Posts by Alfie Noakes

Energy drink company punished ERP graybeard for going too fast

Re: EVE

ALL-IN-1 came with WPS-PLUS as the default word processor, but you could also install WordPerfect as an add-on.

Me, i stuck with EDT ;)

Lloyds Banking Group says 'digitization' will power more branch closures

Re: "Service that no one uses and won't pay for shuts down"

"BoS (part of Lloyds) now employs staff to drive customers away from branches. They try to obstruct access to tellers and, if the customer insists, shout their private business across the room."

Exactly!

Halifax (also part of Lloyds) are happy to employ a zombie to tell people in the queue for _real_ (usually only one) tellers that they also have machines and robots to do stuff.

Er, i wouldn't have come into a branch if i didn't need to speak to.a REAL person!

Sainsbury's eyes up shoplifters with live facial recognition

Use proven methodology?

Maybe Sainsbury's should implement a "Parking Eye" style approach, and have a big "contract sign" at the entrance saying that you agree to pay a £1,000 "shoplifting charge" if you nick anything (reduced to only £500 if you pay within 28 days)?

It seems to be a nice earner for motorists, so why not for grocery tea-leafs?

Attack on Oxford City Council exposes 21 years of election worker data

"And they know this how?"

Probably because if they don't actually LOOK for any evidence, they won't find any evidence!

Standard modus operandi for councils, governments, police etc. :(

Boom's XB-1 jet nails supersonic flight for first time

Re: USA USA USA

...so by 2040 we can look forward to the first commercial flights, although not in the UK, as Millipede will have banned planes and Heathrow runway 3 will be a solar farm ;)

'Best job at JPL': What it's like to be an engineer on the Voyager project

...and you try to tell the young people of today that!

"data rate is 1.4 kilobits per second" - WOW!

Twenty five years ago, Earth based computer modems were not much faster, and yet a machine twice as old, and a gazilion miles away is still successfully chattering.

That is impressive!

EU buyers still shunning pure electric vehicles, prefer hybrids

Re: Plug in hybrids

This is seriously worrying, and explains why Toyota embed a SIM with cellular connection into all their new cars. Not just to provide the mandatory eCall system, but to monitor your driving style and movements via a spy that you cannot turn off!

Where is GDPR when you need it?

Re: Plug in hybrids

Yup, i heard that as well.

How NCAP could think that continuous beeps, klaxons, chimes, bells and flashing lights won't distract you from the more important task of drivng safely, i just don't know!

And as for the speed limit alarms, much of the time they are completely wrong - i just hope that they never connect the system to the PNC ;)

Re: Plug in hybrids

"current models they switch back on at next startup"

Yup, the speeding alarm, lane sway beeper (and nudger) and sat-nav voice guidance all revert to "irritating mode" every time you start the engine.

It should be a trivial software update to make your preferences "sticky", but they probably won't :(

p.s. Another frustration is that they don't give you all the hardcopy manuals, expecting you to read how to "navigate the customer experience" via an app on your phone (which plod won't muchly approve of!).

Smart homes may be a bright idea, just not for the dim bulbs who live in 'em

Re: "Ask me how I know."

For years i have wondered why i couldn't find any "random light turn on and off" bulb adapters, but i guess that is all part of the cart leading the horse methodology :(

Lego's Concorde is the only supersonic jet you can build for the price of a fancy dinner

...and with triple nectar points at argoooose, it is very tempting ;)

They even have it in stock in my local store!

UK's 'electricity superhighway' gets green light just in time for AI to gobble it all up

Re: ...you will own nothing, be poor, cold, and probably not very happy :(

I'd rather they implemented a realistic solution that will actually fix the problem and won't cost many BILLION pounds (and only being one twenty-sixth part of the currently planned solution) of our money.

That solution could take many forms - not necessarily wiring windmills to a wood-burning subsidy-sucking factory!

...you will own nothing, be poor, cold, and probably not very happy :(

This new cable will only provide 1kW to each of those "2 million homes", so let us hope that they don't want to use their heat pumps, or charge their EVs, or even have an electric shower (even individually, never mind at the same time!).

Oh, and that is assuming that the wind is blowing in the first place!

No, really, please ban Chinese DJI drones from America's skies, senators are urged

Re: Here in the EU generally and specifically Spain

In the UK (and i presume the EU, 'cos laws are similar) you can fly a sub-250g drone pretty much anywhere (apart from the obvious, like airports, prisons etc.) including near buildings and over people, with just an operator ID from the CAA (which costs just over a tenner a year).

No flight plans required, and (in the case of DJI) the inbuilt geofencing will stop you from accidentally going somewhere that might start a nuclear war!

