Posts by Pascal Monett

Vietnam crimps online freedom of speech with 'Decree 72'

Re: "exactly what government can and cannot do"

Government can do whatever the hell it decides to do right up to the point when the population it governs decides that enough is enough.

As for freedom of speech, if I remember correctly nobody has ever been arrested for posting something on a blog in our First World countries (with the exception of the English guy who blew his stack on Twitter and ended up making an unfortunate comment that was interpreted as a bomb threat - and that is still not something that impacts freedom of speech in a general sense).

There was news coming out of Vietnam ?

Well that's news to me.

Especially since I've stopped following the news. It's always depressing, without fail.

Storage vendors: You're next over the cliff after the server salesmen

Re: If it sounds paranoid

Unfortunately, since Snowden absolutely every tin-foil-hat wearer considers himself vindicated in his beliefs.

Even more unfortunately, what was once considered ludicrous and over-the-top as far as government surveillance is concerned is now a baseline for realistic expectations.

So, to be paranoid today requires even worse expectations than the worst-case scenario of just a year ago.

Baffled boffins 'closer' to finding origins of extragalactic COSMIC RAYS

Depends. Do you want it flash fried, or slow cooked ?

Scots council cops £100K fine for spaffing vulnerable kids' data ONLINE

Seems like Aberdeen is in dire need of a new Council

So this time it's vulnerable children's details posted online. I'm sure the kids needed that.

Last year, it was Moccasin Creek.

Trouble was brewing before though, and some local citizen tried to do something about it in 2011. Maybe she was unhappy about this.

But hey, no problem really. After all, £100,000 is just 9 days of bus lane penalty fines, apparently.

Top Twitter lawyer quits micro-blogging site ahead of IPO

Hmm. Could it be that we actually have an honestly capitalistic lawyer ?

Cognitive Networks to bring creepy awareness to LG's smart TVs

Re: 2) is there actually any use case in which [..] adverts is considered a benefit by the viewer?

They wouldn't know, that's not a question they ask themselves.

Boffins confirm quantum crypto can keep a secret

25 kbit secure keys

Oh. My. God.

I wonder what key length we will need in the 4th millennium.

Then again, we might be more interested by a log of wood by then.

Redmond's certification chief explains death of MCM and MCA

"causing upset amongst our most treasured community is far from ideal"

Agreed. So when are you reinstating Technet ?

Because killing that off was, in my humble opinion, the worst decision you have ever made.

Microsoft cans three 'pinnacle' certifications, sparking user fury

Ah, Microsoft

Microsoft has become a study in how to kill the Golden Goose.

And you have to admit, it's doing its damndest.

Boffins follow TOR breadcrumbs to identify users

If you have to go to the same place with any regularity, it will be most difficult to "randomize their routes".

Fiction is all it is meant to be, but in the real world I think that spies rely more on acting like normal people with daily routines. Someone who actually does randomize his travel routes every time is going to be easy to suspect of being a spy.

And having a (plastic) dummy drive the car is rather dangerous, not to mention terribly conspicuous.

Re: "Anything to throw a spaniard in the worms"

Goodness me, what have Spanish people done to you to warrant such ire ?

Billionaire Google founder splits with wife, allegedly beds Google Glass staffer

Re: Gossip!?!

If you don't want gossip, don't read articles classed under Bootnotes.

Duh.

Facebook strips away a bit more of your privacy – but won't say why

Existing users will [] simply comply with the new terms, or else ditch Facebook

I love it when companies adopt the burnt bridges style of public relations.

Then they get all surprised when the bridges are not burnt in their favor.

This is the Internet. You might have a billion accounts now, but you're not Google and you're not doing something someone else can't set up just as well.

And when that happens, your boat will leak faster than a sieve.

China: Forget running water, bumpkins. Have some lovely broadband

An economy slowly losing its momentum ?

Now just wait one cotton-picking minute ! China is just starting up its economy. It is a fast-growing young industrializing country with trillions of potential wealth to be realized.

At least that is what was being said a year or two ago.

And now its economy is losing momentum ? Am I supposed to understand that over 70% of households in China have fridges, TV, XBoxes and running water ? Not to mention electricity ? Somehow I don't think so.

I cannot see China's economy as losing momentum. There is way too much to do still before they reach that point. This national broadband project is, on the other hand, a monumentous undertaking however you envision it.

But they will still need those water pipes some day.

Punter strikes back at cold callers - by charging THEM to call HIM

How about not connecting a phone to the landline ?

I mean, if you have no use for it, why connect it ?

I was also getting swamped by cold calls, so we changed our number two years ago, required it be put on the ex-list (as you guys call it) and only gave the number to people that we actually would like to get a call from.

