Posts by Pascal Monett

Yahoo! $50m! hack! damages! bill!, Russian trolls menaced by Uncle Sam inaction, computer voting-machine UI confusion, and more

Yeah but the hackers are not opposed to Putin - they work for him.

From today, it's OK in the US to thwart DRM to repair your stuff – if you keep the tools a secret

Re: "Just look at [..] your nearest multiplex right now: is there really nothing new there?"

Challenge accepted :

Today's films at my nearest Kinepolis are the following :

A Star Is Born : IMDb says "A musician helps a young singer find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral." I'm sure I've never heard such a story before.

Alad 2 : has sequel right in the name.

Goosebumps 2 : same here.

First Man : IMDb says "A look at the life of the astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969. " Okay, I guess that can be qualified as new.

Halloween : Seen that before.

Johnny English Counter Attack : another sequel (that I wouldn't mind seeing).

The Nun : horror story about nuns and the Devil. Yawn.

The House with a Clock in Its Walls : magic and the End of the World with Cate Blanchette. Might take a gander at that.

Sink or Swim (le Grand Bain) : the IMDb summary makes it sound like a typically French film that will follow the usual hardship-to-validation thread with a bit of romance thrown in because of course, it's French. Seen that a hundred times already.

Belleville Cop : another platform for Omar Sy, up-and-coming French actor (and not a bad one). But it's a cop story and however well it is done, I do believe we've already seen all the possible permutations in that particular thematic. Which doesn't mean the film isn't good. Omar Sy apparently has a knack for good films.

Nothing to Hide : another claustrophobic French production which endlessly analyzes people and their (scripted) reactions in a one-room situation. This time it is not husband-wife-lover though, so for a French film, that's new enough.

The Predator : sequel to the sequel of a sequel. Might still check it out, though.

Venom : gah.

And that is the list. 13 films for the evening, 6 of which are direct sequels. Of the other 7, there's only 1 I wouldn't mind seeing - but not at the cineplex. All of the rest look largely like rehashes of storylines we've all seen a hundred times.

Then again, IIRC I think it's the Greeks who determined that there are only 7 stories worth telling, so . .

Amazon's neural net offer to border cops, Waymo charges fares, the first AI portrait sold at auction, and more

Of course, now that there's money . . .

Hey Barrat, when you agreed for your code to be used you didn't inquire as to what it was for. Now is too late to be all angry about it.

Jeez, not now, Iran... Facebook catches Mid East nation running trolly US, UK politics ads

I agree with both those pics

If it takes Iranians to tell the truth to Americans, so be it.

What can I say about this 5G elixir? Try it on steaks! Cleans nylons! It's made for the home! The office! On fruits!

Re: "Wireless completes fast wired infrastructure"

Exactly. The problem is that those who hype 5G want to do the wireless part, but are absolutely not interested in the wired part.

To me, that means they're all liars selling bullshit, and the fact that Pai is with them tells me I'm right.

Super Cali goes ballistic, net neutrality hopeless? Even Ajit Pai's gloating is something quite atrocious

"the decision reflected the fact that California knows it is going to lose"

Oh man is it a good thing I am not California's governor. I hear that and I would immediately put the law into practice just to show that I am confident I'm going to win.

I just hate it when some jackass takes advantage of me being reasonable to assert that he is right.

Right my ass.

British Airways: If you're feeling left out of our 380,000 passenger hack, then you may be one of another 185,000 victims

Ah, so Windows uses 3rd party JavaScript libraries it downloads from the Internet ?

Another reason to not go to Windows 1 0.

Don't confuse the argument. We're not talking about OS here, we're talking about the sickness that is developers hooking into any old Git repository and thinking that everything is peachy.

It's not, and this is the proof.

Hopefully, since 3rd-party JS libraries are visibly becoming a valid attack vector, companies are going to have to take their thumbs out and remove that vector from their attack surface.

So I hope more of this is going to happen, so that companies are pressured to put an end to the possibility once and for all.

