Posts by andy gibson

Blustering Blackbeard's PC was all at sea, sysadmin got him shipshape in seconds

I can beat 8 seconds

My office is next to a small meeting room. If I lean to my left I can see through the door into it.

In it is a TV for projecting. Like most modern TVs it doesn't have an ON/OFF switch, but the TV is wired to a socket with a light on.

If TV is working - it's displaying something.

If TV isn't, then it's in standby and the standby light is on.

If there's no light - the power is off at the wall socket.

So, cue countless users reporting "the TV isn't working"

I lean, see the standby button isn't lit and the socket is switched off. Time - about 4 seconds.

Brit competition cops warn AI agents may not be 'faithful servants' to consumers

Re: The govt could save a lot of money ...

Unfortunately we plebs don't run any multinational corporationsto dangle directorships and other tasty perks for the MPs and civil servants when they leave office, so they're not interested in our opinion.

MoJ puts Prisoner Telephony Service replacement on hold yet again

The worst that can happen is this:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9d0d63pnw2o

UK mobilizes lawyers to keep report on Gatwick 'drone' chaos under wraps

So what we're saying is, it's -------------------------------------------------------------------->

Facebook went down for about three hours, interrupting your poking and Meta's ads business

Re: Despite the rabid hatred of SM on here...

Agree. I'm on a number of what might be classed as "boring" special interest groups (trains, maps, pubs, my model of car, old railways, tunnels, mine and general underground exploration) where there's no bitching, no fighting, no drama - just likeminded individuals enjoying their hobby like grown ups on a modern platform now that forums seem to be dying out.

If Facebook is a toxic cesspit to you, then that's probably down to the areas you frequent. Stay out of the curtain twitching local groups, don't discuss politics and religion.

NASA safety watchdog says it's time to rethink Moon landing

Re: Outburst?

I reckon he'll spin it along the lines of "Moon is rubbish, we didn't want to go there anyway, we'll go to Mars instead"

Work experience kids messed with manager's PC to send him to Ctrl-Alt-Del hell

I open Notepad and say "thanks for leaving your computer unlocked. I've deleted some of your files, had a browse at the confidential ones in the shared area you have access to, and had a good rummage through your emails. I almost sent an "I QUIT" email to your boss, but didn't on this occasion.

Then lock the machine so they have a nice surprise when they unlock

Edinburgh councillors pull the plug on 'green' AI datacenter

You can play ball under the solar panels we've put on the football fields!

BBC bumps telly tax to £180 as Netflix lurks with cheaper tiers

And then regurgitated onto every regional Reach webpage so that you think it's in your area.

NASA delays Artemis II to March after hydrogen leaks bedevil countdown test

Trump bragging rights for years to come - "I'm the greatest Prez since JFK"

ATM flashes a port or two for the enterprising hacker

old banks

The Number 15 pub, St Annes on Sea is an old bank and the vault has been converted into a drinking room.

https://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/36/36930/Number_15/St_Annes_on_Sea

UK trade department put civil servants' feelings first during Windows 11 migration

Re: This is all news to me

My OH too. She was sent an email saying basically:

Your machine needs to be upgraded to Windows 11.

Leave it switched on until it's finished.

It took 3 days until it came back to a login screen. Yes, days.

British government caves on datacenter approval after legal challenge

Rayner the hypocrite.

Remember when she said "Prioritise people’s needs ‘over newts’ in housing policy"

Funny how it didn't apply to her own consituency - there she is, front centre.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/campaigners-stage-human-chain-protest-16688239

“It can seem like a daunting task when you have to fight bureaucracy to protect the things you care about but you can win."

Hope the irony isn't lost on them!

House of Lords votes to ban social media for Brits under 16

Re: nuke

It all depends where you're hanging out on social media.

I limit mine to sensible (and probably regarded as boring) interest groups with grown-up, like minded individuals. There's no arguing, no hate, unlike the local area tittle-tattle groups. And there it's usually politics or religion that cause the arguments.

Re: An analogy is swimming

"but also educate as to why the ban is there."

The warning signs at my local quarries and beach do explain why - mud, deep cold water under the surface and cold water shock etc.

It's just ignored

Child safety or age-gating for all? UK social media ban plan draws fire

Re: Just ban all SM platforms

It all depends where you're hanging out on social media.

