* Posts by Zolko

986 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Nov 2010

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Apple's had it with Epic's app store shenanigans, terminates dev account

Zolko Silver badge

I also heard that Jobs was arrogant, but at least he was competent, he had novel ideas and had the courage to bring them through. Cook is only a boring accountant

US wants ASML to stop servicing China-owned chip equipment

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Sell

We need to be on the lookout for the Chinese trying to work around these sanctions

that's actually easy: buy ALL machines that AMSL is able to produce and set up semiconductor fabs ourselves. Here. Why don't we do that instead of preventing other people from manufacturing stuff that we manufactured before ? I'm really fed-up with such lazy pussycats

Zolko Silver badge

Re: The United States Of America are going too far...

That may push US to step in

it may, but what would be the success scenario ? If we consider the past 1/2 century of US warfare, I don't think that the Chinese will be particularly impressed. Big mouth but nothing in the pants.

Zolko Silver badge

Re: The United States Of America are going too far...

Or we can accept the 1/2 century old international policy of recognizing that Taiwan is part of China and let them sort it out. You (*) already buy your iPhone made-in-PRC, why would you be worried that the CPU also comes from PRC ?

(*) my phone comes from Korea

Zolko Silver badge

Re: The United States Of America are going too far...

face-it : China will not back down from Taiwan anymore than Russia didn't back down from Ukraine. Actually, Ukraine is a demonstration to the Taiwanese of what awaits them if they don't go voluntarily with China : "see, do you think the USA will be better able to protect you from us than they were able to protect Ukraine from Russia ? We might have a hard time invading you but your country will be destroyed "

Trump supporters forge AI deepfakes to woo Black voters

Zolko Silver badge
IT Angle

and explicitly states that it's a parody account

no, it doesn't, please stop this lie. It falsely states that it was shared on X by a parody account , whereas it was created by that parody account (I hope you get the joke about Trump inventing the wheel). This is cheap political propaganda and ElReg should laugh about such pictures – may-be even participating in the joke noting the obvious factual error of Trump not wearing the black turtle-neck – rather than being snowflakes about such trivialities. This doesn't look like "biting the hand that feeds IT " but more like "barking with the dogs "

CERN seeks €20B to build a bigger, faster, particle accelerator

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Collide at insane speeds

the BBC : Bloody Big Collider

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Collide at insane speeds

despite or because ? One could argue that they – the best boffins on the planet – want a new toy and are inventing problems to justify those new toys.

US and Europe try to tame surveillance capitalism

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Just ban tracking/targeting

I think that's the crux of the matter : marketing droids of a company buy adverts from other marketing droids in an ad-broker company. And they rake in billions doing that, which increases the price of the products of said company by as much, that every-body *ELSE* has to pay somehow. That's the very definition of parasites: they suck the blood of the host. The entire advertising business is a parasitic behavior, quite identical to the former Soviet propaganda : if the products were indeed as good as advertised, advertisement wouldn't be necessary in the first place

Judge orders NSO to cough up Pegasus super-spyware source code

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Does Pegasus still work on current Apple phones

Considering how suspicious the latest iOS "vulnerability" was, you can add a 3) :

3) Apple gave NSO new backdoor entries into iOS devices and they – NSO – are busy updating their Pegasus offering

Zolko Silver badge

its internationally recognised borders

where said internationally recognized borders is also an interesting matter when considering Israel. May-be NSO should re-locate to Gaza so they're in a no-man's-land that doesn't belong to any country and thus can be exempted from any international jurisdiction ?

KDE Plasma 6.0 brings the same old charm and confusion

Zolko Silver badge

Re: I think it looks good

why the downvotes ?

1) no mention of Kwin which is probably currently the best Linux window manager.

2) no mention of Dolphin, which is currently the best file manager on the planet, including ANY other OS

3) no mention of Kmail which is currently the best Linux mail app

4) as for the looks, KDE (or Plasma) can be made to look and behave like any modern or oldtimer DE (including CDE ! try that on Windows) ... if you spend enough time to optimise your desktop

in short, you look at the defaults but most users either make their own configs or use themes found online.

Zolko Silver badge

Re: KDE Plasma 6.0 brings the same old charm "and confusion"

@Liam : I agree somehow that you seem to miss some of the killer features of KDE each time, and you concentrate on the default aesthetic look-and-feel (which is important I agree, but not solely) :

1) Kmail, Korganiser, Kontact: this is the ONLY usable Linux mail and calendar app that is professionally capable. From what I see, it's on par with what MacOS can propose (dunno about MS Outook). What other Linux offering do you know of that can sync with a Zimbra server online and on your Android phone ? (use DavX) Thunderbird used to sort-of do some of it but it's mostly unmaintained.

