Posts by 897241021271418289475167044396734464892349863592355648549963125148587659264921474689457046465304467

Rackspace tests customer loyalty with brutal email price hike

Yeah, like Proton pricing is going to stay still while stupid "AI" gobbles all the world's resources.

AI is gobbling up all RAM, storage, materials for electronics, and chippery. Personal computing, email, and websites will become unaffordable for many. Perhaps for even The Reg. Server inflation contagion will be legion. "Freemium" offerings will disappear. Wish this damned bubble would burst already. Fucking stuff is mostly useless.

When the AI bubble pops, Nvidia becomes the most important software company overnight

Re: "When the AI bubble pops"

https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/20/rackspace_price_changes/

"When the AI bubble pops"

Can't pop soon enough! With increasing prices of RAM and SSDs, I'm expecting price hikes for web server hire to be exorbitant.

Microsoft 365 boosts prices in 2026 … to pay for more AI and security

Is "AI" of any use?

Classic MacOS for non-Apple PowerPC kit rediscovered

"vast 10 MB of RAM"

Paid 90 squid 64GB of DDR4 but two months ago, went to buy more yesterday and it's almost £400! Lean is the future - AI gobbling all planetary resources to enslave us all.

Logitech's MX Master 4 mouse buzzes with haptic feedback but lacks lefty love

Thanks for your suggestion, it gave me an idea. The problem started after I'd used an electric air duster to blast away a surprisingly large quantity of fine dry looking filth, some of which had formed miniature tumbleweed-like structures inside the Trackball mouse casing, only fluffier - I suspected very fine and slightly oily dust was blasted into the microswitch by the powerful electric air duster, causing it to immediately become glitchy, registering double clicks, not registering clicks etc. It drove me potty. Rather than try motor oil, I held the microswitch open and squirted 99.99% isopropyl alcohol into the switch, clicked it many times, squirted in more to clear filth away, clicked rapidly some more, and the problem appears to have disappeared. That's saved me a fiver on a new microswitch, and the soldering thereof. Suddenly I feel daft at having bought so many replacement microswitches over the years...

Re: Rubber oil goop coating

>In my experience, sticky rubberised coatings can normally be removed with isopropyl alcohol and quite a bit of rubbing. (*)

Small dabs of cooking oil can help remove that "Anti-bacterial" layer, goopifies the goop for easier removal by 99.99% isopropyl and rubbing with many paper towels.

Which switches does it use? They don't last like the old days. I'm forever soldering new switches to my Logitech meeces...

Nadella hands Microsoft money machine off to new commercial CEO so he can visioneer the future

Windows 11 is cancelled?

Boffins fool a self-driving car by putting mirrors on traffic cones

This is fantastically useful news! While cycling, I used to worry about being squished like a bug by increasingly and unnecessarily large and heavy self-dysfuncting metal boxes on wheels, but all I've got to do is cover my bicycle with mirrors? HOORAY! Traffic jams behind my bike for miles! Take that road hog tanks! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

What would a Microsoft engineer do to Ubuntu? AnduinOS is the answer

Puny dollar, cheaper for me to pay in $ than £ via US VPN connection but...

-32Bit = -897241021271418289475167044396734464892349863592355648549963125148587659264921474689457046465304467

Sony VAIO P says no.

Firefox ESR 115 won't quit Windows 7 – at least not until March 2026

Thank fuck for that! Sod 8, 10, 11 or whatever. Firefox on Windows 7 forever!

India gets its turn on the Trump tariff train: 25% levy to start Friday

Well, there goes the moderately tasty gravy train for tat routed via India to the US from tariffed China.

Flock storage: Audio boffin encodes data in a starling

Starling swarms will be bombed to prevent .PNG frames of the pee tape migrating in.

How Google profits even as its AI summaries reduce website ad link clicks

It's disgusting that some cults have recently succeeded in pressuring Google to change AI Overview answers to the question "Is X a cult?" from yes to no. Which X, I can't say on an open forum, because I'd lose my house to libel tourism even when true.

Jack Dorsey floats specs for decentralized messaging app that uses Bluetooth

Bitch@™

You're welcome grateful internet.

Lenovo shows what a Chromebook packing a MediaTek Kompanio Ultra can do

Lenovo shows what a Chromebook packing a MediaTek Kompanio Ultra can do

What can it do?

