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People find amazing ways to break computers. Cats are even more creative

Cats just sit on the keyboard

Computer crashed, job done!

PowerSchool paid thieves to delete stolen student, teacher data. Looks like crooks lied

I cannot believe it

People who would steal teacher and student data, would lie about deleting the data? That is INCONCIEVABLE!

Microsoft updates the Windows 11 Start Menu

Re: Take my hat off to MS

Because operating systems are not simply programs, they are profit centers.

Ha, ha, ha! I moved to Linux Last Weekend.

I had been previewing early windows releases for quite some time. With the latest release it demanded I configure Phone Link every time I restarted my desktop. This was despite the fact that I hade disabled Phone Link in the settings. I suspect that Microsoft wanted access to your texts for AI purposes so it could compete with Gemini on an equal footing. I don't care.

20% discount offer on Windows 365 expires around same time as Windows 10 support

Time to stop whining

I upgraded my Lenovo Yoga 9 laptop to Linux. It had been the platform I used it for keeping up with the pre-release version of Windows, but I have decided it isn't worth keeping up with. I took my time this weekend and did the following:

1. Made sure I had all my files (documents, source code, photos, etc...) in a secure location in the cloud

2. I tried several different distros before I settled on one. It turns out that the "just try it on a memory stick" works really well.

3. While trying each distro, I installed the apps that I felt I really must have. This was not a heavy lift for me. Most things I use are available

4. Researched some issues I couldn't test with an install, like setting up my old Logitech K350 wireless keyboards, and verifying that Signal Desktop will work.

5. I settled on Linux Mint because I didn't dislike the Windows desktop look and feel and didn't feel motivated to learn a new one.

6. Installed Linux Mint in about 45 minutes.

7. Set my preferences for updates, 5 minutes.

9. Added my preferred browser (including extensions), email client, password manager, signal-desktop, Spotify, and modified the menu in about an hour. This included trying each out.

10. Restored my data.

So I made a meal of it, but the whole thing, including trying three distros took about 4 or 5 hours spent leisurely over 3 days. At this point the UX is basically the same as Windows 11 with the exception that the shortcut keys are different. The only app I wanted to install but couldn't is Windows Terminal (don't judge me!). The Linux terminal is fine, but not quite as choice.

Virgin Atlantic is piloting an OpenAI agent in to help with the 'customer journey'

Wow! Will AI make the seats wider?

Probably not, but it will say the seats are wider.

Devs sound alarm after Microsoft subtracts C/C++ extension from VS Code forks

This is understandable.

Microsoft is unable to sell any of its AI products despite exspending an enormous amount of marketing resources. There is like one guy, using an AI code assistant with C/C++. Does anyone really expect Microsoft to give up the one paying customer for C/C++ AI coding assistants without a fight?

Trump thinks we can make iPhones in the US just like China. Yeah, right

A used care salesman is not really a "businessman".

Trump has never successfully run a business. He has been successful in convincing others to invest in his "concepts". He doesn't recognize that a "concept" is not a "business plan". The closest he has ever come to running a business is "The Apprentice" reality television show. Of course, reality television is anything but reality. In Trump's mind though, and in the mind of his supporters, he was a real business star.

Generative AI app goes dark after child-like deepfakes found in open S3 bucket

Re: Technology for the evil

That's capitalism for you.

Microsoft unveils finalized EU Data Boundary as European doubt over US grows

The USA is now China

A lot of the comments here voicing concern over an American company hosting data in Europe sounds like the concerns voiced in the USA over TikTok. These are realistic concerns. Does any think Donald Trump and his government is more trustworthy than Xi Jinping and the Chinese government?

Microsoft shows off novel quantum chip that can scale to 'a million qubits'. So far: Eight

AI, quantum computing, fusion power

All will be practical in just a few years - as soon as a breakthrough happens. The problem is breakthroughs happen at their own time.

Why users still couldn't care less about Windows 11

How many Windows 10 user does it take to install Windows 11

It takes three. One to do the install and two to complain about how Windows 10 was way better.

Yes but now that Windows 11 contains AI, everyone will want to upgrade from Windows 10!

Or... maybe not.

Windows 11 stages a comeback – still miles behind older sibling

For many, the question is "why upgrade?"

For many, there is no reason to upgrade to Windows 11. If their existing software works, what's the point? Microsoft's business model of:

1. Make some user interface changes to the OS

2. Bump the version number

3. Charge customers for new licenses

is not working. I suspect that de-supporting Windows 10 will simply encourage more users to move to other operating systems, like MacOS or Linux. For many, hosting business apps in the cloud and interacting with them via something like ChromeOS (another version of Linux) will make more sense.

AI agents? Yes, let's automate all sorts of things that don't actually need it

No one wants to pay for AI

OpenAI needs as many stories as possible to keep that investor money coming in. I suspect, that OpenAI, like Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Meta are finding it hard to sell AI products to end users. Giving stuff away until AI catches on is not an option for OpenAI. For that reason, they keep coming up with new applications that people *might* want.

Tool touted as 'first AI software engineer' is bad at its job, testers claim

Re: Stop the AI Marketing spin

Well you see, a buffer overrun is when code reads or writes past the end of a buffer. It is actually well named. It describes literally what is happening. An AI "hallucination" is not like that.

Pornhub lockdown and fact-free Zuckbots – welcome to 2025

Three competing wants.

People want to: 1) Protect children from porn, 2) Allow adults to see porn if they wish, 3) Allow anonymous access to the internet. You cannot have all three things at one time. Many argue that anonymity of access and the right to adult porn is more important that protecting children. Southern US states are arguing that protecting children is the most important thing, so either anonymity of Internet access or access to porn must go.

