* Posts by DropBear

4733 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Mar 2013

Ad blockers responsible for rise in upfront TV ad sales, claims report

DropBear

Careful with that product placement though - at some point I came really close to stop watching my favorite Firefly alumnus when they started conspicuously showing Windws phones into my face every five minutes on Castle. They definitely made sure I'll even refuse to simply use even a handed one ever, on principle.

DropBear
WTF?

Re: Wrong stats

That may have been true (no it wasn't) back when PCs were still selling, but the smartphone / tablet era happens to herald the age of ubiquitous web shopping. There's a reason brick and mortar can't keep fending off Ebay and Amazon and the bajillion other sites from eating their lunch - by much, much, much,much, much, much many more than a measly 6% of anything whatsoever. Sorry, couple of decades wrong there...

DropBear

Re: Want people to watch your ads.

I'd add to that 'don't bombard the same ad constantly, people only become desensitized to your message after a few views and after a few more, annoyed and often vow to avoid your service or product like the plague'

True. Also, be aware that if you bend over backwards to target your general contruction material related ads Bullseye to Hillbilly Central in their styling, anybody else might get put off and swear never to do any business with you even if you're the one selling the last brick on the block, not even if you're the one paying me to take them away...

Ubuntu forums hacked

DropBear

Haden't been able to access that for years now, ever since they started requiring signing up for a global account instead of the old forum login. Just NOPE. They are welcome to CONTINUE to go to hell, sorry for any unpleasantries this might cause to users...

BOFH: I found a flying Dragonite on a Windows 2003 domain

DropBear

well fuck you, I'd rather be fluffy.

That's ok, dahling, we still love you...

Gaming apps, mugging and bad case of bruised Pokéballs

DropBear
Trollface

Re: The whole thing

Buying the game on steam I get, and indeed have done, but forking out $100 for a Battleship in World of Warships for example is beyond me.

Better never set foot on any Star Citizen related website then - they have lots of people buying imaginary starships worth thousands of dollars each (look up the Idris...) in a game that doesn't even exist...

Dear Tesla, stop calling it autopilot – and drivers are not your guinea pigs

DropBear
Facepalm

Re: Darwin Award

He clearly is. First pointer: they're never aware of actually doing it...

Cryptocat dev reckons WhatsApp is blocking calls to Saudi numbers

DropBear
Pirate

Re: Morals issue?

...except today there's no such thing as nobody looking (and recording, in HD, due on Facebook in 3...2...1...) and the body-maiming punishments that they seem to dish out regularly for the tamest offences (by western standards) to the hapless idiot of the month who though he's going there to have any sort of good time are rather on the blood-chilling side and entirely negate whatever their natural uninhibited impulses might otherwise indicate.

DropBear
Mushroom

Re: *regulations are designed to protect local carrier revenues*

As long as capitalism is basically rent-seeking in practice, all over the board, this is unlikely to change. You get dirupted dinosaurs screaming for the money they're due, and legislation that makes sure they get it it's against the law not to pay them. You're welcome to file a bug report for the system if you wish, the first one goes straight to /dev/null; subsequent ones to the relevant "peace-keeping" authorities.

Space station to get shiny new ringpiece for automatic penetration

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Testing?

Well if you're going by the book I suppose you have to wait for IDA to invite your spacecraft home first to see her parents...

Congrats, Linux users – you're finally officially alpha males... on Skype

DropBear

Re: 2nd bad thing

Matrix.org in combination with vector.im clients looks very promising.

It may look interesting but why is it "rooms" based? What I have is a list of contacts, not a list of favourite IRC channels...

Smartphones aren't tiny PCs, but that's how we use them in the West

DropBear
WTF?

Re: QR codes are a great way to point people at malmare

Why the hell would you not know what site you're visiting?!? Who told you to check your equivalent of the option "open URLs automatically"...? Whatever I scan ends up displayed as plaintext first, then I get to decide what if anything I want to do with it...

Spotify, YouTube pay musicians with ever-shrinking buttons

DropBear

That's because there's no need for musicians to "emerge". That is an artificial and outdated construct of the label industry, from an era when carefully metered content was dripped down to you through a few narrow and global channels - radio then TV - or focussed on a few carefully selected mega-stars, whose only claim to fame, past a modicum of talent*, was being in the right place at the right time with the right connection and a willingness to do whatever it takes.

