Posts by Al Black

Businesses should dump Windows for the Linux desktop

Re: preaching the gospel

More accurately end users who do need Admin access should have 2 accounts, a User and an Admin, and should only log in as Admin when needing to do Admin tasks.

BOFH: Pass the sugar, Asmodeus, and let the meeting of the Fellowship of Bastards … commence

The Internet of Useless Things

High on my list is the wired home so that you can adjust the temperature of your fridge from work using an app on your smartphone, or turn your Aircon onto Cool on a Hot day. When you get home you find that a Ukrainian hacker has turned your fridge off, and switched your Aircon to Heat on a hot day. The food is rotten and the house is too hot for human habitation. Why would anyone expose themselves to this risk?

Happy 'Freedom Day': Stats suggest many in England don't want it or think it's a terrible idea

Re: SNAFU

FreeDumb Day is not SNAFU, it is TARFUN or FUBAR, possibly even BOHICA! With 40K new cases yesterday and 20 deaths from COVID, it seems a little reckless to be removing rules designed to slow the spread. If you let the Delta variant get out of control, you can't get it back. The UK will have several thousand more deaths before this is over.

Bitcoin doomed as a payment system and its novelty will fade, says Federal Reserve Board of Governors member

It's the usefulness

Cryptocurrency is useful only for illegal transactions such as buying drugs or weapons, money laundering and ransomware payments to organised crime. Society doesn't need cryptocurrencies or their users. Banks around the World should be forbidden to trade Bitcoin, Etherium, Litecoin, Zcash, Dash, Ripple and others like them for cash. Its novelty would fade fast if it couldn't be converted into real currency. As a bonus, criminal gangs would lose the fortunes they have tucked away in digital wallets, which would be a great outcome for the common good.

China all but bans cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrency is a threat

I never thought I'd agree with the Chinese Communist Government on anything, but banning Cryptocurrency is a great idea. Western countries should ban trading in Bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies, and ban Banks from trading them for cash. Cryptocurrencies have no legal purpose in our economies, and are used almost exclusively for money laundering, payment for drugs, weapons and other dark Web transactions, ransonware payments and other criminal activities. Anyone who invests in blockchain currencies deserves to lose their money.

It's been five years since Windows 10 hit: So... how's that working out for you all?

Facial recognition logon failed at the start of July

Facial recognition logon has been working fine for years but failed at the start of July: it now says Cannot start camera: please log in by PIN number. The laptop camera works fine in teh Camera app, and on Zoom. Clearly there's nothing wrong with my camera, it is a fault in the operating system: does anyone else have this issue since the last upgrade?

Trump gloats, telcos weep, and China is furious: How things stand following UK's decision to rip out Huawei

Re: A sad day

Why is it a sad day to ban Chinese Communist Party kit from sensitive telco systems? Do you want your text messages copied to Chinese Intel centres? Do you want the Chinese Communist Party to be able to shut down your 5G network any time they choose? It is puerile to suggest this is Boris Johnson kow-towing to America, as the same ban is already in place in Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. It is a matter of National Security rather than trade.

USA ends Hong Kong's special treatment, crimping flow of tech to territory

International Law

You are correct: "International Law" is unenforceable, so doesn't really exist.

Correction

"Such moves makes it more difficult for Hong Kong companies to important American hardware and software" should read "Such moves makes it more difficult for Hong Kong companies to import American hardware and software".

Trump is doing the right thing: HK has become a loophole for Mainland China to exploit, rather than the "Gateway to China" it is often touted to be. HK independence is dead: they are now taking orders from the Mafia Cartel known as the Chinese Communist Party.

Now DXC yourself to the door: Another exec exits outsourcing giant

Concerned? You should be...

Ask them what the DXC acronym stands for: they will most likely tell you that it was cooked up by a marketing company to replace CSC and HPE (formerly EDS) on the occasion of their merger. That would be combining the D from EDS and XC from Ex-CSC to form DXC.

