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* Posts by Andrew Barratt

92 posts • joined Thursday 14th June 2007 11:16 GMT

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Andrew Barratt

Re: Yea but

This is the root of the problem I reckon. Shows really bad cost controls. When they bought GS they should have closed off all the none profitable stores. They should also be a bit more selective about the shit they let people trade in.

Shame, bought every console I've ever had there and got just about enough game points for a mars bar.

Andrew Barratt

crap

I'm sure an indian guy from MIT had done something better than this on TED.... need to find the link..

Andrew Barratt

Re: Re: Why not just insist less chance of failure.

of course :) certainly a good way to curb my vices!

Always got mates with me though!

Andrew Barratt

Why not just insist less chance of failure.

Everyone focuses on the Pin number, but why not just give someone 2 chances instead of 3. enter it incorrectly and card gets blocked.

If they are daft enough to use a number associated with them #fail

If they are daft enough to write number down # fail

But if the ATMs were smart enough to slow the attacker down - 2 invalid attempts and the card gets blocked for 48 hrs. would be annoying enough to make it hard work.

Andrew Barratt

I can see this all getting very

.messy

or

.confusing

for the average .joe

Andrew Barratt

it could all backfire on MS then

If MS start to try to lock people to their tin supplier when you buy a PC, maybe even more people will flock to Macbooks.

Another shot in the proverbial foot MS.

Andrew Barratt

How about....

Simply

"Goodbye, World"

Andrew Barratt
IT Angle

Power to the people

or not, as the case may be.

Andrew Barratt
Alert

How about an arduino?

Don't see why more schools don't teach IT and a bit of basic electronics using something like an arduino. You could even learn some elementary etching skills and actually make everything you need to then run your own programs, and flash your LEDs etc.

Andrew Barratt
Unhappy

Encryption is not the solution to poor IT & security management practices

As others have mentioned.

Encryption was in place albeit badly WEP - compromised. Problem = Business failing to update old hardware or update configuration.

HTTPS was man in the middled, so encryption was in place. Problem = User awareness fail.

Poor password policy, poor patch management, poor config management, poor end user awareness. Encryption won't solve any of these and I wish people would stop looking at crypto as a sliver bullet for all security woes.

The "little bit of crypto" was the problem here in the first place. Not understanding the threats was the second, then doing nothing about either was the worst.

SME's particularly need to get the very basics right first. The last thing we need is lots of small organisations blindly encrypting everything and then thinking that security is done.

Andrew Barratt

Bandwidth?

Just out of interest, if these boxes start downloading fairly large amounts of data is that going to be counted against my monthly bandwidth limits? 100gb a month could get used up pretty quickly with HD Tv on demand.

Andrew Barratt
Thumb Down

steeped in irony...

Did you completely miss the point AC.

Or are you still looking for a God to steer your every decision. "Thou shalt carry ID".....

Maybe you should stick with an ark from your old friend Noah, apparently that had 2 of everything and none of them required ID.

Andrew Barratt

Linux support?

Wonder if they will do proper linux support?

Andrew Barratt

mmmm

Sounds like some one has been sucking up the cloud computing cool aid.

Andrew Barratt
FAIL

50%?

50% of your day? Really?

So that's (on average)

12hours (doing media & comms stuff) according to those Ofcom chappies

8 hours a day at work

1 hour commuting (more likely to be 2 if you work in London)

7 hours a day sleeping

Have Ofcom managed to discover more hours in the day? Amazing. Or are they from the school of bullshit.

Interestingly this report does more for the NHS than Ofcom. No wonder the nation is becoming obese.... We are all so busy consuming "media" that we can't get off our fat arse to do any exercise.

Quote:-

"They are also using several types of media at the same time – with the average person cramming 8 hours 48 minutes of media into just over seven hours during the average day."

