* Posts by John Tserkezis

2242 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Jun 2007

Why you need a home lab to keep your job

John Tserkezis

Agreed, but.

...try telling the employers who look only at certificates.

For them, a piece of paper always trumps years of solid hands-on experence.

Fun to watch when it bites them on the arse though.

Kickstarter project says open source can blast Death Star costs

John Tserkezis
Coat

Naw, it won't fly.

It has round edges after all. Apple is most certainly going to want to have their fingers in that pie.

Ok, ok, I'm going.

Crooks, think your Trojan looks legit? This one has a DIGITAL CERTIFICATE

John Tserkezis

Re: Duh.

I propose that only people with PhD's are allowed to use computers. And only while wearing lab coats.

I have a lab coat I bought for college classes a little while back.

And I have a PhD certifictate signed by DigiCert.

So there, I'm certified. Ahem.

Analyst says vendors offer pretend reference customers

John Tserkezis

What? You mean Misty isn't real after all?

I'd better cancel that dinner reservation for two then...

Or keep it, and turn up alone like I usually do claiming my date stood me up so I get a sympathy icecream...

Ha, and people said being a geek would be bad for my social life.

Euro boffins plan supercomputer to SIMULATE HUMAN BRAIN

John Tserkezis

Pffft.

Bah humbug.

For ages, people have been screaming that computers will take over our jobs.

Then everyone else will be replaced by computers.

Then we'll be wearing computers.

Then computers will know everything about us.

Pffft.

No wait...

Telcos splash political donations in Australia

John Tserkezis

We have the best polical system that money can buy.

That is all.

Oh, Sony, you big tease: Mystery PlayStation reveal date set

John Tserkezis

is mainly being used to stream movies from my PC and to watch DVDs and blue ray

By far most of the people I see with playstations nowadays use it only as a media machine. Even if they *used* to be heavy into gaming, today, it's media consumption.

Facebook's Google, Bing events snub: It's a BUG, NOT a FEATURE

John Tserkezis

Re: I woud rather

Isn't that what "-site:facebook.com" does?

A neater solution is "Google Hit Hider", a GreaseMonkey script for Firefox. (So you need the Greasemonkey addon, plus the Goggle Hit Hider script).

Working on Google searches, it either reduces and greys out hits you *probably* won't be interested in, but want just in case, to entirely removing certain domains altogether.

It doesn't require any additional test in the search key so operates pretty much seamlessly.

HP workers halt legal fight against bosses over 29,000 job cuts

John Tserkezis

Jump ship.

After being on the wrong end of some companies that have gone bust, I've lost any enthusiasm to hang around.

Kinda like saying your way of protesting is refusing to get off the ship - hoping the huge hole that's letting water in is going to magically get fixed. It isn't. The captain(s) haven't assigned anyone to the job, and till then, they're the only ones who are allowed to even talk about it.

Sorry, but move on dudes. Floating aimlessly in water may prove your point, but it doesn't pay the mortgage.

I watched Excel meet 1-2-3, and beat it fair and square

John Tserkezis

Re: paradigm shift

...it was the dominant product in the market until something better came along in the form of FoxBase. Neither product survived the transition to modern GUIs.

Not through lack of trying. Just in last few years, I had come across an application that used a Fox backend to handle the database side of things.

We were trying to get it off one old machine, onto a newer box, newer OS, and in the process of trying to get the thing to work, I don't think I swore that much ever before.

John Tserkezis

Re: @PrivateCitizen

No word of a lie, I have seen someone use it to produce building layouts. The mind boggles.

I used OpenOffice Calc to keep track of users, their desks, port numbers, coordinate location, date last seen etc.

I know that's delving into DB territory, but it made it really easy to implement, and coexist with the cartography software I was using to map the desk/floor layout.

And yes, I know that was overkill, but the entire process streamlined quite nicely together and produced a very usable product to find any person, on any phone extention, on any port, instantly.

And most importantly, it cost little in time, and cost no additional money - which kept the boss happy.

On the other hand, we had to support staff that were asking how to overcome the column limit in Excel because their yearly finance spreadsheet had run out of space for their years...

Customer service rep fired for writing game that mocks callers

John Tserkezis
Thumb Up

Two thumbs up.

