Posts by Pascal Monett

Indian government floats idea of home-grown challenger for Android and iOS

"May not be the smartest move"

Sure, Borkzilla screwed the pooch over the Windows Phone, but it's a habit at Redmond to bury projects (usually after a few years of use, though).

India is a different use case. As noted, they are "fiercely patriotic". They're also quite a lot of people. It is possible that a home-grown phone could stand a fighting chance.

I'd rather like to see them try. In the event that it does fail, then we'll truly be able to go back to our newspapers and mutter "well, it's Android and Iphone from now on".

China orders web operators to spring clean its entire internet

Why repeat ?

Well that's probably because just saying things once rarely has the desired effect when you are talking to the masses. Otherwise we wouldn't need police, because we'd just tell people to be nice and obey the law, job done.

It doesn't really work like that.

It's more than 20 years since Steps topped the charts. It could be less than that for STEP's first fusion energy

"it's not the fusion"

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought there were still legitimate scientific issues that kept us from benefitting from endless energy generation.

So, "it's not the fusion.". Then, "it's the bureaurocracy", I gather ?

So let's take the bureaurocracy behind the chemical shed and waste them, and get ourselves ENDLESS FUSION ENERGY.

If a bunch of administrative busibodies is all that stands between me and endless energy, then I'm sorry, but there will be a few human sacrifices.

How to polish the bottom line? Microsoft makes it really hard to claim expenses, say staffers

"get the basics right internally"

But they did get it right internally - they sucked the willpower out of you, thereby preventing you from claiming expenses !

Job well done !

Of course, that's only true as long as long as you DECLARE NOJUSTICE and DECLARE ACCEPTSLAVERY, but don't worry, Borkzila has set YES as defaults on those parameters.

James Webb Space Telescope has arrived at its new home – an orbit almost a million miles from Earth

It's space. The JWST is the first of its kind.

I'd like to see the telescope you build from scratch.

IBM finally finds a private equiteer willing to purchase Watson Health

“IBM remains committed to Watson"

Right, that's it. When IBM remains committed to something, you can be sure they're shutting it down in the near future.

We need an End-of-the-Line icon.

Australian Prime Minister's WeChat Shanghaied by Chinese patriots

"Other members of the government have concluded"

Without any facts to base the conclusion on.

Don't you just love it when someone hears that something has happened and immediately concludes that some third party is responsible ?

Must be a sign of certain intelligence </sarc>.

Myanmar's military junta seeks ban on VPNs and digital currency

Nothing should be able to thwart the Great Eye of Surveillance

And anything that does is automatically criminal and unacceptable.

You will hide nothing, but you will still live in fear.

Another US president, time for another big Intel factory promise by another CEO

Wishful thinking

"a signal to China and to the rest of the world that from now on our essential manufactured products in this country will be made in the United States of America"

So, clothes are not essential ?

It would be hilarious if Beijing answered : "Fine, make your sweatpants now" and closed down all the sweatshops that toil for next to nothing to provide us with our precious Gucci and GAP trinkets (that we pay hand over fist for).

Tougher rules on targeted ads, deepfakes, crafty web design, and more? Euro lawmakers give a thumbs up

"technology will continue impacting societies in the future"

Technology has always impacted society.

The discovery of fire allowed our ancestors to learn how to cook, thereby making eating easier (and more delicious), thereby making our teeth last longer. And now, we need less of them.

Agriculture allowed us to settle and start building civilization, instead of roaming around after the herds for our sustenance.

Steam ushered in the Industrial Age, which ultimately removed the obligation for 99.9% of humanity to be farmers. We could now devote more people to Science, Mathematics, discovery end experimentation, which ultimately gave us the computer, the Internet and, recently, social media. That last one might not be progress after all.

Technologies to look forward to ? Fusion, obviously, but also room-temperature supraconductivity, gravity modulation, true spaceships. Not all of that might happen, but whichever ones do, they will have an immense impact on our society.

Intel plunking down $20bn for at least two chip factories in Ohio

What ? Ohio ? Not Texas ?

Oh dear me, is there some level of Hell that is freezing over now ?

Oh wait, silly me, it's just that backstabbing is just as lively inside the Union as from the outside.

At least, this time, it's more logical since Ohio is actually next to available water.

Carry on . .

'Please download in Microsoft Excel': Meet the tech set to monitor IT performance across central UK government

"please download the workbook in Microsoft Excel for the best user experience"

I have yet to have trouble opening an Excel file in LibreOffice.

It's a great user experience because I don't have Borkzilla's 365Eye watching everything I do while just looking over some numbers.

Yeah, but there might be kids around.

Or PC* nazis, which are the same intellectual level.

*) not the computer

BOFH: What a beautiful classic car. Shame if anything were to happen to it

Depends. Do you have a beard ?

