Posts by Pascal Monett

Pentagon fastens lasers to military drones to zap missiles out of the skies

That would seem logical, but kinetic interception of missiles has a dismal success record if I am not mistaken. Even if you have a dozen drones at the ready, there seems to still be a good chance that you'll fail to take it down reliably. That is why the military chose lasers, because if you've got it in your sights, you'll hit it.

The issue with laser is power, and if they couldn't get a bloody big Boeing to succeed, I don't think there's a snowball's proverbial they'll get a drone to win that contest.

So this is just money down the drain and pork for buddies again. Then again, there might be a remote chance that something actually useful will come from this program, and succeed in miniaturizing power generation to an extend unheard of at this time.

Re: evaporate the whole missile

I don't think so. Given the stress the missile is under (due to its speed), all you need is to puncture the shell. Air friction will do the rest, and that will be very hard to not look like a launch issue.

Indonesian government cracking the whip on lazy telcos

Now THAT is a solution to Internet Access problems

Not like Facebook Basic.

Good on the Indonesian Government. With any luck, that will prevent the likes of The Zuck from tying up the market before local companies can ramp up. In any case, it will make Facebook remain just another web site, instead of become the de facto portal for an entire country and reaping insane profits from that.

Now Indonesia's future is clearly resting on its telcos' shoulders.

Could India take a leaf from that book too ?

New open-source ad-blocking web browser emerges from brain of ex-Mozilla boss Eich

If that is the case, you have to ask yourself if that driver is important enough to risk the integrity of your system.

I wouldn't, even if I had to buy another equipment. On the other hand, I have no equipment with drivers that obscure.

Boffins: There's a ninth planet out there – now we just need to find it

Um, I think you missed the fact that this new #9 is supposed to be ten times the mass of Earth.

That means ten times the gravitational effect. With our current technology, good luck building a rocket that can lift off of that.

And if there are animals on that planet, and we somehow manage to bring one back, I shudder to think of its strength here on Earth. You'll have the power of an elephant in something the size of a cat.

It's 2016 and idiots still use '123456' as their password

You're still guessing.

It could also be rogbel, bellenr, or even $beller, following just some of the formats I've already come across.

Europe's satellite laser comms system set to shine

Yeah, but gold-plated, man !

Space hardware has always been bling-ed up before the word was even invented. That's how cool space is.

Facebook Messenger: All your numbers are belong to us

Agreed

Actually, every single thing The Zuck does or says is always one more good reason to stay the hell away from that thing.

Trojan-filled Chrome extensions for Steam boil off gamers' assets

Re: making virtual crap worth actual money

I fully agree. I like gaming, and I think Steam is the best online merchant there is, but I regularly get annoyed at all the hoopla going on around the games I play. I don't care for an exclusive hat, nor do I intend to ever waste my time for cosmetic stuff that does nothing to the abilities I can enjoy in-game.

Arctic skin for my sniper rifle ? I'll take it if I get it, but I'll be damned if I pay money for it.

In any case, this article is an eye-opener for me. Had no idea that a simple browser extension could have such consequences on my game world.

Crummy Samsung gear no one wants, now no one can get – well done, Apple

Don't forget that "consultant" who was paid $80,000 to appear in Court and state that she didn't see any difference between an iPhone and a Galaxy S II.

I think we can safely say that, financially, she did pretty well out of the whole thing too.

Reputation-wise, less so.

Bigger than Safe Harbor: Microsoft prez vows to take down US gov in data protection lawsuit

Well whaddya know ? MS fighting the good fight for once.

"Microsoft president and lead counsel Brad Smith"

Good on this guy for putting the US government up against the wall on this. The US may consider that its laws are valid world-wide, but my personal data says stuff that. That said, I don't think for a second that he is doing so out of the goodness of his heart. Besides, he's a lawyer, so he doesn't have one.

Now, Mr. Smith, perhaps you could multitask and get Nadella up against the wall on the unending Windows 1 0 pushing that is reaching hysterical levels in the methods employed ?

Before we get jackbooted MS enforcers entering our homes and forcing every computer to run the only Microsoft-compliant OS version, preferably.

PDF redaction is hard, NSW Medical Council finds out - the hard way

Totally that.

And I marvel at the various solutions offered to redact a document.

Is it really that hard to Find/Replace the name with <Redacted> and re-publish ? Seems to me that going back over the text and covering each occurrence of the name with a black rectangle is a lot more time-consuming, on top of being totally inefficient.

Facebook is no charity, and the ‘free’ in Free Basics comes at a price

And the second question that should follow is : what profit are you going to make by giving this to me ?

