Posts by Pete B

Misguided call for a 7-Zip boycott brings attention to FOSS archiving tools

Re: Regional data centres

Pretty sure Murder is a human rights violation.

Tough news for Apple as EU makes USB-C common charging port for most electronic devices

Re: 32A commando in the garage

I had to put in a 64A one for a welder in my garage - would ideally have gone onto 3-phase but will work on high-current single, so 32A seems entirely reasonable.

Cable cut blamed for global four-hour internet disruption

Re: Regional data centres

Only a matter of time

https://youtu.be/1EBfxjSFAxQ

Ad-tech firms grab email addresses from forms before they're even submitted

Re: Autocomplete

Or even: [e-mail]

Robots are creepy. Why trust AIs that are even creepier?

Re: Customer service as an instrument of torture

You have had the same experience with Cora that I did - trying to pay in a cheque via the mobile app it gave me an error "Something went wrong" - trying several times over a period of days just kept repeating the error so I turned to Cora who promptly talked me through the instructions again and failed to grasp the error was being generated by them, so there wasn't any way I could re-word it usefully! When I resorted to swearing she actually told me not to, so obviously somebody foresaw the likely results of human interaction with the bloody thing. I gave up and went into branch eventually.

Blood pressure monitor won't arrive for Apple Watch before 2024 – report

Re: Only tangentially related:

The best way I've come across to locate the nearest is the "Alerter" app - it seems to be pretty complete.

At last, Atlassian sees an end to its outage ... in two weeks

Re: slightly good news?

Or - you look for a different solution where you can retain control of your data...

Volkswagen: Expect chip supply problems until 2024

Re: Volkswagen's problem

They need to start scouring ebay for some early Pentium's then - problem solved.

BOFH: The Geek's Countergambit – outwitted at an electronics store

When I started reading this I thought it was one of Dabsy's!

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

Re: its not just the public charging

"So, really, the only real solution to this is to go to hydrogen."

Have none of the proponents of Hydrogen seen films of the Hindenburg ;-)

Scam-baiting YouTube channel Tech Support Scams taken offline by tech support scam

Re: YouTube tech support?!

"your bank, et all, ARE NOT going to call you regarding your existing account and then ask you details about that account. They have no reason to do so."

The problem is they bloody well do do this (RBS) - they'll call you and then ask for details to verify it's you: they get upset when you point out that since they called you they need to verify it's them to me before I'll give them any info.

Iffy voltage: The plague of PC builders and Hubble space telescope controllers alike

Re: It's always...

Unless it's DNS.

The coming of Wi-Fi 6 does not mean it's time to ditch your cabled LAN. Here's why

"I wish the smart people working on WiFi would stop obsessing over speed in lab conditions, and put the same energy on reliability instead."

You know I wish they'd do this in a lot of areas - not just Wifi, or even IT - let's make what we have work properly before starting out on the next thing: it's a never-ending life of things that just don't work properly.

Where's the boss? Ah right, thorough deep-dive audit. On the boardroom table. Gotcha

Cash

Let's just talk how much - I can be incredibly forgetful when faced with the prospect of counting large sums of cash.

IT for service providers biz Kaseya defers decision about SaaS restoration following supply chain attack

Re: As Kaseya customers

Hopefully although you just signed up you've yet to deploy the software!

The PrintNightmare continues: Microsoft confirms presence of vulnerable code in all versions of Windows

Re: Sustainability

We do have Papercut, and in fact over the last 12 months it shows a massive reduction in printing - the majority of printers have printed 0 sheets in that period. Of course the office still being closed may have more to do with this than Papercut! The number of toners/printers/cases of paper that people have sent home though has gone through the roof.

The really puzzling bit is how with two people that do the same job one works quite happily with no home printer at all, and the other "can't function" without one.

Sustainability

This is a big buzzword in our place at the moment - tempting to completely diable printing and say it's to meet our sustainability goals :-)

Openreach to UK businesses: Switch is about to hit the fan. Prepare for withdrawal of the copper-based phone network now or risk disruption

Re: The future is coming

Probably prove easier to use a GSM card in the alarm system that's protected by the systems own battery to provide the monitoring.

