Posts by julian_n

EU biometric border system launch hits inevitable teething problems

Re: GDPR improves your privacy demanding only fair and appropriate data grabs.

What, you mean the EU hasn't installed the same systems as they have in Folkestone on the beaches at Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Morocco?

Re: Oh woe is me!

Yes, the French Police Aux Frontieres (PAF) are a right dippy bunch at times.

I had similar at Folkestone with a stamp in my passport despite showing my Swiss residency card.

I explained the stamp to Geneva Passport Control on my next exit and they were dismissive - along the lines of "the French, they always get it wrong"

With that in mind, I am not looking forward to my next trip back to the UK.

Empty shelves, empty coffers: Co-op pegs cyber hit at £80m

Re: Be a member...?

Different Co-op - Bank and Stores not one and the same any more after the Crystal Methodist took the Bank to the brink of extinction.

EU starting registration of fingerprints and faces for short-stay foreigners

Where are the booths

I fully agree that EU can control who enters the Schengen Region.

What I cannot see mentioned is where the booths will be located on the beaches of Libya, Tunisia, Morocco etc.

Otherwise, it is nothing but theatre.

Jaguar Land Rover supply chain workers must get Covid-style support, says union

Re: Insurance

I thought there were no shareholders now - other than Tata who own it.

Maybe the next step will be Tata threatening to close JLR (like the Chinese did with the ex-British Steel blast furnace) - spurring the government to renationalise it (remember it was once part of British Leyland)

Re: More diversity in software used is needed

A few years back, I am sure I saw adverts from Microsoft that JLR were early adopters of Office365 (or whatever it is now called).

I wonder whether in the post mortem we will see that storing all your data on someone else's computer was such a good idea?

Cybercrooks ripped the wheels off at Jaguar Land Rover. Here's how not to get taken for a ride

"Defenders need urgency. "

I think Defenders first and foremost need reliability - like the rest of the range.

Microsoft readies Windows 11 25H2 while Windows 10 circles the drain

It's the rule of alternation

XP - Good

Vista - Crap

7 - Good

8/8.1 - Crap

10 Good(ish)

11 . . . .

Aeroflot aeroflops over 'IT issues' after attackers claim year-long compromise

Activate Windows

So those damn Ruskies are using hookie copies of Windows depriving Uncle Sam's finest of much needed revenues. Shame.

Massive browser hijacking campaign infects 2.3M Chrome, Edge users

Ars Technica report Firefox also is affected:

https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/07/browser-extensions-turn-nearly-1-million-browsers-into-website-scraping-bots/

Chinese spy crew appears to be preparing for conflict by backdooring 75+ critical orgs

Re: two wrongs don't make a right

You should patent that quote - a certain Chancellor of the Exchequer may be licencing it from you very soon.

America's cyber defenses are being dismantled from the inside

Actually, I am already doing my bit to try to boycott American goods and services. I have cancelled every Patreon and streaming service with US companies like Amazon Prime and will no longer buy my hobby workshop items from US companies. Maybe not a lot (although Mrs N might disagree) - but as they say, every little helps.

Meta to feed Europe's public posts into AI brains again

Given the propensity of some to post utter drivel on FB - and others to blindly believe everything that AI throws at them, this has the possibility of not ending well.

Trump doubles down, vows to make Chinese imports even more expensive for Americans

So Donny boy is going to double the price of PCs built in China - just as Microsoft are ending support for Windows 10 necessitating many companies to buy new computers.

I hope they have some headroom in their budgets!!!!

Under Trump 2.0, Europe's dependence on US clouds back under the spotlight

Re: Wake up call!

A400M. Would that be:

https://www.theregister.com/2010/11/19/a400m_euro_onanism/

Lloyds Bank reviews tech and engineering personnel in reorg

Didn't Foxbase developers "tidy up" their code by removing superfluous comments before the Microsoft takeover?

With 10 months of support remaining, Windows 10 still dominates

Re: Spin it as a success

It used to be said odd numbered versions of Windows were good - even numbered were "less so".

