Posts by An_Old_Dog

India tests whether AI can stop trains hitting elephants

AI

... "Sharon" all your data.

NanoClaw latches onto Docker Sandboxes for safer AI agents

"Thar's GOLD in Them Hills!!"

this is just a cult that demands a tithe to bring you to the promised land.

I think it's a bunch of merchants selling shovels, pans, and pickaxes to prospective Gold Rush propectors. And starting rumours, taking out double-page newspaper ads, salting some mines, and doing everything else they can think of to whip up interest.

Salesforce data missing? It might be due to Salesloft breach, Google says

Re: Let's just smear our attack surface all over the Internet.

.... and admins and users don't do foolish things.

Those who 'circle back' and 'synergize' also tend to be crap at their jobs

... And PowerPoint

The findings, described in a recent study, suggest that employees who rate this sort of language as insightful are more likely to struggle with analytical thinking and workplace decision-making.

I once worked in a job where everyone above me in my chain of command spoke in business-style word-salad mode. Once they had little cards printed up for everyone which illustrated the seven (or was it nine?) "pillars" of "our core values".

We had quarterly all-IT meetings in which upper management made talk-talk sounds, accompanied by PowerPoint decks showing unrelated things as being in hierarchical relationships.

Is there a specific word for nonsensical diagrams in PowerPoint decks?

Medical equipment techs beg for right-to-repair lifeline

Missing the Point

@ M.T. Ness:

The problem here is not that the devices need to talk to each other, it is that the proprietariness of their many storage formats make the DiCOM image-viewing software larger, more-complex, and buggier.

I worked at a place where I had to spec out some high-end workstations with WORM drives attached to SCSI cards, so that medical staff could transfer ultrasound studies stored by ultrasound machines onto said WORM discs, onto PCs.

The ultrasound machines had 9-inch, black-and-white (technically, "black and blue-white") cathode ray tube displays, and medical staff needed to examine the studies on decent-sized, decent-resolution computer screens.

How "Safe" is "Safe"?

The US Federal Drug Administration has a set of security "guidelines" for medical devices and medical records systems.

"Guidelines" are not legally-binding rules. They are suggestions, which may be ignored as easily as a Southern California freeway driver swerving across multiple lanes of traffic to get to a freeway exit ramp.

Manufacturers ignoring/flouting these guidelines still can get their medical devices and medical records systems approved, provided they comply with the FDA's requirements.

Depending on the manufacturer and the device, there might not be a password required for root access.

(I have a non-medical device with the no-root-password flaw. The manufacturer, Patriot, issued a single firmware update, which I applied. This update did not fix that problem. The device is now manufacturer's-abandonware.)

Included Documentation

The manufacturer's documentation which came with my used Data General Nova 4 included schematic diagrams, physical diagrams, test-point callouts, and (assembler) source code to DG's diagnostic software.

Microsoft veteran Rajesh Jha prepares to retire, triggers yet another reorg

Taking Credit

Teper has taken credit for "Creating SharePoint Server,"

Wow, he designed and coded that whole entire thing all by his own little lonesome self? /sarcasm

At non-executive job levels, he'd have been shitcanned for lying on his resumé.

RAM is getting expensive, so squeeze the most from it

Re: Everything old is new again!

Old people, with old computers, with old RAM ... Single Inline Memory Modules using Fast Page Mode RAM or Extended Data Out RAM, will not make useful RAM theft targets. Likewise people with REALLY old PCs, with individual RAM chips installed into individual RAM sockets.

Techs at computer store I worked in back then called the process of installing those chips onto the motherboards "RAMming up" a mobo.

Now get off my lawn.

BOFH: What physics defines as impossible, sales calls a challenge

Re: That OS...

I was thinking of GNU Hurd, myself ...

(I've had Plan 9 [actually, the 9Front variant] running on real (old) hardware. Has anyone ever gotten Hurd running on real hardware?)

Pentagon AI chief praises Palantir tech for speeding battlefield strikes

Some Friction Desireable

For some things, some friction is desireable.

We don't want "automatic boom". Given that the military's purpose is to kill people and break things, it is morally essential that we do all that we can to avoid mis-targeting and collateral damage.

We want humans in the loop. We want many opportunities for a knowlegable officer in the planning office, or in the chain of command, to be able to say, "Excuse me, sir, but this targeting order says to attack Kebandabibble. Shouldn't that be, Kebandabebble, instead? Those are two different cities, 270 klicks apart, in two different countries."

