* Posts by Steve Davies 3

7136 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Jun 2009

Today's Groupon offer to its sacked employees: 100% off your salary

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Groupon??

{to paraphrase another post today}

Do they still exist?

Nice try, Apple. The Maxi Pad is no laptop killer – and won’t scratch the Surface

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

so....

an analyist looks into his crystal ball and proclaoms that the maxi-pad is a 'meh' device.

That is without using one etc etc

Was this just a ploy for get some ad revenue for the many page hits that this sort of story will get?

Perhaps he wants a pay-rise on the back of it.

IMHO , a lot of thise sort of forcasting is not worth the paper is is written on. Many said the same about other devices in the past. Lets give it 6 months and see how many Apple has sold before giving it the thumbs up or thumbs down.

That that sort of stance won't get the page hits now will it eh?

Apple rains refunds on Peace'd off axed ad-blocker netizens

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

No so foolish really

The number of people who have rooted their Android in very small when compared to the Beeelions of Android phones out there.

IMHO most ordinary users would rather pay a small fee and let an app do it for them.

If you do root your phone and use a hosts file, you will be udating it pretty frequently as the ad/tracking sites move domains and ip addresses to thwart the very thing you are proposing.

Letting someone else do that legwork is a pretty good idea to many people, just not those who frequent this forum.

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

But...

Apple is the embodiment of evil. Evil Bastards don't do this sort of thing. The end of the world is nigh. Apple is doomed. etc etc

On the otherhand, a great move by Apple from a PR POV.

AVG to flog your web browsing, search history from mid-October

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

But what is the alternative?

Norton? Are you having a laugh. I actually want to get some work done.

Kaspersky? What giving data to the Russkies?

etc

etc

So El Reg readers what do you recommend?

Bear in mind that most of us here are cheapskates so .. well you know the rest.

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Goodbye AVG?

No. F-U AVG.

You are on my blacklist from now on.

You obviously have ignored the 'Striesand Effect'. Doing this may cut your arms off just to save your legs.

DRIVERLESS cars: Apple ups the ante with meeting in California

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Low end margins are slim

But in the middle and upper price ranges there is plenty of profit to be made.

How else could the likes of Ferrari stay in business?

Good point though about "i" being a bit stale. You forget that BMW uses 'i-Drive'. Apple won't want a blttle with them especially if Apple might want to use their carbon fibre technology.

Ouch! Microsoft sues recycling firm over 70K stolen Office licenses

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

But why?

Didn't MS just invalidate them from their end?

You have to wonder if they don't have that ability?

'I may be winning this ad-blocker game, but I hate it. I'm outta here (with $100k). Buh-bye'

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Meanwhile in other news...

IOS9 is installed one more than 50% of active devices.

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-says-ios-9-installed-on-more-than-50-of-active-devices-fastest-adoption-ever.1919094/

So a few updates might have borked but that adoption rate is something that Google can only dream about.

Hello? HELLO? Major Skype outage hits folk WORLDWIDE

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
Coat

Re: "change status" means from disconnected to connected

Perhaps the 'Sky'pe has been 'Obscured By Clouds'?

CHEAT! Volkswagen chief 'deeply sorry' over diesel emission test dodge

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: Hmm...

Plus NOT using Cruise control can save an awful lot of throttle and thus hydrocarbon

Microsoft starts to fix Start Menu in new Windows 10 preview

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

MS seems to be staning on the Poop Deck

and pissing windwards with this.

As the article said, users want the start menu to work properly. More tiles on Start? Get a dose of reality Sataya. This won't stop the widespread use of start menu replacements (IMHO).

MoJ admits to splashing out on 2.3 MILLION Oracle licences

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: Licensing

nice idea about moving to an open db solution. Sadly (in my experience) that means MySql. Who owns that product?

Frying pan and Fire come to mind.

Now if Postgres was more popular then it might actually work.

Don't know if there are companies offering support for it. The lack of it might be a stumbling block to procurement in some HMG departments/ministries.

Microsoft Edges bets on browser-only Skype

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Normal Skype has gone TITSUP?