'Can you identify your assailants?' Yes, they were pixelated! I'd know them anywhere!

WHAT !?!

The Mozartkügel is no more ?

That's it, life is no longer worth living. Unless . . somebody picks up the recipe and starts anew (no, not you, Nestlé, nor Mars, Hershey's or Ferrero).

We need an icon that represents pure, abject terror. I'm sure there's some of painting that could do.

Why should I pay for that security option? Hijacking only happens to planes

"the blood drained from his face before he turned around and told me I could leave"

I would not have left promptly.

I would have stalled just a few seconds, looking him straight in the eyes, before slowly turning and exiting the room.

The silence might have been awkward, but not for me.

UK, Australia, to build 'network of liberty that will deter cyber attacks before they happen'

Re: Demockracy

Yeah. Crazy how all these uppity "democratic" countries are currently doing a whole lot in complete secrecy, isn't it ?

Like not revealing the contract signed with Pfizer. Why ? My tax money went into that agreement. I think I have the right to know what the agreement is.

If you want less CGI and more real effects in movies, you may get your wish: Inflatable film studio to orbit Earth

"It's incredibly expensive to get into space, [..] That's the main hurdle."

Well, there's also the niggling little detail that you just might go boom trying to get there.

And when I read that, before hauling up the gigantic tennis ball, they first have to add an entire new module to the ISS, well here's me saying nope, won't happen.

Not unless they have an entire multiverse planned and we are on track for getting a dozen films with genuine weightlessness - which will likely get boring right around the second film, or the third at best, if the first two were good.

Bullet-time was an incredible gimmick when The Matrix served it up for the first time. It has rarely been so well used since. I'm guessing zero-gee won't fare much better.

Finally, they need to do more than break even if they intend to make more than one film. If, before you've even started filming, you've already slashed $200 million from your budget, well you'd better pray that the public is going to flock to the cinemas in droves to see your film because otherwise, that space module will end up as additional storage space until the ISS is decommissioned and sent to burn up in the atmosphere.

Russia's Putin out the idea of a broad cryptocurrency ban

Somehow, this had to happen

Having an unregulated currency in Putinland was always something of a surprise to me. When China put the kibosh on funny money, it was a "duh" moment, because of course the PRC government was not going to accept people having anything out of its control.

I think that the only reason Putin has not yet actually put his foot down on this market is because of all the blackhats he has creating mischief and mayhem everywhere else. He might lop off a head here and there, when the Western nations come crying too loudly, but otherwise it's all good for him.

Now the central bank is saying nuh-uh. It'll be interesting to see how this goes.

Japan's Supreme Court rules cryptojacking scripts are not malware

"crypto mining software is not malware"

Okay, in the absolute, it isn't malware as such because it does not take over the computer and attempt anything else, fine.

It is still theft, though. It is using someone else's resources without their knowledge or consent.

So he should not get off scott-free.

Privacy is for paedophiles, UK government seems to be saying while spending £500k demonising online chat encryption

"Privacy is for paedophiles"

I totally agree.

At the condition that every single government and wannabe-government email is publicly exposed for all to see.

After all, you've got nothing to hide, right ?

Web daddy Tim Berners-Lee on privacy, data sharing, and the web's future

"bank transactions go to your Solid pod"

Fuck that.

My bank transactions go into my bank history and there ain't no fucking Pod that has the right to hoard that data.

Sir Berners-Lee, with all due respect, stop trying to shoehorn every aspect of my private life into something Google, the NSA and every other skiddie with a keyboard can index.

NortonLifeLock and Avast tie-up falls under UK competition regulator's spotlight

It seems that that is the inevitable progression in the AV industry.

You start with a good product that is efficient and not resource-hogging. And it's free.

It gains momentum until such a point that it starts hobbling its free version and encouraging you, nicely at first, to fork over for the Premium version.

Then the MBAs take control, the product ends up going full Frankenstein and not only takes over your PC but also hassles you into paying ever more for additional "functionality" you don't give flying one about.

Then the next free version of something else pops up and you're on the next treadmill.

It's almost as if there was an AI behind all this . . .

The robots are coming! 12 million jobs lost to automation in Europe by 2040 – analyst

Oh. My. God.

Borkzilla ? Still ? In 2060 ?

Kill me now.

Can we have a hangman's noose icon ?

First they came for Notepad. Now they're coming for Task Manager

"But hey – this is development code after all"

Yeah, and it's name is Windows 11.

NASA's Curiosity finds signs of ancient life on Mars. Or maybe not. More data needed

You need to update your knowledge base on the Sahara. It is positively teeming with life.

The only real problem is the downer the probe would get if it actually happened upon a human being.