Folks aren’t buying the PCs that US vendors stockpiled to dodge tariffs

Well, after finally getting around to buying some parts to make a new PC to locally host some of the smaller "AIs" (nVidia 3060 12GB + nVidia 1080Ti 11GB [which I already had], AMD 5060, Corsair 128GB DDR4, Gigabyte B550 Elite V2, 4TB Corsair 705 NVMe, 4TB Western Digital Blue NVMe, 6TB Western Digital Blue HD, Montech Air Max case and replacement quiet 140mm fans [the free included Montech ones are noisy], plus extra 140mm and 120mm quiet fans)... after having stopped at Windows 7 Pro for years (I didn't like the look of 8, 8.1, or 10. I still don't)... I think I won't have any choice but to ditch Windows completely (running old necessary old Windows programs in VMs in Linux), because Microsoft appear to have gone terminally insane.

Windows 11 migration heats up... on desktops

Is Windows 10 any good?

Is Windows 11 any good?

World's largest camera shows galaxy in 3,200 megapixel glory as Rubin telescope goes online

Where can I download the full resolution version of this pic? I'd like to cut it into zillions of ickle bity sections to print and cover my town with, so when viewed from some point between, the Trifid Nebula looks mirrored to befuddle invaders.

https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/06/24/galaxy1.jpg

The ultimate Pi 5 arrives carrying 16GB ... and a price to match

Needing a low power security camera capable of capturing car number plates at night, I may finally have a practical use for a Pi. You see, nearly every security cam prioritises low ISO over graininess, which results in a visually pleasing but useless image when anything is moving at any speed faster than glacial at night. And it's extremely annoying that most security cameras don't provide access to ISO or shutter speed via software UI, or any other way. In case I need to sue a driver to death, I record every one of my ebike rides using a GoPro Hero 7 Black, and at 1/960s and ISO800, there is very little number plate blur. I can record every nearby number plate, even at night. Setting min ISO to 100 and max ISO at 800 means I don't have to change any settings, as day turns to night, and I'm hoping I can get a Pi with Pi Camera to pull the same trick. Here's an example from last week, and this wasn't close or fast. Underexposed, has to be brightened in post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkVZw-1Ip-0

I mean, have you seen all the blurry faces and screengrabs of blurry cars cops send to the media, hoping the public will recognise the blur or some blurry part thereof? No security camera I've seen is fit for purpose! Not if that purpose is shooting unblurry video at night. Every dashcam I've ever seen also suffers the same issue. I don't mind graininess if there are a lot of frames per second, but I don't want blur because that's utterly useless. This won't need 16 freaking GB of RAM.

Haiku Beta 5 / In tests it's (Fire)foxier / It pleases us well

A fully functioning and well supported browser could extend this project's legs. I'll try it on the VAIO P - didn't install last time I tried, a couple of years ago. If it boots fast and runs Firefox fast, it'll be a keeper as an option with Windows XP, Windows 7 Pro, and antiX.

https://www.grc.com/never10.htm

https://www.grc.com/incontrol.htm

Fancy climbing the peaks of Alpine Linux? 3.20 is out

@Liam Proven - How fast does it run on your Sony VAIO P? Tried a bunch of distros a couple of years ago on mine, and antiX was the fastest, usable and useful. I have to open it up again soon to re-seat the MSATA converter, because the 3M self adhesive pad is a smidge too thick (will have to saw through it using dental floss), and I also need to replace the heat resistant tape which bulks up ribbon cable connecting the converter, because that too is also a smidge too thick (probably using thin sellotape, as before [if I haven't damaged the tiny thin ribbon cable by using too thick a tape, increasing pressure on the thickened cable exerted by the tiny clamp {I reckon it'll be ok, but we'll see}])... so I may take the opportunity to pop the MSATA into a desktop PC, reformat and load a bunch of new stuff to try. So many damned tiny screws, will disassemble while recording with a GoPro trained on it this time, because worryingly there are two screws left over. Aaarrrggghh.

I use this thing every day. Was looking for a newer similar sized replacement, can't find one. They're all too damned big and not even remotely pocketable. Mind you, the VAIO P isn't pocketable either, but it's slim enough for me to have had the inner pockets of two coats and two leather jackets altered to fit.

