Posts by Pascal Monett

Surely you can't be serious: Airbus close to landing fully automated passenger jets

Re: reducing the crew cost of operating the plane

On paper, yeah. So, for the beancounters, as usual.

How do you tell the autopilot that there's a crosswind ?

And how does it manage windshear ?

This can’t be a real bomb threat: You've called a modem, not a phone

"They even asked for a physical description of the caller"

A physical description.

From a phone call.

There is no way anyone can infer anything physical from a voice over radio or phone. I cannot begin to count the times have I heard someone's voice on the radio, only to be shocked when I found a pic or a YouTube video featuring that person.

Some people sound younger than they are, some sound much more mature, and being fat or not is not something you can detect by voice alone (let's not even mention height).

Most of the time, the one and only physical trait you can possibly derive just by voice is whether that person is male or female (and even then, it can be tricky).

Short answer : that was a stupid question.

Cisco warns it won't fix critical flaw in small business routers despite known exploit

Re: Customer concern ?

That is soooo last millenium.

These days megacorps don't even need to pretend any more. It's just "fork it over and thank your lucky stars you don't live in China".

Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong

Re: The Horror

I'm waiting for someone to point out something that is "better".

Not holding my breath though.

That said, a tabletop game company needs an ERP system ?

Really ?

Haiku beta 4: BeOS rebuild / almost ready for release / A thing of beauty

I wish them well

Got the 32 and 64 torrents in place, will be seeding.

Government tech spending in England more than doubles in five years

"the non-digital leader can't really understand"

The non-digital leader needs to put his/her ego in a box and accept that not understanding is not an excuse for not taking the opinion into account.

In other words : shut your mouth and do as he says.

Can we get a cluebat icon ?

New software sells new hardware – but a threat to that symbiosis is coming

"get just a few new features, but peace of mind"

Peace of mind with Borkzilla updates ?

I don't think so.

Microsoft to move some Teams features to more costly 'Premium' edition

"will reveal the actual price only once the tool becomes generally available"

So, they're already lying through their teeth ?

Not only is Borkzilla not including the features that people want and need (aka good performance and no headaches), but it can't be arsed to lay down the rules transparently.

I thank my lucky stars that I don't need to use this shite on a daily basis.

Swiss Army's Threema messaging app was full of holes – at least seven

"infested with bugs – possibly for a long time"

I think it is time for governments and government institutions to realize that it is not because they say it's secure that it is.

Neither is it secure because whoever they contracted to do the job said it is.

And it's especially not secure simply because the contract said it had to be.

It's not secure until a proper security research firm has confirmed that it's secure.

Salesforce: There's no more Slack left to cut

"I take responsibility for that"

And the consequence will be ?

Are you going to step down ? I doubt it. Are you going to slash your bonuses ? Don't be silly.

Oh, I know : you'll skip your first coffee of the morning.

Yeah, that'll about do it.

Sourcehut to shun Google's Go Module Mirror over greed

"2,500 times per hour"

That is 2494 times too many.

Any sane code should control how long it's been since it downloaded that specific data block. If less than 10 minutes, there's absolutely no reason to automatically query it again.

Manually, you do what you want, but automatically you tone it down.

The Internet does not belong to your code.

The balmy equator of Mars looks rich in opal-bound water

"there could be a lot of water-rich mineraloids"

Okay, I have just one question : what exactly is "water-rich" when mentioned by scientists ?

I understand that it's not you drill a pipe into it and water flows, but much more you mine a cubic meter and squeeze the water out of it.

Okay, fine, but how much water are you going to get out of that cubic meter ?

Because if you only extract one liter, that's a lot of work for not much water.

Tributes flow as Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo - the mind behind Sound Blaster - passes aged 68

I've had six SB cards from 1995 to 2012

I've never bought a sound card from any other maker.

The SB Audigy was really very good, but my first card, the AWE 32, was most impressive.

SB definitely put its mark on PC gaming.

No more holidays for US telcos, FCC is cracking down

LastPass : "the attacker made off with customer data"

And that is why I do not use a password manager.

I'm old enough to manage my own passwords, thank you very much. I do not need to put my trust in a central entity whose every employee is a potential security risk.

Alibaba's Jack Ma out as boss of fintech Ant Group

"will now vote and act independently"

Sure they will. Because none of them have a smartphone, or each other's number.

This is insane. They're shareholders, they own the company, and you want to tell them how they should make their decisions about it ?

Only in a totalitarian state can you push such nonsense and expect it to work.

Mixing an invisible laser and a fire alarm made for a disastrous demo

Re: Button activated sprinklers?

Or it's a button.

Why wait for fire damage if you have human eyes on the alert ?

Microsoft’s Nadella: Tech is in for a rough two years

"but AI waits at the end of the rainbow"

Yeah, with a pot of gold. All you have to do is find it.

I would point out that I'm sick of this AI bullshit, but it would be useless as every marketroid in the industry is busy banging that drum senseless.

Tesla fails to push racial discrimination lawsuit into arbitration

"racist language was actually being used in a friendly manner"

Oh sure, because calling a person of color a fucking nigger is just peachy.

