Posts by Dan 55

Right to repair shouldn't exist – not because it's wrong but because it's so obviously right

Coincidentally companies stopped including schematics once China started copying everything, so no schematics at least delayed appearance of clones by some time.

China started copying everything or China started making everything?

When it gets to the point where the 10 different companies go to the same white label manufacturer in China and get the same product only with 10 different names on it, withholding schematics as a way to prevent the product being copied makes no difference. It does make things harder for their customers though.

Tech spec experts seek allies to tear down ISO standards paywall

Re: Indian Standards

I found it somewhere else but I can't work out if it's supposed to be serious or not.

Happy birthday, Sinclair Radionics: We'll remember you for your revolutionary calculators and crap watches

Re: Sinclair pocket calculator

So is that 6 (a few posts above) or 5.9999?

Either way, a Sinclair Cambridge Scientific isn't a Sinclair Scientific. There's no square root key on a Sinclair Scientific.

Re: I want a C5

According to the website it's still on pre-order... and on the same website you can find you can find Raspberry Pi gaming cases.

So, still the the same crazy mix of products in the family tradition.

Re: Sinclair pocket calculator

I tried the emulator mentioned in a post above and followed page 23 in the manual which explains how to get square roots, it's linked to in the grey boxout on the emulator page:

36 E 1 ▲ x (log)

2 ÷

▼ × (antilog)

And got 6.0004.

Maybe there were different ROM versions with with slightly different accuracies. Whatever the reason, Scientific seems like the wrong name for this thing.

Later companies

Afterwards he was involved in the Z88 portable computer, wafer-scale integration, and cordless telephones. Each in their own individual company maybe to limit exposure to failures and each successful at least for a period.

Then as usual he went and burnt profits on his electric vehicle obsession. If weren't for those and the portable TV and watch failures he'd probably have had an empire.

You MUST present your official ID (but only the one that's really easy to fake)

Re: QR > ID

It's not a URL, it's data plus a signature to verify it. Most mobile QR code readers don't know what to do with it, you need a special app to read it.

The Democrats are only slightly to the left of Attila the Hun, but if that's called left-wing to scare people then so be it.

There is a problem with that, as the French government has only belatedly noticed. Legally only the police and gendarmerie are allowed to ask for ID in connection with a health check, the library has no power to do so.

Presumably they have the power to ask for their library card or if you don't have one only let you get as far as reception to get a library card, where the name can be checked with other ID?

We can't believe people use browsers to manage their passwords, says maker of password management tools

There is a Web Credentials 'tab', at least in my version of Windows. Can't say I remember it always being there, it might just be the most recent versions of W10.

It does work with IE at least. In my case it's full of intranet passwords for stuff which won't work with anything else.

Control Panel > User Accounts > Credential Manager?

Re: Mixed model

ExpertSexChange error.

Google Play puts Android apps on notice: No naughty JavaScript, Python, Lua

Wandavision Agnes Wink.jpg

And remember advertising networks, no deceptive use of downloaded JavaScript, Python, and Lua downloaded at run-time!

If your advertising library does download naughty scripts we'll come down on the developer like a tonne of bricks.

As you were.

I'm feeling lucky: Google, Facebook say workers must be vaccinated before they return to offices

Re: I'm not sure

Herd immunity via "natural immunity" is dumb. You can't reach the threshold to achieve herd immunity, you just get lots of people dying or having long-lasting health effects. Also, "natural immunity" for Covid also doesn't last forever either.

This is why we have vaccines in the first place.

Re: I'm not sure

If you care to read it, you'll see that vaccines protect both yourself and others and once there is a high enough level of immunity across the population, wipes the disease out.

Re: I'm not sure

Eradication of infectious diseases

Re: Justifying The Rent?

If it were purely a decision based on rent, nobody would be talking about returning to the office.

People are starting to look at their priorities after spending a year working stupid hours from home doing what is very often essentially pointless work. Businesses that make overtime a regular occurrence and can't offer fulfilling work are losing their staff and want to get their employees back at the office drinking the kool aid as soon as possible.

Beige pencil stockists on high alert as 'Colouring Book of Retro Computers' hits the crowdfunding circuit

Re: Good for Neil

Don't know why you were downvoted, the channel is great and he's clearly living the dream.

