* Posts by Pete 2

3480 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

What strange beauty is this? Microsoft commits to two more non-subscription Office editions

Pete 2 Silver badge

Keep your data close, and your AI closer.

"The future of work in an AI-powered world is on the cloud,"

Was this comment written by an AI (in the cloud)?

Because ISTM that the way AI is moving is from the cloud, onto local instances. Ones that are under the control of the individual or organisation that hosts them, locally. Without the need to leak all their data to some unknown location that does not have their best interests in mind.

Your PC can probably run inferencing just fine – so it's already an AI PC

Pete 2 Silver badge

Extra mile

> Many law firms would run toward that sort of tool, screaming "Shut up and take my client's money!"

And with luck, many clients would say to their lawyers"I can now do that without your assistance. What value do you add?"

Linux 6.9 will be the first to top ten million Git objects

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Git object

And what does this git object to?

UK and US lack regulation to protect space tourists from cosmic ray dangers

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Earthly dangers

Given the popularity of sunbathing. I suspect it would be more a case of taxing it than banning it.

Though in the UK, it wouldn't bring in much.

Pete 2 Silver badge

Earthly dangers

> Damage to DNA, mutations, uncontrolled cell division and malignancy. Is space tourism worth the risk?

All of which can be got from lying in the sun for too long. Yet governments don't feel the need to ban / regulate ot limit that.

Job interview descended into sweary shouting match, candidate got the gig anyway

Pete 2 Silver badge

The first one is free

> peppered Colin with questions about deeply technical hypothetical mail server issues.

I think we have all done technical consultancy masquerading as interviews.

The problem with freely displaying highly specialised knowledge and then being employed on the basis of it, is that as depth of knowledge increases it is often at the cost of its breadth. Your field of expertise gets narrower and narrower.

In addition, once you have solved the particular issue that the job offer was based upon, what further use does your new employer have for you?

Olympic-level server tossing contest seeks entrants – warranty voiding guaranteed

Pete 2 Silver badge

Waiter minute

> server tossing

We aren't talking about food servers, are we?

That would take tipping them, too far.

Tiny Core Linux 15 stuffs modern computing in a nutshell

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Less code, fewer bugs?

We can hope!

It's that most wonderful time of the year when tech cannot handle the date

Pete 2 Silver badge

Time to go

> February 29

Also, it's the day many people don't get paid for working.

If you are paid weekly, then the extra day just forms part of the normal working week and employers pay their staff for the leap-day.

But if you are paid monthly, then you get the same amount fof February 2024 as you got for February 2023 (assuming no intervening pay rise - an increasingly common complaint). Even though you work an extra day in 2024.

Uncle Sam tells nosy nations to keep their hands off Americans' personal data

Pete 2 Silver badge

The best things in life

> prevent the sale or transfer of Americans' sensitive personal information and government-related data

At this point I suspect the baddies are either climbing back into their chairs after a good ROFL, or scratching their heads in confusion.

In both cases wondering why anyone would go to the expense of buying this data when it is easier to simply take it, for free, from unsecured sources.

Starting over: Rebooting the OS stack for fun and profit

Pete 2 Silver badge

Y2K times a million

> Firstly. We have to throw away backwards compatibility again

And that is where it all falls apart.

Nobody except computer science students buy platforms simply because they have a novel architecture. The real world buys computers to get stuff done. And as such academic articles about the neatness of the architecture get short shrift.

If it was even a little bit important, nobody would have gone down the Intel / 80x86 branch, but would have stuck with the "cleaner" addressing modes of the 68000. Yay! let's revive the architecture battles of 40 years ago.

But they didn't. The decision makers with the money to spend chose backwards compatibility. They will always do the same again. The biggest reason being that nobody would trust an emulated layer, without testing all their code and data against it and fixing the inevitable gaps.

It's crazy but it's true: Apple rejected Bing for wrong answers about Annie Lennox

Pete 2 Silver badge

Jealousy

> Bad search results for the query "Annie Lennox first band"

Do you can make Bing cross by asking about other singers.

