Posts by Charlie Clark

Tesla Full Self Driving subscription to rise alongside its capabilities

Pay now for a service you may never get

Oh boy! Where can I get this? Sign me up now!

Qualcomm CEO pockets 15% pay rise as profits fall 45%

I'm not a fan but it's within the rules

If the compensation is due to him meeting goals agreed with by the shareholders representatives – the board – then that's the end of it. And given that the charges are related to changes in US tax law, it's not as if he could do anything about them. As "incentive packages" go, it's on the low side when you consider what other companies are doing and, Tesla possibly excepted, it's all legal. If you don't like it, then change the law.

Technically, compensation is different to remuneration. This is main reason for different tax treatment.

MIT boffins create device that 'paints' iridescent structural color in real time

Re: This is going to be like LEDs

I have actually have high-K lights in the office for the winter – fluorescents but with a good light profile and diffractor below to prevent glare. The switch to low-K in the rest of the house in the evening is pleasant, though the various forms of "warm white" will never replace the warm glow of tungsten!

Re: Please call it "Python program"

Been living here long enough…

Here's a rough guide to German mispronunciation of English vowels and where it can cause problems:

A -> Eh, so someone asking for excess, probably means access. "Chat" is becoming "shet" and there are even "grope shets"!

U -> A, so if someone asks you for an appdate they actually want an update.

The short vowels in both languages are nearly identical, so it's bizarre. The justification is usually given that it's how the Americans speak, though they don't. The closest I can think of is the weird pronuciation of the royals a hundred years ago, which was difficult to understand at the thim. Bu I blame decades of teaching by frustrated English teachers aiming to have the last laugh on their pupils! From what I can gather, fun was banned from learning foreign languages and any kind of mistake led to ritual humiliation!

Re: This is going to be like LEDs

Please put down that copy of Conspiracies Weekly. Unlike fluorescent tubes, modern LEDs have a pretty good light temperature profile. I've had them in my house for the last fifteen years and no problems. The only time I have issues is with older dimmers, such a where they can end up flickering. Unfortunately, the best solution then is to replace the dimmers, or stick with halogens.

Re: This is going to be like LEDs

LEDs were initially used in consumer electronics but quickly replaced by LCDs in handheld devices because of the power draw. Blue LEDs only came along because of massive investment by the car industry keen on reducing the BoM for headlights. Finally, as a result of better luminosity yields, LEDs have come to replace most other light sources.

Re: Please call it "Python program"

Only Germans pronounce the "A" in English words as "Eh" and claim that this is the American pronunciation – it most certainly isn't: the "a" in "Apple" is bit more drawn out in America but it's never an "e". The weird thing is that, almost identically spelled German words, the short vowels are pronounced as in English: das == that.

As Oracle loses interest in MySQL, devs mull future options

I have no love for Oracle, but to be frank, they initially did a lot of work to fix longstanding bugs that the previous owners couldn't be bothered with. I'm no fan of MySQL – Postgres is in my view usually a better choice for nearly every situation – but there may be "enterprise" features that have kept people. Of course, there is also MariaDB, but that's less likely to interest commercial users looking for support.

As for the effort to gain control over the DB – I cannot see Oracle ever letting this happen – the product exists solely to allow them to cross-sell and upsell their other products.

Concorde at 50: Twice the speed of sound, twice the economic trouble

I'm not suggesting it was ever going to fly, just pointing out how it would have worked, if it had. ICBMS do the same thing for the same reason.

I wasn't commenting on the viability of HOTOL itself, but the principle espoused is valid, which is why it's been adopted by the recent clutch of companies wanting to do the same thing.

Re: HS2 then

Some interesting points, but also reads like a list for not doing anything, which isn't a good idea. As new tracks for at least part of the line would be required, there's little or no reason not to make the new sections suitable for HS and it's not as if the geology is a real problem, certainly not in comparison with the Berlin-Munich line, though even Cologne-Frankfurt has "more" geology than London to the North West. The challenges associated with high-speed rail should indeed not be underestimated: have a high-speed line about 200m from here and it's due to be extended by two tracks in our direction. A sound wall has been promised, but we already notice the vibrations more than the noise.

The costs in built up areas, in built up areas, will dwarf most of the landscaping in the countryside, and this is also where much of the "time" is lost as the trains have to travel more slowly because of the poor tracks and the noise.

I don't understand the arguments of linking the sections from Glasgow to Lille (really? nice place but not the same kind of destination as Brussels and Paris) to justify costs. Link if possible, but most of the journeys will be the existing ones: London to the Midlands and the North West (Scotland is largely "empty" between the border and the rift valley and I used to make the journey quite frequently). Glasgow to Paris? Unlikely to have many takers.

