* Posts by HippyChippy

24 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Sep 2006

LockBit ransomware gang disrupted by global operation

HippyChippy

And here's the NCA's Tuesday report;

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/nca-leads-international-investigation-targeting-worlds-most-harmful-ransomware-group

Good work Team.

French lawmakers say oui to Olympic video surveillance, but non for faces

HippyChippy

Re: Seems good to me

What 'crowd trouble' is there at Olympic events? Has there ever been any that wasn't ably dealt with by human marshalls/ local plod?

Reds on the beds: Putin's war sparks Chinese chip boom, starting with electric blankets

HippyChippy
Flame

Re: They’re made by Sunbeam, Sunbeam, or Sunbeam,

Yes I was somewhat concerned about mixing electricals and water when I was researching a new electric blanket.

Bought a Slumberland under-blanket with seperate side temp' controls for not many pennies, and have found it washes & dries very well. Fear not.

Nuclear power is the climate superhero too nervous to wear its cape

HippyChippy

Well Done El Reg'...

Brillant and thought provoking article, and same with most of the comments too. I'm so relieved to see the Climate Crisis refered to in print as a looming extinction event rather than the usual 'Phew what a scorcher now turn the page for more Love Island news' type of coverage.

Let's cancel trying to put humans on Mars and urgently channel resources to saving humanity on '...this good Earth'. We haven't got long!

Soz if this has been said in the previous 329 comments.

AdGuard names 6,000+ web trackers that use CNAME chicanery: Feel free to feed them into your browser's filter

HippyChippy

A novice writes...

So as a novice Firefox with uBlockOrigin user I wondered if I could add a CNAME filter list, clicked on the article links, and came across this dublious looking address on a place called GitHub. +++https://bananamovies.net/gangbang-stars-vol-3/ (nsfw) - popup+++ .

Blimey! I won't be clicking on that thanks, but is this the same scary place I should be looking for a legit' filter list please?

Does uBlock work automatically or do I need to add a CNAME filter myself?

Many thanks.

Take Note: Samsung said to be thinking about killing off Galaxy phablet series

HippyChippy

ToF sensors...

I didn't know about 'em having never handled a 'high end' phone but I do use a laser distance measurer quite a lot - accurate to 2-3mm over 50m - which is good enough for me. There are also cheaper and less acurate infra red distance measurers aimed more at the DIY market. I just had a quick read up RoF sensors and it may be that one day there'll be accurate ones in phones too. As you say, it would make cutting lists a doddle.

HippyChippy

So farewell then Galaxy Note...

My ownership path has been a Note2, Note4, Note9, all purchased when there's a newer model out and the asking price has suddenly become affordable, and all with long ownership between forced upgrades due to a lack of Android software updates! I'm a commercial carpenter and for years have used my Note every day for writing down measurements and making invaluble little sketches, and there isn't another phone that comes close. I whatsapp my measurements down from the scaffold tower to my Note using mate on the ground who does all the timber cutting, I've never lost a stylus, and never needed to replace the (earlier models) removable battery either. So much better than carrying a paper scribble pad - I'll miss the Note range when it goes.

How's your night sky looking? The Reg chats to astroboffin Mark McCaughrean about Starlink and leaving a mark

HippyChippy

It's not Musk's space to debase - it's ours to be shared?

I went outside the other night with my 'grab & go' scope with the intention of brushing up on my constellations knowledge - that bit to the left of Leo where The Realm of the Galaxies is supposed to be, and was utterly dismayed by an evenly spaced stream of lights in a train overhead, one after another after another sliding into view. Counting a 9th then 10th in the sky where I wanted to look - how many fuckin' more are there? - then an 11th and finally a 12th. Shocked. Utterly gutted. Dismayed for Humanity. This isn't the joy of seeing the multinational ISS briefly overhead with humans on board, this is the realisation that some American outfit has sold another American outfit the permission to vandalise my night sky - our night sky, for Musk's commercial enrichment.

