Posts by DJV 2355 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Aug 2009
Having gone through several cloudy services, I'm currently using a combination of the following: OneDrive, DropBox and Filen.io (yes, these three will all work on the same computer at the same time).
The latter is by far the fastest for uploads and, so far, hasn't glitched on me. My requirements are modest so I've been only using the free versions of all three. However, Filen.io's prices do look very reasonable with a €35.99 lifetime payment currently for 200GB (this is a Black Friday deal).
Others I've tried in the past include Box but their free space remaining has a habit of not recalculating after you delete files and you "run out of space" when, in reality, you should have plenty free; iceDrive but this doesn't play nice with the excellent FreeFileSync program that I use a lot; nextCloud which had various issues that I couldn't get resolved; and pCloud, which also had issues which meant that backups would randomly fail to sync.
I've never tried Google Drive but that's mainly because I loath them as a company!
"Users expressed disbelief that Microsoft would send an update out into the world that resulted in such carnage"
Really? Unfortunately, this seems pretty normal for Microsoft nowadays. And I speak from personal experience having suffered from their Windows Defender update earlier in the year that wiped icons and then programs without warning!
Just look at the similarities:
Has the right physique for cage fights (well, I expect he probably thinks so).
Had a similar privileged upbringing.
Frittered most of his money away on bad business ideas (but claims they were all successes).
Enjoys being sued by lots of people.
And is also a great actor (what do you mean, he's not acting?)
I trust them* to deliver the goods somewhere - but, given the stories about them over the years, I don't necessarily trust them to actually deliver the goods to the designated address.
* them being Amazon, or any company that uses Evri/Hermes (or whatever they're called this week) or any similar so-called delivery service whose drivers have difficulty knowing how to find their own arses upon far too many occasions.
Has Hell frozen over? Has a politician been caught NOT lying?
No, but - shock horror - Apple have spoken to El Reg!!!!
"In a statement provided to The Register, Apple said it'd begun rolling out new subscription pricing "in the US and select international markets.""
Oh yeah, and they've jacked their prices up as well.
Yes, for safety reasons, you definitely need to be a properly licenced fork-lift truck driver, as is demonstrated in this 'extremely serious' YouTube video.
Indeed, my 2009 iMac is currently running macOS 12/Monterey, though I haven't moved it up to Ventura as yet. After it became sluggish running High Sierra (officially the last available version for that model) I upgraded to an SSD and took OCLP for a spin at the same time. The detailed instructions provided by YouTuber Mr. Macintosh on how to successfully install and use OCLP should always be your first port of call.
"The Register has asked OpenAI for comment and will update this story if we receive a substantial reply"
Or do you mean a reply that hasn't been AI-generated?
YouTuber Geoff Marshall did an interesting experiment recently by getting ChatGPT to generate a script for him to use for a video - it was hilariously bad!
Coincidence - it happens a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCLynwl0kvk
Back in 1996, whilst working in the IT Department of a company with around 100+ users, I was tasked with setting up the internet access on all the computers.
As we were still running Windows 3.1 at the time, this not only meant installing a TCP/IP stack and a web browser, but I also had to spend several minutes explaining what the internet was to each user after I had upgraded their PC. At that time this mostly consisted of showing them a few sites relevant to the business as well as introducing them to AltaVista. I would ask if they had any hobbies so that we could search on a topic in which they were interested. Most people would respond with topics such as gardening, knitting, tropical fish and so on, and I'd type that into AltaVista so that they understood how to get at the data they wanted.
After upgrading the PC of a user I will call Barry (mainly because that was his name) I asked about his hobbies and, with a large grin on his face, he replied, "Necrophilia." I shrugged and typed it into AltaVista. Now, given that this was only 1996, it was still amazing how many results were returned! It was a good job Barry had his own office so that no one else could see what we were looking at!
I think, to keep these arrogant companies in check, fines should start at one penny (or cent or whatever the local currency is) and then double for every day of non-compliance (as in the wheat and chessboard problem). When they realise exactly how much it could cost them, it should focus their attention on rapidly becoming compliant!
Just over 20 years ago when I was working at a large insurance company in the east of England (clue!) there was a Windows executable/'screensaver' going around that would display, in huge letters on a flashing red/yellow background, "I'M WATCHING G*Y PR0N!". This would mysteriously turn up on unsuspecting users' PCs if they happened to leave them logged in when they left their desks! On my last day at the company before moving onto pastures more satisfying, I added that program to the Startup folder of the computer I'd been using as I'd been informed that, after my departure, my PC would most likely be re-imaged so it was nice and fresh ready for the next victim, er, employee coming to work there.
About a week later I heard from a now ex-colleague still working at the company who told me he'd been asked to demonstrate something IT-related to a client and decided not to use his own PC but to use mine as it had yet to be taken away for its refresh and it was easier to sit two people at my desk than his own. He logged in and sat chatting to the client for a while before they both noticed the bright flashing letters on the screen next to them. To say he was embarrassed was an understatement, and I laughed like a baboon upon hearing his news! Good job both he and the client had a sense of humour!
It will be interesting to see a side-by-side comparison between the original and converted code, along with a comparison of the speed of execution and the physical output generated.
Going by some of the more "interesting" output from various LLM/AI systems of late, I suspect it might be a case of "accounting software in" and "Vogon poetry out".
Ah, the Marmite finally appeared! https://saveymeal-bot.co.nz/recipe/vpApjfrLdyfy8Jbqctwwqsoj
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