Got a new Surface? Have some firmware. Old Surface? La la la la la, we can't hear you

"the problem was broken hardware and so not its fault"

<cough><splutter>WHAT ?

This is your hardware, Microsoft. How can you possibly imagine that that excuse will fly ?

Or, more to the point, that a judge will accept that ?

Sorry friends, I'm afraid I just can't quite afford the Bitcoin to stop that vid from leaking everywhere

Same here. I also like the mention of "the timer started ticking as soon as you opened this mail". Sure it did. And sure, you took over my PC without me noticing. And sure, you made the video camera I don't have in my Iiyama screen record what you said.

Oh, and that password ? I have never, ever used it for any mail account I have. At any time.

So I look forward to seeing whatever video my "contact list" - on my phone, apparently - is going to receive.

Way to undermine your message, buddy. If I clicked the link on my PC, you can't access my phone, and vice-versa.

You'd have to be a moron to be impressed by this drivel. Unfortunately, there's one born every minute.

Americans' broadband access is so screwed up that the answer may lie in tiny space satellites

I can't believe it

Pai is actually going to decide something that is not directly useful to Verizon ?

Somebody pinch me.

There has to be some hidden advantage Verizon can abuse. Otherwise, I just can't understand.

Yes, Americans, you can break anti-piracy DRM if you want to repair some of your kit – US govt

Some justice is still available for The People

In the insane political climate of the currently insane USA, a twinkling of what actually made America great is still shining, like a fire long gone out, but the embers of which are still smoldering.

There is still hope that we will once again have in this world a country that is truly with freedom and justice for all, it's just that, right now, there's a heavy layer of bullshit covering it all up.

If you saw a Google ad recently, know that it helped pay off one of its 'sex pest' execs $90m

"the advertising giant has terminated 48 of its 85,000 employees for harassment"

That is an absolutely meaningless comparison, 85k employees are not capable of harassment. If the quote had been about terminating 48 out of 100 sexual-harassment-accused employees, then it would be meaningful.

It would also be admitting that Google had 100 employees (managers) accused of sexual harassment, which would inevitably open Google to a tsunami of bad press. Whether 48 terminations is a good result or not actually cannot be judged without knowing the specifics of all the accusations (being accused doesn't mean you're guilty, in an ideal world).

So yeah, Google isn't about to admit how many cases it has actually handled (much less how many cases it has ignored), but even so, comparing the number of terminations to the number of managers would have, apparently, been a little bit closer to the mark.

Amazon is at this point a money-printing cloud machine with a grocery store in the parking lot

Re: Indeed

Insane I agree. Must have something to do with all those Golden Boys shorting Amazon at $57 billion and getting stuffed because it "only" made $56 and a half, so of course, they punish Amazon instead of getting the whipping they deserve for having made a bad estimate.

The best way to screw the competition? Do what they can't, in a fraction of the time

I'm sure you appreciated the what-goes-around-comes-around moment, but I think you would have been better served by humbly accepting, then fucking him over on the price of your services.

That's how I deal with smug pricks, I make them eat their hat - metaphorically of course.

Microsoft promises a fix for Windows 10 zip file woes. In November

Re: "file indexing service works brilliantly in 2008R2"

I have solved the problem with Everything Search. Disabled Windows search, install Everything, let it do it's first indexing run and from that point on, searching is instant and real time.

Like searching should be on computers that are a million times more powerful than the ones we started with last millennium.

If a small group of open source developers can do that for (almost) free, Microsoft should bloody well be able to do it, but noooo, it had to take care of touchscreens and playskool UIs.

UK data watchdog fines Facebook 17 minutes of net profit for Cambridge Analytica brouhaha

Re: "don't realise they are allowed to stand up to the old fuck"

Sure.

They're also allowed to get fired.

Just sayin'.

Bitbucket wobbles but it won't fall. Oh, snap...

"and are seriously considering other options"

Sure you are. Because there are sooo many other options, right ?

