Posts by xanadu42 173 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Jan 2013
"Out-of-band updates have arrived with depressing regularity in recent months"
Add "hotpatching" and "copilot" into the mix of Windows Updates and it seems inevitable to me that the 2024 "Crowdstrike Outage" will, in the not-too-distant-future, be reported-in-passing as a "minor outage" of Windows Machines...
'CEO Bruce Broussard said ... the company has also “expanded lower-cost sourcing across our commodity basket, lowering logistics costs with agile end-to-end planning processes.”'
So HP's products are going to be made from even cheaper parts than what they use already?
Bet the price still goes up even though using "cheaper parts"
Not that I would buy anything made by HP...
"We genuinely hope that Google will listen to the overwhelming community opposition against their threatened lockdown of the Android platform and take this opportunity to reverse course and start rebuilding their reputation as a faithful steward of Android."
Google... a faithful steward of Android?
Surely an oxymoron?!!!
I'm sure the EU will be investigating this in the not too distant future....
Interesting to note that the title of this page is either
"Anthropic's latest Sonnet gets better at using computers, amid bouts of existential angst"
OR
"Anthropic's latest Sonnet is better at using computers"
The former is what you see when you visit The Reg and see the listed articles, the header title of the article (HTML <h1>) as well as the HTML <title> of this "post comment" page...
The latter is the HTML <title> of the article's page (as reported by search engines)
Is this subtle difference a pandering to search engines or what? (clickbait?)
The lack of "amid bouts of existential angst" in the title reported by search engines implies one thing whereas the "actual"? title implies something completely different...
From the viewpoint of a "retired software quality assurance engineer" I would consider that Joe's interaction with Gemini may have been more an experiment so he could determine "how good" the "AI" was at completing the various tasks he assigned it and, if it was "good", then he would use the results for his "in real life" requirements...
As there is no indication in the article as to Joe's reasoning behind using "AI" I have to look at his interaction with the "AI" and his action of reporting the issue...
I do not think that the average (read "non computer-nerd") person would have even noticed the issues that Joe noticed and would have, in their ignorance, blindly accepted what the "AI" stated without question...
"AI is the next best thing" and all that...
These sorts of failures should make headlines at news sites the average person reads - problem is the average news sites don't employ people able to translate the nerdiness into everyday speak (because Alphabet, et al, have stripped out their earnings by scraping news and now generating "AI summaries")
This sample size for this research is way too small so the conclusions cannot be considered as representing how the "AI" would actually compare to human judges...
If a few hundred scenarios had been researched, with at least three scenarios chosen from the legal cases of various countries THEN the results would at lease have a better standing...
A 15,000,000 page EULA in light yellow, ultra-fine, print that MUST be accepted before driving the car out of the dealer's premises.
Permanent Internet Connection to ensure car licence is valid (car will "fail to proceed" if Internet Connection lost).
Triangular (or square) wheels (because they look "cooool").
Bluetooth Steering (it's the latest thing everyone wants).
One on-dash light to indicate low-fuel, brake failure, engine failure, hand-brake engaged, etc
No Mirrors (too user-friendly)
A brake pedal that, when pressed, requires you to click 30+ times on the "Yes I want to engage braking" on the infotainment screen
A Handbrake that can only be disengaged after a complete reboot of the car's OS
Complete re-install of OS after use of car-jack to change flat tyre...
As someone who doesn't live in the UK I have to ask why continue a "TV Licence Fee" in a world where most "TV" is now available via other means?
It seems that this "TV Licence Fee" (BBC Tax?) adversely affects those that cannot afford an internet connection ...
£174.50 a year [around AUD$353 at time of post] ( See https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz9k27yy839o ) is, IMHO, unjustifiable in this day and age...
Surely the BBC makes enough from licensing its products that the "TV Licence Fee" become a "money grab" by the UK government?
Given that a recent, similar, issue with mobile-based "emergency calls" not working here in Australia I have to wonder if the telecommunications providers are the issue...
Seems to me that it is more likely it is (and always will be/was?) the software running on the telecommunications devices that is the base cause of the problems...
How can the telecommunications providers check for all the varied devices that will not work in an emergency when the device manufacturer and/or the device's software producer do not release all the relevant/required data?
The two mobile-phone software producers - namely Apple and Google - have created "hardware obsolescence by design" (cannot support a ten year of piece of hardware as their is no money in it) and the by-product is actual deaths... Are BOTH guilty of putting profit over saving a human life? (I think YES)
Now, do we call this mobile phone software duopoly Appgle or Goople? (I like the latter...).
Back in my early days of installing $10,000 accountancy systems (when the person sitting in the seat was used to typewriters) I was called out to fix a "screen problem" where there was "white dobs" on the screen...
When I arrived I found out that the "white dobs" were Tippex (or other similar) dobs... scraped the offending dobs off the screen and user was happy - we both had a good laugh and wondered about who did the actual "deed"...
Nowadays sure sounds like an "urban myth" but I can confirm NOT!