Any business gets our mobile number. For the handful of companies that somehow require our landline number (getting very rare these days), I give it to them with a very stern lecture on what will happen to them if that number gets into anyone else's hands.

So far, not one cold call since.

You cannot charge a fee for information that you're stupid enough to sign on and post yourself.

Get real.

'Kim Jong-un executes nork-baring ex and pals for love polygon skin flick'

The real question is. . .

Do they really have cameras in their personal possessions ? And tape duplicators ?

And are there enough people over there with VCRs and TVs that can actually view said tapes ?

In other news, one must remember that rulers since the beginning of time have been ordering the deaths of people who crossed them in ways that today would be considered perfectly barbaric next to an execution by firing squad.

I'm reminded of the French Revolution, where some unlucky people were "interrogated" by forcing them to swallow a gallon of cow urine, then beating them on the stomach until it burst.

I'd prefer a bullet or twenty any day.

WTF is … Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks?

And one day these sensors and connections wil be "baked" right into construction rules - as in, every building will need to include one sensor brick on each wall of each level, or something like that.

In a society like that, Hollywood will have a lot more trouble having people buy into scenarios like the recent film The Call - or even Shooter.

On the other hand, the NSA is going to go nuts keeping track of all that data. I predict that, in such a society, the NSA will take over the entire state of Iowa as its center of operations and storage center.

Microsoft fattens Exchange Online mailboxes to 50GB

Truer words have rarely been written.

Hey, Bill Gates! We've found 14 IT HOTSHOTS to be the next Steve Ballmer

Re: Just for the hell of it...

Heck, I agree - if only for the amount of swearing that would bring.

There might even be new swear words invented specifically for MS !

Re: "the uptake of Windows Phone is increasing rapidly in almost all markets"

That may be true, but double of not much is still not much.

Call me on that when the uptake of Windows Phone reaches the 50% market point.

Re: Microsoft is a Server and OS company

It doesn't matter what MS is at the moment. What matters is a CEO that understands that MS has to become something else.

Computing for the masses has moved from the PC to the tablet and the smartphone. Does MS want to be on those markets ?

Gaming is mostly done on consoles. Building games is expensive and risky, successes are few and far between. Does MS want to stay on that market ?

Business and servers are the top-of-the-line margin makers, but the Cloud is capable of eating MS's lunch. Ironically, it's MS's fault already, since Office is doing everything it can to move people away from PCs (where it sells Windows) to the Cloud (where it doesn't). I see a disconnect there, one that MS will pay for dearly in the years to come. Either that or MS has already understood that the PC is a dead dodo (for the mass market that is) and tablets are the future.

Come to think of it, that explains a lot about the Start button issue.

Servers are where its at, margin-wise, but MS already has plenty of healthy competition there.

No, I'm sorry, but any way I look at it, MS as it was is finished. It is time to boldly go . . . somewhere. The choice of CEO is going to be a very interesting one for a lot of people.

Women in IT: ‘If you want to be taken seriously, dress like a man’

Re: A competent person is a competent person and it has nothing to do with gender

Quite true.

Unfortunately, many, many people operate on impressions and preconcieved notions. I do as well, up to a point.

Let me give you a personal example :

One day, I had to change my running shoes. I thus took my noon lunch break to do so, and found my way into a sports shop. I was mosing around the aisles without a clue, and a clerk noticed me and intercepted me. He was young, had a mohawk, a wifebeater shirt, army leggings and some sort of black boots, with the complementary assortment of metal sticking out here and there in the most improbably places. Not the kind of individual I generally entertain a conversation with.

I expected to be conned into buying some expensive pair after a round of marketing platitudes. Boy was I ever wrong. He asked me pertinent questions about the type of activity I was planning, the type of terrain I was going to be on, the frequency of my activities and my weight. He asked me to walk in front of him, explaining that the way I walked would condition what type of soles the shoes needed. When we were through, he pointed me to two different models, explaining to me why he believed that those were the best choices possible in my situation.

In short, he was competent, polite and professional, a very far cry from what I was expecting. I left with a good pair of shoes (for a price, true) and a humbling recall that the clothes do not make the man. Before leaving, I made a point to thank him for his help.

So I try very hard to not judge people by their outward appearance - up to a limit (if you stink, are unwashed and unpleasant, I don't care if you're the best in your field - you can go on living in your mom's basement).

On the other hand, as a self-employed consultant to banks and other financial institutions, I wear a suit. If you come to me for an interview, I will expect you to know the field and dress appropriately. If you don't, I'm sorry but you will not be working in my market with me.

Re: "Ridicule never got anyone anywhere"

It's also rarely kept anyone from getting somewhere.

I mean we've all laughed at Monkeyboy, and many (including me) are cheering at his departure, but the fact is he's still got more money than 99% of the world put together.