DevOps still 'rarely done well at scale' concludes report after a decade of research

Re: I dunno, I'm going out on a limb here

That sounds too much like "if Agile isn't working for you then you're not doing it right" for my taste.

I dunno, I'm going out on a limb here

Perhaps we could start to entertain the thought that maybe DevOps just isn't a good idea?

You know, if people can't make it work after a decade.

Google promises its days as a cold-eyed API-killer are behind it

This means Google has to not develop software like a crazed gibbon on speed

I'm not sure if they're quite up to the task of sitting down and planning things.

I've got a broken combine harvester – but the manufacturer won't give me the software key

Re: Only half the story of half the story

Don't forget the waste nozzle, if it breaks outside the machine, there's no way to replace it as takes a magical mystery tour around the inside of the machine through the most inaccessible places until it gets to the pump where it's glued into place.

Every other tube in the washing machine has clips to attach them, but not this one.

UK's National Museum of Computing asks tunesmiths to recreate bleeps, bloops, and parps of retro game music

Re: Guilty Pleasures

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Racerrr!

Re: Miles ahead of the ZX Spectrum

The one I linked to was also by Tim Follin well, oddly enough. There's a video going through all his work here.

Re: fond memories of laboriously typing in lists of SOUND statements ...

The BBC had ? instead of PEEK and POKE because, erm, it did.

Re: Miles ahead of the ZX Spectrum

Shirley some mistake?

A bunch of apps will be able to bypass Microsoft's new store and use own update methods

It looks like they're trying to lower the bar again since nobody jumped it when they lowered it last time.

What could possibly go wrong?

Brown showed how developers can submit a classic setup application in .exe or .msi format, located on the vendor's own infrastructure, but with a promise that "once submitted, the binary at the provided URL must not change." It must also be a complete installer, not a downloader for another install package. The installer also has to run in silent mode.

And of course if the developer goes bust there's no chance of their domain getting nabbed by a ne'er-do-well.

UK regulator Ofcom seeks more powers to deal with mega constellations

Re: The big question

Move over ITU, OFCOM is here. Britannia rules the airwaves.

You, too, can be a Windows domain controller and do whatever you like, with this one weird WONTFIX trick

That was Microsoft's job, until Nadella fired their QA.

Rackspace literally decimates workforce: One in ten staffers let go this week

Re: OMG

They are technically correct, which is the best kind of correct.

Remember the bloke who was told by Zen Internet to contact his MP about crap service? Yeah, it's still not fixed

Re: Opencircuit

Just before the phase-out date the government of the day, if it's still conservative, will invent FTTE Broadband (Fibre-to-the-Exchange) and claim victory.

Windows 11 comes bearing THAAS, Trojan Horse as a service

Electron apps now built into the Windows Desktop

The new Active Desktop of our time. What could possibly go wrong?

Active Desktop never attained any significant degree of popularity, as its drawbacks included high use of system resources and reduction in system stability

Only this time I'm pretty sure they won't let you turn it off.

In the '80s, satellite comms showed promise – soon it'll be a viable means to punt internet services at anyone anywhere

Re: Can't wait...

That's where the bundled router with phone output comes in.

Locked down, of course, so you can't put the SIP settings in your own router and the operator won't tell you what they are either.

Is it broken yet? Is it? Is it? Ooh that means I can buy a sparkly, new but otherwise hard-to-justify replacement!

Don't recycle that display yet

Perhaps it can do 15kHz which for some reason most modern displays can't even though it's probably just a simple matter of a firmware change.

If it can a whole new world of retro computers and consoles awaits, in its proper aspect ratio. I'm pretty sure Mme D would be thrilled on hearing the news.

You're not imagining it. Amazon and AWS want to hire all your friends, enemies, and everyone in between

Re: "talent Hoover."

AWS has been sponsoring a series of cloudy articles over the past week or so. I'm not saying it's aliens, but it's aliens.

Re: Why Work for a Psycho?

That's because the press weren't allowed into the press event. Okay, two TV stations and a news agency. And none of them exactly rocked the boat when they asked their questions. And Bezos didn't answer the questions anyway.

Re: "I don't know how much AWS gives back to the ecosystem"

Rent seeking? Are you saying it's unreasonable for Amazon to throw a few coins into a few hats to support all that open source software they copy and paste wholesale and make billions from?

Good news: Jeff Bezos went to space. Bad news: He's back

I am disappoint

All these posts and nobody links to the Austin Powers clip.

