Posts by werdsmith

Tesla trounces shareholders who alleged Autopilot was all share-pumping lies

Re: The best judgement money can buy

He got told to grow up by the UK judge when he tried to sue BBC over Top Gear making light entertainment TV programmes.

MongoDB rebuts claims it's not ready for business critical workloads

Re: Just a humble BI developer

I do use Mongo, but only as a way of keeping up my knowledge. I certainly haven't found the compelling use case to choose it over relational, though I am sure there is one. Especially as they seem to be totally focused on Atlas which requires you to implement your whatever solution in the cloud.

I can see why cloud because the configuration of mulitple redundant shards is an admin headache. Absolutely scalable but niche cases require it. Not compelling.

Watch your mirrors: Tesla Cybertrucks have 'Full' 'Self Driving' now

Re: Well, duh.

But the cars require a driver to keep theirs hands on the wheel. The car detects if they are not and starts screaming and then stops going forward.

Re: Your mileage may vary

How about secular drivers? Like practically most of them?

Re: Your mileage may vary

You would be surprised how many there are. Some places offer more alternative routes, but there are plenty of them everywhere.

Everyone thinks they are special. Until they look up.

Re: Steer by wire

It says “multiple redundant sensors and actuators” on the Tesla website. Also, a fail safe warning system that will warn the driver and bring the car

to a safe stop if necessary if there are problems with any of the redundant systems.

Re: Clearly not ready for unattended driving

A normal UK cat B driving licence gained before 1997 allows for driving vehicles up to 8,250kg. After 1997 the limit is 3500kg.

The Cybertruck is about 3100kg.

The limits change if the vehicles are driven professionally for reward, but the Cybertruck is not too heavy for a normal UK licence as long as the occupants and cargo are not porkers in the case of post 1997 licenses.

Re: Your mileage may vary

Single track roads with the occasional muddy wider bit for passing are common all over UK. I'm sure in other countries too.

Re: Steer by wire

Don't fly on an Airbus A320 then.

I don't think the Fisker brake problem applies to other EVs and Hybrids, there are swarms of vehicles with regenerative braking and it works. I have some controls on mine that can vary the effect/

Satellite phones are coming, but users not happy to pay much extra for the capability

As someone who uses satellite comms, both up and down I know I am dependent on my external antennas, parabolas etc.

I have sheets of insulation material in my roof space, including metallic. Downlink from GPS/Galileo reaches into the house but is not very accurate.

Cruise fined $1.5M for failing to report right away its robo-car dragged a pedestrian

Re: Mars Robo Cars

Yes, unlike human drivers who kill nobody.

Personalized pop-up was funny for about a second, until it felt like stalking

Re: been there.... but not really there

I know you? Exact description of what happened to my mate Tim.

Re: Idiot

Wayne Kerr Electronics originated in London in 1946 and now has offices worldwide. Based in Bognor.

Who knows if it was deliberate? There's also an Irish Rugby League player of the same name.

Re: Net send...

permutations of help requests.

man net send

Net Send

Remember net send on DOS?

That went wrong so many times.

Raspberry Pi AI Camera takes inferencing load off the CPU

Re: AI in the PI

That article was about the first post IPO results report which covered the period for the first half of 2024 - before this camera was announced and the Hailo AI kit appeared on 4th June.

So it covered Raspberry Pi making profits without AI correctly.

UK government's bank data sharing plan slammed as 'financial snoopers' charter'

Re: What could possibly go wrong...

Private pension, salary sacrifice car leasing, ISA accounts etc. All forms of tax avoidance. Add it all up across the population and it's a huge amount.

Re: What could possibly go wrong...

I don't think there's anything particularly Glasgow about fur coat and no knickers, It's fairly universal - I've heard it everywhere for decades.

Along with the all arse and no bollocks expression.

Bring the joy of train delays home with your very own departure board

Re: a very realistic product

she confessed that she'd never ever noticed the British spelling,

I think it's the French spelling that we, outside of the English speaking Americas, use.

Re: Let's hack this, in the hobby sense

You can get nice looking LED panels like that, from the usual Chinese suppliers for very reasonable prices or just simulate them on a TV or wide monitor (suitable fonts are easily available).

Where there is an api, it is easy to grab and display the information. For these rail apis, I have done a widget version but the number of api calls for free is limited.

Recall the Recall recall? Microsoft thinks it can make that Windows feature palatable

Re: Bye-bye Microsoft.

Works on CoPilot+ PCs. PCs with an NPU.

This is what is known as a unique deterrent point (UDP) for Copilot+ PCs. Businesses will seek out PCs without NPU.

Most people are not Register reading nurds who shit themselves over every Microsoft move.

91% of polled Amazon staff unhappy with return-to-office, 3-in-4 want to jump ship

Re: Well that a hiring decision easy....

We have an office I can go and sit in. It’s managed office space. When I am there. I connect with everyone else using teams just like at home. They have no idea if I am at home or im the office.

I sometimes miss going to physically find someone when there is an emergency but that’s not often.

Re: Go ahead and quit---my kids need jobs

If I was just starting out I think I would prefer a few years of on-site.

Re: Serious question about Blind..

Whilst I care nothing about upvotes / downvotes (being older than 12) I absolutely observe what you are saying. I do enjoy going against the flow.

A look under the hood of the 3D-printed, Raspberry Pi powered 'suicide pod'

Re: https://www.raspberrypi.com/

Looks like they finally found the killer app.