Can't connect to the server for the past 30+ mins (from windows 7)

Perhaps MS wants you to use it rather than via the app?

Salon Privé: The UK's billionaire-friendly answer to Pebble Beach

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Regen braking

I do agree that it can extend your range considerably but it requires a very different driving style from when using a petrol/diesel engine.

For the types who go to Salon Privee this would be a totally new experience by not exceeding around 55mph and not using Cruise Control really helps with the range.

It also helps if there are some nice long gentle downhill stretches on your route. Then you can literally coast along charging the battery at the same time.

The other downside is that when braking using only regen your car sounds like a Jubilee Line train coming into a station. The regen whine has confused a few passengers in my PHEV when running on leccy.

AWS outage knocks Amazon, Netflix, Tinder and IMDb in MEGA data collapse

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Perhaps Amazon

dialled up the wrong sort of Clouds?

If this is not a wakeup call to those who seem to want to tell us all that 'the Cloud' is the answer to Life, the Univers and Everything. But they seem to forget about the Vogon's and their Galactic Highway.

It's alive! Farmer hides neglected, dust-clogged server between walls

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: On failure...

you forgot two essential lines

Welcomes to the Machine

and

Careful with that Axe Farmer Eugene

A krayshee sexy Dutch post-pub nosh neckfiller: Stamppot

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

so it is just...

Rumblethumps plus a bit of bacon and a Sausage (continental style not British).

Savoy cabbage and bacon (or shudder sprouts and bacon) are a good side dish.

With the right amount of seasoning for the Rumblethumps and a tasty sausage and lots of Broon Sauce it would be very edible.

Look out, world! Apple is about to launch .apple

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: Boring

Quote

they tend to get excited over literally anything that Apple does

How do you know that? We you one once upon a time? Come on tell us. You know it will help with your therapy.

Volkswagen used software to CHEAT on AIR POLLUTION tests, alleges US gov

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: One surprise...

Very few Americans would be seen dead driving a Diesel Car[1]. Now if it was a huge great Pickup with a 6ltr V8 and twin turbos then that would be different.

[1] because most of them rattle like a bag of nails when idling.

RFID wants to TRACK my TODGER, so I am going to CUT it OFF

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

The 'Nuke it' option?

It seems that some makes of cothing are starting to get embedded RFID tags. You can't remove the tag without virtually destroying the garment.

So aside from not buying the thing in the first place, the next option to stop being tracked when out wearing it is to nuke the tag.

1) Wash newly purchased item of clothing

2) Take we clothes, stick in Microswave

3) Nuke it for 30 seconds

Obviously clothes with any form of metal should not be put in a microwave.

As for phones, the first thing I do when entering a shopping mall is to put my phone on Flight Mode or turn it off. Having an advert follow me around a Mall (in the USA) was a tad frightening. When I disabled my phone it stopped nagging me.

The even more worrying thing was that I'd never been to that state before let alone that Mall yet the ad was for something similar to what I'd bought at least 500 miles away two weeks before.

Ironically, it was for something that was not on sale at the Mall.

Brimming with VM goodness: Qnap TS-453mini 4-bay NAS

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: 10G support?

Ok, so what percentage of the market has anything more than 1GB Lan?

How muck does 10GbE cost?

What consumer level and business PC's have the capability to run at more then 1GB?

Your stance is fine if you have an infrstructre that supports 10GbE but for the rest of us.... 1GB is the best we can afford/justify.

When the costs of switches/router come down (As they will do ... eventually) we might see more SME's with 10GbE networks.

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: Not quite the same

Sure, a good few of us could do just that. However when you factor in the cost of our time, the HP solution starts to look not so cheap.

Ok, I might be a little biased as I've got a QNAP TS410 sitting on a shelf out in the garage. Been super reliable and does OOTB what it says on the tin. The ease of use is the main selling points of these devices.

The last thing I want to do is scrabble around trying to get something working again after a slightly botched OS update when all I want to do is get access to my files.

This device has oodles more power that the TS410 I bought at least 6 years ago for around the same price.

