* Posts by Gordon 10

3872 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Jun 2009

Who's to be the next Dr Who? Sherlock beats Maurice - says you

Gordon 10
Unhappy

Most not realistic

Apart from the fun aspect not really sure of the point of this poll.

No film actor is going to be chosen simply because the BBC wont be able to afford them.

Chris Eccleston was arguably the most famous pre-Who actor in the rebooted series - the trend has always been for existing BBC drama actors but with the trend being for them to become less and less well known.

I'd like to see a non-flirtatious woman in the role - if only to eliminate the obvious romantic angles that keep recurring in the reboot. Has there been one companion in the reboot that hasnt harboured strong feelings for the Doctor? Even Donna's spark waned towards the end of her run.

Scientists investigate 'dark lightning' threat to aircraft passengers

Gordon 10

Re: Compare to Dental X-Ray

"seems more likely to me to be caused by the Kgs of chemical crap they plaster all over their faces every morning...."

Also by the fact that lots of them used to smoke to keep thin / look glamorous

Gordon 10
Mushroom

Re: Compare to Dental X-Ray

" (And one could not unreasonably expect that elevated cancer rates would have been noted by flight crews long ago, if they exist.) "

Anecdotally (I used to work with Cabin Crew) - they are all well aware that they are part of a spike in cancer risk due to their job.

No proof of course but lots of hosties in their 40's, 50's and 60's have developed lots of nasty cancers that friends in their peer group have not.

Clearwire board to shareholders: Go on, grab that Dish cash

Gordon 10
WTF?

Dish Networks - WTF?

Apart from the fact that they seem to be one of these dodgy "fund by debt" takeover artists - Where the Fudge is Dish getting all their cash from?

I should note that since debt leveraged takeovers have almost destroyed the Fixed Line and Cable TV business from a new investment point of view I automatically view them with deep suspicion.

Jailed LulzSec hacker Cleary coughs to child porn images, will be freed soon

Gordon 10
Trollface

Re: What a laugh

I dont know what punistive damages are sir but can I have some?

Wanna be a ROBOT OVERLORD? Boffins pave way with mind-controlled cursor

Gordon 10

Re: Well that solves a problem!

Indeed the Judge Dredd Fatties are upon us!

Facebook, Microsoft beg Feds: Let us tell users what YOU asked for...

Gordon 10
FAIL

Re: Don't get too excited

"seeing as they do a pretty decent job."

Precisely the point. The level of terrorist attacks in the UK is much lower than when the IRA were waging a bombing campagnain from the island on the left. Given that why permit anything more intrusive "just because they can". It makes no sense either on a National Security or on an Austerity basis.

KEEP CALM and Carry On: PRISM itself is not a big deal

Gordon 10
Pirate

Re: The scary thing...

List of Weasel words

"Direct connection" - not needed just a messaging framework.

"not targeted at americans" - how do you tell whether they are americans in the first place.

"legal" - as demonstrated by rulings of a secret court with no accountability to the public.

"not the content" - in the age of the internet thought crimes who and where you make contact is just as informative as what you said.

"National security" - as if any real terrorists arent already aware of the general possibilities of these systems.

Gordon 10
FAIL

Re: Public awareness

You are kind of missing the point. Most of the furore is about knowing the location and direction of a targets calls/mails - not content. PK will do very little to obscure that unless partnered with a TOR-like network - and even then the sort of relationships being fostered by the Government agencies give rise to plently of options for man-in-the-middle attacks.

1-in-10 e-tomes 'are self-published'... most are 'rubbish' says book ed

Gordon 10
Thumb Up

In fairness

Whilst some of them are utter tripe - they generally get outed by the amazon reviews system sooner or later, and the prices compared to mainstream publishers make it worth a punt every now and again.

For example the Spinward Fringe series is pretty reasonable and are self published.

Also dont forget that the man quoted works for a big publisher who has a vested interest in rubbishing self-publishing as the best of it makes their "service" look shite.

NSA Prism: Why I'm boycotting US cloud tech - and you should too

Gordon 10

Re: This appeared on reddit recently

Bravo sir!

US spyboss: Yes, we ARE snooping on you, but think of the TERRORISTS

Gordon 10
Black Helicopters

unrestricted direct access

Who needs "unrestricted direct access" when there are bound to be a series of messages or data entities detailing exactly what the Feds need and the availability of midnight flights to Gitmo for anyone who doesnt populate them.

Nicked unencrypted PC with 6,000 bank details lands council fat fine

Gordon 10
FAIL

Re: The ICO hasn't a fucking clue

Its hardly the fault of the ICO if those in power have a vested interest in not giving it the teeth it needs.

