Posts by Enric Martinez

A cheap Chinese PC with odd components. What could go wrong?

Valid point.

Specially with all the refurbished and second hand stuff that you can find.

Plus, they are usually serviced by local companies, even the ones build in China.

The crime against humanity that is the modern OS desktop, and how to kill it

Re: It does suck

Gnome works in the same way since quite a lot of time ago (I use Fedora 36). And once you get used to it, it's pretty simple.

KDE went a bit into the background lately, but besides of ultra-weird stuff like workspaces, etc, it its operation is very basic and much like in Win95 : Start button in the left-hand corner a menu and that's it.

And it can get even more basic if you go to Mint or other distros. I have no idea why the author says that Linux desktops change that much. Even Ubuntu's older Unity desktops worked pretty much like Gnome. And you can's say that Gnome is difficult to use, specially when you have to watch an explainer just after installing it. And it's basically just: Space Bar, click. Done.

Actually, the same for Apple. For all the changes in icons, etc, you could start using any version of OS X if you were used to OS 9.

I haven't had the pleasure to work with Win11 yet, but I don't think it would take me more than 10 minutes to figure it out.

Goodbye, humans: Call centers 'could save $80b' switching to AI

Re: Knowledge?

I have interacted with a few AI chatbots, and they were quite well implemented. I can't recall what it was, but I think it was KPN or the NS (Dutch ISP or the Dutch railroads).

To start with, it was made clear that it was a chatbot, and you were told to state the question in simple terms.

After a few answers that did not resolve my problem, I was asked to wait and transferred to a human second liner, thus a CS agent with more knowledge and possibilities than a first liner and who was able to resolve my issue.

So, that I am not so sure that using AI, even very simplistic chatbots, will be a bad thing if what it will do is replacing a first line agent who's usual task is to filter out questions and reassign to the appropriate second line or do some simple tasks like resetting a password.

An AI chatbot would actually not be replacing a human agent, but just functioning as an obligatory and fancy interface to the FAQ or knowledge bases that almost everybody has, but users just refuse to use. And its real value would be to avoid that the second and third line support gets overwhelmed by useless queries and can spend more time answering and resolving complex questions.

I have, BTW, quite a few years of experience in the sector.

In a nutshell: Whether an AI chatbot is a good or a bad thing depends, as usual, on the company itself and how they use it.

Horizon Workrooms promises a virtual future of teal despair

Re: My experience is different

I feel your pain bro.

And it can get worse: Original speaker in a language you know (Spanish, for instance), German dubbing and English subtitles. Aaaargh!!!!

Re: My experience is different

And what is the exact point of not being able to zone out when that what is being showed or said is of null interest for you?

On the other hand: If the content is so important, why exactly would you want to zone out?

Usually, in civilized companies and institutions, you get a list of points before a meeting. And is understood that the during the exposition and discussion of the points that are of lesser interest to you, you will not be required to pay attention or even participate.

Also: If the point is important, you may want to do something else than staring like an owl. You may actually want to take notes. And some people need to scribble or fidget to actually pay attention to what is being said. That is actually a learning strategy taught in "How to learn" courses.

Sure, for you, particularly, it may be a good thing. But I seriously doubt that it would be good for general use. Specially because it forces a way of working that is not fit for the majority of us and restrict the flexibility of a real meeting, be it online, in RL or hybrid.

Add a burdensome set of VR Goggles to it.

And a good dose of "Hey, it's not working"

All of that to mimic exactly what you already have in RL: Keyboard and all ...

Oh, and don't forget extra power, CO2 emissions and cooling water for the data centres where this will run.

Europe's GDPR coincides with dramatic drop in Android apps

"If this goes on in the long run, and if the EU or the app market doesn't find a solution for this problem, then seven to ten years down the road, the app market will be a third less valuable,"

7 to 10 years from now the app market may not even exist anymore, as we know it.

So, what's the point?

Only Microsoft can give open source the gift of NTFS. Only Microsoft needs to

Re: Even if they did...

I use NTFS partitions for data I want to have available for both OSses in dual-boot PCs.

I would be pretty happy using NTFS as a Linux root partition, this would make it possible, for instance, to have one root with both kernels and put drive space to use that would otherwise just sit there inactive when you have booted into either OS.