India's IT minister angry that Twitter broke local law by following US law

Re: This is interesting

And there you've pretty much summed up the dichotomy between GDPR and the US CLOUD act. It doesn't matter how many attempts they have to agree something with Safe Harbour etc. the two are fundamentally opposed to each other.

Three things that have vanished: $3.6bn in Bitcoin, a crypto investment biz, and the two brothers who ran it

Re: Surprised?

The alternative is that they've got so much that they regard it as a chump change investment that might pay dividends, but equally might lose completely. Bit like less well off people buying a lottery ticket; reason says you're not going to win, hence just throwing your money away, but the tiny chance keeps people playing.

Price of Microsoft's Surface Duo plummets to better represent middling hardware ... but only if you're in the US

Fool me once

I really used to like Winphone, and put up with them dropping support for a few times, but when they dropped it last I'm afraid I wouldn't touch anything phone related from MS with a bargepole now - chances are they'll abandon it shortly after you buy one.

Boffins promise protection and perfect performance with new ZeRØ, No-FAT memory safety techniques

Ransomware is currently impacting businesses all across the globe and is getting out of hand," ESET UK cybersecurity expert Jake Moore told The Register.

Is there any evidence that any ransomware attack has been carried out using this technique? 99% of them always see to start with tricking a user into clicking on a link, or opening a document, so surely this is the place to invest time and effort - ie user training. The problem always seems to be that in most places there is little if any sanction against the person who actually caused the problem, so little incentive for users to get it right.

Pub landlords on notice as 'Internet of Beer' firm not only pulls pints, but can also clean the lines

Re: No surprise there...

I think it has to be sentient to be fully AI.

What job title would YOU want carved on your gravestone? 'Beloved father, Slayer of Dragons, Register of Domains'

Re: Exploring cemetries

Sounds like you're advocating taphophilia.

Re: Sir Christopher Wren's epitaph

On the other had so many things seemed to be "designed" nowadays to fit the designers view of what is aesthetically pleasing with function not even on the list; quite surprising buildings aren't similar.

Of course the millenium bridge over the Thames was struck by the "make it look good" first and worry about function later after it was built, so maybe that's a single contradiction to your argument.

What Microsoft's Windows 11 will probably look like

Re: Stupid

"featureless windows where you have to already no what to click on or where to hover."

In fairness to MS most website designers seem to have headed down this path as well.

"Will everything useful to manage the OS be located at another place again ?"

NO - some settings will be moved from their current location to yet another application, in addition to the current ones, so you'll have an *extra* place to look for them in.

'Vast majority of people' are onside with a data grab they know next to nothing about, reckons UK health secretary

Re: Will GP optout be effective?

"I did tell the receptionist but they weren't interested, I did mention Data Protection but she informed me that GPs were exempt."

I'd have a word with the ICO - GPs most certainly are covered by the Act, so you've got a breach, refusal to correct an error and demonstration of insufficient training all in one go here.

Global Fastly outage takes down many on the wibbly web – but El Reg remains standing

Re: implications and questions

"That one I don't get, as they happily sell access to their own CDN, so why don't they themselves us it?"

Maybe they're actually white-labelling Fastly's services. In fact maybe AWS in its entirety is done the same way :)

Today I shall explain how dual monitors work using the medium of interpretive dance

Re: Laptop + Monitor = two computers?

Well you can use an iMac as a second monitor to another iMac...

Deadline draws near to avoid auto-joining Amazon's mesh network Sidewalk

Re: Long game

"Doubleplusgood" - you missed the "un"

Conflicting messaging overshadows NHS Digital's attempts to inform public about patient data slurp

Re: GDPR

Probably under the "Legitimate Interest" excuse.

Apple's macOS is sub-par for security, Apple exec Craig Federighi tells Epic trial

Re: You can't just open a Terminal and ls

"There's a tiny outfit called JamF(.com).."

Exactly my point - Third part software is required to approximate what Windows gives you out of the box with AD.

Re: You can't just open a Terminal and ls

I've never thought Apple were that bothered about the Enterprise with MacOS; all the things you take for granted in a Windows Domain are either not available at all, or you have to use Third Party tools to provide them. Seems like Apple offer the absolute minimum that any company will accept and no more.