They don't make those call centre jokes for nothing you know.

As per usual, the employer is clueless in many ways, including to the Streisand Effect.

Good luck to David and his newfound profession. ;-)

Boffins propose satnav tracking for 'KILLER KOALAS'

John Tserkezis
Happy

They're as real as you want them to be.

If you've never heard a koala roar, it sounds sorta like a wild pig. You wouldn't believe that such a huge noise can come from such a small cute cuddly animal - that looks like a teddy bear no less. Albeit with claws.

That said, a friend in the army used to perpetuate the Drop Bear myth to his fellow cadets-in-training, claming they should leave their candy rations at the foot of their tents so the Drop Bears will take those, otherwise they'll take to nibbling on their toes. With full intent of taking the candy himself. :-)

No-one believed him of course.

Till soon afterwards around their campfire sharing more stories, just by sheer luck, a koala accidently falls out of a tree, screams its guts out on the way down, then splashes into the shallow end of the lake they were near. Along with the frustrated grumbling as it dragged itself out of the water back into the bush again.

Cue the cadets scrambling to find their candy, placing them carefully at the foot of their tents...

PC sales in the toilet? Excuse Lenovo while it gut laughs at you

John Tserkezis

Not surprised "someone" is trying really hard to push tablets, and away from PCs.

People aren't upgrading their PC software because it worked last year and works today. Thus no new money.

People don't have tablets, and are being told they MUST have one - and the new software too. - New money.

Simples.

Help us out here: What's the POINT of Microsoft Office 2013?

John Tserkezis

Re: There is no point.

Here's one reason to upgrade to Office 2013 - you can finally ask excel to open A NEW WINDOW! This feature should have been implemented many versions ago. But I'm happy as I no longer have to open multiple instances of excel to get one spreadsheet on one monitor and a different spreadsheet on the other.

I recall a user asking this very thing some time back with Office 2003. It IS doable, I googled for the answer. Can't remember details now, but I do remember it wasn't intuative.

Kinda like MS didn't WANT you to do it, but left it configurable enough behind the scenes anyway.

Microsoft Office 2013 vs. Office 365: Is either right for you?

John Tserkezis

Of course a subscription model is going to cost you more.

Delving into pretend price comparisons is meaninless when you assume that everyone is going to upgrade the one-off model at every opportunity. They're not.

Even if you do, I assure you it won't be to the liking of the IT support staff.

They're the poor bastards who have to support a new version, all the new teething problems, all the new interface differences, all the new bugs (er.. features).

Sure, you get real-life Microsoft support on the product, but having been in the game, by far most of the user support issues have been resolved amongst ourselves. Aside from being cheaper, it's faster.

I'm still reelling from the fact that I could run either OpenOffice, or LibreOffice for ALL of my work, AND it helped with corrupt Word or Excel files, why anyone wouldn't do that either.

"Support" is the thing that gets thrown around a lot, and that's certainly a plus if you're actually taking advantage of their "support" - but let's face it, I don't know anyone who's called MS support for their Office Suite for anything other than what they could have worked out by reading the bloody help, let alone use Google.

Microsoft teases possible Jan. 29 launch for Office 2013

John Tserkezis

Bought it via my employers Home use program a while back, £8.95, not used it myself but my son needed word and publisher , £8.95 not a bad price to be legit

You can be just as legit with OpenOffice or LibreOffice.

NBN Co trials migration incentives

John Tserkezis

Re: Meanwhile,

Yep, and that's one of the reasons for building the NBN...

Too bad it doesn't actually exist. Especially in those areas.

If it does finally kick in, they'll be paying more for less. Well, less than they *would* have had anyway.

Lotus 1-2-3 turns 30: Mitch Kapor on the Google before Google

John Tserkezis

First, 1-2-3 lacked a word processor,

WordPerfect filled that void, but never mind, Microsoft screwed them both royally anyway.

Samsung demands Apple's iOS 6 source code in patent case

John Tserkezis

My guess is...

...that Apple will do the same as SCO.

Hand over fifteen CDs packed with code to the courts and tell them to sort it out amongst themselves.

Waiter! There's a phone in my soup

John Tserkezis

The reason the bowl only caters for an iPhone...

