Posts by Pascal Monett

FURY erupts on streets of Brussels over greedy USA's data-slurping appetite

And just why would the USA suddenly change it's ways ?

Because it's XMas ?

Don't think so.

@ Mr. Boyle

Given that the entire US power structure, from the White House down to the smallest court of justice, apparently deem that foreign-stored data is available to them by the equivalent of divine right, your proposal smacks of uselessness.

Legally speaking, the USA already has no right to access international data outside of existing protocols established in treaties that were written up and agreed upon decades ago. That is no barrier to the NSA as we now know.

Might as well change the name to NSA consulates for all the good that idea would do.

Norks: FBI's Sony Pictures' hacking allegations are 'groundless slander'

Dave, I agree with most of your points except the one about Obama securing the internet with his surveillance billions.

Sony is not an American company, so the NSA's billions on Internet security would have changed nothing in this case. Whoever is actually behind this hack, it's Sony's near-inexistant Internet security (and probably shabby internal security protocols as well) that is the heart of this issue.

If Sony had proper protocols and security in place, I might believe a nation-state could be behind this hack. As it is, it seems my neighbors kid could apparently be behind it.

But then I'm saying that North Korea could technically be behind it.

Except that the FBI said it is, so it isn't.

Why the chemistry between Hollywood, physics and maths is so hot right now

I remember a National Geographic thing on giant spiders (the seriously big dog-sized version, not the hand-sized Tarantula kind), purporting to report on said creatures in some South American jungle. Not a giant spider in sight, of course, but plenty of interviews with people swearing that they had seen one.

All the time I was watching it I was thinking "is this how far National Geographic has fallen ?".

Feds finger Norks in Sony hack, Obama asks: HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE KOREA?

Re: America never bowed down

Sorry, but it would appear you are not current on the news. Not only did America bow down, it also dropped its pants and bent over submissively.

That the US of A, most powerful military force in the world and first of all economic powers, would halt the projection of a mere film following empty threats from a motley bunch of keyboard warriors is shameful in the extreme.

NK is supposed to be behind this ? And we are to believe that Kim Jong has elite squads of highly-trained ninjas just waiting to bomb US cinemas ?

Excuse me if I find that eventuality's probability to be asymptotically reaching zero.

USA! USA! should have had the balls to release the film with a great big middle finger to all hackers everywhere.

Then everyone would have been able to judge just what a turd that film undoubtedly is.

Tell me how it is morally right for any country to listen in to all communications of every other country.

That's not National Security, it's dictatorial paranoia pure and simple.

WMD's was NOT about chemical, it was about "nucular"

The only (official) reason the US invaded Irak was the search for nuclear weapons. That was the smoking gun and the reason Irak was branded 3rd most powerful army of the world (hyurk, hyurk).

Time and time again Bush and croonies declared that Irak was working on/already had ICBMs and they were pointed toward US targets. The threat was supposed to be real and present.

Nobody ever mentioned chemical weapons. Nobody ever denied that Irak had them, because there was ample proof (from courageous journalists doing their job - those were the days) they did, but that was NOT the reason to go to war. Twice.

Well, specifically the evidence they say they have that proves that NK did it would be a good start.

If they can't show that for whatever reason of National Security (yeah, like we don't know now that they're tapping everyone, please), then at least demonstrate that there is a clear IP trail between the hacked Sony server and a NK computer.

Because if they can't demonstrate that publicly, then they have no credibility to state that NK did it.

And if they are indeed convinced that NK did it, I find it laughable to believe that they actually fear NK terrorists on US soil. NK is certainly a threat to South Korea, but NK does not have the muscle to be a threat any farther than that.

Sony sued by ex-staff over daft security, leaked privates

Meanwhile . . . "hired a high-priced lawyer to threaten the press"

They didn't have enough money to implement proper security, but they sure as hell seem to have plenty when it comes to miserably failing to preserve what's left of their image.

They're the only ones who think there's anything left to preserve.

Oh come on, they're hackers.

They'll manage to move about 20 meters before they collapse from Red Bull withdrawal.

NASA asks world+dog to name Mercury's craters (back off, 4chan)

Whoa there

If you want to start naming craters after famously-endowed celebs & starlets, we definitely don't have enough craters !

