Posts by Greg 38

LibreOffice brands Euro-Office a 'de facto ally' of Microsoft's lock-in strategy

Default or not, as long as ODF documents can be read by the EuroOffice software suite, does it matter? The fact of life in 2026 is that a large portion of the world uses the Microsoft XML format, so it is natural that it be the default format. That default can always be changed later.

California passes bill declaring death-by-algorithm to 3D-printed ghost guns

the next legislation

After the lawmakers finish patting themselves on their backs for a job well done, I'm sure they will get to work writing new legislation to require keyboard manufacturers to prevent people from typing hate speech. Then they'll go after screen manufacturers to not display harmful content and then...

NIMBY pushback begins to bite US datacenter buildout

Indiana

Over the last year there have been numerous data center greenfield proposals around the Indianapolis area. The sites that are selected tend to be rural and would repurpose farm land. The rezoning hearings are always packed with people lobbying against the data centers. They cite utility cost increases, noise, pollution and lack of any real long term jobs. But what especially seems to anger people is that nearly all of the proposals hide which company is wanting to bankroll the project. That along with the potential tax incentives from the state/county exacerbates the suspicions of backroom dealing.

Stop macOS 26 nagging with one tiny policy tweak

permanent solution

I found the best solution to my iThingy nagging me was to install Mint. Earlier fixes included Ubuntu, Mandriva, Mandrake and Slackware. Apple hasn't bothered me in 30 years

While you pay through the nose for memory, Samsung expects to triple its profits in Q4

Glad I only need DDR4

My wallet is thankful my ryzen 3600 is still chugging away on a x570 motherboard. DDR4 is running half the cost of DDR5.

San Jose's 'warrantless' license plate queries land cops in court

Hmm

I gotta admit I'm torn here. The EFF usually has well reasoned arguments and fights the battles worth fighting. On the other hand, the ACLU is a bunch of twits.

I don't even see how they have legal standing to bring the case in the first place. They don't have a victim nor can they demonstrate anyone that has been harmed by the law enforcement activities.

"The lawsuit [PDF], brought on behalf of the Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations – California (CAIR-CA)," plus a few mutterings about marginalized people. My eyes just rolled so hard that my head spun around.

ESA tests bacterial powder to feed Moon and Mars crews

Not Tang

Somehow I'm not seeing this fly off the store shelves like Tang did back in the day.

The price is wrong! California goes Bob Barker on algorithmic price rigging

Same for petrol stations

Apple-Intel divorce to be final next year

Re: Actually yes, X86 compatibility was a selling point for apple.

Guess I need to dye my grey hair. My last Apple computer purchase (1993 Quadra 610 with Motorola 68040 CPU) could read 3.5in MS DOS disks and would mount them with an icon with "DOS". I could read/write to the disk and move files to PCs as needed.

Hacking US crosswalks to talk like Zuck is as easy as 1234

This reminds me of a 2014 incident where highway construction sign messages were changed to include helpful suggestions like "Slow the f*** down".

https://fox59.com/news/unknown-suspect-hacks-indot-signs-displays-messages-with-expletives/

Photoshop FOSS alternative GIMP wakes up from 7-year coma with version 3.0

Gimp works well for its purpose -> great for small businesses

I'm surprised to see all the tetchy vitriol for linux/Gimp with the comments on this article.

For me, Gimp provided a sufficiently powerful image/graphic editor that allowed me to create banners, logos, labels and advertisements for my small business. Gimp and Inkscape were my graphic editors of choice for the 10+ years I ran the business. It came without any need of subscriptions and was available to run on linux.

My choice to move my sole desktop to linux 20 years ago was simply pragmatic: have my desktop & data at the control of the corporate interests of Microsoft/Apple, or have it owned by myself, as root. Nothing has changed in the intervening time to change my mind, especially in these days where everything is a SaaS. While admittedly philosophical, I feel it's a practical rather than a 'religious' decision.