Oh, and i don't think that GDPR applies to individuals.

Undelete your Amazon purchase - you might enjoy it ;)

Light-weight solar-powered flying robots are coming

Exposure!

Methinks that the electrostatic motor might have problems in light mist (or even smoke) - never mind a splash of rain?

Speed limiters arrive for all new cars in the European Union

Re: Good

Ah, the good old 85th-percentile :)

We used to do this in the UK as well (when road planners actually had brains, and roads were a pleasure to drive on)!

Resource burden of electric vehicles set to triple by 2050

Re: Lithium batteries in 2050?

"Connect the dots people."

You are Jim Dale (British Weather Services) and I claim my five pounds!

...however, there are not many (ANY) domestic lunar landers or nuclear bomb kits available (even on Amazon ;) ).

Re: 8 mins

Even if 8 minute charging was realistically possible (unicorns, pixies and fairy dust permitting), it is going to need a VERY fat wire connecting the chargng station to the grid (and ultimately the windmills) should there be more than a couple of cars involved.

Starlink geofence appears to have some gaping holes

I just gotta say - what a Toto-lly brilliant sub-title!

HP print rental service seeks more users to become subscription addicts

Re: A fool and his money

"I don't want to own a printer. So I really don't care. So long as I can print when required, I'd like to do so at the lowest combination of cost and time wasted."

...and if you don't own the printer, and you don't own the ink, and you don't own the paper - they can jack up the price at any time and there is nothing that you can do. Think "smart" meters, pay-per-mile driving etc.!

Wyze admits 13,000 users could have viewed strangers' camera feeds

Scarey - how can you EVER trust such medical equipment?

New cars bought in the UK must be zero emission by 2035 – it's the law

Re: Think of the Grid!

"and trucks will do battery swaps at service depots"

Ha, ha, ha - you make me laugh!

Now tell me another joke!

Re: Think of the Grid!

Sounds like the curse of the "smart" meter is starting to rear it's ugly head!

Re: Think of the Grid!

I thought that Drax still can burn coal (when asked) amongst it's subsidised wood burners?

England's village green hydrogen dream in tatters

"That's weird... LG make an air source heat pump that has a flow temp of 75°C (at an outside air temp of -15°C whilst still maintaing a COP of 5; ok so it falls to 2 at -30°C but you can't have everything)"

Can you provide a link to this particular LG ASHP, as it does seem rather "impossible" with current commercially available technologies?

It is 20 years since the last commercial flight of Concorde

Re: Gorgeous aircraft

"I flew on one of the Bay of Biscay jolly flights and will never forget it."

Me too ("Flights of Fantasy"?). I believe that those "charter" flights were actually commercially viable - IF ONLY SOMEONE WOULD MAKE THE SPARE PARTS!

Memories that spring to mind include...

- Leaving Heathrow and following the M4 to the Bristol Channel, then once clear of land, accelerating like you were taking off all over again.

- Looking down out of the window at the tops of clouds that seemed as far away the the land normally does.

- Looking up out of the window and the sky was BLACK (because it was proper space!).

Oh, and yes, the (triple glazed) windows were warm ;)

Power grids tremble as electric vehicle growth set to accelerate 19% next year

Re: For many of us, hybrids make more sense than BEVs

...and i bet that this separate (EV) meter (made compulsary for new installations over a year ago) will allow you to be charged (taxed) even on electricity that you have generated from solar panels that you installed at your own expense!

Bastards!

Bosch goes all-in on hydrogen with €2.5B investment by 2026

Re: I was expecting

Indeed - you have gotta watch out for the weakest link!

You mentioned copper piping - is this not "hydrogen safe"? If not then it will be a MASSIVE job to replace it all (as well as being quite expensive)!

My house also has some lead piping for gas - dunno how good that will be for hydrogen?

All of the norths are about to align over Britain

for the "first time in history,"

...must be due to climate change ;)

Re: Or you could...

Isn't there also something about the entrance to ant hills (or is that just in America)?

Wind, solar fulfill 10% of global electricity demand for first time

Re: Just the headline - now fixed

Thanks for the fix :)

Sadly too many press articles confuse power/energy with electricity (and kWh with kW etc.) - at least El Reg try to keep things on track ;)

:(

Title says "energy", article says "electricity".

Add gas boilers, most cars, diesel HGVs, blast furnaces, oil-powered ships, aircraft, barbeques and birthday cakes etc. - wind and solar still contribute a pathetic amount to the "global energy demand"

AI to help study first images from James Webb Space Telescope

James Webb Space Telescope hit by tiny meteoroid

Sad news according to the BEEB...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61744257

Europe's largest nuclear plant on fire after Russian attack

Well done El Reg

Can i just thank El Reg for reporting this incident in a calm and researched manner - unlike most of the hysterical MSM!

