Posts by Pascal Monett

Ye olde Blue Screen of Death is back – this time, a bad Symantec update is to blame

The irony is strong in this one

Endpoint Protection Client. Yeah.

This kind of situation is always hilarious - when you're not among the ones affected, that is.

Imagine finding this bad boy in your shower: Brit startup pulls the sheets off Moon spider mech

"the four-legged robot can also jump"

Sure, but can it land and stay operational ? Have they tested that in a Moon-like gravitational environment ?

Is AWS sponsoring Rust? Only a bit – and so is Microsoft Azure

Re: "not the best way to rebuild your credibility"

So you're saying that Microsoft had credibility on that and lost it ?

News to me.

Pitney Bowes: Can we be frank? Ransomware has borked our dead-tree post systems

How would a backup program know that the file is encrypted ?

Since Office 2010, files are stored in compressed format. Is there a way to determine that compression is not encryption ?

"to pay or not to pay"

If only there was some sort of technology that would allow creating a copy of production data in a known good state. Something using a different medium than the one hosting production information, allowing the copy to be kept safely. Maybe even on some outdated technology like magnetic tape.

If only.

UK govt snubs Intel, seeks second-gen AMD Epyc processors for 28PFLOPS Archer2 supercomputer

I have to wonder

What OS does such a monster run ? Is it a variant of some form of Linux ?

Do they make a specific OS for every supercomputer ?

Apple insists it's totally not doing that thing it wasn't accused of: We're not handing over Safari URLs to Tencent – just people's IP addresses

What do you mean, the IP address is data Google/Tencent would not normally be receiving ? You send a data request, they have to know where to send the answer.

And I'm sorry but if you don't want anyone to know what your IP address is, then you just have to stay off the Internet.

YouTube thinkfluencer Siraj Raval admits he plagiarized boffins' neural qubit papers – as ESA axes his workshop

Congratulations on transforming an article about a YouTube guy into your personal political ranting playground.

Carry on.

Oh, and Obama asked a foreign country to look into Trump ? Citation please. I have not particularly appreciated any of the recent American presidents, but I'm pretty sure that Trump is the only president in the world who has ever asked a foreign country to investigate a political opponent.

What the &*%* did you just $#*&!*# say about me, you little &%$#*? 'AI' to filter Xbox Live chat

Re: For sooth....

Congratulations, that is an impressive list.

I will keep that as reference material :)

Re: I know it's possible to have fun ...

Sometimes swearing does indeed make life better, but insulting other people never does.

Conspiracy loons claim victory in Brighton and Hove as council rejects plans to build 5G masts

Wow, what a catalog

"increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in harmful free radicals, genetic damages, structural and functional changes of the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders and general negative wellbeing in general on humans"

With a list like that, you'd think that the government would have a FEMA-style lockdown on the things.

Thank goodness that none of those disorders could possibly be linked to the pesticide-covered, genetically-modified food we have been ingesting for the past thirty years. No, its the microwaves.

Has to be.

Chemists bitten by Python scripts: How different OSes produced different results during test number-crunching

So you were that guy using WinME ?

I always wondered who they were talking about.

Re: Fixing the symptom…

They may be expert computer users, that doesn't mean that they are good programmers. Their job is science, not programming, and they generally don't have the budget to employ actual professional programmers.

Welcome to the World Of Tomorrow, where fridges suffer certificate errors. Just like everything else

Re: Luddites

Digital is cool when its useful. Putting digital into everything is like putting light bulbs on everything - it may seem fun for a minutes, but then you've got light coming off every conceivable surface and it's just too much.

Re: monster refrigerator as a centre for "non-stop music, video & TV entertainment"

It's a fridge. It goes in the kitchen, not in the middle of the living room. Anything that makes noise other than my TV or stereo gets shut down pretty damn quick.

The whole concept is ludicrous and I will not have that in my house.

Ever.

Remember, remember, it's now called November: Windows 10 19H2 update has a name

It means that your PC's colonoscopy is at predetermined dates, whether or not it survives it.

