* Posts by Fred Flintstone

3106 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Jun 2009

Facebook launches location-tracking Places Deals

Fred Flintstone Gold badge
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Excellent move from Facebook

I absolutely love it that they keep adding reasons to avoid it like the plague..

Google to settle state 'Wi-Spy' spat out of court

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

OK gents - if you really want to hack something together ..

.. than create apps for all platforms that generate spurious WiFi data. There are two ways of fighting a problem of disclosure: engaging in a technology war (i.e. hiding) or depleting the adversaries' resources with bullshit - pretty much how you treat a website which forces you to give name and address before you can use it. That way you don't need to hide, and devalue the data they gather.

Much more fun..

Cameroonians cleared in 'surreal' dyed banknote scam

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Legal scam

If you like that you'll like this one that was executed a good 15 years ago. These types eventually got caught with somewhere else because they got greedy.

They bought themselves some rubber play articles and advertised them at 50% of the going rate in mags. They ran the ad and collected payments for a good month, then wrote everyone except the first few a letter that they had ran out of stock and enclosed a cheque with a refund. Because they had actual stock that was sent to the first few it could not be labelled as a scam, and because they refunded everyone there was no grip on them there either. They closed the company a while later, taking ample proceeds with them.

It wasn't their fault that a large part of their victims were reluctant to take a refund cheque to their bank made out in the name of the Large Rubber Dildo Company..

Social engineering - it existed well before anyone called it that way..

NYT casts Assange as 'arrogant' (with a little 'Peter Pan')

Fred Flintstone Gold badge
Pint

Ah no - a break with tradition

I hereby offer a nonsensical and insensible comment to compensate.

Balance must be.

And beer, of course. Cheers.

Facebook tightens privacy after friendly warning from Germany

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

The only information FB should have..

.. is the kind of stuff you would tell your worst enemy.

FB; google and pretty much all web services share one feature: you're only one programming mistake away from disclosure.

First DOS-based malware celebrates silver jubilee

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Gates Horns

A perfect fanboi defense would be..

.. adding the OS to all those impressive virus dictionaries so you could actually compare the sensitivity to infections of each platform. That would put the matter to rest, one way or another - but would prompt Microsoft to go back to batching their announcements so multiple problems looked like one..

I dislike Windows because it's so much work to keep it running - patch after patch after AV update after reboot - you don't realise just how much crap you wade through every day until you don't use a machine for 2 weeks and get it all at once. It appears people forget that MS brought in patch Tuesday because it got way too visible just how much patching was going on, and administrators needing compatibility tests just couldn't keep up.

However, AV providers know full well that such detail would stimulate a move to the lesser sensitive platforms (which are the UNIX derivatives - even Windows 7 still needs an anti-virus crutch to be safe). Let's not harm ourselves now, shall we?

I don't think I classify as a fanboi, but my dislike for Windows will get me placed in that category anyway. By Winblows fanbois :-)

Burglars snort dead dad's ashes

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I get Black Adder flashbacks

I still have tears in my eyes from laughing, grin.

I get a modern day Blackadder IV feeling here, with Baldrick using ashes as replacement cocaine like his coffee ingredients. I think this is why it made me laugh so much. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

:-)

UK doctor loses unencrypted laptop containing patient data

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Simple..

.. there is a law, and it has yet again been broken.. Nothing more to it.

German docs develop remote-control stomach submarine

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I can picture the scene already..

".. pleaz be quiet, zis is not goink to hurt"

Just hope it doesn't up its periscope en route.

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

It's not the farts you should worry about..

.. it's the need to follow through to see the return of the submarine..

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Already solved..

The added propulsion from the sherbet after effects (think global warming and "do not expel near open flames" warning signs) should give enough power to shoot it straight through some fluid submerged brushes.

Alternatively, this strikes me (pardon the pun) as one of the better community service projects - almost guaranteed to prevent re-offending (of the convict, not of Das Uboot).

Assange vows to drop 'insurance' files on Rupert Murdoch

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You may want to listen to the radio sometimes..

I wish it wasn't true either, but it has been reported that the side effect of releasing US diplomatic cables was detection and, umm, "correcting" of people in Iraq voicing their opinion to the US.

I would also not really trust the Pentagon to be truthful, but that may be just prudence..

:-)

Thunderstorms found to squirt antimatter into space

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A good start..

