* Posts by Mike Shepherd

643 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Aug 2008

Page:

Worldwide Web wizard Tim Berners-Lee sticks wellington boot into Worldwide Web's giants: Time to break 'em up?

Mike Shepherd
Meh

ne supra crepidam

Tim B-L...is there anything he's not an expert on?

Should a robo-car run over a kid or a grandad? Healthy or ill person? Let's get millions of folks to decide for AI...

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Another possibility

I want the option to enter preferred targets - a "hit list", if you like. I have mine ready.

Raspberry Pi fans up in arms as Mathematica disappears from Raspbian downloads

Mike Shepherd

Just another pre-installed program

Mathematica (like Cortana in Windows) was just another pre-installed program that I didn't use. If I want it, I can download it. Until then, it doesn't pollute my Pi.

Russian rocket goes BOOM again – this time with a crew on it

Mike Shepherd
Meh

How can we spin that?

NASA blew up one bunch of astronauts because they said "Hey, we don't know why those seals are burning through, but we got away with it before...Go at throttle up!" Learning nothing, they said "Hey, those tiles always get hit by foam at supersonic speed, but we got away with it before..." (and blew up another bunch). Russia has a fault and gets the crew safely back to earth, but the BBC comments There is already much discussion about the current state of Russian industry and its ability to maintain the standards of yesteryear.

Windows 0-day pops up out of nowhere Twitter

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Proactively

It looks like Microsoft have a new definition of "proactively". Perhaps it's just another warm and cuddly word fetched from the shelf when trying to give a good impression, without much regard to the meaning.

For all the excitement, Pie may be Android's most minimal makeover yet – thankfully

Mike Shepherd
Meh

It's a Wonderful Life

Within a few hours I found that Bluetooth was erratic, and the Samsung Gear app, for example, crashes on startup. But that's to be expected with a new platform release...

The great thing about writing software is that customers actually expect trouble and will even blame themselves when it goes wrong. Maybe some day we'll have to produce the quality expected of the automobile industry, but let's make hay while there's sun.

Within a few hours I found the steering was erratic, and the engine, for example, crashes on startup. But that's to be expected with a new platform release...

FTDI boss hits out at 'Chinese criminal gang' pumping knock-off chips

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Re: Ironically the FTDI clones actually work better than the originals

I sympathise with FTDI regarding "clones", but you're right about their "bit bang" mode and reluctance to admit it. The erratum (version 1.0) which you mention is dated November 2010, but they admitted the fault in an email to us in November 2008: The uneven pulse width is due to a flaw in the clock synchronization (sic) between the usb and output stage. Knowing that the device didn't work as described would have saved my designing to use it in that way and several more hours investigation to discover that it was their fault, not mine.

First low-frequency fast radio burst to grace our skies detected at last

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Re: Uh, am I the only one

An interesting radar. Have you considered how weak the return signal would be?

Srong enough that it was used from Earth in the 1960s to measure the rotation rates of Mercury and of Venus. See, for example, here, which describes the use of radar at 430MHz.

Plus, by the time it got back, the original radar would probably have been replaced by a newer model.

No, the signal returns in a few minutes.

Interplanetary: (adjective) between planets.

The Solar System's oldest minerals reveal the Sun's violent past

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Re: Highly volatile noble gases?

volatile: (of a substance) easily evaporated at normal temperatures.

Registry to ban Cyrillic .eu addresses even if you've paid for them

Mike Shepherd
Unhappy

"Does anyone..."

"...does anyone open their browser and type in سرچانجن.com (or whatever) instead of typing the western script equivalent?"

Does anyone spend their life writing in those squiggly characters that just look weird to you? Yes they do. There's a whole world of foreign, squiggly-character writers out there, beyond your horizon. It was even there before the Latin alphabet existed. You just don't see it, because you live in your limited version of the internet with your limited character set. Get a life.

HMRC told AGAIN to toughen up on VAT-dodging online traders

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Amazon

Amazon is convenient for small quantities of electronic development items. But their Chinese traders (despite being VAT-registered in the UK) often struggle to produce a valid VAT invoice or receipt. They may omit their registration number or the figures quoted just don't make sense.

Amazon claims to act only as broker. It's not clear that this has yet been tested in court. (They collect your cash, but claim that any problems are between you and the seller). If the cash receiver were liable to pay the VAT, they'd likely tighten up very quickly.

HMRC: Aria PC's £2m MSN Messenger deals bonanza was VAT fraud

Mike Shepherd
Meh

HMRC crookery

It's worth remembering that HM Customs and Excise (responsible for VAT) was basically shut down and forced to merge with the Inland Revenue following their "billions" in deliberate losses and subsequent crookery (lying) in court. See, for example, Panorama "Nothing To Declare" 23rd March 2005.

Hence the new name "HM Revenue and Customs".

Have they changed? It seems unlikely.