Security is hard because it has to be right all the time? Yeah, like everything else

Pete 2 Silver badge

The biggest flaw

Any discourse on security that doesn't discuss the users is missing the single biggest vulnerability.

Without considering how the system will / could be used, everything else is academic.

Work for you? Again? After you lied about the job and stole my stuff? No thanks

Pete 2 Silver badge

Do unto others

> while senior management were scoundrels, maybe they were due a little kindness too

Hmmm. Let's think about this .... no! Screw 'em.

Orgs are having a major identity crisis while crims reap the rewards

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Working from ... North Korea?

> As in people routinely letting strangers in to their home ...

Electronically? Yes. Spot on.

Pete 2 Silver badge

Working from ... North Korea?

> 71 percent year-over-year increase in the volume of attacks using valid credentials in 2023

One wonders what proportion of those stolen credentials were from people with elevated privileges working in their home, rather than at their company's premises

Space nukes: The unbelievably bad idea that's exactly that ... unbelievable

Pete 2 Silver badge

Star wars?

The americans were quite happy to talk about their Strategic Defence Initiative forty years ago. Yet there wasn't a mention of it in the article. Did I miss it?

And it appears they had no qualms about treaties, legalities or other philosophical limitations.

Although it was never implemented (as far as anyone can tell) I suspect than in the decades since then, the plans have been refined, the technology updated - just how stealthy can you make a satellite? - and the countermeasures improved.

Damn Small Linux returns after a 12-year gap

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Moved on

> I really can't think of any features I use now which I didn't use then

Yes. Whenever I hear about a new release of anything: O/S's, apps, browsers ... anything, the only question I have is what will I be able to do, that I cannot already do?

And far too often the answer is nothing.

Pete 2 Silver badge

risk it!

updare is what you do when refreshing alpha-level software

How did China get so good at chips and AI? Congressional investigation blames American venture capitalists

Pete 2 Silver badge

Money can't buy intelligence

Just as it can't buy good health.

Even back in 2022, China was filing three times as many patents per year as the US was.

Apple Vision Pro has densest display iFixit's ever seen, and almost-OK repairability

Pete 2 Silver badge

> F-35 Jet Fighter Helmet

The difference is that an F35 is sold as having a service life until 2070 while if this is a typical Apple product, it will be pulled before 2030.

Though I expect the last 40 years of the F35 will be as target practice for the next generation of pilotless, stealth, hyper-agile fighters.

Pete 2 Silver badge

spots before the eyes

> you can fit ~54 Vision Pro pixels into a single iPhone pixel

Hopefully running at much lower brightness levels. So users aren't left with an Apple logo seared onto their retinas

iFixit tears Apple's Vision Pro to pieces

Pete 2 Silver badge

Frying tonite

> three iPhone-sized batteries that combine to pump out an impressive 35.9 Wh

Let's hope all those Joules (142,000) don't get routed through the wearer's head at once!

That's not the web you're browsing, Microsoft. That's our data

Pete 2 Silver badge

If

> If users on multiple support threads are correct ...

A good question. But one the article fails to answer. And until someone who knows, does so this is just a long piece of suppository supposition

The great thing about FOSS is that it is at least possible for independent operators to answer such questions.

Congress told how Chinese goons plan to incite 'societal chaos' in the US

Pete 2 Silver badge

Open door policy

> "The fact that PRC hackers are targeting our critical infrastructure, water treatment plants, our electrical grid, our oil and natural gas pipelines, our transportation systems — and the risk that poses to every American requires our attention

The more worrying issue is that they can!

What are "critical infrastructure" elements doing on the wild west internet in the first place?

What provides cheap and convenient access for remote operators provides exactly the same for bad actors.

SparkyLinux harbors a flamboyant array of desktops

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: desktop zoo

While "diversity" is fun and gives the impression to being good, it acts as a drag on software development.

When each version of an O/S has a UI that needs it's own special coding to get stuff done then it rapidly becomes expensive for software makers to support all those variants.

Likewise, when every user is running their own special, customised, desktop, Linux version or hardware, then support for all that stuff becomes a nightmare too.

