Posts by Pascal Monett

MPs blast 'alarmingly weak' management of one-dole-to-rule-them-all

Managing a Government IT project (in the UK)

I honestly think that there is only one way to properly manage an IT project in a government environment : name a project responsible (minister, or whatever other useless head figure you have lying around), and have him nominate a Project Manager, to run the project, and a Project Saboteur, to undermine it.

Since the current culture is that the Project Manager will do everything he can to hide issues and pretend everything is fine until it blows up in his face, it is imperative that an official Saboteur be around to act as a whistleblower and stop the show before it blows up.

Of course, if the project succeeds, the Project Manager gets the OBE, but if it fails, the Project Saboteur gets it, so it seems like a fair deal. In both cases, the Minister gets off spotless because his management of the whole thing went just as planned, which encourages him to actually pay attention to both (giving the Saboteur a fighting chance).

I can't see how this can't work and result in better IT project management overall. On the other hand, I have little experience in political backstabbing outside of having viewed Yes Minister, so I most probably haven't the faintest idea of what I'm talking about.

They most definitely are, but here they run straight into the "hand that feeds you" wall and stop short.

After all, you're not going to jeapordize that OBE and improved pension we have waiting for you for some silly IT project, now are you ? Of course not. That's a good man. Carry on then, chop chop !

How Google paved the way for NSA's intercepts - just as The Register predicted 9 years ago

Not to brutally disagree with your post overall, but replacing Google/NSA with Putin/SVR does not strike me to be a very good idea.

WAIT! What's that sound? It's Intel stomping into the 'Internet of Things'

Re: wait a few minutes for my toaster to boot

If it's a Sony toaster you'll not only have to wait for it boot, but you'll also have to wait for the latest Java update to download and your toaster to reboot before you can hope for a piece of toast.

And God help you if the screen uses Flash animations . . .

@KitD

I see no issue with that kind of "Things" in the Internet of Things. On the contrary, I understand perfectly well that oversight of basic public/industrial infrastructure is an ongoing issue, and making it easier is a very welcome goal.

But that is not how this Internet of Things is being marketed. We are not being told about monitoring streetlights, we're being told about how wonderful it will be to have a skiddie shut our fridge down without our knowing about it.

And most of us just do not accept that that is a useful development for us, individually.

As far as I am concerned, making public or industrial infrastructure report to its control center may be a good idea, but even in that case, I can't help thinking that we're getting that much closer to living in an Eagle Eye world, or worse, a Die Harder one. I don't like that perspective any better, but to avoid that means implementing security measures including encryption, and that means much more processing power and energy consumption for a lowly streetlamp than might be economically feasible.

So, one way or the other, I still don't see this happening. Not unless those streetlamps/streetlights/whatever are on a closed network, isolated from the WWW. And that seems unlikely, given the costs and the historical record of public authorities not giving a hoot about security until the horse had bolted and the barn had been burned to the ground.

Facebook gives THUMBS DOWN to its OWN design makeover

You don't have to have a FB account to have friends. You do know that, so your own post is just as useless to the discussion - and that by your own criteria.

Another DEVASTATING Chelyabinsk METEOR STRIKE: '7x as likely' as thought

Quick and painless ? Hardly.

For those not in the blast zone, there would be waiting for the fallout to drop, waiting for the sky to darken, waiting for the crops to die, waiting for the food riots to start while donning a 4th blanket to try to keep warm, and, after all that, dying of hunger/thirst.

So no, quick and painless it would certainly not be.

Twitter, Facebook and pals keep BEELLIONS from treasury with exec pay tax break – report

Re: "designed to benefit employees"

Fine then, make it tax deductible for employees only.

The CEO is not an "employee". Yes, I know, he is under the employ of the board, but there isn't a person in Microsoft, HP or any other Fortune 500 company that is going to refer to the CEO as en employee. He's the Boss, and his word is God's will (as long as the Board is happy, or, in Microsoft's case, not too unhappy).

So I think that stock options for CEOs should NOT be tax deductible. That would solve part of this issue, and make things fairer for everyone.

It's the Inter-THREAT of THINGS: Lightbulb ARMY could turn on HUMANITY

"an army of 8 billion"

With the computing power of .. a gnat ?

Come on, could someone please tell me what service this can render ME ? Oh, right, randomly turning lights on and off when I'm on holiday.

Bollocks.

I find a security contract is a much better deterrent, and it's not expensive anymore. Get those detectors, put that sign up, and watch as the crooks decide they rather try a house without an alarm system.