Really - so they can cram 8 hours of stuff in to seven hours. Really, would love to see how this research was conducted.

see - http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2010/08/19/consumers-spend-almost-half-of-their-waking-hours-using-media-and-communications/

Nice to see Ofcom grabbing whatever they can get their mits on to justify their existance.

Ofcom kindly do something of some use. "Fair Use" ....

Andrew Barratt
Thumb Down

Not Dark Fiber

Surely it is not Dark Fiber if Google are using it to transfer data?

Andrew Barratt

possible back fire?

When websense categorises google as a file sharing site....

How interesting that will be...

Andrew Barratt

Sick of hearing the bbc report this as Googles first phone

Did they miss the G1 and G2 that are google phones on t-mob???

Andrew Barratt
WTF?

Never has it been more true

You get what you pay for...

Andrew Barratt
Thumb Down

big deal

Why don't you just turn your xbox OFF, and switch your tv, sky+ or freeview+ ON. Why we insist on using the most inappropriate medium to watch, what is effectively broadcast television is beyond me.

Your bandwidth cap will be gone faster than you can blink if you start watching the crap on iplayer regularly. The best thing the bbc could do with iplayer is sell the service abroad to bring in some more money so they can make some decent shows instead of pissing our license fees away on yet another distribution model....

Andrew Barratt
WTF?

Slightly off topic but I wonder if anyone can help

How do all these computer / video / music exchange shops work then, as they are technically "sharing" music / video. The last time I bought a DVD it had a notice on saying something like, "not for resale. rental blah blah blah". Now when some johnny come lately rocks up to his local tat bazarr (exchange shop) and sells his last three xbox games or DVDs do they contact all the copyright owners and ask for permission to re-sell them?

I'm really curios how they get around this, anyone who can answer will certainly be on my "buy them a pint" list !

:)

Andrew Barratt

Someone better tell Richard Branson

Because Virgin media do this.......

Andrew Barratt

Its all about the drvers

Once intel start producing drivers that work properly in Linux its game over for Windows on the netbook. All people really use the for is web browsing in the lounge or as second/third pcs.

I got an Aspire one 751 couldnt buy it without the Windows XP tax, but soon got ubuntu 9.10 installed. Worked well initially even with the default vesa gfx driver, but was a bit sluggish. Once I managed to find a way to get the right driver on this machine feels much much slicker and responsive than the junkyard xp. Even passed the "even the wife thinks its quicker" test!

MS - stop ripping people off with millions of flavours of your os, stop pre-charging people for their hardware....

Andrew Barratt
Thumb Up

Coooooooool

Thats really cool.

Shame that you'd no doubt be shot by the police.

Andrew Barratt

Diesal for even more

And it doesn't look like it was designed by someone with a fetish for futuristic Buck Rodgers styling.

Andrew Barratt

Worse than xbmc on xbox

why spend £310 on this when a £50 xbox and xbmc will do the same as a media player if not better.

only any good as a lounge web browser. and £310 is a bit steep for that

Andrew Barratt

Open Source it?

Stick it on Sourceforge and let the community decide....

Andrew Barratt
Thumb Up

Much better than the BBC

This is the sort of research that needs to be published. Listen up BBC, you don't have to go around compromising other PCs with botnets to get at the data....

Good job!

Andrew Barratt

Good price point

for £150 this makes a nice price for a linux mce client. you could just hide it behind a tv/monitor.

bish bosh

job done.

Andrew Barratt
IT Angle

Don't switch the lights and siren on ....

we need the extra 3bhp to catch that cyclist!

Andrew Barratt

oops

oops.

Andrew Barratt

go beeb!

About time. Has anyone tested this to see if it does actually work with Linux

Andrew Barratt
Linux

The mono version is rubbish too

The mono version on linux is rubbish too, cumbersome to install and has yet to play anything I've pointed it at.

Keep going MS, you will only make flash the defacto choice.

Andrew Barratt

Bound to happen eventually

Maybe if Steam sorted out the issue with distributing EA games in Europe.....

