Posts by Pascal Monett

Google gooses Safe Browsing with real-time protection that doesn't leak to ad giant

I already have Safe Browsing, thank you

Safe from Google, that is. NoScript keeps me very safe, an Ublock Origin shores up the walls.

Claims emerge that Citrix has doubled price of month-to-month partner licenses

"flexible monthly model introduces [..] uncertainty into the business."

And there we have it. Citrix is not interested in serving its customers, it is interested in getting fixed revenue every month for life.

You're in business, Citrix. Uncertainty is what you live with.

Deal with it, or get a government job.

Ad agency boss owned two Ferraris but wouldn't buy a real server

"They have that kind of money"

And very little sense to go with it, apparently.

Normal, it's an ad agency. There's no intelligence there.

Record breach of French government exposes up to 43 million people's data

"up to 43 million citizens [..] dating back 20 years"

Well that's just about every citizen of working age since modern records exist.

So . . . I'm in there somewhere !

Ten nations tell social media, banks, and telcos to get better at stopping scams

"making it easier to recover money lost to scams"

I don't know what is going on on social media, I don't have any account. But, here in France, there is a platform called LeBonCoin (the Good Corner) that allows people to sell stuff they don't want any more. It's basically a nation-wide garage sale. Prices are reasonable because it's not Ebay, so people who want to gouge find their offerings languguishing.

But the important part is since LBC integrated a secure payment system. It's not secure as far as banks are concerned (well, not any more than elsewhere), it's secure as far as the user is concerned. When I purchase an item on LBC, I can use its payment system or I can pay directly. If I choose LBC's system, I pay the money to LBC. LBC then notifies the seller that the money has been paid and the seller can send the item. When I receive the item, I notify LBC which then releases the money to the seller.

If I'm the one selling, the system works in reverse, of course.

There is obviously the case where the buyer lies about receiving the item, I don't know what LBC does about that but, when I am selling via LBC, I am specifically encouraged to send the item with postal trace - so I'm guessing if the buyer tries to stiff me, LBC will contact La Poste and get the record of that item.

In any case, I've never heard of wiespread problems or scams on LBC. I think the payment system has a lot to do with it. Maybe that sort of system should be widely copied on other platforms ?

From quantum AI to photonics, what OpenAI’s latest hire tells us about its future

"it'll take [..] about a million physical qubits just to compete with modern GPUs"

Sorry, why ?

We have been repeatedly told that the quantum computer resolves all possible values in one go. I am aware that modern GPUs have more than a million transistors, but I am not aware that anybody has yet drawn an equivalence between how many transistors are needed to equal a qubit.

Now, all of a sudden, a million physical qubits are needed to equal a single Nvidia GPU ?

When the best anyone can do at the moment in a lab are 1000 qubit computers, it looks like quantum cumputing is looking weaker by the year.

The NSA would do well to set up a 1000-GPU system to crack encryption, rather than wait for quantum.

Cryptocurrency laundryman gets hung out to dry

Re: Land of Freedom and Opportunity

Or just the stupidity of thinking that the Bitcoin public ledger was invisible to the FBI.

'Chemical cat' on the loose in Japanese city

Looks like Curiosity did it again

Poor little kitty.

The end of classic Outlook for Windows is coming. Are you ready?

"Microsoft has warned that those days will be coming to an end"

Sure.

Here's a warning to Microsoft : you do not dictate how millions of your customers work.

You've already tried and failed before. I expect you will fail again, big time. Millions of companies have processes that depend on COM + Outlook. You pull that rug out from beneath them and you're looking for massive pain in the PR department, and, who knows ? That just might be the drop that pushes a fair portion to other solutions. Mail + COM is not entirely unfeasible in the Open Source area. there's going to be a lot of upheaval by 2029.

You keep on acting as if you dictate the terms. You have erected this wall for no good reason. I'm looking forward to seeing you crashing head-first into it.

