This has all the hallmarks of a Monty Python Yorkshiremen sketch....
"Eee you were lucky. We had to get up at 3a.m. to contain our AI from going rampant".
Posts by smot
108 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Mar 2012
Meta latest to tell world its AI agent wandered out of test pen
What the Linux desktop really needs to challenge Windows
Wednesday 24th December 2025 16:40 GMT
Re: Not just Zoom
Stange. I run Teams with Ubuntu 24.04 and Wayland with three different HiDPI monitors and can share any of my screens quite happily. The only compromise is using Teams as a PWA with Edge. Apparently Firefox has improved PWA management, but I haven't had time or inclination to get it working when the Edge solution works fine. I use FF for all other browsing.
AWS outage turned smart homes into dumb boxes – and sysadmins into therapists
Campaigners urge EU to mandate 15 years of OS updates
It's the final countdown: Windows 10 hits end of support in less than 30 days
Reg readers have spoken: 93% back move away from Microsoft in UK public sector
Florida jury throws huge fine at Tesla in Autopilot crash
Debian isn't waiting for 2038 to blow up, switches to 64-bit time for everything
A new Lazarus arises – for the fourth time – for Pascal programming fans
Saturday 10th May 2025 07:28 GMT
Re: This IS interesting, but people have opinions
If Pascal had remained in the form that Mr. Kernighan describes, it would certainly by now be relegated to the annals of history.
Fortunately, it's moved on, like most languages, and most of the issues he describes are no longer relevant. One might criticise the lack of forethought in design for some of the issues, e,g, statement separator vs terminator.
Still, it's an interesting historical observation.
Huawei makes divorce from Android official with HarmonyOS NEXT launch
Wednesday 23rd October 2024 08:37 GMT
"My bank is increasingly deprecating its online banking in favour of its mobile apps because it doesn't want to have to maintain a website as well as apps for two incompatible mobile platforms."
The simple answer is to scrap the apps and only maintain the web site. Banking apps will never be installed on my phone - they're a scammers paradise and so easily stolen.
Any bank that requires an app will never get my custom.
Julian Assange to go free in guilty plea deal with US
Mid-contract telco price hikes must end, Ofcom told
GNOME developer proposes removing the X11 session
Saturday 14th October 2023 07:30 GMT
1) Because I like it.
Tried KDE and gave up - too cluttered and awkward to navigate. Cinnamon etc are (to me) basically Windows/Gnome2 environments.
Gnome in its current form does exactly what I want from a desktop.
I don't bang a drum for it, and it makes absolutely no difference to me if others prefer a different desktop. It's good that a choice exists.
I can live with Wayland and work around the issues that affect me (sharing a window rather than whole screen, and remote desktops in browser windows being 4 pixels out of alignment*)
So I stick with Ubuntu LTS versions. (I do find snaps irritating though.)
* Special case: AWS Appstream running RDP session in Firefox on a 175% scaled 28" monitor. Mouse clicks have to be 4-pixels right & down from the actual point on the screen)
Lost voices, ignored words: Apple's speech recognition needs urgent reform
The Hubble Space Telescope is sinking! Two startups want to save it for free
Thursday 11th May 2023 20:03 GMT 
Simples. Ask ChatGPT
Q: How can the hubble telescope be moved into a safer orbit at minimal cost?
A: "As an AI language model, I cannot predict the possibility of moving a telescope such as Hubble. But, here are some general ways to move a satellite or a telescope into a safer orbit:
Use the remaining fuel to perform a controlled deorbiting: The Hubble telescope is not designed for re-entry, so it's not feasible to bring it back to Earth. Instead, the remaining fuel can be used to slowly bring it down into a lower orbit until it will eventually burn up upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.
Use gravitational forces: By using the gravitational forces of other celestial bodies such as the Moon, Earth, or even a spacecraft, the Hubble telescope can be safely moved into a new orbit without expending much fuel.
