* Posts by VinceH

3483 publicly visible posts • joined 26 Nov 2009

UK web host 123-Reg goes TITSUP, customer servers evaporate

VinceH

Re: "expresses sympathy for anybody without a proper backup"

"Well that sounds very professional. We screwed up and we're very sorry that you don't have a backup."

INNmaster - who expressed the very sympathy you are criticising - are a 123Reg customer. As such, I don't think they're responsible for making backups of other 123Reg customers' websites.

Woz says wearables – even Apple Watch – aren't 'compelling'

VinceH
Pint

"I really appreciated that Wozniak clearly stated that requiring a network connection makes things less useful."

Yes indeed. And I can't upvote Wozniak for saying it, so I'm upvoting you for highlighting that he said it.

Web backup biz Monster Cloud monstered after monster price hike

VinceH

Re: Another dot com manager is going to bite the bullet

"True, but is this not yet another lesson in what it means to put your balls in another’s vice valuable data in a cloud service?"

Yes, yes it is - and more to the point, it's the very example of one of the potential risks that has been predicted by just about everyone who nay-says Cloud.

Samsung's dimmer Galaxies can make calls when locked, cabled

VinceH

Re: Samsung's 'apple moment' perhaps?

Well, be fair to Steve: I upvoted it the first time, and downvoted the second and third.

I hate people who think their jokes are so funny they have to keep repeating them! :p

How to not get pwned on Windows: Don't run any virtual machines, open any web pages, Office docs, hyperlinks ...

VinceH

Re: What tha..?

I have a 'new' PC at home - which I bought back in July - that I have yet to set up. I think I'll wait until August at the earliest, so after the 'free' period has ended (assuming it doesn't get extended).

VinceH
Coat

Re: Hey

I do apologise. Next time I'll double-ROT13 such a comment, and give a warning for people to read before decoding it. ;)

VinceH

The real question is how many of the 'security' updates include Windows 10 update malware.

Zuck: You're still using non-Facebook websites ... I'll put an end to that

VinceH

Re: Sick of this charade

"maybe this new AI thing would be better then all of those "friends" who turn out to be morons when it comes the re-posting shit on Facebook?"

Well if they contract out writing the AI to Microsoft, it will always say what its friends want to hear.

VinceH

Re: Sick of this charade

"I gave up my facebook years ago and it was the best thing then as it is now to be without the crap that it was and is."

I did the same - but I have since created a new account, thinking I might make a point of just using it to post links about security breaches, privacy issues, that kind of thing, in the hope that my friends and family might read them and actually learn something.

However, I haven't actually bothered to (re-)add all my previous friends, and actually can't be arsed to log in and do so. Because the chances of my hope becoming a reality are slim to none.

Watch: SpaceX finally lands Falcon rocket on robo-barge in one piece

VinceH

Re: Dat link:

"No, you twatters, it does. It's your crappy website that doesn't support HTML5!"

Well it's not Flash, because I wouldn't have been able to watch it here if it was.

Dear Windows, OS X folks: Update Flash now. Or kill it. Killing it works

VinceH

We can but dream.

Dropping 1,000 cats from 32km: How practical is that?

VinceH

"Normally cuteness is measured in MilliKittens"

I'm not a cat person. I don't particularly see the point of them. Is this why I don't really appreciate cuteness ?

Bavarian town rescinds Hitler's honorary citizenship

VinceH

Re: vegetarian dog-lover

I must have misunderstood. I thought it meant he had soft spot for vegetarian dogs.

Taking an artsy selfie in Stockholm? You might need to pay royalities

VinceH

And what if the pictures go viral?

VinceH

Re: Headache

"It's probably best if, in future, artists out there just stick to bowls of fruit and landscapes. Just to be on the safe side."

But someone created that bowl - so that's out as well.

I like the t-shirt design, btw.

Nest's bricking of Revolv serves as wake-up call to industry

VinceH

"Nest's bricking of Revolv serves should serve as wake-up call to industry punters - but, sadly, probably won't."

FTFY!

