Posts by skwdenyer

UK wants datacenters to pay a fee for grid connection requests

Re: Refundable?

So would you like to apply that to anything else? Healthcare? Roads? You seem to be advocating for an end to modern society.

Re: Refundable??

The general principle of modern society relies upon the costs of adapting to meet changing demand being met collectively for the collective good. Otherwise there would never be another affordable home built, no business will ever expand, and folk will start buying local generators rather than grid connections.

Much as I understand your stance, that way lies madness.

Dev who gave HashiCorp its name returns with a faster terminal multiplexer

Re: Huh?

As others have said, this isn’t for humans. The key thing seems to me to be terminals bottlenecking agent performance. Now whether pointing an agent at a tty, rather than an api, is a good idea is another discussion entirely…

IT boss left root session open for bring-your-kid-to-work day

Re: Groups!

I think the term “sanely designed” is the key thing here.

Back in the day, we used to have Operators whose job it was to run jobs, etc. Since jobs were only run by these hallowed high priests, they had little scrutiny or oversight, and many argued they *were* the safeguards..:

Databricks can't seem to shake authors' copyright claim that could result in 'extraordinary' damages

Really? Why? If I wrote a book 15 years ago, and somebody wants now to make it into a film, I shouldn't be compensated?

UK govt dept sent a document 'in error.' Now it's being used in a £370M contract lawsuit

That's one possible read. Another is that Capita bid a lower price, on the assumption they would be able to negotiate alignment of delivery dates and various other factors to allow those lower prices to work, whereas their competitor bid to the brief.

Cops hand Motorola £25M no-bid deal to keep 2000-era radios alive

Re: "Car 54, Where are you ?"

Where I am, 3G has been turned off, whilst lots of 4G spectrum seems to have been re-allocated to 5G - certainly my older (4G only) backup phone now gets markedly worse 4G signal than it used to be.

Does ESN mean there will be a life extension on 4G for the public? Or is this going to be a wholly separate 4G network? And, as others have said, how will this deal with the still-immense black spots around the country?

How long before someone realises the problems and re-scopes this project to incorporate Starlink?

I vibe coded a feed reading web app. It was enlightening and uncomfortable

Nobody ever cracked the high bandwidth, long-range, low cost RFID problem. There was a UK company called, from memory, Flying Null, who introduced the (IIRC) Holotag about 25 years ago, which used a fundamentally different technology and could have potentially scaled whilst being cheap enough. Their tech could have potentially allowed you to push your trolley through a "scanning arch."

Like so many UK companies, they were too early, and insufficiently funded, so they closed.

Data science has given us the handheld self-scanner, together with enough prediction modelling to have a fair stab at when to call for a human re-check. That's good enough for a lot of customers. Amazon tried using cameras to detect purchase intent, but ended up finding it hard to accurately track when a customer picked up an item to read the label before replacing it. The same tech has been tried in hotel mini bars and vending units, with similarly-mixed results.

Barcodes have a marginal cost near zero. So far the economics haven't supported adding marginal cost onto products with smarter tagging, rather than just covering the cost of scanning those barcodes at the checkout, and nobody has provided enough evidence to show an upsurge in sales and profits associated with replacing that last line of purchase friction.

My local supermarket (Booths, up North), has done away with all self-checkouts in favour of manned tills, after researching the point with their customer base.

Their signage also reads "10 items or fewer" which also gets my vote.

Apple's last tower topples… and the others will follow

Re: Extrapolation

Was that real revenue, or booked revenue? There are an awful lot of vapourware AI projects around at the moment…

UK police force presses pause on live facial recognition after study finds racial bias

Good practice

Rather than get too hung up on minutiae, perhaps it is worth taking a moment to congratulate the Police in this instance for actually conducting a trial, involving independent researchers, etc.? At a time when confidence in the police is very low, taking the requisite time to properly evaluate a technology that could well be hijacked as a pretext for unrest seems like a sensible thing to have done.

The big FOSS vendors don't eat their own dogfood – they pay for proprietary groupware

Re: Too much ideology makes Liam unproductive

The key thing with Slack and suchlike should be about expectations.

Email to me is mail, not a near-real-time medium. You send me an email; I read & respond when next I do email.

Slack and such like should exist for near-real-time comms. If you’re logged in, you’re available; if not, you’re not.

People expecting near-real-time email comms are the biggest productivity killers I know.

Meta retreats from metaverse after virtual reality check

Re: .... second life....

Always worth remembering the Star Trek Holodeck only worked because of some off-menu TARDIS capabilities that appeared to be used in no other context ever. If the crew’s “Holo Adventures” had been limited to the size of the ‘deck itself it would have made rather less compelling viewing…

Headset hype meets harsh reality as Apple and Meta VR shipments fizzle in 2025

Re: Smart?

