Posts by Irongut

After 30 years of searching, astroboffins finally detect the universe's 'missing matter' – using fast radio bursts

Re: average office

I don't think there's enough of it to usefully compare it to the density of sheep in Wales. The density of sheep in Milton Keynes perhaps?

Broadcom sends its England-based staff back into office as UK lockdown eases – though Welsh workers get a free pass

Re: independent

Away and vote fae Trump ya big tumshie!

Re: Aaah...

After the actions of those in power in England over the last few months it can't come soon enough.

cmd.exe is dead, long live PowerShell: Microsoft leads aged command-line interpreter out into 'maintenance mode'

Re: WTF?

It doesn't always work like that in the real world. Especially on production lines.

Roughly 15 years ago I had a customer in the South West of England who manufactured server cases for a large PC vendor with a factory in Ireland. The IT manager decided to update the PCs on the production line and broke some third-party software my boss had sold them a couple of years before. Note they updated the hardware, not the OS, and installed Windows XP from the same gold master as before. This broke the third-party software which was actually 16 bit, designed for Windows 3.x (barely) and not supported on Win 9x let alone XP. This held up production not only for them but also for their customer and had been ongoing for several days before I was called in as the expert.

I told the IT manager that software was not supported and I couldn't guarantee getting it working on XP but he insisted it would work because it had before. I told him that if it worked before he was lucky. He insisted the gold master was identical to the previous machine so it should work. After an entire day spent reinstalling XP from various media and the third party software on several different PCs, including the original that had worked before, we were unable to get it working.

The only answer was to sell them the modern, supported software for that purpose which he'd been too cheap to buy in the first place. To sweeten the deal I offered 2 days of my services translating their files to the new format for free. The IT Manger refused but was eventually overruled by a director who realised it was that or go bust. I almost missed my flight home due to his refusal to listen but fortunately was able to persuade the nice woman at the desk to re-open check-in for me.

Rich Communication Services: Nobody uses it, nobody wants it, but analysts reckon it's on the verge of a breakthrough

WhatsApp = no way

WeChat = even piglet wouldn't use it

Facebook... Messenger = hahahahaha! oh you were serious?

> At that point, an overhaul of SMS looked sensible. But in 2020, it feels a bit outdated. The industry has moved on.

The industry may have moved on but there is still a need for a modern messaging app that doesn't give all your data to Apple, Google, Facebook or the Chinese government. RCS is still very much needed.

Microsoft blocks Trend Micro code at center of driver 'cheatware' storm from Windows 10, rootkit detector product pulled from site

> "at no time was the Trend Micro team avoiding certification requirements."

Well then who wrote that code? The code is definitely there and someone had to write it so Trend's statement implies hackers are changing their code without their knowledge - an even worse situation than trying to fool certification tests!

Uber plans to ride out of stable Singapore, move APAC HQ to high-tension Hong Kong

> "Uber is ready to move its regional headquarters to Hong Kong... but regulatory certainty is key,"

Or in other words it's a bribe.

Coronavirus masks are thwarting facial recognition systems. So, of course, people are building training sets from your lockdown-wear selfies

Since machine learning is a black box and no one knows exactly what the algorithm is doing, how can these researchers be sure they are building a "Facial Recognition Database" and not a "Mask Recognition Database"?

Re: Web scrapers

No you didn't.

> The best way to reduce the chances is to not have a social media account.

Now its fixed and I can feel smug that I haven't contributed to the AIpocalypse.

Dude, where's my laser?

Re: Not unbelievable

But it worked for spherical chickens in a vacuum!

SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon cleared to hoist real live American astronauts into space

Re: Space Taxis

> Simultaneous, Boeing has a manned vehicle that they are debugging. And Jeff Bezos is trying to figure out how to deliver packages to space with Blue Horizons, too.

Boeing has a bonfire-waiting-to-happen that isn't going anywhere soon. Bezos has a lot of buildings and an engine that works on Earth but zero actual space experience.