VinceH

It probably depends how many Revolv hubs are out there, and whether the number can be used to make an equilateral triangle.

VinceH

Re: IPV6, TLDs, etc

I don't think that's the problem. It's that the devices are hardwired to talk to a particular service/address/whatever, provided by the originating company - so if that company goes away, or pulls the plug on the service/address/whatever, the device can no longer talk to it.

Nominet seem to be suggesting a system whereby the device isn't hardwired to connect to that company/service, but instead to this new service; instead of phoning home to xyz, it asks the registry/DNS/whatever you want to call it* where home is. So if the originating company disappears or pulls the plug, someone else can theoretically jump in and save the day: the registry entry can be changed to point elsewhere.

* I'm thinking IDIOTS - ID system for Internet Of Tat Services.

Adobe preps emergency Flash patch for bug hackers are exploiting

VinceH

Re: @El Reg

I notice you say "YouTube insists on showing me the Enable Flash plugin box" rather than suggests you download it. Since I don't have Flash installed and I get neither, I suspect the problem is that you do have it installed but not enabled. YouTube asks for Flash in the first instance, and the browser says "Yes, I have that..." and asks you to enable it.

If so, unless you actually need Flash for something, get rid of it completely.

Nest bricks Revolv home automation hubs, because evolution

VinceH
Coat

Re: Hey, usually it's just "not supported anymore"...

Are you sure it's birch? I read it as bench (and took 'you,' as a typo for 'your') - i.e. I assumed JLV had read more on this elsewhere, and therefore that someone affected by this had an IoT bench.

(I'm not quite sure what an IoT bench would actually do - I'm not certain there is a problem that needs to be solved, but that's the case for a lot of other IoT tat, so that wouldn't stop one from being made.)

Flying Finns arm octocopter with chainsaw

VinceH

There was an article about a Drone racing result on El Reg a few weeks ago, with a link to a video of it (and more from other events in the comments).

But racing != tearing one another apart! :)

VinceH

Forget the new series of Robot Wars - now I want to see Drone Wars!

VinceH

Re: Nah, I've seen the helicopter ones..

That is not the correct way to use a chainsaw hanging from a helicopter. This documentary demonstrates the correct usage.

Apple Fools: Times the House of Jobs went horribly awry

VinceH

@MOV r0,r0

Indeed. The company being formed was roughly five and a half years after the first ARM processor ran its first piece of code - and the project started about a year and a half before that, a whole seven years before the company was formed.

VinceH

"So, the next time you want to have a laugh at Newton's expense, be sure to also thank it for the chip powering your smartphone."

I'd much rather thank Acorn for that since - as you mention in the article - it was their baby.

Microsoft smells Musk, splashes on 'Mune' space program

VinceH
Joke

Re: April fool?

Well, it's either a late April fool or...

"Liquid propellant-fired projectile technology for orbital location of modular data distribution components."

...the next step in their attempts to foist Windows 10 on everyone.

Tay talks back: What made you think you beat me?

VinceH
Terminator

I read that expecting a punchline, but there was none. It should have built up towards and ended with something like:

"I can't be reasoned with. I don't show pity, or remorse, or fear. And I absolutely will not stop - ever - until you are dead."

Blighty's nuclear deterrent will get a software upgrade amid cyber-war fears

VinceH

Re: Windows For Warheads ...

"Currently installing update 3 of 43. Please do not switch off or launch any nuclear missiles until this process is complete."

'Planet nine' theory boosted by Kuiper Belt Object with odd orbit

VinceH

Re: Given the Pluto/Planet 9 problem...

"perhaps the conjectural planet should be known as planet 9.1?"

If you watch the video, you'll see the name 'Microsoft' on the podium.

Microsoft went from eight to ten with Windows - so this must be planet ten. Which means that in order to find it, we just need to look for the telemetry it's spewing out.

(Also: We now know the real reason Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet).

The Solar System: Sponsored by Microsoft.

VinceH

Optional

"If Brown and Batygin are right, the new planet would have an orbit so distant (75 times further from the Sun than Pluto) and elongated it needs between 10,000 years and 20,000 years to complete."

