* Posts by Dave 126

10643 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jul 2010

Submarine builder admits dismembering journalist's body

Dave 126 Silver badge

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/10/danish-police-find-snuff-images-on-computer-tied-to-submarine-murder-suspect/

Dave 126 Silver badge

Other news outlets have also reported that videos of decapitations were found on his computer

Camera company, huh? Snap's nerd goggles look destined for landfill

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Face Spyware

Unlike the Google Glass specs, the Snap Glasses were not trying to blend in - they were large, gaudy and green with no attempt to hide the camera. In its target market, the subjects would be aware that there was a camera pointed at them. If someone wanted to take covert pictures of people, there are many other cheaper, less proprietary, longer lasting, more discreet and generally fitter-for-purpose options out there. For better, or more likely, worse.

Hehe, I'm just thinking of a caricature of a Cold War spy (either a Tuxedoed 007 or a great coat-clad Smiley, take your pick) sneaking around a dingy filing room wearing green novelty sunglasses.

Car trouble: Keyless and lockless is no match for brainless

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: You are NOT kidding

Sadly, poor UI design (regarding an automatic car and its Drive/Park selector knob, the subject of a recall by the American company that built it) resulted in the death of a young actor from the recent Star Trek films.

I'm not a fan of vehicles beeping at me, but there's a case to be made for vehicles to beep when moving without anyone in the driver's seat.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Who wrote this crap?

I was recently reminded of Mr Dabbs' rant style last week when reading a book called Incompetence by Rob Grant (of Red Dwarf fame, though it's set in a near future EU state). I believe that many a Reg reader will enjoy it.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: No reverse

My favourite was my Transporter allowing reverse to be selected but insisting of going forwards regardless. There's a big online forum for Transporter owners and within seconds of googling the complaint I found "...Look below the battery you'll see a ball joint... wrap a zip tie round that not too tight and you'll be sorted.. I did it as a temporary measure but it was still there 30k miles later". Sorted!

On a petrol station forecourt I've had the embarrassment of not being able to open the fuel flap on a Vito van... It turned out to be some button on the dashboard. I prefer the Renault Traffic / Vitara method - the nearside door overlaps the fuel flap, so the flap can't be opened until the can door has been. Simple, elegant, effective.

Dave 126 Silver badge

I don't mind the VW rotary light switch, it's just that it's near identical in size and location to that in Ford Transits, yet subtlety different in operation. It lies in an uncanny valley.

Cheers for the tip Drop Bear, I'll investigate the headlight buzzer. I've been meaning to fit a second battery and a relay too (for interior lights and music without fear of stranding myself) that in a push could be used to start the engine.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: cauldrons of magic potion that Obelix fell into as a baby

Pant-y-Girdl...

At the foot of the Sugarloaf mountain outside Abergavenny is a village called Pantygelli, pronounced panty-jelly by us puerile Philistines on a visit. It's the Welsh Cotswolds, judging by the colour of trouser sported by gents of a certain age leaving the pub. Word of warning should you be walking near by - the pub closes at 3pm on a Saturday for a few hours (unless there's a rugby match on TV) so time your descent of the hills appropriately.

Dave 126 Silver badge

I get it a bit... Lights on a VW Transporter and a Ford Transit are both on a rotary knob to the right of the steering wheel, but the behaviours are different. All the way to the left in the VW is Off, on the Transit it is sparking Lights. Transit default position gives Side Lights (though I suspect this is a mis-wiring cos the dash lights aren't , and a different Transit behaves differently). Transit beeps if lights left on (except parking lights), VW is mute. VW will leave single side light on if indicator stalk not in central position.

Variations in where Reverse lives on the gear stick - top left, top left with pull up on stick, or bottom right? Keep forgetting VW doesn't have 6 speeds.

Suzuki Swift with switched position of wiper controls and indicators ... Ever time I came to a junction I'd activate the windscreen wipers.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Possible Solution

> But the component quality (turbos, injectors, fuel pumps, brakes) was patchy

How many of those are made by Nissan, and how many are made by an ODM such as Bosch - and as such would be common to several car brands? Following the Japanese earthquake a few years back, several car brands had to look to other suppliers.

Man: Just 18 Bitcoin babies and my home is yours

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: This bit always confuses me....