In the era of when anyone can reach at least a small audience, the idea of reaching global fame is as much a dinosaur as Youtube celebrities are rare - sure, there always are a few popular big names, but I for one am watching mostly almost-famous mini-stars who grew their audience not by getting rich and famous but by generating reliably good content. And those will never fucking "emerge". Nor do they need to - one of them happens to be a few guys (and gals) getting paid five figures a month on Patreon by a modest audience to make funny video series FOR EVERYONE that teach viewers some actual history...

* no longer a requirement. At all. Whatsoever.

Nukeware: New malware deletes files and zaps system settings

DropBear

Re: This is why...

Also, not running as administrator might succesfully save your OS (ie. the part of the data on your computer you shouldn't give a flying fuck about considering it should always be ultimately restorable) but does nothing to protect your irreplaceable personal data (ie. the part of the data to which you, as a user, no matter how unprivileged, NEED to have access for it to make any sense). The thing is, outside a few archive-friendly use cases, not having write access to your own data generally isn't a viable way of using a computer. Unless you only use it to browse and check email. In which case you're perfectly safe, you've got nothing to lose.

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Confucious say

"You don't convince family members to take periodic backups. Repeated, tragic data loss don't convince family members to take periodic backups. Repeated, tragic data loss convinces family members to pester you to make periodic backups for them. Same as everyone else."

Tesla whacks guardrail in Montana, driver blames autopilot

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Contract cleaner to aisle 13 please. Grammer spill.

"That's put an end to them racket noise."

What the heck is a guy like that doing as a Dyson technician while there's clearly still gold in them thar hills?!?

A journey down the UK's '3D Tongue' into its mini industrial revolution

DropBear

Yeah ok so if you're Makerbot refugee you can print out shower courtain rings at will, an if you're an ex game developer-turned-to-rockets-as-a-hobby you can fire 3D-printed rocket engines... but other than that, I never heard of 3D-printing making any inroads into anything that ISN'T one-offs. For which it works just fine (mostly, considering typical 3D-printed stuff, whether DIY or pro, tends to have a poorer finish and weaker structure than the typical Real Deal, with rather few exceptions as far as I know). So I suppose count me with that skeptical crowd...

Falling PC tide strands Seagate's disk drive boats. Will WDC follow?

DropBear

Re: Welcome to a mature market

Interestingly, I had the same experience with 1.44 floppies when they were on their way out (arguably still an unfinished process - look at your "save" icon in 99% of software even today): I solemnly swear back in the day they could survive everything up to and including an air crash (as long as you didn't fold them or keep them on speakers - but that wasn't much of an issue since nobody even had an Adlib let alone a SoundBlaster or *gasp* a Gravis Ultrasound, so speakers near PCs were Not Really A Thing). FFS, many even supported patiently torment by various fancy-formatting tools up to 2.88 or so, and kept on trucking! Towards the end though I would quite often write something out and immediately fail to read it back, without even removing the floppy... so yeah, maybe the HDD business is just following suit...

DropBear

Dunno about that, ever since my first 40MB Conner I never had a HDD that wasn't continuously lacking free space. Photos are one thing - depending on you megapixel count, quality settings, potential RAW usage and cataloguing software habits (which might store all 184234 edited versions along the original) - but if you're recording any videos these days (in HD, natch, unless you're a 4K nutenthusiast...) you're definitely going to appreciate space. Then even without resorting to shadier (albeit ubiquitous) media procurement methods, if you just try to legitimately backup your 200-ish strong DVD collection you gonna need all you can get - SSDs are an unknown notion in that game...

IoT puts assembly language back on the charts

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Assembly is OK, but...

Sure, but only if you've got at least five years of hands-on experience with Agile DevOps. As a service. In a Docker container. Oh, you don't...? Shame...

Rolls-Royce reckons robot cargo ships are the future of the seas

DropBear
Trollface

...severely traumatised IoT lifeboat found drifting days later following an EPIRB alert - "I was barely able to get away with my life" tweets the onboard computer once its batteries are recharged...

