Posts by ElNumbre

Report: Tech misconceptions plague the IT world

Flawed Logic

Putting a cover over your webcam is probably of limited benefit - if they can capture your video feed without you noticing, then they'll be logging all of your passwords, visited sites, contacts, financial records and so on. So even if they don't capture you polishing your pickle, they'll know you have been (and perhaps even grabbed any audio).

Also, I always assume that anyone who has put a cover over their work laptop is using said work laptop for non-work purposes. So firstly, eww, and secondly, there is a fair chance that IT will be logging your evening entertainment preferences, so maybe buy a cheap tablet instead for that sort of activity.

More layoffs at Microsoft: What's really going on here?

Numbers on a spreadsheet.

Remember, you're just a row in an Excel spreadsheet.

Although now I wonder what would happen if you legally changed your name to #DIV/0!

VBScript nudged nearer to the grave with next big Windows 11 update

Activation

Isn't it still used for non-cloud activation of Microsoft Office with VL activation servers?

Brit security guard biz exposes 1.2M files via unprotected database

Re: And the next regulatory question.

No mention on whether the ICO has been informed.

So could be another smackdown if they've not met the timelines.

Good news: HMRC offers a Linux version of Basic PAYE Tools. Bad news: It broke

RFQ issued:

Requestor: HMRC

Requirement: PAYE software to support companies with 10 or less employees, must work on Linux.

Value: £EleventyBillion.

Hardware-level Apple Silicon vulnerability can leak cryptographic keys

Re: Mysterious Apple SoC feature exploited to hack Kaspersky employee iPhones

That was my first thought - less the OSX hardware and more what it allows on modern iOS devices.

Logitech MX Brio 705 – where Ultra HD meets Ultra AI

Four Kay

I still get complimented on my Brio 4k which works well in a variety of lighting conditions. I don't know why they can't do the AI tracking 'in camera' like other devices, and good luck getting the software approved by big IT departments.

Broadcom halves subscription price for VMware's flagship hybrid cloud suite

Fixed it...

"This shift is the natural next step in our multi-year strategy to [rinse] customers [when they] consume both our existing offerings and new innovations [whilst increasing the stability of our balance sheet]"

Reviving a classic: ThinkPad modder rattles tin to fund new motherboard for 2008's T60 and T61 series of laptops

Re: Build quality getting worse feels normal

Our fleet of Lenovos have the feel of 'Triggers Broom' to them.

Yes, they still work, but I'm not sure there is much left of what they came out of the factory with.

Our smaller HP fleet seems rock solid in comparison, bar a small handful of power supply failures.

Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 Gen 8: No boundaries were pushed in the making of this laptop – and that's OK

Re: try it vs coffee

We had the X1 Carbon tablets in our fleet for 18 months. I think they've ALL broken, at least once. All with mainboard issues. Quite high failure rates across the rest of our Lenovo laptops too, compared to the HPs we also have.

Wireless screen in estate agent window just begging for someone to fill it with mischief

Fun with Mira and Cast

Oh, a new jape opportunity I'd not considered before.

1) Get a universal remote, programmed to the type of digital signage in the window

2) Switch the input to Miracast

3) Profit?

Broadcom sends its England-based staff back into office as UK lockdown eases – though Welsh workers get a free pass

Remote Tools.

If only there was a company who helped design and make mobile hardware to support remote collaboration and working.

Maybe Intel?

Black Horse slowed down: Lloyds Banking Group confirms problem with 'Faster' payments

SLAs

I thought the SLAs for Faster Payments was something like 2hrs, although its usually much faster than that?

RIP 2019-2019: The first plant to grow on the Moon? Yeah, it's dead already, Chinese admit

Obligatory...

"He's dead, Jim"

Er, we have 670 staff to feed now: UK's ICO fines 100 firms that failed to pay data protection fee

Mafiosa

"Pay us a protection fee to help you manage your GDPR" or we break your business ankles.

I didn't realise there was an ICO tax.

