Posts by Irongut

Airbus to help build Mexican Moon-mining automata

Re: What resources on the moon ...

Surely an expedition to visit Jambu and the other whales on the moon would make more sense?

Google experiments with user-choice-defying Android search box

The Android Google Search App – the contractually mandated search widget which is the first thing I remove from the home screen on a new phone. Shortly before I block all the contractually mandated, pre-installed Google, Facebook, carrier, etc apps from running.

China's taikonauts return from heavenly palace after 92-day mission

Re: why aren't they going to the ISS?

> are they avoiding the international community

No China are more than happy to work with the international community, they already have plans with ESA and Russia for their station. It's the USA they don't want that they don't want to work with (and can't legally thanks to US law) and who can blame them after the last 5 years.

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

Nah he's just looking at a video of his old mate Dave, giving it to a pig.

> COVID arguments for vaccination (though oddly that has not taken off in England yet, but seems to be infecting Scottish and Welsh politician's minds).

Actually the Tories brow beat the regional assemblies into accepting vaccine passports and then realised that they are ID cards so went strangely silent on the matter. Funny that, it's almost as if Boris wanted the other leaders to be unpopular with the public.

As a former Liberal voter, Nick Clegg killed all support I had for the party and judging by subsequent elections I'm not the only one. So he effectively gave up all Liberal policies, ideas and manifesto commitments now and forever more by making them completely unelectable. Whch is a very "significant lasting problem from that time."

And it gets worse, I'm now an SNP voter so Clegg may have had a direct hand in destroying the union.

Facebook building 'on-demand executable file format' that self-inflates using homebrew compression

Re: give developers minimum spec

And your developers will leave for better jobs.

Making developers lives harder with slow dev machines is not the answeer, especially since we're talking Android here and you don't develop Android apps on Android. Mid-range devices and older devices are useful in the test drawer but you also need the latest devices so you can test against the latest OS features.

The answer is to teach junior devs to care about resource usage, not tie one hand behind their back to hamper them.

DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats sue NYC for trying to permanently cap delivery fees

Re: Ah look, RICO violations.

GrubHub's exact MO.

I spent a year writing software for restaurants and I heard a lot of cases of GrubHub setting up a poor quality delivery service without a restaurant's knowledge or permission. In some cases the restaurant had their own delivery service.

Everything I've read about GrubHub, Uber Eats and DoorDash tells me if they say a law is wrong then it is probably the most correct law you could have passed.

Sort-of Epic win as judge kills Apple ban on apps linking to outside payment systems

A win for everyone except Epic

This judgement is everything execpt a win for Epic.

Apple get to say they are not a monopoly and don't have to allow other app stores.

Devs get the opportunity to use other payment methods.

Apple still get most of the cash because most devs won't bother with the hassle.

Epic must pay Apple damages.

Apple's deciesion to boot Epic from the store was lawful.

Apple do not have to let Epic or Fortnite back on the store.

Boom! Shot yourself in the foot there Epic. The schadenfreude kept me laughing all weekend.

Right to contest automated AI decision under review as part of UK government data protection consultation

If you're training an AI to make important, life changing decisions for other people, train it to reject members of the Tory party and their supporters.

If Tory voters can't get mortgages then Tory MPs won't get votes.

'This is the new normal,' Microsoft tells US workers: Work from home until further notice

Re: Leftanistan

This is what years of right wing inbreeding brings you - idiots who think it is their human right to commit suicide and manslaughter.

British data watchdog brings cookies to G7 meeting – pop-up consent requests, not the delicious baked treats

Maybe we could call it a DO NOT TRACK header? You know like the one all websites ignore anyway.

Been there, tried that, it did not work.

> People automatically select "I agree" when presented with cookies pop-ups on the internet, she argued, so they don't have meaningful control over personal data.

"People" may do that but I don't. I click REJECT ALL and if that option doesn't exist I close the window.

But then I also do wierd things like read what is written on the screen rather than blindly pressing buttons like a toddler on a sugar rush.

