Posts by Pen-y-gors

Biometrics? Meh!

Austin Freeman's story 'The Red Thumb Mark' (available on Gutenberg - it's jolly good) was published in 1907 and revolves around a faked thumbprint left at a crime scene. Why are people still trying to use basic fingerprints as identification evidenc in 2014?

Just about any biometric other than DNA can be faked with enough effort. For private individuals it's probably not worth the hassle, but when it's GCHQ/NSA/CIA/KGB/the Chinese involved faking the biometrics to access foreign government networks (or even their own government networks) then money's no object.

I'm waiting for the next big thing in biometrics - the discovery that the pattern of one's "rusty sheriff's badge" (as Stephen Fry referred to it on QI) is unique. There's a whole new meaning to the idea of dropping your trousers for immigration checks.

Where do Apple fit in?

Another report about this had Apple saying that privacy etc isn't an issue, as the transaction only involves the customer, the retailer and the bank.

In which case, how do Apple justify taking any commission, even if it's 0.15%? Surely any costs to Apple should be paid by a one-off fee to purchase some form of App?

It's a bummer though? Who do I generally trust less? The banks or Apple? That's a hard one.

Who do I trust less when it comes to data security? - that's easy, Apple.

Big name no guarantee

I got an ASUS TF701T Transformer 13 months ago - nice bit of kit until they upgraded to Android 4.4.2 - now the OS burns up battery even when it's off - use on mains only or recharge every 12 housr! Fairly useless response from ASUS Tech Supprt as well.

Might as well stick to cheapo no-name and throw it away if it breaks.

I haven't read everything about this but...

...weren't Google concerned about him launching his prosecution/enquiry after 'colluding' with the MPAA, and that he was acting as a pawn for the MPAA rather than working on behalf of the good citizens of Missssssspi? After all, what has misssisssspi got to do with Hollywood?

Yes, it's worrying when justice depends on who has the most money, but hey, what's new? Isn't that the American Way?

Without downplaying the possibilities...

The names, addresses and phone numbers of many million UK residents were published by a hack of BT - it's called the Phone Book(TM)

Facebook

Facebook says it only employs two people and spends €450,000 per year,

That's an awful lot of very expensive lunches!

I'm curious

They talk about using this capsule for trips to Mars - presumaby it will be attached to a larger craft for them to live in during the voyage? It looks like there isn't room to swing a tribble. If the capsule is all the room they have they bold voyagers will have killed each other within 30 days.

In fact, why take the Orion capsule to Mars? Would it be too complicated to leave a simple landing capsule parked in Earth orbit and dock and transfer to it on return? Or would approach velocity be too much to allow for docking?

Probably simple and obvious answers, but I'm not a rocket scientist.

Not just google

Happened to be on a site the other day, can't remember what, but there was a large ad from amazon showing which included info about items I'd recently looked at/purchased on the main amazon website. Are they sharing this info with the sites they advertise on?

(memo to self: update Ad-block plus)

Because it can...

the Fire Phone's Firefly app, where you can scan text and have it converted to or from English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Sounds like it could be quite useful.

Firefly has also been trained to identify 2,000 famous paintings, for those of you who like to walk around art museums with your mobile in your hand.

Sounds, utterly, utterly, utterly pointless for 99.999% of users. Why do they do this sort of thing? Image recognition may well be quite handy, and that may be what they're trying to demonstrate here, but really it's of no use to the few people who actually own one. I mean, if you're in the National Gallery and want to know what you're looking at try scanning and OCRing the label next to the picture. Or even READING it.

Further research needed

the planet is either very similar to our own (comprising around three-fourths water and one-fourth rock) or a gas giant with an extended atmosphere, like Jupiter.

Hopefully they'll work out which of the two it actually is before we launch the A Ark full of colonists.

Overloaded airspace?

Part of the problem seems to have been the knock-on effects. One aircraft is delayed and so that delays the next and that delays the next and so on. The system is run so close to capacity that there's no breathing space for recovery for when the inevitable problems do occur. Same problems when motorways are busy and one person brakes suddenly - 2 miles back down the road the traffic grinds to a halt.

Not sure what the answer is - leave more time between landings and departures so that there is some slack to allow for recovery? But of course that would cost money!

I hope the cargo...

doesn't contain the supplies of turkey, xmas pud etc for the crew, otherwise their Christmas celebrations will be a bit delayed.

animation?

"there will be an animated transition when the much-anticipated new Start Menu opens."

FFS why?

Careful of gun photos

Be very careful about publishing photos of you handling legal firearms in foreign countries. You could end up in trouble, like this councillor in Derby recently.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-30449286

Admitedly he does look suspiciously 'foreign' and it was an AK47, but still...

