Posts by Pascal Monett

Major shift in smartphone market sees Chinese kit win the middle while Apple and Samsung skim the cream

"a healthy appetite for smartphones globally"

Great. More toxic landfill trash to come.

Big Tech bankrolling AI ethics research and events seems very familiar. Ah, yes, Big Tobacco all over again

It's the same thing as herd immunity : it requires thought and effort from 80% of the population.

Right now, 60% of the population is just begging for football season to start.

Vivaldi update unleashes the 'Cookie Crumbler' to simply block any services asking for consent (sites may break)

Re: This.

More and more, I am seeing websites that have the popup contain two buttons : ont to accept all, in green (obviously), and one to check - in red.

Psychological wars aside, I am often surprised by a page that lists possible cookies in 3 sections : indispensable, operational and marketing - and often it's only the indispensable that is pre-allowed.

In other words, good behavior is spreading.

Of course, that may be a statistical quirk of the subset of websites that I visit vs the rest of them. YMMV.

The eternal popup predicament

"While the aim of the questions is noble, for users it can be annoying and can leave them preferring to hit the Accept All button rather than wading through what can sometimes be pages of options to turn off every setting, "

This problem is not new. It is the eternal issue of the fact that users invariably view a popup as an impediment to Get Stuff Done, so the knee-jerk reaction is to get rid of it the fastest way possible.

It is well known that users can click OK, Accept or whatever without even reading the text of the popup. They are even capable of spending more time making sure they get rid of said popup as fast as possible than they would reading it.

48 ways you can avoid file-scrambling, data-stealing miscreants – or so says the Ransomware Task Force

Re: Reactive, not Proactive

We cannot change, at least, not yet. Excel, Word & Outlook, not to mention Access, are way too engrained in our IT environment to allow for upsetting the boat.

Ironically, all the big names are doing their damndest to make change possible. Once everything is in The Cloud (TM), it'll be a cinch to ditch Windows and go for a more secure Linux environment.

So support The Cloud (TM) and we'll be able to kill Windows at some point in an undetermined future.

Billions in data protection lawsuits rides on Google's last-ditch UK Supreme Court defence for Safari Workaround sueball

Re: errmmm

Wondering the same thing. This is the UK though, there isn't the same shark culture in the legal area, if I'm not mistaken.

In any case, it's hardly surprising that Google is fighting this tooth and nail. If this goes through it could cost Google an arm and a leg.

It would be a first though.

Terror of the adtech industry iOS 14.5 has landed, and Siri can answer your calls ... though she/he can't hang up

"it will reduce the effectiveness and profitability of targeted ads"

Good.

Targetted ads need to disappear, along with the privacy invasion that they impose.

As for the disabled, companies apparently need to give a lot more thought as to how their tech works. Not being able to end a call is ridiculous. How can any group of people take the call project and not deal with how to end the call ?

Here's what Russia's SVR spy agency does when it breaks into your network, says US CISA infosec agency

Re: "says US CISA infosec agency"

So that's where Trump got his communication policy from.

Now I understand better.

Helsinki Syndrome: Ubuntu utterly fails to boot on metro

Teething problems

The big difference between Linux teething problems and Borkzilla teething problems is that, when the Ubuntu team will have ironed them out, they won't reappear.

Windows teething problems apparently never go away because Borkzilla is always changing the teeth.

FreedomFi's 5G gateways will mine HNT cryptocurrency for owners who dole out coverage to passing users, IoT devices

Weasel words

"The amount of power consumed by the FreedomFi Gateway and an indoor CBRS radio," said Renski, "is comparable to that of a Wi-Fi access point. "

For the operation of the 5G functionality, maybe, but certainly not for the cryptomining functionality. That is going to be pushing the CPU to the hilt 24/7 for some virtual funny money.

Real electricity used up to "create" a fantasy that only has some form of value because people want to believe the shysters.

Where meetings go to die: Microsoft Teams outage lets customers skip that collaboration call they've been dreading

"Microsoft? Roll out a catastrophically badly tested update? Surely not."

