Posts by Pascal Monett

Make Redmond angry by setting up Windows 11 with a local account

Re: Nice article, thanks

Yes indeed. I have saved it for personal reference in case I need it.

Perplexity vexed by Cloudflare's claims its bots are bad

"If you can't tell a helpful digital assistant from a malicious scraper"

Then you should ban them all and Perplexity can go fuck itself.

Or Perplexity proves how it is not bad by showing its code.

Not gonna happen.

Microsoft promises to eventually make WinUI 'truly open source'

Microsoft promises

Sorry, you lost me at that point.

Study finds humans not completely useless at malware detection

"missed real malware when the clue was unusual system behavior, like high processor usage"

If you have to use CPU usage to flag something as malware, it's already too late.

Eutelsat LEO revenue rockets 84% as governments cool on Starlink

"recent mixed messaging from US President Donald Trump's administration"

There is nothing recent in Trump's mixed messaging.

He doesn't know how to make a clear message. For that, the Stable Genius would have to have an actual idea of what he was going to do.

The orange baboon is not intelligent enough for that.

Three US agencies get failing grades for not following IT best practices

The Government Accountability Office

If I were its president I would be wondering if Trump isn't going to fire me right now.

Government Accountability. You'd better steer clear of the White House.

Germany and Japan teamed their ISS robots for seek-and-photograph mission

Impressive

But how did CIMON know to convert the verbal instructions into Int-Ball2 code ?

It would seem to me that somebody had to upload the syntax, at the very least. Some work must have been done to prepare this. It surely wasn't just a "hey, let's try this" moment.

Foxconn says EV sales are so slow it's converting a factory to build AI servers instead

Foxconn : management by weathervane

And here I was thinking that major industrial sites are heavy investments that you don't go changing on a whim.

So, the EV market is saturated now. And you couldn't tell that four years ago ? Surely there were indicators, no ?

Now it's datacenter equipment. Granted, that market doesn't look like it'll be saturated any time soon, but I would like to point out that there is growing hostility for those energy-gobblers.

But, when the time comes, you obviously won't have problem stripping that down to build Gorilla glass or something.

Carry on !

Antivirus vendors fail to spot persistent, nasty, stealthy Linux backdoor

Wow, that's no script kiddie

the malware “integrates deeply into the authentication stack, survives system updates, and leaves almost no forensic traces. Combined with layered obfuscation and environment tampering, this makes it exceptionally hard to detect using traditional tools.”

Once again miscreants prove that they are not always stupid. The knowledge one must have to simply envision this kind of hack must be phenominal.

Or it was built by a state-sponsored group of very intelligent people.

In any case, I almost admire the work.

Now, Linus, your baby is under threat. What are you going to do about it ?

China's IPv6 adoption takes a decent leap forward, especially on fixed networks

“Let’s create a world where every interaction with governments is assisted by digital agents”

Let's not.

Those pseudo-AI agents never understand what it is you're trying to explain, because they can't. They respond to a fixed set of rules and if you don't fit, you end up literally cut off (the "agent" hangs up on you).

Back in 2019, I had my fiber connection installed (finally). I'd had it for one month when a passing tractor ripped it off the post - it wasn't broken, it still worked, but it was on the ground (living in the countryside has its drawbacks). The problem was, the connection still worked. I phoned the nearest police station to ask what I had to do, and the officer politely told me that it was a dangerous situation and that, if anyone got hurt, I was liable to end up responsible.

So I called my provider's support line. The automated agent drilled my down through choices 2, 1, 2, 4, and then decided to test my connection and hung up. I knew that wasn't going to work, so I waited for the test to finish and I called again. Same rigmarole. I was starting to get angry by that point when the phone rang and an actual human being from the support line asked me what the problem was. I still had to explain twice that no, my connection was fine, but the physical wire was on the street. When he finally got the message, he promised that I would have a ticket and he would see what he could do.

Three weeks later, nothing had been done. Then a passing motorcycle ripped the line in two. This time, no more connection. Call support again and, lo and behold, there is a real problem (for them, that is). Two days later, a new line was installed and, after explaining to the technician, he installed it a meter higher on the pole.

And that happened with actual humans answering the phone. I shudder to think how a pseudo-AI would handle the issue.

OpenAI removes ChatGPT self-doxing option

Trash is disgusting wherever it is.

Florida jury throws huge fine at Tesla in Autopilot crash

"thought the car would take care of things"

Yeah. Welcome to the real world.

You're the driver. Forget the fucking phone, or park on the side to get it.

This civilisation is breeding morons. Might be time for an asteroid.

Rampant emoji use suggests crypto-stealing NPM package was written by AI

"it calls itself Enhanced Stealth Wallet Drainer"

Incredible.

That's kind of like walking down the street with a giant "I'm a criminal" sign hanging over your head when you pass in front of the police station.

That said, they'd have to get off their donuts long enough to notice . . .

Unless you're black, of course, in which case they've have you on radar from 300 meters away.

Gadget geeks aghast at guru's geriatric GPU

What's the problem ?

