Posts by Mark 65

Maybe not

Probably didn't want to license a driver like NTFS-3G or potentially run the risk of being the next Tom Tom. Can't say I blame them - they've got a big business to protect.

Arsewits

Surely 1 mph over the limit is beyond the combination of accuracy and resolution of the average speedometer. I mean, 1 mph still has the needle sitting on the mark unless your speedometer stops at 70. Challenge it I say.

Rendition

"Even in the US Joe Bob only has 96 hours to make his "suspect" squeal like a pig"

That's why they have rendition/extra rendition/torture by a foreign power - whatever you want to call it. Make up a safeguard then just side-step it by disappearing them to foreign soil. Nice.

@AC

"That'll stop you from touching the ariel"

Is that "ariel" as in the Disney character, or as in the washing powder?

@Magani

I believe the OP was posting in the context of the current time and hence is quite correct in their assertion. Hear much about them in the media? Nope. QED.

@Nextweek

What you're missing is that, rather than have 2% this year and 3% next, they want 5% this year and then they'll go back out on strike for next. Perhaps they're even wagering that the economy will have picked up by then and hence they can justify more. I shouldn't think they're worried about compound interest - isn't that 0.5% a gross of tax amount anyway?

@cschneid

Absolutely.

From the article...

"We have handled a number of key IT positions that would not have been filled had it not been for the experience and knowledge of some of these workers. "

Those key positions being 5-10 years experience of <insert in-demand skills here> for fuck-all salary. Yep, those positions can only be filled by people from the 3rd World. I think EU-wide should be a suitably large pool of potential employees for the UK.

@SSR

It's overrated. I can do that on a WD HDTV Live and it's low cost and low size. Local storage or network streaming.

The main problem I see with a lot of these boxes is the fact that it's "yet another bloody box" under the TV. PVRs with file streaming etc like those from Topfield are a touch more practical.

As for the TV/video from iTunes - ye..nah, too pricey. That's why a lot of piracy still goes on - too many services offer too little flexibility. Poor quality or overly restrictive etc. More than likely reflects the fact the movie industry isn't as on-board as the music industry now is. They'll learn.

Don't entirely agree

"Microsoft has only two advantages over its competitors: it is easier to use and administer than anything else, and it has a larger installed base of applications."

It may be easier to administer but it certainly isn't easier to use than, say, OSX. Mac has had the ease of use title for quite some time. Trouble is people on here look at ease of use from a geek perspective and geeks make up a tiny percentage of global computer users. I like windows 7 and I'm looking forward to my workplace XP boxen being updated, but it still doesn't beat OSX on the usage front.

I'd even venture to say that it's only the apps that keep it alive and the locki-in/sunken investment on the part of big businesses that are loathe to re-engineer.

@Jake (again)

So you'd probably agree that you're really quoting for your subset perspective whereby you may or may not like it rather than "the enterprise" (not a Star Trek reference) where it is common-place. I don't see a problem with the software just its use - trying to polish a turd with an animation, but that's marketing all over.

@Tom 15

Either way it's still worth them pointing out when the incumbent monopoly telco's backbone is a sack of shit.

@Pablo

Could have been from routine monitoring of diplomatic staff and officials - it seems common for instructions to filter through them - to someone shoulder surfing in a coffee shop and seeing something suss and reporting it.

@AC 09:11

"is hackable. But I'm not telling you more."

Link or it didn't happen. Schneier found issues with deniable file systems in Truecrypt a couple of years back but I find no record of an IronKey being hacked and I'd guess that someone would like to boast of their achievement unless it were the NSA in which case nobody would openly know.

I only like it for the fact that it works with Linux but others such as the SafeStick seem better with 256 rather than 128-bit encryption. Don't have one though (any design) - bit pricey. MXI (http://www.mxisecurity.com/) seem to do a good variety of kit.

I wouldn't mind seeing a "Bruce Schneier tests drive encryption" group test some time.

@AC 14:13

"0.5% of £12,500 actually"

Seriously, I don't want to take the piss but you need to start looking for work elsewhere. I was earning more than that straight out of Uni (where I didn't do anything special) in 1996 and can only suggest that you must have either no skills or no ambition in order to put up with that for an income in 2010.

@Paul Landon

You see this is the problem with left-wing envy-politics. The desire to chase down those rich bastards and squeeze them for every cent. Rich people avoid tax because they can. They have expensive lawyers, accountants and tax consultants that make it so. Chase them all you like but you'll end up spending more on collection than you'll receive. This is one of the main arguments for flat-rate taxation as opposed to tiered levels with high top rates which inherently provide an incentive towards avoidance. Administration is also less costly.

Re:Not looking for anything

"'Looking for drivers'? You what? Where have you been for the last ten years?

The reason Windows is so bloated and comes on a DVD is because it has pretty much every last driver you're ever likely to want. "

Err, no it most certainly doesn't. Windows 7 distinctly cannot find any drivers for my Wi-Fi and TV card on a 2005 vintage PC that I upgraded from XP.

Drivers are strictly the component manufacturers issue but you are in denial if you think Windows just works out of the box.

Re:Amendments?

It looks like she ought to just be recommending the use of Open DNS. A few education programs at local libraries showing how to setup and use it on a some of the most popular modems and the odd OS (XP, Win 7, OSX etc).

Re:Lazy

If your back is so badly damaged that you cannot use an upright or cylinder vacuum cleaner then I'd imagine you'd be eligible for some kind of home help.

Also, how are you going to pick it up to clean it as that'd involve bending down to floor level - somewhat further down than required when using a cylinder vacuum?

But...

Surely the point is that anyone coming from iTunes will have music in AAC not MP3 if iTunes ripped it or they downloaded it from the store and that the latter will be using fairplay or whatever it's called unless bought within the last year or so?

Using iTunes most likely means using Apple music player.

MAC filtering voodoo

The point is that you'd need to know a valid address to spoof so it's not necessarily as voodoo as you state. Sure, it's doable but you've still gotta hang around and find the right address for the network.

@Giles Jones

More to the point, how many people actually upgrade the processor? Every time I've gone to upgrade the processor Intel has changed the bloody socket so that'll be a new motherboard sir, CPU and RAM just like you state. I would guess the main upgrades of any point these days are

1. RAM

2. HD to SSD

3. Graphics Card

of which only 1-2 offer all round improvements.

Open formats

Hopefully when/if the Government starts to get it's arse in gear on this subject all tax-payer funded entities will have to adhere to open unencumbered standards such as the open document format (caveat that they have a GBP160bn per annum hole to fill first).

I would also add that if a school requires students to return coursework using any particular piece of software then they are (or should be) under an obligation to provide it. It might then make their choices a touch more sensible.

Re:Difference

I used to think that 320kbps VBR mp3 from LAME was the be-all and end-all. Then as AAC matured and the encoders got better and I also tried FLAC I noticed what was blatantly missing. As the above poster states - just listen to the high-hats. I can hear the difference on my little Sony flash-based music player.

Not quite

Personally I'd prefer to see them using a blackberry so that settings can be enforced and the damn thing wiped and bricked when they inevitably leave it in the pub/on the train/in a taxi etc.