Those back-up cameras make backing up much safer. So there is that. As for most of the rest of it, I agree, knobs are better.
Posts by ITS Retired
361 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Dec 2010
Sick of smudges on your car's enormo touchscreen? GM patents potential cure
If you have a fan, and want this company to stay in business, bring it to IT now
Re: humidity air CON
Too many people have no idea that humidity has an affect on comfort. It's cool outside, so they open windows in their air conditioned space. Never mind 95% humidity and the fog outside.
Eventually, the ground sourced heat pump gives up because the circulating fluid is the same temperature going into the ground, as coming out. Winter did not remedy the problem, as the A/C didn't last through the spring.
It happened in an office I worked at. Manglement and their unair-conditioned lake cottages was the basic cause..
Amazon convinces FCC it can avoid space junk chaos
Eager young tearaway almost ruined Christmas with printer paper
California toys with digital vehicle titles on private DMV blockchain
We have human records painted on cave walls, carved on rocks, clay tablets, various kinds and types of paper, going back many 10's of thousands of years. Writings from 2 to 3 thousands of years ago, compared to what we see today, but are told were written thousands of years ago, that don't agree with the original records. It is fairly easy to figure out sumtom ain't right here. Reliance on magnetic polarization, not so much, without access to the proper computers, hardware and software decades after they have been replaced.
Yet we have already lost valuable information because there are no computers left in existence that can read the data bases. Computers built, used and discarded well within our lifetimes. (Or at least mine)
Upgrade the computers, and/or lose the electricity and poof, our ancestors can never recover that information decades later. There can be said good things about file cabinets for long term storage for critical information.
Too heavy a reliance on computers will bring about the downfall of civilization, when things go pear shaped, as all civilizations have encountered so far.
User was told three times 'Do Not Reboot This PC' – then unplugged it anyway
If your Start menu or apps are freezing up on Windows, Microsoft has a suggestion
NASA, DARPA to go nuclear in hopes of putting boots on Mars
Mars?
While the idea of nuclear engines are great, I think we must figure out on how to survive on the moon, with minimal help first. Mars is a bit too far away for any reasonable help to arrive in time.
You want boots on Mars, fine, but with people wearing them, not so fine. So far we have not had a long term isolated, working habitat right here on the ground on this planet. The ISS is regularly supplied, and with personal changes, so it doesn't count.
Microsoft is checking everyone's bags for unsupported Office installs
Artificial pancreas successful in type 2 diabetes tests
Native Americans urge Apache Software Foundation to ditch name
First Patch Tuesday of the year explodes with in-the-wild exploit fix
Here's how to remotely take over a Ferrari...account, that is
How much of the software in the newer vehicles is "Because We Can" and not because it is needed, or even actually useful in the real world?
Who actually benefits for the mandatory two way connectivity in todays cars? I can understand some of this in fleet vehicles, but how useful is the same stuff it in a private, paid for vehicle?
I understand much of this connectivity cannot be opt out of without disabling the vehicle.
90+ groups warn US Senate of 'damaging consequences' from Kids Online Safety Act

Re: But... But.... *think* of the children
"And WTF did having an internet connection absolve parents of any responsability. Y'know actual parenting"
Simple, parents aren't parenting the way certain authoritarians think they should be parenting. Keep the children ignorant of certain subjects because children ask questions that are sometime embarrassing for many adults.
What's that, Lassie? Boston Dynamics is suing its robot dog tech rival?
Microsoft tests 'upsells' of its products in Windows 11 sign-out menu
Microsoft hits the switch on password-free smartphone authentication
No, I will not pay the bill. Why? Because we pay you to fix things, not break them
That's because our standard of education has fallen so far in the U.S., compared to other countries. Starving public education, which once was the best in the world, to having private, corporate... err... charter schools skimming the cream of the crop students from public schools, starving the public schools even more money. That plus not coming within a mile of teaching critical thinking anymore. That is by design. Those of us that were taught critical thinking are dying off of old age.
Microsoft's Windows 10 Patch Tuesday update crashes OneDrive
Chip shortages still plague carmakers despite weaker semiconductor demand
Maybe the auto makers should rethink making everything computer controlled
There needs to be a limit to what is automated and even removed from the drivers control. Do we even need a touch screen to set the temperature, or roll down the windows? A simple knob, or mechanical button often works better.
The driver messing with what is packed in a touch screen with menus, is better than using a smart phone, how?
Often it seems too much is not enough, because we can. Somewhere in there is, or should be, a optimal level of computer control. Leave the rest to the driver.
As Russia wages disinfo war, Ukraine's cyber chief calls for global anti-fake news fight

Why is it...
When Russia invades a country, it is an "illegal" invasion? But when the United States makes a hobby of invading countries, toppling governments it determines are too free and democratic it somehow is given a pass?
Hypocrisy is looming big in the Ukraine, as the U.S. is again backing Right-wing fanatics. Only this time using someone else troops.
Microsoft makes another round of jobs cuts amid slowing economy
Collapsed Arecibo telescope to be replaced by school
Scanning phones to detect child abuse evidence is harmful, 'magical' thinking

