Posts by Pascal Monett

Russia hustles to fill impending void left by the ISS

Re: The story of the RD-180, the big rocket engine that could

Interesting link. Thanks.

Having the IP is one thing, having the means to build and launch is an entirely different kettle of fish.

Russia has used up all of the the rockets it held in shuttling people and vital stuff to and from the ISS, following the demise of The Shuttle. Russia has no more rockets available. That means that Russia will have to build something new. Methinks that in itself is going to take at least until 2030 (given how long it's taken SpaceX to about succeed) - if Russia can afford it (which I doubt).

So I take this announcement as another lot of grandstanding of which nothing serious will come. To build a rocket you need boatloads of money and experienced workers and engineers. Russia still has its oligarchs (although there have been some mysterious disappearances lately), but they cannot do business in the West and their holdings have been confiscated, so they can only rely on local currency and business. Said business is not going to be flourishing because of all the men Putin has sent off to die on that "special military operation", and of all the men that have fled the country to avoid being part of that shit. That's a nice big dent in the market right there.

Then there's the know-how. I'm sure that Putin's Russia has carefully avoided sending off Roscosmos engineers to the Front That Isn't, but I'm also convinced that many savvy artisans didn't get that chance. Building a rocket, or any major scientific project, is an ecosystem, and Putin has gutted that ecosystem to serve his stupid ideals.

Russia is not going back to space on its own. There, I said it.

PIRG petitions Microsoft to extend the life of Windows 10

"All software reaches a point at which it's no longer supported"

Why ?

Software does not rust. When you're dealing with a company that has more money in the bank than a small country's GDP, why should there be an issue with updates ?

Apart from CEO bonuses, of course . . .

Ask a builder to fix a server and out come the vastly inappropriate power tools

Ah, nothing matches percussive maintenance.

Telcos should compensate phished subscribers, suggests Singapore

"letting scam texts through is a culpable act"

I'm starting to really like what Singapore is doing for the Internet and communications in general.

CEO Satya Nadella thinks Microsoft hung up on Windows Phone too soon

Consistency ? Yeah, right.

WinPhone 7 was really very consistent with WinPhone 8.

Yeah.

I like that he acknowledged that "people sense when what you do is not aligned with what you say".

They do. So do as you say. Otherwise, you're nothing but a poser, at best.

Ah, logo changes. The public display of losing the plot and throwing money out of the window when you can't afford it.

So it would have been a paved road for hackers to get into your entire network, then ?

I'm starting to think that the Windows Phone failure was a godsend for security.

For many people, that is simply not an option.

Regrettably.

Microsoft creates a new kind of credential: the 'Applied Skill'

As much as I like the idea, I doubt it will really catch on

As far as certs are concerned, I've heard the gamut from "they're useless" to "I won't work with someone who is not certified".

I doubt that anyone on either side of this fence is going to change their minds. The ones who think certs are useless will not be impressed by an applied skill, and people who are pro-cert will ask "well why aren't they certified then ?".

But for those in the middle, it might be a good calling card.

When is a privacy button not a privacy button? When Google runs it, claims lawsuit

This page on El Reg leaks nothing about me to Google thanks to NoScript.

And Google will not know where I am buying things because I do not have location and mobile data active all the time. I only activate those when I need them, and deactivate them afterwards.

But yeah, I get that most people who have their phones grafted to their eyeballs will not see that as a possibility. Google thanks them, undoubtedly.

"he testified in front of Congress"

Sure. He told them what they needed to hear to get off his back.

I'm sure Congress is really impressive, but it's not a judicial trial. El Zuck has lied his ass off there multiple times and he's still not in jail for it.

So Congress is just a nice little tea-time with barely any consequence, as far as I can see. But hey, it makes the Senators feel (even more) important, so . . .

