* Posts by Essuu

37 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Nov 2009

You're going to do what to the feature? Microsoft defines what it means by 'deprecation'

Essuu
Unhappy

Forced hardware upgrade? No thanks

I have a perfectly serviceable PC that's a few years old but still plenty fast enough for video editing and gaming (all but the latest games at least) but apparently it's not compatible with Windows 11 as it doesn't have a modern TPM, and so refuses to install on this machine.

In all other respects it's perfectly capable.

I'm not spending hundreds on a new motherboard, so it'll stay as it is, until I rebuild it with linux (Davinci Resolve and OBS Studio work well there, and Steam too iirc).

Grumble grumble etc.

Blue Origin gives up on New Glenn lift-off, 2 hours into launch window

Essuu

Launch Abort Mandatory

The Shuttle didn't have a launch abort, which meant the seven astronauts on Challenger had absolutely no chance - there's no way that Starship gets a NASA human rating without a launch abort system. Most likely they'll have to use Crew Dragon to ferry astronauts to orbit to join a Starship before journeying on to the Moon or Mars. Which would be workable as it would mean they could fly more fuel on the first Starship launch, and then only add passengers once it has gone through refuelling as many times as it needs to for its mission. Crew Dragon can be configured to hold seven astronauts, which is fine going up, even if NASA won't support the same number coming down.

Stranded in space: Starliner crew to remain in orbit even longer as SpaceX faces delays

Essuu

Of course there's a backup plan!

It's called Crew Dragon and it's working perfectly as intended. They could, in a real emergency, bring all the US astronauts home on the current Crew Dragon on station, but it's not an emergency so there's no need. If they ONLY had Starliner, they would, indeed, be f**ked.

$800 'AI' robot for kids bites the dust along with its maker

Essuu
Coat

NASA blueprints

NASA has the master blueprints, what's been lost in time are the working drawings that show all the myriad little changes made as they built the things. One hopes that, since SpaceX want to build dozens of the them, that Starship and Super Heavy Booster are better documented in the modern age of ubiquitous computing power. I don't think I'd bet my coat on that though...

NASA narrows Artemis III landing target list to nine

Essuu
Joke

The Moon, the definite article one might say...

Hold my Pimms! Wimbledon turns to tech for line-ball calls

Essuu
Joke

Drones!

You may scoff but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if someone sold them an automated drone based ball recovery system. With AI!

After 3 years, Windows 11 has more than half Windows 10's market share

Essuu
Meh

It's the TPM that kills it for me

I have a perfectly capable and well equipped PC I built a few years ago but it cannot run W11 as it doesn't have the requisite TPM on board.

So I'll happily stay on Windows 10. I'd install a linux but it needs to run a specific piece of software that isn't available for anything other than Windows 10/11.

Musk dreams of launching five Starships to Mars in two years

Essuu
Black Helicopters

Choose your regulator

Strangely it appears that there are three different regulators at work in the USA. FAA licenses commercial spaceflight, NASA licenses governmental missions, and the DOD licenses it's own spook launches. Which is why the FAA are concerned about booster falling over after landing, but not involved with Starliner stranding astronauts on the ISS. NASA Spaceflight has a good video on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TobeGL4Ma8

Perhaps SpaceX can persuade NASA to reclassify them as government tests and override the FAA's authority...

Lebanon: At least nine dead, thousands hurt after Hezbollah pagers explode

Essuu

SMS in not guaranteed

SMS delivery is far from guaranteed, particularly when passing between mobile operators, and doubly so internationally.

I recently attended a dentist appointment only to find the building closed after a fire. When I enquired I was told "we sent you a text back in May" but I never received it. An email or, heaven forfend, an actual phone call would have been more useful.

We use text alerts at work but need a premium SMS service to increase the reliability of the message delivery. Even then it's always backed up by email notifications.

Starliner's not-so-grand finale is a thump in the desert next week

Essuu

where the locals have need and the existing suppliers are lazy

Even here in rural Kent, UK, Starlink has its uses. We need(*) fast broadband at my cricket club to livestream matches - BT/Openreach literally just gave up on the idea of quoting us to run any kind of connection. Starlink on the roof works great.

A farming friend of mine has to have good internet connection for monitoring the food he's producing. BT/Openreach not interested, Starlink works just fine thank you very much.

(*) Ok, maybe want more than need but livestreaming league matches is increasingly expected, and it's great for engagement

Essuu

Crew Dragon will be here for a long time

Starship will have the same problem that the Shuttle had, namely no crew abort system. At least, that's the way it looks now, given the various renders and early design documents that are available.

Without that, it's unlikely that NASA will give it a human flight rating, despite having been gung-ho with the Shuttle, so Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 will be with us for a long time.

That's one of the reasons that Starship is only handling the moon landing and return to orbit, and the astronauts have to travel all the way there on Orion. No crew abort, no launch authorisation.

