Posts by David 164

UK civil servants – hopefully including those spending billions on tech – to skill up in STEM

Pretty pointless as it will still be idiot's with zero vision and foresight at the treasury that controls everything.

Unfortunately it means nothing if the treasury is still being run by idiots.

EU still set to OK Microsoft's Activision slurp, UK disagrees

There were whisper's of the CMA authorizing the deal and then they said no. So how about we wait see what the fat lady sings first.

OpenAI CEO heralds AGI no one in their right mind wants

Re: It's useful. (Unlike most must-have tech)

It not the end of ad search.

Say you ask it, help me build a android app,

The provider of the service can still get to promote specific programming tools to the user and they cam charge for those mentions.

Research raises questions: Are instruments taken to Mars sensitive enough to find life?

I think the biggest question even if they were even if they found life would NASA accept the result or accept any and all other explanations instead.

Iran steps up its cybercrime game and Uncle Sam punches back

If the US don't want it people targeted for assassination may be it should targeting Iranians citizens for assassination.

So nothing the US itself hasn't partaken in over the decades.

NSA super-leaker Edward Snowden granted Russian citizenship

Being the best Russian agent they have had in decades, he has serve his time.

UK blocks sale of chip design software company to China

I will be impressed when this act is use to stop Americans from stealing our technology. Or even a nation like India who managed to obtain our sodium battery technology at a bargain basement price of 120 million quid.

Royal Navy will be getting autonomous machines – for donkey work humans can't be bothered with

Did he wink has he said this?

Hard drives at Autonomy offices were destroyed the same month CEO Lynch quit, extradition trial was told

I suspect the appeal will make a lot of mention of the fact the evidence that the US has isn't of a standard or quality that can be admitted to UK courts.

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

Re: Some things that would help the situation

Even that more complicated that it needs to be, you should be able to plug your car in and charge, No need for cards or apps.

Re: Some things that would help the situation

1 - Done, Already mandated by the government legislation.

2 - Done, the law now require all charges to take chip and pin

3 - Done RAC already have mobile car battery rechargers https://www.rac.co.uk/innovation/ev-boost

So all your demands are being met already. Anything else you want to add on to your list.

Re: Sooner than many think.

Except most models arriving now are pure electric. An pretty much all manufactures are focusing on pure electric. Come 2030 I suspect there will very few if any hybrids being sold in the UK, they simply won't be there to buy.

Re: Hmm....

An where is the electricity coming from to produce all that hydrogen? There plenty of capacity in the grid over night to handle electric cars, there will be even more once we start shutting down those soon to be redundent refineries.

Re: Hmm....

EV are a clear environmental win for cities, they will lead to cleaner air and a quieter environment.

Re: Hmm....

Turning that oil into products is energy intensive.

Mike Lynch extradition: Uncle Sam offered Autonomy founder $10m bail if he stood trial in the US

That not much of a offer.

Autonomy founder Mike Lynch loses first stage in fight against extradition to US

Re: If this were the other way round ...

How many of those people were accuse of committing their crimes on US soil that were cleared by US authorities before being extradited to another country to face punishment under their legal system?

Pipe down, Jeff. You've only gone where Gus Grissom went before, 60 years ago today

Re: X-15

with a single test pilot, much harder to do it with 2 pilots and 4 guests.

Bezos v Branson: Battle of the wannabe Space Barons as Virgin Galactic cleared by FAA to start flying customers

Re: Of the two,

You say that but Branson is now working with Rolls Royce and Reaction Engines on producing a engine for his Mach 3 supersonic jet.

It no guarantee but I could eventually this partnership being expanded to include the construction of a SSTO vehicle at some point, after Virgin Galactic has run it sub orbital service for a couple of years and is turning over a profit.

I also think it only a matter of time before Virgin Galactic is merge back with Virgin orbit.

Also someone other than me has got to be thinking Virgin Galactic and stratolaunch would be another good merger with such a aircraft capable of handling Virgin Orbit launches and possible multiple SpaceShipTwo-class suborbital rockets at once all with the same vehicle.

Uncle Sam recovers 63.7 of 75 Bitcoins Colonial Pipeline paid to ransomware crew

I think after today, my guess is the store the keys on the FBI ANoM phone.

Good news: Boffins have finally built room-temperature superconductors. Bad news: You'll need a laser, a diamond anvil, and a lot of pressure

Re: What a great discovery

I'm pretty sure they settle for room pressure and room temperature superconductor that they have to fire a laser at.

IBM unleashes AI on two space problems: How to map all the junk in Earth's orbit, and how to put more up there

How about they put it to use on working on a FRL drive.

Revenues from in-app purchases swelled 32% to almost $30bn for Q3 2020 – and Apple snaffled most of it

Re: Jeesus

If we take retail as a example, Tesco has a profit margin of around 6%. Many smaller retailers operate at a lower revenue margin than that.

UK govt reboots A Level exam results after computer-driven fiasco: Now teacher-predicted grades will be used after all

Re: Too late for some.

Universities will now have to review their chosen students some pupils who were awarded better grades than their mocks will now have only their mocks grade which might not be good enough for that university. Expect a lot of changes and a lot of anger. Luckily for universities they have got a slight get out of jail free card in that the number of foreign students are expected to be low, freeing up spaces for english students this year.

fuck the algorithm indeed but only after all of the private schools pupils mysteriously got unadjusted results allowing all of their pupils onto their chosen university course, I'm sure some private pupils even manage to upgrade their course using this algorithmic results.

University ordered to stop running women-only job ads

Rightly so, discrimination of any sort is evil.

Rip and replace is such a long Huawei to go, UK telcos plead, citing 'blackouts' and 'billion pound' costs: Are Vodafone and BT playing 'Project Fear'?

