Posts by Someone Else

US Space Force deploys robot dogs at Cape Canaveral base

Patrolling quadrupeds not fitted with 7.62mm tank machine guns – yet

Frickin' lasers!

Tesla Full Self-Driving fails to notice child-sized objects in testing

You're supposed to...

You're supposed to keep your hands on the wheel and be able to take over at any time.

You're supposed to not drink and drive. You're supposed to maintain a safe interval between you and the car in front of you. You're supposed to use turn signals. You're supposed to come to a full stop at a stop sign. You're supposed to not text while driving. You're supposed to change one lane at a time on a multi-lane highway. You're supposed to keep an eye out for motorcycles (and your supposed to not run into/over them). You're supposed to not leave the scene of an accident you're involved in. You're supposed to move over and yield the right of way to emergency vehicles. You're supposed to put your kid in a car seat appropriate for their age. You're supposed to....

And yet, the doofusim, day after day after day, don't do any of these things -- often at the same time. Who, with an IQ above room temperature, could possibly believe that anybody who owns a shiny shiny Tesla is going to keep their hands on the wheel using their "Full Self-Driving" autopilot cruise control?

_{And for that matter, that they're not going to do any of the other brain-dead things on the above list, either?}

Bot army risk as 3,000+ apps found spilling Twitter API keys

Wait...what?!?

While perhaps not very fashionable in the modern development world, CloudSEK recommends proper versioning replete with code reviews and approval.

Wow! The clear implication here is that all the K3wl Kidz don't use (or perhaps don't even know about) versioning and code reviews. If that is indeed true, then that explains the overall suck state of today's software (and especially the stuff spit out by "web programmers"!).

_{And I use the term "stuff" euphemistically...}

China's 7nm chip surprise reveals more than Beijing might like

Re: Nice

Beat me to it... but agreed.

This is why I read El Reg (even if it is a bit much for a Monday...)

We're likely only seeing 'the tip of the iceberg' of Pegasus spyware use against the US

Re: Google?

Yes, that Google; the company is seriously infected with NIH syndrome.

Re: Huawei not?

They operate with no constraints other than their promises that they are doing nothing wrong.

Agreed in principle, HildyJ, but they promise nothing of the sort. There is no "promise", there -- only that smarmy, shit-eating, used-car-salesman grin.

"Tomato, tomahto"...

NSO also claims the software can only be used "for the purpose of preventing and investigating terrorism and other serious crimes," [...]

For various values of "terrorism". I mean, in some folks¹ minds, simply reporting the news is an act of terrorism, if not outright treason.

_{¹...including more than a few Republicans...}

Meta proposes doing away with leap seconds

Life is hard, Zuck!

So managing leap seconds is hard, so FZuck it! we'll just not do it.

I seem to recall Indiana taking much the same tack at or around the turn of the (20th) century. That didn't end well, either.

Software issues cost Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess his job

Given your understanding of "agile", you'd be right.

James Webb, Halley's Comet may be set for cosmic dust-up

Re: The mote in JWSTs eye

You know - a starship circlin' in the sky - it ought to be ready by 1990

They'll be buildin' it up in the air ever since 1980

_{Hijack by (the original) Jefferson Starship}

That sucker is waaayy behind schedule!

Microsoft warns Windows 10 patch broke printing for some

From Micros~1's perspective, printing is soooo Windows 7!

A character catastrophe for a joker working his last day

Re: Nothing so severe

No, no...classic country (e.g. from the 50's).

We've got a photocopier and it can copy anything

Re: Bank of England notes.

Funny how you only hear stories about idiots in white collar crime

Well, yeah...they're the ones who get caught.

Russia fines Google $374 million for letting the truth about Ukraine be told

Re: Gosh, really ?

Maybe if you stopped murdering journalists who are just doing their job and face reality, things might start going for the better ?

No, no, no, that would never do. You see, journalists have this annoying tendency to point out, in minute detail, that the Emperor has no clothes. And well, we can't have that, now can we?

_{Ewww!, now that's an image I can't un-see...}

SCOTUS judges 'doxxed' after overturning Roe v Wade

Re: Pretty much on the nose

That said, due to the fact that it keeps getting abused, we should get something on the books that makes it clear that strong privacy rights are guaranteed to to private citizens and that government agencies and political figures need to held to a high standard of transparency.

Were you to do that, you'd put Google, Twatter, Faceplant, and all manner of Big Data analytics firms out of business.

_{Sounds like a plan!}

Re: This data storage thing..

Plenty of other history would suggest they would spirit the poor victim out in the middle of the night to a private "doctor" who would magically make this worrisome condition disappear.

_{For a healthy fee, of course...}

FYI: BMW puts heated seats, other features behind paywall

Re: Raise the Jolly Roger!

Rush's "Red Barchetta" comes to mind...

Re: Monthly?

