Posts by Edwin

Manager showed off his DOS prowess – with a command that wiped data

Re: Anyone remember XTreePro?

Oops - too late to edit my post ;)

Anyone remember XTreePro?

I used this back in the day to quickly find and remove the temporary files Windows 3 and WordPerfect would leave scattered around the computers at the small translation firm I worked for.

At the time of this story (mid-1990s?), all work product was handed around the office on floppies, which typically meant the final work product usually ended up on the boss' PC (a blazing-fast 386DX40 IIRC).

One Friday afternoon while doing a bit of hard drive cleanup, I somehow instructed it to delete all files on his hard disk (no idea what the keystrokes were, but...)

Queue the weekend spent playing with undelete and renaming thousands of customer files, one at a time.

A few months later, I installed a coax network and a file server (well, headless PC) as well as starting a regimen of taking tape backups of all work files and I've been suitably paranoid about backups ever since ;)

Thief posed as Wi-Fi fixing hero, then stole priceless trophy

Not new

A previous employer had a problem with laptops disappearing from desks during the night.

When we did some analysis, we noticed that - on the nights in question - there was always the same security guard working the night shift.

Security guards were expected to do the rounds and also to replace the tape in the security camera system overnight.

We also noticed that - when this particular guard worked the night shift, there were always two accesses logged into the server room that housed the security system - once before, and once after his rounds. His colleagues only ever entered once.

As this wasn't hard evidence, we couldn't do more than pass it on to the security company, but the guard disappeared and the thefts stopped.

The same employer also had some prototype consumer devices disappear from a salesperson's desk. A retailer phoned up a week later offering the devices and a copy of the ID of the thief - a cleaner had picked them up and tried to sell them to a shop. The shop owner recognised them as being prototypes so paid the thief a bit for the devices but insisted on a copy of the seller's ID, which the thief kindly provided...

The latest innovation in UK public transport: Schrödinger's trains

Stockholm has a far more Schröderian bus type

Many of the area's bus stops are adorned with delightfully easy-to-read eInk displays.

However, the system that manages the data on those displays seems unaware of any cancellations, even though it *is* aware if a bus is delayed.

The consequence is that the boards regularly show that the bus will arrive in x minutes, updating regularly only for the bus to inexplicably disappear at the scheduled arrival time.

Memory godboxes could offer relief from the RAMpocalypse

Brace yourselves!

SoftRAM will be relaunched any day now!

Cornish recycling drive sows confusion among Reg Standards Bureau

Both!

Considering the US insists on using the same unit for volume and weight, I don't see why El Reg can't do the same for circumference (or area) and weight.

Apply here to win a Microsoft Ugly Sweater. It's uglier than ever

Who cares?

I'm just here for the swag ;)

(on a more serious note - I'm around windows 8 - when they made their first big forays into SaaS (Dynamics and so on)

Windows keeps obsolete strings forever to avoid breaking translations

I remember...

Microsoft used to issue a translation dictionary on diskette including all the standard terms & phrases in a large number of languages.

I was a translator at the time, and found this to be an amazing tool when translating software and user guides.

Why Microsoft has the name of an old mouse hidden in its Bluetooth drivers

I had one

Greatest travel mouse I ever owned, right up until I dropped it on a tile floor.

I've had a variety of mice since, but none of them came close in terms of usability.

Hyundai: Want cyber-secure car locks? That'll be £49, please

Re: What the upgrade entails

Yeah, mechanical locks are great. Just look up KIA USB theft on the interwebs. If your comment is more of the 'in the old days' then consider how easy it was to force a mechanical ignition lock that didn't have a digital immobiliser behind, let alone cars that were subject to hotwiring.

Mechanical car locks haven't worked for years. I don't say everything digital is better, but to suggest they're inherently superior is nonsense.

Torvalds' typing taste test touches tactile tragedy

Ergonomic keyboards...

I've been using these since the very first 5 pin full-size DIN Microsoft Natural, and my RSI has not come back.

The pain point remains the haptic feedback - after being forced by colleagues in the open plan to abandon my last iteration of the MS Natural, I've been working with the sculpt and - since its demise - a Logitec K860. Haptically not bad, but I miss the key-bashing joy of a proper keyboard.

Early mornings, late evenings, weekends. Useless users always demand support

Homeless?

C'mon El Reg - reading your linked story, that "apparently homeless" family was homeless in only the most technical way - they couldn't move into their new house because of the Barclays glitch, for which the bank should perhaps be made to pay but the family is hardly destitute and sleeping rough...

Want to feel old? Excel just entered its 40th year

Also does anyone remember

The 'boss key' on early text games like Rogue that would take you to a mockup of the 1-2-3 screen?

Disney kicks Slack to the curb, looks to Microsoft Teams for a happily ever after

Element isn't going to attract many customers

if their CEO insists on branding potential customers as idiots....

