Posts by JimmyPage

Google carves out cloudy safe spaces for nations nervous about America's reach

Will anyone who believes this

give me a shout. I have a few bridges for sale.

LastOS slaps neon paint on Linux Mint and dares you to run Photoshop

Docker ?

I mean it would be cool to have a sort of AppImage-like bundle where you have a Windows application like Photoshop or MS Office that "just works".

Er, isn't that the mission statement of Docker ?

I'm a bit of a Dockler fanbois with HomeAssistant, piHole, Deluge, gPodder all running as containers on my little Deb12 server. All of a sudden arsing around with infinite combinations of Python, php, Apache, MySQL etc etc are history.

Boffins devise technique that lets users prove location without giving it away

Re: Here I am, but you don't know where here is?

What you really want, is the ability to tell someone your location, without anyone in the middle knowing what it is.

Isn't that what encryption is for anyway ?

The problem here is that you have to rely on whatever ad-slinger is in your device (Google or Apple) to do that without slurping it in the process.

You really need an incognito mode for your GPS subsystem. So it can send position to a request without it being seen by the OS.

Coinbase extorted for $20M. Support staff bribed. Customers scammed. One hell of a SNAFU

Hmmmm

Isn't this the plot of the film "Ransom" ?

The 'End of 10' is nigh, but don't bury your PC just yet

If I wanted to get there

I wouldn't have started here.

Unless and until you can get corporate buy-in to desktop linux it'll remain a niche nerdy pursuit.

And I've been running various flavours since 1993 and worked on linux servers in several roles.

Europe plots escape hatch from enshittification of search

Who remembers Copernic ?

IIRC started out as a website and then became a program that basically aggregated search engine results.

Can't really see any reason why it couldn't be resurrected.

E2A: I see they are still going as a commercial outfit.

The future of LLMs is open source, Salesforce's Benioff says

Use AI to build AI

After all, content scraped for AI should be free.

Right .?

Go ahead and ignore Patch Tuesday – it might improve your security

Tell that to compliance (and ultimately the law)

Generally, I'd happily say that rushing to patch is a waste of time. Every time you are risking system stability (a known known) for some variant of improved security (an known unknown). Not a great trade.

However, we all know that if you were to be breached. and it turned out that you had not been applying patches (even if that would not have prevented the breach) then it's sueballs at dawn.

If the UK government were serious about growth and attracting investment (spoiler alert: they aren't) then they could do a lot worse than develop an official framework that ignored vendor recommendations (which mysteriously always suggest increasing your spending) and provided a playbook for companies that would be backed in civil disputes.

Ransomware scum have put a target on the no man's land between IT and operations

So looking for the places where investment is low ?

The words "cornucopia" and "embarrassment of riches" spring to mind. Smorgasboard for more exotic commentards

Post Office finally throttles delayed in-house EPOS project

Important addition

The intention to build a new system, now known as New Branch IT (NBIT), began in 2021, with the state-owned company wanting to move away from the Horizon system, which became the focus of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in recent British history.

Which is still ongoing. Many victims still haven't received a penny in restitution yet, and are still facing a process of being told that being wrongfully convicted is really an honour and they should be paying the Post Office for the privilege.

Judge puts two-week pause on Trump's mass government layoffs

And when the government ignore the ruling ...

... what then ?

Microsoft facing multibillion legal claim over how it sells software

Microsoft could make more money

if it charged people not to have Windows and Office. Who wants all that AI shite ?

Attackers pwn charter airline helping Trump's deportation campaign

The incompetency of fascism

when all your mates are skimping on everything too ...

OS-busting bug so bad that Microsoft blocks Windows Insider release

Where is the website suggesting more outlandish uses for AI ?

Surely by now some wags will have developed a realistic looking website (and chefs kiss if they did it using AI) that lists loads of plausible but fictitious AI products that we won't be able to live without. (Survivors of the "smart" wars may recognise this, with a Stob edge ...)

AI shoelaces.

AI thermal mugs

AI Lazy Susans .....

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

Re: Did anyone see the story about Co-Op ?

As I said - a *meeting*. That is where a group of individuals all share the same space with equal input.

One thing the past week has done is uncover management practices that have fooled (some) employees into thinking that the Gods addressing the Pleds is somehow a "meeting".

If you can't say "I'll pick that up at the next meeting" then it's not a meeting. It's a rally.

Did anyone see the story about Co-Op ?

*Now* they suddenly decide it's a good idea that all participants in a meeting* have their cameras on to prevent unauthorised access.

What fucking idiot signed off on a policy to the contrary.

*Meeting. Not a sermon or broadcast to the masses.

Brewhaha: Turns out machines can't replace people, Starbucks finds

Yet another shining example

of where the people on eye-watering salaries manage to have fuck all grasp of the business they are leeching - sorry - "leading".

I will bet cold hard cash, that somewhere in the corporate records of Starbucks, you will find plenty of upward communications saying "This is a really bad idea".