The fact that we still need to even have this kind of discussion is shameful.

FTC floats rule to ban imposed non-compete agreements in US

"healthy competition"

But Capitalism doesn't want healthy competition, it wants monopoly and will do everything it can to obtain it.

Capitalism mandates that you block your competition from accessing resources, non-compete clauses accomplish that.

All this talk about healthy competition is just talk. We'll see how well the lobbyists prove that.

Oh, no: The electric cars at CES are getting all emotional

Re: People are now starting to realise

No they're not.

The Kool-Aid is still strong on this one. In Luxembourg all of my colleagues are talking about EVs. Luxembourg buys its electricity from Germany because, officially, it doesn't want nuclear energy from France. Never mind that Cattenom is providing nuclear energy to Germany, which is selling it right back to Luxembourg (with a markup, obviously), Luxembourg happily buys its energy from Germany.

Which is building 10 new coal plants because The Greens in Germany have won the war against nuclear.

Well done in any case. All those smug EV owners in Luxembourg can be happy that they've shifted their pollution to somewhere else.

The CES tat bazaar: Bike desks, AI-powered bird feeders, and the smelloverse

Acer's charging bike

I'm sure that'll work about as well as all those gym club subscriptions.

On the other hand, I'd take one for surviving the zombie apocalypse, gaming in peace from my underground bunker while the shuffling hoards decompose above.

I just need to find a Cheetos dispenser and I'll be good to go . . .

No, AI can't tell if you've got COVID-19 by listening to your coughs

Too bad we don't have such efficient tools in politics

"But as we continued to analyse the results, it appeared that the accuracy was likely due to an effect in statistics called confounding – where models learn other variables which correlate with the true signal, as opposed to the true signal itself"

I'm reminded of that chapter in Asimov's Foundation, where the declarations of some diplomat were passed through a logical analysis procedure to conclude that said diplomat had said absolutely nothing of substance or significance.

I still think we need a tool like that.

Rate of disruptive tech and science discoveries has slowed over the decades, claims study

What ? Rounded corners didn't advance technology ?

Count my gast flabbered.

Forget the climate: Steep prices the biggest reason EV sales aren't higher

Hydrogen sounds like a nice idea, but as usual, when dreams hit reality the truth gets ugly.

And, in case you wish to dismiss just one voice raising concerns, here's another.

One thing is for sure, if hydrogen is indeed the chosen future, once again we're going to need nuclear to make it happen.

Japan lacks the expertise for renewed nuclear power after Fukushima

"an intermediary power source until the wider adoption of renewables like wind and solar"

No. Just no.

Wind and solar are stopgaps at best. They're unreliable, don't produce enough energy and they create spikes on the grid.

If we are to replace all ICE vehicles with electrical ones, the only power source that can provide the energy to do so reliably is nuclear.

That does not mean that we need to continue with the dangerous reactor needing constant surveillance that we have now. Nuclear can ba safe, especially if we push for Thorium reactors which we should.

But nuclear will not be intermediary. It is the only future.

OneDrive back on its feet, but ongoing Skype credit problem hasn't gone away

"I feel like I'm having an aneurysm with OneDrive being down"

No, you had your aneurysm when you chose to use One Drive.

Cops chase Tesla driver 'dozing' with Autopilot on

"whether the car has an in-cabin camera"

Yeah, like I'm going to buy a car that not only records everything I do and when and where I drive at what speed, but also be spied on by an actual in-car camera.

Sure.

Intelligent people usually can.

Intel: Please buy these new 13th-Gen CPUs, now with 24 cores

Re: We are not as stupid as you think

Famous last words

NASA boss says US may lose latest space race with China

"the next two years were crucial for gaining a foothold on the Moon"

And ?

If I recall correctly, the Moon is a rather large body (as far as moons go). There's enough space for more than two, unless you're of the "everything is mine" mentality.

The real problem is going to be that, just like petrol on Earth, water is a finite resource on the Moon. It had better be managed better than the Colorado River, else there will be no long-term presence of Man on the Moon.

Non-binary DDR5 is finally coming to save your wallet

Re: Let's get rid of this 1 GB = 1024 x 1024 x 1024 nonsense too then

Nonsense ?

It looks like you have a brilliant career in marketing waiting for you.

Meanwhile, until you redefine the byte as having ten bits, what you want won't happen.

Computing's big question for 2023: How many more questions can we endure?

Amen

And with this brillliant article, I wish you all a Happy New Year.

May the best of 2022 be the worst of 2023.

Miniature nuclear reactors could be the answer to sustainable datacenter growth

Re: What waste

I would love to believe you.

Could you source your argument to make it something other than just your opinion ?

Nexperia calls in the lawyers to save Welsh chip fab deal

ASML

It was very interesting to learn that this company is the only one in the world to make the equipment that actually makes chips.

Intel, AMD, TSMC, Samsung et al, they all use ASML tools to make their chips.

So cutting China - or anyone else - from accessing ASML tech is basically freezing them where they are in the tech tree.