Insiders say that is an acronym, replacing CSC's "Crime Scene Cleanup" with DXC's "Don't Xpect Competency!"

Half the world warned 'Chinese space station will fall on you'

Hypersonic Missiles

Why don't the Chinese shoot it down with one of their new Hypersonic Missiles?

http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/hypervelocity-missile-breakthrough-makes-china-the-world-leader-in-new-weaponry/news-story/54cd94ab6883654575a028c1a6df6283

Boffins discover chemistry that could have produced building blocks of life in space

Re: Nice try BUT Fail, Fail, Fail and Fail again. :)

Well Said! It worked for the interplanetary Tesla, but fizzled for Hydrocarbons.

Astro-boffinry world rocked to its very core: Shock as Andromeda found to be not much bigger than Milky Way

Re: 4 billion years...

The Sun will swell into a red giant, either swallowing Earth or at least completely scorching it, around five billion years from now. However, as the Sun grows gradually hotter (over millions of years), Earth may become too hot for life as early as one billion years from now. But Civilisation will be wiped out in less than 8000 years by the Y3K bug, assuming it cannot be averted by adopting a 5 or 6 digit Year....

Super Galaxy Andromeda

but, but...97% of Astronomers agreed on the consensus that Andromeda was a Super-Galaxy! Does that mean scientific consensus is meaningless and actual data is required? That could be the start of a belated return to the Scientific Method and an acceptance that saying it in a Peer-reviewed magazine article doesn't necessarily make it so.

MY GOD, IT'S FULL OF CARS: SpaceX parks a Tesla in orbit (just don't mention the barge)

Re: Great Headline, Register

Anything by Peter F Hamilton is worth a look if you enjoy Space Opera genre! Start with "The Reality Dysfunction".

Re: Great Headline, Register

I can't wait to see EFM's BGR!

New Zealand joins the Space Race

What part of New Zealand are you from?

a) North Island

b) South Island

c) West Island (AKA the Convict Colony)

European court: Let's not kid ourselves, Uber. You're a transport firm, not a 'digital service'

Uber is a service; Stupid Judges!

The ruling (PDF) said that the service Uber provides "is more than an intermediation service consisting of connecting, by means of a smartphone application, a nonprofessional driver using his or her own vehicle with a person who wishes to make an urban journey" I would have said that is EXACTLY what Uber is. This ruling just goes to show that judges are incompetent to make rulings on disruptive technologies. The only life experience they had before becoming a Judge was working as a Lawyer. None of them understand real life and working to earn a living.

Fresh bit o' Linux to spruce up that ancient Windows Vista box? Why not, we say...

Re: Um....

No problem: everyone knows that 79% of statistics are made up!

Microsoft's Surface Pro 2017, unhinged: Luxury fondleslab that's good...

Re: and a proper laptop....

My ASUS laptop has a touch screen, but I hardly ever use it except for blowing up photographs. Mouse and keyboard for almost everything.

Apple exits music player biz by killing iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle

Exit from Music Market?

Apple hasn't exited from the Music Market: every iPhone is also an iPod, so Apple devices will continue to download and play music for decades to come.

Microsoft hits new low: Threatens to axe classic Paint from Windows 10

You Guys have heard of the Snipping tool, right?

I think the MS Snipping tool arrived with Vista; it's in 7, 8.1 and 10, anyway.

Run - Snipping Tool

New

Select

Paste

Done.

No one still thinks iOS is invulnerable to malware, right? Well, knock it off

iOS, not IoS

Initially I read this as IoS: the Internet of Shit being delivered instead of the Internet of Things: soon Kazakhstanian hackers will be able to turn your fridge off while you are at work. Connected is Vullnerable.

Anyway, why would anyone bother attacking Apple PC's? There aren't enough of them to make it worthwhile.

Apple gives world ... umm ... not much new actually

Re: Sign of a mature market?

So Steve Jobs is really dead, then?