DropBear
Trollface

Well there's always Starship Titanic - robots clearly got this just fine...

DropBear

Re: Anybody else think that humanity is reduced by this?

"Does that seem so bad?"

Until either fully qualified bakers start getting paid the same amount to NOT work or the price of essential things becomes zero, yes, that does seem horribly bad.

Teen faces trial for telling suicidal boyfriend to kill himself via text

DropBear

Re: Is suicide illegal in the USA

"A total lack of empathy. Which is associated with a particular type of mind which isn't good."

She's destined for great things as a CEO of a megacorp one day. Certainly fits the job requirements.

DropBear

"Software on CDs? Luxury. Typed it in by hand from a listing printed in a magazine."

TYPED it? Luxury! We had to toggle eight switches for each byte then press the burn pulse button for the windowed EPROM...

Idiot brings gun-shaped iPhone to airport

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Should come with life insurance

Well, maybe he's just a really big Mr. Bean fan - he did get away with almost the same thing in the exact same place after all...

Dying satellite sends boffins one last surprise before disappearing

DropBear
WTF?

Re: That'll pay for it

It must be awfully nice to work in a place where fucking up in the absolute worst possible way and thereby wasting staggering amounts of money is only "punished" by withholding an insignificant amount of money for an insignificant amount of time. Hey, an idea - how about "you're fired with extreme prejudice including being kicked all the way down the stairwell effective immediately, or you can keep working here for the next ten years for free. Your choice."...?

NASA curious about Curiosity's fourth 'safe mode' event

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Slow and buggy

That's Lady Marian to you, and I'll have you know that... hey, hold on, you look kind of like the Sheriff of Nottingham...

Loose wrists shake chips: Your wrist-job could be a PIN-snitch

DropBear

Re: Not

...and of course there are all the left-handers like me who totally do wear their watches on the dominant (left) hand. It's not a smartwatch though so I'm good...

Dolphin fans freak, blast browser's bumbling bundles of bloatware

DropBear

Yeah, well, I have a tiny tiny issue with Firefox...

"This app has access to:

Device & app history

read your Web bookmarks and history

Identity

add or remove accounts

find accounts on the device

Contacts

find accounts on the device

Location

precise location (GPS and network-based)

Photos/Media/Files

modify or delete the contents of your USB storage

read the contents of your USB storage

Storage

modify or delete the contents of your USB storage

read the contents of your USB storage

Camera

take pictures and videos

Microphone

record audio

Wi-Fi connection information

view Wi-Fi connections

Other

download files without notification

read sync statistics

install shortcuts

control vibration

use accounts on the device

draw over other apps

control Near Field Communication

read sync settings

connect and disconnect from Wi-Fi

create accounts and set passwords

toggle sync on and off

prevent device from sleeping

view network connections

modify system settings

full network access

uninstall shortcuts"

...Hey, here's an idea - how about network and storage access and nothing more?

Microsoft's Windows 10 nagware goes FULL SCREEN in final push

DropBear

Re: Updates off - Rock on

"ROFL! Sounds like a now deceased Merkin friend who was never going to have a telephone, or colour TV set."

So, essentially, you're calling the rest of us hypocrites? Tell me then, were you really "rolling on the floor" writing that...?

UN council: Seriously, nations, stop switching off the damn internet

DropBear

No offense, but I pity the fool who thinks India is all that Zen and Kumbaya about anybody's rights to anything...

Never-never chip tech Memristor shuffles closer to death row

DropBear
Facepalm

Re: What he and we..

Unfortunately ALL cutting edge technology is like that. If you're first reading about "X" on a tech news site, it has no future. If you first see it show up in a product leak / ad / review, then it actually exists and has a future. Next up: boffins announce revolutionary new battery technology - and be sure to tune in same time next week for our in-dept look at fusion getting closer and closer... </sarcasm>

Cubesats, balloons, and rockets: Top prof takes us to new space

DropBear
Trollface

Tin foil hat question

Q: Why are all the passing cars briefly visible in the corner of the windows RED? Is this a thinly veiled cheap CGI construct using a single car prop? Are we all living in the Matrix under the heel of the Lizard People?!?

A: Only double decker buses are tall enough to show up in the window, and yes, they're all red! You idiot.

