Posts by Pascal Monett

A year after taking on Intel's NUC mini-PCs, Asus says it's ready to improve them

"real-time conversational interfaces"

Great.

We're being trained to talk to machines.

Skynet won't need to kill us, it'll talk us to death.

Epic judge orders Google to let rivals set up app stores

Google is appealing

How totally unsurprising.

And, of course, it is asking for a stay of execution while it spends the next ten years fighting this decision.

Because that's what it's going to do. Google will fight this tooth and nail, because it hits its bottom line and we can't have that, now can we ?

Re: "permit third-party Android app stores to access the Google Play Store's catalog"

Why do you say dodgy ? That seems to me to be a gratuitious ad-hominem attack. Other app stores can very well be just as reliable, or better, than Google's (or Apple's).

And what makes you think that any other app store is going to list an app if its owner doesn't submit it for listing ?

I don't know that app stores scrape other stores like pseudo-AI companies scrape other sites. If you do, please tell us.

Google brings better bricking to Androids, to curtail crims

Re: I loved good old days when you were not watched every second of your life

Amen to that !

Re: Already fing annoying

So basically thieves already have a workaround.

Great news.

Happy birthday, Putin – you've been pwned

Unprecedented

Yeah, normally you're the one attacking others.

What cheek ! What gall ! To attack you !

Unbelievable, ain't it ?

Windows 11 migration? Upgrade engine revs up, enterprises have no choice

Oh I absolutely agree.

Windows only exists in the business market because of the vast amount of sheeple who can't, for the life of them, imagine using anything else.

Unfortunately, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Those who are intelligent enough to use Linux already are.

The morons are infected with Windows and will remain so.

Under the form of an expensive contract, maybe, but for the global user population ? Not a chance.

Re: Big if

Oh knock it off.

If companies could do that without totally disrupting the back-end services, they would have done it already.

Stop touting Linux as the obvious solution to all IT woes. It isn't.

Not without a hell of lot of expensive preperation and the full support of management up and down the hierarchy.

A working Turing Machine hits Lego Ideas

Re: No Annoying Music

Point taken.

Re: No Annoying Music

There's also the possibility of simply muting the sound.

Tesla Cybertruck recalled again. This time, a software fix for backup camera glitch

Two seconds ?

Two entire seconds to wake up a camera ?

What CPU is that based on, a 486 ?

In the era of AI and stupendously powerful computer chips, two seconds to turn on camera is disgusting.

Office 2024 unveiled for Microsoft 365 refuseniks

You can't see doesn't mean that Redmond doesn't benefit.

Harvard duo hacks Meta Ray-Bans to dox strangers on sight in seconds

"so that people can take their own privacy and data into their hands"

I'm sorry, but I strongly feel that the days where we could take care of our own privacy are long gone.

Ever since Google, our privacy has been in the hands of strangers in suits sitting in plush, expensive rooms who only think of how they can monetize our private lives.

And Eric Schmidt is the asshole who started it. Damn him. (but, if not him, there would have been another)

Elon Musk's X mashed by Australian court for evading child protection reporting

"X/Twitter does not need to comply with local requirements"

Oh but of course Elon, you're the one setting the rules again.

That's not how law works, and you have amply shown that you know nothing about law.

You barely know anything about decency.

Re: purely symbolic....

Agreed.

Ten times that would catch his attention, maybe.

Not just AI datacenters needing own power: Taiwanese server-maker Quanta has bought microgrids

Nuclear

Interesting.

I wonder if, like it has done for space access, private industry is going to be the engine that brings nuclear energy (preferably Thorium) back on the table.

Saying goodbye to the tech dreams Microsoft abandoned with Windows 11 24H2

Great idea, Redmond

Remove a tool included since forever for free and impose a paying replacement.

I'm not saying WordPad was the bee's knees, but having the gall to remove it and officially state that now you have to pay for Word to get the functionality is something that only the marketing department could possibly think is a good idea.

But I'm sure that the strain of supporting that decades-old code you haven't touched in years is reason enough, right ?

Microsoft throws in the towel on HoloLens 2

Re: being able to walk around inside buildings that haven't been built yet

Yes, that could be interesting.

There's this other, well-established technology called a screen. It can show images and, with a thing called a computer, you can use a tool called a mouse to move your point of view, and a thing called a keyboard to advance.

It's all very high-tech, I know, but maybe it means that you don't absolutely have to depend on strapping your head to some bulky portable low-definition screen to achieve the same result.