2) Kio-slaves: this is even better, because you can use your local desktop (the Dolphin file manager) for remote accesses to FTP, SFTP ... servers as if you were local. I've not seen anything approaching this in usability, surpassing anything that Windows or MacOS can provide.

3) Dolphin can also be made to be used as the legendary MidnightExplorer file manager, including remote server access: what other modern DE do you know that offers natively such a workflow ?

Zolko Silver badge

Aqua

en-flatso-ifcation

I understand, and I suggest you try QtCurve style, I've been using it since ... ever (since I discovered it) and never looked back. My widgets look like ~MacOS X Leopard, the best ever MacOS : 3D but not the preposterous Aqua style

FAA gives SpaceX a bunch of homework to do before Starship flies again

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Moon landing

The Apollo Lunar landers didn't "launch from a bare surface of the moon " but from the platform that they brought down with them : only a small part of the lander launched the 2 astronauts back into Monn orbit. And they were not reusable.

Zolko Silver badge

Re: In the Reg forum?

highly paid and trained engineers

1) they might not be those deciding

2) I'd be interested in the "highly paid" figures

3) didn't all other failed aeronautical and space projects have those highly paid engineers ?

All-in-all, mistakes happen. I think there was a recent aircraft carrier that was designed and built too short for the aircraft that it was designed to carry, they had to "extend" the ship. And think of the 737 Max fiasco, or the Piaggion Avanti with its noise due to the propellers on the trailing edge. The world of (aerospace) engineering is full of "oh sh***t didn't think of that " moments.

Zolko Silver badge

Re: payload ?

the engines were throttled down well below maximum thrust

you mean that the rocket exploded despite not being at full power ? So when they decide that the rocket is "ready" then they'll launch it with full payload and full throttle, something they will never have tested before ? You can't be serious

As for 100T payload, a 5x5x5m water ballast would do the job, no security or other dangers on re-entry.

Zolko Silver badge

payload ?

If it had had a payload, it would have made it to orbit ... Starship was approximately 150 km up and traveling at around 24,000 kph at the time

but if it indeed did have a 100T payload, then it would have been that much heavier and thus it wouldn't have made it to orbit either. Also, Oxygen doesn't burn by itself, it needs some fuel: where was that supposed to come from ?

All-in-all, I persist in saying that this will never make it to orbit, let alone to the Moon.

Underwater cables in Red Sea damaged months after Houthis 'threatened' to do just that

Zolko Silver badge

Re: conflicting accounts

The oft-repeated claim that they're "Iran-backed"

the problem with this claim is not only that it's unproven, but that the same label is not used for other "forces" in play : when did you ever hear about "NATO backed Ukraine" ? Or "USA backed Israel" ? As for Iraq, is it USA-backed or Iran-backed now ?

Such "Iran-backed" (or Russia-backed) narrative is only here to build hatred towards the target country by association : nothing concrete is said, but the repeated subtle propaganda settles in. The same could be seen with Julian Assange: he was depicted as an ars****le for years, even here, so there was no sympathy left for him once the extradition to the USA – which he fought against from the beginning – was announced. It's straight from the Nazi propaganda book: repeat a lie often enough and people will start believing it. I find it somehow uncomfortable that ElReg plays that game

EU wants to make undersea internet cables more resilient

Zolko Silver badge

glass-house + stone

The US apparatchiks are beginning to discover that blowing up North-Stream was, may-be, a bad idea after-all, for a society entirely dependent on such large-scale infrastructures, and exposed to logical retaliation.

KDE 6 misses boat to make it into Kubuntu 24.04

Zolko Silver badge

KDE 5.27 stable EOL

which, then shouldn't shock any LTS release. I'd be more surprised to see a KDE6 release candidate for a Kubuntu long-term support version

iFixit tears Apple's Vision Pro to pieces

Zolko Silver badge

Re: A question

Because Apple have too much money in the bank and needed something new – anything – to show. And the iCar-thing didn't quite work out. They also thought about an iToilet-wiper ... but then, you'd have asked the same question.

