* Posts by auburnman

1230 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Jul 2011

So, you gonna foot this '$200bn' hacking bill, insurance giants asked

auburnman

The insurance scheme...

... is probably a backdoor way of convincing companies to use airgaps and test and improve their security. I would presume the insurance companies will write in minimal standards of security protection to the agreements (much like mandating locked doors and burglar alarms). It's a sad state of affairs, but I bet security will be taken a lot more seriously when there is an insurance policy that could be invalidated.

'Look, give us Snowden' - this Friday's top US-Russia talks revealed

auburnman
Go

Re: Dear United States of America

Unwanted <> having no value. If I received a Bugatti Veyron tomorrow, it would be an unwanted gift. I could still definitely turn it to my advantage (Even second hand, I'm sure I could sell it and buy a pretty nice house with the proceeds.)

auburnman

Re: Dear United States of America

That's exactly why Russia won't give him up unless America somehow promises them the moon on a stick: a yank requesting asylum from Russia is a MASSIVE PR coup.

Queensland bans IBM from future work

auburnman

We desperately need to put in a similar style of "naughty step" proviso for government contractors here. Starting with contracts that have scaling penalties when a company blows the budget they were given for completing a project and ask for more. Too much lowballing of tenders only for the true cost to come out once everyone is heavily invested.

Paid-for stuff likely to triumph over free – shock report

auburnman

Re: Win?

There is no 'free' content, only free-to-the-viewer content which is paid for by ads. If paid for content with no ads gets enough of the eyeballs, ad-supported content could well hit a tipping point where either advertisers don't see the point of spending money on such a reduced viewer base or the station will try running adverts at a rate of 1 a minute or higher and drive away the remaining eyeballs. not that I'm sure this would happen, but I think it's a far from unlikely scenario. Almost all of the best TV already comes from the pay channels nowadays, we could well be at or past the tipping point already.

Upgraded 3D printed rifle shoots 14 times before breaking

auburnman

Re: whats the point?

"What matters is that the cat is out of the bag, if they can't make it work this week they will find a way to make it work next week."

My money is on someone eventually trying to make a horrifically dangerous shoulder mounted recoilless rifle style model.

Police probe IDIOTIC Twitter bomb threats slung at journalists

auburnman

"I wonder how hard it would be to set up a service for people who don't want to be anon online."

Ask Mark Zuckerberg.

Hackers crack femtocells to pwn then clone phones

auburnman
Joke

Re: HDMI?

Don't you know them no good dangerous criminals can hack your brain through that thar teevee nowadays?!

Murdoch machinations mean Microsoft must rename SkyDrive

auburnman
Unhappy

I'm a little disappointed that Sky won the ruling. Companies that trademark names that already mean something should have to accept the consequences (namely a lesser degree of protection from similar forms to the trademark). I seem to recall the Rosetta Stone company having a spat with Google a while back over naming confusion as well.

Wii U sales plunge: Nintendo hopes Mario and Zelda will shift some kit

auburnman
Thumb Up

Re: What about moving into mobile games?

I was thinking something similar except they don't even have to give up on hardware altogether - just consoles. If they would port their superstar games to Xbox or Playstation and/or selected phones they could make a mint. They could still release kooky hardware on platforms not their own, having the Wii-style games without having to pay for making a console. I'm sure Microsoft or Sony would let them release games on XB/PS with specialist peripherals like a balance board or a Wiimote or a face recognising pasta strainer or whatever mental shit they want to try this time.

In fact that was the Achilles heel of the Wii in my opinion - it's Unique Selling Point was nothing that couldn't be easily copied by the big two simply by adding some peripherals. And lo and behold after Nintendo took the risk and proved there was a market for 'motion' games, that's exactly what happened - leaving the Wii an under powered machine that no longer did anything unique.

Microsoft Surface sales numbers revealed as SHOCKINGLY HIDEOUS

auburnman

Re: Where can I buy one?

Something similar (hiding the OS like it was a negative selling point) happened in the Vista era. I still remember helping a friend of my mum's pick out a basic XP PC that did everything she needed (Basically browsers, email and occasionally printing) at the store, and keeping schtum when the guys at the till brought out and started ringing up a slightly better specced machine for the same price. It wasn't until we'd got home and fired it up that Karma struck and I realised I'd taken a Vista machine.

