Posts by Pascal Monett

Microsoft's Patch Tuesday borks dual-boot Linux-Windows PCs

It's not your machine anymore.

Russia tells citizens to switch off home surveillance because the Ukrainians are coming

Interesting

So, Putin, how does it feel to get a taste of your own medicine ?

Juice probe scores epic fuel save after snapping selfies with Earth and Moon

Re: Excellent

The payload isn't going to change, the satellite is already in space. What this really means is that there is 150kg more fuel for future adjustments, so better lifetime returns, or longer lifespan.

Elon Musk's X Corp faces $61M lawsuit over unpaid tech tabs

Keep it up, Musk

At this rate, lawers will end up with all your billions . . .

Rocket Factory Augsburg engine test ends in explosion at SaxaVord spaceport

"test campaigns are designed to identify issues"

Cracking succes, then !

ESA's Juice probe dances with Earth and Moon before shooting off to Jupiter

"On August 20, the spacecraft will do it all again, this time around Earth"

Wait, Juice is rolling around the moon tonight, and be rolling around Earth tomorrow night ?

IIRC, the Apollo missions took three weeks to get to the Moon.

Now that's one heck of a boost !

Sorry, Moxie. Blaming Agile for software stagnation puts the wrong villain in the wrong play

"car crashes are rarely the fault of the car"

That's evolving !

Yeah, but nobody used Terraserver.

Core Python developer suspended for three months

Re: confusing racist with ethnicityist

Oh for fuck's sake, can we stop inventing new subdivisions of the same problem ?

It's INTOLERANCE.

Is that not good enough ?

"It was their behavior that got them there in the first place"

As a species, we are going to have to accept that what we say is our responsability.

The Internet has been, and still largely is, a haven for idiots mouthing off ignorance and hatred. And wokism is not helping.

That has to stop.

I say that regardless of whatever happened to that core developer. I don't know him, I didn't follow him, I'm unaware of the specifics.

But, globally, people need to shut the fuck up.

New Zealand minister OKs Kim Dotcom extradition to US

Re: Paying Trump for a release

Are you sure Musk actually paid the money ?

Because his mouth is full of promises, and his acts are full of deception . . .

If a cheesy '80s flick is a good metaphor for how you run projects, something is wrong

Oh, right

After all, "The Quickening" is hardly a moniker that could be applied to much of what comes out of Redmond these days

Indeed, a pile of festering shite that nobody ever wants to see again is definitely not what Redmond wants to see out of the gates . . oh, wait . . .

Equinix pilots use of fuel cell in 'shipping container' outside datacenter

"hydrogen fuel cell technology"

That will only be green if the hydrogen is produced by nuclear reactors (Thorium being my preference), and delivered by battery-powered trucks (no, not CyberTruck).

But, in the absolute, good idea. We need power-production alternatives that don't use coal or fossil fuels.

UK farm ministry offers £27M to support legacy systems for another three years

"another three years"

Not to worry. With UK Gov's history of IT projects, the "replacement" won't be ready before 2030.

And vastly overbudget, obviously . . .

From windfarms to Amazon Prime, UK plans to long range test six drone services

Really ?

"The company told The Reg in May it has already made thousands of deliveries via drones "

So, where are the horror stories ? Does anyone have first-hand knowledge of these drone deliveries ? What was delivered and did it work ?

China-linked cyber-spies infect Russian govt, IT sector

Methinks there might be a chance of a phone call

Xi might be getting a call soon, reminding him that Beijing and Moscow are basically on the (ahem) same side.

You're not supposed to overtly undermine your ally, now are you ?

Then again, the rules are always changing in international politics . . .

Microsoft tweaks fine print to warn everyone not to take its AI seriously

You beat me to the punch :)

Microsoft squashes bug that sent Windows devices to BitLocker recovery

Bitlocker

When I looked at what it was supposed to do, I thought to myself "well, isn't this a handy tool for miscreants to make my life miserable ?", and I disabled it.

I know how to backup, thank you. I don't need Borkzilla's fuck-ups to handle my data any more than I have to accept.

Is Lenovo a blind spot in US anti-China security measures?

So, Lenovo will go the Huawei way

Let's make no mistake : Hong Kong is now most definintly Chinese, so being registered in Hong King is no different than being registered in China.

