* Posts by Omniaural

40 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Mar 2014

WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

Omniaural

That moment when you look at every photo you've ever taken...and THE EAR WAS ALWAYS THERE!

Omniaural

The technology advances of Virtual reality were nothing compared to the NSA's giant surveillance ear.

Omniaural

So this is virtual reality eh, son? It's got nothing on a viewmaster!

WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

Omniaural

Uh Steve. I'm bored with this now. When can I have my seat back?

Omniaural

Get me Steve Jobs. I'm done with Windows.

Omniaural

I am the cloud

Omniaural

uh...where's the saviour button gone?

Omniaural

You're welcome here at least Windows 9.

Huge, absorbent iPad rumours recycled – and this time it's REAL. True

Omniaural

Absorbent iPad?

When I saw that I assumed that they had developed a solar powered tablet that is constantly charging.

Is there a reason why, with wireless charging now a thing, that a tablet case can't be designed to collect solar energy through one face of the cover then charge wirelessly with the other? Would it generate enough power or just be too unwieldy?

Note: I didn't have a fag packet to hand when coming up with this genius idea, so El Reg will have to do.

Google watchers react furiously to ad flinger’s competition case defence

Omniaural

Simple solution

Google just needs to make the shopping feed a matter of choice within it's search results, as search engines are within browsers, and then googlers can decide which feed they want to see.

The default would obviously be google but a simple drop down for other providers would mean they were still offering choice.

As things stand they ARE abusing their position no matter how successful it is.

Hold my vodka, comrade – I got this: Ruskies blast supplies to the ISS

Omniaural

Earth - Grounded

My tin foil hat was blown off by a particular gust of wind around the time of the SpaceX launch and I picked up some garbled broadcast over my fillings.

After a lot of indistinct chatter I clearly heard the phrase "k'ch b'rar!" at around the time the Space X launch failed which, if you know anything about these things, translates from High Galactic as 'Fire!'.

Clearly, after finally landing on Mars and landing a probe on a comet, the Intergalactic Council of Peace' has decided that we're making too much progress in exploring our system again. These recent failures are no accident and there is obviously an ICP Warden ship cloaked in orbit somewhere who are trying to frustrate our progress and set us back another few decades until our nation's leaders grow up a bit more.

As I put two and two together, to make 2 squared, I could only sigh and hope that one day everyone else would realise that we are being held back by short-sighted government elites from taking our place alongside our extra-terrestrial brothers, sisters and gurags.

Spooks BUSTED: 27,000 profiles reveal new intel ops, home addresses

Omniaural

eye of the beholder

Am I getting old or does MC McGrath look like he is 14 years-old?

Kudos for embarrassing the "intelligence" industry though.

The new Falcon Heavy: MOST POWERFUL ROCKET since the Apollo moonshots

Omniaural

Re: Is it?

@destroyallmonsters

Perhaps this is where it starts.

By the year 3000 the name may be appropriate, but will the tech be there?

Apple patents autographs. Checkmate, eBay

Omniaural

Please sign this thing that doesn't belong to me!

Unless I'm just some kind of luddite, I don't see how this would ever replace or have the same meaning as a physical object that has actually been in contact with the person who originated it.

If anything it highlights how value-less ebooks are and how they are a convenience not an object of desire. It's not like you're even able to pass the things on in an inheritance (unless that has changed recently).

What would be more valuable is a facebook/xbox acheivements type site which can only be updated via a keyring with nfc. Swipe the key near your idol's tablet/phone and said idol then draws a doodle which is then submitted to the site and shows up as a verified contact with that person. The idol can choose to just copy and paste a signature if they want to but it gives them the freedom to dedicate and personalise it too, which is where the real value in autographs comes in. The hunters then have a place where they can show off their collections and possibly even trade digitally with other collectors. Problem solved.

ICO warns UK broadcasters over filming using drones

Omniaural

ibeacons?

Why not use something like the ibeacon, or similar functionality, that just broadcasts a short message in the local area informing those with such notifications enabled that Channel 5 is currently in your area using UAV's for a new reality show where it is following random people around for a day and editing together the 'best bits', and to get in touch with Ian Telly-Producer if you don't want to appear on the program?

Apple 'Genius': iPhone 6? We've had NO COMPLAINTS about our BENDY iThing

Omniaural

@ nonesuch

Or perhaps your informal survey just happened to focus mainly on women's bottoms and therefore biases the result?

Apple's Mr Havisham: Tim Cook says dead Steve Jobs' office has remained untouched

Omniaural

Re: The Smithsonian

This is what I was thinking.

It's not uncommon that people who were well regarded in their lifetime end up with an office or study becoming a shrine/musuem such as Charles Dickens or Agatha Christie.