33 AGs sue Meta for 'exploitative and harmful acts' against American children

So, 33 states in a "think of the children" lawsuit

Methinks that is not one El Zuck is going to weasel out of easily. The children angle is a very difficult one to avoid - especially since it's likely true.

So, looks like I'll have to stock up on popcorn again . .

We need a popcorn icon.

Google Cloud misses revenue estimates – and it's your fault, wanting smaller bills

Oh ! The Humanity !

Alphabet isn't getting al the soup it wants because people are <gasp> actually trying to lower costs !

Look at that poor Pichai. He tried a measure of goodwill and now his customers are stabbing him in the back !

He might even have to reduce his quartely bonus by a million or two.

Have people no heart ?

Spanish phisherfolk caught in cops' net in multi-million-euro catch

Bad times for scammers

Good.

Have them run scared. It is high time for the crooks to feel the breath of Justice on their necks.

Icon for the heat.

Progress towards 'Gigabit Europe' is slow, with UK also lagging

"42% of users stated their current internet was sufficient for their needs"

Well yeah. I've got 1Gbps speeds and it is fine. I can have the TV working, my daughter on her laptop and mobile, my wife on her laptop and mobile, and me torrenting, downloading and on Youtube while gaming. Nobody is dragged down by anybody else, so what would I complain about ?

Back when I had ADLS, if I turned on the TV nobody could download anything anymore. And if someone called the landline while watching TV, the image would stall and the sound would be the only thing running. ADSL was a tar pit. Gigabit fiber is a jet. What more could I want ? 10Gbps ? Don't see the need right now. Don't think I'll ever.

Scammers use India’s real-time payment system to siphon off money, send it to China

Well that didn't take long

And so starts the loooong path of patches and changes in the system to ensure some measure of reliability and security.

I do feel the idea was good, but I fear the changes that will come will kinda shoot the whole thing in the foot.

Microsoft admits 'power issue' downed Azure services in West Europe

"A subset of those generators supporting that section failed to take over as expected"

That sounds suspiciously close to "we designed a failover system, but we didn't test it".

That susbset of generators, might they have been missing fuel because nobody thought to fill the tanks ?

Windows 11: The number you have dialed has been disconnected

Amen

So it's finally been said : Borkzilla can't make a new OS version worth a damn. Oh sure, Nadella can change version numbers all he wants, but's just wind, there's nothing substantial.

Now, maybe the notion that there will never be new hardware is pushing things a bit far, but it's certain that whatever may come out will not need a new OS version. A driver will suffice.

So yeah, let's stop degrading the user interface with useless widgets that offer clutter and not much more, and stop pretending that they need a new OS version. Make Windows more modular.

And hey, since the last update, you can now actually uninstall Cortana ! So, progress is being made, albeit at the rate of an asthmatic slug.

Web Summit CEO's comments on Israeli conflict 'war crimes' sparks boycott

Saudi princes are a special case. They can say whatever they want, because your car runs on their fuel.

Still got a job at the end of this week? You're lucky, as more layoffs hit the tech industry

And you can be sure tha tthere's some genius with a masters in business management who has planned things that way.

This is why the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

And it's not a very well-crafted handbasket either.

That actually happens - from time to time.

'Influencer' gets 7 months in prison for plot to interfere with 2016 US election

Re: Orange man influencer

I'll be really happy if I get to see him in an orange jumpsuit for at least a year.

Because honestly, I don't give much credit to the US Justice system currently. The amount of bald-face lies that are spouted by people that are in positions of so-called responsibility without any repercussion is abysmal.

I will be very happy to be proven wrong . . .

The problem with Jon Stewart is that Apple appears to have cancelled his show

can't sing it's praise.

Damn brain goes faster than the fingers . . .

"Stewart wanted to explore controversial topics"

Bad drone ! You should ignore China if you can't its praise. Don't want to risk the stock market valuation, now do we ?

Ah, this from the land of Freedom of Speech. How courageous on Apple's part.

