Posts by Catkin

UK wants to know if banning under-16s from social media does anything useful

Re: Banning stuff

Is the issue with those who have phones that they are forcing others to use them?

Re: Banning stuff

"I've yet to meet anyone make a credible argument it does more good than harm."

Should this be necessary to decide whether there's a ban? Personally, the sole reason I have a Facebook account is to talk to other home machining and additive manufacturing hobbyists. I'm not one of those people who makes politics their entire personality so the algorithm never shows me rage inducing political drivel, though it does show me the odd stupid 'uplifting' story (e.g. man heard meowing, you'll never guess what happens next).

Hand an appliance without a plug to the average person today and the majority will probably either sit by their dead appliance or harm themselves trying to wire it with the plug in the socket. That doesn't mean we should ban wire strippers, just stick a warning on them and point the buyer in the direction of a good book.

Edit: equally, the majority of television shows are rubbish but I don't think that justifies a ban or diminishes the importance of the better stuff.

Digital euro goes full sovereignty mode, US cloud giants not on guest list

Too much opportunity to monitor the population and, if use or time limited tokens are implemented, ensure they make the 'right' decisions. Chat Control is back on the agenda, this is the other half of the puzzle for enduring hegemony.

Google gives Android users a way to install unverified apps if they prove they really, really want to

What's old is new

I don't know how many Symbian users can still remember a similar situation where you had to acquire a device specific key of your own to install unsigned software but it was a vicious hassle. It might have been a contributing factor to why we don't use Symbian anymore.

Iranian news service claims drone strikes on AWS were deliberate, to probe for US datacenter dependencies

Re: They're finished

I mean in the sense that even Iran recognises it's wrong. At the same time, they only took a quick breather but it should give any apologists pause for thought.

Re: They're finished

The President of Iran apologised this morning for the attacks they conducted on other Gulf nations (sysadmins next?)

They're finished

It's one level of stupidity to drone strike random uninvolved countries, it's an order higher to make sysadmin grumpy over uptime.

You can power a G-Wiz EV with 500 vapes, and this YouTuber proved it

Re: "the mountains of trash"

Why ban something that's recognised by the NHS as a relatively safe, effective method for stopping smoking?

UK still doodling digital pound while Brussels frets over payment sovereignty

Re: Amusing

I don't think any significant number of people who advocate for PoW or PoS based digital currencies are advocatingc for CBDCs. Contrawise, I think CBDC advocates (they exist too) have an even more negative view of PoW and PoS than the average Reg commenter.

In my personal view, the former are silly but people have a right to be silly while the latter offer governments a lever of personal control that makes chat control and age gates seem trivial. In the hands of a government that views VPNs as a problem, they're terrifying; in the hands of a totalitarian government, they're apocalyptic.

Crims hit a $20M jackpot via malware-stuffed ATMs

Re: You just know they skimped on the security

Back in the day, ATMs were one of the last holdout for active use of OS/2 under the bonnet.

UK to demand social platforms take down abusive intimate images within 48 hours

The sharing part is already a crime, that hasn't changed so why would they comment on it?

Ireland joins regulator smackdown after X's Grok AI accused of undressing people

Re: Am I the only one ...

No disagreements on those points, I just wanted to raise the possibility that fake CSAM in the output isn't conclusive of real/fake CSAM in the input set.

Re: Am I the only one ...

Sorry if I was unclear, I meant that I believe a diffusion model would be capable of making simulated, fake CSAM based on inputs of just nude adults and clothed children, though I'm really not interested in testing this hypothesis beyond pointing to pink elephants

Re: Am I the only one ...

I think the CSAM ingestion accusation is a bit of a stretch. Most diffusion models can generate fairly photographic images of clearly impossible things by bodging together known concepts (e.g. A pink elephant in a rice paddy or a Ferrari drawn in the style of Da Vinci).

As for the why of editing photos, the reasons are too broad to list but the phenomenon of people touching up photos is hardly unique to diffusion models and is as old as photography (have a look at why photoshop tools like dodge and burn have those icons).

Re: Am I the only one ...

There are shit heads who set out to make that specifically but, in the case of Grok, it's basically misuse of image touch up capabilities. "can you remove this ugly broach from my dress in this picture" is the same task as "can you remove my dress in this picture".

AI agents spill secrets just by previewing malicious links

Re: This is not really news

Isn't the root failing there giving the information to the LLM in the first place? Could you give an example of information that an LLM would need access to in order to function but which it absolutely shouldn't disclose?

British military to get legal OK to swat drones near bases

Re: Now make it legal for drones

I'm curtain no one has been able to engineer such a solution

House of Lords votes to ban social media for Brits under 16

A sort of reverse Logan's Run?

Akamai CEO wants help to defeat piracy, reckons he can handle edge AI alone

Re: I would argue...

What FLOSS software would enable one to watch copyrighted content for free in a non infringing way?

European Space Agency hit again as cybercrims claim 200 GB data up for sale

Can you please explain what you believe their purpose is and what should instead fulfil that purpose?

