Posts by Julz

They've only gone and bloody done it! NASA, SpaceX send two fellas off to the International Space Station

Re: Almost accident free

Should have been wearing a storm troopers suit...

Bite me? It's 'byte', and that acronym is Binary Interface Transfer Code Handler

I think the not pronouncing letters in a word accolade should go to the French. Who knows how many letters at the end of nearly every French word are left silent.

Cisco hacked: Six backend servers used by customer VIRL-PE deployments compromised via SaltStack

Should

Have bought Huawei...

This'll make you feel old: Uni compsci favourite Pascal hits the big five-oh this year

OK

So I'm officially old. The university I attended in the late 70's had a Pascal Micro Engine (link ) which always intrigued me. Pascal has had an enduring influence on me, although it's I/O sub system sucked . Of that type of language I always liked Modua-2, a sort of grown up Pascal before N Wirth got obsessed with OO and Oberon.

I recall many a long hour in the 80's discussing the pros and cons of language X over language Y and why this or that memory allocation method was so much better, etc. There seemed like such a richness of choice. So tell me again, how have we ended up with Javascript and PHP ruling the roost?

Boeing brings back the 737 Max but also lays off thousands

Re: Approvals

Surly given the current circumstances there will soon be a whole host of secondhand efficient airliners available without the Boeing stamp on them to choose from.

Contact-tracing app may become a permanent fixture in major Chinese city

So

How many here think that some form of this will be rolled out here (wherever here is for you)?

Lawsuit klaxon: HP, HPE accused of coordinated plan to oust older staff in favor of cheaper, compliant youngsters

This Is About As Shocking As The News That Bears Shit In The Woods.

The IT industry in general and the USA large IT corporates in particular, are ageist by design. That's not to say they don't discriminate in other ways, but the cult of youth is very strongly embedded and structures and practices are in place to support it. Having lived and worked through the change, it's not been good or pleasant. When I started it was common for technical colleagues to have been working for more than forty years at the firm (or it's predecessors). When I was last working for a USA corporate, the average tenure amongst the doers was five years. If you didn't shuffle up the greasy pole and slide over to the dark side in management, the large growing target on your back was plain for all to see. And don't get me started on the incredible shrinking number of women and the obsession with reinventing the wheel.

I'll get my coat, it will be the one with specifications, designs and testing plans in the pockets...

Tech's Volkswagen moment? Trend Micro accused of cheating Microsoft driver QA by detecting test suite

I Guess

That MysteriousCheck() is less obvious than NSACheck().

OnePlus to disable camera colour feature with pervy tendencies in latest flagship smartphone

Well

Better than the comic book x-ray specs. Now where are the Sea Monkeys...

If you're appy and you know it: The Huawei P40 Pro conclusively proves that top-notch specs aren't everything

Re: Google apps etc. via browser?

But, but, then it's not an app. It's gotta be an app.

If you don't LARP, you'll cry: Armed fun police swoop to disarm knight-errant spotted patrolling Welsh parkland

Re: Meanwhile in Bristol....

Banksy, is that you?

Beer gut-ted: As many as '70 million pints' spoiled during coronavirus pandemic must be destroyed in Britain

Re: It's probably not actually "bad".

Beer keeps for a very long time as long as its sealed. It does age. Which in wine is considered a good thing, in beer, not so much. That's a fashion thing. The USA,ians seem to have developed an obsession about freshness with beer. Slapping born on dates as well as the more usual use by dates and other marketing gimmicks on their beverage containers. I can't help thinking this has more to do with trying to conjurer up a analog of built in obsolesces than any reasons that might improve the lot of their customers.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Mines the one with bottles of homebrew in the pockets...

Swedish data centre offers rack-scale dielectric immersion cooling

You

can have liquid cooling without putting your computer in a bath. You have to design for it but it's not too hard. ICL's SX mainframe range were all liquid cooled even though it wasn't much talked about as it was deemed it might scare off customers given the not so good experiences with IBM's attempts at liquid cooling.