Well if there are, what are you waiting for ? Move already !

Cathay Pacific hack: Personal data of up to 9.4 million airline passengers laid bare

"No one's travel to loyalty profile was accessed in full"

Travel to loyalty profile ?

Why am I surprised that airlines are profiling us as well ? I'm sure there are plenty of people who, having traveled for business from Sydney to Dhaka to Frankfurt to Vancouver during the week, would be absolutely overjoyed in taking a short hop to Osaka to unwind during the week-end.

Right ?

It only took Oz govt transformation bods 6 months and $700k to report that blockchain ain't worth the effort

I believe that that is generally due to technology catching up with the idea. Da Vinci imagined the helicopter and it took centuries before technology could create the engine and the blades and the rest that was needed to actually make a usable version.

As far as blockchain is concerned, it's software, so the tech is here now. So yeah, if no one has found a different use today, there's not much chance of finding a better use in a decade.

Grumbling about wobbly Windows 10? Microsoft can't hear you over the clanging cash register

"leave the code repo mostly untouched"

Right, they're just going to fuck it up in the backend, quiet-like.

How reassuring.

Should a robo-car run over a kid or a grandad? Healthy or ill person? Let's get millions of folks to decide for AI...

Re: Jaywalking

It's the act of crossing the street outside of the municipality-approved crossing path, an egregious offense in any stuck-up, prudish culture that most definitely thinks it knows better than you. Another side-effect of the nanny culture, except this one dates from at least the Nazis before 1939.

I know because my grandpa told me about how he had found Germany back in 1938 when he was visiting. He found the local constabulary to be very keen on people crossing along the dotted path, and woe to anyone who tried to skimp.

Personally, if there are no cars coming in any direction, I am not going to wait to get to a crossing, nor will I press the button, I'll cross wherever I am. I see no reason to hold up traffic just for my personal benefit. Of course, if there is traffic, I'll be very careful about it.

Linguists, update your resumes because Baidu thinks it has cracked fast AI translation

I'd like to see how a statistical analysis machine would handle that.

Euro eggheads call it: Facebook political ads do change voters' minds – and they worked rather well for Trump in 2016

Re: Democrats only have themselves to blame

I actually agree with that. Trump has so many skeletons in his closet that taking him down should have been a crapshoot .

Attack ads like "Do you really want a failure for President ?", referring to his many bankruptcies, or "Would you want your daughter in the same room ?" referring to his pussy-grabbing, I mean, there is a wealth of things to attack him about, and I heard nothing about any of that.

You reap what you sow, and when you don't sow anything, you reap a big fat failure.

Because the EU is set in stone and nothing can ever change, right ?

Oh wait, the UK is leaving the EU. Looks like things change after all.

You might need to review your opinion on this . . . um, never mind. Won't happen.

Erm... what did you say again, dear reader?

So he's that incensed about the bastardization of his beloved language ?

Then what on Earth is he doing on the Internet ?

Go back to reading Shakespeare, my good fellow. Oh, and don't forget to put wax in your ears when school kids are walking by, you'll sleep better.

The only language that doesn't change is Latin. Hint : it's because it's dead.

Memo to Microsoft: Windows 10 is broken, and the fixes can't wait

Re: "Linux is pretty much the only viable alternative OS"

Linux certainly is, at the OS level. I am certain that, in time, Linux will be the Enterprise OS of choice.

But at the application software level, Linux is woefully undersupplied. LibreOffice works fine for me, but Calc doesn't have the polish of Excel's formatted tables, or the fun but useful things like Sparklines, not to mention that its charts are somewhat disappointing and lack every formatting option Excel charts have.

Writer is not much more evolved, has no themes, no header formatting, is basically Word circa 1998, albeit a bit more efficient and faster.

For the rest, a company migrating from a Windows environment will have a devil of a time getting apps in Linux that can compare with the ones they use in Windows.

So no, Linux is not actually an alternative and won't be until those gaps are filled.