It seems to me that the operating systems that are successful: that have non-negligible market share, are the ones that offer few or no, options for variation. We see the same thing in mass production of consumable durables: few options, but cheaper and selling more - than for bespoke, custom, boutique products where every one of the is different from every other.

Pete 2 Silver badge

desktop zoo

> we feel that the Linux desktop world badly needs more diversity of design.

I understand the idea. But ...

People go to a zoo to see all the animals and to marvel at the diversity, their different shapes, sizes and habits. But that doesn't mean they would want any of them in their home.

ISTM what people want from either a domestic pet, or a Linux desktop is something clean, well-behaved and easy to look after.

I realise there are always a few "look at me" types, who feel the need to display their individualism by choosing something exotic - just like all the other individualists do. However, the lessons of which O/S's are successes and which have marginalised themselves by offering a slew of alternatives - each one sufficiently different from the others to be a right PITA to learn, program and maintain - those lessons are clear for all to see,

Standards-obsessed boss ignored one, and suffered all night for his sin

Pete 2 Silver badge

by the book

> relentless pursuit of standardized perfection

or idiot administrators with no clue about the real world, as they are more commonly known

BreachForums admin 'Pompourin' sentenced to 20 years of supervised release

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we can only dream

> 20 years of supervised release

If only software came with such terms

Junior techie had leverage, but didn’t appreciate the gravity of the situation

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: More than enough blame to go around

> working for a local government organization in the UK

You would hope the union would have something to say

Pete 2 Silver badge

More than enough blame to go around

> He knows it was a mistake to let the minion do the job unattended.

"Robert" was lucky that his role as supervisor remained intact. Places I have worked with *big* datacentres do not allow people to work alone.

Wing, Alphabet's drone delivery unit, designs bigger bird to deliver pasta, faster

Pete 2 Silver badge

Sorties?

> Wing has reportedly delivered over 350,000 orders to customers' homes across three continents.

Hmmm, 2kg of payload can do a lot of damage.

Drivers: We'll take that plain dumb car over a flashy data-spilling internet one, thanks

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: ransomware

I'm waiting for variable extortion payments. Want to use your air conditioning in winter? It's free! Want to use it when it's 40°C? That'll be £1 per mile.

Pete 2 Silver badge

ransomware

> internet-connected smart cars

My main concern is that you pay a small fortune to buy a car, then get hit with "extras" that require a monthly subscription. Subs that the maker can arbitrarily increase at any time, to any amount. Or turn off completely at their whim. Maybe even download "upgrades" that severely limit the performance or utility of what you have already paid for. Just like with PCs and phones.

This seems to be following the trend of cloud computing for businesses. It sounded like a good idea, but increasingly, the drawbacks and costs mean that it's the wrong decision for many.

Former Post Office boss returns CBE to sender over computer system scandal

Pete 2 Silver badge

Lost in the post?

> returning her CBE

Let's hope it arrives back safely

Uncle Sam wants to make it clear that America's elections are very, very safe

Pete 2 Silver badge

Should not need saying

> a campaign to convince the public that each and every qualified vote will be counted

Like a restaurant proudly proclaiming that nobody had died from eating its food

or a hotel opening an advertisement by "reassuring" guests that there were no lice in its beds

Facebook, Instagram now mine web links you visit to fuel targeted ads

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Nothing more annoying

> So you are happy to be spied on everywhere you go on the Internet.

I doubt that anyone is happy to be spied on.

However, let's keep this in perspective. The information most sites (leaving aside banking and medical information) can collect is negligible. You searched for chicken recipes, or bought a pair of shoes of a certain size ... so what?

Plus, few people are so paranoid that they won't pass on their credit card details to those exact same sites or their payment systems. And for those who are, do they bother dodging all the surveillance cameras that are everywhere? Or deal only in cash? There are much worse things than having some irrelevant personal data agglomerated.

Calm down!

Pete 2 Silver badge

Nothing more annoying

... than untargeted advertisements.

If I pick up a magazine about, say, canoeing then I expect it to have advertisements for canoes, paddles and the like. I don't want to see advertisements for bleach, lawnmowers or dog food.

