Posts by Sam Shore

Nine-year-old runs up $118,000 bill on dad's corporate credit card advertising his Roblox YouTube channel

Re: Perhaps he should sue Google Ads for a refund?

Although, the friend of an uncle who won 6 million. He split his winnings with his sons. Son number 1 started a DIY supply business. Nice and successful. Son number 2 invested his million into a drug smuggling operation. Got busted on his first attempt trying to bring drugs through the tunnel in a truck he'd paid to have smuggling compartments installed into. Ended up doing time. As for the dad, he built himself a new mansion on a plot of land he bought. He didn't conform to planning permissions, and when he'd finished the council made him rip it down.

So, I'm thinking maybe people are not stupid for playing. Maybe they are just stupid when they win!

Re: Perhaps he should sue Google Ads for a refund?

I do play the lottery, it's a fun exercise every weekend, and it only costs me £2. I understand the maths, but I also know 4 people that have won, 2 of which I'm directly related to, 1 relative by marriage and the last a friend of an uncle that used to hang around my grandparents when they were alive, so I'll probably continue my weekly punt every weekend til the day I die.

Now, people who spends hundreds a week of money they can't afford playing National Lottery games, that's straight up gambling addiction.

SpaceX aims Starship for orbit on September 22

I thought the last one, was more of a pleasant plop..

China marches towards re-usable rockets with successful first-stage landing

One step closer to making Firefly a reality!

EU lets wearables wriggle out of user-replaceable battery rules

So how long until Apple makes the claim that the 12 inch iPad Pro cannot have a removable battery, because they are shipping it with a wrist strap in the box.

UK firm bombarded debt-ridden people with 5.5M texts

The director mention resigned in 2022, so it looks like he's left someone else's wife carrying the can.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/w3zN8TjUn9H4bAeznmcNlrBeg40/appointments

The company has been trading since 2021, and according to it's last filing, has just over £250 in assets. It had a single year of approx £15K income. I don't think the ICO is going to be getting any blood from this stone.

Ukraine puts its Russian war trophies online for allies to pick apart

Are we going to see some iFixit teardowns, with scores for repairability?

Ransomware sends Illinois high school on an early summer vacation

So is the access to Google Apps restricted, because it was Google Apps that was exploited, or was it local machines and storage that were exploited, and the school has turned off Google Apps as a knee-jerk reaction, but not turned off it's internet router?

UK banks offered access to OpenAI’s GPT-5.5 amid exclusion from Anthropic’s Glasswing expansion

Hey Chat GPT, transfer half a cent of interest from all bank accounts, into this bank account in a tax haven and book me a flight to a country with tropical beaches, nude women and no extradition treaty!

It's going to happen at some point. The AI is only to eager to please.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 18, 13, 5, 81, 14, 42

The one thing banks need to be able to do, is count. There's one thing Chat GPT can't do, is count. I've just had it count 1200 words of text from my website. On it's first attempt it counted 550, on the second attempt it counted 650. I asked it to summarise in 500 words a chapter of a book, and it wrote me 1500 words, proudly stating "the word count is 530".

This is not going to end well. Bookmark this comment :p

PS I had to wait over an hour on this article for someone else to write the first comment, before I could add one. The comment icons are still not always showing.

AIs don't like religion – particularly Jehovah's Witnesses, study claims

Re: And they're Surprised?

"If its bias... was based on its training data then surely....."

I suspect that anti jewish sentiment was a lot more prevalent than anti JW for the reasons you gave, but it would be a brave author who titled their piece "AIs don't like religion - particularly Jews".

Same goes for the top comment on this page. Had James's comment been "Frankly, AI not liking Jews is the first good thing that I've heard of on the subject of AI use" he would have probably ended up with a ban.

Intolerance is OK as long as it's against a really small group of people.

Google is cannibalizing the web to feed AI

Re: Google-bye!

Almost, My google ads account is pleading with me to enable the AI powered auto bidding option. It's even started cutting down the amount of traffic to my site because I won't select it. The wording is something along the lines of "We don't believe your current bidding option will be able to handle the amount of traffic we will send to you if you enabled it, therefore we're not going to send you any".

Previously they would post your ad until you used up all your budget, then post someone elses up until their budget was used up. Now you have to set the bidding to auto or you get nothing.

Google has been quietly slurping up all companies house records. I can imagine that their AI has now identified the profits of every company in the UK, and has set it's autobid bot up with what they think you will pay individually. The "auctions" are well and truly over. "This is how much we think you will be willing to pay, now pay it".

