Posts by localzuk

Unless things change, first zettaflop systems will need nuclear power, AMD's Su says

I'm not sure that applies to supercomputer use cases. As far as I know, researchers using them work hard to optimise their code, as they are time limited when granted access to those machines etc...

The clock is ticking on a possible US import ban for Apple Watch

Re: Pat ain't ...

You can't patent someone using knowledge to analyse data.

You potentially can patent software that does it. Well, in the USA anyway, where software is patentable (absurdly).

Google staff asked to share desk space in latest cost purge

American Capitalism - Greed

Profit of $59.9 billion in a year. Apparently that's so bad they need to sack 12,000 people and make people share desks. Ridiculous to say the least.

Results are in for biggest 4-day work week trial ever: 92% sticking with it

A levels...

Back when I did A level business studies, one of the topics discussed as about improving workplace efficiency. It being quite some time ago now, I have no idea what the references are for it, but there were studies that showed that productivity will improve when you introduce new schemes and incentives. Eg. people feel more valued when they get better lighting and chairs, so they work more effectively.

However, the same studies showed that taking those things away again didn't reduce productivity by anywhere as much as it increased.

I suspect with this scheme, we're seeing similar. If the businesses went back to 5 day weeks, but kept the other small changes - reduced meetings etc, then I'd guess they would see an increase in productivity close to an extra day's work.

Just don't let the managers catch on.

Save $7 million on cloud by spending $600k on servers, says 37Signals' David Heinemeier Hansson

Re: AWS is looking old

Obviously, this will very much depend on your organisation, but here in our org we have bought 3 refurbished servers recently, with 3 year advance warranties with NBD delivery of parts etc. This provides us 84 cores, 576GB RAM, and 36TB of (brand new, not refurb) SSD storage, plus 40GBe networking for less than £10k. Set up in a hyper-converged manner, we will get about 56 cores, 384GB and 24TB of actual use out of them. Doing the same in AWS or Azure? Would bankrupt us.

You mean?

Outsourcing everything isn't cheaper than running your own kit? Shocked. Shocked!

You know, I'd hazard a guess that having their own inhouse expertise rather than outsourcing the hosting to Deft as well... Having that in-house expertise is an intangible benefit as well (though, the bean counters rarely seem to take that into account).

Honestly, at this point I'm really surprised that any large organisation uses public cloud offerings. For SME's with relatively small numbers of employees, it makes total sense - you don't necessarily have the scale to build out everything you need in house. But when you are spending millions on SaaS/IaaS, I'd happily bet money that you could save a chunk of cash by building out your own setup instead.

White Castle collecting burger slingers' fingerprints looks like a $17B mistake

Re: ...and just how are people expected to log into a system?

That is not active consent. That is forced consent.

Having your biometric data processed is not a necessity to getting your payslips. There's billions of people, the majority in fact, that get them without such tech invasion.

Therefore, you need consent to use such a system (at least, that's what the law being discussed here says. Same as numerous other data protection and privacy laws around the world).

Forced consent is not actually consent.

Re: ...and just how are people expected to log into a system?

Simple way to tell if an identification identity for a minor task is invasive - remember that a password, PIN, 2FA fob can all be changed. You cannot change your fingerprints or face. The risk of breach/damage to the end user is too high for the reason the invasive technology is being used.

Regardless, the key here is active consent. None was gained, it was just enforced.

Re: Only the first one counts?

You're forgetting one key thing. Rules apply to little people. Steal a $10 item from a store, face prison. A company stealing $10m via fraud? Slap on the wrist.

A tip for content filter evaluators: erase the list of sites you tested, don't share them on 100 PCs

All you're confirming is that you didn't work either in the era being discussed, or with the technology being discussed.

It was very common to image using the same key for many machines - MS really only cared that you had an equal number of licenses to the number of devices you had.

99 year old man says cryptocurrency is for idiots

Re: Semiconducters

I'd tweak that with "he was speaking from a short term investors point of view".

Re: Semiconducters

Exactly this. The shortages the world has faced recently have been for those semiconductors used in all sorts of every day things - eg cars. Not the latest and greatest high tech stuff.

Re: "Always"

"Only invest in semiconductors if you are in for the long run (6 years at least)"

Exactly. The issue at hand, I think, is the culture of "earning a quick buck" through investments.

