Posts by damocles

EU plan to make big tech pay 'fair share' of telco fees reportedly weeks away

As the numpty in charge of making sure the company webshop doesn't fall over I've noticed that Google and Pinterest tend to be responsible for anywhere from 10-75% of our bandwidth use. I did suggest blocking them but the marketing people turned up with torches and pitchforks. I dread to think how much Google and Meta account for in hidden costs, the one's they tell you about are bad enough.

Non-binary DDR5 is finally coming to save your wallet

Re: Let's get rid of this 1 GB = 1024 x 1024 x 1024 nonsense too then

"Everybody except the memory producers are using the correct system now"

Some other marketing departments are trying to to convince us that we should be using similar decimal values because they can sell smaller quantities of bits for higher prices and claim to have higher capacity than their competitors.

Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 splashes down on Win Server 2022

Huge Improvement

So much better than Debian/Ubuntu under Hyper-V. There's no Hyper-V or systemd

:)

Qlik moves to boost position in crowded automation space during IPO year

Re: Getting desperate

For over 8 months we've been trying to buy new licences and an upgrade from them. Last week we were told by their "only UK" vendor that they can't add licenses or do the upgrade.

Momma said if I can't say anything nice then don't discuss Qlik at all....

UK government opens consultation on medic-style register for Brit infosec pros

Warning

If you do fill out the "survey" just keep an eye on the double and triple negatives.

The pandemic improved the status of IT workers … forever

Infrastructure/Ops are only ever blamed

March 2019 and the last two people in the building (both on the Ops team) were both supposed to be shielding. Entire company kitted out to WFH inside of 3 weeks, followed by a year of keeping the lights on and making sure anyone who wasn't furloughed could work.

Thanks? Kudos? Hero worship? Afraid not. We were ignored unless someone didn't feel like working and blamed it on the systems being unavailable. Over 50% of my time wasted on proving everything is working as it should because why would their minion lie about it...

Meanwhile the new HR app is full of our colleagues thanking and commending each other for a job well done, even the Dev team get in on the action.

So no, Infra/Ops are not feeling the love, but on the bright side... oh wait... no

Spleen vented

Open-source Windows Terminal does the splits: There ain't no party like a multi-pane party

Because they're scared that they'll need to include systemd maybe?

Pair programming? That's so 2017. Try out this deep-learning AI bot that autocompletes lines of source code for you

Wrong solution

Surely, instead of trying to replace programmers with deep learning systems, we should be focusing on replacing lawyers and politicians...

Academics: Shutting down Facebook API damages research, oversight, competition

Shutting down the API is a good start, as long as it's followed by shutting down the front end, DBANing the data storage and finally switching off the lights for good.

UK digi minister Hancock suggests Facebook and pals give your kids a time-out

Good idea but ...

Can we extend the ban to all ages and make it 24/7?

Thanks

Apple's AirDrop abused by 'cyber-flashing' London train perv

And what if...

... the air dropped image happens to be one where possession is a criminal offence?

Maybe Apple are looking for a way to have the hardcore maccultists locked away for the safety of society in general ;)

UK.gov wants to stop teenagers looking at tits online. No, really

Maybe...

... it's because Mr Cameron was caught browsing filthiest of smut by Mrs Cameron.

Is it humanly possible to watch Gigli and Battlefield Earth back-to-back?

Indecent Proposal

First film I ever walked out of. It was so bad I chose to incur the homicidal wrath of the mrs once it finished rather than sit through it. Happily she joined me less than 10 minutes later and apologising for her film choice.

Steve Jobs' last words: 'OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.'

And lo, a shiny orb of of glowing glass and aluminium did envelop him, raising him up to his rightful place in the heavens.....

Schoolteachers can't teach our kids to code, say engineers

Indeed

Give them an Acorn Electron and all 52 issues of Input magazine (complete with the errata, just to be evil) and once they've mastered that, they can move on to an Amiga 500 with a copy of Devpack and the big blue bible.

Happy days....

Google Chrome OS: Too secure to need security?

Bot herders or Google

Who do you trust more?

