Posts by imanidiot

Boffins blast beats to bury secret sonar in your 'smart' home

Re: "There are a number of possible defenses"

Defense number one is not bringing devices like Echo or Home into your home.

Hackers scam half a million from Enigma digital currency investors

Re: Yawn..

By the way, am I the only one who thinks that the more crypto currencies emerge, the more their overall value dilutes?

It's not (entirely) a zero sum game. But mostly a few wel established players will remain and the rest will vanish into thin air like all the other "me too" tech/software/hardware in the past. Bitcoin is pretty much here to stay. Etherium seems to be doing well and will probably stick around. The rest? Let's say I have my doubts...

Uh oh, scientists know how those diamonds got in Uranus, and they're telling everyone!

Re: De Beers sponsoring the next probe?

More likely De Beers would try to sabotage any probe that could threaten it's hold over the artificial scarcity of diamonds.

Want a medal? Microsoft 7.2% less bad at speech recognition than IBM

I'm not holding my breath

Error rates have been improving, but that doesn't really mean speech recognition will get GOOD any time soon. Humans tend to be able to gloss over a lot of misheard words and auto-correct from context. Automated recognition systems too often get this wrong.

Daily Stormer booted off internet again, this time by Namecheap

Re: @iamanidiot My Response to Namecheap on Booting Daily Stormer

It's my personal theory that EVERYONE is an idiot, including me. So yes??....

People never believe me when I tell them this, but then invariably they end up proving it in short order.

Re: My Response to Namecheap on Booting Daily Stormer

Right... Like anyone here is going to click a random pastebin link.

Q: How many drones are we bombing ISIS with? A: That's secret, mmkay

So either, or

Either the number is shockingly low and would show Britain is throwing away money hand over fist on it's drone "capability" OR the number is higher than they want to admit for fear of losing funding on manned flight/aircraft carriers/other white wales.

Ten spacecraft – from Venus Express to Voyager 2 – all tracked same solar flare

Re: Awesome

I'd guess it'd be in that ballpark.

NASA delivers CREAM-y load to ISS to improve cosmic ray detection

This particular stage 1 landing seems to have been a rather smooth one too. No noticeable bounce or drift when hitting the ground. Just a soft smooth decent and landing.

Intel's diversity numbers are out – and that 'push' has become more of a 'gentle nudge'

Re: Why "White and Asian" ?

Because in the semicon industry Asians are not an underrepresented minority. Thus they are lumped in with whites as being "non-URM".

Creepy backdoor found in NetSarang server management software

It is assumed someone managed to hack into NetSarang's operations and silently insert the backdoor

I'm thinking less hacking and more "convincing someone on the inside to implant the code or provide access".

How to build your own DIY makeshift levitation machine at home

Re: Like the idea, but...

blah, blah, I could do that with a 555...

Yeah, you could. You'd have to do more calculations, breadboard or solder up more components and then tune the vibrator to the frequency you need.

Or just grab the Arduino off the shelf, plug it in and get going, doing the tuning in the programming.

Is it overkill? Probably. But it's convenient and Arduino's are cheap as chips compared to spending even an hour extra time building an discrete square wave generator.

Look at it this way. In the olden days a square wave would be generated with discrete components, transistors, resistors, capacitors, diodes, etc (talk about unnecessary complexity...). Then we got the 555 timer chip to combine all those components in silicon and require less discrete components. Now we have MCU's in various guises to fulfill the job even easier and with more flexibility.

Batteries that don't burn at the drop of a Galaxy Note 7? We're listening

Re: The inventor of Li-ion batteries already has the replacement ready

" 60 discharging/charging cycles of 120 hours"

I read that as 60 cycles of 120 hours EACH. Which would mean this battery tech as it stands is useless.

Google bins white supremacist site after it tries to host-hop away from GoDaddy

Re: As much as I hate nazis...

I agree this site should just remain up. Banning any kind of speech is a really bad idea. YES, even when it is hateful vile bovine excrement spewing forth from unsavory people with objectionable ideas (to say the least). They and their speech should be in the open for people to point at and laugh at.

All this bullshit about "but some guy in the 1930s got to power that way and did horrible things, and he said all this same stuff" ignores the whole gamut of other (horrible) people who got to power saying different things. Like Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot or Castro (or any other of the left and rightwing dictators we have seen in the world). Or in a lesser league the likes of Bush, Obama, Trump, Merkel, Erdogan, Wilders, etc. The one thing all these people generally have in common is that what they started out doing was controlling the public opinion, by controlling what people could say and what they heard in the media. Hosting providers blocking a site for political reasons is a dangerous precedent. One that can easily be exploited later by those with less obvious motives.