Of course, their's were convienently situated in their home or other easily preservable environment whereas I'm not sure how you achieve the same with a corporate office, unless the old office becomes 'Appleland', kind of like Graceland for Elvis or a theme park based on Apple products and such like.

Apple's Watch is basically electric perfume

Omniaural

Re: Surprisingly disappointing

If Apple had created a watch where the face was the shape of the apple logo, that would have made me sit up.

LG have managed a round interface, so it just seems to be a lack of imagination on Apple's part that they failed to revolutionise smart watches in the way that previous products have. The Gear S is going to be out before the Apple Watch and I would be more likely to get that, if I were interested at all.

A watch is a fashion item, therefore how it looks is more important than what it does. The scattergun designs seem to acknowedge that but without managing any real desirability on its own merits.

Omniaural

If Apple had created a watch where the face was the shape of the apple logo, that would have made me sit up.

LG have managed a round interface, so it just seems to be a lack of imagination on Apple's part that they failed to revolutionise smart watches in the way that previous products have. The Gear S is going to be out before the Apple Watch and I would be more likely to get that, if I were interested at all.

A watch is a fashion item, therefore how it looks is more important than what it does. The scattergun designs seem to acknowedge that but without managing any real desirability on its own merits.

Europe's Google wrangle: PLEASE, DOMINANT Mr Schmidt? More?

Omniaural

Isn't it obvious that Google's 'vision' projects are upsetting plans for the New World Order so much that the secret cabals are fighting back?

Google are pretty much untouchable in the US so those who feel threatened by Google's headlong rush towards the singularity are using their European branch, who don't rely on the taxes brought in, to try and cripple the ad giants network, hoping if one part falls others will follow and stop Google advancing research that the previous interests had done so well to stifle.

We have to support Google against these warmongering luddites from the dark ages!

(goes off to listen to Knights of Cydonia for the bazillionth time)

Straight to video: Facebook to add 'view counts' to autoplay newsfeed vids

Omniaural

"Nor I. It seems to be yet another exercise in studying how much you can annoy your user base before they cease to be your user base."

I rarely go on there now. My push notifications tell me what's worth seeing, if anything, and mostly it's game alerts. I'm down to about 5 mins - 3 times a week.

The thing that really put me off was the new timeline where you get jumble of posts that can be at least a couple of days old being shown before more recent ones. I'm sure I could probably change that somewhere, but I can't be bothered any more.

Microsoft fixes all those shaky GoPro vids nobody wants to watch

Omniaural

Re: nice results

Hyperlapse would be a great reason to seriously consider a winphone, but not necessarily for your extreme sports activities, more like those drunken nights out where you find a video on your phone the next day of something that may have been funny or interesting if you could have held the camera straight.

You! Pirate! Stop pirating, or we shall admonish you politely. Repeatedly, if necessary

Omniaural

Re: Thin end of the slippery slope

Surely there's no way that ISP's would ever allow copyright holders to damage their customers ability to use the internet otherwise there wouldn't be a lot of customers left and as Pirate bay has shown, it's useless to try and block sites individually as they will just pop up somewhere else.

If only these companies would put the money they spent on chasing down piracy into developing something people would be happy to pay for, by actually making their content easily available for everyone and thinking of their market on a global scale rather than regional ones.

Obviously they have something that people want, they just need to put their minds to finding a way to sell it to them!

I say this as someone who has NEVER downloaded music or movies illegally.

UN to Five Eyes nations: Your mass surveillance is breaking the law

Omniaural

At this point, the UN is nothing more than the world's conscience.

If governments want to know how they SHOULD act for the benefit of all mankind then they should listen to the UN.

However as was proved with the Iraq invasion, just as with our own conscience, it's easy to ignore that voice saying you shouldn't be doing something when all of your instincts are reaching out for the things you desire.

The UN is powerless because selfish national interests keep holding back the human race from breaking the historical cycle of greed, war and conquest that always seems to occupy the minds of those with power.

Google chair Eric Schmidt reportedly visits Cuba

Omniaural

14yomedio.com?

Is that the age of the reporters?

What's it like using the LG G smartwatch and Android Wear? Let us tell YOU

Omniaural

Re: You need to carry an Android phone with you in order to use it?

What I want to know is whether the watch is smart enough to tell not just whether you're walking or running but when you're jacking off as well. Could skew the figures a bit!

US Supreme Court: Duh, obviously cops need a warrant to search mobes

Omniaural

Re: In some ways ...

This was my first thought too.

It's like going through a filing cabinet or someone's cabinet drawers, that just happens to be located on my person because technology allows it to be mobile.

Any laws regarding data that is secured in any way should be subject to a warrant even if it is as simple as a pattern swipe, although I wouldn't consider a simple swipe-to-open screen to be secure in any way.

DARPA gamifies open-source software testing

Omniaural

Darpa making games?