Time to launch the politicians. Maybe if we amend the rockets in a MIRV configuration we could achieve a reasonable equilibrium ?

30,000 people buy a box of BOVINE EXCREMENT

Care to source that ?

Heyyy, you seem to be trying to post a drunk picture You know your boss looks at this?

Reminds me of that other saying . . .

Make a fool-proof system and Mother Nature will make a better fool.

Brit boffins debunk 'magnetic field and cancer' link

Shhhh !

Stop putting those pesky facts in the way of a snarky rebuttal.

It's nearly 2015 – and your Windows PC can still be owned by a Visual Basic script

Ah, if only people had a repository of words that exist in the language they use, with a definition of their meaning . . .

Put me through to Buffy's room, please. Sony hackers leak stars' numbers, travel aliases

Re: how long it will take for everyone to forget the past

Most people have already forgotten the past. Only the nerds remember it.

And they should never forget it.

As far as corporations are concerned, my attitude is "Never Forget, Never Trust".

Sony is no different today than it was with the rootkit, if it could pull off another go, it would. Besides, what do you think HDMI is for, better data bandwidth ? An Ethernet cable can do that, but Sony does not control the Ethernet spec. Sony is still about control, and always will be.

Use Windows software on Android – Microsoft couldn't be app-ier

Re: you would have got Office 2003, Office 2007, Office 2010, and Office 2013

Um, no.

I have an install disk of Office 2000 at home. I see no need to buy every new version for personal use. Word 2000 has largely enough functionality for me to write a letter to someone.

Even so, I've uninstalled Office completely. I use LibreOffice now, and it is compatible enough with Office that I don't care about the differences.

My business laptop has Office 2010, obviously. I hardly use it anyway. I have no intent of purchasing or using Office 2013, and certainly not Office 365. Small company, little utility, no point.

Microsoft hikes support charges by NINETY TWO PER CENT

Go on counting vulnerabilities

I'm sure it makes you feel good.

Meanwhile, in Real Life, every single reported instance of actual, widespread virus attack happens on the Windows platform.

Re: Enterprise Linux distributions are [..] far more vulnerable to remote attack than Windows Server

Hi Ballmer !

Taking some time from mismanaging your baseball team, I see.

I'd suggest a reality check, but with you it's obviously useless.

What you actually get is dozens of incidents free with every user of Windows.

Okay, I'm going - stop pushing !

"Lotus Notes - and that's vastly inferior and dying rapidly"

Dying rapidly, yes, undoubtedly.

Vastly inferior ? Nope. In terms of stability, it is vastly superior. Neither is it subject to all the nastiness that Exchange can get hit with, especially if you put it on a Linux platform.

Yes, the full-fat client is fat and fugly, but the browser interface is not so far off anymore - you could easily have Notes for email and few would notice.

But it's still dying, thanks to IBM's total lack of commitment.

What a pity: Rollout of hated UK smart meters delayed again

"there had been "some bumps" with the project"

Yeah - like customers not liking the bloody things, seeing no benefit for them, and not accepting remote shutdown without recourse. The fact that £11 billion are needed to save a theoretical 2% of a £200 bill is a real deal clincher too.

Isn't politics a bag of laughs ?

Orion 'Mars' ship: Cosmic ray guard? Go. Parachutes? Go. Spacerock shield? Go!

Well, being no rocket scientist I don't know for sure, but it may have something to do with the fact that Earth's average atmospheric temperature is at least 288 kelvin, whereas in space it's only 3 (in the shade).

Given that liquid hydrogen is solid below 20 kelvin and gaseous otherwise, that might explain things.

Quantum computing is so powerful it takes two years to understand what happened

Impressive

Not only can quantum computing solve all solutions at once, but now we know that it can do so for more than one value at once.

Only one problem left : extracting the solution that corresponds to the value you were expecting.

Oh well, they'll have that sorted out in the next fifty years, no problem !

Microsoft: So sorry for NOT paying Xbox indie game devs on time

"Due to a technical issue in our system"

Let me guess : their system is on an Azure cloud ?

Concerning Microsoft Azure Active Directory

point out any big negatives

Um, how about Azure being unavailable for extended periods twice since last August ?