French say 'Non, merci' to encryption backdoors

Fuck being monitored. Giving in to fear is just handing them the victory without contest.

And what are you afraid of, really ? Saying that a politician finally did his job (or hers, in this case) ? You're afraid of a libel case ?

If they're monitoring this then they don't enough work. So let me just say this : je suis ravi qu'enfin un membre du gouvernmenet de mon pays ait le courage de dire tout haut la vérité que les lâches et les corrompus voulaient cacher.

@frank ly

There is no political gain to be had from doing that because everyone knows that the answer is better communication, more inter-agency cooperation and more actual justice for everyone. More actual justice for everyone means less wiggle room to fill one's pockets from the trough, so nope, not gonna happen.

You, yes YOU: DevOps' people problem

Re: Why should I spend my time looking into DevOps?

Ideally you shouldn't. Ideally, companies should be monitoring their requirements to ensure that they are being met and that future requirements are being planned for. Whatever is this week's flavor of name for that doesn't really matter.

No, Agile does not 'equal' DevOps: Examining complexity and the long haul

Re: I really wonder if this stuff will work better

It won't, but marketing teams will have a new playground to chase bonuses.

Confirmed: How to stop Windows 10 forcing itself onto PCs – your essential guide

Re: punishing Microsoft developers

I don't think it is the developers that decided to put the telemetry in. It's VW who apparently has engineers that go off and do things without management approval (or so they say).

No, Microsoft managers are the ones to take the beating in this matter, along with the marketing department I'm sure. And not the little managers either, this kind of decision was made at the top and ran down the line.

Re: GWX Control Panel

That is, in my humble opinion, useless - at the condition that modifying the Registry does not scare you.

If that is the case, then first kill the GWX task, then just search your Registry for GWX and delete everything that shows up. Finally, delete the GWX folder. Works fine for me.

Rubrik's cube: Storage firm founder drenches us in upstart Kool-Aid

"being constantly [..] told how humble the co-founders are"

Sorry, humility does not advertise itself out loud. If you are indeed humble, the message gets across without being said. From what I gather here, they are anything but humble. They appear to have nailed the lavish presentation schtick, though.

And infinitely scalable ? That falls flat by logic alone, but the buzzword bullshit alarm goes off as well.

What I take from this article is that there is yet another startup playing doe-eyes in front and quietly sharpening a shiv in the back. The only question is how will these new wolves mix things up, and will they be able to ?

Happy new year, VW: Uncle Sam sues over engine cheatware

Personally, I wouldn't be totally opposed to a bit of both.

Microsoft's 200 million 'Windows 10' 'devices' include Lumias, Xboxes

If it is indeed test machines, then it will be interesting to see how that number changes when the tests are discontinued.

In any case, it seems like MS is throwing everything including the kitchen sink to bolster its numbers. No matter, MS will survive a while yet, but when the new generation that has grown up on Android and Iphone get to the workplace, they're going to kick that bucket hard.

Anyone seen my DVD? Ohio loses disc holding 50,000 citizens' records

The fact that they only noticed the loss when preparing the backups for destruction is more worrying : it means that the disc has been AWOL for quite a while in that "secure" facility.

Something needs to be done about the procedures for storing data. From RITA's declaration, it is impossible to know whether the DVD ever got to the storage facility in the first place, or whether it went AWOL on-site. Why is that data not available ? A proper paper trail should allow discovery if the disc ever got there, at the condition that somebody on-site actually eyeballed all containers to ensure proper sign-in of data. I would think that a "secure" storage facility would do that par for the course.

RITA's declaration stipulates that "From our investigation, we believe the DVD was most likely destroyed in accordance with our usual process for unlabeled DVDs". That means that data written to a DVD made for backup purposes went into storage unlabelled ? How can backup procedures function properly if they send unlabelled DVDs into storage, and why didn't the "secure" storage vendor not raise a flag on that point ? Or maybe a flag was raised, which allows them to make that declaration, but then why is the issue coming up now ?

There is something of a mess in the data storage procedures in Ohio.

Happy 2016, and here's the year's first ransomware story

Re: "distributed via email"

Thus relying on the tried-and-trusted clueless idiot who clicks on everything without even wondering why he was sent an executable in the first place - if said idiot even knows what an executable is. Well, users need to learn to not open everything they see in front of them, and if losing their personal files is the price, then I'm all for it. Maybe after the initial panic attack they'll realize the error of their ways and correct it (yeah, right).

Personally I would prefer a drive-by attack, since I personally use NoScript so wouldn't be at risk and Google would most likely quickly catch on to the infection and alert its users, rendering the attack next to moot.

