* Posts by Paul Hovnanian

2099 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Mar 2008

Air mattress blast blows German man across room

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Re: How do you become an expert in matress explosions?

I don't know. But the requisite continuing education sounds interesting.

I'm not napping, I'm studying.

BILLION DOLLAR BALLMER: Microsoft chief makes $1bn simply by quitting

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

"he's fairly easily convinced something is a good idea and once he's convinced something is a good idea he'll ram it down everyone's throats"

This means that the technical direction at Microsoft can be controlled by a few people working behind the scenes who have Steve's ear. Rather than leading a competent technical group to a consensus on what should be done, just grab him, point him in your preferred direction and he bulldozes over everyone else.

In my opinion, this isn't a good way to run a high tech company. When you hope to be out on the bleeding edge (where Microsoft isn't more often then not), you have to get the input of numerous field specialists. And these sorts of people are put off quite easily by the monkey boy, chair throwing antics. So the question is: Will the people behind the curtain, pulling Ballmer's chain allow a consensus builder into his position? Or will they pull for another version of him, just to protect their turf?

Four ways the Guardian could have protected Snowden – by THE NSA

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

There's a place for encryption

But this isn't it.

So Snowden scoops up some juicy NSA data and routes it to the Guardian. What is critical is to complete the communications unmolested. Not to keep the contents from the NSA/GCHQ. Its their data. They already know the contents.

For this purpose, the encryption need only be good enough to conceal the transmission until the deed is done. From that point on, its the NSA's choice. Want to know what was in the message? Pick up tomorrow's copy of the paper. Sure, we could have had the editors redact the sensitive bits to prevent some real damage. But if the spooks insist on us handing over the encryption keys, fine. We'll hand them over to the world.

The best way for Snowden to have handled this is to have posted his acquisitions on well mirrored web sites around the world, encrypted, but only slightly. Too late to stop and practically impossible to determine the intended recipient. Everyone grabs a copy and passes it on to several friends.

Mystery of Guardian mobos and graphics cards which 'held Snowden files'

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Re: Symbolism

How did that data get to the Guardian in the first place? So where's the trail of smashed e-mail servers and backups in data centers between Snowden and the UK?

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

"countries asking if you plan to overthrow the government when you enter them."

No plans. I did so unintentionally.

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Hmm

I don't see the remains of a USB flash drive. Or the cloud backup for that matter.

Note to self: Keep some defunct PC parts handy so when the security services come knocking, I can present them with suitable looking debris worked over with a hammer.

I have this old toaster sitting around ....

Google goes dark for 2 minutes, kills 40% of world's net traffic

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Red pill/Blue pill

Someone took the red pill.

Brits: We can stop trolling if we know where they live - poll

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Trolls live under bridges. I thought everyone knew that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FremontTroll.jpg

Tech war latest: Today's leather tools 'invented by NEANDERTHALS'

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Coat

You can still see a few Neanderthals standing in the checkout line at Wickes.

Mine's the one made of a saber tooth tiger hide.

20 injured at LG phone giveaway as PR stunt turns into riot

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Re: Aerial attack

Right. Towing a long strip of flypaper.

Shooting balloons doesn't appear to be an effective strategy. When they come down, odds are you won't be under them.

Mobe-slurping Wi-Fi SPY BINS banned from London's streets

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

So, you're saying ...

.... they're going to bin the phone tracking bins.

Oracle Team USA sailors admit breaking America's Cup rules

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Poor Oracle

First MariaDB and now this.

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Pirate

Re: Any word on exactly what the illegal modifications were?

"they'd superglued the boat to the top of a submarine...."

I suppose torpedoing the leader gave that away.

NSA gets burned by a sysadmin, decides to burn 90% of its sysadmins

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

"No one [at the NSA] has wilfully or knowingly disobeyed the law or tried to invade your civil liberties or privacies. There were no mistakes like that at all."

Right. First, they had Congress take civil liberties away. From then on, it was all legal and in compliance.

Bill Gates's barbed comments pop Google's broadband balloons

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Gates money vs Google money. Not the same thing.

Bill Gates is donating his own wealth to solve health problems in the third world. Good for him. But that's his personal wealth, not assets of Microsoft. If Googles' shareholders wish to do the same, great. But the company has a mission. That is: To make shareholders like me wealthy. So that I might take some of that wealth and do good works with it.

Companies and NGOs need to stick to what they do well. And let the investors allocate resources as they see fit.

Mystery object falls from sky, area sealed off by military: 'Weather balloon', say officials

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Black Helicopters

Re: it's...

Quite likely. But if they are testing a device for extending military communications, shouldn't they anticipate its occasional falling into 'enemy' hands.

Over friendly territory, a sign requesting return to the appropriate authorities when found should be sufficient. No quarantines or evacuations required. If these things are ever used during a conflict, occasionally one will fall on the wrong side of the front line. If security is such a major issue, these things would be useless.

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Public safety

We need to keep the public from running out to inspect any bowl of petunias falling from the sky or they could be struck by the inevitable sperm whale.

