Posts by Pascal Monett

NIST denies it weakened its encryption standard to please the NSA

Re: He seems to have tore the lid off a huge can of worms

More importantly, it is now obvious that he was indeed right to do so.

Re: the NSA was one of several contributors

And that is the whole issue. We have no way of knowing what tools the NSA may have, or just how that might make their contributions a weakness.

Which means that now, someone (or, more likely, several someones) will have to go over the whole thing again with a fine-toothed comb and a spirit of paranoia, in order to vet once again the work that has already been done.

And even when that is done, there is no being sure that nothing was missed, because we don't know what the NSA can do.

This is probably the worst possible fallout of the whole NSA debacle. Trust is gone, and with it, our security and peace of mind.

To make it short : ignorance really is bliss.

Parallels pledges roll-back fix after silent 'trojan' freebie install triggers punter outrage

Re: this is by and large a Windows thing

You're absolutely right, it is a Windows thing.

Meaning it only concerns about 90% of the desktop world.

Nothing to worry about then, I guess.

Apple’s iOS 64-bit iUpgrade: Don't expect a 2x performance leap

Re: written in Java so porting will be trivial

Porting is never trivial.

Cavemen innocent in MAMMOTH MURDER case: DNA evidence

I believe that the term "modern humans" refers to something more in the line of this.

As for using tools, the linked article clearly states that "Homo erectus and Homo ergaster were the first of the hominina 1.3 to 1.8 million years ago. It is believed that these species were the first to use fire and complex tools", so not three million years, just two.

But hey, what's a million years between friends ?

Microsoft's 'We want a Mac look and feel' UK director splits after seven years

"I decided that the best time to do this was at fiscal year end"

Yeah, because employees always make their career decisions in the best interest of their employers.

Excuse me if I hold my nose while going out.

Torvalds suggests poison and sabotage for ARM SoC designers

Re: Suggesting killing them is a bit OTT

Um, actually I think that publicly advocating murder is more along the lines of totally illegal. As in get-arrested-and-risk-jail illegal.

On the books anyway, and IANAL, of course, but if he got a "courtesy" visit from the local Sheriff accompanied by a night in the cooler, he could only have himself to blame.

Not that I mind a good shouty rant from this guy. He has a way of cutting through civilized behavior like a surgeon that I like reading about.

But actually suggesting that people go out and create deadly accident conditions ? Sorry, Torvalds, you've largely overstepped your (considerable) notoriety this time. Stick to calling people names and comparing them to cockroaches or something.

Declassified documents show NSA staff abused tapping, misled courts

No you can't.

Incompetence is only a valid excuse for a government organization or official.

Citizens cannot be incompetent before the law, they can only be guilty.

David Attenborough warns that humans have stopped evolving

Re: Cockroaches doing well

Not near my can of Raid they're not !

We made the iPhones, now we want OUR 'UNPAID' WAGES – student Pegatron toilers

Re: Apple are responsible for the actions of their sub-contractors

No Apple is not. Apple has chosen suppliers to create its goods, those suppliers do not become part of Apple and remain free to do whatever they see fit to perform to the clauses of the contract that has been signed.

If the suppliers and their sub-contractors employ students that they do not pay, bring in scantily-clad ladies for the nightshifts and host regular cock-fighting sessions to boost morale, Apple is not responsible for that.

Apple is, however, responsible for continuing to use said supplier under such conditions. And I'm sorry, but paying students less than regular workers is a time-honored practice in many parts of the world.

It is also somewhat less important in my view than the subject of child labor.

Shop-a-suspect web security system: 'We've helped cops nab 100 suspects'

You might be automatically agreeing to get filmed, but I don't see that you are agreeing to be considered a criminal.

Got the CLOUD FEAR? Connected Data has a black 'n' blue cone to sell you

Re: "Like using Dropbox but without the fees"

What fees ? I've got about 2GB of space and I'm not paying a cent.

