Posts by Dr. Mouse

Re: So who's selling the Nexus 4?

https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_8gb

Although it's not out yet. It's some time this month I think.

Otherwise you can get ripped off by O2 on contract (see Reg article from earlier today).

Re: i want one

I don't think my bride-to-be will be too impressed if I blow my bonus (earmarked for the wedding) on one of these.

Hmm... Wife or frikin' laser?

Re: dissapointed

Surely you mean Ministry of Fun?

Personally, I think that's still too long. I propose we start calling it Minifun (in line with current government policy direction).

Re: This is not a service

'So what does the "we must be green and save the planet" government do? Add VAT to the electronic version whilst keeping the dead-tree version tax free.'

This is because the govt is not interested in saving the planet. It is interested in appearing to be green, and using this as a method to justify additional revenue streams.

Re: Will someone take these out the back and shoot them?

"Just like you can't dig up the pavement outside your house (which you don't own but are allowed to use) and replace it with nice paisley paving slabs (which you do own)."

This is a very flawed analogy.

A better one (IMHO) is this:

If I buy a novel, I own the physical book (i.e. the paper, cover etc.) but I don't own the words on the page (specifically the right to copy it). This is equivalent to a smartphone: I own all the hardware, but may not own the software and the right to copy it.

If I then took the novel and somehow erased the pages, removing all words (like painting the pages with tip-ex) I could legitimately write my own story in there. I could even write a copy of another novel released under a license permitting such (or public domain) into it. That is my choice: The only part with a restriction is the content, the story, which I have removed.

The same can be said for a smartphone, tablet or games console. When I have paid for a device, I own the hardware. If I wish to erase the software on it and replace it with my own software, that is my choice.

I do realise Jailbreaking could be seen differently, however. It is generally either modifying the existing software or replacing it with a modified version. In the first case, you are probably breaking the license agreement you have for the software (not saying I agree with such a term, but it is likely that it exists in your license agreement). In the second case, you are probably installing a pirated version of software.

Re: Comprehension Fail, Lewis

"I agree but you don't explain why this should happen"

Sorry about that. Yes, you have explained exactly why.

Re: Called it

"They're complying exactly with the ridiculous demand the court imposed."

Whether you, or Apple, or anybody else thinks it is ridiculous, it is what the court have told them to do. By making it obvious how much they disagree within the court-mandated post, they are showing contempt for the courts decision.

Re: err @Will Godfrey

"All the ARM-side code does is tell the GPU to encode/decode a particular frame of video data."

In other words, it is a driver. A piece of code which abstracts an interface between the "computer" and some hardware.

Re: No Kindle HD for me today.

"I swear, if people discussed things down the pub the way they discuss things on the internet, there would be two or three fights every night."

Two or three? That would be less than normal at a pub local to me! (One that I very rarely enter, for that reason)

Re: Translation

"Dear lord. It IS obvious."

http://xkcd.com/593/

Re: "The Vu doesn’t have a MicroSD card slot ..."

"However, for the past year I haven't removed the microSD card from my phone because WiFi transfer is fast enough for pictures and music files."

I don't think I have ever removed the SD card from any of my phones to transfer data to it.

However, I still don't want a phone without a card slow, because:

a) With a card I can upgrade when I want. Without, handset upgrade time.

b) With a card, I can upgrade handset and not have to copy all my data over. Without, there's a lot of work to move the data over

c) With a card, if the card fails I just buy a new one (£15?). With internal memory only, I have to buy a new phone (£350).

d) With a card, I can pop the card out to back up the data quickly. Without, backing up several GB over Wifi/USB is slooow, and over Wifi normally fails before it's complete.

A separate memory card is just more flexible.

Re: Shame on Amazon managers!

I hate agreeing with Anonymous Cowards, but this one is right:

'The idea of the "proper" kindles is battery life and clear text'

The e-ink Kindles are ebook readers. They are fantastic for the purpose they are designed for: easy to read, and battery life measured in days of constant reading. They do nothing else well, but they aren't supposed to.

I love my Kindle. Before I owned one, I slagged ereaders off. I still prefer a paperback, but the convenience of a kindle, being able to carry so many books, and how close it comes to the readability of a real book is fantastic.

I have used it, while on holiday, to browse the interwebs, and also to play music, but it doesn't do them very well. To be honest, I don't care. It is the essence of simplicity, doing one job incredibly well, and a few other ancillary functions to a (barely) acceptable level. It is actually the first device I haven't even wanted to jailbreak/upgrade/modify.

