* Posts by Mark 65

3432 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Jun 2009

Microsoft trousers yet more royalties from Android gear

Mark 65

Not necessarily lazy - if the wheel you reinvent isn't a better one then what was the point?

UK shamed in high-speed broadband study

Mark 65

I'm guessing that faster connections help for when people live in houses that share their connections with other occupants - parents watching HD iPlayer feed, kids doing the same and/or gaming etc, it all adds up. I don't see speed requirements coming down any time soon especially with more VOD services coming along.

Mark 65

I have another question on this front - how is it measured? Are Akamai measuring it through sync speed on the line or the rate at which the user can suck up data? If it is the latter then perhaps UK ISP networks are the problem i.e. I may have a 12Mbit/s connection but my oversubscribed ISP is only giving me 2Mbit/s most of the time etc. Although this reflects real world speeds it doesn't necessarily tell you where the problem sits. In fact, as faster connections roll out could this become common place because the fault is with the ISPs overselling and under-investing?

Google dumps + from Boolean search tool

Mark 65

Searches for specific chunks of text (i.e. phrases) have always worked best using quotes as that's what they were originally for. This change seems to muddy the waters.

WikiLeaks on verge of financial collapse, founder says

Mark 65

Are your sites resilient to attacks and take-downs though?

Gov: DAB must battle on, despite being old and rubbish

Mark 65

DAB or DAB+

Are they going to be rolling out DAB by 2015 or will they be using the improved DAB+?

Leo DiCaprio slated to play Turing in biopic

Mark 65
Facepalm

Uh, and would he have been so harshly dealt with if he wasn't so prominently in the public eye? I doubt it.

Mark 65

"Turing's wartime achievements in cracking Enigma and other German wartime ciphers failed to count in his favour after he was criminally prosecuted for being homosexual, and forced to undergo humiliating chemical castration and psychiatric treatment before he eventually committed suicide."

Gotta love the decidedly British tall-poppy syndrome. Head's above the parapet? Lop the f*cker off.

Netbook shipments slump in face of tablet rise

Mark 65

The tablet thing is working out well as I've seen the Aspire One Happy model for AU$249 retail compared to the iPad/Transformer etc at just under $600. About time the pricing was more realistic.

Android grabs quarter of tablet market

Mark 65

A big change in pricing will be required for top performing tablets as the market has already shown that people currently want an iPad, not a tablet. Shipped numbers are meaningless.

Web block would 'spark arms race' against pirates

Mark 65

"An audience member from Warner Brothers argued that just because it was hard to enforce the law didn't mean you shouldn't try to enforce it."

But you don't bother when the effort is clearly for nothing as smarter people than you have already noted that the incentive needs to change because the technology will achieve nothing. For WBs information there are plenty of arcane laws out there that are not enforced.

Although some may have been since cleared up, including this one from the middle ages...

All English males over the age 14 are to carry out 2 or so hours of longbow practice a week supervised by the local clergy.

Don't recall doing that myself.

Jobs: 'I'll spend my dying breath destroying Android'

Mark 65

With a ~$188 tear down price on the 4S and a $649 unlocked retail price I'd say they are set to be the creator of their own problems. I don't begrudge them a margin but I won't be letting them take the piss.

Jobs was 'working on future product day before he died'

Mark 65

Surely it's just a larger iPod.

BSkyB earns more dosh out of fewer new punters

Mark 65

I wonder if they get a boost from benefits being index linked? Just asking.

Vegas man begs web for $1m to fix gigantic scrotum

Mark 65

Errrr, no. I'm 6ft and weigh just over 100kg (220lbs). Not fat, and not a 'roider either. 190 for 6' 3" sounds like a bullshit BMI figure.

Samsung Android 4.0 smartphone priced for Blighty

Mark 65

"Apple plays catchup whereas none of what you mention is new to Android, it's only enhanced."

If you wanted to play devil's advocate you could argue that they waited until the feature was the final polished article rather than just release what they had so far.

Fund manager withdraws legal threat over security vuln

Mark 65

Regulator?

"The Australian Privacy Commissioner, Tim Pilgrim, has also launched an investigation into the matter."

How about the financial services regulator have a little looksy to see how p*ss-weak the data controls are on one of its regulated entities?

IBM fails to keep Oz harassment case under wraps

Mark 65

Photos or it didn't happen.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S Android smartphone

Mark 65

I'm guessing it may be about the single core not being a slouch now but it will possibly have a shorter tech-lifespan due to its lack of a second core (standard upgrade cycles noted).

Steve Jobs memorial brings out tech titans... and Bono

Mark 65

Walled garden approach until the very end.

Top Tory 'lost voters' personal info' days before ID fraud week

Mark 65

FFS

"The discarded documents are said to include the addresses of Letwin's constituents in West Dorset, which could expose them to identity fraud."

Best sue BT for the phone book they keep up to date. Or perhaps next visit the electoral role.

Ubuntu's Oneiric Ocelot: Nice, but necessary?

Mark 65

Yep, trying to do an Android all device system has just screwed it for everybody.

