Posts by Tron 1310 publicly visible posts • joined 2 Feb 2010
1. A government policy so crackpot that the government itself couldn't work it, and now has to chase itself for cash.
2. An act of economic self-harm that should have been recognised as a warning before the act of economic suicide that was Brexit.
Clock ticking on these hopeless, hapless halfwits. Lay your bets on how much else they can wreck before they finally go.
I agree that some of the natural world seems to be coping better than we are with climate change. A lot will vanish though, as ecosystems under pressure trim the fat of species diversity and dig in. We need to build more reservoirs, deal with flooding better, build desalination plants, and construct more solar and wind farms. There are plenty of ways for government to syphon public money to its mates while doing this, so once the penny drops, they will hopefully get cracking. The whole net zero and carbon trading thing just comes over as a con. Politicians never expect to hit distant targets. They will just move the goalposts somewhere down the line, or fiddle the figures. Unfortunately, Brexit has moved the UK to [badly] 'managed decline', so there is limited cash, limited labour and few resources to get anything done. Without Brexit, Germany losing so much Russian energy, the UK would now be running the EU. 51/49. Fine margins or what?
-Reduce could mean restarting the government insulation programme
Which will be subcontracted to local private cowboy builders cold-calling pensioners, as these schemes always are.
-It can mean replacing old/failed gas boilers with heat pumps instead of new gas boilers.
Meet my concrete. Lots of it. Have fun digging through it and finding space for a heat pump. But don't worry, I won't be getting a new gas boiler as builders' regs would require new gas pipes and that would mean ripping out my fitted kitchen. Thankfully, the old one, unlike an iThing, is built to last decades.
-It can mean, as in the post above, choosing to walk to the local shop, or to school.
In rain, snow or 40 degrees. But many people cannot carry their shopping home in any weather and would rather not pay the 25% extra to buy from their local shop. Bus services are being reduced, albeit not by as much as the trains. And just wait for the 57 varieties of traffic reduction schemes to come on stream. Expect serious unhappiness as traffic gridlocks around closed roads and property values are hit.
Brexit has beggared the UK by about one third. 25% reduction in Sterling, the rest in extra border costs. Deglobalisation ends access to low-cost Chinese solar tech. Many Britons can no longer afford the basics, never mind the luxury of spending the extra to transition to green. That ship sailed with Brexit. The government are now having to fund a UK EV industry out of public funds. Ditto for silicon. And what else? The UK can no longer afford any of this. The UKG are hoping that private industry will innovate a magical fix (faery dust perhaps) that ensures we can have a net zero economy. But it won't, because it isn't possible.
We can, at best, shave a few percent off our impact. So we should be building solar farms, wind farms, desalination plants, and more reservoirs as fast as we can.
It also doesn't get hacked from Eastern Europe, malware can't lock you out of it, there is no GDPR BS and you don't have to upgrade your biro to use it.
I was ordered to do my taxes online this year. IDing myself was only possible because I had a physical passport and paper bank statements going back two years.
I paid by cheque.
F*ck digital. It costs more, is less resilient and excludes people.
Governments want to criminalise everyone so they can prosecute anyone they want, for something or other. Instead of blacklisting things they don't want, they are now whitelisting what is permitted. Everything new will therefore be illegal until governments license it. It gives them control by default.
They got caught out by the net and the pace of technological change. This fixes that. Do something new, henceforth, and they can arrest you if they stumble upon it and it worries them. In general, they won't bother you. It's how China works. Soon it will be how the West works.
And it's not optional. They are taking back control.
I guess it's possible to develop within the EU for use outside the EU with some tweaks. The next killer app may be a viable regional ban for code, so governments can ban anything they want from any country they want. It's do-able already to some extent, but they will want to enforce use of it. Only UK code working within the UK within UK law. Only EU code working within the EU within EU law. Nothing crossing borders.
Government-funded academics have been working on 'national' data for some years - data packets that are region marked, like a DVD. They can't leave the UK, and data packets from elsewhere are erased. It's not rocket science to add region markers to data packets.
Insuring against hacking/malware threats may not be commercially viable. if I ran an insurance company, I wouldn't offer it.
Although insurers have a poor reputation - often deserved - they have a risk model and if something is too great a risk, they can't insure it.