Re: Correct - This is NOT a US case :: Britain should protect its own

"Extradition should only be for foreigners hiding from their own governments."

IANAL so I don't know the if the legal wording of what I am about to say is correct (in fact I am almost certain it will be wrong).

The principal of extradition is sound. If you, for example, go to a foreign country, kill someone, and come back home before the cops catch you, then I agree that you should be extradited. It's not just "for foreigners hiding from their own governments".

The problem is that, with advances in technology, there are situations where you may be bound by foreign law even though you have never been there. In regulated industries, e.g. finance, this has been the case for a while. AFAIK, people in our finance dept could be prosecuted in the US for certain things, as our parent co is US, and we must abide by certain US financial rules.

The McKinnon case can be seen like this, as he was (if you take the US govt's stance) effectively attacking the US military. However, we have laws in our own country to cover this, and IMHO he should be protected by his government, not thrown into the clutches of a foreign power known throughout the world for their twisted view of "justice" for foreigners.

In the O'Dwyer case, I can see no justification whatsoever for extradition. Nothing he did "touched" the US: He was never in the US, he didn't use US servers. Then only contact with the US was US citizens using his site. This is more akin to them coming to this country, O'Dwyer telling them about a market stall selling counterfeit DVDs, them buying one and taking it back to the US. The jurisdiction in this case is clearly with the UK.

What needs to be clarified, worldwide, is jurisdiction for internet-based cases. Maybe an international court with technically-literate judges to decide purely the matter of jurisdiction. At the moment, it is a mess.

Re: Not consequential

"I think by posting messages on compromised computers about how piss poor the security was shows that he was aware of what he was doing, and who he was doing it to."

I actually think this is more helpful to the defence than the prosecution.

He left messages telling them that he found it reasonably trivial to break in to their supposedly top security systems (at least that's what they are telling everyone). If he could do that, on his own as a "hobby", then the Chinese/Russian/<insert other govt the US are paranoid about> with their resources would have no trouble at all. He left them a clear warning that they needed to increase security.

To me, this boils down to semi-ethical hacking. Yes, he broke in and looked though some documents, but he did not cause damage and warned them that their security was inadequate.

The US are pushing this because they are embarrassed that it happened. They are making out that serious damage was done (I suspect the monetary "damage" they talk about was spent upgrading their security). They want to paint him as a terrorist, which is how he will be treated if put on trial in the US, in order to cover up their own security blunders.

Re: Lesson learnt

"If they only have to pay 10% tax here then the UK becomes a tax haven and all those companies will shuffle the profits earned in other countries to the UK."

I was thinking the same thing. I work for a UK subsidiary of a global semiconductor manufacturer. We have plenty of patents (REAL patents, which we use) so this should help us anyway. However, I can see our parent company trying to shuffle more of the profit into us to reduce the tax bill, including trying to incorporate the patents into more products somehow. All in all, my employer should benefit, which will hopefully be good for me too...

Re: Ummn

"Sometimes I feel the only way to enjoy shows is to switch all higher brain functions off completely."

That's exactly what I use TV for: to switch my brain off. If I want cerebral stimulation, I have books and other material which does the job better than TV ever could.

Re: Why...

"Is it not the case that the "authorities" can revoke the inviolateness of an embassy"

Yes. AFAIK they can just "close" the embassy down. They diplomatic staff still have immunity (at least for as long as it takes to get out of the country, I don't know if it's more than that), but anyone else would no longer be protected. Also, I believe the UK has a law saying that they can go in without closing the embassy.

The reason they haven't (yet) done so is all down to international relations, not just with Ecuador. Many would see it, legal or not, as an assault on embassies in general, and it could put British diplomats at risk. They would need a much better reason than arresting someone to deport him, and are more likely to try every diplomatic avenue available before doing so.

"Whatever would we do with all the pint glasses?"

Keep them. Then we could actually get the beer we pay for with a head, rather than having to sacrifice beer for the head.

I love it at beer festivals. Get half pints in a pint glass, and they give you half a pint of beer plus a head on top. A nice, large, frothy head is great to drink the beer through, and you don't mind because you are getting what you paid for. Similarly, when I drink my own homebrew, there's no "topping up". Plenty of froth, leave it to settle a bit and drink.