Guess what Cook, you hire an artist, you hire someone who thinks out of the box. Ironic that you can't take that.

Astroboffins spot high-power 8b year old radio burst from pre-Earth event

"we find that more than half of what should be there today is missing"

Okay so, given that we're finding that rogue planetrs are a dime a dozen, does that have any impact on that evaluation ?

I mean, let's be clear : more than half of what we can detect is missing, that doesn't mean that it isn't there. Detecting a rogue planet must be even more difficult than detecting a black hole because at least a black hole influences stellar orbits around it. There is no such thing as a rogue planet that can influence a star it does not orbit.

So maybe this dark matter thing should be revisited ?

Indian authorities raid fake tech support rings after tipoff from Amazon and Microsoft

Cracking down on tech scum

Well done to everyone involved. The amount of grief that these scum have caused is incalculable. They deserve every year they will get in prison and more.

Collaboration between tech behemoths and local police to stamp down on crime ? I'd like to see more of that.

Oh, and once again, no backdooring of encryption was needed. Just people doing their jobs.

Boeing gives busy billionaires unbothered about bespoke beds a cheaper BizJet

"to suit 'personal, business and head-of-state airplane requirements' "

Um, personal, sure. Business, ok. Head-of-state ? Well, the head of a poor state, maybe, but have you seen pics of the interior of Air Force One ?

There's the flying Oval Office, the Press Room, the Dining Room, the VIP Room, more than one Conference Room, seating for dozens of guests and for the presidential staff. Oh, and there's a Communications room (now I'd like to see that) and a Medical Bay. And a tiny kitchen.

Sure, it's a Boeing 747, but that's the point. They took a Boeing 747 and filled it to the brim. A 737 doesn't cut it.

Making the problem go away is not the same thing as fixing it

So, shoot the messenger is still well and alive

When a so-called professional "solves" a problem by removing the alert, said individual should be reassigned to the deep-fry section of a burger joint and has nothing to do in a technical environment whatsoever.

TileDB secures $34M to reimagine databases, not just collect GitHub stars

Re: Late stage capitalism

And what is the stage of geriatric capitalism ?

Down and out: Barclays Bank takes unplanned digital detox, customers not invited

"it had not been hacked"

So, it's fat-fingered configuration again, then ?

Because if your website falls over from one day to the next and nothing exterior is to blame, then something interior is to blame.

And the only thing that can be blamed is either network incompetence or update incompetence.

So, how do you wish to seem incompetent today ?

Falcon Heavy sends NASA probe to metal-rich asteroid Psyche

I have to admit

All these billionnaires have really shaken up the landscape when it comes to accessing orbit.

Yes, it was inevitable as soon as the US government lost interest in space when the race was won. Obviously, government has amply demonstrated that it can't concentrate on anything that won't drive re-election, whether or not that thing would be useful in the long run. The long run, for government, is the next election cycle. That is a pitifully small distance when improving things are concerned (any things, not just Science - take a look at your train infrastructure).

So yay for billionnaires. At least, when their ego is involved (not to mention other personal measurements), they can indeed make a change.

British boffins say aircraft could fly on trash, cutting pollution debt by 80%

Re: Meanwhile out in reality

Interesting comment.

The article does not mention Velcocys anywhere.

Care to explain why you mention a company with a dismal stock price as a counterargument when said company has not been referenced by the article ?

I mean, Renault isn't doing too well at the moment either, but I fail to see how that has anything to do with potentially making fuel out of trash.

Because if we can make jet fuel out of trash and lower our carbon emission, I'm all for it. It'll help solve two problems at once.

Not holding my breath though . . .

That's no joke. It's the actual plan.

The step after is to make sure we all contribute in serf days to building the castle walls of the places our "betters" will be living.

US Navy sailor admits selling secret military blueprints to China for $15K

Well I'm not going to feel sorry for DeBeers.

Windows 10's latest update issue isn't a bug but a feature – to test your patience

Re: Again?