(Cue much wasted time looking for drivers that don't exist yet, followed by 'downgrading' the machine to XP like I should have done in the first place.)

auburnman

Re: amounted to "just' $853m

When you compare it to the amounts spent or squandered to get that $853M, yes.

Kevin Bacon avoids slapped wrist after TV pipe-fatness claims

auburnman

As a slight aside...

...are the Hollywood elite strapped for cash at the minute? I can't turn on the telly without Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Aniston, Bruce Willis or Al Pacino burbling on at me about mobiles or internet.

Microsoft to Google: Please remove us from internet

auburnman
Unhappy

Aw...

For a second there I thought Microsoft.com in it's entirety was about todisappear from google results. That would have been very popcorn-worthy.

Kids LIE about age on Facebook, gasps Brit ad watchdog

auburnman
Thumb Down

Re: Go ahead please... block social networks by default as well.

"THEY ARE NOT STOPPING YOU FROM LOOKING AT PORN."

BUT THEY WANT ME TO SIGN A REGISTER LIKE A FUCKING SEX OFFENDER.

FOR ENGAGING IN NORMAL ADULT BEHAVIOUR.

THAT IS THE ISSUE, GET IT THROUGH YOUR SKULL.

Chromecast: You'll pop me in for HOT STREAMS of JOY, hopes Google

auburnman

Still going the wrong way

Still waiting for a device that will sling whatever is on my TV at the time across the Wi-Fi to a tablet or phone. But I guess that doesn't help sell subscriptions to on-demand services...

UK parliament presses for pardon for Alan Turing

auburnman
Stop

Re: You've just made the point.

"If they're going to do it properly, then they ought to pardon *everyone* that was convicted of the same offence, going back to whenever it was made an offence."

While I agree with the spirit of that idea, is it really that cut and dried? That assumes everyone convicted of gross indecency was a persecuted homosexual. Surely flashers and other genuine criminals would have been prosecuted under the same indecency laws.

Personally I'd much rather politicians leave it alone than use it for cheap heat. And I don't think we should be 'tidying up' our history with pardons. Maybe it's better to have an example that reminds us that the law CAN be wrong.

Curiosity team: Massive collision may have killed Red Planet

auburnman
Go

Re: The Second Coming ...... and in Steganographic Code for Stealthy Colonisation of Invaded Forces

Mars is still here! I was worried when I didn't see any comments from him on the NSA articles; good to see the SMARTR AI Global Interdiction Quantum Drones didn't get him.

Hackers crippled HALF of world's financial exchanges - report

auburnman
Black Helicopters

How long until Wall Street sharks are partnering with/paying hackers or social engineers to knacker specific stocks so they can short them? If it's not happening already of course.

</tinfoil hat>

Microsoft admits it's '18 months behind' with Windows 8 slabs

auburnman

Re: "The iPad will be marginalised..."

I can only imagine MS tried to copy the reality distortion field but something went horribly wrong in the process, leaving them not only believing but hopelessly committed to their own hype.

Boffins want toilets to become POWER PLANTS

auburnman
Facepalm

Re: @auburnman Stop!

See '*' footnote re: mistakes in the post.

(hit submit instead of preview by mistake.)

auburnman
Happy

Re: Stop!

Proofreading has been outsourced to schmucks like us who care enough to do it for free. Much as it grinds my gears, with the 24/7 news cycle of today taking the time to proofread every article is probably just too much time and effort for an organisation that provides its news free to its readers.

I think we should have a national pedant day though, at least one day a year where people are not just encouraged but obliged to rag on every little spelling mistake*. Then we could have a carnival in the evening where someone who habitually writes 'loose' when they mean 'lose' is picked at random an shot as an example to the others.

* I am aware that this complaint about spelling will have several spelling mistakes

** That doesn't have to happen, but it would be nice

Unreal: Epic’s would-be Doom... er... Quake killer

auburnman

Or game 'flashbacks' In Real Life. Not Doom related but when Metal Gear Solid came out on PS1 I still to this day remember the day I panicked when I walked round the corner only to see I had carelessly walked into a security camera's field of view. Then I remembered I'm not Solid Snake and I'm not fighting terrorists. I'm at school and I'm going to be late for class if I keep dicking around.

auburnman
Thumb Up

Unreal Tournament was and still is the daddy. To my eternal shame I still haven't beaten Xan Kreigor fair and square to this day. It's just a shame that the sequel(s) were basically the same game with many of the same maps, only shinier.

