Posts by JaitcH

Alternate uses abound

With this App on the unemployed cell handsets, it means that applicant's lives can be monitored.

(1) What time does a user's cell stop moving at night and in the morning; (2) How may times a user actually uses the App; (3) Time planner - allowing users to plan out their job search activities - and for Big Brother to monitor their performance; (4) Check on transportation modes (slow-walking; faster-bicycle;, fast, non fixed route-car; public transport, etc; (5) Plod could track their potential customers; (6) Check on cell usage costs and inquire wheee the funds are coming from.

Great tool especially for social serves and benefits providers..

TALKING ABOUT information in "an intelligible form" ...

have you noticed how the receipts from those wretched thermal primers always manage to fade jusy before you need them for tax preparation time.

I think the government should mandate a 18-moth life for all receipts.

"Rate Parity" - what a joke!

Expedia owns TripAdvisor.

If you go to TripAdvisor you will find links to hotel sites scattered throughout their pages.

What TripAdvisor doesn't tell you is that most of these sister web sites have an incestuous relationship through their cookies.

You get one quote from Tripadvisor it offers to let you compare prices and the prices are all within a dollar or so of each other. Delete the cookies as you switch from one site to another and then you see some action!

Another way these outfits can rip you is by pricing individuals, i.e. per person, when the rooms are sold in the country as rooms. This means they can really increase their take.

Hotels.com and Hostels.com have another wrinkle. They accept your reservation and charge you a deposit. These 'deposits' are actually their commission for the booking activity - in other words the hotel or hostel sees squat of this money.

They simply send an e-mail off and say Mr. Smith is arriving on so and so date for three nights. The weakness is that the web site relies on the hotels to advise them if a room is available for the whole block of days. Unfortunately they often don't.

Another problem arises is when a customer arrives at the hotel and the front desk, live and in person with only one room available. The question is: does the hotel sell the room and get full price or pass on the live customer and hold for a maybe? Often the choice is for the live customer which means that if the Hotel.com reservation turns up there is no room available.

So Hotels.com complains to the hotel and they say: E-mail, what e-mail?

You would need a genealogy program to detail all the inter-relationships between travel companies, it is simply unbelievable.

And never use someone like Expedia for flights, they get a bonus for selling the left-over seats.

I'm not in travel as a business, but do yourselves a favour - use your local travel agent, at least you can scream at them when things go wrong.

Does anyone have the ...

fuel to flour ratio's of this lark?

ill this mean that Free-To-Air ...

become Free-To-Cable?

The theory is good but there will be numerous problems in reaching remote communities.

Then there's the Designed by Committee factor which make it a non-starter.

It' not Skype I don't trust, it's Balmer and his gang of Federal btown-nosers

MS has always been open door to Plod from all countries. They even wrote tools to hack their software,

As far as I am concerned all written material carried by Skype gets encrypted.

Forget beer proof, is it Monsoon Proof

Even though nature has been trying to eliminate the Hose Pipe Ban, that and the bbeer test are nothing compared to a real soaker in Singapore, Cambodia or VietNam.

The toll on unsuitable cell phones is high here, even when wrapped in baggies.

Some ingenious repair people fix damaged motherboards and reselling as refurbished. Authorised Apple repair shops just bin them.

I wrapped a laptop in two turkey basting bags, and two zip-lock monster bags and after a one-hour trip I had to dry everything and repack. Monsoons are hard taskmasters.

So bring on those waterproof/beer proof Androids, they are something Apple don't have.

P.S. A touch of silibcone grease around the joint faces really improves things, too.

We love our XP ...

No STARTUP REPAIR, faster than Win 7 and simply operationally more reliable and able to stand abuse better.

IEnn? Just use it for XP upgrades.

Simple ... Just change the cell Class of Service

Cell systems are not equal opportunity. They have Class of Service which can allow one user have service whilst the guy right to him, on the same network, gets a busy.

It would hardly be noticed had the cell companies changed the COS for the riders for the duration of the race.

Another IOC failure.

Microsoft has alwys slept with the Feds ...

so I ask you: Does a tiger change it's spots?

I use Skype PLUS PGP for secure transmission.

What MS doesn't realise is that there are many more evil governments other than just the USA and a leaky Skype could cost some people their lives, even if they are the good guys.

Next, they'll be digging up Jobs body ...

to see if they can worm their way out of this one.

Apple has consistently copied others works, it's just that Samsung has deep pockets and can afford to fight the deal.

Hopefully when Apples tricks are exposed this whole patent business will fade away.

We, the paying public, is getting screwed. Royally.

I "love" my HSBC code key

HSbC have been sending out code keys that generate PINs on the fly.

A few of our technicians were messing around and now I don't need a code key in my pocket. I have the next 50 in my electronic address book!

So much for security.