Of course not. Borkzilla would never roll out a badly-tested update.

Borkzilla only rolls out absolutely not tested updates.

Half-metre pizza or an upgrade from Windows 7? We know what we'd choose

Re: Upgrade Windows 7 ...

Well, technically, you could very well upgrade to Windows 1 0 and put the PC behind a firewall that blocks Internet access - which is something you should do anyway for a point of sale equipment that has no need to access the Internet.

Don't cross the team tasked with policing the surfing habits of California's teens

Re: Today we are talking about self-driving Lorries

Yes, we're talking about them.

They don't exist, and it's not because of unions.

They don't exist because nobody has found a way to ensure that the on-board detectors will be reliable enough to make a difference between sun glare and an actual stop sign, not to mention how the system can go completely haywire when it's snowing.

I'm all for self-driving vehicles. I would love to get in my car, program the destination and lay back with a book and a drink (if the time is right) while the car takes of getting me to where I need to go. But that does not exist today and it won't before a long time. Because to have a proper self-driving car, you need to program the damn thing to be efficient in all weather conditions, over bad roads and inexistant signage, and, possibly even more difficult, worn-out road marks.

We're not there yet. When we get there, then we'll see how unions react.

High-level manglement can be just as much a nuisance as unions

I was once on a team contacted to create a document management application that would allow lawyers to, well, manage their documents more efficiently.

One would think that lawyers would appreciate that kind of functionality.

Here I was, explaining that the application could easily track the contributors and the changes, and all the filing would a quick press of a button. What I did not get was all the questions about whose name was going to be on the document and could the secretaries take care of it.

Once we had lost the deal, I twigged to the root cause : these guys didn't want to touch a computer, they wanted their secretaries to do the work. What I was proposing was that they had to do some work, instead of enjoying expensive lunches at fancy restaurants.

Obviously, that was not acceptable.

NASA comes up with COVID-19 infection detector that's out of this world – E-Nose built from space station gear

"the researchers are testing out various machine-learning algorithms"

Because obviously these days only machine learning can possibly do the job properly.

Actually testing stuff yourselves in a lab is soo last millennium. No, let's test a bunch of ML algorithms we don't know how they work and, when we find one that gives us the results we want, we'll use that.

Apple faces another suit over its allegedly misleading water resistance claims

[Apple] "has refused to cover water damage under warranty"

That is what you call a clear warning sign, people.

If a vendor touts some aspect as an advantage, but refuses to cover it in the warranty, then you move that advantage over to the bullshit marketing column.

PCs continue to sell like hot cakes and industry can barely keep up with demand – analyst

Re: why bother with a laptop?

Well, some (eh, a lot of) people don't have the luxury of a home office. I know some people who work in their bedroom, or kitchen.

Okay, the bedroom might do with a desktop, but you're not setting up a desktop with Ethernet in a kitchen.

Absolutely agree. A 4-year old laptop or PC today is not worth replacing.

The last time I upgraded my desktop was in 2015, and it's still doing its job fine. The only reason I'm starting to oogle replacement parts is because I'm a gamer, and those new graphics cards are becoming very, very attractive.

But my work laptop that I've had since 2012 ? I'll replace that the days it dies, not a second before.

Sorry Pat, the notebook market is not the mobile phone market. You're not going to get 400 million refreshment sales any time soon.

Salesman who helped land Veritas UK's 'largest ever' deal was lawfully docked £275k in commission, says judge

A "safety net" clause

Here's my definition of safety : you show your gratitude to the people who give you exceptional deals. And that gratitude is manifested in money, because a pat on the back is just an insult these days.

The bone-headedness of manglement these days defies comprehension. What do you prefer : having a salesman on your team that got half a million bonus, that you can show as living incentive to get the rest off their asses and cracking for the company, or having a lawsuit that clearly demonstrates to the rest of the team that their best efforts will be met with "meh" ?

Morons.

I've said it before and I'll say it again : if you don't want to give massive payouts to your sales team, don't make rules that give them massive payouts, only to create secondary rules that cheat them from it.

