* Posts by TaabuTheCat

250 publicly visible posts • joined 30 Jul 2010

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Stuck paying for your apartment's crummy internet? FCC boss Rosenworcel wants to help

TaabuTheCat

Can't come soon enough

Imagine living in an apartment where you have rock solid fiber connectivity, only to be told that come next lease renewal you have no choice but to start paying for internet provided via decades-old coax from the incumbent cable company - for more than you're paying now. Don't want it? Tough - it's on your monthly bill regardless. Refuse to accept the additional terms in the lease renewal? Tough - move out. That's exactly what's happening to my daughter. She's moving out. These ever-expanding "gun to your head" sales tactics are becoming common across all market segments. The enshittification spreads like the parasite it is.

The self-created risk in Broadcom's big VMware kiss-off

TaabuTheCat

Brilliant strategy?

Don't confuse caring about the life of a product - even a good one - with making money. I don't think Broadcom gives a shit about VMware. I think they were just quicker than other PE sharks to realize they could extract ransom-sized renewals long enough to make lots of money and then dispose of the corpse once it's bled dry. Welcome to end-stage capitalism, captured regulators and companies that actively do everything possible - legal and illegal - to stymie competition. Enshitification? You bet.

A tale of 2 casino ransomware attacks: One paid out, one did not

TaabuTheCat

All because of crypto

Isn't it amazing that the only useful thing crypto is good at, other than duping suckers, is paying ransom? Get rid of cryptocurrency and the problem goes away. What are they going to do, demand $15M in gift cards?

Veteran editors Notepad++ and Geany hit milestone versions

TaabuTheCat

I love Notepad++

Notepad++ is one of the most *useful* tools I've worked with over the years. Powerful, fast editing (column mode FTW!), great search and replace, plug-in support, continuous save, remembering everything you had open the last time you closed it, and on and on. One of the first apps I install on a new machine, and I would gladly pay for it if it wasn't free. Congrats on turning 20!

Zuckerberg accused of OK'ing Insta plastic surgery filters despite fears of harm to kids

TaabuTheCat

Re: I respect your call on this and I’ll support it...

Principles? She's heard of them. I'm actually surprised she survived even this mild level of criticism. Being a "yes man" (or woman) who pledges loyalty to these psychopaths is table stakes these days if you want to hold onto that sweet, sweet paycheck. Corrupt from the top down.

Vanishing power feeds, UPS batteries, failover fails... Cloudflare explains that two-day outage

TaabuTheCat

You missed a remarkable part of of the post-mortem

"the overnight staffing at the site did not include an experienced operations or electrical expert — the overnight shift consisted of security and an unaccompanied technician who had only been on the job for a week."

For what I assume is a Tier 4 DC hosting critical services? Flexential have some 'splaining to do.

More X subscription tiers could spell doom for free access as biz bleeds cash

TaabuTheCat

I don't think you understand the point of "fediverses"

"...its distributed nature and "fediverses" appear to represent a needless barrier " - Needless barrier? Hardly. Yes, it's not as simple as just logging into Twatter, but the whole point of Mastodon and the fediverse is to make sure another Twitter shitfest can never happen again. It's the very distributed nature of the fediverse that prevents any single person or entity from owning the platform, and ultimately hitting the enshitification phase that we're seeing now with all these monolithic, psycho-owned platforms. So maybe an additional barrier, but desperately needed.

Go ahead, let the unknowable security risks of Windows Copilot onto your PC fleet

TaabuTheCat

Re: That's one way of looking at it

And users in environments without the Microsoft Defense Budget to play whack-a-mole with MS every time an update adds something new to turn off? Hell, even knowing in a timely manner you need to get ready to turn something off is becoming a challenge. And that's for orgs that try to keep up with this stuff.

It's all backwards. We have to defend ourselves against these on-by-default "features" when they shouldn't be on by default to begin with. But then how are you going to boost the stock price if you can't claim BILLIONS of users are using CoPilot??

Probe reveals previously secret Israeli spyware that infects targets via ads

TaabuTheCat

Re: How to pay

Kagi?

South Korea's biggest mobile telco says 5G has failed to deliver on its promise

TaabuTheCat

5G Sucks!

I can't tell you the number of times I've had two or three bars of signal, tried to use the browser and.... nothing. Look at the icon and it's 5G. Every. Damned. Time. On 4G if I have any signal at all pages load. Maybe slowly, but they load.

Please oh please phone makers give us a way to force the radio back to 4G. I'm so tired of marketing driving the experience in reverse.

Brave cuts ties with Bing to offer its own image and video search results

TaabuTheCat

Anyone else using Kagi?

Not free (well, free to test), but so far it seems to return a lot more relevant pages without all the spammy site aggregator crap Google returns.

