* Posts by JimmyPage

3225 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Mar 2010

European Right to Repair resolution headed for vote

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(Yet) another regulation the UK will need to abide by

if it wants to sell into the EU. Despite having zero input into it.

UK spy boss warns China hopes Russia will help it take over tech standards

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Re: Use your intelligence?

Very little signs in UK government that any intelligence is used at all.

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The hypocrisy is breathtaking ...

The only reason this is news is envy. You can bet your bottom dollar that China is trying to do all the things our governments would loved to have done years ago.

1,000-plus AI-generated LinkedIn faces uncovered

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RE: managed to 'sign up' around 2/3 of the available working age population

When LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook et al started out, I created some bogus accounts so I could get an understanding. Those accounts have gone on to lead a far more interesting life than me.

Given that I haven't used them for years, the endless parade of emails I get from "people who know me" etc etc does really underscore how the value of these platform is slowly, but inevitably, sinking to zero.

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Stop

This would be really big

if LinkedIn actually mattered

Hackers weigh in on programming languages of choice

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Mushroom

I'm inherently wary of self-identifying "hackers"

It reminds me of the 1980s and Prestel for a start.

It also feels a little too close to "influencer"

Samba 4.16 release strips away more SMB 1

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Boffin

Had a lightbulb moment

What to do when we want to look at our computing history in a live fashion? We can archive all the current software and run in a (complex) future sandbox.

it suddenly dawned on that this is probably what nature has been doing for billions of years ....

Where's my noble prize ?

Google Maps just got lost for a few hours

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Are they sure about those timings ?

About 11:00-12:00am Saturday I noticed my GM had "gone funny" and wasn't updating my position.

Worked fine today.

Oh,. and WTF did they remove the speed limits when driving feature ? The ONE feature that HERE has and Google didn't for years. Then they did, tricked me into switching and removed it.

And do you know how crap Android Auto is without Google Maps as the default navigation app ?

Reg reader rages over Virgin Media's email password policy

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Once again, why is there no BS/ISO/RFC/IEEE standard for passwords ?

Because the lack thereof encourages everyone+dog to roll their own - invariably compromised - implementations.

Even storing passwords as hashes isn't mandated. I still see password resets that are sent in plaintext.

Maxar Technologies: The eye in the sky tracking invasion of Ukraine

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Why has the last week reminded me

of SDI ("Star Wars") from the 80s.

Incidentally, the problem was always hitting something going at that speed and trajectory - same applies today regarding "blinding" satellites.

EncroChat defendants' lawyers make bid to halt trial

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It really is very simple.

Unless I built it and run it any communication system is compromised.

Right. Now we've established that, how do we proceed ?

Obviously by adding a layer of encryption around whatever the network will be sending.

In olden days, spies would happily use postcards to exchange secrets. The fact that intelligence agencies on both sides never twigged (?) seems reason enough to bear it in mind.

Obviously non receipt of an expected postcard was in itself a message.

HMRC: UK techies' IR35 tax appeals could take years

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Justice delayed is justice denied

I seem to recall.

Users sound off as new Google Workspace for Education storage limits near

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Mushroom

What the difference between drug dealers and google ?

Fuck all, would appear to be the answer/ Neither gives a shit about the law, and both business models rely on getting users hooked.

Happy birthday, Windows Vista: Troubled teen hits 15

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Linux

And where was Linux on the desktop ?

Given I was running a pretty solid version of Ubuntu (I can't remember if it was Dapper or Edgy) at the time I had Vista foisted on me at work, it should have been the easiest sell ever.

And still they blew it.

Even now with Win11 creating schisms, where is Mint ?

Silk could tie up all-but-unbreakable encryption, say South Korean boffins

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Re: But how can they do this in the West?

Spider silk ?

I own that $4.5bn of digi-dosh so rewrite your blockchain and give it to me, Craig Wright tells Bitcoin SV devs

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How hard is it to keep 128k safe if you needed to ?

just that

Wifinity hands customers bills for Wi-Fi services they didn't want but used by accident after software 'glitch' let 'fixed term' subs continue

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Re: Why are soldiers being monetised for profit like this?

