* Posts by Mark 65

3432 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Jun 2009

Oz governments find new use for censorship

Mark 65
Big Brother

Aussie Government

There's only one thing you can say to the likes of O'Connor and Conroy - "Oh do fuck off". Best accompanied by some subtle and dismissive hand waving.

Mark 65

@petrosy

Indeed, I am also amazed by the swearing and course language heard on the radio at practically any time of day. Obviously they believe kids will be playing gore-fest games but couldn't possibly hear this tripe in the car for example.

Ofcom says no to automatically renewed contract badness

Mark 65

ARCs

Are a disgrace and should need an explicit opt-in by the customer for any contract of any kind. Insurance companies are absolute arseholes at this - "we thought we'd automatically renew your insurance at a highly inflated new premium level for your convenience unless you send us engraved tablets 3 weeks in advance telling us not to".

Croatian brainboxes deploy calculus-based CAPTCHA

Mark 65

@James 129

Dare you to out-reduce or out-solve Maple or Mathematica. Perhaps they could just have a CAPTCHA system that asks what the current celeb-du-jour got up to recently?

Government needs to bring IT skills in-house

Mark 65

@AC

OMG, you have 200k/yr cake-eaters too. I thought for a minute I was alone in suffering the blight of the meeting planning pastry consumer.

Kentucky man denies drunk driving, blames blow job

Mark 65

@AC

It's ok, it was probably his sister.

UK.gov closes door against foreign boners

Mark 65

Tanned and muscled aussies?

Most of them are overweight at home so not sure where those ones come from. They're currently trying to out-lard the yanks and are doing a fine job of it.

Eurofighter Typhoon: It's EVEN WORSE than we thought

Mark 65

@Michael Jennings

You're missing a very big point - the Aussies buy straight from the yanks because they have zero options - there is absolutely no way they could ever build a combat aircraft without resorting to sticking a gattling gun on a Cessna and both of these would have to be bought from overseas.

Easier to secure the cloud than your data center - IBMer

Mark 65

Skin in the game

I think that once you stipulated all the penalties, punishments, and requirements you'll probably find that the cloud becomes far less attractive from a cost perspective as for everything you stipulate the price will rise. It probably pays to be a master of your own destiny.

More interception, less scrutiny as Oz Senate passes wiretap laws

Mark 65
Big Brother

Time to crack out the VPN

It seems that if you've done nothing wrong you now have everything to hide.

Dell Inspiron Zino HD 410

Mark 65
Paris Hilton

Media PC

I think Asus do a little eeebox unit with nVidia Ion technology and an Atom processor. It's likely far better suited to this role - small cramped box, plenty of heat generation (and Paris icon). Also I'd happily forgo an inbuilt dual tv-tuner as a usb one will suffice given an inbuilt will probably not be DVB-T2.

Why do we need SANs?

Mark 65

Re:Err

Just curious as to why you'd have a DR VM and not use a movable machine? Or do you mean half run in your prod datacentre and half in your BCP/DR datacentre which would seem more likely?

If not, maybe I'm missing something but I'm pretty sure my DR is my Prod VM flipped to the BCP hosting (or alternative node in prod cluster) automatically. Machine is SAN stored and replicated.

Microsoft plans June Windows 8 tablet tease?

Mark 65

Re:Eight?

"Apple have the right idea, produce a limited number of models and just make sure they are good. They have one phone and one tablet."

Except they don't. You can get 16,32, and 64GB iPads with or without 3G. Technically 6 models. Same for the iPhone with the 3GS still available in 8GB size. Maybe Dell is just making an extra memory variant, maybe not?

Mark 65

Microsoft

I think the competition in the OS space from Apple's iOS and OSX and Google's Android (along with improvements in Linux distros) has been fantastic for the end user as it has finally provided a mighty size 11 boot up the arse of MS and forced them to actually produce some decent stuff - I'm no fanboy but I think Windows 7 hits the mark. It's not perfect but it's much appreciated.

The Register and Australia-New Zealand

Mark 65

Design changes

"And me might look at a few design tweaks to make the site stand out more when we formally launch the operation, in the next month or so."

Like an upside-down vulture logo?

Apple fanbois leak secrets of Mac OS X Lion

Mark 65

Filevault

I see filevault will now offer fde using XTS-AES 128 encryption. Does this mean I'd still be better off getting PGP or is this now up-to-scratch?

Traffic-light plague sweeps UK: Safety culture strangles Blighty

Mark 65

Re: Re "Bollocks"

"So if these cyclists in London happen to be the City Banking type that earn mega money and huge bonus's, then they probably pay a lot more tax than the delivery driver in his van even taking into account VED etc"

City bankers don't pay tax, or at least not too much. Read the articles on Barclays corporate taxation for indications of the principles.

Mark 65

Highway Code

Not sure about this instance, but isn't it the case that the highway code is a set of guidelines of which some, but not all, are based upon underlying laws or acts?