PS. Thanks a lot for the recording, much appreciated!

Gun-jumping French pols demand rapid end to English in EU

DropBear

Re: Lingua Franca

Fifty-odd years ago there may well have been an exclusive small club of "world languages". Today, there's only one: English. Movies on TV almost exclusively in English (especially form the 80s on, and in countries that did not overdub audio) then later the Internet made sure that no matter how many other languages might still be taught in schools, English is the one language practically everyone speaks or at least understands for some degree today. Sorry Monsieur, that ship has sailed - go back playing with your bytes octets...

'Leave EU means...' WHAT?! Britons ask Google after results declared

DropBear

Re: By "younger generations", I presume you mean anybody under 55?

"I do believe it was we over 55s who largely created this internet thingy..."

Yeeeees, and surely that's why it's so fucking hard to explain to any of you why one doesn't need to Google "Facebook" to fucking go to "facebook.com"...

DropBear

Re: Seriously...

"What's worse, half the country has a below-average IQ!"

I've long maintained that right to vote should be subject TO TAKING A FUCKING EXAM. You know, to prove that you have any idea of what's actually what. Sadly, so far, no "democracies" seem to be interested in the concept... :(

Tech firms reel from Leave's Brexit win

DropBear

Re: There goes the EU data Safe Harbor business

Let's just put it that way - don't expect any new large scale data centre deployments...

DropBear

Re: London Falling

Salty tears are soo tasty!

Oh do get a grip. 1935 called, they want their newfangled memes back "dadio"...

PM resigns as Britain votes to leave EU

DropBear

Re: Hmm

To be fair, an argument for a meaningful majority requirement does have merit. It's clear that there are almost as many people choosing one way than the other right now. Do you know what they call making large sweeping corrective changes based on the tiniest of input signals in process control? "A recipe for instability"...

Should we teach our kids how to program humanity out of existence?

DropBear

Re: Is it programming?

"should have had the humility to consider that when the Egyptians were constructing stone cities"

Sic transit gloria mundi. Everyone knows how much "respect" yelling "first!" gets you in any forum. They actually got it lucky with barely a missing nose compared to Ozymandias...

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Is it programming?

"The guy who did it worked for the Library in Alexandria, and had the name of Hero."

Hmmm. Weird. I could swear I haven't read that Neal Stephenson book yet...

DropBear
Devil

We can only hope "human" is declared as float and direct "==" comparison attempts will fail more often than not...

BOFH: Follow the paper trail

DropBear
Flame

"...put the box of matches away, let the petrol fumes subside and let the presenter out of the cupboard..."

...but why? Whyyyyyyyyy...? There's just no good reason...

DropBear
Unhappy

Re: Giselles ...

Didn't downvote, but... it's a f$%^$% myth.

Fly to Africa. Survive helicopter death flight to oil rig. Do no work for three weeks. Repeat

DropBear
Trollface

Re: A long time ago ...

My word, man! Didn't you know to park your heads before shutting down?!?

DropBear
Unhappy

There's an art to knowing when to "lace" your passport with some money for facilitation and when you'll end up jailed for trying. It's not a game I'd be willing to play today...

Finnish court slaps Peter Sunde with €350k fine

DropBear
Devil

WTF?!? I understand he's no longer associated, and has already been tried for this!

"Each defendant was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay damages of 30 million SEK (approximately €2,740,900 or US$3,620,000), to be apportioned among the four defendants.[12] After the verdict a press conference was held where Sunde held up a handwritten IOU statement claiming that is all the damages he will pay, adding "Even if I had any money I would rather burn everything I own and not even give them the ashes. They could have the job of picking them up. That's how much I hate the media industry."

My kind of guy.... now, how do I go about getting a second car strictly "for me, on my name" that someone else might accidentally acquire the rights to drive around for a few decades...?

GitHub presses big red password reset button after third-party breach

DropBear

I guess I'm simply lucky that all the unimportant sites I access with reused passwords didn't happen to include Github (purely accidentally, that one is entirely unique...)

Laser probers sniff more gravitational waves from mega black hole smash

DropBear
Trollface

...and of course Murphy says that these two were but a fluke, and there will be no further events detected in the next hundred years...