New York’s incoming mayor bans Raspberry Pi at his inauguration party

If a secure area is secured by cards that a Flipper can clone then 'secure area' is a misnomer.

Stop the slop by disabling AI features in Chrome

are articles like this still a thing?

I suggest taking a look at the market share for each browser.

The CRASH Clock is ticking as satellite congestion in low Earth orbit worsens

Re: Crash!

Pushing satellites 'off towards the sun' is very much not an option, that's an incredible delta-V, as is sending something up to retrieve them (slightly more plausible but incredibly expensive). The reach issue comes down to the distance to the surface increasing with latitude; increasing latency further and attenuation from both inverse square and atmospheric traversal. Honestly, it really does feel like a heck of a reach to justify GEO for 2 way communication in the era when more than large businesses and super yacht owners are employing satellites to get online. I would suggest you simulate that level of latency if you doubt its impact.

As for questioning whether the customer base justifies the number of starlink satellites, at some point, you're arguing that they're not interested in profits, given that they already achieved global coverage so more launches would represent additional operating expenses.

Re: Crash!

GEO requires fewer satellites if you're running a transmission-only (e.g. TV) operation but consider that even the latest Viasat-3 tops out at 1Tbps per satellite (ignoring the catastrophic antenna failure F1 suffered), which is 10k simultaneously connected customers (assuming 100Mbps). Viasat-2 is a mere 300Gbps per satellite. It's also worth bearing in mind that GEO is limited to one very exclusive inclination/shell to actually achieve the geostationary part. This is why the affordable Viasat tiers are data capped and they achieved peak users of 0.6M in 2020. It made sense in the era of satellite internet customers being businesses needing extreme redundancy and extremely wealthy private individuals.

As per the ESA, Kessler becomes a risk above 800km:

https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Space_Debris/About_space_debris

well above Starlink's current operations or plans.

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Re: Crash!

The aspect to consider regarding dwell time and drag in an elliptical orbit is the Oberth Effect. Just as using an engine at periapsis can boost the apoapsis efficiently, the drag efficiently drops it. Additionally, the debris will have a far larger cross sectional area than the original satellite, in much the same way as comparing an in-tact feather pillow and a torn open one.

Re: Crash!

Regarding GEO overall: the issue is one of crowding and limited reach. A GEO only works over the equator, barring or complicating communication from high latitudes. Inclined and/or elliptical orbits are possible but that requires a steerable antenna for each customer and a constellation (in other words, running into the same issues as Starlink if you're concerned about orbital crowding). Plus, all the way out at GEO altitudes, Kessler syndrome starts to become an issue because of the very long dwell time of debris.

Regarding latency: I'd suggest giving jagt's clumsy (on Github) a go to get a feel for what 500-700ms latency feels like on an Internet connection. It's not a terribly fun experience unless you're using it to end that very annoying Teams meeting; crank the latency, use speakers instead of a microphone (so the noise suppression fails) and watch your dear fellow callers deal with the fascinating effects of Delayed Audio Feedback on speech.

New boss was bad, his attitude was ugly, so the tech team pranked him good

Re: Access security 101

You've reminded me of a prank that worked beautifully: a junior manager had left his computer unlocked over lunch so I used his webcam to take a picture of his superior (in on this) peeking around his door. I set the picture as his Teams background and, after lunch, the hybrid meeting started.

At the appropriate moment, I knocked on the table with noise suppression off. Having a desk that faces the door, the junior manager looks at his feed, then turns around to find a closed door before almost falling off his chair when the same boss speaks to him from Teams.

Datacenters planned for Scotland could end up draining a loch of power

If a terrorist wanted to cause a radiological release, they'd have a much easier time targeting the radiotherapy department of a hospital. If they had the sort of devices capable of cracking one open, it would be less harmful than them taking said devices on public transport.

Thank you very much for taking the time to break it down and put inline sources. I really do appreciate it.

Do you have a source on the funding claim? I was under the impression that EGL2/3 are paid for by transmission PLCs and their role in selling energy generated in Scotland to the rest of the UK would effectively mean they're being paid for by those customers.

Some safeguards (which would keep the price up by a certain amount) would be advisable to avoid a repeat of the deadly 2021 events in Texas.

FCC sounds alarm after emergency tones turned into potty-mouthed radio takeover

Fun fact: it's illegal in the US to simply use the tone (853, 960Hz overlaid) in a non-emergency broadcast.

DARPA making low-hanging satellites that use air to move

Re: Good luck

Apologies for the all caps

Re: Good luck

The point of the propulsion is to overcome atmospheric drag. If the atmosphere is thinner, what do you think that might do to the demands on the propulsion system?

Also, DARPA projects can benefit humanity as a WHOLE. GPS being made accessible to all, for free, in the wake of the KAL007 tragedy being a prominent example.

