Posts by Pascal Monett

In Microsoft's world, cloud email still often requires on-premises Exchange. Why?

Re: The whole hybrid AD / Exchange is an absolute mess

Well, it's Microsoft. What did you expect ?

When you finish celebrating Linux turning 30, try new Linux 5.14, says Linus Torvalds

"an area of memory that only that application can access"

Does this trick preserve CPU speed and power ?

What are the possible negative consequences ?

Former Cisco exec jailed for fraud, dodging taxes

$10 million in two and a half years

Too fast, too greedy. Should have played it cool, a shady deal a year, no more.

Especially since, in his position, I doubt he had financial problems at the end of the month.

But no, this guy obviously couldn't keep from raking it in, and he got caught.

Goes to show that fraudsters aren't as smart as they think they are.

Toyota resumes autonomous Paralympics buses after vehicle hit judo competitor, forced him out of match

"the machine failed to brake in time"

Great publicity for Toyota's autonomous programming. Congrats. There must be a rogue engineer in there somewhere.

Meanwhile, how about hiring one human per bus, to drive it ?

Or at least slam the brakes when necessary, since the machine apparently can't do it reliably.

Thief milks CREAM Finance for $18m+ in cryptocurrency after spotting security bug

"CREAM Finance [..] lost at least $18m in cryptocurrency on Monday to an unidentified thief"

What ? A thief ?

But I thought up to $60 million you were now called a White Hat.

Children of China, your state-sanctioned hour of gaming begins … now!

"The spokesperson named Chess, Go, and programming as games"

Programming ?

Programming is not a game. It can be fun to learn, but it is not a game.

Rumors of satellite-comms-capable iPhone abound. The truth could be rather boring

"Amazon was upset about Starlink's proposals for a second-generation constellation"

Is it just me, or is Bezos really a whiny little bitch ?

Microsoft sinks standalone Hyper-V Server, wants you using Azure Stack HCI for VM-wrangling

"Microsoft has made its position clear"

Microsoft's position has always been clear : it wants all your IT to be Microsoft.

Boffins find if you torture AMD Zen+, Zen 2 CPUs enough, they are vulnerable to Meltdown-like attack

"if you torture [your] CPUs enough"

Oh my $Diety, who is going to think of the CPUs ?

Chinese developers protested insanely long work hours. Now the nation's courts agree

Replace "concentration camps" with "prisons"and "slave labor" with "economical slaves" and you've got the USA.

So China is progressing !

Seems like this is the right time to link to this.

SCO v. IBM settlement deal is done, but zombie case shuffles on elsewhere

Re: they are claiming FOSS is built from what they own

If that is the case, it's because they submitted it to the project, ergo they gave permission to use it, ergo, they no longer own it.

I stand by my words.

"the winner has a chance to claim partial ownership of Linux"

Um, how is that possible ?

Linux is FOSS. I don't care if a company contributes, it's still FOSS.

Nobody can claim FOSS.

Adding AI to everything won't make sense until we can use it for anything

Re: We have AI

We most certainly do not.

As I repeat all the time, what we have is Statistical Analysis Machines.

And we can't even tell how they come to their conclusions.

So, they're intelligent because we're too stupid to understand them.

The industry sucks

I've been saying for a while already : what is it with Size 8 (or pick another number, it's the same problem) ? Why can't the industry just state the size in centimeters ?

A Size 8 at one store is not a Size 8 at another store, and it's possible it isn't even a Size 8 between two lines of clothes in the same store.

I'm very sorry if someone has an issue with looking for a 78cm-wide shirt instead of a Size 7 (just inventing numbers here), but wouldn't it be easier to know that if you buy that 78cm-wide shirt, it will fit ?

China welcomed its billionth netizen in the first half of 2021

"Average use times are down [..] – probably reflecting lockdowns"

That is entirely illogical. Lockdown is what generally inflates Internet usage - because there's not much else to do apart from working from home.

Leaked: List of police, govt, uni orgs in Clearview AI's facial-recognition trials

“We must continue to fight for the right to protect our privacy"

So true.

And so sad.

Re: Legal position?

I would think that the legal situation is that you participated in an event where you knew your picture could be taken, so you implicitly consented to have your picture taken. Said picture is then the property of the person who took it, and that person may dispose of it as he or she intends.

