Posts by Matthew 25

As major web browser makers snuggle up to AI, these skeptical holdouts remain

Hey Presto

I miss the Preston era Opera. Particularly the ability to tile tabs. Plus the best JS debugger.

Microsoft decides it's a good time for bad UI to die

Paradigm shift

The design of the hammer and the algorithm of hammer use goes back to the time before we knew about time. It has been perfected over eons. Hitting stuff with a lump on a lever has always been such a satisfying experience.

Microsoft rolls out one Teams app to rule them all

To be fair, I hate all instant messaging based collaboration tools. I suffer with ADHD and find all these things so distracting I'm unable to do much of anything. Ping, there we go again. Ping, is that one more important? Ping, that was funny - I'll reply. Ping the server instance for the other division has started acting up. Now where was I?

The origin of 3D Pipes, Windows' best screensaver

Used to spend hours watching for teapots and the occasional cup and saucer instead of doing revision while I was at university.

If Britain is so bothered by China, why do these .gov.uk sites use Chinese ad brokers?

Re: braindead

Free heating, free tea or coffee, free loo paper, plenty of books to read and few interruptions.

Lenovo and Micron first to implement LPCAMM2 in laptop

Not so sure about that. With legislators demanding fixabilaty I think soldering the chips on may become less attractive.

MPs ask: Why is it so freakin' hard to get AI giants to pay copyright holders?

Re: 'AI', another nail in the coffin of copyright?

So what you are saying is that you like to be patronising to artists and more artists should accept being patronised?

OpenAI: 'Impossible to train today’s leading AI models without using copyrighted materials'

Shirly

Three things

1 It is COPYright

Applies when work is copied. Storing in a digital format is creating a copy. This doesn't usually happen when a person reads, listens to, or looks at a thing. But does happen when training LLM. Plus some statistics.

2 LLMs are not general AI. They cannot think.

If we rely on LLMs for our words, pictures, music etc we will never have anything new. Only rearrangements of things that already exist. That is how they work.

3 In that sense, what we are told about LLMs is a con. They are a cul-de-sac for the human race because we are told we are getting something new from them when all we can possibly get is recycled. They cause stagnation in our thought process.

Amazon's practices are 'the essence of competition,' it tells judge

I don't get why people are complaining

Amazon is often cheaper

Amazon often has free delivery

Amazon often has free returns

If others wish to compete they need to match that, not charge me $$$$ for the privilege of spending my money on their store.

If I am unsure about things on Amazon I usually use a physical shop.

Broadcom to divest VMware's end-user computing and Carbon Black units

Re: I must remember to short some of this stock

My Nokia charger has come in quite handy actually. I have a battery powered desk fan I have converted to run from it.

CISA details twin attacks on federal servers via unpatched ColdFusion flaw

Re: Cold Fusion?

You're right. I hadn't realised it was still a thing.

Sorry Pat, but it's looking like Arm PCs are inevitable

It's true

I for one would love a modern BB10 device with a real keyboard. Half the time my touch screen phone ignores me. The other half it thinks I have touched the key next door to the one I thought I had. If I hadn't broken it, I would switch back to my old Q10 and put up with the slowness, inability to handle modern web, lack of apps etc just to get a real keyboard and a phone that fits in my pocket.

Take Windows 11... please. Leaks confirm low numbers for Microsoft's latest OS

Re: <Shrug>

Yes. I totally agree, but it's not just Microsoft. Google, Facebook, Apple, and just about all companies with any sort of online presence do the same to the best of their ability. It is worth more to them than the products they are peddling. Why do you think most of these 'services' are without money cost to the end user?

When is a PC an AI PC? Nobody seems to know or wants to tell

Call me a Luddite

I don't want an AI PC. I want a nice dumb one that just does what I tell it to do.

Microsoft kicks Calibri to the curb for Aptos as default font

Re: set our own preferences

Me. I need books. Reading from a screen can be really hard. Much prefer paper.

If AI drives humans to extinction, it'll be our fault

How about this for a brilliant idea!!

Lets chop down the few remaining trees, dig up the remaining fossil fuels and burn them, put loads of nasty poisonous chemicals into our rivers and seas - in our bid to stop polluting the air and then we won't have to worry about AI out smarting us.

</sarc>

Lets face it, we're probably going to do it anyway. People are all for stopping other people doing things as long as they don't have to stop doing anything up themselves.