Eggheads demo how to fool share-trading bots with carefully crafted retweets

Re: So much for all this "AI" shit then.

Sophisticated pattern matching is quite useful !!

Plans for Dutch datacenter to warm thousands of homes

We have been doing just that for 8 years; using the heat produced by the (late) Dutch national supercomputer Cartesius to warm the premises of the CWI during the winter with the warmed-up cooling water.

No idea if we are going to do the same with the new one, Snellius, as it's way cooler than it's predecessor.

Given the price of gas, we could as well just switch it on again only for the heating, LOL.

Putin reaches for nuclear option: Zuckerberg banned

Re: Meta.

That would be these FancyBear dudes, right?

Google Docs' AI-powered inclusive writing auto-correct now under fire

Re: Orwellian nightmare

The sum of anecdotes is NOT data.

Re: Orwellian nightmare

You CAN lose your job for insulting somebody, read your contract. Or not get a job because of too many pictures of you doing the Hitler salute.

this is so now, and was so when America was Still Great. Actually worse, for some things you could be put in jail or send to get an lobotomy.

It is not an Orwellian nightmare, it is just real and normal life.

Even offline: You can't just walk around and call people things, just to show how anti-PC and anti-Woke you are: You won't get apprehended by black helicopters or put into a Government Gulag, but you will have a hard time removing all the pubes of your mouth when somebody kicks your balls so hard that you look like blowing bubblegum.

;)

Re: unfix the unfixable

> This is one organisations view on what is "correct".

Rather the way of a few folks at management of justifying their inflated salaries.

Re: unfix the unfixable

> Using machines to do human's work

Worse: We use machine coded by individual humans and belonging to a particular company and culture to try to do the work of other humans from different cultures (even if English speaking).

And as you said alreadY: It is a moving target.

An utterly stupid way of wasting time and energy to bring null benefits while pumping CO2 into the atmosphere.

Nice! Another nifty feature to disable. What's not to love!

Someone's spreading an MBR-trashing copy of the Christchurch killer's 'manifesto' – and we're OK with this, maybe?

Re: Mixed feelings

True. But forbidding the document has already produced two positive outcomes:

Some of the potential copycats are now under control and a few have got their PC's thrashed. Poor lads won't be able to watch pedo porn for a while :_(

Re: Mixed feelings

"having a live subject to study may help learn more about what motivates and influences these nutjobs."

And he could be used for other experimentation as well! There is a great opportunity to test new things on a living "voluntary" individual! And for once PETA won't have a reason to complain.

Dozens of .gov HTTPS certs expire, webpages offline, FBI on ice, IT security slows... Yup, it's day 20 of Trump's govt shutdown

"Hackers may be rubbing their hands with glee"

Sure, Iranian, Turkish and North Koreans.

Not the Russians as they were already there.

Is this cuttlefish really all that cosmic? Ubuntu 18.10 arrives with extra spit, polish, 4.18 kernel

Re: "the system has a more modern and 'flatter' look"

I went directly for Budgie after trying it on a VM. It has a few flaws like not being able to spawn panels on a second monitor, but I don't really care. The looks is nice, it's very light weight and at the end of the day I do my work on the shell or a browser, what's underneath it is almost irrelevant, I could just start my stuff from a shell for that matter.

Brace yourself, Britain: Health minister shares 'vision' for NHS 'tech revolution'

Before anybody else says it:

It's all the fault of Junkers, Brussels and the EU Secret Army !! (And Merkel, don't forget her)

Japan finds long, deep tunnel on the Moon

Re: But what are they going to _do_ up there?

Like the Lunachicks ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drffI6elzfc

Re: But what are they going to _do_ up there?

Not necessarily because in the moon you could use the regolith as base material and extrude it in the form of concrete using 3D printing methods. All could be automated and only a few crew would be needed to watch the process.

But of course, you could also do it in space and send the regolith from the moon using a mass accelerator.

Re: But what are they going to _do_ up there?

No too much to be messed up there, just rocks, regolith and dust... sorry, I meant _fines_

;)

Re: But what are they going to _do_ up there?

A mass accelerator to hurl stuff towards good ol' earth or to space (anything from material to spaceships).

