Posts by DoctorNine

Internet Archive's 2046 Wayforward Machine says Google will cease to exist

Re: Fuck Google/YouTube

Ever since the 'Google Account' thing first started, I've given them my 1/1/1901 birthday, and they've never as much as sneezed. My first reason to sign up was when they used to host Usenet.

Ahh.. the memories...

China sets goal of running single-stack IPv6 network by 2030, orders upgrade blitz

Re: A possible truth?

The number of reader upvotes or downvotes does not correlate with the veracity of the observation.

Especially when it involves the CCP.

On a side note, you should probably learn English better before posting in an English language tech forum. Your attempts at insults are making everyone laugh, because they are either meaningless or just plain silly.

Cheers.

Re: A possible truth?

The rhetorical error you are here exhibiting, is called 'false equivalency'.

You need to lay off the pipe weed, Chinese Gandalf.

Re: A possible truth?

Euphemisms. I just love euphemisms.

Linus Torvalds tells kernel list poster to 'SHUT THE HELL UP' for saying COVID-19 vaccines create 'new humanoid race'

Re: Wonderful

With a little ingenuity, we could encode it as a checksum, and use it for a security key...

The Epic vs Apple trial is wrapping up, but the battle has just begun

Re: "Apple’s ironclad control of the iOS platform"

That's not really true. Maintaining an environment in which business can be conducted, has value of its own, and has been recognized as such since the first organized markets rented out stalls in the Neolithic. What can be observed with dead certainty, is that 'value' is always extant, when one person is willing to pay someone else for it. What the thing is that gets paid for, is not always so cut and dried though. It can be hard goods, services, or even a chance at the possibility of future profit. Humans are insanely creative when it comes to figuring out how to make a profit.

BlackBerry says it’s virtualised macOS for M1 on an x86 CPU

George Mallory's Acolyte

Well it's there. And it just pokes up so high. It's almost as if we are being asked to climb it.

Indian government says 5G doesn’t cause COVID-19. Also points out India has no 5G networks

As reference to Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law

Once the unwashed masses have correctly identified that technology is indeed magic, it should come as no surprise to anyone, that they suspect the intent of the evil sorcerers behind it all. Their only mistake of course, is related to WHICH magic is causing the problem.

'A fair amount of stuff, all over the place': Torvalds closes merge window for Linux 5.13 with support for Apple M1

Theoretical versus observed

I am somewhat hopeful that the benefits of the shared memory design and increased internal bandwidth could be utilized by Linux in the same way as MacOS does it. But the problem here, is that the M1 (and subsequent) chip hardware is tuned for Apple's software pretty specifically. One of the reasons why I am interested in the Linux reverse engineering, is to see how much of that theoretical hardware advantage could be used by another, different software approach. It's not a slam dunk. But it does show promise.

Mac OS X at 20: A rocky start, but it got the fundamentals right for a macOS future

Re: Hardly a success

It's not volume alone that determines sales success. It's profit per unit sales. For reference, see Chanel. Or Porsche.

I suppose the utilitarian view of the computer as a machine, which those of us at The Reg can espouse since we generally use whatever is thrown at us, would simply assess capabilities and compare the cost to obtain them within each ecosystem. But consumers don't generally do that. They want a curated, premium experience, and will buy based upon that criterion.

Apple delivers on that.

Since the desktop is no longer where most consumers do their computing, by far the most important thing to them is ease of use with their watches, phones, intelligent houses, and cars. In this competition, which you can see with Apple Car Play, Apple watches, and Apple phones, they have a reasonable amount of success.

So despite the desktop OS per se not holding a great percentage of the desktop market, the ecosystem which it created, has a very large percentage of mindshare. And that's what's important.

Google vows to build its own server system-on-chips, hires Intel veteran

Linux, do you love me?

If the Google goes SoC, there is a huge upside for general purpose Linux on the same hardware. It may be time for people to stop optimizing the OS for general purpose chips, and instead, start building chips for specific OS's.

Sure, Dave might seem like he's avidly listening to this morning's meeting, but he's actually doing a yoga routine

Just the facts, ma'am.

Since there is little cost to sending another invite to the Zoom meeting, I find myself roped into many things that wouldn't justify taking admin people out of their offices in the past. This does mean many more people can hear the important bits of new plans and ideas than would have been possible before. But the best thing, is that I can be officially present for the 5% of the time I'm really needed, and snoring loudly for the rest. I love it.

Just a note: herbal teas don't actually keep you awake. But they ARE yummy.