Did you hear the one about the help desk chap who abused privileges to prank his mate?

Net Send

A word for net send when people first discovered they could do it but didn't know how to use it, particularly wild cards.

Often used to see funny things pop up when somebody discovered it.

Post-IPO Raspberry Pi results in: So you can make money in tech without added AI

Re: Awesome

Yes, there is going to be pressure to maintain sales growth even though some of current growth is supply chain easing and new product shipping.

Lower sales will be seen as contraction in market share and drive down valuation.

I really hope this doesn’t lead to rushed new products.

Europe to force Apple to help rivals connect to iOS, iPadOS

Re: iOS "interoperability"?

It would be good if all phones were able to detect and relay the location of all tracker tags.

All phones with the tile app (iOS or Android) can detect and relay the position of a Tile device. So, it is possible for Tile to be better than Airtag if people adopted the Tile App. But they don't. So the Tile is less likely to be detected than an Airtag where iPhones are popular.

Re: iOS "interoperability"?

I used Tile for years, since the crowdfunded startup until recently.

Because Apple sold their own - it works with IOS even for non tile users, whereas Tile needs a user running the Tile App. So Tile usage became sparse an dincreasingly less effective.

Microsoft on a roll for terrible rebranding with Windows App

Re: "This unified app serves as your secure gateway to connect to..."

Virtually everyone uses VPN before RDP to a Remote Desktop. Further access comtrolles from that desktop.

Re: Will searching for "rdp" still find it?

Just “rem” will find it.

Then you create your shortcut from the result.

And that’s the end of it.

Re: Remote Desktop

I work with RDP into a secure environment and our admins have managed to disable cut and paste.

I wish I could do it, I sometimes have to re type code fragment to get them in there.

Torvalds weighs in on 'nasty' Rust vs C for Linux debate

Re: Hard truths

Yes, Haskell.

It's the sadistic Comp Sci faculty's idea of a joke.

Re: Hard truths

D came and mostly went in the first decade of the 2000s. It is still clinging on with a few die hards self flagellators.

There is even a SafeD with the same goals as Rust.

E is older than D and is a subset of Joule.

There is an F, which is Fortran derived and also Microsoft's F#

There is more than one G language, not including GO(lang).

Language H is based on Cobol.

....

LinkedIn started harvesting people's posts for training AI without asking for opt-in

I thought that might make you easy find, but alas no.

Found a Japanese user who has made an amazing hovercraft (apparently uncontrollable) bicycle though. Jatin Tiwari. SAP consultant!

AWS claims customers are packing bags and heading back on-prem

Also, businesses are heading straight for the cloud and overlooking CoLo providers.

When creating new infrastructure on cloud, it should be architected so that it can be lifted and shifted. Using a lot of serverless services are what causes the lock-in making it harder to escape.

Python in Excel goes live – but only for certain Windows users

The scourge of 2nd line application support desks.

Somebody (non technical - not a developer) creates a rats nest of a crosslinked workbook using lots of googling to figure stuff out Only they use it and know it. They leave the business and a person inherits their role - and the Excel Workbook. Then something needs tweaking to accommodate a change, and the new person fiddles with part of the chain and breaks the whole thing. Department boss demands that support fix it quickly. Look forward to hearing about this when Excel transitions.

Lebanon: At least nine dead, thousands hurt after Hezbollah pagers explode

Re: Technology question

Have you seen the video? The pager exploded and blew out fragments.

If it turns out that the explosions were simultaneous, then that’s no component failure.

Apple AirPods Pro 2 can be sold as hearing aids, says FDA

Did you invent that joke?

Yes, that's the definition of "basic".

A quick look on Amazon.com US site immediately turns up a basic hearing aid for $49.99.

Re: Battery Life?

My father in law has hearing loss and an NHS provided hearing aid that works together with a phone app. He wears it when he needs it, he doesn't put it in on waking and leave it in until bedtime.

A bit like me with my reading glasses.

Re: Huzzah?

On the other hand, if someone has to buy a £1000 iPhone as well, suddenly it's not so good.

There is no need to buy the latest iPhone version, or even buy a new phone. You can have the latest ios for a fraction of £1000.

'Hyperscale customer' to take massive datacenter site near London

The inevitable urban myth re-emerges.

The Europa Clipper stretches its wings as launch nears

Re: Transistors control the flow of electricity

Looking forward very much to hearing about the results in a while

Quite a long while. We will be into the thirties.

Apple debuts iPhone 16, Watch Series 10, assorted AirPods

The number of people that wear hearing aids divided by the number of different hearing aid solutions available, will vary according to the needs of the individual. Not really going to be anywhere near airpod numbers. Not in the same league.

As for the popularity of airpods, not really the point. Conventional earpods are designed to be invisible, and are not invisible because they are popular.

Re: Being amazed no more

People often say that, but as they are really affordable if you don’t go for the newest. Mine are free hand me downs. In UK and US near ubiquitous and really no big deal.

And suggesting they are just jewellery ignores the multifunctional capabilities compared to the largely redundant single function of a mechanical watch.

Russia's top-secret military unit reportedly plots undersea cable 'sabotage'

Re: Russian activity damaging undersea critical infrastructure

What is this paywalled thing you are trying to use?

Thanks, Edward Snowden: You propelled China to quantum networking leadership

Re: same amount of intelligent people

Not only does China have more intelligent people in China, it also provides some of the best academics working in universities in US and Europe.