Posts by Pascal Monett

What the Dell? Customer passwords reset after miscreants break into Big Mike's IT emporium

Re: World Class Security

Given that the admin was on the ball and the breach was closed before any data extraction took place, I do not think it is fair to start bashing Dell on having been breached.

They did a far better job at securing their data than many others who have been discussed in these columns this year alone.

Security is not a passive affair. Firewalls and such are not the only answer, you need active surveillance to be able to catch issues before things go bad and data is extracted. That is what happened here, so kudos to the IT people who knew their job and did it well.

Oh my chord! Sennheiser hits bum note with major HTTPS certificate cock-up

Re: Why did Sennheiser [..] do this nonsense?

My question exactly. I've had radio headphones plugged into the TV for years, they didn't need no stinkin' app to work.

My current headphones are a not-too-pricey Sony model that work fine and plug in like every other kind I've ever had. I fail to see what is the point in having an app at all. You have an app for the sound card (or chip these days), that is where the tweaking should take place.

But headphones are for listening to the output, not for fiddling with it.

Forget DeepFakes. This robo-Rembrandt with AI for brains is not bad at knocking off paintings

So they've made a more complicated scanner

Wrap the obligatory "AI" around it, and attach a 3D printer and voilà ! you have a grant and a project.

But there is no AI in there. The color analysis can be done in Photoshop and, unless I've missed that news, I don't think Adobe is crowing about how it crammed AI into Photoshop.

So it's a program that inputs an image, does some pre-programmed fiddling and outputs said image. Don't try impressing me with the mixing of inks, that's something that dumb inkjets do a hundred times a day.

I'm not saying this is a useless project, don't get me wrong, but there's even less AI in this one than usual.

Symantec comes out in swinging in bitter legal battle over security bug audit conspiracy claims

If you say that private tests are private, you don't turn around and publish them

There's a minimum of decency that is supposed to exist between the people who agree to something and that is to stick to what was agreed.

Anybody tries ignoring any part of an agreement with me is going to find a closed door the next time they come knocking.

Angry Googlers demand bosses pull the wings off 'Dragonfly' censored Chinese search engine

Hoouu, burn !

Either it is reassuring to know that there still are idealists working at Google,

or it is terrifying to see how brainwashed some people are with all the Googley stuff. Don't forget to take your dose every morning - for a healthy and productive day !

Tape vendors feel the cold, clammy hand of AWS on their shoulders. Behind them grins the Glacier Deep Archive

"13 nines durability"

Did you hear that rushing water sound ?

That's the sound of millions of Microsoft customers salivating at the prospect of a cloud that actually helps them, instead of keeping them from working.

But hey, Nadella, stay the course ! Nothing like being a living promotion for Open Source tools, right ?

Gigabit? More like, you can gigabet the US will fall behind on super-fast broadband access

Well it seems that fiber optics companies are going to make a killing in offshore revenue

Meanwhile, US telcos will do everything in their - admittedly - immense power to retain the status quo.

Might as well try to stop the winter from coming. Change is inevitable and trying to avert it only means you will fall harder.

Question: How fast is the Windows 10 October 2018 Update rolling out? Answer: Not very

"it had seen higher satisfaction ratings and fewer issues than any previous Windows 10 release"

Yep, and it looks like it's going to stay that way for a while yet.

'Massage parlour' location looks like Amazon stealth-testing secret new wireless network

"Total Body Stretch"

Sounds rather scary to me. I mean, what if they make a mistake ? We're not going to get a new Fantastic 4 member out of that place, now are we ?

Besides, I hate massage parlors because I hate being touched by people I don't know. It doesn't relax me.

WIPO 'temporarily suspends' whistleblower CIO amid allegations of misconduct

This whole story sounds like a bag of poisonous snakes in which I am very glad I don't have to put my hand.

I agree with the above posters, it does indeed seem that, from the top level down, our "institutions" need a serious cleanup.

US told to quit sharing data with human rights-violating surveillance regime. Which one, you ask? That'd be the UK

I am confused

That the US criticizes any other country about human rights obligations is something rich, but saying that "the nation doesn't adhere to human rights obligations and commitments" is, as far as I can see, simply wrong.

The UK has ratified the Bill of Rights, it has ratified all protocols of the Geneva Convention (something the USA has yet to do), and, as far as I can recall, British soldiers have never found themselves accused of torture, neither has Her Majesty approved of such methods - contrary to US soldiers and government.

Yes, there is that spying issue and it is not going away any time soon. Still, I find it quite rich to see USAians accusing the British of being untrustworthy with data !

Azure MFA falls over, Windows 10 struggles with Intel drivers, and Microsoft gives us... more Sticky Notes?

"The vision has an educator running an interactive lesson on a large display [..]"

I envision that that vision will be crudely interrupted by Windows Update asking if you want to reboot Now, or Now ?

Huawei MateBook Pro X: PC makers look out, the phone guys are here

I rather like it, but for one detail

It's a niggle, but for me it is important : the keyboard lacks a dedicated numeric keypad. I am very used to that, and not having one is a miss for me.

Still, I'm sure I've seen USB numpads, so all is not lost. I might look into that more closely when the time comes to replace my current workhorse.