Party on Semiconductor Street as worldwide 2021 revenues top record half a trillion dollars

Re: bump one client if a higher paying one comes along

I wonder how much longer that is going to continue. After all, it's not exactly very customer-friendly, right ? With all the new fabs that are either in construction or planned in the next few years, some fab plants might soon find that a number of their customers have gone off to other fabs who actually respect their contracts.

Maybe.

Version 7 of WINE is better than ever at running Windows apps where they shouldn't

Pirates ?

If you think I'm going to download - not to mention install - an executable file from a pirate these days then I have a bridge to sell you.

My pirating days are done, and even back then, I was only interested in the NoCD cracks so that didn't have to bother with putting the plastic disk in.

Piracy today ? A slew of malware just waiting for the clueless.

No thank you.

Japan solves 5G airliner conundrum: Keep mobe masts 200m from airport approach paths. That's it

"accusing the FAA of not carrying out proper testing"

Well duh.

The FAA is nothing more than Boeing's rubber stamp these days.

Mine's the one with the self-certification in the pocket.

Google sours on legacy G Suite freeloaders, demands fee or flee

Absolutely.

But hey, Google will be Google.

And it's a bit rich to call people freeloaders when you started by offering the product for free. Don't act all surprised that people prefer staying with that contract.

APNIC: Big Tech's use of carrier-grade NAT is holding back internet innovation

That old chestnut

We're running out of IPv4 addresses ! We must transition to IPv6 !

Oh really ? Why ?

IPv4 still works.

When I'm running out of nails, I don't start thinking about buying a new hammer.

Besides, all that IoT shit works on IPv6, right ? That'll transition things for you just fine.

Singapore gives banks two-week deadline to fix SMS security

"remove clickable links in text messages or e-mails sent to retail customers"

They're still doing that ?

My Luxembourg bank never sends me SMSs, and actually practically never sends me mail to my email address. All communications are held on the banking portal I have access to (ID, password and OTP token), and are held in the Message area, with a little red bell when there's something I haven't read.

On the other hand, my bank does call me when there is an unusual transaction of more than €2,000 to ensure that it was me and that I authorize the movement.

I appreciate that.

COVID-19 was a generational opportunity for change at work – and corporate blew it

Agreed on all points, with one caveat : the company will have to provide me with a laptop, secured and configured to company specifications.

Big shock: Guy who fled political violence and became rich in tech now struggles to care about political violence

Too true

You may not like it, but it is a fact that the oppression of the Uighurs is known and there has been zero protests in the streets anywhere.

So, basically, that billionaire is indeed telling the truth, it's just that we don't like looking at that particular angle of ourselves.

And I'm as guilty as the rest of us.

International police shut down 15 server infrastructures as part of VPNLab.net's takedown

So, is it LabVPN or VPNLab ?

Some consistency would be appreciated, or at least a hint as to why the name change.

Autonomy founder's anti-extradition case is like saying Moon made of cheese, US govt tells UK court

"while the US government said"

At this point in time, what the US Gov says is worth peanuts.

This trial is happening under UK law, not US law, and the US has nothing to say.

At least, that's my POV.

Microsoft patches the patch that broke VPNs, Hyper-V, and left servers in boot loops

Seems like it is time to train a new generation

About fifteen years ago, Borkzilla was famous for teaching us to wait for v1.1 - it looks like today's new generation of admins need to update their training courses.

NEVER install a Borkzilla patch the day it comes out. Wait a few days. Find out what the feedback is.

It's incredible that people just blindly go and update their business-critical software when Borkzilla has publicly recognized that it has no more Q&A department.

HELLO ?! YOU ARE THE TESTERS.

If you want to risk your network, go ahead, but don't come back griping about how the latest "patch" borked your network.

Live and learn.

Indian IT services biz HCL sees boom in business – and staff attrition

"HCL [..] has already added 10,000 this quarter"

Maybe, but it has added 10K newbies that need training. Cheap, but unskilled. I don't care what your diploma is, you're not ready for the working environment.

On the other hand, you are ripe for being pressed and stressed until you either soar or crack.

It seems that the previous batch mostly cracked.

It also seems that HCL does not offer a working environment like Google. Like it or not, the adslinger and PII-hooverer apparently has a very nice working environment which ensures employee loyalty, even when Google is publicly shamed for projects that impact personal liberties or humanitarian concerns.

HCL : take a hint.

Billionaires see wealth double during pandemic as tech bros lead the charge

"governments could tackle these inequalities"

No, they can't.

Governments can only act within their purview. A billionaires' purview is the entire world.

Whatever one government does, a billionaire can undo by playing in another country. Problem solved.

The only way to bring billionaires to heel is to have a World Government.

The only problem with that is ensuring that billionaires don't buy it out.

European Space Agency whittles wannabe astronauts down from 23,000 to 1,391

"opening up applications to would-be astronauts with a physical disability"

In space, I really don't see how that can be a problem. Legs are actually a hindrance, if I'm not mistaken, since you mostly need your hands to get places.

