Posts by Archivist

Parallels increases prices with Desktop version 18

Other options

Crossover Office works well on my Mac M1. I use it daily for a Windows (x86) only PCB app that I have been using for 25 years, so not ready to change.

Taiwanese military reports DDoS in wake of Pelosi visit

Well I for one am glad of this cyber attack. It will allow Taiwan to harden their systems before the main Chinese onslaught.

Whatever hit the Moon in March, it left this weird double crater

Re: My Theory FWIW...

+1 for a Clangers mention.

Apple may have to cough up $1bn to Brits in latest iPhone Batterygate claim

Furthermore

While it may have aided some people by extending the battery life albeit with a slower phone, Apple probably had to replace fewer batteries under warranty. Thus the accountants win again.

US to help Japan make leading-edge 2nm chips, possibly by 2025

Re: So, we're now at 2nm

Well you only have to point it out once to me, and I'm grateful for the knowledge.

I look forward to a future of picometre skyscrapers!

World’s smallest remote-controlled robots are smaller than a flea

Boffin?

I stopped reading when this word appeared as presumably the story was borrowed from a tabloid newspaper.

Voyager 1 space probe producing ‘anomalous telemetry data’

Re: "expected life span"

I think he meant record.

BOFH: On Wednesdays, we wear gloves

Re: Truly excellent

I have a notch at 10.125KHz and a tinnitus tone each side of it, from 405 line TV days when the workshop would have dozen of them on soak test. At my age I'm surprised I can hear above 10K.

Nothing's working, and I've checked everything, so it must be YOUR fault

Humble

Over the years I've usually been the one doing the fixing, but on those occasions I've asked for assistance, I've learned that it pays to be humble and admit up front that it might be something I've done wrong. That way I feel less of an idiot!

The rocky road to better Linux software installation: Containers, containers, containers

Experiences

My experience with Linux snaps has been similar. Because of my job, I have 23 versions of the same app sitting in my Mac Applications folder, all of which were easily installed - with some renaming, any of which I can spring to life with a click.

If only Linux could do that.

Amazon tells folks it will stop accepting UK Visa credit cards via weird empty email

Limited choice

So my credit card is Mastercard and my bank debit card is just about to switch from Visa to Mastercard.

Previously if the Mastercard didn't work for a transaction I would use my Visa card. What would I do now:

Walk away from the petrol station?

Wash up in the restaurant?

Leave my wife as collateral?

Maybe it's time to start carrying a wad of cash again - if anyone will accept it now;)

Magnanimous Apple will allow people to fix their iPhones using parts bought from its Self Service Repair program

I used non-apple parts to repair my family's iPhones* but the quality was often sub-standard.

Now we just take them to the Apples Store and get them to do it. It's a bit more expensive but far less hassle.

Would I bother again, even with genuine parts? No.

* With 12 iPhones in the family there was nearly always one needing attention!

Another brick in the (kitchen) wall: Users report frozen 1st generation Google Home Hubs

It's funny

I have bought propriety solutions because they seemingly required less effort to commission and (hopefully) keep working.

Now I think that that a little effort with IFTT and generic hardware would have been a better solution for the long term.

Reg reader returns Samsung TV after finding giant ads splattered everywhere

Fun about nothing, or a regional problem?

I have two Samsung smart TVs, one 2018, one 2021. I have plenty of gripes but see no ads! (UK)

Arm teases its GPU that will follow next year's graphics processor tech

Competition stifling

So tell me again why it's a good idea for Nvidia to buy ARM?

Don't touch that dial – the new guy just closed the application that no one is meant to close

Re: Timely tale in the UK

Two words:

Red Bee

The day has a 'y' in it, so Virgin Galactic has announced another delay

Re: Supplier identified fault

The Register has an "entertaining tabloid" style that is slightly more informative than the Sun or Mirror newspapers.

In any case, good news never sold any newspapers.

Talent shortage? Maybe it's your automated hiring system, lack of investment in training

Nothing new in HR

Back in the "golden days" where people sorted applications we had to wait a whole year before a rejected applicant (luckily) tried again. He had previously missed one keyword in his application that was interchangeable with another word that he did use. His talents were as scarce as hen's teeth.

Buyout of British defence supplier Ultra Electronics paused by UK.gov over competition concerns

Re: Ideal for Troubled Spots Requiring SMARTR AIdDevelopment/NEUKlearer HyperRadioProACTive Assistan

Oh, ok then.

