* Posts by Craig 2

629 publicly visible posts • joined 1 Jul 2009

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Microsoft will stop pestering Windows users about Edge in EU

Craig 2

Well it did work to a certain extent. It was to break the monopoly that Microsoft had with IE. Unfortunately, another monster came along and created another monopoly (Chrome).

In reality, Microsoft was broken so effectively that they don't even have their own browser any more, just a Chrome skin!

Go ahead and ignore Patch Tuesday – it might improve your security

Craig 2
Facepalm

"Imagine if this was a serious discipline"

Yes, just imagine if IT systems were pervasive throughout the entire planet and critical infrastructure relied on them, often for life and death. Then, just then, we might consider it "serious"!!

Hacking US crosswalks to talk like Zuck is as easy as 1234

Craig 2

"no indication that Polara's network has been compromised"

It's compromised by design, idiots!

Microsoft lists seven habits of highly effective Windows 11 users

Craig 2
Trollface

How to get the best out of Windows, abridged edition...

Turn off every piece of shit bolted on since NT.

Um, almost the entire Scots Wikipedia was written by someone with no idea of the language – 10,000s of articles

Craig 2

Re: Send them to Scotland for a few years...

"a reliable source that had inaccurate information"

A beautiful oxymoron.

Jeff Bezos can now taunt Elon Musk: I'm building a moon rover for NASA, when can Tesla do that?

Craig 2
Joke

It's the soft landing that's the tricky bit, something even the local Evri drivers struggle with here on Earth.

Crew-9 splashes down while NASA floats along with Trump and Musk nonsense

Craig 2

Should we be worried that dolphins are taking an interest in spaceflight? Next thing is they'll be leaving us coded messages disguised as tricks.

China's EV champ BYD reveals super-fast charging that leaves Tesla eating dust

Craig 2

Re: "Works for me"

FFS you don't have to be young or fit to walk a mile. I guess it's much better to claim your PIP and get an SUV though...

France offers US scientists a safe haven from Trump's war on woke

Craig 2

The comments make a great read on Tribalism and why the planet is never going to get along with each other. I think the only thing that could unite the people of Earth would be colonies on the Moon & Mars. Then we could unite to look down on them. (Maybe throw in some asteroid belt mining communities à la The Expanse to really look down on)

Oh Brother. Printer giant denies dirty toner tricks as users cry foul

Craig 2

Re: Xerox seems to be OK..

Same here, have a couple of Xerox Versalinks and the only mention of non-geniune toner is when you look in the maintenance menus.

Windows 11 adoption picking up speed, but older sibling still ahead

Craig 2

Are we going to have one of these articles on Windows 11 adoption every week until October?!

Hisense QLED TVs are just LED TVs, lawsuit claims

Craig 2

Hisense defense lawyers:

Specious argument. Anyone buying a Hisense TV is not concerned with quality to begin with.

Ad-supported Microsoft Office bobs to the surface

Craig 2

Re: What's the point?

"Cue the suggestions to switch to Libre Office in"

It's almost as if they might be on to something...

Here's the ugliest global-warming chart you'll ever need to see

Craig 2

Re: No more USAID

Definitely a logic flaw here!

Imagine the solar panels were not there, what would happen to the energy from the sun striking the ground?

Solar panels are net-zero (ignoring the energy used to create them from fossil fuels)

We use solar panels to (try) prevent locked up CO2 in fossil fuels being ADDED to the atmosphere.

BOFH: The USB stick always comes back – until it doesn't

Craig 2

Every time I've performed open-heart surgery on a broken USB stick I've told the customer to back everything up on multiple devices. Had one person come in with a snapped stick and I asked if they had backups - "Oh yea, I've got multiple folders on there with backups every week" !!

Amazon, Google asked to explain why they were serving ads on sites hosting CSAM

Craig 2

Re: Reported to the FBI?

and do you know, the DEA watches drug dealers transporting and selling drugs across the country for months and do NOTHING! They might as well be killing `Muricans themselves!

Google's 7-year slog to improve Chrome extensions still hasn't satisfied developers

Craig 2

Google's 7-year slog to prevent Chrome extensions blocking adverts is working

Fixed the title for you

WFH with privacy? 85% of Brit bosses snoop on staff

Craig 2

Re: "get away with a bit of Netflix"

Didn't the child of an MP's use their government-issued iPad to watch football over a VERY expensive data connection abroad?

