. (Although it now seems to be working anyway !!??)

Both mice are Microsoft and are natively supported in Vista...

Yahoo! lobs! Briefcase! into! rubbish! bin!

BristolBachelor Gold badge
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YBreifcase! leaked! like! a! civil! servants'!

I used to use Yahoo! Briefcase!. I found it very useful... up until the point that it lost everything.

If you ever manage to get through to Yahoo! Support!, the only answer they know is "tough! - that's! the! way! it! is!"

Let Yahoo R.I.P.