Another big year for tape as ... oops. 2020 sales dropped 8% thanks to 'global shutdowns'

Horses for courses

I came her expecting a load of posts slagging off tape as a dinosaur but instead found the witty post above by Wally Dug. How pleasing.

Tape's got a long way to run, especially for users who have petabytes of data to which they don't need immediate access.

Pi calculated to '62.8 trillion digits' with a pair of 32-core AMD Epyc chips, 1TB RAM, 510TB disk space

Re: back in the day...

I concur, a great read.

Engineers work to open Boeing Starliner's valves as schedule pressures mount

Valves?

You'd have thought that even Boeing would be using semiconductors by now!

Microsoft suspends free trials for Windows 365 after a day due to 'significant demand'

Microsoft's master plan

When I heard Microsoft announce that Windows 10 would be the last Windows OS, it came to mind that they might move to a fully cloud model. After all, they make far more out of cloud services than OS sales. Well clearly they are not quite ready for it since they are releasing Windows 11.

But like it or not, I think it's the future, a web browser page replaces your desktop.

China tightens distributor cap after local outfits hoard automotive silicon then charge silly prices

Welcome to capitalism

And why is this hoarding any different than futures trading?

Scam-baiting YouTube channel Tech Support Scams taken offline by tech support scam

Hardly for publicity

All the time his YT channel is down, his Patreon channel won't get new subscribers. That's where the main income comes from.

I've enjoyed his channel immensely over the years, its "hype free" format suits my taste. Here's hoping he can recover it. Of course he may choose not to, I'm sure there will be fresh job opportunities based on his demonstrated skills, although turning your hobby into your job leaves you without a hobby:(

Latest Windows 11 Preview a well-rounded update – literally

MS late to the roundness party

At lease it'll put pay to all the Apple roundness quips - or will it?

Hubble memory errors persist despite NASA booting long-idle backup payload computer

When I learned fault finding

I was told: always check the power supply first.

Today I shall explain how dual monitors work using the medium of interpretive dance

Re: IT managers were always the most difficult

And if the error is showing in the boot screen, or screen grabs can't traverse across different networks?

I'm happy with a photo as long as it shows the problem.

Apple sued in nightmare case involving teen wrongly accused of shoplifting, driver's permit used by impostor, and unreliable facial-rec tech

Bah humbug

That.

Cisco: A price rise is coming to a town near you imminently. Blame chip shortages

Profiteering at it's best!

I bet the total material costs - chips included - barely exceed 5% of the final equipment cost.

Now Cisco make some good stuff but it's "goodness" is mostly to do with their development and IP, that's what we are paying for.

UK data watchdog fines 'pandemic partner' biz £8k: It sent 84,000 marketing emails to people who'd given info for track and trace

Re: A hefty fine

Did I miss the sarcasm flag?

SolarWinds CEO describes overhauled Orion build system after that 'very small, unique' security breach

Reject any criticism

If it can happen to anybody then we're blameless should it ever happen to us.

Philanthropist and ex-Microsoft manager Melinda Gates and her husband Bill split after 27 years of marriage

New models

I guess they are both thinking of a newer model, who will love them for themselves, not for the money.

Would be so cool if everyone normalized these pesky data leaks, says data-leaking Facebook in leaked memo

No accident

Was this an accident? I think not. This is part of the "normalisation" process.

Airline software super-bug: Flight loads miscalculated because women using 'Miss' were treated as children

Re: Pay by weight

Completely agree. There should be a seat charge plus a body weight + baggage charge.

Not sure what to do with the bariatrics, make then buy 2 seats? Have had the misfortune on a couple of occasions of other's fat spreading over the arm rest into my seat area. Horrible.

‘Radiation upset’ confused computers, caused false alarm on International Space Station

Radiation hardening

I'm reminded of when a colleague opened a piece of land-based kit and found a PCB full of a chip we didn't recognise at all. After a quick search we discovered it was the radiation hardened version of a chip that would likely be used in this application. We wondered why they would use chips that potentially cost hundreds of time the amount. The best conclusion was that they were surplus product that never made it into space and they got them for a song.

Which makes me think that as chip fabrication processes grow smaller, surely the energy to flip one bit becomes smaller too, meaning more bits will get flipped.