Linus Torvalds drops Intel and adopts 32-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper on personal PC

Re: Minimum spec?

How does making the parts of my job where I'm doing nothing other than waiting on a compiler take longer make my code better?

Does writing with a piece of charcoal on stone make an author's work better?

Does watching the paint dry make an artist's work better?

Re: AMD vs. Intel: War Games v3.0

I've not run an Intel chip in my main workstation for over a decade and recommend AMD at work and privately but you're spouting an awful lot of inaccurate fanboi bullshit which really doesn't help them.

> AMD has always been the underdog to Intel, but with a superior product.

Always the underdog yes, always superior no. See Bulldozer.

> Furthermore, AMD chips, in general, execute instructions faster than Intel with a lower clock speed thereby reducing heat and power consumption.

No they don't. See all the articles about Zen and Zen+ having fewer instructions per cycle (IPC) than Intel and the articles about the 15% improvement in Zen2.

> Since AMD bought ATI, AMD has been placing GPU cores on the same die as the CPU. This takes a byte out of nVidia's CUDA because having the GPUs on the same die as the compute cores means that the GPUs can get their data from the same highspeed buss that the compute core do, without the PCIe bottlekneck.

Because PCIe 3 and 4 are sooo slow. AMD have botched several recent generations of GPU so nVidia are faster for running compute jobs. See any GPU compute performance comparison article.

Podcast Addict banned from Google Play Store because heaven forbid app somehow references COVID-19

Re: AI is rubbish, developer doesn't read emails?

There is usually a warning period and if it is a change in policy there will be multiple emails before it comes into effect that explain how to be compliant.

As an app dev I see a lot of similar reports on community sites. In most cases the dev compalins they don't understand Goggle's email but the reason is right there, in this case violations of the 'User Data Privacy' policy. Usually that means your store page doesn't include or link to a privacy policy but it could also mean you're doing things you shouldn't with user data.

Car crash: Uber axes another 3,000 jobs, closes 45 offices as punters snub app during coronavirus lockdown

3,000 more people saved from evil!

You can't have it both ways: Anti-coronavirus masks may thwart our creepy face-recog cameras, London cops admit

Re: Why bother?

In London they prefer Brazillian plumbers but the effect is the same.

Multi-part Android spyware lurked on Google Play Store for 4 years, posing as a bunch of legit-looking apps

> concealing their own presence by hiding notifications

This makes no sense and comes across as either article padding or editing that removed an important part of the phrase. Why would malware send you notifications about what it is doing? If it doesn't make any notifications in the first place there is no need to hide them.

You overstepped and infringed British sovereignty, Court of Appeal tells US in software companies' copyright battle

Re: US Law applies worldwide

The USA is an unruly toddler. They need to be made to stand in the corner facing the wall and not talk for an hour. Then if they are willing to act their age they can rejoin the class.

NHS contact tracing app isn't really anonymous, is riddled with bugs, and is open to abuse. Good thing we're not in the middle of a pandemic, eh?

it took less than 30 minutes looking at the code the day it was released for me to spot multiple issues ranging from the basic to the severe, including many day one rookie mistakes. From excessive permissions including location and the ability to access all your files, to the use of multiple analytics services (Google Analytics, Google Firebase and Microsoft App Center) which means the user is not anonymous, to fundamental mistakes in the way Blootooth should be used, to simple mistakes a junior Android dev would not make like the missing minimum SDK build variable. There also appear to be bits of the code missing that prevent it compiling - considering the code they released what are they tring to hide?

This code base is not fit for purpose. The people responsible for it should be removed from Gov IT projects and not allowed to bid on more.

And, of course, we have no idea what the back-end might be up to.

Australians can demand visitors to their homes run contact-tracing app

Re: Can we borrow Tim Watts up here?

Based on the quote in the article, if we borrowed him none of the other MPs would understand a word he said.