Also the idea that energy use will require more power is really quite specious. The main argument for making these kind of lines highspeed is to encourage people to use trains rather than the car or the plane, both of which require much more energy per passenger. The new TGVs and the new ICEs are also increasing passenger capacity whilst improving the motors, meaning even lower energy per passenger required. But train services are some of the easier things to contract power supplies for because the load is predictable.

Re: HS2 then

High speed rail links between major conurbations have proven themselves in many countries such as Germany and France. It's arguable they've led to the haves and have nots: you're either close to a TGV/ICE station and love it, or you're not and feel very much left behind.

The West Coast Main Line has never had sufficient capacity or speed, as you can see when you compare it with the East Coast. The backbone was built during railway mania where the price of land was key and, therefore, skimped on. Politics also played an oversize role with Crewe the main junction and a law requiring all trains from Manchester to London also stopping in Stockport. As a result, in many places it goes unconformtably close to people's houses. Can't really do much their without encroaching even further on the properties or moving the line.

But once the political pendulum had swung back to spending more of rail infrastructure, the politicians of both main parties really managed to to fuck things up. Give Gideon credit for pointing out, that improving transport within cities (Manchester suffers massively from three terminuses really close to each other and signficantly different heights, with platforms 13 and 14 at Piccadilly infamous for anyone wanting to travel on North from there) and between them, was just as important. At the same time money for Cross Rail and new capacity in and around London was cheerily waved through…

Actually, you could make a fair comparison with another remarkable bit of technology with miserable economics: the Space Shuttle. The US has no shortage of very expensive white elephants and with the new grifter-in-chief the list is bound to get longer.

Want to fly really far, really fast: leave the atmosphere as proposed by HOTOL and similar projects.

Europe's GDPR cops dished out €1.2B in fines last year as data breaches piled up

Re: But how many have been paid?

The EU has a good record on collecting fines but many cases will wind their way through the courts first.

As with many similar legal systems, these are not damages, but fines for failing to meet legal obligations and will continue to apply until the obligations are met. Companies can be prevented from trading in the EU for non-compliance and for advertisers, that's a big market to do without. Companies are usually much happier to pay them than be found liable for damages.

Uncle Sam's VMware 'bargain' doesn't include the actual hypervisor

Good job all the managers that might notice have been fired in the name of efficiency…

Trump promises nuclear datacenter permits in 3 weeks, calls Greenland 'big beautiful ice'

Re: For someone who apparently doesn't like communism....

Most of the population is onboard with everything he and the army are doing.

Re: For someone who apparently doesn't like communism....

Ukrainians were minding their own business then Russia invaded. Didn't really matter what Ukrainians thought before then, Russia had become their enemy.

4 years on into the three-day operation and the "second army" in the world is now losing soldiers faster than it can pressgang recruit them. It's lost one of its fleets to a country that scuttled its own navy and its air defence cannot prevent a country with no long-range weapons from destroying oil platforms in a sea to which it has no direct access.

Re: Open the pod bay doors HAL

I think Miller and Vance fed the idea to him: quick win to make America bigger and him remembered for it. He's a sucker for anything that feeds his vanity, just listen to way he talks about the Nobel Peace Prize. That SMS to Stœrre was off the chart in terms of resentment. For them, it's a means to an end to destroy the post-war rules-based consensus where despotic capitalism can finally save us.

Davos itself is a lovely place but the locals would be amongst the first to welcome the end of the WEF held there. Maybe Thiel can offer to host the next one on his island?

Re: (The UK is) sitting on top of the North Sea

We're back to repeats of 1980s sit-coms?

Re: TACO time

Anything that suggests any of Trump's behaviour or rants just, in this year alone, follow any kind of strategy is itself, sadly, delusional. He's got nothing in Venezuela, nothing in Iran and nothing in Greenland but the trade deal that the EU was prepared to cut last year to keep him vaguely onside has now been lost. Fewer countries are sharing military intelligence with the US and the costs of the flotilla in the Carribean are astronomical. More great "wins" are just round the corner…

Re: TACO time

He loves such abstract ideas: nearly all the "trade deals" he trumpeted last year are little more than points for future discussion. Then there's the Gaza "peace plan" which hasn't really got past the ceasefire yet. But the biggest one is his "idea for a plan for American healthcare". Ten years in the making and still nothing to show.