Even the comments seems to be well balanced ;)

Titanium carbide nanotech approach hints at hydrogen storage breakthrough

Oh, i did do a search, but there is not much recent activity - the referenced article is over two years old. Also, although it mentions that they "are able to power themselves with a wind turbine", there is no mention of such a facility for the Johnson Matthey station (at least via https://www.itm-power.com/h2-stations/swindon-hydrogen-station).

What is interesting however, is the fact that it can only generate enough fuel for around 15 cars a day - is this commercially viable (especially with a windmill that needs to generate at least 3.3MWh per day)?

Over six years on and i haven't much more about Honda's "'self-sufficient' hydrogen refuelling station" - please, do tell us how it is going?

Oh, no one knows what goes on behind locked doors... so don't leave your UPS in there

PAFEC memories

I remember PAFEC - lovely old building(s) out in the sticks.

IIRC, their "computer room" was in the attic (with oak beams) where they had one of the first VAXstations.

The stables had been converted into an office, but keeping the original stalls for desk units.

Beside every door was an umbrella stand full of umbrellas, so you could keep dry when walking between buildings.

Ah, the eighties - the good old days of computing!

Wind and quite a bit of fog shroud Boris Johnson's energy vision for the UK

Re: Or

But, but, but - after Fukushima, didn't Germany decide to phase out their atom-burners? Thus there must be tens of fah-sans of "nu-cu-ler" designers, engineers, constructions workers etc. all desperately in need of a job!

Where are we now? Microsoft 363? 362? We've lost count because Exchange Online isn't playing nicely this morning

Yet again we hear the word "mitigated"

...which simply means "less shitty"!

Firefox 78: Protections dashboard, new developer features... and the end of the line for older macOS versions

Recommended by Pocket!!

They seem to have snuck in a "Recommended by Pocket" option, which is turned ON by default!

I haven't ready all the "privacy" propaganda yet, but would rather have be given an "opt-in" option with an explanation beforehand :(

Vodafone issues a stay of execution for Demon domain hold-outs

Clueless

From the sound of things at https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Other-broadband-queries/Anyone-else-affected-by-Vodafone-disabling-demon-co-uk-emails/m-p/2655220 it looks like Vodafone thought that there were only a couple of Demon e-mail users left!!!

Well, it looks like they might now be losing quite a few thousand "customers" (and their friends and colleagues and much future business) as a result of their lack of basic common sense (and arrogance)!

Oh Hell. Remember the glory days of Demon Internet? Well, now would be a good time to pick a new email address

Vodafone forums

In case anyone is still reading these comments, there is an interesting discussion going on in the Vodafone forum at https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Other-broadband-queries/Anyone-else-affected-by-Vodafone-disabling-demon-co-uk-emails/m-p/2655220

Re: Aliases

AC,

Have you seen https://www.names.co.uk/support/2850.html ?

I will NEVER buy anything from Vodafone EVER again!

Vodafone (after taking over Demon)!

First they took away my web-space (without telling me).

Then they took away my web-site (without reducing the price).

Then they forced me to pay for an e-mail service that was supposed to be part of my HomeOffice 8000 package.

Now, in the middle of a Coronavirus pandemic they give me just over a month to re-allocate around 200 e-mail addresses (many over 20 years old).

Twats!

Mozilla plugs two Firefox browser holes exploited in the wild by hackers to hijack victims' computers

Re: Clarification

I think that the former is found on macOS!

Watch Waymo's totally driverless self-driving car cruise around, how the US military wants to use AI ethically, etc

Re: Prety neat driving

It also seemed to be doing a lot of un-necessary braking (including mid-turn). Not the cleverest self-driving (if that is indeed what it is using)!

Things that make you go .hm... Has a piece of the internet just sunk into the ocean? It appears so

Re: "just north of Antarctica"

I thought that the question was "What colour is the bear?"?

<pedant-disclaimer>

The original riddle had an answer of "white", but i believe that a polar bear has black skin, but transparent (hollow?) fur that appears white due reflected light!

</pedant-disclaimer>

Trying to log into Office 365 right now? It's a coin flip, says Microsoft: Service goes TITSUP as Azure portal wobbles

Marketingspeak?

Why do Microsoft pepper their status updates with the work "mitigated", which literally means "less shit"???

Office 365 enjoys good old-fashioned Thursday wobble as email teeters over in Europe

It is not even the end of January yet!

Down yet again, but seems to be coming back :(