I work in Slack but my customers tend to use Teams so I have that too. Both platforms have their pros and cons for Joe User - not sure either is particularly 'better'

Kia Niro electric vehicle defies physics with record-breaking 114 million miles on the clock

VW is a bit better.

Have a '21 Skoda Superb PHEV - lanekeeping is surprisingly good, even in poor visibility but it does get itchy around complex lane merges. Can't read speed limit signs worth a damn but I've switched off the warnings for that anyway.

Overall, the software got a bit better once VW finally rolled out some updates - if only their hardware would match it...

Drove one of these

As a rental for a few weeks while the PHEV was in for repairs this winter.

Nice enough, the bongs & whistles are indeed annoying but the deal-killer is the Swedish winter highway range and slow recharge rate - having to take a 30+ minute break after 200 to 250km of driving is not acceptable.

Speed limiters arrive for all new cars in the European Union

I was going to comment

and then I realised that there would be an ALMIGHTY flamewar going on in the comments section so thought better of it :D

Infosec biz boss accused of BS'ing the world about his career, anti-crime product, customers

Lies in infosec?

Hardly new, and sometimes significantly more damaging. For the soap opera version, look up Rian van Rijbroek...

China to launch sample return mission to the far side of the Moon – maybe next week

Re: Hail Floyd!

Twas exactly for this reference that I came here :)

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

Of course they do

Any time you report a clearly fake user profile on Facebook they'll refuse to act because more impressions is more money.

And if you spot a scam ad on Youtube, there isn't even a mechanism to flag it because Google is getting cash direct from the scammers.

A small Alaska town wants a big bronze Riker

Re: Wait til the statue is up and the town finds out...

nownow, not everything is about politics ;)

"infamous"

"in homage to the infamous way Riker actor Jonathan Frakes would raise his leg over chairs to sit on the set "

IIRC this is because Frakes had severe back problems and couldn't sit down in a more traditional way.

Apple and Samsung tussle over whose gizmos are hardest to fix

Whither Fairphone?

I would have thought that Fairphones would score highest on repairability. I appreciate they're not a huge brand but PIRG seems to be doing themselves a disservice by only talking about the big brands and not companies that seem to do this rather well...

SAP hits brakes on Tesla company car deal

Re: Image

Agreed - I suspect his Muskiness' dim view of organised labour contributes as well - German unions have been fairly vocal in their support of the Swedish strike.

Alaska Airlines' door-dropping flight was missing bolts

"the plane performed as intended"

At least they're honest then...

'I’m sorry for everything...' Facebook's Zuck apologizes to families at Senate hearing

Re: The social media industry needs better representation

My attention was drawn more to the hypocrisy of Lindsey accusing anyone else of being a threat to democracy...

Fujitsu gets $1B market cap haircut after TV disaster drama airs

Re: 4% down ?

My thought was actually that if airing the programme on telly resulted in a 4% drop in market cap, then the institutional investors have been asleep at the wheel - this story is hardly new...

Retired Akamai CEO sues daughter's ex-husband over unpaid millions

George's LinkedIn profile suggests

he became CEO in 1999, leaving the post in 2005. He was chairman until 2018.

Boeing gives busy billionaires unbothered about bespoke beds a cheaper BizJet

Left wondering indeed

Who's the target market here?

Those that earned it themselves didn't earn it by not paying attention to detail

Those that didn't presumably have either staff or free time to make the interior turquoise velvet.

I just don't see the point of a $100M off-the-rack plane...

Bombshell biography: Fearing nuclear war, Musk blocked Starlink to stymie Ukraine attack on Russia

Re: Pick your poison

If that question is being asked in earnest, we're all doomed.

The price of freedom turned out to be an afternoon of tech panic

I'll assume this was America

Because only there would an employee even consider calling an employer "very forgiving" when they've just docked your pay for an innocent mistake (especially if you're fresh out of school and thus presumably cheap)

(I suspect btw it's pretty easy to dock the pay - especially for an hourly wage employee - just tell them not to book the hours or they're fired.)

Fujitsu admits it fluffed the fix for Japan’s flaky ID card scheme

Not gomen'nasai

I believe sumimasen would be more appropriate in this case...

Airline puts international passengers on the scales pre-flight

Finnair did this

5 or so years ago - seems very sensible.

Let white-hat hackers stick a probe in those voting machines, say senators

Re: If you want secure elections

Agreed - I take issue with the "it was all much more secure before computers" because that's not the same as "election outcomes were more accurate before computers"

Automated vote tallying of paper ballots is indeed the way to go if you want absolutely demonstrable results.

With regard to voter registration - I've never understood the slightly weird US system. Most of the countries I've lived in are infinitely more democratic: you get a document by mail allowing you to vote, and you get it by mail by definition, not depending on whether you've followed some arcane process.