The main use of legs is for physical training to try to counteract the effects of freefall. I wonder how the ESA is going to manage integrating that part into a parastronauts' physical training.

Microsoft seems intent on buying the gaming industry with $68.7bn purchase of troubled Activision Blizzard

Oh great. They've already borged Minecraft, now they've got Diablo

For fuck's sake, Borkzilla, can you leave my gaming life the fuck alone ?

I already have to deal with your shit every single workday.

Bug in WebKit's IndexedDB implementation makes Safari 15 leak Google account info... and more

Re: How long ago?

Hey !

Have you heard of the XMas break ?

Ukraine blames Belarus for PC-wiping 'ransomware' that has no recovery method and nukes target boxen

"no recovery method and nukes target boxen"

Or, in other words, a chance to practice your backup recovery procedures.

Because you have those, right ?

Move over exoplanets, exomoons are the next big thing

Supermoons

Here we go again.

At the first stage of exoplanet discovery (which we have not entirely left yet), we only detected hot Jupiters and other behemoths orbiting near their parent star. Then we started detecting so-called "super-Earths" that might have the means to support life, but were more than twice as large as our Earth.

Well I'm sorry, but, independantly of the problem we have getting there, I don't see any normal human being settling on a planet that has a gravitational field that is twice as powerful (or more) then the one we have here. A person weighing 80kg on our blue planet will find themself battling against 160kg on a "super-Earth" that has just twice the grav potential. Cardiac problems, ahoy !

Now, I understand the issues we have with detection, and the fact that media outlets need to generate views, but could we put a damper on all these pseudo-Earth-like planets we are finding until we find a planet that is actually Earth-like in size and density ?

Because that is the kind of planet we need to look for as far as colonization is concerned. Well, IMO at least.

Open source, closed wallets, big profits – nobody wins the OSS rock, paper, scissors game

Not a bad idea, but

Here's what is likely to happen :

1) OSS coders who want to get paid will get fed up not being paid anything, and will simply stop updating their code

2) Companies using said code will start fretting about outdated code, or will wait until everything breaks to wail about how they didn't see that coming and OSS is not reliable

3) Somebody will step in and say "for a price, I can update this", and they will require a licensing deal, which companies will gladly fork over

4) Situation normalizes to "free" OSS code, not paid for ever, and "commercial" OSS code, which requires a license and gets updates, but can be forked and any approved coder can contribute (how that happens needs to be determined)

I don't believe in unicorns and I doubt very much that companies are going to wake up to anything until it slaps them in the face - especially when it means spending money that does not go towards CEO/board bonuses.

Planning for power cuts? That's strictly for the birds

I say it's plausible

I still blame them for not testing before the blackouts happened.

It's one thing to not upset your network for no good reason, but knowing that it's going to happen and not making sure the failover works is not acceptable.

Alien life on Super-Earth can survive longer than us due to long-lasting protection from cosmic rays

From what I understand (not an astronomer, much less a scientist), an objects density has a direct correlation with how well its gravitational field can attract other things.

You know that a black hole gobbles up light, right ? That's because its density is insanely high (to not use the word "infinite"). A stellar-mass black hole (supposing there are any that exist) would still be a black hole, would still have the mass of the Sun, but would be much, much more dense.

So, the Sun balloning up in size will reduce its overall density, and there are some scientists that think that that could change our orbital distance.

At least, that's what I understood.

"Earth’s magnetic field will disappear in 6.2 billion years or so"

By that time, ou Sun will have already entered its Red Giant phase and either we are cooked, of the change in the sun's density will have moved our orbit outwards - hopefully to a new Goldilocks zone.

And by that time we definitely need to have colonies on other planets and moons, as well as large space stations harvesting minerals in the Kuiper Belt. I would also hope that, in a few billion years (if we live that long as a species), we will have a presence in other solar systems.

Because if we don't, there's every chance that there's a large, dense asteroid out there with our address on it, and that'll be the end of us.

North Korea pulled in $400m in cryptocurrency heists last year – report

With the engine running and aircon/heating (following outside temperature) on.

Russia starts playing by the rules: FSB busts 14 REvil ransomware suspects

"few expected Russia to arrest ransomware gang members before today"

I don't think anybody was expecting that.

When I started reading this article, my eyes went wide open.

Now that I have finished reading it though, the fact that Russian FSB agents are operating in Ukraine, a nominally indepent country, is telling. I'm sure that, normally, Russia should have asked Ukraine to take care of the arrests. It doesn't sound like there was any such diplomatic niceities. Putin just sent in his jackboots and they did the job.

As if Ukraine was part of Russia.

I'm glad those bastards got their comeuppance, but I would have been happier if it had been in a proper, legal fashion.