US Air Force chief software officer quits after launching Hellfire missile of a LinkedIn post at his former bosses

Re: So true...

You actually need to have a field of competance to do well somewhere. Unfortunately some people have no competance at anything.

Norwegian student tracks Bluetooth headset wearers by wardriving around Oslo on a bicycle

Re: Does not make sense

I have a wireless gaming headset that gets 100 hours on a charge so it is possible though unlikely they meant 24 hours continuously.

Banned: The 1,170 words you can't use with GitHub Copilot

Re: At least a software that will block Postel famous principle...

It's American so probably only bans skin color, skin colour should be ok!

In space, no one can hear cyber security professionals scream

NASA tests flying taxis made by biz dreaming of being the Uber of the sky

Re: I count six spinning beheaders

> I absolutely do not believe that airtaxis are going to be a thing.

I know of several air taxi services that are definitely a thing. Of course they use helicopters or light planes, not autonomous drones that fly by blockchain or whatever but they are air taxis.

Can we talk about Kevin McCarthy promising revenge if Big Tech aids probe into January insurrection?

At least the rest of the world has stopped laughing any time your president it mentioned. Any mention of Trump and we were rolling in the aisles.

Volkswagen to stop making its best-selling product for Wolfsburg workers: VW-branded sausages

So processed food = bad. real food = apparently also bad but you're holding out for fake food created in a lab?

Logitech Bolt devices support secure Bluetooth Low Energy – but forget the 'Unifying Receiver'

Logitech gave up on the Unifying Reciever some time ago, I bought a keyboard last year that will not work with it.

Ditto Logitech Options - I was very glad to see the back of that POS. The GHub software is better.

SCO v. IBM settlement deal is done, but zombie case shuffles on elsewhere

OMG why didn't any of us think of that almost 20 years ago?

45RPM has solved it guys! All we need to do is rewrite the code!

If it were that simple it would have been done in 2003.

'No peeing towards Russia' sign appears on country's Arctic border with Norway

Re: “Norway is the only neighbor that Russia has not been at war with.”

Apparently WW2, Norway's collaboration with Hitler and the Norwegians fighting against Russia on the eastern front doesn't count as war with Russia. Norway would like us to conveniently forget what happened in the 1940s.

Sorry for the Godwin but this is actual history so it needed to be said.

Apple settles antitrust case with developers, but it's far from an Epic resolution to App Store monopoly concerns

Huh?

> Apple's insistence on a floor price of $0.99 disadvantaged developers who wanted to compete with free apps

I have 3 free apps on the App Store so free apps are definitely allowed. I fail to see how a minimum price of 99c (which is a lie since free is possible) is disadvantaging developers of free apps. What I do see is someone who wrote a shitty app (baby names ffs) trying to get some money from the big corporate bad guy du jour.

Start or Please Stop? Power users mourn features lost in Windows 11 'simplification'

That Start Menu does look terrible, lacks features I actually use and expands on the one feature I wish they'd remove - searching for anything other than apps. If I open the Start Menu I want to start an app, I don't want to search for documents, contacts or where to buy a kitchen sink and I definitely never, ever want to search the web. If I want to search the web I'll use a web browser.

I guess Win11 is going to be another version for me to skip like 98 (first edition), ME, XP, Vista and 8. :(

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

Re: Rumble in the bazaar

Epic bribes developers to release exclusively on their store, adding console style fragmantation to the PC games market that it didn't have before. I think Epic are projecting a lot of the time when they talk about shady practices on app stores.

It is really simple to produce an APK from your AAB. One command in fact.

Or you could build both.

APKs do not stop the sideloading of apps. What they do achieve is a 50% download size reduction for your users (imo ymmv).

More Boots on Moon delays: NASA stops work on SpaceX human landing system as Blue Origin lawsuit rolls on

Re: What did anyone in NASA expect?

An amusing addition to your side comment is the fact that BO was started before SpaceX.

Considering Falcon 1 achieved orbit in September 2008 I'd say BO are at least 13 years behind SpaceX.