Japan's first private satellite launch imitates SpaceX's giant explosions

I can't get the video to work

In Firefox it didn't want to go. Said "can't find MIME format" or somesuch.

Tried in Brave, no cigar. Seamonkey didn't like it either.

So I copied the URL to my work PC and tried with Chrome. Still no go.

What format are you people using for even Chrome to not agree ?

P.S. : all my browsers are up to date and have no trouble viewing videos on YouTube or elsewhere, like this one.

How to Netflix Oracle’s blockbuster audit model

Re: the Law is drafted by those who wish to legitimize their delinquent behaviour

If that were a fact, then murder would be legal.

Your PC can probably run inferencing just fine – so it's already an AI PC

So I can run a local chatbot

With my i9 10980XE, my 64GB of DDR4, my 8TB of HDDs and my GeForce RTX 4080 Panther, it would seem, from your experience, that I have a machine that can run a chatbot.

Now if you could just convince me why I would need one. I already have a wife and a cat if I wish to talk with someone, and even the cat has more brains than a chatbot.

Re: Extra mile

Haven't you read this ?

Whizkids jimmy OpenAI, Google's closed models

My, what drama

All that for a statistical analysis machine that invents stuff on the fly, distorts the truth and cannot give all the relevant data properly.

Keep your weights. It's the concept that is flawed.

Dirty data shocks Indian taxpayers with huge bills

"India has historically struggled with tax compliance"

Seems like it is still struggling . . .

Trump 'tried to sell Truth Social to Musk' as SPAC deal stalled

"the use of a Chinese firm"

Sorry ?

Trump, who has been bleating about how Beijing is our enemy, imposing a ridiculous trade war and blaming China for everything he can't blame Mexica for, has used a Chinese firm for one of his shady deals ?

Wow. I would say somebody alert MAGA, but they'd have to have a brain to understand.

Sounds exactly like something the OHSG would try.

IBM said to be binning off more staff as 'workforce rebalance' continues

Re: Confused here

Don't be confused. The rule stays the same : no managers are getting laid off.

UK council yanks IT systems and phone lines offline following cyber ambush

Oh, all is well, then

"Leicester City Council has a good reputation for information governance, so I have some faith that the damage done in terms of sensitive data will be quite limited "

Yeah, well we're going to find out just how "limited" the damage was. Not that I wish them to languish for weeks, it's just that I doubt that their reputation is enough to get them back on their feet next week.

We asked Intel to define 'AI PC'. Its reply: 'Anything with our latest CPUs'

Ah, so an AI PC just needs a specific Intel CPU

Yeah, go tell that to Nvidia.

Or rather, just keep on banging that drum. There is no such thing as AI anyway, so make the most of it while you can.

After all, quantum is coming . . .

Microsoft calls AI privacy complaint 'doomsday hyperbole'

Not surprising

Borkzilla automatically brands any privacy concern as doomsday fodder, because truly respecting our privacy would indeed be doomsday for it and many others.

Attacks on UK fiber networks mount: Operators beg govt to step in

So, the UK is a pre-apocalyptic wasteland, then ?

Roving bands of hooligans are trashing the infrastructure in preparation of the apocalypse ?

Is it safe to walk the streets in the daytime ?

Do I risk getting burned when walking by a manhole that suddenly belches flames ?

So many questions . . .

Airbnb warns hosts who use indoor security cameras they may face eviction

"where guests can reasonably expect privacy expectations"

Isn't that fun ?

When I go to a hotel, I reasonably expect privacy everywhere.

I do not expect my face to show up on the hotel's Facebook page of reservations. Nor do I expect that I be found on the hotel's Facebook restaurant guest page.

I am willing to accept that there be a security cam in the garage, but that will be the extent of my understanding.

If you so much as show a pic of me wandering around in your garden, I will sue your ass off.

Filing NeMo: Nvidia's AI framework hit with copyright lawsuit

Ooooh, Nvidia

Lawers must be salivating at the prospect of carving out a piece of Nvidia's financials.

