* Posts by Jamie Jones

4281 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Jun 2007

YouTuber cements head inside microwave oven

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Another thought is that it's easier for idiots to be seen now.

30 years ago, these guys would have maybe just made the local news, with no video evidence to tantelise.

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Like me dammit!

All money made from that video should go straight to the fire service. After all, they wouldn't have been able to post it at all if it had turned into a snuff movie.

Google to crack down on apps that snoop

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Android Blacklist

I don't think they take action - it's quite a new site. Though, I feel the more people support it, the more important it will get.

I'd like to see them form some kind of action group in the future - in the meantime, I just hope to spread the word. I've got quite a few for them, but I've gathered them into a new category, and just have a bit more sorting out before I submit.. Hopefully they will be accepted!

cheers

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Stoogle

What's it called?

Try submitting it here: http://androidblacklist.org

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: No Mention of banning locaiton data

Even worse, they classify "location data" to include GPS etc. if they can.

A while ago I saw my exaction location be sent off to some random ad company.. If you threw a grenade at the coordinates given, you'd blow up my sofa...

Jamie Jones Silver badge

This will affect 99.999% of apps out there

I'm constantly blocking their shit in my firewall, and also removing privs/events as I see fit.

It's ridiculous. Just yesterday, I *bought* an app, from a well known reputable company, with no adverts, yet it still tried to phone home with my exact location.

A number of apps will even leave a little monitoring program running permanently, whether you use the app or not. How arrogant is that?

Tech giants at war: Google pulls plug on YouTube in Amazon kit

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: More of a loss for Google

The thing is, aren't you just tired of sanctmonious posts from people who use adblockers, as if they are some whizzo new thing that no-one else could master?

I can guarantee that the person who moaned about the adverts in the original post has heard of ad-blockers, and knows how to install and use them.

Every time someone mentions an ad, someone chimes in about ad blockers... This is 'el reg. we are techie people here. we gettit, ok?

Jamie Jones Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Don't get worked up over each other

It's kinda hard to whinge on about how warm it is when your freezing your nuts off waiting to catch the Bus into Work, in the Morning. And not look like a complete douche while attempting to do so."

Wow! People that equate local weather with global temperature still exist?

Call David Attenborough! He might be interested in doing a documentary on you.

Mailsploit: It's 2017, and you can spoof the 'from' in email to fool filters

Jamie Jones Silver badge

I describe a real-world situation where using SPF strict mode will cause you to lose mail, and get voted down for it with no explaination.

Ah well, your loss!

Jamie Jones Silver badge

...then your email is broken.

Use SPF to suggest where your mail comes from, but not definitive.

Otherwise, imagine this situation:

You send email to an important potential client. Their email address is their own domain that is forwarded onto their 'real' mailbox. Their ISP who they use for mail honours SPF. Your SPF records say mail will only come from your servers, yet the mail has just come from mx.bigdaddy.com (or whatever) . Email is rejected (and silly ISP drops rather than bounces in the mistaken belief that bounce messages are just spam). Potential client never gets your email. You are none the wiser.

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: More depressingly...

Worse still there's an increasing number of companies whose outgoing mail doesn't include any text. I have my clients configured to only show text and to pull it out of the HTML and sometimes the result is nothing at all :(

Even worse, I get this from a company I use:

Hello Client,

Unfortunately your email client is outdated and does not support HTML emails, our system uses HTML emails as standard. You will NOT be able to read thiis email.

HOW DO I READ THIS EMAIL

...

Voyager 1 fires thrusters last used in 1980 – and they worked!

Jamie Jones Silver badge

The poor thing...

It just wants to come home...

'Break up Google and Facebook if you ever want innovation again'

Jamie Jones Silver badge
Joke

Re: They just store what you give them

Every time I see a post on El Reg from Bombastic Bob, I post it and it's meta-data to facebook!

China plots new Great Leap Forward: to IPv6

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Naaah, Ipv5 was internet stream protocol-2, and was routable https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1190

Also, contrary to popular belief, IPX was routable.

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Is there a list?

By that criteria, you'll want to block the USA too!

Team Trump goes in to bat for Google and Facebook

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: What did you expect?

You right wingers are so tribal.

You automatically think that anyone who criticises a republican is obviously as much of a democrat sychophant as you are a republican one.

Most people on the left think for themselves. Plenty have called out the bullshit that Hillary has done.

