Posts by Caesarius

Crooks threaten to leak 3B personal records 'stolen from background check firm'

Problem with link in article

The link is https...www.nationalpublicdata.com...optout.html

My browser received text that included this:

"Why have I been blocked?

This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data."

And then I was invited to ask why I was blocked, submitting what must be some of my personal data.

Please check whether you want to remove that link from the article.

A new version of APT is coming to Debian 12

Wasn't this the whole point with microprocessors?

"it's cheaper to use a non-dedicated, general-purpose chip, running some small specialized program to enable it to do its job"

But no problems. Just saying.

Windows Subsystem for Linux now packaged as a Microsoft Store app

Re: Uninstalled wsl2 today

Is there a way to force mac adresses? Obviously I can do this with VMs. (I will look this up, but an answer here may be quicker.)

NASA builds for keeps: Voyager mission still going after 45 years

Re: The real multiplier is not power or speed but signal to noise ratio

QRP

Intel's Gelsinger talks up 'systems foundry' era of trillion-transistor chips

Re: Heating

My first thought was "how are they going to get the excess heat out of these things? I thought that was the limiting factor, but I may need to research this better.

(Icon only applies for its intrinsic appearance)

One to watch: Open-source code that measures your exposure to CCTV

BTW, what does CCTV stand for?

It used to be Closed Circuit TeleVision, but I expect most of these cameras are linked using WiFi. We could have a competition, and I might suggest Continuous Coverage TeleVision, but most people will not even stop to think what it stands for.

Europe considers making it law that your boss can’t bug you outside of office hours

Soberish

Surely it is well known that there is an optimal level of blood alcohol for coding?

One place I visited...

... did not have a minimum number of hours to work. They grinned when they said that if they came in only an hour a day the their boss would have a word. Thinking about it now, that is actually giving the management rather a lot of licence.

+1 for "24/7/52"

Re: In an emergency

"Marketing and HR - we all know they're evil"

That is my default opinion, but I made a point of thanking the lady in HR who negotiated our medical insurance package. I knew she took it seriously, and I have needed it over and over.

Excel Hell: It's not just blame for pandemic pandemonium being spread between the sheets

We need a route to using better tools. When a friend wants a pc setup, we could install Ubuntu and see if they notice the difference. When a project starts at work, specify the tools for the project. Nudge towards better things.

But this may be hopelessly slow. Any other ideas?

Blockchain study finds 0.00% success rate and vendors don't call back when asked for evidence

Re: There's a non filler talk on that topic

I remember the term "content-free" in these cases.

WannaCry vanquisher Marcus Hutchins pleads not guilty to flogging banking trojan Kronos

Revenge

In stopping WannaCry, he will have cost someone a lot of revenue. I wonder if they had a hand in his arrest?

'I found the intern curled up on the data centre floor moaning'

Strange phone call at work

I received a call that the switchboard had put through to me because the name matched. The garage told me that my car was ready, but my car was not in for repair. It turned out that the car owner lived a dozen miles from me. So how did they get my work number, since there was nothing to link me to the company (so soon after joining, and, in 1983, so no Internet presence)?

Bond villains lament as Wicked Lasers withdraw death ray

Re: Repellent

BTW, a sonic repellent needs a lower frequency when used to keep deer out of my friend's orchard.

I like the idea of a kill-o-zap death ray in the garden for use against various pests, but then I could not actually use it.

I used to try aggressive means to deter neighbourhood cats, but, when I gave in and was kind to them, they started using my small garden as a sun lounge, and kept it clean.

Will Europe's ISPs unmask anonymous IP infringers?

Where in the chain of communication

Copyright is more to do with making content available, like if I put all the Harry Potter books online for people to download (1). Otherwise, why not go after the people who laid the cables.

As I always say, the internet is the very best and the very worst of anarchy.

(1) I'm still annoyed that "view with browser" and "download" are distinguished: how else can anyone view something with their browser?

Infosec geniuses hack a Canon PRINTER and install DOOM

Do not blaspheme against the mighty XOR

Don't blame the XOR. If I were to use a one-time pad to apply a sequence of bytes to my data using XOR, my code would be unbreakable. Therefore XOR is not a weak link. You'd have trouble managing such keys to cover unlimited data, but that isn't the XOR's fault.

You might as well say that the processor can't be expected to do much, because it's only manipulating a bag of bits using very simple operations.

New Snowden leak: US and Brit spooks 'tap into German telco networks to map end devices'

Technical Limitations

I remember looking at James Bond etc., where someone is bundled into the boot of a car and driven to the other side of a mountain range. Fortunately, he has a beacon inserted into his person, and his friends can monitor his position, to the nearest metre, at a range of a hundred miles. Oh my, how we laughed at such fiction, barely managing to suspend disbelief.

But I do not hear myself laughing at Treasure Map.

Profitless Twitter: We're looking to raise $1.5... yes, billion

Judging the value of content

The internet has a very large quantity of worthless drivel, but enough interesting material to make it worth the effort of getting involved.

Some parts have a high concentration of goodness, like The Register (1).

Others have a low concentration of goodness, like Facebonk (just my prejudice?!).