So, what's the use of those connected lightbulbs again ? Predicting failure ? When the light doesn't come on, it has failed. I have spares. I go get one, put it in, light is on. Then I write down getting a replacement in my next shopping run. Where's the difficulty in that ? Is it really THAT important to be forewarned that tomorrow I'm going to have to do that, rather than just flipping the switch, getting no light, and doing it anyway ?

Could the nannies of this world please leave us the fuck alone ? I've outgrown the need for diapers, thank you.

Microsoft's so keen on touch some mice FAIL under Windows 8.1

Well, looks like I'll be sticking with Win7/64 for a few more years then.

It doesn't lose its USB connections, nor does it choke with 3 or 4 (or 7) elements slotted in.

Talk about ridiculous issues. I thought USB was a mature protocol.

Maybe that's the issue. It is a mature protocol, therefor somebody let the summer intern take care of its implementation in the latest version.

ZOMBIE apocalypse! The 'LIVING DEAD' are HERE – Fox News confirmed it

I'm glad you are secure.

However, Murphy's Law states that : if you think everything is going fine, you obviously don't have the slightest idea what's going on.

Playtime's over: Next NSA boss may be torn away from US cyber-war effort

The real power in America - apathy - couldn't care less.

Secrets of Apple's mysterious Arizona sapphire factory: Our expert whispers all

Upvoted for the curse.

I'll keep that in reserve for when I'm eighty :).

ask for a pay rise

Go for it. I'll give you another +1 to encourage him.

And I'll keep your name in mind if I find a bulk supplier of refined scandium. We can split the profits ;).

Reding: NSA, friends don't spy on friends. Europe, let's team up for our own SPOOK CLUB

Yeah, but then we have those pesky Human Rights issues that'll crop up.

Then again, all we have to do is pull a Dubya and say that he's a terrist, therefor not human, therefor we can chop his head off.

Somehow, I don't think that'll pass muster.

That was last month's issue.

Get with the program, man ! This is the Internet. We don't waste our time with yesterday's problems - only with today's.

Not at all, it would make it much easier for everyone to spy on them, what with the bureaucratic issues and "mentalité de fonctionnaire" that would inevitably install themselves in such an environment.

That's most likely why Germany is against such an idea. Knowing the dismal security record of absolutely every country in Europe, a single European Intelligence Agency would much more likely become a hive of treason, backstabbing and office politics that would make Yes Minister blush with envy.

And it would make the NSA useless for spying on European stuff - all they'd have to do is request the morning summary from the American department head at EIA HQ. Because yes, I would fully expect the USA to have an official presence at such an agency, to "ensure international cooperation" or some other heartwarming bull.

Microsoft's Windows Azure Plan B: A hard drive, a courier and a data-centre monkey

Nothing is wrong with the tool - it just needs to be used.

Late with your ransom payment? Never mind, CryptoLocker crooks will, er, give you a break

Although I like the idea of those despicable individuals getting a morning gun in the face, I seriously doubt the NSA is going to lift a little finger on this.

The NSA is there to keep The People in line and get juicy info on the next political scandal before it happens, NOT to actually catch anything ressembling a terrorist, or even less, a basic criminal.

A criminal is not a threat against the Government. Public malcontent is.

For anyone that hasn't, I would recommend using your brain and not clicking on any stupid attachment someone you don't know sends you.

How the W3C met its Waterloo at the Do Not Track vote showdown

Re: "I'm surprised these people haven't [..] started pumping ads in my dreams"

Only because they don't know how.

Yet.

Alien planet is just like EARTH - except for ONE tiny detail

I like that idea too, but there are a number of things that go against it, unfortunately. I don't know the specifics, but it seems to me that the conditions under which a stray planet can be captured by a star are subject to a lot of elements :

1) orbital speed of the star around the center of the galaxy

2) mass of star - conditioning its attraction

3) speed of planet and its angle of approach to star

That last point will be conditioned by whatever it was that threw the planet from its previous solar system (which, given stellar distances, would mean that the planet is billions of years older than Earth even before it got to the solar system in question). Chances are, it will be travelling way faster than the paltry 30 km/s that we are doing now. If so, it will be already moving quite fast when it gets to the attraction zone of the star, which will, in turn accelerate it further.

That, logically, will make it even more difficult for the star to keep a hold on it after the planet passed the star - which means that if it was indeed a captured planet, it should logically have a much more elliptic orbit than it does. Either that, or it should be way farther from the star than it is.

But I'm just an armchair astrophysicist. I'd very much like to see any proper calculations on this subject.

