Posts by Pascal Monett

Elon Musk starts poll with one question: Should I step down as head of Twitter?

Indeed he did.

It's just that the term is getting shorter, apparently.

BBC is still struggling with the digital switch, says watchdog

To further your conclusion, I learned not long ago that France is dropping the TV tax that was in effect since forever.

For the French government to actually remove a tax is almost as groundbreaking as finding life on another planet.

Microsoft Teams: A vector for child sexual abuse material with a two-day processing time for complaints

"will depend on whether those that make policy decisions are aware of what computers can do"

We're doomed.

Corporate execs: Get back, get back, to the office where you once belonged

"they'll take a hardline approach and fire those that refuse to come back"

And we will take a hardline approach and document the names of companies that do so.

Good luck finding tech replacements . . .

Musk bans private-plane-tracking @Elonjet on Twitter, threatens legal action

Re: I'm appalled

And I am appalled by the continued insistance to conflate this issue with privacy and personal attention.

What part of "it's the plane that's being tracked" do you not understand ?

What part of "the information is publicly available" goes above your head ?

We're not talking about some guy with a camera and an absurdly expensive telephoto lens climbing on top of a hill to snap pics of someone beside a private pool, we're talking about using official public data to record the whereabouts of a piece of equipment.

Climb down from your soapbox already, you're off-subject.

Re: Crazies jumping around on the hood of your car

Alledgedly.

There is no proof provided as of now.

Malicious Microsoft-signed Windows drivers wielded in cyberattacks

"it has suspended several third-party developer accounts that submitted malicious Windows drivers"

Hey Google ! Are you paying attention ?

Meta, Google, TikTok and friends sue California to block kids privacy law

Interesting

It's slightly astonishing how, in the USA, any measure destined to legally protect children online is immediately met with ferocious resistance by corporations who, on any other subject, immediately spout things about "thinking of the children".

Limitation of Free Speech ? Violation of the First Amendment ? Really ?

What I conclude from all of this is that US corporations are perfectly willing to think of the children, as long as it doesn't hit their bottom line.

NIST says you better dump weak SHA-1 ... by 2030

Re: Are there woolly horses?

Do Llamas count ?

China reportedly bars export of homebrew Loongson chips to Russia – and everywhere else

Yes, Putin is getting some weapons from Iran. It woud appear that the quality of said weapons leaves something to be desired.

That being said, Iran is going to get some useful battle-conditions data out of this, so it is entirely possible that their next generation of weapons be more efficient.

Re: Israel's obstinance where Iran is concerned

I believe it is Iran being way more obstinate than Israel.

Iran is so hell-bent on annihilating Israel that it has even made its Arab neighbors tired of it.

The only thing Israel is being obstinate about is surviving. Can't blame them for that.

I don't think they ever left that point of view.

On the 12th day of the Rackspace email disaster, it did not give to me …

And, apparently, you also reduce any chance of data recovery.

Positives all around !

SEC charges crew of social media influencers with $100m fraud

Re: And of course ....

Well they are guilty.

"We’re robbing f*cking idiots of their money"

And there goes the "it was just for laughs" defense.

You forgot the cardinal rule of making money : shut the fuck up about how you're doing it.

Tossers.

European telco body looks into terahertz for future 6G comms

Business as usual, then

“The only reason ETSI is looking at terahertz frequencies is because they are technically possible, not because anyone wants them”

Have to justify the paycheck, right ?

NASA starts assessing Orion capsule for refurb

"Orion is supposed to be ultimately reusable, after all"

And NASA has a great history of making things reusable.

The Shuttles were a fine example, if you call a $1.6 billion cost per launch "reuseable".

Soyuz leak puts a stop to planned ISS spacewalk and work on Nauka module

What ?

Russian hardware leaking and unfit for purpose ?

I'm shocked.

Shocked, I say.

Shocked.

Voice assistants failed because they serve their makers more than they help users

Re: My wife loves Alexa

This is probably going to get a chuckle out of her.

Improve your lexicon here.

Re: "... they serve their makers more than they help users"

The butcher, the baker and the brewer want to sell us stuff to make money, and we want to buy that stuff to fill our stomachs and enjoy. They don't want to sell our grocery list to some 3rd party advertising group.

Yet.

New research aims to analyze how widespread COBOL is

"ye ancient code wizards"

So, dinosaurs will once again roam the Earth ?

