Posts by lidgaca-2

UK energy watchdog slaps down Capita's £130M smart meter splurge

Re: Dear Smart Meter Zealots: Explain why they all....

cyberdemon wrote

"there's nothing to stop it disconnecting automatically after a certain time period of no comms, once they have sorted out the more general comms issues

There is a very good reason this doesn't happen ... given that an estimated 1 in 5 smart meters (S&M's ...) don't actually work reliably, that would be a lot of disconnections ... Would any energy companies actually survive the complaints / loss of funds / media outrage that this would cause ?

-- Chris

Elon Musk's disaster relief promises: Should we believe the hype?

The 'Old Pedo Guy' (*) has lots of history with this kind of thing ...

Remember minisubs to rescue the Thai Footballers ?

-- Chris

* Apparently a term of endearment in South Africa

Smart TVs are spying on everyone

Yeah, but the whole idea of setting a bogus default router means that no IP traffic can ever leave your local network.

-- Chris

Re: Buy a non smart TV - if you can find one

Can anyone provide a link for this ... ?

Use static a IP for the TV and set the 'default router' to a bogus address ? That way there is no way home ...

You can use a DHCP server to do the same trick, but it requires a bit more work.

-- Chris

iGulu F1 could be the hoppy ending to your home-brew horror show

Re: Who is the intended buyer?

"And yes, homemade beer is drinkable after fifteen days. But it's greatly improved after fifteen whiskys"

Fixed it for you ...

Palo Alto Networks execs apologize for 'hostesses' dressed as lamps at Black Hat booth

Re: I am not surprised but am so tired of meaningless apologies.

Basic template for a modern apology ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDrZpuGp6aA

-- Chris

Some smart meters won't be smart at all once 2/3G networks mothballed

Re: Why aren't they talking about the advantages?

That's how I look at it ...

I installed solar panels ... and was told that I needed to have a new smart meter installed to get a export tariff.

Meter installed ... The situation is that it works for about 2 - 3 weeks, passing readings to Octopus. Then the signal drops out for a bit and the DCC can't be arsed to notice when it is restored. The DCC put my meter on their 'not working' list, and now Octopus don't get any more reading for the next 2 - 3 months. Octopus then write to me to inform me that *I* haven't sent them any meter readings recently, so they are sending me an estimated bill ...

I send incendiary email to Octopus ...

Octopus then inform the DCC of the problem. The DCC fiddles with something at their end. Readings work for the next 2 - 3 weeks. Rinse and repeat (I think we're on the 3rd cycle of this now ...).

As for the 'in-houe-display' ... I've got no idea. From the time of installation it only gave readings for about 1 hour out of 10 so I threw it in the bin. I get my electricity usage data from the raspberry pi / grafana / inverter reader that I installed when the panels went it.

I'd like to see how Octopus are ever going to use my smart meter to brown me out, or to implement surge pricing to my property. From what I can see this waste-of-time won't have any impact on me (beyond raising my blood pressure ...). It's way too unreliable.

3D printer purchases could require background checks under proposed law

Todays's history lesson ...

Try searching on El Reg for 'lewis page gun' ... for Lewis's old articles about the absurdity of 3d printed plastic guns.

Come on back Lewis, El Reg needs you !

-- Chris

New information physics theory is evidence 'we're living in a simulation,' says author

'He said the fact that physical systems show a tendency towards declining disorder showed "excess information is removed" and "resembles the process of a computer deleting or compressing waste code to save storage space and optimize power consumption. And as a result supports the idea that we're living in a simulation." '

Sounds (smells ?) like dingoes kidneys to me ...

Switch to hit the fan as BT begins prep ahead of analog phone sunset

The coverage maps

It's all very well and good saying that we can just move to a mobile connected world, but out here in the wild outlands (in a village all of 15 bloody miles from Sheffield ...) my mobile signal sucks rocks. I'm lucky to get a usable voice signal in the upper floor of my house, and don't ever get any kind of data signal. 2g / 3g / 4g or any bloody g ...