Remember, IBM previewed this in an ad way back in 1999 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z3INHcM_Tg

Also recall Charmed Technology, the wearable tech spin-off from MIT back in a similar time-frame.

Like most overnight successes, when this really hits it will have been 30 years in the making...!

Re: No surprise

That's why smart, transparent glasses are the way forward. There's no need for a camera - we have phones for that - but there *is* a definite, addressable market for a display in the field of view.

Re: The Next Big Thing

Google Glass was just too early. As the old saying goes: "never be a pioneer: it's the earliest Christian who encounters the hungriest lion..." Apple has made a huge success out of being late, but polished, to markets. AVP is an example of them going against convention, and suffering for it.

Google Glass was a fantastic concept, hamstrung by then-available technology. I still want one, but with a higher-resolution display, better battery life, etc.

A re-imagined Google Glass, with a Silicon Carbon battery, modern processing and display optics, could be a very useful tool for a great many people - starting with every bicycle courier in the gig economy, every motorcyclist, every hiker, etc. It needs properly positioning, to be equipped with the right app support, and available at the right price point.

Tech is often a slow burn. Remember this IBM Ad from 1999 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z3INHcM_Tg - I wanted one there and then, but I've always been ahead of the curve ;)

Makers slam Qualcomm for tightening the clamps on Arduino

Re: Well I stand corrected

No, I think you were right first time around. This appears to be a load of nonsense.

https://blog.arduino.cc/2025/11/21/the-arduino-terms-of-service-and-privacy-policy-update-setting-the-record-straight/ clarifies things - the Terms are referring to the Arduino cloud offering. No, you can't attempt to reverse engineer their SaaS offering. Yes, you have to grant them a licence for anything you upload (otherwise they couldn't share it on your behalf). No this doesn't change the fundamentals of the Arduino proposition.

AWS outage exposes Achilles heel: central control plane

Re: HMRC

If the US owner has the power to appoint / fire Directors of the UK entity, they almost certainly have the power to exercise direct control *despite* the objections of current UK Directors.

Two wrongs don’t make a copyright

Re: Modification without distribution

I don't think you understand the concept of agency. The adblocker doesn't make "such a change and distributes the result to the user." The adblocker (the software) is doing no distribution; the adblocker software's developer very definitely is not doing so.

The user install a piece of software (a browser) and another piece of software (a browser extension) to customise the browser's rendering to his/her tastes. There is no third party "distribution" of modified copyright works. All choices are made by the user; some are merely automated by the use of a helper extension. Should the user wish, he/she could instead craft a custom style sheet to exclude the vast majority of ads from a given site, for instance - automating that process doesn't change the user's agency in the matter.

I can see why the court came to that decision *IF* (as is often the case) the defendant's lawyers were insufficiently bright to explain the issues in the correct way.

Microsoft admits it 'cannot guarantee' data sovereignty

Re: JFC!

The EU would find it could support a much healthier software ecosystem if the US was kept in check...

Re: National law?

Sorry, but "subsidiary of" just means Microsoft USA owns all the shares in the GmbH. It doesn't make the GmbH immune to, say, German law. If German law says "no data may be shared with your shareholders" then that's the German law.

What's needed is for a nation state to take exactly that line, i.e. start prosecuting subsidiaries of US companies for sharing data with their shareholders.

National law?

How does the Cloud Act compel, say, Microsoft Hosting Europe GmbH (made up) to reveal data held on its EU servers, in breach of EU law?

UK to buy nuclear-capable F-35As that can't be refueled from RAF tankers

The real question not being posed is whether this development represents the start of a move to implement a version of the Fenwick proposals to replace Trident with an air-based deterrent. See https://basicint.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Assessing-an-F-35-based-nuclear-deterrent.-Kevan-Jones-MP..pdf for instance.

AmigaOS updated in 2025 for some reason

Hurd has, of course, been just around the corner ever since :) Unlike AmigaOS today, there *was* a clear need for what became the Linux kernel - as GNU was without one and Minix was not then free software.

Tech stocks tank as US AI dominance no longer a sure bet

Shorts?

Deepseek’s parent is a quant fund, apparently. The impact of their reveal has been to carve $500bn off of Nvidia’s stock price.

Has anyone checked to see if Deepseek’s parent held short positions in Nvidia?

Fining Big Tech isn't working. Make them give away illegally trained LLMs as public domain

Re: King Cnut

Important to remember that King Cnut didn’t thijk he could hold back the tide; his disciples did. His demonstration wasn’t (to him) a failure; he *wanted* everyone to see he was no God.

This is a far more complex problem than it first seems.

If I spend 3 years reading others’ history books, and then use that research to write a new history book, have I created a derivative work? Or have I simply used what I’ve read to educate myself? To learn? Should my school text books contain a waiver to enable my essays to be free from these suggested IP infractions? Where is the line?