Twitter's giant throbbing X erected 'without a permit'

TaabuTheCat

Morning wood

Another damned erection without authorization.

Google asks websites to kindly not break its shiny new targeted-advertising API

TaabuTheCat

Google's Privacy Sandbox

More like a litter box, and the advertisers are cats. This cat knows what happens in there.

Microsoft’s Azure mishap betrays an industry blind to a big problem

TaabuTheCat

Oh yeah.

We're just one human away from a spectacular outage. It's going to happen, the only question is when. Will anything change afterward to prevent it again? Likely depends on the severity of the pain to those with oversight and influence. Maybe then you'll get your simulator.

North Korean spy satellite launch ends in sea smash

TaabuTheCat

"discovering concrete causes"

Oh, you can bet some scientists are going to discover concrete all right. In it, splattered on it, or up against it - 100% success rate, guaranteed.

The first real robot war is coming: Machine versus lawyer

TaabuTheCat

LLM. All your works belong to us.

I will leave you with this, by Naomi Klein, from an article very much worth reading:

"Because what we are witnessing is the wealthiest companies in history (Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta, Amazon …) unilaterally seizing the sum total of human knowledge that exists in digital, scrapable form and walling it off inside proprietary products, many of which will take direct aim at the humans whose lifetime of labor trained the machines without giving permission or consent."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/08/ai-machines-hallucinating-naomi-klein

Turing Award goes to Robert Metcalfe, co-inventor of the Ethernet

TaabuTheCat

Nice guy

I had the pleasure of meeting Bob at a conference may years ago. Walked up, said hi, started to chat and 30 minutes later the conversation was still going on with him telling stories about 3Com, USR, etc. Genuinely nice guy, not the least bit full of himself. Fair few people can claim an engineering achievement with such reach and longevity. Very happy to see him recognized.

WFH? Google Cloud's offices like a 'ghost town' before new policy

TaabuTheCat

Seriously?

If those coming in are complaining it's a "ghost town", here's a thought for you. Try practice-sharing one of the many empty desks with another one of the complainers. and do it right next to another pair of desk-sharing complainers, ad nauseam, until none of you have a single moment of peace. It will be good practice for what's coming.

Google's $100b bad day demo may be worth the price

TaabuTheCat

This piece nails it

One of the more succinct articles I've read on the subject: https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/chatgpt-is-a-blurry-jpeg-of-the-web

Microsoft to move some Teams features to more costly 'Premium' edition

TaabuTheCat

Re: But what about fixing what people want?

I had a similar experience at my last gig - Teams pretty much working as advertised, with the occasional glitch now and then. I've moved on to an org that uses G-Suite so I'm stuck with Google Meet. All the things people complain about with Teams? Multiply them by about 100 and you have some idea how much fun it is to use Meet all day long. Audio issues, crap video, crap screenshare with progressive build so it takes 10 seconds to see anything readable on the screen if the presenter doesn't have a perfect connection, no remote control, stupid low paste limits in the chat window (~200 characters of text and no files of any sort), and on and on. It's horrible. Despite all the bitching about Teams, I'd go back to it in an instant.

Tributes flow as Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo - the mind behind Sound Blaster - passes aged 68

TaabuTheCat

Something awesome he also built...

May I present the "Soundbar of the Gods". https://us.creative.com/soniccarrier/

Why? Because he could.

Alphabet reshuffles to meet ChatGPT threat

TaabuTheCat

Re: ChatGPT

Been doing the same - using Chat for basic questions about stuff. It's interesting to think about using it in this context: When I search for something on Google I don't want a list of links, I want an answer. Chat cuts out the middleman a gives me that. Now whether it's the right answer is the million-dollar question, but so far in testing I'm finding its accuracy with things I'd normally search for with Google is quite remarkable. As you mentioned, even when not 100% correct Chat provides a better starting point than a random algorithmically-biased list of links. Sundar is right to be very, very worried.

Crypto craziness craps out – and about time too

TaabuTheCat

Re: Not All Fools, Motley or Otherwise

Not sure about the "never hold it forever" part. If I had bought Berkshire-Hathaway stock in the 70s and kept it "forever" - as in still owned it today - I don't think I'd have any complaints.

The crypto bros aren't worthy of the comparison, but the difference is Warren accumulates real assets with long-term value. Crypto bros? Get rich quick baby, and leave the suckers by the side of the road.

Tesla driver blames full-self-driving software for eight-car Thanksgiving Day pile up

TaabuTheCat

Appropriate use?