Questions...

1) Does it come with any bloatware apps? e.g. Facebook

2) If so, can they be removed without rooting?

(based on experience with previous Xperia which is running out of memory due to unremovable crapware)

Centralisation?

I'm willing to accept that current and future nuclear may possibly be made safe, and not produce waste that's dangerous for 10000 years, and come in at a less than insane multi-billion pound cost per reactor, and in that case nuclear may appear to help reduce CC effects.

BUT there are other problems with nuclear - centralisation. Many renewable technologies, particularly PV, can generate power locally at the point of use, or have hundreds of individual generators (windfarms). One bit of kit breaks down, and there is a 1% reduction in output or one house loses power. One nuclear power station breaks down and the grid loses 5% of capacity, possibly for a long time. Not good during winter. Centralisation is really not a good idea - one computer throws a wobbly for half an hour and tens of thousands of people have their travel plans thrown into chaos.

'Act locally' is a very good green principle.

logistics?

I order one of something from Amazon, it's delivered by mail, I'd humbly suggest that the people taking it off the warehouse shelf and putting it in the post are probably working in mail-order and retail. If they were sorting out the loading and routing of a container-full then it's logistics.

Another fail for amazon. Perhaps they should see if they could buy a dictionary by mail order?

Isn't it about time...

that one of these pork-barrel bills had something tacked on which bans members of Congress and the Senate from making use of atmospheric oxygen? The world would be a better place...

Evidence-based legislation?

The Tories have heard of it, but really don't think it's a good idea.

What really, really pisses me off is the inconsistency and illogicality of most (all?) of the legislation we get, not just this particularly crass bit.

Films of two (or more) consenting adults indulging in some light bondage and spanking? Dangerous, ban it at once, think of the children!

Films of people (actors) shooting, beating and stabbing people for criminal purposes? No problem.

Films of a mouse chopping bits off a poor cat. Fine, children's hour stuff.

Totally, totally inconsistent and illogical. Why is killing people okay to film, but not people having a wee? We all do it you know...(or maybe Tories don't - do the undead have normal bodily functions?)

To be fair

if they require that the hardware only gathers location data once it is triggered, then it can't be used for tracking/recording. Will this be the case?

Doesn't stop the whole system being totally pointless overkill though, which will be wrong as often as it is right. How does the system know that an ambulance is required? Will it have a delay built in and an option for driver override "Calling ambulance in 30 secs press this button to cancel"? How will it phone home when out of mobile range?

It'll lose money...

5 year contract costing £200million, and saving £60million a year = £100 million saving over 5 years.

BUT add in standard 50% public sector cost overruns, and subtract 50% from wishful thinking savings estimate, costs = £300 million, savings = £150 million. Net loss £150million. Plus ca change...

Illogical

What is the purpose of speed cameras? is it a) to encourage people to stick to the speed limit or b) to prosecute as many people as possible for speeding and make lots of money?

If it's a) then warning people of the presence of a camera and thus to slow down is surely helping enforce the law. If it's b) then they're a bunch of slimy scumbags

It's noticeable that even in this evil country we call home they now make speed cameras very visible and yellow, having decided that a) is the reason for having them. Round here they publish the list of next week's locations for the mobils traps in the paper!

Great news

Fingers crossed that the next few hours go as well. BUT...surely there must be a better way to get a load into orbit and beyond than shoving it on top of a giant V2 stuffed with liquid oxygen and hydrogen?

Yippee!

Well, yippee if you're a lawyer, accountant or tax consultant.

This won't raise a penny extra in tax - what it will do is transfer another few hundred million a year to the dodgy accountants and tax consultants who advise Google et al. while they argue over exactly how much profit they 'would' have made.

Recipe for several hundred more pages of incomprehensible tax legislation, guidelines and footnotes. When will they ever learn? Clear, simple and precise laws are not necessarily good laws, but vague, fuzzy and complicated laws are always bad laws.

Centralisation?

Why this overwhelming urge to centralise things? I do my tax and PAYE online, ditto companies house filing. I contacted them, they sent me my user id etc. to my address. Remarkably simple system, and seems to work quite well. Why can't other departments do the same? They really don't need to link it all together.

Signal strength?

Sounds like a good idea, but...

one of the problems in many rural areas isn't so much the lack of coverage, but the lack of strong signals. Many people in rural areas live in lovely old houses, with thick stone walls (mine are 18 ins thick!), and small windows. There may well be mobile coverage on the map, but not once you go indoors, so landlines rule. I also need two wifi repeaters to enable coverage throughout the house. Will someone please come up with a useable solution to this? I suspect even a femtocell may not work!

missing the point

whisky (and whiskey) usually benefits from a small amount of water - it helps the mouth appreciate the taste and smell (at room temperature), without blasting the tastebuds with 35% alcohol. And ice cubes? Never.