TRUMP SCANDAL! No, not that one. Or that one. Or that one. Or that one.

Re: Ha Ha

It wasn't Russians who hacked the DNC's emails: Seth Rich gave Kim Dotcom the DNC emails, so he could forward them to Wikileaks, then he died in mysterious circumstances, just as the Russian Hackers conspiracy was rolled out by the DNC to undermine Trump’s Presidency.

Proof that Trump was not a russian Puppet was delivered fairly convincingly when he used Cruise missiles against a Syrian Airfield also used by the Russians. He did give Russia warning so they could avoid losing their planes and pilots, but that was to avoid starting WWIII.

nbn™ to offer 100Mbps fixed wireless service

FTTN

This is FTTN, with wireless to the user.

Pence v Clinton: Both used private email for work, one hacked, one accused of hypocrisy

Apples and Oranges

This is a media beat-up about nothing.

The issues around a Governor using an AOL account for his personal emails are quite different from a Secretary of State setting up a private email server and using it to distribute Federal top secret documents.

The latter is an intentional breach of federal law while the former is no breach of Indiana Law.

China announces it wants more immigrants, better diplomats and science-led industry

Unlike, oh, where exactly?

While making these claims, China runs concentration camps where dissidents are harvested of organs for the Party hierarchy, and any member of the media who dares criticise the Party line is liable to wind up in concentration camps being DNA -tested for matching those Party members.

They are dredging ecologically sensitive reefs in order to build military bases on reefs that properly belong to the Philippines according to the International Court in the Hague. Where is the outrage such actions should provoke from the Greens?

Compared to this moral abyss, the USA has plenty of moral high ground compared to China.

Protest against Trump's US travel ban leaves ‪PasswordsCon‬ in limbo

atheists, LGBT folk, etc

Read https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/us/politics/refugee-muslim-executive-order-trump.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0 and you will see that Trump stattes that "The United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred (including “honor” killings, other forms of violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice religions different from their own) or those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation."

You might say he is out to protect "atheists, LGBT folk, etc" so your point is completely untrue.

" It troubles me deeply that people – refugees – are excluded solely on their country of origin. Or religion, as this #MuslimBan EO really seems to be about."

Per Thorsheim is a Norwegian who apparently doesn't know there are more than 7 Muslim countries in the World: Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are not on Trump's list for instance. The 7 countries were listed by the Obama administration as "Countries of interest" for exporting terrorists. If you are going to claim the moral high ground, try to get your facts straight first. I give Per 2 stars out of 10 for his protest.

Trump's cartoon comedy approach to running a country: 'One in, two out' rule for regulations

I like it

The right to bear arms was intended to limit the power of Government: would-be tyrants fear an armed citizenry.

President Trump tweets from insecure Android, security boffins roll eyes

Twitter is public

"The New York Times reports that the USA's newly installed president is using his old phone mainly to post to Twitter rather than make calls." Twitter can be sent from anywhere, including internet cafes: the only security is the account password, regardless of the platform used. There are no secrets at risk here: everything he tweets is consumed by millions of Trump-watchers worldwide. Could the faux outrage about the insecure mobile phone be a sign of job insecurity among the Print Media as Trump by-passes them and goes direct to the public?

Doomsday Clock moves to 150 seconds before midnight. Thanks, Trump

The Doomsday Clock

"The Doomsday Clock, maintained for the last 70 years by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" has no basis in actual science at all: it is merely the gut-feel of a bunch of Atomic Scientists who have no guts. It has less scientific justification than the IPCC temperature predictions, which are at least generated by amateurish computer models: this prediction is more political than scientific.

Huawei Mate 9: The Note you've been waiting for?

Huawei Spyphone

If you are happy to have the authoritarian Chinese government intercepting your communications then by all means, buy a Huawei! Don't whine to me when you are blackmailed into becoming a Chinese spy.