Nvidia exec love-bombs Arm's licensing model, almost protests too much

Re: Rather like a politician

"We totally LOVE the ARM. They are the best. The new chip thing is gonna be YUGE!"

Stop us if you've heard this one before: Microsoft to lure users with industry-specific solutions in the cloud

"The suspenders are there so you naturally fall into the pants when dropped from the cloud..."

I'm very interested in learning more about this 'leveraging into the client' business. Is there a video demonstrating the appropriate procedure? And just to be safe, is this something I can watch at work, or should I wait until I get home behind locked doors?

Huawei loses attempt to rescue CFO Meng from US clutches despite using 140-year-old law in High Court

Re: Don't break my laws but I can break your laws

You are wrong.

Here's some propaganda for you:

1.) Over 502,000 people have died in America from this pandemic.

2.) More people in the US have died from COVID19 than all the US deaths in WWII.

3.) About five times more died here from COVID19, than all the US deaths in WWI.

4.) Almost ten times more have died here from COVID19, than all the US deaths in Vietnam.

Clearly, COVID19 is not a negligible hazard.

As an academic physician who is here because he dabbles in theoretical computing and simple network stuff, I don't usually comment on such idiotic spew as you have here inflicted upon us, but this is right out there. I am now, currently, taking care of these people in hospital who are the ones dying. And they are not only old people ready to die anyway. One recent victim here was a 35 yo colleague who had just been married a month before. A triathlete actually.

Please refrain from your non-scientific pandemic denial conspiracy theories, if you expect anyone to take you seriously. It is at very least in poor taste, if not downright offensive.

America says banks can now transact using so-called stable crypto-coins. What does that actually mean?

Re: Backing

Theoretically, any organization which has large real holdings, could back an electronic currency with those real holdings. Think the 'Spice' in Dune. Although the world doesn't use gold formally anymore, any valuable enough commodity could be used to back it. Maybe potable water will be the next real good backing currency. Considering climate change, it may become shortage-driven sooner than most people realize.

Re: What does it mean?

The banks are counting on the certainty of a very short memory in the public. Just remember how easily they convinced regulatory agencies and even Congress that no one needed the Glass-Steagall Act in the US. It's like mom and the cookie jar. As long as the incentive remains, attempts to subvert economic safety systems will occur. Regardless of the state of the law. And because electronic banking systems have the largest potential for illicit gain, any new technology will likely result in a certain number of successful breaches before the system is hardened, or it is found to be unworkable. Which of those two endpoints will be reached in this case, is at the present indeterminate.

Crowdfunded Asahi project aims for 'polished' Linux experience on Apple Silicon

Re: Counterpoint

I think that means you have to modify and update the drivers daily.

/s

Wanna know a semi-secret? Samsung's semi-rugged Galaxy XCover Pro is more than a semi-industrial curiosity

Re: replaceable battery

Because not enough people demand phones that have features such as a replaceable battery, which would make annual or semiannual replacement of the whole unit unnecessary.

Judge rules Corellium iOS research app 'fair use' in slap to Apple

Re: How many appeals ?

Shame that Apple doesn't just have just the one peel...

Where in the world is Jack Ma? Alibaba tycoon not seen since October after slamming Chinese government

Re: Ma was stupid to remain in China

I hate it when the people I talk to are unreliably high, don't you?

Re: Looks like Ma thought his money made him powerful, and lost

"And would you like some polonium on the side with that order?"

Welcome to the splinternet – where freedom of expression is suppressed and repressed, and Big Brother is watching

Re: Only allow verified truth?

Good lord. You don't really want me to answer that, do you?

Re: Different censorships

I think there may be a few million Armenians who disagree with that assessment.

Re: The USA model is not perfect ...

While I definitely agree that the evolution of legal control of internet personal data is more respectful of human rights in the EU than in NA, I'm afraid that it's somewhat a specious distinction to separate the US and the EU in regards to their internet 'model'. We are at a moment in history, where the liberal democracy impulse toward globalization (and thus the regime of internet control advocated by the US and all European liberal democracies) is being challenged by alternative models of global integration. (Most notably authoritarian dictatorships of various species.) Unless and until THAT challenge is resolved politically, then the control of all means of electronic communications will simply become increasingly fragmented and confined to the relative spheres of influence of those socio-economic competitors. This is a logical inevitability. There is no technological answer to political disagreements. That is a conceit which technocrats seemingly still believe, despite decades of evidence that it simply isn't true. Amazingly.