And yes, I am also partial towards a weekend in Luna Hilton!!!

Re: That picture

You forget the dirtiest of it all: KIDS,

shoes full of everything imaginable, diapers filled to the brim with shit and pee and the lil' b*st*rds are also a mayor source of Hepatitis A infections.

Re: That picture

"The ones you were expected to use when they'd finished with them..."

Reusnig the dogs? Friggen Belgians. And they complain about us Dutch.

Classic!

Re: The hole truth

Kull wahad!

Leatherbound analogue password manager: For the hipster who doesn't mind losing everything

That's actually the key point mate!

It's so shoddy that a the last thing a thief may thing is that you keep important information in there.

Clever he?

No, Apple. A 4G Watch is a really bad idea

I do see a point.

Wearing it to track your time, pace, etc if you are doing endurance sports. It is darn useful, but then I would go for a specialized Garmin or Suunto (or whatever) product and even though this market is relatively big it is still a niche market and one where "normal" smartwatches can't compete, let alone outcompete the already existing big players.

Drops the mic... Hang on, hackers could be listening through my headphones?

They won't dare to hack mine ;)

Unless they enjoy happy tunes like Devourment's "Molesting the decapitated" or fancy some lovely Bestial Warlust ;)

Hail \m/

Bloke accused of Linux kernel.org hack nabbed during traffic stop

Re: This is a great example...

Smart!

Pity there aint no Darwin Awards for this kind of thing :)

This box beams cafes' Wi-Fi over 4kms so you can surf in obscurity

What about LEGAL use?

I mean, mate, I am not interested in Tor or any other Norse God, but I would love to be able to contact my home WiFI when I'm out running or shopping instead of having to rely on the paid GSM (we have 4G already but, hey, gratis is gratis).

British boffin tells Obama's science advisor: You're wrong on climate change

Re: Reality of Weather & Climate Forecasting ~ Dr Piers Corbyn

Write it down in equations and send it to the Nobel committee. You might get famous mate.

Boffins search for dark matter in abandoned Australian mine

Dark matter in a mine???

I bet they was "abandoned" there by the miners.

I recommend the use of good rubber gloves to handle it.

Russia to suspend US GPS stations in tit-for-tat spat

Re: "....level of accuracy you had in a phone from about 3 years ago."

Maybe not, but I was completely unaware of that what you say.

I happen to use a Gramin eTrex (I know, it's a bit old) and I had it on DGPS...

You always learn something new ;)

THX mate!!!

Re: Message to millennials...

I have bought a few compasses and a Casio solar-powered watch.

Well, it's not because of that but because the GPS sucks having to wait a century and a half every time I want to go out for a run and the batteries empty like crazy too :P

Yea, maps are the way to go, maps, watches and compasses.

Global Warming is real, argues sceptic mathematician - it just isn't Thermageddon

Re: Presumably this is the peer-reviewed version?

+3 UP,

Knowing the readers of El Reg I assumethat they haven't understood shit and focused on the few times the word "reduce" appear.

Well, the whole paper talks about an improved analysis method to reduce THE UNCERTAINTY of some variables... what this means in terms of warming, etc is impossible to get from only this statement. But well, it allows a good inference of how the anti-climate guys work ;)

dont' take me wrong: I hate climate, I certainly do and all the Climate Scientist should be hanged and shot (at the same time) but I am still waiting for this year's Little Ice Age :_(

But well, 17 years of missing Elfstedentocht will not make me loose my faith in Global Cooling!!!

Re: To the first AC:

I would change the "we" for "I"

Because what you (and many others) are doing is saying that other peopler aren't right but YOU are.

Why aren't you then in charge of the Golbal Climate Science conspiracy thingy?

Or... you could as well sing your emails with a signature such as "Climate Scientist(TM)" and influence the politicians... they as all so stupid as to let themselves be talked nto stuff by a bunch of idiotic nerds such as the climate scientists... thousands of stupid nerds that barely understand their own job yet somehow manage to create a Global Conspiracy and influence politicians and whole governments to do what they want instead of following the obvious trail of money left by the oil lobbies... and all that just to justify their salary!!!