Just allowing someone to talk, even if it is vile isn't a danger. Let them stay out in the open where they can be seen and ridiculed instead of pressing them underground where it becomes hard to follow who agrees with their ideas. If they actually ACT on their stupidity in a way that is a against the law then bring the hammer down hard.

Ohm-em-gee: US nuke plant project goes dark after money meltdown

The problem with many of these projects is the immense amount of bureaucracy that comes into play and demands like "As low as reasonably achievable" where reasonable doesn't take cost as an allowable factor. Meaning tiny changes keep having to be made to achieve just a slightly better margin or slightly better shielding, even if it means adding millions to the budget and months to years to the timeline. It's basically impossible to build any engineering feat on basis of ALARA principles, yet it is the demand for nuclear power.

Nuclear is dead. And it has been killed by radiophobic bureaucrats coming up with impossible guidelines without any regard for reality.

This surf-and-turf robot swims using ribbon-like fins. And it's floated for US Navy approval

Mêhh...

I won't be impressed until they are armed with lasersdeathrays

NEWSFLASH Now even science* says moneybags footballers are overpaid

Re: Way to bring their wages down

I know I'm paying my local footy club, even if its just my tax dollars going to police/riot control and paying for damages after "overenthusiastic" "fans" "redecorate" the town.

Intel loves the maker community so much it just axed its Arduino, Curie hardware. Ouch

well I'm surprised...

</sarcasm>

Australia releases MH370 sea floor data but search is still off

Re: It is a salvage mission in international waters, China should take over the search

For the sake of the families, I hope China does the right thing and starts planning its salvage mission immediately.

I don't see that happening any time soon. China has no skin in the game. It doesn't stand to benefit anything from such a mission. Australia has been running this search until now simply because it was closests (For a certain degree "close")

UK government's war on e-cigs is over

Re: No vaping in the workplace please

@Steven R

Even theatrical fog makes breathing hard for me. I and many people with me DO react to PG or glycol. My reaction to theater fog machines varies depending on the brand/composition of the liquid used, some I could survive an evening of being in that stuff (unless pumped pea-soup thick). Others had me crawling to the door wheezing and gasping at the first wiff. One of the reasons I don't really go to the theater any more. Some lighting/show-techs just LOVE filling the room with that stuff. Even when it adds nothing to their chosen lighting scheme.

Air, sea drones put through their paces on Solent testing range

Accident?

At least one flying drone was lost overboard from a civilian testbed ship after its operator made a mistake during takeoff and accidentally commanded it to backflip into the icy waters of the Minch, off Scotland's Atlantic coast.

Are we sure it wasn't preceded by "Hey guys, hold my beer"?

Disneyland to become wretched hive of scum and villainy

I was about to say that. It's hard to shoot Han Solo at close range if HAN SHOT FIRST

Russia launches non-terrifying satellite that focuses Sun's solar rays onto Earth

Re: Mayak jamming

The name Mayak reminds me more of the "Mayak Incident" or Kyshtym disaster. One of the lesser known severe nuclear accidents in Russian history releasing about as much radioactive material in one single explosion as was released in the whole of 2011 from the Fukushima plant. (And rather more long lived and nasty materials at that)

Re: A Ginger Bond villian who's big in Korea.

Graveyard orbits only work if the sat is still operational and responsive at end of life. Which is not always the case. There are already plenty of sats up there that SHOULD have been parked in a graveyard orbit but are instead adrift in their original orbit. And some have exploded.

Re: A Ginger Bond villian who's big in Korea.

This particular cubesat is in a low atmosphere skimming orbit. With it's large cross section mylar envelope it'll re-enter on it's on within months. The bigger problem is comms sattelites in high and geosynchronous orbits. And willy waving dick moves like blowing up a sattelite and creating a large cloud of debris, effectively locking out an entire polar orbit; Creating a massive problem for decades to come.