Julian Assange will NOT be extradited to the US over WikiLeaks hacking and spy charges, rules British judge

Re: pft

Yeah. The argument that 'a law was broken' is, morally speaking, a pretty weak justification for the determination of the reasonableness of any given governmental action. The rationale of the law in question, as well as its primary and secondary effects, have to be accounted for, because the only legitimate laws, are those promulgated by the consent of the governed. So if they abrogate that standard, they are, ipso facto, illegitimate. I think in both this case, and even more so in the case of Edward Snowden, the alleged 'crime' was more rubbing the government's nose in its own dirt, than anything else. In my opinion, the general public hasn't been given enough details in either case to assent to their designation as 'criminal' based upon demonstrated damage to that public.

Of course, I still think Assange is an ass. But that's beside the point.

What's that coming over the hill? Is it native Office? Microsoft's flagship arrives on Apple Silicon, but you'll have to wait for Teams

Re: Waiting for Teams

Too easy.

Passwords begone: GitHub will ban them next year for authenticating Git operations

Re: You can't fix stupid

80%-20% rule. 80% of the population are of significantly limited cognitive function, and not to be trusted with sharp objects or life and death decisions. The remaining 20% struggle to keep everyone alive and functioning, whilst constantly under assault by those very semi-undead zombies surrounding them, who mistakenly believe that they understand what they are about, and try to 'help improve security' by random acts of self-defeating frippery.

It has ever and always been this way.

Although despair isn't a universal reaction to this fact, it is a common one.

The nightmare is real: 'Excel formulas are the world's most widely used programming language,' says Microsoft

Re: Cri de coeur

And typically no one documents the document functions either. It's all 'put it it in and see if it outputs correctly' on the design. Then when parameters are shifted, or something goes out of bounds, no one even knows that the bloody thing is orders of magnitude off. I feel like someone just affixed panniers to a unicycle, and is selling it as a viable transcontinental adventure bike. Gads.

Re: Sorry but ...

My feelings exactly. Now the money grubbing accounting types will expect solutions using this monstrosity instead of devoted programming. I'm just shaking my head thinking of the scat.

Amazon's ad-hoc Ring, Echo mesh network can mooch off your neighbors' Wi-Fi if needed – and it's opt-out

Re: The real problem is the data caps

Well, putting this idea forward does have the secondary side effect of encouraging ISP's to get rid of data limited plans that have no basis in the economics of their provision (fibre as opposed to satellite, for instance) because if they figure this out, then they can also sell ubiquity of the connection, and further monitor user behavior, which is one of the things they sell now. So if they are interested in that, they may figure out a way to require it as a term-of-service for connectivity. At which point consumer objections become moot.

Re: Opted out should be the default.

By that logic, just because the child wants the candy, the pedophile is free to do whatever in the van.

I'm pretty sure that's not a good plan for public safety.

China-linked hacking gang ‘APT10’ named as probable actor behind extended attacks on Japanese companies

Oh my. What a shocker.

Perhaps James 68 would like to explain how objecting to this sort of behavior from China is racism or something.

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/chinese-hackers-indicted-122018

UK, Canada could rethink the whole 'ban Huawei' thing post-Trump, whispers Huawei

Re: Nice try to spin

James. I'm hurt. Truly. Ha!

Re: Nice try to spin

If you think that the Chinese government is in any way 'just like every other country', then we clearly are done here. Have a great day.

Re: Nice try to spin

You can't seriously be arguing that the CCP isn't sponsoring industrial espionage on a global scale.

SIGH...

Do you happen to work for the Mayor of Hong Kong, by any chance?

Huawei sells low-end Honor handset business due to 'tremendous pressure' in supply chain

Meet the New Boss, same as the Old Boss

I suppose it would be too late to point out to the CCP that there are still a few "Who" fans alive over here?

GitHub restores DMCA-hit youtube-dl code repo after source patched to counter RIAA's takedown demand

Re: It might attract less attention if it wasn't called...

This is really why it's ridiculous to begin with, and why the DMCA is a stupid, stupid piece of legislation, passed by fatuous fools in the legislature, who were cowed by the RIAA and MPAA at the time, and too ignorant of technology to even understand what they were doing.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, what shall those of us who realize this, do about it? The whole tar baby is getting stickier and stickier day by day, but it's established precedent at this point.

Re: Youtube

I believe the USMC have a saying about this which is applicable here.

Apple drops macOS Big Sur on the world – and it arrives with a thud, sound of breaking glass, sirens in the distance...

Re: Efforts to download the software overwhelmed Apple's servers

You know, I think anyone without a direct need to install it, has probably been told by someone, somewhere, that it's generally a bad idea to be the first sheep to enter an open field. The chance of becoming stew meat is measurably higher amongst bold Bovidae. Just saying.