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Worth mentioning

I've been a 3D CAD user for twenty years [...] which I appreciate is niche

millions of people do 3D CAD, so no it's not "niche". And the difficult bit about CAD is not the CA part – Computer Assisted – but the D one – Design. You need to know and understand (both !) the mechanics and physics behind the design choices, and the computer will only assist you in the drawing part, which is admittedly easier than with a pen and paper. Actually, it's not easier but more forgiving : you don't have to redraw everything if you make a small mistake. BUT: if you're not able to do a good design on paper, you won't be able to do a good design in 3D CAD. These glasses will not help the tiniest bit in doing 3D CAD.

It took Taylor Swift deepfake nudes to focus Uncle Sam, Microsoft on AI safety

Zolko Silver badge

Re: There is no undoing the AI

Even worse: you can't buy nitro anymore because some "terrorists" made bombs with it. You can't even buy the gasoline for those RC cars with more than 16% nitro where I live. Used to be 25% some time ago.

But aaaahhhhh .... the noise ! And the smell !!!! Electric cars might be faster - dunno - but hell are they boring

Windows 11 24H2 is coming so we can all shut up about Windows 12 for another year

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Meh

Yes they did. But predictions are difficult, especially if they are about the future

Wikileaks source and former CIA worker Joshua Schulte sentenced to 40 years jail

Zolko Silver badge

the threats we face from truly oppressive regimes

Like what "threats" ? And who is "we" ?

Zolko Silver badge

the list is growing

Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, Chelsea/Bradley Manning, and now Joshua Schulte. For the land of the free, isn't this list of political enemies a little too long ?

Apple redecorates its iPhone prison to appease Europe

Zolko Silver badge

Re: I think I disagree, but I’m not sure…

1) I don't drink Nespresso, I drink proper Italian expresso, so I don't really know the issue, it was only something I read. You might be right, thank-you for clarifying

2) for cars on the other hand you're wrong: it is mandatory that you can replace replaceable parts with compatible gear from any manufacturer, there can be no "vendor lock-in". This goes for tires, filters, brakes, clutches .... While it's true that you can't replace the engine of a Fiat 500 with that of a Lamborghini, you can replace the engine of your Fiat 500 with an engine that you buy from someone else as Fiat, for example a refurbished one from your local workshop, without paying a cent to Fiat. Which means that if Apple itself has provided a mechanism to install external programs on the iPhone, then it's in the same ball-park as tires or wind-shield wipers : it cannot restrict from where you get those external programs.

Zolko Silver badge

Re: I think I disagree, but I’m not sure…

how exactly is your consumer choice impacted by the iPhone being closed ?

because it's forbidden ! The same way that a car manufacturer cannot restrict your choice of tires, even though he could argue – like you – that you can buy some other car where you can buy the tires of your choice. And it's forbidden for a good reason: to allow interoperability. That's why Nestlé had to allow compatible capsules for their Nespresso machines. Now, some company can come up with an AppStore that would be compatible with both iOS and Android, like Epic or Steam. That's what Apple wants to prevent.

Zolko Silver badge

Re: I think I disagree, but I’m not sure…

What task do people need to perform on the iPhone that they can’t using the standard tools ?

making a secure call and be sure that nobody can intercept and decrypt de message ? Look up "Tienanmen " in a search engine ? Read rt.com ?

Zolko Silver badge

Nice story, quite similar to mine ... except that I switched to Linux, not Windows. I tried BeOS in-between (was great !) but unfortunately that one didn't go very far. So I invite you to try some sort of Linux. My current favorite is the Debian-based MX-Linux. If you're even more adventurous you can try a BSD, but that's beyond my grade.

What I found surprising was that at the beginning MacOS could open any type of hard-disk with any format you could plug-in, but today it refuses to mount Linux Ext4 filesystems and only accepts its own and Microsoft's various FATs.

The Land Before Linux: Let's talk about the Unix desktops

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Standards

Flatpacks, Snaps, AppImages, DMGs, VMs ... all need a POSIX compliant environment ? Are you sure ?

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Standards

POSIX is important if you compile the software yourself, not so much if you download binaries.

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Title / article mismatch?

And not even written by Liam

We put salt in our tea so you don't have to

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Milk?

I prefer with some lemon. Also at the end when the tea is removed, of course (or else it does get bitter ... but I won't try to put salt in there to avoid the bitterness)

Apple has botched 3D for decades. So good luck with the Vision Pro, Tim

Zolko Silver badge

Re: I don't get it.

But if it's for niche industrial applications, what's the point of showing the user's eyes on the front ?

