Posts by Pascal Monett

Did nobody tell them about the lockdown? Logitech releases new 'luggable' mechanical keyboard for LAN parties

Re: No numpad

Don't care. Every keyboard fits in a backpack, if some of it sticks out it's no big deal.

So you really didn't touch the settings at all, huh? Well, this print-out from my secret backup says otherwise

I worked as an operator on a BULL DPS 7 for a while back in the day. Everyone knew that the system engineers on site had the most powerful computers, but during the night we had the run of the place.

Somebody had put Lode Runner on one of the engineer's PC, and the night crew, while the tapes were turning, would take turns playing.

Somehow, he found out. He wasn't happy, but he didn't bother with an inquisition ; he just activated the BIOS password on his PC.

Night shifts were a lot more boring after that.

After 30 years of searching, astroboffins finally detect the universe's 'missing matter' – using fast radio bursts

So that's how dark energy is created !

Dell says the hard part comes next after rapid pandemic response helped it to stable Q1 revenue

"meaningful business insights"

I can't help but feel a disconnect between business insights and where people work. The only thing that is meaningful is that the job is getting done, and there should already be business insight on that.

Trump issues toothless exec order to show donors, fans he's doing something about those Twitter twerps

Re: If he died tomorrow he would die with a smile on his face

<sigh> Why is it always for tomorrow ?

Re: So is Blackwater

And that's exactly what Blackwater does : what it wants.

FYI: There are thousands of Chrome extensions with so, so many fake installations to trick you into using them

Oh for Heaven's sake

"I think that the Chrome Web Store does not take good care of its developers and forgets the most important thing, the users"

It's almost mid-2020 and there are still people who do not understand that anything Google is there for the ad views, not the users.

Extensions are just wallpaper to get the clicks. So some of them are dodgy ? The clicks are all that counts. More clicks, more ad views, more money in Google's coffers.

It's what they do.

I wish that was actually a joke.

Embrace and kill? AppGet dev claims Microsoft reeled him in with talk of help and a job – then released remarkably similar package manager

"He says he was approached in July 2019"

If you are approached by Microsoft, it's just like if you are thanked by Putin.

Expect the knife in the back any time after that.

Pablo Escobar's big bro and former accountant sues Apple for $2.6bn over FaceTime bug

"Apple failed to provide a phone free of exploits"

Um, I don't think Apple has ever declared that any of its models were "free of exploits", so that allegation is spurious and will be thrown out.

And concerning the $100K he supposedly plunked down to secure the phone, I do wonder what on Earth he could possibly have acquired for that sum that would be any good to secure a phone. Encryption is not that expensive.

Great success! Finance app was able to inform user that their action was unsuccessful

Ah, nothing like polite customer service . . .

Boeing brings back the 737 Max but also lays off thousands

I just checked Boeing's Company page. There is a list of 12 people, and 10 of them joined the company after 2007. Only 2 have been there longer, one since 1982 and one since 1988.

So no, not funny at all and rather inevitable.

Switzerland 'first' country to roll out contact-tracing app using Apple-Google APIs to track coronavirus spread

Why do they keep repeating that ?

"people's whereabouts and movements, that could prove to be extremely helpful in tackling the virus"

Let me get this straight : an app is going to track all contacts it gets near enough to, and if anyone gets the bug, all people the app has recorded will be contacted.

So why the hell do they say that people's movements and location are "extremely helpful" ? You've got the list of people that were in contact, what more do you need ? Go see them, go test them, and the ones that are actually sick flag themselves and you repeat the process.

Governments do not need to know where people have been since the only point of that information is finding out who they contacted, and the app does that for them.

What am I missing ?

Made-up murder claims, threats to kill Twitter, rants about NSA spying – anything but mention 100,000 US virus deaths, right, Mr President?

Re: Lying Liberace

At this point, an actual monkey could govern the country better than Trump.

Apple promises third, no, fourth, er, fifth time's a charm when it comes to macOS Catalina: 10.15.5 now out

It's time somebody went to Marketing and applied a vigorous slap to the face.

With generosity.

Gone in 9 seconds: Virgin Orbit's maiden rocket flight went perfectly until it didn't

Re: Every man and his dog can do that

Really ?

Because, last time I checked, there are less than five groups that can do that. Ariane is one, Apparently China and India are on good footing, and then there's SpaceX that is favorably viewed to supply the ISS, and Boeing that is going to get its shit together.

Sorry, but every man and his dog is not sending stuff into space. It's not called rocket science for nothing.

Not going Huawei just yet: UK ministers reportedly rethinking pledge to kick Chinese firm out of telco networks by 2023

Re: Scepticism...