I'm sure they're already calculating how many times they can bill $300K/hour.

Oh, sorry, defending the little guy ? Who do you think you are ? Move over, I've got money to make.

Kremlin accuses America of plotting cyberattack on Russian voting systems

Attacking Russian voting systems ?

Talk about useless.

And Putin is scared, why ?

He already knows he's going to win. Is he going to be miffed by winning by 99.4% instead of 99.9% ?

Really ?

Justice Dept reportedly starts criminal probe into Boeing door bolt incident

"if the door plug removal was undocumented"

If it was undocumented, then someone needs a good whipping. NOTHING concerning airplane maintenance should be undocumented.

Climate change means beer made from sewer water, says North Carolina brewery

"Climate change means beer made from sewer water"

So, Budweiser finally has an excuse ?

Reddit wants to raise $748M with IPO, sets value at $6.4B... and it has yet to turn a profit

"it has yet to turn a profit"

So, a dinosaur from the dot-com bubble then ?

No problem. Go public. I'll see how you fail, then I'll choose if and when I invest.

I'm sure all your VC partners have long since prepared their exit.

Start turning a profit and I'll pay more attention.

How do you lot feel about Pay or say OK to ads model, asks ICO

Re: These services have to make money somehow

That supposs that "these services" are actually useful to the general public.

I'm not sure that is always the case.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that is hardly ever the case.

Intern with superuser access 'promoted' himself to CEO

Same problem. Had the recipient decided to respond, the CEO would have gotten involved, and I'm not they are of a race who approve their name being used without their knowledge . . .

"That it did not happen"

And he could count his blessings that day, because today there would have been a response, quickly, and then things would have escalated from there.

A massive semiconductor company, eh ? Not based in Taiwan, eh ? Sounds like Intel. Looks like Intel participated in the learning IT security paradigm.

You don't give interns superuser access to anything.

Now they know why.

You got legal trouble? Better call SauLM-7B

"systems specialized for the legal domain will perform better than generalist ones"

Yes. They used to be called expert systems, and there, just like today, there was no AI to be found.

But they did work.

We'll see how this one lives up to the legacy.

An engine that can conjure thrust from thin air? We speak to the designer

It's incredible how everything seems to get thinner and thinner except me.

Nano a nono: Pixel 8 phones too dumb for Google's smallest Gemini AI model

"Google declined to comment on the record"

And off the record, what did Google say ?

Trump, who tried kicking TikTok out of the US, says boo to latest ban effort

"a government that can demand data and pretty much anything else from [its] organizations"

Um, yeah, you can pretty much say the same about the USA.

Why is nobody remembering National Security Letters on newsdesks these days ?

Yes, Beijing can perfectly well ransack a Chinese company's data. The White House can do the same to any US-based company. I'm convinced the same is true for just about any country.

This is a pot meet kettle argument. Stop using it.

The S in IoT stands for security. You'll never secure all the Things

Re: Some smart devices have strong security

I'm not sure you're describing security there. To me, that sounds much more like simple lock-in.

It's a security for the vendor, to be sure, but it secures the vendors financials, not my security.

IoT ? Not for me

But I'm not going to go dissing on hospital stuff. I'm very happy that we have hospitals, insecure as they are. The people who are there want to help, they really do. You have to want to help when you're paid so little for saving people's lives, or even just making them slightly better. As I am getting on in age (60 is an asteroid that is looming ever larger on my horizon), I think that, if push comes to shove, I will gladly accept an insecure pump or whatever if it gives me more years to be with my family.

Yes, I would definitely prefer that medical thingamajigs be secure, it would certainly be reassuring, but I think I can stand the insecurity if my life is on the line.

But in my house ? Never.

I can get my fat ass of the couch and go for the dumb, stupid, secure switch.

