Posts by Anomalous Cow Herd 13 publicly visible posts • joined 14 May 2024
Errr symlinks are just files that point to another file. Dunno about WinFS, but NTFS like most Unix and Linux filesystems, also supports hard links, which allows a file to exist in many different folders in a filesystem and each instance of the file can have different ownerships and meta data. But only one set of content. Very powerful, very easily misused, but really very powerful and useful in certain circumstances. Especially where files are read only and don't need locking while being updated...
If there is an option to choose the country and provider of the service, then there are really great opportunities for this so long as basic telephony, messaging, and perhaps ewallet are secured to the phone, and address book/diary and replicated down to the phone. Imagine if different providers provided locked down access appropriate to their market, a child-friendly guaranteed porn-free service, an enterprise could host it's own service for company phones, a gaming focussed service for gamers /teens, a essentials service with big letters and buttons for my mum - but will need a modern smartphone screen resolution and camera to be attractive to users
Great idea to optimise the existing system.
Bad idea to customise & configure yourself into a future updates blackhole
Worse idea to try to document existing systems and create a whole new system from the ground up.
This is the perfect project for an unscrupulous IT supplier; wandering spec, plenty of public funds, and no deliverables as a result of a joint 'no fault / parting of ways' equals simple transfer of public funds into private accounts. Yes, I'll take that performance bonus as well please....
Within a couple of months of buying a couple of Samsung smart TVs half the apps stopped working, then simply disappeared, never to return. Spotify, web browser, netflix, all UK TV players, except i think BBC iplayer. All dead.
The TVs still connect and picture sound is great, but their smart stuff is crap...
Couldnt agree more - I prefer the heft of a smartphone with a 1000 mAh battery and in a ruggedised case. Similarly I'd prefer a laptop with plenty of ports for convenience and expandability over a bendy fragile under-powered fashion-accessory laptop/tablet
Surely the issue is that if the TikTok app has access to users' address books, and can map networks of individuals and monitor their behaviour. I would expect even obfuscated identities can be identified by their networks of associated identities in their address books - for instance, lets pretend I have an anonymised TikTok id, but my address book lists my mum and dad's numbers, and my kids numbers - it's not going to be difficult to work out my true identity.
Potentially the TikTok app can push content to individuals to influence core-beliefs (of course, this happens already with current algorithms to push content to keep you looking) it's not a big leap to go from pushing content for a specific demographic to pushing content to a specific individual.
Or, even more insidiously, to report back the sort of content individuals are watching, perhaps providing an opportunity for foreign actors to compromise influential individuals binge-watching TikTok content that is inappropriate to their demographic.
Does TikTok do this already? I've no idea. Could it do this? Yes absolutely. Why would TikTok do this? Make money through advertising, de-stabilise western politics and economies, gain access to intellectual-property, or bribery and corruption - maybe? Why take the risk when you could more easily control it or just close it down.
<quote>Re: Strange you should say that....
While based on your post it makes sense you're a proponent of AI and convinced it's the next big thing, I fear that is based on your grasp of basic grammar and the basic principals of logic.
This is another hype bubble, and a much smaller and more tightly focused remnant will be all that remains of this generation of ML driven technology. In the mean time, I hope you can stay out of the whirlpool as it sucks down the hucksters, frauds, and pump and dump scammers.</quote>
Sorry - couldn't help but correct the *deliberate* grammar mistake here
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