Trump's plan: Tariffs on electronics, ban on skilled tech migrants, turn off the internet

The will of the people

It shows the quality of the American Left that the democrat party is now rioting in the streets of Democrat cities to protest the democratic election of President Trump. In the process they are blocking roads and bridges inconveniencing other commuters most of whom voted for Hillary. The Clinton campaign ran a dirty personal vilification campaign against trump branding him racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, Islamophobic and xenophobic: they have brainwashed their zombie supporters and sent them into the street to rage against the will of the people. Democrats against Democracy! I wish these leftie losers could see themselves for the tossers they are, then get over themselves.

Whoosh! China shows off J-20 'stealth' fighters and jet drones

Stealth

It is a stealth fighter in the sense that the designs were stolen from the West by stealth: "It looks a lot like an F-22 fuselage mated with an F-35 cockpit section and with the forward canard delta wings of a Saab Gripen or a Eurofighter Typhoon grafted on; a visual mishmash of features from successful Western designs." That is because that is where they sourced the designs from.

Boffins coax non-superconductive stuff into dropping the 'non'

Re: Cause and effect

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Virtually any technology will appear to be magic to a primitive mind: we sophisticated Westerners require 24th Century technology to simulate magic for us...

Vatican and musicians at odds over appropriate use of crematorium leftovers

Respect for the Dead

I guess Cardinal Muller was reacting to the disrespectful treatment of human remains by the aforementioned musicians, and, horrified by human ash being ingested by mosh-pit dancers went a bit too far in reaction. The reason prospective corpses specify cremation is to save their heirs the cost of a burial plot, so renting a holy shelf for the ashes is not an appealing option. The good news is that modern crematoriums do not produce any ashes at all unless artificially throttled down to do so for those mourners who want a souvenir of the dearly departed. Tell them to "set the controls for the heart of the Sun" and there will be no earthly remains to store anywhere, just hot vapour.

For those worried about the Almighty's ability to raise you from the dead on the last day; worry no more. As a Pan-dimensional being living outside of time, He can recover your body from any point in your 4-dimensional existence, before you were cremated.

Sex is bad for older men, and even worse when it's good

Sex is bad for older men, and even worse when it's good

They had to post this on RUOK Day? I was till I read this! Thanks Register!

Re: I think, on balance,

No it means that a 5 years study found that cardiovascular events were much more likely, not that they lived for 5 more years. When I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer I was told I had only a 25% chance of surviving for 20 years unless I had the Prostate and Vas Deferens surgically removed. I told the Surgeon that 1 in 4 odds for 20 years of sex sounded pretty good to me compared to 30 years as a Eunuch. I've had two more good years so far, and while I might regret my decision during a lingering death by cancer, I don't think I will.

Breaking 350 million: What's next for Windows 10?

Unfair claims of requiring new kit to run Windows 10.

Windows 10 needs less resources than Windows 7 - when I upgraded Windows runs faster on the same hardware, so unless the Anniversary Update of Windows is a downgrade to bloatware (I haven't upgraded yet), there is no truth to this. Who runs Windows 7 or 8.1 on less than 2 Gb RAM? Everyone I know has 4 or 8Gb, so this is hardly a startlingly high requirement.

Cryptography vs. bigotry: The debate Australia needs to have

Bigoted? Maybe. Ignorant? Maybe not.

"But her position is ignorant and bigoted because it takes an idea to turn someone to terror and it's now impossible to stop the flow of ideas."

Her position is that by stopping all Muslims from entering Australia, we can stop the (say) 2% of Muslims who are potential terrorists. It doesn't stop Muslims already living here from becoming radicalised, but if there is a percentage of the Muslim population prone to becoming Terrorists then stopping the Australian Muslim population growing does seem a logical way to put a lid on future growth in this area, as well as making it difficult for ISIS and AL Qaeda to infiltrate sleeper agents into our country. So it might be bigoted but it isn't necessarily ignorant, as it is based on logic, and it seems as if we have no way at present of distinguishing between good (as in safe) Muslims and Bad (as in psychopathic religious fanatics with serial killer ambitions).