Then they skipped 9

So by that adage Windows 10 is really 9 and relatively good.

And Windows 11 is really an even numbered version . . .with all that entails.

Re: Windows 11 is fine.

Yes - another Linux convert here.

After latest job change I upgraded my Windows 11 platform to Linux - and on same hardware it is way more stable.

W11 crashed/froze every couple of days. Same hardware Linux Mint only needs rebooting for a new kernel.

Boeing again delays the 777X – the plane that's supposed to turn things around

Re: Forget space if you can't even keep a door secured on Earth

I suspect it is kept alive by lucrative military contracts - so a few more wars should see Boeing return to rude health.

Microsoft's Recall preview doesn't need a Copilot+ PC to run

I can see some politicians seeing this as a fix for the E2E issue - first store the snapshots in OneDrive then give the usual suspects the right to access them.

Deere & Co won't give out software and data needed for repairs, watchdog told

OK. So buy Case - or someone else. If enough do it JD will change - or go bust.

UK.gov is launching an anti-Facebook encryption push. Don't think of the children: Think of the nuances and edge cases instead

More distraction politics from Ms Patel, I think, when she is failing in so many areas and there is rumoured reshuffle coming up.

What you need to know about Microsoft Windows 11: It will run Android apps

My Android device is quite happy without a Google account - /e/

UK infoseccer launches petition asking government not to backdoor encryption

Re: Quite literally...

Quite. And the Food Standards Agency and their like NEED access to your encrypted communications in case your children eat a dodgy beef burger.

Fairphone thinks its fair to offer a not-very-major and slightly-more-recycled new model

Re: O/S

Android 9.0 Pie (sadly not Android one) - but with option of /e/OS.

Or you can buy them preinstalled with /e/OS - https://esolutions.shop/shop/e-os-fairphone-3/

We're no longer helping UK Post Office persecute postal workers with our shonky system, says Fujitsu

You forgot the bit about being awarded a gong for service to the Post Office.

Listening to the excellent R4 series, she lied to Parliament - I won't hold my breath she'll get prosecuted.

Bad news: Cognizant hit by ransomware gang. Worse: It's Maze, which leaks victims' data online after non-payment

I mean, out sourcing and putting your data out on the cloud - who would have thought anything could ever go wrong.

That critical VMware vuln allowed anyone on your network to create new admin users, no creds needed

Re: re: very unique

Well the room certainly moved.

Re: re: very unique

So did I - my wife got a bit pregnant there.

Hello, support? What do I click if I want some cash?

Barclays - my father's bank - and the only outfit I have had problems with winding up his estate. I guess their incompetance is congenital.

Four months, $1bn... and ICANN still hasn’t decided whether to approve .org sale with just 11 days left to go

So is there any reason why a few DNS vendors - perhaps starting with Google, could not set up a parallel .org (i.e. resolve it rather than pushing it up).

It would only take a few more to follow and all of a sudden that $1bn investment is down the pan.

Review of IR35 is in: Quelle surprise, UK.gov will forge ahead with controversial tax reforms in the private sector

More snow in Switzerland this week - should be great up the mountains this weekend.

Auf wiedersehen, pet: UK Deutsche Bank contractors plan to leave rather than take 25% pay cut for IR35 – report

Re: I do wonder..m

OK. I said I would leave and I now work in Switzerland.

If you're keeping tabs that's 1 - 0

Orange has an elegant solution to Huawei question in France: We'll stick with Nokia and Ericsson for 5G networks

Sex scenes are so 90s - like in the BT Boardroom when one director's wife allegedly stormed into a board meeting after finding out about his daliances.

Those were the days.

We need to make it even easier for UK terror cops to rummage about in folks' phones, says govt lawyer

Re: Vital stuff

Local Council? Even the Food Standards Agencies have access to your communications.

Now I know the wife's cooking is not top drawer, but I would never (dare) describe it as a biological weapon.

Totally Subcontracted Business: TSB to outsource entire IT estate to IBM for a cool $1bn after 2019 meltdown

Re: Splendidly well done, IBM !

