Posts by gotes

Polish train maker denies claims its software bricked rolling stock maintained by competitor

It's a politically motivated witch hunt!

Paraphrasing Newag's statement.

How to give Windows Hello the finger and login as someone on their stolen laptop

Re: fingerprint works <25% of time

I recently picked up a friend's Samsung phone, planted my thumb on the sensor, and it unlocked more reliably than my own phone.

It is 20 years since the last commercial flight of Concorde

I could hear the boom in South Devon, although it was fairly muted. No broken windows.

BMW deems drivers worthy of warmth, ends heated car seat subscription

Perhaps they are more convenient for EVs or vehicles with automatic transmission, but that certainly wasn't my experience with a manual transmission car.

Aliens crash landed on Earth – and Uncle Sam is covering it up, this guy tells Congress

Re: Not impossible, just ludicrously unlikely

Don't forget this is a work of fiction, so these potential problems (which are speculative anyway) can be ignored.

The choice: Pay BT megabucks, or do something a bit illegal. OK, that’s no choice

Dodgy cabling

I think the most absurd long distance network cable I've been involved with went across a factory roof. It was well over 100m, so we added a small switch (PoE powered) somewhere near the middle, wrapped in a plastic bag to keep it dry.

Douglas Adams was right: Telephone sanitizers are terrible human beings

Re: Agree but...

If he couldn't find a free socket, he should have asked someone. Maybe he was advised to just go ahead and unplug anything.

RIP Kevin Mitnick: Former most-wanted hacker dies at 59

RIP

I don't know a huge amount about the guy, but he was super famous in the 90s when teenage me got his first taste of internet and started hanging out with other teenage wannabe hacker dweebs. Free Kevin!

Also the mention of l0pht brings more 90s nostalgia. I used to frequently visit camneerg. It was pretty useless, but I thought it was cool.

Anyway, farewell, hackerman.

Post Office Horizon Inquiry calls for compensation to be brought forward

Re: Why are these people not in jail?

At the time of writing this comment the only reaction to your post was one downvote, which I've counter-voted, although not because I fully agree with your response.

Yeah, the OP's statement was a touch incorrect; many of the victims of Grenfell died in the fire or shortly after, but I think it was a poor comparison anyway.

Re: A sad story

And none of the actual criminals have gone to prison for it... Yet (here's hoping).

Considering the current state of "cost of living" and so on, that might put them in a worse position.

Bizarre backup taught techie to dumb things down for the boss

Re: "you have to wonder how they get home each night

Metro services usually run every few minutes, so it's not really necessary to use a timetable. Just turn up at the platform and wait.

Time running out for crew of missing Titanic tourist submarine

What use is a cell phone at 4km below sea level? I guess they could take some bad photos or listen to some music. I would expect them to be left on the surface, they're a fire risk.

Florida man insists he didn't violate the law by keeping Top Secret docs

Biden wasn't president when he took the documents, as far as I'm aware, but he co-operated with the authorities and didn't play stupid games trying to hide them whilst bleating about a "witch hunt".

The most bizarre online replacement items in your delivered shopping?

Re: This is why I now go to the shops.

I was being a bit sarky. I love the reduced to clear section; It genuinely makes my day when I find 4 pints of milk for 30p.

Re: This is why I now go to the shops.

As a former supermarket shelf filler, I hate you.

Musicians threaten to make Oasis 'Live Forever' with AI

We have a moral and commercial responsibility to our artists

:s/Artists/Shareholders

Cardboard drones running open source flight software take off in Ukraine and beyond

Re: We've been here before ...

And of course those lithium cells release completely harmless emissions when they burn.

CAN do attitude: How thieves steal cars using network bus

Re: less than a BMW then.

Christ. Makes me glad I no longer own a car.

I've read several stories (probabably on this very site) about people driving off in someone else's identical vehicle, or at least opening the door because the keys have so few possible combinations.

I could get into my old Ford Escort by pulling the lock out with my fingers.

3CX thought supply chain attack was a false positive

Re: Being serious

As far as I'm aware, 3CX the comms company isn't selling excavators.

Errors logged as 'nut loose on the keyboard' were – ahem – not a hardware problem

Re: Take aways

The thing about internet/phone orders is the kitchen has had plenty of time to prepare the food, whereas the people who just turn up and order the food will have to wait, unless there is some already made.

It would be quite inefficient if the delivery driver had to wait while the food was being prepared.

Techie fired for inventing an acronym – and accidentally applying it to the boss

This is a better story than the actual article.

Titanic mass grave site to be pillaged for NFTs

Re: Why do they always use singular "The Blockchain"?