Chris Krebs loses Global Entry membership amid Trump feud

him saying that his lawyers told him that he won the Garcia case in front of SCOTUS 9-0

It gets better than that.

He has already established a narrative that the Garcia case has been managed by lawyers and he has "just signed" what they told him too. So now they have had their hands dipped in blood.

I thought the US was supposed to have a separation of powers.

They do. But the GOP majority congress has abrogated them.

Without them, civil war is inevitable.

Microsoft gets twitchy over talk of Europe's tech independence

I'll believe it when I see it.

25 years of history shows me that Europeans are very very good at bellyaching, and fucking useless at doing.

It would have been relatively trivial in a Euro-scale of things to setup a project to deliver a non-proprietary client-server OS based on FOSS, *and* provide support for Euro companies using it.

But hey, it's "cheaper" to shovel $$$ to MS, so why would we do that ?

Windows isn't an OS, it's a bad habit that wants to become an addiction

Re: And yet desktop Linux

"already approaching the 5% "

and it only took (checks notes) 25 years.

At that rate it could be 10% in 2050.

Lot of low energy commentards these days. They seem to take statements of fact as an attack on their world view.

Ironically I am typing this on a Linux desktop machine that I have had in various incarnations for (checks notes) 20 years. And in that time, despite begging, pleading, and demonstrating immediate and significant costs savings, not a single BigCorp I have worked for has bitten.

And yet desktop Linux

is still as elusive as a Brexit benefit, with it's uptake of 0.01%

Even my last outfit - which had 50 servers on Debian, all the 100 or so desktops were Windows.

Ghost in the shell script: Boffins reckon they can catch bugs before programs run

Bash compiler ?

Surely this is a bag of a fag packet task for "AI" these days ?

Signalgate lessons learned: If creating a culture of security is the goal, America is screwed

It's actually quite a good strategy

Because the fact US systems are so hopelessly compromised is public knowledge, it follows that Uncle Vlad and the gang can't trust anything they read on it without additional verification.

It's a rather bizarre example of that adage "someone with 2 clocks never knows the time".

If we are incredibly lucky, the Russians will be using "AI" to sift through the petabytes of data they are exfiltrating. Which means they are pretty much handicapped from the off.

Claims assistance firm fined for cold-calling people who put themselves on opt-out list

And did the victims get a penny ?

No.

So fuck the law.

Bad trip coming for AI hype as humanity tools up to fight back

Adversarial noise ?

I think that's what Trump has been up to for years.

Cursor AI's own support bot hallucinated its usage policy

"HAL, Open the pod bay doors"

"I'm sorry dave. I can't do that."

Law firm 'didn't think' data theft was a breach, says ICO. Now it's nursing a £60K fine

Lawyers that don't know the law

they really aren't selling themselves here, you know.

Europe's cloud customers eyeing exit from US hyperscalers

Some of us have been saying this for years

and roundly laughed at.

And it's not as anything has really changed. It's just it's being reported on now.

Tesla fudged odometer to screw me out of warranty, Model Y owner claims

If the odometer is fucked

Then is the speedo to be trusted ?

A very important question for anyone caught speeding in a Tesla ?

EU gives staff 'burner phones, laptops' for US visits

Desktop Linux ?

Could this be what does what 20 years of shot Windows releases hasn't, and actually create an appetite for Desktop Linux that 20 years of shit Windows releases hasn't ?

The most important experimental distro you've never heard of gets new project lead

Point of order

"it is not another contender for a Windows replacement, "

There are no contenders for a Windows replacement from the world of Linux. So if this was, it would be the first.

There are, of course, plenty of distros that us IT types rock daily. Personally I like Mint and Debian. However no one anywhere has even tried to make a concerted and organised push to deliver a grown up supported-like-Windows version of Linux.

And I have been waiting now since Dapper Drake.

Microsoft total recalls Recall totally to Copilot+ PCs

BTDTGTTS

Two things are guaranteed in IT.

1) The continuing dominance of Microsoft

(because of)

2) No decent Linux desktop programme.

So for all the sound and fury vented here, I can predict in 5 years time - even *with* US goods being as popular as a fart in spacesuit - the primary desktop OS will be Windows of some sort.

We all run Linux at home. We get it. But we don't run corporate IT do we ?

Return of Redis creator bears fruit with vector set data type

Surely, this far in

it's clear all AI is really just a hyperscaled wisdom of crowds engine.

NCSC taps influencers to make 2FA go viral

It's 2025 ....

ISO standard for password complexity ?

Of course not. So everyone+dog has their own idea of what is acceptable.

ISO standard for MFA implementation ?

(Spits coffee out) Are you kidding ? We need another century on that.

This is better than nothing. But that's only because we literally have nothing to compare it to.

4-day work-week pilot due in tech land by early summer

Funny how bad tech firms are at "innovating"

when it comes to working, isn't it ?