I guess you can justify any approach in the US military with the right argument and willing participants.

Net neut supporters CRASH FCC WEBSITE with message deluge

Omniaural

Re: Oh dear.

The thing at issue here is that yourself and John Oliver are talking to two separate audiences, although no doubt there is some crossover.

His show has to make an an issue digestible for a TV audience who turn on his show to laugh for 20-odd minutes. As this is probably the first time most of that audience will have heard of net neutrality he has to go for the big picture and I have to say that he's done a pretty effective job if he managed to inspire enough people to respond and crash the comments. He outlined the problems with the general approach that has so far been taken and made a compelling argument based on principle rather than detail.

Your article is a great in-depth piece that anyone who is inspired by that show's monologue and wants to know more should definitely read. It certainly dispels the arguments that are being made, but out of the choices being presented publicly I think most would choose to not let big companies hog the limited bandwidth available to them. I think you overstate the solutions you offer though as they aren't as detailed as the problems set out earlier in the article.

I wouldn't knock the ability of John Oliver to connect with people of a Left-leaning nature, as you mentioned there are plenty enough spokesmen for the Right. You don't have to know how the internet works to be able to use it, so saying the argument is technically illiterate, misses the point. If it shines a light on something the telcos hoped they could brush under the carpet because the general public wouldn't be interested in something so technical, then it's done a good job and it's up to the rest of us to follow up that interest and educate further without inducing another snorefest before their attention wanders back to those cat videos.

I don't think it matters that the battleground chosen for public debate is not representative of the underlying technology. The argument for Net Neutrality is basically to maintain the status quo, whereas the argument against does essentially change the playing field to the advantage of established players. I don't think Google et al could be accused of not understanding how the internet works yet they choose to fight the battle as it is presented. At this point I don't think your going to be able to reframe the arguments to be technically correct.

If you're concerned that the public really do need to know more detail I would suggest you put your article up on Buzzfeed (it has a suitable title) or try and get the show to retweet your article out to their followers so that they can 'get schooled'.

Keep up the good work and perhaps do some follow up on those solutions you sketched out at the end of your article!

Revealed: GCHQ's beyond top secret Middle Eastern internet spy base

Omniaural

Re: Why did we publish this?

If I'm honest, I'd rather know about these things than not, but I'm unsure of the value of being so specific in locating the installation.

I want to put the brakes on this whole blanket surveillance program as much as most people on El Reg, however, this is could be a step too far.

I don't think it puts the installation in danger, as such, if it is indeed based within a 'friendly' country, but what about that country's standing in the local region now that it is known to be collaborating in spying on them on behalf of western powers?

It may prompt Oman to publicly cut ties and force the base to close?

One thing is for sure, I really hope this is picked up on in the mainstream and properly debated, but somehow doubt it will be allowed.

You've done a brave thing El Reg, I just hope it doesn't backfire!

Omniaural

X marks the spot

Does that one building in the bottom right of the pic not give away, from a cursory aerial surveillance point of view, that there is something to be dug up here?

Did the particular architect for this site try and work some kind of nudge, nudge, wink, wink factor into all his designs? Perhaps the government should review his other blueprints and maybe they'll notice that their super secret buildings are shaped like arrows, bullseyes or spell out 'SPY'?

Germany says 'nein' to NSA hacking prosecution

Omniaural

Re: As usual...

@DougS

"Germany was surely not happy about Merkel's phone being bugged,"

And if I remember correctly, this was the only point at which they expressed outrage, despite it already having been revealed that the general public in Germany was being listened to.

Now that Obama has personally assured Merkel in public that they are not going to be monitoring her anymore then that is all they were really interested in and the status quo can return.

I don't really expect any of the western governments to stand against the US on this issue as they all probably benefit from the surveillance programme in some indirect way, which is something Snowden probably knew when he sought safety in the most unlikely of places, as he knew he would be given up for the 'Manning' treatment otherwise.

Intelligence co-operation IS good and SHOULD happen between allies, but the NSA has overstepped acceptable personal boundaries which people expect governments to protect. There may not be anything in our personal data that the current administration might object to, but it only takes one rabid right-winger to get into power for things to go horribly wrong. Can you imagine what Nixon might have done with access to this kind of technology and data on people?

China ponders ban on IBM servers

Omniaural

Interesting that you blame Snowden for the US government's spying programme.

All he did was call them out on it, because he wanted an end to the blanket surveillance tactics employed by the NSA. I don't think he would have been brought to this had the agency been more specific in its targets or they and their overseers more accountable to the country they serve.

The fault is entirely that of the government and the fallout is from their own actions which they thought they could get away with indefinitely.

Google: The Internet of Things to become the Internet of ADVERTS ON YOUR THERMOSTAT

Omniaural
Black Helicopters

Re: Smart' Traction

"Not remembering logos doesn't mean that they don't influence your purchasing subconsciously."