.. would be to never give up questioning the politicians around us..

They're the best evidence of alternate realities we have to date :-)

Yank fires up iPhone-controlled beer cannon

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Errm, not quite..

"Most of the world's best *and* most interesting beer comes from the States" - you need to get out more. Look up "Beer in Belgium" in Wikipedia..

I was amusing myself with going through about 150 different beers in a local pub in Belgium (yes, I once lived there too - bit of a contrast with Singapore and London :-), and that was 30 years ago. The most potent one was/is "Kwak" beer, which is served in a special glass where you don't just drink the beer, you also inhale the fumes, a rather lethal combination (2 for the brave, 3 for those with a death wish). I'm still quite partial to Hoegaarden, which my local super imports at frankly ridiculous prices.. The Belgians offered beer first as medicine (hence the link to monks and monastries), and seldom was medicine taken so enthusiastically..

You'd almost forgive them for inventing techno when you look at their other great idea: planting a brewery in the middle of a student town (Leuven). In principle they could skip the intermediate step of botlles and cans and just use hoses :-).

I'm pretty sure the UK and other countries have been at it for some time too, IMHO the US are merely catching up..

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Don't forget..

#TARGETING genital area identified

#TARGETING aim corrected, ready

This is guaranteed the first mod that will show up..

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Next upgrade..

.. will be a rail gun mechanism.

Will only be grudgingly abandoned after too many reports of fatally holed users and the wall behind them..

China's 'stealth fighter' flies – brown trouser time, or not?

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Not a problem..

If you read the article again you may discover that Lewis does NOT consider the current edition a threat - but it's a significant milestone nevertheless.

I think Lewis has been pretty much spot on in his analysis - good article.

Western Digital My Book Live Nas box

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No - it absolutely fails rule 1

Any designer that puts a spinning hard disk in a case that can fall over ought to be strung up by his balls. Dropping the case is AFAIK about cause #1 of total data loss - the case falls over with the disk spinning (thus not parked), leading immediately to a head crash when the case lands.

Bye bye data, and small chance of recovery. Major, no, EPIC fail.

'Blitzer' railgun already 'tactically relevant', boasts maker

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Torque?

Hmm. there are some mechanical challenges I can see on the horizon (yes, right next to that incoming missile). I'm going to be very interested how they will fight the resulting torque if they have to fire perpendicular to the ship's axis. Given the rather impressive acceleration forces it strikes me that this will generate enough torque to make the launching ship rotate along its length axis like a canoo. You need some *serious* water displacement to buffer for this.

Rather good for comedic effect, not so good for maintaining a defensive position.

Just musing - I'm sure someone must have though of this but I found no mention of it yet. Anyone?

WikiLeaks' Assange to be indicted for spying 'soon'

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Actually, yes.

If you come in contact with protectively marked information (the formal UK term for "classified" information) the stuff you hold is under the Official Secrets Act.

I don't quite know what position you're in if you find it on the train (the traditional route for UK information disclosure, cough), but if you had to sign the Official Secrets Act (OSA) to gain access you are committing a crime by releasing such information to anyone without due authorisation. They are not *your* secrets to give away - the same principle as if you've been told something personal by someone else.

If you get caught, you will be convicted, and it is only at this point that your motive starts to matter.

If you can show that you exhausted every other method to report a misdeed, and that you took care to limit the disclosure to the problem at hand you can apply for whistleblower status and thus have the sentence reduced or even commuted.

This is the precise problem with Wikileaks - not only is their release process not able to demonstrate that care (the volume is too high to ensure the complexities of collateral damage are dealt with) but they made matters worse by by stating they will just release all information (unfiltered) in one go if any of that club is harmed. That's plain blackmail, and is not going to make a difference. If anything, it hardens determination of those who don't like Wikileaks.

Assange has thus put himself in a position where he is not just failing to provide the public "service" to whistleblowers that Wikileaks apparently set out to do, he has placed himself in a position where he can be charged with collaborating with crime in a way that can be made to stick.

If they manage that, Assange is going to be in a world of trouble - he is annoying people that have never quite learned the art of diplomacy to a usable degree..

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Nope - wrong principle.

Data theft is a crime, especially of classified information. You may be sort of "excused" for that crime if you can prove that your motive was to highlight another crime, but you start with being a criminal.

