Posts by Pascal Monett 18988 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Apr 2007
The reason we don't see Smart KnivesTM ?
Because we're seeing Smart everythings, and more of them every year. Watches, toasters, toothbrushes, anything they can shove data-gathering into (because that's what it mostly is), they slap "Smart" on it and job done.
The only reason we're not seeing Smart Knives is because of the risk of litigation when some numbskull does something stupid and then the next of kin complaines that the Smart wasn't.
And it would happen, if ever there was a Smart Knife.
Wow. The standards of legal action really have gone down since I was a kid.
Once upon a time, Big Oil was broken up to stop the monopoly.
Once upon a time, Ma Bell was shredded into multiple Baby Bells to stop monopoly.
(okay, the fact that, in the end, it didn't make much of a difference is irrelevant - the monopolies were carved into pieces, we can do that again)
Today, Justice is apparently content with a pinky promise to not do it so much in the future.
No wonder CEOs of multi-billion dollar companies think they own the country. They do.
Without supporting His Muskiness in any way, shape or form, one has to admit that the end result of automation, AI and robotics means that, one fine day, the only humans who work are the ones who will actively want to. Everything that needs doing will be accomplished by automatons, with defined procedures that have been refined over decades, then centuries.
I refer to The Expanse for a clear idea on how this could work : citizens, upon graduation, would decide if they wish to have a life defined by Basic (revenue, support, health care, etc.. I guess), or if they want to actually work for their subsistance and attain a career worth something.
That is one idea. I suppose there are a number of possible variations. But the point is : we're doing everything we can to work as little as possible. One day, that will mean that we don't have to work anymore.
So we might as well talk about it, I guess. Even though I would really prefer that a failure like Musk not be the one to champion the idea.
As much as it would be easy to rip in to Bugzilla's code once again, for once I have to credit the developers for checking that something that should never happen did (or did not).
I guess that was way back when they had actual engineers working on code, not today's "move fast and break it" kids.
Looks like ancient code is the best . . .
Once again, a tech behemoth with coffers that are filled to overflowing offers a free service only to find out that, damn, there are people who actually use it.
And so starts the backpedalling, soon to be followed by bait-and-switch tactics of now you have to subscribe.
You don't even have the luxury of saying you couldn't have known this would happen, Borkzilla. It's happen a dozen times this year already.
Bad Borkzilla. No cookie.
And again the problem is not removing a given popular app from government devices. The problem is how the hell did it get installed there in the first place ?
It's a government device. It should only have government-approved applications.
If you can't manage your device security upstream, then you have to manage it when it's too late downstream.
Governments seriously need to consult Fortune 500 companies (and mostly banks) on how to secure their devices. Then we wouldn't be subject to this clown show.
Why am I not surprised that Borkzilla is shutting down something that gave it valuable feedback and buzz on MS products ?
Feedback can be negative. Redmond doesn't like negativity. Redmond wants everyone to be positively enthusiastic about everything important Redmond does, like giving users a new Dark Theme that nobody asked for.
Or wait, did the MVPs ask for that ? That would be ironic.
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.
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.
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.
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 . . .
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 ?
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.
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.
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 . . .
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.
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 ?
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.
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