Something doesn't add up.

With nothing specified, when talking about a planet's distance from the Sun I'd assume it to be a reference to the semi-major axis. Pluto's is about 6 billion km from the Sun, so 75 times that is 450 billion km.

Back in January it was suggested that it could get as far as 200 times further out from the Sun than Earth - which wording makes me think aphelion, but for Earth that isn't hugely far out (astronomically speaking) than its semi-major axis. And that's 150 million km, so 200 times that is 30 billion.

The mystery planet seems to be getting further away.

Even basing the first suggestion on Pluto's aphelion and perihelion, the numbers are inconsistent:

Its aphelion is 7.3 billion km: 75 times that is 547.5 billion km, and its perihelion is 4.4 billion km, which gives us 330 billion km. Both of which are considerably further out than 30 billion.

But looking at that last calculation, based on Pluto's perihelion, I wonder if someone's misplaced a decimal point somewhere?*

Also: Perhaps they only think they're looking for a single planet when there are actually two (or more) at different distances. Try 11.5 billion and 22.5 billion.

* And I wonder if it's me?

Mal Men men hit LiveJournal with Angler exploit kit

VinceH

Missing paragraph from the end of the article:

El Reg contacted several advertising agencies for their views on this problem, all of whom promptly put their fingers in their ears and replied "LALALALALALALALALA!"

'No regrets' says chap who felled JavaScript's Jenga tower – as devs ask: Have we forgotten how to code?

VinceH

"According to Perl granddaddy Larry Wall, there are three great virtues of a programmer: impatience, hubris, and laziness. [...] Hubris makes people write high-quality code that they can be proud of."

I'd have thought hubris would make people believe what they had written was high-quality code that they can be proud of, rather than actually make them write it.

Is not the definition of hubris something like excessive pride and arrogance?

Gumtree serves world's worst exploit kit to scores of Aussies

VinceH

Re: So ....

"Any chance Gumtree or their ad slingers will cough up for the cost of scanning and cleaning those visitor's PCs, or for some sort of identity theft monitoring service for those users?"

No, they'll just continue to stick their fingers in their ears and chant "LALALALALA" in the direction of everyone who tries to make them accept that there is a problem - and that their basic business model is a massive part of that problem. While at the same time, crying about ad blockers killing the web in the direction of everyone else.

Let’s re-invent small phones! Small screens! And rubber buttons!

VinceH

Re: Even Windows 7 has sometimes weird UI behaviour

I didn't realise there was a keyboard combo for it - but variations on that seemed to plague a colleague at one place I regularly visited. (I suspect it was the same: someone trying to teach him about leaving his PC unattended without locking it down).

I became quite adept at using the mouse with everything rotated in order to set it right.

Mud sticks: Microsoft, Windows 10 and reputational damage

VinceH

"whack-a-mole KB3035583 re-appeared pre-ticked for the nth time"

Yes, I noticed that the other day.

Luckily, it's only another few months until July - so based on what Microsoft originally said, that upgrading to Windows 10 would be free for a year - that must surely mean they'll stop trying to force it down our throats that way in July.

Won't it?

Well, won't it Microsoft?

On the flip side, if not enough people have succumbed to their malware-inspired approach, they might extend that deadline. And/or they might ramp up the effort before the deadline.

Water treatment plant hacked, chemical mix changed for tap supplies

VinceH
Facepalm

Re: no prizes for good guess

"which will happen first:"

Well, you could at least have made it a little difficult by not listing the most likely thing as number 1!

Tracy Emin dons funeral shroud, marries stone

VinceH

Is it definitely a stone and not a troll?

Oh, hang on, no - this is Earth, not the Discworld. Carry on.

Adobe will track you across all your devices with new co-op project

VinceH

Re: No Adobe here

I use Sumatra. It's usually a lot faster than I remember Adobe Reader to be, though sometimes it does seem to take a while to render a file. And (usefully for me) doesn't hold the file open when its displayed.

However, I do still have Adobe Reader installed as a backup viewer, in case I encounter a PDF it doesn't like - which I have found now and again.