Does it bother me that some computer in a far away country stores information about me? No! If it did, I wouldn't use the services its owner provides.

New cars bought in the UK must be zero emission by 2035 – it's the law

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: UK govt, as usual, is totally irrelevant

> Price is coming down, range is going up, safety is going up, charging infrastructure is going up

All of which are exceedingly good reasons to buy an electric car ... in the future.

A future where prices are lower, cars are more reliable and safer, batteries last more than a few minutes and there is a wider choice.

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Following the UK governments lead

Yes. Mine is 96% emission free.

It is generally used for only 1 hour a day and less at weekends. So with only 1 hour in 24 having "emissions" I feel quite green!

Here's a list of thousands of artists Midjourney's AI is ripping off, creatives claim

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Piles of styles

> "I wonder how many artists could define their own style?"

> Why should they be able to?

ISTM that if artists are going to argue "this AI produced something inf my style, so I want to be paid" then the defence lawyers will pounce on that and require them to define what their style is/was. This is a different situation from music copyright / sampling which takes part of an original work and inserts it into another piece. I don't think there are any rules that say a musician cannot sing in the style of (e.g.) Taylor Swift. Just that if they use songs she sang, then the copyright holders will want their slice of pie.

Pete 2 Silver badge

Piles of styles

I wonder how many artists could define their own style? How they would differentiate it from another artists, close but separate, style.

Looking at a Jackson Pollock for example - or even a few of them - is there any aspect in his work that is common across his portfolio, or unique,, so could be called a style?

Plus, when you look at something like a Rothko there may be a style to his work, but is it trivial or is it genius (and is the genius getting $60million for it?)

Which brings us on to the issue of influence. All artists are influenced by others - they readily admit it. Where does that stand in relation to AIs being "influenced" or trained.

UK government lays out plan to divert people's broken gizmos from landfill

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Easy or Expensive?

I'm not sure about that. We had a *major* clear out some years ago. We thought it would be easy to find willing recipients of items that were in a good, clean, state. But no!

None of the charities would accept electrical goods. And as for furniture, they turned up their noses at everything that didn't have a fire-safety label on it. - you know, those little paper thingies attached to a piece of string around a chair leg or summat. The first thing you throw away, after the guarantee / assembly instructions.

Pete 2 Silver badge

Pass the parcel

> The UK government hopes to make it easier for folks to reuse and recycle electrical goods rather than consign old gear to the landfill

Or just advertise the crap as "new" on *Bay and then blame the buyer sucker who bought it for the state it's in.

Here's who thinks AI chatbots will eventually be smart enough to be your coworker

Pete 2 Silver badge

Making a list and cheking it twice

> doing all the tedious administrative chores that suck up people's time

thinking up imaginative tasks to fill in the timesheet

attending meetings (that will be run by other AIs) which never produce anything useful

responding to the boss' communications

responding to everybody else's communications

going on HR's "mandatory" courses

How the tech toy century has troubled Santa's sack

Pete 2 Silver badge

Crossroads

> what Santa might be bringing 20 years from now

Well, it could be a neural link pleasure generator or it could be a loaf of bread. It's difficult to know which way the world will go.

BOFH: The Christmas party was so good, an independent inquiry is required

Pete 2 Silver badge

Three point one pints please

> I got a decimal place wrong

How can you order fractions of a drink?

Though I suppose if your keyboard has a "00" key. But only accountants have those. So it must have been their fault!

Danish techies claim they can predict your next move (and your last)

Pete 2 Silver badge

Horror scopes

> establish comprehensive models of human lives in a single representation"

Like dividing up the entire human race according to their birth sign

Microsoft puts the 'why?' in Wi-Fi with latest Windows patch

Pete 2 Silver badge

Making software, hard

> puts the 'why?' in Wi-Fi

If only Microsoft could put the win in Windows, rather than just the DOH!

PLACEHOLDER ONLY Someone please write witty headline here

Pete 2 Silver badge

nothing here

> never put anything on there that you don't want a user to see

Such as the two rules of guaranteed success:

1.) Never teach others everything you know

2.) See rule #1