Whether Trump gets anything more than a photo op signing and updated version of the 1951 treaty remains to be seen, but the EU's appeasement deal over tariffs is now off the table, which means new tariffs on US stuff from February. Wonder how long it will take for him to notice.

Re: Pity the poor journalists who have to listen to this demented ranting

Impeach Vance, and remove Miller first.

Pity the poor journalists who have to listen to this demented ranting

… almost none of what he says nowadays is even remotely true.

Rackspace tests customer loyalty with brutal email price hike

Re: Proton ?

What snooping? If you want, you can encrypt at rest, it's not illegal. And any "snooping" requires a court order, not just a fax…

I've nothing against Proton but it has also handed over information when required by courts.

That's why it's a "loss leader". All ISPs will tell you that their charges are based on what they have to pay Microsoft. Remove any kind of competition and watch those prices rise.

Re: Proton ?

Mailbox.org – developed and hosted in Germany should also get a shout. E-Mail is fantastic, online "office clients" sort of what you'd expect. WebDAV for storage is, unfortunately, predictably flaky.

But Fastmail also has plenty of fans for good service.

Er, take it you didn't read the one about Microsoft running loss-leading services to encourage dependency?

ESA puts ExoMars lander through its paces with eye on 2028 launch

Better start looking for a new launch vehicle…

Donny thinks rockets are only good for destroying people he doesn't like.

Give AirBus the cash to buy RocketLabs but keep it as an independent subsidiary.

Anthropic CEO: Selling H200s to China is like giving nukes to North Korea

Re: Canada plans on blah blah blah as the years pass

I know and covered that with "apocryphal": the story is often told as if the king was the fool. No doubt of the same mistake with Mr Big Hands…

Re: Canada plans on blah blah blah as the years pass

Trump is acting a bit like the apocryphal King Canute in that he thinks that proclaiming something is the same as doing something. Reality is different. Look at what is not happening in Venezuela: without troops on the ground it will continue to be nothing. Proclaiming ownership of Greenland would be even more meaningless as it would be legally ineffective even in America and sending troops would be both illegal and more expensive, which is why he's trying tariffs because he thinks the threats worked so well last year. The cost of keeping troops in the Arctic is the reason why America closed nearly all its bases. If it wants to reopen then but also provide all the logistics and security for it, which would be necessary if NATO collapses as a result, the costs get higher. Oh, and America doesn't have enough icebreakers and can't make them, which is why its ordered some from Finland.

Americans have to hope that Congress, spurred on by business, starts doing its job and controlling the executive, otherwise America will soon be on its own.

Sony no longer home of the Bravia as it plans TV biz spin-out to China’s TCL

Re: Quality?

Got a 15-year old Philips – when they were still made by Philips – here and it hasn't had "updates" for well over a decade but it still works fine. The embedded Opera is still able to run most of the online media centres that we're interested in, which is frankly amazing in comparison with other equipment from the time and for the rest, there's a RPi4 running Kodi.

I was thinking of a Sony as a replacement, when time comes, but they don't do the right size any more.

Dead batteries cough up lithium after a bath in CO₂ and water, boffins say

Re: Fuel cells, forsooth!

Hydrogen is only required in some kinds of fuel cells and I'm not a fan of hydrogen for the reasons you mention. Methanol fuel cells have been around for a while and it looks like the various problems are being overcome. And, of course, it's essentially containing the oxidation to produce electric energy rather than heat. Any kind of synthetic fuel production, even with renewable energy, requires more energy to be put in than can be released, but the balance is much better if you can avoid electrolysis and better by far than batteries.

Re: lithium metal

Wrong: group I elements get more reactive going down, group 7 going up. It's all to do with redox.

Re: lithium metal

Lithium is group I and, like Sodium and Potassium, both of which are more reactive as metals, but we had them both in the school lab, Li needs a little help to get going. Mg is fun when it burns, but it's "reasonably" safe to handle because it quickly builds a thin layer of oxide.

Batteries will probably shift to Na-Ion within the next decade and after that I hope we're on fuel cells for large scale use.

ERP isn't dead yet – but most execs are planning the wake

Not too enamoured of Odoo at the moment, but I think that may largely be down to the self-inflicted harm of trying to shoehorn all kinds of additional functionality into it, and from the fairly aggressive upgrade strategy. I've heard reports of Odoo using this to keep licence revenues from coming in. Some of the original developers got so annoyed with things that they created a fork: Tryton. And some of the data type handling is bizarre, but at least there's not an active record in sight. And let's not kid ourselves that the prorietary systems are any better.