You'll probably be surprised to know that when someone attacks trump, responding about the failings of the democracs or hillary specifically will get you nods of agreement.

I know you expect them to get upset, stick their fingers in their ears, shouting "LA LA LA I CAN'T HERE YOU. DEMOCRACTS ARE PERFECT. OUR LEADERS ARE GODS. YOUR LEADERS ARE CUCKS HAHAHA" but they don't generally work that way, they leave that to your side who are so easily fooled by the fox and trump bullshit that they hardly have to try.

Remember Trump saying he loves the ignorant? And how he could shoot someone and his fans will still stick up for him... Just like Ray Moore.. A judge exposed for abuse of a 14 year old girl, and that conservative radio guy ... Something Rose replies "well at least he's not a homosexual" and all the right wing loons are out supporting him, and he'll probably be relected.

I have total respect for normal people with conservative views, even though I largely disagree, but in America these days, they don't have a voice. The current republicans are the most fucked up people, with the most nuckle-dragging backwards moronic supporters anyone could ever imagine...

Wait, did Oracle tip off world to Google's creepy always-on location tracking in Android?

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Google aren't the worst here..

Nearly all the advertising companies do this, and more. They often phone home with all sorts of stuff, whether you like it or not. I'm sure they are breaking EU laws.

Amazon Key door-entry flaw: No easy fix to stop rogue couriers burgling your place unseen

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Proper engineers

Software and computer product 'engineers' need to understand the principle of failsafe, like proper engineers do.

Over the years many of us have critisiced the shoddy way many programmers work, and how they write code in a way that bugs can be catestrophic. (Everyone makes mistakes, but code shouldn't be written impersonating a house of cards)

Many of you will recall some of those "funny jokes" going around years ago, saying "what if microsoft made cars.... Your brakes failed? Have you tried stopping and restarting your car?"

Many of us despaired at programming quality, but could at least have a laugh about it.

Well now with more computer controls in cars, internet-of-shite on our toasters/lightbulbs/webcams/locks, this same development mentality is hitting the real world.

Many of the designs of the hardware 'IT' in these devices is dictated by the software rather than the other way around, and we're now seeing the sort of cockups time and time again when people try to use this "have you tried switching it on and off?" software design mentality in the design of these 'IOT' devices.

These people need to start thinking like real engineers, starting with learning the term FAILSAFE. It isn't actually a PR term, it's meaning in the engineering world is literal - if something fails, it fails into a safe position.

Overlooking the stupid idea in the first place, there is simply no excuse for a door locking process to fail like this. There should have been numerous safeguards and "failsafes".

And this is just one example amongst many. It isn't the first, and won't be the last..

WikiLeaks is wiki-leaked. And it's still not even a proper wiki anyway

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Shower of shites!

Good for you. Now you can ignore those Podesta emails laying the whole DNC fix for Hillary. Never happened, right? Even tho they were never contested...?

Typical reaction of those brainwashed by right wing propaganda. As soon as someone criticises someone on the right, you immediately assume that they are a brainwashed drone who mindlessly thinks the left does no wrong.

It's to be expected, seeing as that's how the Fox manipulated zombies operate, but what you don't realise is that most people with 'left-leaning' views actually apply critical thinking, and don't blindly worship "their side" like brainless sheep.

Pastry in a manger: We're soz, Greggs man said

Jamie Jones Silver badge

What he is basically saying...

"Please boycott @GreggsOfficial to protest against its sick anti-Christian Advent Calendar. What cowards these people are: we all know that they would never dare insult other religions! "

"... and it's about time people started remembering that many of us Christians are also intolerent humourless delusional morons just like people of other religions"

ZX Spectrum Vega firm's lawyers targeted by empty-handed backers

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Angry complaint webpages- the way I.T geeks hit back!

"Under construction"??

Did I fall asleep and reawake in 1997?

They seem to have missed off the "This site best viewed in Internet Wxplorer 6" banner though.

User asked help desk to debug a Post-it Note that survived a reboot

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: PBKAC

"Ah, my second favourite (most stupid caller) is at this point, but the user indignately refused to go under the desk to check, as it was too dark in their office with the lights off.

The user was very politiely asked if they could turn the lights on, and replied that they couldn't, because there was a power cut.

I have very little faith left in humanity."

