Posts by Jason Bloomberg

Software glitch saw Aussie casino give away millions in cash

"Software glitch"

More a bug than a glitch and unimaginable how it wasn't caught during testing, that they didn't test.

Mine's the one with last week's ticket in the pocket.

Future Roku TVs may inject tailored ads into anything and everything when you pause

On the plus side

The only time I ever have something I am watching on pause is when I am away from my TV, no longer watching it, am taking a piss or shit, making a cup of tea, or stirring a pan on the stove. For me it will be as pointless and as ineffective as all the other ads I never get to see.

I still hate the idea though. We will have to hope they thought this was a good idea for a patent, not a good idea to implement.

And I say that as someone who is quite proud of having developed 'video present' detection for a video auto-selector which switched to usually off equipment when powered on, and back when switched off again.

That was intended to be a convenience for the user. And, importantly, the user could disable that functionality.

After delay due to xz, Ubuntu 24.04 'Noble Numbat' belatedly hits beta

Nobbly Numbnuts

Maybe it's just me but that's what flits through my mind whenever I see references to it.

What can be done to protect open source devs from next xz backdoor drama?

Re: People keep saying "stop using so many dependencies"

Code reuse is an essential part of programmer productivity.

True. But I do despair when devs choose the lazy option of dependencies rather than implementing without when they should be easily capable of it. I accept it's always a balance but when someone is using Python and imports "numpy" and "struct" just to extract a 32-bit entity from a bytearray I have to roll my eyes.

AI hallucinates software packages and devs download them – even if potentially poisoned with malware

Could we compromise on Machine-Generated Random Bollocks?

I'd prefer, and would excuse the all-caps, UTTERLY UNTRUTHFUL LYING BULLSHIT HALLUCINATORY AI GENERATED CRAP.

While "lie" may technically require intent I am pretty sure most people will take uttering falsehood and untruth without intent as lying and therefore a lie in their stride.

BBC exterminates AI experiments used to promote Doctor Who

Re: Actually....

I still think that when Capaldi first opened the door of the Tardis and stepped out, a glorious "What the fuck?" moment was lost forever.

UK skies set for cheeky upgrade with hybrid airship

Re: Really???

So what do Yanks call their bums then?

"Fanny" I would have guessed, given "fanny pack" being used for what we'd call "bum bags", and the American "shake your fanny" for "wiggle your backside".

But maybe that's fallen out of fashion?

I wouldn't object to the airship being called "The Flying Fanny" for the American market. We can snicker and they'd not understand why.

Fujitsu set to be preferred bidder in UK digital ID scheme

Re: Under a Labour Government 100% it will.

Labour's mistake was they expected people to pay for ID, something like £85 each I recall.

Had they paid people to have one, the greedy and gullible fools would have taken them up on the offer, and they could quite easily have made life very difficult for those who didn't.

Luckily there was third party candidate at the next general election though that didn't work out so well in the long term.

UK health department republishes £330M Palantir contract with fewer ██████

I suppose it becomes more valuable in a fully privatised USian style system

And anyone paying attention will know what trajectory this government is on, is trying to lock future governments into.

The UK Digital Information Bill: Brexit dividend or data disaster?

Re: A gift?

For the brexiteers, brexit was always about making us the 51st State, making us subservient to America, ideally an America run by Trump and his kind.

Our race to the bottom is intended to facilitate that. Brexiteers don't care how damaging that is to Britain or her people.

The nonsense about Sovereignty and Taking Back Control were just lies to get what they ideologically wanted.

Hong Kong promises its latest national security law is not a ban on social media

Re: Coming to a town near you

The west complains vociferously about China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, while falling over itself in the rush to criminalise those who are aggrieved at what Israel is doing to Palestinians.

I don't feel at all comfortable being told that expressing the view that "it is okay to kill innocent people" is free speech, is essential and must be tolerated in a democracy.

I much prefer the times when we not only rejected people who spread such sentiments, but did something about those who did.

London Clinic probes claim staffer tried to peek at Princess Kate's records

Sounds to me like someone who doesn't have access permission tried to login to a PC or app with their credentials and it automatically sent an alert to whoever deals with such things as well as popping up "Access Denied".