"we have signaled a last time to buy"

No, you have signaled it's time to not buy.

Not that I was going to anyway.

I went, a few weeks ago, to Verdun (France, for those who don't know). There is an underground citadel there, with a rather nice tourist ride that has AR goggles in the mix. It was well done, I can't say the contrary, but let's just say that after 40 minutes, I wasn't unhappy to take the damn things off.

And it's not like you're going to catch anything at the corner of your eye. If you're not looking right where you're supposed to, you're not seeing what is theoretically there.

I have no idea what tech those goggles were, but they very much reinforced my conviction that I'm absolutely not interested in acquiring anything like that for me in the forseeable future.

Cloudflare beats patent troll so badly it basically gives up

Patent trolls

As a judge, I would start with one question : when is the last time you made a product based on your patent ?

Never ?

Case dismissed.

The force is strong in Iceberg: Are the table format wars entering the final chapter?

"something that you can be a part of, that you can control"

Yeah, sure. Until some multi-billion dollar conglomerate comes into the game and changes the rules.

Broadcom, anyone ?

And yeah, we're talking open source. Big deal. When big money comes in, the rules fly out the window of The Board^TM.

Mega supermarket spots stock discrepancy of tens of millions amid ERP system migration

"a minor discrepancy"

Man do I wish I could label $10 million as a "minor discrepancy" in my accounting !

Microsoft lifts the price of System Center by ten percent

“The new pricing supports the continued development and improvement of System Center"

Oh, so the old pricing didn't ?

Bollocks. That's just your excuse to gouge your customers ever more.

You ain't fooling no one.

Get ready: US port strike may snarl tech supply chains

"some ILA members can make over $200,000 per year"

Gosh. I have over 25 years of expertise in my field and I'm not making that kind of money. I'm guessing that those ILA members with that kinf revenue are the ones who are deciding the strike.

And why are you griping about a 50% increase for $20 an hour ? It seems to me that that is an appreciable increase.

Oh, you're expecting more.

Unfortunately, Big Business wants to maximize margins and you're at the bottom of the pecking order. Yep, a strike is just about the only thing that is going to help.

Another OpenAI founder moves to arch-rival Anthropic

"the Microsoft-backed AI house"

So, most major founders of an open-source thingy have fled the house to another, non-Redmond-managed one ?

There's a clue there. I'm sure of it.

I mean, it's not like Redmond has ever declared that Open Source is a cancer, now is it ? Oh wait . . .

700K+ DrayTek routers are sitting ducks on the internet, open to remote hijacking

DayTrek should be fined in court

I don't care who brings the lawsuit, but in this day and age, to put on the market such a piece of crap is criminal negligence and somebody should be going to jail over it.

Satellite phones are coming, but users not happy to pay much extra for the capability

"demand for satellite coverage is likely to be highest in"

. . places where the copper/fiber/WiFi network is inexistant or poorly developed.

Duh.

Bank of America app glitch zeroes out people's balances

Re: realer cash

And just where can you pay anything in gold these days ?

You must be a prepper.

Tesla trounces shareholders who alleged Autopilot was all share-pumping lies

Re: Just when you thought it couldn't get any dumber....

Or a politician . . .

Two years after entering the graphics card game, Intel has nothing to show for it

I really don't care about the details. In my experience, Intel graphics has only ever been good enough to get a computer running until I can slot in a true graphics card (Nvidia or AMD, given the moment).

If Intel thinks that putting its "graphics engine" on an add-in card is going to impress me, I'll put it right in the bin with the Matrox 3D card that I wasted money on way back when.

FBI claims corrupt LA cops helped crypto CEO's cash grab

Los Angeles

A hive of scum and villany, apparently.

Corrupt cops are the worst. They swore to defend and protect. I hope the FBI nails them to the wall.

Literally.

The fix for BGP's weaknesses has big, scary, issues of its own, boffins find

"all internet technologies were deployed before being perfected"

So, we were moving fast and breaking things before that even became a meme ? Wow.

Oh well, the Internet adapts, it will continue to do so.

And we'll just have to follow.

Earth's new mini-moon swings by, then ghosts us by late November

"he forces of gravity will coax it back into a heliocentric trajectory"

It is not in orbit around the Earth then, it's just accompanying us for a little while.

Windows 11 user hurt by the KB5043145 update? Microsoft offers a way out

Thank goodness for Windows 7

Rock stable and performant, no updates to muck things up.