Fancy some post-weekend reading? How's this for a potboiler: The source code for UK, Australia's coronavirus contact-tracing apps

Having looked over the UK code a few days ago it has all the problems I expected when I heard the government plans. It asks for too many permissions (including all the location permissions), collects too much data (Google Analytics, Firebase and MS AppCenter are used to build a profile of the user!) and is full of simple mistakes any junior dev should spot (no minimum Android version specified).

There is no way I will ever install this app.

Apple owes us big time for bungled display-killing cable design in MacBook Pro kit, lawsuit claims

> rubbing slowly causes the cables wear and tear over time."... the user has to pay several hundred dollars to have the screen replaced.

Surely if the ribbon cable fails all you need to do is replace it at the cost of a few quid, not the actual screen.

If it feels like the software world is held together by string and a prayer, we don't blame you: Facebook SDK snafu breaks top iOS apps

> Developers tend not to fully understand third-party libraries and tend not to pay much attention to flawed code there until it's too late.

Uncalled for swipe at devs there. It doens't matter how well you know the library, if Facebook change a data type on the backend without notice and without updating their own library to deal with it there is nothing you can do. Obviously there are degrees of failure and with robust error handling you can mitigate things but if you rely on the library for vital functions like login then you're screwed.

Personally I avoid Facebook anything but if a client wants it sometimes you have to use it.

Prepare to have your shonky password hygiene shamed by Firefox 76

Re: Firefox has sought to arrest its slide in the rankings

Annoyingly the fatbar ignores the standard user prefs so you will need to use about:config but its quite simple. A quick Google will tell you the values to edit and anyone reading the Reg should be capable of editing about:config.

UK finds itself almost alone with centralized virus contact-tracing app that probably won't work well, asks for your location, may be illegal

Re: And what about the people ...

Because of course you can trust a company names after the magic all seeing eyes used by Sauron.

Re: Hanlon's razor

Oh oh I've got this one.... is the answer... A Tory Government?

Re: Of course, being centrally controlled

Apple and Google are not writing the apps. They wrote the spec, you or I can write the apps (well I can anyway). So yes I trust my fellow app devs far, far, far more than I would ever trust GCHQ, Matt Hancock, Boris, Rhys Moggie and all their plum mouthed cronies.

Latvian drone wrests control from human overlords and shuts down entire nation's skies

Re: It was at least partially successful

For Boeing that would be an unqualified success! (c.f. Starliner)

The Great British anti-5G fruitcake Bakeoff: Group hugs, no guns, and David Icke

Re: Haircuts

I don't remember the last time I had a haircut. It was I think roughly 15 years ago and no I'm not bald or even balding. Hair cuts are completely unnecessary.

It really is past time the various online platforms all followed their COVID policies and banned Trump for misinformation. To hell with the fact that he's POTUS. To hell with the fact that he'll claim it's their liberalist agenda. Remove his dangerous, life threatening "sarcasm" and let him sue you for it afterwards.

As Brit cyber-spies drop 'whitelist' and 'blacklist', tech boss says: If you’re thinking about getting in touch saying this is political correctness gone mad, don’t bother

"Red as a colour for danger makes some sense"

Remind me to tell all the animals that use red to say "I'm dangerous, don't eat me" that red only makes "some sense". They should try branching out into brown or grey and see how they get along.

Bezos to the Moon: Blue Origin joins SpaceX and Dynetics in a three-horse lunar lander race

How many successful launches have they made? (I know the answer.)

Nothing else counts for credibility when you're a launch company.

ICANN finally halts $1.1bn sale of .org registry, says it's 'the right thing to do' after months of controversy

Re: Practice, don't preach

I think you spelled that worng, it should be: "Be more evil"

UK snubs Apple-Google coronavirus app API, insists on British control of data, promises to protect privacy

Re: Difficult choice

Xmas 2024

I'm doing this to stop humans ripping off brilliant ideas by computers and aliens, says guy unsuccessfully filing patents 'invented' by his AI

The real question here is what does amanfrommars think of this?