Financial remedies are about all it has - even that was fought tooth and nail.

Gordon 10

Re: The council issued unencrypted laptops to staff when it had problems with its encryption

To be fair it doesnt say it was the staff who had problems - just that there were problems. Could just as easily be bad install/config or bad policies/governance.

BSkyB-owned BE slams into traffic pile-up over 'unlimited' broadband lie

Gordon 10
FAIL

Re: too slow

Are you thick? The business has changed names and owners. It still exists as the same entity with the same responsibilities for its advertising. 99% of the employees are probably still the same at this point with a couple of Sky senior managers parachuted in.

Intel unzips new Atom phone chip: Low power, fast - is that right, ARM?

Gordon 10

Re: Intel is more open then ARM

Is that actually true or just something you want to be true?

That statement may have some relevance if you are a RaspPi fiddling hobbyist.

How true is it for an Apple, Samsung or their Manufacturing partners?

Like it or not most open systems successes stem from the "Free as in beer model" not the essential "openess".

It's a fiddle! Funnyman's Irish tax flashmob floods Apple flagship store

Gordon 10
FAIL

Re: Well-intentioned but ...

Duh. Of course it is - if only marginally. Buy from apple they get the full retail amount of your cash. Buy from JL Apple get the full wholesale amount of cash. Clue Retail Price > Wholesale price.

Cameron eyes 'non legislative options' for more spook snoop powers

Gordon 10
Childcatcher

Re: Only 95%?

Bring forth the Viz Bottom Inspectors!

Gordon 10
Mushroom

Oh Dear god - not again

Instead admitting that short of an infinite people budget nutters will sometimes suceed in their nutter agenda we get the same old knee jerk technology will fix a borderline related problem response.

The fact that at least of one of the guys was attempted to be "turned" or recruited and post the conversations it still didnt ring enough alarm bells to have him monitored or nicked suggests that should an IMP type program be brought it STILL WOULDNT HAVE BEEN USED IN THIS CASE.

Time to stop this PR bullshit - its a dangerous world, with a small but significant proportion of nutters. Sad to say that 0.000001%* of us will be killed by them. The rest of us will live normal lives happily oblivious.

Govern for the majority - not the minority.

Ecuador: Let's talk about not having Julian Assange on our sofa

Gordon 10
Joke

Alternative escape plan

Ask all the members of the embassy to dress in giant condoms and hide himself in the middle of them - oh wait a sec......

Graphene QUILT: A good trampoline for elephants in stiletto heels

Gordon 10
Mushroom

Re: But why??

Live action Fantasia? I can get behind that.

You obviously didnt see the Sorcerors Appretice with Nic Cage........ <shudder>

Nuke it from Orbit etc etc

Doctor Who? 12th incarnation sought after Matt Smith quits

Gordon 10
FAIL

Re: His Fry-ness?

Oh dear god no. The man is a charicature of himself.

Court orders Feds to hand evidence over to Kim Dotcom

Gordon 10
Pirate

More importantly

how much uncopied evidence has already been offshored to the feds without any due diligence?

BOFH: Go on, beancounter, type DROP TABLE asset;

Gordon 10

Best BOFH for ages

I particularly liked the Aneurism line

Going under the knife? Avoid Fridays. Trust us, we asked a doctor

Gordon 10

Stats in context

In summary your chance of dying from elective surgery ranges from 0.6 % to just over 1%. Still pretty good odds once you eliminate the 44% and 82% headline grabbers.

'I think you DO do evil, using smoke and mirrors to avoid tax'

Gordon 10
Pirate

"Irish Sales"

I find this particular dodge very interesting. Obviously its been working for years which makes me wonder about the case law behind it. I suspect at the moment its incumbent on HMRC to prove that the sale is not in fact Irish. If this is the case then a change in laws would be worth far more than this grandstanding.

Of course actually having a responsible discussion behind closed doors with HMRC wouldnt pander to the shameless grandstanding these bloodsucking MP's want to display to distract us from their own dodgy dealings.

A pox on both the Commons and Googles houses. A side helping of pox for HMRC as well.

EU wants the Swiss and pals to cough up IT giants' hidden bank info

Gordon 10
Coat

Re: Swiss shouted at for hiding stolen gold.

Lets hope the legislation has some teeth.... or do the swiss already own them all ;)

Gordon 10
Mushroom

Re: it's not only companies

Sometimes the difference between Evasion and Avoidance comes down to whether HMRC make a ruling against you or whether you have the wherewithall to fight HMRC or if its cheaper to cut your losses.