If a small company of 100 people can roll out a Meraki MR36 install across 7 sites with an IT department of 2, the I do judge - and judge harshly - examples of pisspoor provision in the face of significantly more resources.

Web3: The next generation of the web is here… apparently

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FAIL

Web 1.0 -> Web 2.0 was NOT a technical development

it was social. The idea of non-tech people using the web to communicate with each other.

If there is a Web 3.0 step change it would be IoT in my opinion. But notice I said "if" ....

Shocking: UK electricity tariffs are among world's most expensive

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We still have candles in ...

along with some handy PIR-when-dark lamps that cut in when there is a power cut.

If you have stairs, they may be a life saver.

Pretend starship captain to take trip in real space capsule

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Re: NS18

ITYM NCC 1701

One-size-fits-all chargers? What a great idea! Of course Apple would hate it

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China ?

THe real question is if China agree with the EU. Then it's game over for Apple.

LA cops told to harvest social media handles from people they stop, suspect or not

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Re: Fake names

I have a few FB accounts I created back in the day that are still active. Hell they get more friend requests than I do.

I wonder if they are saleable ?

The only fake accounts I have that are more active are with LinkedIn. Apparently these people who have never existed have a shed load of colleagues and ex-colleagues.

One reason why I remain sceptical about a lot of SM ...

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Permission to use a fictitious online persona ....

So basically there will be a circle jerk of cops chasing each other around the internet.

Fucking marvellous.

Council culture: Software test leads to absurd local planning SNAFU

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Re: Not absolutely no means.

Landlord lightning.

NSA: We 'don't know when or even if' a quantum computer will ever be able to break today's public-key encryption

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Stop

How much encryption is REALLY cracked by brute force ?

And how much - like the WW2 Nazi Enigma messages - are cracked by pisspoor implementation and usage ?

My view has always been if you are encrypting you have halfway lost. The trick is to transfer data in plain sight.

Leaked Guntrader firearms data file shared. Worst case scenario? Criminals plot UK gun owners' home addresses in Google Earth

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Now this is a blight on house prices the Mail should be reporting ...

if they weren't rammed up the Tories back passage, that is.

UK promises big data law shake-up... while also keeping the EU happy, of course. What could go wrong?

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Alert

Seems to be a recurring theme here ...

of the UK telling the EU what it's job is. Apparently the UK has decided that it's OK for the UK to (re)join the Lugano Convention although the EC don't quite see it that way.

Now the UK is telling the EU that the UKs data laws are OK with the EU. Surely that's for the EU to decide ?

Faster .NET? Monster post by Microsoft software engineer shows serious improvements

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Whats going on with .Net Core ?

That I seem to recall was going to be the future of .NET ?

China starts testing tech to harvest solar energy from orbiting panels

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This must be the feudal landowning classes wet dream ...

Imagine claiming the land under the area of reflected energy and kicking all the peasants off it ?

Google staff who work from home might see pay cut under corporate policy – reports

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Re: Childcare

""London Weighting" was a thing".

BT had inner-London weighting in the 80s. They used this to offer jobs as £13,000 and then turn it into £11,500 when you started.

Google says Pixel 6, 6 Pro coming this year with custom AI acceleration

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Phablet ?

Isn't 6.7" - whilst welcomed by my partially sighted wife - straying closer to the phablet form ?

Verified: UK.gov launching plans for yet another digital identity scheme

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Digital ID is embarrassingly easy ...

... it's crowbarring all that 1984 goodness into it that's the problem.

Cyberlaw experts: Take back control. No, we're not talking about Brexit. It's Automated Lane Keeping Systems

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Most useful gadget on my car ?

The speed limiter. Job done.

No one has ever managed to explain to me why breaking the law should be some inalienable right without coming across as a complete cockwomble.

Microsoft, Google, Citizen Lab blow lid off zero-day bug-exploiting spyware sold to governments

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Devils tongue

Now why can't they write useful programs that well ?