Family meeting! Chocolate Factory makes its business-like video-chat service free to anyone with a Google account

Good for you. If I never see my work colleagues or hear their terrible taste in music while I'm trying to write some bloody code again it will be too soon.

Meet?

Never heard of it. Must be due to be cancelled next week!

GCC 10 gets security bug trap. And look what just fell into it: OpenSSL and a prod-of-death flaw in servers and apps

Re: El Reg (or the readership) really has changed

> Some have never touched GCC and are pure Windows developers.

Just because I develop for Windows doesn't mean I don't know what GCC is or that I've never used it. Even 20 years ago when I worked purely in Delphi I knew what GCC was.

Not that I have any issue with you explaining acrponymns, I wish more sites would do so, but I do have an issue with you assuming Windows devs don't know about anything else.

What's vexing Linux-loving Gophers? A few things: Go devs want generics, easier debugging

Re: born out of frustration with existing languages and environments

I'd agree with that. While I am using Go for one project and it is super fast I find the code very hard to read due to its lack of punctuation to denote syntax.

Contact-tracing or contact sport? Defections and accusations emerge among European COVID-chasing app efforts

Re: Quick prediction.

What do you mean "we", Tonto?

Grab your Bitcoin while you can because Purse.io is shutting up shop in June and you could lose the lot

Re: Respect

Do they do 150k gift cards?

No one is laundering money using gift cards.

Mayday! Mayday! The next Windows 10 update is finally on approach to a PC near you

Re: daubing the veteran OS with the Fluent Design brush.

XP was the ugliest thing Fischer Price have ever produced. I stuck with Win2k until Win 7 because I hated it so much.

Paranoid Android reboots itself with new Android 10 builds

Re: Wot, no Sammies?

Part of the problem is that in most of the world they use their own SoC but in North America they use Qualcomm for some reason. Which means every model has two possible ROM images.

Now tell me does your Samsung require an Exynos or Snapdragon ROM image? Are you sure? The wrong one will turn it into a very shiny, expensive brick!

Is this an ASP.NET Core I see before me? Where to next for Microsoft's confusing web framework...

Re: Web Forms needs to be moved forward onto .NET Core

WebForms needs to die. I'd say a slow and painful death but it's already doing that so a quick death instead please! What needs to happen is for EF Core to be fixed so that it is actually a viable alternative to EF or writing your own data layer.

Re: Confusing for those that dont .NET

You didn't have to port anything, your old code and frameworks still work. I still code ASP.Net WebForms and MVC in VS2019 when called upon to do so. You chose to make your own life difficult by porting your project twice in three years.

Trello! It is me... you locked the door? User warns of single sign-on risk after barring self from own account

Re: comparison

Yup its all the idiot's own fault. He shouldn't have used a personal account for work, he shouldn't have added a work email to a personal account and he definitely should have removed a 5 year old work email that he no longer had access to from his account. He is stupid and lazy and now he pays the price.

Don't be stupid and lazy folks, once upon a time it would have gotten you eaten.

Wanted: An exit strategy from the overt surveillance of smartphone contact tracing

Re: Scary and Scarier

That's some lovely FUD you have there.

The tiny capacitors in your phone discharge in seconds. If they could hold charge for hours they'd be the size of bricks and your phone commensurably larger.

Let's authenticate: Beyond Identity pitches app-wrapped certificate authority

Re: Password Storage

Well done, that agency are now sure they can access your passwords.

Ransomware scumbags leak Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX documents after contractor refuses to pay

Ah Bob, I want to upvote your first paragraph but then you have to go all rabid in the second as usual. FYI I've run Windows and Outlook for the last 25+ years. Would you like to know how many virus infections I've had? None.

Software has nothing to do with it. Sensible security practices like not opening messages from people you don't know or attachments that you're not expecting and have no message content are all that is really needed.

So you expect a contractor to work on a project without any of the information for that project? It'll be good when you can go back to school and stop bothering the grown-ups.