I must report that my work laptop breezed through this update as well.

No issues here - this time (crossing my fingers for the next time).

Look, boss – Nvidia's still cool with staff working from home

"Unlike some of its peers"

Nvidia has but one peer : AMD.

All the rest are gnats beating their wings uselessly.

You're talking about foreign remote.

Just one question : how do you know you're not hiring a Moscow hacker ?

We're not in e-Kansas anymore: State courts reel from 'unauthorized incursion'

"hopelessly behind on protecting government systems"

No problem. If the attacks keep up (and why wouldn't they ?), there's bound to be a Senator or two that will be impacted at some point and then, lo and behold, money will flow to get things in order.

Birmingham set to miss deadline to make Oracle disaster 'safe and compliant'

In theory, yes : you don't get reelected.

But that's only if the constituants are doing their fucking job, ie electing capable people.

Then again, if you were a Birmingham resident, would you want to run to take over responsibility for that shitstorm ?

One door opens, another one closes, and this one kills a mainframe

Re: Opening doors - yes, it can cause chaos

And that is why those rooms are Authorized Personnel Only, and Vps are not authorized.

They can look through the the windows to show off the blinkenlichten.

How 'AI watermarking' system pushed by Microsoft and Adobe will and won't work

Exactly. I don't see Adobe maintaining that Cloud out of the goodness of its heart - it doesn't have one.

Plus, a verification system that you have to pay for wouldn't be used, meaning the check itself has to be free.

Adobe doesn't do free.

So how's it going to make the millions it is expecting from this ?

Microsoft ends its week on a high – after a trying time with tax bills and Copilot costs

"keep its platforms largely open for a few years"

So that'll be two years and a few months, then.

Ubuntu unleashes Mantic Minotaur with 23.10 build

Crowd-sourced translations

Proving once again that, as soon as you give them a chance, there will be an asshole to demonstrate why we can't have nice things.

Canon claims its nanoimprint litho machines capable of 5nm chip production

"I would be surprised"

Well, you're Gartner.

You must be used to being surprised.

And that doesn't keep you from hedging your bets, stating that if indeed it was a breakthrough, it would soon find itself under sanctions list.

Well duh. The usual pony show at Gartner.

I'm sure that there will soon be a "report" from Gartner, paid by some Canon-favorable company, that will gush praise over this new breakthrough.

Let's just wait for it.

EPA flushes water supply cybersecurity rule after losing legal fight with industry, states

Ah, the land of the best Justice money can buy

That rule destined to get an overview of the actual security of an essential component of society bothered some corporation ?

By all means, let's forget that. Let's just keep on staying the course, and forget that nation-state-backed hackers are intent on fucking things up in a major way.

What's the worst that could happen ?

Okay, should I translate "the worst" into your share value for you to get a fucking clue ?

Gas supplier blames 'rogue' code for Channel Island outage

Yeah but, those who deem themselves superior will counter with the proven fact that, mathematically, your chances of winning are negative.

And all the people who have already won will get a good chuckle out of that.

I really would like to be of those who can chuckle.

Calls for Visual Studio security tweak fall on deaf ears despite one-click RCE exploit

"Perceived" weaknesses ? Really ?

From my point of view, those weaknesses are hardly a question of perception if they're already being exploited.

530K people's info feared stolen from cloud PC gaming biz Shadow

Wait a minute

"This highly sophisticated attack began on the Discord platform with the downloading of malware under cover of a game on the Steam platform, proposed by an acquaintance of our employee, himself a victim of the same attack"

So, if I parse that properly, that means that an employee of the company knew a dude who got a malware-infested game, and because the dudes knew each other, the employee posted that infested game on the company server ?

Is that all it takes ? Is there no review process, no malware control on incoming code ? Or was the employee high up enough in the food chain to be able to bypass such mundane matters ?

They can apologize all they want, I won't be trusting such lax procedures any time soon.