* Posts by Mike Lewis

200 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Apr 2009

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Ubuntu Linux now on Windows Store (for Insiders)

Mike Lewis

I found Mensa to be full of people who mistook thinking quickly for thinking well, much like a teenage boy who thinks he knows how to drive fast just because he has a car with a big engine.

Zero accidents, all of your data – what The Reg learnt at Bosch's autonomous car bash

Mike Lewis

Self-crashing cars

This makes me a little nervous after the way Toyota buggered up its throttle software.

Hotheaded Brussels civil servants issued with cool warning: Leak

Mike Lewis

That's not hot. This is hot.

Aussie here, ROFL. 29 degrees C isn't hot. 40 degrees C is hot.

BA CEO blames messaging and networks for grounding

Mike Lewis

Re: Alternatives.

Qantas did crash, badly, in 1999. They switched to their backup data centre so they could test their main centre for year 2000 problems. The backup centre had a fire and they couldn't return to the main one.

BOFH: Password HELL. For you, mate, not for me

Mike Lewis

Re: "I rarely get cold calls"

I'm waiting for Microsoft India to call so I can yell at them about Windows 10.

Programmer finds way to liberate ransomware'd Google Smart TVs

Mike Lewis

Re: Best reason yet

Or yet another reason to avoid LG products.

Retiring IETF veteran warns: Stop adding so many damn protocols

Mike Lewis

as well as the obligatory "The wonderful thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from" attributed to Grace Hopper, Andrew Tanenbaum, Patricia Seybold and Ken Olsen.

"The wonderful thing about sources of one quote about standards..."

That's cold: This is how our boss told us our jobs are at risk, staffers claim

Mike Lewis

Nokia handled firing and smartphones equally well

When Nokia was closing down its Melbourne Product Development branch, we were never told the branch was being shut down. People just started disappearing, one or two every week. We eventually realised what was going on. It was like being in a horror movie, wondering who was going to vanish next. When my turn came, I was told the bad news then instructed to clean out my desk. My manager stood over me, watching my every move and constantly complaining about how long I was taking to pack.

The Rise, Fall and Return of TomTom

Mike Lewis

Crap GPS Units

I hope the new stuff works better than their crap GPS unit I bought my mum which got lost more than she did.

Mobile broadband now cheaper than wired, for 95 per cent of humanity

Mike Lewis

Re: Australia?

Don't even bother looking. My fixed line went titsup (no dial tone and no ADSL) and Telstra (yes, that Telstra) will take ten days to fix it. I'm limping along on an Optus 3G modem at £5.70 per GB instead of the usual 10p per GB from my ISP.

Microsoft: Give us better staff

Mike Lewis

Re: Avast there!

> is it a case of "Take all you can, give nothing back"? I'm sure I've heard that before, now where was it?

I think it was before the French revolution. Or was it the first American one?

BA 'offers' IT bods extra leave, flexible working - unpaid of course

Mike Lewis

I can see it now

"Help desk."

"Have you tried turning it off then on again?"

"What is your current altitude?"

"Yes sir, that's more than enough time to..."

"Upgrading operating system? Let me pass you on to Tier 2."

Deploying software every day is... actually... OK – what devs tell their real-life friends

Mike Lewis

Daily deployments?

I can see a problem doing daily deployments with safety-critical software that must be certified every time it is released. Mission critical could be a problem too. At Telstra's Australian EFTPOS network, we were not allowed to deploy any new software at all in December and January, our busiest time of the year.

Feds raid dental flaws dad

Mike Lewis

Re: When is a Flaw Not a Flaw

> Are there any rules on data confidentiality in the USA that would allow a customer, or even a worried person with dental issues to sue for worry and anxiety?

There's something called the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) that appears to have been violated. The Privacy Rule covers "any part of an individual's medical record or payment history". The Security Rule states that "Information systems must be protected from intrusion. When information flows over open networks, some form of encryption must be utilised." (quotes are from Wikipedia)

Microsoft boots fake fix-it search ads

Mike Lewis

Fake might be better

I've used Microsoft tech support. I'll take my chances with the other ones.

Ransomware grifters offer to donate proceeds of crime to charity

Mike Lewis

Re: "That the proceeds of crime might be turned towards philanthropy...

Bill Gates comes to mind.

MIT boffins' code scans your health claims, tunes plans for bosses

Mike Lewis

The next step

The next step will be analytics software that pores over job seekers' health insurance claims and tells bosses whether or not to hire them.

You've seen things people wouldn't believe – so tell us your programming horrors

Mike Lewis

Near hit

Thirty years ago when I first used Unix, running as root because I didn't know any better, I created a file then decided to delete it "the Unix way" by moving it to /bin and doing rm -rf /bin/*. I thought /bin was the Unix equivalent of the Macintosh's rubbish bin icon. Fortunately, I decided to do ls /bin first in case there were files that other people didn't want deleted. Guess what I found.