IMHO all beer should be served in oversized glasses with a measurement mark. Otherwise, you always get less than you pay for (either the head is taking up beer space, or the beer is flat: Either way it's not what you are paying for).

Re: Bad Wind

He shouldn't have had that curry!

Re: Elephants

"According to Google a medium sized bath has a capacity of 150 litres."

I'm sad enough to do the calculations, not to do the research properly first.

Searched google for "how much water in a bath", first result was http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_water_does_a_bath_use

First answer was "According to the BBC Website, a bath can hold 80 litres of water."

So I used that.

I don't really care how much water there is in the bath, so long as it's warm, has lots of bubbles, covers me and it all stays in the bath!

Re: Penny wise, pound foolish.

"Right now China is building 25 nuclear reactors and has another 30-40 in the planning stages. For comparison, UK has a total of 18 nuclear reactors used for power generation."

Right now, China has a population of 1.3bn, is a huge country with a rapidly expanding* economy. For comparison, the UK has a population of 63 million, is a tiny island and has an economy which is in the shitter.

Re: Said to be up to 80Mbps

"I reckon most people will get somewhere above 70"

The vast majority of "BT Infinity" customers do get very high speeds.

However, a big part of this (if I have been given the correct info) is that BT refuse to allow anyone on "Infinity" who they are not certain will get a decent speed, instead pushing you onto a different product. It is used as a way to fiddle the figures for their Infinity product.

That said, many more will get the higher end of the speed range purely because people tend to be closer to their cab than their exchange.

Re: Western Leagal Systems are Borked.

@GotThumbs

Were you talking to me there?

I did not say once that I thought these guys were not guilty.

Admittedly I went off at a tangent, but I was discussing the legal system in general. I was replying to another post which mentioned this point. You know what? In the real world discussions of one topic often lead onto other topics.

I won't lower myself to name calling, though.

Re: Funny....

"Something that forces me to shop in a single place is BAD"

I agree.

I have a Kindle (e-reader, not tablet), which my other half bought me. I have bought books from Amazon. I have also bought books from several other stores, downloaded freebies from Amazon and elsewhere, as well as "illegally" downloading electronic copies of some books I already own as hardcopies (I'm not buying them again just to have the ebook).

Although it is not as easy to buy books elsewhere, you are certainly not locked in. Callibre makes it very easy to organise and convert books, and will even push them over the air (using the device's email address). It's no more difficult than many other ebook readers*.

I tend to be more tempted by a slightly higher price on Amazon as it is much easier to use, but if there is a large disparity, or I can't get what I want on Amazon, I can go wherever I want.

*In comparison, I have seen the interface for a friends ereader. With no wireless, it must be connected to a PC by USB and books loaded onto it using proprietry software. If I buy/download a book elsewhere, I just drop it in my Calibre library, press a button, and the next time I enable wifi on my kindle it is almost immediately there.

Re: Sadly

"the alternative is that small companies and lone inventors have no protection or ability to sell inventions they can't afford to implement. It would also halt purchase of smaller companies by larger ones."

I would beg to differ.

IMHO, a patent should only ever be granted to an individual: the inventor. That patent should be owned by the inventor for the rest of his life*, but may be licensed to companies.

While not a perfect answer, I believe this would help the patent system.

*Possibly extended beyond the life of the inventor, as long as it is inheritted by another individual.

Re: @Ralph 5

"Android is designed to allow this very thing to happen."

As has been stated, yes it is. But this is not an OS error, but a scam and a user error.

Every time an app is installed, you are told what "permissions" it is requesting. The fact that users don't bother to read these is their problem, not a problem with the OS. It is like someone running Windows blindly clicking yes in answer to a dialogue box asking for Admin rights, similarly in Linux/Unix GUIs.

In a well designed OS, it is the resonibility of the user and the administrator* to make descisions relating to the security of the system. "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance". I'd rather have my freedom than the restrictions of Apple.

*In terms of mobe's, the user and admin are normally one and the same, although most users don't realise. In Apple's case, they have decided users can't be trusted, so they become the administrator.

Re: Apple Schmapple

I have to say, I have only ever used iTunes once. This was when my fiance had put some music from my server onto her iPhone before I had organised it, so it needed re-adding once I placed the files in the correct place. Although it took took me longer than I would expect for such a simple task, this was only because I had never used it before, and even so I had it done in 10mins.

So I must ask: how can people who "work in IT" take so long to sort this out?

I will refrain from posting the answer I expect, as I am likely to offend...