I limit mine to sensible (and probably regarded as boring) interest groups with grown-up, like minded individuals. There's no arguing, no hate, unlike the local area tittle-tattle groups. And there it's usually politics or religion that cause the arguments.

Ofcom keeps X under the microscope despite Grok 'nudify' fix

Fines do nothing....

....when the comsumer probably ends up footing the bill

According to Ofcom, Royal Mail was fined £21 million in October 2025 for failing to meet First and Second Class delivery targets during the 2024/25 financial year.

The penalty follows previous fines of £5.6 million in November 2023 and £10.5 million in December 2024, marking the third consecutive year of regulatory non-compliance.

US Army seeks human AI officers to manage its battle bots

Simpsons predicted it again

"The wars of the future will not be fought on a battlefield or at sea.

They will be fought in space -- or possibly on top of a very tall mountain.

In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots

And as you go forth today, remember always your duty is clear--

To build and maintain those robots."

"The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" - Season 8 / Episode 25 - May 1997

England keeping pen and paper exams despite limited digital expansion

Re: There is no requirement for a specific make of pen

I don't know why you've been downvoted so much. Schools in England must be 99% Microsoft Windows.

Porsche panic in Russia as pricey status symbols forget how to car

Re: More cloudybollocks

"* Lockable doors - very clever. It's a £100,000+ car, please excuse my while I smash the windows and open the door from the inside."

Deadlocking has prevented this for decades

Speccy clone storms back for Christmas without a shred of Sinclair code

If you can pick up a cheap "Recreated Spectrum" for about £20-£25, you can use that as a Bluetooth keyboard with an emulator.

They rose in price a bit last year as people were fitting PI Zeros to them, but now "The Spectrum" has arrived, demand has dropped.

UK digital ID plan gets a price tag at last – £1.8B

Yet another Labour U-turn

2024:

Labour rejects Tony Blair's call for digital ID cards

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c87rgj4e0rzo

AI nudification site fined £55K for skipping age checks

Keep your AI and digital trickery, I'll continue to do it old-school:

https://frinkiac.com/caption/S12E19/458750

Students using ChatGPT beware: Real learning takes legwork, study finds

Nothing new

I remember when Wikipedia came out, the same thing was said.

However, it was much easier to see copied and pasted work because some students left the [1] references in!

No account? No Windows 11, Microsoft says as another loophole snaps shut

Re: No to Win 11 then

A mobile phone is - by way of it's nature - a device designed to be online to some degree.

A computer doesn't need to be

Explain digital ID or watch it fizzle out, UK PM Starmer told

digital is better

Love the use of digital here:

https://car-images.bauersecure.com/wp-images/4721/smart_motorways_uk_digital.jpg

Windows 95 was too fat to install itself so needed help from the slimmer 3.1

Re: Nothing ever changes

https://www.reddit.com/r/whatcarshouldIbuy/comments/1awcg4c/i_swear_all_cars_look_the_same_now/

Japanese city passes two-hours-a-day smartphone usage ordinance

Re: Overreach

When I was a kid I was told that there would be world peace, a more mature mankind with homes on the moon.

Instead we have this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/subway/comments/rkxo31/i_wonder_how_many_people_ate_the_actual_wrapper/

I fear that mankind has taken a turn for the worse (and more stupid) at some point.

What the Plex? Streaming service suffers yet another password spill

Even worse....

Worse still, after a password reset many have found their servers wouldn't connect and were showing offline - you had to "reclaim" your server

Should UK.gov save money by looking for open source alternatives to Microsoft? You decide

Re: Extra option?

This "Falling Down" reference deserved far more likes.

Brit watchdog says public service TV must 'urgently' join Team YouTube

Re: the BBC – affectionately known by Brits as "Auntie"

How many decades ago though? Nobody calls them "Auntie BBC" any more and probably hasn't since the 90s and those awful clip shows

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auntie%27s_Bloomers

GParted: Still the best free partitioner standing – unless you're on a 32-bit box

Hirens Boot CD

Just checked my top drawer - yup the USB stick of "Hirens Boot CD" is still there!