OMG! Berners-Lee has an iPhone

Mark 65

I think encrypted email isn't currently the norm not because it can't be built in and used by default but because vested interests would prefer that it weren't.

World+Dog goes bonkers for iPhone 4S

Mark 65

and as the iPhone 4 showed, you may wish to wait for any initial flaws to show themselves rather than be an early adopter.

Oz tech retailer threatens parallel import strategy

Mark 65

Does the Reg permit you to reveal the name in the way of performing a public service?

Mark 65

Indeed it has been widely reported that nearly all of the currency benefits of the strengthening Aussie dollar were sucked up by the importers/distributors and never made it anywhere near the customer end of the chain. Anything that removes this fat from the system is welcome. Australians have been getting shafted in retail for far too long.

Mark 65

The problem is not a free-trade issue i.e. Australia loading unnecessary tariffs onto imports that make them expensive, it is an issue of distributors taking the piss. For example, global companies like Pioneer and Canon have local subsidiaries. These companies generally have the sole import rights for the Australian market as they are the warranty provider. Try fronting up to them, even Pioneer with an issue on a hugely expensive plasma screen, and you'll get told to shove your warranty issue up your arse (politely maybe). They didn't get a cut of the sale so you don't get the support. Right or wrong, who cares, it means they can hardly complain if I choose to forgo their warranty and opt for a cheaper price. Photographic equipment, and I guess any other niche area, is a similar story with local companies getting the import rights and charging such a high price that I can import from the UK cheaper.

All I can say is good on them. They'll have to supply a local warranty and if it means I can get offshore pricing plus a touch then I'm in. However if it ends up as offshore pricing plus a touch-up so they can fatten their profits then they're in for a rude awakening.

Pay Jobs due respect - by crushing the empire he created

Mark 65

I think one thing that Jobs got right, that has been alluded to in other posts and recent articles, is the fact that your average consumer gives more weight to ease of use than outright functionality or brilliance of architecture. If said user can just start iTunes, connect their device and have everything taken care of then that is good enough. Drag-drop loading? Most couldn't give a shit. iPhones etc may be popular as a fashion statement but I also think that techies underestimate the total ease of use angle (start this app, connect device, done) by being blinded by their own use-case.

If this (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361278,00.asp) is what Android has to offer then sorry but it sucks. If you think of phones and tablets as essentially one business, as Apple seems to, then Android or Windows Mobile/whatever needs to come up with a unified iTunes alternative.

Despite being a techie myself I really can't be arsed fannying around with devices/appliances outside of work - take two bottles into the shower? I just want to wash and go. Ease of use sells and Jobs knew it.

Australian National Broadband Network secures backhaul

Mark 65

Hmmm

"Apart from its importance to the NBN project, the announcement also signals Telstra’s increasing willingness to co-operate with the project: it’s extremely rare for the incumbent carrier to consider offering dark fibre to any customer."

Unless of course that dark fibre is predominantly unlit.

High-frequency traders attract regulator’s interest

Mark 65

The problem is that HFT gets the blame as a whole when often it is a part of this that is at fault. The part to which I refer people are flash orders. This is where, for a fee, an exchange will permit people to have a 30ms or so looksy at orders coming onto the market. This enables these users and their HFT systems to nibble away at the order to find the price at which it stops out thereby forcing the participant placing the order to always receive something like their stop price. Search Google for definitions of how flash orders work. Essentially it is like front-running the market and the practice is particularly abhorrent.

Mark 65

Need to be careful with that though as genuine arbitrage is useful. Add transaction taxes and market mis-pricings can grow larger.

Would you let your car insurer snoop on you for a better deal?

Mark 65

"You mean 268 not 253, and that is the highway code, not law."

Can't tell if it applies in this case as I don't have a copy to hand, but large chunks of the highway code relate to the Road Traffic Act and therefore are law. Normally it says in the little book when this applies.

Whilst we're here though, anyone who thinks an insurance company won't use this device's data to weasel out of paying your claim is a fool. Whilst high cost insurance doesn't ensure a good service I am always wary of the real low cost operators as they have to be saving money somewhere and I'm pretty sure they all use cheap call centres.

iPlayer founder launches next big TV thing-Zeebox

Mark 65

Flaw

Wouldn't an EPG relying on recommendation/popularity just keep advising me to watch X-Idol?

Sims outlines Oz network regulation again

Mark 65

I have no problem with the NBN being a monopoly. What it comes down to in the end is how it's run and how much it ends up costing me as an end-user and a taxpayer.

Intellectual Ventures wages patent war on Motorola

Mark 65

Indeed, I can confirm that fund managers are actively looking at IP/Patent portfolios as an investable asset class and have done so for some time. At one place I worked they've had one for at least 5 years. If someone is managing a $50bn portfolio and decides to place even .5% in IP then we're still talking about a $250,000,000 investment in this bullshit. Scale this up across an industry hunting out returns in a financial crisis and you have where we find ourselves today. Personally I'd be happy if they fixed the laws up and these pricks lost 100% of their investments.