Sorry - but any customer who has remained with TSB rather than switch bank just deserves all the bad things that may happen to them.

Apple calls BS on FBI, AG: We're totally not dragging our feet in murder probe iPhone decryption. PS: No backdoors

Re: Hypocrites

But surely the hypocrites are the people who continue to buy Chinese made products despite knowing the behaviour of the regime in power there?

Step away from that Windows 7 machine, order UK cyber-cops: It's not safe for managing your cash digitally

If you have a valid Windows 7 product code it will still activate Windows 10 - despite the free update officially ending. Get the Media Creation Tool (but be aware you need to reimage the USB device fresh for each install)

However, I took the Linux Mint update route - and I have yet to find a piece of hardware that doesn't work out of the box - even a supposedly unsupported Focusrite Scarlett 2i2.

My Windows 7 is now virtualised.

This page is currency unavailable... Travelex scrubs UK homepage, kills services, knackers other sites amid 'software virus' infection

Re: Nice holding page

Well sometimes they do - but then fire them to save money.

UK government review of IR35 tax reforms? Like a broken pencil, say contractors groups – it'll be utterly pointless

Re: It's over....

I moved abroad. Skiing in Switzerland is nice this time of year.

And the Swiss appreciate Cyber Security skill - which obviously the UK does not need.

The Six Million Dollar Scam: London cops probe Travelex cyber-ransacking amid reports of £m ransomware demand, wide-open VPN server holes

It looks like firing Cyber Security professionals was not the smartest move by Travelex. Not sure the salary savings will cover the cost of fixing this.

Oil be damned: Iran-based crooks flinging malware at Middle Eastern energy plants again – research

Re: Allegedly

What? Next you'll be trying to tell me Saddam did not have WMDs that could hit London in 10 minutes.

Even though I saw it on the BBC.

Inconceivable.

EU wouldn't! Uncle Sam brandishes 'up to 100%' tariffs over France's Digital Services Tax

Re: Asian export markets

Nice freudian slip there - I guess you meant copious. But copies actually fits the Chinese model better - and the profits on the copies stays in China

Nope. The EU will let France take the hit - especially as the French Tax may run against EU Laws. The bottom line is that US tariffs hang over the German automobile manufacturers like a sword of Damocles.

Re: Wrong argument

That is not how the EU single market works. A company in one EU/EEA country can sell into any other with the profits taxed in the home (normally Ireland or Luxembourg) country.

What the article fails to point out is that the UK can stop this after Brexit when no longer part of the Single Market - should that be what it chooses. Make any country trading in UK have a UK subsidiary where appropriate taxes are paid.

What France is attempting smacks of double taxation - I am surprised the EU has allowed it.

There will still, of course, be all the other fiddles they get up to - like licencing image rights at an inflated price.

Tory chancellor pledges to review IR35 rollout in UK private sector – just like all the other parties

Sajid Javid

Is this the same Sajid Javid who said in 2009 "We should also restore our Social Chapter opt out (and produce UK rules that actually work, perhaps similar to those in Australia) and repeal the silly IR35 tax on providers of personal services."

Taken a bit of a long time, eh?

Bose customers beg for firmware ceasefire after headphones fall victim to another crap update

Yes. I do too after a known flaw in the QC25 turned them into a paperweight and BOSE declined to fix them.

UK taxman updates its employment-checking calculator for IR35: Still crap, say contractors

I don't understand.

Mr Javid said he wanted to "repeal the silly IR35 tax on providers of personal services"

Are you telling me he was being economical with the truth?

Interpol: Strong encryption helps online predators. Build backdoors

If we look at the agencies allowed by the RIPA to snoop on our data already we see such paedophile fighting bodies as the Food Standards Agency listed.

Does anyone know how many paedophiles the Food Standards Agency have caught?

'Literally a paperweight': Bose users fume at firmware update that 'doesn't fix issues'

Re: How many decent products and companies....

Not my experience with them. I have a QC25 brick at home - looking at getting an Indy to look at it as I understand the known design flaw is in the cables.