Of course, nothing. The truth is staring you in the eye : Cisco has no 5G gear, Huawei does. The USA cannot stand Capitalism if it is not the one benefiting from it, so anything goes to sink Huawei's influence.

Unfortunately for Trump, economic reality trumps Trump's wishes. Money talks louder than partisan politics.

And, as has been repeated for months now, if there were actually any basis in the allegations, someone would have posted a pic on Twitter by now.

But nothing. On the other hand, the USA has enabled the Cloud Act, which authorizes their government to demand any data on anyone as long as it is hosted on a server managed by a US company.

That is public information - no need for some nebulous motherboard chip that we've never seen.

Draw your own conclusions.

Google brews up a fresh pot of Java for its serverless Cloud Functions service

Java ?

Are you talking about that pile of shit that hasn't been capable of updating itself for the past three months ?

Every day I get a notification that Java needs updating. I click Update Now, and after a few minutes I get a failure message that Java could not download it's update package.

I am on FTTH with a 1GBps line - don't tell me I don't have the bandwidth.

Also, the problem is ongoing. I have gone twice to Oracle's effing page to update manually - they still can't get it right.

What a bunch of wankers.

5G mast set aflame in leafy Liverpool district, half an hour's walk from Penny Lane

Re: If you haven't grown up with the internet

Oh. My. God.

Since when has "growing up with the Internet" been a guarantee of intelligence ? Or critical thinking ?

It seems to me that "growing up with the Internet" has, on the contrary, reinforced stupidity across the globe.

I have had to warn friends of mine who repeatedly posted pics of their underage daughters on Facebook. I am not going to lie, their daughters were beautiful (um, they still are). And that's why I told them to stop posting pics of them continuously on Facebook. As far as I'm concerned, they were literally endangering their girl's lives. Thankfully, they listened.

As far as I'm concerned, if you "haven't grown up with the internet", you might just have a chance at having a bit of a head start on critical thinking. And critical thinking is the one thing that you desperately need when you are surfing the intartubes.

Okay

This is definitely the right time to post this link.

If you are intelligent, you'll learn something.

Photostopped: Adobe Cloud evaporates in mass outage. Hope none of you are on a deadline, eh?

"people can't use some of its stuff in the cloud nor access their documents"

Ah, progress.

You pay through the nose to not be able to access your own documents when someone else's server is feeling iffy.

Once upon a time, we had Personal Computers. We now have Someone Else's Platform, and we pay royally for the privilege.

Well, those of us who can't avoid it, that is.

Uber plans to ride out of stable Singapore, move APAC HQ to high-tension Hong Kong

"It's simply not possible [..] to make significant investments without regulatory certainty"

Wait, so you're no longer disrupting ?

Or is it that, in a now China-controlled Hong Kong, you actually fear being arrested instead of a visit from an ineffectual government inspector ?

It's easy to have balls in the West, that pretends to have democratic values. It's a lot harder to have balls in a country where you can dragged off to jail as soon as the local government has decided it doesn't like you.

While waiting for the Linux train, Bork pays a visit to Geordieland with Windows 10

Re: Need a bit of Raspberry Pi action

The problem is that Windows comes with a built-in bork generator in the form of constant updates and changes that modify its behavior. It fills its disk with data it doesn't need, then ends up borking because it doesn't have enough space to function.

A Pi is good enough for a stupid infomercial screen, and doesn't modify its behavior from one day to the next. Just get a product to manage a million of them at a time, and maybe Windows will finally get out of places it never should be in the first place.

And maybe I'll win the Lottery this week. I think I know which has a better chance of happening.

Highways England waves around £62m contract for National Traffic Information Service after brief chat with vendors

"a new system to perform this function"

Why ? Is the hardware rusting ? Why can't modular elements be added ?

Why is it that, even at government level, we have a culture of consumerism and throw out the old, it's time to buy some new stuff ?

So they want to modernize. Well, here's the deal : your new system ? Make independent modules out of it. Do not make any part require all other parts to function. Also, make it so new parts can be added at a later time. That way, you can add or upgrade individual modules without having to fork out for an entire system the next time.

Or is that just too 3rd millennium for you ?

cmd.exe is dead, long live PowerShell: Microsoft leads aged command-line interpreter out into 'maintenance mode'

"It shouldn't have lived so long"

One day, that will be the epitaph on Borkzilla's tombstone.

One day.

Oh cool, tech service prices are plummeting. And by tech services, we mean botnet rentals and stolen credit cards

Trend Micro

So, Trend, what's the trend on companies cheating on Windows certification ? Any figures on that ?

Any comments on the threat landscape that that creates ? No ?

Didn't think so.

Rich Communication Services: Nobody uses it, nobody wants it, but analysts reckon it's on the verge of a breakthrough

Indeed. If Google is interested in it, I'm not using it.

