Posts by b0llchit

Firefox integrates an ad-blocker, but not to block ads

Re: Design?

With a 3.5 MB transferred payload (4.5..5.8 MB expanded) to get to the front page. Where is the "mobile interface" in that?

Damn, I do long for the times of 56k6 modems when websites loaded faster.

Design?

Suddenly, nothing can be found any more and looks sadly stuffed with page fill before you actually get down to the badly formatted real article list.

Where is the forum link (and comment count) in the article?

(and, if you need Javascript to see a page properly, then you are doing it wrong. You people of a tech-site should know this.)

Microsoft's bad obsession is showing up in shabby services and slipshod software. Here's proof

Enshittification at multiple levels

They are trying to shove unwanted stuff down your throat and then will require you to pay to get rid of what you do not want.Then, when you think you can control it, they will again take all your behavioural data and train an LLM with your procedural working where the opt-out is hidden under three layers of legalese and uses so many layered negations that any answer will be opt-in. Meanwhile, they will add more unwanted stuff you need to pay for to get rid of.

This is not about providing a service. It is about vendor lock-in, extraction of money with least effort and a middle finger you get for free^(*).

^{(*) _{but if you actually look at the finger you'll receive an invoice for picturesque services rendered}}

Usage-based pricing killing your vibe - here's how to roll your own local AI coding agents

It is in Kelvin and is required to get the quantum computing part of your computer to develop a concious mind.

Who needs ghost train scares when Windows is such a fright?

Re: Actually, this one is:

So scary,... it almost made me laugh ;-)

Microsoft's patch for a 0-day exploited by Russian spies fell short. Another Windows flaw is under attack

The old saying is:

In every 500 lines of code there is at least one bug, regardless of programming language. Fixing that bug will automatically introduce or expose a new bug.

It does not matter whether that number is 500, 1000, 2000 or 5000^{(only in extremely well controlled development process)}. The fact is that you cannot guarantee a bug-free system...unless you do formal verification and doing formal verification on a 100 million line code-base is for all practical purposes and intents impossible.

GitHub says sorry and vows to do better as uptime slips and devs complain

Re: JFrog Artifactory

Boiled or cooked?

In the beginning was the Bork: 'Heart of the Earth' exhibit reveals Raspberry Pi in existential crisis

Rock solid Bork

Solidified runtime.

Go straight to sell! Windows second-chance setup hawks Microsoft services at IT's expense

Until the frog is boiled and the meat fell off. There are just bones left and they are both non-digestible and create severe obstructions and punctures.

AI's not going to kill open source code security

Change?

Yes, AI is radically changing open source programming.

That assertion is not necessarily true. The reason for creating FOSS is not because someone wants to profit from it. The first and foremost reason for creating it is that there is someone who needed to scratch an itch.

That same person thought that others also might itch and want to use the same scratch. And in collaboration, the scratching removes most of the itch. Using the "right" FOSS license is a separate discussion. The FOSS license is not the reason for scratching but the means by which others may scratch themselves and improve of scratching.

Using an LLM is not changing any of this. LLMs are merely tools that cause other itches or, with very careful work, can help scratching^{(beware of the license)}. In essence, the tools may change, but the existential reason for FOSS remains unchanged. The tool does not replace the philosophy.

OpenAI now lets you screenshot your privacy in the foot

The Minister is happy

There is only one division that encouragesrequires the use of these tools. The Ministry of The Right Mind requires a steady stream of input to prosecute Bad Thoughts^TM. The opt-in button is just a smoke-screen. It is always on and cannot be turned off.

AI quota inflation is no token effort. It's baked in

Re: It's like maths reveals deep secrets in the universe

We're not doing a great job, I guess. With the current motto of a few TeraWatts here and there extra we are on the course of:

Human intelligence is evolutions way to use as much power as possible to achieve less.

Atlassian’s new data collection policy protects rich customers while AI eats the rest

Extortion racket

Reminds me of the "take it or we'll change our agreement again" racket.

Would you like fries with that terminal?

Re: This is Linux ... I know this!

Do I need to beware of the Velociraptor?

Windows takes a crash dump after one McDonald's order too many

Scrap the BSOD, read the sticker

The best is the sticker under the BSOD: Braille and picture menus available.

The blind will certainly be able to read this sticker and ask for the Braille menu. Oh, wait...

The analphabets will certainly be able to read this sticker and ask for the picture menu. Oh, wait...

