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Comment: Re:Okay, I give up (Score 1) 145

by Ross D Anderson (#36263602) Attached to: Anti-Porn Facebook Page is Deleted, Then Restored
I agree, and it's the same guy who posted this arguing with you. Roblimo, I'd listen to your audience if I were you. Not even mentioning that the whole thing is a complete non-story. There aren't even any facts backing any of the points up! Just "Was this page automatically blocked because it says "porn"?" Yes. Probably. It was restored so who cares? 35,000 censorship crazed nutjobs?

Comment: Re:Maybe something everybody can use? (Score 1) 393

by Ross D Anderson (#32836514) Attached to: No iPhone Apps, Please &mdash; We're British
What? I did my test last year and I personally guarantee that changing a wheel, or even being asked how to, is not part of the test. During the test they may ask two out of a number of vehicle safety checks but as you'll see, the closest question to being asked to change the wheel is to identify when the tyre needs changing.
Perhaps it is part of the Pass Plus course?

Comment: Re:Windows Upgrades (Score 1) 570

by Ross D Anderson (#29833039) Attached to: Some Users Say Win7 Wants To Remove iTunes, Google Toolbar
The "DRM" everyone goes on about is simply *support* to allow play DRM'd media that you couldn't otherwise. It doesn't add any additional locks.
Do P2P apps work properly? Yes.
Are there unexplained phone-homes? Probably for WGA, but that's true with XP too.
Can I still play out-of-region CDs? Yes.
Do I have to fight UAC like someone with Vista? Less so, though this has nothing to do with DRM and more to do with protecting your machine.
Can I copy any standard file type on to any standard media? Yes.

Presumable Daemon tools can be reinstalled and is just removed because the extra drives it installs have drivers that don't work with the upgrade process. It seems this is the norm with most other non-standard drivers for the vista-> 7 upgrade process

Comment: Re:Is it just me (Score 1) 130

by Ross D Anderson (#29387433) Attached to: Spotify Retreats To Invite-Only In UK
A couple of reasons spring to mind:
Use of the phone clients (iPhone, Android and soon to be Symbian)
Higher quality
Also while the P2P feature exists it isn't actually enabled yet (according to wikipedia) but I can imagine if/when it is, subscribers will be able to opt out of the service.

Obviously, if you don't think it's worth it, you don't have to subscribe, but to many people it is. And I presume as it grows in popularity the music collection on there will expand to provide some of those "mega bands" you mention. (Though quite why anyone would listen to Metallica is beyond me. Yawn.)

Personally I'd pay for this just for the ability to listen instantly on my phone and discover new artists as they are suggested to me while I'm out and about instead of having to pay for a track I find I don't like or go the illegal route and hunt around for a download and then wait for it to complete.

NASA Discovers Life's Building Block In Comet 148

Posted by timothy
from the low-glycemic-index dept.
xp65 writes "NASA scientists have discovered glycine, a fundamental building block of life, in samples of comet Wild 2 returned by NASA's Stardust spacecraft. 'Glycine is an amino acid used by living organisms to make proteins, and this is the first time an amino acid has been found in a comet,' said Jamie Elsila of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. 'Our discovery supports the theory that some of life's ingredients formed in space and were delivered to Earth long ago by meteorite and comet impacts.'"

Comment: Re:So... (Score 1) 407

by Ross D Anderson (#29037847) Attached to: Judge Rules Against RealDVD

Its sort of like a lot of drugs - its not illegal to take 'em, but its illegal to buy, sell, possess, or be under their influence. With DVDs, its legal to make a copy for backup, but its illegal to create a means of making that backup.

Doesn't taking them mean you both both possess them and are under their influence?