In any case, one thing is sure : do not go working for Veritas UK sales team. You're going to be cheated.

Scam victims find same fraudulent ads lurking on Facebook and Google even after flagging them up

Re: Google should be personally responsible

Absolutely agree.

It's on your platform. If you don't care to vet the ads you let through, you pay the damages.

You're free to go sue the scammer afterwards.

GCHQ boss warns China can rewrite 'the global operating system' in its own authoritarian image

Re: You might care to tell that to the Uighur population

I know about the Uighurs. I do not approve.

But that has nothing to do with the Internet.

Re: Who are they addressing?

Exactly.

China is far from being a threat as far as I'm concerned. The NSA and its snooping largely predates any issues with the "global operating system".

What kind of bollocks is this anyway ? There is no such thing as a global operating system. There is, however, Google and Facebook, and they are not under chinese control.

It's very interesting to see this guy harp on about global impact when, ten years ago, the discussions were about the balkanization of the Internet. China and Russia both exert tight control over Internet access for their citizens (so does North Korea, but who cares ?). Any dictatorship worth the name will do the same in the blink of an eye if it deems that its power is in danger (cf Pakistan).

Where's your global operating system in all that ?

And, as far as digital currencies are concerned, don't make me laugh. The only reason for these are for government surveillance. My own government wants to track my activity down to the last penny.

China is not the threat. It's you lot that are hell-bent on anally probing my life.

Big Blue services enjoy a lie-in: IBM cloud gets the Monday blues and its customers won't have been happy either

So, is IBM going to publish the details of the issue ?

OVH has been totally transparent about its troubles, is IBM going to follow suit ?

I know it is not in Big Business tradition to publish the hows and whys of failure, but this the 3rd Millenium. Might be time to wake up and join the transparency drive.

Technoking of comedy? Elon Musk to host Saturday Night Live

Cringe-inducing ?

I've had four years of OHSG cringe-induced trauma. We're veering into PTSD territory here.

I don't need more, thank you.

Does the boss want those 2 hours of your free time back? A study says fighting through crowds to office each day hurts productivity

"Maybe a handful of people can work remotely"

I think that 2020 has brilliantly demonstrated that a lot of people can work remotely.

As a freelance programmer consultant, I have been lucky in that 2020 did not event dent my yearly revenue. I know that there are a lot of people who have suffered. My daughter is a professional seamstress and she is sick of not having a proper work proposal since March 2020. I, on the other hand, have only had one customer demand that I come on-site since January 2020, and I have been lucky enough to get two additional customers during lockdown.

At this point in time, I have no less than 3 laptops specifically configured to access their particular networks, and my other customers I work with offline, sending them what they need when I'm done.

Work remotely ? If you're a programmer, it's a cinch - thanks to knowledgable network admins, obviously.

Ethics isn't a county east of London, but it's the only way to look at security

Well said

I agree with and will stand behind every word of this article.

It's just a shame it had to be written.

El Reg checks in with Rocket Lab's Peter Beck to see how that hat tastes amid reusable rockets and swelling payloads

Why is that name not familiar ?

Is Elon Musk taking all the spotlight ?

This Peter Beck seems to working his ass off to do much the same stuff. I guess coming in second is always a curse. The article says, however, that he's already put 100+ satellites in orbit. That's not nothing.

NASA’s getting really good at this flying a helicopter on Mars thing

Awesome

We now have the ability to make aerial surveys. NASA can send the drone to scout out a region, take a few snaps and report the data, letting boffins determine whether or not it would be interesting to send the trundlebot over there.

That's going to make for more efficient exploring.

Hats off to the boffins !

Maybe high-speed internet is infrastructure after all, say US Republicans in proposal to spend $65bn over five years

Of course it will be a better plan

It will be the best of plans. It will be the best plan ever made.

Funny, I thought we were done hearing bullshit like that. They "plan" to spend a quarter of what Biden is proposing and it's supposed to be better ?