'I wrote Task Manager': Ex-Microsoft programmer Dave Plummer spills the beans

Re: Beware of Sysinternals Process Explorer

I use Process Hacker.

I am not aware that it phones home. It works flawlessly, however.

Sorry, but I use Windows 7

I don't need to use Ctrl-Alt-Del nearly as much as when I used XP.

Ctrl-Shift-Esc, however, I have just learned and I will treasure the knowledge.

Twitter ticks off Trump with new 'Get the facts' alert on pair of fact-challenged tweets

Re: I, as President, will not allow it to happen!

Yes, absolutely that. I dare you to show us exactly what, as President, you can do about it.

Go on, show us your full dictator suit.

Microsoft blocks Trend Micro code at center of driver 'cheatware' storm from Windows 10, rootkit detector product pulled from site

"It is not clear why Trend's software does this"

I don't care if it's clear or not, it should not be done, period.

Good on Borkzilla for reacting on this and pulling the driver. Now Trend is going to have to submit another one, and I'll bet it will get a lot more scrutiny the next time around.

A reputation takes years to build, but only a day to trash. Trend Micro has now trashed its reputation.

Oh they're experts all right. Just not for your security.

Ah yes, the ol' rogue engineer excuse.

China to test digital version of its currency at 2022 Winter Olympics

Why the uproar ?

Do you think your government is not aware of what you spend your money on online ?

What's different here ? Is it because there's the word "China" is the article ?

I guarantee you, it doesn't matter how democratic you think your country is, if your government takes an interest in you, your expense record will be the first thing they'll get their hands on.

Mulled Chrome API shines light on long-neglected privacy gap: Sites can snoop on your find-in-page searches

"the potential benefits outweigh the risks"

The potential benefits for who ?

Also, is this a pure-Chromium issue, or are other browsers at risk also ?

In any case, I note that this is, once again, a JavaScript issue. And that means, once again, that NoScript saves the day.

NoScript : protecting privacy every day, without fail.

India said its coronavirus contact-tracing app is perfect... adds bug bounty and open-sources it anyway

"the app's data retention period has extended"

And so it starts. Well that didn't take long, barely a month in usage and they're already pushing the agenda forward.

Seems that India is going to treat data retention like Disney treats copyright protection.

US lawmakers get a second shot at forcing FBI agents to obtain a warrant before they leaf through web histories

Yeah, but no

It's the "USA Freedom Act", therefor, given the inverse rule about law titles, this Act is clearly about restricting freedom in the USA, so there's no chance of adding any section that would improve freedom in the USA.

Besides, the NSA doesn't care about the Law or the Constitution. It has a friggin' big 'puter and it's gonna keep using it.

You E-diot! Formula E driver booted off Audi team after getting video game ace to take his place in online race

Absolutely. Cheating in a video game ? Happens all the time. There are many people out there who simply cannot stand losing. They're not there to play the game, they're there to win. Ask any company with an online FPS game. Even Minecraft has a server module to prevent cheating. Minecraft.

But the line that really gets me is "it was never meant with any bad intention". No it was meant with the intention of winning, because he obviously just couldn't stand the fact that everyone had observed his lackluster virtual performance and his ego couldn't take it any more.

When you get to that point, it doesn't matter what the goal of the competition is, you just want to show them all, charity be damned.

Well, one thing's for sure, there will be some tensions around the dinner table come next Christmas.

If someone could stop hackers pwning medical systems right now, that would be cool, say Red Cross and friends

I hope it will amount to something

Maybe governments will make an effort to increase blocking of bot traffic or somesuch, I really haven't a clue what they can do though. Spam and phishing is only malware when it reaches the endpoint, when it's on its way there's next to no way to tell.

Yesterday, I received the laptop from my friend the postman. It was sent by a customer so that I can work on a project on their servers in a secure VM configured by them. Coincidentally, I also received a mail telling me that my package was waiting for me and there was a €2 transport charge to pay. With a friendly link, of course.

Out of sheer habit I checked the URL of the link, which immediately made me suspicious because of the strange name that had nothing to do with the company that the mail alleged to represent. Then logic kicked in and I realized that, even if there is a transport charge to pay, it's my customer that should pay it, not me. Finally I trashed the mail and thought nothing more of it.

But I am certain that such a mail would make many a person click on the link and just follow instructions blindly. Especially these days where Amazon is becoming king of the hill. Now transport that kind of attack to a hospital environment, with a nurse that has a thousand other things to do and just wants this mail out of the way. It's easy to hack hospitals, they are trying to save people, not computer hardware. They already have their minds full of medical knowledge, cramming security procedures on top is a nuisance they don't have time for.