Robocop needs reboot, $200m for AI research, UK govt knowingly deployed racist passport system – plus more

Re: despite clear and profound differences

Um, so you believe that Africans, Arabs, Asians and Caucasians are of different races ?

Biology says no. They are not different races, they are of different ethnicity.

"they start doubting the truth"

That might be a good thing, all in all. Especially when listening to a politician, or reading some post on FaceBook.

Doubting is good, verifying is better, having a critical but inquisitive mind is best.

It's like the old saying goes : trust, but verify.

'Technical error' threatens Vodafone customers with four-figure roaming fees

"Customers will not be charged"

Well I'm guessing they sure hope so.

Still, good on Vodaphone for admitting the mistake and putting the effort to correct it without discussion.

Some companies would do well to take that as an example, eh Jamf ?

Lies, damn lies, and KPIs: Let's not fix the formula until we have someone else to blame

Well what was he expecting ? That his manager would commit seppuku and admit that the Board had been chasing ghosts and granting bonuses for a year ?

It was the only rational choice - for a manager.

And the alternative could have been Alban getting fired. He should be grateful.

Microsoft Teams: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Teams is the symptom of a Microsoft that is all over the radar and desperately trying to stay relevant in a world where PCs are heading towards oblivion. Microsoft has failed all of its attempts to enter the portable hardware market (with the sole exception of the latest version of Surface, and that isn't exactly flying off the shelves), has lost control of the browser market and pathetically failed to regain it, and went straight into the wall with its phone attempt.

That is why Microsoft is plugging everything it can into Azure, because that is the only long-term life buoy it has left. Cue the Frankenstein monster that is Teams, a patchwork of anything Microsoft can stitch together and pretend that they had planned it that way.

No ghosts but the Holy one as vicar exorcises spooky tour from UK's most haunted village

"the trainers allow wearers to 'walk on water' "

I think the best remark on that has already been made. Go here and skip to the 3:42 mark to have a laugh.

American intelligence follows British lead in warning of serious VPN vulnerabilities

What's that ?

"The US National Security Agency (NSA) is warning admins to patch a set of months-old security bugs that have recently come under active attack" they don't need any more.

There, FTFY.

Europe publishes 5G risk assessment; America scrawls ‘Huawei’ on the side of a nuke and goes for a ride

Re: Question

Most importantly, 5G is apparently going to transform our phone and comms network into the same security nightmare that is the Internet. I can't help but feel that this push to software-defined everything is simply the Pandora's box of fun.

On the other hand, while US officials and politicians descend into even more depths of blind political hatred and spout things that are clearly becoming more and more biased and unfounded, I am getting the feeling that Huawei is actually a good thing to have around.

Not to mention the popcorn festival it is watching them squirm without being able to do anything.

Mission Extension Vehicle-1 launches to save space from zombie satellites

"a rescue makes more economic sense"

I should think so. Launching a new satellite means building it, then risking losing it during the launch.

This MEV tech means you can contract someone to repair, and if the MEV is lost its no skin off your back. Or is it that you buy a MEV and risk losing that ?

Probably.

So the question then is : which is less expensive to lose, a MEV or a new satellite.

Space is a risky business.

Forget Brexit, ignore Trump, write off today: BT's gonna make us all 'realise the potential of tomorrow'

Well, given that they've laid off another 13000 employees, it doesn't bode well for getting to talk to a human.

Interesting thing, though, this onshoring. I wonder if it will take ?

Ah, businesses are always reversing their position on this anyway.

Game over: Atari VCS architect quits project, claims he hasn’t been paid for six months

Lode Runner, IMO, stands the test of time. It is still excellent.

Boulderdash may have aged a bit, but I'd like to find a working version for my Win7 and find out.

"It is unclear whether Atari will be able to complete its beleaguered project"

Nope, it is crystal clear that Atari will not complete anything at all. Two years into the project and all they have is one miserable dev board that needs debugging ?

Get lost, Atari.