Telstra proclaims free data day to make up for epic TITSUP

Mike Lewis

Network crash simulator?

Would it be worthwhile setting up a network simulator to train techies how to handle network crashes before they happen?

Kudos to Telstra for the day of free data, although it is a Sunday which must be the quietest day of the week.

USA lets visiting Australian tech workers keep toiling while they wait for visa extensions

Mike Lewis

Great news!

This is great news! I'm an embedded programmer in Melbourne who's looking for work and this will reduce the competition, much the same way as six of my friends working in that area went overseas after Australia's electronics industry died and went to China. I can't do that myself as I'm looking after my mum. If you think finding parts for old hardware is difficult, try keeping someone going who was built in 1932.

At last – Feds crack down on crummy encryption … starting with your dentist

Mike Lewis

Re: I don't get it

I'll say it is. I once rewrote 2,650 lines of C as a seven line shell script. The previous team had written a data transfer program with its own implementation of ftp. I just used the one that was already on the computer.

Victorian government teacher-laptop scheme illegal, says judge

Mike Lewis

Re: I am not amused

The slates are cheap. The chalk costs a fortune.

'iOS 9 ate my mobile broadband plan'

Mike Lewis

Re: Only one reason...

Try $2 per MB. That's what Telstra charged me for the data on my new smartphone. I ended up with a $1,300 bill on a phone that had cost me $149. Something went wrong with registering the DataPack I purchased. Trying to get the bill cancelled took me three months of visiting their shop, writing emails and calling them. It was finally resolved when I received a phone call from them saying they were going to shut off all my phones the next day. They said the credit was in the system; they didn't know why it hadn't gone through.

I removed the SIM card from the smartphone and put it back in my old Nokia 3315.

Toyota chucks $50m at AI car tech

Mike Lewis

Have they given up on natural intelligence then?

I'd feel safer if Toyota spent that money on fixing its existing code and development system. See "Toyota's killer firmware: Bad design and its consequences" at http://www.edn.com/design/automotive/4423428/2/Toyota-s-killer-firmware--Bad-design-and-its-consequences.

Jeep Cherokee 2.2: Capable, comfortable ... but just not very Jeep

Mike Lewis

Hot stuffed?

Is that the one which catches fire when the automatic transmission fluid boils over onto the engine?

BOFH: My diary is MINE and mine alone, you petty HR gimps

Mike Lewis

CRTs and Backups

Fun times were had when a team of software engineers kept getting corrupted backups on a Sony DAT (remember those?) so off to the repair shop it went. The shop couldn't find anything wrong but the team's backups were still being corrupted so the DAT, cable and controller card were bundled up and sent off. No errors detected. Then they asked me to have a look at it and I spotted the problem right away. They had laid the cable connecting the controller card to the DAT across the top of a 21" CRT. Cable moved, problem solved.

Now car hackers can bust in through your motor's DAB RADIO

Mike Lewis

Re: Beats

It makes headbanging easier.

Insurer tells hospitals: You let hackers in, we're not bailing you out

Mike Lewis

Outsourcing

To me, the most interesting part of the insurer's complaint is that the healthcare system "outsourced data to firms with poor security". Could that be extended in future to "outsourced programming to firms with poor security"?

Windows 10 MURDERED your Lumia? Microsoft says it may have a fix

Mike Lewis

Re: This is *NOT* how you do interfaces

Been there, fixed that. I once rewrote 2,651 lines of C as a seven line shell script. The previous programming team had written a data transfer program with its own buggy implementation of ftp. I just used the one that was already on the computer.

'One day, YOU won't be able to SENSE the INTERNET,' vows Schmidt

Mike Lewis

Mixed feelings

I have mixed feelings about the IoT.

On the one hand, I write device drivers for a living so I'm looking forward to the greatly increased job opportunities with every Thing needing a device driver.

On the other hand, I'm not really into home automation, let alone IoT. I prefer to keep it simple.

World, face Palm: PDA brand to RISE FROM THE GRAVE

Mike Lewis

Re: Hmmm...

I still use a Palm Pilot Tungsten E2 every day. I call it my "information engine" as I listen to podcasts and read ebooks and Internet articles (captured by Sunrise XP) on it. I had to buy a new one on eBay for $60 several months ago as the old one just wore out after eight years. When I changed to a smartphone, I got a data bill for $1,300 (eventually cancelled) thanks to something called "automatic update" so it's back to my Nokia 3315 and Palm Pilot for me. I now use the smartphone for what I had bought it for originally, which was an MP3 player.

GCHQ recruits spotty teens – for upcoming Hack Idol

Mike Lewis

See foot, shoot

Teaching a lot of teenagers how to break into computers. What could go wrong?

Top ten car gadgets: Get your motor running with new shiny-shiny

Mike Lewis

TomTom? Just say no

No, not TomTom. Never again. I bought one for my mum and it was hopeless at navigation. A sextant would have been more useful.