Brit tech mogul Mike Lynch missing after yacht sinks off Sicily amid storms

Essuu

Sister Ships // Re: Below Deck

Interestingly, Parisfal III, the boat in Below Deck Sailing Yacht is the sister ship to the Bayesian. Both built by Perini Navi in Italy. The former in 2005 and the latter in 2008.

NASA to live-stream SLS rocket fuel leak repair test

Essuu
Facepalm

Older than they look

The mobile launchers are older than they seem - whilst the superstructures are new for SLS, the crawlers themselves date back to Apollo, with various subsequent modifications in the years since to support the Shuttle, Ares, and now SLS (using ML-1)

Artemis 4 is so heavy it will need a substantially upgraded crawler and, in typical NASA fashion, they decided to adapt ML-2 rather than build a completely new one. We'll all be shocked, I'm sure, to learn that it's already over twice its initial budget and 3-4 years late on its 3-4 year initial programme.

https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/oig-reports/NASA/Final-Report-IG-22-012-NASAs-Management-Mobile-Launcher-2-Contract.pdf

Google engineer suspended for violating confidentiality policies over 'sentient' AI

Essuu

Winograd vs Turing

I wonder how it would cope with the Winograd Schema Challenge - language that requires knowledge that isn't present in the sentence itself, to parse it successfully. Supposedly a "better" test that the Turing Test. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winograd_schema_challenge

Of course, if this model has been fed the Winograd examples, it'll know how to answer them. Where's Susan Calvin when you need her...?

'Imagine' if Virgin Galactic actually did sub-orbital tourism: Firm unveils new chrome job on SpaceShip III

Essuu
FAIL

Space Cadets

You're thinking of the laughable Space Cadets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Cadets_(TV_series)

Hasta la vista, Ola: TfL bans ridesharing startup, claiming unlicensed drivers picked up passengers

Essuu

Parallel delivery

Pub/club kicks out, several vehicles turn up, drunk folk fall in, it's only later they realise they're in the wrong vehicle. See it happen a lot, driver asks if you're $accountholder, "yeah mate" and jump in.

I suspect the token is supposed to work the other way around, the passenger gives the driver the code, so the latter knows he has the right dribbling mess on board.

I was screwed over by Cisco managers who enforced India's caste hierarchy on me in US HQ, claims engineer

Essuu
Flame

Re: The great, the good, and the ugly

Yes it could, all member states are free to set 3rd Country immigration rules as they see fit. There was nothing stopping the UK making any arrangement it wished with India.

All bets are Hoff: DXC exec is standing for Brexit Party in UK General Election

Essuu

Re: Swivel-Eyed Loon alert

You can write what you like as long as you're not identifiable and your actual voting intention is clear.

47 (3) A ballot paper on which the vote is marked—

(a) elsewhere than in the proper place, or

(b) otherwise than by means of a cross, or

(c) by more than one mark,

shall not for such reason be deemed to be void (either wholly or as respects that vote) if an intention that the vote shall be for one or other of the candidates clearly appears, and the way the paper is marked does not itself identify the voter and it is not shown that he can be identified by it.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/3304/pdfs/uksi_20063304_en.pdf [The Local Elections (PrincipalAreas) (England and Wales)Rules 2006]

Bloodhound rocket car target of 550mph put on ice after engine overheat

Essuu

Re: what's the big deal about 1000 mph?

Although it is somewhat arbitrary, it also happens to be around where the laws of physics come into play to define a theoretical maximum based on our current technologies. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics)#Power for why we can't generate enough power to overcome the drag within a buildable vehicle. At least, safely. It might be possible to put a rocket on its side with some wheels but going fast is only half the equation. Staying on the ground and stopping safely is just as important !

Essuu

Re: serious computer based stability control

Actually, there isn't. They spent three years developing the aerodynamic shape so that it didn't need any active control. That's something you definitely wouldn't want to go wrong at those kind of speeds !

'Occult' text from Buffy The Vampire Slayer ep actually just story about new bus lane in Dublin

Essuu
Joke

I'm surprised the editor didn't Spike the story.

Big Falcon Namechange for Musk's rocket: BFR becomes Starship

Essuu
Coat

Well if it's a starship

...they'd better play Magic Carpet Ride as it takes off !

Bloodhound Super-Sonic-Car lacks Super-Sonic-Cashflow

Essuu

Re: Bah!

It combines a solid fuel with a liquid oxidiser. It's very controllable compared to a traditional firework^Wsolid rocket and not as difficult to work with a dual liquid motors.

IPv6 growth is slowing and no one knows why. Let's see if El Reg can address what's going on

Essuu

Re: What's the revenue angle?