It liiives! Sorta. Gentle azure glow of Windows XP clocked in Tesco's self-checkouts, no less

Re: Local Optician

No, they're journalists, not IT propeller heads. You can tell by their ability to write something resembling English in paragraphs numbering greater than one.

Apple tipped to revive forgotten Macbook Air and Mac mini – report

I shall call it Mini-Me

The last but one generation of Mac Minis were appealing - compact, Thunderbolt, upgradable post purchase in terms of storage and RAM. But then they buggered it by making RAM soldered, and charging a not insignificant premium for the top spec model.

I shall await an iFixit teartown of the new one to see if it is user repairable or upgradeable, or if it is likely to experience the same support woes of the iMac Pro ala Linus Tech Tips, before investing, especially when there is now a lot more choice of ultra small form factor desktops.

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

Trekking across the Universe

Definitely a warp core signature.

Help, I'm being held prisoner in a security camera testing factory. So please read this...

Missing vital information

Does the camera have an accessible standards based video stream e.g. RTMP so you're not beholden to Reolinks cloud and their long term future?

At least if you can get at the feed, then you can integrate it with the countless DVR security systems out there, or roll your own.

Skype for Business is not Skype – realising that is half the battle

A number of vendors offer Skype4B enabled desk phones, the most well known being Polycom.

Many people just use headsets,

Re: Skype Lync

Yes, even the runtime is still called Lync.exe

Is your Windows 10, 8 PC falling off the 'net? Microsoft doesn't care

My better halfs laptop does this occasionally after coming out of sleep mode.

Airplane mode on/off seems to kick it back into life.

Microsoft's Windows 10 build list snowballs for Lumia mobes

Having seen how (un)stable the Windows 10 for Surface Pro 3 devices is, I think I might wait for later builds of Win10 for the Lumia 930.

'YOUTUBE is EVIL': Somebody had a tape running, Google...

Re: "Don't be evil"

"Don't be Evil"*

*We define what evil means.

Windows tablet price war FINALLY has 'em prying open wallets

Connect 7"

I used Tesco tokens to buy a Connect 7" from Tesco when they were on offer after Xmas. Actual real money removed from my wallet to purchase said item - £25.

Even if it was crap, I wouldn't be too upset and repurpose it for something, especially as it ships with a USB OTG cable, but after the event, its actually quite nice and usable. The only let down is Chrome blows on a touchscreen and also consumes all of the memory.

How does the US government run the internet? This is how

Nominet

I recently registered a couple of .co.uk domains and was surprised that Nominet requested a copy of a passport/driving licence and billing details to be sent to them. I ignored the requests and they eventually went away, but I think my skepticism on how well they can control such personal data like that may be well founded if ICANN can get breached like this.

EU law bods: New eCall crash system WON'T TRACK YOU. Really

Track Me

At least 'Europe' will know that in the mornings during the week, I tend to drive to work, and in the evenings I tend to drive home. Sometimes at the weekend, I drive to the shops, but not often as that's why the internet was already invented.

Living in an urban conurbation my vehicular movements are tracked on a daily basis thanks to ANPR, and no doubt GCHQ can see where my phone is, and where I'm accessing my web accounts from, so actually, the 2 tons of metal sat in the car park showing as a single dot amongst all the vehicular dots in Europe doesn't really bother me that much.

Or maybe I need to attend paranoia courses?

Home Wi-Fi security's just as good as '90s PC security! Wait, what?

Re: Well...

Except a lot of vendors use algorithms to generate the "random" uniqueness, and when clever people figure out what that algorithm is, the gates fall.

I guess though its difficult from a support perspective to have truly random values, as what if the config is lost, how can you get back into the device, unless said mfr then maintains a database of settings, and well, think of the world of problems that leakage can create.

Azure TITSUP caused by INFINITE LOOP

One Infinite Loop

According to Auntie Beeb, Apple were affected, but I didn't realise that this affected the reality distortion field in Cupertino.

Microsoft's Lync becomes 'Skype for Business'

That was basically my first reaction. If its the Lync Engine under the hood, and a Skype-esq interface on top then fine. If its Skype for business formerly known as Skype, then Id struggle to validate this with our business.