Google Bard can now tap into your Gmail, Docs, more

It'll be like opting out of "Allow shorts sampling and remixing" when uploading a video to Youtube - disable, upload and publish only to discover later that "disable" hasn't worked at all, and all and sundry uknown have been willy nilly sampling your shorts without your knowledge or consent for weeks. Of course it's a deeply upsettling unwelcome violation. Now, I upload, disable out of forlorn fatuous hope that it works but it never does, then select mutiple videos in Youtube Studio and disable "remixing" all at once, which appears to have the desired effect. But who the hell really knows what Google are seceretly doing with everything it has access to al urs iz urz lolz.

ArcaOS 5.1 gives vintage OS/2 a UEFI facelift for the 21st century

> I bought the optional dongle, but it doesn't work.

My combined ethernet and VGA dongle worked better, after the I gave the proprietary connector a good external clean using 90% isopropyl alcohol. Sometimes their connectors to the VAIO P corrode a tiny bit - they don't look corroded, but gleam after a clean; the residue becomes apparent. The same happens sometimes with my USB cables, SD cards, USB thumb drives, rechargeable AAs etc. Of course, avoid touching the internal pins of the connectors with anything.

Or you might have the wrong dongle, or the dongle, the dongle's connector, or the connector of the VAIO P could be damaged? I'd inspect the pins through a big magnifying glass or jeweler's loupe. Some phones have good macro lenses, and can be effective when given enough illumination. It's all so tiny and densely packed chance of damage is high, especially given it's age.

@Liam Proven - Install it on your Sony VAIO P! Perhaps you'll need to remove the tiny hard dive and start the installation on a desktop PC or laptop utilising a ZIF to SATA converter, then complete after shoehorning it back into the VAIO P? Bear in mind ZIP retaining clip plastics that old can easily break...

antiX 23: Anarchic for sure, but 'design by committee' isn't always the best for Linux

"Atom-based Sony Vaio P, and it makes that geriatric sub-netbook feel sprightly."

It'll be much faster when you upgrade to an SSD! I chose MS Linux for my Sony VAIO P, because Firefox was able to play Youtube videos without stuttery audio (albeit at very low frame rate) ), antiX couldn't. I might try the new version...

@Liam Proven: BTW I'm replacing the quite thick (3mm) 3M heat-resistant self-adhesive pad, which is holding the mSATA converter in place, with a thinner version, because it sometimes causes issues: the keyboard is pushed up a smidge, and occasionally the drive isn't recognised at boot. I believe the thicker sticky pad is disrupting that miniscule connecting cable's positioning, which was a bodge: It had to be thickened on one side of the miniscule connector using heat resistant Kapton, else it simply fell out - the miniscule cable wouldn't be retained by the miniscule cable clip. Pushing the keyboard down a little compresses the 3mm foam of the sticky pad, after which the drive is detected. Removing that 3M sticky pad isn't going to be easy - they stick like stink! Therefore to avoid damaging the mSATA converter board, I'm going to carefully saw through it using dental floss, then clean off residue using 90% isopropyl alcohol (or whatever works... might need a tiny careful drop of oil first, to dissolve any remaining slightly baked adhesive, and then dissolve the resulting gunge using isopropyl). I've been putting this task off because it's all so damned miniscule in there, but feel ready now that I've bought a huge magnifying glass with integral LED lights from fleabay. I hope there aren't any miniscule screws left over after reassembly...

Western Digital sued over claims of data-trashing SanDisk, My Passport SSDs

New WB Black HDs only lasted about a year, instead of the usual approx 8. I may try swapping boards over from some of a similar age, to recover data, but I doubt this is likely to work.

Judge denies HP's plea to throw out all-in-one printer lockdown lawsuit

Re: I ditched HP printers

The DJI Osmo 3 action camera requires online activation via an app, or it won't do a goddamn thing! So I bought GoPro instead, which has a smaller less sensitive sensor, and smaller lens... but at least it functions as a video and stills camera right out of the box, without first having to be activated online (which doesn't always work to activate DJI Osmo 3 cameras anyway).

Playing instruments, musical talent? Psh, this is the 2020s – Meta has models for that now

Code is cheaper than people.

People, instruments and music are just bunches of numbers!