Pwn all the Androids, part II: Flaw in Java, hidden Trojan

auburnman

Re: how much code is needed to write something nasty?

DELETE * FROM * ;

Beijing offers cons reduced sentences for friendly Tweets

auburnman
Unhappy

Horrifying

Tacit acknowledgement that having a pro government stance will ensure you pay a lesser price for your crimes than equivalent but unloyal peons. I'm sure they will be pushing for this to become a socially accepted/tolerated state of affairs (if it isn't already.)

DARPA uncloaks unTerminator for $2 million robotics challenge

auburnman

Re: Tethering has its own limitations

But then you couldn't send it into buildings for fear of gassing the people it's meant to be rescuing surely?

Oh please, PLEASE bring back Xbox One's hated DRM - say Xbox loyalists

auburnman
Joke

Typo in the Article...

Oh please, PLEASE bring back Xbox One's hated DRM - say Xbox Playstation loyalists

Fixed it for you.

US gov SMASHES UP TVs and MICE to nuke tiny malware outbreak

auburnman
Happy

I was just thinking this sounded like the magnum opus of a bored BOFH... The question is, who did they trick into destroying all that kit, and how had that scapegoat wronged our (anti)hero?

Apple surrenders in 'app store' trademark suit against Amazon

auburnman

How good would it be if Amazon refused to let this go and countersued over a frivolous lawsuit?

France's 'three strikes' anti-piracy law shot down

auburnman

Re: What else is there to say

I second that request for an update. As Jonathan says, there is not much to be said on this subject that is new. I would like to spew some vitriol on the "culture tax" idea though, even if I'm not saying anything new; subsidising a failing model where paying customers are literally treated worse than the offenders is pure idiocy. I do like the bit where they propose targeting 'for-profit' offenders though.

Sky asks Ofcom to unlock BT cabinets

auburnman
Stop

The very thought of relying on my council for anything internet is giving me a migraine.

Samsung asks for retrial on rubber-band

auburnman
Thumb Up

Epiphany

Most of last year I wondered why Samsung hadn't been trying to get the patent invalidated, and now it has finally dawned - they were keeping this in reserve so they could force a retrial based on new evidence if the original trial went tits up - exactly like they're doing now. Smooth moves Samsung lawyers, I take back all the bad stuff I wrote.

Elon Musk's Grasshopper tops 300m, lands safely

auburnman

Re: Totally useless "technology" "invention".

I totally agree something like this should have been done years before now, but no-one else has managed it and Musk has. Calling it useless is just wrong.

auburnman
Thumb Down

Re: Totally useless "technology" "invention".

Moon landing: 1/6th Earth gravity, no atmospheric turbulence to worry about.

Also Moon lander wasn't 100ft plus tall.

Battery-boosting breakthrough grows on trees – literally

auburnman
Trollface

Re: Nanowhatzit.

It's all around you. It's just too small to see.

Irish gov refuses to haul Google, Apple into MPs' tax inquiry

auburnman
Trollface

Re: Irish Tradition

Are the Easter Europeans related to the Easter Bunny?

auburnman
Thumb Up

Good on them

The politicians can't pin anything on the companies and they know it. All this enquiry bullshit is a pathetic attempt at keeping attention on the corporations so that MP's don't actually have to do some work fixing the tax structure (probably because that would knacker their own tax arrangements.) At least some MP's have the decency to not waste everyone's time.

You want to fix the multinationals tax situation, do any or all of the following:

1 - 1% tax on all transactions where payment is made by a UK entity. A small charge that is the bare minimum cost of doing business in the UK. Adjust existing taxes so that small or national businesses (or anyone who actually already pays 1% or more) see no increase, multinationals can suck it up.

2 - Withholding tax of about 5% which corporations can claim back IF they can prove they have already paid tax on that earnings within another jurisdiction.