Release a plain vanilla baby chatbot and allow users to pick and choose which texts it consumes. They would of course have to purchase an electronic copy of copyrighted works before their baby chatbot could read them, and add them to its memory. Out of copyright works could be read by it for free, as could publicly accessible web pages.
Your baby chatbot would learn what you would allow it to learn. It could be based entirely on the Potterverse, or James Joyce or Das Kapital or 4chan and de Sade, as well as the plain vanilla stuff like Wikipedia, creating its own 'personality'.
We can each rear our own chatbot, and then share it online.
We can even mate chatbots, the two pouring their shared knowledgebase into a new baby.
Much cool stuff to do.
....that Brexit's epic fail would lead to a 'race to the bottom' in standards. This is presumably part of that.
Brexit was an act of economic suicide, and suicide is a one way street. The UK relegated itself. Brexit will go down in textbooks as one of the dumbest things a nation has ever done when, steeped in prejudice, ignorance and arrogance, it followed a populist liar and marched off a cliff.
Money and profits don't matter any more to Western governments. They are flipping to the Chinese model of state control and state subsidy, taking back control from the free market and from consumers. Cold War 2 has no fence to sit on. It is BRICS v NATO. Citizens of vassal states are going to feel the pain in their wallets and everyone is going to suffer. Now obey Glorious Leader and sign on the dotted line.
-people won't be able to tell what's true or not on the internet anymore.
At which point they will assume that everything is fake, as we do when we read stuff in newspapers. That will be a healthy position. Healthier than today, where some crazy people believe some of the stuff they read.
Incidentally, can someone rig a couple of these chatbots to interact with each other and broadcast what results online. Always wanted to do that with two machines running Eliza.
There is no point in League 2 UK going head to head with the premiership - US, EU and China. So it does make more sense to target new ventures in tech - dynamically self-reprogramming chips, cluster processors and new materials. Spend the money as VC, not in keeping Zombies going or trying to be something we can no longer be.
That said, Brexit was the last 6 nails in the coffin of the UK, its economy, status and trade links. We are now small, poorer and isolated and have to target crumbs from the tables of the bigger blocs.
That may not matter. Rising nationalism is seeing states re-arming for WWIII. Combine that with climate change and there probably won't be a lot left. Perhaps we should stop worrying as our civilisation slides towards a similar endgame to previous ones, but with a lot less left behind. Perhaps we should just enjoy what time remains as best we can.
Kids can see naked people - yes, people without clothes - on several programmes on broadcast TV, and sometimes some actual snogging too, without any form of age verification. Surely this needs to be addressed. Worse, they can buy mirrors and see themselves naked. Will nobody think of the children and ban the sale of mirrors?
And it will follow the same path. Don't say you weren't warned.
In these negotiations, India and the UK will realise that they are both censorious nationalist regimes and recognise each other's right to suppress their citizens' tech and spy on them, promising to work together to better censor and suppress everyone equally.
And pesky lobby groups that don't follow the script are easy to get rid of. They made short work of the CBI.
Post Brexit, GAFA can walk away from the UK market quite easily. The internet has multiple digital borders built into it. Why risk a cash grab from a government that has just made itself and its citizens one third poorer (25% decline in sterling and decline in EU trade/City of London income). They would be laying down a marker on their protection of their business. Play ball or play without a ball.
Rich people not paying $8pm for a service that gives them a global voice, and they are boasting about it? Really? Since when were wealthy freeloaders popular?
Online services are only free for the rest of us if they can be monetised with 'pro' and corporate accounts. It's a completely normal way of running an online service and a fair way of providing universal services. And better than selling our data. Doesn't matter whether Musk is involved or not, the economics are the same. Any business has to at least break even or it will eventually shut down.
I don't understand the attitude of those who want Twitter to fail because Musk is in charge. It gives everyone a voice, which is democratic. That is a good thing. No one is forcing you to use it. Losing these services would silence 99% of users and only allow a privileged 1% to have a global voice. That would be a huge step back. If you are attacking the fundamentals of Web 2.0 you are arguing for yourself to be silenced, whether on social media or on El Reg.
Companies often screw up with adverts, and very amusing it can be. Now AI can do that for them. Especially AI that was trained on the net in general and 4chan in particular.