Not yet a death knell but, as far as militay stuff is concerned, close enough.

An IT emergency during a festive visit to the in-laws? So sorry, everyone, I need to step out for a while

It always is.

It's disheartening to witness the sheer amount of families who just can't keep their shit together for one day in the year.

TSMC ramps up 3nm chip baking at Taiwan plants

Oh come on

"TSMC is drawing comparisons to its N5 process, which is getting on in age, having been deployed in products for more than two years now"

Two years and it's already "getting on" in age ? Really ?

You are aware that Intel is still selling Pentium CPUs, right ? Now that is "getting on" in age.

Let's avoid pushing the hamster wheel even faster, shall we ?

NASA may tap SpaceX to rescue ISS 'nauts in Soyuz leak

Re: Makes you wonder what the entire financial world is for

That's easy. The entire financial world is for pointing out the Next Big Opportunity for the Big Guys to make even more trillions of dollars.

New York gets right-to-repair law – after some industry-friendly repairs to the rules

"consumers should be able to easily fix the devices they rely on in a timely fashion"

How nice and reassuring.

So, when are you going to pass a bill that actually allows that ?

Intel settles to escape $4b patent suit with VLSI

"investigate the validity of the company's patents"

Um, could someone remind me who exactly granted those patents for the US in the first place ?

Aren't you supposed to "investigate" before granting the patent ?

Well done, USPTO, another brilliant demonstration of your competence.

Stolen info on 400m+ Twitter accounts seemingly up for sale

Re: No pay, obvious

Especially since the fool is offering "exclusivity" to Musk, but already quoting tens of thousands of dollars to individual buyers.

Sorry bud, that's not how you do things. If you offer exclusivity to someone, you give a time limit. Only when that limit has passed do you start making quotes for everyone else.

This guy is a rank amateur.

Re: Thanks, Elon

Come now, Twitter didn't wait for Elon to be awful.

TikTok confirms it tracked journalists' locations as part of leak investigation

"with good reason, if these revelations are anything to go by"

The only good reason any government needs is that TikTok is not useful for conducting government business on government-owned and operated hardware.

That TikTok kowtows to Beijing is irrelevant to the issue.

How can you be open and honest if you're using secret laws ?

The only reason we know about the NSA and its egregious abuse of privacy is because of the sacrifice Snowden made.

There is nothing open, much less honest, about how the NSA has grafted itself into everything "Made in USA" (and abroad).

$69b Activision deal totally helps gamers and saves them money, says Microsoft

"$69B Activision deal totally helps " . . . Microsoft

If anyone thinks that The Board at Borkzilla gives a flying fart about gamers I have a bridge to sell them.

You don't spend $66 billion to improve gamers' lives. You do that to increase revenue and do "your duty" to the shareholders.

I don't think that Borkzilla is going to slowly push all those franchises towards the XBox descendants (although I can't see any reason why it wouldn't), but I fail to see what benefit it will do to me.

Competition is supposed to be good, or so I've been told, and this move severely reduces competition.

So, somebody please give me reason to think positive about this (not holding my breath).

Crypto craziness craps out – and about time too

About time indeed

I have to say that I've been waiting for this to happen for a long while.

I'm sure there will still be pundits hyping Whatevercoin and blockchain for the foreseeable future ; it's hard to cook the goose when the feathers are so soft - or something like that.

But the fact is that everyone with half a brain can now sit back and run down the checklist of everyone they know who's been singing blockchain praises and wait for the "oh shit" face.

Get the popcorn and start taking notes. This is a time-limited event and you don't want to miss out !

Icon for my "told you so" face -->

Management of UK govt's £158b property estate held back by failed IT project

So they wasted £2 million

Well, it looks like there's room for Oracle (or SAS) to hoover up a cool £50 million over five years, assorted with all the usual promises and below-par delivery.

Oh wait, I was confused with IBM.

Oracle delivers, it's only after delivery that it bleeds you dry in licencing costs.

Tencent CEO Pony Ma reportedly bemoans internal corruption, inefficiency

So, a Chinaman moaning about corruption in China

What is the world coming to ?

It is a well-known fact that, if you as a Westerner wish to create a company in China, you'd better have a nice stack of brown envelopes at the ready, otherwise official approval is curiously going to take much, much longer to be obtained. As in, until you get a clue and start greasing the wheels.

This, however, is the first I've ever heard of a Chinese national railing against such an entrenched habit. Maybe some good will come of it, who knows ?

Tesla driver blames full-self-driving software for eight-car Thanksgiving Day pile up

"ahead of the game in introducing such code to the streets"

Yeah, well personally I'd appreciate if Tesla could fall behind in the game.

And it should change the Full Self Driving name to If You Dare.

Micron plans staff decimation as demand dips to Great Recession levels

What ?

"when using standard accounting practices"

When you're not using "standard" accounting practices, you're using "non-standard" practices, also known as "cooking the books", a practice which should and will land you in jail if you proceed long enough, so what's the point of that part of the sentence ?

FCC calls for mega $300 million fine for massive US robocall campaign

Re: Dropped by 99%...

It's a good start though.