* Posts by JimmyPage

3215 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Mar 2010

Peak thumb drive is coming in 2016

JimmyPage Silver badge

Home networking ...

indeed. I can shift 32Gb across 10 metres in about 4 seconds. My home network might do that in 16 hours ...

reminds me of an exercise we did at Uni .... up to what radius is a floppy tied around a St Bernard faster than a 300 baud connnection ....

Creepy Facebook urges users to pester friends about their SEX LIVES

JimmyPage Silver badge
FAIL

Re: They can do what the fuck they like

You don't need to. Your friends will do it for you.

JimmyPage Silver badge

Re: Ha!

Sorry to burst your bubble, but unless everyone you know, or ever knew is also not on Facebook, it doesn't really matter. Facebook can work out a hell of a lot about the people who aren't on Facebook, simply by cross-referencing their friends who *do* use Facebook.

If some marketer somewhere discovers that "people who are not on Facebook" is a population worth targeting, then Zuck and the boys can probably deliver a list of 99.9% of their names and email addresses, thoughtfully harvested from your friends Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc accounts.

Urinating teen polluted 57 Olympic-sized swimming pools - cops

JimmyPage Silver badge
Meh

Re: only poor people drink tap water

Well, that's the French for you. In the UK, tap water is probably amongst the cleanest in the world.

Our Reg reader 'mutt's nuts' dictionary is le chien's biens

JimmyPage Silver badge
Headmaster

Re: Nadsat?

IIRC Nadsat was loosely derived from Russian (Burgess created a future where the youth aped Russian culture, rather than US culture).

So it would need a more slavic flavour.

'fraid that's all I can contribute - my Russian is non-existent

JimmyPage Silver badge
Coffee/keyboard

"Don Coglioni"

this ------->

GCHQ's 'NOSEY SMURF' spyware snoops dragged into secretive tribunal

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WTF?

Nosey smurf ? Foggybottom ? Gumfish ? Tracker Smurf ?

Is this GCHQ or the Chuckle Brothers ?

Tick-tock, Jock: Dock schlock for mock-stock in ad-hoc shop squawk

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Mushroom

@Bunbury

You know those old ladies who push shopping trolleys down the street, and shout at cars ....?

That's your mum, that is.

Google CAN be told to delete sensitive data from its search results, rules top EU court

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Thumb Down

@TopOnePercent

First of, in the UK, under the CRB (yes I know it's been replaced) legislation, a lot of offences are effectively lifelong anyway. So we're already in a world where the concept of spent convictions is hazy.

The real problem is what is the purpose of the criminal justice system ? If it's just to punish, and protect. Fine. However, I subscribe to the rather quaint notion that it's also to rehabilitate. That is to turn an offender into an upright citizen. If you foster a system where a conviction for (say) graffiti effectively marks you as a criminal for the rest of your life, and you are unable to ever get a job, then where do you think society will go ? If 50% of the population has a criminal record for something, sometime, then you devalue the concept of a criminal record. Much as the concept of speeding has been devalued. So many people have at least 3 points on their licenses, most insurers ignore it. It's meaningless. It's the same thing with the 3,000+ criminal acts the last Labour regime bought in.

It's axiomatic, of course that these pettifogging convictions will be no bar to the rich and powerful.

The idea of "spent" convictions is that they allow a person a chance to go straight. 10 years, no trouble, they are considered rehabilitated.

JimmyPage Silver badge
WTF?

The elephant in the room ...

is what *is* a search engine ? OK, Google is most peoples Search Engine Of Choice (SEOC ?). However DuckDuckGo ? Bing ? Yahoo! ?

Or, alternatively, how about a site which isn't a "search engine", but simply a static list of links ? Presumably Google (et al) would be prevented from returning that in a list of results, but another simple static web page pointing to it would be OK ?

You know, when people used to ban books, I don't think they just ripped the index out, and left the content there....

We're from the same dust cloud, bro: Boffins find Sun's long-lost sibling

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I like the idea

of naughtyboffins ?