Microsoft unveils a Universal version of Office for Apple silicon

Re: This puzzled me a bit

Point taken. Some people use the thing for relational databases that I think should rather have a dedicated design, but none of my workflows need that.

Re: This puzzled me a bit

Yeah, all my macOs boxes which need Office, have the latest purchased iteration available to them. The lack of Outlook on some of them is annoying, but Mail can be configured acceptably, even if the corporate server prefers the former. I won't be buying a new client, if it has to be cloud-based 365, regardless if it has nice optimizations. None of the Office apps should be stressing modern hardware enough to be substantially degraded by a Rosetta process.

To be perfectly honest, ARM is going to be where everyone else besides gamers go eventually anyway. No surprise that M$ is producing universal binaries.

Now if they'd just put out native Office for Linux...

[Checks meeting agenda...] Where does it say 'Talk cr*p and waste everyone's time'?

And now for something completely different...

I'm wondering when we are going to just go gamer, and have the meetings in Second Life or World of Warcraft. At least that way, we wouldn't have to present our monthly data in shabby house clothes and have entitled cats wandering about, all over the keyboards of various participants.

One more reason for Apple to dump Intel processors: Another SGX, kernel data-leak flaw unearthed by experts

Re: This is news?

The idea of monitoring some parameter of the chip to infer what it is doing, rather than trying to steal the data from the processing stream directly, has been around for decades at least. I messed around with it a little bit in the 1990's for fun. The thing about information processing, is that there are almost an infinite number of ways that the mechanism of the processing device reveals its instructions indirectly. Power monitoring, RF signatures, heat maps/time. Given some form of access to the chip, physically or remotely, there really isn't such a thing as perfect security. So exploits like this are inevitable artifacts of the act of information processing itself. I forget sometimes that most people don't really understand what goes on in those magical boxes called 'computers'.

Biden projected to be the next US President, Microsoft joins rest of world in telling Trump: It looks like... you're fired

And now for this...

So now can Puerto Rico be the 51st state? I want to see how they put the stars on the new flag.

I may be a simpleton, but whatever. Simple pleasures, yes?

Network driver issue shaves 12 more hours off Microsoft's '365' infrastructure, and yeah, it was Exchange Online again

But, but... 'cloud' sounds so soft.. and calming... Besides, we all know that every cloud has a silver lining! How could something go wrong in such a perfect environment? We all should just trust the puffiness of clouds to bring us release from the drudgery of running these bloody server farms all day long!

Set your worries free! Send them to The Cloud!

America's democracy on the brink, Brexit looming, climate crashing... when better to get the first fast radio burst from our own galaxy?

Re: Oh...

(Looks on approvingly as Tom whips out his turgid maths and flops them around like a boss.)

Oh... Oh my...

Huawei sues US govt over claims Trump administration ignored company's Freedom of Information requests

"..FOIs can be submitted by anyone, any citizen could have submitted these and not identified themselves as being part of a Chinese company. They were ignored because they did - This is illegal in the UK, US etc due to how their legislation is written..."

Actually, no it isn't. If you read the Act, it has nine exemptions, the first of which is determination by the Executive branch that the information is a matter of national security. Go ahead and read it on the foia.gov website. It's right there.

Chinese corporations, which frequently are coerced into acting as proxies for the CCP, often access the courts in Western democratic countries. Because Western governments operate on the rule of law, the Chinese corporations can reasonably expect a fair hearing by Western jurisprudence. The converse is not true however, for Western corporations which operate in China. Unfortunately.

The only means that Western corporations have to deal with this asymmetry, is political action. If China encourages this unfair advantage for its business sector, it should shock no one that political rebalancing occurs by Western governments victimized in this way. Expecting anything else, is unrealistic and disingenuous.

FOI requests were never intended to apply to what are effectively agents of a foreign government anyway. They were put in place primarily to inform the voting public of what their government is doing in their name. It should be obvious that Huawei isn't really a member of the voting public. So it should have no expectation that such information be released to them.

Are you seeing this, Amazon? British military steps up robot tech tests with drone capable of carrying 60kg payloads

Re: Drone Dome

Well the thing is, the public never should know about the drones we already HAVE. And only redacted figures on the cost. What we get news of, is the price of the goodies that they want to build for the NEXT set. So they tell us these stories. And then, when they get THAT money, they build things with entirely different functions.

Your mother never learned what you did with that Christmas toy Erector set she bought you, did she? I believe these industrious fellows operate along those lines...