Posts by Pascal Monett

Is Windows 10 slurping too much data? No, says Microsoft. Nuh-uh. Nope

Re: Mint does not demand sys admin skills

Good to know. I have been refurbishing an unused box I've had lying around for years with the express intention of installing some flavor of Linux, not knowing which one to try. I regularly try out Ubuntu and some others, but they all require that you know Linux to use them (aka mounting hard disks, etc). Nuisance.

If Mint works similarly to Windows (meaning it can find the bloody partitions by itself and not demand that I be a computer engineer to use it), then I will install that and make it my permanent Linux platform to educate myself about leaving the Windows world with which I am thoroughly fed up now.

World panics, children cry, workers sigh ... Facebook.com TITSUP

The Graph thingy . . AGAIN ?

Wasn't that already a problem some time ago ? Maybe Zuck should think of unlinking the availability of people's profile from that useless non-enhancement ?

Oh wait, he can't, it's baked into the system. Too bad.

Audi, Seat, Skoda admit they've been fiddling car pollution tests as well

Given that Skoda's most expensive model starts at under €25000, I don't think so.

But if you find a Skoda V8 at €80,000 don't hesitate to post the link, I'd love to take a gander.

Re: "open source their car management code. Our lives do depend on it after all"

Not really. Our lives depend mostly on the efficiency of the brakes and ABS, and on the precision of the steering. The engine is generally what gets us into trouble, rarely what gets us out of it.

You want a 6% Google Tax? Get lost, German copyright bods told

The Internet is global

It is useless to pursue Internet companies locally, the case of Spain is a brilliant example.

The only solution to the current taxation predicament is to set up an Internet Bureau of Taxation, which has authority in ALL countries. Internet revenue - whatever the amount - must be reported to the IBT, which will coordinate with the country where the revenue was generated to apply the required tax to the transaction. It can happen after the fact - everything is recorded.

Thus, no more upping and outing. You made a billion dollars of revenue from Spanish ad clicks ? You get whatever tax is applicable, whether you are based in Honduras or New York.

It's the Internet, don't tell me it's not technically possible.

But of course, the money lies with the corporations required to make that happen, so not very likely.

Bletchley Park remembers 'forgotten genius' Gordon Welchman

@DuncanL

You are perfectly right. I have actually forgotten that the bronze/silver/gold badges are also Vulture symbols. I assumed that the question concerned the red ones. My only excuse is that I hadn't had any coffee before responding.

Thank you for doing the job right.

@Alexander J. Martin

The Vulture symble is for Vulture editors - tells us that the person commenting is not just a commentard.

And as for trying to understand Amanfrommars, don't. Save your brain cells and go read on Quantum Theory, you'll have a better chance of understanding that.

EU data protection chief: Snaffling all air traveller data goes too far

"massive, non-targeted and indiscriminate"

The conjunction of those particular adjectives concerning just about anything feels just wrong.

Although, if I were to nitpick, I would say that indiscriminate and non-targeted seem to be two faces of the same coin.

Nevertheless, common sense would dictate that any system that can be described as massive and indiscriminate surely needs a redesign.

But who am I fooling . . .

Re: "they manage to do that with a straight face"

Well they are politicians. Their whole life is devoted to lying convincingly.

German regulator sets VW deadline

"can only be done with a big hit to the performance of cars on the road"

Seems to me that a lot of people are going to end up quite unhappy with their VWs.

They bought a car with a given level of performance, and they will apparently feel a substantial difference after the patch.

It doesn't matter if you bought a 300hp car or a 120hp car, if you lose 20% of your usual performance, you feel that the car handles like a wet log.

Millions of cars are apparently concerned. Long term, that means millions of people unhappy with their vehicle, and millions more people avoiding second-hand VWs for a long time - which will mean the resale value will take a hit as well.

This is going to mean years of trouble for VW, however fast they patch up the current problem.

ICANN chair plays chicken with internet control-halt-shift

And to expedite the process, make the cieling go down at 1cm/hour, and put downward spikes every 10cm2.

At least things are official now

The Board will not accept ?

Fine then. REPLACE the Board and IMPOSE the change. End of.