I don't know what the solution is. Maybe a filter machine that all email is sent to by default before a human checks that it is legit and lets it continue to its intended recipient ? Put a fancy statistical analysis machine with oh-so-vaunted "machine learning" and maybe something automated could be tuned to be useful.

Live analytics without vendor lock-in? It's more likely than you think, says Redis Labs

Re: Vendor .......

A long as you use the Redis database.

You're just switching from one lock-in to another.

Microsoft brings WinUI to desktop apps: It's a landmark for Windows development, but it has taken far too long

I think many people would be happy with a Linux that includes DirectX.

Because for all Borkzilla's faults, DirectX was a bloody miracle of performance. OpenGL is still not there.

eBay users spot the online auction house port-scanning their PCs. Um... is that OK?

Re: This is not okay

Absolutely. You want to scan my computer ? You pop up the question and ask me, along with a description of what you are looking for, where you're looking for it and why you think you have the cheek to ask me.

If you do security checks on your side of the intertubes, that's your business and nothing I have the right to wail about, but on my side, you will only do what I bloody well allow you to.

Pre-authentication, remote root hole in call-center software? Thanks, Cisco. Just what a long weekend needs

Adobe Character Animator

Congratulations, Adobe, on your persistence.

We are in the final stages of getting rid of Flash, so you dump Character Animator on us.

Are you by any chance tired of not being on patch lists ? Spoiler : you are on patch lists. All the time. It would be refreshing to see you take a break from that.

Alibaba Cloud revenue grows 62% – but it's still just a sixth the size of AWS

"why buyers beyond the middle kingdom would consider its offerings"

Good question. Why go and put your data on servers that can be looked into by Beijing ?

Except that thousands of non-USA companies are putting their corporate data into offerings that come under White House jurisdiction, so why not ?

Especially if it's cheaper.

The Cloud War will happen.

Linus Torvalds drops Intel and adopts 32-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper on personal PC

AMD was the first to have a GHz CPU with the Thunderbird in 1999.

On August 24, 1996 I bought a Pentium I 133 for €250.

That came with a Yellow Dragon P1 motherboard for €153, and 8MB of EDO RAM for €287.

PS : prices not adjusted for inflation

It wasn't just a few credit cards: Entire travel itineraries were stolen by hackers, Easyjet now tells victims

Re: only allows access to one customers record at a time

Database system are designed to be as fast as possible, not to impose delays. You need to understand that there is not just one terminal (aka PC) making requests to the database, there are hundreds, if not thousands. You have the hostesses in the airports, registering luggage, you have travel agents querying the best way for their customer to travel, you have people on the Internet looking it up for themselves, and there is probably a bunch of other possible ways to send demands that I haven't the foggiest idea of.

If you create a system where only one request can be served at a time, you are basically choking the whole system beyond usability and the whole thing collapses.

Home working is here to stay, says Lenovo boss, and will grow the total addressable PC market by up to 30%

Re: I have to say I'm with Lenovo on this

It's a nice idea, but if everyone in a household might be able to have a PC, not many households can have an office per person.

There are many people living in apartments that are already small, they simply don't have a room to serve as an office, so they repurpose the dinner table or something. In those conditions, I doubt they appreciate working from home.

So either they continue going to the office, with all the hassle of getting there and back, or, in addition to the probable massive shift in commercial property value, there will be increased pressure on acquiring a house with enough rooms for people to not only live, but work alongside their living space.

That is going to put additional strain on people's budgets, and we just might see companies creating a WFH incentive package, including a financial package comprised of some sort of company investment and a small interest rate loan, in order to have its employees in the best possible working conditions.

Having the company pay a part of the Internet bill would not be a stretch either.

BoJo buckles: UK govt to cut Huawei 5G kit use 'to zero by 2023' after pressure from Tory MPs, Uncle Sam

Re: if they are all this paranoid

They're not paranoid, they're just using that as an excuse to try and keep Huawei from dominating the market.

You see, the US is all for capitalism as long as it is holding they keys. As soon as an actual competitor rises above its abilities, it's no holes barred to undermining said competitor by any means necessary.

But I agree that Huawei, as a Chinese company, could very well be pressured by Beijing to reveal some sort of information at some point or another.

However, we all know that Washington does pressure US companies and has even made a law allowing it to do so.

So what I would like is a European initiative creating 5G infrastructure components that are not beholden either to the US or to China.

Because if you want to be paranoid, you have to go all the way.

Well, that's something boffins haven't seen before: A strange alien streaks around Jupiter

That far away ?

Jupiter is a billion kilometers from the Sun, and that's close enough to start vaporizing ice ?

I thought comets had to at least in the asteroid field before being impacted by the Sun's energy.

An open fusion reactor is apparently more powerful than I thought.

Edit : my bad, Jupiter is only almost 780 million km from the Sun. Still far, though.