€500 (Euro) notes are appreciated by miscreants too - at least those miscreants whose dodgy dealings involve large quantities of cash in a more compact volume than £50 notes allow.

It's time to rebuild the world for robots

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Just who's world is it, anyway?

I'm not going to defend all aspects of this modern, mechanised, interconnected world. However, infrastructure is an investment in labour - you get more out than you put in. You could walk from the stream to your house everyday carrying water, or you could invest the time in digging a culvert or laying a pipe. The final cost/benefit analysis falls on the side of the latter, else why bother?

Oh, and when English cobbled roads fell in to a state of disrepair, many farmers emigrated to the new world.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Just who's world is it, anyway?

> And apart from that, why should all the people on the planet change their world to accommodate a bunch of machines?

Well, to use the paved road example, it allowed goods to be more easily transported to market, and for people to cycle to the next village to court the landlord's daughter. By changing our environment to suit wheeled vehicles, we saved ourselves labour.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Oh fuck off ...

@AC

Why not both?

We've seen Segway technology place wheelchair users at head-to-head height with their bipedal peers. If a less mobile human can have their shopping delivered, doesn't that give them more free time to travel to the pub?

Forgive me if I'm being insensitive, but I haven't grasped why robotics and human accessibility are mutually exclusive. Could you expand upon your point for my benefit?

Cheers

Dave 126 Silver badge

In warehouses automated pickers and forklift trucks aren't uncommon, often following painted lines or ferrous tracks beneath the floor.

It reminds me of a scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Roger is being chased by some bad guys in a car so he picks up the central white line from the road and points it at a wall. BangCrashWallop!

Phone crypto shut FBI out of 7,000 devices, complains chief g-man

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: .in the UK,... refuse to give your password to State investigators.

It's a misplaced capital S on State. The phrase 'state investigators' is a fairly unambiguous catch-all term for the police, Serious Fraud Office, MI5, Inland Revenue, Customs, local council refuse department etc etc

Dave 126 Silver badge

The acres of data centers are to record today's communications for decryption in the future when either Moore's Law or a quantum computer reduce the time and cost of doing so. Why? Knowing in ten years time what the Chinese wrote to their Embassy today would still be useful, giving you context and background. Obviously some triage of what data you store is essential, so inter-embassy communication yes, every citizen's comms no.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: If I'm not wrong

The cell phone company can supply meta data of phone calls and SMS messages, but they won't have meta data about WhatsApp, FaceTime etc calls and messages.

That'd not to say that meta data is useless to police and intelligence agencies. It's the Who and When, but not the What.

Plants in SPAAAAAAACE are good for you

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Plants 'n things

There's a scene in Lynch's Dune in which Jessica Atreides is shown a green and lush indoor garden on the titular desert planet. Obviously a nod to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon story, gardens built by a desert king to assuage his wife's home sickness.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Weed

There's a chapter in William Gibson's Neuromancer in which the characters visit Zion, a Rastafarian space station. The residents there grow certain plants, and make good use of the stations PA system.

Pixel 2 tinkerers force Google's hand: Secret custom silicon found

Dave 126 Silver badge

Turning off mobile data tends to make a difference to battery life if you are somewhere with a weak or patchy 3/4G signal. This was true with older Edge phones too, in the absence of any signal.

It is more to do with the phone using more power to get reception than it is data 'slurping'.

The Xperia phones last because their Stamina mode temporarily turns off data unless the screen is turned on - i.e you don't get email / WhatsApp etc notifications until you unlock your phone.

Samsung to let proper Linux distros run on Galaxy smartmobes

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Nothing new..

Wouldn't it be less faff to just stick an ARM SoC into the 'docking' hardware?

If you've gotta carry a dock (and mouse and keyboard, unless you find them at your destination), you might as well carry a discrete headless computer. It could act as a wireless router for your phone, throwing up a local VPN between itself and your phone for the purposes of syncing files etc, and bridge it to the wider net. Or summat.

Or maybe it's just me.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Some if this is already possible ...

There's some 3D printer files and instructions somewhere online for a microwriter-style chorded keyboard case for phones... Respectable typing speeds can be achieved after only a few days learning, so I'm led to believe!