NSA is 'great at some sophisticated tasks but oddly bad at the simplest'

"We will continue to build the mobile phones you’ve come to love"

No you won't.

You're going to make Windows Phones now.

Enough said.

Facebook postpones privacy putsch: report

"Just throwing the switch to new privacy settings may not be the same as getting consent"

Those words are certain to be viewed as revolutionary at Facebook.

If not heretic.

New! Yahoo! logo! shows! Marissa! Meyer's! personal! touch!

No! It! Is! Not!

Australia's anti-smut internet filter blueprint lasts LESS THAN A DAY

Yeah, they don't even make politicians like they used to.

To hell in a handbasket and so on and so forth. . .

Microsoft, Nokia and the sound of colliding garbage trucks

I'm sorry, but the PC is dead, from a market point of view.

The PC is dead because people no longer need it to do 90% of what they generally do, which is send messages, surf the web, watch Youtube and dick around on Facebook. You do these things on tablets and smartphones these days, and they are much easier to manage than a PC.

I do agree that PCs are for the heavy lifting, absolutely. CAD, programming, video editing, gaming (for some types of games), these are things are done best on a PC. And typing a letter/report is best done with a keyboard.

But PC-centric things are not home-user activity, and it is the home-user that has driven the PC market up to now. The home user is now using tablets and smartphones that are more and more powerful every year, which makes choosing a PC less and less interesting as time goes by.

What it means is that the PC is going back to what it was : an engineers tool, a specialist tool. The general public is going to forget about them in the next ten years.

The PC is finally dead. That is not FUD, it's evolution.

Re: They were in tablets years before Apple.

Indeed. And how did that get screwed up ?

Because Gates (at the time) was adamant that there was only one Windows, and wanted the tablets to run the full Windows OS. Which, of course, the hardware of the time had no chance of doing.

There were people in Microsoft at the time who thought of making a smaller, more nimble OS that could run the tablets and still be called Windows something-or-another, but His Gateness overruled, with the result that today, tablets have made a comeback and they are called Ipads.

The UI debacle of Windows 8 demonstrates that MS is incapable of learning from its own history. The not-Metro interface is not an issue on a tablet, it is on a desktop. Why impose it on a desktop ? Because MS doesn't learn from its own past.

I think Nokiasoft is going to be a failure. An 800-pound gorilla failure. And the taller they are . . .

Continuous delivery: What works (and what doesn't)

I see what you did there ;)

Have an upvote on me.

Gov IT write-off: Universal Credit system flushes £34m down toilet

"realistic plans and strong discipline"

That is not going to happen when the strongest discipline you can use against someone is move him to another office.

Windows 8.1 to freeze out small business apps

"not have to expose the app to the whole world"

Um, could someone explain to me what that sentence means ?

I mean, isn't it in the best interest of a small ISV to expose its apps to as many people as it possible can ? Isn't that exactly the reason why all these app stores are so important ? And why developers are always incensed when their app is banned for some obscure reason ?

Exposition is key. If I spend six months developing something, I sure as hell hope to be able to sell it to as many people as I can. I really don't see how not exposing my app "to the whole world" is supposed to benefit me.

But in the end, it probably doesn't matter anyway. Microsoft is quite obviously playing the pouting child in the corner. Except that this child is a notorious bully, and nobody is going to come hold its hand.

Boffinry breakthrough OF THE DECADE: Teens 'influenced' by friends

I have a new study

It concerns how American "scientists" have found new excuses to get funding while demonizing smoking and drinking.

Come on guys, snap out of it. I think we're pretty much aware now that smoking can cause lung cancer, throat cancer and some other kinds of unpleasant things. Every time I see a pack of cigs or a pouch of tobacco, it has a big ugly "THIS CAN KILL YOU" sign on it. So could you stop flogging that (very) dead horse now and find something useful to study ?

P.S. : I wonder how long it will take before they digitize Casablanca and edit out all evidence of smoking to produce a "pure" version ? Maybe they'll CGI the white cigs into red licorice or something ?