I might also speculate that it was some menial member of staff enticed by a promised wad of cash from our typical media scum.

It seems whatever the clinic has in place it's doing it right. But that's not surprising given their need for reputation and their high-profile client base.

Garlic chicken without garlic? Critics think Amazon recipe book was cooked up by AI

Baby Bio

At least her biography is 'word salad' so that's one claim to authenticity.

Ahead of IPO, Reddit blends advertising into user posts

All of which found the format capable of "driving upper funnel results"

Is that what we're calling "stuff it up your arse" sentiment these days?

Network Rail steps back from geofencing over safety fears

Re: because...

a cunning smart card based system for ensuring that tower crane operators could only operate cranes within parameters defined by their level of training and certification.

That's an inherent problem of automated enforcement; there's always some means of defeating it if determined enough.

When it comes to providing 'additional protections' to what already exists it's a different matter.

It's the difference between protecting others and protecting people from themselves.

FAA gives Boeing 90 days to fix serious safety shortcomings found in report

Re: "FAA gives Boeing 90 days to fix serious safety shortcomings..."

Boeing are so far down the road to ruin that I doubt there are many, if any, 'real Boeing employees who have a clue' left.

I might suggest that anyone still there is by that definition not one of such a breed.

Microsoft trying to stop Copilot generating fake Putin comments on Navalny's death

Re: The problem with our "AI" systems

Putin has not made a public statement about Navalny’s death.

I don't know if he has or hasn't, nor whether he said Biden blaming him was "baseless and politically motivated".

But it seems to me these are two different things.

Dell promises 'every PC is going to be an AI PC' whether you like it or not

I think it's because the public appears, to a large degree, to have bought into the hype. Manufacturers can see money to be had so are simply encouraging on-going buy-in to the hype, may even have fallen for the hype themselves.

For most prior 'must have' nonsense there have always been plenty of naysayers stepping up to say why it's bullshit and they aren't buying it, in concept or with cash. Currently they aren't being seen nor heard by the public.

Unless current 'AI' proves itself I expect people will eventually come to the conclusion it's not as good as they imagined it would be and will eventually be seen as just another over-rated fad.

Employees saved Musk from himself over Twitter Files

Re: For sure he’s a dick/ or special even

By equating them you are diminishing the evil that Hitler and the Nazis brought on the world

Bollocks.

That's not how perceived reputation works.

Reddit signs AI training deal with Google – and why OpenAI's Altman could be the winner

The best way to train an AI

Bullshit artists, propagandists, conspiracy theorists, liars and fantasists.

What could possibly go wrong?

250 million-plus reserved IPv4 addresses could be released – but the internet isn’t built to use them

10.*.*.*

"240/4 could be added to those pools to help “large private Internets that require more address space than is available in the private use address space designated by [RFC1918] during the dual stack transition to IPv6."

Perhaps I am missing some nuance but large private internets can use 10.*.*.* - That provides nearly 17 million unique addresses.

"Analysis of global internet traffic suggests Amazon and Verizon Business use it internally, too."

Does it still count as internal use when it is global internet traffic?

When it comes to working from home, Register readers are bucking national trends

Re: It's the commute

Not having a 90 minute commute each way has done wonders for my blood pressure.

I can't disagree but I do miss listening to CDs during the journey. I know I could power-up the Hi-Fi any time I want but it's just not the same. So not the same I think it's been over a decade since I listened to any recorded music.

I'm one of those lucky ones who works permanently from home. The only real downside is it's a bit like doing jail time if you are single and don't ensure you have a decent social life. On the plus side I hardly noticed the pandemic restrictions.

The other thing I miss is calling other drivers "wankers". But there are enough opportunities for that as a pedestrian. Or get some strong ale in and just shout in the local park.

AI-driven booze bouncers can ID you with face scan

Brave New World

I guess it won't be long before the supermarkets are networked with government databases so suspected miscreants can be welcomed as they step out of the store by armed police.

Insert something about "thinking of the children", "drugs", "terrorists", "immigrants" or whatever here ...