It's like talking with an unreasonable child, You discuss the matter for a minute or two, to give the child a chance to comprehend. If the child still refuses after all reasons have been given, then you just MAKE him obey.

The problem here is that apparently the US Government, on this matter, is just like gutless parents who cannot abide forcing their children to do anything and must wait for them to get around to accepting things on their own. With a child it already doesn't work, and here, we're dealing with grown-up Machiavells who have a very good grasp on just how untouchable they appear to be.

What utterly fails my comprehension is why has this been allowed to go on for so long already ? Is there no one in any position of power that can do an Alexander and just cut this fracking knot already ?

Astroboffins snap BREATHTAKING, WISPY Veil Nebula supernova debris

Re: Sir

The colors are computer-created following what elements the scientists wish to visualize.

In other words, what you would likely see with your eyes, were you in a position to do so, would most probably be just a shroud of darkness, or maybe wisps of smoke backlight by stars.

Spirit of the Ghost: Taking a Rolls-Royce Wraith around France

If you flip a couple of times, I think you'll find that the door mechanism not working is the least of your troubles.

SAUCY INCEST and brutal VIOLENCE boosts UK space sector

Currently reaching the end of Season 4 in the dead tree version. The TV version is very similar, for a given value of very.

Obviously, a lot of trimming had to happen to fit the series format, but I'm getting on in age now and I understand that they cannot possible keep everything.

There are some shocking suprises though. The biggest one for me was having discovered that the splendid scene where Drogo rocks the yourt swearing that he'll take his khal across the sea and lay waste to all who oppose him in honor of his wife was glorious, moving and quite thrilling on TV. The actor playing Drogo must have had loads of fun doing it, and I look upon that scene as worthy of a Grammy in its own right.

It's not in the book.

But, as usual, the books explain way more than the TV series, and allow understanding the details behind a number of things that the series glossed over. Some things are presented differently in the book, and with a bit of thought, you can understand why they did things a bit different for the series.

That said, I think both are good, in their own ways.

If you got Netflix for Miss Marple, you're out of luck (and a bit odd)

Re: I rip them to MP4 or MKV and watch them on a standard full HD TV (or laptop).

Yes, that.

I bought myself a Synology NAS this year, and since I've had it I've been ripping my DVD collection to it without pause.

The NAS is obviously hooked up to the TV via a media box, and it works great. Now I can watch my films without the hookey commercials or stupid FBI warnings (hey, I live in France, FBI, and I bought the bloody disk, so fuck off).

I will continue buying physical media, and ripping them to my personal local cloud. The Internet can fall down, I will always be able to watch my films. THAT is convenience.

Get ready for a grim future where bees have shorter tongues

Climate change is real

That is an undisputable fact.

The only question is which way the change is going and why, and there are two staunchly opposed factions on the matter who will neither agree nor change their minds in a thousand years.

But nobody can say that climate does not change.

VW: Just the tip of the pollution iceberg. Who's to blame? Hippies

Re: [..] ship that will emit more NOx [..] than the entire fleet of VWs ever will

I have no idea how big the "entire fleet" of VWs is, but I'm pretty sure that one "blip" of any ship's engine is not even going to equal tens of millions of car exhausts for any measure of time you care to set.

Yahoo! Gits! Web! Security! Scanner!

Of course someone already did this

How else would Yahoo! get the idea ?

Smartphone passcodes protected by the Fifth Amendment – US court

A passcode is a thought process [..] whereas a biometric identifier is out in the open

So, whatever you access by being you, is also accessible to the Government. Well that finally kills the "biometric security" platform in one fell swoop.

Kudos there, maybe we'll finally stop hearing about that nonsense.

Global productivity explodes as Facebook's service takes a dive

Productivity actually went down slightly

Since everyone was on Twitter finding out if everyone else was also out of Facebook.

Official: North America COMPLETELY OUT of new IPv4 addresses

"the region is completely dry of new IPv4 address"

And that will do nothing to make the uptake of IPv6 go any faster.

I'm betting that the market is going to hang on to IPv4 even longer than it did Windows XP.