...is that iPhone owners are the only ones stupid enough to buy this crap.

ACCC spikes gadget price-fix

John Tserkezis

Does anyone know who the members of NARTA are?

The only names I could find that are listed are NRA partners: shopinsurance.com.au, Amex, and InTrust Super.

So far, that has to barely scratch the surface.

I just want to know who to boycot.

Telstra inks 4G roaming deal for Hong Kong travelers

John Tserkezis

Re: Have I got this right?

will give users access to the company’s 4G network at the same prices as 3G roaming users.

Going on what they charge for 3G roaming, you would bloody well _expect_ to get 4G too.

Global mercury ban to hit electronics, plastics, power prices

John Tserkezis

No problem.

We'll end up buying our mercury-filled flourecent lamps from third-world countries where the bans will be delayed by decades.

No wait, that's what we're already doing. No problem then!

Google's Larry Page: MY SECRET TO VAST WEALTH, SUCCESS

John Tserkezis

Re: ever so 'umble

the last 2 utterly dead areas are smart homes and tv

Sadly, I have to agree, at least about smart homes. There's been a couple of decades opportunity to make that fly, and to this day on the rare installation I see, I mention to the new owners what could be done with a few more sensors and a firmware change - but that's never going to happen - the vendor can't or won't do it.

I don't think TV is dead by a long shot, terrestrial or otherwise, although we're getting a slowly increasing whine about payTV here in Australia, and the plethora of ads they force on you even though you're paying for it. In addition, there is an increase in whining about our cable vendor Foxtel who is great for sports, but utterly pointless for mostly anything else.

Justified or not, the whining IS increasing.

McDonalds burger app gives it to you straight from the horse's mouth

John Tserkezis

Re: Meal detection app

I'm impressed as to how close the photo burger is to the sold burger.

After seeing a photo shoot for a food spread that was going to a magazine, sure, the photo food is actually food, but it's usually not edible. Or if they are, they might not taste right.

Meats are undercooked to get the right texture on the outside, and if the shoot mandates a carved section, then that section is blow-torched to match what meat colouration you would expect on the inside.

Jelly has so much gelatin in it that it's entirely inedible - it has to be - otherwise it would never hold up with the shapes they give it.

Other foods have drastically changed recepies, because the shoot might take some time, any oils in the sauces might start showing on the surface before they're done photographing it.

That's why what you "get" isn't what you "see" in the ads.

You're not cool enough for some malware

John Tserkezis

That explains why I've been seeing a clear drop in quality of email malware coming in over the past few years.

Not only can they no longer spell correctly, they don't even bother with correct formatting - both with the fake HTML email pages and the text-only equivalent.

Heck, many don't even bother obscuring the target malware links within html so they would "look" right on the mail client page... Even the ones that take to you pwned websites don't have web pages that look like the bank they're supposed to emulate.

Worst of all, THOSE are the ones that we're warned about in media here in australia.

(shakes head) they just don't put any effort into it anymore...

Empire says ‘primitive’ Earth not ready for Death Star

John Tserkezis
Joke

"The Empire has also strenuously denied the Death Star possesses a fatal design flaw."

"Any attacks made upon such a station - should one ever be built - would be a useless gesture"

That's what they said the FIRST time around...

Security audit finds dev outsourced his job to China to goof off at work

John Tserkezis

I've heard of this before

Not only can you "play around" all day, you can do more work than you're actually capable of - now that you have several people working for you.

To hell with security, this is all about the money.

Zuck on that! Instagram loses HALF its hipsters in a month

John Tserkezis

Re: I don't think this is about copyright at all, it's simpler than that.

That Facebook had these policies from day one is beside the point. Facebook and Instangram target different demographics, although I admit their is probably some overlap.

I don't agree: it's entirely the point. Whatever terms and conditions, whatever demographic, whatever userbase Instagram *used to* have, is gone - it's all Facebook now. Whether you like it or not.

Also remember Facebook's primary agenda here - to boost their signed-up user base. THAT is what is worth money to them, THAT is why they've done this (bought Instagram).

The fact they offer a service to you or anyone else is not their primary objective, it's just the icing to attract a viable enough user base.

