Posts by Shrek

Backblaze sees drive failure rates tick up, asks if AI can help

Re: I would have thought that...

For what it's worth, the raw data does seem to contain the SMART data. I think at the level of the blog post treating them as a black box is good enough to engage the reader.

Rocky Linux details the loopholes that will help its RHEL rebuild live on

Re: Oracle/RedHat pricing

With regards to pricing I would point out that you're not, at least in my opinion, doing a direct comparison there. I think RHEL Premium is the most direct comparison (24x7 support, production suitable etc) and costs $1,299 - so still cheaper but it's not as far apart as you make it seem. The $349 option for RHEL server is "Self Support" and "not intended for production environments."

Of course, with both of those you are looking at options (e.g. CPU pair pricing of Oracle's offering and High Availability and other bundles for RHEL) which you may or may not need so I would assume that the final cost could vary quite widely from the headline figures depending on each specific use case.

UK spy agency violated Snooper's Charter with 'unlawful' data retention

But an encryption back door will be fine... right?

It's not like we (as in regizens) needed convincing that allowing the government to mandate encryption key back doors into applications was a bad idea but, surely, this is yet another example of why this would be a bad thing, no?

Even if they could somehow convince us that no bad guy would get their hands on the back door key they seem to forget that they can't be trusted with the keys to the cookie jar either.

Two arrested in massive $575m cryptocurrency 'Ponzi scheme'

Re: "If you buy cryptocurrency 'properly'"

It depends how you represented those $$$ magic beans to the customer... which I think is partly the point of the original comment. You may think those beans are worthless but there are people who may think that those beans have a value and, provided there's been no misrepresentation, that's fine - the customer has got what they paid for.

In my opinion it's akin to homeopathic remedies, they're demonstrably nonsense yet people continue to buy them and, broadly speaking, the retailers aren't misrepresenting them. That's not to say there isn't a lot of misrepresentation around those remedies but provided it isn't the producer and/or retailer doing it then they aren't actually doing anything wrong.

That's not to say I think they should be allowed to be sold because there are the gullible and vulnerable who will buy them for whatever reason, but there's difference between what is my opinion and what is legal.

Too bad, contractors: UK government reverses decision to axe IR35 tax reform

Re: The very definition of an omnishambles.

> The basketcase of idiocy that (further) trashed Sterling (it was $1.65 before the referendum)

Errm, so everyone keeps saying this, but it's probably more the case that the US dollar has been strong vs every other currency. Sure in the last few days there's been some volatility which is hardly surprising but, on the whole, GBP doesn't to my untrained eye seem to have faired significantly better or worse than any of GBP/Euro/Swiss Franc/Korean Won/Dirham vs USD.

Now, perhaps we'd have been better off without Brexit, but it doesn't seem to be that which is the problem vs. the USD.

Is it an omni-shambles in general? Yeah I'd agree with you there.

Apple's Mac Studio exposed: A spare storage slot and built-in RAM

Re: Bloody hell...

I'm not convinced. It's been a long time, but my experience of upgrading machines was a pain in the posterior.

Biggest bang for buck back in the day was drop in more RAM, sure, then everything else was nibbling at the edges (SSD wasn't a thing then, so the difference between 5400 and 7200RPM disk was noticeable but not night and day).

Beyond RAM upgrades however, my experience generally has been that I'd decide on a new processor, oh but hold on, you need DDR3 (or whatever it was), and in pairs, so that required a new mobo as well as the new RAM. That would then probably need a new PSU...

Or perhaps get that shiny new GFX card, oh but that needs a motherboard capable of 'X', which needs a new CPU.... etc.

It was rarely ever just a single component upgrade.

That's even after I'd spent hours researching the most "future proof" motherboard. So I've given up on the idea that easily upgradeable PCs are the way to go other than for fun/tinkering. Sure it works for some, but many people will buy it and just use it until it dies. So my advice to people buying PCs is prioritise RAM (min 8GB, ideally 16GB) as much space as you need, then the CPU. Unless you are after a gaming rig and/or tinker for fun.

Built in and soldered may, arguably, be interchangeable but this isn't really either of those things, it's part of the silicon the CPU itself is built on. It's more akin to upgrading the L3 cache of a (for example) Intel CPU.

So whilst not literally built into CPU directly it's pretty close to it.

I'd argue these days that the RAM the Studio's come with (32GB minimum) should see it remain useful for its working life. Never say never of course (who needs more than 640KB etc) but for me at least the requirements to add RAM every couple of years just to get reasonable performance are long gone. I specced 32GB for my last laptop (in 2018) and as I type this ~24GB is used, but 8GB of that is for file cache.

Of course YMMV.

Tech bro CEOs claim their crowns because they fix problems. Why shirk the biggest one?