But of course that is the very reason it is not a drive-by.

Linode: Back at last after ten days of hell

Let's just assume they won't go down until the next attack.

In other matters, I wonder if this region blocking is going to become a standard in security considerations. This is anti-ethical to the very notion of Internet, but if a company knows it only does business in a given area, maybe it makes sense to block all other regions.

Or maybe global companies might start thinking about blocking the rest of the world for each of their regional installations. Microsoft Europe, for example, would block everything that is not Europe, Microsoft US would block everything that is not North America, Microsoft Asia would block everything that is not defined as Asian, etc. That might pull the rug under the feet of those worldwide botnet attacks somewhat, and the impact for the honest customers would probably not be all that significant.

Re: How much does it cost an attacker these days to launch a large-scale attack?

If I am not mistaken, the attacker has next to zero cost in this, since the attack, and the bandwidth cost, is handled by the zombie PCs that are part of the botnet. So the attacker only has to send the marching orders to the botnet, then sit back and watch the mayhem unfold.

The only solution to this is the proper cleaning of the infected PCs and the education of the users. The first will remain difficult so long as bug-ridden Flash maintains its existence, despite efforts to bury it. The second will only bring fruit if the cluebat becomes an accepted education tool.

Either that, or some other OS than Windows becomes the default on Internet-facing user computers, preferably one which is inherently more secure than Windows so that, even if the brainless dolt persists in clicking on everything, the OS itself will resist becoming part of a botnet.

And once botnets are history, DoS attacks will be much more difficult to perform, and (I think) next to impossible to do anonymously.

Death Stars are a waste of time – here's the best way to take over the galaxy

An interesting idea

But the genetic predisposition humanity has to get a rush over whatever is bigger than whatever else is being compared means that the most practical means is rarely considered if there is an impractical one that makes a bigger boom.

Private cloud: Strategy and tactics from the big boys

"[the developer] is in charge of everything from performance down to data protection"

Given that 66% of major IT bods don't think security is a primary concern, it seems to me that this cloudy future, so rosy on paper, is going to be full of leaks.

As soon as a hacker gets to know the cloud provider security scheme, he will be in and out as he pleases with the data of all companies using that platform.

Fun times ahead.

New bill would require public companies to disclose cybersecurity credentials

"66 per cent [..] didn't think security was a strategic priority for their company"

Well that explains a lot. Looks like lawyers have a bright future for a while yet.

Skilled workers, not cost, lured Apple to China says Tim Cook

Skilled workers

So, when Apple sets up a factory in India, it'll be because there are no more skilled workers in China then ?

What a load of bull.

Facebook hammers another nail into Flash's coffin

"being able to apply changes directly in the browser allow us to move fast"

Good on Zuckland for killing off Flash. Given its market reach, it is a very important step in securing the Web in general.

That said, I always cringe when I hear IT people talk about moving "fast". Practically every time I've witnessed a project moving fast, it generally ended up right in the wall and not moving at all until somebody found a way to revive it.

No doubt we'll see how fast they can _safely_ move in short order.

Hillary Clinton says for crypto 'maybe the back door is the wrong door'

And ruin the financial prospects of all those arms dealers ? Tsk, tsk.

The Firewall Awakens: ICANN's exiting CEO takes internet governance to the dark side

Spot on

There is absolutely zero surprise in this nomination.

Chehade is a sleazeball who has played the information hiding game on Master level for years. He is an expert in the domain and a perfect pick for the Wuzhen conference goers.

I'm sure they will be very happy with their choice.

Meanwhile, it looks like the Internet is going to get its balkanization after all. On the one side, the authoritarians indiscriminately snooping on everyone for local political reasons, and on the other, the freedom-respecting countries snooping on everyone for "protection against terrorist" (and occasional industrial espionage) reasons.

Ain't this world just peachy ?

Microsoft beats Apple's tablet sales, apologises for Surface 4 flaws

Re: "nine of out ten Surface 4 owners"

And the tenth Surface 4 owner didn't buy a surface 4 ?

He was gifted it then ?

Citation, please.

Assange inquisition closer after Sweden, Ecuador sign pact

Yeah, but no other country has declared itself the bastion of Freedom and Justice only to piss all over that with indiscriminate surveillance of everyone all the time.

And when caught out, only to move the surveillance facilities to another country to be able to say that no more surveillance was taking place in the country.

Sorry, but as far as being dicks is concerned, the US is indeed #1.

Adobe: We locked our customers in the cloud and out poured money

@ Ledswinger

Obviously, such praise requires thanks.

I am quite flattered.