Ultimate Radio Deathmatch: US Navy missile-defence radar vs 4G mobile mast

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Mushroom

Because we wouldn't want people tweeting about their imminent annihilation to be interfered with by efforts to defend against it.

As to the 4G signals interfering with radar returns, doesn't this open up an opportunity for jamming? Record and broadcast some wireless chit-chat to mask the returns from incoming warheads. Time the attack to coincide with some football* championship playoffs and the increase in traffic won't look suspicious.

*Whichever type you prefer, of course.

US Republican enviro-vets: 'Climate change is real. Deal with it'

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

So AGW exists. Fine. Now, what is the proposed fix?

Having some economic conservatives on board formulating solutions might be a good thing. So far, the whole argument is too tied up in other political agendas to make any sense. When AGW becomes serious enough to give the same carbon sequestration credit to Monsanto's genetically engineered super trees as is granted to third world trees owned by Al Gore Inc. I'll buy into their solution. Otherwise, its just an excuse for a wealth transfer scheme. And if this is the case, then we have some more time to study the problem and come up with economically sound fixes.

Beam me up? Not in the life of this universe

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Joke

Very funny Scotty! Now beam down my pants!

Microsoft lobs second Windows 8.1 preview at enterprise IT admins

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Re: Enterprise "Tiles"?

Kidding? Perhaps not for some kiosk apps. Big tiles (buttons) locked down to an ATM app or shopping mall directory would work well. But as a content creation platform? For actually getting work done? Doubtful.

Pacemaker hack legend Barnaby Jack dies just before Black Hat revelations

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Black Helicopters

If finding/revealing bugs put one at risk for reprisals by the industry involved, Redmond Washington would be the scene of some serious carnage.

And then there's an aircraft manufacturer just down the road who isn't happy about being in the limelight either.

Middle America pulls up sagging pants menace, belts repeat offenders

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Joke

We tried ...

... a ban in my town. But it was dropped due to objections from the pipefitters union.

IQ test: 'Artificial intelligence system as smart as a four year-old'

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

"it's about as smart as a somewhat-challenged four-year-old child. "

Ready to take over management functions.

Man sues Apple for allowing him to become addicted to porn

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Why Sue Apple?

Is there some feature specific to Apple that causes porn addictions? Or inadvertent exposure to porn? So why is Apple being sued for something accessible on any off-brand laptop/PC?

DARPA uncloaks unTerminator for $2 million robotics challenge

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Terminator

Next on the SkyNet agenda: Work on a suitable dermal covering so as to blend in with the indigenous human population.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_eUtTYUn7M

Boeing batteries back under spotlight as 787 burns at Heathrow

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Flame

"hurry to leave?"

Some sources state the airplane had been sitting empty for 8 hours. That's one long smoldering cig.

Forget Snowden: What have we learned about the NSA?

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Big Brother

Re: Old News ......

"If you don't want to be a part of their 'eye spy' I would suggest you don't put stuff online."

Its getting to the point that not having a Facebook presence is akin to not having a landline in the last century. Go ahead. Try to apply for a job/loan or even write a check (cheque) without one and you'd get the stink-eye. If your behaviour doesn't comply with the societal norm, you might as well move to a cabin in Montana (Google Ted Kaczynski).

Besides, you might not put your life on line, but your banker, grocer, pharmacist does. And you can't drive in town without your license plates going into a database somewhere. So, good luck with your off the grid life.

Snowden leak: Microsoft added Outlook.com backdoor for Feds

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Big Brother

I'm not surprised

Anyone else wonder why Microsoft's settlement in its antitrust case had to be overseen by a judge on the FISA court? We may never know how far short of full compliance with opening the API and source code Microsoft fell when the judge said, "Move along. Nothing to see here."

Human error blamed for toxic Russian rocket explosion

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Joke

Ah yes.

The Russian reversal in another form.

Asperger's and IT

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

A touch of Asperger's ...

... can be a good thing. Empathy is all too easily manipulated by MBA sociopaths.

US public hate Snowden - but sexpot spy Anna Chapman LOVES him

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Black Helicopters

Text from Anna?

Yeah, right. That's just the American extraordinary rendition team trying to get a final fix on Snowden's position.

If he's smart, he left his cell phone behind with an accomplice in Moscow when he boarded that tramp freighter headed to Havana two weeks ago.

Microsoft's cloud leaves manual transmission behind

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Joke

Admins as cattle ranchers?

Udder nonsense!

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

All I could think of is mad cow disease. Let just one carrier of BSE on to the ranch and trouble ensues.

Godmother of Unix admins Evi Nemeth presumed lost at sea

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

I am shocked ...

... to hear that there is actually documentation for this Unix stuff.

But seriously, losing people at sea is pretty sad. I'm surprised that the EPIRB signal hasn't been heard from. But its possible to get one of these units fouled in rigging (which abounds on sailboats). Or manual units just don't get deployed in a bad knock down.

How Alan Turing wanted to base EDSAC's memory on BOOZE

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Pint

Memory leak

Every Friday afternoon. When the IT department starts winding down for the weekend.