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Does that mean that I can get a root shell

If you stripped out Samsung's Android build, where would you get your drivers from?

Maybe in the future, with Google's efforts to make Android more modular (easier to roll out updates for) you might be have more joy, but that time is not now.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Graphical X and C libraries?

You can already run InkScape on Android, and it loads up some sort Linux-y desktop environment before itself... But it is a pig to use on a phone, as you would expect.

Microsoft exec says ARM-powered Windows laptops have multi-day battery life

Dave 126 Silver badge

> Is this going to be another Windows for ARM - which can only run 1 percent of available software

These ARM machines will run x86 applications through an emulator, according to other reports.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Return of the Windows RT?

> Is this going to be another Windows for ARM - which can only run 1 percent of available software

Apparently it'll run x86 applications through an emulator, according to other reports.

Phab-u-lous, Mate: Huawei's business phabs go upmarket

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: "crunching 16-bit floating point numbers"

@ Tromos

It's an NPU, not a CPU, as stated in the article. It's designed for assisting the phone's machine learning. 3rd party apps can use it with Tensorflow and Caffe 2 APIs.

2017 is the year of custom silicon beyond CPU and GPUs, with the new Pixel phone and iPhobes boasting various Image and Signal Processing Units.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/10/huawei-bets-big-on-ai-features-in-new-mate-10-and-mate-10-pro-smartphones/

Resellers on Surface: Yeah, go ahead and kill it. What do we care...

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Who Is Buying Surface ???

Hi Shadmeister

Do note that the MS Surface range includes a convertible laptop, a traditional laptop and a desktop - not just tablets.

Whilst not everybody has a use for a stylus, I think you'll agree that a precision stylus is actually useful for some people (agreed, not the mass market) whereas a plain ol touchscreen is a bit 'meh' on a laptop.

Anyway, the purpose of the Surface range was to get other Windows PC vendors to up their game - and it appears to have worked. There's some cracking hardware out there. Sadly for 'the channel' many of us find our 5 year old computers still fit for our purposes.

Regard D

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: In another thread...

Hmm, nice but niche. i7, nVidia etc. Wacom appeared to have ditched their Android tablet... I guess iPads are better supported by 3rd party devs, and fit better into the Mac workflow often favoured by graphics types.

CAD types, who can often have a use for a quality stylus, have usually gone for Windows PCs

Man prosecuted for posting a picture of his hobby on Facebook

Dave 126 Silver badge

Because when I was a teenager in the nineties UK BB pistols were ubiquitous, I didn't feel that threatened when a teenager in a Bolivian side street pointed a pistol at me ten years ago, after failing to grab my shoulder bag. My drunken brain was slowly trying to work if it was a real firearm or not, perhaps prompted by the lad's posture. Then he hit me over the head with it. Thankfully I was wearing an Argentinian leather cowboy hat with a stiff crown, so I wasn't hurt. My Spanish is poor, so I shouted Fuck Off! loudly and repeatedly and he ran off.

Local staff at the hostel seemed genuinely shocked, as Bolivians often said that sort of incident is more of a Peruvian thing.

Elon Musk says Harry Potter and Bob the Builder will get SpaceX flying to Mars

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: In the spirit of the BFR...

Malcolm Tucker: And do it ASAFP!

Spad: What does the F stand for?

Civil servant: 'Feasibly' I assume.

Xperia XZ1: Sony spies with its MotionEye something beginning...

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: What's wrong with it?

The Z3 Compact had nothing wrong with it. In fact, Sony had some nice differentiating features, such as external charging pins for a magnetic dock, and an extra ring on the 3.5 mm headphone socket for stereo out and in simultaneously. Stock Android was mostly left alone. Great battery life.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: I don't need no stinking title

Cheers Mr Hamster! .OBJ I can deal with.

Dave 126 Silver badge

The mention of active noise cancelling suggests that this handset still has Sony's TRRRS 3.5mm socket. Compatible with standard headsets, it allows stero mics to be used simultaneously with stero audio out (eg noise cancelling on board the phone with selected headsets) or else the use of Sony's stero condenser microphone for filming or recording jam sessions.

Dave 126 Silver badge

I'm assuming that the phone can output 3D files in .STL format, though I can't find confirmation of that online. My assumption is based on Sony stating that the files can be uploaded to a range of printing bureaus and not just a Sony partner, suggesting a standard file format.