Not so impressive in my view. Neither is the fact that MS is apparently only promising 99.9% update time, so three nines and not five. MS knows that a truly resilient and robust system can offer the famed five nines of uptime availability, yet it doesn't even mention it. Not a good point for something that is supposed to allow companies to have their apps and data online.

Or is the five nines so last millenium now ?

Iranian CLEAVER hacks through airport security, Cisco boxen

Isn't it wonderful ?

Even viruses and hacker groups have PR firms designing logos for them.

The world is truly a beautiful place.

Brits conned out of nearly £24m in phone scams in one year

Hand my credit card to a courier, really ?

If ever I get a suggestion like that, I think I'll actually accept it. I'll get rendez-vous details, where and when, and agree to be there.

Then I'll call the cops and tell them what I've just arranged and would they be interested in catching a scammer ?

I can't believe people fall for something as outlandish as that.

Never fear, Glassholes – Intel to the rescue! 'New CPU' for tech-specs

Tech can be miniaturized, the industry has been doing that for the past half century.

The problem is the batteries. Make them smaller and they carry less charge, there's no way around that.

So the consequence is that, when designing portable stuff, you basically have to define how big the battery can be, then design the hardware around that. And if your idea is really advanced, you just might have to wait until tech has been miniaturized to the point where the battery can run it.

But you can't shrink batteries and keep the same charge. That is just impossible.

It's BLOCK FRIDAY: Britain in GREED-crazed bargain bonanza mob frenzy riot MELTDOWN

Why Black Friday

Because historically speaking people have died that day to get a good price on some crap.

Of course now it has become a marketing event because no publicity is bad publicity, right ? And because, concerning History, Humans have memory abilities below that of gerbils.

Evil US web giants shield terrorists? Evil spies in net freedom crush plot?

Apples and oranges

Saying that because the technology exists to identify images of child abuse and therefor we should be able to identify posts containing text that is considered as terrorism is nuts.

However, what is indeed interesting is that this individual got himself banned a number of times for terrorism posts. That begs the question of how they identified those posts (were they flagged by a moderator ? Another user ? Complained about ?) and whether or not such a thing could be automated.

And, as AnonCow said above, once you've banned someone for terrorism a half-dozen times, it might be time to think about telling someone about it ? Don't tell me that Facebook didn't know it was the same person - FB is renowned for cross-referencing everything it can and getting as accurate an image of its users as it can. FB had to know it was the same guy.

Analyzing intent is not easy. just ask that guy who tweeted that he felt mad enough to go and bomb an airport. Stupid to say something in public like that these days, but I'd wager he won't try to pull that stunt again.

So no, automated analysis of "terrorism" posts ? I doubt we'll see that tomorrow.

Software firms are over-valued, says Huawei

The Facebook example is not really pertinent

When that deal went through, the entire market scrambled to pick up its jaw.

That acquisition was made for a ridiculous amount of money and everybody knew it.

The SILO SPRAWL: So just how much virtualising software lipstick does it need?

"Why isn't it the same with storage arrays?"

Ah, the comfortable fallacy of real-world comparisons. Unfortunately, nothing in IT compares with the Real World. That is why Amazon can remove a book you paid for without your consent, and I don't give a monkey's that they reimburse you. If you had gone and bought the actual dead tree version, they'd need a warrant to come and take it from you, but because it's a digital version, they gave themselves eternal control over it.

And, for some obscure reason, we do not torch the place but meekly accept the fact that we no longer OWN what we PAID FOR.

The fact is : nothing in IT can be compared to the Real World, because in IT he who makes the code decides on the limits - and morals are a naught but a dictionary word any more.

So, storage arrays ? BECAUSE THEY CAN, that's why. Vendor lock-in, predatory practices, protectionism, anything and everything including the kitchen sink if it helps bring in more suckers customers and keep them in the fold.

Oh, but they will chant USA! USA! if you want them to, while jerking the string of a senator if need be. So be happy, it's all Capitalism At Work (tm).

Congratulations

You just overflowed my Bullshit Bingo.

Pity the poor Windows developer: The tools for desktop development are in disarray

"One answer is that this is now the wrong place to focus"

So, basically put : Microsoft is telling developers that they're holding it wrong ?

I seem to remember a video of Monkey Boy screaming "Developers! Developers! Developers!".