21st century tech produced in a 1700s factory.

Anyway my last place had a cashflow crisis and we were asked nicely to drop to 4 days. Which worked and the company recovered. However when the CEO went to restore the lost day, over 50% of staff said "you know what ? I like it this way".

So I was working a 4 day week for 18 months. And now wouldn't go back. (Currently WFH when I like).

Judge halts DOGE's union personal data grab at OPM, Treasury, Education

One unexpected outcome may be

the death of the data selling industry in the US.

If it becomes impossible for a data handler to prove they obtained the data legally (i.e. not as a result of this case) then civil courts should provide that anyone using the data has to pay the fine.

Overnight it becomes too risky to use *any* personal data.

Microsoft tastes the unexpected consequences of tariffs on time

The modern fad for making a 10 minute video

To read out a one minute fix is not helping the cause of productivity in the west.

I suspect it's related to the decrease of facts/minute in modern TV "documentaries". Another demonstration of how to fil 60 minutes with 15 minutes of facts. Anyone who remembers "Horizon" from the 70s will know what I mean.

Privacy warriors whip out GDPR after ChatGPT wrongly accuses dad of child murder

For fucks sake ! How much more proof is needed ...

that "AI" isn't "intelligent" in any accepted sense of the word.

It doesn't understand whatever bilge it's producing. It's like someone who can vocalise the latin alphabet reading French phonetically without actually actually comprehending any of it. You could even learn the pronunciation and inflection to sound fluent, but still have no idea what you are saying.

AWS sued by product manager who says she was laid off for being an older woman

Can't see this winning.

If the lower court awards, then the appeals court up to SCOTUS are ready to do Trumps will and piss on DEI. Being white is nice. But nicer if you are a man.

I see NASA have changed their minds about the next moon landing crews.

Apple hallucinated Siri's future AI features, lawsuit claims

"A fool and their money ..."

"...are easily parted".

In this case anyone who believes a word about the "AI" bullshit revolution is a fool who may want to look at a bridge I have for sale.

When "AI" can remove all the "AI" shite from my screen in the same way I have to by dismissing the inappropriate ads and clickbait corners, I'll buy some.

Until then ... FUCK .... OFF

Microsoft ducks politico questions on Copilot bundling and lack of consent

The way things are going

I'd pay to have all this "AI" cruft removed forever.

However as long as they insist on trying to charge for it, then I can continue to insist on not paying for it (with the related uptick in performance).

Same way I was never interested in a Smart TV, or some godawful infotainment system in my car.

If the only reason to upgrade a phone is to get the new "AI" shite, then my Samsung A7 has another 8 years life ahead at least.

'Once in a lifetime' IT outage at city council hit datacenter, but no files lost

Once in a lifetime events

Company I worked for lost internet for 3 months in 2023 after a cabinet strike that took out both the primary circuit and it's fallback (BT Openreach).

We had to distress buy a 5G router and reverse our VPNs to be able to use our hosting companies IP address whilst ours was out.

(Mind you a few years back our hosted servers went down as the secondary power had been connected to the main one bypassing the UPS).

Tesla Cybertruck recall #8: Exterior trim peels itself off, again

Proof that Musk was inspired by Sir Clive Sinclair

only it seems C5s were better built.

The post-quantum cryptography apocalypse will be televised in 10 years, says UK's NCSC

Re: Bollocks

+1

I have no idea what grifting outfit downvoted you.

Quantum cryptography (if it ever comes to pass. Where's my fusion powered jetpack ?) just means that you apply a little logic to your encryption needs. 80% of encrypted data will generally have a very short shelf life and can be generally casually encrypted.

And there is probably a lot of data that doesn't really need to be encrypted at all.

Microsoft isn't fixing 8-year-old shortcut exploit abused for spying

It's not a UI issue. It's an AI issue.

As in with all this fucking AI dross'n'shite around, how come no one - NO ONE - has thought to add a check for stupid size LNK files as a vector ?

You also find yourself asking what moron didn't put some sort of sanity check on the structure of an LNK file.

China's EV champ BYD reveals super-fast charging that leaves Tesla eating dust

EVs only make sense if they are self driving.

Because then you sidestep the charging problem by having a car that can go and charge itself when it suits you, it and the grid.

And if it can take a few passengers around while it's at it, it can start to pay for itself. Or the consortium that bought it.

Until then, pissing around with storage is like tweaking mortgage rates to fix the housing crisis.

Judge orders Feds rehire workers falsely fired for lousy performance

Point of order.

He clearly owns the Supreme Court as they crowned him King by saying any of his official actions were immune from prosecution

Microsoft quantum breakthrough claims labeled 'unreliable' and 'essentially fraudulent'

Re: Cold fusion

Don't be so quick to scoff.

Cold fusion can be achieved if you can find a way to reduce the Coulomb Barrier between atoms. There are a few ways in theory that this can be done.