AT&T claims VMware by Broadcom offered it a 1,050 percent price rise

Congratulations, Broadcom

If your objective is to price yourselves out of the market, you're doing a great job.

Watch your mirrors: Tesla Cybertrucks have 'Full' 'Self Driving' now

"sudden, dramatic and dangerous"

Those are not adjectives that I would like to describe my driving experience.

I'll keep my ICE car until the industry delivers to me a car that doesn't have a steering wheel, where I can just give the destination and take a nap, or read a book.

Until then, as long as I am responsible, I'm the one driving, thank you.

Epic Games starts Battle Royale with Samsung, Google over app store practices

Wait a minute

“This is a meritless lawsuit. Android device makers are free to take their own steps to keep their users safe and secure”

Hold on, Google. Aren't you the same company that lost in court to Epic's claim that you were garden-walling your app store to ensure insane revenue ?

And now, because you lost, you are saying that phone makers are free ?

I note that you did not say that phone makers can accept any app store. No. You just said they're free to ensure their user's safety.

Somehow, I feel that that is a strawman argument.

Imagine a government that told Big Tech to improve resilience – then punished failures

Imagine that

A government that actually wants things to improve and is not shy of making the laws to ensure it happens.

My, I can't recall the last time I had a government like that . . .

Oracle settles customer NetSuite dispute out of court

So, Oracle can once again claim it admits no wrongdoing

I did nothing wrong, see ? The complainant drowned in the river in an unfortunate accident, so I did nothing wrong . . .

America. The best justice a company can buy.

Windows 11 Patch Tuesday preview is a glitchy disaster

"These previews are released early to" . .

. . ensure that users can beta test it and report on the issues.

Because Redmond doesn't test anymore. Why should it ? It's reputation doesn't seem to suffer no matter how many times it fucks up.

And my God does it fuck up.

Don't forget : Borkzilla has (had) Apple shares.

Cupertino has been infected . . .

Brazilian court sprays Musk's X with more fines for returning after ban

And that is what is going to bury him

"The investor Fidelity was recently reported to have cut the valuation of its stake in X to $4.19 million, down from the $19.66 million it had initially invested"

So, from 20 to 4. A fivefold reduction.

He's already pissed off advertisers (and whined about it), but pissing off investors is going to hurt a lot more in the long run. Not only because X is going to have trouble finding more money, but investors of the caliber of Fidelity are going to think twice, nay thrice, before investing in any other project he might dream up.

By the way, Elon, how's that Hyperloop going ?

Cloud threats have execs the most freaked out because they're not prepared

"business leaders who have regulatory and legal requirements to improve security do just that"

And once again, the old song about capitalism regulating itself flies out the window.

I have trouble believing that, in this day and age, there are still utter morons who prefer to wait for a catastrophe to do something about the security of their IT infrastructure.

Today, as soon as you are connected to the Internet, you are a possible target for a legion of very savvy, dedicated miscreants who would like nothing more than to bring your company to its knees in exchange for money. And then more money. And the bigger the company, the bigger the target.

If that's not enough to get your finger out and start securing your network, then you deserve the cost that is coming to you.

Forget the Kia Boyz: Crooks could hijack your car with just a smartphone

My answer is keep that car running, the one you bought in 2010 (or before).

China calls for realtime censorship of satellite broadband

I wish China good luck

Now that we have Starlink, like it or not, I wish China good luck in getting its firewall on there.

It is now possible, maybe, for a Chinese citizen to have a direct link to the world without Beijing's oversight. And there will be more constellations that China will not control.

The door is opening, Xi. You're going to have to deal with that some day.

Personalized pop-up was funny for about a second, until it felt like stalking

"that took a lot of courage for Curt to confess"

Yes, I do believe it did and I think that is a good sign.

I hope that what he learned from this whole debacle is that you simply do not pick on women thinking it's funny.

Curt was clearly an asshole. Maybe he grew up a bit after that.

US Army orders next-gen robot mule to haul a literal ton of gear

How is this better than a truck ?

It's got eight weels, it's certainly not electric, why not just use a truck ?

What is the point ?

Apple ropes off at least 4 GB of iPhone storage to house AI

Whatever you assume is your problem.

Recall the Recall recall? Microsoft thinks it can make that Windows feature palatable

"Microsoft [..] insists that the self-surveillance system is secure"

Please excuse me if that insistance doesn't really impress me one bit.