Oh I see, it's related to your area of expertise. Well that changes everything then, you're obviously an expert on the subject.

And yet, the only thing you can mention is some pseudo-theory that light might not behave the same over light-years rather than inches ? And because of that pseudo-theory, if you are right, then everything we know is wrong, even though it clearly flies in the face of what every single astro-physicist worth a damn has been saying for the past 50 years ?

Brilliant strawman attack, sir. I salute you. Tell me, you wouldn't be one of those who believes our entire Universe is only 6000 years old, would you ? And your "area of expertise" is what exactly ? Studying prisms and their pretty colors ?

Re: There's science and then there's wild guesswork

And you're the one doing the wild guesswork.

You obviously haven't the slightest idea just how precise our instruments are today, nor the theories on which they are based.

I don't either (not exactly), but I do know that science is way more complicated than I can understand, especially in astrophysics, which is a domain that all of humanity has been studying since the first caveman looked up at the stars.

These exoplanetary mass studies have been going on for a number of years now, and there are enough intelligent people that have been cross-checking them for me not to have the gall to put the conclusions in doubt.

But I am aware of my limitations. Some, obviously, are not.

TalkTalk to block nuisance calls with no help AT ALL from Huawei

"TalkTalk has led the way on network-level filtering in Blighty - with help from Huawei"

No security problem there, no sir.

You see, Huawei is a wholly-pwned subsidiary of the NSA, so everything is fine.

Mavericks Mail's spam-spewing 'flaw' was scripted by red-faced user

Oh they got publicity all right.

Comes right in the "be careful what you wish for" kind, though.

Windows Azure Compute cloud goes TITSUP planet-wide

"calling into question how effectively Redmond has partitioned its service"

Partition ? That's easy. They partitioned it just like the laptops and PCs sold in shops : a single partition, everything on C:.

That way, when the inevitable Windows crash happens, you get to lose everything when you reinstall the OS if you didn't go through all the hassle of repartitioning your PC in a more sensible way.

Microsoft investors advised: Sack the guy searching for Ballmer replacement

@SP

No, when you attack companies from markets that are wildly outside your own, it is called "being a bully".

Innovative ?

Sueing any and everyone who dares use the word "Easy" in their company name is innovative ?

Well, OK, yes it is, about as innovative as swallowing arsenic to cure a cold.

Apple under CEO Angela Ahrendts? Hmm ... (beard stroke)

True, but she hasn't been appointed CEO.

Yet.

So many 'cyberspying hackers' about... and most of you are garbage

"Thacker added that although everyone wanted to know the source of APT attacks assigning attribution was difficult. "Everybody wants information on who’s attacking, but attribution isn’t easy," Thacker said."

That, my dear Mr. Leyden, is called PADDING. It is crude and obvious. You can do better.

Shy, bashful HUMPBACK DOLPHINS expose themselves to boffins

A new species of dolphin ?

Is that the one with the genetic predisposition for fixing carry-on lasers with their attendant portable megawatt generator ?

The one released from the secret, undersea Russian lab a while ago ?

Do+ you+ use+ Google+? Seemingly+ you+ DO+

You go on Facebook and you worry about your faith in Humanity ?

Three million Adobe accounts hacked? Sorry, make that 38 MILLION

You won't need to - a free version called MyPhotoShop will soon be available(*).

And it'll curiously have all the bells and whistles, without any of the DRM/controlling stuff.

In other words, it'll be a hit !

(*) only on Pirate Bay

Anonymity is the enemy of privacy, says RSA grand fromage

"security and privacy [..] for internet commerce to flourish"

Bollocks.

The only security and privacy that is needed is that of my credit card number for Internet commerce to flourish.

You don't need to monitor my every IP packet for that.

Dino-boffins discover 100-million-year-old BIRD TRACKS in Australia

"creation scientists tend to win the debates" - heh, only in their minds

They didn't hear nothing - they're making it up

The Atlantis article states that some Georgia Tech scientist is monitoring the Santorini volcano crater and is detecting signs of an imminent, ginormous explosion.

On the other hand, Wikipedia states that the isle is currently dormant.

I'll put my money on the wiki this time.

Email-sniffing Linkedin Intro NOT security threat, insists biz network

"in defence of its LinkedIn Intro app"

There's nothing to defend. The LinkedIn team is a copycat group whose only saving grace is that they were smart enough to market their social network to the right target. As for the rest, they're just as capable of terrible ideas as anyone else and they're not very good at having bright ideas, are they ?