It's probably hosted in "The Cloud".

Another RAC staffer nabbed for storing, sharing car crash data

Re: 2 questions

Or just add the currency conversion in the article. The value of USD is generally known by more than just USians. Why it is so offensive to include a currency conversion?

McDonald's pulls plug on Wi-Fi, starts playing classical music to soothe yobs

Re: print car number plates on takeaway bags to discourage customers from littering

"Can't someone else do it?"

Software engineer accused of stealing $300k from employer was 'inspired by Office Space'

Re: Our hero forgot....

I wouldn't be so sure of Milton's success. His stapler was likely destroyed in the fire.

UK's Guardian newspaper breaks news of ransomware attack on itself

Re: Snide, or am I missing something?

Welcome to The Register.

What did Unix fans learn from the end of Unix workstations?

Re: HDD removed +

That reminds me of the replacement HDD rails I made from cardboard.

Elon Musk to abused Twitter users: Your tormentors are coming back

Re: This reply so you can't moan about no reply for the downvote.

Why should anyone have to engage? I see the votes as an indication of reader sentiment, it doesn't need explaining.

Re: And to think that 30 years ago...

I downvoted your second post for complaining about downvotes.

Massive energy storage system goes online in UK

Re: Per home usage

They didn't specify whether the homes were inhabited or not.

finance people would have wondered why he wasn't putting receipts for diesel

If money is not being spent, everything's fine.

IT manager's 'think outside the box' edict was, for once, not (only) a revolting cliché

Why is it "cheap" to place machines on the floor? It's not ideal, what with the dust and exposure to impacts from feet and chair legs, but it was fairly common practice for tower cases in the 90s.

Multi-tasker Musk expects to reduce time at Twitter, seek another leader

Re: So let me get this straight ...

It's hard work writing tweets and emails at 4am.

Twitter engineer calls out Elon Musk for technical BS in unusual career move

Re: The app doesn't make RPC calls?

Oh, I thought it was "Rugby Football Club".

Go ahead, be rude. You don't know it now, but it will cost you $350,000

Re: You get what you order

I was involved in a minor scrape, other driver at fault (and admitted as such, only verbally though). I reported this to my insurer, but didn't make a claim. When it came to renewal, my premium went up by about £200 a year, despite no claim being made.

I don't own a car now, so fortunately I won't have to deal with this kind of shit.

Data loss prevention emergency tactic: keep your finger on the power button for the foreseeable future

Re: really?

I was imagining some kind of physical barrier in front of the button, but I guess it was just a "do not press this button" label.

How I made a Chrome extension for converting Reg articles to UK spelling

Re: Not wounded pride.

Yeah, it puzzles me that so many people are wound up about this non-issue.

DisplayPort standards bods school USB standards bods with latest revision

Clear as mud

I guess I'll just carry on using my existing gear then. That said, I have one of those Plugable 4K laptop docks, and the ethernet adaptor is pretty useless with three monitors hogging the bandwidth.

Musk grumbles about 'overpaying' for Twitter but says he's excited

Overpaying?

It was YOUR offer, Elon. If you think it's overpriced, that's on you.

Senior engineer reported to management for failing to fix a stapler

Re: Just maybe ...

There is such a thing as a "standalone" electric stapler.

Business can't make staff submit to video surveillance, says court

Re: Good luck getting another job

If a potential employer has a problem with someone standing up for their rights, they probably aren't worth working for.

Fixing an upside-down USB plug: A case of supporting the insupportable

Re: Can't put my finger on it

It looks like this one was done in a bit of a hurry.

Re: Upside down 3.5" floppies

A company I worked for was installing Win95 on "new" machines well into the 2000s. The owner was a cheapskate and had a lot of spare Win95 licences.

No, Apple, you may not sell iPhones without chargers

Re: The rest

Chargers don't last forever.

In my experience, they last longer than phones.

Germany orders Sept 1 shutdown of digital ad displays to save gas

Re: Exceptions for such dual-purpose signs have been arranged.

Timetables are generally quite static, departure/arrival boards are not.

Re: Exceptions for such dual-purpose signs have been arranged.

61 F

That's a very big capacitor.

Zuckerberg: Yes, Facebook kept Hunter Biden's laptop under wraps

Re: A modest proposal

And while we're at it, how about a constitutional amendment that no president, vice president, congressman, senator, or federal judge can serve after their 70th birthday.

Agreed. Neither of those senile gits should stand for election again, in my opinion.

Maybe doubIe standards a little considering how we all hate IBM for their ageism, but IBM isn't in charge of the world's most powerful military.