Posts by gv

Windows 11 movable taskbar edges closer to general release

Prefer my taskbar on the left of my wide-screen monitor, ideally with the menu button at the bottom, something I can achieve easily with KDE, XFCE, Cosmic, et al.

'Asimov was right' about rules for robots, says ex-US Cyber Director

Re: Interesting hypotheseis with truely staggering consequences

IF models become sentient. Based on current state of the art, I'd say that is a big IF.

Microsoft makes Copilot harder to miss in Classic Outlook

Switched back

Decided to switch back to classic on my work laptop as new one would occasionally hang for no reason or give an 'Access Denied' message in the folder pane.

Truly an atrocious piece of software.

Purism launches supersized 16-inch laptop for buyers who put privacy before price

I'd buy one (and the phone) if I had the disposable income.

MX Linux 25.2 provides possible refuge from AI as well as systemd

Re: taskbar on the left!

Been running MX for about three years now, initially with XFCE, but switched to KDE around a year ago. Moved the panel to the left and put the App Menu at the bottom.

Think tank to UK government: You can't build the future on systems from the past

Re: "the government seemingly fixated on headline-grabbing announcements"

Unfortunately, 'modern, interoperable systems' seems to mean Microsoft for both government and corporations.

NHS England confirms: Palantir staff can access patient data

Re: I don't blame them.

The person doing the backing up and restoring doesn't need to see the actual data. Once restored, you get someone who is allowed to see the data to verify whether it is correct or not.

Hashicorp co-founder Mitchell Hashimoto says GitHub ‘no longer a place for serious work’

Redmond-centric

Outages are standard Microsoft, surely?

Locked, stocked, and losing budget: AI vendor lock-in bites back

Any software

This is a great article and the points made apply to any significant deployment of a proprietary product (ERP, HCM, et al.).

"It is context, workflows, and institutional memory" oh yes!

Google Meet or Google Mute? Even CEOs get borked sometimes

"Yes, I can hear you, Clem Fandango."

Magnificent irony as Meta staff unhappy about running surveillance software on work PCs

Re: Keyloggers???!!!

Macs are managed by IT, so assume the same as Windows. However, at this stage it's not worth the hassle, hence the use of a non-corporate device.

Re: Keyloggers???!!!

You are assuming that I have not deployed countermeasures for both...

Re: Keyloggers???!!!

One reason to run Linux on your work laptop is to avoid this type of nonsense. However, corporate IT has evolved to no longer allow admin access, lock down the BIOS settings, etc., so it's now no longer feasible.

Current employer doesn't even allow Firefox, so all personal stuff is done on the mobile phone.

Brussels tells Google to hand rivals its search crown jewels as privacy row brews

Re: I'd be happy if...

"Hundreds of millions of Europeans trust Google with their most sensitive searches..."

Do you trust Google with your sensitive searches?

Decades-old Linux UI bug fixed by dev younger than the window manager

Re: Bewilderment

That's e17 though, not e16.

Stack Overflow abandons redesign after loyalists criticize it

Re: Nostalgia

I still use it mainly because you can see several different answers to give you a more rounded perspective.

Elon Musk wants to build 50 times more chips than the world currently produces, using 'new physics'

Re: Peak Musk...

You'd be dead within a week.

Re: Peak Musk...

It would actually turn out like Blake's 7: the boot of the Terran Federation forever stamping on your face.

After years of being stood up, ARM64 Linux users finally get Chrome date

Re: Google is King of Data Harvesting

Only time I use Chrome or Edge is on the work laptop.

Microsoft Copilot to hijack your browser... for your own convenience

Re: Surely Edge can be nuked from space ?

It would probably just reappear...

AWS-hosted tech providers urge Middle East customers to fail over now

“High availability across multiple Availability Zones will be restored once AWS confirms recovery.”

Probably best not to hold your breath.

Say goodbye to budget PCs and smartphones – memory is too expensive now

Re: Which is why I bought new smartphone two weeks ago...

End of last year noticed that StarLabs were having a sale, so picked up a laptop with 64GB of DDR5 for around £1700 which should keep me going for the next decade.

Hardly anybody bought Samsung's last smartphones for AI. It hopes this year's models change that

Re: No thanks

"... if you consult your calendar and the phone sees you have a meeting in the near future, it might suggest you summon an Uber."