Re: "In the 1990s, MS could never have been as stupid . . "

That is probably a significant part of the issue. Everyone remembers an MS that was lean and executed rather well. Not everyone realizes that when MS was a lean, mean fighting machine, it's because there was competition.

Where does MS have competition in the OS space now ? Nowhere. Ergo, no need to pay attention, got fat, got sloppy, got childish. Is now more interested in bling than functionalty.

And what can we do about it ? Zilch. Nobody is going to migrate to Linux because that is a functional nightmare for a company of just about any size.

So we bend over and take it, and MS knows we will.

Re: "Office was always far more reliable"

Except when the newer version couldn't read files created with the previous version.

Or corrupted them when saving.

El Reg is against sloppy software. It's not El Reg's fault that Microsoft is now in that category, nor is it El Reg's fault that all other "major" tech sites are brown-nosers.

Remember the "Biting the hand . . ." line ? That's what El Reg is for, and Microsoft deserves to be bitten.

Hard.

Forgotten that Chinese spy chip story? We haven't – it's still wrong, Super Micro tells SEC

Re: No trace of spying!

Not to mention a pic of "compromised" motherboard. Why isn't there a single pic ? Produce that and all the doubters will have to shut up.

Instead, we have this endless continuing of a useless argument, useless because nobody can prove anything either way.

Show me the goods or get out of the room.

I ship you knot: 2,400-year-old Greek trading vessel found intact at bottom of Black Sea

Re: Leave it there

I disagree. We should bring it up (*), disassemble it and examine the pieces and how they fit together to perfect our knowledge of their level of shipbuilding. I think that would give valuable insight into why they did things the way they did. I'm sure we'd learn a lot from that wreck.

* - if feasible, obviously, and given the depth, there may be a bit a challenge.

Zip it! 3 more reasons to be glad you didn't jump on Windows 10 1809

Re: "based on an immense, mostly undocumented database"

It's undocumented for the public - Microsoft is supposed to have its documentation in order.

There is no excuse for this continuing stream of shitty code. There's a reason - no QA - but no excuse.

Brit smart meter biz blamed Apple's iPhone 7 launch for its late taxes

Good on the judge

Taxman turned a deaf ear and demanded payment, and got a hard slap of truth : when someone calls, you answer the damn phone. You are neither a jailer nor a judge, you're an administration and your job is administer, not bully.

Yes, there are undoubtedly companies that are doing their best to skirt taxes (eh, Apple ?), but you do not decide to punish before you have probable cause to do so and, in this case, you didn't because you refused to listen.

Silent running: Computer sounds are so '90s

If they are, they don't have many versions left to go.

Which, apparently, is a good thing.

European Commission: We've called off the lawyers over Ireland's late collection of Apple back taxes

So does that mean that Apple had indeed received preferential treatment ?

Or is this just another magnificent political example of "we're not guilty of what you said, but here's the money to bury it anyway" ?

Haunted disk-drive? This story will give you the chills...

Put a heater in the safe then ?

I really would have liked a bit more of the forensic details on this one. I think I would be amazed as to how the guy actually realized there was a consation problem.

This story was worthy of a bit of the Columbo treatment - too bad it didn't get it.

Once more with feeling: Windows 10 October 2018 Update inches closer to relaunch

I'm just wondering

How long will it be before companies start phoning Redmond offices to say "hey, cut the bullshit releases out - we are working here !".

Constant uproar in the IT area of a company will inevitably have consequences on revenue at some point. If these shenanigans continue, Microsoft just might find itself in legal hot water.

Mobe networks battle to bring comms back after Hurricane Michael smashes US Gulf Coast

That involves digging, which is tiring and covers you in dirt.

Plus, the beancounters prefer spending money on fixing tomorrow than on digging today because digging is more expensive in the short run and nobody knows what the long run is anymore.

NASA gently nudges sleeping space 'scopes Chandra, Hubble out of gyro-induced stupor

Re: The Optimal Number of Gyroscopes

The optimal number is, of course, three because if one disagrees with the two others its results can be ignored in favor of the most common result.