Oh, and you have to be very specific about the why even before the disclosure, you can't just hand over a filing cabinet and state that you suspect something wrong to be in there - that would be like shooting every 10th person in Oxford Street and claiming you have reduced crime.

Statistically you will be correct, but it still won't serve much as an excuse for the collateral damage..

Google Chrome OS mauled by Richard Stallman

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Sigh - here's a little light reading

My problem with Stallman is that he says the right things, but in a way that seems to be designed to have them dismissed as soon as he utters them. The guy needs a PR agent to filter out the smell of his sandals.

Anyway, here we go again: why you should not use ChromeOS and cloud services. See www.google.com/accounts/tos. Scroll down to paragraph 11.1. Just in case you think that the ending sentence offers any kind of restraint on Google I suggest you really read the text in 11.2 and spot just how vague this is.

In this respect, Google is an even bigger threat to your privacy as Farcebook.

Oh, and "why you need privacy" is not the right question - you already have it as a human being, it's Human Right number 12. The question is why you should give it up that right when the other party doesn't give up their rights. Ask them how much they have in the bank, how large their mortgage is and what they earn per year. And if you can take a picture of their kids - taken at any time in the day - and show it to everyone. No? Well, that's privacy.

The US would really like access to everything that moves without ANY reciprocity. Other nations should have full access to passenger manifests of any flight originating in the US and their credit card spending records, because the last time I looked, the 9/11 guys were actually INSIDE the US.. And who is going to treat all those people who get cancer as a result of Xray overdosing by backscatter scanners?

I know, I know. Far too awkward questions to answer..

Stealing credit card details via NFC is easy/pointless

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

You can read them from a much larger distance

Your principal weapon of choice if your aerial. Right after that you can mess around with the receiver circuitry because at distance you get much less return signal (hence the need for a larger aerial) so you need to do some more work to preserve a decent signal-to-noice ratio.

AFAIK, under ideal conditions 30m is possible. This is not as much as passport RFIDs - I think their max range is now somewhere around 70m.

I will avoid these things like the plague. It's all jolly well announcing random PIN checks (which nullifies the whole "wave" idea, ahem) but in volume you can just annulate the transactions that need PIN. Get a merchant account and put up a tent at Oxford Street and presto, merry Xmas..

Dutch police arrest 16-year-old WikiLeaks avenger

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FAIL

Simple: because they have clear evidence

If you are clueless enough to forget that a DDoS is in essence committing a crime, and double up on the cluelessness (is that a word?) by assuming whoever asks you to join the criminal gang that they have any interest in protecting you instead of doing that yourself, well, hurry, expect a thank-you card from the judge by means of a quick warrant process.

To get a warrant only takes time when the evidence isn't clear (so more has to be gathered). When it's black-and-white it does not take any time whatsoever - there is no doubt. Don't forget that everyone who started that DDoS code was warned in advance what it would do, so even the German "ich habe es nicht gewusst" defense fails here. It's a wilful act, and you just put a red flag up at your house "Wikileaks criminal supporter here" via your IP address. What's not to like, from a police perspective?

Idiots.

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Whatever you've been smoking..

.. I wouldn't want any of it.

Let me know when your brain has caught up with the real world. You seem to be the sort of guy that walks around with a bleeding tongue because you keep forgetting about the staples when licking the centerfold..

EU telecoms to Apple, Google: 'Pay up!"

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Smokescreen for the biggest continuing scam of all..

That's a lot of BS to make it appear they make a loss of data connectivity. The story behind the smoke is that they are now ripping off the traveling public through especially the mobile data charges. Try and find a sensible data tariff if you travel a lot. If you have not taken the precaution to use an unlocked phone you're stitched up with ridiculous tariffs the moment you cross a border.

If you were wondering why the operators were not yelping that loudly when the EU capped international call charges, now you know why - they still rob you blind with data link changes.

Walmart falls in with Washington's war on terror

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F word to replace fascism

F*ched up, surely?

What a mess. And these guys have the remote control for global finance in their hands..

RIM recruits tester for NFC hardware

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The key is just part of the story..

All you need is a merchant account (which gives you access to the key) and a better aerial (which extends the reach of NFC to just under 30 meters and presto, drive by credit card reading.

Dumb idea.

BOFH: Pain fear games

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However...