Zolko Silver badge

Re: So many VR systems collect dust

to be honest, there are niche use-cases for VR headsets: we had a demonstrator for a hang-glider simulator set-up at the Coupe Icare 2023 last year:

hangglider at Coupe Icare 2023

Tesla Cybertruck gets cyberstuck during off-roading expedition

Zolko Silver badge

Joke ?

Sincerely, that car looks like a bad joke from some 80's cartoon. Do they really intend to mass-produce and -sell them ?

United Airlines’ patience with Boeing is maxed out after repeated safety issues

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Manufacturing

yes I've read the communist manifesto, and it says that private property should be forbidden. At the beginning, I thought that he wanted to restrict that to private property concerning production facilities – companies – but he says that that's not enough so better ban any private property at all. You'll own nothing and you'll be happy ... where did I read about that lately ?

No thank-you

Russia takes $13.5M bite out of Apple over in-app purchases

Zolko Silver badge

Re: By paying the fines...

wait ... I thought it's a war between Russia and Ukraine, what has Apple to do with it ?

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Well done Apple, that'll go straight onto tanks and ammo.

you didn't think that one through: IF Apple did that, THEN people would know everywhere in the world that iPhones can be bricked remotely. Even if you have absolutely nothing to do with the official reason. Would YOU buy a phone from such a manufacturer ?

Huawei prepares to split from Android on consumer devices with HarmonyOS Next

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Non-Linux kernel

Minix, Plan-9, QNX ... there ARE already non-Linux kernels out there. Dunno what Huawei is going to use

US cities are going to struggle to green up their act by 2050

Zolko Silver badge

@nauticaa

uttered by the people who get paid, with your money – via government research grants...

I think that's the crux of the matter: if you pay people to find something particular, they will have a high incentive to find what you have instructed them to.

...and who are supposed to be smart enough to provide real solutions to this very serious and very perilous problem

ermmmm, no : that problem is only very perilous because the very smart people that you have paid have tortured statistics to make it look very perilous. And yes, one needs to be very smart to be able to twist reality to that point. If you look at the same numbers differently then the problem disappears. Or rather: it changes completely, and becomes "peak-oil ". May-be even "overpopulation ". The same goes for many other recent "very serious and very perilous " man-made problems

Russians invade Microsoft exec mail while China jabs at VMware vCenter Server

Zolko Silver badge
Boffin

So don't leave your bloatware undefended

I don't understand: why have bloatware at all ? Isn't that simply lazyness ? If so, nothing can save lazy people, because by definition if they're too lazy to get to the bottom of the pit to find out what they really need, then they're going to be too lazy to defend the unneeded bloat that they didn't take time to get rid of.

Google is changing how search results appear for EU citizens

Zolko Silver badge

Re: "opting out of linking services could result in limited functionality"

It's only there to help us charge advertisers slightly more

yes, but what I don't understand is *why* do companies not realise that too ? Why does a company spend money on something with no return value ? The only rational explanation I can come up with is Ark-2: the same nutters who are marketing responsible in client companies are *also* the same nutters at Google selling advertisment space. It's only a parasitic behaviour, we could cut it out entirely and we wouldn't even notice the difference.

US agencies warn made-in-China drones might help Beijing snoop on the world

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Were I an Evil Overlord ...

How are you going to compromise an SoC ?

you don't even need that, the FUD that the US government is spreading is more effective: costs nothing (to PRC) but has the same effect (USA unable to use that tech). What I find passionate is that the USA has defeated the USSR in the cold war with the fake Star-Wars space race (allegedly, reality is more subtle) and now China is defeating the USA by fake cyber-spionage allegations.

Researchers confirm what we already knew: Google results really are getting worse

Zolko Silver badge

Re: The Singer not the Song

the point is that if you include wikipedia in your search terms, then the results from site:wikipedia.org should be on top of the returned results for obvious reasons. And that's what Qwant does. That lower down in the list you also get other results that merely contain the term wikipedia is acceptable, as long as they appear after them

Boss fight between Donkey Kong champ and leaderboard org ends with settlement

Zolko Silver badge

record

Haha, I was the local record holder on our Donkey Kong Jr. video arcade game in our town ! Good memories. Don't remember the score though

Europe benched in high tech 'Champions League' says ASML

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Corruption

I rather think that in the EU, the priority is USA first : that's where the orders come from, look at ASML or Huawei

Tesla owners in deep freeze discover the cold, hard truth about EVs

Zolko Silver badge

Re: Sounds like Tesla drivers should always carry a can of petrol with them in Winter

Actually, I heard stories like this from Siberia, where they make a fire – a real fire – under a truck's engine to warm it up before starting in the morning.

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