I'm not quite sure why I need 'AI' for that.

DRAM prices expected to double in Q1 as AI ambitions push memory fabs to their limit

Re: Loophole

640MB is more than enough for anybody.

Bork ventures to the Middle of Lidl

Re: Swap out

What do you mean I don't need an arc welding torch?

ServiceNow boasts about years of sweat equity that went into making its AI agents smarter

Re: Screen

"Have you tried forcing an unexpected reboot?"

Google pushing Gemini into Gmail, but you can turn it off

Re: Hands up who didn't see this coming?

I've had "smart" features turned off for a long time.

AMD threatens to go medieval on Nvidia with Epyc and Instinct: What we know so far

Re: What has CES become?

To play Doom?

Recline of the machines: Terminator felled by dodgy battery

Re: I used to like

Old enough to have actually experienced this in real life.

Windows is testing a new, wider Run dialog box. Here’s how to try it

Re: I wonder

Bring back the vertical taskbar.

The Roomba failed because it just kind of sucked

In the same timeframe for about £100 less, I bought a Miele vacuum cleaner that is still going.

Techie 'forgot' to tell boss their cost-saving idea meant a day of gaming

Re: Yes.

Been subject to two acquisition processes in my 30+ year career and the three to six months it takes for these things to work themselves out have been spent improving my Minesweeper skills for the first one and messing about installing various Linux distros for the second.

I'm currently in a consultation period for possible redundancy, so am seeing if I can finally sort out my ascension run in Nethack in between job interviews.

Microsoft research shows chatbots seeping into everyday life

"Genuine People Personality"

Windows Insiders get a glimpse of Microsoft’s agentic future

I'm sure Clippy for the OS will be as successful as Clippy for Word.

Dell says Windows 11 transition is far slower than Win 10 shift as PC sales stall

Re: "the potential of the AI PC"

Strongly reminded of the 3D TV fad.

Microsoft spins up Azure HorizonDB to take on distributed Postgres rivals

The sane decision would be to stick with Postgres and avoid this Microsoft rubbish.

Self-replicating botnet attacks Ray clusters

Re: I just . . . what?

Ray bloody Purchase

Game over: Europol storms gaming platforms in extremist content sweep

Re: I was radicalised by computer games

I hate the Wizard of Yendor!

AI layoffs to backfire: Half quietly rehired at lower pay

Re: The American (CEO's) Dream

It's really going to motivate you to do your best work if you're rehired to your old job with a smaller wage.

UK.gov vows to hack through regulation to get benefit from AI

Re: Downward spiral

Don't forget your towel.

Literal crossed wires sent cops after innocent neighbors in child abuse case

During my upgrade from ADSL to VDSL, they managed to somehow assign my landline number to somebody else. Recently switched ISPs and this time they managed to block incoming calls on the landline.

Everyone wants a fancy phone – even the folk buying them second-hand

Currently on an iPhone 16 running iOS 26.0.1. The only redeeming feature is that it's USB-C so I no longer need the weird Apple cable.

Work have standardised on Apple and Samsung and, having tried both, there's no way I'm spending my own money on either.

Mozilla is recruiting beta testers for a free, baked-in Firefox VPN

Re: Architecture? That's houses, isn't it?

Old enough to remember when my browser had an email client, calendar, IRC, and HTML page composer.

Microsoft moves to the uncanny valley with creepy Copilot avatars that stare at you and say your name

Re: Share and Enjoy…

Me: "Orac, what new emails do I have?"

Orac: "I am closing down. I have much to do. You have engaged my circuits on your petty affairs for far too long."

Linux's love-to-hate projects drop fresh versions: systemd 258 and GNOME 49

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition...

Vibe coding platform Replit's latest update is infuriating customers with surprise cost overruns

Re: CEO's Marketing-Inspired Analogies

... and the sandpaper will be deployed when you attempt to cancel the service.

Smart-blooded super soldiers: Coming soon from DARPA

"Dr. David Banner - physician, scientist - searching for a way to tap into the hidden strengths all humans have..."

US tosses $134M pocket change at fusion pipe dream

Re: Two options

I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition.

Get paid like a prime minister to tame Home Office IT chaos

Re: Delusional

Musk is paid billions and I wouldn't put him in charge of my microwave...