US Air Force tests its first fully functional hypersonic missile

If you wait for it to be over the horizon to detect it, you've already lost.

To have any chance above zero of resisting a hypersonic strike, you need eyes in the sky that can bring your reaction time into a more comfortable range of 10 seconds at least.

And most of the stuff doing the reacting needs to be completely automated to avoid meatbag reaction time.

Twitter dismantles its Trust and Safety Council moments before meeting

"the world's second richest man"

Soon to be third, then fourth, etc.

He's on his way to irrelevance and, AFAIC, it can't happen quickly enough.

Bahamian rap: Crypto villain Sam Bankman-Fried arrested

"akin to a bank"

Weasel words.

You cannot be "akin" to a bank.

Either you have a banking charter, or you don't.

It's only the idiot who has never even seen a banking charter who can spout that kind of bullshit.

I can't wait to see how his goose is going to be cooked at trial.

Server installer fails to spot STOP button – because he wasn't an archaeologist

"restore it to a bright red hue"

No, the layers are not too hard to clear. That is a lame excuse. Three minutes with a sledgehammer and I guarantee those layers will be gone, along with that part of the wall.

Then you can redo the wall, the connections and the red button, and you can even put a nice clear plexiglass guard to keep said button from getting inadvertantly pressed again.

Because just painting the layers in red in one spot is not going to solve the problem.

NASA's Orion Moon capsule to splash down this Sunday

It's not a question of favorite, it's science and should therefor be expressed in proper scientific units.

Those who cannot grok science can go and convert into toes and elbows.

Italy, Japan, UK to jointly launch sixth-gen fighter jet by 2035

I'm willing to bet that there are a lot less "top egamers" than there are jet fighter pilots.

I'm also willing to bet that their careers are shorter.

And don't get me started on the OHSG.

San Francisco investigates Hotel Twitter, Musk might pack up and leave

Re: I call contrived

Musk does not apply for permits. He does what he wants and, if and when opposition mounts, he flees like the courageous, visionary man he is.

While the USA is a vast country, there is a limit to the amount of places he can flee to. In time, he might reach it.

Greater London wing of comms union urges BT workers to reject pay offer

"equate to between a 6.68 to 14.78 percent increase"

I've got no skin in this, but I wouldn't mind getting a 6.68% increase in my revenue.

States label TikTok 'a malicious and menacing threat'

Re: Disingenuous

The article is about banning Tik Tok from government platforms, a move with which I totally agree.

No because Tik Tok is Chinese, but because I don't see why a government employee should have that on his government-issued smartphone or computing device.

All governments should have a blanket ban on anything not government-related when using government-oriented platforms, period.

End of an era as the last 747 rolls off the production line

It's always over budget

You'd think that, after more than a century of designing and building airplanes, Boeing would have a better idea of how to plan a budget.

Apple brings DIY fix-it store to Europe, UK – with gritted teeth

Re: Is UK not part of Europe?

No, politically it isn't and never has been.

Don't you remember the famous journal article entitled "Fog on the Channel, the Continent is isolated" ?

The UK paid lip service to the EU, but never took the Euro as currency.

It's only on maps that you can confuse the UK with being part of Europe. Nobody in the UK has ever thought they were part of Europe - especially not in the political arena.

Tech contractor who uses an umbrella company? UK tax is coming after them

Re: always going after a contractor and not after the umbrella

Umbrella companies have more money to afford lawyers.

Blockchain needs a reason to exist, Boris Johnson tells roomful of blockchain pros

"the public needs to be convinced"

Yup. That's the basic step for every Ponzi scheme.

I'm not surprised that BoJo is aware of that.

Domain aging gang CashRewindo picks vintage sites to push malvertising

And people want me to allow ads

Sorry, I won't.

At the best of times, they're useless. When they get creepy, they want to sell me something I just bought.

Then there are the ads that are downright threats to my computer and/or my privacy/money/data.

NoScript and Ublock Origin, or Brave is what I use, and you can pry them out of my cold, dead hands.

Mozilla, Microsoft drop TrustCor as root certificate authority

"I feel it is reasonable to have an explanation"

So do I.

A transparent and honest explanation, not just a "promise, we didn't do nuthin' wrong" explanation.