And no mention yet about the Lync for Room Systems and if they'll become Skype Rooms.

Are open Wi-Fi network bods liable for users' copyright badness?

Service Provision

As far as I'm aware, there is no expectation on the post office to scan digital media passing through its network for illegal content, despite it being a potential conduit for the illicit distribution of copyright content. Although they do retain the right to open and examine packages, as far as I can tell, if something slips through the net, they're not held accountable.

So, why would an online service provider, responsible for receiving, transmitting and delivering packets be any different?

Bullish Vodafone barges back into UK consumer broadband market

First/Final Mile

And thanks to the virtual monopoly that Openreach has on the leg between the consumer and the point of presence, money will continue to flow into BT Groups coffers despite the backhaul going on C&W.

The only way this would be exciting is if Vodafone actually released a wireless broadband package using a fixed 4G terminal with similar data allowances and costs to a traditional PSTN presented broadband offering.

Microsoft snorefest: For crying out loud, Nadella – just channel Ballmer!

Heh

I was quite surprised how dull his talk was. 24hrs later, and I'm struggling to remember a single element. of his scripted Q&A. It it wasn't Satya, I'd of walked out.

Paxo and Geldoff were very good - I was quite impressed at how eloquently Sir Bob spoke about education driving African development. Dame Stella was interesting from a personal perspective and the other three felt a bit sales-pitchy.

That said, Satya (and therefore the rest of the Microsoft collective) seems to get that Windows is not a USP anymore and the next 10-20 years in computing is to be driven by 'rent as you go' compute capability and are addressing it with the "well, you're using Microsoft servers and services, you may as well use our cloud because look how easy it is" answer.

Not sure I'll rush back next year.

Tor exit node mashes malware into downloads

Big Hairy Onions

People shouldn't be using TOR to download binaries anyway.

#JustSaying

Mobile carriers keep the promised land on an ever-receding horizon

Re: I feel for you

I also have Three with unlimited data.

The only kick in the teeth is I get great speed everywhere, except in my office (where Id actually quite like to use the bandwidth) which varies between 60 Kbps and 400 Kbps. This means that emails, tw@ts and facebork alerts trickle down, but there is no iPlayer TV streaming for me. I can just about use the iPlayer radio if the wind is blowing in the right direction that day.

Xbox hackers snared US ARMY APACHE GUNSHIP ware - Feds

Good Stuff

Now the training programme is available, all they need is to acquire a fully armed Apache Gunship and they'll be able to wreak havoc! Havoc I tells ya!

IT crisis looming: 'What if AWS goes pop, runs out of cash?'

Race to the Bottom

I suspect in the race to the bottom, only the services which are supported by businesses with other interests will survive, particularly at the massive compute scale. AWS has a bookstore to help them out, and Microsoft have O365 and its continual licencing to support their Azure compute cloud. The smaller players need to find a niche and play to that strength.

The other thing to bear in mind is that cloud is not necessarily cheap; in our business the break-even point between doing it on cloud and buying tin averages around 21 months. But you do move your spend from CAPEX to OPEX and you struggle to pull the eject cord once you're in flight, especially if you run a complex environment in there.

Game pirates 'donate' compute power to Bitcoin miners

Re: Lazyness

LeMe: "Oh I've got 1/2hr to have a quick game of "Gears of Forza Drift Duty before life will get in the way again"

EggsBox "Installing Updates, your console will reboot several times, not let you sign into Live, finish off the batteries in the controller and require you to delete something off the harddisk"

LeMe: "Sigh"

iPhone 6: The final straw for Android makers eaten alive by the data parasite?

Duracell vs Energizer

Apple will survive because of the bling factor,

AN Other in the Android space will survive, because they're good products (I'd bet on Samsung here)

and then you'll get a smattering of small brand or no brand companies filling out the bottom of the market. Like the home battery market, there'll be a couple of big distributors who will spend a little bit of time fettling their products and a lot of time promoting that they have better product than the competitor, whilst the bottom of the market is filled with elcheapo variations on a theme.