.. this whole requirement for meal vouchers should have yielded the purchase of new, ultra-high quality printers which just happen to be able to replicate meal vouchers at a rate of knots.

The ultimate result would be that the voucher scheme would run at a total loss, leading to the swift sacking of the beancounter (grade 4.7 and above) who came up with this idea. Nobody *quite* knows where he went, something went wrong when he was escorted out of the building, but for a while, strange sounds have been heard from the airco ducts in the basement.

In parallel, the immediate area surrounding the office appeared to have suffered a veritable plague of high quality printed false currency, with especially the pubs suffering. Typically, false currency tends to be discovered in the hands of anyone paygrade 4.7 and above, and staff turnover at those levels has thus been astonishing, with teh local jail unable to keep up with the arrests.

Anyway, just off the bat. I didn't plan to write this. Ignore me. It's Friday..

:-)

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

And what is stopping you?

Ah, no, I get it. You haven't order the freezer yet for the paintballs.

There you go - how to spend your end of year budget surplus before it gets cut..

- this was a public service announcement -

:-)

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

More to come, I think..

After all, corporate Xmas parties ARE already starting. Maybe they're following the Xmas article sales, they seem to start earlier and earlier - they start in August now, don't they?

Fred Flintstone Gold badge
Pint

Oh dear..

See, this is why all this eco rubbish is never going to take off.

In his valiant effort to save 3 characters and associated energy, wear & tear, processing demands and power (read: carbon impact), Simon uses "½" instead of the word "half". And generated a lot of extra post as a consequences.

It's a bit like an eco-loo. Even when you've just taken a piss you end up flushing twice - too much eco means the small flush doesn't get the job done.

I hope this has lead to comprehension. But lead is a polluter, so maybe not..

Yes, I'm drunk. Why?

Apple throws a wobbly over Steve Jobs dolly

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Joke

Missing parts..

.. I'd buy it if it came with Voodoo pins. And a Bill Gates one.

Lindsay Lohan dumped from Lovelace movie

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Thanks, Lester

That's my hourly quota for innuendo almost blown, right there.

Yes, I said blown (I had one spare).

:-)

Google sued for scanning emails of non-Gmail users

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Actually, the man has a point..

Only the *recipient* has opted in to Google's scanning of email by using their services - Google has no contract with the sender if they use an external service, nor does the sender always have the ability to tell that it's actually Google who will process their email as it also supports domain mapping.

This means that in principle, Google is scanning email it has no rights to - a breach of privacy and copyright as Google has no way of obtaining permission (the recipient cannot give it as it's not theirs).

Hats off - that is a damn good catch. Let's see what happens..

FF

26,000km 'leccy joy ride crosses finish line

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I disagree

The whole problem with electric cars is raw data. We have several decades of experience with combustible engines, we have little on electric cars, and a couple of the more nervous aspects are highlighted in this article (driving in the rain with 550V worth of power underneath the chassis).

Sure, this has not brought any new discoveries to the fore, but it's delivered more information, I don't think that's bad. My personal feeling is that *batteries* should not become the main driving force of the car, they should only accumulate regenerated power from braking etc. I think fuel cells will be the main "energy container", simply because it's quicker to refuel than it is to recharge, and the amount of energy per weight is far higher.

In general, I think we're only at the beginning of e-powered cars. We still don't have a standard for killing power when the car has been in an accident - shorting a battery when you're trying to cut someone out of a wreck is not going to be a healthy event..

So, thumbs up for more data :-)

Court orders naming of celeb phone hack hacks

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Did anyone ever believe that "rogue journalist" claim?

I didn't buy that statement for a second. Not a chance..

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

No, it's clever

That way he can be sure the guy stays out of HIS voicemail :-)

Dirty PCs: How much filth can you take?

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Coat

Easy solution..

.. hoover the pets more often.

Yes, I don't like cats. How did you know?

:-)

Ballmer, Gates won't slice up Microsoft

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Just use another OS for a while

Use OSX, or Linux, for day-to-day. Give it a month, and then switch on that machine with Windows again. It will be an eye opener just how much shit you download to keep it working to some degree.

Best cure possible.

Isis joins battle for control of your wallet

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Stop

And so the folly continues

Beautiful, just beautiful.

The whole card security is based on distance: you have to be near to read the chip - or so they think. It's actually just a matter of the right aerial and receiver - AFAIK it's possible to pick up that chip at about 30 meters (passports at 70).