We've seen things you people wouldn't believe. A halo of light polarized by a gigantic black hole's magnetic field...

Thanks for publishing this article

It shows that the technology around us can be put to a better purpose than spreadsheets and funny cat videos.

Homo sapiens: Hey you, Neanderthals! Neanderthals: We heard that

Attitudes

Our perception of Neanderthals has changed over the years. When I was young Neanderthals were perceived as thuggish apes and incapable of most human actions.

Is it any co-incidence that since we now understand that we are partly Neanderthal (it's in the DNA of many of us), they have become a cultured alternative human version that don't look too different from us.

I also find it interesting that some Chinese anthropologists have spent a lot of time researching their Devonian branch of the evolutionary tree to try and prove that as a race they have no Neanderthal DNA.

I don't know if I have any Neanderthal DNA, but a European it seems likely that I do. And I'm proud of it!

Citibank accidentally wired $500m back to lenders in user-interface super-gaffe – and judge says it can't be undone

Ha ha ha

I have dyscalculia and through life have found ways around most problems this creates. One I have not, is copying a bank account number. I'm seriously anxious when I need to do this to pay someone because I know that if I make a mistake, it is very unlikely the bank will agree to claw back my money.

It's great to see the boot on the other foot!

Same old complexity beneath Windows 10 Cloud Config means it's unlikely to compete with the likes of Chrome OS

A blinkered future

I respectfully disagree that it is unlikely to compete with the likes of Chrome OS. Indeed I think it will succeed. My reasoning:

Almost all corporate IT departments are filled with managers and technicians who have cut their teeth with MS. It's easier (and perceived as less risky) to follow the MS trail.

I've worked for an organisation where:

If it hasn't got an HP badge it's not a computer.

If it hasn't got the latest MS OS, it's not viable.

In wake of Apple privacy controls, Facebook mulls just begging its iOS app users to let it track them over the web

My heat bleeds

Poor Facebook....

Decade-old bug in Linux world's sudo can be abused by any logged-in user to gain root privileges

Re: An honest question

Good idea! Thanks.

An honest question

As a Debian user, I never enable it. Does that make me safe?

Facebook finally finds something it thinks is truly objectionable and needs to be taken offline: Apple

naïve

Your username seems to be a self fulfilling prophesy with this post.

Apple emits emergency iOS security updates while warning holes may have been exploited in wild by hackers

Re: Once.....

Very lucky, or maybe you don't have any peripherals.

You would expect a qualified electrician to wire a building to spec, right? Trust... but verify

Phase to phase

I fell foul of this predisposition of Americans to connect across phases. I was in a hurry (never buy in haste) to procure 2 x 5KVA UPSs. My eyes looked at the options and saw 110V and 2xx volt. So being in the UK I ordered the NOT 110V versions. To my horror when they arrived the connectors were "funny" and as I unboxed one I became horribly aware that the 2xxV was 208V.

The messages from the dealer "special order" and "6 week delay" started echoing around my brain, as did the realisation that I'd have to explain this to my boss. It took over a year to convince the dealer to accept them as a return.

Unauthorised RAC staffer harvested customer details then sold them to accident claims management company

Re: These type of activity is a plague on humanity

My wife gets these, and has a brilliant patter:

We're phoning about about your accident.

Which one?

Umm the one recently.

Oh, the one where I lost both my arms and legs?

(Caller hangs up).

Intel wheels out new face authentication product that works a lot like Apple's FaceID

Re: FaceID and facemasks

Touch ID is great until you have physical project. After a day of working with my hands, it fails to recognise my prints. Mostly the recognition returns but sometimes a re-register is required.

Explained: The thinking behind the 32GB Windows Format limit on FAT32

Re: Whaddabout CDs?

Upvoted as mostly correct. The numbers for NTSC get you 44.056KHz not 44.1KHz because the field frequency is 50.94Hz, not 60Hz, so that's not the reason.

44.1kHz was chosen as a compromise of frequency response (Nyquist) and maximising recording length on a CD.

Apple Arm Macs ship, don't expect all open-source apps to work without emulation – here's what you need to know

Re: Buehler? Anyone?

Microsoft Office, Libre/Open Office, VLC, Dropbox. Most people will have at least one of those and there is no advantage to using the App Store, even if they're available.