Independantly of whatever argument there may be about using two, I think the point is that one of the three has gone bad, two are left and you need to have a spare. So they're shutting down the faulty one, keeping one as a spare and only using one gyro. When that one fails, the spare will pick up the job and Hubble will continue to be useful.

That's how I see it anyway.

Facebook mass hack last month was so totally overblown – only 30 million people affected

Did you read the post before mine ?

Oh but you can believe it.

It's just that Zuckerberg doesn't give a shit.

Well whaddya know, there are kids that read El Reg.

I'm gonna have to pay more attention to my vocabulary now.

Samsung: Swanky hardware alone won't save a phone maker

I was given an S2 for the job, now I have an A3

The only reason I keep it is because it is a required work tool, it's not because I like it. I don't, I hate the things. Every update changes something in the UI. Options move, some things are reset and there is never any warning or explanation. I hate it all.

Please explain why it was soooo necessary to move the Flashlight option from lower right to middle left ? It's nothing, but it is supremely annoying when you had the habit of going lower right.

Either you let me put it where I want, or you LEAVE IT WHERE IT IS. You are not "enhancing" the UI by changing stuff all the time, you're just making everything confusing and frustrating.

It is 2018 and the NHS is still counting the cost of WannaCry. Carry the 2, + aftermath... um... £92m

So the solution is to redesign all the software for Linux

Including all machine interfaces, all MRI machines, all everything.

Simples ! Won't cost a thing, for sure.

UK.gov asks: Are sadistic AI price-bots ganging up on you?

Re: Someone clearly does not know how it is done

Nobody knows how AI is done. We don't have AI, we have statistical analysis machines.

And The Economist : if you think a company cannot be held responsible for it's pseudo-AI, you are totally smoking something you shouldn't.

It's the companies' tool, if the company cannot manage it properly, it will be fined into oblivion. Or shut down.

But it will be held responsible.

That 'Surface will die in 2019' prediction is still a goer, says soothsayer

Re: Is there anything wrong with Windows 10?

Everything is wrong with Windows 1 0. An OS should not have ads, it should not do its own thing without your permission, it is there to do your stuff, not Microsoft's.

The fact that some people find it fast and responsive is like liking a drug lord because he doesn't shoot you.

NASA's Chandra probe suddenly becomes an EX-ray space telescope (for now, anyway)

It's in the telemetry. Remember the film Apollo 13 ? Some of the brightest minds on this planet planned that mission, and NASA has experience in determining what it needs to know in order to find out what goes wrong.

This is not your bullshit Windows telemetry, this stuff was set up by Engineers, with a capital 'E'. They'll figure out something, I'm pretty sure of that.

Azure goes quiet, Huawei Canada ban urged, US Senators are after Google, and more

Oh really ?

"the Army says it will be commissioning officers into is cyber security programs with the rank of colonel"

And now I can't help but picture a roomfull of PFYs with colonel shoulderboards. Feels like I'm looking at Major Valerian all over again, and that doesn't feel any more credible now than it did then. The Army should just stop with the grade nonsense, create a special designation/grade with the salary that will give them the required clout to get talent, and move on. These guys are hackers, colonels they are not and they never will be.

Your RSS is grass: Mozilla euthanizes feed reader, Atom code in Firefox browser, claims it's old and unloved

I fail to see the problem

"The feed viewer has its own 'special' XML parser, distinct from the main Firefox one, and has not had a significant update in styling or functionality in the last seven years"

It's an RSS feed, it works fine and there is no need for updating the styling.

As for functionality, bloody hell why is it that everything has to get more functionality ? When it works, it's good enough - leave it alone. Adding more functionality is called feature creep and is a sickness that has killed many a product's usefullness. You don't add functionality for the sake of adding it, you add the functionality you need and you stop when you have what you need.

Somebody get a cluebat, I feel the need for some percussive education.