I do believe now is the time to leave stage right, else I dilute the moment.

Re: "there will never be another viable solution"

This is the Age Of Internet.

Never Say Never.

Come on, are we capitalists or not ? Adobe certainly has developed a metric ton of expertise and functionality, but that is nothing that the Internet cannot take on and overcome. We're not talking about Google, which has invested billions in its search engine and has harvested #Deity only knows how much data. Microsoft is currently demonstrating how hard it is, and how much it costs, to become a Google competitor.

We're talking about a program that can create and edit images. Any number of mathematicians get together and they can very well create a program that will crush Adobe's product.

It may not be easy, but it certainly won't require the kind of cash needed for a data center. It will only require a collaborative effort, the likes of which Linux has already largely demonstrated is possible.

"things have clearly settled down"

Yes, I believe that's called the coma after the aneurysm.

It is obvious that what Adobe did resulted in more profit ; Adobe's customers are practically co-joined from the hip to Adobe's products given that the competition is not exactly either ferocious on the market or up to par where competition there is.

Open source, from what I've heard, is stepping up its game, but it's not there yet as far as the professionals are concerned. So the professionals had their hissy fit, then complied with many a grumble and regret.

Adobe is celebrating that as a victory, but the day there is another viable solution, Adobe just might see its revenue tank and wonder why. If so, the why is simple : it's never a good idea to force your customers into anything, you encourage them with incentives.

US government pushing again on encryption bypass

Sure, drag France into the debate.

Remind me how many school shootings have taken place in France ?

Spot on.

The only problem is that this kid is the equivalent of a multi-billionaire that does not understand the word "no".

And he has Asperger, so whenever he hears no he thinks 'ask again".

Bitcoin inventor Satoshi 'outed' as Aussie, then raided by cops – but not over BTC

Well they obviously don't want to come off as braggarts.

It's nearly 2016, and Windows DNS servers can be pwned remotely

"This update also improves the ability of Microsoft to monitor the quality of the upgrade experience"

Right, one more to avoid then.

Unsourced, unreliable, and in your face forever: Wikidata, the future of online nonsense

I'm sure there's a manager somewhere that can teach you otherwise.

So, Wikidata is Wikipedia's bastard child ?

First we had Wikipedia, the encyclopedia any moron can edit, now we're going to get Wikidata, the attribution-free database that any corporation can subvert. Somewhere, a billionaire is cackling evilly.

Well, progress is still progress, even when it's moving backwards.

Six years in the slammer for SilkRoad-skimming secret agent

Not a judge, are you ?

I have news for you : the scale depends on the crime.

More news : stealing is generally considered less bad than murder.

That's why the officers usually do not shoot you when they catch you over the speed limit.

Where "life without parole" fits in all this is an exercise I'll leave to your discovery.

Pirate Bay domain suspended thanks to controversial verification system

That button still exists, it's the one that asks you to input your date of birth and allows you to choose any year from 1900 onwards.

I always get a kick out of saying that I was born on 01/01/1900 and seeing absolutely zero challenge.

Uber fined $150,000 and forced to embarrass itself by French court

"provided entirely by professional drivers"

Oh really ? And who says they are professionals ? Uber ?

If that is the case, then there is the whole "not our employees" thing to review, meaning Uber's foot has found its mouth again. If it not the case, then Uber has just been caught blatantly lying again.

I'm all for convenience and I like the idea of calling a taxi from an app, but Uber is totally looking like a schizophrenic pathological liar and I'm fed up with it.

NHS IT projects worth £5bn at 'high risk' of failure, warns HSCIC

And yet nothing will change

These reports have been negative for years already - at least that how it feels - but nothing stops the money pit from growing.

A private company would have put a stop to the thing a long time ago, I think, or at least a few top people would have been sacked to bring in a little order and get a better handle on things, but this being government, that is obviously impossible.

What should be possible is taking the people currently in charge away from the project and bringing in people who are capable of getting the job done. However again, this being government, that is highly unlikely.

The whole thing is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Except this train is tax money going to waste in huge fashion.

Software defined? No no no, it's poorly defined storage (and why Primary Data is different)

Server-based storage ?

Um, I know I don't know anything about this part of the industry, but since when has storage not been server-based ?

I guess it's just the marketing term.

Obama calls out encryption in terror strategy speech

Re: The truth is not relevant to politics

Indeed, but thankfully politics are not relevant to mathematics, and mathematics clearly state that a backdoored encryption scheme is a broken encryption scheme.

In the end, whatever the frothing-at-the-mouth paranoid are shouting now, politics will bend to the pressure of the market. The only question is how long it will take.