Plusnet is doing us proud again with early Christmas present for customers: Price hikes

"four months' worth of bills at once"

Okay, Plusnet will obviously not forget what they are owed, especially since they kept the service alive even though they could not bill for it.

Still, it is entirely their fault, so recovering four months' worth in one go seems a bit exaggerated. Plusnet should spread it out over eight months billing 150% per month.

But hey, that would be a correct thing to do, so beancounters won't think of it.

If you thought Windows Insiders was lacking a little in the leadership department, it is now

Dev in 5 minutes ?

Clearly this lady has not given training courses. I do, regularly, and out of a pool of 6 to 8 people, I can tell on the first day which ones will never get past basic concepts, such as passing parameters and declaring subs or functions.

I'm absolutely not saying that they are all idiots, I'm saying that programming is a rather particular state of mind, and not everybody can adapt to it.

In any case, I do hope this will be an opportunity to get more stability into Windows 1 0.

God knows it needs it.

GNU means GNU's Not U: Stallman insists he's still Chief GNUisance while 18 maintainers want him out as leader

"misunderstandings and mischaracterizations of what I have said"

Oh, so we shouldn't pay attention to the transcripts, we should just hear your version and be content with that ?

I guess Trump is rubbing off on more people than I thought.

RMS has been at the head for long enough. It is time for him for step down and let new blood run the show.

The successor of Doom was Quake. It was influential in bringing true 3D environments to gaming. It was a blast to play as well. I had lots of fun, LAN parties with friends and noon sessions with colleagues. Good memories.

Yeah, it was violent. So was Doom. So is every shooter today.

What? No way. Apple? Censoring iOS 13 to appease China? Gosh. How shocking. Who'd have thought it?

Let us not forget

. . how proud Apple is of standing up to unreasonable requests by the authorities.

Of course, any request made by China is reasonable, eh ?

When they have you by the balls, your heart and mind follows.

Re: Apple Are Hypocritical B******s

In other words, you are just as hypocritical since you are apparently showering a hypocrite with your money.

Heavy data protection regulation looms in Labour plans for post-Brexit flows and IoT devices

"compared the rise of the IoT to the Industrial Revolution"

At first I was going to reply with scorn, but now that I think of it, he may actually have hit the nail on the head.

The Industrial Revolution, by completely ignoring human rights and placing profit before everything else, engendered syndicates, protest marches and the very concept of strikes until corporate magnates got a (feeble) grasp that employees have rights.

The IoT, as of now, runs roughshod over things like security and privacy, not to mention simple things like reliability. This is already starting to get a backlash, so maybe we can envision a future where IoT will actually be comprised of secure, easy-to-use elements that bring an actual improvement to our lives instead of just wirelessly adding a toothbrush to our IPv6 environment.

Who knows, maybe IoT has a bright future after all ?

That was some of the best flying I've seen to date, right up to the part where you got hacked

"one of the heli's various wireless receivers"

What the hell is a combat helicopter doing with wireless receivers ? Even if I can accept that they may have a use when on base, shouldn't they be shut down when in flight ? Isn't that something that could enable their detection ?

Even if not, I highly doubt that a combat helicopter is broadcasting anything that a wireless receiver could have a use for. There is undoubtedly a (shielded) wired data bus between all elements that need it. Any wireless receiver should be shut down when in flight, that would end the problem.

Do you run on a cloud Down Under, where data's shared and governments plunder... Oz joins US, UK in info search-warrant law

"respond to lawful orders [..] without fear of running afoul of restrictions on disclosure"

Of course there will be no fear of "running afoul of restrictions on disclosure", those restrictions are being removed.

I'm quite sure that this "agreement" is just a tool to simplify things for the US to go on fishing expeditions abroad. I'm also pretty certain that Australia is in for a rude surprise when they ask for data on a US citizen - they won't get it and will instead get a lot of bla bla about how their request is not relevant, badly formulated, not within the proper time frame, etc.

The US is expert on making everyone else kiss their ass, but avoiding doing any ass-kissing themselves.

Tough luck, Jupiter, you've lost your crown for now: Boffins show Saturn has more moons

How long are they going to last ?