Apple has locked me in the same monopolistic cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

Re: users just go along with it because they perceive they have no other choice

don't forget the systemd religious denominations

"Whilst Linux users are insulting themselves on their internet forums because they're fighting one another over KDE versus GNOME, and who's desktop customization is best, the rest of us just get to work, do what caused us to be in front of a computer in the first place, and move on with our lives."

Beijing picking up some of the bill for iPhones sold in China

Why?

Why wouldn't the Chinese govt want it's sheep to voluntarily keep a geo-located tracking tool with them at times?

Four plead guilty in US government tech procurement fraud case

ROI

These guys have earned their time in prison, no doubt. However, I'd bet the prosecution and investigation cost the taxpayers much more than the $1.3M amount swindled by their criminal acts in the first place. Aren't there bigger fish to fry here? I'd suggest staring with pharma lobbyists, and defense/ NASA contractors.

Google Gemini tells grad student to 'please die' while helping with his homework

Not a bot

Linus, was that you?

Intel losses hit $16.6B in Q3 and Wall Street is … loving it?

chipzilla no more

I think it's time for the Reg to crown TSMC with the Chipzilla moniker

Intel lets go of 2,000 staff at Oregon R&D site, offices in Texas, Arizona, California

bloodbath

I used to work as an engineer at the Ronler Acres fabs in Hillsboro 15 yrs ago. Over the last couple months every time I checked LinkedIn, there were so many announcements from people in lead roles that I had worked with stating their retirement or new position somewhere else. This brain drain is more like a lobotomy and it will be hard to recover.

Intel Arrow Lake to be made elsewhere as 20A process node canned

Re: Reportedly this saved them half a billion dollars

You are spot on and Intel has done this before. The company had already ramped up the 120nm node on its 200mm production line in 2001 and also brought it's first 300mm line up on the same process node just be ensure the performance and yield were matched. This uncovered numerous startup issues and tool quirks that were resolved. The 120nm volume was very limited and they quickly moved to the 90nm node.

high volume production

Concluding that the process is not ready yet for high volume production is either a frank assessment that the yield/reliability is insufficient or a very nuanced way of saying the performance doesn't meet its target.

I worked at Intel for many new process ramps and the yield was always an issue that got chipped away at fairly quickly. Admittedly the process now is much more involved and they've leaped over a number of generations with 18A and the learnings they would have gained. The yield improvement roadmap and their ability to execute to it is likely a huge question.

Apple is coming to take 30% cut of new Patreon subs on iOS

nothing's changed in 30 years

I abandoned Apple's products when they released the frilly coloured iMacs in the 90s but used proprietary screws to keep you from tinkering with the hardware. They were still at it decades later soldering RAM onto their lappy motherboards. But this taking of 30% from Patreon is like Scrooge taking the goose back from Cratchit. Humbug to Apple, I say.

Some investors bet against Nvidia, expecting AI bubble to burst

You are right about that. I debated shorting GameStop a couple years ago when hype drove it irrationally high. While it's come back to earth to an extent, I would still be waiting for it to get back to its pre hype price

Samsung takes bite out of Apple over its mega marketing misstep

twitter?

"The South Korean consumer technology mega-corp posted a short video on Twitter — which now calls itself X — "

Oh, I'm so glad the author took the time to remind readers that X used to be called Twitter! Had almost forgotten in the intervening long 9 months.

Please be sure to keep mentioning it since some people don't pay attention to changes. Hey wait a minute.... when did elreg move from its co.uk domain?!

US Air Force says AI-controlled F-16 fighter jet has been dogfighting with humans

Re: Great show.

"No matter how much and how sophisticated hardware you can throw into a war, you'll still lose to the side that's prepared to throw in all that plus humans."

Not true. And Poland how things went for them when Hitler invaded. Poland fielded a WW1 army with cannons and horses versus modern German tanks and artillery.

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

Re: Meet the New War....same as the Old War

And don't forget the armed insurgency from the evangelicals in the no-systemd crowd.

HP TV ads claim its printers are 'made to be less hated'

Missed the target

As usual, HP has missed that the real reason people hate their printers is the forced use of proprietary over priced ink cartridges that the printer won't recognize after being refilled.