This Merc must have been done up tighter than a politician on the witness stand.

Upvote for the simile.

_{...or is that a metaphor? Never could keep these things straight...}

...but choosing where to milk...

What possessed GM to kill Saab?

It's GM...they need a reason to do something butt-stupid?

_{The actual reason was probably that Cadillac owners felt threatened...}

San Francisco cops want real-time access to private security cameras for surveillance

Re: Loopholes

[...] and if SCOTUS is populated by justices that actually care about the Constitution, [...]

Who you crappin'? We've already seen how that works in post-millennium America.

Microsoft cloud exec accused of verbal attack on staff exits

Re: Sounds like a good boss.

Reading comprehension is a skill...

America's chip land has another potential shortage: Electronics engineers

Harvard, that well-known font of computer science excellence....

"If your 'software folks' aren't involved heavily in designing all aspects of a CPU core and [system-on-chip], or the 'hardware folks' aren't involved in the firmware and higher-level software, something is wrong," he said in a thread that generated a lively discussion.

Well...Yes and no.

On the one hand, there are EE types that couldn't program their way out of a paper bag. And yet they are writing "commercial" firmware.

On the other hand, there is the legendary VAX, and VAX/VMS software; arguably the best example of what happens when EE and CS types work together to create something greater then the sum of the parts.

I don't claim to have a one-size-fits-all solution to this conundrum. Clearly, properly educated and trained engineers from both disciplines can produce VAXes, while those less educated and trained will produce 8048s.

_{... and Lord knows we don't need any more of them (either 8048s, or the "engineers" that created them)!}

Elon Musk considering 'drastic action' as Twitter takeover in 'jeopardy'

Re: Burn

The other thing is that people out there actually willingly follow some bots because they provide useful information don't know not to.

There, FTFY

Re: Where is the ROI?

The ROI is ingratiating himself (again; more) with tRump, allowing the Orange-utan back on the megaphone so that he can FUD himself back into power. The Muskrat can then expect serial favors from he who would be our last president.

_{At least, that would be the plan...assuming of course that tRump is not serving time in Leavenworth by then.}

Microsoft rolls back default macro blocks in Office without telling anyone

You've got us jumping from one foot to the next and having to second guess what the next volte face is going to be.

And this surprises you how, again?

No Micros~1 victim customer could possibly be this naïve.

This is the military – you can't just delete your history like you're 15

Re: We've Probably All Come Across This

OK, enough of that for now - - - - ->

Wash your mouth out with shape-shifting metal

Re: While the prospect of toothpaste that DOESN'T taste like mint is appealing

I guess MRIs are out of the question, then...

Has Intel gone too far with its Ohio fab 'delay' stunt?

@Kev99 --

Not sure why you didn't mention the Foxconn¹ fiasco fabrication plant in southeastern Wisconsin.

_{¹With the emphasis on the last syllable...}

Tech world may face huge fines if it doesn't scrub CSAM from encrypted chats

Re: WTF???

But...but...but...the Emperor(s) already don't have any clothes, don't they?

Re: Ok, i'll bite.

[...] (kind of the point unless they want to try legislating new laws of mathematics), [...]

Seems they tried that once in Indiana. It didn't end well....

Microsoft plans to dig through your Edge Collections to make suggestions

Beat me to it (by 15 minutes).

Agree completely!

FTC urged to probe Apple, Google for enabling ‘intense system of surveillance’

[...] they're probably quietly shitting themselves over how it is possible to have an analytics business without running the risk of being the smoking gun that ends up getting women murdered in the name of "justice".

No, they're not.

If they're making money, they're not shitting anything. And besides, those self-same Neanderthals will quite likely mount an effective "four-corners" type defense of delay, obfuscation and legal (not to mention moral) shenanigans to insure those info brokers can stay in business profitably.

IBM settles age discrimination case that sought top execs' emails

Re: IBM =. Logan's Run

Perhaps IQ?

Whatever hit the Moon in March, it left this weird double crater

Re: Bouncy space junk?

And don't forget about the 50-50-90 rule: If there is a 50/50 chance of choosing a desirable outcome vs. an undesirable outcome, you'll choose the undesirable outcome 90% of the time.

_{Not sure it applies here, but we're talking probability, so...}

Amazon fears it could run out of US warehouse workers by 2024

Re: elon to the rescue?

Thank you, sandwich.

Most everyone (fatasses specifically included) seem to forget that, as this is a consumer-oriented economy, potential consumers have to have disposable income to consume the various gadgets and geegaws that Amazon wants to foist on society. If a large swath of said society doesn't have sufficient disposable income, they ain't a-gonna be buying Amazon's (or anybody else's) wares.

Re: Amazon own goal

From the article:

For a workforce that worked a little more than 27 hours a week in 2020, it was said that by increasing this by 10 percent would reduce the need for 118,000 new hires.