He could be using an Apple II for all I care. He's dealing with the nuts and bolts of the system. He's not a manager who needs to masturbate his status with the latest and greatest to view his emails.

Tested: Microsoft Recall can still capture credit cards and passwords, a treasure trove for crooks

Recall

Borkzilla's best abomination since the Registry.

Court upholds Epic win in Google Play Store antitrust battle

YES !

Anything that eats at Google's dominance is an automatic win in my book.

Knock 'em down a notch or ten.

You have the right to be successful. You do not have the right to deprive others of success.

Florida prison email blunder exposes visitor contact info to inmates

How come they have phones ?

They're in prison, for fuck's sake.

Another one bites the dust as KubeSphere kills open source edition

"we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused"

Sure you do.

You used Open Source as a boost to your reputation. Now you've realized that you're not making money out of it.

You're not Red Hat.

So you stop your support. Fine. The problem is, you published the code. What you published ramins available and, if it's any good, someone will build something out of it and you will be left with your tears to dry.

Serves you right.

Open Source is a commitment, not an excuse, and certainly not a tool to get to an IPO faster.

Enterprise software giants weaponize AI to kill discounts and deepen lock-in

"tightening the screws"

And that surprises who, exactly ?

BOFH: Deepfake or just an idiot? We'll need an audit to confirm

Re: Security as a service

An AI bot couldn't do as well. You need a true intelligence (albeit a devious one) to achieve such brilliance.

Servers hated Mondays until techie quit quaffing coffee in their company

Typical

As soon as manglement complains, there is immediate reaction.

Those at the coalface explain that there's an issue ? It's not a problem - deal with it.

Re: the company couldn't be bothered to spend any money to fix the problem

Then it wasn't a problem.

No urgency. The servers are down again ? Well, let's go for a stroll. Oh, you have urgent business to do ? I suggest you take that up with the CTO.

Kremlin goons caught abusing ISPs to spy on Moscow-based diplomats, Microsoft says

Moscow using everything to catch foreign embassy comms, that's news ?

Sorry, but Tom Clancy already wrote about that ages ago.

Say what you want about Clancy, but I'm pretty sure that no US embassy in Moscow would ever consider using Internet - going through a Russia-controlled provider - for anything like secure communication.

They'd use a US-controlled satellite if they wanted anything near confidentiality.

NHS disability equipment provider on brink of collapse a year after cyberattack

Oh sure

"a pre-planned six-month digital transformation project being accelerated and delivered in just three weeks "

Okay, so either your initial planning was shit, or the results you got are shit, but you cannot tell me that a 6-month project was properly done in 3 weeks.

If that is indeed the case, you need to review your planning procedures, because they are shit.

Banning VPNs to protect kids? Good luck with that

423K e-signatures - government response has already stated it has no plans to repeal the Act

Democracy in motion. Well done on telling the peons that you don't give a damn about either their opinion or their votes.

Internet exchange points are ignored, vulnerable, and absent from infrastructure protection plans

"get rid of cash.

I gotta learn to proofread better.

"to build diverse, neutral, and well-governed interconnection points"

Diverse ? Neutral ?

As far as Government is concerned, if it can't be taxed, it's not well-governed.

That's why governments all over are trying to get of cash. Cash is the ultimate anonymous transaction and it cannot be taxed.

Ergo, it has to go.

I'm sure the grandchildren of those politicians are going to be forever grateful . . .

Bitter fight over 2020 Microsoft quantum paper both resolved and unresolved

What is this nonsense ?

"the challenge of maintaining civil peer review norms in the social media era "

What the heck does "social" media have to do with peer review ?

Peer review is conducted on scientific sites, not social media.

At least, that's the way it should be and, if it isn't, then Science is going down the drain just like the rest of us - no need for Trump.

The TSA likes facial recognition at airports. Passengers and politicians, not so much

"you should consider just allowing the photo next time"

So, the little Nazi bitch thinks she made a point.

She did indeed, but not the one she thought she was making.

TSA is useless, overbearing and exceeds its authority with clockwork regularity. I have yet to see a report where the TSA caught any dangerous person. So what's the point ?

Apart from enabling some power-hungry psychopaths to have a job where they can legally indulge in their power fantasies.

Trump officials float plan for Americans to share their medical data more freely

Oh really ?

"The benefits to millions of Americans for me will be enormous. We I will save time, we'll save make money, and most importantly, we'll save lives sell more merch."

TFTFY

Trump never does anything for anyone but himself. He has a great opportunity here to look good, but just wait to see how the usual suspects are going to be the ones benefitting the most.

Datacenter lobby blows a fuse over EU efficiency proposals

"group including AWS, Microsoft and Google"

Yeah, in other words the exact same entities EU citizens need to be protected from.

They can blow a fuse. They can blow a datacenter. It's time we got back our privacy from the US Government.

Europe's AI crackdown starts this week and Big Tech isn't happy

Re: "Europe is heading down the wrong path on AI."

Absolutely.

Anything that Meta complains about is a Good Thing^TM for The People.