Semiconducters

He might be right about semiconductors being a capital intensive industry, but he seems to have missed the bit about them being a key strategic industry for every country on the planet. No semiconductors and the world economy falls apart.

The diversification away from just relying on TSMC in Taiwan is not just because of the threat from China, but also due to the other disruptions to global supply chains that have shown there's a massive weakness in this area. Semiconductors are a necessity, and countries need to treat them as such.

Which means, ultimately, semiconductor manufacturers should be a fairly safe bet. Maybe not Intel and AMD with their consumer focused stuff, but fabs like TSMC are a good bet - they're always going to be earning themselves a profit.

DigitalOcean waves goodbye to 11 percent of staff

Eh?

So, they made nearly $100m profit (before tax) and they think that means they need to cut the workforce? Are companies cutting back on cloud hosting then?

I will never understand US companies. Cutting your workforce even though you're making huge profits seems like a great way to drive customers away, and make talent look elsewhere due to the perception of job insecurity.

Microsoft switches Edge’s PDF reader to pay-to-play Adobe Acrobat

Re: The replies make me laugh

I'd say your analysis is partly right, but partly wrong.

Look at something like search. Google created a significantly better system and everyone jumped ship. This wasn't ineptitude of the market leaders, but being outclassed.

Same with Chrome vs other browsers.

Same with Apple and its iPhone vs other phones.

Spotify and streaming audio vs iTunes downloads, iTunes downloads vs CDs.

These are "inept" moves by existing companies, but disruption in the market. It just so happens there hasn't been anyone to come along and disrupt the markets Adobe and Microsoft are in.

The replies make me laugh

All the comments in this section make me laugh. People outright stating that MS and Adobe have never made good software.

Of course. That's why both companies are effectively kings of their respective industries. No good software there.

You might not like their software. You might think they make too many mistakes during their releases, with bugs and security holes, but the people that use their software seem to like it - else someone else would've come along and unseated both of them.

Re: I don't understand why we still use PDF

Designers are necessary. Creating a usable experience is important - you may be able to deal with things not looking the same all the time, but a lot of people cannot. All sorts of disabilities exist, and consistency of design is incredibly useful to many.

Not to mention simple productivity - knowing your document/form is going to be the same on every system it is opened will allow much improved productivity - as you can provide support/guidance for it easily.

Let's play a game: Deepfake news anchor or a real person?

Re: Content or Presentation?

I'd go one step further in the case of the BBC. Its content is often simple propaganda to gain favour with the ruling party. Today, that's the Tories, but it changes depending on who's in power.

Apple complains UK watchdog wants to make iOS a 'clone' of Android

Re: You missed the point

Allowing choice does not prevent you from sticking with the defaults. That's kinda the whole point.

Re: But...

If a standard has been agreed by W3C, and a browser doesn't implement them, and developers therefore don't test against that browser, that is hardly the fault of the other browser(s) for implementing them...

We don't want to end up in a situation where you MUST test sites in a bunch of browsers because they implement things so differently that there's no point in standards in the first place. That way leads us back to IE6 era nonsense.

The Balthazar laptop: An all-European RISC-V Free Hardware computer

Re: Odd designs

I agree, space bars are a slightly difficult design compared to smaller keys. However, they're a problem that have been solved since forever at this point.

I don't think you can frame the choice as the result of a technical challenge.

The only other reason for this design that I can think of would be cost saving but I cannot see how it could be, the entire keyboard can't be looked at as some form of cost saving - manufacturers pump out millions of laptop keyboards all the time - using a custom layout like this is likely to cost more to make than going for something much closer to a standard layout. I can't help thinking it is designed in the way it is simply to be "different".

Odd designs

Why do projects like this end up with weird looking designs? OLPC was the same.

Why do they think making something that looks either like a child's toy, or something rendered by someone the first time they tried Blender, is good? Surely it reduces the appeal of the entire project?

Bank of England won't call it Britcoin but says digital pound 'likely to be needed in future'

So, what exactly is it?

As far as I can tell, it is a crypto currency with a centrally governed ledger, and regulated wallet providers.

So... a bank account system.

If the wallets have to be regulated and only approved companies can run them, what's different to current bank accounts exactly?