In any case, when you are root certificate, you should be above suspicion. That does not mean you shold not be suspected, it means you should do everything, continuously, to prove that there is no need to suspect you.

TrustCore has failed on that count, so its status as root cert should be revoked.

Creator of spec for melting RTX 4090 cables urges Nvidia, others to 'ensure user safety'

Interesting read. Thanks for the link.

Re: Sure blame users ..

Yeah but, it's also work, plus admission of blame.

When you have major companies paying hundreds of millions in settlement fines and going before the press proudly stating "we admit no wrongdoing", you can hardly expect a standards body to admit that it fouled up when it's the others making the cables following the standards who can be blamed.

Exchange Online and Microsoft Teams went down in APAC because Microsoft broke itself

"this incident is getting worse"

So, the rot is spreading.

When will it become sentient ?

Mine's the one with the sentient yoghurt in the pocket.

Two signs in the comms cabinet said 'Do not unplug'. Guess what happened

If it's a switch, I'm sure an electrician could just connect the wires behind and leave the switch as bait for the clueless.

US commerce bosses view EU rules as threat to its clouds

"ensure that non-EU suppliers cannot access the EU market on an equal footing"

No, they are designed to ensure that EU data stays in the EU.

If you don't like it, tough. That's the way the ball is rolling now and you're not going to stop it.

130,000 UK businesses sue Google over £13.6B in lost ad revenues

Re: Google gets absolutely nothing from us for this

That's like saying the local drug kingpin gets nothing from you because you send all your customers to him directly.

He's still getting money from you, it's just you're not the one paying.

FTX's crypto villain Sam Bankman-Fried admits 'I made a lot of mistakes'

Re: Another difference between these amateurs and pros

Agreed.

When I saw the interview, the only thing I could think of is : this is a kid. He's got zero banking experience, zero CEO experience and the only reason he got the job is because venture capitalists are stupid and willing to give hundreds of millions to someone that just spouts the right bullshit.

If there is one thing that this crypto madness is demonstrating repeatedly, it's that you don't hand the responsability of money to someone who doesn't have more than a decade of experience handling money in a regulated environment.

There's a reason why the bank teller doesn't become head of branch in six months.

Elon Musk picks fight with Apple for slashing advertising spend on Twitter

Re: so he's gone off the rails

He's never been on the rails . . .

Iterable co-founder claims he was ousted because of racial discrimination, not LSD use

So, um, let me just clear one thing out

Taking drugs when you're the CEO of a California startup is supposed to be fine, but if you find any of your employees doing that, they're getting the boot.

Is that how it works ?

Because I don't think that's how it should work.

JAXA: Research simulating life onboard ISS contained fabrications

Not a problem

They can just make a game out of it. Sim ISS might be a good name.

Or maybe ISS Tycoon.

International cops arrest hundreds of fraudsters, money launderers and cocaine kingpins

Depends on the bank you work with.

For my professional needs I have a bank in Luxembourg, the BCEE. The BCEE never sends me mail, I have a mail icon on my screen when I connect to my account via their secure website (secured by the traditional login name + password and a one time token) if a message is waiting for me.

To make any important change to my account, I have to physically present myself in one of the many branches, justify my identity and then ask for what I need.

I very much doubt that any criminal is going to be able to modify anything remotely.

Of course, if you live in the USA, things are very much different.

China: Face-to-face meetings are best when swapping space station crews

"a veteran of China's second ever crewed mission"

Excuse me, but a veteran is someone who is supposed to have significant experience in a particular domain or activity. Doing something once does not give you significant experience.

Fei Junlong was part of the second Chinese crewed mission, no problem there, but that does not make him a veteran.

If he is part of the next three crewed missions after this one, then he will have five missions under his belt and, like a WWII ace, will then likely deserve the term veteran.

But not before.

Judge tells Amazon: Stop retaliating against employees

It's nice to know that megacorps still don't own the Justice Dept in the US

However, if ordering Amazon to play nice is a Good Thing^TM, making that order come with a billion dollar fine would likely ensure more immediate compliance in my opinion.

Fines need to be redefined when a company makes more than a billion dollars a year. Even a $200,000 fine won't make them bat an eyelid. Fines need to be defined as X days of operational income (not benefits, sales income).

That will make these financial behemoths sit up and take notice.

Re: But it's Christmas

Link or it never happened.