Derren Brown's act is based on the same principles as most advertising. It works.

In your face ads are just misdirection to let people think they are in control by ignoring them whilst the real adverts are those those that you don't notice and are the ones which really influence you.

Latest Snowden leak claims NSA bugged ALL mobile calls in the Bahamas

Omniaural

Re: Snowden pah

@OP Until Snowden revealed the extent of the NSA's hitherto speculative actions, that's all it was, educated guesswork or rumour-mongering by those who had caught a glimpse behind the curtain.

The files that are now in the open, and most likely more still to come, show an agency that has taken full advantage of the FUD around their activities, which were previously in the shadows, to paint a picture of a department drunk on its own power and a government unwilling to ask hard questions at best, or perpetuating the situation in full knowledge at worst.

Of course, you wouldn't expect them to volunteer information on their practices, but they have shown themselves to be totally unaccountable and stretching the law to its limit and this has infected those in power who were supposed to be overseeing them, who feel that their association with the agency makes them bulletproof too.

Quite apart from the worrying evidence that Snowden has imparted, the behaviour of those he has challenged since then have proven what kind of people are in charge of this indiscriminate, limitless surveillance and intelligence gathering and it doesn't fill me with confidence that the right people are in place there.

The government's response shouldn't have been to shoot the messenger, it should have been to take the NSA to task and ask it to do what it does, but do it better. The USA (and the rest of the 'five eyes' for that matter) may well be playing tit for tat with the chinese, but as has been proven with the charging of chinese spies, the US's authority has lost it's credibility because it felt it had to be as unscrupulous as those it thought it was defending itself against. The US government is sinking into a pit of it's own making since 9/11 and it needs to do something drastic to stop the rot.

Whichever way you look at it the US is still a world leader. Where it goes others will follow. It's time for them to take a different path that reinstates real democracy as it's guiding principle.

Omniaural

Re: Pointless

Snowden has become a line in the sand with which you can measure people's ideologies on issues like patriotism, freedom and democracy.

The majority of the US has a strange love/hate relationship with it's institutions. It's okay for them to hate and mistrust them for their own reasons, but if anyone outside the US dares to point the finger then they will defend it to the end.

I think the average person is not really interested in these matters because they don't feel the effects until it's too late. They are pragmatic about the need for the NSA as long as they are doing it to someone else and not them.

Snowden has been effectively isolated by the US administration and they've done a good job of scaring anyone else with access to come out in the open and corroborate or expand with further evidence any of the revelations that have come from him.

The public find it easy to dismiss Snowden because the US have pushed him into the arms of the 'enemy' which makes the traitor story easier to sell, when any objective viewer would see that he has just sought refuge in one of the few places where the US gov has no sway or bargaining power. He may well have had to sell a little bit of his soul to guarantee that safety but it doesn't diminish what he kicked off.

In 20-30 years time I sure this will be looked back upon by history as a dark period for the US, hopefully contrasted by the change necessary to restore a confident democracy, not afraid to be accountable for its mistakes.

Omniaural
Megaphone

You realise that the Ukraine is Russia's payoff for eventually releasing Snowden to the US, hence the 'sanctions'?

It's obvious! isn't it?

ISN'T IT????

Giant pop can FOUND ON MOON

Omniaural

Far from innocent

Have you seen japanese anime?

Someone goes around collecting childrens dreams and sends them to a remote, dark, cold place unreachable by regular humans. This is not a marketing campaign. This is a land grab for the souls of the next generation of Japan from a megalomaniacal demon possessing the body of a soft drinks CEO.

One day one of these children will grow up and want his dream back, setting off on a quest to the moon (seen in reflection on a pond with cherry blossom falling on it) with his improbably large gun-sword, his pre-teen friend who just happens to have a mecha and a wise-cracking pokemon.

They will meet many people along the way and take an interminably long time to achieve anything of significance.

Japan. It's all true.

Carolla seeks funds to fight off Personal Audio

Omniaural

Knowing nothing about patents it just strikes me as totally incompetent that US law doesn't prevent companies acting in a patently malicious manner regarding IP. Not that I expect US law to be on the side of 'not making money', but the damage it is causing to people who actually 'work hard' to earn their money, as far as that goes in the entertainment business, rather than leading a parasitical existence off others is obviously something that should be addressed.

Perhaps politicians just don't want to throw the first stone?

White House may ditch BlackBerry, adopt LG or Samsung, ignore Apple

Omniaural

Zero WP8 users?

Does anybody care enough to find vulnerabilities in WP8?

Is there enough users worth exploiting when those who have opted for the platform are obviously susceptible to more traditional cons and don't need anything too sophisticated to get access to the family jewels?