Ex-OpenSea exec convicted in first-of-its-kind case of insider trading of NFTs

A lament

For the state of education in the US, when even those who write for a living (press releases) are unable to put together four lines correctly (advanced -> advance). And fie on El Reg for not making light of it!

ServiceNow CEO says mergers and acquisitions are off the table – too messy

It seems he's learned something then ;)

Electron-to-joule conversion formulae? Cute. Welcome to the school of hard knocks

Re: Nortel clearly learnt from this...

Indeed, I managed a 51C that seemed indestructible.

I'm guessing the SDX was a predecessor of the 11C?

When ERP migrations go bad: Games Workshop says project issues are delaying refresh of 'dated' online store

Has anyone ever heard of an ERP migration...

...that finished on time, on budget and on scope?

AI caramba, those neural networks are power-hungry: Counting the environmental cost of artificial intelligence

The bigger processing power waste

is in cryptocurrency, where the processing load for mining is pure waste.

Wouldn't mind seeing that addressed, but I suspect most crypto miners don't care and it would presumably be impossible to regulate.

So the data centre's 'getting a little hot' – at 57°C, that's quite the understatement

Re: I once had to do something similar in a Skoda...

I once had a similar experience in sunny New Mexico in the late 80s or early 90s - a somewhat older vehicle was standing by the side of the highway showing clear signs of overheating. We stopped and offered assistance and showed them the trick of running the heater to help cool the engine.

They drove off happily, and we followed for a bit to make sure all was well. Sure enough, after a little while, they pulled over again. Turned out it was too hot in the car with the heater running (it was nearly 40 degrees outside), so they'd switched on the A/C, and a late 70s/early 80s A/C compressor represents a significant engine load...

Advised them to roll down the windows instead, which got them to the next exit.

Boston Dynamics spends months training its Atlas robots to perform one minute of parkour almost perfectly

Re: I, for one, welcome our new robotic overlords..

Agreed. Boston Dynamics is quite possibly the coolest company on the planet.

Magna Carta mayhem: Protesters lay siege to Edinburgh Castle, citing obscure Latin text that has never applied in Scotland

Another comedy of errors taken down...

't seems Janie's gone and removed the video. So much for my lunchtime entertainment...

Chocolate beer barred from sale after child mistakes it for chocolate milk

Re: Misreporting for clicks

Yeah, I'm hoping this doesn't represent a new trend in clickbaity headlines for El Reg. That would be a drop in standards.

A hotline to His Billness? Or a guard having a bit of a giggle?

Re: Hunt Groups

Indeed, and hunt groups don't all ring at once, but they 'hunt' from extension to extension if I remember my Nortel days correctly. It seems unlikely you'd set up your PBX hunt groups to hunt to extensions all over campus, if for no other reason than that the accounts department can't help you with a bug report and his billness can't help with a billing inquiry.

I'm not saying it's impossible, but it seems unlikely the PBX would be set up this way.

NTT slashes top execs’ pay as punishment for paying more than their share of $500-a-head meals with government officials

Japanese curry

I found Japanese curry to be one of the most interesting imports and exceptionally good value - to the point of finding out where to by the spice mixes after returning home :)

Can't beat okonomiyaki though :)

Linus Torvalds tells kernel list poster to 'SHUT THE HELL UP' for saying COVID-19 vaccines create 'new humanoid race'

Facebook

...and the reason I think El Reg should purge itself from Facebook is the (only) three comments below this story on that platform. Sadly they originate from a countryman of mine.

For those who don't know: Lange Frans is a washed-up has-been from the dutch rap scene. He's trying to make a name from himself (or return to the spotlight) as an 'influencer' by peddling consipiracy theories and other social mechanisms that seem to exist only to prove Darwin right.

Traffic lights, who needs 'em? Lucky Kentucky residents up in arms over first roundabout

Check out Freakonomics episode 454

There's one town in the US doing really well with roundabouts, and there's a fair bit of science supporting them as a good traffic management measure.

Salesman who helped land Veritas UK's 'largest ever' deal was lawfully docked £275k in commission, says judge

Renewal?

I believe it was a renewal, in which case the really tough sell (assuming your delivery is good) has already been done...

How not to apply for a new job: Apply for it on a job site

Re: LinkedOut.

I'll be the dissenting voice then :)

I quite like LinkedIn, but must confess that I'm more of a Dabbsian generalist than a hardcore specialist.

The term 'Facebook for suits' is perhaps pretty apt, but I wouldn't go so far as the OP who is - presumably - engaging in a bit of commentardism on the boss' dime as well.

Docking £500k commission from top SAS salesman was perfectly legal, rules judge

Typo aside

Assuming the bonus depends on both revenue and margin, customers will be able to get quite nice pricing in future as sales no longer cares about high margin beyond a certain contract size :)

So if you're a bigger customer for SAS, now is the time to renew :D