I was forced into LinkedIn by a previous job, and since I have one or two contacts in there that I actually appreciate, I find myself stuck on it because I don't know how to close my account without sending the wrong message to those people. Maybe I shouldn't worry about it though.

In any case, I'm not too bothered. I only go on LinkedIn when someone I know mails me. My profile is about as empty as it can be, and as locked down as I can make it. As soon as they make another major blunder (countdown in 3..), I'll shut down my profile anyway. I'm sure people will understand.

In any case, their can shove their sodding phone app. I'm not installing any crap of that kind.

HP fires sue-ray at makers of Blu-Ray

Ooh, look ! HP found someone who gouged us even more than they do !

This coming from HP is rich - what with the price of printer ink that costs more than gold.

I have a Philipps CRT, 32" with Pixel Plus.

DVDs look gorgeous on it (especially the Fellowship of the Ring, that scene in the mountains when they're on their way to Moria).

My TV is compatible with HD, I think, but I don't care. I hate BluRay because it's Sony, and I'm sick and tired of Sony trying to decide what I can do in my own home.

Maybe because it's a used one ?

Fleet of driverless pods to take over Milton Keynes town centre

Bigger question : who's going to clean them ?

I'm all for butler cars, but I am quite wary of sitting in a car that is used by everyone because "everyone" is a disgusting, filth-spreading git.

I much prefer having my own, private self-driving car because I know exactly what I did in it.

Also, it will need Internet access, because if I'm not driving, I'm sure as hell playing something.

Please, PLEASE, Skype... Don't kill our apps and headsets, plead devs

Re: pissing off even a small portion of the customer base

is now standard MS operating procedure.

Euro Parliament votes to end data sharing with US – the NSA swiped the bytes anyway

Go ahead and snigger

What you are not catching is the fact that more and more political statements, of increasing importance, are being made against the whole NSA debacle, and now against the USA directly. That in itself is important because it means that there is a growing movement that will end in a serious backlash.

Ever since Snowden outed himself, official malcontent has been rising. All of those stating that it is hypocritical to rail against known spying are missing the point : there is now an opportunity to crack down on this unacceptable situation, and politicians are nothing if not opportunistic. And hypocritical, of course, that goes without saying.

The important thing is that yes, everyone has always been spying on everyone (Nixon : prior art - and he paid for it, not like current presidents), but this horse bolted way farther than anyone had ever thought possible. Now, politicians all over the world are beginning to grasp just how vulnerable they are, and they don't like what they see. So Snowden has given them the chance to clamp down on the extent of this spying, and make themselves look good in the process. For any politician, this is much too much a win-win position to miss.

The fact that it potentially benefits them all personally since their little sexual affairs and financial mismanagement will be that much harder to uncover when the NSA gets its claws clipped is just cherry on the cake.

Microsoft: You've got it all WRONG. It's Apple's iPad playing catch-up with our Surface

So Apple is playing catch-up ?

That from a company that hasn't had an original idea in its entire existence.

The mind boggles.

They've taken my storage hostage ... now what?

@ Taylor 1

Next time you don't bother reading an article, don't bother answering either.

You missed a chance to not look stupid like a fucking numpty.

Samsung GROVELS ABJECTLY to Chinese state media

Now tell me

Just who is it that is not "bending like a willow" to do business in China ?

That potential billion-customer market is like a slab of beef just beyond reach of a starving dog. There is no company in the world employing MBA suits on its board that is not going to bend over on cue.

Right now, those MBAs are probably feverishly looking for ways to bend over even further.

Obama to Merkel: No Americans are listening to you on this call

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there was a US President called Nixon, who surprised and appalled the world and his country by having microphones installed in foreign embassies on US soil. He was impeached for the effort.

Today, we have a US President who is responsible for the greatest official dragnet ever concieved, shamelessly spying on everyone and everything without a shred of accountability or justification, and the world just goes "meh".

Is this what they call progress ?

Mozilla CTO blasts WC3 plans to bless anti-piracy DRM tech in HTML5

Re: a solution is required

You do know about Minecraft, don't you ?

No DRM, no protection in any way, pirated six ways to Sunday and yet, the developer made millions out of it because fans were willing to pay for something they could (and still can) copy.

If it's good, people WILL pay for it. Those who don't never would have anyway.

Fearless slayer of lawsuit-lovin' patent trolls steps forward from shadows

This version is too complicated

I have a simpler one : simply index the potential wins to the amount of money the litigator is making on the patent at the time it sued.

In that case, a company selling product containing its IP and making millions will get millions, a patent troll selling nothing will get nothing.

I like that version better, and I think it makes everything a lot more simple.