AI systems short-circuit human review and decisionmaking.

Bureaucratese

actioning that target

WTF does this bit of bureaucratic doubletalk mean? Is a euphemism for, "destroying the target"? Does it mean, "ordering someone to destroy the target"? Or, "Ordering someone to order someone else to destroy the target"? Or ...

District denies enrollment to child based on license plate reader data

Should-Be Obvious Failure

I live here.

She lives there.

She sleeps over with me at my place, so her overnight vehicle plate scans will show her as "living" here.

That this common life pattern was disregarded, or never considered, by the morons who (mal-) interpret the data from these systems is yet another example of lunatics running the asylum.

Smart mirror shows dumb Windows in elevator

Useful Info vs Disturbing the Ignorant

As a techie, I liked the amount of detail available in the old-style NT4/W2K/XP BSODs.

I understand MS doesn't want to disturb technology-ignorant users with "scary", incomprehensible-to-them technical details, so hence the sad-faced LBSODs ("Light-Blue Screen of Death").

How about a "consumer-facing" LBSOD, with a "Press Control-T for detailed technical information." BSOD option?

Whitehall seeks lone C++ coder to keep airport passenger model flying

Computer Languages, Updated

Yes, modern COBOL does have that.

So does modern FORTRAN. (https://fortran-lang.org/learn/oop_features_in_fortran/object_oriented_programming_techniques/)

"Nyah!" :-)

What a Mess

Ehh ... just rewrite the whole thing in FORTRAN.

Hotpatching goes default in Windows Autopatch whether you like it or not

Licensing

However, on any device that meets the prerequisites (running Windows 11 24H2 or later, using an eligible license, and with the April 2026 security update installed), hotpatch updates will start rolling in automatically.

I need to obtain an ineligible license for my work PC.

Microsoft adding Xbox mode to Windows 11 - even the Professional edition

A Rose by any Other Name ...

"...while still giving … flexibility to seamlessly switch back to the Windows desktop at any time.”

In other words, a "boss key".

Swiss e-voting pilot can't count 2,048 ballots after USB keys fail to decrypt them

... or the ice-axe, as he did not aver, yet (briefly) experienced.

HPE tweaks T&Cs so the price it quotes may not be the price you pay

Re: "none said they will defer purchases due to higher prices"

Any computer that you bought five years ago will still do the job fine now, especially for business usage

Large corporations like to keep their PC fleet under repair warranty. Major vendors (Dell, HP, etc.) have purchaseable extended warranties which have a maximum length of four to five years.

Customer Agreement

"By having touched this printed document, I, as an employee and/or agent of HPE, Inc., I wholely and unreservedly accept the terms of this document on behalf of HPE, Inc.

The current quote and order of equipment (details attached) from HPE, Inc., by Wexly's Widgets, Inc., shall be deemed PAID IN FULL by the receipt of a knuckle sandwich by myself, delivered by a customer representative of Wexly's Widgets, Inc."

Louis "Ville" Slugger Dewey,

Dewey, Cheatham & Howe

Solicitors for Wexly Widgets, Inc.

Lenovo shows off snap-together laptop with removable keyboard, screen, and ports

Re: Concept Cars, #1 Missing Feature

Your point about external USB-C battery packs is well taken -- provided the laptop in question ACCEPTS power via USB-C.

My current laptop, bought used, does not. With today's insane prices I do mot wish to buy a new laptop. My beloved, now-deceased, EeePC not only had externally-swappable battery packs, it conveniently ran on 12VDC. When an extended power failure struck my area, I was able to continue using my Eee via a gelled-electrolyte 12 volt hobbyist battery I had.

Re: Concept Cars, #1 Missing Feature

The limits of your needs are not universal. YOU may only need a 6-hour runtime, on whatever YOUR workload is.

Others' needs are different. Requiring someone to open a computer to change the battery is needless user friction.

Concept Cars, #1 Missing Feature

This thing is like those cool-looking/cool-featured concept cars, featured at auto shows, but which never are put into mass production.

The #1 feature this laptop is missing: externally-swapable battery packs. It used to be that EVERY laptop had this feature. Now, NO, AFAIK, laptops have this feature.

Fake job applications pack malware that kills endpoint detection before stealing data

Re: To state the blindingly obvious ...