Support hasn't been too bad either. I upgraded its software last year. Better than a lot of phones/tablets.

Thousands cut off from email after EE bungles domain renewal

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: I think.. .

snuck your own domain onto the work server eh?

That is grounds for instant termination (to use a US term) in many companies. You'd better just hope that your boss can't track you from your username here or you might be looking for a new position pronto.

Architect of UK’s hated Care.data scheme quits NHS, flees from Britain

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

But...

More than likely to be replaced by another one of the ilk.

All in all, it's just another hit in the stalls: Roger Waters The Wall

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

"The Wall" was never the best Floyd IMHO

As a fan from the early days with Syd and having seen them more than 40 times I never really liked this piece. Sure, tracks like Comfortably Numb are great but there is a lot of dross (IMHO).

The original Dark Side as played during their 'Tour '72' was the best version, again IMHO.

Saw them play is at Brighton Dome, 20th Jan '72 and Portsmouth Guildhall the next night.

I think that Dave G was right to stop touring when he did.

Like a lot of us, they are getting a bit long in the tooth these days.

Obama edges toward full support for encryption – but does he understand what that means?

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: All trust is long gone

That went out the backdoor....

AWS cuts cloud storage price to UNDER a cent per gig a month

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Reasons for the price war?

To drive the competition (eg MS, IBM, Rackspace etc) out of the biz

Once they are the only game in town the prices will go up.

Ahmed's clock wasn't a bomb, but it blew up the 'net and Zuckerberg, Obama want to meet him

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Why didn't the teacher stop them?

simples

Jobsworth

They dare not speak up for fear of losing their job.

Microsoft rolls out Windows 10 Mobile preview update

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Why not 10538?

For those of us old enough to remember ELO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10538_Overture

Cute the massed Chello's.

Asus ZenBook UX305: With Windows 10, it suddenly makes perfect sense

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: Thanks!

Prices in the USA are always sans sales tax. These differe from state to state.

AFAIK, there are only two states still with 0% State Sales tax and these are Oregon and Delaware.

The problem is that the tax varies so much most people can't calculate the price they have to pay at the till until it is rung up.

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: "fit a microSD card slot and be done with it."

Exactly. My Cameras only take full sized SD cards. some micro ones work (with adapters) but they are a bit iffy and are nowhere near the speed of the full sized ones.

Apple working on 3D mapping at secret Swedish hideaway

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: Back in July,

Seems to be par for the course recently. Perhaps thay spend too much time either in the pub of scoffing all thst lovely food that gets described here at the weekends?

Wi-Gig signals are bouncing off the walls, can't settle on the sofa

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

spot on!

Remember all those experimenters with Pringles tubes sending Wi_Fi many KM/miles?

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
Coat

Ha-ha

quote

deploy multiple access points

This made me laugh. Why not equip those flabby mortals with Wifi relays (aka tinfoil hats). Then 'The Man' can keep better tabs on them because I am sure that it won't be long before some research paper is released showing one (or both) of the following

1) That the distrubance of Wifi in the home caused by Humans above 2ft 6in high can be tracked by the Ad companies

2) The disturbance of Wifi caused by humans moving around is a zero day security risk. The fix is to stop those flabby blobs from moving around their home.

mines the one with a tin-foil lining

Arista joins data centre 25/50/100 Gbps switch battle

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Arista? I thought that they were a

Record Label based in the US

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arista_Records

must be getting old.

The ONE WEIRD TRICK which could END OBESITY

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: craft it smaller

I agree on some of the craft beers. some brewers in the US need to learn to let the beer settle and clear naturally before serving it. I've had to send more than one pint (16floz version) back because it was full of yeasty mess. The brewer prouldy claimed that was the way it was supposed to be drunk. Didn't go back there again (this was in Durango, Co)

Angry devs hit out at JetBrains over shift to subscription pricing

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: I am torn

And when Jetbrains get taken over then the new owners decide to stop supporting these products and they stop working what do you do then eh?

Of even if Jetbrain decide to stop supporting a product will your copy stop working?