I could also add that it takes more than "an idea to turn someone to terror" - they have to be ready for that idea to kick off their psycho-killer predisposition. I could argue that it is too possible to stop the flow of ideas: the Government could block all internet sites from terrorist organisations, and force Facebook to close any account that uses certain key words such as "Kill the infidels!" I'm not saying this would necessarily be a good thing, but it could be done, with the political will to do so.

A bigot is "a person who is intolerant towards those holding different opinions." There goes all the Labor Party and the Greens, then: they are bigots towards non-socialists!

GM crops are good for you and the planet, reckon boffins

GM Crops are good for you

Now perhaps we can eliminate chemical fertilisers and pesticides by integrating Nitrogen-fixing Legume genes and pyrethrin-generating Chrysanthemum genes into food crops such as potatoes, rice and corn. These are not "artificially modifed genes" that have never existed before, they are just being borrowed from one plant and copied to another. By doing so, we can farm poor land with higher yields without poisoning the planet with insecticides and chemical fertilisers. If you oppose this, you're a Luddite crack-pot!

Re: When electricity was first introduced....

There is and they are.

Steve Jobs, MS Office, Israel, and a basic feature Microsoft took 13 years to install

Bad Idea

multi-language support is a bad idea: force everyone to compute in English: it is better for social cohesion in the long run, and the software is much easier to write, so would be cheaper...it's all win/win.

That's cute, Germany – China shows the world how fusion is done

Re: Soon...

Human rights, now, in the present, not decades in the past...China is still performing atrocities on its own citizens as well as on the Tibetans.

David Bowie: Musician, actor... tech admirer

Farewell to an Icon

Where would we be today without Bowie? If only he could have had Five More Years!

Pushing through the market square, so many mothers sighing

News had just come over, we had five years left to cry in

News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying

Cried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lying

I heard telephones, opera house, favorite melodies

I saw boys, toys electric irons and T.V.'s

My brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spare

I had to cram so many things to store everything in there

And all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short people

And all the nobody people, and all the somebody people

I never thought I'd need so many people

A girl my age went off her head, hit some tiny children

If the black hadn't a-pulled her off, I think she would have killed them

A soldier with a broken arm, fixed his stare to the wheels of a Cadillac

A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest, and a queer

Threw up at the sight of that

I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlor, drinking milk shakes cold and long

Smiling and waving and looking so fine, don't think

You knew you were in this song

And it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor

And I thought of Ma and I wanted to get back there

Your face, your race, the way that you talk

I kiss you, you're beautiful, I want you to walk

We've got five years, stuck on my eyes

Five years, what a surprise

We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot

Five years, that's all we've got

We've got five years,what a surprise

Five years,stuck on my eyes

We've got five years my brain hurts a lot

Five years, that's all we've got

We've got five years, stuck on my eyes

Five years, what a surprise

We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot

Five years, that's all we've got

We've got five years, what a surprise

Five years, stuck on my eyes

We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot

Five years, that's all we've got

Five years

Five years

Five years

Five years

The ultimate Songwriter

DAVID BOWIE

Windows for Warships? Not on our new aircraft carriers, says MoD

Re: Ah joke wallpaper ...

I reconsidered the wisdom of installing the BSOD screensaver on our main File Server when the MD had a panic attack...

Hubble finds lonely 'void galaxy' floating in cosmic nothingness

Duat Galaxy

Perhaps they called it the "Void Galaxy" because it was bodiless? We should re-read the series rather than Torc about it...

Hold on, France and Russia. Anonymous is here to kick ISIS butt

Re: return Getting Tough

Yes; you are technically correct. Conservatives want to preserve (conserve) the status quo, by definition; however Conservative has come to mean those who want to roll back to an earlier, idealised point in time, such as the middle-class paradise of the Thatcher era.