LOGIC != EXECUTIVE ATTITUDE

Sorry, kids. Memory crunch threatens to kneecap Chromebook shipments

Re: Cruelty

It depends on the Chromebook. I did my web research, and on my C720, I voided the warranty, opened it up, used a bit of aluminum foil to short two jumper pins, did the dance, and installed SeaBIOS from johnlewis.ie after which I could and did use it as a "real" x86 netbook.

I ran OpenBSD on it, and used it for years, till the keyboard went wonky.

Your mileage will vary. The "de-Chroming dance" is unreasonable for a non-techie to have to perform.

Oracle moves to assure MySQL community it really does care

Revised Headline

Oracle moves to assure MySQL community its shareholders it really does care ... about its profits, and will say whatever it deems necessary to continue to extract monetary value (free labor) from the MySQL community.

FTFY.

Supposedly big-brained execs are outsourcing decisionmaking to AI

AI is the First Resort of the Analytically Incompetent

See title.

Jet A Taxes

Hey, Anon:

Jets aren't used primarily for vacationing rich people.

They move mail, corporate support items, and (small) finished goods.

Do you care about increased prices?

Or are you attempting to slow the pace of business (not necessarily a bad thing)?

"We'll have that chip sample over to you -- probably -- in a month or two. It'll be coming in on the Windjammer III."

Anthropic bods rework AI damage yardstick, find scant labor impact

Nothing to See Here

Anthropic Dude: "Hey, it's all cool, no worries ... now please take your torches and pitchforks, and trundle back home quietly.

....

Move along, now. Shoo-shoo!"

Re: Jobs

I hope you don't believe programmers don't need keyboards.

In the brave new world envisioned by AI-enthusiast executives and bureaucrats, programmers do not need keyboards. They will simply speak to the computer, and AI will transcribe the programmers' speech*.

*Ignorant of, or uncaring of, the speed-reduction and accuracy-reduction this entails. I can type a hell of a lot faster than I can dictate. Dictation requires different brain-mode use than does typing.

Voice transcription accuracy sucks. I saw/heard my lead worker's command, "Call Seung", spoken in a quiet room, transcribed by his phone into, "Call Beth" -- at 05:40AM.

Bundle of human neurons hooked to silicon learns to stumble through Doom

New FPS Cheating Accusation

"(Bio-)bot!!"

AI agents now help attackers, including North Korea, manage their drudge work

It Ain't All Gravy for the Baddies

Surely the baddies must have had the same level of AI-based mal-experiences as legit AI users have had -- deleted repos and files, unauthorized code changes, etc., right?

I wonder what they're saying over on #DarkRaidrzAIForums

Transport for London says 2024 breach affected 7M customers, not 5,000

CISO == Potential Scapegoat

It's not cut-and-dried that a breach is the CISO's fault.

If the CISO makes security recommendations, and the board of directors refuses them, or budgets insufficient money and staff time to implement them properly, or budgets no funds and time at all (whilst saying, "Yes, please do implement that."), it's not the CISO's fault, it is the Board's fault, and they are the ones who should be sacked, sans golden parachutes.

US state laws push age checks into the operating system

How THEY Will Know You are Using Linux

How would they even find out the person is using linux.

"They" will know via the effects of a companion law, which will require network-edge routers, switches, hubs, etc. to fingerprint the OS used by each device requesting an Internet Protocol address, and to forward that fingerprint and a client device fingerprint to the Central Government Database for logging and possible response to said network edge device, legally-demanding that the client device be refused IP service.

Maybe a related law will mandate removal of IPv4 service, too.

Happy now?

UK watchdog eyes Meta's smart glasses after workers say they 'see everything'

Filmed in Public

The problem is not "being filmed in public".

The problem is having that data combined with other data, via computer processing, quickly and cheaply, to form dossiers on people, which are sold on to busineses and governments, resulting in effectively a loss of freedom and effective control of one's government.

Disagree with your employer's political views? Better not be caught attending a speech by the "wrong" politician, or you may find yourself RA'd.

Disagree with the current government's policies? Better not attend a protest rally, because you will be mass-surveilled, processed, tracked, and flagged in the government's computers for special, extra-judicial, negative-result-for-you attention.

The Orange King over in the US, and his minions, "ICE"/Department of Homeland Security, already are doing this.

Pre-computerisation, all this would require expensive, tedious, manual labor. This friction largely-preserved peoples' general privacy in public.

Privacy laws and their effective enforcement have not kept up.

MS-DOS "File Deletions"

MS-DOS (and PC-DOS, etc.) file systems flag files as "deleted" by overwriting the first character of the file name with a lower-case sigma character ("σ").