How to leave the submarine cable cutters all at sea – go Swedish

Craig 2
Coat

Re: Practice what you preach?

"there might be a brief <snap><crackle><pop> as a power cable is severed"

Or one of the ship's crew has Rice Krispies for breakfast?

SpaceX launches 2 lunar landers on path to the Moon

Craig 2
Trollface

Re: Let's also raise a toast to Mr Musk

You forgot your icon ;-)

Apple auto-opts everyone into having their photos analyzed by AI for landmarks

Craig 2

That's much harder to do with PC's.

err.. Windows 11!!

Also, I can't help myself but...

elude - to avoid

allude - reference indirectly

Microsoft Edge takes a victory lap with some high-looking usage stats for 2024

Craig 2
Windows

Fighting the OS..

"using fake mdm reg key (to default it to good old blank page or url of choice)."

So many times you see this now where you can fix the problem by: doing something 99.9% of users don't know how to do, which will be randomly & silently reset in the future, to Microsoft's preference. Constant updates have ceded the user's ability to make preferential configuration changes on a permanent basis. When I added something into config.sys, it stayed there!

Also it will be interesting if the Chrome manifest war on ad blockers will have an effect on its market share. (Lots of people moaning about Ublock etc recently)

Apple Intelligence summary botches a headline, causing jitters in BBC newsroom

Craig 2

True, it just means it is extremely likely to be rubbish...

Or if you want a more comprehensive breakdown... it could have subtle, possibly undetectable errors to the layman. It could still read coherently and make sense but be completely wrong. It could expose an inherent bias in the LLM. It could be re-worded in a way that inadvertently changes the meaning or context.

Native speakers of a language (eg. English!) that have had decades of experience in its idiosyncrasies still encounter regular misunderstandings and misinterpretations. What chance has the infinite load of monkeys that is `AI`?

Police arrest suspect in murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO, with grainy pics the only tech involved

Craig 2

"grainy pics the only tech involved"

I think the point El Reg is trying to make is that in the world of GPS bikes, AI, spy satellites, government monitoring and mass surveillance, the method of capture is very low tech - spotted in a fast food joint...

Although, the only reason he did get captured is because of pervasive CCTV. There were multiple pictures of him and if they didn't exist, all the eye-witness reports would be "someone in a hoodie with a backpack"

Veteran Microsoft engineer shares some enterprise support tips

Craig 2

Many times have I given a device back to a customer and they say "wow you're great, how did you fix it? I was trying for hours..."

Yea, I just put in your correct password or read the popup dialog and did what it said...

Normally I would say it's such a convoluted process and "damn Microsoft" etc etc so they don't feel bad.

Tech support world record? 8.5 seconds from seeing to fixing

Craig 2

There's nothing like the elation when a problem that sounds insanely complicated over the phone turns out to be a 5 second fix...

Russian court fines Google $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Craig 2

Re: I have

Maybe if they adopt the leaf as legal tender?

'Consent' LinkedIn used for data processing was not freely given, says Ireland

Craig 2

Re: I've never understood this

Lawyers: To do everything by the book it's going to cost £X to license all this data acquisition and get regulatory permissions...

MS: Fuck it, we'll just grab it anyway and ask for forgiveness later...

Lawyers: That sounds like a bad idea and could end up with thousands of hours of litiga.... err, yes that sounds like a great plan.

Vivaldi gives its browser a buffing, adds a dashboard

Craig 2

Sigh

When will browsers stop trying to become operating systems...

Tencent builds one NoSQL database to rule all data models

Craig 2

Fresh court filing accuses Oracle of creating 'maze' of options 'hidden' in 'contract'

Craig 2
Holmes

obfuscates onerous contract terms

No shit Sherlock!

iPhone 16 dubbed Apple's most repairable model in years

Craig 2
Joke

Re: Very Clever

Technically, if you pass enough electrical current through it, you can make pretty much anything "debond"...

France charges Telegram CEO with multiple crimes

Craig 2

Re: "why are the Governments doing nothing"

Also, I was under the impression that other companies DO comply with law enforcement requests...

China is beating the world at scientific research, think tank finds

Craig 2
Trollface

Re: They're using a flawed metric

Apparently, they don't track how much is completely made up....