UK gets glowing salute from Bezos-backed General Fusion: Nuclear energy company to build plant in Oxfordshire

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Let me guess ...

it's "10 years away"

like it was in 1950 .... and 1960 ... and 1970 ... and 1980 ...

Boffins show sleight-of-hand tricks to Corvids, find they are smarter than people

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Bird brain ?

Are avian brain cells different to mammalian ones ? Looks like they are more efficient ...

Insurance startup backtracks on running videos of claimants through AI lie detector

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I have to drive a fucking pile o' shite Aurelis as an insurance courtesy car atm ...

And without exception it's "smart" speed recognition system manages to see the "5mph" signs that are in the roadworks lane next to the 30mph stretch I am driving.

Which pretty much does it for anything "artificial" about trying to imitate (not simulate) intelligence.

"Is a wookie a bear ?" should be the acid test for anything purporting to be self aware.

Snowden was right, rules human rights court as it declares UK spy laws broke ECHR

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And ...

no one will see any recompense.

The government won't change what it's doing.

What was the point ?

China announces ‘crackdown’ on Bitcoin mining and trading

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BitCoin != "all crypo currencies"

#justsayin'

Train operator phlunks phishing test by teasing employees with non-existent COVID bonus

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More a test of critical thinking skills

I leave it to other commentards as to what it proved.

Mayday! Mayday! Microsoft has settled on a build and Windows 10 21H1 is inbound

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So that's Mays holidays pulled then.

... or you're just putting off the pain ....

Billions in data protection lawsuits rides on Google's last-ditch UK Supreme Court defence for Safari Workaround sueball

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Quantum of loss ?

As far as English law is concerned, I don't think anyone has ever actually sued on the basis they have quantifiable loss anyway.

Certainly in every story about peoples data being lost, I have never read of anyone being able to claim damages.

Maybe I don't read the right sort of newspapers ?

UK government gives Automated Lane Keeping Systems the green light for use on motorways

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paradigm shift

About 18 months ago, I was suggesting that autonomous cars would herald the end of private car ownership as a complex mix of factors started to align.

The immediate rebuttal from most was how much they needed to drive to get to the office and that it was impossible for them to avoid that.

Then 2020 happened and proved (what I knew all along) that office working is mainly by convention, not necessity.

The current shit state of electric cars could be fixed at a stroke if they were able to slope off autonomously at night to recharge somewhere sensible, and be back by dawn.

Court snubs Microsoft, US govt's request to throw out Amazon's complaint against JEDI cloud contract decision

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Maybe Amazon were just too honest

The trick to pork barrel contracts is to bid low, get the gig, and then when you've completely queered the pitch for anyone else suddenly double, treble, quadruple your fee.

So, if you want to make (say) £10 billion from a contract, you bid £3 billion. Get the gig (and politicians will love you as you allow them to appear as if they are saving taxpayers money). Run it for a couple of years and then turn around and go "oh dear, unless you pay us another £7billion, this project will fail".

Rinse and repeat.

I invite commentards to reply with UK government contracts in this vein, starting with Universal Credit.

Terror of the adtech industry iOS 14.5 has landed, and Siri can answer your calls ... though she/he can't hang up

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Not quite related ... but fucking irritating

Was (because I haven't tried since) how once summoned, the Google assistant needed a fucking keypress to go away again.

No big deal unless you are using your phone as a sat nav, someone says "OK google" and you lose your screen until an illegal keypress.

Where meetings go to die: Microsoft Teams outage lets customers skip that collaboration call they've been dreading

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Looks like I picked the wrong week

To get to grips with Teams in my new role

Origami... in spaaaaace: Inflatable folded objects discovery brings new meaning to blowing up buildings

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Mythbusters - lead balloon

Adam Savage had to devise a way to create a structure that could be made flat and then inflated (with helium) to shape.

About 10 years ago.

Exactly the same principle as this. Only it was lead foil.

'Unhealthy' Azure Portal instances in UK West take a little lie-down over lunchtime

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Windows

Looks like I picked the wrong week

to have to get to grips with PIM in my new role ...

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Stop

The phrase my dear late Mum would have used is that they're all much of a muchness