My impression is that Twitter is not significantly worse than the internet generally, but that isn't a very good reason to invest in it.

(1) If El Reg doesn't pay me for this, then I'm deleting it. Mutter mutter mutter.

Leak of '5 MEELLLION Gmail passwords' creates security flap

"up to three years old"

"Our analysis reveals that there is substantial evidence that this data is up to three years old and primarily [linked to the] geographical catchment area [of] the United States and England, but [we've] also confirmed [a] dozen Danish Gmail accounts"

If the data is 3 years old then they haven't got my recent password. If the data is 0 years old then they might have it. If the data is up to 3 years old then they might have it. So to my mind that makes the "3 years" entirely irrelevant.

"the data is probably three years old" FYTY?

(Like the retail outlet headline "up to 50% off", which actually includes the case where there is no reduction at all, and so the claim is annoyingly content-free.)

Microsoft introduces text search … for videos!

I bet the NSA (et al) already have this facility

Well, they would, wouldn't they.

IT jargon is absolutely REAMED with sexual double-entendres

Poetic style to reduce innuendo?

Perhaps we could avoid embarrassment if we used quite a different style of error message. My favourite is haiku, see Salon Magazine competition (which I could only find using the archive site).

On the other hand ... oh sod it. I mean, bugger. Perhaps I need to wash my mouth out...

That's why this icon is used so many times. Mine's the unwashed waterproof ...

(I need help. Shit. I mean...)

Nude celeb pics wrongly blamed for DDOS at New Zealand's largest ISP

Nice for a change...

...to hear of a site managed well enough not to crash, not to leak details, etc., even though it was bound to suffer with that scale of attack. I suppose it's not normally news unless a site goes horribly wrong.

And so back to lures of the flesh ;-)

Judge: Google class action 'usual suspects' cash-fling 'smells'

Is it just me...

...or does anyone else remember feeling just a tiny bit of foreboding when they committed any personal data to the big uncontrollable out-there?

OH SNAP: Getty Images sues Microsoft over Bing pics widget

Re: Bizarre

I'm sure I read about Microsoft conning art galleries into selling the rights to use images of the paintings at scandalously low prices, but I can't find a link quickly.

So just having the copyright is not sufficient to convince me that they are behaving honourably.

Flaming heck! Watchdog scolds Apple Mac, iPad fab in staff safety probe

Falling between two stools

Actually seven stools: I can imagine the seven companies named all hesitating to make changes, because none is the majority user. That's a possible explanation, not an excuse.

So it's interesting that Apple is singled out for blame. Like Gray Ham said, what about the other companies?

PHABBA-DABBA-DOO! Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Edge, Gear VR – feast your eyes

Re: just turn it upside down @Malcolm 1

Not only should you turn it upside down, but it should realise what you are doing and adjust the graphics to suit. I'm sure that's been done before somewhere...

Govt waves stick at pirate-friendly Google search

Don't shoot the messenger

I agree with Khaptain: leave the search engines alone. We know that Google can manipulate the results, but we'd much rather that they didn't.

And yet there are ways for someone to manipulate search engines to promote their site, so we want Google to intervene, which is manipulation.

Does this mean that we should shoot the messenger? Difficult.

If you think 3D printing is just firing blanks, just you wait

Re: Imagine if you could print the kits @ Alistair

Hang on: the fun is in assembling the kit into a model, and the benefit for the supplier is that he can "stock" everything ever supplied.

Re: Title goes here: "[something] a bit more, well, 3D really"

Actually, even 2D is only 1D most of the time. And, in a CRT, it's only 0D in some sense.

I suppose something like a Star Trek transporter would be truly 3D? Assuming that the info wasn't transmitted serially...

Google flushes out users of old browsers by serving up CLUNKY, AGED version of search

Re: Tell them why (was Re: Yay, usable maps again)

No! Don't tell them! I have this horrible feeling that they will take away our toys more effectively.

Too bad. The cat's out of the bag.

'I think photographers get TOO MUCH copyright for their work'

Re: Arlo (@ downvoters)

Oh come on: you can't possibly downvote a reference to father rapers just because ST7 forgot to fly the the JokeAlert flag!

Community chest: Storage firms need to pay open-source debts

Re: Real coding!

@Martin

Perhaps there is some non-standard stuff before the partition table, or something missing.. Try photorec which looks for stuff on corrupted disks: it might find the start of something usable.

'Stop dissing Google or quit': OK, I quit, says Code Club co-founder

Re: ...workers could hire and fire their doctors.

"The Great Unwashed"

We need less U.S. in our WWW – Euro digital chief Steelie Neelie

Timescales

"Last March, the US announced that it would work towards a multi-stakeholder model of governance by autumn next year."

"The Commission will also want to talk about future funding for the IGF secretariat, whose mandate runs out in 2015 and which relies on voluntary funding."

Let's review this in, say, ten months. No? You won't exist then? Pity.

Now that's FIRE WIRE: HP recalls 6 MILLION burn-risk laptop cables

Wire Terminations Re: Its OK, I have a Samsung...