GDPR forgive us, it's been one month since you were enforced…

Mike Shepherd
Meh

"The pace of global regulations is hard to predict"

Translation: "Our site insists we can sell your details to anyone, anywhere and you get no say in this. Although we knew for years that this was coming, we just hoped it wouldn't happen, so we can't handle it".

Buttonless and port-free: Expect the next iPhone to be as smooth as a baby's bum

Mike Shepherd
Meh

The true reason for concern

...wireless charger...would also significantly raise the price of the phones

I think you mean:

...wireless charger...would also significantly raise the cost of the phones

US tech companies sucked into Russian sanctions row

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Re: Muppets.

kool-aid drinking Democrats

This is one up from the usual "Libtards!...Republitards! that constitutes most political discussion in the US.

FBI's flawed phone tally blamed on programming error. 7,800 unbreakable mobes? Er, um...

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Right to bear arms

Since the US defines encryption as "munitions", how does that fit with their beloved "right of the people to keep and bear arms"?

Microsoft has designed an Arm Linux IoT cloud chip. Repeat, an Arm Linux IoT cloud chip

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Reliable IoT

My Linux server updates when I decide that's appropriate. Will Microsoft's custom Linux do the same?

At present, Microsoft updates my Windows server, without warning*, when it feels like it. This can take up to 20 minutes and has twice disabled all its web sites until I discovered that, searched for and applied a solution, provided not by Microsoft but by other customers saying "Try this". Updates have also discarded my shortcut keys for standard programs (like Notepad) and caused other mischief with no warnings or options.

If that's Microsoft's vision for IoT, which might control my heating, check for fires, allow me to open the garage door (and maybe the front door), I don't want it.

*There may be a subtle notice, which Microsoft describes as "Heads up" (apparently an American insult which means something like "pay attention, idiots"). This notice indicates that the PC will be restarted, whether I like it or not.

Europe is living in the past (by nearly six minutes) thanks to Serbia and Kosovo

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Re: 240/230/220V

The EU Single Market membership robbed us of 10V. Do we get it back after Brexit?

No country needed to change voltage. Compatibility was achieved by widening the tolerance band.

Slack cuts ties to IRC and XMPP, cos they don't speak Emoji

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Oh, the humanity.

"...emoji reactions...that the IRC and XMPP gateways aren't able to handle"

New Google bias lawsuit claims company fired chap who opposed discrimination

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Re: Does that mean...

The sixth downvote is from a reader who tires of poor-quality writing, which wastes readers' time in deciphering.

UK mobile customers face inflation-busting price hike

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Potatoes

"the price of potatoes goes up, so mobile phone calls are suddenly more expensive to provide?"

Yes, mobile phone providers eat potatoes, too.

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Re: Abuse

Most people (in the UK and the US) budget so badly that they could never pay up-front for the lastest tech-toy they "must" have.

So, as long as payment is "tomorrow" and not "today", they'll go for it. Few have even the schoolboy maths to work out compound interest, so one "deal" looks much the same as another. If there's any decision, it's based on trinkets like "free fake leather carrying case".

Don't worry. It keeps prices down for the rest of us.

This is why we can't have nice things, BT tells Global Services after 3% sales droop

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Goodwill

"...a writeoff of several hundred million quid (maybe more) of the goodwill".

For any BT business, proper accounting practice would write off goodwill at the first opportunity, except perhaps for the boost in goodwill when it declares "under new management".

Openreach ups investment plans: Will shoot out full fibre to 3 million premises

Mike Shepherd
Meh

"totalling billions over time"

...just like the harmonic series, some time after the sun goes out.

H-1B visa hopefuls, green card holders are feeling the wrath of 'America first' Trump

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Norway

Most disturbing is the belief that anyone from Norway would be stupid enough to move there.

Cold calling director struck off for ‘flagrant’ breach of duties

Mike Shepherd
Happy

Re: Struck off as a director

"Judging from how this guy runs his businesses and the debts is he married to Diane Abbott?"

Your icon is appropriate: that would drive anyone to drink.

How digitalisation will change your storage culture

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Agreed

From Digital Signal Processing by Steven W Smith, chapter 3:

When electronics got around to inventing digital techniques, the preferred names had already been snatched up by the medical community nearly a century before. Digitalize and digitalization mean to administer the heart stimulant digitalis.

GIMPS crack whip on plucky processor to find largest prime number

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Yawn

Call me when they have the first for π(x) > li(x) (estimated about 10316).

Italy leans on Amazon to retrieve €100m in unpaid tax

Mike Shepherd
Meh

You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh

"...in Italy, where we have invested more than €800m since 2010 and created over 3,000 jobs".

And all from pure benevolence, devoid of self-interest.

So you're 'agile', huh? I do not think it means what you think it means

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Pay no attention to that consultant behind the curtain!