Mate I think I want to get myself a lobotomy and become Climate Scientist!!

Women! You too can be 'cool' and 'fun' if you work in tech!

Re: The kiss of death

Err... Mevrouw Kroes is a SHE ;)

Cassini spots MEGA-METHANE SEAS on the north pole of Titan

Not necessarily.

If you fly all the way from Earth to Titan this may be the case, but if you avoid the gravitational wells the flight is cheap.

The extraction could happen in phases: The surface extraction facilities could use a mass accelerator to put containers of hydrocarbons in orbit (the containers themselves could be made of ice), a transport craft picks them up and using a part as fuel accelerates and travels into the orbit of the Moon-Earth system.

The hydrocarbons could be delivered at a terminal in the moon, just put into orbit around it or delivered into earth orbit, from there they could be equipped with chutes or something the like to make a soft descent and done ;)

The most expensive part in terms of fuel / energy of a space trip is reaching the escape velocity from earth, the rest is cheap.

In the future the fuel may not even be consumed in the Earth but in Mars or the Moon... Hey, we could even create a darn sweet greenhouse effect in Mars with all this methane!

Microsoft wants to 'move beyond' the Cookie Monster

Re: "non-cookie based tracking things based on?"

LOL, I already see the Mac vs. PC spot comming..

Re: @ James Micallef

Well, yes, but we build the stuff and set it up, and we advise the non-literate tech user, we man the IT depts and the tech support ;)

Re: re:That might be true, but the literate technology users are the trend setters

The de facto standard for what exactly if I may inquire?

Climate scientists see 'tipping point' ahead

Climate Lobby nonsense

It's all nonsense from the climate lobby!!

It's a generally known fact that there where fabricated graphics and emails were intercepted. We can therefore infer that the emails do exist. I have never seen one, but I have a friend of a friend who claims to have seen a female email with to cubs roaming near his hut in the Catskills.

But the green lobby wants us to believe all this crap about climate and orbits and stuff while we all know that it's absolutely not true. I will only believe that such things as the climate or the orbits exist when I see one with my own eyes!

What I still fail to understand is what the green lobby actually wants... that we all dress in green as in the Wizard of Oz?

Well, I wish you all a happy weekend and don't forget to adjust your tin foil hats... and mind the black helicopters and the chemtrails!!

Star Control

Uuuuuuh!

I played SC and SC II on the Amiga, SC 3 on MS DOS (on my brand new Pentium, and I mean PENTIUM) and many years later Ur-Quan Masters under Linux...

Has Steve Jobs killed the consumer hard disk industry?

Boldly go Leash Free

Well, that''s nice but I'm afraid it's only wishful thinking.

WiFi and mobile internet is far, very far, from being practical. WiFi access pint still suck in most of the EU and specially in countries like mine, the Netherlands (one of the two or three countries with a bigger internet user percentage in the world). WiFi access pints, be it public or paid are slow, unreliable and the coverage is just crap. 3G networks are definitely not what you want to use except for browsing normally. We do have internet in the trains, the airport (I work there) and even so I am forced to read my mail through 3G and wait for syncing my gadgets until I am at home inside my own WiFI LAN. And I again kindly point to the fact that this is one of the most advanced countries in regard to technologies. Just think how the situation may be in the bandwagon of the EU... not to talk about the developing countries and the EU.

Mr and Mrs Renault cannot name daughter Megane

Pravda is good informed?

I’m not quite sure, as I Belgian civil registers are very liberal with respect of registering babies with strange names:

This reads: “Belgians give baby the name Rolex”

http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/article69220091.ece?cid=rss

As you can read (if you understand Dutch), in Belgium names like Dijamant (Diamond) and Bahrain (the country)... and there is even a Chukwunonyelum (it’s as difficult to spell in Vlaams/Dutch or French as it is in English).

<i>Mégane</i> with and w/o accent is a surname and also a word in Japanese (dunno what it means). Thus Mégane is in no way a name worst than Rolex and it sounds a lot like Megan, a perfectly normal name.

Think again, FSF tells Microsoft on GPL3

Enforced in Germany

Many readers already stated it:

The GPL has been actually enforced at least in Germany. This means that a transgression can be legally pursued in this EU country and surely on many others.