Thats what some of these clever dicks using the Jimmy Carr like schemes dont realise. Avoiding taxation by assuming you are small fry and that your scheme (that someone who is probably creaming off a cut has recommended) HMRC compliant is a recipe for financial disaster. Most of these schemes seem to have an offshore component. What happens to your money if its offshore when the taxman closes it down? Are the scheme owners going to give back money in transit? I doubt it.

If you really think he is a wanker - dob him into the tax man. Have the courage of your convictions.

Murdoch hate sparks mass bitchin', rapid evacuation from O2, BE

Gordon 10
Mushroom

Look before you leap

Im less than eneamoured with going to Sky but look at the alternatives - are they any better?

Virgin - NTL under a different name - never again.

BT - Blood sucking monopoly who phormed us.

Talk-Talk - all time achiever at top of the BB complaints tree.

As far as the big boys go I think sky actually could the the lesser of 4 evils.

Oracle and SAP are Big Software, but for how long?

Gordon 10
Stop

Not Legacy vs Cloud its known costs versus unknown costs (that they think they can ignore)

This is not a technology debate - just a product pricing debate.

This is all a big smokescreen - yes the big software houses have got afat and lazy and are gorging themselves at the trough of licence fees but thats not the main driver to the the cloud. Its the fact that the CFO can see the Total Cost Ownership of operating big software on site, but since he doesnt see the TCO of operating cloud software it looks A LOT cheaper. In reality common sense tells us that if you have a business need of complexity X it doesnt matter where it runs.

What I would like to see is estimate of costs of cloud based outages, data leakage, End User App creation as the cloud isnt as mature/flexible etc etc.

My gut feel is that once you take out Oracles & SAP's overly large margins the TCO is relatively even.

As others have said this is just one point in a continuing cycle between on site and remote hosted processing.

Apple asked me for my BANK statements, says outraged reader

Gordon 10
Thumb Up

Re: Not just Apple

That shower at Pixmania were also notorious for doing this. Possibly the only occurence of things actually improving after Dixons were involved.

Brit adventurer all set to assault ex-Reg haunt Rockall

Gordon 10
Thumb Up

More Info Please

As nominal IT site - can we have a follow up on the contents of his Rockpod and the rest of the kit he is taking?

3D printer spits out CYBORG EAR... but where will you PUT it?

Gordon 10
Terminator

Oh Lordy ROTM

Am I the only one who sees this technology being used to print the skin over fleshy seeking Terminators.

/Gets me flak jacket.

Taxi app Uber's $1bn uber price tag: CEO speaks out

Gordon 10
FAIL

Huh?

With at least 3 apps for this purpose currently advertised on London cabs - one might suggest that the market is well on its way to being saturated and any investors have a higher than usual chance of losing their shirts.....

And what kind of crappy name is Uber? Hailo is my personal fave in the naming stakes.

Eric Schmidt defends Google's teeny UK tax payouts - again

Gordon 10
FAIL

Re: Hmm... @ AC no 1

You really dont get it do you? What she is doing is perfectly legitimate and is deliberately enshrined in our current tax laws to encourage entrepreneurship.

If you dont like it go out a start a business of your own to pull us out of this recession.

How many people does she employ that are paying NI etc?

Harassed Oracle employee wins case, cops huge legal bill

Gordon 10
FAIL

Re: Uhh... @Sorry

What you mean the insane compensation culture free for all created under the current UK legislation is actually better?

Where insurance and product costs are driven through the roof by claims pursued by lawyers soley on the basis of their compensation cut - regardless of the actual harm in the case?

Its all very well to have a potential for financial redress for various events - when no consideration is made for where the money comes from. - Ultimately the ordinary consumer one way or another either in higher product prices, higher taxes or higher insurance costs.

In this case - the judge/jury obviously agreed that the lady in question had been discriminated - however suffered minimal harm as a result - given the paltry payout.

Now she will probably have to declare bankrupcy as a result of owing her lawyers such a rediculous amount - and may have far worse employment prospects - plus effectively not get any Credit products for the rest of her life.

Ants have careers; you don't want them

Gordon 10

Re: They Were Tired @doug

I'd be more worried about the Aliens trying to get 35kg of monitoring equipment up my ass.

Gov.uk named THE BEST THING Britain has made all year

Gordon 10
WTF?

WTF

I have just been there and theres a grotesque banner ad for "the government" that hides the fact that 50% of the accessible material is off the bottom of the page.

As someone else observed this looks exactly like those placeholder/squatter pages.

BTW viewing at 1080p gawd knows what it looks like at 768.

O2 tries something completely new: Honesty

Gordon 10
Black Helicopters

Re: I don't see it

You sir are a slippery genius - and have probably hit the nail on the head. You however need to be a little more circumspect as the Fail will have the mobs around your house before you can say credit crunch for displaying an understanding of Finance.

