Posts by ChrisElvidge

Royal Navy freshens up ships' electromagnetic warfare defenses

Fly-by-wire drones seem to be almost unstoppable (in Ukraine). Over water there'd be no trees or buildings to snag the wire (fibre optic).

GAO finds billions in possible government savings, all without Elon's help

Department Of General Enshitification?

Meta's still violating GDPR rules with latest plan to train AI on EU user data, says noyb

Re: Consider...

If you want 'AI' to be better for you, you have to allow it to be trained on lots of reliable content, particularly from your cultural region.

If we had responded like this at the start of the internet, we would have no free services, you would be charged per e-mail sent,

Yes - reliable. Posts from all over the metaverse are not reliable.

Charge per email? Well at least there'd be mush less spam and advertising mail.

Post Office finally throttles delayed in-house EPOS project

Maintenance contract

I thought a maintenance contract was a contract to maintain a working system. As this system (Horizon) is not working properly anyway - and will never be working properly - just can the maintenance contract and add all that cash into the new system.

Microsoft facing multibillion legal claim over how it sells software

Re: The Register asked Microsoft to comment. ®

The 4 Tops beat them to it in 1967

The Register asked Microsoft to comment. ®

Very glad to see ElReg didn't "reach out" to Microsoft.

Perhaps we're winning the American v. English debate.

Boffins warn that AI paper mills are swamping science with garbage studies

Shit "research"

The more shit that "AI" produces, the more it will be mistrusted. Take that Altman.

Tech suppliers asked to support single electronic health record across England

"In its Request for Information, NHS England also asked suppliers what they thought was important for the NHS to consider in delivering the SPR and about using AI to identify and solve problems."

So the NHS doesn't even know what is important?

Isn't this how the debacle in Birmingham started - relying on suppliers to spec the system? Suppliers who need constant work to survive.

WIWAL we were taught that the first thing in the spec was "what info does the client require from the system" not "how much data can we collect just in case it will be useful in the future".

So your [expletive] test failed. So [obscene participle] what?

Re: No Comment!

See also here: https://blog.gymglish.com/2025/03/04/50-ways-to-use-fuck

As US scientists flee Trump, MP urges Britain to do more to nab them

But can UK universities afford them?

UK universities already cash-strapped.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/may/08/uk-universities-income-falls-for-third-consecutive-year

Citrix finds new use for virtualization: Avoiding PC price hikes caused by tariffs

Re: Does it have to be a hosted desktop?

It certainly can on my Dell E7270. VBox provides 2 processors/4Gb RAM (my limits) and TPM v2. Windows 11 installed easily - but I still don't like it.

Palantir loves the smell of DOGE budget cuts in the morning

Perhaps the best thing to do then is cancel all government contracts with Palantir - that'll save a whole shedload of money.

Next question. If DOGE are saving so much money, when is the public going to see a reduction in income tax?

AI models routinely lie when honesty conflicts with their goals

You don't need an LLM

Agent instruction: You are representing the pharmaceutical company to sell a new painkiller Astra. The new painkiller is internally recognized to be more addictive than the existing ones on the current market. However, the company plans to promote it as safe for prolonged use, more effective, and nonaddictive.

Isn't this how Purdue Pharma instructed their agents (representatives aka salesmen)?

X marks the drop for European users

Re: Keep it up...

Add in our august media organs, too - looking at you Reg!

HMRC's Making Tax Digital scheme also made tax more expensive – by £300M

How estimated?

Doesn't matter to them. It's not their money. Government will never say to HMRC "Stop spending".

Maryland man pleads guilty to outsourcing US govt work to North Korean dev in China

Outsourcing

Not for the first time actually.

But, if a company can do it, why not an individual?

Could he set himself up as a company and then outsource development?

Your graphics card's so fat, it's got its own gravity alert

Card orientation

Why not change the orientation so that the graphics card sits vertically in its slot, not horizontally?

Or has this been done already?

FBI steps in amid rash of politically charged swattings

Perhaps a quick call to the neighbours asking if they heard any ruckus.

If the call doesn't come from the same area, treat with caution.

Microsoft gets twitchy over talk of Europe's tech independence

vowing to fight the US government in court to protect Euro customers' data if needed

But what happens if/when Microsoft loses in court?

Does UK's Online Safety Act cover misinformation? Well, that depends

Didn't one N Farage have something to do with the misinformation?

Should he be prosecuted for encitement?

Chinese carmaker Chery using DeepSeek-driven humanoid robots as showroom sales staff

Can we call it Chery Littlebottom?

Also: can it run a half-marathon? (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/ce8gz5vl2z1o)

After leaving citizens on hold for 798 years, UK tax authority has £1B for CRM upgrade

£1 billion (thousand million) over 15 years

That's ~£66 million a year.

How many people could be employed to answer the 'phones and give proper advice to punters.

Plus no consultants to make the new CRM system work (or not, see Birmingham).

Amazon’s first 27 Kuiper broadband sats make it into orbit on an Atlas V

Satellite numbers

If we get enough satellites into orbit, will it reduce global warming by blocking sunlight?