In my experience, poor terminations are the most dangerous. Thin wire will distribute the dissipation along the cable; a break in thin copper midway will soon burn itself out, but, I expect, without setting fire to the insulation; a termination tends to be where more substantial conductors can withstand more current and temperature rise (1). It is too easy to crimp badly and then hide the mess in a block of plastic.

(1) c.f. arc welding

How the mighty are fallen Re: Thanks, El Reg

I remember HP being the proud manufacturers of electronic test equipment, always our first choice. HP 8640, anyone? (1) And then they chose to split their business: The old and thoroughly reputable test equipment side got a new name, Agilent (we resented it bitterly); The burgeoning PC and printer side retained the Hewlett Packard name.

So it is ironic (2) that their hardware (or some of it) is cheap and poor quality. Sigh.

(1) If you don't know what one of these is, you're too young. But that's my point.

(2) It is also ironic that I can't do colour here. Or did Proud Mr Bronze Badge miss something?

Hello, police, El Reg here. Are we a bunch of terrorists now?

Re: The problem is

The problem is that the media is generally painting this as "brown people far away" while ignoring the growing number of British citizens travelling out there to join ISIS...

Government policy and the media narrative are threatened by this video. People might start to think something other than what they're meant to think.

Well, that makes sense. But how about looking at it like this:

"They" must know that prohibiting viewing the video will make people watch it all the more. So that would mean that "they" are not afraid of it. Perhaps it is preferred that people associate evil with extremism, rather than with "brown people far away" or Muslims at home. Or is that too sensible?

(I've been trying out theories of reverse psychology quite a lot today. I think I'll go and lie down.)

Re: Science is about how, religion is about why.

That's always what I say.

Re: Two girls and a cup

http://xkcd.com/467/

Kate Bush: Don't make me HAVE CONTACT with your iPHONE

Re: heard similar please before

grab the phone and throw it away

I was so going to say that!

That was the solution most people wished they had the courage to go for when we were first annoyed by antisocial use of mobiles in e.g. trains.

Look, no client! Not quite: the long road to a webbified Vim

Re: Perl ... that actually is the sourcecode

Perl pwned my eyeballs. It took a bloody good surgeon two days to unscramble my retina.

Oh Jemima, look at your uncle Jim...

...scrubbing the floor with Ajax and Vim (1)

And that is about as much reference to vim as I got in the article. Crushing disappointment.

(1) Enough with the duck pond: this is the version I learned at my Grandma's knee.

UK fuzz want PINCODES on ALL mobile phones

@AC convicted monopolist ... lock-in, reducing freedom ... accused of ballot stuffing

Eadon? Is that You?

Ad regulator pulls down Branson-backed magic undies

Scary invisible rays

This reminds me of the joke played on freshmen in my college. A note was placed in each of our pigeon-holes advertising a new technique for marking serial numbers on bicycles, using nuclear radiation. This was to be provided free, as were the lead-lined underpants that should be used when riding the bicycles during the initial stage, when the radiation had not died down to a safe level. We were to apply to the Porter's Lodge: the Porters showed a range of emotions, ending with hilarity and derision.

At least those precautions would have been effective but unnecessary, rather than ineffective and unnecessary.

New voting rules leave innocent Brits at risk of SPAM TSUNAMI

Re: What register?

The government site has this:

If you’re asked to register and don’t do so, your local Electoral Registration Office could fine you £80.

So how do you avoid being asked? (Clearly I'm heading towards not voting!)

A-level results: Before you smile at that jump-for-joy snap...

Re: once you are IN a big company the focus isn't on the degree any more

When you have A-levels, people take less interest in your O-levels (1).

When you have a degree, and apply for a job, people take less interest in your A-levels.

When you apply for a job, they ask "what have you been doing these last few years?"

Seems fair to me.

(1) showing my age here, but you know what I mean

Re: a three year course in Hair Care

Someone once challenged a history undergraduate to show that his degree was useful. Whereas the study of history does benefit society (1), I chose to point out that "useful" studies should earn that description by improving society's quality of life, like having the opportunity of studying e.g. history.

But a degree in hair care is just taking the mick.

(1) but a history degere is probably less useful in IT

Re: concept of a degree has been watered down

Decades ago, the idea was that undergraduates studied what interested them, and that their supervisor nudged some of their activities to maintain sanity. I have a degree in engineering, but that kind of subject requires so much specific teaching that there is hardly any room for striking out on your own. So really my course should not have been called a degree. It was exactly what I wanted, but not really a degree in the old sense.

Naturally, the polytechnics abandoned their title because they clearly offered the same teaching as universities.

And so now we have more and more apprentice schemes. That strikes me as always having been a good idea. It is a great pity, however, that companies need to tempt apprentices with the opportunity of getting what is called a degree: they are keeping degrees watered down.

(Icon for subject matter as much as for my pedantry.)

Dead Steve Jobs sued by own shareholders in no-poach pact brouhaha

Hang on a minute

If the no poaching pact was done for profit, and if it succeeded, then the shareholders got more value not less. Why would they cut off their own noses?

Or perhaps the pact had run its course, and was generating less money (but how can anyone know that?). Then it might be good to be first in the queue suing for compensation.

Sorry, that's a bit cynical.