Except for those pushing IoT crap, of course, but since it is crap anyway . . .

Anthropology boffins solve 9,000-year-old headless body cold case

I would suggest that ritualized death would be cleaner, more precise, given that the victim would be either consenting or incapable of resisting (tied down, etc), whereas trophy taking would imply more wounds to beat the victim into helplessness, or maybe a different sort of wound to cut the head off (as in great swipe of a blade horizontally, which would have a devil of a time leaving a v-mark in the back of the neck).

Re: the conclusion that doing it was a good idea

Given that people being slaughtered were a dime a dozen in those days, I'm not convinced that anybody really asked themselves that kind of question.

It was just another way to die.

Facebook's security now sexier, with killer curves

It's the most important part of the article ?

Mysterious cosmic dustball fires up Milky Way's black hole

Well, in his defense, I must admit that attributing the male sex to something relentlessly devouring everything in reach does sound rather realistic.

NOxious Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal: Chief falls on sword

"even though I am not aware of any wrong doing on my part"

Of course you did no wrong ! You just told the peons to improve revenue for the Board. That's your job, right ? And if that crosses a few lines and breaks a few laws, well as long as the Board is happy, it don't matter, right ?

Well the Board ain't happy, because your non-wrongdoing has cost the Board about half its value. That's where you did wrong, in a concept you can understand.

Because cheating, lying and falsifying are obviously not concepts you can understand.

You call THAT safe? Top EU legal bod says data sent to US is anything but

Seems to me that History has quite a few examples of the weaker standing up to their oppressors and winning.

But that's obviously difficult when your pants are already around your ankles.

Assume the position, citizen ! Compliance will be rewarded.

Microsoft is late to data hoovering party

It is currently playing catch-up with Google and Facebook.

Robber loses heist case after 'evil twin' defence, gets 60 years

"Felton acted as his own attorney during the trial"

Statistically speaking, that is practically a guarantee of failing unless you're an actual lawyer. And with his obvious mental issues, well the resulting judgement was all but inevitable.

Texan hotshot coughs to $4.5 million Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

Indeed, I remember reading that not long ago as well.

It sure seems to be true.

Only paying for Microsoft software that you use? It's coming

I don't see how Active Directory will still be relevant in the marvellous Cloud-centric future every marketroid is harping on.

But we'll see.

This transitional period is fascinating

Microsoft is desperately trying to extract itself from the desktop like a mammoth in a tar pit tries to reach solid ground.

The PC sales plummeting means that MS is suffering revenue drop in what used to keep it rolling in cash, and the Internet is already chock full of powerful contenders with tools available that can very well keep MS under the 50% of the market rate.

MS risks losing its monopoly and become just another cloud purveyor, something which will almost certainly happen anyway as soon as the upcoming Android-using generation reaches office desks and finds that (by then) there is nothing MS products do that Google Docs cannot.

Watching MS's frantic struggle is somewhat cathartic, as well as enlightening. I don't think MS can avoid the lessening of its status, but whatever happens will probably become an exercise for future CEO studies.

Child abuse, drug sales, terrorism fears: Why cops halted a library's Tor relay ... for a month

Democracy, yes, undoubtedly.

Politicians ? Less so. Much less.

These US Presidential contestants can't even secure their websites – what hope for America?

No, you're supposed to believe that you're electing them.

If the guy you think you elected actually gets the job, you have nothing to do with it.

Things you should know about the hard work of home working

I believe I see your point now, but I still disagree.

I know a number of self-employed people in various service industries (plumbing, decoration and such). They never say they're working at home. They do mention that their office is at home, but they say that they work on site.

People who work AT home are most likely people who do work for customers on the Internet, or who can be contacted via the Internet. Translators and such, I would venture. Those people don't work on site, I would think, or rarely. Maybe also people who build or recover furniture. They will leave home to look for new acquisitions, or to bring their wares to various selling points. They won't likely do work on site either.

Re: Terminology

Sorry, but I see no confusion. A tech going from customer site to customer site is working on site, not from home.

Working from home is, I believe, generally understood as working from one's own home.