"I profoundly disagree with 'big brother' gatekeeping of the variety being rolled out in Aus"
Only ten "social media" sites currently are restricted by Australian Federal Government Law at this time:
Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube
(see https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/industry-regulation/social-media-age-restrictions/which-platforms-are-age-restricted)
And there are many other "social media" sites out there that have "restrictions" that far exceed those of the Australian Federal Government's new law (and I have to assume these sites make the relevant checks)...
No "Big Brother" gate-keeping, just "common sense"...
Part of the premise of this law is that is supports parents when their kid(s) are found to be using "social media" and they can say "it is illegal"... Just like smoking cigarettes or watching porn...
Sure kids can bypass this (I saw R-rated - X-rated in some countries- before I was 18 - what I did was not legal but blame the drive-in theatre!!) but that is not the point
So, being pedantic change
"I profoundly disagree with 'big brother' gate-keeping"
to
"I profoundly disagree with 'parental' gate-keeping"
As a parent isn't it nice to have the law on your side (for a change)?
"... led by execs that prioritize AI over traditional concerns of automotive makers."
So "Vehicle Safety", which is a "traditional concern", will become secondary?
Will we see more Tesla-like innovations (like door handles without a physical connection to the door lock) that reduce "Vehicle Safety"???
So to fix a "known" "AI" security issue you add a second "AI" to fix the first...
And add another "AI" vector for security issues
The logical conclusion to this is that when the second "AI" doesn't solve all of the first "AI" security issues (and adds its own security issues) you add a third...
Then a fourth or fifth?
Why not just remove the new "AI" feature until ALL its issues have been addressed?
Can't have that!! The Browser MUST have "AI"...
Was visiting about 10 different websites sites at the time this all started and saw varied CloudFlare errors indicating that my browser was ok, the CloudFlare Server had failed and the destination server was ok...
The message suggested that the problem was NOT with CloudFlare's systems but most probably at my end...
For the first ten minutes or so the https://www.cloudflarestatus.com/ site indicated no problems...
After https://www.cloudflarestatus.com/ indicated a problem I noted that the messages when accessing affected sites started saying that there was actually a problem with CloudFlare's systems...
Most hilariously was when I did a search for "is cloudflare down" and found that 19 out of 20 sites I visited failed due to the CloudFlare outage...
Just for a laugh thought I would do a random check on a "secure password checker" assuming that some people might do this
according to https://www.security.org/how-secure-is-my-password/
12345 can be hacked immediately
1234512345 can be hacked in 200ms
123451234512345 can be hacked in 6 hours
12345123451234512345 can be hacked in 79 years
1234512345123451234512345 can be hacked in 7 million years
12E45 can be hacked in 1ms
12E4512E45 can be hacked in 1 day
12E4512E4512E45 can be hacked in 100,000 years
12E4512E4512E4512E45 can be hacked in 10 trillion years
12E4512E4512E4512E4512E45 can be hacked in 6 hundred quintillion years
12!12 can be hacked in 200ms
12!1212!12 can be hacked in 39 minutes
12!1212!1212!12 can be hacked in 700 years
12!1212!1212!12 can be hacked in 7 billion years
12!1212!1212!1212!1212!12 can be hacked in 70 quadrillion years
nowisthetime can be hacked in 3 weeks
nowisthetimeforallgoodmen can be hacked in 100 quadrillion years
according to https://checkmypassword.com.au/
12345 can be hacked by AI instantly
1234512345 can be hacked by AI instantly
123451234512345 can be hacked by AI in 5 hours
12345123451234512345 can be hacked by AI in 1 year
1234512345123451234512345 can be hacked by AI in 1 year
12E45 can be hacked by AI instantly
12E4512E45 can be hacked by AI in 6 months
12E4512E4512E45 can be hacked by AI in 613 million years
12E4512E4512E4512E45 can be hacked by AI in 106 trillion years
12E4512E4512E4512E4512E45 can be hacked by AI in 368 trillion years
12!12 can be hacked by AI instantly
12!1212!12 can be hacked by AI in 5 years
12!1212!1212!12 can be hacked by AI in 14 billion years
12!1212!1212!1212!12 can be hacked by AI in 9 quadrillion years
12!1212!1212!1212!1212!12 can be hacked by AI in 27 quadrillion years
nowisthetime can be hacked by AI in 3 weeks
nowisthetimeforallgoodmen can be hacked by AI in 42 million years
Make of this what you will - I had a laugh
... that the "AI shopping agent" will select a product that provides the highest kickback to the author of said "AI shopping agent"?
Why waste your time searching for the "best price" for a product when your magical "AI shopping agent" can magically do it for you?
Are people that gullible?
Just like "architecting" (a Gerund of Architect) being applied to computer coding or other expertise not related to what an Architect is/does... (ie design "buildings" ,and maybe oversee building of same)
Why not say "designing" or "developing" when being applied to computer coding?