You are not the customer, you are the product. While that statement may not be absolute, but it most certainly leans that way.

John Tserkezis

I don't think this is about copyright at all, it's simpler than that.

I don't believe that copyright is the reason why people are abandoning Instagram, because Facebook had these very policies from early on, and MANY quite happily posted all and sundry there (due to ignorance of the fine print, or otherwise).

The widely publicised changes had the perceived effect that they're getting "less" now - through no action of their own. Like having to pay for something you were getting for free earlier. The fact that few if any, were actually *selling* their photos is irrelevant.

I'm sure *some* did it because of the copyright, or at least the perceived loss of same, but that doesn't account for the huge numbers. The butler^H^H^H^H media did it.

Now Microsoft 'actively investigates' Surface slab jailbreak tool

John Tserkezis

It's about the money.

Microsoft would rather people download and install authorised, and cryptographically signed, software specifically built for touch-driven computers from its official Windows Store outlet.

Microsoft would rather people download PAID FOR, and DRM CONTROLLED software specifically built for touch-driven computers from its official Windows Store outlet.

There, fixed it. It's always about the money.

Where's the almighty dollar icon when you need it?

Happy now? Mobiles, cloud, big data now 'a growing security risk'

John Tserkezis

Innovations in mobile and cloud computing, social technology and the use of "big data" present an emerging risk to organisations' IT security, experts have warned.

Are these the same "experts" that years ago told us the cloud is the next big thing and everyone must use it?

Texas schoolgirl loses case over RFID tag suspension

John Tserkezis

Re: I'm wondering ...

"The school offered to let her use a lanyard without an RFID tag, ..."

What would be the point of that?

The lanyard holds a photo ID, to prove who she is, and is indeed a member of that school.

If not for that, any bloody kid could come off the street into the school and get free education.

We can't have that now can we?

Do Not Call Register operator breaches Register

John Tserkezis
Happy

The DNC register is a farce, always was and always will be.

That said, recieved a call today from someone with a strong indian accent selling cheap internet deals.

I started baiting, till I realised "he" wasn't listening - it was a pre-recorded call with built-in pauses.

It went on to say that he had seen my package on the Internet, and that his package was much more impressive.

They weren't selling anything - Probably a 'crank call'. I think. I was laughing to hard to care.

Review: Lego Lord of the Rings game

John Tserkezis

I'm not into games, but...

I stumbled across someone who took all the video cuts within the game and patched them together into an hour and half length movie.

<http://www.howtogeek.com/130078/lego-lord-of-the-rings-cut-scenes-spliced-into-a-full-length-movie-video/>

Brit boffins build projectile-vomiting robot to kill norovirus

John Tserkezis

Larry's got nothing on some of my mates after a Friday night pub crawl.

Volume, frequency, inopportune moments, and that smell.

At least girls are more subtle.

They just pee their pants while they're sitting on your lap. (happened to a mate of mine).

Tibetan monks lose their TVs as China's censors raid monasteries

John Tserkezis
Joke

I want my MTV

Well, maybe no in China...

Steve Bong's 3D printing special Xmas showcase

John Tserkezis

They look like 3D printings of original models that were playdough, chewed by a four year old, then swallowed, then regurgitated, then stamped into submission by a really angry two year old during a tantrum.

If you're going to make a 3D duplicate, the original should be made of Plasticine, it's a little more oily, and so holds up better after being thrown up. It doesn't taste as nice, but in this case, modelling capability is more important.

Divorce lawyer spots increase in Christmas 'text message bustings'

John Tserkezis

"...usually because the husband leaves the phone around..."

Because it never ever happens the other way around.

Or maybe because women are just better at hiding their phones...

Australia’s biggest IT moments of 2012

John Tserkezis

I don't get it.

a weird pre-launch ritual

Dunno, I've seen really weird shit happen on some of the work christmas parties I've been to.

These Apple staff are boring in comparison.

Then again, perhaps sensibly, alcohol had NOT been served at the launch...

Trust the cloud with my PRECIOUS? You gotta be joking

John Tserkezis

Re: 10Gb, 5 days, ~2k songs

But my point is, why do people have so much music when listening to even a fraction of it is impractical?

Good point.