Gas bill climbed £13,000 after correct online reading given

Mark 65

Muppets

Not only the biggest logic fail I've ever witnessed, given they have prior history on the user's account in order that they could do the estimate, but they even felt the need to state that they wouldn't actually be charging £13k - no shit, that'd be illegal. Utter muppets.

Apple outs iPhone micro USB adaptor

Mark 65

Indeed. I'm wondering whether they're just taking the piss to see if the EU gives them a slap for this or not. Meeting your obligation by manufacturing an adapter and then charging for it rather than including it is somewhat wide of the target.

Why grill Google over web dominance? It has none

Mark 65

The problem is that you need to be more nimble with your oversight and catch them in the act. Asking for the algorithm they used to f*ck someone's business over several years ago is pointless - they likely don't even have a record of what it used to be. The regulator needs to get on top of things and ask for the current one when they are inexplicably coming first in a search over a clearly more popular service.

Premier League loses footie decoder case

Mark 65

It may well have three beams but, as you can see, where it can be picked up relates to how big the dish is.

Ten... Androids to outshine the iPhone 4S

Mark 65

I think the point he's making is the manufacturer supporting the update rather than having to hack his phone. I have read plenty of complaints on these very forums from users complaining that the manufacturer won't be updating their handset from 2.1 or 2.2 to 2.3 etc. This isn't an Android problem per se but a manufacturer one. However it doesn't help sell the phones to those on the fence.

Apple TV owners lost legal movie playback this weekend

Mark 65

Ripping a DVD is not dubious it is merely format shifting. The sooner the studios come around to the fact I want the shareability of DVD with the playability of a digital file the better. I will not purchase multiple copies and I will not be suckered into renting which is what "buying" a DRMed copy is.

Mark 65

I'd guess that if they paid $86 they're not in the UK (not quite the 51st state yet)

Open Document Format updated to fix spreadsheets

Mark 65

If you want Excel to leave your data alone type it in with a leading single quote ', or pre-format the cells as text. Either way the output CSV should be fine.

Anonymous Twitter alternative developed for rioters

Mark 65

I'd have thought the system stored [message, lifespan, location, range] and if you're running the app (no formal registration required if it's to be anonymous) the app on your phone polls [any messages for location X]. The system then matches up messages for which you are in the radius whilst all the time deleting expired messages. Not sure any more than that is required. Connection from app should use encryption then the main point of concern is old-mate's server setup and logging.

Mark 65

"In either case the apps could use encryption to secure the messages, but GCHQ has enough raw horsepower at its fingertips to make that a fairly htin layer of protection"

Do you have any proof of this? I mean, AES-256 would be pretty handy and, given plod has a law requiring you to reveal your password, I'd say they'd find it quite difficult to crack more basic encryption especially in any realistically useful timeframe. Let's face it, you're not going to redirect GCHQ processing power from hunt-the-terrorist operations to collar someone for stealing a f*cking TV from Currys.

PS I'm not into conspiracy theories that state things such as "they only have the law to mask the fact they can already crack encryption". The country's skint, I really doubt it.

Microsoft takes the Android profit, the Wonkas take the pain

Mark 65

@Matt

What I was trying to get at is that, although the license fee is small compared to the litigation costs etc, they'd still be suing their own customers i.e. Samsung and HTC may use Android but they are also the manufacturers that MS would need onside to make sure their new mobile OS takes off. I think the MS lawer is probably a bit more balshy than the others (all mouth and no trousers etc) as it would seem like commercial suicide if those two joined together in saying no and MS then tried suing them - try shifting your poxy OS then.

Bo Peep insures jubs for $1m

Mark 65

Bunny

Wasn't she one of Hef's playthings on that playboy mansion TV show?

Microsoft's Roslyn invites VB to Windows 8 party

Mark 65

C# - a language for people that don't want to manage memory intimately, create buffer overflow flaws, or waste their time getting close to the metal if it is not at all required. Productivity - it's about what works best overall.

Don't bother with that degree, say IT pros

Mark 65

I think a lot of people here are guilty of not reading exactly what was said...

"Learning to code in your bedroom will prepare you for the IT job market just as well as a three-year degree costing £27,000, professionals said in a survey published today by CWJobs.co.uk.

More than half the IT professionals polled said they would not do an IT-related degree today if they were paying the increased fees, which will come into force next year."

The first sentence is an incorrect inference from the second (the result). What IT professionals are saying is that they would not do *an IT-related degree* if they were paying the increased fees.

This is spot on from what I've seen. I've worked with Mathematicians, Physicists, Engineers etc as well as non-degree people (tough getting past HR without good history) who have all been up to the job. An IT-degree hasn't been a necessity for a long time but probably helps in those hardcore C++ architectural/leading edge positions.

Android's scariest nightmare: resurgently sexy Microsoft

Mark 65

@Daleos

"Sure full fat OS's are no longer in the cool school but they're still needed and as soon as someone comes out with a workable way for me to run *all* of my desktop apps on a lightweight slate the better."

Given the chasm in processing capability between a desktop and a lightweight slate, why on earth would you want to run all of your desktop apps on it? Get an ultra-portable for heaven's sake.