I'm all for this. Wealthy companies stupid enough to use AI, delivering hilarious snafus for us to enjoy. Makes up for the sh*tshow that life has become over the last 6 years.
Good to see the /b/ros doing their bit for the advancement of tech.
Incidentally, human readers can read my comments for free, as can search engines, but AI scrapers have to send me £5 a time in 20p pieces. Scraping this statement automatically infers the acceptance of these terms and conditions. The fine for scraping my comments without payment is 1% of your annual revenue.
The solution is for AI bots to be trained on out of copyright material. I suggest early novels. 20% Austen, 30% Dickens with 'Fanny Hill' to spice things up a bit.
China will get its drives 3rd party or 4th party for a bit extra. Just like the IS got their Toyota trucks.
Plus, US customers will be paying more for Seagate drives, and the USG will be paying a lot more.
Hard drives are generic tech. They are not military specific. So this is just US protectionism - because it can't win on a level playing field. Embarrassing.
Oh yes there can. The Brexinet. It ends at Dover. Nothing in, nothing out. No freedom of data movement. 100% security from Johnny Foreigner, stopping them from coming over here (virtually) and using Great British bandwidth. None of those dangerously secure foreign apps or websites. Only British social media (Friends Reunited 2), British messaging (Royal Mail), British social media (phoning the pub on speakerphone), British music streaming (Radio 1) and British Netflix (BBC iPlayer). Why have contact beyond our shores - surely everything you want is available domestically on your world-beating Brexinet. And it is 100% safe because the police are monitoring it - especially all the female users who live alone.
Planned obsolescence is an industry con and has been making the tech sector rich for decades.
You can place software, firmware or hardware between any PC/device and the net to create a browser translation layer which would filter and translate incoming content, so that the very latest web pages would work fine and safely on an old version of IE or Win Web on w98. Everything you see on a webpage can be translated into an image, text, data stream or a script. You can translate a script, parsing it to ensure it is safe. You could use this to surf the net on a ZX Spectrum if you wanted to. That's the beauty of tech. It is disappointing that there are so many able coders on the planet, but none seem to care enough about this to produce a BTL.
Tech upgrades (browsers, OSs and hardware, PCs, devices and xG phone services) are built on lies, operating at the expense of the environment and users to benefit the tech sector's profit margins.
This is lowest common denominator stuff as you might expect from a West that seeks to operate like the Chinese and Russians, whilst pretending that they are actually above that sort of thing, perched on the moral high ground, wagging their fingers.
There are some solutions. Tech folk can cease to work for or with governments (including/especially) their own, as they do not wish to be helping to revamp the internet as a global surveillance system.
Introducing transparency into government is also a good thing, but try not to get caught doing it.
We can switch to distributed systems that operate user to user with encryption.
And ultimately, we can do what we did in England in the 1640s, America in 1776, France in 1789 and Russia in 1917. When glorious leaders are no longer fit for purpose, it is time to Control-Alt-Delete them and reboot.
Mao did that in 1966, so surely Xi would understand if his citizens emulated their iconic leader. Judging by recent events, the French may well be kicking off their own Revolution 2.0 soon, Macron being about as popular as Louis XVI.
Actions, even UN ones, have consequences. History informs us that when governments treat their citizens as slaves or serfs, glorious leaders need to start looking over their shoulders and sleeping with their eyes open.
Killing 3G pointlessly creates e-waste. I would have happily stuck with it (and my Japanese flip phone, which was remotely bricked by agencies unknown). Thankfully, they haven't inked in any plans to turn 4G off, so I can stay with that. 5G? Not interested. I'm not buying any tech I don't need to unless the energy bills/inflation/interest rates go down. Happy to opt out of 5G, 6G, the metaverse, smart devices, solar panels, turbines, EVs and the IoT if they don't. Our idiot government killed our economy with Brexit. Embrace the ruin and enjoy a steampunk future of retro tech. The UK is now, economically, a dead end. Game over.
Amazon (cardboard) and Ikea (flatpackery) could combine and make one for much less.
And you wouldn't need it to come with a tablet. Any used one off ebay would do.
How long before the US government ban this? They don't seem to be too keen on landing any punches on Putin, Russian MPs or Russian territory.
The sans-culottes had a go at Macron's favourite posh restaurant the other day, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are bans for all aspects of this tech breaking out across bits of Europe with unpopular governments, real soon. That will include us of course.