Given that China acquired a US ...

business, from GM I believe, I am surprised that the sale wasn't prevented on security grounds y the US of A.

Asleep at the switch again?

For once, the usual suspects, the ...

Chinese, aren't involved.

A refreshing change.

What these tech clowns seem to over look is ...

the reason an in-custody alleged offender is entitled to come before a magistrate is to allow such people the opportunity to bring to the courts attention any matter that be alleged offender might have from health matters, food and legal affairs / representation.

Furthermore, an accused is entitled to face anyone giving evidence, in person, and to challenge 'evidence'. How many cases have turned on the cut and thrust of cross examination?

How can anyone be sure a tele-witness is not being coached by someone off-screen? Personal interaction between a barrister/lawyer and a witness is critical; Body language can not be clearly seen on TV screens.

Most Word users don't use many of the fearures

In my experience, many Word users are happy with Word 2003 and 2008 - and even these have far too many unused features on them.

However, if you are in the graphics presentation business they are most likely very useful.

Talking Electronics - an unbeatable teaching resource

I encourage youngsters I know to visit < http://www.talkingelectronics.com > so they can select projects that are within their capability and pocket change.

Amatuer radio, the cheapest emergency networks around

These are unsung hero's.

Living in a country where the are very few amateurs, authorities are often left bereft of communications other than cell.

Morse code might sound dated, but minimal equipment is all that is needed to communicate. Many commercial designers rely on amateur radio technical handbooks to keep up with the latest techniques that work.

A better reason to ....

subscribe to Phil Zimmerman's new encryption software doesn't exist.

These governmental fools should understand it is easier to circumvent their unfettered access in to the citizenry's most private communications.

If councils need to invade communications, let them go get the police and they should get a warrant. Bloody garbage collectors don't need all these powers.

Who said Jobs was dead?

Even if he is, his ghost sure is around making Apple as mean spirited, in so many ways, as it always was.

Cutting a little slack often generates goodwill.

Oh, wonderful ... more StartUp Repair on it's way

It would be nice if they had done a better job on Win 7. Weekly updates means week StartUp Repairs for many machines.

How I love my good, old, reliable Win XP, as do many others.

Good Luck in the USA

All US international agreements (treaties) have to be ratified by the US Congress.

Since the name of their game seems to be to auction their votes off to the highest bidder, who knows how effective it will be.

Remember, most all electronic 'exchanges' have dial in taps, ...

certainly all the CALEA systems in the US. The FBI can remotely tap any land-line phone, from any of their offices, in the USA.

The cell systems are a new source of information and as long as dumb criminals use their regular SIMS or don't turn their cells off, they leave one hell of a mouse droppings trail.

Mind you, a lot of dummies reside on Wall Street, too, as their cell phones turn up a lot of evidence that have put some way for decades. No time off for Federal crimes in the US, either.

Get smart, use Phil Zimmermann's new Silent Circle cell app, he has never catered to cops sticking their noses in too your business. Coming soon. (Still won't beat Geo-location, though)

When I lived in Canada, all Canadians are cold experts, I ...

made a remote control that simply switched the thermostat into circuit. Most systems have a 40 F minimum built in for anti-freezing purposes and all it required was to switch in the normal thermostat. My switch was activated through the phone line using touch-tone controls.

Way under $600, too.

BTW, bill payers, if you have children who seem to be working for British Gas and always are turning the ;stat up high, fit another, concealed, thermostat in series with the regular thermostat so no matter how high they set it, you control the maximum!

Old Farts dressed in strange hairpieces have ...

never been my idea of a technical resource.

This guy's advice seems as unreliable as David Pogue - the alleged wife beater who lectures at seminars against violence to women (he was arrested and charged) - of the New York Times whose present bed warmer is a woman employed in the California tech PR business.

Talk about bias, or maybe the judge is so dumb he can only handle simple things.Like powdering his funny wig,

Cuba: The USA's little pain n the a*se

Cuba has always been linked to the US mainland, Miami, for telecommunications - even though no one in the US was able to call the island.

Canada could, using US communications links, and for a while Canucks made a fortune connecting displaced Cubans to their families in Cuba using call forwarding. This was before Cuba was connected via satellite.

The US-Cuban link had to be maintained under international agreement.

I wonder in the US has the right to run cable through Cuban territorial waters, or is it one of those grey areas? Not that the US would give a hoot, anyway.

Cisco and Facebook, the same but different

Both Cisco and Facebook seem to treat customers with disdain; Cisco changing it's firmware AND imposing conditions without giving a choice and Facebook, who just changes everything, exposes private data all without notification to users.

The difference? At least CISCO apologises and restores the status quo.

Who is this heretic ...

if he is allowed to voice this opinion hundreds of lawyers will be unemployed, unable to do anything except draw strange numbered drawings and write unintelligible prose.