If you would like a trip down memory lane: link (pdf)

Oracle to take IT out of the equation for HR, ship prebuilt metrics, KPIs to analyse carbon-based lifeforms

Re: In Larry we trust?

I would have thought it would be more likely to be along the lines of "explain really slowly why I shouldn't sack you".

Tencent pop group, formed on a Tencent TV show, boosted Tencent games and Q1 revenue

For

Research purposes only, press here

The end really is nigh – for 32-bit Windows 10 on new PCs

Linux

On the desktop is always coming this year. Linux was at war with Microsoft: therefore Linux has always been at war with Microsoft.

Microsoft's Family Safety app drills into kids' screen time, browsing habits to help 'facilitate a dialogue'

I Woke Up When

I thought for a moment that the picture was of Stanley Tweedle from Lexx. I guess I'll go back to sleep...

Wanna be a developer? Your coworkers want to learn Go and like to watch, er, Friends and Big Bang Theory

Re: Hmm

SQL is a declarative language. Difficult to replicate control type stuff, but still a language.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Spacecraft with graphene sails powered by starlight and lasers

Re: Thoughts

What we need it anti-dark energy.

Microsoft claims AWS has used new JEDI mind trick with secret contract objection filing

Not

So secret...

What do you call megabucks Microsoft? No really, it's not a joke. El Reg needs you

How

About:

vampire juggernaut.

Or

micro minions

Non-human Microsoft Office users get their own special licences

When

The Bot doesn't pay up, they can take it to court. Oh, bugger, it's not a person...

China successfully launches its biggest-ever space truck to fire up its space station ambitions

Re: Important difference

And uses 21st century components.

Ex-Imagination Technologies boss tells UK Foreign Affairs Committee: Britain needs to stop overseas asset stripping

Re: The Value of a Company

"A company exists to make money for its stakeholders. No one puts money in for National Security. Sooner or later the highest bidder gets the company."

A company exists to do stuff that an individual can't. Governments put money into companies for products and services that the country needs for it's security. And as you yourself indicated, companies do not have to be sold.

Only if you believe the mantra that companies merely exist to make money for their owners, would that make their greed the inevitable precursor to an eventual sale.

NASA signs deals to put a rocket under Artemis flights until 2029

They

seem to be sticking with the tried and tested pork barrelreliable partners. The whole stack seems to be made out of the leftovers of the 70's space race spares bucket.

As Brit cyber-spies drop 'whitelist' and 'blacklist', tech boss says: If you’re thinking about getting in touch saying this is political correctness gone mad, don’t bother

Re: 'allow list' and 'deny list'

Only if accepted by the allowists.

Oracle faces claims of unequal pay from 4,000+ women after judge upgrades gender gap lawsuit to class action

The

Oracle I know, would be happier still if it didn't have to pay it's staff at all, let alone with equality.

Lyft dumps 17% of staff, furloughs 5%, cuts pay as people stay home, avoid rides in possibly virus-ridden cars

Re: Disruptions disrupted

Unfortunately we do just have taxi companies with apps that clam not to employ their drivers. But hey, they do say they might have a black tulip or two or was it a unique trade agreement with the South Pacific or maybe...

Nine million logs of Brits' road journeys spill onto the internet from password-less number-plate camera dashboard

But saying out loud puts a stake in the ground that since no fiscal damage was done, no grounds for suing the council exists.

Re: Colour me surprised

They are making decisions based upon criteria that weight choices in ways wildly different to what most people on this forum would use. But, yes, still probably not worth their self regulated salaries.

Royal Navy nuclear submarine captain rapped for letting crew throw shoreside BBQ party

The Avro Blue Steel was a operational ~1 megaton weapon and was a missile. There was also the Ikara missile/torpedo combo that were flung off ships that had a nuclear depth bomb option. I'm sure there were others. I particularly like the rainbow code for the Ikara, Blue Duck :)

Web pages a little too style over substance? Behold the Windows 98 CSS file

Re: This is exactly what the internet was designed for

Let's just get some content. Oh, bugger, too much to ask...