The only difference I can see is that the transaction would be regulated and potentially fed via the BoE's systems, rather than just bank to bank, via one of the many existing money transfer systems - fast transfer, BACS, etc...

Microsoft boffins contemplate equipping Excel with AI

Re: Hello, I'm Clippy.

Come now. This is Microsoft we're talking about. This would be a prime chance for an upsell!

"You could do this more efficiently if you used an Azure SQL database, click here to start a trial!"

Re: aand what about security; reqs to store and handle locally and on certain devices

Honestly, I think the problem is 2 fold.

Firstly, the name. Everything is being called AI. None of it is AI really. Not in the sense people think. AI makes most people think of, well, iRobot or Terminator. But what our current "AI" is, is effectively an automated mesh of "if/then" or "switch" operators, built automatically (clearly more complicated than this but this is my way of thinking about it). Its the same issue as Tesla's "full self drive" system. Which isn't.

The other part is the persistent behaviour of the big name companies in slurping all our data and then selling it back to us as a service, or to others. Once burnt, twice shy.

Realistically, at this point, if you want total control of your data? Move away from MS and Google. Move to something on your own systems. OpenOffice or similar. Only way to be sure really.

Wikimedia Foundation confirms, and bemoans, Pakistan ban

Re: Strangely torn

That's just the thing... A country's laws do stop at its borders (well, unless you're the USA). The country in this case is saying Wikipedia's information is against their laws, and inside their borders it is blocked and illegal.

Re: What's the point?

So, what you're saying is, you don't actually use the site and haven't any idea how it works?

Wikipedia has a basic rule - everything needs to to have a citation from reliable publications. Hence "Citation Needed" being a common refrain.

There was a study comparing Wikipedia with the Encyclopaedia Britannica and the result was that they 2 were on par with each other for accuracy - with each having 4 errors.

Re: Strangely torn

That doesn't work though. There's too many things that aren't illegal in other countries.

Eg. certain countries ban certain topics - eg in the UK we ban any site that is engaged in "piracy". Certain speech is illegal here (eg. hate speech, threats etc), but in the USA such speech is much less restricted due to the first amendment.

So, such a rule would be rather limiting.

School laptop auction devolves into extortion allegation

Re: Investigating RDA ?

Such headlines and investigations would certainly lead to lawsuits by the company against the papers and the state.

"STATE BULLIES COMPANY WHO TRIED TO DO THE RIGHT THING" is also a good headline.

Chinese surveillance balloon over US causes fearful gasbagging

Re: Difficult

Eh? Referring to weaponry from literally over 100 years ago, vs the variety of incendiary weaponry we have today?

Re: Difficult

Unless they use hydrogen of course. Those are really easy to bring down.

Atos and Nest part company two years into 18-year £1.5bn contract

Re: Another waste of UK tax payers money?

This is something else that has always annoyed me. Why do the government need to outsource these basic functions anyway? Surely building the talent inside the govt would be better?

But then, its all about ideology at that point - both modern Labour and the Tories think everything should be outsourced and "profit making".

Re: Another waste of UK tax payers money?

I can't help feeling that the government needs a department specifically to scope projects out. Someone who sits in between departments and suppliers.

So, when, say HMRC says they want a new tax system, they first engage the scoping department. That department then does all the work figuring out exactly what HMRC want, and when its all written down, and signed off by HMRC and Scoping, it can then go out to tender.

The potential for moving targets can be built into the scoping, and therefore suppliers would be aware of it and include those potential costs.

But... I suspect this wouldn't work, as departments don't like being told what to do.

Three seconds of audio could end up costing Fox $500,000

Re: Fire in this Crowded Theater!

Happiness is irrelevant. We live in civilisations/societies. Without believing in the supernatural, the buck stops with us.

And even if you do believe in a god of some form, they don't appear to get involved with our daily struggles, so the buck still stops with us whilst we're alive.

So, a right is only a right, if the rest of civilisation agree it is.

Re: Fire in this Crowded Theater!

Rights are defined by society. Those definitions are generally called laws.

So, yes, society does grant you the right to exist or not.

Re: Fire in this Crowded Theater!

Again... it depends on jurisdiction. We don't all live in the USA.

And even then, in the USA, there's a case listed on the Wikipedia page about this topic showing a man was arrested in 1884 for doing exactly this.