Having owned a Tesla for three years and been through many versions of FSD (and in all fairness, usually improving with each release), there is zero chance I'd ever be using FSD in a tunnel. Your options if something goes wrong are less than zero. I also encountered the phantom braking many times over those three years and learned to immediately hit the accelerator when it happens to tell FSD to get its head out of its ass. Still, it's very easy for someone behind you to think you're brake-checking them and I'm kind of surprised there haven't been more road rage incidents reported based on this behavior. I lived in Texas when I owned my Tesla. You can guess the popularity of being brake-checked.

VMware loses three top execs who owned growth products

TaabuTheCat

"Alignment"

"... top talent aligned with our multi-cloud and SaaS transformation objectives."

Three of the wheels were wobbling so we took it for an alignment. Shame about those wheels, but problem solved! (I love corporate-speak.)

ChatGPT has mastered the confidence trick, and that's a terrible look for AI

TaabuTheCat

If you know what I know

The only way to know if ChatGPT is giving you the right answer is to know the right answer. But I agree it can be convincing and it's not just Stack Overflow where it's starting to make an appearance. Good news is, you can usually recognize it's Chat giving the answer because bloviation, and lazy people are just cutting/pasting entire "answers". I wonder if the word diarrhea is intentional - heard something about the eventual paid version being charged by the characters of output.

Look like Bane, spend like Batman with Dyson's $949 headphones

TaabuTheCat

"I thought it was a urinal"

You owe me a keyboard.

TSA to expand facial recognition across America

TaabuTheCat

Misery loves even more company

What a load of BS. The fastest part of the whole "TSA experience" (it's like a bad Disney ride) is getting your ID checked. And what about your boarding pass - are we scanning that too? This is guaranteed to cause even more misery at TSA checkpoints, so it's clearly about eliminating staff. Besides, I thought one of the supposed benefits of the ID check was forcing interaction with a human being who might spot nervousness, evasiveness, etc.

Salesforce calls some workers back to the office amid slowing sales

TaabuTheCat

Is this how sales teams normally work?

Sadly, yes. So much of sales is just a numbers game - you get x number of leads from cold calls, you get x number of opportunities to quote from those calls, you get to x number of serious negotiations after you've quoted and then you get to actually close some percentage of those.

Honestly, some of the most successful sales people I've known get that way by doing massive numbers of contacts, with the full understanding you need to get through x number of "fuck offs" before you get to a "yes". The really good sales people also have a keen knack for not wasting time on those who will never buy from them, no matter how far along in the sales process they get. As one of my very successful sales buddies used to say, "No practice quoting."

Creator of spec for melting RTX 4090 cables urges Nvidia, others to 'ensure user safety'

TaabuTheCat

CYA much?

This looks like a massive CYA campaign to limit scope creep drawing them in on the inevitable lawsuits to come. "We told you to be careful with that knife and you didn't listen." Never mind the handle is only an inch long.

Exchange Online and Microsoft Teams went down in APAC because Microsoft broke itself

TaabuTheCat

Advice given should be advice taken

Please run sfc /scannow and if that doesn't fix it please reinstall the operating system.

Twitter set for more layoffs as Musk mulls next move

TaabuTheCat

If it worked for Tesla... (oh wait)

Looks like we're only days away from full self-driving Twitter. Guess we'll see how that works out.

Microsoft warns Direct Access on Windows 10 and 11 could be anything but

TaabuTheCat

Another bullet dodged

I spent most of my career trying to keep all flavors of Windows up and running, dealing with dodgy patches, functionality that simply didn't work as advertised and the whims of Microsoft's UI team. A year ago I said enough of this and moved to a totally different role that has zero to do with Windows. I've got to admit that reading a story like this spikes my angst for just a moment, and then I remind myself this self-inflicted mess is now someone else's problem. The relief that brings is hard to put into words.

InSight Mars lander has only 'few weeks' of power left

TaabuTheCat

If it dies...

Will it come back to life on its own if the panels get a good wind storm to clear them and they start generating power again?

Broadcom CEO says hiking VMware prices is not his strategy

TaabuTheCat

And SMB?

"Enterprise", "large-scale" - those words make we wonder again who the target customers will be after the acquisition. Would have been been really simple for him to throw in a one-liner that says the SMB market is still important to Broadcom, especially given all the angst. Sometimes it's what they don't say...

Microsoft ships non-Surface PC: a cheap Arm box for devs

TaabuTheCat

Re: Windows RT 2?

"... Windows running natively."

Just curious, do you not count Windows 11 (ARM version) running via Parallels "native", or are you looking for it to boot(camp) into Windows? 11 under Parallels actually runs decently on my lowly M1 mini for those times when I need Windows-only apps.

Boffins shatter data transmission speed record

TaabuTheCat

Re: All the cat videos in 1 second?

"What will I do after that?"