Firefox 'death sentence' threat to TeliaSonera over gov spy claims

Gordon 10
Unhappy

Symptom not a cause

the fact is that whilst CA's are regional, national (or international) entities they have to comply with the laws of the territory they operate in. Therefore its the CA issuing system thats broken not anything else. Since this is at heart a technical flaw in the system and will remain so until such time as certs (or their future state equivalents) can be issued independently of any political or legal interference - Is this even at all possible?

Not wanting to defend Telia but they may have no choice but to facilitate MiTM monitoring if they operate in that country - and as noted - its not just authoritarian states that may wish to do this.

Im sure all of us can forsee a time when the "freedom loving democracies" have or propose laws which go something like this(if they dont already have them that is) :

1. Permit MitM attacks.

2. Dont talk about 1.

Seoul plans anti-GPS jamming system to thwart NORKS

Gordon 10
Mushroom

Re: Is There Proof Of Nork Nuke At All ?

Building = Portaloo or Shed. Now if the norks could make a cloaked shed shaped bomb.......

Orange is the new TalkTalk of the broadband complaints league

Gordon 10

Re: 2) The person at the end of the phone is more knowledgeable than you are!

Personal experience both

Eclipse and Be have been great for me - no complaints.

'End the commercial-in-confidence CROOKS' CHARTER', gov told

Gordon 10
Facepalm

Re: You couldn't make it up

I presume it wasnt "stopping" more likely a statement saying if we show this to unauthorised people we'll get hung out to dry by the penalties on the Commercial-in-confidence clauses we have stupidly signed.

"Please complete form 345z to become an authorised person within the terms of this contract"

So delay and obscurification rather than "stopping"

Not that it makes it any more tolerable.

Voda: Brit kids will drown in TIDAL WAVE of FILTH - it's all Ofcom's fault

Gordon 10
Thumb Up

Re: Greedy Rascals

To be fair (grudgingly) to Voda the India thing is afaik at least partially where the Indian Govt changed the law and applied it retrospectively which has got to be a dirty rotten cheat in anyones book.

Totally agree with the comfy tea with HMRC point though.

Apple share-price-off-a-cliff: Told you that would happen

Gordon 10
Mushroom

Re: Big differences between Apple and Oracle @AC 1344

Dear God!

Someone on El Reg thinks Twitter has any significance other that self-masterbatory navel gazing.

Did you wander here from Wired? Aww Bless. New Shiny thing make it all better soon.

Reg man goes time travelling at iconic observatory

Gordon 10
Thumb Up

Re: Mike

Interestingly enough I saw this phenomenum just yesterday at a fantastic council run place called the discovery Outlook Center - which has 2 things that I assumed were just satellite dishes masquerading as art work but turned out to be whispering dishes doing exactly what Mike said but on a smaller scale.

Well recommended for a visit with the Little'uns if you are in Berks.

Fujitsu sloshes £800m into lukewarm UK pension bathtub

Gordon 10
WTF?

Rather disconnected

How on earth are 2 completely separate actions by Fujitsu worthy mention in the same breath?

And since when can rebalancing an underperforming pension pot be classed as "investment". Most of their emplyoyee's would see it as an obligation.

Japan's rare earth discovery bad news for China's monopoly plans

Gordon 10
FAIL

Re: China only has a monopoly on willingness to pollute

@dbhh. Thats a little arlarmist. Most likely we will see what has happened in RE's apply across a whole range of China made products. Whereas the cycle of glabal demand and supply in a previous centuries was generations or hundreds of years - the world is now so interconnected its down to 5's of years.

And those timescales are not long enough for the previous knowledge and infrastructure held in the source economies atrophy to any great exent.

Eventually things will stabilise into a stable-ish cycle of supply and demand - just on a global scale.

Think - how many offshoring operations are on their 3rd or 4th cycle of moving? You can see it as a race to the bottom - the alternative way of looking at it is a necessary step towards Global demand and supply equilibruim.

The gaming habits of Reg readers revealed

Gordon 10

Married vs Hitched

I suspect the difference between the 2 - even in this day and age - is that marrieds are more likely to have offspring who limit both in terms of sheer time, and also content. ie does my 2 yo really need to see my one shot sniper kill?

Gawd knows I had enough of a problem the other day explaining why the Pigs were getting it in Angry Birds!

Review: Renault Zoe electric car

Gordon 10
Mushroom

Re: Renault and electronics...

That was my main thought too. Nearly every one of my brothers Renaults have had some form of electronics problem.

Other than that - looks like a decent EV at last.