Mine is the one with the tinfoil lining

Zuckerberg: Give me your children

Zuckerbear

Your children, he wants them. http://is.gd/dEeSQY

Is the IT Dept failing users?

Nay, nay and thrice nay

Consumer devices have no place in a corporate environment unless you can remotely back up / wipe corporate data and all stored data is encrypted by default.

I'm aware that it's not a company phone/tablet/gizmo but it's the company's data/IP/reputation you're putting into the hands of people that will happily ignore data security and platform availability in order to play the latest rule 34'd version of angry birds.

So yes I fail and I'm proud of it.

Downing Street e-petition site to get new Directgov home

Standard naming conventions?

"It's unclear if the prototype could eventually be morphed into the Directgov brand, or if the government's strategy boutique will be enlisted to come up with a new name."

Alphagov, betagov and finally...

...Gov2.0

Mozilla ditches Messaging wing, eyes social webby sweetshop

Re: Spam killed it

Hmmm, Google spam (related to *my* email) or Viagra/Rolex (generic) spam? That's a tough one,

Antarctic ice breakup makes ocean absorb more CO₂

Belief vs Science

Surely we should be looking for repeatable results gained from rigorously tested experiment designs rather than picking a side and *believing* it's the right one. We should be having rational, well informed discussions rather than these rabid, theological style debates. This is science not religion, belief you are right has no place.

It's like watching two groups of creationists using holy science(TM) to try to prove their point.

And for full disclosure:

Climate change: It's happening

Ability of humans to cause changes to the climate with of CO2: Unproven (by either faction)

US Trans-Pacific Partnership proposal leaked

TPP written by MPAA & RIAA, hardly surprising...

But how are “effective notifications” defined? If they are rejected by the ISP's spam filters, surely that renders them ineffective? Job done.

Anti-religious campaigners smack down census Jedis

To those ticking "Other"

During the previous census, the staff, employed to step-in when the OCR process (often) failed, were trained with the mantra, "If in doubt space it out". If they struggled to read your answer, it was discounted. In this instance you'd end up classified as "Religion - Other (Not specified)".

If Jesus came back he'd probably tick the "No religion" box too*.

* Based on the reasoning presented in Dogma.

Google opens Android front in Zuckerberg data war

If ...

If you value both your friends and your own privacy, you won't any information to either of these creeps.

Police DNA test plan to put off prostitutes' punters

Dangerous territory

So Ms Rose believes that the only people who commit crimes are men with an interest in the opposite sex, particularly those who interact with female "sex workers".

Surely she will be forced to resign over her blatant disregard for equal rights policies?

Israel and US fingered for Stuxnet attack on Iran

Simple Game

Set up

1. Form two teams, number of players is inconsequential for the purposes of the game.

2. Each team shall then be installed in underground bunkers.

3. Each player has a number of options:-

(1) "Nuke 'em all"

(2) "Nuke 'em all (I didn't vote, it's not my fault)"

(3) "Let's do this with tanks instead"

(4) "I don't want to play any more, can I go home"

Playing the Game

4. Each player on each team MUST vote for one of the above options in each round.

5. At the end of each voting round any player selecting option 4, for the second time, is excused from the game (does not apply to team leaders).

6. After each round the option with the lowest number of votes is removed.

7. Voting continues until one option receives 90% of the votes. This is the winning option.

Winning the game

8. Once both teams return a winning option proceed as follows:-

Option 4 - release all team members

Options 1,2 & 3 - detonates nuclear devices in their own bunker

So pick your team and go outside and play, leaving the rest of us free from angry rhetoric, propaganda, politics, religion and childish "but so and so did X first" finger pointing.

Feds please no one with first official net neut rules

One more definition of *Unlimited*

How can a network provider sell prioritised traffic if they are not responsible for the end points and everything in between? Surely they wouldn't try to market a service they can't/won't provide.

Paris... because she's unlimited too

Ballmer: Windows Mobile lost a 'whole generation'

with a side order of waffle please...

"The Holy Grail is the consumer, seduced by must-have gadgetry that they'll bring into work and that their company's IT departments then have to run and support."

So we're to abandon all reason and leave decision making to the style over content brigade?

Some how I think not.