So then you married her, right? http://web.archive.org/web/19970209064552/http://www.progress.demon.co.uk/Fun/Trouble-with.html

Intel's super-secret Management Engine firmware now glimpsed, fingered via USB

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Intel - the hardware retail arm of the NSA

uPnp?

If a home users setup is less secure by default under IPv6 than IPv4, the problem is with their router, not IPv6.

Brit moron tried buying a car bomb on dark web, posted it to his address. Now he's screwed

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: er...

No, no, no!

Just because someone is terrified, does NOT make it terrorism, however many times the American media and politicians say ao.

By your definition, if there is a serial rapist working in an area, he's a terrorist, because until he's caught, women are terrified to go out.

The mad nutjob in Las Vegas... wasn't a terrorist.

Dylan roof was sorta trying to be a terrorist, but was really just a murdering racist arsehole.

This could be our favorite gadget of 2017: A portable projector

Jamie Jones Silver badge
Facepalm

Oh no, you didn't just say that.....

"It weighs about 4.4lb (2kg) but feels lighter."

EU law bods closer to baking new 'cookie law' after battle

Jamie Jones Silver badge
Facepalm

It seems some readers would prefer the sort of government that gleefully tries to encourage companies to use and sell as much personal information about you as possible.

It's 2017 and you can still pwn Android gear with Wi-Fi packets – so get patching now

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Dear Motorola

Dr Toboggan, ahhh with an attitude like that, I assume you don't enjoy the proper consumer rights laws we have in Europe..

Don't worry though, the BRexiters have ensured we'll all be back to your level of expectancy ! Trump advisors have admitted as much!

ATM fees shake-up may push Britain towards cashless society

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: muggings

Nah, they are easier since chip and pin.. Mug someone for their cards, and verify their pin in one of those cheap card reading pinsentry things

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Theft of cash machines by JCBs

Blimey! Looking at that link, I expect their Michael Caine character to shout "You were only meant to blow the bloody doors off"!

Ye Bug List

Jamie Jones Silver badge
Thumb Up

Fair enough, I suspected you knew that, being one of the original old timers :-) - but always best to eliminate the obvious!

But typical, eh? computers... never broken when you want then to be! :-) as you say.... bloody computers!

Jamie Jones Silver badge

The posts don't update immediately like they used to.. Some server side caching I suspect, did you reload the page from the server again?

Donald, YOU'RE FIRED: Rogue Twitter worker quits, deletes President Trump's account

Jamie Jones Silver badge

The president should be nowhere near twitter

I've thought this for some time.

The President (and other officials) should never be using something like twitter. Hell, they have all these secure protocols, official press briefings, secret service agents everywhere... yet some commercial internet company is responsible for (what is, in effect) the official view of the POTUS.

Is there a secure line from the white house to twitter hq? Are there secret service agents in the twitter offices, or at key network points?

The whole idea of using twitter like this is a serious security breach (and twitter themselves are totally innocent in this).

POTUS is breaching security, why can't the courts stop him? Why can't his advisers?

Hell, set up trumptwit.whitehouse.gov securely for him to play with instead - I'm sure it would get the followers.

Tesla share crash amid Republican bid to kill off electric car tax break

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Electric grid

"smart grid ready"

I shuddered reading that - it made me think of "internet of things" type balonie being applied to the grid...

USB stick found in West London contained Heathrow security data

Jamie Jones Silver badge

But when they are, how would we know?

As for the wider implications, they barely need spelling out: had the chance passerby been someone less kindly disposed towards the UK than the finder of the stick, the consequences could have been seriously bad. ®

But what about the other 3 carelessly abandoned USB sticks that were found by people less kindly disposed towards the UK, which are now being examined by "baddies" without our knowledge?

Whois? No, Whowas: Incoming Euro privacy rules torpedo domain registration system

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Problem?

@John Savard:

Some politicians come up with rules to help people maintain their privacy, and you just think ICANN can and should just blackmail them into submission?

This raises a few questions.. Is this amount of "freedom" for Europeans too "commie" for your liking?

Do you run one of those register-by-proxy schemes where people have to pay for their privacy?

As an aside, you obviously don't realise how powerful Europe is, or indeed how the internet works..

If ICANN tried to block Europe, European ISPs would have to set up their own root servers... No biggie. Many are run within Europe already.

If there was *finally* a viable alternative-root, other countries would migrate to it in droves to get away from the ICANN bullshit, draining them of any power they have.