If the LLMs are learning from published works, they’re doing no more than you or I would given a large enough library and sufficient reading time.

There may be a different argument to be applied to visual models, but, again, if I study enough pop art and then create my own, should I be paying royalties to Warhol’s estate?

The proposal here seems to be to create new IP law to treat an LLM differently from a human.

The issue really isn’t, to me, about copyright; it is a wider discussion about social good. And, in particular, whether there should be in effect an “AI tax” to in some way level the playing fields. The primary difference is one of scale - however much I learn, I can only do a day’s work every day; an AI is scalable. The value it can extract from its research and study is far greater than mine.

As a society, do we want LLMs or not? And how narrowly are we prepared to write laws that catch OpenAI, but don’t tax individuals just for using a library to better themselves?

Intel enlists Morgan Stanley to defend against activist investors

Re: El Reg is blowing it again..

“Corporate raiders” who might more accurately be termed “owners” if they buy enough shares.

If you don’t want to answer to anyone with money and intent, don’t sell your shares on the open market. Far too many corporate boards seem to think they are (or should be) above the rule of the company’s owners…

Intel has relatively little value to society. Another chipmaker will be along in a minute if Intel were to fall. It may have strategic value to the US economy - in which case the US government can take a majority stake, or legislate to prevent its owners from exercising their power.

Twitter tells advertisers to go fsck themselves, now sues them for fscking the fsck off

Since each SuperHeavy right now is built for its single mission, and that mission was to hoist an empty craft, you think the tanks will be sized for max payload?

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

Inference?

Is it wrong of me to imagine a yacht named “Bayesian” would have decent weather forecasting and inferencing capabilities?

Very sad for all concerned, joking aside. People often (wrongly) assume the Med is a tranquil body of water.

Nokia to sell submarine network business to France in $375M deal

Re: French Government

Indeed. Venice was basically a bunch of banks with a private military for enforcement purposes.

In modern congested oceans, having a navy available to defend your subsea cable assets seems smart.

Got an old Raspberry Pi spare? Try RISC OS. It is, literally, something else

Re: Perfect timing

There are very cheap wifi dongles that will plug into the RJ45 on a Pi. No wifi isn’t any sort of dealbreaker these days.

Official: EU users can swerve App Store and download iOS apps from the web

Re: Not a bad start

Who do you want to do that verification?

Re: Where is the EU in this?

What precisely is wrong with Apple’s approach? I purchase Apple phones precisely because there is some gate-keeping going on, some measure of control and accountability. I don’t want or need my phone (a core communications device) to be a software free-for-all. I don’t want my phone to be abandoned or forced to upgrade hardware just to upgrade my OS. If I wanted that I’d be free to buy an Android phone! I’m delighted that Apple’s developer costs provide the revenue required to maintain support for my investment in Apple hardware.

I just fired up my wife’s old HTC U11 as I needed a spare phone for a project. Bought in 2018, it is abandoned now. No OS updates beyond Android 9. Hardly usable. Totally insecure. By contrast, my iPhone XS bought the same year is still usable, still receiving software updates, still a valuable tool.

As an aside, the U11 also now needs a replacement USB C port. I’ve never had a Lightning port fail. Standardisation is lowest common denominator for no benefit at all.

That is what the “Apple tax” is paying for. That’s what those who seek to unpick Apple’s position don’t seem to grasp. I’m not a victim, nor are most Apple phone users; we choose to buy into an ecosystem that rewards us with long-term support, continuing access to apps, and a great ROI.

All that support costs money. I want Apple to be profitable supporting my hardware purchase, because the alternative is designed-in obsolescence to force me to buy new hardware.

I’m not against freedom. I run MacOS & various flavours of Linux on desktops precisely so that I can have the freedom to write, download, compile and run whatever I like.

I just wish there wasn’t this incessant urge to “save” people from freely-made choices. Let me buy into a walled garden if I wish, so long as I do it knowingly.

Boeing and subsidiary file trade secrets lawsuit against Virgin Galactic

Re: Scaled Composites not mentioned?

In a class action lawsuit against VG it was stated that VG severed the relationship with Scaled after the test flight crash, and that “Scaled Composites never provided The Spaceship Company with “accurate or reliable engineering drawings” for either the carrier aircraft or Unity.”

https://casetext.com/case/kusnier-v-virgin-galactic-holdings-inc

EU users can't update 3rd party iOS apps if abroad too long

Re: Who are their lawyers?

“It's virtually impossible within the EU to strip someone of their citzenship once granted, unless malice aforethough, fraud, etc. can be demonstrated.”

That’s simply not true. Never mind Brexit; the many cases of UK & other citizens stripped of citizenship show otherwise. Including citizens from birth.