If this site processes applications to work with kids or vulnerable people, then entire sectors are going to be unable to hire anyone any time soon, as their manual alternative will not be fast. And as well as rationing coach travel at the channel, you might have trouble getting a visa. I guess that's one way to stop Britons' 'freedom of movement'.
They will be banning Chinese students from UK unis next. Then students from other nations. Foreign students subsidise domestic ones. Nationalism is expensive. Brexit etc. Eventually, it breaks the economy. The only thing you can do then is blame Johnny Foreigner and start a war. Are your kids of an age to be conscripted by Glorious Leaders? You won't get a telegram this time. Maybe a text.
What about the double taxation we now face buying things from abroad, paying sales tax there and import duties when we pay for it on ebay. Cheers for that, tossers. I'll remember that when I vote.
Plus, taxes should be the same throughout a nation. Taxing people extra to drive into cities, when they already pay road tax, is being implemented by elected local councillors. It might get them unelected.
Pensioner devastated he 'won't be able to visit his parents' graves' due to £12.50 charge.
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1743914/ULEZ-charge-London-drivers-anger-Upminster-Cemetery
Children facing long waits for spinal surgery - 'The BBC understands the delays are partly down to parking and clean air zone costs leading to nurse shortages.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-65167519
Anyone operating a business or living near the edge of a ULEZ is going to get financially shafted driving locally, with a reduction in the value and saleability of their home, and a need to surcharge a percentage of their customers if they have to cross the new border to get to them. There will need to be more car parks either side of the ULEZ border too, or everyone will just park on residential streets, walk across and get an uber or taxi for the rest of their journey. And everywhere will soon be implementing them, because they bring in cash. You could be paying half a dozen charges soon going for a day out at the seaside with the kids, if you don't have an EV. First they stop us moving freely across borders within the EU, removing freedom of movement at Brexit, then they charge us at multiple regional and local borders.
How convenient that the party that gave us Boris 'f*ck business' Johnson, now have an excuse to ignore the CBI.
The ability of such a tiny % of Parisians to get them banned shows you how low politicians stoop.
What the heck. Everyone who used them should switch to something that burns carbon. Every emission is now an act of retaliation against the authorities.
As for them being banned because of accidents. Have you seen how Parisians drive cars and mopeds?
'Banter' will soon be launched on Android, Apple and VTech. Working on a huge text resource (borrowed from the website of a national newspaper), it can emulate a right winger ranting about any of 57 topics in an incoherent, illogical and vaguely abusive manner. It works really well for taxi journeys. Instead of having to talk to the guy driving you, you just tap 'taxi' mode and it will agree with your driver for as long as your trip lasts. The VTech version is designed to keep the kids amused when their parents are busy with important social media and alcohol projects.
-Heck, it's not a healthy environment for any age..
Which government minister is writing this propagandist guff?
I wonder how many kids watch 'Naked Attraction' on the TV in their bedrooms. No fines levied there yet. Don't Channel 4 check who is viewing their TV programmes? What a shockingly irresponsible state of affairs. Will nobody think of the children?
Customer service doesn't exist. Bit like 'Net Zero'.
If your internet connection goes down, make yourself a nice cup of tea and read a book, do some exercise, count the kids to see if any have left home, watch a Kdrama or dig the garden.
It will eventually work again. Complaining won't make any difference. Loads of angry El Reg commenters will be using their satellite internet, neighbour's internet, semaphore or land line to yell at cubicle droids, and all to no avail.
You don't get a snow day working at home, but if your net is off, you just can't do the worky stuff until your LEDs turn green again. Devastating, but you cannot fight fate.
Redundancy is important. Make sure you always have enough biscuits in the cupboard to get you through this sort of thing.
McCarthyism 2.0 - the Americans telling the UK to behave like a proper vassal state and shut it down rather than let the Chinese run it.
Still, think of the money we can save. If we don't have any chip plants, we won't need a chip strategy.
The Chinese own British Steel don't they? I guess that will be next for the Washington chop.
How are Meta doing with their distributed version of Twitter?
It should be quite easy to fork an open source e-mail client to incorporate about 75% of what Facebook does and most of what Twitter does using the e-mail protocol to create a distributed, encrypted social media system. Get on with it, someone.
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