What's worse is the the coverage map tells me (and whichever telco I choose to use ...) that my signal is fine, and I have nothing to worry about. Consequently the telecos have no interest in upgrading / changing / modifying the infrastructure and I'm basically stuck with no signal.

After numerous phone calls (on my landline ...) to the telecos, there seems to be no way out of this, because the coverage maps show the signal to be good. End of story.

-- Chris

Hide and seek in outer space highlights a battle here on Earth

Anonymous Coward wrote

You can't really replace the voyagers unless you're doing it for your children" ...

Well you can't really replace the Voyagers for another ~ 130 years ... The Voyager program was specifically designed to use a rare planetary alignment that allowed the craft to transit the outer planets via gravity assist.

Delta Vee is still a problem.

-- Chris

This upstart is selling tickets for a SpaceX trip to the world's first private space station

"... and fasten the tray table to the seat in front of you.

In the unlikely event of a rapid unscheduled disassembly, please remain in your seats and listen for the ..."

-- Chris

Miniature nuclear reactors could be the answer to sustainable datacenter growth

Re: What about the operational costs?

> What happens when the .com that owns the data centre goes bust, who is responsible for the SMR safety and decommissioning ?

To be honest I'm worried about the bit before that ... What happens when the .com that owns the data centre has to train it's staff in operating a SMR. The thought of a fresh-outa-college kid, a 35 MW reactor, and a loose-leaf folder en-titled 'How to handle a reactor scram' does not fill me with a lot of confidence.

I'm *very* pro nuclear power in general, but handing out reactors like laptops is not a recipe for gaining the public's trust. Lets do nuclear, but lets be sensible about it.

-- Chris

FTX CTO and Alameda Research CEO admit fraud, pair 'cooperating' with Feds

Re: FTX CEO, CTO and Alameda Research CEO

Or No 23 from my local takeaway ...

Look like Bane, spend like Batman with Dyson's $949 headphones

Dyson's suck ...

Oh wait a minute.

Catching a falling rocket with a helicopter more complex than it sounds, says Rocket Lab

Are helicopters really the best solution for this ?

I would have thought a C-130 fitted with one of those 'catcher' rigs that the US developed for bringing people up from the ground would be a better fit. The C-130 would be a lot faster and so capable of getting into position easier, and provided the parachute cable is long enough, altitude selection by the pickup machine should be less critical.

But I'm not a rocket scientist :(

-- Chris

'Last man standing in the floppy disk business' reckons his company has 4 years left

Re: Speaking Of Ancient Storage Methods .....

When last I heard (OK probably 10 years ago now ...) the UK gov still had a lot of 9 track geophysical data in storage. I would be surprised to hear that all of that data had been re-archived onto a newer medium.

Hell, I'd bet that if you looked you'd still find a *really* interesting TIAC 21 track tape or two ... But finding a drive that would read that would take you some time :)

-- Chris

California to try tackling drought with canal-top solar panels

Re: 13GW from four thousand miles of solar panels...

I'd like to know where you get your wind turbines from ...

I thought the largest ones in the world that have been commercially deployed were rated at about 10 MW ...

Nuclear power is the climate superhero too nervous to wear its cape

Re: I have been on about this since I was a teenager

"+ the storage required"

You will need to elaborate on this mythical "storage" ...

-- Chris

Coinbase CEO cuts 1,100 jobs, warns of 'crypto winter'

Re: In past crypto winters

Well if you look at the figures, from Dec 2017 (~ $16,000 +) to Dec 2018 (~ $3,500) that's a loss of nearly 80% of value. That's bigger the current plunge mid Nov 2021 (~$65,000) to mid Jun 2022 (~ $20,000) of ~70% ... Admittedly that's over a longer time, and this one may still be on the down escalator.

But trust me, If you held bitcoin them, you'd think it was winter.

Two bubbles in 5 years is not a good basis for fiscal stability.