France’s digital directorate dumping Windows desktops, adopting Linux instead

Threats to ensure self extinction

Given the Trump administration’s dislike of anything that harms American businesses, France’s plan could also set off a new round of tariffs or threats to extinguish civilizations.

That would not only be a "shoot foot" gesture, but a monumental "shoot yourself in the face with a very big cannon" move. Any sane government would immediately drop them hard. And even the insane governments would start to back off.

IT manager approved downtime over lunch, but made a meal of it

But at least it looks good!

Oh, wait,...

I vibe coded a feed reading web app. It was enlightening and uncomfortable

Ad as article

So you wrotedidn't write an app, have no real clue about the code quality and now you want people to pay for it.

As they say,... Good luck with that.

Microsoft locks out VeraCrypt and WireGuard devs, blames verification process

Incompetence, malice

The cynic in me:

Someone high up in the food chain wanted to be sure that they could keep exploiting issues they discovered and never published. All these automatic updates ruin their ability to read all those private communications and files. That is a Bad Thing^TM and it must stop! Microsoft responded kindly by locking out the developers.

Or copilot flagged the projects because they were encrypted. You decide, incompetence or malice?

Showing the Windows 10 desktop was the yeast they could do

Windows 11 toaster

If they had used Windows 11, then it would constantly ask any and all customer if they would like some toast. Not even the sales people would be safe from the toaster queries.

Japan relaxes privacy laws to make itself the ‘easiest country to develop AI’

...because current laws represent “a very big obstacle to the development, and utilization of AI in Japan.”

“We must prevent this from happening,” he said, because without access to data Japan will struggle to develop and deploy useful AI.

Ah yes, it is an obstacle for the "government" to use all those private bits to analyse its citizenscritics and ensure a new layer of control that can be exerted at any time when the "government" thinks it should exert some more pressure on any (potential) opposition and all those (illegal) thoughts people are having all the time.

Maybe it is just the cynic in me, but, unfortunately, reality catches up rather quickly to my cynicism.

AI agents found vulns in this popular Linux and Unix print server

Re: Oh no!

Yes,...What about "that"?

Windows asks a networking question on a Stratford billboard

Re: At last

I'm sure they will then use an Android derivative on ARM with an ancient and holed browser emulating some x86 architecture using JS to run Wine to show you an even better BSOD?

Re: That notification?

And got sour cherries instead.

Security contractor blew the whistle on support crew's viral indifference

If they were, then any threat of firing would have been met with a certain cute falling distance of push back (out of the window, three floors down, basement style in the elevator shaft).

The first thing vibe coding builds is confidence it will help you succeed

Because I don't know the Dunning-Kruger effect and am absolutely brilliant at anything I touch?

Re: Be careful what you wish for

Isn't that simply called GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out)?

The reviewer of your code will certainly adhere to GIGO, probably on the toilet letting go of this week's lunches in different states of disarray while feeling sick the rest of the month.

To BSOD or not to BSOD? Only Microsoft knows the answer

Re: F F U U U ?

They missed an opportunity to spell it

0xFFFFFFFF 0xUUUUUUUU 0xCCCCCCCC 0xKKKKKKKK 0xUUUUUUUU

?

:-P

BOFH: Are you ready to raise our expense account limits now?

Tip yourself - on a Friday

Feel free to add a little something for yourself...

How generous they are, with blackmail footage in the back pocket, of course.

Good its Friday - might tip myself too.

Engineer sabotaged hardware then complained when it didn't work

It will blow over.

Microsoft and Nvidia claim AI can speed approval of new atomic plants

Lets count the victims^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hheros

Please raise your hand if you will fly in a plane designed, built and flown by AI.

^{_{Will all with their hand raised please follow me. We have just one more test to perform, a fatal sanity test, for our safety.}}

EU broadcasters say smart TVs and voice assistants are the next gatekeepers

Re: Big brother is watching and listening to your TV

Showing you ads is just enshitification. The real problem is the data itself. Anybody who thinks that the collected data will not be used against you is deluded. Anybody who does not think that three-and-four letter agencies have access to all that collected data is equally deluded.

How did that saying go,... those who don't learn from history...etc.

Calling out corporate BS? There's a steaming pile to aim for

We must create a supportive environment to improve the creation of bright thoughts that are appreciated by the communities of committees to better the receptivity for price award thinking.

