Posts by Fred Flintstone 3108 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Jun 2009
Honestly, guys, you're missing the point.
When the MACHINE starts dissing your choice of programming language you know you're on your way to a proper AI.. If you get a screen message during bootup like "FFS, did you HAVE to use LISP?" you know you're on your way. And you have control - the threat to rewrite the whole beast in BASIC ought to be enough to stop any AI from becoming too uppity.
I may be repeating myself here, but keep in mind that (a) the enquiry is only the first step of the process, (b) not everything has been released as Lord Leveson has to wait for the criminal charges to be processed before he can release the next part. The story is long from over..
It's not like they use a plethora of flashy over/under/in/popups
.. which I have also been filtering for a while - haven't been pestered by one of those for *years*. Heck, that's so old most modern browsers have that protection not only built in, but even enabled by default..
No - this was only stage 1: establishing facts and getting some recommendations out. The real fun is about to start, and will show the true colour of the politicians. And, AFAIK there are a number of cases pending as a result of investigations - that too will be interesting to watch, if only to see how objectively the press reports on the prosecution of its own..
A Free Press might be a good thing - as long as it's also an accountable Press. And that's what the enquiry was about. The UK press had gained too much power to do as it jolly well pleased, and sod the rights of anyone they decided to ruin the lives of.
Part of the problem is, of course, that certain people got away with things that were flat out illegal (in this context I'm watching with interest the events surrounding Piers Morgan) and the average individual was simply not having much of a chance for redress. Not everyone has the kind of lawyers that Sienna Miller employed (she has to date not lost ONE SINGLE CASE in court, notice how the newspapers have gone vewwy, vewwy quiet about her), and the fact remains that doing illegal things had gone from being mildly frowned upon to accepted practice. Well, it's time that got spiked (might as well use a press euphemism).
It's FAR too early to draw a conclusion about good or bad - the Enquiry was only the first step. It laid bare some seriously dodgy habits, and the police has already had a good time rounding people up (in some cases their won for accepting cash for "assistance beyond the call of duty", so to speak). Now it's up to the politicians to show they either have the backbone to do the right thing, or to hand back the power to the newspapers this Enquiry has ripped from underneath them. The clever ones will do the right thing because it ends the implicit blackmail.
The only problem is that I'm not sure they *are* that clever to see the opportunity. Many will be wined and dined and featured by the press in an attempt to water down whatever measures will follow - the coming few months will show what stuff the current crop is really made of - and if the assembled Press has the balls to do things right instead of easy.
Worse, no webpage to go over the new functionaility, no, they choose $&ç%* videos.
I don't know why this craze exists to make people lose part of their lives listening to an irritatingly upbeat voice telling you things slowly as if you're a moron where you can absorb such data in about 1/20th of the time in print.
Podcasts and video have very limited utility for people that prefer to spend their time doing something interesting (like me typing on El Reg)..
who bought Macs purely because iTunes under Windows is so foul
Hmm. I never really had that many issues with iTunes on Windows, it's IMHO not spectacular on OSX either. For me it's always done the job but it's not exactly a program I *like* using (as opposed to, say, Omnigraffle Pro to make Visio work of colleagues look *so* much nicer :).
.. some people really think that a PDF is immutable.
First of all, most PDFs allow you to cut & paste the contents, so you could reproduce what's in it with some changes (in 30 years I have not come across a single digitally signed version, nor one where cut & paste was blocked) which saves you scaning and OCR-in it, but for years it has been possible to edit PDFs directly too.
It is possible to block editing when you generate the document, but I have only ever come across 2 docs that were protected that way. Thus, the small investment in a PDF editor can pay off pretty quickly if you are of evil intent.
Personally, I "always* read what I sign, and that includes reading T&Cs of online services. There is a simple rule with contracts of any kind: the first part giveth, the second part taketh away, especially if it's printed in 6 point light grey on white..
.. when I'm dead. Stupid OS, idiotic shiny keyboard, but FANTASTIC compact and very elegant fits-in-any-pocket clamshell design, almost a week's worth of battery standby life (with a battery that is as old as the phone) and cracking good reception. They sadly don't make 'em like that anymore.
No need to hand off your brass ones (oh, sorry, you meant the badge) :).
You have to stay reasonably focused on the facts or you'll be prime candidate to be messed with through PSYOPS, hence my comment. I'm always VERY weary of automatic assumptions people make without having been close to evidence, because explanations are never that easy. If the Chinese are so clever, why are they not bouncing their traffic via other countries? You cannot assume top notch l33t skillz without following through on that logic..
should be more than able to defend against a country with ~1.4 BILLION people
.. who have ALL retired from farming and tending rice to become hackers with sufficiently elevated skills to defeat a company that is supposed to specialise in security, thousands of miles away. Oh, and they're all exactly the right age to acquire l33t skillz as well.
Apply a bit of sanity. We have already politicians for the paranoia..
I still have two - both operational but possibly in need of some spares like new batteries..
I *love* that hardware design, apart from the shiny keyboard is has really PERFECT dimensions and functionality. It's so good that you can forgive the screaming agony of the UI inside - I only use the address book on them anyway (the v3i remains my "incoming emergency calls" phone because it fits everywhere and has a battery life that is measured in days, not in hours).
If I had the dosh I'd try to buy the design and have some Chinese reproduce it. If Motorola no longer wants it there must be a way to get hold of it..