'Biggest data grab' in NHS history stuffs GP records in a central store for 'research' – and the time to opt out is now

Re: Lots of protests about sharing data

I find it ironic that the one talking about Privacy Freaks chooses to stay an Anonymous Coward.

AWS wins yet another UK public-sector contract – this time to provide £15m health data system for NHS Scotland

How does this square with the US CLOUD act? As far as I can see it and GDPR are pretty much directly contradictory - as a US company Amazon would have to follow any requests under the CLOUD act, which could place them (and NHS Scotland) in breach of GDPR. It appears the only way to 100% avoid this is to use an EU headquartered Cloud hosting company?

As another vendor promises 3 years of Android updates, we ask: How long should mobile devices receive support?

Re: runs W10 on SSD

"Why would you like to run W10 on a phone? :-)"

I *liked* Windows Phone and would more than happily have stayed with it, I found it far more intuitive that either Android or IOS, as did those of my users who had them.

Tesla Autopilot is a lot dumber than CEO Musk claims, says Cali DMV after speaking to the software's boss

Re: Tesla can only act after the fact

And indicators that are wrapped round other lights - far less visible than when they use to be a separate light in it's own discrete space.

Some stayed in Croatian castles. Some hid in cars. We speak to techies who experienced lockdown in very different ways

"Added to that, HR have told us that we have to use up all our accumulated leave by the end of May, or lose it. Since I didn't go anywhere last year I still have most of a year's leave to take, so I'm off for the whole of May. With nowhere to go."

Not sure where you're based, but the UK have put into law that you can carry over holiday for 2 years.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rules-on-carrying-over-annual-leave-to-be-relaxed-to-support-key-industries-during-covid-19

Don't cross the team tasked with policing the surfing habits of California's teens

Users never want to change.

One of my biggest headaches - it doesn't matter how much more efficient/easier/faster a new process is they will still wan tto stick with the old one they know.

BOFH: Postman BOFH's Special Delivery Service

I've actually just been doing the opposite - sending back to the office everything that I've accumulated over the last year - it's been a great way of getting rid of all the crap *I've* accumulated over the last 30 years and get the company to pay the recycler ;-)

UK.gov wants mobile makers to declare death dates for their new devices from launch

Re: Default Passwords

It'd probably still be more secure left at that default than changed to name of dog/child etc.

Jackie 'You have no authority here' Weaver calls on the UK to extend Coronavirus Act provisions for online meetings

Agree, but there should also be the ability for people to view the meeting online, even if they're not actively taking part.

Vote to turf out remainder of Nominet board looks inevitable after .uk registry ignores reform demands

Re: Mythic Beasts

Moved all our domains to Mythic Beasts last year, bar a .uk.com they can't deal with. Looks like it's time to pull the hosting we have from Fasthosts though - I've been looking at changing it for many reasons, this will be the one I give them.

Texan's alleged Amazon bombing effort fizzles: Militia man wanted to take out 'about 70 per cent of the internet'

Re: Proof!

And entropy.

Greenland's elections just bolstered China's tech world domination plan

Looks like it's time to resurrect an old Reg standard:

https://www.theregister.com/2001/02/01/the_color_of_irony/

Openreach out and hike prices on legacy fixed-line products: Broadband plumber pulls trigger after Ofcom gives the nod

OFCOM should have set this up so BT were only allowed to increase the surcharge on "Legacy" products if the line in question actually had a valid, more up to date, alternative available for it.

Pair accused of turning photos into vids to crack tax dept facial recognition system in China

Re: And what are the UK's internal vaccine passports going to use?

Providing that's Dido the singer then it might work out OK.

Vegas, baby! A Register reader gambles his software will beat the manual system

Re: "all the time spent sabotaging the test results to ensure it would fail"

It's really only at a smaller level what CEOs do, except they manage to leave the smoking wreckage with a golden payment.

OVH reveals it's scrubbing servers – to get smoke residue off before rebooting

Re: MTBF

We had an argument with our insurers after a building fire where smoke permeated through the Data Centre, leaving very obvious carbon on all the kit: Our insurers wanted us to have it cleaned and reuse - we pushed back asking for a warranty from them against any future early failures (and consequent losses) - at that point they decided to buy us all new kit. Shysters the lot of them.