Well, it seems like it really is the beginning of the end for MS.

Wireless Power standards are like Highlanders: There can be only ONE

Ah, the wonders of technology

When I go to bed, I either turn off the damn thing, or put it in flight mode.

Manual management works.

Rosetta science team thinks Philae might come to life in the spring

Now that's a cliffhanger !

Will Philae wake up and keep her position as Comet Maid ?

Will Mr Outgassing fire her without notice ?

Will Rosetta survive the transit on the Other Side of the Sun ?

Come back for Space Comet : Season 2 in March 2015 !

(when they just might finally find that alien beer keg)

Bitcoin laid bare: Boffins beat anonymity

No need to wonder why : the answer is tax.

Our ELECTED governments are more and more treating us like the corporations. We are the sheeple, made to be fleeced in order to finance decisions that are less and less made for our well-being.

Well, as long as we keep voting them in, I don't see why it should change.

NASA 'nauts have a go on Star Trek replicator IN SPAAAAACE (sort of)

Well it's not an entirely bad idea.

And I'm all for making English funnier.

UK boffins: We'll have an EMBIGGENED QUANTUM COMPUTER working in 5 YEARS

Re: "will it run Crysis ?"

Yes it will.

All of it.

At the same time.

In other words, your screen will be bright white.

Oh, and you'd better turn down the audio, because all the sounds will be playing at once too.

Especially the explosions.

First Congress, now top govt watchdog digs into ICANN's internet grab

As far as I'm concerned

The sooner the US has no more control over the Internet the better.

The Internet is a world-wide tool, it should not be administered by only one country.

And it should definitely not be in the hands of some jerkoff that thinks he can do what he wants with it.

Pure: We've created the Everlasting Gobstopper of Storage – 'Forever Flash'

Re: I work for a competitor

Then why isn't your company trumpeting its own products too ?

Your competitor is making itself known, and in a rather clever manner. Dissing that is not very productive.

If your company does the same thing then it should start yelling it off the rooftops as well, or else you'll be looking for a new job when Pure has taken the market.

After USA FREEDOM Act's failure, what's next for mass surveillance?

Is the US an exception?

No it isn't. Actually, the Government of the People that was envisaged by The Founding Fathers has already failed, but the putsch was much more subtle in style.

Today your elected officials are all part of a vast theater of puppets whose strings are tightly controlled by those who openly lobby them, pay their campaign costs and shower them in money under various forms, and You The People are totally oblivious to it. As long as you have your Facebook and your Superbowl, everything is a-okay.

Once upon a time a President got impeached because he stuck a few microphones in an embassy.

Today the entire world is being listened to and you all just sit on your couches and dip into the Cheetos.

And you still believe that the US is succeeding as a democracy ?

Wake up.

But the US is no longer a democracy.

Azure TITSUP caused by INFINITE LOOP

"storage blob front ends going into an infinite loop, which had gone undetected during fighting"

I wonder what game those network guys are playing.

Sounds like fun, even if it is not very effective.

Hackers seize Detroit's database, demand $800k. Motor City shrugs: OK, take it

Disturbing indeed. He had hackers running rampant in his network and his preoccupation was syncing his calendar.

Well, that explains clearly why Sharepoint is not yet in the dustbin where it belongs.

Microsoft's Azure goes TITSUP PLANET-WIDE AGAIN in cloud FAIL

Up again, and with increased performance then ?

So it'll crash in six weeks instead of three months now ?

It's MSFT. That's what they do. Outages. They've been sharpening their skills on the desktop for decades, now they're taking it to the next level.

Soon the WILL be a Ctrl-Alt-Del for the Internet.

As soon as Azure Active Directory has succeeded in replacing all other DNS solutions.

Your distinctiveness will be mercilessly erased and replaced by our worldview...

Microsoft adds video offering to Office 365. Oh NOES, you'll need Adobe Flash

Re: "Ironically, it's not very good at video - but it is quite good at DRM."

Not ironic at all, that was part of the specs from the start.

Human DNA 'will be found on moon' – Brian Cox

It is not a planet and we have analyzed it. The Moon is biologically dead, due to the total absence of atmosphere protecting its surface from the deadly radiation of space.

Any bacteria on the lunar surface has long since been x-rayed out of existence.