Andrew Barratt

analysts are amazing

Whoda thunk it.... people have disposable income --- less gadgets are purchased....

Andrew Barratt

No sudden recovery for the car industry then

So if the rest of the economy starts to pick up, the "poor" car industry will have to wait until 2011. As there is no way people will rush to buy a car if there is the possibility of getting a 5k discount on one.

Govement Economic Strategy -10

Andrew Barratt

3 Stooges, sounds more like Wargames....

Use of software key loggers shows the desktops can't have been locked down very well.... If they'd have used hardware loggers they might have gotten away with it. PS/2 keyboards for the win!

Send them to jail, so they can learn some real skilz.

Andrew Barratt
Stop

Time for the law to change

Any one else thing that the BBC should have their licensing law ditched. Or changed so that it doesn't matter where you are or what you are plugged in to. If you have a license you get to watch the content.

If the AA can implement a "your the member not the car" surely the beeb can do "your the license payer, not the household".

Why are the bbc pratting around wasting license payers money on this sort of a service... WE WANT QUALITY TV not more platforms to watch the existing crap on.

Andrew Barratt

Great

Means you can hit your bandwidth quotas extra fast, back to the pay as you go model!

Andrew Barratt
Coat

a hole in the plan......

I'll get my coat.

Andrew Barratt
Dead Vulture

Sex, Drugs, and Pop n Roll!

Commited a crime?

Thats ok if you are on DRUGS....

Muppet.

lol-lol-lol.

Andrew Barratt
Stop

Expect more BBC phishing

This can and will now only lead to more malware suppliers using the BBC logo. I can also anticipate them using this with the following format :-

The BBC has 0wned your box. This is ok as we didn't do anything bad.

Please enter your user banks name and password here so that we can check it is strong enough for you.

Remember the BBC would never do anything to hurt you.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. They have managed to undermine security professionals everywhere.

Andrew Barratt
Pirate

Classic Bureaucrats

Bureaucrats push through action that impacts their expenses....

theres a surprise.

Andrew Barratt
Unhappy

Far out ways to use it?

What a shocking response. This is not "far out". It is the method that will be employed by criminals.

Identity harvesting business franchise starting in your area soon. Start up costs circa £500.

Lets hope more care is taken with rfid credit cards............................... Or the fastest growing new business will be rfid crime.

Andrew Barratt
Stop

Its a simple fomula and they will ruin it by trying ot make it "Relevant"

The whole point of the show was that it WASNT relevant. It was fantasy land for young boys dreaming of getting captured and breaking free shooting lots of bullets and not hurting anyone!

They could do this so well with :-

Sam L Jackson as BA

Jim Carey as Murdock

some pretty boy unknown as Face

John Travolta as Hannibal

It should be non PC, but it won't and they'll ruin it. Needs to have a cheeky side appearance from some original cast members too.

I love it when a plan comes together....

Andrew Barratt
Linux

Didn't Enron try this?

Or was it just network bandwidth that Enron wanted to do this with?

Andrew Barratt
Thumb Down

And they didn't stop it?

What were the licenses on the documents that have been "stolen"? ????

if it was that important why didn't they block the access..

Andrew Barratt
Thumb Up

Looks cool

This looks pretty cool, I had a look at their pricing and it seems fairly reasonable. Could spawn lots of copy cats now!

Andrew Barratt
Coat

Jacqui the Ripa ?

I'll get my coat....

Andrew Barratt
Boffin

and I thought out place was strict at dishing out a blackberry

Given Al, Kyle and Eeda are still struggling to get out of a cave somewhere in Afghanistan, I reckon the risk from an cellular / gps triangulated , ICBM hitting him is fairly low (discounting the Russians wanting to blow up a large customer). You've probably got better odds just by waiting to see him go into the Whitehouse and then hitting the launch button.

Any one would think he couldn't just leave it at that massive white house he's got if he was that worried about being tracked when he was out..

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