Except that IPv4 clients can't talk to an IPv6 only server, so I'll always need an IPv4 address on my server unless I want to exclude a vast proportion of clients.

IT supplier? Got a customer who won't pay? Dob them in to the Insolvency Service

Essuu

Read all about it !

Strange of El Reg not to link to the gory details - here they are - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2015/9780111128992

My reading, and I am not a lawyer, is that non-payment clauses still have effect so you can terminate them for not paying. You just can't terminate the contract just because they've gone into administration.

Royal Mail's Colossus move gets ex-WREN's stamp of approval

Essuu

Never the facts get in the way of a good story

Well he wasn't part of the project in the film, he was involved in breaking the Lorenz ciphers so no reason to include him. That said, there was absolutely no reason at all for them to have included John Cairncross, since there's no evidence that he ever met Turing, let alone the other ludicrous plot elements so it wouldn't have hurt to include Flowers in the highly inaccurate plot of the Imitation Game :)

UK computing museum starts reboot of 65-year-old EDSAC

Essuu

Re: Reboot?

It's a replica - http://www.tnmoc.org/special-projects/edsac/recreating-edsac

Rackspace chases the channel with hands-on 'managed cloud'

Essuu

Re: Odd units

GB hours of the servers deployed in the Rackspace Cloud. The bigger the machines the higher the cost. Interesting choice of pricing model as running 8 x 1GB servers is probably more work than 1 x 8GB server.

Rolls-Royce climbs aboard Bloodhound SUPERSONIC car

Essuu
Thumb Up

Re: I'm not sure what the point it.

Bloodhound is "an international education initiative focused on a 1,000 mph World Land Speed Record attempt" (to quote from their press release at http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/news/rolls-royce-backs-bloodhound)

They're learning a lot about material behaviours at high speeds which will bring practical application in the future but the real goal is to inspire a new generation of engineers. They've already signed up over 5,000 schools reaching 2.5m children. Hopefully some of these will be encouraged to follow a science and engineering path.

That alone is worth the attempt.

Free WiFi in London Tube stations extended until end of 2012

Essuu
Thumb Down

Not something I'd pay for

It's quite convenient to be able to access my email whilst at stations (my IMAP email on my iPhone seems to work even without viewing the Virgin ad screen) but it's not so useful or necessary that I would actually pay for it.

Now if you could make it work when the train has unexpectedly stopped in the tunnel for 20 mins and I'm going to be late for my meeting, well that might be worth something.

Boffin named Jubb to fire whopping hybrid thruster

Essuu

Re: Hard as I try

The BBC article omits the second part of the Bloodhound SSC goals - namely education. We're running out of engineers as they get old and retire and we're not replacing them fast enough.

The mission statement for Bloodhound SSC states " To confront and overcome the impossible using science, technology, engineering and mathematics. To motivate the next generation to deal with global 21st century challenges"

Inspiring a generation to take up science and engineering is why they're doing it. Read http://bloodhoundssc.com/education.cfm

Murdoch muscles BBC out of Formula One driving seat

Essuu
Megaphone

You speak of value ?

Based on the price quoted here http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93461, with pricing starting from £31/mth or somesuch, £150p.a. for F1 is actually pretty good value compared to £372+ p.a. with Sky.

Power out again at Telecity

Essuu
Stop

Get what you pay for

It's a tier 3 datacentre so there are some common power components. Typically a single bank of UPS's will carry the building load in an N+1 configuration. A failure of the output side of the UPS banks, as seen at Blue Square recently iirc, will take out everything with no option to run on generator power.

If you want fully redundant N+N power, co-lo in a tier 4 datacentre.

ID card astroturf - No2ID beats the truth out of IPS

Essuu
Badgers

Woof

Pavlov was right.

Photographers rue Mandy's copyright landgrab

Essuu
FAIL

Not Simple

If someone else posts your work and strips the watermarks or other information then it's instantly orphaned and under the proposed legislation fair game.

Don't want your photos copied ? Don't let anyone, anywhere, have a copy of them.

Rather defeats the purpose though

Google may exit China after 'highly targeted' attack

Essuu
FAIL

It's just business

Google does what's best for Google. This has nothing to do with ethics or morality, it's just a business decision. I assume that they're not making the profits they expected so it's no longer a viable business opportunity. It's just a better PR angle to claim some sort of ethical standpoint.

Pirates get extra seat in Euro Parliament

Essuu

patents protect production

Patents were developed to allow the inventer of something to obtain a reward for the effort required to invent it. Historically there was little point in inventing something if it was immediately ripped off by a larger outfit.

The only reform that is really required is to require evidence of application. If you patent an invention and then do nothing with it, you lose the right to reward when someone else does. This would have to include licensing others to use the invention, sometimes that is the sensible way to exploit your invention but it would put a stop to IPR licensing shells that exist merely to borg up patents and charge other people for their use.