For many smaller companies, the open source offerings are probably now "good enough".

Manchester ATM ups PIN requirement to full Windows login

Re: Manc-y

As an, admittedly ex-pat, Mancunian, I've always taken a certain amount of pride in the black humour of the everyday including the crime, the sordid and the depraved: from Les Dawson's immortal "It was rough in Collyhurst – the nuns used to rob us for rusks"; to the Royle Family and Shameless and beyond. To the act in question, I can hear in my mind's ear something like "Isn't that her from number 4? I wonder when she last had her nails done."

Where else would anyone be proud that Canal Street, centre of the gay village, lost its two capitals? But I would admit that violence in the city centre, and elsewhere, has increased over the last decade.

Re: Not the only OS in town...

OS/2 was used for years in all kinds of dedicated hardware from cash machines to supermarket checkouts to pretty much everything in an airport. As an OS it was much more reliable than DOS and could be run on much more modest hardware than Windows NT. But, coming from IBM, it was simply better for task of communicatiing with a remote server, which is the main job of any kind of terminal.

As for taking cards "completely out of your hands" that was presumably to the fairly common practice of copying the magnetic strip.

Call the cops…

… should have been in the headline says a Mr S Rider.

Trump wants big tech to pay for big beautiful power plants

All additional generating and grid capacity is expensive. We've got used to living with amortised infrastructure that we forgot how expensive it used to be.

BOFH: Every computer system eventually serves ads

Re: the Board members says. "That's from Hitchhiker's Guide."

So much better than the books themselves!

Re: the Board members says. "That's from Hitchhiker's Guide."

The books were based on the radio scripts.

Re: the Board members says. "That's from Hitchhiker's Guide."

People who knew Douglas Adams, including BBC's John Lloyd, said he had very poor discipline in his work. Hitchhikers, being commissioned for radio, was largely saved by the production schedule and the work of others. And, like the Goon Show, it was funny enough not to have to worry about consistency. With his later work, you can see great ideas floundering because of the lack of a good editor, who would have stopped the constant reworking of old ideas and clichés.

He will probably be remembered for his ideas and one-liners as much as anything else, and his ideas continue to inspire others.

Meta retreats from metaverse after virtual reality check

I think you misread, though the sentence is ambiguous. A second comma after AI would help, but reordering would be better:

As bulky headsets become a thing of the past, Meta is betting on AI instead.

Trump may hate renewables, but AI datacenters still fancy cheap solar

Re: Bull

You're right that any potential ROI depends mainly on the price of electricity. In Europe at around € 0.30 / kWh, current systems can "pay for themselves" in about 12 years, assuming the price of electricity stay about the same. In the US electricity is a lot cheaper, but in many places you'll get much better yields: lower latitudes and less cloud than Northern Europe, meaning you can be more or less off-grid and run air-conditioning all summer for free.

However, the price of electricity is likely to go up for everyone in order to pay for all that new generating capacity and distribution networks required for those shiny new data centres. The big IT companies are well-placed to invest directly in additional capacity, thus ensuring supply. But companies that can't afford their own supply and retails customers may soon face hefty price increases.

Wikimedia’s 25th birthday gift: Letting more AIs scour pages volunteers created

Re: Wikipedia is quite good

It is a pity, but it was always bound to happen. On a recent issue of QI there were some gems: articles about the Scots language by some kid from one of the Carolinas who'd never been to Scotland, and an amusing vandal who put the word "willy" in every article…

It's still a useful place to start, but is getting less and less relevant and the budget seems massively overblown. Still, nice of the guys to sign people's copyright away for their own personal benefit.

Bond, debt bond: Investors shaken, not stirred by Oracle’s borrowing spree sue Big Red

Re: Realised losses?

Given that the bonds have maturity dates of up to 40 years… who knows whether they will ever be paid back? If there is no plan to reschedule the debt and reduce maturities (as I think Dell did) then the lifetime costs of the bonds will be crippling – see the recent proposal in the US to increase mortgage maturities.

Firefox 147 brings GPU boost, tidier tabs, and video that follows you around

Not much use on your phone when you're not on the local network… unless you route everything through a VPN.

I've been using Blockada on my phones for years and it does a great job at blocking most ads. Very occasionally I have to disable it briefly – resolving DNS queries, for example.

OpenAI to serve up ChatGPT on Cerebras’ AI dinner plates in $10B+ deal

Re: Holy shit...

Sort of. This is probably just one more deal between "monopsodic" investors in the field inflating valuations but really just moving money from one side of the ledger to other.