* Posts by The First Dave

1589 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Jun 2009

Apple's Safari browser runs the risk of becoming the new Internet Explorer – holding the web back for everyone

The First Dave

Re: new "features" and "improved experiences" nobody asked for.

In tomorrows news - how Google/Chrome are breaking the internet all over again by rushing out a feature that nobody other than the advertisers actually want.

I would rather have properly-thought out stuff than Google's slapdash approach any day.

Microsoft does and doesn't require VMs to meet hardware requirements for Windows 11

The First Dave

"the greatness of .. Vista ..." !

No further comment

Ransomware crims saying 'We'll burn your data if you get a negotiator' can't be legally paid off anyway

The First Dave

Re: I like the US idea.

The most obvious (and much closer) analogy is with "protection rackets" - a man comes into your bar with a baseball bat, smashes a couple of bottles, then says "shame if someone else were to do that - gimme £XX and I'll make sure it doesn't happen"

Pay him, and he'll come back next week for another installment, or pay your own bouncer...

UK gives military's frikkin' laser cannon project a second roll of the dice

The First Dave

Re: “Directed energy weapon”

And was I the only one who thought that a weapon that was powerful enough to melt itself was a good start?

Facebook building 'on-demand executable file format' that self-inflates using homebrew compression

The First Dave

Battery life is somebody else's problem.

You want us to make a change? We can do it, but it'll cost you...

The First Dave

Re: Screw-up?

Personally, I saw: "Not that it mattered to R" and wondered who R was, and what HE was going to screw up.

Why we abandoned open source: LiveCode CEO on retreat despite successful kickstarter

The First Dave

Slight correction: 1/4 of Scottish schools are CURRENTLY using <this FREE product> - anyone see where I'm going with this?

US Air Force chief software officer quits after launching Hellfire missile of a LinkedIn post at his former bosses

The First Dave

Re: This just in

Downvoted for suggesting that the septics won WWII, rather than the Russians

The First Dave

Re: To be fair ?

The advantage is they know some relevant IT.

The disadvantages are:

They probably aren't up to date any more (who is?)

They probably think they know more than they actually do (don't we all?)

They probably haven't had any management training ('nuff said)

Spring tears down math geek t-shirt listing because it dared to mention the trademarked word 'zeta'

The First Dave

Re: "The Greek alphabet is currently protected legally"

Prior Art, by definition??

Former Cisco exec jailed for fraud, dodging taxes

The First Dave

Re: $10 million in two and a half years

Sounds like he also made the "Al Capone mistake" - should have paid his taxes!

How to stop a content filter becoming a career-shortening network component

The First Dave

Re: SquidGuard Logs

If left shortly after, then right must have been first, shirley?

When everyone else is on vacation, it's time to whip out the tiny screwdrivers

The First Dave

Re: At John Brown, re: a screw loose.

On the other hand, putting some things back together is much easier than taking apart, as then you can see exactly which direction that stupid, weak plastic clip is supposed to move - the one that you broke when taking it apart because you couldn't see what you were doing.

The First Dave

Re: Haynes Manuals

42 is rubbish - never go with even numbers - you want WD43.1.035 minimum

Start or Please Stop? Power users mourn features lost in Windows 11 'simplification'

The First Dave

Re: Soorry, no

On the plus side: "Loss of Live Tiles" - that has to be a bonus!

Hacking the computer with wirewraps and soldering irons: Just fix the issues as they come up, right?

The First Dave

Re: Anyone

In my case, with one of those Ikea paper tape measures held against the screen

Eight-year-old bug in Microsoft's 64-bit VBA prompts complaints of neglect

The First Dave

Re: "[Microsoft felt] the 32-bit version a safer choice for most users"

My favourite is:

Create new folder;

Rename it;

Hit return twice (once to save new name, once to open it)

Windows: "Can't find "New Folder" ... "

US boffins: We're close to fusion ignition in the lab – as seen in stars and thermonuclear weapons

The First Dave

Re: Self sustaining

So many issues with this article:

Not differentiating between self-sustaining (it clearly isn't - it is a one-shot system)

Mixing that up with net-positive (only 70% so not that either)

Described as a big milestone, some sort of 'first' - but not at all clear how/what/why: hasn't all of this been done before, (possibly with lower numbers)?

US watchdog opens probe into Tesla's Autopilot driver assist system after spate of crashes

The First Dave

Re: A solution looking for a problem

Rear-end shunts could be entirely eliminated by a system that was one level LESS sophisticated than this. Which would almost certainly be more reliable.

Engineers work to open Boeing Starliner's valves as schedule pressures mount

The First Dave

Re: crazy

Err, these valves ARE pretty high in the sky, relative to how far an engineer can reach un-aided.

Also, likely to be on the inside of the rocket, and nowhere near an inspection panel.

Elastic amends Elasticsearch Python client so it won't work with forks then blocks comments

The First Dave

Re: It's a mistake...

How hard would it be, and how likely would it be, for AWS to add this header?

That was a common move in the old days of the browsers wars - every User Agent string said: " like that other browser" in order to deliberately break existing 'sniffing'.

GitHub's npm gave away a package name while it was in use, causing rethink

The First Dave

Re: domain name system

No, with hierarchies, most of the original problem goes away - no-one else is going to want to use the same name for a different product. The only issue that remains is that of a sole developer dying, which isn't a massive issue if you can fork, and just rename the upper levels of the name.

Ch-ch-ch-Chia! HDD sales soar to record levels as latest crypto craze sweeps Europe

The First Dave

Re: Here's an idea ...