Note that that would take the number of hours to "a little more" than 29.7 hrs a week. Bezos has to be extremely careful there, because once one exceeds that 30hr/week threshold, one is now eligible for benefits, and...well, we can't have that, now can we?

Erm...huh?

From the article:

Some locations will be hit much earlier, with the Phoenix metro area in Arizona expected to exhaust its available labor pool by the end of 2021.

Uhhh, it's middle 2022, folks...seems we should have figured out by now whether that "expectation" has come to pass, doncahthink?

_{Now, if this is text taken more-or-less verbatim from the memo, OK then. But perhaps it is in indication of the prowess of the Bezos organization that they are making "projections" about what will happen a half-year in the past...}

Bipolar transistors made from organic materials for the first time

Re: Gatekeeping

Maybe you should devote your pie-in-the-sky ambitions to solving the Flying Car problem? There is much more pent-up desire for that than my being able to create my own Z-80 in my basement.

Always read the comments: Beijing requires oversight of all reader-generated chat

Re: This is what US Progressives want

That's difficult. I mean, how many reasonable Righties are there with whom you can have an intelligent conversation?

(Ref. Tejas GOP convention)

_{Note: There are some -- I happen to know a couple. But they are clearly in danger of becoming extinct.}

Re: Too risky

(Ooooh, look what I just did...made a posting that is not in line with Correct Government-approved Rightthink. I suppose I have at best a little more than two years before that won't be permitted here, either.) <sigh />

Re: Too risky

[...] (and a postal service much slower than we have today).

I assume you are a right ponder. Were you to be a left ponder, you'd never associate the post-tRump/Louis DeJoy Post office with quick (or even moderate) service.

Cookie consent crumbles under fresh UK data law proposals

Re: Will this current government's blatant corruption ever cease?

Seems that American-style lobbying by the fatass corporations is alive and well in Blighty. (As an American, I apologize...)

Wonder what the quid for this quo was?

_{Yes, I know that 'quid' is another word for money (the Pound Sterling, IIANM).}

IBM ordered to hand over ex-CEO emails plotting cuts in older workers

[...] some Ivy League MBA business criminal cabron [...]

Love. It.

_{Can I use it elsewhere?}

Record players make comeback with Ikea, others pitching tricked-out turntables

Re: Digital transmission?

> With proper handling and storage, pops and ticks can be quite rare.

In fact, they're often in the original pressing.

This!

Can't tell you how many fresh-from-the-record-store vinyl discs have pops and crackles built into the pressings. Not to mention the fact that rather few of them were flat; generally as a result of trying to save some money and using either a low quality of vinyl or not enough of it (or both). And then, there was the occasional off-center spindle hole....

I'm sure the "cork-sniffers" (great term, BTW) will tut-tut and mutter something snide under their breaths about the quality of the records I buy, yadda-yadda-yadda. Hey, I used to get promotional copies of many of the records I have, and were supposedly of higher quality than the retail stuff. These are meant to be beat-to-shit by somewhat-less-than-lucid DJs at radio stations¹. Even these came warped, off-center drilled, and with built-in crackles and pops.

Snaps, crackles, and pops are for breakfast cereal, not for music reproduction, and I don't care how much money you spent compensating on your audiophile rig. I'll take the version without the defects, thankyewverramuch!

_{¹Hey! I resemble that remark!}

Semiconductor industry growth to slow in 2022, warns IDC

Scary!!!

Ooooh! Oversupply!! Be scared, be very scared!!!

_{But only if you're a coke-head Wall St. yuppie...}

Linux Mint adopts Timeshift from overworked original developer

Geez! - - - ->

I love the Linux desktop, but that doesn't mean I don't see its problems all too well

From the article:

We have many excellent Linux desktop distros, which means none of them can gain enough market share to make any real dent in the overall market.

OK. Why is it that The Pundits insist that there must be One True Distro To Rule Them All^®? What would the numbers be if The Pundits were to get the aggregate market share of all the distros out there (including the one-off that Johnny built from scratch from tarballs in his basement over last weekend and is now happily using to run Steam games and view porn on)? How would that stack up against Windows? How is it trending?

Yeah, I know that "They want Windows crushed and bleeding underneath the Linux juggernaut." Probably won't happen as a result of one distro. But if the "Linux juggernaut" encompasses all of Linux, then maybe...just maybe.... After all, didn't Android basically extinguish Windows Phone?

Makers of ad blockers and browser privacy extensions fear the end is near

Re: Chrome is the hellmouth

At this point, a huge shout of shame at a certain pizza chain, named after a game; where payments cannot be processed unless you allow FaceBook to track you - seriously.

Have run into a similar problems with many web sites. My "favorite" example is the monopolistic travel booking website-of-many-names (but a single underlying engine) that won't let you pay for your booking unless you enable PayPal...even if you have no intention of using PayPal to pay for your booking.