I like working from home

I have always enjoyed working from home. In my line of expertise, there often isn't anyone to ask any questions to, so even in the office I'm mostly on my own. To me, that means that the time I waste to get to and back from the office would be better spent working in my home office when I can.

Of course, I can't often enough, because as a consultant, you can't go and tell your customers that it would be nice if they could let you work from home. Plus I always need to talk to people to know what data structures to use or what data format I will be receiving.

But, in between contracts, a day or two working from home is always welcome.

LinkedIn infosec bod proffers DIY Ubiquiti fix for automation zero day

Ubiquiti

Apparently, the company publishes rubbish insufficiently tested code, then not only ignores bug submissions but actively attempts to suppress them without offering any response to anyone.

I can accept errors in code, I make enough of my own. I have trouble accepting a company that ignores dangerous bug submissions. I cannot accept a company that attempts to suppress bug reports.

Ubiquiti is now a name that I will avoid in future.

Indianapolis man paints his ball every day – for FORTY YEARS

Well, a hobby is a hobby

Let's see.

1) Paint baseball every day for fourty years

2) Get universally known as the wierdo with a painting fetish

3) Start charging for humongous ball of paint viewing

4) Profit !

Orange juices internet of things

Smart Cities

That, right there, is The Beginning Of The End.

Mark my words.

Adobe patches Flash dirty dozen, ignores 155 in Shockwave shocker

the latest update introduces shiny features...

No ! No, no and NO !

You don't go putting in NEW features when the EXISTING features are a complete security mess.

Every time I hear of a Flash update it's always "correcting" dozens of security issues.

Finish the bloody job first, you morons, then TRY to add new features without inventing 400 squillion new security issues.

Michigan sues HP after 'botched' $49m upgrade leaves US state in 1960s mainframe hell

HP said in a statement that it "looks forward to a favorable resolution in court."

Sure.

And I look foreward to winning the lottery.

I might actually have a better chance.

Our cookies save you from TERRORISTS, Facebook thunders to Belgian judge

"Lefebvre told the court the company [..] is actually an info-sec measure"

So now it's official : Facebook is the public face of the NSA and the two work hand-in-hand (or should I say, server-in-server ?).

Thank you for that information, Mr. Lefebvre. I will be repeating it.

AVG to flog your web browsing, search history from mid-October

I recommend Windows Defender, Microsoft Security Essentials and Firefox with NoScript and AdBlocker.

Firefox is an oldie, no need to explain here, but since Win7 I have to admit having found no reason to use anything else but MS products for PC defense. I have repeatedly had friends' and acquaintances hardware in my hands with AV products from all over the map to scrub. Every time I removed the installed AV product, installed MSE and lo and behold, it found malware that the others had blissfully ignored.

I'm not saying MSE is perfect, it is a Microsoft product after all, but as far as AV/anti-malware goes, it does a good job.

And it's free.

An will likely never get any popups for a pay version, or for ads.

Re: How much are they gathering which isn't already collected by Google?

The fact that one sleazeball has his hand in your pockets doesn't mean that it's open season on your personal belongings for all the others.

Megaupload extradition: Rotund web baron Kim Dotcom appears in court

Re: Huh, whaa?

Indeed. I gather, then, that the entire population of France is apparently guilty of illegal gas pumping and should be shipped to Oregon and New Jersey for trial.

There is no chance that such an argument could impress any judge with half a brain. Just using that argument should be grounds for throwing the case out and being subject to a contempt of court case.

Parrish has vanished: NetApp chief marketeer leaves the parish

"Kurian wants to put his stamp on NetApp's marketing"

Psychopath on a roll, then.

Mutual my ass. She was told to get the hell out of Dodge, or else.

OFFICIAL: Facebook growth BIGGER THAN ... JESUS, the INTERNET!

"growth in internet users is below 10 per cent for the fourth year in a row"

What ?

So who's no longer creating profiles for their little doggies/skunks/lizards ?

Eight things people forget when buying infrastructure

Interesting article

Very interesting comment section.

A number of dyed-in-the-wool network admins lurking about, I'd wager.

Good show, chaps ! I certainly learned something here.