Use the laser to tease the cat.

How did ESA's gamma ray-spotting 'scope make it to 20? They totally overdid it

TaabuTheCat

"They sit down and spend possibly days thinking about any ideas they might have, and I don't think anybody ever gets paid for that input. People will work far beyond any contractual requirements to make it work."

I fear those days are coming to an end. There seems to be so much animosity between workers and orgs these days that the "investment" one used to make in a company and its mission is disappearing. Not really that hard to understand when the "mission" now is only about the money, and who gets to keep it.

Sony, Honda collaborate on 'premium' electric vehicles that are born in the USA

TaabuTheCat

Re: "continuous relationships with customers across the entire value-chain."

They got that part right. They'll be having relationships with you from the day you own it until the day you sell it. Gives new meaning to the dealer's "free lifetime lube jobs included" promo. You're going to need them.

BT CEO orders staff: Back to the office or risk 'disciplinary action'

TaabuTheCat

Torn

I am absolutely torn by this one. As an oldster who spent my entire life in an office, with all the unproductive distractions, I have really enjoyed working from home the last two years and just getting things done. But having recently changed jobs and working the 3/2 schedule, I'm around a team of less experienced guys and can speak to the benefit of overhearing conversations about troubleshooting an issue, new designs, etc. that were just so wackadoo that the experienced me had to say something to get the juniors back on track. If I was full-time WFH I wouldn't hear those conversations and the team wouldn't benefit from my experience, so score one for being in the office. I also feel some payback is due for the mentoring I was lucky enough to receive when I started my career. Still, working from home was great, so color me conflicted.

Xcel smart thermostat users lose their cool after power company locks them out

TaabuTheCat

Re: Wait, what?

One major difference. Florida can import power from other states. Texas being Texas (no commy Feds will regulate us!) has next to no import capability so when Texas has a generation problem like they did last winter, they are completely screwed. By choice, despite what the Governor would like you to believe (it was all ERCOT's fault).

California asks people not to charge EVs during heatwave

TaabuTheCat

Re: Costs

What Elon is fighting for in the US is for providers like you to be able to join the energy market and trade along with all the other producers - at market rates. So when demand is high, you'll get paid accordingly. An extreme example is what happened in Texas last year during the freeze. Power that would normally sell for $40-$60 MwH was going for the ERCOT market cap - $9,999 MwH. Now that's an extreme example likely (hopefully) never to be repeated, but I've been watching spot prices this summer and seeing peak times where power is going for $400-$800MwH, so there's money to be made if you're allowed to participate in the market.

GM's Cruise revises self-driving software after San Francisco crash

TaabuTheCat

Re: No way was the car turning

And that was my biggest surprise when I started trying to use Tesla's FSD - how poor it was (or choose not to) look far enough ahead to anticipate and react to what's coming. And that also explains why it drives like a 16-year-old. One of things I constantly had to remind my daughter when she was learning to drive was to look way beyond the car in front of you.

Voyager 1 data corrupted by onboard computer that 'stopped working years ago'

TaabuTheCat

HP-16C

Not quite the 70's (got it when they first came out so 82,83?) but the original batteries are still in it and it still works. Amazing.

Software issues cost Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess his job

TaabuTheCat

His mistake was pointing out the elephant

Diess simply couldn't ignore the fact that Toyota produces more cars each year that all of the Group, with HALF the employees. He pissed off the unions with the hard truth and was done. The problem won't go away. VW needs to address the disparity, with or without Diess.

Elon Musk orders Tesla execs back to the office

TaabuTheCat

3 years and out

According to Musk, employees only have about three years of good ideas and then they're an impediment to change. Lots of turnover? That's a feature, not a bug. So if people quit instead of going back to the office I suspect he really won't care. Just accelerates the search for new grist for the mill. Can't imagine working for a company that thinks so little of its employees.

MIT's thin plastic speakers fall flat. And that's by design

TaabuTheCat

Still around

They are very much still around: https://magnepan.com/ and once you give a listen to their 20 or 30 series you'll understand why. Even the 1.7s are really good if you add a sub.

Apple dev logs suggest 'nine new M2-powered Macs'

TaabuTheCat

Logging laziness

I just think it's pretty funny that for all of Apple's secrecy and paranoia they can't even be arsed to feed the app logs bogus data about the (beta) hardware they are running on.

DARPA says US hypersonic missile is ready for real world

TaabuTheCat

Dated?

I always wonder when I read stories like this how many years ago the press release was written. Hard to believe they would actually be announcing something that is current, but maybe we need to show how far behind we are to get more pork - er, sorry, funding.

Microsoft debuts System Center 2022

TaabuTheCat

Re: I wonder...

See InTune for your answer.

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