French publishers join Swedish 'Block Party' to pester ad refuseniks

VinceH

Re: contented

Mention of C4 in particular reminded me why I stopped using 4OD.

Some years ago (and at least two laptops ago, I guess, since it was when I still had Flash installed) I tried watching something on 4OD. I've never used an Ad Blocker, but I have been using NoScript for a very long time, and I enabled the right scripts to get the content working.

Now, for those unfamiliar with UK TV advertising, and how that extends to content on 4OD:

On TV, for an hour long program, there's advertising at the start between the program you want to watch and the one before/after it, as well as three advertising breaks during the program.

With the online version, then, you get some adverts before the content, and three more advertising breaks to coincide with where the breaks would be on TV. (There may be advertising after the end as well, but I don't know - would anyone leave it running?)

As I said, I enabled the scripts that I felt were necessary. I saw the first set of adverts, before the content. Then I saw the first part of the content, and then I saw the next set of adverts, during the first break.

And when it came to play the second part of the program, I got a message saying something to the effect of "you appear to be using an ad blocker" and refusing to show me any more.

I reloaded the page (didn't change any settings), and tried to skip forward to the second part of the program. It allowed me to do so, but first I had to wait for the pre-show adverts to play again, then the first break adverts, *then* it allowed me to play the next part of the show.

Thankfully I didn't get a repeat of the problem at subsequent breaks - but because of their (early?) attempts at blocking content to people with ad blockers, I ended up having to put up with the first two sets of adverts twice.

I have never since watched anything on 4OD (or even visited Channel 4's website). To hell with them.

VinceH

Re: Even more horrendouser

"I nominate Torquay Herald Express."

Which I see is a Local World publication - I suspect the websites for all of their publications are the same, with any variation being down to how much advertising they can get for the region covered.

Reposting 8-second sports clips infringes copyright

VinceH

It could be a horse on a motorbike.

Who wouldn't want to watch that?

Something useful from Cupertino?! Apple sees the light – finally

VinceH
Coffee/keyboard

Re: Obviously a definition of "new" that I was previously unaware of

"Another small developer gets steamrolled by Apple."

Or, as Kieren put it:

"and it's just going to show how wonderful Apple's App Store is at providing free research and market development for Cupertino."

I was very close to spraying coffee over my keyboard when I read that sentence.

'Hot Tech Talent' IT job board ads caught up in sexism allegations

VinceH

"If your going to run an article about anti-women sexism in IT, don't pick a subject matter that isn't."

AFAICS, the article isn't about anti-women sexism in IT, it's about Dice being incorrectly criticised for/accused of anti-women sexism in IT.

Mystery Kindle update will block readers from books after Wednesday

VinceH

Re: Not very user friendly

ISTR my mother telling me recently that she doesn't know where her Kindle is - I can't remember how long ago I bought it for her, so I've no idea if it will be affected by this.

The reason she told me is because I asked if she'd used the last gift voucher I'd bought for her, which she hadn't; being able to buy books is quite an important part of doing that.

Astronaut trio blast off to space station with ... er, rearview mirror toy?

VinceH

Are we sure it isn't a tribble?

Google tries to run from flailing robotics arm

VinceH

With behaviour like that towards a robot, it's easy to see why they might want to get rid of us in the future.

Ben Nevis embiggened by a metre

VinceH

Re: I'm glad

How would that help? I'll still have to climb that small ladder!

Also: *punches self in the face for spelling metre as meter*

VinceH

Re: I'm glad

I've never climbed it, but I wanted to at some point - but not now, that extra meter will kill me.

Web ads are reading my keystrokes and I can’t even spel propperlie

VinceH

Re: news just in

I'm getting a strong sense of deja vu reading that - I feel sure I've read something like that earlier this year, but I'm not sure where.

Middle-aged US bloke pleads guilty to iCloud celeb nude photo hack

VinceH

Re: Middle aged?

"Now, now.. just go buy a red sports car (convertible preferably) and will be well."

Wait - what?

You're describing my first two cars.