Sage is doing exactly the same with their cloud subscriptions. Their support forums are full of "this is how much I'm being charged", "No-way I'm being charged this much", "well this is how much they are charging me for the same thing". Open pricing has gone out of the window now with cloud.

KDE bags €1.3M as Europe realizes it might need an OS of its own

Re: 2036 will be the year of Linux on the Desktop!

So how do we get Trump to claim ownership of IPv4, forcing the rest of the world to adopt IPv6 just as quickly?

We've only gone and done it: Changed what you're used to

Also having the problem for the past week. I hadn't noticed this thread. I was assuming that comments were now turned off for X hours after a story is posted.

https://youtu.be/WcJee2zKi68

Chrome silently installs a 4 GB local LLM on your computer

Re: Hoist by their own petard

Almost true. You can present it at a Post Office that has photography capabilities. I didn't have any near me, and I wasn't going on an hours drive to have my photo taken.

Not all Post Office services are available at all Post Offices.

Re: Hoist by their own petard

I've been down that route recently. Some of those such as the security questions actually get their info from credit vendors. Even with the correct answers, you can fail this test, and others, leaving you with the Apple or Google app left as the only resort.

IBM tried to kill Tab navigation. Microsoft told it Bill Gates' mother wasn't interested

Re: I don't believe it

I was today years old when I learned that you could shift+tab to go previous fields.

I've spent 30+ years, holding the tab key down until it cycles through the page again!

On the bright side, it became a skill people would be in awe of, as I had the knack of lifting my finger off the key at the moment the field I wanted was highlighted, and not have to cycle through the whole page again.

Artemis III aims for 'late 2027' for Earth orbit demonstration

"the original justification to have duct tape on board".

WD 40 and Duct Tape solve all problems, and are therefore justified.

Should it move? Yes - > WD 40

Should it move? No -> Duct Tape

I do remember duct tape being handy on the moon too.. https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/duct-tape-auto-repair-moon

California ghost-gun bill wants 3D printers to play cop, EFF says

Re: Why 3D Printers?

"My personal "fire plan" was to run away very very quickly"

And don't go back for your phone !

Re: Why 3D Printers?

All I can say is WOW! I weld titanium, and it's process that can explode. I can only imagine the devastation powered titanium could cause if it ignited. I expect it being a cross between thermite and TNT :p

Folk are getting dangerously attached to AI that always tells them they're right

In the past week, I've had someone on the Sage City forum use chat GPT to "prove" a solution, and another person use chat GPT to "prove" facts in a legal case. In both cases, I had to walk away flabbergasted. People seem to have turned off the critical thinking side of their brain completely when talking to AI. It's "Computer says no*" at a whole new level!

*or yes!

We tested Intel's new chips for cash-strapped hardcore PC users and they're impressive

Anything greater than quad core is overkill for my needs. A quad core in the 3.7 to 4.0 Ghz range would run all my software, games too.

In the name of science: Boffins build fart-tracking undies

Re: quietly

Mythbusters did something similar, hooking up a microphone and sulphur meter into Kari's undies to bust the myth that women do not fart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T7nU-3OVCY

Dutch cops arrest man after sending him confidential files by mistake

Re: Double-Dutch police screwup?

"Do they have a remote shredder? :)"

You say that in jest, but back in 2014 UK spooks forced the guardian to shred hard disks as evidence of destroying material they should not have had access to. The Guardian did point out that as the data was files on a disk, they could have been duplicated anywhere, but GCHQ was content with seeing hard disks destroyed, and brushed any suggestions from journalists that "they could have copied it a million times by now to any media in the world" comments.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/31/footage-released-guardian-editors-snowden-hard-drives-gchq

ICE knocks on ad tech’s data door to see what it knows about you

Re: Memory

The comments section is full of people on the spectrum, who confuse should-not, with cannot.

Engineer used welding shop air hose to 'clean' PCs – hilarity did not ensue

Re: BS

"I always wondered if it would work from an AC supply but my parents were adverse to letting me connect to standard UK 240V mains!"

Ahem, I found not asking always worked. The motor burst into a shower of sparks and flew across the room after the power wires melted. I think I was 12 at the time. It didn't trip the fuses and the parents remain completely unaware of it to this day.

UNIX V4 tape successfully recovered: First ever version of UNIX written in C is running again

So is it the source code, or the binaries, or both?

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

we one wrapped a guy up with an entire roll of stretch wrap and left him up in the air on a forklift while we went out to lunch.