Quantum crypto nearly ready to go mobile

Unless you reverse the polarity, in which case they invert them.

Kiwis (finally) confirm software ban under new patent law

Re: "They are set instructions and commands already in the public domain"

Let me give you an analogy : a hammer and saw are tools that are commonly available in the public domain, yet you can use these tools to create something unique, that could eventually be patentable.

That, in any case, is the excuse for the existence of software patents. As a justification, I can just about understand it.

Then they turn around and patent "one-click" operations, or sending data securely via TCP or some other such nonsense that we've all been doing since the beginning of time (i.e. the beginning of the Internet), and the whole house of cards falls right on its face.

I don't care what your arguments are for software patents - it's all just a sham to make more money out of litigation and stifle competition instead of actually making something better.

Boffin snatches control of colleague's body with remote control brain hat

Meanwhile, in a secret underground lair next to an active volcano somewhere . . .

Moto X teardown shows US manufacturing adds mere $4 to handset costs

"giving the handset the ability to listen in on its surroundings"

Wondeful, the new NSA phone is now available !

Obama prepares to crawl up NSA's ass with microscope

Yes, you did get it right.

And by Special Order 1287, you are hereby banned from taking any public office or speaking in public in any official capacity. You will now come quietly with us as we bring you to a reeducational facility where you will be reprogrammed to be a good citizen and appreciate total surveillance for your own good.

Thought the PC market couldn't get any worse? HAH! Think again

PC's have become fridges now

You buy one and you replace it the day it dies, because until then it does what you expect it to do.

The PC market is not declining because of Windows 8, nor is it declining because power is flatlining. The PC market is declining because tablets and smartphones fill the computing needs of 90% of the population, and consoles do it for gaming. Thus most people simply have no incentive to buy a new PC any more.

Why have tablets and phones taken over ? Because they are much simpler to use, and more reliable as well. A PC is a fickle thing - click on the wrong web page and it dies a horrible virusy death. Users don't care about security (if they did, Facebook wouldn't have a billion users), and PCs require them to learn and worry about technology.

Phones and tablets don't. With those tools, people just do what they want to do, and what they want to do is Youtube, Twitter and Facebook. Then they go to their TV and play on their console.

That is why the PC market is declining, and that is not going to change any more. Of course, phones are becoming malware targets, but it's rather easy to avoid if you don't root your phone or download apps from a non-approved store. On top of that, phones are under the control of the providers, and it is not in their interest to have viruses knocking around on their network. That means that any large threat is probably going to to be taken care of, unlike the PC market where nobody had any incentive to crack down on malware since it doesn't hit anyone's bottom line. Your PC is a zombie spam center ? Your ISP doesn't give a flying monkey's, and it's not Microsoft's problem. Besides, they now have Microsoft Security Essentials, so their image is safe (MS has actually been congratulated for it).

The PC market is in for a big shrink. Computing lifestyle has changed, and all computing partners are just going to have to deal with it.

Which is not necessarily a pleasant perspective for me. I like PCs, and I'm a gamer. I'm already bored with games designed first for consoles then badly ported to PCs, and this is not going to make things any better. On top of that, computing has always depended on the PC to innovate and drive computing power up. If the PC market becomes a pale shadow of what it was before, if a PC user becomes the equivalent of the bearded Cobol programmer, then where will computing innovations come from ?

Boffins' keyboard ELECTROCUTES Facebook addicts

I, for one . . .

welcome our keyboard-shocking timewasting overlords.

Long Live The Shock ! May it forever jolt you into transcendance.

Another big SAP project hits the rocks in Oz

Re: the equivalent of a construction quantity surveyor

Because in IT there is no such thing - it's all replaced by marketing sharks before project signing, then by promotion-searching sharks once the project is signed.

Nobody in that bunch is interested in making sure that the initial specs are "good", only that the project is "a challenge" that will result in good marks and a reference on their CV.

Re: SAP "empowers the users" and makes them think they can "do IT".

So, a lot like Sharepoint then ?

Microsoft Xbox One to be powered by ginormous system-on-chip

PS4 has "xbox" in its name ?

I hadn't noticed.

Tesla cars 'hackable' says Dell engineer

And there's the issue : how long can we avoid it ?

Yeah, but by unlocking the door he leaves no trace and makes insurance claims impossible.

So double bummer.

Re: I suspect it will be fixed quickly.

I seriously doubt that.

Attention has been brought to it, so something will have to be done. But this system, with the flaw of the 3-month token, was brainstormed, approved, designed and implemented as is.

I'm not sure it will be easy to change, nor am I convinced that it is a priority job for Tesla.