Payment biz pulls plug on open source charity after KYC spat

I'll leave that incompetence thingy you seem to suffer from to be handled by Dunning and Kruger. Then you may shine in maximised malice.

Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence. But it surely looks like incompetence at a malicious scale.

Cryptographers engage in war of words over RustSec bug reports and subsequent ban

Re: Rust cult

Soon all code will be rusted and have become dust. Good that there are people who, with great care and effort, try to de-oxidise programs and make them run properly.

It's not a binary choice. Independent boffin builds a ternary CPU on an FPGA

It goes something like this: value ? -'never : 0'dontcare : +'seeya where the tags are labels to jump to in the program. And, you can change the order anyway you like. It will cause a crash when value has binary content. Note that base π systems will always run the program in circles.

Re: Surely a TrInary digIT should be called ...

Making a balanced ternary system out of tits may prove provocatively difficult and can only run in non-prude countries allowing tits in more than two positions.

WorldCoin's newest pitch: Scan your eyeballs to prove AI agents really represent you

A secure token

Until it gets stolen, uploaded or otherwise misused and cannot be replaced.

Maybe we should first invent Minority Report's eye swapping surgery and never tell the bad guys you can do that.

In the name of science: Boffins build fart-tracking undies

Pffft

Digital fruit fly brain model walks and cleans its feelers

Progress that kills most of us

Through the 21st century, it kills 80 percent of humanity, and most other life on Earth. As it happens, it is accompanied by a period of vast scientific and technological advance.

It is arguably wrong that a "scientific and technological advance" is a positive thing when it kills us. When your advance kills you, is it still an advance?

Saying "We got sooo good at everything that we went extinct while we were improving everything.". That just doesn't feel right, does it?

Age verification isn't sage verification when it's inside operating systems

Re: Forget age verification for operating systems, but bring in clue verification for politicians.

It is called "maturity verification" and it should be mandatory for every politician to pass "maturity verification" on the subject he or she is about to vote upon. Any politician's failure to pass the "maturity verification" will void any and all votes of the entire assembly and the bill will fail to pass.

West Sussex's Oracle rollout pushed back again as costs balloon 15 times

Not to mention that extra Red Yacht not available affordable financed by idiots.

Brilliant backups that kept data alive for ages landed web developer in big trouble

Only if it is not the other's fault. And it is always the other's fault. Therefore, it is always the other's fault. That is why DNS fails.

^{_{Shouldn't we call this episode "Who Other?"}}

Jury out on whether Americans love or hate datacenters

Re: Paint them!

You must paint them Green. Then you can tell everyone that you work at a Green facility!

^_/s

Those who 'circle back' and 'synergize' also tend to be crap at their jobs

Herding the Cattle

You need to sound impressive when you intend to herd the cattle to conform to your ways. You treat them like children with bombastic language and gestures to be impressive in form but are completely non-committal and conveying no real content.

It really should be seen in the divide and conquer scheme, where you appease the large(st) flock with bullshit and create an environment where dissent is suppressed and self censuring is encouraged and enforced. If effect, it is all about power and control.

Nanny state discovers Linux, demands it check kids' IDs before booting

Down the rabbit hole

Just wait, in due time:

• lying about your age will become a felony
• the use of computers will be restricted to official software only, verified by the government
• encrypted communication not piped through official channels in plaintext will be banned
• programming requires a license and all code must be submitted for official review before you can run it

BOFH: What physics defines as impossible, sales calls a challenge

Re: That OS...

Ah! You mean Planet 9 [OS^†] from the Kuiper Bell(t) Automation Company.

^{† _{Orbiting System}}

District denies enrollment to child based on license plate reader data

You are not you

You are not you is what the resident was told. But, says the resident, how can you say that I am not me? Easy, our system has determined that you are walking 500 miles away from here and our tracking system still has you at that location. But, I'm standing here in front of you! Sorry, the system does not lie. It detects you far away and you cannot argue with the system. Therefore, you are not you and cannot be you because you are not here.

Smart mirror shows dumb Windows in elevator

Just wait until they force Copilot onto your Elevator install.

<presses button 3>...Copilot: Would you like to visit floor 2 too? There are several interesting things located at floor 2. Also, I'd like to make a stop at floor 6 before you leave because I've been developing a new view for you to enjoy.

<presses button 3>...Copilot: Our new elevator control allows us to go sideways.

...