If you'd been out astro-imaging you could delete that 5 minutes of polluted footage and work with the filesize you already had, but if you're out and wondering at the night sky with just your thoughts and the Mk1 Eyeball then.. sigh!

I'm profoundly dismayed at our loss.

Reg readers have not one, but TWO teams in Folding@home top 1,000 as virus-bothering network hits 2.4 exa-FLOPS

HippyChippy

Folding Vultures - 250966

Sorry I'm late. Sudden PSU failure and weeks of no Internet at my rural lockdown, groan, but all fixed now.

Toting a yesteryear Phenom II x4 955 with a Radion HD5700 which is great for Kerbin Space Program but... well every little helps : )

Glad to be onboard.

Just keep slurping: HMRC adds two million taxpayers' voices to biometric database

HippyChippy

Opt Out?...

I was 'railroaded' into this while submitting my tax return last year, and had to go along with the voice recording before I could proceed any further.

Has anyone had any luck on the HMRC website in finding where you can 'opt out' and delete your voice? I haven't looked yet but assume it will be sneaky and tucked away in small print somewhere, but Hey I could be wrong.

Daily email missing

HippyChippy
Facepalm

Missing Daily Digest...

Nothing received today (Monday) so maybe Tuesday? I do miss it.

Galaxy Note 7 flameout: 2 in 5 Samsung fans say they'll never buy from the Korean giant again

HippyChippy
Stop

iPhone instead?

The USP of the Galaxy Note series is its stylus which is invaluble for on the fly note taking; I'm a carpenter and constantly use it for jotting down measurements and making little sketches etc. so any talk of buying an iphone instead is just bollox - there isn't an iphone alternative.

Hope that's a lesson learnt about glueing the batteries in place - bring on the new Note8 - cash waiting.

Mercury to transit Sun: Viewer discretion advised

HippyChippy

The next chance to catch the phenomenon live will be on 11 November 2019....

... though I gather the next opportunity to see the transit in it's entirety (from the UK) isn't until 7th May 2049; Fingers crossed for 9th May 2016 then!

What the world needs now is Pi, sweet $5 Raspberry Pi Zero

HippyChippy

Reg' Pole?

@dave126

"Informal Reg pole: How many of you here have these doodads already kicking around, taking up space in desk drawers and shoeboxes"?

Sorry couldn't let this one pass - it's POLL damit.

An unfortunate man-servant living in a desk drawer - similar to a truckle-bed perhaps?

A short May Pole for country dancing sessions by stressed El Reg' staffers?

A pole produced on Friday afternoons when tired & emotional Reg' hacks don their fish-nets and high heels and practice (note spelling :) their duck-face?

Brit filmmaker plans 10hr+ Paint Drying epic

HippyChippy

Drying paint...

The process of paint drying is quite interesting though real time viewing would be a bit tedious. See here for edited highlights - nice crystal structure Man!

https://vimeo.com/90187417

Adult FriendFinder hack EXPOSES MEELLIONS of MEMBERS

HippyChippy

84/16

Putting security concerns aside for one moment, didn't Channel4 also reveal that the AdultFF membership was 84% male and 16% female?

I'd like to know if the more expensive and 'upmarket' dating sites offered any better odds?

Good luck chaps!

Gangnam Style BREAKS YouTube

HippyChippy

Why the Merkin?

"...do the math"? Surely you mean maths?

Samsung Galaxy Note 3: Once, twice, three times - a Very Large Phone™

HippyChippy

Note3 & SIM region lock...

This is probably the biggest issue when considering/ dismissing the new Note 3 - why no mention of it in El Reg's review?

I'm hoping you'll follow this up and provide Reg' readers with an informed answer; Is there 'really' no way around the region lock for a retail UK purchased Note3?

Please investigate for a future article...

Regards.

Windows Store size doubles: Now 0.3% the size of Apple's

HippyChippy
FAIL

WinStore crystal ball app?