Of course, it is not good for the company image to have a "security breach", but Tesla can very well downplay the issues, obfuscate the consequences and play for time. It's not like they're selling the thing by the millions anyway.

Microsoft: YES Windows 8.1 is finished, but NO you can't have it

Microsoft really needs to get out of the "one Windows for all" mentality. You don't take a cargo truck to go shopping, nor do you use a convertible to move houses. There are different types of computing platforms, they need different levels of OS (and UI) functionality.

That means that Microsoft should not try to bundle everything together all the time. That's how they screwed up the tablet market the first time.

At install time on a PC, I really don't see what the problem is in detecting whether or not the user has a touchscreen-capable screen, and if yes, asking the user (yes, you should still ask) if he wants to install touchscreen functionality. If the answer is no, don't bother the user with it again. On the other hand, put it in the list of Windows options that can be installed at any time.

If the user installs the OS without a touchscreen, then buys one and hooks it up, by all means ask him if he's interested in using touchscreen functionality once the OS has detected it, but don't force it.

This is not rocket science. Microsoft already did with disability aids, why should this be so different ?

If the user is installing on a tablet, by all means include the touchscreen stuff - it's needed there and is obviously useful. But Microsoft could still make it an option to uncheck, for the hardcore keyboard-mouse aficionados who would still prefer managing their tablet like a PC. Might not be smart, but there is no reason Microsoft should not allow it. After all, I can imagine very well someone buying a tablet for a specific purpose (say home automation) and bolting it to a wall in the cellar or something.

Yes, it might not be all that smart, but computing today is about letting the user find a solution to fit his needs, not ignoring them and imposing something a big company thinks is better.

I'm convinced that at least 50% of the angst around Windows 8 is because of that restriction to our available choices. We, as a user base, have grown accustomed to expecting things to work the way we want. Right or wrong, it is obvious that companies go against that at their peril.

And Microsoft has long since forgotten how to listen to its users.

Why Teflon Ballmer had to go: He couldn't shift crud from Windows 8, Surface

And now that innovation is no longer taking place on the PC, MS is a boat without a rudder.

Whether or not they're heading for the falls is something we yet have to see.

Re: Do we really want a good CEO at MSFT?

I'm pretty sure that, if you could put Google's board in Microsoft's place back in time, things would have turned out pretty much the same as far as good/evil is concerned.

Money corrupts. Billions upon billions corrupts quite nicely, thank you.

Re: Bad bosses adn failures

Windows 7 is indeed a rather excellent product - but only because it corrected all the major blunders of Vista, which Microsoft could have avoided if it had listened to its true customer base (i.e. us, the public, and not Fortune 1000 IT directors).

Windows 8 is the same mistake, pie-in-the-sky thinking followed by complete disregard of public input. The fact that Ballmer made the same mistake twice is likely what sealed his fate.

Finally.

United Nations to grill US over alleged NSA bugging of its HQ – report

Re: Move out?

You forgot the basic rule : keep your friends close, your enemies closer.

Samsung to bring 55-inch MONSTER curvy-telly to the UK

When you have the money to burn on that kind of luxury, I'll bet that when you step out into the world, it's with a glass of champaign in your hand and a beautiful creature at your arm, that you can lead to your expensive car for a (very) nice ride.

And if you have all that, I'm pretty sure you think that you're having a pretty good life.

Tesla tops $20bn as Elon Musk claims arm-wave design tech

Gesture Design is obviously Italian, and will obviously be fabulous. If it were French, it would be called Glaring Design, and you would know it's your fault even before you build it.

Facebook unwraps SHARING IS CARING photo album function

Re: "El Zuck should calm down a little"

Why so ? He's adding a new ad platform to his ad distribution network. He's probably going to rake in even more dough before the end of the year because of that. These days, that's probably the only thing that can get him excited any more.

Apple's Siri 'hurls insults' at Google Glass

@Evil Auditor

Ah haa ! The penny drops !

I was, of course, oblivious to that fact. Which, in fact, somewhat proves my point :D.

I will bear it mind when reading your future posts, which I await now with non-negligeable anticipation :)

ISPs scramble to explain mouse-sniffing tool

"Perhaps we should be working out how much we're prepared to share before we start sharing it"

That boat has sailed, my good sir, and the answer is that, for the general, non-technical population, we don't give a rat's ass about it.

That's why the general unwashed post their private life (or their excuse for it) on their "walls" and can think of nothing more important on holidays than the next time they can connect to post some more drivel on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the more intelligent, privacy-conscious people will be banning ad servers, locking down scripts where they see no interest, and generally throwing all sorts of spanners in the intricate surveillance clockwork of the admen.

Because let us not forget one thing : the NSA would be a pipe dream today if Google and Co hadn't done the groundwork for it.