IBM's Ginni Rometty snipes, er, someone for being irresponsible with data, haven't a clue who

"the weakest link should not define the digital economy"

Sorry Ginni, but the weakest link defines the limits of everything you can do.

It's just how it is, and throwing a tantrum or making a speech as CEO is not going to change that.

Doctors join wombats in sh!tting bricks to help parents relax about kids chowing down on Lego

"unless that Lego head is dearly loved"

If that Lego head is so dearly loved, go and buy another copy of the figurine !

Microsoft readies the swatter as more bugs wriggle out of the Windows 10 woodwork

Re: Why is this even news?

You do realize you don't have to read these articles if they bother you, right ?

Re: moving things for no reason, that is bad!!!

Get with the program. Moving things for no reason is the entire raison d'être of the new UI paradigm. Many consultants in expensive suits promote the idea to "surprise the user" and "enhance the experience".

Because, once you have a product that does everything the user needs, it's the only thing you can do to maintain the appearance that you did some work.

Oh - that and breaking it, of course.

Microsoft suffers the Tuesday shakes as Exchange Online continues to be wobbly for UK users

"then someone’s argument comes true"

That argument was valid from the onset of this current cloud fad and it has already been validated a good number of times, Daz.

It's not our fault if you ignore reality until it bites you in the demo.

And honestly, with Microsoft's could performance this year, you can thank your lucky stars it only happened to you in November.

We all fall together. Azure MFA takes a tumble for the second week running

Everyone is getting them in bulk now, whether they want it or not.

Office 365 Exchange enjoys a less than manic Monday. Users? Not so much

Yeah, but "when it works" is not supposed to be the general status of a business application.

It's supposed to fucking work. You're not supposed to have to ask the question.

We'll be able to keep a proper count starting the 1st of January, as per the new protocol.

In the meantime, it'll just be Office If It Can.

Domain name 'admin' role eyed up as latest victim of Whois system's GDPRmeggdon

"who is allowed to gain access to the non-public portions of the database"

The answer to that is simple : anyone who has a warrant.

That means probable cause, approved by a judge and enforced by proper police force.

Of course, that also means that US-based IP lawyers can go fuck themselves, which is an outcome I entirely approve of.

A fine is too clean. Public flogging would be sure to make them think again before trying.

AI snaps business titan jaywalking

So they have an "AI" system dedicated to shaming jaywalkers ?

China must actually be paradise on Earth to have no other problem than shaming jaywalkers.

If they tried putting something like that in place in the Western world, in no time flat you'd have scores of bored teenagers competing to see how fast they could get their mug on the big screen.

Uber fined £385k by ICO for THAT hack of 57m customers' deets

Couldn't happen to a nicer company

Anything that makes Uber execs bleed is music to my ears.

DXC's Americas CFO splits amid yet more deckchair shifting

"It expects to get there by acquisition and organic growth."

Acquisition. Taking over another company and folding some or most of their employees into yours. Merging two different corporate cultures, making a mess of both in the end. Sure, it makes for bigger numbers on the ledger, and hopefully captures more market and customers, but it really feels like a pain to go through for the expected result - which is not always attained.

Here, we have the remnants of HPE employees who are apparently leaving in droves. That is a sign that DXC has a rather big problem on its hands ; its experience is bleeding away. That does not bode well for future execution, meaning acquisition is just going to mask the problems to the outside.

Right now, I do not see a rosy future for DXC.

That sphincter-flexing moment for devs when it's time to go live

Been there as well

I've completed a few big projects in my time, with thankfully only minor niggles to correct in the new version.

What gets me the most is that I know that, however much preparation and planning and caution I employ, in the end, on launch day, there will always be one user who will have an incredible problem nobody else does. And when I'm confronted with it, I then have to tie my brain into a knot in order to find a solution that doesn't break it for everyone else.

And, often, that one user will be a VIP or otherwise important person in the company, so the solution just has to be found ASAP.

It's almost as exhausting as the entire rest of the project.

Excuses, excuses: Furious MPs probe banking TITSUPs*

Re: Tell them to either give you an explicit direction, in writing, or to kindly fuck off

Easy for you to say, you're not going to lose your job if he does.

HMRC: 30 months to prep Northern Ireland backstop systems, 24 for customs

"compromises made on border control systems would be on financial [..] risks"

I smell massive tax evasion tactics coming soon. Followed by tearful reports of fiscal revenue going into the toilet.

Funny, normally the government does everything to ensure that tax revenue keeps flowing, so why isn't anyone getting the ball rolling on this ? What political thing is worse for someone's image than ensuring tax keeps coming in ?

Because that's what it is. This is purely someone who does not want to be seen saying something definitive that nobody will like, so they keep quiet despite the guys at the Tax Bureau going blue in the face over their inability to move forward.

Mobile networks are killing Wi-Fi for speed around the world

Re: Yes its cost...

Dubai is done emerging, my friend. It has emerged. One might even say it has had its coming out, and it is now parading in insane drag through the main street at all times.

WiFi is good ? Color me astounded. I'm surprised you don't have a free fiber connection in every room.