Pretty much what I was going to say. My specific example was switching from a OnePlus 5 which day to day was still perfectly useable and probably had some good life left in it - but it hasn't had any security updates for sometime and it looks like it won't do either.

I weighed up options, considered LineageOS etc but there's always a compromise, usually not being able to fully utilise the stock camera or having to fiddle (granted not tricky in reality) to get Gapps sorted.

Tried an old iPhone SE and was surprised to find it running (at the time) the latest iOS14 and more than useable, really it was only the form factor that put me off. Had my eye on whatever the iPhone 13 brought but then got a hand me down iPhone XR. Seems more than capable to me and is a big enough step from the OP5 that I'll likely stick with that until it dies a death.

The point being that, in my experience, it seems that Apple keep the software updates coming for quite a while - certainly more than any Android device I've owned.

Brit builders merchant Travis Perkins opts for Oracle after ERP disaster with Infor

Re: "technology has been a source of pain for investors in recent years"

If you have a pension then, in reality, it's pretty likely you and I are the ultimate investors...

That said, totally agree that the buzzword bingo told no-one anything constructive!

Apple faces another suit over its allegedly misleading water resistance claims

Re: IP68

I thought that the first digit specified protection against foreign body and dust protection, and had nothing to do with impact resistance.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code

Looking at that it appears there can be an impact resistance component but that would be a third digit, which I didn't realise until today.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still going – and so is the PC buying spree: Shipments up 55% on the Before Times

Re: But crypto

For average users it is probably more about RAM than CPU, 4GB is probably usable but I consider 8GB to be the minimum. By "average" I'm assuming someone who wants/needs to run Windows 10. So I'm not surprised that a 2012 CPU can still (just about) cut it.

But then RAM is also supply constrained at the moment it seems.

Just to clarify, it is possible to get PCs for ~£500 however having managed to get the above i5 it wasn't fair to palm an i3 off onto the folks especially as RAM has also dropped to 4GB (mostly) at that price-point.

Re: But crypto

I don't think that lack of PCs and lack of high-end GPUs are related, other than silicon fabs can't keep up with demand for fresh silicon. The majority of people scrambling for PCs right now don't need high- or even mid-end GPUs, it just has to be good enough to run Teams/Zoom/Word etc.

In my case (limited sample set admittedly) I managed to get my parents a decent mid-spec (i5 10th Gen, 8GB RAM, 16GB Optane, 256 or 512 SSD) during the Black Friday sales but, due to Currys cocking up, the original order for delivery to them was cancelled, then I found one in a local store so nabbed it. I wasn't able to get it to them due to the lockdown.

Anyway, long story short, as my daughter then used it for home-schooling I tried to source a similar replacement for a similar price (£500) and just couldn't. As the kids are back at school and restrictions have eased I've now managed to get it to them but there is still nothing that comes close for the money.

And it definitely doesn't have anything other than the bog standard GPU, and my parents are more than happy with it as it seems blisteringly fast compared to the previous one...

We've, um, changed our password policy, says CafePress amid reports of 23m pwned accounts

Re: Honest question...

You print out the username and password (plus any emergency 2FA codes) of your email account(s) and stash it somewhere safe, that way you can generally bootstrap your recovery using "Reset my Password" links on websites.

You may want other important accounts saved in the same way.

FWIW I use 1Password... if you really want to move elsewhere it is possible to export everything to a text file if you need to. It does pose a risk in terms of being a single target but, on balance, it allows me to easily have a unique password for every single site (as well as unique email - as was mentioned earlier using + addressing/sub-domaining).

Bloody vultures! Cheeky Spanish paraglider firm pinched El Reg's mascot

Must be the same designer as Rich Energy used...

Hmmm... I wonder if they used the same designers as Rich Energy used to design their logo (Very, very similar to Whyte Bikes...)

https://twitter.com/WhyteBikes/status/1138100890768945152

Oh and likely something of a Streisand effect with their shouty Twitter responses.

Fake broadband ISP support scammers accidentally cough up IP address to Deadpool in card phish gone wrong

Re: Who is to blaim for being taken by scammers?

So, in an air crash investigation scenario, no matter how you slice and dice it, the victim did something they have been told not to ?

To take that analogy sure, it's virtually always human error somewhere in the chain, but it is so often exacerbated by external factors, and frequently the Human-Computer Interface or misunderstandings/miscommunications. So sure, technically the pilot, say, (by your tone) was a moron and did "something they'd been told not to do" but if you look into all the compounding factors it's often not so clear cut.

If I could find the podcast I'd post it, because sure ultimately she got it wrong, but it was easy to see how under pressure, and the sustained period of time they worked the mark for, she made those mistakes.