Given all the hoopla that was made (unjustifiably up to now) around Huawei, I see no reason for the so-called "national security minded" to not go for banning Lenovo as well.

It's just a matter of time before someone apparently discovers some suspect transistor soldered to a Lenovo motherboard (with zero pictures to prove the claim) and uses that excuse to proclaim that Lenovo is not trustworthy any more.

Microsoft pushing, pushing, pushing Edge in Defender slammed as a 'dark pattern'

Edge for Business

What's the point ?

Businesses already have it, personal users won't take it.

This is really marketing trying to justify its existence.

Indian telcos to cut off scammy, spammy, telemarketers for two whole years

Re: Wow!

I certainly hope so.

And I hope that India expands that to a 20 year block.

And I hope that the idea spreads to other nations.

I'm an optimist like that . . .

Intel, already adrift, now Armless too

Selling their ARM shares for ~150 million ? What's the point ?

It's a drop in Intel's deep red bucket. It won't help, and Intel has now deprived itself of an important bargaining chip in another competitive technology.

I see absolutely no good reason to do this.

India shuffles away draft law treating influencers like real broadcasters

"require online content creators to register and be subject to the same laws as broadcasters"

And that is a bad thing, why ?

I mean, I understand that the "content creators" on Youtube will find that inconvenient, but, to repurpose a famous phrase, frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

NIST finalizes trio of post-quantum encryption standards

"implant compromised firmware on hardware"

I don't see that that should be an issue since Huawei has been banned and Russia is incapable of selling computer hardware since it doesn't make any.

And if it does start making some, it won't sell it outside of its captive market.

So, what's the problem ?

Oh, right. Cisco will probably fuck something up . . .

Biden tries to cut through fog of confusion caused by deliberately deceptive customer service tricks

Re: Dropbox

Dropbox has veered into scam territory. They've updated their taskbar icon to have a red block on it. Red means urgent (or even dangerous) in many cultures. The first time I saw that icon I thought there was an issue and I opened the application, but no, it's just attention-whoring.

I don't appreciate that. If they think I'm going to go for a paid subscription with that kind of attitude, I've got news for them : I'm voting with my wallet. No.

Re: pay for subscriptions with a gift card

That is a good idea.

It's just a shame that one has to resort to such subterfuge simply to avoid being bilked.

It's all drying up: Microsoft to erase 3D Paint from digital store

True, but we French don't pronounce the "n". This web page says that it is pronounced /pɛ̃/, for those of you who understand that kind of thing and, for those of you who don't (like me), there's a nifty little sound icon that will let you hear the word.

Twitter's former chairman sues X over unpaid options

"unpaid stock options"

Hey buddy, Musk already doesn't pay his bills, you really think he cares about your golden parachute ?

Google-commissioned report claims early adopters already enjoying fruits of gen-AI labor

So AI is great

Says a vendor of AI using figures of companies that have a success story with it.

Yeah, sounds a lot like beating your own drum, Google.

Cigarette break burned out a huge chunk of Africa's internet

Bad luck, really

But you know what they say : it takes a computer to really fuck things up.

Trump campaign cites Iran election phish claim as evidence leaked docs were stolen

"The Register is unaware of any evidence"

The Trump campaign is as well, but that won't keep them from spouting their bullshit.

Software innovation just isn't what it used to be, and Moxie Marlinspike blames Agile

Agreed

Now tell me : since when has it made sense to download external, unverified code to a production server ?

Microsoft really wants those old Exchange 2016 servers put out to pasture

Ah, Microsoft

Desperately trying to force customers away from old shitty products and make them pay for and install new shitty products.

Nice company you have there. Be a shame if anything happened to it - but it wouldn't be our fault.

UK monopoly police launch full blown probe of Amazon's Anthropic tie-up

"Amazon holds no board seat nor decision-making power at Anthropic"

It doesn't need to, it holds the resources.

Amazon has Anthropic by the balls. If Amazon cuts the servers, Anthropic is dead.

Follow the money.

Intel's processor failures: A cautionary tale of business vs engineering

"underinvestment in critical manufacturing technologies"

Oh, you mean that exact thing that some stupid pension fund is blaming Intel for trying to do now ?