When Adobe went to a tithe model for Photoshop I said Nope not gonna do that. So far it has not been a problem.

Now I am gonna say 'nope' to any software that requires a subscription to keep it working.

This new new chip will self-destruct in less than 10 seconds

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Don't go giving the likes of MS Ideas

This PC/Laptop/Table will self descruct in 5...4...3...2...1..0 boom

Just because you didn't pay your Office 365 subscription

FBI dumps on IoT security

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
Childcatcher

Well said FBI

The IOT is a pile of shite just waiting to be dumped on the poor unsuspecting public.

Theu don't have a clue about what it means in the wider term and how invasive it could (or rather probably will) be.

Keep it separate or not in your home at all.

How long before that new baby monitor is sending data to the nappy {1} manufacturers (And the rest of the world)?

{1} for readers on the RH side of the Pond, Nappies are what you for some reason call Diapers.

Ashley Madison lawsuit drops GoDaddy and Amazon as defendants

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: irreparable injury?

Quote

So it isn't about people trying to earn a quick buck and suing everyone

That is SOP in the USA. Make a part for a car and it crashes due to a defect Then be prepared to be used even though your bit of the car might not have failed.

Gotta keep all those lawyers busy now!

Vanished global warming may not return – UK Met Office

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Not if you think that Creationists are right

Then the world is just a few thousand years old.

Apparently about 50% of 'merikans think that this is the truth.

Good luck trying to get G-W accepted by that bunch of [redacted]

Disney's light-bulb moment: build TCP into LEDs for IoT comms

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
Coat

Re: I like the idea

But will it use 'systemd'?

coat with a linux firewall guide in the pocket.

Pro tip: Servers belong in dry server rooms, not wet cloakrooms

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: I am just amazed by the original "IT contractor" doing that.

Er.... Never heard of the scumbags who setup a company create havoc and then liquidate it before the shite hits the fans and then they setup another company (often with an almost identical name) and ... wrinse/repeat all the way to the bank.

Now try taking legal action against an entity that no longer exists. What answer do you think that your £300/hour is going to get?

Apple fanbois cry (bless) as site motionless during iPhone 6S pre-order wrest

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

American time format

All part of their grand plan to take over the world.

Shakes head. After all these years I still can't believe that they insist in using AM/PM

and putting the month before the day as in 09-13-2015 rather than 2015-09-13

Just don't get them started on why they don't use the metric system. That is akin to becoming a Communist.

Post-pub nosh neckfiller: Fancy a ham and cheese 'dry tree trunk' sarnie?

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Was looking good until...

You mentioned Stanstead and EasyJet.

I'd love to go to that part of Spain (extramadura is my fav though) but the thought of spending at least twice the length of the flight just getting to Stanstead (A303,M3,M25 & M11) just sort of makes it pointless.

Then there is EasyJet. The only airline in existence that could lose my bag during the flight. Saw it go in the hold. It never came out. Wot! Should have not checked it in the first place? Ok, try hand carrying 2 weeks worth of winter clothes.

Doctor Who returns to our screens next week – so, WHO is the worst Time Lord of them all?

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: Team effort

You forgot the owner of the Quarry that serves at the Dr Who backlot especially when UNIT (and the Brigadeer) was involved.

Jeremy Corbyn wins Labour leadership election

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: Congratulations!

Right on 'comrade'

There fixed it for you.

Intel's 6th gen processors rock – but won't revive PC markets

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: It's not about the processors

Don't forget the matte screen. None of this glossy crap please.

Don't want to upgrade to Windows 10? You'll download it WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT

Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

Re: Server 2008 R2 and Server 2012 R2

They'd better not because we have a good few applications that don't play very well with 2012 let alone 2016. These were first build for Server 2000 so it is understandable.

We are trying to re-write them for Server 2012 and the pre-release 2016 but all the extra security crud is proving to be a bit of a problem.

On the other hand, I hope they actually do and MS get their balls sued off when some company goes titsup because their systems have been screwed by MS. Not in the US I might add where their EULA is apparently all nice and legal.