Four more US states pile on Apple as DoJ turns up antitrust heat

Craig 2

Re: I'm not convinced

False comparisons.... This would be like if Toyota made their cars so you had to buy Toyota petrol, Toyota tires, Toyota screenwash etc. The cup holders would only fit Toyota patented cups and the wheelnuts would need a patented Toyota tool. Getting the idea now?

PayPal is planning an ad network built off your purchase history

Craig 2

Explotation works both sides

I think we're all so obsessed with "They're out to exploit us!!!" that we forget that they're also out to exploit sellers who need to advertise...

Google, Apple gear to raise tracking tag stalker alarm

Craig 2

Re: Tracking the trackers

AFAIK one of the triggers is if the tag owner ISN'T present. So hundreds of trackers in suitcases would presumably have their owners on the same flight.*

* Yes, we've all been there... When you know more about where your luggage is than the airline helpdesk they tend to be more like an unhelpdesk.

GM shared our driving data with insurers without consent, lawsuit claims

Craig 2

Data analysis

"When is it an idiot doing a "brake check" in a road rage incident, and when is it simply evidence that a vehicle is coming to a safe stop in a short period of time"

Like any thorough data analysis you would hope a single outlier wouldn't immediately skew your insurance premiums. ie. The safe but sharp stop.

However, the `idiot` is likely performing constant aggressive manoeuvers which builds an overall picture of their perceived riskier driving.

nb. This is just a technical point, the idea itself is horrendous.

Is Russia using Starlink in Ukraine? Congress demands answers

Craig 2

Should be (relatively) simple...

Either disable all Starlink IDs close to the contested front that aren't on the list of IDs sold/given to Ukraine.

Or the nuclear option: Disable all Starlinks there and then re-enable as requested by the Ukranian military.

They could even ask Ukraine for a whitelist first.

Microsoft trying to stop Copilot generating fake Putin comments on Navalny's death

Craig 2

Re: Autonomous cars and other road users

" if you're close enough to be able to actually see the driver's facial expressions, then you're arguably too close already..."

Tell me you've never ridden a bike on the road without telling etc..

On a bike, you look at car driver's eyes ALL the time! Drivers pulling out of junctions (either way) or turning right (thus crossing the road in the UK) are prime examples. You then know when a driver has actually seen you. Of course, this doesn't guarantee they won't still pull out in front of you anyway, because: They misjudge your speed and think they have plenty of time, or they know that *you* have also seen them and will brake because you would prefer to avoid getting flattened today...

Toyota admits its engines are overrated – by its own power testing software

Craig 2

Car manufacturers hate this one simple trick!

"The company will take a step back and make company-wide efforts to identify how we were discovered and prevent a recurrence to ensure they won't catch us again," it added.

Hackers mod a Sony PlayStation Portal to run PSP games

Craig 2

Re: Playstation Classic did so poorly

Too right, it did so poorly because in typical Sony style, it was a complete money-grab. It should have been £99 with 100+ PS1 games on there. Instead it was £99 for 20 games, crappy emulation, region issues and locked down.

Look up Anbernic for much better Android handheld retro emulators.

Cops turn LockBit ransomware gang's countdown timers against them

Craig 2

Re: Where?

I doubt it's aimed at the unwashed masses (ie. us). People who are angry make bad decisions and there's nothing like a bit of ridiculing to make the hackers try for some hasty payback. I would bet the law are hoping to glean some extra intel...

Apple Vision Pro units returned as folks just can't see themselves using it

Craig 2

All good points, but you don't need an Apple watch to do 99% of those things... I use a Garmin watch mainly for sport but it's very handy for messages, alarms, weather, paying, health stats etc etc. The battery lasts a week or more...

As for `Why track your walks or health stats` - it's interesting... Have you ever watched a documentary, read a newspaper or article or absorbed any information not strictly related to your survival? Why is that any different?

Fake LastPass lookalike made it into Apple App Store

Craig 2
Trollface

“Even more evidence that the walled garden doesn't so anything but let Apple assert control”

The app was removed, so obviously you are wrong.

Well the app wasn't removed until reaching at least this news outlet who then emailed Apple, after which it was removed.

So obviously and more importantly demonstrably, you're wrong.

CERN seeks €20B to build a bigger, faster, particle accelerator

Craig 2

Re: Collide at insane speeds

Forget insane speed, we need to go straight to Ludicrous Speed

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity will fly no more, but is still standing upright

Craig 2

Amazing

72 flights over 3 years...

I'll bet there's not many earthbound drones that can match that record, with zero hands-on maintenance!

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