'WTF! MORONS!' Yahoo! Groups! redesign! traumatises! users!

Re: M Gale

What is that you say ?

People are actually PAYING for Yahoo!'s Shitty! New! Interface! and they're being ignored on top of it ?

Dear me. You'd think that a company making users pay for using its forums would perhaps, in some way, let them participate in any major redesign that would touch a paying customer's usage habits.

Instead of just doing something, foisting it upon them without any beta feedback and then announcing that it could not be undone.

Unless, of course, Yahoo! did a Microsoft and did do a round of beta, but just ignored the feedback anyway. In which case, reap what you sow, Marissa.

Hypersonic 'scramjet' aims for Mach 8 test flight

Re: nervous Russian fingers ?

Russian fingers are never nervous.

They may be stone drunk, cold and calculating, or ragingly nimble, but they are never nervous.

'Peeping while you're sleeping' NSA parody T-shirt ban BACKFIRES

Re: "I can legitimately forbid you to copy this message"

Citation please ?

Because I doubt that you as an individual have any rights over things you post on a public forum online, any more than you have rights over what you say in a bar or shopping mall.

But I'm not a lawyer, so please correct me.

Furious Frenchies tell Apple to bubble off: Bling iPhone isn't 'champagne'

I don't see that this should be a problem for Apple

After all, someone recently famous did, in a similar case, mumble something along the lines of "just change the name, no big deal."

Microsoft - do you really think you can take on Google with Nokia?

Facebook is not insignificant, but only Facebook has managed to monetize Facebook.

So, from a business point of view, Facebook is neither a threat nor a competitor for Microsoft.

I basically agree with practically everything you say.

I would just like to point out that Microsoft is in a much worse situation than Google, because Google doesn't really care what platform you use its products with, whereas Microsoft is currently in the process of cannibalizing its Office product to set its presence in "the cloud".

That's all fine and dandy, but even if MS does manage to cloudify Office, sooner or later it will have to open it up to other platforms, meaning it will have enormous market pressure to make its Office 365 available to Android platforms.

That day MS Windows is dead as a dodo. Not because its Windows, but because people don't use PCs all that much at home anymore. Home computing is with tablets and smartphones because they are simple to use. PCs are the tech specialists tool, the platform for heavy computing (programming, CAD, video editing etc).

I'm not saying PCs will disappear, nor am I saying Microsoft will, just that until today, people only had PCs to surf the web, go on YouTube and write their emails/tweets/sms. Now they have many more choices, most of which are a lot easier to come to grips with. So, IMHO, MS is inevitably going to lose this war against Google, whatever happens.

You must be croaking! Boffins reveal sound-gobbling frog's secret

No outer ears, eh ?

So they never get earaches then, the lucky buggers.

Nature's ingenuity is truly a marvelous thing.

Verizon, Experian and pals bag £25m to inspect Brits' identities for UK gov

PayPal refused ?

I don't get it. Wouldn't an NSA-backed ID service be a Good Thing (TM) ?

Beat the UK's incoming smut filter: Pre-censor your grumble flicks

Re: And now

No, you have something to show them what bad acting is.

Well

It seems like the sneakernet is in for a revival if ever this scheme goes through.

Pron prevails !

Microsoft's Nokia plan: WHACK APPLE AND GOOGLE

WHACK APPLE AND GOOGLE .

A nice plan.

Too bad Microsoft doesn't have anything better than a wet noodle to whack them with.

Agreed. Microsoft does not have a history of leaving loopholes for anybody but itself.

Re: Nokia isn't so daft as to lose their brand fully.

I wouldn't bet the farm on that statement.

ICANN destroys Google's dotless domain dream

Thank you for that information.

So, Goldman Sachs wants its own TLD ? Doesn't want to mingle with the "common" dot coms ?

Well, I guess there is such a thing as too much money after all.

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.