They know this. You even have groups like ORSN who could take over at a 'flick of a switch' - the infrastructure is already in place https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Root_Server_Network

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_DNS_root

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Can someone offer a TLDR please?

The person/organisation who owns a domain currently has to have their details listed publicly.

After the law, they won't.

Credit insurance tightens for geek shack Maplin Electronics

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Hobbyist

2GB/£ for a memory stick?

128GB Usb flash drives have been under 30 quid for ages...

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: You cant have it both ways

So, Maplin has changed ownership at least 3 times since I started with them in the 80's...

That makes me feel less guilty about the fact I feel they are now like Tandys was at the time... Handy for quickly sourcing some obscure valued resistor, but otherwise hosting overpriced stuff you'd never want... And back then, Tandys didn't have the internet to compete with.

Watership downtime: BadRabbit encrypts Russian media, Ukraine transport hub PCs

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Ransom demands in BitCoin again

I think a few of you are missing Kens point:

Encryption is used for all sorts of goodness, but the authorities want to ban that. (Well, backdoor-it, which leads to the same thing)

Remember way back then people were calling for the internet to be banned, because... kids and terrorists. (*)

There need be no logic to it - I'm sure some will call for the evil bitcoin to be banned... It's internet/encryption/techie stuff.. All the best bogeyman things rolled into one... Just wait until the UK tabloids pick up the cause..

(*) Not so long ago in the case of Our-supreme-leader-in-chief-covfefe: "Donald Trump wants to ban the internet, plans to ask Bill Gates to ‘close it up’"

- "Theresa May's Call to Ban "Safe Spaces" Undermines Encryption—And Misses the Point | WIRED"

Hate to break it to you, but billions of people can see Uranus tonight

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Uranus's Moon

Notice how some miserable bastard has downvoted all the "anus" posts? !

Jamie Jones Silver badge
Joke

Re: Could have used an accurate picture

With the ring properly being centered over the equator, rather than the 'lines' of the ring being over the equator - the 'empty' centre of the ring should be over the equator

But what's that got to do with anuses?

Jamie Jones Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Blue-green Uranus from Methane

@Solarflare: You know that temptation you get when someone advises you against something?...

Arrgh, I've been lucky I've never "bumped into" him before.

A troll surely? I mean, surely no-one can be so ignorant on so many topics, and so stupid as to think they know what they're talking about?

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Dis you know uranus has a heavy methane presence?

Jamie Jones Silver badge

"Recent attempts"? They've been trying to PCise it since the 80's!

I see it worked on J.Cook ... J - it's your anus. be proud of your anus!

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Uranus's Moon

Yes, it was one of the classic sketches "featuring" the late Alastair Burnet, I remember it clearly..

EDIT: Ain't the intertube-er-me-jigs wonderful?

Found it: Alastair Burnet, Uranus, and Bumhole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHp9Cakv2Fg

Malware hidden in vid app is so nasty, victims should wipe their Macs

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Surely the bigger story is...

No-one seems to be mentioning how they managed to reverse engineer the sha256 checksums that are held on entirely different servers, and are checked before any downloaded software is released?

That's how it's done, right?

EU: No encryption backdoors but, eh, let's help each other crack that crypto, oui? Ja?

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: The utter fools

surveilance?? real police work? pffft, what century are you in?

As for the proposal, it sound good - my only worry is they start stockpiling/hoarding vulnerabilties they find, ala NSA/GCHQ rather than alerting the people responsible.

Do fear the Reaper: Huge army of webcams, routers raised from 'one million' hacked orgs

Jamie Jones Silver badge

How to fix this

Right now, check to make sure you're not exposing a vulnerable device to the internet, apply any patches if you can, look out for suspicious behavior on your network, and take a gadget offline if it's infected., immediately throw away anything that has ever been referred to as "Internet of things"

FTFY

IBM broke its cloud by letting three domain names expire

Jamie Jones Silver badge

Re: Redundancy?

What's more, it appears they were relying on an external service for their internal communicatons to work.

If your name expires, or your internet link goes down, or terrorists shut down the .com servers, the only things that should be affected are the external connections.

Your own domain should be anchored in your DNS structure so your internal network isn't potentially vulnerable to an external action by a third party. Simply speaking, if someone "on the internet" can screw up your internal servers, you're doing it wrong.