Technically, by the letter of the law/contract/whatever you're correct, but to err is human.

Re: Who is to blaim for being taken by scammers?

Sorry, but as others have noted, it is not as straightforward as that. A few years back I was listening to a podcast (BBC R4's Money box I think) and the played the actual audio of someone who had been scammed of a large sum of money.

Before hearing it I was nearer to your point of view regarding how on earth anyone could fall for this, but hearing it back I think the mark only made maybe one or two mistakes at key moments. Add to that the fact that the scammers were very persuasive and I can see how someone not 100% up on security could have been scammed. Given the audio that was played I don't think I would have been caught as I'd have terminated the call earlier - but I certainly had sympathy for the victim, it wasn't as clear cut as "they obviously shouldn't have done X".

DocuSign forged – crooks crack email system and send nasties

Re: world+dog

In the process of selling our house and our agent uses DocuSign for the contract and we are at a stage where we are nearing exchange so not impossible (although unlikely as it's with the solicitors at this point of course) that there would be something we needed to sign.

It's a pretty good fake and it was mainly because a couple of things looked off (i.e. no mention of the property, the domains in the links/from address, etc) and it had been trapped by my mail providers spam filter that I went looking for news of a leak. Considering the amount of spam they send about signing up for their service it's piss poor not to have been notified about this - plus it guarantees I wouldn't be paying for their service in future.

Having a monopoly on x86 chips and charging eyewatering prices really does pay off – Intel CEO

Re: Headline

> It's a flippant headline for effect: it's all explained in the story.

Shocked! Shocked I am that The Reg would use such brazen flippancy...

TVs are now tablet computers without a touchscreen

Re: Oh you optimist

Basically this, I'd be very happy for manufacturers to produce 'dumb' TVs where (a bit like hi-fi separates) you add the bits you need. I know that's not for everyone, but my temporary(ish) Sony Android TV very rarely ends up being used for its smart features, and a 'dumb' but a high-quality screen would be my preference.

Personally, I'd be happy to ditch smart features and pay about the same - assuming, of course, you are paying for a better quality image.

Forgive me, father, for I have used an ad-blocker on news websites...

Re: No guilt at all

While I would not mind to contribute some ad revenue for my favourite site, it is definitely not going to be at the cost of using half of my CPU.

This.

It's not the Ad's per se that are annoying but the amount of resources they take. Many sites become virtually unusable without some form of ad blocking. Either through the dozens of trackers and beacons or intrusiveness of ads or both.

So long as websites serve ads that ruin the viewing experience I'll keep blocking them without guilt.

Come in HTTP, your time is up: Google Chrome to shame leaky non-HTTPS sites from January

Re: Dumb idea IMO..

As others have said this isn't really an issue any more with SNI, see here for more info regarding Apache.

Lester Haines: RIP

Sad news.

What an embuggerance.

Man hauled before beak for using drone to film Premiership matches

Perjures?

Admittedly this is somewhat pedantic - but have the perjured themselves? Incriminated, yes, but unless they've lied to the police/courts then I don't think it's perjury... Sorry I'll get me coat.

Give biometrics the FINGER: Horror tales from the ENCRYPT

Re: @John Miles -- no other option than to work on an offline PC

The motivational critique of my handwriting was the teacher describing it as looking like "a drunken spider had fallen into an ink pot and crawled across the page"...

NHS grows a NoSQL backbone and rips out its Oracle Spine

Re: SQL Injection/Developer incompetence isn't limited to Oracle

That may be true but I'm sure that NoSQL will have its own class of vulnerabilities when subjected to poor coding.

The point is that poor coding is the fault, not the technology in the case highlighted. Oracle is my background so I know it is easy to prevent, I assume that it is similarly trivial in other SQL implementations to avoid SQL Injection.

Your original point is not an Oracle problem, but a coding problem, of which I'm sure NoSQL has its own versions of such problems...

Re: Name change by deed poll to include...

*sigh* - only if you are an incompetent developer that doesn't use bind variables to avoid SQL Injection.

SQL Injection/Developer incompetence isn't limited to Oracle now, is it?

Braben sticks knife into secondhand games market

Re: Why not?

To be fair, a comparison to the car market doesn't exactly hold up...

Car manufacturers (or at least the dealers of those manufacturers) do have the opportunity to compete with the non-manufacturer market by adding value to the sale (e.g. increased warranty and 'approved used' schemes). I appreciate that not everyone will feel that there is any value being added, but there is at least the opportunity to compete by adding value or supplying OEM parts etc.

Again the consumer has a choice and the manufacturer can gain a slice of the action, as I see it with the games market there is simply no secondary revenue stream for games of the type mentioned in the article.

Likewise with food you will have to consume more (new!) food to produce more waste, i.e. the process sustains itself.