You should have a look at what that thing actually does, the Nest thermostat is actually seriously good kit (especially v2). In the light of what it can do, I'm impressed that they kept the interface so simple that some people don't even realise the intelligence behind that device. Now *THAT* is UI design.
.. one of those suppliers to make an exact clone of the gun metal grey Motorola RAZR V3i, and only swap out the keyboard for something that is actually usable when there is more than 10 Lumen worth of light in the vicinity. Hell, I'll even suffer the same crap software as Motorola installed, and a dual SIM option would naturally be appreciated.
That silly thing is the most discrete, most portable PHONE I have had in my hands for as long as I have used phones (and I started with mobes just past the Motorola Brick years), and I still have them as they are small enough to fit in a suit pocket, yet large enough when open to place mike and speaker near where they actually physically are on my face.. I think it's getting time I got some new batteries for them. And spares, before they vanish. The physical design of that phone is nigh on perfect, and any flip phone after that has only been a poor imitation of that specific golden combination of elements (I did already exclude the keyboard from that praise, though).. Shame.
But hey, I still have a working 6310 as well :).
Cafè Vulture / Chew the Fat.
I have a feeling this was an unclean and probably a tad hasty removal of a topic that I would have considered objectionable (as most decent people, I would imagine). The problem is that it seems to have left some residue, and a cache refresh doesn't help - this stuff is still served.
Page URL: http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2012/11/24/MyBackDoor_The_male_psyche_and_rape/
What is produced:
Gone
The requested resource
/forum/1/2012/11/24/MyBackDoor_The_male_psyche_and_rape/
is no longer available on this server and there is no forwarding address. Please remove all references to this resource.
Even anon users are logged in as someone, so maybe you could work with that when someone clicks the "ignore" button? You can still keep the representation of that specific UID away from anyone else to preserve the anonymity, yet have an "ignore" that does what it says on the tin (so to speak).
Having said that, I haven't found a real reason to ignore someone. I rather know what they're trying to say behind my back, and the site's culture and structure tends to eventually chuck out the truly objectionable characters anyway (part of the reason it has become the popular hangout it is), so for me the ignore thing is a less relevant function.
I deleted a post, and that was my only post to a topic. To me, that topic shouldn't show up in the "my topics" list, but that's maybe a matter of interpretation. Maybe one for the "things we fix when we get bored" list?
(there is a slight delta here - I tried to edit that post first, but then got the edit rejected as the time window has expired, not sure if that is of any consequence).
FF
I think you may need to stick some extra time into this process.
I started editing a post, but the "submit" was rejected because the time limit had expired. I think there needs to be an extension of the edit window once a user starts the edit process or the function may not be that helpful :)
FF
Actually, Apple's Keynote in iWorks has this too, but with the added benefit that you can remote control the whole thing with an iPhone app which in landscape mode also gives you a "next slide" preview (in portrait it shows you the notes of the current slide).
AFAIK, Powerpoint for Windows has had this from about Office 2003 onwards. That is, if you can use it. On some Windows laptops you have a conflict between the graphics manufacturer control program and the Windows display controller which means it's occasionally a fight to get it working in dual screen mode (not to mention that Windows does not seem intelligent enough to move Windows back to an available viewport when you close the extra screen, something OSX does automatically).
If you really want to have fun presenting try this: hook up a v2 or later Apple TV to a big screen, and install Airparrot, available for both Windows and OSX (also works on older machines). And presto - cable free presenting. We've been doing this for months in our office - it even carries audio..
.. going to bring out a version that returns the productivity they keep stealing with all that gadgetry?
A productivity destroying UI, coupled with auto.whatsits that mess up even your main activity in a word processor (typing), stored in a profoundly unsafe place which you have to rent - thus providing your own data as ransom.
All I'm waiting for is the announcement of a new file format incompatible with the old ones, always requiring multiple actions to save in the older formats ("which may lose features and functionality")..
Not only do they only get a slap on the wrist with a diet feather, they have the cheek to demand changes too?
If I was the regulator I'd do my damnedest to find a way to replace the feather with something of substantially more substance as it's crystal clear that the fine does not modify behaviour as it is intended to (no surprise there).
Good question. Maybe we could have a gold badge with teeth marks - a temp replacement when a gold badger (sorry, could't resist that one) has been misbehaving :).
Having said that, Gold badges do not always relate to commentard contributions, I think the introducing article made that clear (however, I've been reading El Reg from practically the moment they went live so I reckon I have chalked up enough comments by now to support platinum, diamond and moon rock levels :).
In general, I think it's good to have some badgering (that's enough - Ed) because some people know how to control themselves online and will only say things they will also say in your face - even anon - whereas others see the online life as an opportunity to let out Mr Hyde with no consideration for the consequences or impact they may have on others. A bit of a feedback loop may assist the latter realise that they are still communicating with other human beings, not just some text on a screen.. Oh, and that laws do exist..
That is, of course, entirely my opinion - as always.
Allow me to jump in here (hi all).
I came across an issue with flagging posts - IMHO it would be good if you could provide a one-liner with the reason why you flagged a post for review, as it may not always be immediately evident. That also allows for a feedback loop which should (hopefully) result in a degree of tuning between moderators and those who take the time to flag a message as moderators can offer feedback too (I'm assuming a message facility here, but you have the email address of the user so you could just ping an email).
C'est tout :)
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