"Anderson argues that this taxonomy of harms reflects the interests of criminal investigators rather than welfare of children."
One solution is a deep look into the private lives of these people that want to pass these laws that allow <u>them</u> to look into the private lives of the rest of us.
Block this: Using satellites to plaster ads over our skies could work, say boffins
More than 4 in 10 PCs still can't upgrade to Windows 11
40% can't run Windows 11...
Now is the time for a major ad campaign, touting the advantages of other operating systems, that unlike Microsoft, just work... For far less money, updates and all.
Knock MS market share down a couple of pegs, or more. Yeah, I know complacency is hard to overcome, but for each conversion, makes the next a bit easier.
No, working in IT does not mean you can fix anything with a soldering iron
Pentagon is far too tight with its security bug bounties
As Hurricane Ian hits, FCC rules cell carriers must help each other in disasters
Teardown shows Apple iPhone 14 Pro is not pro-repair
Microsoft says it's boosted phishing protection in Windows 11 22H2
Don't want to get run over by a Ford car? There's a Bluetooth app for that
Windows 11 update blocking some users from logging in
Microsoft warns of bugs after nation pushes back DST switchover
Re: Why is DST still a thing ?
UTC does not observe the so-called Daylight saving Time. Nothing is actually saved. Especially not with the resulting confusion twice a year.
Mucking about with the time zones, either results in gaps in the 15 degree separations in the time zones. or overlaps.
No DST, no computer confusion. No wondering what time it is for that meeting, somewhere else. Are they on DST, or Standard time? Do they change with everyone else, or days, weeks differently.
Stop it already. Too much energy is being spent twice a year, when a simple fix is at hand. Just stay on standard time the year around.
LG makes a TV roughly the size of a queen-sized bed
Re: Not to derail this, but
Yes, I have an antenna. Not paying for any streaming services, when their are enough free local off air TV channels to keep us entertained when need be.
My computers are all Linux. Not all tuners work properly, or even at all, with non windows computers. Even those that are supposed to work with Linux have multiple fixes listed when I do the googling on them to find something that should work.
Just give me a 24 inch TV/monitor, without the hassle of another plug in card, or USB gadget with more drivers I have to down load to make it work with Linux. Assuming I down load the correct one.
With a TV/monitor, two connections. One to the antenna and the other to the computer video out. Done! No fuss, no muss. can even us the TV without the computer if need be.
James Webb Space Telescope finds first evidence of CO2 in exoplanet atmosphere
Windows 10 update breaks audio for some systems
Googlers demand abortion searches ‘never be saved or treated as a crime’
Rocket Lab to search for signs of life in the clouds of Venus
Google gets the green light to flood US Gmail inboxes with political spam
Almost every Republican political ad I've seen have been attack ads,
with little to no basis in reality. Nothing about actually correcting the problems. If a rival candidate does have working ideas for solutions, they are swamped with attack ads and become also rans.
What we need is 'Truth in Advertising' with teeth, in political ads. The current Republicans ads would all but stop. Problem solved.
While most political ads are spam, force them have facts and truth in them, not made up horror stories.
Want the very latest Windows Insider Dev Channel build? Check your disk space
Google's ChromeOS Flex turned my old MacBook into new frustrations

Keep in mind that 'The Cloud' is someone else's computer.
Someone else owns it. Someone else controls it. Can someone else look at your data? The police and alphabet agencies think they have a right to. I prefer to keep control of my own data. Not everybody is doing something dodgy. Most of us are reasonable honest, regardless of what the paranoid control freaks in charge think.
Backups for your data are as simple as a flash drive or a portable hard drive. Interment or no Internet can be a pain when everything is cloudy.
As an aside, everything computering, including the Internet thingies, have has a UPS on the mains powering them. Around here (US of A), area wide power failures don't seem to affect the Internet feed.
New Outlook feature: It freezes up when dealing with tables in emails
Lockheed Martin wins $213m contract to update F-35 datacenter
How much more money is going to be poured into this money pit?
One machine cannot be all things for everything. Then there is the problem of too much interrelated electronics in these planes. Does it still take 20 minutes to boot up so they can take off? War planes of old could roll out to the take off point as their engines were revving up to speed. Seconds.
And as for the A10, those things were pretty much indestructible. One even flew home and landed safely with only one wing. Try that with a F-35.
Microsoft hits milestone to replace datacenter generators with fuel cells
Re: Hydrogen - Fuel of the Future
That was my question. what do they plan to do with the carbon/2 and other green house gasses left over, if from national gas, or other fossil fuels?
Breaking down water is very energy intensive. Making wind mills and solar panels requires fossil fuels and only last 15 to 20 years, so these ain't really free as some people think either.
While I think fuel cells are good, the fuel problem actually hasn't been solved yet.
Feds put $10m bounty on Putin pal accused of bankrolling US election troll farm
How about some Truth in Advertising laws for our own political ads? The spin, out right lies, libel, anything but the facts and truth in our political campaign ads is a scandal in itself. No wonder we only get to choose between evil and almost as evil for our candidates in the general elections, even when much better candidates are running in the primaries.