N.b. Microsokia I think may replace Blackberry at the Enterprise (for those below C level), simply because of Windows penetration level, but you're never going to see massive market share.

Attackers tapping on SNMP door to see if it's open

Re: "why SNMP is in a home router"

I agree; SNMP stats are so useful for diagnosing faults, particularly when trying to track down long-term trend faults that aren't shown from the noddy control panels on most devices. But no devices should be configured to answer SNMP on the WAN side by default, and the RW string should not be set to Private by default ever. Have the options configurable, but don't remove the service entirely.

iPhone 6, Watch: Hate it or really hate it, Apple's now a $604.77bn biz

Cliff

Shareprices tend to follow herd mentality; they go charging around all over the place based on what the herd feel, which works well until they go charging headlong off a cliff.

<<Insert Gaelic Shrug Here>>

Google extends app refund window to two hours

Useful

I bought the Slingbox software and found that it wouldn't talk to my ancient slingbox. I used the refund service to get under the 15 minutes, but therefore didn't have any time to debug why it wasn't working, just that it wasn't. A 2hr window is better, but there should be a number of options for the developers (with a set minimum) so they can choose what they want.

BT customers face broadband and landline price hikes

Glad I Jumped...

I've gone "all in" with AAISP after BT's prices kept going up year after year. I don't remember their prices rising at all, and certainly not by 6%. I assume BT Wholesale keep their prices a lot more stable.

True fact: 1 in 4 Brits are now TERRORISTS

Category

I wonder what category I land in? I went and found the video on a popular 'crowd-sourced' news site, but wussed out at the last minute, having seen a similar video before and having the memories. Perhaps this puts me in some kind of 'four-lions' category?

Windows 8 market share stalls, XP at record low

Asta La Vista

Are people actually installing Vista, or is this just percentage points changing from the lower use of XP?

Brit balloon bod Bodnar circumnavigates planet

Re: Floater

A bit too high to poke with a plunger.

WTF is ... Virtual Customer Premises Equipment?

Really a cost saving?

Most routers ship with relatively low end hardware - a lower-end ARM or equivalent processor, a few megs of RAM, a little bit of FLASH and some radio gubbins. They don't need any more than that and do the job they're designed to do. Even if you punt the compute to the cloud, you still need a processor, some memory, some way to boot the device and some radio gubbins, even with software defined radio. You can pick up a DSL router with wifi (al be it, only 802.11g) even at PC World for less than £20 these days, so I don't get the argument of cost saving. At bulk, with no retail overheads, the cost must be far lower than that.

With ever increasing bandwidth, the processors are only going to need to get more powerful anyway to cope with squirting stuff at "the cloud". Plus, at least from my perspective when the cloud has a little lie down, it's still useful to be able to get IP addresses on my LAN segment, so for example I could view my IP webcam.

If ISPs want control over their CPE, the existing TR-069 should surely be enough, or if not, developed further to give them the extra features they do want.

Chrome browser has been DRAINING PC batteries for YEARS

Poor Bug Fixing

In my experience, this is quite common in regard to Google fixing bugs in their products. I've added my voice to reported problems in Chrome, Android, Mail amongst others, but because they're not security related or service affecting, they seemingly get ignored. I can only presume Big G don't task their developers with fixing problems, only inventing new things. And lets face it, fixing exiting broken code isn't as fun as contributing a new widget.

Plus, Google products seem to experience entropy worse than many other - they start off really usable, fast and lightweight, and gradually erode into a big brown dysfunctional mass.

Beer in SPAAAACE! London Pride soars to 28,000m

Reasons

Yum, for a couple of reasons.

UK gov rushes through emergency law on data retention

War of the Databases

"No-one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of cyberspace. No-one could have dreamed that we were being scrutinized, as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of an interest in their lives by people off this planet. And yet, across the gulf of cyberspace, minds immeasurably more vacuous to ours regarded this data with envious eyes, and slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us…”