British Airways IT worker found guilty of plotting terror attack

Mark 65
Black Helicopters

RE:#Well

When you say combination of do you mean RAR in a truecrypt container or some in RAR, others in truecrypt - I'd be interested to know as I'm assuming brute-forcing AES-128 inside cascading Truecrypt would be bloody difficult. Any ideas of hidden container or not?

Does anyone know what passphrase length could reasonably be implied for a cascading truecrypt (or AES -128 or AES-256) container to hold out for 9 months? Just wondering whether this dude just used the right tools incorrectly or not.

Conviction overturned for abuse images bought from bookshop

Mark 65

IT confiscation

Given you weren't charged, what are the rules on the obnoxious power-tripping f*ckheads giving back what isn't theirs and clearly isn't evidence?

Apple brands Intel 'Light Peak' as Thunderbolt

Mark 65

@AC

I believe it's intended to use light in its final form but Intel have the initial form without light in order to get something on the market.

Australian utility evaluates EV charging kit

Mark 65

Interesting

When I first came to Oz I was surprised by the vast number of highly inefficient V6 and V8 cars on the roads - think cheap and thirsty US lumps rather than expensive and lean German engines. For this reason alone I cannot see electric car use taking off. I also thought there is/was a rule governing the minimum distance a vehicle can travel between refills here which, if true, would absolutely knacker EV rather than hybrid vehicles.

Council loses USB of patient records

Mark 65

User problems

It would appear from the story that they "went back to using unencrypted" USB. In that case discipline the prick for breaching the internal rules.

Facebook pulls naked smutty filth from NY Academy of Art page

Mark 65

Facebook

The irony of them claiming to be enforcing some code of morality whilst selling private data to the highest bidder.

Brisbane's sewer fibre plan goes down the pan

Mark 65

The truth?

"Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said the network would not proceed because the council was “unhappy with the progress of the deal""

So the $35m (est) damage to the sewers from the recent storms and flooding had nothing to do with it's viability?

Memo to iPad mimics: No one wants a $799 knockoff

Mark 65

Beat me to it

Enterprise will generally live by the "if we can't control it and it's configuration then it doesn't connect" mantra, and you get sacked for gross misconduct for disobeying.

Stay-at-home PayPal crook used stolen funds to buy gold bullion

Mark 65

3 1/2 years?

He should have just mugged people, he'd have probably gotten off lighter.

Huawei to gift underground coverage to London

Mark 65

@Alex 14

"People use mobile networks for things other than voice calling these days"

Like remote detonation?

Does service centric IT deliver better value?

Mark 65

@CT1

Other than the ITIL-centric management twats I mentioned in my previous post you have the self-serving theoretical crap espoused by external (and internal) auditors to thank for your access woes. Audit says blah having access to abc is an issue. We must clear up all our audit points. You can;t have access etc etc. Yet another group of pillocks that have never cut code or operated in the real world at the pointy end. Yes, I hate auditors too.

Software suppliers not ready for HMRC online tax filing system

Mark 65

Yep

The Government has never grasped the fact that money can actually be spent more productively than on complying with their bullshit. R&D is typically a good productive area to spend it. Never mind, eh? Obviously much better to be subservient to HMRC's current whim.

NBN will turn retail borderless, says Conroy

Mark 65

@Chux

Ah cars, that old favourite. You'll be pleased to know that I looked into the pricing of a BMW M5 (can't afford one, just a good example of an import).

UK driveaway was GBP60k (less than $120k at the time).

AU base was (IIRC) $180k. Luxury car tax added about $40k. Then a few other bits and you had about $225k driveaway.

From above you could basically buy it, ship it, and pay your dues and save a fortune.

Cars, as you indicate, are one of the worst areas. No competition, no worries.

Mark 65

It gets better

I've noticed how, even if they have a web presence, both the website and the catalogue use internal item codes rather than manufacturer model numbers so it makes it difficult to compare across stores. Pathetic really, and a damning indictment of how uncompetitive retail is.

Mark 65

Baksheesh

Perhaps it's time for a brown envelope icon?

Mark 65

WTF?

Has Conroy not noticed that retail doesn't rely on uber-fast broadband to succeed? It's about retailers selling what people want for prices they want to pay and the connection speed doesn't have to be that great for it to happen. The actual problem is the lack of web presence that he notes - advertising the NBN as a cure-all is typical BS. Even large companies like Harvey Norman never used to list anything on their websites until recently but, like many others still do, instead had a link to "the latest catalogue". How quaint in 2011. In the UK you've been able to order online from large businesses (at your convenience) for years. Retailers here need to learn that the rip the customer off thieving bastard business model has gone.

PS Australia cannot lose it's international competitiveness because it would first need to get some as witnessed by the fact I can buy goods from the US or Europe, get them shipped, pay any taxes and still have change to spare (and plenty of it) over the local price.

Countries where Facebook is not, yet, king

Mark 65

@Tool of Lucifer

The funniest bit I find is when you try explaining things to them in simple terms and they respond with.....

"You just don't get it"

Indeed.