US laptops-on-planes ban now applies to just one airport, ends soon

Re: Guns

@bob

umm, most of the world is mostly sensitive to idiots thinking that being allowed to carry a weapon in daily life means that it's a good idea to take it on an aircraft in carry-on luggage. Most of the world realises many people carrying guns in the US are way too stupid to safely do so. Most of the world realises it's a bad idea to just allow any untrained idiot to carry a gun. There are plenty of countries around the world where private gun ownership is perfectly possible. Most however are sensible enough to put some limitations on the minimum level of inteligence required to do so. Yes, some countries are more draconian than they should be (like the Netherlands) but given history it's not surprising. We don't actually fear our government like the average gun-toting numbnut in the US seems to do. So we don't need guns to prove to our government how much of a big boy we are.

The curious case of a Tesla smash, Autopilot blamed, and the driver's next-day U-turn

Re: Hmm

Seems more like he gave a statement to police while still very shaken up by the accident, which then got misquoted or misunderstood by the media, who ran with the whole "autopilot caused a crash" without proper facts or an actual statement to that effect. Then when he recovered from adrenaline overdose and actually got his brain working again, he notices all the bruhahah in the media and makes a corrective statement with what actually happened. This has "media frenzy and damn the truth" written all over it.

Those of use who have actually been in mortal danger will know high doses of adrenaline do funny things to your mental faculties. You're hyper focused on staying alive and all physical tasks that this involves. To the tune you focus out all other stuff that is unimportant, like talking, thinking much beyond the task directly at hand or even creating memories of what transpires. Some moments are etched into your brain forever, others are just a vague blurr or completely missing. And it takes a while to get all of that out of your system again.

Security robot falls into pond after failing to spot stairs or water

Re: Your thinking about it wrong...

Security bot: Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they ask me to patrol a mall. Call that job satisfaction, 'cause I don't.

Hot HoloLens models 'shafted by Microsoft'

So Coroware folded and Microsoft (with which GI had no direct contact) then stepped in and made sure their events continued without problem. Maybe not the most ethical way of solving it but not immediately unlawful I'd say at first glance.

As for the sexual harassment allegations, Jennifer K. better have some convincing evidence or there is a good chance she'll be getting a successful counter-sue for slander/libel.

I'm not really convinced either way at this time.

Russia, China vow to kill off VPNs, Tor browser

Re: Simple explanation

MH17 has nothing to do with it. It was certainly not destroyed by Russia or Russians. Most likely it was shot down by the Kiev forces, either as part of a false flag operation or - most likely - through sheer incompetence.

Is that why a Russian BUK system belonging to a Russian army unit (Buk 332 from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (military unit 32406)) was photographed and seen moving through the area the missile was fired from and then seen being hauled away minus one missile towards Russia the night after the plane came down? Was it actually operated by Russian army personel? Who knows, maybe it was Ukrainian separatists/rebels/terrorists* supported by Russia. But BUK 332 was provably in Russia weeks before the downing of MH-17 and was provably in Russia again soon after (and still is). All evidence currently available points to it being the ONLY operational BUK in the area, points to being moved there by Ukrainian separatists/rebels/terrorists* from the Donetsk region (Russia) the day before, and points to it being moved in a panic back to Russia right after the it became clear they shot down a passenger plane instead of a the military jet they thought it was. There are pictures of the smoketrail pinpointing the launch site to be in a field on top of a hill in separatists/rebels/terrorists* controlled territory. There are phone calls recorded where clear references are being made to orders coming from Moscow. There is evidence the Ukrainian BUK systems in the area had all been disabled already to prevent them being captured operational by the separatists/rebels/terrorists* . No other Ukrainian "government" (if one can call it that at the time) BUK systems are known to have been in the area at the time. THERE IS VERY CLEAR EVIDENCE RUSSIA WAS INVOLVED!

*Strike through as applicable

All this information is available. Just take a look at: https://www.bellingcat.com/tag/mh17/. They cite sources if possible and have plenty of photographic evidence. Russia might not have pulled the trigger, but they certainly provided an unstable weapon with a twitchy trigger to a group certain to use it.

Re: The cause of the next world war

The cause of the next world war

I'll put money on a revolution happening because of this and a lot of people in governments getting lynched. You can only push people so far before something breaks. When the streets run with blood all this shite will be reversed.

As hinted at by MrDamage, if there is going to be a bloody revolt anywhere in the world its more likely to be in the western world. The Russian and Chinese populace currently has little reason to revolt against their governments, no matter how oppressed they get, most still remember the state of the country only 15 to 20 years ago. Western governments are however starting to push their luck with what their populace is willing to accept. Adding to that an influx of hard to integrate/incompatible cultures from Africa and the middle east into Europe and things are starting to strain.