An you don't think the Chinese cyber warfare division aren't going to figure out a way turn off the same equipment from different non chinese own manufacturers? If the Chinese want this capability they are going to get it, whether it Huawei gear or not.

How do you know it non compromise Spyware kits, are you going to rip each peace of kit apart and do a detail analysis of every single bit of kit use to make sure the Russians or the Chinese didn't slip something in during the manufacturing process?

All sides in this debate is playing project fear card.

Fact is, if the chinese want to spy on us they are going to spy on us, Britain not having a huawei of our own going around installing gear on mobile networks around the world didn't stop GCHQ from hacking country wide mobile phone systems , it isn't going to stop the chinese. This is why GCHQ just don't about what equipment they use, they know if they can hack anything, the chinese can.

Brit police's use of facial-recognition tech is lawful, no need to question us, cops' lawyer tells Court of Appeal

Re: So now

That just a argument that we should never make any improvements ever. We live for thousands of years without shoes, why do we shoes. Because they prevent us from constantly getting cuts on our feets, make us healthier probably improve ours lives just that bit more.

Re: Keep a straight face.

Only if it links to a database that contain everyone faces and names. That a possibility but that isn't what the current AFR is doing or is capable of doing by a long shot.

Re: Keep a straight face.

Except human operators can the WHO as well, and WHAT. An if you have a super recogniser watching those cameras then they are even better at this than computers. The comparison is perfectly valid.

Re: This is legislation which affects everyone, immediately and continuously

You would lose any such vote. No under the stupid rules you put in place but under rules that would be written by the electoral commission and where someone who isn't making a vote is presume to vote no, I might not turn up to vote but I have no problem with the technology.

Re: Keep a straight face.

I presume he meant cctv that is monitor live by human operators, who can then manually track the user across the area of cameras they have access to. In this way it no less intrusive than a live human operated camera feeds that are run by super markets and many other venues. Or indeed many of London own cctv cameras are now monitor live by human operators.

Ransomware scumbags leak Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX documents after contractor refuses to pay

In this case, all the good stuff they probably tried selling it to third parties first, who probably turned and said they already had it all!

HMRC claims victory in another IR35 dispute to sting Nationwide contractor for nearly £75k in back taxes

Re: Rigged definition of an employee

Would it be HMRC decision. I. Would have thought that be down to the courts.

One-time Brexit Secretary David Davis demands Mike Lynch's extradition to US be halted

Re: ECHR

You do realise the European courts of Human rights have precisely zero to do with the EU? That why Russia and many other non EU countries are a part of that system and take notice of its rulings. Even Putin Russia.

Tesla has a smashing weekend: Model 3 on Autopilot whacks cop cars, Elon's Cybertruck demolishes part of LA

Still waiting on Mclaren to release ultrasonic force field that was suppose to stop rain from hitting the car screen.

US Embassy in London files extradition request for ex-Autonomy boss over HPE fraud charges

Re: Will BoJo stand up for Britain?

ie sell as much of the UK that hasn't already been sold to the Americans as he can. That clear the real reason many conservatives are backing Brexit.

Is this the US simply trying to snatch him before the UK trial ends, thus they can maximize the pressure on him to accept a plea deal when in a US prison cell?

If he wins the UK trial. That will be a big stick to bash a US jury over the head with in any trial. An Lynch doesn't sound like a guy who will go down without fighting.

Also could Lynch team call Justice Hildyard to the stand in the US as part of his defence, I could imagine a Justice Hildyard would be better receive than some of the FBI witnesses.

Europol wipes out 30,000+ piracy sites, three suspects cuffed to walk the legal plank

I agree with them targeting counterfeit goods, especially pharmaceuticals, some of those are lethals. So well done on that front.

Pirates sites, just wasting your time guys. An the one I use is still up!

Hundreds charged in internet's biggest child-abuse swap-shop site bust: IP addy leak led cops to sys-op's home

Is Uncle Sam going to be telling itself off for inventing Tor in the first place?

Match.com? More like Match dot-con, claims watchdog: Cyber-lonely-hearts 'lured into forking out to view bot spam'

Re: Why bother with a dating site?

An you may even get a promotion to be PM as well.

IR35 blame game: Barclays to halt off-payroll contractors, goes directly to PAYE

Re: Pay your taxes

Salary sacrifice schemes have been heavily cracked on in the last few years as well.

Re: Interesting

The difference is plumbers and electricians are employed for small periods of time to carry out a job, often in a specified period of time, most of the time there isn't even a contract involve especially if they are working for the general public.

Many IT contractors are essentially employees who have spend years at a company. The company keep as a contractor to save money. That why people in the IT industry are scared and why electricians and plumbers aren't.

For A IT contractor that works like a electrician or plumber does, they should have no issue at all, they go into a job, do the job and the leave and the contract is terminated. These are relatively rare because most IT people need time acclimatise to the set up at a company before they become useful. An even simply projects can have long gestation period, much longer than your average plumbing or electrician job.

Re: Interesting

Most of the time, painters and electricians they come in do the job and go and are never seen again. This is targeted at people who spend years at a company as a contractor working under a contract that state for example that person as to be in at 9am an depart 5pm and 1hr break.

Re: IR35 idiocy

Yep, the one where the only thing that has been agreed is nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Which is why it design so they can roll over all existing laws for eternity because that how long they know negotiations will take. Well at least ten years, which is a eternity in politics.

Re: Obviously they will increase the rates by the customary amount to compensate

They aren't looking to save money, they are trying to avoid another scandal or hint of scandal. That to them or any other bank I suspect is worth whatever it costs.