Mark 65

@Graham 15

"The fact that some of these services are already available elsewhere ("why don't you just use your PHONE, idiot") is not an argument; why would I use multiple services when one site can provide them all adequately for me?"

Are we to presume therefore that you do not have a phone as you wouldn't use multiple services and only communicate through the f-word from a PC/Laptop/etc? No need to respond - I'm being facetious.

"Yes, privacy is an issue and facebook's attitude to it bothers me but doesn't outweigh the benefits of it for me."

Trouble is that when it does outweigh it it'll be too late to do anything about it. Account deletion becomes irrelevant if the troublesome private bits are cached/stored all around the web by then.

The internet ate our homework

Mark 65

Australian Book Stores

Have noone but themselves to blame. I went to buy a non-fiction paperback here and the price was $27. I got it shipped from the book depository in the UK for $11. Delivered. Therein layeth the problem.

Sony threatens to ban PS3 jailbreakers from network

Mark 65

I remember the days

When Sony used to be known as a company that made decent gear.

IT grad claims £5m for crap degree

Mark 65

Power

If the court has no power over the decision then why did the case make it that far? Just curious.

MS fesses on silent security fixes

Mark 65

The issue is

If they fix an internally located bug but introduce another problem in doing so.

Telcos plan to capitalise on the data explosion

Mark 65

You got there first

I was about to say isn't this a bit like a RIPA infringement a la Phorm? Surely this would also remove any such claims to common carrier status as they are then interfering with and adding to the received data.

Boffins demand: Cull bogus A-Levels, hire brainier teachers

Mark 65

Teaching

Although many may not agree, I believe the biggest problem with teaching is the pay structure (block pay bargaining and unionism). I know that bonuses were given in the past, for instance, to attract males to early school teaching and to attract maths teachers to take them above the normal pay-scale but that's not enough.

We have to face facts in that, although many do the job for the love of it (I myself could never entertain the thought) it is still cold hard currency that keeps the roof above your head. I see no reason why a brilliant maths teacher (or any other subject) should live a shit life because they teach. I know there are those that state "if you want better pay then work in private industry" - I used to be one before I had kids - but that ignores the fact that you will therefore be sentencing kids to either a shit education or a costly one and society will reap the outcome of this. Good teachers and those in much needed areas should be separated from the abhorrent bullshit that is the "you've been teaching for 8 years so you're at this level" crap that goes on.

Why should someone who may be crap earn more just because there's a couple more years on the dial? Can't see it happening though.

UK, Oz won't get latest AMD ThinkPad

Mark 65

UK/Oz

I think with the state of VAT and the Aussie dollar (and local pricing) both are more likely to get such a machine from the US anyway.

Tax tribunal finds contractor wasn't employee

Mark 65

@AC

Did you choke on your humble pie, sat on your soap box as you ranted away whilst reading the daily mail?

Given the recent financial crisis you should be glad contractors exist as most would have got the bullet first saving your unambitious arse from landing on the street. Why don't you go and explain to them where their redundancy payments went to seeing as you're so sure they're employees?

Where's a fuckwit icon when you need one?

Telstra stirs NBN pot with 4G/LTE deployment announcement

Mark 65

Complements?

It may well seem logical to you that mobile complements the fibre userbase rather than cannibalises it but that is before you take into account that Aussie providers charge like a wounded rhino and the vast majority will choose one or the other. I accept your statement over wireless flakiness and posit that they will choose NBN. They may have NBN + 3G (as you need something for your phone and it's hard to get less) but I believe it will be quite some time until 4G becomes so rudimentary that users will have both on cost grounds alone.

In relevance to the article, Telstra are pricks and charge the most for both services especially when they get a sniff of being practically a sole provider in an area. An example being their NextG network. When I got my mobile contract the same service (calls + data) on NextG was almost twice the price. As far as I'm concerned it may be fast but they can rapidly shove it up their arse unless the price is right (for once).

Binatone HomeSurf 7 Android tablet

Mark 65

Re:root?

I seriously doubt you'd get a root owning one of these.

Can Oz compete in the outsourcing market?

Mark 65

I call BS

I live in Oz and, trust me, other than the "innit, like" brigade the grasp of the language here is decidedly sub-par with one delightful privately educated colleague using the term "deers". Outsourcing needs to come with a massive cost saving to justify the shit you have to put up with and you won't be finding that in the supposedly lucky country.

Channel Five reborn as Channel Five

Mark 65
Paris Hilton

@Graham S

Hummys? Sounds like something Paris would issue.

Evil grain-speculating OVERLORDS will starve us ALL

Mark 65

Prices

Indeed, it is more likely that prices are rising as more and more 3rd World residents move out of abject poverty and can afford to feed themselves and their families (i.e. China).

Card surcharges face super-complaint

Mark 65

Re:BACS

Then the answer is to have a system like Australia's BPAY system whereby you have a biller code and reference number. Allocation is therefore automated as they gave you the two numbers in the first place. I always remember paying my bills via bill payment on my HSBC online account required a reference number with an input mask - I would seriously doubt that involves manual allocation on account of the human error factor.