Re: Will The UK Follow Their Lead ???

Not going to happen in the "western" world. Way too many large companies depend on VPN for things very important to their operations. I highly doubt western companies would allow "their" government to implement such VPN bans.

Dutch Senate votes to grant intel agencies new surveillance powers

Re: "three years"

Funilly enough it's "data fetishist"...

Still getting worse

Somehow things are still getting worse, even when you think we couldn't sink any lower. (And we're already close to or below sea-level)

The law gives very broad powers to the surveillance agencies. Pretty much giving them power to do whatever the hell they feel like. The promises of extra oversight are vague and unclear and badly defined. Again meaning the AIVD and MIVD (Civilian and military intelligence agencies) can do whatever the hell they feel like.

'Help! I'm stuck in this ATM,' writes poor bloke on a scribbled note

Not actually IN the ATM

He got stuck in the ATM ROOM. Simply a room with a door inside of the building that gives access to the back of the ATMs so they can be filled. You still need the right key or bust them open even if you do have access to the back. But it prevents having to fill the machine "out in the open" from the outside where you are an easier target for a stick-up.

Will the last person at Basho please turn out the lights?

That depends

"Former employees that signed a non-compete contract will also have to wait out those contracts before signing up to work on Riak at another company."

Non-compete clauses don't caunt if you get laid off or fired. That has been established in court already.

An AI can replace what a world leader said in his video-taped speech. This will end well. Not

Doesn't do it for me. The mouth looks good but Obama has a very pronounced body language when speaking which is not changed from the original. So suddenly his head an shoulder movement doesn't match the emphasis of his speech. It's good I'll give em that. And somre people might be convinced but I vmcan tell something is off.

NASA flies plane through Earthly shadow of Kuiper Belt object

Unlikely, the scope is physically incapable of pointing towards the earth (or even close to horizontal). So unless they did a barrel roll to achieve an angle... (And why bother when there are dozens spy sattelites in orbit around earth capable of pretty much reading a license plate from orbit). They also still have a fleet of U-2 spyplanes for these purposes much more suited for those missions than a scope only capable of seeing in IR wavelengths

His Muskiness wheels out the Tesla Model 3

Model 3 production will most likely cover costs completely.

We'll see if they can get a decent production volume with the required quality. Since they STILL seem unable to get something as basic as a consistent panel gap on the model S and X (if the recent Tesla's I've seen around here are anything to go by anyway) together with myriad other fit and finish problems I have little hope for them.

I've also heard figures of something like 85 to 90% first time right at final inspection for the Tesla model S lines. That level should be closer to 99.9 to 99.99% for any sort of production line of this level. In fact, if I were in the car making business (not currently, have been involved in the past) I'd expect 99,997% or better. (5000 vehicles a month at that FTR level is still 15 vehicles that need fixing before being able to be delivered. That's already a heavier burden on a repairs department than you'd want because faults in production can be hard to fix in the finished vehicle and require taking it nearly all the way apart again. Without damaging the paint or other components.)

May the excessive force be with you: Chap cuffed after Star Trek v Star Wars row turns bloody

I prefer the JarJar Binks is secretly a sith lord theory. In which case he is still an annoying twat but some of the bullshit makes sense.

Re: No contest

I prefer Firefly as best Scifi series, which certainly got cancelled before it's time. Stargate SG-1 was good too, SG:Atlantis had its moments but sometimes felt a little too grandiose for it's own good. SG:U started off terrible but worked it's way up to being actually quite good by the time it got cancelled and IMHO should have been given atleast 1 more season.

Star Wars as a series of movies isn't all that terrible, but a little pompous at times and terrible at others. Star Trek introduced a lot of the now standard elements of Scifi but there are many, many terrible, horrible stories/episodes offset against the good ones and the acting is not always that great either imho. A bit like watching old Dr. Who at times. Wobbly sets and all.

Babylon5, DS9, etc I've never even seen, so can't comment.

LHC finds a new and very charming particle: the Xi_cc⁺⁺ baryon

Re: Awe

Thanks StephanH, that was very informative.

What do the ++ in Xi cc++ denote? Is that the up-quark or the spin of the charm quarks or something?