Apple makes it official: No Home Screen web apps in European Union

Re: I

Some of us don’t believe the EU ruling is a positive. Browser choice, for instance, gives me in round terms nothing I want or need beyond potential interoperability issues. As a developer, being able to target a single browser engine for all iOS users is a tremendous benefit, not an issue, delivering great gains for users. The relative success of iOS and Android in the app space suggests to me that Apple’s strategy has delivered enormous gains for all parties. Degrading the Apple experience to match Android’s is hardly progress in my view!

Apple has botched 3D for decades. So good luck with the Vision Pro, Tim

Back in the day, I believed Apple should have bought SGI out of its first Chapter 11.

The problem with 3D is there’s been no money in it for Apple up to now. When SGI allowed their best talent to walk out the door to Nvidia, rather than actually becoming Nvidia, the die was cast - the big money in 3D was going to belong to the graphics hardware people. Which is why Nvidia fell out with Apple - they believed Apple needed them so badly as to such up a large bunch of failed hardware costs.

Apple sells systems and ecosystems. It is usually prepared to back those to the hilt to the degree necessary to continue selling. And as the old Mac Pro showed, Apple has limited success with a “build it and they will come” approach to graphics. As a result I’m actually optimistic about Vision Pro - even if only because an ability to work anywhere on a virtual multi monitor setup, to set up your workspace as you like it, to take that with you, and so on is just very very appealing.

As for porn, does Vision Pro only work with its own speakers, or can it happily integrate with AirPods? ;)

Asda's delayed SAP migration forces extension to Walmart's backend support contract

Re: SAP rollout delayed

As a good friend and senior PM said to me years ago: “the first 80% of the work takes the first 80% of the time & the first 80% of the money; the second 80% of the work takes the second 80% of the time & the second 80% of the money…”

Half a kilo of cosmic nuclear fuel reignites NASA's deep space dreams

Didn’t the USSR use similar technology to power remote weather stations / beacons?

Workload written by student made millions, ran on unsupported hardware, with zero maintenance

Re: Not if they were made by Sinclair.

The ZX Printer wasn’t a thermal unit. It was a spark printer, that burned away aluminium oxide from the black paper underneath the coating.

UK tribunal agrees with Clearview AI – Brit data regulator has no jurisdiction

How does the firm invoke the Law Enforcement exemption? They’re not processing data as agents of foreign law enforcement agencies. They are processing data as a private company, that then (for now) offers services only to foreign (and maybe domestic) law enforcement agencies.

The database doesn’t “belong” to those foreign law enforcement agencies.

Did the ICO have especially poor lawyers on this one?

US prosecutors slam Autonomy tycoon's attempt to get charges tossed

Whilst this may well have been true, if they can find more actionable acts by Lynch and co, they get to play liability top trumps: “I may have been stupid, but my stupidity wouldn’t have caught me out if it hadn’t been for those over-inflated statements you made.”

*If* Lynch is guilty, his downfall was seemingly to be too gung-ho with his pitch. If he’d referred all due diligence questions to Autonomy’s lawyers and auditors, would he still be in the dock?

AI is going to eat itself: Experiment shows people training bots are using bots

Billion Dollar Brain?

This reminds me of the Harry Palmer film, Billion Dollar Brain, in which rubbish in = rubbish out met the real world of military destruction.

It's this easy to seize control of someone's Nexx 'smart' home plugs, garage doors

Re: If you live in the UK

It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not; the law already exists :)

Perhaps retailers might start buying insurance to protect themselves, and/or insisting manufacturers do likewise.

Product liability isn’t a new concept. But tech sometimes just likes to hide behind a “software isn’t guaranteed to be bug-free” line somewhere & we’ve all-so-readily bought into the idea.

How Arm aims to squeeze device makers for cash rather than pocket pennies for cores

This seems a sure-fire way to kill the golden goose.

It will also potentially kill off free software updates - if you're a device maker, there's going to be a strong temptation to move to a services / software revenue base, which means selling the hardware more cheaply but charging for necessary software updates.

One has to hope this is just noise intended to talk up the values of the shares.

Wannabe space 'superpower' UK tosses £1.6M at eight research projects

Ouch, 100-120% these days? In my day (err, 25 years ago), the university I worked in charged 30% overhead, and we thought that was pretty bad!

What Brit watchdog redacted: Google gives Apple cut of Chrome iOS search revenue

Which version of Outlook on MacOS are you using? I run a rock solid Outlook on MacOS connected to an on-premise Exchange server.

Google works on Blink-based iOS browser contrary to Apple's WebKit rule

Indeed. In what was is allowing Blink to take over the iPhone a good thing for the world?

Apple preps for 'third-party iOS app stores' in Europe

Tell me how app discovery works in a multi-store world.