Oh, I wish it could be Black Friday every day-aayyy, when the wallets start jingling but it's still a week till we're paiii-iid

We have brown cows in a pasture a few clicks from my village.

I told my niece and nephew that that's how they get their chocolate milk.

Talk in Trump's tweets tells whether tale is true: Code can mostly spot Prez lies from wording

@ nagyeger

You are correct. In France, any education institution with "Supérieure" in the name is University level and logically ends in a Masters-level degree.

The Ecole Normale Supérieure is actually the golden highway for future politicians and high-level functionaries. The other preferred method is becoming a lawyer, then getting into politics (like Sarkozy did).

Re: Ignorance can be very powerful

It is very powerful. It put Trump in the White House.

That said, I have a problem with the dataset. Only 30% were factually incorrect ? Really ?

I haven't seen a truthful tweet from him since ever. He does not know how to tell the truth. There is not one single thing he has said in public that cannot be almost immediately contradicted by a simple google search.

So 30% really rubs me the wrong way.

Technical foul: Amazon suffers data snafu days before Black Friday, emails world+dog

This is an interesting development

rcxb and Miss_X2m1 have brought my attention to the fact that I too have been receiving so-called notifications apparently from Amazon of things waiting for me at my post office, with a helpful link to some page that is neither a Post Office site nor Amazon.

Of course, not being part of the numpties that click on links from unknown entities, I just controlled that the link was suspicious and trashed the mail forthwith.

Now, though, I have to wonder : is this part of the consequences of the breach-that-was-not-a-hack ? I live in France, so if it is, the problem is much larger than just the UK (since Miss_X2m1 is USA-based).

@ Fred West

Instead of complaining endlessly how this site is crap, why don't you just leave and go to a site you like ?

Net neutrality is heading to the courts (again): So will the current rules stand or be overturned (again)?

Don't you just love

how the Free Market is working out so well ?

Oracle sued by app sales rep: I made tens of millions for Larry, then fired for being neither young nor male – claim

The numbers don't matter. What is significant is that she was the top performer.

And, as far as loose change is concerned, without people like her Oracle will soon be desperately looking for such loose change just to stay out of the red.

Thanksgiving brings together Apple's Siri and Google Assistant

Nothing to do with the internet, it's on mobile phones.

I do not need to wade through Siri/Alexa/Google shit to get to the internet on my computer. As for my phone, it's a model that does not support any of that shit either, so I'm good.

That said, there is a definite tendency for multi-billion dollar companies to act as if the internet existed only to support their marketing whims, I do agree.

Facebook to appeal against ICO fine – says it's a matter of principle not to pay 18 mins' profit

"it's a matter of principle"

It clearly is. So, since it's not about the money, just acknowledge that you fucked up and you should give a peace offering as an excuse.

Microsoft: You looking at me funny? Oh, you just want to sign in

@ Roopee

Apparently, someone finds your lack of faith disturbing.

Personally, I'd also like an answer to that question, because a PIN can beaten from you, and your fingers aren't all that solidly attached when a bolt cutter is lying around, or even just a cleaver.

Big data at sea: How the Royal Navy charts the world's oceans

Re: Not being a noisy neighbour

They're talking about whales, in my opinion.

So, before firing up the sonar, they listen to ensure that there aren't any in the area. If no whalesong is detected, then they blast away.

Talk about a cache flow problem: This JavaScript can snoop on other browser tabs to work out what you're visiting

I'm supposing that those of us who do run NoScript will be trusting domains that do not serve as hosts for malicious domains.

New era for Japan, familiar problems: Microsoft withdraws crash-tastic patches

Looks like MS cannot actually patch its own code properly any more

If any other vendor in history demonstrated such incompetence in coding, they would file for Chapter 11 in less than two years.

MS, coasting on a literal mountain of cash, just keeps fucking up and cannot fix things any more.

I wonder how much worse the situation will get, because let's face it, nobody's going to switch to Linux because of this.

Capita, Serco, Sopra Steria to write cheat-sheets for UK.gov in case they collapse

Keep an eye on what's going on?

And then have to take responsibility when it goes pear-shaped ?

Are you out of your mind ? How could they get their OBE with that kind of blight on their record ?

@ Adam Foxton

Absolutely agree. This situation has been enabled by the total lack of oversight from government management. In any proper company, whether you outsource or not, you have a list of your sytems, who has access to them and IT must have a list of all servers and the admin credentials to them.

Not having that list is just complete and utter incompetence.

Joe Public wants NHS to spend its cash on cancer, mental health, not digital services

We polled the public and the result was not what we wanted

So here's our interpretation that turns it around and allows us to carry on as planned with a clear conscience. Ah, life is good when you're at the top !

LastPass? More like lost pass. Or where the fsck has it gone pass. Five-hour outage drives netizens bonkers

Sure, but typing 374852zeilrunhsLOEHFD?OEHIDMZ323894 from memory is a bit troublesome, not to mention that there are websites who do not allow more than 12 chars for a password.

Use Sync

Your files are encrypted with Sync, and only you have the key. If you really have to store your keepass file on cloud, I think it would be better if you used an encrypted platform.