These people should stick to alcopops!

geo-targetting?

"The Reg's exploration of Microsoft's site in other nations and languages – a tricky thing to do given Redmond geo-targets content"

Surely ElReg can afford a VPN subscription to someone like HMA? - servers/IP addresses in 128 countries. Very handy for trying to appear to be a Johnny Foreigner.

errrm....

Why is our government spending money on helping the norks improve their offensive capability (by improving their networks) and helping them stomp on their own people? Do they really think that after showing nork journalists about how to use the twatbook that they will suddenly rise up and overthrow the chubby-one-with-the-bad-haircut?

Satnav?

Presumably it will be perfectly acceptable to totally ignore the satnav, so long as you reach the destination? Satnavs are there to provide guidance, not orders.

Gravity?

I'm sure they've thought of this, but...

I can see that dropping a bomb will blast a hole. But given that asteroid gravity tends to be somewhat gentle (how far did Philae bounce?) how likely is it that any rubble will end up in the hole, rather than flying off into oblivion, possibly bashing the intrepid space-bomber on the way?

Love the video!

That's how to properly 'celebrate' thanksgiving

Unplanned obsolescence

Streaming to a device is great until the source of the stream suddenly decides to change their system.

A few years ago I got a Roberts Streamtime radio, and one of the main uses was listening to BBC radio on demand, particularly Radio 4 Extra.

The BBC have now decided they can't be arsed to provide a basic on-demand feed in Windows Media format - if you want to listen again, then use the iPlayer. Hardware doesn't support iPlayer? Tough shit, buy something that does. But beware that they may change formats again in a couple of years.

Which services are they actually talking about?

It's a long time sincle I searched for 'free webmail' on Google, or any other search engine.

And if by 'commercial services' they mean 'adverts' then how else do you pay for the search?

errrm....

Why?

Fair point

as far as it goes.

But it shouldn't be that they are ALLOWED to access the openreach ducting - they should be REQUIRED to access the BT ducting on demand. i.e. they MUST provide 100% UK-wide coverage. If anyone asks for an e.g. Virgin provided cable in Auchtermuchty (though $deity knows why anyone would) then they MUST provide it at no more than the price charged by BT.

Fair's fair, we don't want them cherry-picking the cheap and easy places like the postal companies. If they want to break up a monopoly they must provide at least the same service at the same price.

Interesting, but...

I don't think I'll be getting a new box just yet. When I do it'll need to run Win 10.1 and support some decent spec dual monitors. probably 512GB SSD as well. Screen for watching HD telly? Meh...

Motorways?

I assume those big brown lines are MASSIVE motorways - or canals? If so, I welcome our very large new European overlords.

Viva cordless!

Got a Dyson stick job a couple of years ago - house is much cleaner now! The difference is that a cordless is so quick and easy to use - much, much less faff than plugging big Dyson in and lugging it around, then unplug and lug upstairs and plug in, before unplugging again and lugging back downstairs. Basically it didn't happen! Now it's just remove stick from wall and give the whole house a quick wizz. Happens frequently.

To be honest though, even in turbo mode the little one isn't as effective as the big one. Still benefits from a good run round with the biggie every month or two.

And don't talk to me about the fun of unclogging the hair/fur/threads/leaves etc from the turbo head! I find an old steak knife is an essential accesory.

Mmmmm, shiny, want one!

I may well succumb.

Can't see the problem with lack of stereo speakers. The point of stereo is to feed a separate sound stream to each ear, e.g. from two loudspeakers on opposite sides of the room. To get a stereo speaker effect from two speakers a few inches apart requires a very, very small and oddly-shaped head. Or a set of headphones perhaps?

Google and Facebook?

Yes, it would be nice to develop some UK businesses of the scale of Google and Facebook, but preferably not with their attitude to paying taxes!

It could get lucky.

From the reports, a big problem is that it bounced into a shaded area so limited luck with solar panels.

But...presumably as it gets closer to the sun, there will be more and more outgassing as things heat up, which may well cause the comet to change orientation in random ways, and may cause the shade to go away.

Fingers crossed.

Cars

"Ideally, I would have taken the small charging plate in the car but the system needs 1700mAh and the USB I was testing is designed for connecting memory sticks to play and didn’t have the necessary oomph."

I've got a rather neat little adapter with two USB sockets on that plugs into the 'cigarette lighter' - damn handy for charging things on the go.