Australia bans kids from signing up for YouTube accounts, angering Google

“We want kids to know who they are before platforms assume who they are.”

That is surprisingly well put.

Unfortunately, I have yet to see an age verification system that actually works.

Australia’s attempt to join the space race lasts just 14 seconds

Re: It's not brain science

NASA, ESA and the Russkies have more experience, is all.

Don't forget that NASA has a well-documented history of launch failures.

ESA is not without stains on its launch history either.

As for the Russians, it's difficult to tell because the Soviets only ever publicised their successes. However, given the rather recent string of failures since 2010, one must ask oneself if they are as good as you think they are.

Google’s latest renewable energy deal is all gas bags and hot air

"strategic investment"

Funny how, with any company that is valued in the billions, everything suddelny becomes "strategic".

There is no "give it a shot" investment. There's no "We're going to try this" investment.

No. It's all done with military precision - even though the military has the saying "no plan survives first contact with the enemy".

But it makes the suits (who've never seen a battlefield outside of films) feel more important, as if they've carefully considered all the variables and come to the best conclusion.

Yeah, sure.

So you're saying it's going to cost some money.

Well I think Google has some of that . . .

Windows 11 is a minefield of micro-aggressions in the shipping lane of progress

Re: Just here to cheer on Rupert

Agreed.

We need more articles like this.

Aeroflot aeroflops over 'IT issues' after attackers claim year-long compromise

"Russia's largest airline"

Wait, Russia has more than one airline ?

'Impossible hill to climb': US clouds crush European competition on their home turf

Re: Just waiting for France to get fed up enough to tell them to bugger off

Sorry, but it's not with the EU sycophant that we have sitting at l'Elysée that that is ever going to happen.

Intel cutting cutting-edge node funds would mean no more Moore's Law

So now it's Chipzookie, eh ?

My, have the mighty fallen.

Time for obituary, I guess :

Here lies Intel, what's left of it's reputation bleeding out as fast as the ink fills its books.

Let us not forget that Intel basically created and the PC market and the upgrade treadmill we all so joyously participated in for more than a decade and a half, with Microsoft reaping much of the rewards.

Alas, poor Intel, your very success attracted the competition that ended up eating your lunch.

I, for one, will remember you fondly, always.

Microsoft walks us through Copilot Search with a domain it doesn't even own

"it refused to comment"

Well duh. You're not the school teacher, now are you ?

Unfortunately for Redmond, you are journalists, and journalists have a tendancy to talk about things.

Publicly. And openly.

And that kind of mistake at this point in time is really not a good thing for Borkzilla.

But, realistically, what will it change ? Nothing. Redmond's history of failures could fill an encyclopedia, yet Microsoft is still a $3.8 trillion company, instead of being the run-from-a-garage failure it should be.

So, business as usual, then, eh ?

A billion dollars' worth of Nvidia chips fell off a truck and found their way to China, report says

"Jensen Huang, [..] sees China as a significant opportunity"

Well yeah. A billion+ person market is obviously mouth-watering from a revenue perspective.

What I find interesting is that he was born in Taiwan. You know, that country that China is gearing up to invade.

Does that make him some sort of a traitor to his birthplace ?

Of course, if China does invade and conquer Taiwan, then he will obviously be hailed as a visionary.

Pfff.

You DO see Windows 11 as an AI PC opportunity, say Dell and Intel

"upgrading their PC fleet is a virtue"

Heh, sorry, but Redmond has decided that its precious Win11 will not run on older hardware, so upgrading is not always an available choice.

Microsoft CEO feels weighed down by job cuts

Shareholders pay no one.

They are only there to get paid.

Trump promises he won't put his boot on Musk's neck

"We're all businesspeople here"

Trump is most definitely not a business man. Every one of his business ventures were failures, and most of them were a scam from day one.

Musk, for all his faults (and God knows he has a list), has at least proven that he can manage a business.

Sometimes.

So much for watermarks: UnMarker tool nukes AI provenance tags

"remove an image watermark in only a few minutes"

With over $3000 of hardware.

I'm pretty sure that the average PC user does not have a $3K+ hardware setup, and the number of individuals with an A100 graphics card in their rig can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand.

So this is a nice research paper, to be sure, and I salute the fact that it is proven that watermarking is basically obsolete.

Now come back to me when you have the figures on a GeForce RTX 50, which I figure is a bit more available to the common public.

Microsoft-owned GitHub: Open source needs funding. Ya think?

Borkzilla begging for money

Hey, Redmond, you bought GitHub.

You pay for its maintenance.

Tesla bets on bot smoke screen as political and market realities bite

"Elon Musk was optimistic about the future"

When has he not been ?

Especially in front of investors.

Mistral AI environmental report confirms AI is a hungry, thirsty beast

And don't forget to set your thermostat to 19°C because climate change . . .

The tiny tech tribe who could change the world tomorrow but won't

"There are ten people in the world who could decide tomorrow"

Name and shame.

This needs to be done. Kick the anthill and get them moving.