Sounds like there should be a website devoted to it ....

Vinyl-fetish hipsters might just have a point

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Thumb Up

NTNOCN

"I'd like to buy a gramphone, please"

.

.

.

UK's pirate-nagging VCAP scheme WON'T have penalties – report

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FAIL

What amused me

was the rather quaint notion that pirating is done with torrent. Anyway, didn't they block the Pirate Bay ?

Traffic light vulns leave doors wide open to Italian Job-style hacks

JimmyPage Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Hack away you can't do worse than Bristol City Council

Or Birmingham. Look at the abortion that is the Northfield "bypass" (it's actually quicker to go through than use the bypass). When collared at a local council meeting, a councillor admitted that the traffic light timings could be optimised and allow traffic through much faster. However there were national guidelines that prohibit councils making private travel easier - the mantra is "use public transport".

We need an Alice-in-Wonderland icon ;)

Look out, sysadmins - HOT FOREIGN SPIES are targeting you

JimmyPage Silver badge
Headmaster

2 Blackadder quotes in 13 posts !

*and* from different series !

This must be a record.

Somewhere.

Steelie Neelie's 'Airbus of chips' plan taxis for June take-off

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Coat

Socialist DRAM

Consumes vast amounts of power, is slow, and forgets the last 10 years.

Source code for world's first MUD, Essex Uni's MUD1, recovered

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Thumb Up

Memories ...

going to school in London in the early 80s, we had a dial up to Essex. Previous Computer Science students had to write their code offfline, onto paper tape, then go into the terminal room, dial up (acoustic coupler anyone) load the program and run it.

Then we got an ITT 2020 ;)

We managed to load MUD once, and had no idea what to do .....

Everything you always wanted to know about VDI but were afraid to ask (no, it's not an STD)

JimmyPage Silver badge

Re: Not so long ago...

The problem with that approach is even with remote management tools and processes, you end up with what is effectively a single point of failure - the PC. And with the best will in the world, the best discipline in the world, you will end up with a failed PC that can't just be swapped out. You'll need to image a replacement PC. Probably apply updates. Then install the niknaks the user has to have that aren't in the image. No so bad in a small organisation, but if you have hundreds of users, across multiple sites ...

Much better to give the user a terminal, and concentrate on a reliable datacentre.

That said, it does bring a smile to my face ... one of the first uses of PCs was as smart terminals to mainframes, as they were cheaper. (Can't recall how much the fancy DEC and Wyse terminals were in the 80s, but you could probably have bought a car for a pair).

Quid-a-day Reg nosh posse chap fears for his waistline

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Thumb Up

Calories aren't all ...

The Horizon "documentary" back in 2012 with Michael Mosley, about fasting and low-calories diets had a guy who had eaten 25% less than the recommended daily allowance of calories for *years*.

Does good things to the body chemistry, apparently. A doctor who gave him a full physical and blood chemistry workup described him as "a new species"[1].

[1]Now you see why I put "documentary" in quotes

So, just how do you say 'the mutt's nuts' in French?

JimmyPage Silver badge
Pint

@Uffish

Merci bien, cul sec !

JimmyPage Silver badge
Headmaster

Idiom ?

If we're trying to achieve the *sense* of mutts nutts, then ISTR (certainly in Paris) a common equivalent would be "C'est les pieds" (It's the feet).

No, I don't know why.

Hackers attempt to BLACKMAIL plastic surgeons

JimmyPage Silver badge
Joke

SQL injection ?

Botox injection, more like

Lost your credit card PIN? No worries! Get a new one - over SMS

JimmyPage Silver badge

The problem here ...

is that the phone is likely going to be kept physically with the card. So a stolen handbag will contain the card and the key to getting the PIN.

I wonder what the correlation is between "people who forget their PIN" and "people who don't lock their phones" ?

Parent gabfest Mumsnet hit by SSL bug: My heart bleeds, grins hacker

JimmyPage Silver badge
Coat

depends

on whether you think Android is a load of old cock.