Use a space tug: A small spacecraft or robotic vehicle, known as a space tug, can be attached to the Hubble telescope to move it to a safer orbit. The space tug can also expel propellant to slow down or speed up the telescope.
Use aerodynamic drag: At the end of its lifetime, the Hubble telescope can be aimed at a lower altitude, the atmospheric drag, will cause the telescope to slow down and eventually burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
However, considering the importance and the sensitivity of the Hubble telescope, moving it into a safer orbit would require careful planning and execution to minimize any potential damage to the spacecraft and its instruments."
There you go.
No more free API access, says Twitter: You pay for that data
New measurement alert: Liz Truss inspires new Register standard
Rest in peace, Queen Elizabeth II – Britain's first high-tech monarch
The many derivatives of the CP/M operating system
Linus Torvalds releases Linux 5.19 – using Asahi on an Arm-powered Mac
Rufus and ExplorerPatcher: Tools to remove Windows 11 TPM pain and more
Not much of this actually from 'China anymore,' says Northern Light Motors boss
Google engineer suspended for violating confidentiality policies over 'sentient' AI
Microsoft proposes type syntax for JavaScript
114 billion transistors, one big meh. Apple's M1 Ultra wake-up call
UK Home Office dangles £20m for national gun licence database system
Web devs rally to challenge Apple App Store browser rules
Happy birthday, Windows Vista: Troubled teen hits 15
Web daddy Tim Berners-Lee on privacy, data sharing, and the web's future
First they came for Notepad. Now they're coming for Task Manager
Friday 21st January 2022 12:53 GMT
Re: This is why some are still on Win7.
So what shit can't you do in Win 10/11?
(Ok, I switched to Ubuntu when Vista arrived, but I still need to use WinX in VMs for Delphi dev.)
The start button moved. Wow, That REALLY stops me from doing shit. The right-click popup menu has cut 'n' paste piccies instead of text lines. Now I'm stumped as I'm unable to click little buttons and I seem to forget to use Ctl/C & V.
So many here complain of things like the Control Panel / Settings muddle, yet attempts to resolve this type of issue cause constant derision.
My only gripe with Win 7 -> 10 -> 11 is the corresponding increase in telemetry. I think I can handle all those tricky changes to the UI. In all other respects for me it Gets Shit Done.
Developer creates ‘Quite OK Image Format’ – but it performs better than just OK
Nextcloud and cloud chums fire off competition complaint to the EU over Microsoft bundling OneDrive with Windows
Do not try this at home: Man spends $5,000 on a 48TB Raspberry Pi storage server
Sheffield University scales back student system after Oracle integration stumbles
What a Mesh: Microsoft puts Office in the Loop, adds mixed reality tech to Teams
Microsoft's problem child, Windows 11, is here. Will you run it? Can you run it? Do you even WANT to run it?
Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the BBC stage a very British coup to rescue our data from Facebook and friends
Apple debuts iPhone 13 with 1TB option, two iPad models, Series 7 Watch
Wednesday 15th September 2021 15:55 GMT
Re: Minidisc
I still use my minidisc occasionally at gigs. Sits neatly in a pocket along with a lapel mike. Beats taking in a full recording system and the quality is perfectly acceptable.
Sony crippled it for more professional use by preventing the digital output from recorded material. Only the standard audio line out was available. It was all part of their DRM strategy which took them away from the pro audio arena.
Facebook building 'on-demand executable file format' that self-inflates using homebrew compression
30 years of Linux: OS was successful because of how it was licensed, says Red Hat
Windows 11 still doesn't understand our complex lives – and it hurts
Sunday 18th July 2021 15:45 GMT
Re: web Teams works on Linux
It works for me on Ubuntu 20.04, Dell xps13 with 2 extra monitors. Webcam (USB, not the buit-in nosecam) works well. Only problems are: Screen/window share doesn't work with Wayland - only X, and only 4 people on screen although many more people shown as simpl,e icons. No backgrounds.