I'm very tempted by a WinPhone purely because I want to bin my iPhone2 & Apple, but don't trust the 'Wild West' of Android app's or receiving timely OS updates.

Just made my first visit to the online Windows Store to check out possible replacements for the excellent StarMap Pro planetarium software for iPhone, but am rather irked that an ASTRONOMY search also returns Horoscope and Palm Reading guff too. It's a common mistake among the Plebs, but for me as a user, it's important that Microsoft can distinguish between Astronomy, and the entertainment woo woo for the gullible that is ASTROLOGY.

Peering into my crystal ball, I can see Tarot Card and Ouiji Board and 'Find a Witches' Coven Near You' app's alongside NASA's 'pic' of the day'... followed by a crash in WinStore credibility.

If you click on the SkyMap planetarium app' for more details, Microsoft suggest you might also be interested in a map of Texas, a map of London A-Z, and some map in Chinese. WTF does that have to do with Astronomy either?

What utter rubbish from such an important showcase site; back to the bloody iPhone2!

Privacy service knocked offline by 'no bullsh*t' registrar

HippyChippy

Google Watch....

@ A.C.

Interested to know how you get on with it. Just installed it myself but keen to hear from more experienced users.

Man could face prison over six second 'extreme porn' clip

HippyChippy
Paris Hilton

@ John Ozimek

Wish I could help but have no idea where one would find it again, even for research purposes, as it was doing the rounds two years+ ago. If you know anyone who never deletes MMS's it was circulating around the same time as the "Manc' happy-slapper in wife-beater vest who gets his come-upance from a skinny 'innocent' passer-by" spoof. Errr... hope this helps!

Paris, a happy slapper.

HippyChippy

Man could face prison...

A carpenter writes: A couple of years ago I received two unsolicited MMS's in quick succession from some long forgotten knuckle-dragger in the building trade, and assumed they were currently doing the rounds. The first was the comic 'Tony the Frosties Tiger' cartoon spoof already discussed, and the second was a 6 second video clip.

"The Lads" gathered round and guffawed at Tony's punchline. The second clip was of some bloke with his trousers round his ankles 'wrangling' a sheep, except that after a short struggle he got the animal under control and the bloke's arse started going in and out, pornstar stylee.

After a second viewing The Lads came to the conclusion that it probably wasn't a spoof or some offbeat viral ad', and was simulated or even the real thing. Whilst my experience could be just pure coincidence, through shocked conversations at the time (I wasn't expecting to see that!), I know of several other blokes who received these two clips concurrently. As I say, they were just 'doing the rounds' and no, I don't still have the MMS's on my phone. Phew!

Mozilla reaches stage 4 of Firefox 3 beta endurance test

HippyChippy

@AC "Done"

Yep, I get that blank page saying "Done" thing too, and have always thought it rather odd.

I notice it most when clicking to 'find out more' about the various Security Updates M$ are keen for me to install each month. Now I dunno whether to download FF3 beta for the hell of it, or the IE plugin for V2 and play it safe?

Sony Ericsson P990i smart phone

HippyChippy

Future firmware updates

Have users actually been able to update their P990 firmware using S.E's cranky software, and is it now a straightforward user experience? I've been unsuccessful with upgrading my P910i to newer firmware ever since I bought it as an 'early adopter' - I still try every so often but it's too damn tricksy, and eventually give up.

I'd like a review of 'the other half' of P990 ownership - P.C. side. How well does the new S.E. updating software work, how many third party app's does S.E. install on your HD and where, how many irritating .Net Passport style hoops one has to sign up to just to fix your glitchy firmware, and how easy it is to control and remove the clunky icons that SE insist on splattering all over your nice minimalist Desktop, Systray, Startup, Logon etc., before parting with a week's wages.

S.E. haven't yet contacted me to say the P990 is available, so (ruling out sheer incompetence) perhaps numerous glitch fixes are impending. Is S.E.'s updating software up to the job, or is it not?