Apple didn't engage with the infosec world on CSAM scanning – so get used to a slow drip feed of revelations

Re: Notice how quite Samsung is?

Quite what?

Quite rich? Quite sexy? Or maybe even quite silent... if only there was a word for that... oh yes... QUIET.

Learn to spell, it might just stop you looking like a particularly dim 10 year old.

Apple says its CSAM scan code can be verified by researchers. Corellium starts throwing out dollar bills

Re: This system can't scan for "Winnie the Pooh"

> why does this need to be done on device, if its only for photos uploaded to the icloud, why not just scan for the photos when they hit Apples servers and leave the privacy in place on the device?

Your suggestion is allowing the security to gallop out the open stable door. Plus it would mean Apple handling CSAM and having it on their servers, by scanning on device they can prevent the images getting to any Apple owned equipment and prove the images were in your possesion. Something that may become important when it comes to a court case.

Faster .NET? Monster post by Microsoft software engineer shows serious improvements

I have c# code running on Windows, Linux, Android, iOS and serverless Functions (on Linux). All the same c# code with no changes. It is not running on a web server but it could do that as well.

Tell me again how it is tied to one OS.

Git 2.33 released with new optional merge process likely to become the default: It's 'over 9,000' times faster

> Branching and merging is an edge case that can be easily circumvented by talking to your colleagues.

If you work on a codebase of any size, even on your own then branching solves many problems that can't be solved by talking to anyone. In the simplest case, how do you fix a bug in the current version while developing the next version if you don't use branches?

With git branching is a cheap operation and used correctly merging is usually trivial.

Zoom incompatible with GDPR, claims data protection watchdog for the German city of Hamburg

Re: Let's just hire every person in Europe to be a bureaucrat

Because we'd all be better off as company slaves working for less than a living wage, with no paid time off, little to no maternity / paternity leave and strapped down by Zuck every night so Palantir can probe us for data. Fuck yeah!

China starts testing tech to harvest solar energy from orbiting panels

Re: Hope

Not to worry, they'll put Baroness Dildo in charge and she'll spend loadsamoney on a app to tell you when the power satellite is overhead. Of course it won't work but that's because there will be no money left for an actual satellite or a rocket launch to put it into orbit. But at least all Boris' chums will get paid so that's ok then.

More tea vicar?

Blue Origin sues NASA for awarding SpaceX $3bn contract to land next American boots on the Moon

I saw that infographic last week, of all the FUD on it (and it is entirely FUD) the best part is about "a launch vehicle that has never flown and is still being designed." Starship has actually flown, not to orbit but then nothing BO has ever flown has gone to orbit. SpaceX have flown many cargo and person missions to the ISS and put hundreds (thousands?) of satellites in orbit, meanwhile BO has flown their boss into space for 10 minutes. They have never even achieved orbit. And, while SpaceX churn out prototype after prototype Starship in Texas, BO can't manage to build an engine for ULA and their HLS entry is pure PowerPoint.

I hope this suit costs Bezos a very large sum of money. He is bound to lose.

Something smells, I think it's Jeff's BO.

India makes a play to source rare earths – systematic scrapping of its old cars

At the end of the day rare eaths metals are not really all that rare. Even if India's old cars had tonnes of them (spoiler alert: they don't!) it still wouldn't make much difference and China would still corner the market. There are plenty of rare earth metal deposits elsewhere, e.g. the USA, but they closed the mines because China was cheaper. Should the price go back up those mines would become profitable again.

Starliner takes off ... back to the factory and not space

If you knew anything about the Boeing-McDD situation you'd realise it isn't just a claim.

I was offered $500k as a thank-you bounty for pilfering $600m from Poly Network, says crypto-thief

Re: Really, now?

Indeed this is not the way a white hat or “a high-profile hacker in the real world” work. Professionals don't steal $600m then take their time giving it back, but only after their wallet address has been released publicly. Strikes me as more likely they are a child in the real world.