We are probably just Golgafrinchans and will solve out problems by sending out three ships to colonise the galaxy. I'll probably be on the first ship to leave, the B Ark, with all the other useless numpties.

As Douglas Adams wrote "So long, and thanks for all the fish"

Microsoft rethinks death sentence for Windows Mail and Calendar apps

I tried it

That lasted until I could switch back. If I want to use that interface I can open a browser and save the disk space for something useful.

The world of work is broken and it's Microsoft's fault

Re: That would explain it

Sorry to downvote your post, but HR at my company have been very helpful with my mental health problems. I understand you were not really serious but HR have really come through for me.

Two Microsoft Windows bugs under attack, one in Secure Boot with a manual fix

So effectively

Secure boot protects your pc from your os. You can't get more secure than that.

BAE Systems handed £38m Border Force intelligence contract

Got an immigration problem?

What you need is a 3 headed dog. Oh! And hope no one plays music to it.

It's been 230 years since British pirates robbed the US of the metric system

Re: Whilst we're at it...

This last one is because Americans tend to say the month first e.g. July 4th rather than 4th of July.

Doubly confusing when March 23 could be the day or the month.

And religion

My old art teacher always made us use feet and inches. Claimed that if God had meant us to be metric there would have been ten apostles.

UK's Online Safety Bill drops rules forcing social media to remove 'legal but harmful' content

Who decides what is harmful and when? If it is legal it should be publishable. If it is harmful it should be explicitly illegal. 'Legal but Harmful' is an open door to ban anything the group currently in power (or in power in the future) don't like.

Germany orders Sept 1 shutdown of digital ad displays to save gas

Re: Exceptions for such dual-purpose signs have been arranged.

That's only if you are using American gallons. It would be 45c for an imperial gallon.

Start your engines: Windows 11 ready for broad deployment

Re: Thanks for the reminder

Hey Phil, don't forget to disable TPM on your laptop.

There ya go :)

Only Microsoft can give open source the gift of NTFS. Only Microsoft needs to

'Even enthusiasts who run dual-boot PCs at home have a NAS these days.'

1. Not all of them

2. Some off the shelf NAS use NTFS

CISA issues emergency directive to fix Log4j vulnerability

Re: Remember folks

Surely it's good that all that old stuff that no one knows about isn't affected. Saves an awful lot of work.

Google lab proposes solar-powered moisture farming to provide water for billions

Re: Hang on ...

"How long until they find a way to take all the oxygen out of the atmosphere too?"

Who do you think created space?

Whenever automakers get their hands on chip supplies, the more expensive vehicles are first in line – NXP

Re: Cheap cars

But still cheaper than new ones...

Re: Start Stop

I'm always worried that stop start causes extra engine wear.

All those finely ground bearings require a certain amount of oil pressure to protect and cushion them from the huge forces of exploding petrol / diesel (enough to move a ton or two of car rather briskly) and also stop them moving metal to metal. The pressure is created by pumps driven off the engine (actually part thereof) and dissipates when the engine stops. So every time you start it there is extra wear. This becomes much worse if you load the engine before oil pressure has had chance to build e.g. from a "clutch down - start - go" cycle.

Start stop is really a bit of a con. Its greenwash for the motor industry to show government that they are reducing the emissions from their vehicles, while at the same time hiding that they are consuming more resources.

Zuckerberg wants to create a make-believe world in which you can hide from all the damage Facebook has done

Re: Dear Evil Peddler of Hate and Misinformation

Suckerburg sucks in all the suckers.

They think that they are getting something for free.

A Windows 11 tsunami? No, more of a ripple as Microsoft's latest OS hits 5% PC market

Every other Windows

As we all know every other version of Windows is a dud. Therefore I will not be using Windows 11.

p.s. I know some penguin fanciers, and raincoat afficonados will consider all versions of Windows to be a dud. They are entitled to their opinion.

LAN traffic can be wirelessly sniffed from cables with $30 setup, says researcher

Re: Actually, I've found Virgin to be pretty good.

Mine was Eruobell then Telewest vefore it became Virgin. I just have the slow connection so that 100Mbits Down 10Mbits Up. It usually exceeds this. I have never had a problem I needed to call them about so can't comment on customer service. The price is a bit steep though.