It did have a nice display, though. Something pretty to look at while you wander around, lost.

FTC calls for Congress to crack down on consumer data harvesting

Mike Lewis

Re: Strange that they missed some big harvesters.

They also missed the NSA.

Rap chap tapped for $3 BEELLION: Apple buys Dr Dre's Beats

Mike Lewis

A marriage made in Heaven?

Newsflash: company making overpriced computers buys company making overpriced headphones.

95 floors in 43 SECONDS: Hitachi's new ultra-high-speed lift

Mike Lewis

What could possibly go wrong?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7MGE9lzpsU

Google's Drive SLASH, secret 'big upgrade': Coincidence? Hardly

Mike Lewis

It still doesn't beat carrying 128 GB on the keyrings in my pocket.

Australian bureaucrats to journalist: 'Give us back our bits'

Mike Lewis

It's like déjà vu all over again

If that doesn't work, they could send someone over to destroy the hard drives.

Is modern life possible without a smartphone?

Mike Lewis

Bill Shock

I asked the local (Australian) telco to set up data and calling plans for my new smartphone then transferred the SIM card from my ancient Nokia. I got a bill for $1,300 (about £585) thanks to automatic update and the plans not being set up correctly. When my hands stopped shaking, I moved the SIM card back. It took three months with many phone calls, emails and visits to their shop to get them to cancel the charge. The SIM card is still in my Nokia.

Windows 8.1: Read this BEFORE updating - especially you, IT admins

Mike Lewis

Where has all my bandwidth gone?

Where has all my bandwidth gone, long time passing?

Where has all my bandwidth gone, long time ago?

Where has all my bandwidth gone?

Gone to Windows, every one.

Oh, when will they ever learn?

Oh, when will they ever learn?

I am NOT a PC repair man. I will NOT get your iPad working

Mike Lewis

It happens with other industries too. I recall being at a motorbike club party when one of the attendees foolishly admitted to being a motorcycle mechanic. He was swamped.

I read a story on the Internet, so it must be true, about a university student who went home for the holidays, taking his usual rescue CD to clean up his mother's computer. To his horror, he found that she had told all her friends he was coming so he spent the entire time fixing their computers as well.

Guinness World Records pulls beards off online Secret Santas

Mike Lewis

World record?

Is there a Guiness World Record for the worst email privacy breach?

Acer dishing out 16,400 cheap OLYMPIC laptops to schools

Mike Lewis

They're doomed!

From http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_TravelMate_6593G-944G32Mn_LX.TPX0Z.100/version.asp

Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Business

Telstra gets mail with Microsoft

Mike Lewis

After using BigPond email since the early days of dialup, it's off to Gmail for me. I prefer to use an email service that works, not one that seems to be running on Vista.

Microwaved hard disc, run-over PC and other data disasters

Mike Lewis

Confidentiality

The way I see it, computer user - technician confidentiality is like lawyer - client or doctor - patient confidentiality. If there's nothing blatantly illegal in the data I'm recovering, I don't even mention it.

Mike Lewis

Missed it by that much

And make sure the backup really is off-site. When I was interviewing an employer for a job, one of the questions I asked was "Do you have any off-site backups?" "Oh yes," he said. "They're in the building next door."

Inside Windows Phone 7: ghost of Zune

Mike Lewis

Ebooks?

"hubs - People, Pictures, Games, Music and Video, Marketplace and Office"

What about ebooks?

Consumer tech pollutes enterprise IT

Mike Lewis

Cisco DisConnect

Oh god! Not Cisco VPN everywhere! I had enormous problems with their VPN client for XP. It scrambled the TCP/IP stack so badly that nothing worked. Utilities to repair the stack didn't fix the problem and the VPN client couldn't be removed so I had to reinstall the whole operating system.

Colleagues said a later version of the software worked but wasn't available from corporate IT as it hadn't been tested yet so they downloaded a cracked version from one of the warez sites. Probably not the best source for security software.

IT managers are spoil sports

Mike Lewis

Soccer with the IT Department

Ideally, IT departments should not be oligarchs but they often are, Along with the person in charge of the stationery cupboard, they are people you do NOT want to make enemies. What works for me is to treat them as if they have done me a personal favour when they fix something, which is the attitude of the worst ones. That gets me to the front of the queue the next time something goes wrong. It also works when getting help from a member of another team, even to the extent that they will neglect their own team's work in favour of helping me. A little appreciation can go a long way.

The best thing one of the companies I worked for did, come to think of it the only good thing they did, was to set up a projector in an empty room while the Olympics were on. People were free to wander in and out as they pleased. Perhaps the same could be done for the soccer.

Police, Cameras, Inaction!

Mike Lewis

If they're not doing anything wrong...

When filming us, the police say "If you're not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to fear." That works both ways. If the police are not doing anything wrong, then they have nothing to fear.

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