Trump has amply demonstrated the efficiency of Republican planning : the border wall. Four years of xenophobia, lies and fabrications, not to mention financial shenanigans, and the great border wall is a few miles of vertical comb teeth being used by climbers as an exercise.

The only reason they think the plan is better is because it's their buddies who'll be getting the dough.

I think it is high time to make a change,

Starlink creates risk of internet investment doom cycle, says APNIC researcher

You obviously have a computer and an Internet connection.

You're not that poor, what are you complaining about ?

George Clooney of IT: Dribbling disaster and damp disk warnings scare the life out of innocent user

Not a prank, I know, but I will never forget the flying toaster screensaver.

I adored that one.

If you have a QNAP NAS, stop what you're doing right now and install latest updates. Do it before Qlocker gets you

"follow the 3-2-1 rule on backups"

Interesting. That's the first time I've heard of this rule.

Up to now, for me the rule had always been a backup a day, a backup a week, a backup a month. 7 tapes for daily, 4 tapes for weekly, 12 tapes for monthly.

Granted, I'm not a network guy, much less a backup guy, but that seemed reasonable to me.

For a company, of course. For private individuals you'll be lucky if they have a backup of any sort on optical discs. I have a friend who told me he did his backups on an external HDD. I then proceeded to explain to him in great detail that an external HDD is a magnetic surface, subject to loss of information, and is not certified to be a backup platform in any way. An optical RW disc is.

I'm still not sure he does his backups on an RW CD or DVD.

US aviation regulator warns of mid-air collision risk if Garmin TCAS boxes are not updated

Not to worry

Given that Boeing is not involved here, I'm sure the FAA is doing its job properly.

Mine's the one with the flight manuals that predate Boeing-embedded FAA employees.

10 years later, Chrome OS starts to look like a proper OS with hardware diagnostics and the ability to scan documents

"the ability to monitor battery health as well as CPU and memory usage"

And you can bet your bottom dollar that that information will somehow find its way into Google Sandbox, and be used to track you.

Capgemini scores £150m contract to help Student Loan Company overcome its IT problems 5 years after £50m superfail

Especially when you can pay 150m.

University duo thought it would be cool to sneak bad code into Linux as an experiment. Of course, it absolutely backfired

Various government agencies should have other things to do than waste their time perverting Linux.

Sucks to be you, any aliens living anywhere near Proxima Centauri's record-smashing solar flare

Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

In a few billion years, our Sun will become a red giant, just like Proxima Centauri. At that point, a tentacled boffin from planet ZX527125-OF846b will present his findings to his fellow amoebas in much the same terms.

Asian buyers set for security spending spree to catch up on shabby strategies

"invest more strategically into their security architectures"

Um, you mean go with SolarWinds123 ?

Point solutions are fine (if they work properly). This whole blurb is just an excuse to push a cloud-based security service. Well I'm sorry, but cloud-based means relying on someone else's sense of security.

Security is hard, you learn it the hard way, and if you want it to be efficient you need to be the one knowing how it works.

Ah, you know what? Keep your crappy space station, we're gonna try to make our own, Russia tells world

Re: the main contribution of 20 something years of human presence on LEO

The main contribution of that is immeasurable insights on how the human body works in the absence of gravity, many experiments on how materials react to being made in the absence of gravity, and a whole slew of data on growing various crops and creatures out there.

I doubt we could have done all that with robots.

Of course, robot exploration has its place. If we had decided to wait to get a manned mission to Mars, we would missing out on a lot of information. But there's a major difference between sending a scientific mission to another stellar body and having an orbital science station around our own planet.

Yes, there is a health cost. But the returns are worth it and that's why there are people who accept the costs and volunteer for the missions.

Our duty is to ensure that they can do their work safely, and come back alive and well. If we decide to skimp on that, then we definitely should put an end to it.

"We mustn't let that happen"

Therefor, we are going to abandon our participation and let it die while we pretend to build our own.

Yeah, that sounds perfectly reasonable. You just need to start by building a launcher, because all your leftover ICBM launchers are going to run out some day.