If this stuff is interesting, it's worth noting that Qualcomm are looking to get active IR scanning into phones next year, supported by silicon in their Snapdragon series.

Fun times ( I may soon have a reason to bring my 3D printer out of storage)

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Sony design....

The Sony CRT televisions - Trinitron - were very good, but they lost the crown when technology moved on against Panasonic plasma sets and Samsung LEDs. These days the Sony quantum dot stuff is good (and a lot cheaper), but LG's OLED sets are just sublime.

Night out in London tonight: Beer, Reg and platform wars

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: That phone platform you use...

Strewth, that's the second Mary Whitehouse Experience reference in this thread.... It's currently available on BBC iPlayer Radio for the initiated.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: I hate each and every platform/language/etc.

Actually, it's my familiarity with successive versions of Windows that makes me despise it. But still, its the only OS that runs the (very good) software that I use, so Linux, MacOS et al aren't viable options.

(Actually, I quite liked NT 4 and 7, though envious of features seen on other OSs).

Neglected Pure Connect speaker app silenced in iOS 11's war on 32-bit

Dave 126 Silver badge

Another solution is to plug a Chromecast Audio into the speaker's aux socket. Cheaper than buying a 2nd hand iPhone to dedicate to the task.

More and more websites are mining crypto-coins in your browser to pay their bills, line pockets

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Hijack the hijack?

Re. Using the GPU. Chrome can use the GPU, but I seem to recall turning off that feature after reading a Reg article about it being a security risk. I think. It was a year or so ago, and my memory is vague.

Look! Over there! Intel's cooked a 17-qubit chip quantum package

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: complete waste of time

If I had all the money I'd spent on drink...

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: How?

Yeah, the K suffix normally denotes Intel chips that let users tweak clock speeds (and T is lower TDP, S even lower). This chip carries a 0K suffix!

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Intel YouTubed an unboxing video,

Intel Inside and Intel Not Inside the shiny blue box

'There has never been a right to absolute privacy' – US Deputy AG slams 'warrant-proof' crypto

Dave 126 Silver badge

Sending PGP code on disc outside of the USA was considered to be exporting munitions. Sending the code out in hardcopy (a ream of paper) was protected by Freedom of Speech.

Result was the same, except for someone in Europe having sore typing fingers for a day or two.

Outage at EE wrecks voice calls across the UK

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Voice ?

Calls from one EE mobile phone to another worked, but not from EE mobile to a landline... This suggests that calls had trouble leaving EE, regardless if the call entered through WiFi or cellular.

Dave 126 Silver badge

EE once delivered to me a Spam SMS that spoofed a real Barclays Bank number (I'd changed bank some months before, so immediately smelt a rat. For fucks sake. How hard is it to compare SMSs to a list of legit numbers from banks, gov agencies and utility companies?

This morning, during the call outage, EE successfully sent me a "you have used 80% of your data allowance" yet were unable to send me an SMS informing me of the voice call outage.

Since I'm on a rolling monthly SIM-only tariff, I think I'll ring them up tomorrow and threaten to ditch then lest they bump up my data allowance. I've said it before - buy your handset outright, never through a carrier. An additional bonus is that you're covered by the Sales of Goods Act, and don't have to put up with sending your phone off to be repaired should it develop a fault - just demand a refund.

Blade Runner 2049 review: Scott's vision versus Villeneuve's skill

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: I think you'll find the 306 was generally considered a decent motor.

I loved my 306, the 1.9 Diesel was as reliable as hell... the electrics were a bit more entertaining though. Still, a torquey motor, nippy up hills and through traffic. My mechanic still runs a 406 as his personal motor, mainly because he considers all cars nothing but potential scrap metal... with one exception: a 1930s Bentley Blue Train Racer Replica. Built with three seats, driver, navigator and butler. Butler sat sideways on rear seat (to allow for aerodynamic sloping roof) with a cocktail cabinet. Class.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Another awful reboot like Prometheus...

This film was directed by Denis Villeneuve, not Ridley Scott. It is a sequel not a reboot. You don't seem to be very well informed for someone with feelings so strong; one wonders why you went to see 2049 in the first place. If you haven't seen it then shut up.