"Vibe Coding" is going to go nowhere because it cannot generate anything new - all it can do is re-hash existing code based on whatever "black-box AI" process executed at the time complete with all of the "worst" (or is that best) of examples of security fails...
Without an understanding of what is "vibed" the "vibe coder" will not learn...
Late last year and early this year a small number (5-10?) of my clients (here in Australia) showed me the Microsoft email regarding the fee changes...
I DEFINITELY remember that there was NO REFERENCE to a "Classic" version "without price-increase" being mentioned...
I DO NOT remember if the emails were in regard to "Personal" or "Family"
Microsoft's "Apology" seems to me to be an attempt to reduce potential fines of:
a) $50 million
b) three times the total benefits that have been obtained and are reasonably attributable, or
c) if the total value of the benefits cannot be determined, 30 per cent of the corporation’s adjusted turnover during the breach turnover period.
[ref: https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/microsoft-in-court-for-allegedly-misleading-millions-of-australians-over-microsoft-365-subscriptions ]
The article states that "... other rendering engines, Firefox (Gecko engine) and Safari (WebKit engine), and both were immune to the attack ..."
Your example of a vulnerability across two different "engines" suggests to me that the Javascipt/ECMAScript Specification may be the issue and that the two different "engines" correctly reproduced the fault in the Specification...
And which "Phoenix" web browser are you referring to? The 2002 browser that became Firefox or some other, later, web browser using the same name?
I would be more impressed with an example of a Firefox-Only vulnerability with the same severity as this!
The problem is with the email that was sent to the person paying the subscription for MS 365...
This email, which I first saw about six months ago, mentioned nothing about the current version of MS 365 being available without CoPilot AND without a fee increase. Anyone reading this email would have no idea that they could keep their current subscription unchanged (AND for the same fee) and would likely assume that they have to live with the increased fee...
The fact that you could ONLY find out about using MS 365 without CoPilot when you elected to cancel the subscription is a problem... Especially for the average user of MS 365 (Personal and Family) who (based on my clients so affected) had no idea they they could even "manage" their subscription...
According to these articles which were published earlier this year:
https://reporter.anu.edu.au/all-stories/is-working-from-home-better-than-being-at-the-office
https://theconversation.com/more-than-two-thirds-of-organisations-have-a-formal-work-from-home-policy-heres-how-the-benefits-stack-up-251598
A "tailored approach" is required that allows an employee to work from home or in the office as works "best" for the employee...
"... there was no notable difference in productivity between employees working from home versus in the office."
"32% of Australian employees would prefer to exclusively work from home, 41% prefer a hybrid option, while 27% prefer to work exclusively from the office."
So we have:
HAL from "2001, A Space Odyssey"
WOPR from "War Games"
Skynet from "The Terminator"
All are fictional accounts of AI that became malicious but only Skynet approaches the stupidity we are seeing today...
I just wonder who will be the hero that saves us?
See following link for clarification of exclusions
https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/industry-regulation/social-media-age-restrictions/faqs#c-accordion--13725-content
Legislative rules excluding certain types of online services were made by the Minister for Communications following advice from the eSafety Commissioner and consultation with youth groups, parents, carers, the digital industry and civil society groups, as well as experts in child development, mental health and law.
The exclusions apply to:
services that have the sole or primary purpose of messaging, email, voice calling or video calling
services that have the sole or primary purpose of enabling users to play online games with other users
services that have the sole or primary purpose of enabling users to share information about products or services
services that have the sole or primary purpose of enabling users to engage in professional networking or professional development
services that have the sole or primary purpose of supporting the education of users
services that have the sole or primary purpose of supporting the health of users
services that have the sole or significant purpose of facilitating communication between educational institutions and students or student families
services that have the significant purpose of facilitating communication between health care providers and people using those services.
I've known about this issue for at least a decade: plants interfere with radio waves...
After a few minutes of "re-search" I found this 2003 article: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2002RS002758
There are probably articles of similar nature that pre-date this but I couldn't be bothered wasting more than a few minutes...
Granted the above article is over 20 years old, the vegetation of concern is trees, the aerials are much larger and transmit powers much higher than WiFi, but one of the investigated radio frequencies is near WiFi's 2.4GHz...
So, IMHO, Broadband Genie's "news" is not new... (And why didn't El Reg pick this up?)
In this world of "AI regenerated stories" I have to wonder if this "news" may have been generated from "AI research"?
"Microsoft is aiming the tool at administrators who deal with resetting or migrating devices (assuming users are running apps from the Microsoft Store) ..."
Surely ANY SysAdmin would deny use of "Microsoft Store" apps for storing of important data!!??
Seems more like a disaster creator than a "solution"
Isn't the lack of regulation of SkyNet what lead to Terminator?
Once the Genie is out of it's bottle it is very difficult to put it back in...
I prefer the EU approach of "It's better to be safe than sorry" over the US approach of "move fast and break things" especially considering all the harm that the current "AI" is already creating...