And yes, there are laws against inducing panic. For example, in Ohio, 2006 Revised Code - 2917.31

Re: Fire in this Crowded Theater!

What's untrue? I don't have a subscription to that site?

There have been multiple people prosecuted for shouting fire in a theatre. Depending on your jurisdiction, the punishment can be severe.

In the US, it is called "Inducing panic".

Re: Fire in this Crowded Theater!

By which definition? The UN Article 19 has limitations. As does the EHCR Article 10.

Even in the USA, where first amendment rights are talked of often, there are limitations. This article being an example of one of them.

Other examples - threatening someone, the classic "shouting fire in a theatre", etc...

Freedom of speech is not absolute.

Re: Fire in this Crowded Theater!

Freedom of speech is not unlimited. It cannot be.

Techies ask PM to 'prepare UK chip strategy as a matter of urgency'

Re: @localzuk

Its interesting, as you've stated a number of things there that at first read seem realistic. But, like reading a response from ChatGPT, as soon as you dig deeper you realise just how flawed they are.

Japan has its own issues - decades of stagnating economy. Aging population etc... They have their own crises to deal with.

The BoE had to specifically prop up pension funds. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/pension-schemes-may-have-needed-employer-support-without-boe-intervention-2022-10-12/

That is not the same as the long running "propping up" of the UK economy since 2008. And your grasp of govt borrowing is slim to say the least. The BoE creates money. It doesn't necessarily have to be paid back. The consequence of creating that money can be increased inflation. However, the inflation we're seeing today is not related to that money - but instead is due to lack of supply of goods due to Covid, Brexit and the Ukraine war.

We have low taxes in comparison with history. Investment happens when investors feel they can make a profit - regardless of tax levels. If an investor feels they couldn't make a profit due to tax, then their business idea is not good enough to be in this country, simply put. It means they don't think they should pay their fair share for the profits they wish to gain.

Even the IMF says trickle down doesn't work...

The pound plunged dramatically after Truss's govt announced their mini-budget. Other currencies didn't.

You appear to have a bit of a poor memory.

Re: The only question is...

Rather partial to scampi myself...

Liz, is that you?

You can count the number of people who thought Truss' policies were good on one hand. They forced us to the brink of recession in a month. Pensions almost collapsed. The BoE had to intervene to prop things up. Tax cuts for the rich? That isn't pro-growth. Its trickle down economics. And that has been repeatedly, thoroughly, debunked as nonsense. Sterling plunged to its lowest level against the dollar - meaning investors saw the UK as a giant risk. Not an investment opportunity.

We already have one

A chip strategy that is. You can get them in supermarkets frozen, or at your local chippie with copious amounts of salt and not quite vinegar.

Or, you can make em at home!

What is Google doing with its open source teams?

Re: "it's not the administrative and marketing staff making that kind of money"

Nothing innovating since the search engine? Really?

It completely changed online ad marketing. Gmail completely changed "free" email services (remember your old 20MB quotas?). Google Apps was launched in 2006, and that was incredibly innovative. Google Chrome? Went from being non-existent to dominating the browser market - eventually entirely killing IE. Android? Google Maps? Street View? Translate?

Google's innovations are a long list.

It just happens to be their list of total flops is much longer, and seems to overshadow their achievements in everyone's minds.

Experts warn of steep increase in Java costs under changes to Oracle license regime

Re: Really ?

May I refer you to the article upon which you have posted comment about why people have a problem with Ellison? Bait and switch appears to be his bread and butter.

Global network outage hits Microsoft: Azure, Teams, Outlook all down

Re: Downtime?

"It's cheaper than the cost to your organization of CloudyServiceX downtime."

That depends on the organisation. For a lot of smaller organisations, no, it isn't. Support costs a lot of money.

Re: Downtime?

So you've not heard of backup MX servers then? MX records are explicitly designed to have backup solutions.

Re: Downtime?

You can do ALL of that with "cloudy stuff" as well. Don't mistake most organisations putting all their eggs in one basket as the only way of using cloud services.

Microsoft shells out for 2.5GW of solar. Not that it'll make a big dent in its emissions

Re: Hmmm...

If we jump down that rabbit hole, how far do you go? Is Tesco responsible for the energy I use to cook my dinner when I buy the ingredients from them?