Just get a whole bunch of fitbits and hang them off the pendulum of a grandfather clock

Please, no Moore: 'Law' that defined how chips have been made for decades has run itself into a cul-de-sac

The First Dave

Re: Transistor physics

OK smart arse, how about making a transistor from half an atom then?

Malware and Trojans, but there's only one horse the boss man wants to hear about

The First Dave

Re: Horses? Ruud?

I'm pretty sure they just leave the name as-is, and tack on the "not real name" disclaimer...

BOFH: They say you either love it or you hate it. We can confirm you're going to hate it

The First Dave

Re: So he was "visiting" during working hours

Slightly surprised that mere users are allowed to run USB keys at all

Somebody is destined for somewhere hot, and definitely not Coventry

The First Dave

Re: Protecting yourselves

Surely ALL firewalls are connected to the internal network??

Lenovo says it’s crammed a workstation into a litre of space – less than three cans of beer

The First Dave
Pint

Re: The tiny sounds neat...

This sounds neat, but gotta point out that "one litre of space" is very close to being TWO cans of beer, not three.

Richard Branson uses two planes to make 170km round trip

The First Dave

Re: Awaiting FlatTards....

That's easy - the earth is a flat, round disc, so of course the edge looks circular - that is because it is!

The First Dave

Re: Space Cadets

There are numerous definitions of "Space" but for me, the important point is that in order to be useful, a craft needs to be able to reach orbit (not necessarily stay there, but at least reach it) and this wasn't even close.

One good deed leads to a storm in an Exchange Server

The First Dave

Re: I suspect the rep at the other end got a dressing down

And what idiot was using automatic read-receipts for messages that clearly hadn't actually been read?

Boffins boast of 'slidetronics' breakthrough enabling binary switch just two atoms thick

The First Dave

Re: I have to wonder....

Not that I'm a pedant or anything, but how exactly do you create a 'sheet' of atoms that only contains one atom?

New Yorkers react to strikingly indifferent statue of Elon Musk with cheerful hostility

The First Dave
Headmaster

being made _ from _ it. FTFY

GPS jamming around Cyprus gives our air traffic controllers a headache, says Eurocontrol

The First Dave

Re: The blocker needs a present

All receiving antennae re-radiate signals, to varying degrees.

Russia spoofed AIS data to fake British warship's course days before Crimea guns showdown

The First Dave

Re: Just a FYI

And would that be considered acceptable if it were to occur today? I think not.

Monitoring is simple enough – green means everything's fine. But getting to that point can be a whole other ball game

The First Dave

Re: Enjoy the downvotes

I suppose a minor insult WAS intended - my point being that having read the article, I was left with nothing more than just "do everything perfectly", rather than any useful insight, which left me expecting a pointer to some magic product.

The First Dave

Sorry, but what is the author trying to sell?

BOFH: Oh for Pete’s sake. Don’t make a spectacle of yourself

The First Dave

Re: Brilliant

There would be nothing left of faecesbook if you did; very little of Twatter, and not a hell of a lot of TV either

Photographer seeks $12m in copyright damages over claims Capcom ripped off her snaps in Resident Evil 4 art

The First Dave

Re: From reading elsewhere...

"You are free to use these textures" - why would you call that 'implicit' ? It may be a little on the short side, but it IS pretty explicit.

Ohio Attorney General asks courts to declare Google a public utility

The First Dave

Google causes many problems

Well spotted Mr Ohio, Google does indeed appear to do things that aren't in the public interest. Not entirely sure that giving control to YOU is really in the best interests of anyone in any other state or country.

Space junk damages International Space Station's robot arm

The First Dave

Re: It’s the SDoS!

That doesn't really alter the underlying point that all this crap is being chucked into orbit with pretty much zero regulation, zero planning, and zero responsibility for the future.

Congestion or a Christmas cock-up? A Register reader throws himself under the bus

The First Dave

Re: I found it best to...

That's what the word "quantity" (usually abreviated to qty ) is for - used properly it virtually eliminates these issues:

12qty 0.3 inch in this case, though both dropping the leading zero, and the use of inches is unforgiveable.

The server is down, money is not being made, and you want me to fix what?

The First Dave

But plugging a speaker into the mic socket DOESN'T make the internal speaker cut out...

USB-C levels up and powers up to deliver 240W in upgraded power delivery spec

The First Dave

Re: I predict excitement

Double-insulated does indeed imply 'not earthed', but it MUST still be fused appropriately.

The First Dave

Re: I predict excitement

I've always lived by the mantra of "assume it is live, regardless"

And never had a shock from the mains.

Dominic Cummings: Health secretary's 'stupid' targets delayed building UK test and trace system to combat COVID

The First Dave

I think you mean 'from an English government' - there is no significant representation of any other country in the current cabinet, and the governments of Scotland, NI and Wales were all working to a rather different plan to Westminster.

Snowden was right, rules human rights court as it declares UK spy laws broke ECHR

The First Dave

"diplomatic assurances would be enough" - and who says that these Judges have no sense of humour?

Big red buttons and very bad language: A primer for life in the IT world

The First Dave

Re: Flashing leds on PDP-11

Nah, a lamp is the larger unit, can contain multiple bulbs.

Apple faces another suit over its allegedly misleading water resistance claims

The First Dave

Re: IP68

Correct - the first digit is for solid-body penetration of various sizes, from fingers down to talcum powder, iirc.

Patent battle over Facebook Live and 'walkie talkie' tech rattles through High Court in London

The First Dave

As usual, I hope that both parties lose, but particularly FB.