Typical pranks we got up to in the 90s, but looking back now, totally unsafe and potentially deadly :p

EU metes out first-ever Digital Services Act fine, dings X for blue check deception

Re: silly statement old chap

"If american businesses operate in Europe then they are obliged to abide by European law. It's so simple to understand."

It's not so simple. If an American business has local representation in the EU, i.e. it has an office and staff there, then that representation has to abide by EU law. If it doesn't then good luck to the EU trying to enforce any penalties they try to send to that PO box in the US.

Hegseth needs to go to secure messaging school, report says

In other news, the DOD Inspector General was seen leaving the pentagon today holding a cardboard box, and some highschool sports trophies.

Re: When this administration fails

I wouldn't be surprised if Trump pardons everyone everywhere for all federal crimes as he leaves office with one sweep of his pen, like he did the 1500 insurrectionists on his way into office. And then there's always the possibility that with his own pet SCOTUS, he may not leave office.

Seven years later, Airbus is still trying to kick its Microsoft habit

Re: MS to Google

Of course it’s backed up. It’s in Googles Cloud!!!

Retro Games opens pre-orders for THEA1200, a full-size working Amiga replica

Re: Want

There is a concerted effort going on, within the SCUG community to get a bunch of arcade port/clones done, all of which are in various stages of completion. They are on the lookout for Z80 programmers to help get them complete.

Re: Want

You have Sim Coupe for starters which is the PC based emulator, and you'll have the Next 3 arriving in a few weeks, which will have the Sam Coupe core, with SD card reading ability. Machines like the Manuferhi N-Go , the Xberry and Active Next will have the core made available to them, if you want a nice desktop machine.

Re: Humbug

* Oi, I resemble that remark!!

Re: Humbug

So I should get the funk out?

Re: Want

You should join the Sam Usergroup linked above. They have a bunch of ongoing projects that require scrolling. It's a common topic of conversation there. They have a pair of friendly dedicated Sam artists who generate sprites etc for projects. It's a nice place.

Re: Want

Interesting, have you got a video of this working scrolling we can see.

Re: Humbug

And I suppose that if I cannot pull a guitar out, and play Nuno Bettencourts Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee despite being a proficient piano player, that I have no rights listening to the music of Extreme?

A credit check shows they have about £1.7 million in assets, and £150K in liabilities, so they look financially sound.

That and they have form, they sold over 40000 TheSpectrum units recently, and has been pointed out before, they have released many different retro boxes over the years, to the tune of tens of thousands each run.

Get a muffler for those bells!

Re: Want

2 sold individually in average condition sold recently for around £500 each.

After being picked up on eBay they usually end up being tarted up and displayed on the Sam Coupe User Group

Re: Humbug

Most people, i.e. not Reg readers, do not have the technical skills to put the effort in to get an emulator up and running, and just want to buy something they can plug in, and go. This fills that niche nicely.

Microsoft teases agents that become ‘independent users within the workforce’

Re: Oh Jaysus

I had to talk to an AI bot from Lloyds bank the other day, because I could not access my online banking.

The very first statement it made was that I should hand over no personal details such as my name or account number.

The second statement was a request for my account number.

The third statement it made was that it could not assist me with my problem, and that I had to raise it using the online banking platform.

.......@...........

52-year-old data tape could contain only known copy of UNIX V4

Re: Damn AI!!!

There's a french company I do business with that uses the characters 0Oo1IiLlFf in their stock codes, case sensitive!. Changing the font can result in a completely different product being ordered.

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

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

/me grabs the popcorn and waits for the comments from the antivaxxers, flat earthers Musk haters! They must be frothing at the mouth with this. Expect an incoming barrage of denial coming this way.

UK Post Office names public inquiry as risk to £410 million Horizon replacement project

Re: Off the shelf

The UK post office isn't just a sales counter for postage, it's also a bank, insurer and also an outlet for official government documentation and services with a single terminal for all it's functions.

Microsoft developer ported vector database coded in SAP’s ABAP to the ZX Spectrum

Re: Z80 thinking “Still wins in 2025”

I spotted this a couple of months ago. An 8 bit computer (think spectrum era technology) for learning 80s style computing.... but it has dual CPUs. A Z80 and a 6502.

https://www.thebyteattic.com/p/cerberus-2100.html

Interesting piece of retro kit.

Apple tries get €500M EU fine tossed

It takes more balls to stay the 20 year course to get the outcome you want, than to throw your hands up in the air, throw Apple out of the EU and walk away muttering and shaking your head.