Tried requesting Chopin in the style of electro pop, got a different very low fidelity result each time. I think this contraption needs a lot more work, but eventually musicans will become obsolete.

Logitech reports broad declines as pre-pandemic buying cycles return

Logitech's going to have to use even shorter lived switches than they do now, get punters buying more often than they're forced to already - I replaced three of my Logitech Marble Trackman's Omimoron switches with Cherry DG13-B1AA, which are rated for over a million clicks. Should last till lunchtime then. Can't buy those meeces new anymore, a great pity. Next up, the bloody awful Omimoron switches in two M570 meeces, my second and third favourites. They're my pets you know.

Want to live dangerously? Try running Windows XP in 2023

Re: nostalgic start

Are you trying it out on the VAIO P?

MX Linux doesn't progressively get slower like Mint does.

@Liam Proven: Sony VAIO P SSD upgrade

Thank you for writing about how to get sound working for Windows XP on the VAIO P, using it's integral sound hardware - it's a very annoying issue. I had a go, but sadly was unable to remove or rollback another driver, one of many, which I had tried installing before... therefore the update failed. I deleted all HD Audio .inf files, didn't work, tried to find *.pnf files to delete those too, for that non-functioning device with no details to no avail. It appears to be there till the end of time itself, and beyond.

On my SSD upgraded VAIO P, XP is pretty much an instant on mode, and faster booting than the old Corel Linux "instant" OS it shipped with (on HDD - I didn't install that on the mSATA, as it could have complicated or confounded my tri-boot masterplan). XP is very handy for playing music via an external Novation NIO 2/4 sound card - I use it as a HiFi, outputs to my huge floorstanders. The quality of the NIO is great, noise free too because it's located several feet away from the VAIO P and other electrical devices. The other way to get the VAIO's sound hardware working in XP, is to get it working on Windows Vista, then downgrade to XP. However, installing Vista drivers on XP doesn't work... therefore there must (?) exist XP drivers somewhere in the Vista downgrader installation files, but I haven't found them.

I'm sure you're sick of my saying this yet again, but you really must replace your Sony VAIO P's HD with a mATA SSD! (Or maybe you shouldn't - keep reading) Not an old SSD intended for the your VAIO P either, because you probably want fast and robust. Mine flies now, even when running Windows 7 Professional. MX Linux is less snappy, but works at an acceptable speed. I regret not trying Tiny 10. The only post-upgrade problem is due to that tiny, proprietary and delicate SATA ribbon cable - it's too thin to be held by the MSATA to SATA converter. This necessitated the use of heat-resistant Kapton tape to thicken the mSATA directed business end of that ribbon a bit, and it worked. Unfortunately it's new thickness isn't quite the perfect size, and occasionally the only screen you'll see when switching the VAIO on, is the BIOS - this is because the ribbon contacts are not connecting and the "Hard disk" isn't detected. If this happens (it does every so often) I simply press on the area of the keyboard above where the mSATA SSD is located, restart, and the VAIO P boots presenting three choices of operating system: Windows XP Professional, Windows 7 professional or MX Linux. Finding a brand new replacement for that ribbon cable is of course impossible. I used the right converter, but I suspect the mSATA converter's clasp has been updated to fit modern ZIF cables. I could try to source an old one. I may yet replace the Integral mSATA with a Samsung, if the Samsung has a thinner profile, to see if this intermittent issue goes away. With a mSATA installed in your Sony VAIO P, all of the operating systems you try could be much more enjoyable to use, or facilitate speedier misery (depending).

p.s. My daily driver runs XP Pro lol. Really.

Clingy Virgin Media won't let us leave, customers complain

To avoid that sort of malarkey is why I pay by bill, and have resisted ever paying by Direct Debit for years. I'm supposed to be disconnected in a couple of days... I'm considering not paying the final two bills (30 day notice required). Non-payment should result in disconnection, and the end of whatever contract Vermin imagine exists between me and them.

It's infuriating and outrageous that one has to risk a clean credit record to escape! Potentially impeding signup to another provider. Anything less than a CCJ should be ok? I have Smarty boradband via SIM router, it's faster than I expected - no credit checks anwyay, and a lot more reliable than Vermin Virgin FscksU Media. Yesterday, it took 5m 50s to upload a 440mb file to Youtube using Smarty = 1.26 megabytes per second. That'll do.