Do that and you'll start having some credibility.

Apple, you've AirDrop'd the ball: Academics detail ways to leak contact info of nearby iThings for spear-phishing

Quite a feat

Reverse-engineering a comms protocol to uncover a privacy-invading bug, that's some impressive work.

Finding a solution when the vendor says there isn't one, that is downright awesome.

Go Team Darmstadt !

Microsoft revokes MVP status of developer who tweeted complaint about request to promote SQL-on-Azure

Influencers

That is a term that is starting to join the sewer of "socialite".

Gandhi was an influencer. Thomas Edison was an influencer. Genghis Kahn was one hell of an influencer. Alexander the Great was the first influencer.

All these people have is a Twitter account. What do they actually accomplish ? Nothing.

REvil ransomware gang claims it stole top-secret tech designs – including Apple lappies – from Quanta Computer

I wonder how this is going to pan out

Whatever secrets this gang has got their grubby mitts on, I would be surprised if Apple pays them off.

Waiting for the follow-up article with great interest.

China has a satellite with an arm – and America worries it could be used to snatch other spacecraft

Oh sure

"China is building military space capabilities rapidly, including sensing and communication systems and numerous antisatellite weapons "

This from the country that still clings to the fable of modified mainboards from Huawei, despite never having ever brought a shred of proof to the table.

I'd ask for proof on this, but we all know that the answer will be : "Classified".

Of course the US military is hyping up the dangers. I completely believe China is building itself up. Why wouldn't it ? It has a bunch of American warships off its shores 24/7 (for many reasons, I know). But how do you know about any ground-based anti-satellite weaponry ? Did the Chinese military send you pics ?

Do you expect me to talk? Yes, Mr Bond, I expect you to reply: 10k Brits targeted on LinkedIn by Chinese, Russian spies

Bah

If they're on LinkedIn they're doing nothing of importance anyway.

Microsoft realises constant meetings stress people out, adds Office 365 settings to cut them short or start them late

Typical Borkzilla

Two possible values : short or long.

We're not talking about programming, medium should be possible.

In any case, short at 60 minutes is way too long. Short is 15 minutes, and all of us who have been working this past year know very well that hour-long meetings are 50% repeating what everyone already knows, 30% listening to inane comments, 15% telling someone that his microphone is muted and 5% actual information.

As a manager, if you need to block your team for an entire hour to inform yourself on progress, you're doing it wrong. There's a big chance that Sally doesn't need to know about Jack's problems, and is wasting time listening to them. You're the manager. Do a one-on-one with each member of your team to get updated, then write a summary memo for everyone. The entire team should only be present if you have an important global message to broadcast.

Meetings are generally very much a waste of everyone's time, and nowadays a golden opportunity for the feeble-minded among the higher-ups to make themselves feel important by dragging things along when they could pass the message in a concise manner. I cannot count the amount of time I've wasted in the past twelve months listening to inane babble instead of working, but it is starting to get on my nerves.

China broke into govt, defense, finance networks via zero-day in Pulse Secure VPN gateways? No way

"the Biden administration on Tuesday announced a 100-day plan to improve [,,] cybersecurity"

Is it me, or are we suddenly no longer hearing about the importance of backdooring encryption ?

God bless this mess: Study says UK's Christian beliefs had 'important' role in Brexit

Re: 2) I have heard theological arguments for both leave and remain

I'm sorry, how the hell can there be theological arguments about Brexit ? Brexit has nothing to do with religion, it is a secular matter.

CofE, Roman Catholic, Lutheran or Calvinist is all about Jesus, the Bible, Thou Shalt Not Kill, Lie or Covet Thy Neighbor's Wife, etc.

Spiritual matters. Brexit is anything but spiritual.

Re: "If God didn't want me to lie, steal and cheat on my taxes, he would stop me"

Nope. What he will do is that, the day you present yourself before the Pealy Gates, he will keep them closed and you'll get the fast ride down to the Infernal Regions.

Allegedly.

In another country.