Posts by sindrelspec

NASA puts astronauts’ lives in the hands of Tesla’s flaky Cybertruck

Bunker in the launchpad?

I've not seen the aftermath of a rocket explosion, how much of the launchpad remains? I presume they are built to withstand an explosion. Why not build a bunker into the launchpad itself, you can stock with medical equipment, food, water, depending on how long it takes to get them out. Or even have an underground access tunnel back to a safe distance/exit. May initially be expensive, but I presume safer than trying to outrun an explosion in any vehicle and almost zero ongoing costs.

UK's seventh prime minister in a decade says he'll ditch digital ID scheme

Re: Person of Interest

Jonathan Nolan does not get the credit he deserves, he created and wrote POI, wrote the Interstellar script and co-wrote the Batman scripts. yet everyone always mentions his brother, but never him.

Microsoft rolls out Windows Search updates and they're... quite good

Re: Search Everything

Awesome utility, I even donate monthly to the developer, saves so much time.

The inbuilt Windows search has been atrocious for decades, it takes 10s of seconds, even minutes and even then it may not find anything.

Everything is almost instantaneous though.

An unnamed US county – perhaps in Ohio – paid $1M extortion demand to cybercriminals

Payment ban is separate from digital security

"“A payment ban will backfire because it doesn't address the root cause of our national problem: widespread digital insecurity.”"

What a stupid thing to say. That's like saying we should not help the victims of car crashes because it does not address the cause of car crashes.

MFA-optional banks leave safe doors (and accounts) wide open for thieves to pillage

Re: "she used the same or similar passwords on all of her accounts"

I'm still trying to convince my parents to use a password manager instead of a notebook they keep next to their computer. :(

Re: Passkey issue

I don't get the big deal about passkeys, they are still just passwords, just really long ones.

“OTP is just another password. So it’s a shorter-lived one, but it really is just another password,”

I'd rather have a short password (OTP) that changes every 30 seconds over a long one that changes every 2 years (passkey).

I wish my bank would implement a OTP that I can use on auth apps, they still do the less-preferable SMS OTP.

Britain plots digital bedtime after kicking under-16s off social media

Disable infinite scrolling

"Ministers are also examining further measures for under-18s, including overnight social media curfews and mandatory breaks in infinite scrolling, with additional details expected in July."

I think forcing the companies to disable infinite scrolling in certain locations (for everyone) could actually help. It's also easily implementable. Obviously doesn't stop VPNs, but are people going to get a VPN just so they can infinitely scroll?

Poland directs officials to ditch Signal in favor of 'secure' state-developed alternative

Re: Couple Of Things....

I've never trusted that Signal was secure and private, primarily for the facts that you have to provide a phone number and it uses Google services.

I used to use Conversations, but switched to Simplex Chat a few years ago, completely anonymous, private, encrypted and distributed. Only downside is it can only be used on one device at a time.

Go straight to sell! Windows second-chance setup hawks Microsoft services at IT's expense

These are two that can debloat, I've personally used Win11Debloat on my corporate machine:

- https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat

- https://winhance.net/

LocalSend puts your sneakernet out of business

It's a great tool, I've been using it for years. Simple too, I've shown my older (70s) parents how to use it to transfer photos from their phones to their desktop instead of using a cable.

Microsoft fixes VS Code after app gives Copilot credit for human's work

VSCodium intstead?

I've been using VSCodium instead of VS Code for a few years now. Are there good reasons for using VS Code instead of VSCodium if you don't want the AI features? Aren't most extensions in the Open VSX repository now?

Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

Re: The Law?

I don't understand how this is not the same "antitrust" thing that Microsoft tried with Internet Explorer. If Google manages to go through with this, then how long until Microsoft says you can only install apps from its app store?

The spaghettified DBMS chart that shows Oracle's crown is slowly slipping

"Don't run it on windows though. It assumes all memory is it's to use."

Only if you don't configure it properly.

Panasonic creates device-locked QR codes to speed facial biometric capture

Not a QR code then

"We created a QR code that does not conform to the QR code standards"

It's not a QR code then, you just created a proprietary barcode format.

Chemists concoct nail polish that lets clawed humans use touch screens

Unforeseen uses?

This sounds like one of those developments that is not particularly popular for its original purpose, but has some huge unforeseen benefit in a manufacturing process. Probably a good idea they are patenting it.

Oracle moves to assure MySQL community it really does care

Why would anyone trust an Oracle open source product at this point? It's obviously well on its way to enshittification.

Microsoft wedges tables into Notepad for some reason

Notepad4

I used to use Notepad2, but that also has not been updated in years. So I switched to Notepad4 which is being regularly updated. https://github.com/zufuliu/notepad4

Lightweight, syntax highlighting, very configurable, it also has a nice CSV mode which changes the text colour for each column, which is very useful.

I also use Notepad++, but if I just want to quickly open a file to view or do a minor edit, I use Notepad4.