The perfect gift for the pistol-packing 'Merkin: a handgun iPhone case

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Unhappy

Dissapointment

For a moment, I thought I was seeing a wave of Apple fanbois shooting themselves in the head.

Schwarzenegger says 'I'll be back' for Terminator 5 reboot

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Terminator

Title

Terminator 5: Rust Never Sleeps

Ecuador denies granting asylum, safe passage to Snowden

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Black Helicopters

Central and South American countries have some bad memories about not abiding by the USA's wishes.

And now I can't get this tune out of my head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHhZF66C1Dc

Windows 8.1: Here at last, but is it good enough?

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Unhappy

Not a Windows User

But I have the opportunity to sit in front of Windows on rare occasions.

Just the other day, I was trying to use Word on a Windows 8 system. The systems owner, unable to cope without a traditional desktop had installed Start8 or something similar. So far, so good. But then I found myself within the app. No menus. No toolbars, ribbons or whatever? How do I get something done with this? The owner, a long time power user pointed out that shortcut keys still work. So 'Alt P' to print. But short of having a wizard looking over my shoulder, calling out helpful hints, how would I get anything done with this app? At least I can stumble through Word on Windows 7.

Is this what they call Metro? And how is it an improvement on a Linux command line, which I can deal with but I will admit, given an uninitiated user, is a total mystery with a huge learning curve.

Obama says US won't scramble jets or twist arms for Snowden

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Black Helicopters

Re: "I'm not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker"

Of course not. Seal Team 6 uses Black Hawks with hush kits.

Chinese 'nauts return to Earth after vigorous space coupling

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Devil

Re: Re Cramped

"That is JUST the decent module..."

The indecent module is just this way ....

Nissan to enter 300 kmh electric car in Le Mans endurance race

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Boffin

Re: It's motor racing

"The UK national grid has a capacity of 80GW and there is always surplus capacity. So I'm pretty sure they could accommodate 6GW all day long and not fail."

Or charge at night, when the grid has surplus capacity. This will be an advantage of swapped battery packs over rapid charging. With swapped packs, recharging can be deferred to off-peak times without inconveniencing drivers. Rapid charging means each station (but not the overall grid) needs a peak short time capacity far exceeding their consumption averaged over a day.

Charging stations are a good load for utilizing variable power supplies. With a suitable 'smart grid' the chargers can easily throttle their inputs to the batteries in response to sources like wind generation in a matter of seconds.

US DoJ: Happy b-day, Ed Snowden! You're (not?) charged with capital crimes

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

"Communications Intelligence"

Whose communications intelligence? As far as I can tell, Snowden didn't leak any details of agents' communications techniques or encryption. He exposed the extent of the NSA's spying on members of the American and foreign public. In the final analysis, if the US gov't claims are to be believed, this will put citizens' lives at risk should a terrorist organization improve its concealment techniques. No agents have specifically been put at risk.

What Snowden did is the moral equivalent of putting up a warning sign ahead of the local police radar trap. While there are laws in place prohibiting interference with police operations, the NSA are not a policing agency.

Using encryption? That means the US spooks have you on file

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Re: Vindication

"Hi, what's for tea tonight?"

NSA: Tea? This guy has to be foreign. We don't drink tea in Murrica. We throw it in Boston Harbor.

Stay away from the light, Kodak! Look, here's $406m to keep you alive

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
Boffin

Film is still viable. Call me when digital cameras reach 200 to 300 Megapixels. With higher dynamic range as well. Yeah, I can match film with multiple exposure digital shots. As long as the subject holds still long enough.

Kodak and Polaroid just didn't have a management strategy in place to handle the contracting amateur market. Fuji and Ilford are doing OK. In fact Fuji makes a line of instant film and cameras.

REVEALED: The gizmo leaker Snowden used to smuggle out NSA files

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Re: The solution is so clear...

Its not the USB drive. Its the (Windows) USB port drivers. The object is not to encrypt data on a USB drive allowed into the facility. Its to keep someone from bringing their own device in and copying stuff.

Someone with admin access to a box and some know how can swap out the 'secure only' drivers with Windows defaults, copy data out and put the custom DLLs back.

Its possible to build security into the hardware or firmware. But the problems and costs of custom h/w and retiring old systems have already been discussed.

Whoever recently showed us the secret documents: Do get in touch

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Re: Are you sure you want to do this?

I'm sure El Reg has consulted their legal department. It's just a matter of going down to the sub basement, dragging the grate off the pit, throwing some raw meat down and getting an opinion back from the lawyers.

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Chalk 'X' marks are appearing on post boxes all over London.

Tech giants' offshore cash-stashing is only ever a delaying tactic

Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

Globalization

Increasingly, multinational companies do business in several financial markets. They might be borrowing in Euros,or Renminbi. And so they have to pay those loans off in those currencies. There is no sense in moving their revenue through the United States, just to move it back out again. And then there's the shareholders. Not all of them live within the USA. So why should they have35% shaved off their dividends?

Everyone keeps worrying about how these companies are ever going to move these funds back within US jurisdiction. The answer is: Never. The capital can be put to better use outside of the country.