Windows 11: What we like and don't like about Microsoft's operating system so far

It's the Home version which doesn't allow local accounts.

They've being boiling the frog on that for a while. In the early versions of Windows 10 the local account option was stuck in the corner of the setup screen. Later on it got buried a bit more. In the latest versions you have to unplug the Ethernet cable/turn off WiFi which nobody would ever do unless they knew that it gave you the local account option.

Then how come an official Microsoft person (Jerry Nixon) said it at an official Microsoft event (Ignite) before the official launch of Windows 10 (May 2015) and and later on an official Microsoft spokesperson put out a statement backing him up.

I know the answer - marketing changed their mind. But it was the official line before marketing changed their mind.

Open-source dev and critic of Beijing claims Audacity owner Muse threatened him with deportation to China in row over copyright

No. They're technically inept so instead of fixing an API they threaten people with "nice residency there, be a shame if something happened to it and they deport you back to a despotic regime that by some fluke of circumstance you were born under".

I didn't know much about Muse to form an opinion about them before but I know enough now.

Verified: UK.gov launching plans for yet another digital identity scheme

Re: bank security is handwavy nonsense

Clarkson stung by fraud stunt | Scams | The Guardian

The outspoken star printed his bank details in a newspaper to try and make the point that his money would be safe and that the spectre of identity theft was a sham.

He also gave instructions on how to find his address on the electoral roll and details about the car he drives.

However, in a rare moment of humility Clarkson has now revealed the stunt backfired and his details were used to set up a £500 direct debit payable from his account to the British Diabetic Association.

I don't see how 100 flowers could bloom when it's the government that has the monopoly on identity. Most problems stem from the government being unable to lay out a spec and roping the private sector in to fill in the blanks. E.g. why on earth would the government need Experian to verify who you are since between the Passport Office, the DVLA, and the DWP they should know already.

Also bank security is handwavy nonsense (banking apps, SMS 2FA, credit card number algorithm, online payment gateways, 3D secure...).

IBM's 3% sales growth may not seem like much but it's the biggest it's had in three years

You'd be surprised at just how much more productive you are once you uninstall Lotus Notes.

Ad tech ruined the web – and PDF files are here to save it, allegedly

Re: Maybe

PDF/A forbids embedding JavaScript.

It's mostly JavaScript which turns the browser into CPU-thrashing data-slurping application runner. Turn off JavaScript and watch most websites degrade into a mess rather than fall gracefully back to an accessible page containing static data and then the browser using 0% CPU waiting for a click event... because HTML's been hijacked to provide a template for the JavaScript to stick content in and mess around with - this was not HTML's original intent but it's been pushed into that job.

So while he complains about HTML, it's really the newer parts of HTML and JavaScript which are the guilty parties.

I no longer have a burning hatred for Jewish people, says Googler now suddenly no longer at Google

Re: Ummmm

Easier said than done. We're probably the last generation that can do that.

Social networks get their hooks into those that were born in the 90s or later one way or another - idiot parents putting everything online, schools normalising social media (putting school trips on Instagram), schools again giving everyone a Google account for their obligatory Chromebooks, nobody sitting them down and explaining how Zuckerborg is the devil incarnate, and so on.

US Surgeon General doubles down on Facebook-bashing amid vaccination information blame game

Re: "Needle Nazis"

Are you really going to both-sides this? On the one side we have the world's scientific knowledge and on the other we have ignorance (wilful or otherwise).

The Republicans have hitched their cart to ignorance, but one would assume that hitching ones cart to the science should not be a political act but the default action which should be taken by most people.

Does that mean I'm being played by the Democrats if I support the actions they're taking during this pandemic over those taken by the Republicans? Are you saying I should be standing on the sidelines snorting "they're all as bad as each other"? Well, no, they're not all as bad as each other, some are definitely worse.

Microsoft adds cloud enablement to 1970s Altair 8800 tech

Re: If you think that's contrived...

"As with all modern design it’s crucial to adhere to the model of “make it work then make it fast” and that’s something that this project really takes to heart. In 1974 when the 8080 was released it achieved a staggering 2MHz. Our new modern, containerised, cloud first design doesn’t quite achieve that in it’s initial iteration. As can be seen from the screenshot above, space invaders as deployed onto an AKS cluster runs at ~1KHz which gives us ample time for debugging but does make actually playing it slightly difficult."