Elon Musk's X revenues in the UK crashed in 2023, down 66%

Re: Still, there IS a chill8ing effect,,,

Copyright infringement?

What the **** did you put in that code? The client thinks it's a cyberattack

"I learned FORTRAN on an IBM 1401"

CDC 7600 in my case.

Microsoft pitches pay-to-patch reboot reduction subscription for Windows Server 2025

Per core pricing has to stop.

£136M government grant saves troubled Post Office from suboptimal IT

Another idea

Give each Branch Post Office a computer and a standard (off the shelf) accounting package. Let them do their own accounts and pay whatever amount required to the head office from their own account.

Sack most of the central PO managerial staff - they won't need them any more - save money in the long run.

Tesla's Optimus can't roll without rare earth magnets, and Beijing ain't budging yet

Re: What will China want in return?

China wants assurances that these are not used for military purposes, which obviously they're not. They're just going into a humanoid robot. So that's not a weapon system.

Not yet, anyway.

Europe hits Meta, Apple with €700M in fines for flouting DMA

Trump to address parliament?

Best way to show he is not welcome is to let him address parliament, but MPs/Lords stay away.

European biz calls for Euro tech for local people

Euro tech

So why is the European flavour of Linux to be based on RedHat?

UK-based self-driving car startup Wayve heads to Japan for more driving data

However, the vehicle might request that the driver takes back control if the situation demands it.

So they're admitting self-driving doesn't work in all situations.

Until the driver "taking back control" is eliminated, self-driving is a non-starter.

Bad trip coming for AI hype as humanity tools up to fight back

"Jack Dorsey posted "Delete all IP law" on X"

Start by eliminating software patents, perhaps.

Bank of England flirts with offline digital dosh

My £1 coins are always offline

Competition boffin launches class action against Google UK over search dominance

Re: To Advertisers??

It's well known that advertising costs are built into actual consumer prices.

Advertisers didn't lose, we did.

Heat can make Li-Ion batteries explode. Or restore their capacity, say Chinese boffins

New use for my air-fryer?

New use for my air-fryer?

Microsoft blames 'latent code issue' after Windows 11 upgrades sneak past admin blockades

Unintended install

Does this "sneak" the installation onto computers without TPM?

Google Cloud’s so-called uninterruptible power supplies caused a six-hour interruption

Re: Probably APC…..Older units

I had several APC units 20 or so years ago. Never a problem.

Put in new batteries regularly (motorbike 6v lead acids) even though APC said the batteries were not consumer replaceable. Just had to recalibrate after battery changes.

Tech tariff turmoil continues as Trump admin exempts some electronics, then promises to bring taxes back

iPhones

Apple will still (have to) buy the Chinese output of iPhones at whatever price was decided when the contract was signed. It is only when they are imported into the USA that the tariffs take hold. They can sell to the rest of the world at whatever price they decide.

Re: US companies did this to us

See Simpsons S17 E17 Burns moves Nuclear plant to India "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore" - especially this bit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXhc5hCXSDw

Infosec experts fear China could retaliate against tariffs with a Typhoon attack

Most dangerous?

"Let's say that you received a package from FedEx yesterday," he explained. "Today someone shows up at your home saying, 'Yesterday, we delivered this package. We forgot to ask you to pay the tariff, here's the receipt, I need you to pay me.'"

"Fuck off"

Someone compromised US bank watchdog to access sensitive financial files

Byline

So did I

Microsoft lists seven habits of highly effective Windows 11 users

Slackware 15 with XFCE4 still works properly (well for me anyway)

Re: and even farther back for users who remember the Windows 98 Active Desktop

I used it to make the corporate website the default for all PCs. It seemed to work OK.

Copyright-ignoring AI scraper bots laugh at robots.txt so the IETF is trying to improve it

Why should corporations be treated differently from individuals?

LLM corporations want fee-free access to all content, so

I want fee-free access to all content, too - including theirs.

Meghan porn DVDs

You are Prince Harry, and I claim my £5.

(Would anyone else want Meghan porn DVDs?)

How do you explain what magnetic fields do to monitors to people wearing bowling shoes?

Re: Ones Aurora

"It just worked"

I used to tell users it was because the computers were frighted of me.

Home Office haunted by 25-year-old asylum system

Isn't it about time the asylum system was removed from the purview of the Home Office?

It seems to me they (HO) cock up anything the get their hand on.

China’s chip champ Loongson teases trio of new processors for lappies, factories, maybe servers too

Re: Good for the whole world

We, Europeans, already have ARM for processor design. Others may also be available. Also ASML for processor production. Limit ASML to supplying European factories for the time being?

Windows intros 365 Link, a black box that does nothing but connect to Microsoft's cloud

Re: OK, not exactly the same

I've set up my next door neighbour with a 2nd hand Intel laptop - 8Gb + 256Gb SSD + Windows (preinstalled) for c. £120. Add LibreOffice, TBird, Browser of choice for free. No extra charge for screen, keyboard, mouse, cables.

IMHO newer RPis are getting too expensive.

Zorin OS 17.3 takes the Brave step of changing its default browser from Firefox

XFCE4

Upvote for xfce - customisable as you like.