However, I do think they jolly well know this, indicated by the transaction limit. When did you last hear a credit card company limiting its ability to get you into debt?

**Shudder**

FBI top-brass ask Google, Facebook to expand wiretaps

Fred Flintstone Gold badge
FAIL

Cool - let's just kill the US industry overnight

This is a worse idea than the Clipper chip, they just don't learn, do they? It means no single piece of US kit is going to be trusted, no US service will be considered trustworthy.

However, they also know that takes time. I mean, if you can get so many people to sign up to Facebook or Google services, clearly the average end user couldn't care less.

Until it goes wrong.

Fanbois howl as OS X update bricks PGPed Macs

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Actually, there's more: GPG

Anyone who has GPGmail installed will discover post update that Mail throws it out as a now unsupported plug-in, which leads to the question what has changed so much they had to force incompatibility. You get that %&ç* pain with Firefox too.

Sigh. Just when you thought you left Windows-alike problems behind (having said that, if you install the Adobe PDF reader you're right back into daily updates anyway).

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

GPGmail: get the update

The GPGmail update released yesterday will address the problems with the Mail program (which rejects any older versions). Available in the download section of gpgmail.org, version 1.3.1.

Steve Jobs chucks Apple server biz from pram

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Yes and no

The problem was that customers have to choose between Microsoft with a roadmap but no clue how to build a sensible, secure platform or one that does but cannot be bothered to complete the picture for corporate use. So, "a patch a minute from cradle to grave" or "it mostly just works, even without anti-virus".

I have seen private banks switch to Apple kit because they were fed up with the risk any type of Microsoft infrastructure poses, this will more or less but a spike into that trend.

Oh well, maybe this could be yet-another-chance for Linux. After all, it grew on the back of dismal Microsoft server performance to start with..

US smartphones – Once you’ve had Android there’s no going back

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Sadly not

There is one major problem with the lack of a walled garden: practically any animal can walk in.

Especially from a corporate perspective there is still no phone that is actually trustworthy enough to give it access to the corporate infrastructure. Blackberries need a black box that has access to your resources but God knows what else it does, iPhones take screenshots without telling you - but both have at least *SOME* control if you lose it.

What I'd really like to see is an open phone I could trust. One that stores information encrypted a la Truecrypt, so that you can examine the design and indeed evaluate for yourself that it's relatively safe. This is what RIM and Apple offer to a small degree: stability.

Bring that sort of control, security and stability to Android and you will indeed have a winner.

Airport screeners go for the groin

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Argh..

.. apart from the obligatory pirate talk I would specifically worry about someone approaching my sensitive bits with a sharp pointy hook.

Yep, would work for me..

Volunteer biker gang foils Westminster CCTV car fleet

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Slow down a bit

If speeding cameras were indeed (a) reducing accidents and (b) were solely placed at locations where they would indeed contribute to safety instead of the liquidity of the relevant owners you'd be right.

However, speed is far from the only issue on the road. IMHO there are more accidents caused by idiots blocking traffic by hanging on the wrong lane and "creative lane use" (idiots "undertaking" and changing lanes at speeds that differ sometimes more than 20 mph with the surrounding traffic), yet the cameras along the road seem not able to record and grab these people by the goolies.

Oh, and that report that claimed speed cameras reduced fatalities? Let me just say that not all is well with that report, yet it is quoted everywhere.. If a report comes to a logic defying conclusion and over 50% of it is dedicated to how the conclusion was calculated you're looking at something that warrants a better look.

In short, people have no problem with the speed - they have a problem with the abuse of the law in the name of profit. It does two things: it creates resentment and, most vitally, it breeds disrespect for the law and its original purpose. Remarkably similar result with privacy laws.. Lose-lose scenario, but it makes money..

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

What a quality film..

Awards to whoever made this one. I'd like to know whoever dreamt that up.

National Rail tweaks departure board API, 'orders' coder to kill site

Fred Flintstone Gold badge

Easy answer

Given that a late train results in fines, making it more difficult appears to be the primary goal.

This is the same issue that gets a train cancelled when it's late - if left online it will make all other trains run late. Dropping a train is cheaper in fines. That you then have twice the passenger density on the next train nobody cares about..

Always follow the money..