Business over engineering always fails. Until MBAs get that drilled into their heads, there is no way companies will ever learn the lesson.

Chrome Web Store warns end is nigh for uBlock Origin

Re: Why?

Because if I'm already accessing the Beast, I might as well use its own tool and not give it a chance to view my other browsing habits.

Techie told 'Bill Gates' Excel is rubbish – and the Microsoft boss had it fixed in 48 hours

'Do you need anyone in your QA department?'

No, thank you. We've fired all of them.

What's going on with AMD funding a CUDA translation layer, then nuking it?

"the legality of emails is unimportant"

That is an unfortunate stance, IMO.

A man's word is apparently worth nothing anymore, especially if that man is a company. It seems that the US wants it both ways : companies are people except when it doesn't suit them.

Under-fire Elon Musk urged to get a grip on X and reality – or resign

Re: only Tesla has been able to bring it all together

Um, you may want to take a look at BYD.

HP Inc loves China – but wants to reduce the risks it presents

"we continue to grow in China and with China"

As long as Beijing accepts our presence and can continue pilfering our IP with impunity.

You have engineering done in China ? Consider yourself lucky that there is not a Chinese company producing near-exact replicas of your stuff for the local market.

China is actively stealing every secret it can, and you are actually counting on Chinese engineers in China to create your stuff ? Talk about having the chicken pen guarded by the fox . . .

Report slams Boeing and NASA over shoddy quality that's delayed SLS blastoff

Re: Historically Boeing has a way of buying lenient trreatment

That sweetheart deal is going to be a lot less interesting if Boeing tanks, like it should.

Of course, if that is the case, there will be a "too big to fail" bailout, but the public effect of that would be disastrous - which doesn't mean it wouldn't work. After all, the White House can hardly imagine buying an Airbus 320 for its next Air Force One, now can it ?

Hello? Are you talking on a Cisco SPA300 or SPA500 IP phone? Now's the time to junk 'em

Cisco, again

My $Diety, aren't we all happy that we have banned Huawei.

When you have friends like Cisco, you don't need enemies.

Ransomware groups are better at web app security than you, says researcher

Sounds pretty normal to me

When your day job is hacking other people's websites, you'd have to be abysmally stupid to not take into account your experience when creating your own website. You know what to look for, so you know how to guard against it.

Delta: CrowdStrike's offer to help in Falcon meltdown was too little, too late

"CrowdStrike's earlier letter to Delta blamed the airline's 'IT decisions' "

They are right on that point : Delta decided to use CrowdStrike.

That mistake can be corrected.

Intel's legal troubles mount after plunging stock sparks yet another court battle

"These shareholders want something done about it"

Sell your shares and go invest somewhere else.

Honestly, these shareholder lawsuits are insane. Stop trying to go cry to mommy. You're supposed to be adults.

Intel finally has a new GPU – for cars

Oh come now, imagine your heads-up display being the Pipe Screensaver.

Wouldn't that be . . . very distracting ?

Honestly, the more I read about all the bullshit they're trying to stuff into cars these days, the more I intend to keep my good ol' diesel running for as long as possible.

At least my car does what I want it to do.

And it doesn't talk back.

If you give Copilot the reins, don't be surprised when it spills your secrets

"It's kind of funny in a way"

Oh yeah, it's downright hilarious, innit ?

Redmond is going to have to work hard to keep it from getting sued. Fortune 500 companies are not going to take its normal "use at your own risk" excuse on this.

China’s preferred desktop Linux, openKylin, chases the AI PC in version 2.0

China has access to Intel's Meteor Lake silicon ?

I thought the White House had banned China from getting the best goodies. So that must mean that Meteor Lake silicon is not considered high-tech enough to ban China from getting it.

Interesting. One would think that anything AI would be considered too sensitive to be given to China these days.

US elections have never been more secure, says CISA chief

"convincing people not to buy into the propaganda"

That might be easier if US politicians didn't treat elections like their own personal propaganda platform . . .

You set yourselves up for this. You deal with the consequences.

UK Royal Mint mining PCBs for precious metals in e-waste recovery effort

Welcome to the Living Language, where your language is defined by the vast majority of people who don't know how to speak it properly . . .