Posts by Andrew Barr

When it comes to Linux distros, one person's molehill is another's mountain

Year of the Linux Desktop

And this is all the same reason why the year of the Linux desktop has never really happened, too much choice!

Evernote's fall from grace is complete, with sale to Italian app maker

Obsidian.md

I have recently swapped to Obsidian, it uses markdown language for notes and stores them locally so you don't need a Internet connect to access. But I sync mine through one drive to be available on all my devices. Also the files are all stored in pure text so can still be accessed if obsidian disappears in the future. Awesome product.

Scientists use dead spider as gripper for robot arm, label it a 'Necrobot'

after a robot broke the finger of a child playing chess, I feel like having spider robots is obviously a step forward at this time!

Academics horrified that administration of Turing student exchange scheme outsourced to Capita

Project completion ration

I wonder if anyone has any statistics on Craptia and what there actual project completion ratio is?

Riverbed Technologies files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following pandemic 'headwinds'

Wireshark

I wonder if ownership of wireshark will change?

Riverbed Manual

If I remember correctly they had a "Manual" that was about 2-3inches thick, but it was completely blank. I think I used it as a notebook.

We also had a WAN accelerator installed, which compressed files between two Canada and UK. The problem was that the files (exported SQL database transactions if I remember correctly) that we were sending were encrypted and therefore uncompressible, the problem was this was 80-90% of the traffic we were sending, so completely useless.

Macmillan best-biscuit list unexpectedly promotes breakfast cereal to treat status

Nice...

Nice or Nice biscuits, they are really nice.

Also the sugar definitely improves the taste of the tea

Re: I am offended

I would just like to say that a penguin is purely a bourbon with a chocolatey coat on.

Council culture: Software test leads to absurd local planning SNAFU

Just wait for the unfair dismissal from the IT bod, that should push the price up!

UK artists seek 'luvvie levy' on new gadgets to make up for all the media that consumers access online

No more tech for Luvvies then

Sounds like they have shot themselves in both feet as they probably haven't realised how much tech is used within their own industry, and now it will cost them more with the money they haven't got!

Reg reader's XXXbox oddity: The BBC4 topless thumbnail trauma whodunnit

1990's Channel 4

Maybe there was a date issue, as surely this was how Channel4 was in the 90s - Eurotrash as my example!

Must watch: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece... of modern techno-insanity

Tech support

People should ring GE's tech support line and get the poor sod on the other end to talk through the sequence, maybe a couple of times (maybe because you don't know the firmware version), only to exclaim at the end that actually it's not a smart bulb and thank them for their time!

Iranian-backed hackers ransacked Citrix, swiped 6TB+ of emails, docs, secrets, claims cyber-biz

Correct horse battery staple

New Zealand health boards write down losses on Oracle implementation

At which point

At which point will a national body (anywhere in the world) say no to an oracle based system due to past performances.

I also wonder where oracle appear in the garner magic quadrant, they must be getting pretty low to the bottom left square by now, or is it only in the ones that they don't pay for?

Azure MFA falls over, Windows 10 struggles with Intel drivers, and Microsoft gives us... more Sticky Notes?

So now our users can put their passwords on postit notes with out leaving a residue on the actual monitors!

Official: IBM to gobble Red Hat for $34bn – yes, the enterprise Linux biz

Nutanix

Going to be interesting to see what Nutanix does now, as I believe they use centos as their base system. I wonder if they will fork centos and go from there.

Techie's test lab lands him in hot water with top tech news site

I once included theregister.co.uk in one of our proxy blacklists and we also took it down for about 15 minutes. Once we realised what we did we removed it and it came back up, phew!

I hope no one else noticed.

Who fancies a six-core, 32GB RAM, 4TB NVME ... convertible tablet?

GDPR

Does this mean I can get rid of all these servers in my rack and fill the rack with laptops!

Will it run Crysis?

Israel cyber chief's 'pants' analogy for password security deemed, well, 'pants'

Once physical access has been gained your screwed!

Blood spilled from another US high school shooting has yet to dry – and video games are already being blamed

Right to bear arms

Not going to block this one, but does that include the ammunition. Could they ban the sale of certain ammunition?

Equifax peeks under couch, finds 2.4 million more folk hit by breach

GDPR

Any point to this as everyone's details are public now anyway!

Bluetooth 'Panty Buster' 'smart' sex toy fails penetration test

New acronym required

IoD - Internet of Dongs

Munich council: To hell with Linux, we're going full Windows in 2020

Re: Not sure about Office?

Surely thats the same as saying hey. Linux and LibreOffice is free, come get hooked on this!

Brace yourselves, fanboys. Winter is coming. And the iPhone X can't handle the cold

Nicking tech from Samsung

Maybe they will ask/steal for the Note 7 battery tech from Samsung, that should stop the phone from freezing!!

Punctual as ever, Equifax starts snail-mailing affected Brits about mega-breach

GDPR

Is there much use for GDPR if companies like TalkTalk and Equifiax have already released everyone's information? Can companies state that future breaches dont matter as much as the information is already in the public domain?