Palantir abandons any attempt at curating nice-guy image with 'Global Information Dominance Experiments'

Re: "unique and extraordinary people who by definition are going to be uneven and spiky"

It did sound familiar but then I remembered I have ethics and a conscience.

Perhaps regretting those Instagram, WhatsApp acquisitions, UK watchdog suggests Facebook offloads GIF haven Giphy

"Animated images and stickers may not sound like a big deal. But they are. Everyone uses them still."

Actually I stopped using Giphy the moment I heard Zuck was interested in buying them. I haven't used them since or missed them.

China plans laws for 'healthy' development of tech companies

Re: China needs better "public opinion propaganda"

Get back to me when there is no propoganda from the US, UK, EU, etc, etc, etc.

Almost no politician of any stripe wants the news filled with truth.

Boffins propose Pretty Good Phone Privacy to end pretty invasive location data harvesting by telcos

Re: Guess who

Yet still tells me I'm in a different country some 300+ miles from my actual location every time I visit their search engine on PC or mobile.

Avast, ye takeover lawyers! Norton LifeLock to acquire security rival

Re: Trust?

Anyone other than Norton or McAfee.

I last used software by Norton 25 years ago and vowed never to do so again. Avast lost my trust several years ago when their advert spam frequency became ridiculous. They deserve each other.

Without a trace: Baroness Dido Harding to step down as chair of NHS Improvement

Private school is far beneath the Tories, plebs like myself can go to private school. Eton is a public school.

That epithet sounds like it is more inclusive rather than the most exclusive school possible but such are the delights of the English language.

US senators reach last-minute compromise on cryptocurrency regulations as infrastructure bill vote looms

Re: Here we go...

> It's also a wonderful way to collect intelligence (Name, address, phone, email, etc.) on every individual on the planet

No it isn't. If you don't own any cryptocurrency and are not acting as a broker for cryptocurrency then you won't have to provide any data to anyone.

It's a very poor way to collect intelligence because it is trivial to avoid.

Wireless powersats promise clean, permanent, abundant energy. Sound familiar?

Re: Casual reference to 5G sceptics as 'wingnuts': author already is on wrong side of history

I don't need to read sci-hub because I'm a radio engineer, among other things, and if 5G had undesirable side effects we'd have been experiencing them with 4G and various other technologies for decades now. Since there is no evidence of that, you and your wacky luddites and stagnation-fetishists (see I can make up words too) are wrong. No boat rocking required.

All your DNS were belong to us: AWS and Google Cloud shut down spying vulnerability

Re: ISP Routers

> all routers I've had supplied by (mainstream) ISPs in the UK (& BE) over the past 10+ years have no ability to set DNS servers

Don't use the ISP supplied router. I have never used an ISP supplied router in over 28 years, except when testing a network fault to prove it isn't my kit at fault (which it never has been). ISP routers are the cheapest they can find, poorly specced, often out of date and with no updates. If an ISP requires you to use their router don't buy their service, many others are available.

And yes, I am talking about the UK.

Hey, AI software developers, you are taking Unicode into account, right ... right?

You don't need invisible unicode characters just use Google Translate normally and it will mangle numbers, translate people's names (sometimes but not all the time), change the results of sporting competitions, change the tense and even change the meaning of some sentences.

It also tries really, really hard to infer an American context to all things which can change the meaning of a sentence, when it doesn't just render it completely incomprehensible.

I use Google Translate daily and every time I do it proves we don't need to worry about the AI uprising any time soon.

US proposes tracking digital cash and taxing it to pay for, you know, roads and stuff

Re: "Congress is stepping up its efforts to prevent crypto investors evade their taxes"

So you would like the miner to pay twice - once when they "mine" the coin and again when they sell it via an exchange.

Pascal's logic.

Apple is about to start scanning iPhone users' devices for banned content, professor warns

> any human looking at where the image is located (the web cache) would be acutely aware that this was pushed to the device without the user's knowledge...

Any human finding a dodgy image in the web cache should realise that it was cached by the browser while the user was intentionally looking at dodgy websites. Oh dear your hiding place actually incriminates you more.