We must always consider new ideas. (Whether there's anything new about Agile is moot). But, 2,500 years on, real progress still comes more often from persistence and hard work.

Escrow you, Apple! Ireland expects Cupertino to cough up to €13bn

Mike Shepherd
Meh

"The Register has contacted Apple for a statement"

Good luck with that.

Ex-cop who 'kept private copies of data' fingers Cabinet Office minister in pr0nz at work claims

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Only a click away

Since many innocent pages are only a click away from porn and default browser settings may pre-fetch linked pages, I'd be surprised not to find thumbnails on almost everyone's PC.

Russia threatens to set up its 'own internet' with China, India and pals – let's take a closer look

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Re: The collapse of the USSR.....

"...some kind of Marshall like plan..."

Wasn't that ножки Буша? I think ex-president Nixon made the same point.

GCSE compsci kids' work may not count after solutions leaked online

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Isolated

...teachers "were very isolated" by not being able to talk to others...

It makes you wonder how teachers managed 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. Can they work now only by constant reference to web sites?

Three useless UK.gov 'catapults' put in Last Chance Saloon

Mike Shepherd
Happy

Don't worry, Mr Lamb

It's only public money!

Ads watchdog to BT: We say your itsy bitsy, teeny weeny Ts&Cs too small for screeny

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Re: Wrong

You forgot the leopard.

Continuous Lifecycle 2018: Agile pioneer Dr Linda Rising to keynote

Mike Shepherd
Meh

"Get your skates on"

I think I'll just stay here, by the fire, in my slippers. There was a time I might rush to the window at the sound of the nearest fad. Now I'm content to hear it whizz by as I stir my cocoa.

Tell us what you're doing in DevOps, Containers, and Agile

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Tell us what you've stopped doing too...

I've stopped reading articles about snake oil.

Customers cheesed off after card details nicked in Pizza Hut data breach

Mike Shepherd

Not until the credit card companies are made jointly liable.

Co-op Bank's users moan over online wobbles

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Ethical

Had a house sale complete today, so would like to move some funds, but...

Well, I look on the bright side: at least they claim to be "ethical". And perhaps they are (if you overlook the occasional drug-taking and procurement of rent boys by senior management).

Cortana, please finish my sentences in Skype texts for me

Mike Shepherd
Meh

But...

It will take a lot of AI to make up for having nothing important to say.

Mike Shepherd
Meh

"It looks like you're writing a letter"

I suppose it could work, if it's not another annoying elbow-nudger.

Dumb bug of the week: Apple's macOS reveals your encrypted drive's password in the hint box

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Hints

Password hints can only weaken the security of a password. Apple just did it better, that's all.

Sole Equifax security worker at fault for failed patch, says former CEO

Mike Shepherd
Meh

"Sole...worker at fault..."

That's convenient. No need, then, for the company to shrivel and die like Arthur Andersen.

MH370 final report: Aussies still don’t know where it crashed or why

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Man up

"...societally unacceptable...for a large commercial aircraft to be missing and for the world not to know with certainty what became of..."

As a kid, I would wander from home, maybe climb a tree or two. I recall once for a thrill making my way across a railway bridge (on the outside). If I'd never made it home I doubt that the world would be much different now. I quite like the notion that there are still places you could disappear and never be found, somewhere still neglected by Amber Rudd, GCHQ and the CIA. If you step outside your home or fly across an ocean, there's a risk. It would be useful to know what happened, but that's a long way from insisting that we monitor every inch of the planet (unless you're a company looking to sell numerous radar and other systems to satisfy those who can't handle uncertainty).

Dot-Amazon spat latest: Brazil tells ICANN to go fsck itself, only 'govts control the internet'

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Re: The whole thing's stupid

If I remember correctly, packet switching was conceived by a Welshman (Donald Davies) who invented the concept of a router and did the hard work in analysis of problems like network congestion. On that basis, the internet is Welsh. Any more stupid ideas?

Don't panic, but.. ALIEN galaxies are slamming Earth with ultra-high-energy cosmic rays

Mike Shepherd
Happy

I got a sudden warm feeling

You can still sleep soundly at night...Particles with an energy level greater than 10 EeV, and typically arriving from beyond the Milky Way, tend to hit Earth at a rate of one per square kilometre per year.

That's no consolation if you happen to be standing there at the time. I think 10EeV is about 2J?

NBD: Adobe just dumped its private PGP key on the internet

Mike Shepherd
Meh

Who copied whom?

The article is very similar to this one. Neither acknowledges the other (or any common source). I thought the whole point of a link was that you didn't need to duplicate.

Homeland Security drops the hammer on Kaspersky Lab with preemptive ban

Mike Shepherd
Meh

In plain sight?

"There are two possibilities...1...Kaspersky is a tool of the FSB..."

If so, you'd think the FSB would choose a more American name, perhaps "Dexter" or "LeRoy".

Page: