Posts by a pressbutton

Too little, too late: Intel's legacy is eroding

One sentence well worth the el reg subscription all by itself

"...and it just killed off Optane, which was arguably its most promising development in recent memory."

... brilliant.

Solana, Phantom blame Slope after millions in crypto-coins stolen from 8,000 wallets

Re: Surely

This is true

Some tulip bulbs sell for over £13 each.

They do look lovely

Hope Solana holders feel the same when looking at their holdings.

Lunchtime. Nice sunny day, going out for a solero. 60p

Pull jet fuel from thin air? We can do that, say scientists

*NOT* carbon neutral

The plant has to be built.

The fuel may be carbon-neutral, but once you factor in externalities, like the component manufacture, building, etc etc

This is not carbon neutral.

This is the sort of greenwash the greenies (quite rightly) accuse oilcos of.

Demand for smartphones is drying up

Re: Innovation

Note 8 owner too, battery not what it used to be too.

Tempted by S22/23 ultra, but from what I understand the camera, whilst miles ahead on headline specs, is not actually much better in real life.

I moved on from a note 4 because the Note 8 camera was much better.

So may not do anything other than get the battery replaced in a year's time.

Now-frozen crypto-lending biz Celsius accused of devolving into a Ponzi scheme

Re: A strange business model anyway

"I'm sure you do understand it. OTOH the entire operation seems to have depended on a ready supply of people who didn't and were prepared to back their lack of understanding with cash."

Most people do not understand that cash is only worth what you can exchange it for.

Happily almost no-one says "no, I want a kilo of jam" when offered £3.

Most people do not understand that crypto is only worth what you can exchange it for.

Unfortunately some people want more a lot $crypto when offered £3.

Trustless was not supposed to be interpreted like that but that is humanity for you.

AI's most convincing conversations are not what they seem

Intentionality

I like to think that you can measure sentience by assuming that things that are sentient want things.

That could be food or to reproduce or to be told a joke.

The unit of sentience is the complexity of behavior used to obtain what the sentient thing wants

Of course how you define that is interesting

As most can agree

Ant < Jackdaw

But how do you classify

Ant nest cf Jackdaw....

To be clear any known program needs to be fed (electricity) but will not try to manipulate its environment to be fed or fed more or reproduce.

So programs =0

... unless that is what they want me to think.

US Supreme Court puts Texas social media law on hold

Re: preclearance for unconstituional state laws?

I think you might find prop 3141 is almost 10 times better

Tech pros warn EU 'data adequacy' at risk if Brexit Britain goes its own way

“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from Boris's government and I’m here to help.’”

- ronald reagan didnt say that, but I would like to think he would have if he was around today

- citations include most of british business, northern ireland, a lot of ex-colleagues and Mrs zagari-ratcliffe

Re: "The way forward"

Magic beans are attached to castles in the sky.

Housing problems solved.

Re: Funny..

You mean like driving on one side of the road, disposing of toxic waste in a safe way etc etc?

Yes, some rules are stupid (though, please give real examples that are not based on journalistic fantasy (yes, you Johnson, lying toad))

But the GDPR regs broadly mean that my data is mine - that is a good thing imo. Whist they could be better, I have more chance of winning the lottery than this govt has of actually improving them.

Lawyers say changes to UK data law will make life harder for international businesses

So who is Dogbert?

Shareholders turn the screws on IBM and its gag orders

Re: "there was (and is) no systemic age discrimination at our company"

All those lawsuits are for individuals - one person at a time

So there can be no systemic discrimination

Even though so many of them rhyme

(I did not run out of words - Verse 2 is subject to an NDA)

MIT's thin plastic speakers fall flat. And that's by design

It sounds an awful lot like NXT.

Having a quick google indicates that the NXT technology has (possibly is) in use in noise cancelling fighter aircraft cockpits (wind noise)

It has been used in hifi products but does not seem to work well below 100hz, so you need a sub

It seems to compete well with electrostatics in good implementations

Currently it seems to be used in https://symphonova.com/technology/

Smart contract developers not really focused on security. Who knew?

Having read

https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/18/beanstalk_loses_182m_flash_loan/

I am amazed that an anonymous person can get a loan of $1*Bn* for a couple of days.

This may see a bit 'newbie' ... but how does this self-executing code self-execute.

Sounds like the code is embedded in the blockchain (data) - not clear how that code is actually 'run'

Guessing that there is a server somewhere that takes inputs - one of which is the blockchain - and conditionally does things based on other inputs.

What could go wrong.

Google Docs' AI-powered inclusive writing auto-correct now under fire

Re: know the unknowable

In this context you need to

-persuade the sender to actually send

-and also the receiver to do what you want.

Your comment implies the sender is the writer. Not so, Google is the writer and unless you send, there is no point.

know the unknowable

Alternatively, if enough data can be obtained on the sender and receiver, it is possible to generate something that is appropriate.

Just think what you could do with something that generated language fitted to your ears modeled as being from a trusted source

Godwins law in 7 comments.

say the unsayable

It looks like Google has one global 'right' answer here atm.

I am sure it will occur to them that this is not a spellchecker.

So they will attempt to segment the models...

...This can lead into a reverse facebook echochamber hell - your language will be corrected into more and more extreme shapes.

Just as people easily fall down rabbit holes of watching things with increasingly erm 'odd' views

I am sure people easily fall down rabbit holes of saying things with increasingly erm 'odd' speech

Growing US chip output an 'expensive exercise in futility', warns TSMC founder

Re: To paraphrase

I think the parent posts confuse the survival of the hive (capitalism) withe the survival of bees (capitalists)

They are sort of both right.

Huawei UK board members resign over silence on Ukraine invasion

element of hypocrisy and racism..

You may be partly right, but also partly wrong.

It is called the distance effect (Causing Death and Saving Lives by Jonathan Glover)

Basically you are more affected by things that happen closer to you

(in his example, in terms of physical distance)

I think it is also true culturally

and getting a bit 'you are partly right' (though one would hope otherwise) visually.

A tale of two dishwashers: Buy one, buy it again, and again

I thought everyone had at least 2 dishwashers

All the clean stuff in one and as you eat, put all the dirty stuff in the other.

When you run out of something in the clean one, move everything clean into to dirty one and set it off.

Repeat until warranty expires.

Also, a dishwasher is not much more than the price of a kitchen unit with drawers

HPE has 'substantially succeeded' in its £3.3bn fraud trial against Autonomy's Mike Lynch – judge

Re: Be wary of the word substantially

To me,

Substantially is in the range 70-90% sure

So, i expect 70-90% of the damages are payable

From reading the Reg's coverage, I put it at more like 10%.

IANAL though.

Autonomy founder's anti-extradition case is like saying Moon made of cheese, US govt tells UK court

Re: Buyers’ remorse _ Ferranti

Actuary : When?

Economist : It was 4 last time but the theory says 3.9

Tesla Full Self-Driving videos prompt California's DMV to rethink policy on accidents

Re: And they always pretend to be surprised

Well, they they have seen just about everything and were just stung by an elephant fly

so perhaps a bit credulous.

WebSpec, a formal framework for browser security analysis, reveals new cookie attack

Re: Coq theorem? Really?

I chickened out of making that joke

(he said typing with a glass of wine)

Google: We disagree with Sonos patent ruling so much, we've changed our code to avoid infringement

Re: Why didn't Google

"Too many large companies see the fines for breaking the law as a business cost because the fine is often less than the profits made."

+1

I put it to you that legal systems which have been 'owned' by large corps tend to specify fixed amounts of monetary damage.

Other systems have limits based on % of worldwide turnover, or whatever the jury says.

TBF the US seems to be a weird mix of both.

Re: Why didn't Google

This is a feature, not a bug

Corps - esp. public ones - are there to max their value for shareholders.

If the management of a corp does something like

-not filing patents where they obvsly could be

or

-not taking the least cost approach to infringement

they will be sued by the owners.

welcome to capitalism.

US distrust of Huawei linked in part to malicious software update in 2012

Re: Smellycat

It looks like you are stating that they are a dodgy propaganda outfit because some of their funding is from the US govt and they have not published stories that attack the US

... except on the home page I see

"US Soldiers Expose Nuclear Weapons Secrets Via Flashcard Apps"

which cannot be called flattering.

Intel's mystery Linux muckabout is a dangerous ploy at a dangerous time

Re: Paranoia?

Subscriptions are a bit of a loser

Out in the real world, Intel instantly loses a lot of its market - or exposes the keys that make the speedups work

Having hardware that needs to phone home removes Intel from the purchasing lists for

- Defense

- Govt

- Banking

- Infrastructure

- any security conscious Corporate

- any security conscious private person

If they provide one off keys, they will leak / be discovered in short order.

Computers cost money. We only make them more expensive by trying to manage them ourselves

Re: Two unmentioned benefits

"I was extremely surprised to be told that hardware is only bought when demand requires it."

Why: does your $employer buy hardware or services for which they do not foresee a need for in the short term?

Like any other outsource or not issue, there are four questions

1 Do lots of other people have the same / similar need

(is there a market to buy from)

2 Are my needs well defined / definable and 'standard'

(can I clearly state what I want)

3 Can the good / service be reliably delivered, is the good / service reliable

(can I rely on it being delivered and working)

4 Are my needs unlikely to change

(will the business process I am supporting change over the life of the good / service)

100% yes = outsource

100% no = buy it

There is a fifth

5 Is the cost of buying via a loan < cost of outsourcing over the useful life of the good / service.

But this one is a bit unneeded as if it is outsourceable (1-4 = mostly yes), it probably is cost efficient to outsource.

If this is really not so, I suggest you start touting your expertise / product.

Russia's orbital insanity is almost beyond redemption – but there's space for improvement

Re: Get it?

interested if they have.

ok...

Arguably agent orange on Vietnam although it was not designed not kill, it was designed to defoliate but was known to be poisonous.

it injured 1m-3m people and an unknown number of deaths.

it needs to be remembered that this was in the 60s and in an era where DDT was widely used

Ubuntu desktop team teases 'proof of concept' systemd on Windows Subsystem for Linux

for me, Cygwin is enough.

... i know it isnt true linux but it provide what I need

Zuck didn't invent the metaverse, but he's started a fight to control it

coming soon

... Apple Iprod

Zuckerberg wants to create a make-believe world in which you can hide from all the damage Facebook has done

Re: Anyone else think the "Metaverse" stuff is smoke and mirrors?

It isnt smoke and mirrors. It is an idea that was tested out and failed

Does anyone remember VRML?

Assange psychiatrist misled judge over parentage of his kids, US tells High Court

Re: How about ...

"at which point they are just another mouthpiece for whatever vested interest and deserve zero special exemptions."

... I can tell your dad reads the telegraph too.

Facebook's greatest misses: The five nastiest bits from recent leaks

Orwell overheard a time traveller

In 1984 there is a term "duckspeak"

... which is really close to "zuck talk"

BOFH: You. Wouldn't. Put. A. Test. Machine. Into. Production. Without. Telling. Us.

Re: Testing 1 2 3

When they refurbed my school, they found a very large amount of mercury under the chem lab floor.

Who knew that 80y of broken thermometers could add up to ?

Never mind the asbestos.

Apple beat Epic Games 9-1 in court. Now it's appealed the one point it lost

Re: Is it going to matter ?

Apple will always want its $

I suspect it will change the T&C somehow so that it is app-usage based

so not 30% of 10

but 10% of 10 every 'period'. Like SAAS but not.

More like

Apple App Store As a New Automated Simple Service Holistically Optimised Legally Enabled

(or "apple as an asshole" if you will.)

Clegg on its face: Facebook turns to former UK deputy PM to fend off damaging headlines

Clegg is useful until the s*** is so intense that only a high profile resignation will be enough to change the narrative.

At which point his services will be dispensed with. No one in facebook will blame him (publicly) but the departure will be _linked_.

Later on you may find him working for a cigarette manufacturer, or a shady regime. Other ex-pols have worn smooth the process chart of this for him over the years.

Catch of the day... for Google, anyway: Transatlantic Cornwall cable hauled ashore

Re: cable effort

What was wrong with a cantenna

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-make-a-wifi-antenna-out-of-a-pringles-can-nb/

Adding AI to everything won't make sense until we can use it for anything

Re: We have AI

Defn of intelligence

I want to see intentionality.

Re: We have AI

We dont have real AI.

Call me when the AI needs to tighten a screw, cant find a screwdriver so uses a kitchen knife.

Real AI that we can engage with and recognise as AI will be able to see and have a memory and hands and want things / to do things and talk and listen.

Everything labelled as AI so far is a pentalobe screwdriver - great if you need to do something with a pentalobe screw of that size.

Otherwise not.

Think you can solve the UK's electric vehicle charging point puzzle? The Ordnance Survey wants to hear about it

Re: new technology, new jobs

you could always charge from a portable diesel generator. that has the energy density and you could probable charge > 1 car at a time.

The answer to the charging problem is:

Do not ban ice cars

1 for ~90% of the population

a. Buses - lots of buses that are cheap. Really cheap and really frequent.

b. Ban ice cars from town and city centres

c. If you (still) need a car and have no place to park it, rent it.

2 for ~9% of the population who live in the countryside

a. Cars.

b. Park and ride if you want to go into a town / city and drive an ice car

3 for the ~1% who have houses in the town/city and country

I feel deep sympathy for you

but you and your friends will make a lot of money from the articles you will write complaining about the drawbacks in the papers etc.

Mirai-style IoT botnet is now scanning for router-pwning critical vuln in Realtek kit

and when it gets enough nodes they will include an alphago analog so it works out new vulns for them.

what could go wrong?

Epic lawsuit's latest claims: Google slipped tons of cash to game devs, Android makers to cement Play store dominance

Re: Sounds like this case could lead to bigger things

And the loser employs which of those two gifted individuals?

Russia: Forget about the Nauka incident. Who punched the hole in the Soyuz, hmm?

Re: The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight

Indeed.

You can generalise that to describe one of the main advantages the 'western' - sort of democratic - political system has over the 'eastern' - sort of undemocratic system (*)

When things go wrong, we change our leaders with v. little friction. This is not generally so on in undemocratic systems

There is a book "Why Nations Fail" by Acemoglu and Robinson. (from memory) they put forward the theory that it is the rule of law, good rules on the ownership of property, and the ruling class acting in a way that advantages all more than anything else. They do not include democracy.

... and thinking about that you could slightly reshape those principles to apply to a company and make a judgement on its prospects.

They did make reference to China and their view was not positive.

(*) yes there are eastern democracies / western autocracies, no I deliberately did not mention Trump

8 years ago another billionaire ploughed millions into space to harvest solar power and beam it back down to Earth

Re: Cool idea, but...

"It is really expenstive to put stuff into orbit"

True

So dont. Make it up there.

Here's 30 servers Russian intelligence uses to fling malware at the West, beams RiskIQ

Why couldnt they just ask politely

If Russia wanted a bit of help on researching a covid vaccine, pretty sure if they asked politely, someone would help.

Subcontractors working on CityFibre's £45m Derby rollout threaten to 'rip up tarmac' in dispute over payments

and for those reading this in 2 years time ...

People who believed govt announcements.