3 - Tax money as it is moved out of the UK, BUT make this refundable/not payable IF the company gives written validated confirmation that it is being moved to its final jurisdiction this financial year (i.e. an undertaking that it will not then go to Holland and then on to Bermuda). I can't see this having an effect on anyone who isn't trying to pull a double Irish Dutch whatever.

4 - Payments to sister companies to be heavily restricted to reasonable amounts for goods and services received only, e.g. no more Starbucks UK paying millions in brand licencing to Starbucks US to reduce the profits on their books. This is the one that sails closest to the tax evasion wind in my opinion.

Xobni! heads! to! Yahoo! elephant! graveyard!

auburnman
Facepalm

Totally agree

I actually looked at buying Xobni (the plugin, not the company) after being impressed with the trial version. Once I realised you couldn't buy it, only agree to pay them money on a regular basis, I binned it. As you say it didn't help that Outlook's internal search was suddenly much more helpful.

Still seems like withdrawing the product immediately after buying the company is a waste though, but that's pretty much par for the course with Yahoo.

Rest your head against a train window, hear VOICES in your SKULL

auburnman

Re: I had Sky Go once...

Has anyone in the rooting community (is that the right word? It sounds dirty) looked into a modification that would allow rooted devices to fib and say they are running factory standard android?

auburnman
Go

I'd love to see them try to pull this off

I can just imagine the uproar in the news if they announced they were installing these. Commentators would decry the end of the free world as your own head is no longer free from adverts, the more impulsive among us would vandalize them, hypochondriacs would complain about how they have constant migraines and can't sleep since these came along - leading to ambulance chasers egging some of them on to sue - and amongst all of this Sky's already iffy public rep would nosedive as tired commuters badmouth them in public and on Facebook for not letting them snooze.

Ubisoft admits major hacking breach, advises password change

auburnman
Thumb Down

Re: Why can't we just

Dear god please don't encourage more bloody Facebook integration in games. Or anything for that matter.

auburnman

Re: It gets even worse...

Are you sure you're thinking of UPlay? When I played AC3 recently the first thing that comes up is the invitation to log into or set up a UPlay account, but that step is definitely skippable. What you describe sounds a lot more like the forced Origin login EA shoehorned into Fuse* on PS3.

*for anyone thinking of buying Fuse, don't. it's shite and you can't even launch the game (on PS3) without signing up for an Origin account as mentioned above.

Dubya: I introduced PRISM and I think it's pretty swell

auburnman

God Dammit Wikileaks

Why are they announcing the countries Snowden is applying to? Because rolling out a list of twenty plus applications doesn't make him look desperate at all. Unless this is a tactic to draw US attention elsewhere while he applies to a country not on the list.

Facebook restricts ads running next to dodgy posts

auburnman
Trollface

Re: Um, what content?

Well then you've always got the controversial opinion fallback. Just end every post with a signiature like

"Hitler had some good ideas."

UK sitting on top of at least 50 years of shale gas – report

auburnman

Western resurgence

"cheap energy has made manufacturing and heavy industry competitive again."

And how long before the cheap energy needle swings back to India and China because they built some nuclear reactors unfettered by the legacy of cold war fears?

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo: The big three slug it out at E3

auburnman

Re: FPS

Maybe true, but next time EA release an FPS I want to play, it will be on my Playstation - Origin is going nowhere near my PC unless someone has a gun to my head.

On a slightly related note, what I would like to see from the next generation is more cross-platform multiplayer; Valve proved it was possible with Portal 2, and user base fragmentation could be an issue as we go to cross a console generation.

Wake up, Uncle Fester! Huawei’s nattering about BUYING Nokia

auburnman

"Microsoft already has plenty on its plate salvaging the company"

Contender for quote of the week or understatement of the year, I reckon. Multiple Catastrophes on multiple fronts.

Telly psychics fail to foresee £12k fine for peddling nonsense

auburnman

It is however...

... the job of the government (or specific agencies thereof) to protect the vulnerable from charlatans.

Badger bloodbath brouhaha brings 'bodge' bumpkin bank burgle bluster

auburnman
Thumb Up

Re: As ocassionally happens.....

"But isn't that half the fun? Trying to guess what the article is about without reading the subtitle or the article."

I like to read the Daily Mash and reverse engineer in my head what the actual news story was from the parody.