JimmyPage Silver badge
Stop

Penis beaker

surely we can't have a thread about Mumsnet without a penis beaker reminder ?

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Thumb Up

The best one was the story about a WiFI AP that someone named "My Neighbour is a cunt" ...

Thanks, Amazon – we'll take it from here: SAP muscles in on cloud subscriptions

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Black Helicopters

The cynic in me

would suggest that is is another move to facilitate the authorities data grab ....

France bans managers from contacting workers outside business hours

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Stop

To be fair

look at what the Germans did to Oradour sur Glane.

Maybe you can understand the French attitude.

Spy-happy Condoleezza Rice joins Dropbox board as privacy adviser

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Pirate

A chance for internet democracy ...

Maybe if enough people *really* closed their accounts, in reaction to such moves, there would be some power to the people ...

USB reversible cables could become standard sooner than you think

JimmyPage Silver badge

Firewire ?

Very surprised no one has mentioned the fun of having a firewire port next to a USB (like my laptop). Hours of fun thinking you just have to line it up straight to connect, and then realise it's the *other* side.

TripAdvisor for the disabled: Euan's Guide quietly launches

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Thumb Up

Now *this* is what the net is good for.

MrsJP has MS, and can I add that phoning ahead is generally a waste of time.

We recently stayed in a hotel at a friends wedding. I emailed *and* phoned to check accessibility. Was told it was completely accessible.

1) The "accessible" room (distinguished by having a floppy grab rail in the bathroom) was in a separate lodge from the main building. True it was on the ground floor, but surrounded by gravel, except for one car parking spot (not reserved). Luckily MrsJP has some mobility.

2) The lodge was separated from the main building by a gravel drive. Try wheeling up that. Luckily we had a car.

3) Inside the main building there were 4" steps everywhere (I've since been told this is a hallmark of several buildings being knocked into one).

4) The disabled toilet was used as a store room.

5) The fire instructions in the lodge were to "assemble by the main building" - see point 2.

Complaints were duly made to the owners (a well known TV chef) and local fire authority.

Jack the RIPA: Blighty cops ignore law, retain innocents' comms data

JimmyPage Silver badge
Big Brother

Terrorists, criminals, national security

All defined by - wait for it - the government.

So on no accounts associate with anyone who plans to read out the names of the war dead in public.

How Brit computer maker beat IBM's S/360 - and Soviet spies

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English Electric Lightning

Don't know about their computers, but the Lightning jet interceptor has to be one of the most striking and iconic aircraft ever flown. 100% British, and gave the Yanks a scare when one *over*flew a U2.

'Bank couriers' who stole money from OAP cancer sufferer jailed

JimmyPage Silver badge
Flame

Re: Best common sense tip?

So banks use *our* money to refund victims of fraud ?

Cheers !

Money? What money? Lawyer for accused Silk Road boss claims you can't launder Bitcoin

JimmyPage Silver badge
Headmaster

"For the purposes of the act ..."

is an oft-used preamble to UK laws, where something gets defined so as to make it fall under the law.

Drink-driving (for example). You'd think that if you drove pissed on your own land, you'd be immune to the charge, in the same way as you would for speeding. Not a bit of it. The law starts by defining "public road" as any road the public has access to - even if it's on private property. I believe there has been precedent set where people have been convicted even when the land had a closed gate, as the court decided the public could still access the land by climbing the gate.

Yet you try and get your local council to tarmac your drive, and it instantly becomes "private property".

NSA plans to FREE YOUR DATA with range of cloud services, analytics

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Thumb Up

TEMPEST ?

wasn't that for CRT screens ? So last century.

Thumbs up for the smile, but what a missed opportunity for some clever acronyms ... (I'll have to re-read the article now to make sure I didn't miss any ;) )

Snowden leaks made us look twice at cloud suppliers – biz bods

JimmyPage Silver badge
Megaphone

It's not just server location

it's what jurisdiction is the company bound to. Remember, the PATRIOT act enables Uncle Sam to point to *any* company with a US presence, and demand the keys to the kingdom, irrespective of *where* they have located their servers.