Poor communication led to complete lack of communication

"In initial testing, it behaved as expected, so all was good"

So why wasn't the infinite ping-pong of updates not noticed during testing?

I fell into the same trap when I was developing proof of concept code for a mesh network where packets were broadcast to systems which broadcast those onwards and I soon experienced the network flood I had neglected to consider. But it was immediately obvious what I had unwittingly done, what I had overlooked.

The Post Office systems scandal demands a critical response

Re: I realise the UK still has a strict class system

But why, on flippin’ earth, has it taken this long to become the MEGA story that it always was?

I guess it's like everything else which never breaks through to collective public consciousness.

I am quite surprised the ITV drama has finally succeeded in making the public aware of what many others have known for years, but am of course extremely glad it has.

The real question is how people can remain so ignorant of, or turn a blind eye to, things they really should be aware of, should have an interest in, have an informed opinion upon.

"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to stand by and do nothing" - or something like that.

Top LLMs struggle to make accurate legal arguments

Snake Oil doesn't work

I thought we all knew that already.

It is mightily impressive they have managed to get a computer to emulate the bullshit artist from every pub but I don't see how anyone thought that would be useful, or is surprised that it isn't.

Driverless cars swerve traffic tickets in California even if they break the law

Re: Driver and insurance should pay

If I send my fully automatic car to pick up the kids from school, I should be just as responsible.

If I am fortunate enough to be able to employ a chauffeur go pick up my kids I don't see why I should be responsible for the crimes they choose to indulge in while doing that.

Regardless of whether my chauffeur is a sack of meat or a box of electronics.

NHS England published heavily redacted Palantir contract as festivities began

Why?

Why would anyone trust someone to keep something safe if they are not even prepared to say how they will keep those things safe?

You would have to be a fool to do so. Unfortunately we don't have any choice but to be taken for fools.

Welcome to 2024. Nothing ever seems to get better.

CLIs are simply wizard at character building. Let’s not keep them to ourselves

-h or --help

Hard to remember but I am eternally grateful to coders who report "use --help" rather than give me what I want when I use -h, especially when not specifying arguments gives me the help I was after anyway.

It's whether the second argument, ala "npm install", is a command or an option which mostly catches me out these days.

Bank's datacenter died after travelling back in time to 1970

Meet a reader we will Regomize as "Colin"

Is that a British "Colin"?

Or the American "Colene"?

Post-Brexit tariffs on EU-UK electric vehicle imports staved off till 2027

Re: So, Brexit means Brexit, except when it doesn't

As to getting re-elected, I think only the Dunning-Kruger wing of the party believes that's remotely possible.

And me, and others who fear that Starmer will be deemed such a damp squib that voters splitting between Labour, Lib Dems and Greens will allow the tory scum to win the day.

Every party which gets elected with more voting against them than for inevitably claims a mandate, pretends "the will of the people" is behind them and supports whatever the party decides than what voters voted for, and that nonsense is going to continue while we retain the first past the post system instead of some better from of democracy.

Musk tells advertisers to 'go f**k' themselves as $44B X gamble spirals into chaos

"it's gonna kill the company"

At least it's good news.

And all we have to do is go fuck ourselves.

Wayland takes the wheel as Red Hat bids farewell to X.org

Integrate Wayland into systemd

Problems solved.

That time a JPL engineer almost killed a Mars Rover before it left Earth

Measure twice, cut once.

Throwing the switch is always a stressful moment even when I have checked, double checked, triple checked, that it's not all going to end in a puff of smoke, have had others run their own checks.

He was lucky it didn't become another reminder of why it's never a good idea to have people working long hours, doing double shifts, being put under intense pressure to meet deadlines.

Sam Altman set to rejoin OpenAI as CEO – seemingly with Microsoft's blessing

being forced to tick those boxes

No one is being forced into anything -that's simply a strawman.

"OpenAI implodes!" and you don't think El Reg should be reporting to the extent they have on that huge event and the rapid twists and turns as the story unfolds?

Bizarre.