Re: I thought LAN cables were shielded

Most LAN cables are UTP or Unshielded Twisted Pair

Opt-out is the right approach for sharing your medical records with researchers

Re: Twister

She is a Doctor not a data scientist. This article says nothing about her fitness to be a GP. It just shows that specialisms should be left to specialists. The whole argument is specious. Assumption should never be taken as consent. e.g. 'I assumed you consented to give me access to your bank account'

Gartner's Windows 11 adoption advice: Explore but don't rush

Looking forward to windows 12

That's the one where Microsoft remove all the amazing new features we didn't want in the first place.

Windows 11 will roll out from October 5 as Microsoft hypes new hardware

Is Windows 10 the new xp?

Remember how xp just kept going? Out lasting it''s supposed successor? M$ just made that happen again.

The UK is running on empty when it comes to electric vehicle charging points

Re: Hmm....

I am not sure I agree with you there. If you swap hydrocarbons for electricity you'll need an awful lot of the stuff.

Currently there are 31.7 million cars and 4.2 million LGVs on uk roads according to the rac foundation.

Average EV battery capacity is 62kWh(apparently).

Given not all of these will need to charge every night let's say half. That is still 982GWh of electricity on top of what we currently use. I doubt we will have the generation capacity for that and our European allies will not be able to top us up, as they do each winter, because they will be struggling too.

Apple sued in nightmare case involving teen wrongly accused of shoplifting, driver's permit used by impostor, and unreliable facial-rec tech

Re: Start hanging out at the police station.

You have to remember that this gent is black. Hanging out at the police station may no be good for his health.

Facebook: Nice iOS app of ours you have there, would be a shame if you had to pay for it

Re: Finding a mobile

Or, what if I only have a mobile?

One more reason for Apple to dump Intel processors: Another SGX, kernel data-leak flaw unearthed by experts

Re: Is that right?

Sorry I don't get your point..?

There are 2 cars lets call them L and W.

L is unlocked and has the keys in the ignition.

W is locked and the keys are far away.

They can both be stolen but which is vulnerable?

Yes, you could pick the locks, or smash a window, but I know which theft my insurance would pay out on.

So it is OK for Linux to be wide open because Windows could be broken in to?

SpaceX’s Starlink finally reveals its satellite broadband pricing for rural America: At $99 a month, it’s a good deal

Re: Outside America

LATin AMerica. It is a stupid abbreviation.

AMD is now following More's Law: More chips, more money, more pressure on Intel, more competition in the x86 space

Re: Again seems history repeating itself

Before you start saying that RISC is dead, I'd like you to think about the mobile phone. Most of these have ARM architecture processors in them. Acorn RISC Machine.

You won't need .NET Standard... except when you do need it: Microsoft sets out latest in ever-changing story

Re: Given everything we see here?

Yeah! We could call it Unix or something like that

Analogue radio given 10-year stay of execution as the UK U-turns on DAB digital future

Re: The future is behind you ....

Actually, radio is inherently analogue. Even when you have created your digital multiplex you still transmit it using an analogue process because those radio waves are um... waves. How much simpler to just modify, say, the amplitude or frequency of one of those waves.

For AM all I need is an oscillator and an amplifier. Feed in the signal I want to transmit to vary how big the output is and Robert is your mother's brother.

For PWM its even simpler because I only need to transmit two states (big wave & small wave at the same frequency)

For FM I just control the frequency of the oscillator with the signal I want to transmit. This is very wasteful of bandwidth, which is why it is restricted to VHF.

No Computer. No complicated electronics. To transmit a DAB Mux I need all the stuff you mentioned PLUS one of the above analogue processes.

Apple owes us big time for bungled display-killing cable design in MacBook Pro kit, lawsuit claims

Re: Seems to me ..

Surely that should be iFleece. Apple have innovated a whole new way of keeping you at exactly the right temperature. Available in Black, Jet Black, Silver, Gold, Rose Gold and (Product)RED.

Florida man might just stick it to HP for injecting sneaky DRM update into his printers that rejected non-HP ink

Know when to walk away,

Know when to (take the money and) run

IBM Watson GPU cloud cluster Brexits from London to Frankfurt – because GDPR

Re: Pointless And Political

The whol point of voting to remain is also to feel that your side won.

Only it didn't.

Mayday! Mayday! The next Windows 10 update is finally on approach to a PC near you

Re: Odd One Out

Not at all. I find Windows 10 fine too.

Microsoft starts a grand unification attempt with .NET 5

I still have the hard disk from 1992 vintage laptop. Capacity 62.3MB......