I run a box that (among other things) plays my entire music collection randomly around the clock.

The output of the sound card goes to one of those MP3 player FM transmitter thingys, originally designed to interface to a car audio system that doesn't already have an external interface.

I've modifed (extended) the antenna, to increase the range from the original few feet, to around the house.

I receive said stream on a couple of FM radios in the house.

Now, do I NEED all that music, especially when I can't be listening to it all the time? Well, no.

On my estimates, I'm not likely to hear the same track twice in a couple of months. Or more.

Then why do I do it? I get by far less repeats than a commercial radio station, I get what *I* want to listen to, and I don't get any ads, promotions, interviews, interruptions etc. And considering the potential minimalistic hardware requirements to do it all, it's bloody cheap. And best of all, power requirements aside (say with an iPod or simlar), there are no on-going costs. Cloudy or otherwise.

Any wonder why I haven't listened to commercial radio in 15+ years?

John Tserkezis

Access speed has only been mentioned once so far.

I think it warrants being mentioned again.

I've travelled interstate with a baby NAS, where it took a sold day and a half to dump everying onto it.

I shudder to think how long it would take online with my current 14kb/s upload speed.

Not to mention my ISP had in the past whined about my heavy uploads going over their "fair use" limits.

Ok, that was a lot of data (~3Tb) on the NAS, but would not even consider it for my mere music collection that sits at a relatively measly (from what I've been told) 45G. And that's not counting audiobooks, podcasts, and other audio I work on.

A USB flash drive would do the job, arguably cheaper long term, and most certainly faster.

Heck, the flash storage on my phone does that now, screw the cloud, I have true 24/7 access to my music and audiobooks, and it's cheaper.

I really can't see any advantage for me to use the cloud.

'Instagram, you were my favourite app and you stabbed me in the back'

John Tserkezis

Re: "Legal documents are easy to misinterpret."

Then fire your legal team. Legal documents must be utterly free of ambiguity so that if someone challenges them you can defend your position. Sure, sometimes the language used can be in knots and a bind to untangle, but there should be no way to come dto a diffrerent conclusion than that intended by the author.

Yeah right, you just defended the Instagram statement while making it sound like you actually care. Bollocks.

That's a nice way of saying "We're going to spell out our terms and conditions in a manner that is legally upholdable to what WE want, but worded in a manner that makes it look like the user will continue to get what they used to, but in fact will be royally shafted without them realising it".

Facebook tests feature to let strangers pay to message you

John Tserkezis

They still have regular email that's been free since dot.

Oops, I'm sorry, it's "not the same" because it doesn't have the trendiness value.

University of Western Sydney hands out 11k iPads

John Tserkezis

Re: Are iPads the real story?

Well the cost of the devices are paid for by the uni

Nope, the customer (student) pays for everything.

There’s more to selling email than meets the eye

John Tserkezis

Why am I left thinking this is just an excuse to charge for something that was traditionally free?

Or more importantly, what will you get now that you didn't before, and is it going to be worth the price?

Instagram back-pedals in face of user outrage

John Tserkezis

Am I the only one who reads the T&Cs?

I don't belong to either Facebook or Instagram, but read the T&Cs out of interest - and more reason not to join..

So far, it appears that nothing has changed.

Even reading the quotes in the article won't really change anything they want to do regarding selling your images.

Would be interesting to read the revised T&Cs when they're released, but I won't be holding my breath on anything other than more political double talk, and less actual legal changes.

Vodafone India appoints SECRET SNITCHES

John Tserkezis

Safe driving and electrical safety.

In India, two oximorons if I ever heard any.

Cudos for trying, but I think this is too far engrained in the culture to see any drastic changes - even within a single company. They're going to lose the bulk of their employee base, and most of India before they get the very few who actually care about safety, or in some cases, merely common sense.

I'm sure they'll get there <u>eventually</u>, just not under the timeframe or terms that Vodafone is expecting.

Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei 'likes' Facebook despite ban

John Tserkezis

By comparison, Catholic Pope Benedict XVI only joined Twitter in early December, and so far he has resisted the urge to do any photo-blogging.

And I'm surprised he did even that.

After all, he's still shitty that his predecessor acquitted Galileo a couple of decades back.