Et tu, Samsung? Electronics giant accused of quietly switching SSD components

So, WD, Crucial and Adata, and now Samsung

Hands up those who don't do that kind of shenanigans.

Nobody ?

What I thought.

Microsoft does and doesn't want you to know it won't stop you manually installing Windows 11 on older PCs

Why ask the question ? Borkzilla is going to ram it down everyone's throat regardless.

Re: 99.8%

You're right, but 52%, man !

That's like the people who are at a BBQ and tell you that grilled meat has a 24% greater chance of giving you colorectal cancer. Greater than what ? They don't know. So I tell them.

Then I point out to them that the cigarette they're smoking has a 2300% better chance of giving them lung cancer.

Now pass me that hamburger.

Re: Crashes?

The stock market graphs pull the same shenanigans. A week ago my wife and I were checking out a stock price and, when the page showed the graph, my wife said "Oh my goodness, it's tanking !".

I then pointed out to her that the graph minimum was 550, the graph maximum was 565, and the stock had gone from 562 to 554. That is a 1.4% drop.

But, on the graph, the fall was impressive.

Back in the day, nVidia did the same on its benchmarks to suggest it was seriously overperforming AMD cards. You'd look at the graph and think "wow, that nVidia card is at least 25% more powerful". But if you checked the y-axis values, you'd realize that there was, at best, a 3% difference.

And I'm pretty sure nVidia was hardly the one who invented that.

Microsoft warns of widespread open redirection phishing attack – which Defender can block, coincidentally

I wouldn't know, I use RedirectRemover.

This way up: James Webb Space Telescope gets ready for shipment after final tests

"it looks very much the JWST will finally head to space this year"

Woah there, hang on. A hurricane is still possible . . .

EU to formally probe Nvidia's $54bn takeover over British chip designer Arm – report

Re: Majority Voting?

Agreed.

And besides, how is it that the UK now has 'significant concerns' ? Didn't the acquisition receive the UK's blessing ?

It's a bit late to complain now.

The Register recreates Apollo 15 through the medium of plastic bricks, 50 years on

It's not

When everyone else is on vacation, it's time to whip out the tiny screwdrivers

"Having a screw on the kitchen table is an everyday thing in our household"

You lucky dog you.

Online disinformation is an industry that needs regulation, says boffin

"And realise that the bullshit is being spread because it's in the interests of those spreading it, not those consuming it. "

Reality check : there are still people supporting Trump.

That realization is going to take one hell of a lot of time.

Do not confuse people with diplomas and educated people.

I've met some fucking idiots who had a master's degree.

A diploma only means you have knowledge. It does not mean you have education.

Fix five days of server failure with this one weird trick

My rule for PSUs is never buy the cheapest one.

A PSU is literally the most important component of the computer. Its job is to power all the other elements and do so consistently and with the correct amount of power.

So I calculate the TDP of all the components of the computer, and I buy a PSU that can provide at least 40% more than that. Because PSUs "rated for" 400W are actually capable of 350W. If you push them to 380W, you're asking for trouble.

After quietly switching to slower NAND in an NVMe SSD, Western Digital promises to be a bit louder next time

An increasingly desperate company that reported earnings of almost $5 billion for Q4 2021 results.

I'd like to be desperate like that.

I'm fairly certain they're all doing it.

Bumble fumble: Dude divines definitive location of dating app users despite disguised distances

I don't think I'm overstating the difficulty. It's not because, once one guy has hacked the system he can sell his knowledge, that the system is easy to hack. I might have been able to figure out the Tinder distance hack, if I had any interest in coding on mobile phones, as well as a use for that particular app, but it would certainly have taken me a while. Joe Average is not going to do it.

As for your refinement of the category idea, I like your point. Indeed, there is no need to recalculate once the answer has been given. And good point as well that users should have some sort of control over whether they wish for that data to be available or not.

Tipping point

After reading this article, I'd first like to say that even the Tinder flaw seems to me to be beyond the abilities of Joe Stalker to diagnose. The people who find these flaws are really on the top of their game. Kudos to them.

That being said, that triangulation thing seems to be a bit difficult to avoid. Even if you fudge the distance a bit, you're still informing a stalker of a distance that is an easy walk away.

I think such apps should not inform of distance directly, but rather use categories like Close By, Within Driving Distance, Far Away. Category calculated on the server, obviously.

Maybe that would solve the issue ?

Re: What?