Mines the one with the list of everyone's name and addresses in the pocket

Caption this: Capita staff picket a bunch o'er pickled pensions

overdue projects

No wonder the majority of c(r)apita's IT projects are overdue, there are only 3 people working there!

Boffins befuddled over EU probe into UK's tax rules for multinationals

Re: "Boffins befuddled..."

I will add my vote for you :D

Open source sets sights on killing WhatsApp and Slack

IMAP

IMAP messaging - isnt that just email? IMAP has been used to message people for absolutely ages!!

That's my coat with port 143 in the pocket

What's that, Equifax? Most people expect to be notified of a breach within hours?

Couple of rumors that I have heard....

Some interesting stock movements pre hack news release, so maybe a short sell money grab.

Their check if you have been compromised webpage gives different results for the same data.

Something tells me that this may not be the way to handle a security breach!

Marcus Hutchins free for now as infosec world rallies around suspected banking malware dev

Coincidence

Now just to throw some petrol on the flames.

The day he gets arrested all the wannacry bit coins get converted to another untraceable cryptocurrency.

I wonder if finding the wannacry kill switch wasn't just found by decompiling the code,but he already new the url.

Revealed: UK councils shrug at privacy worries, strap on body cams

I wonder if holding up pieces of paper with credit card details on, would the videos have to comply with PCI and financial regulations?

You're Donald Trump's sysadmin. You've got data leaks coming out the *ss. What to do

Good article on whether you are being watch, even via HTTPS.

https://www.grc.com/fingerprints.htm - website is a bit old school but good information.

Vatican and musicians at odds over appropriate use of crematorium leftovers

or are following the apple model, who probably dont let your loved ones access your itunes account after you have died!!

High rear end winds cause F-35A ground engine fire

Offshore wind farms

Is there someway that offshore wind farms can be used as a defence mechanism against these planes?

Meet Deliveroo's ‘bold and impactful’ new logo. No, really

you weren't in when we called!

Looks like someone sticking two fingers up!!

Lester Haines: RIP

Rest in Peace young man :')

Furious customers tear into 123-reg after firm's mass deletion woes

Does it matter

Surely it doesn't matter what they do now as all the customers will be jumping ship.

No need to audit and check the scripts, in a few months they should be able to just format the disks and put the hardware on ebay!

Symantec cloud portal goes titsup after database crash

VERITAS

I bet the Veritas staff are having a great day!

I wonder what Symantec is using for it continuous backup solution?

BT broadband is down: Former state monopoly goes TITSUP UK-wide

No comments

This must mean that most Reg readers are on BT!!

How to solve a Rubik's Cube in five seconds

Re: They're just colored stickers

Or just paint them with tipex and then they are all white - sovled

Grand Theft Auto 1997: 'Sick, deluded and beneath contempt'

Driving on the left

Even though there are more countries that drive on the right, I believe that there are more LHD cars than RHD

It's EE vs Vodafone: 'How good is my signal' study descends into network bunfight

EE Test

Was this the same EE network that collapsed last week??

https://twitter.com/EE/status/446369338388254720/photo/1

For Windows guest - KVM or XEN and which distro for host?

Maybe a simpler solution,

If you have limited disk space, but are happy to spend on hardware, then the solutions is to have a box under the desk running a headless Linux configuration and then replace the keyboard, monitor and mouse with a laptop with windows running on it, and make sure that the laptop is good enough to run your games. If desk space is at too much of a premium move the laptop to somewhere else in the house with more space?

always go with as simple solution as possible, as if there is a problem with hardware you could loose both systems!

BlackBerry BES: Hey, biz bod, fancy an upgrade on that RIM job... for FREE?

"I personally wouldn't want an IT Admin to have full device wipe capabilities over my own personal device."

This could be a useful feature, if you lost your phone (including a memory card) that may have embarrassing photos, or personal documents on it. You can then ask IT to wipe the device as a precaution. This can also be a function of an Exchange server with Andoid/iphones utilising activesync to connect to them via OWA.

Apple's shock treatment: An authentic charger-spotting guide

Re: How to tell a fake one from a real one

Maybe they just need stop wasting money then and just go for a standard USB Micro B connector then!!

How to tell a fake one from a real one

There is a fool proof way of telling a fake apple product from a genuine one.

Fake - you get a shock after you have purchased it

Genuine - you get the shock before you purchase it - you want WHAT for a simple charger!!

Google, Microsoft go head to head in Santa-tracking tech race

And what happens if Santa is not in the same location on both systems!!!

Please think of the little children!!

This is out of hand now: Apple attempts to trademark the LEAF

Old Adidas Logo

Isnt this nearly similar to the old adidas logo - which had 3 ovals - ok they are not solid but look very similar and are part of the fashion section of the patent

EU proposed emergency alert system won't work on iPhone

Emergency System

In an emergency, the phone companies prioritise emergency calls over their networks, so while Joe Public gets naff all, emergency services, important MPs, etc will get a normal service so they can get on with saving the world :D

O2, GiffGaff network goes titsup for unlucky punters

Ooops

Aren't O2 the olympic mobile provider