Personally, I'd be okay banning porn online. Adults could still access porn offline. so that "freedom of speech" would still be upheld. The strong identity needed keep children from accessing porn, while allowing adults to access porn would be a nightmare.

Australia lays fiendish tax trap for Meta – with an expensive escape hatch

A modest proposal

"Social media" makes money by having citizens create stuff that other people want to view. This approach creates content for social media companies for free. Why tax the social media companies at a very high rate so that the product created by the citizens contributes to the local economy. So, for example, in India there are about a quarter billion Indian citizens producing content for Facebook. Assuming that Indian subscribers make up 10% of all Facebook subscribers, make Facebook pay a tax of say 70% on 10% of their global revenue.

This might seem extreme, but let's face it, Facebook, Google, etc... are getting that content for free. Why not tax them?

The US government wants developers to stop using C and C++

Change takes time

Porting a massive installed base takes forever. The first step is to stop creating new projects in C/C++

Microsoft still not said anything about unexpected Windows Server 2025 installs

Copilot?

It would be amusing to learn that Microsoft is drinking their own cool aid and using Copilot in the production of patches. :-)

Amusing but not surprising.

GenAI's dirty secret: It's set to create a mountainous increase in e-waste

Fear of missing out

All this waste and pollution because some CEOs and investors are suffering from FOMO. Maybe AI will be the next big thing - can't risk not investing in it. It reminds me of Web3.

Smart homes may be a bright idea, just not for the dim bulbs who live in 'em

Blame the Tech Bros!

John Scalzi explains all this in his book, "Starter Villain". His best fictional example was the pitch that proclaimed, "Your testicles as a service!" The pitch was for a type of contraceptive that involved testicular surgery and a phone app to turn your fertility on and off. That's too unrealistic you say? I expect to see it announced any day.

Anyway, the book is a fun read about this common complaint.

AI to power the corporate Windows 11 refresh? Nobody's buying that

Marketing...sigh

If desktop search is not enough... Make it spicy!

Some US Kaspersky customers find their security software replaced by 'UltraAV'

Who do they think they are?

McAfee?

OpenAI co-founder's Safe Superintelligence startup inhales $1B in funding

More of the same

Who do these people think they are? Crypto Tech Bros?

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

Way too dumb

Ignoring the issue of whether they were intentionally being sexists, do you want to invest in a company run by people so stupid that they did not know they were going to be called out for literally objectifying women? In a way though, it isn't surprising. Sexism seems to be inversely proportional to intelligence.

How deliciously binary: AI has yet to pay off – or is transforming business

It is a lot like crypto

Block-chain and proof of work algorithms have many applications, but crypto was/is mostly a pyramid scheme run by hucksters. I suspect that LLMs will end up being about the same. There will be many applications where it is applicable. Right now, this seems to be different variations on the "spicey search" application. If the tech bros want to convince me that AI is really the future they will need to show me more applications.

Security biz KnowBe4 hired fake North Korean techie, who got straight to work ... on evil

So, KnowB4 only knew afterwards... Interesting.

CrowdStrike blames a test software bug for that giant global mess it made

Missing the point

It is interesting to know the reason CrowdStrike missed the bug in its software, but it does not matter that much. Bugs are going to happen. The real problem illustrated by this disaster is the fact that organizations like Delta Airlines allow automatic updates to their systems without testing them first. I understand that inside places like Delta Airlines people are desperately searching for someone to blame. Placing blame will not prevent this sort of mass outage from happening in the future. Switching to another OS or another programming language will not prevent it either. What is needed are operational changes to how software is deployed. Automatic updates to systems that require continuous uptime is the root problem.

Unfortunately, CEOs get rewarded for taking bold risks rather than being prudently cautious. The soon to be ex-CEO of Boing is a good example. Under his direction, Boeing became less of an "airplane manufacturer" and more of a "profitable corporation". This was a risk but in the short term, increased profits were almost guaranteed. Planes fell out of the sky. The CEO was "punished" with a 33 million dollar payout package. As long as CEOs of major corporations continue to be thus incentivized, future computer mass outages are assured.

Google's plan to drop third-party cookies in Chrome crumbles

Hey Microsoft, want to make Edge more popular

Instead of hiding the ability to block third party cookies down deep in the settings of Edge and allowing third party cookies by default, block them by default. Heck, surfacing the switch to block the cookies up three or four levels in the settings menu tree would be helpful. Your users would like it and it would cost you next to nothing.

Don’t blame AI for rise in carbon emissions, says Google exec

The data center is part of a community.

I've noticed that Google, Microsoft, and Amazon all carefully ignore one reality - renewable energy is not an infinite resource. It is not just the tech companies that need to convert to renewable energy, it is people's house, regular business, government, etc... When a company like Amazon, for example, builds out quickly in one area it outstrips the region's capacity to grow renewables. The result is dirty energy production methods are needed to heat houses in the winter. https://wapo.st/3zSSFgi. It doesn't matter much if Amazon, Microsoft, and Google can meet these public relation goals, it is the overall conversion to renewables that counts, and those companies are hurting that effort.

CrowdStrike's Falcon Sensor also linked to Linux kernel panics and crashes

The problem is operational

The issue is not the operating system. If you have software that must be continuously available, you cannot blindly trust updates to the OS, any OS, from the vendor. Regardless of whether the OS comes from Red Hat, Microsoft, or whoever, update needs to be tested outside production before you roll it out. This can be expensive since security updates can be frequent but if you want your software to be continuously available without fail there is no way around it. After all, even if you can trust the vendor not to break the OS (clearly you can't) you certainly cannot trust the vendor not to break any application software that the vendor doesn't know about.

Second NHS IT system confirmed to be affected by CrowdStrike issues

Re: Which Windows PCs are effected and should you turn on your PC!

Yeah, the fact that many users don't know if they are using CloudStrike would be a root cause of the entire problem.