Intel to build hush-hush fabs to bake chips for US military

Simpsons prognosticated this

I seem to recall a Simpsons treehouse of horror episode where a nuclear missile was launched with the "Intel inside" logo on it.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EBD0hyDPmRI/hqdefault.jpg

Intel CEO Gelsinger dismisses 'pretty insignificant' Arm PC challenge

History will repeat itself

"We take all our competition seriously, but I think history is our guide here"

Does Gelsinger seriously not remember the introduction of AMD's Athlon? Does he not recall missing the boat on the transition from PCs to phones? Yes, history will be our guide here.

Square blames last week's outage on DNS screw-up

Re: Offline mode?

This affected my business last week and I was thankful it didn't happen during a very busy time. I was able to get the POS tablets to work in offline mode for square after turning off the wireless and increasing the offline sales maximum amount. Of course, this risks a card being declined later once the transactions get processed, leaving us out our merch and the customer gone. This is not something our daily staff would know how to do if I hadn't been on-site. Something similar happened in 2022 also that prevented us from making realtime sales. This definitely has me looking into alternative POS systems.

One problem with America's chip ambitions: Not quite enough staff

Apparently there's no shortage now

As someone who has over 14 years engineering experience in fabs (including Intel) and a doctorate in electrical engineering, I spent 3 months looking for a chip job this summer only to find the job openings were for companies that had put hiring freezes in place. I finally took a took at a new EV battery company and will leave the semiconductor industry completely behind. I don't want to hear companies moaning about a worker shortage down the road when they won't invest in staff now.

Predict stocks, foresee public opinion, all kinda possible with ChatGPT-like models

Any advantage is short lived

If (and that's a big if) chatgpt can consistently predict sentiment for individual stock movements outside of normal market fluctuations, then that advantage is certainly going to be short-lived until every major stock broker employs its version of AI to do the same. It falls back to the theory of efficient markets. However, if some chatgpt large language model could be used to identify early and predict the impacts from black swan events (e.g. COVID, Russian aggression, mortgage-backed security failures, Chinese tech crack-downs, etc.) then some serious applications could be made.

Boffins rewrite the book on how Earth's oceans developed

Re: Combination theory

This is why I'm booking my next holiday ASAP.

Tupperware looking less airtight than you'd think

Re: The originals were great

Agreed. I still regularly use a vintage bowl that's about 50 years old. I love the high walls of the bowl so you can run a mixer in it without splattering all over the counter

Take a 14-mile trip on an autonomous Scottish bus starting next month

Re: Where will it end ?

Royston Vasey. It's the end of the line

Netherlands joins US blockade of Chinese chip industry

Re: I for one welcome out Dutch overlords

Look back 15+ years and ASML tools were only for n/p-well and other non-critical litho layers. Gotta give a hand to them!

Semiconductor industry: To Hell with the environment, start building fabs already

Re: Short cuts are bad

Wasn't in Cali

Short cuts are bad

One of the fabs I worked at was located on an old electronics manufacturing site dating back 80 years. It was so contaminated with waste it became a superfund site. While we were shutting down the fab, we discovered that the hydrogen gas lines supplying facility and neighboring buildings had a leak somewhere in-ground that had been ongoing for years. This isn't to mention that the gentleman I was backing up as an etch engineer was fighting (and later died from) a rare blood cancer.

systemd 253: You're looking at the future of enterprise Linux boot processes

This is perfect for a Friday story

The systemd haters haven't had their pot stirred in some time. Today is the day then, hurrah! I've off to get a pint and a packet of crisps while the thumbs down pile on. There needs be an icon for "old man yells at cloud".

Americans have the right to livestream police traffic stops … probably

The police should never need to hide from the light of scrutiny. However, if a 3rd party bystander live streams or records/edits a police encounter, it could violate the privacy of the person being arrested or anyone else at the scene. It could also bias a potential future jury. This is not a clear cut issue.

Ring system discovered around dwarf planet Quaoar leaves astronomers puzzled

Re: Quaoaeaiar.

The extraordinarily high number of vowels can only be quenched by an unusually large number of consonants. Any volunteers here from Wales to give a hand?