House of Commons agrees to allow Zoom app in Parliament, British MPs will still have to dress smartly

Unfortunately, after day one, several companies (you all know who they are) realised that there was money in them there hills as long as you locked your patsiescustomers into your platform and even better, onto your own private 'internet'.

Frippin' heck: Watch out, chin-stroking prog rock fans. King Crimson distributor Burning Shed says it's been hacked

Perhaps

They weren't quite schizoid enough given that we are in the 21st century...

Stack Overflow banishes belligerent blather with bespoke bot – but will it work?

Well

That's cleared that up. "Darilek said unfriendly comments showed up as a top concern in the company's Site Satisfaction survey". Not the validity and quality of any of the answers on the site.

Wanted: An exit strategy from the overt surveillance of smartphone contact tracing

Re: Governments need to be explicit...

You missed "...or where it may impact national security".

Doom Eternal: Reboot sequel is cluttered but we're only here for the rippin' and the tearin'

I used to run a Doom server on a Sun E6000. Obviously for the purpose of performance testing the server and network.

Rolls-Royce leads data analytics alliance with its sights set on COVID-19 economic recovery

Where

Is Hari Seldon when you need him...

Microsoft attempts to up its Teams game with new features while locked-down folk flock to rival Zoom... warts and all

Re: All those billions spent in Skype

Ah yes, but they are no longer rivals.

Re: Pub replacement

Why not? Where are they going?

Apple creates face shield for health workers, resists the temptation to call it the 'iMask'

Watch

Out for those rounded corners...

Reg fashion special: Top designer says 'video chat accessories' are in for spring!

Re: What would we do without fashion?

Unfortunately we don't yet have a B-Ark...

NSO Group: Facebook tried to license our spyware to snoop on its own addicts – the same spyware it's suing us over

Re: Anti-Popcorn?

pop-weasel?

NASA's classic worm logo returns for first all-American trip to ISS in years: Are you a meatball or a squiggly fan?

When

An organization turns to messing around with it's logo instead of it's products, it tends to be a bad sign for that organization. I hope I'm being a bit too pessimistic.

Here's what Europeans are buying amid the COVID-19 lockdown – aside from heaps of pasta and toilet paper

Re: Lost post

Perhaps the Royal Mail was just trying to delight it's customers.

Vietnam bans posting fake news online

Why

Don't we just bad all new to be safe. Precautionary principle and all.

Leaving Las Vegas... for good? IT industry conference circuit won't look the same on other side of COVID-19 pandemic

Re: Really!

That sounds depressing and tiring. I was at least only giving technical talks at break out sessions so had more than enough time to be thoroughly bored.

Really!

Or as another said: "Folks REALLY like Vegas."

Back when Sun was a thing, I had the misfortune of spending 10 days in Vegas, occasionally busy but mainly bored in the endless Vegas twilight. Being cooped up in 24/7 gambling central is not my idea of a good time. Perhaps not being a gambler, a fan of US beer, or any of the other 'entertainments' on offer didn't help. Each to their own I guess.

Beer, because I'm missing supporting my local pub.

Drones intone 'you must stay home,' eliciting moans from those in the zone: Flying gizmos corral Brits amid coronavirus lockdown

Re: Common sense, what's that?

The point is to reduce the rate at which the virus is spreading. Taking a trip out of one place and spreading it around another place does not help with this aim. Even if the other place might already have some infection it might not be the same strain or in the same quantities. And don't forget the in between places such as garages. We spread disease everywhere we go irrespective of how careful we might think we are being. Staying close to home limits the local of this gift.

UK Information Commissioner OKs use of phone data to track coronavirus spread

Confused

How will anonymized data help in tracking individuals?