Secret setting hints haptic feedback coming to Windows 11 UI

Re: Logitech iFeel mouse

Logitech have added haptics to the new MX mice

Microsoft will force its 'superintelligence' to be a 'humanist' and play nice with people

Re: MS Stock price

If I were that certain, I'd be making heavily leveraged shorts against some key players.

Re: Last attempt

I expect the refer to the last 10 days of performance, mirroring the modest slide on the S&P 500. If the current trend represents a 'bubble' 'popping' then that has to be the lowest pressure bubble in history (this isn't an argument for or against it being a bubble, merely a comment on using 10 days of weak market data to determine it).

I presume they either weren't alive in 2008, they don't actually invest in stocks or that year was so devastating that they obliterated all memory of it.

UK calls up Armed Forces veterans for digital ID soft launch

Re: Kool Aid 1984

Party loyalty (i.e. being able to count on a group of people to overlook all your malfeasance to prevent the other party from winning) is evaporating faster than vodka in a hot frying pan. This creates an incentive for the incumbent party to massively overreach under the guise of 'protecting democracy/the children' because the idea of simply sticking to their manifesto promises and listening to the public on everything else is unthinkable to them.

Literal crossed wires sent cops after innocent neighbors in child abuse case

Re: You should never cooperate with the police

It's a concept I fundamentally disagree with because it disproportionately favours the police but the legal term is Adverse Inference. Definitely worth reading up on so that you're properly aware of your actual rights (or, rather, the limits of them).

Everyone wants a fancy phone – even the folk buying them second-hand

I must be a weirdo

Give me expandable storage, a passable camera and a reasonably low lag experience and I'm happy. The last time I bought a new phone (entry level Galaxy) was because I needed an eSim option. A few years ago, it felt like there were actual reasons to upgrade, now, it's just because updates have ceased or the battery is toast and replacing it costs more than replacing the whole device.

I also don't see the appeal of foldables because the screen is so fragile.

Windows 95 was too fat to install itself so needed help from the slimmer 3.1

Re: Nothing ever changes

That's largely the product of safety and efficiency legislation pushing manufacturers into a corner. Back when you were allowed to sell a car with the aerodynamics of a house brick that would bisect a pedestrian if they so much as stumbled into it, there was much more wiggle room.

Ironically, the same rules that mean a pedestrian has to be ejected back onto the pavement and handed a nice cup of tea in the process means it's not possible to see children over the bonnet.

Slow Wi-Fi? Add houseplants to the list of suspects

Re: Microwaves don't pass well through water?

Also why you shouldn't take your laptop swimming. The sudden loss of wifi when underwater confuses the OS and, in its panic, it fries all the components. It's still safe to put them in Faraday bags because the darkness is relaxing, just like it is for birds.

AI can now design functional viruses – not the computer kind, either

Re: Virus produced by nation state ...

Blood antigens, while not 100% do, in some cases, follow quite predictable distributions as far as being rare in some groups and very common in others.

Apple's 'Awe Droppings' fall close to the tree

https://www.theregister.com/2013/05/30/apple_settles_idevice_warranty_lawsuit/

Microsoft readies Windows 11 25H2 while Windows 10 circles the drain

Re: "the installation is little more than an enablement package"...

That depends on your outlook. I do remember the sixteen million versions of Vista but, at the same time, it allows updates to be rolled out quickly once the new features have been verified as stable. That way, they can trickle new code out slowly without breaking everything for everyone if one part proves problematic.

Further, if you're on a particularly poor connection it saves one big lump of downloads (the counter being that your connection gets slowly used all the time, possibly with code that will never get enabled). It also spreads out the time to install updates (the counter being that it fills your drive.

While it is potentially abusable, it's not quite the same as a car manufacturer replacing a simple switch and relay on a heated seat with a signal that goes through a computer which only turns your heated seat on if you pay up.

Not in my browser! Vivaldi capo doubles down on generative AI ban

Re: Good show

That's my primary setup too. It's not so much seeing the ads in FF, it's that each video takes a solid minute to start playing and YouTube pops up a 'helpful' hint that the poor performance might be the fault of my ad blocker. Perhaps they're trying new code but, when it is happening, Brave seems to do just fine, playing immediately.

Re: Good show

Personally, I use it for YouTube because I find whatever advertising is actually taking place* less intrusive. I find 30s ads every 5 minutes or a minute for a video to load while YouTube fights with ublock to be more bother than having another browser installed on my system.

*I think there was one pop up about their own crypto but, unlike a Microsoft prompt to sign in or a YouTube prompt to show me shorts, when I told it to go away forever, it did

Unlike most of Musk's other ventures, Starship keeps it together for Flight Test 10

Re: "eventually reaching the surface and exploding as expected"

What would be your expectations for a realistic but ambitious test programme of a novel, reusable rocket of this weight class?

Two scrubs, one Starship: Third time lucky for SpaceX?

Re: Bring back the core rope memory

Very good point, at the same time, do have a look at the re-entry phase of flight test 4. It maintained effective command authority even as the forward flaps were turned to plasma.