Hackers able to turbo-charge DJI drones way beyond what's legal

Re: Sooner or later

If DJI was actually fast and expedient with adding and/or removing no fly zones and updating airspace structures I would agre with you about those removing DJI restrictions from their devices. However, DJI is known to be slow and sluggish in getting anything changed, leading people to being unable to fly where they SHOULD be able to fly. I can undertand people removing DJI restrictions for that very reason. This DOES mean that the responsibility for safely and legally operating a multicopter should lie with the operator/pilot, not with the company selling it. And it means those flying their craft well above safe altitudes in busy airspace should get a good clobbering before being arrested and thrown into a deep dark hole for a few years for endangering the lives of others.

I've recently had to explain the same thing to someone flying a DJI Phantom over my home city. "But I'm staying very close to the roof level of the houses, nothing comes over here". 'That doesn't matter. You're under the CTR of the local (international) airport, that goes from ground to 1500 meters, above that is more class A airspace. And the police helicopter HAS been known to fly that low over here due to the local football stadium. I really don't care what you do, but YOU should realise you are risking a very heavy fine at best and a long prison sentence at worst. Decide for yourself it that is worth getting some shaky low level footage of your neighbourhood.'

(Weirdly enough it seems to have worked because I haven't seen him fly the thing since)

Zero accidents, all of your data – what The Reg learnt at Bosch's autonomous car bash

Zero accidents is a dangerous goal to set

There was a time when aviation (which is very similar to the automated car bussiness in many ways) when zero accidents was the goal. There was stiff punishment for those found guilty and lots of deep detailed investigation into whatever accident was reported. It didn't really work. Many accidents found deep rooted problems in the organisation of all kinds of companies and bureaucracies that should have come to light sooner but weren't because people didn't dare report them. Because reporting an accident could lead the reporting into hot water himself.

Nowadays the safety culture is not focused on zero accidents, but on mitigating and diminishing the impact of the incidents that lead up to an accident so that as many edge cases leading up to an accident are excluded. But this means for instance that those reporting incidents should be protected from all consequences of reporting them. It also means not prosecuting those involved in accidents when they do happen so that all information possible can be gained from those involved to get a detailed root cause from all levels without fear of reprisals. Especially this last one is something that SHOULD be implemented when it comes to autonomous vehicles but is probably never going to happen because of the "someone has to be made responsible and punished for their mistakes" attitude many people have. Unless it's criminal negligence a programmer or designer working on autonomous vehicle hardware/software should never be held responsible for accidents that happen due to flaws in the software or hardware. And if they didn't use best practice due to cost cutting it should be the managers and beancounters on the chopping block. Not the scapegoat designers.

Recent incidents like the Tesla crashing under the side of a truck show the "off with their heads" attitude reigns unfortunately.

Re: Scenario

"update failed: Exception error .... Please visit closest service centre"

BOFH: That's right. Turn it off. Turn it on

Re: Thus is the great dilemma of IT support born

blockquote works just fine

but only if you are a bronze or higher badge commentard.

Semiconductor-laced bunny eyedrops appear to nuke infections

Re: Control group?

Though it's probably not stated anywhere I'm pretty certain all rabbits involved in this study were euthenized and destroyed after the study.

Should Conversion of Bitcoin to Money Be Illegal?

Re: Should Conversion of Bitcoin to Money Be Illegal?

the only people who currently use Bitcoin are criminal hackers, money launderers and drug dealers.

You are wrong there already. Only a very small portion of bitcoin is used for criminal activities. I would argue the vast majority of it is used as either a substitute for stock trading or as a form of tax evasion.

On top of that the only way to track bitcoan to a person when it gets exchanged for goods, services or "old fashioned" money. So no, it should not be illegal

Need a change? Well, the Euro Patent Office needs a new president...

Not really

The EPO is a bit of a weird one in that all countries participating agreed that it would remain outside the jurisdiction of one specific country, lest it give the country the EPO settled in some form of legislative control over the organisation, possibly forcing it to rule in it's favour. This means the EPO staff does not fall under Dutch labour laws. This has already been tested in court.

Given the support Batistelli seems to have in the higher levels of management (these latest approved "reforms" are again a blatant power grab and method to silence critics) I doubt things will improve with a new president. The only way they are ever going to fix this is for the new president to immediately throw out all this bullshit Batistelli put in place and put some proper independent oversight comittees in place. Otherwise they'll just be swapping "Great Leader" for "Dear Leader".