No patents in electronics ... Jobs will arise and smite him down.

Waterproof at1 metre for up to 30 minutes? Translated ...

that's the same as 3.5 hours in a SaiGon shower or 2 hours in a Da Nang monsoon!

Damn sight better than buying a replacement motherboard for an iThingy @ Dong2,000,000 every time in rains.

No sweat ... the Japanese are digging a bloody big hole in ...

the north of VietNam where a new, rich source of some rare metals has been discovered.

The ore will be refined in Japan. See: < http://www.livinginvietnam.com/forum/component/kunena/7-vietnam-news-highlights/11138-japan-vietnam-push-on-with-rare-earth-mining-plan?Itemid=0 >.

Get the noodles out, China goes to war

China's 'crackdowns' are pure theatre.

I've been there during one of their feature events and whilst bulldozers, made on Japan, rolled up and down on a pile of CD-DVD look-alikes, I could still go in to the electronic market in downtown GuangZhou and select my choice of pirated goods without a hassle.

If the Chinese really wanted to crack down, they are more than capable of it,, but their heart isn't in copyright protection.

Most likely a unique iCloud feature ...

making sure downloads are kiddie safe, by disabling them.

I guess Apple screwed up and ...

didn't do it's due diligence.

So easy, all they gad to do was ask Siri a question.

If the EU rejects it ...

and with a population greater than that of Canada and the USA, it effectively kills it world wide.

Notice how the EU is doing a lot of good things that the US Congress no longer does, because they get bought off?

There is only one answer to this stupidity ...

and that is to have a WTO-like patents agreement where the rules are internationally standardised.

Remember, it is the CONSUMER who is getting shafted by Apple, etc. so ending these court activities will only make it better for US.

Facebook ...

the poster boy for incompetence and lying,

If Jobs were still alive ...

he would be busty saying it never happened whilst his PR guys were slipping a confidentiality agreement in the hand of the unlucky user.

Happened too many times for people not to believe it.

Super reliable power supply breeds complacency

North America enjoys a pretty reliable power supply but when it goes down, it really makes a job of it.

I was in Toronto when the Northeast US and southern Canada suffered a blackout, a few years ago, that lasted up to 5 days. Generator sales went crazy, even the local butcher had two going to keep his refrigerators working.

Countries that experience failures on a regular basis are usually well prepared - with either portable or standby power units ready for service. High-rise apartment buildings in Ho Chi Minh City list their features such as swimming pools, sun decks and always emergency power is listed as a feature.

Many moons ago I worked a a technician at a Decca Navigator transmitter station and our station manager, the late John Pratt, always surprised us with his sneak power failures not only during the day but also in the middle of the sleeping watch at night. We had banks of batteries that carried the load whilst the generator started up.

When the real thing happened, our transmitter performed flawlessly.

Be must think Google is like ..

Apple, when it comes to pinching IP>

Just got my new 48-page passport ...

and I seethe RFID is still readable for many metres.

Popped over to a vendors press shop and it is an RFID no longer. Up yours, May, why not use short-range units? Like the Americans?

Hey, Xuxian Jiang, Googles on the phone ...

they want to know if you want a job?

"the largest collection of our news and publishing brands"

Considering that the Wall Street Journal was a reference newspaper before Murdoch took iit over and today it is hardly fit even for use in the bottom of a bird cage, I don't think people have much to fear.

In any event, I don't think he will be around for too more many years.

Having been rear-ended by people texting ...

I bought an accessory for my motorcycle, in HongKong, that set me back the equivalent of 29 pounds whixh jams all cell and GPS frequencies including 3G.

It's small enough to fit in my under-seat storage and the antennae are fairly inconspicuous.

In the city the range is approximately just over a 100 metres (tested against cells and a GPS receiver). In the open country/highways things get much better. As our CGST (highway police) use speed traps with GPS attached and speed checking is far shorter distanced with a plastic bodied motorcycle/motorscooter, than a huge blob of steel in the form of a car or truck (lorry). Without GPS readings the courts will not accept speeding tickets. The GPS reading is on the picture along with the time, date, compass direction and speed.

I suspect BAE's wet dream could be as easily defeated.

Would Virtual Immigration Circumvent the Law?

Apart from the fact the government seems to protect big business and put the boot to the small guys, would claiming to be Canadian or Russian continue to offer predication?

Italy calls their bluff!

Apple has had it's way it has obviously become a law unto itself.

One year warranties are too short, any charged warranty extensions are, in reality,price increases which are very popular in North America.

Yet anothr case of Apple pinching ...

IP, as it did with it's logo and corporate name decades ago.

Two other companies used them first and used to advertise with half-page adverts in the paper version of Byte magazine.

Microsoft is no better, either.