Is Russia using Starlink in Ukraine? Congress demands answers

Wow

Another point on which His Muskiness is not going to weasel his way out of with ease.

I can't wait to see him squirm while trying to justify his "Ukraine should just surrender" attitude.

Palantir wins US Army contract for battlefield AI

"battlefield AI"

Oh yeah, I can just see it now : a soldier holding down suppressing fire in some sandistan, and all of a sudden his Augmented Reality pops up a "Do you want mustard gas with this ?".

IAB Europe's ad consent popups pose privacy problem

"deal a mortal wound to the online tracking-based advertising industry"

Yeah. I believe in Santa Claus as well.

I only wish it could be true, but experience tells me that fucking assholes full of money generally get their way, whatever the law says.

IBM lifts lid on latest bid to halt mainframe skill slips

"halt mainframe skill slips"

Just a suggestion : maybe stop firing the people who have acquired the skills ?

HP print rental service seeks more users to become subscription addicts

I note that you haven't mentioned your weekly printing load. You just say that you use it every week.

That may be enough, but I have had years of headaches and ink loss with Epson inkjets until I finally decided to go laser, and I have never regretted that choice.

I print less than five pages a month. Laser is the only choice for that volume, inkjets will always dry up and be a nuisance.

That's a fact.

Plummer talks to us about spending Microsoft's money on a red Corvette

I've been using 7-zip for ages now

Not to diss on Mr Plummer, who I follow on YouTube with relish, but Zip is now outdated. 7-zip has been more efficient and more secure for a long while now.

No bad feelings, though. Zip was a godsend when it arrived.

BOFH: I get locked out, but I get in again

All that work . . .

makes for getting up real early.

Let no one say that the BOFH is a lazy bastard !

Job interview descended into sweary shouting match, candidate got the gig anyway

They add great value when the time comes to lay people off.

Font security 'still a Helvetica of a problem' says Australian graphics outfit Canva

Article title is a bit misleading

I came to this article thinking I was going to learn about someone having hacked a font, like others have hacked jpg images. What I actually learn is that there are tools to manage fonts, and it is one of those that is hackable. That is not the same thing.

Then there is the fact that the article evokes three vulnerabilities, but only describes one even though the way the article is written made me believe that I would get a description of all three.

I'm a bit miffed.

US politicians want ByteDance to sell off TikTok or face ban

"the app was banned on UK government devices"

The app has nothing to do on any government's devices.

I note that we haven't heard about banks banning it on their platforms, because banks wouldn't allow users to install it in the first place. When you're working in a bank, you puny little cog do not have the right to install anything without approval from your department manager. And your department manager won't approve anything that is not for your work.

Why are governments not doing the same ? Oh, of course, IT costs money and people in government - especially politicians and their aides - don't have time to be subject to actual IT security.

Reminder: Infostealer malware is coming for your ChatGPT credentials

"With more employees relying on ChatGPT"

Why are more employees relying on a beta service that makes stuff up ?

The only thing they're really doing is giving their time and data for free to a service which, once declared in production, will gouge them for their own work on a monthly subscriptoin basis.

OpenAI goes public with Musk emails, claiming he backed for-profit plans

"dismiss all of Elon's claims"

I think that that should be standard practice by now.

Russia plans to put a nuclear reactor on the Moon – with China's help

Re: In combination with Russia's recent promise "we will never put nuclear weapons in space"

It would be vastly more costly to lug a nuke to the Moon instead of parking it in Earth orbit (probably not LEO either, but much higher up).

And it's not just getting it to the Moon, it's all the infrastructure that would need to exist on-site to make it launcheable. Which means landing a whole lot of stuff beforehand that is specifically destined to launch a nuke. The kind of thing that would be quite visible, what with all the telescopes we have on Earth and in orbit, for any expert that would care to check out the installation. Which would lead to diplomatic issues that would likely make the Cuban missile crisis look like a stroll in the park in summer.

Not going to happen, is what I'm saying.