It is (still) a worry that a lot of IT "professionals" appear to think that a Google server in Europe is immune to a US snoop or takedown. It isn't.

What is more worrying, is that a lot of firms don't have a rolling overview of their suppliers, meaning that you could contract with a nice EU-centred supplier, who then gets bought by a US company. (Or a company with a US arm), and immediately falls under the spell of the PATRIOT act.

Boss at 'Microsoft' scam support biz told to cough £000s in comp

JimmyPage Silver badge
Trollface

Here's an idea for a cloudy app ..

how about a call exchange, where you can divert one of these call when it comes in ? The exchange just randomly pairs two calls so the scamsters can have a happy time talking to each other.

JimmyPage Silver badge
Pirate

My preferred route

is to pretend to misunderstand their first sentence, and pretend they have called *me* for advice on getting their computer fixed.

It's very easy, if you pretend your grasp of English is as good as theirs.

Crack CERT warriors arrive to save UK from grid-crippling hack attacks

JimmyPage Silver badge
Headmaster

Your subtle humour would have worked

if you hadn't included the misspelt "there" (should be "their")

JimmyPage Silver badge

Re: What's that sound ?

Oh, I wasn't referring to the actually technical staff, who doubtless will be paid as close to NMW is a possible.

I was referring to the possibilities for consultancies, and preferred bidders, and cozy firms like Capita, ATOS et al to get involved.

JimmyPage Silver badge
WTF?

What's that sound ?

It's snouts hitting troughs.

UK cops: Keep yer golden doubloons, ad folk. Yon websites belong to pirates

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Stop

@WibbleMe

without a court order ?

JimmyPage Silver badge
FAIL

Oh Yeah ?

888.com and BetFred both advertise on TPB, and I'm pretty certain they know exactly where their dollars are going.

Isn't this what bitcoins were invented for ?

Amazon is decompiling our apps in security gaffe hunt, says dev

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Thumb Up

*Definitely* further

I was picking apart binaries on PR1MEs in the early 80s. When caught doing it by a lecturer, I was told how they did it in the 70s ...

Now you know why Unix has the "X" permissions as well as "R".

China's rare earth supply crimp plan ruled to be illegal

JimmyPage Silver badge
WTF?

and ?

unless there are any teeth to WTO rulings, the whole thing is grandstanding.

The icon is to say "What's the point?"

ISPs CAN be ordered to police pirates by blocking sites, says ECJ

JimmyPage Silver badge
Big Brother

@Mad Mike

Yes, but what is "illegal" exactly. And more importantly, where ? Whilst laws on CP have become fairly aligned in the past decades, there are lots of other areas where laws vary wildly. The UK is a particularly dangerous place in that respect, since a lot of laws rely on "context"[1]. I hope you haven't got a road atlas of the UK, because it could be of use to a terrorist in certain cases.

It's axiomatic that "illegal" will become more widely defined as "stuff the state doesn't want you to know".

[1]For an excellent demonstration of how context affects things, in a humorous setting, may I respectfully suggest you watch "Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle" shown on 22/3/2014

(iPlayer link here, but obviously it won't last forever)

JimmyPage Silver badge
Flame

Re: Next up.....

This.

Why do you think - despite the whining of the anti-porn brigade over "net filters", the default for access to adult service lines is ON ? Surely if they want consistency and really are "thinking of the children" then they would insist that all landlines have access to premium rate numbers disabled by default.

Mysteriously this hasn't happened.

Icon, because we had to pay £20 when our (then) 8 year old son quite innocently called an 0898 number on a game for "tips". Then we had to pay £1/month for the "privilege" of having premium rate calls barred.

Judge throws out lawsuit lobbed at Facebook for using kids' pics in targeted ads

JimmyPage Silver badge
Stop

@All names taken

care to provide a cite for that, please ? It's a rather extraordinary claim.