Ubuntu Budgie switches its approach to Wayland

Re: I suppose it would be useful

Raspberry Pi's recommendation to switch to X11 or even stay with their Bullseye release for some problems encountered isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of Wayland.

I can accept all the white paper reports that Wayland is better than X11 in any number of ways. That it doesn't yet do what X11 can do remains a huge obstacle for me.

OpenAI meltdown: How could Microsoft have let this happen after betting so many billions?

Loose change

I wish I had so much money that I could invest $10 billion-plus without needing any control over what I was investing in.

Meta's fix for teen online mental health? Hold Apple and Google responsible

Indeed. And they are not going to give up on 'victim blaming' while it remains an option.

OpenAI tackles 'major outage' hitting ChatGPT APIs

" 0554 PT (1354 UTC) ... As of 0733 PT (1333 UTC)"

Did someone ask ChatGPT to provide the time conversions?

Is UTC slowly running backwards?

Did the author experience a DST event mid-week?

Has the simulation we're living in gone completely to pot?

'Corrupt' cop jailed for tipping off pal to EncroChat dragnet

That's a quote from a scumbag who probably doesn't have a clue what he's talking about, just telling his scumbag mates how he thinks it is and how he imagines it could be dodged.

I doubt "having no effin' clue" is going to be on the charge sheet.

Arm grabs a slice of Raspberry Pi to sweeten relationship with IoT devs

I think it's just as much about a Raspberry Pi IPO being on the horizon.

China's YMTC scrounges for billions to help bypass US sanctions

Re: License

Calista doesn't want to spend months in jail waiting for her trial and taking her chances with the U.S. judicial system

Maybe she'll choose to be a martyr to the cause. Or perhaps she'll just set up bed in RISC-V's Switzerland board room and wait for the extradition request to come in, laugh along with the rest of us at whatever ludicrous grounds America offers to support that.

But even sending her to Guantanamo and water-boarding her day in and day out won't sop RISC-V being a thing.

America increasingly seems to be more than one sandwich short of a picnic.

Judge bins AI copyright lawsuit against DeviantArt, Midjourney – Stability still in the mix

Berne Convention

"Dismissed all copyright violation claims made by McKernan and Ortiz since neither of them registered their work with the US Copyright Office"

I always thought the Berne Convention provided Copyright Protection at the instant of the work's creation, that there was no explicit need to register a work to secure Copyright Protection.

Is this just another case of 'Welcome to America'?

RISC-V champ SiFive confirms it's laying off 1 in 5 workers

I'm not sure how this news means RISC-V isn't going to be amazing.

That SiFive have decided to shift their view of where their future lies doesn't affect the future of RISC-V itself. There are other companies out there working on RISC-V, and likely more to come, so there should be plenty of opportunities for those fired and others who have an interest in it.

The Raspberry Pi 5 is now available ... if you pre-ordered

Re: A single wired NIC?

It's easy enough to connect a USB-NIC and those I have used just work. It was okay with the original Pi B and the Pi 5 has much more bandwidth for its USB.

Eben said Q4 production would be 3 million, about a million a month, so, while they wouldn't just be building Pi 5, I'm surprised people are having to form a queue, official retailers are predicting a January delivery date.

GNOME Foundation's new executive director sparks witch hunt

Re: On the third hand

The entire planet is used to this interface. Why change it?

I once had an app which did an astoundingly good job of presenting a MacOS look and feel interface. It was great except that if I had wanted Mac OS I wouldn't have been using Windows.

Hot fuzz: Cascade finds dozens of RISC-V chip bugs using random data storm

Finding bugs :(

Being able to find bugs :)

Overall I'd call it a big win for RISC-V.

Uncle Sam orders Nvidia to cease most AI chip sales in China 'immediately'

Good for Chinese companies.

It certainly does seem there is $5 billion waiting to be handed to those who can come up with home-grown goods

And those wanting those chips might even be inclined to throw wads of R&D money in their direction to make it happen rather than go without. And then there's the long-term benefit of being a supplier of preference once they've done it. Plus the benefit for China, its businesses and citizens, that the money stays in the local economy not mailed to America.

I do hope China remembers to send the US a Christmas "thank you" card.