UK Online Safety Act 'not up to scratch' on misinformation, warn MPs

"The Online Safety Act fails to tackle online misinformation, leaving the UK in need of further regulation to curb the viral spread of false content"

Not to worry, Starmer already has that in hand. Anyone remember 2012 and the Doncaster Airport tweet"? Guess who was DPP?

'Twitter joke' case only went ahead at insistence of DPP

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/jul/29/paul-chambers-twitter-joke-airport

UK eyes new laws as cable sabotage blurs line between war and peace

Re: SDR talks about cables largely as data conduits

"nobody expects the UK government to achieve much by more legislation."

Didn't you know?

Administration saves the nation!

Red tape is fun!

Red tape holds the nation together!

Critics blast Microsoft's limited reprieve for those stuck on Windows 10

Re: What I’d like to know…

A monthly Windows update that scans the hardware and then either nags you, or disables the machine?

Attack on Oxford City Council exposes 21 years of election worker data

Re: "What's that about storing data for a reasonable and proportionate time?"

"There is an urgent need to know that the people counting the votes are absolutely reliable and honest"

It's just a shame that the recipients of the votes aren't!

Microsoft testing PC-to-Cloud-PC failover for those times your machine dies or disappears

Not an XKCD, but close:

https://frinkiac.com/caption/S02E22/107286

Homer: "The joke's on them. If the core explodes there won't be any power to light that sign."

Logitech's latest keyboard and mouse combo is wired, quiet, and suspiciously sensible

"With wireless devices ruling the roost who, other than gamers, would want such a thing"

Erm, every single school in the UK for one.

LibreOffice adds voice to 'ditch Windows for Linux' campaign

Re: As I've said before

I think you've kind of proven the point by comparing apples and oranges.

With Windows you have one version and that's it - whether you're a home web surfer, gamer, office worker.

because if you're going to compare Linux with car varieties then you're only going to alienate new users further.

UK students flock to AI to help them cheat

Re: Glorified calculators

According to the Guardian exams are "making young people ill"

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jun/11/they-are-making-young-people-ill-is-it-time-to-scrap-gcses

Microsoft rolls out Windows 11 Start Menu updates

Turn off web searching with a group policy or registry edit

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-disable-search-the-web-completley-in/ea22410a-3031-487f-b5de-5a0113d656c5

Peep show: 40K IoT cameras worldwide stream secrets to anyone with a browser

Re: I was doing this over 20 years ago...

Yep, it was Axis cameras back then

Meta just saved an Illinois nuclear plant that was set to be mothballed

Re: @GoneFission

" it is the gov that dictates the energy types"

More like it is the gov that supports the energy type, based on the Labour donor.

Dale Vance - donates £5 million to Labour. Gets a solar farm approved.

What will UK government workers do with an extra 26 minutes a day?

Re: Indicative of a better way?

How bad are the users?

DARPA zaps popcorn with laser power beamed 5.3 miles through air

Real Genius

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rthHSISkM7A&pp=0gcJCdgAo7VqN5tD

No-boom supersonic flights could slide through US skies soon

Mach America Great Again

Post Office finally throttles delayed in-house EPOS project

Why do I get the feeling....

That Fujitsu will be the winner and the phrase "lessons have been learned" will be prominent?

British govt agents step in as Harrods becomes third mega retailer under cyberattack

M&S Store shopping - no stock at the best of times

Not sure if any other UK reg commentators can say the same, but my local branch of M&S (Southport) have now stopped selling men's suits of any kind.

The assistants say "go to Liverpool, there's more range there". But there really isn't. I'm not some obscure size - just a regular 6 foot 4 bloke.

The only option to buy a simple black suit from M&S is online. Which I now can't

Home Office haunted by 25-year-old asylum system

riots

The Southport stabbings kicked off the riots and the thugs attacking hotels in 2024

Although there were a couple of incidents prior to this - protests at a hotel in Standish, Lancashire in September 2021:

https://www.wigantoday.net/news/mp-calls-for-wigan-hotel-to-stop-housing-asylum-seekers-after-incident-involving-schoolgirl-3391661

and then in March 2023 in Knowsley after claims "a man made inappropriate advances towards a teenage girl"

https://news.sky.com/story/knowsley-asylum-seekers-attacked-outside-merseyside-hotel-where-anti-migrant-protests-erupted-12835247