Chinese surveillance balloon over US causes fearful gasbagging

Balloon, huh? I guess the chip export controls to China must be working

'Multiple security breaches' shut down trucker protest

Re: Superspreader? Give me a break.

So what of it? It's their decision to not get a jab and to commingle. Freedom of expression and choice is a hallmark of liberal western democracies. Although I've had three jabs, I'm not one force others to do the same. I'll choose when/whether to mask and with whom to socialize. The totalitarians are those who take away that choice.

Superspreader? Give me a break.

"as we enter year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, the convoy may well also be about bringing people together for yet another superspreader event."

Seriously, Jessica? Some random folks are coordinating to drive their semi's around in Winnipeg in a symbolic (mostly useless) protest and you feel the need to bring out one of the fear-porn tropes from 2020 to attempt to justify your dislike of anyone questioning the government? (President Xi is nodding in approval for you, by the way.) Where were your tirades about superspreader events going into Christmas or gatherings for the World Cup? I must have missed the torrential wave of COVID hospitalizations overwhelming the NHS in the weeks following the Queen's burial or England's loss in the Cup. I'd wager more called in hung over than ever did with COVID.

The only thing that spreads faster than the COVID virus or conspiracy theories is your kind of mob group-think. Science is fundamentally about questioning assumptions. Bullies shut that down.

Document Foundation starts charging €8.99 for 'free' LibreOffice

Re: Windows S store has been charging for some time

Here you go:

https://linuxmint.com/

Samsung investing $5b in efforts to be carbon neutral by 2050

Is there anyone out there...

Yes I agree with MiguelC that there is a lot of green washing going on these days as companies are guided by woke consensus groups jumping on the bandwagon. I'll add that there is little actual interest from the rest of the community at large too (only 5 comments after 4 days). If ANYONE else even reads this article, please just give a thumbs up or down!

With its Ohio fab under way, Intel's next challenge: Keeping its promises

Good for everyone

I, for one, am glad to see Intel expand its manufacturing in the US. While the company is way too quick squeeze money out of governments or underpaid employees (I'm a former engineer there), the fab managers and engineers are data- focused do have a good focus on basic science, manufacturing and engineering. I wish the expansion goes smoothly. The company was lead by a bean counter for long enough to lose its main focus. We should all be thankful that AMD has a great chip design and that TSMC can make them. However competition is good for all of us and fabs outside of Taiwan are critical.

The process node names nowadays are symbolic rather than literal anyway. So while much hay is made of Intel finally doing 10nm while tsmc is on 5nm, the proof is in the chip performance per watt. Tsmc marginally has the edge for now but hopefully that lead will be challenged and it will be for the benefit of us all.

AMD has a lot riding on its 5nm Ryzen 7000 CPUs. And so here begins the hype

Not a good sign

It is not a good sign that with a new manufacturing node (5nm) and an updated chip design, that the power envelope must be increased so much to achieve the performance gain. It reminds me of when Intel increased the power specs to over 100W on their Northwood and Prescott CPU's in the early 2000's because they couldn't compete with Athlon on a per-watt basis. I'll stick with my Ryzen3600 for now.

Intel to sell Massachusetts R&D site, once home to its only New England fab

Fab17 / hot pmos

I'll miss the demise of the old Fab17 Intel site. Worked remotely with my counterparts there 20 years ago. One of the longest running issues we never fully resolved was that their PMOS ran hotter than the other fabs on the 120nm node. The VTP was always lower magnitude. We sent a half dozen splitlots between the fabs to isolate the source but the results we not conclusive. Rest in peace, F17

Samsung beats TSMC to be first to produce 3nm chips

Eye protection

Always amazes me that Samsung does not require the use of safety glasses in their fabs. I've worked in several fabs including Intel and eye protection is absolutely required even in engineering and FA labs.

Intel plunking down $20bn for at least two chip factories in Ohio

Re: It is all about the taxes

The Oregon fabs are R&D with low scale production ramp up to about 2000 wafer starts per week when worked there. The fabs in Arizona, Ireland, Israel and new Mexico were for the volume production