When you're actually doing your job, you don't need to boast : the results speak for themselves.

Good news: Japanese boffins 3D print what looks like marbled Wagyu beef. Bad news: It's tiny and inedible

"there's the edibility problem to overcome"

Obviously, if only for space exploration, it will be necessary to provide a way to grow meat without having a lumbering four-legged creature bumbling about the cabin and sending cow pats floating everywhere.

3D printing the meat ? Not exactly a requirement, but hey, why not ?

Edibility, though, is a requirement. I hope they get that fixed.

Apple wants to scan iCloud to protect kids, can't even keep them safe in its own App Store – report

Oh ain't that swell ?

"Apple tolerates age verification methods that try to avoid learning that that user is underage "

I'm sorry officer, I asked her for her driver's license, but I just couldn't be arsed to actually check it.

Congratulations Apple. You really Think Different.

South Korea may ban Apple, Google from forcing store payment systems on app devs

"only relevant for less than"

Don't care.

If it is that irrelevant, then don't impose it.

If you do impose it, then it is relevant to more than whatever puny excuse you come up with.

'No peeing towards Russia' sign appears on country's Arctic border with Norway

"No peeing towards Russia."

Thank you.

I now have in my bucket list going to Finnmark and peeing towards Russia.

After breaking all the CCTV cameras in the area, obviously.

Start or Please Stop? Power users mourn features lost in Windows 11 'simplification'

Agreed.

Borkzilla is making the mistake of thinking that everything and the kitchen sink is a good idea.

It is not. You're making an OS. An OS is made to launch the applications the user wants, not to be everything at the same time.

Stick to your fucking job.

UK promises big data law shake-up... while also keeping the EU happy, of course. What could go wrong?

Oh you utter bastard. Asking a Government Official to actually do some work !

Have you no respect ?

Facebook used facial recognition without consent 200,000 times, says South Korea's data watchdog

So 26 million won is $22,000

The dollar is officially at 1 164 won.

The average monthly salary in South Korea is apparently 3 890 000 won, which would mean $3 352. Not too shabby, I guess.

But I have a question : can you buy anything for 1 won in South Korea ? Because it seems to me that they like seeing large numbers on their paychecks, but in their daily life they have to use fistfuls of cash to pay for a coffee. What's the point ?

Israeli firm Bright Data named as enabler of Philippines government DDOS attacks on opposition groups

"formerly known as Luminati Networks"

Oh, the conspiracy theories you could spin out of that !

Cops responding to ShotSpotter's AI alerts rarely find evidence of gun crime, says Chicago watchdog

"as it no longer had sufficient evidence"

The case never had sufficient evidence to start with.

Sufficient evidence would have been finding the gun.

It's rather obvious that, if ShotSpotter had correctly identified a gunshot in the immediate vicinity of the car, it was because of the shooting. That does not make the driver guilty of the shooting.

He never should been jailed in the first place.

Singapore is the only nation with a dedicated 'net link to China. And they've just agreed to expand its use

Re: One big cable ..

Why use an axe when you can just flick a switch.

Remotely.

Especially the type of offer you can't refuse . . .

Taiwan and Arizona economic groups agree to bring more chip industry to desert state

the Greater Phoenix Economic Council

Its members need to be replaced by people with a functioning brain. When you live in a desert region without access to a water source you control, you do not invite an entire industry that cannot function without water.

That Arizona is stupid enough to jeopardize its water future is one thing, that the suits at TSMC think its a good idea is altogether another. How can they possibly believe that Arizona is going to be able to reliably supply water for the life of the plant ? Oh sure, they certainly got their juicy tax breaks, no doubt there, but those tax breaks won't amount to much when the plant has to shut down because no more water is coming down the pipes.

Why don't you also decide to put a gunpowder factory in the middle of a pine forest while you're at it ?

Samsung: We will remotely brick smart TVs looted from our warehouse

Bye bye Samsung

So you can brick my TV at will ?

Fuck off, Samsung. I'm happy you can preserve your investments, but I will not buy or use any equipment that functions under someone else's orders, or with someone else's permission.

Borking on the corner, watching the world go by

Yeah, like they said in the article.

Proofpoint wins $14m from ex-VP and French email security rival in IP theft court battle

"Proofpoint and Cloudmark's claims were an overreach"

Um, excuse me, but "an overreach" does not mean that you were without guilt.

So don't try to spin it too far.