Norton Utilities, PC-Tools, and other similar software could, did, and do recover such files.

The security provided by a "deleted" flag is nil.

Handicapped-Assistive Technologies

@ matjaggered:

You are using an emotional appreal, a think-of-the-children type argument, and are attempting to shame people who see the threat to privacy and freedom these devices pose, as "anti-handicapped".

There is no valid reason for a "handicapped-assistive device" to posess data-recording or data-fowarding features.

But these "glasses" have it all.

You can power a G-Wiz EV with 500 vapes, and this YouTuber proved it

Battery Software

Would the software running this composite batttery pack be called "vapourware"?

Apple jacks up MacBook pricing with M5 Pro, Max debut

Customer Emissions

Why. Would. They. Even. Care?

They are a corporation whose only goal is to get money. Corporations are like that.

It's About the Pentiums!

1. Price is no object to the true status-seeker.

2. An Intel Pentium-based desktop still runs Quake II smoothly. (Voodoo 3DFX auxilliary video card optional.)

3. I have been hoping the DRAM, SSD, and hard drive scarcities would cause a return to more-thoughtful programming (lightsabre ... elegant weapon ... blah-blah-blah ...). NOT because I am opposed to hosing around raw compute- and I/O speed to get a program quickly-written and running, as such.

Part of the more-thoughtful programming process includes a pre-programming process in which one considers the question, "Is this a program which truly ought to be written?"

Mine's the one with the PDP-8/e programming card in the inside pocket.

Chat at your own risk! Data brokers are selling deeply personal bot transcripts

Nonanonymousation

it has long been known that anonymized profiles can sometimes be re-identified by connecting a few data points

At a LAN party I met a fellow whose job was 100% doing this.

His company bought data from multiple sources, and he wrote and ran programs which read these sources, computed a "these two people have enough matching data points, and/or close-enough data points that they are likely the same person with X% confidence", and if X% was high enough, would merge the data from those sources into a new data file, which his company would sell on.

BunsenLabs Carbon keeps the CrunchBang flame alive with Debian 13

The Original CB

* Had no systemd

* Had a live distro version

I'm (still) waiting for a modern version with those features.

Western governments seek to lock down 6G before it even exists

6G Security

By the time the proposed 6G Security gets through the committees, reviews, and political processes, it will be nearly as good as WEP.

Gamers furious as indie studio Cloud Imperium quietly admits to data breach

Vapourware

I'd bet you 5,000 ISK that Star Citizen is a just vapourware scheme playing off the popularity of EVE Online.

Server crashes traced to one very literal knee-jerk reaction

Re: Reset Buttons

If you've got a fire in your PC, you're going to yank out the power cord anyway, right?

Reset Buttons

a server with such an easily accessible reset button, even back in the days of NetWare and "built from parts" servers

I've seen generic "white box" cases with reset buttons which protruded, and some for which you needed a pencil or ballpoint pen to activate.

PC keyboard-lock keys locked out only the keyboard. Minicomputer lock keys could lock out the entire switch panel, including HALT, CONT(inue), START, LOAD ADDR(ess), etc., and most-importantly, the power on/off function.

They allowed you to do any switchery needed get the computer up, then in the PANEL LOCK position, remove the key.

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

It's Happened Before

Just cutting the line and letting in [sic][the lift] drop might impact the rocket

There's been at least one case where a dropped wrench socket -- admittedly on Earth, with its higher-than-the-moon's gravity -- ultimately destroyed a Titan II rocket.

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/titan-ii-missile-explosion-2543/

Re: Lunar Rover

No, they were using an American design which had similar flight characteristics -- ploughing into the ground at full speed and exploding, due to a failed premature fuel tank separation: the Ford Pinto.

Britain's creaking courts to use Copilot for transcriptions

Oh, No -- AI Should Not be Used for This!

Some friends and I had a tabletop game session where one person was remotely-connected via Zoom.

The person hosting the game at his house either inadvertantly clicked on something, or did not change some Zoom default, and Zoom's AI recorded our conversations, transcribed them, and sumnarized them.

The result was worthlessly inaccurate, even for mere "business" use. Long swathes of frequently-inaccurate text were misattributed to "Darcy", who never participated in the game. She was the wife of the renote attendee. She had come into her husband's computer room four or five times for quick sotto voce conversations with husband about some family matters, yet the AI attributed game-relevent items to her.