It's starting to look like a demolition derby is taking place near Saturn. We know that the rings already contain the remains of one or more bodies, and with these 20 newly discovered lumps racing around in various groups and completely different ways, there will be more collisions for sure.

Maybe that will lengthen the life span of Saturn's rings for a few more millennia.

Online deepfakes double in just nine months, scaring politicians – and fooling the rest of us

Deepfakes are not a problem now

I'm guessing that the tech isn't perfect and fakes can be rather easily detected. A shadow that falls wrong, lighting that is not changed, etc. Today's deepfakes are just the draft versions, it's tomorrow's deepfakes that will be frighteningly realistic.

So I'm going to do what you cannot count on Joe Public to do : if I see a video on the web with a prominent politician doing unspeakable acts, I'm going to wait for journalists to confirm that it is not a fake and the video is real. Until then, by default everything concerning political figures or celebrities is something I will file in Deepfake until otherwise notified.

Euro ISP club: Sure, weaken encryption. It'll only undermine security for everyone, morons

Not a moment too soon

It's about time somebody slammed the door on those stupid backdoor arguments once and for all.

Law enforcement has everything it needs to obtain data on someone ; it's called a subpoena and it just has to be signed by a judge who agrees with it.

You have no right to transform every petty police officer into a member of the NSA, capable of delving into people's private lives on a whim.

And, talking about the NSA, the violation of people's private lives simply because you can is disgusting.

Boris Brexit bluff binds .eu domains to time-bending itinerary

I agree completely. There is absolutely no reason that an .eu site should be shut down on the very day Brexit happens. After all, every .eu site had an authentic EU address when applying for the domain name, so it is entirely unjustified to not leave a bit of time to those businesses to adapt.

On the other hand, those businesses have had well nigh two years to adapt now, so it seems also a tad excessive to be running around like headless chickens simply because - gasp - there may only be a few weeks left !

In any case, it seems that UK businesses are capable of just as much foresight as UK government.

Not a good sign.

Rule #1 about downvotes : never talk about downvotes.

Android dev complains of 'Orwellian' treatment as account banned after 6 years on Play store

"We are a small British company up against a monolithic, faceless Goliath."

Yes, and you always were and you knew it when you signed up.

It's only that now, you are feeling just how small you are and how Goliath Google is, and that feeling is not comfortable at all.

A wise man once said : do not put all your eggs in the same basket. You should have diversified, that would have lessened the blow.

In any case, you have little choice now but to educate your users in how to accept the security warning.

HPE's Eng Lim Goh on spaceborne computers, NASA medals – and AI at the final frontier

"process data at the source"

I can understand the obvious importance of that, but for science it is imperative to able to consult the actual data, not just the result of the processing. So data will still have to be re-transmitted in some form or another.

It might however be feasible to use a backup SSD and bring the data back "manually", rotating a new backup with the next flight.

Windows builds, Azure axings and Microsoft pushes will.i.am's buttons

"Microsoft has added an emoji key to its next batch of keyboards"

That's it, civilization is officially over. Robot overlords, your time has come !

A Nord VPN bug, a(nother) bad Microsoft patch, Zynga data farmed out, and more

Re: Calling Nord 1.1.1.1

Apparently, some people really adamantly do not want the NSA to know that they're viewing those cat pics.

Iran tried to hack hundreds of politicians, journalists email accounts last month, warns Microsoft

Because convenience, lack of awareness or lack of caring, and all of the above.

We have sleepwalked into a surveillance state and the state had nothing to do with it.

Re: If you're doing stuff you shouldn't be doing using email

And what exactly is a journalist not supposed to be doing ?

His job ?

Here we go again: US govt tells Facebook to kill end-to-end encryption for the sake of the children

Re: Easy to hack ...................

Because you are not required by law to use FaceBook, Google or Amazon. They are private companies and you can avoid using them if you so wish.

You cannot avoid the police if they decide to set their sights on you, and resisting them will, in the best case, land you in jail, and could land you in the morgue.