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Comment Re:Advert for the verizon network? (Score 1) 423

I think you need to take more water with it. You said: "Verizon is also owned by Vodaphone, which has a much larger international market presence." The other guy said that Vodafone in fact own a 45% stake in Verizon Wireless (VZW). Vodafone Group DOES NOT own VZW. VZW is technically a joint venture. Vodafone networks globally use the GSM system. VZW uses CDMA-something. The two are incompatible. They are both, however, big and red. I like red. As Jack Carter once said, "You're a big man but you're out of shape. Now to me its a full-time job, so behave yourself".

Comment Re:We Already Knew "Hatred" Was a Lie (Score 1) 250

Not quite.

Phone to phone messaging in Japan is very popular, more so than voice use. However on the Japanese FOMA handsets the messaging is essentially SMTP, not GSM SMS/MMS. This is the way it's been since FOMA was introduced by DoCoMo back in c. 2000.

My sources, if yer interested: http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/culture/japanese_cell_phone_culture.html

Comment Not a cloned document (Score 2, Informative) 454

Whilst this is a failure of some rudimentary security system that was supposed to protect the data stored on the chip, this is anot a cloned card per se.

The chips on these ID cards, and the new UK passports, are there to enhance the integrity of the DOCUMENT, not be secure stand-alone identifiers alone. For instance you can easily copy the data on a chip once the security has been defeated but to accurately copy the paper part of the document including the watermarks, UV sensitive fibres, holograms, raised ink, irridescent coatings, etc. takes a lot of time and effort that most people won't bother with. Some do bother as a lot of bent banknotes will testify to.

These cards like the passports SHOULD when tested/checked be read by a human being who knows how to check the security features (e.g running your fingers over the top of a banknote to check the raised ink), check the details and the photo are correct and do not seem to have been tampered with, then they can check that the data on the chip matches the data printed on the paper/plastic. If they match then there's a very high chance that the card/passport is genuine.

Just checking one portion rather than the other defats the purpose of these designs.

Weak systems will always be exploitable. UK Border Control staff/Police/Home Office drones need to know that that no document is unforgeable and to maintain the integrity of a system requires knowledge and training on the part of those who are attempting to enforce it.

Comment Re:Coming to Cydia (Score 1, Redundant) 541

Well put sir, well put. Constant nerd will-waving about what tickbox such-and-such device has over another (not just iPhone and suchlike) is as tiresome as it is pointless. Canada has mountains. So does the moon. The moon is bigger than Canada. Therefore the moon is a better place to live than Canada. (OK, well, I spent only some time in Calgary...)
Movies

Watchmen Watched 489

In a blatant attempt to make my movie-going a valid business expense, I'm putting together some notes on Watchmen, and providing a place for you all to discuss it. The first thing I want to say is that I had high hopes: If you ask any serious comic book nerd what the most important book is, they will probably give you one of two answers, and "Watchmen" is the right one. So really Snyder, the director of 300, could only do wrong. Fortunately for me, he was very true to the book: just like 300, many sequences are shot-for-shot from the comics. Some stuff didn't make it, and the new ending has a different meaning to me (one that really isn't as satisfying, but is certainly cleaner). But what I can't say is if it was a good movie or not. I sorta wish I could get an impartial opinion of someone who isn't a nutty fan of the book to tell me how it stands as a movie. I imagine a bit slow, wordy and maybe a bit confusing in parts. I'll leave full reviews to others, but I enjoyed the picture and suspect you will too.
Image

Researchers Discover How To Make the Perfect Phone Call 85

Having made amazing discoveries such as how to make the perfect cheese sandwich, linking heavy caffeine use to sleeplessness, and figuring out where all the teaspoons have gone, science has made the greatest breakthrough yet. They have uncovered the secrets of making the perfect phone call. The perfect phone call clocks in at a mere 9 minutes and 36 seconds, easily 11 minutes shorter than any conversation I've ever had with my mom. Unlike a call to mom, the perfect phone call is almost devoid of any gossip about her divorced neighbor and her heavily tattooed daughter. Instead three minutes should be spent catching up with news about family and friends, one minute on personal problems, a minute on work/school, 42 seconds on current affairs, 24 seconds on the weather, and 24 seconds talking about the opposite sex. What's left of your 9 mins 36 secs is a free for all.
User Journal

Journal Journal: New Program Says I'm a Heretic 7

EDIT: BBC != Ch4. Fixed.

I bring you (via this alert reader) a very compelling piece of journalism & film by Channel 4 in the UK. The program interviews a lot of top scientists and draws some pretty scary conclusions. If you watched An Inconvenient Truth then you will will enjoy this presentation, but go there with an open mind because fundamental assumptions will be challenged. Just cozy up some time and

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I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

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