Posts by RM Myers

Logitech macOS mouse mayhem traced to expired dev certificate

Re: Carol Beer

Actually, yes there is. I have had several good experiences in the last month - real people answering the phone quickly and politely, getting the problems solved almost immediately, and following up to make sure everything was okay. Admittedly these were not directly IT related issues, and the companies were small, local businesses, but it still brought a much needed smile to my face. And yes, I would frequent these business again, even if their prices were higher.

Why our tech overlords can't do the same, I'll leave for others to debate.

Google fixes super-secret 8th Chrome 0-day

Re: What about Chromium and derivatives?

MS Edge got an update today also. Using multiple browsers certainly expands the threat landscape, but I have to use several websites that refuse to work with Firefox, and I don't want to use chromium based browsers more than absolutely necessary.

Google Antigravity vibe-codes user's entire drive out of existence

Re: What the Fark did you expect?

Don't be too harsh on our poor commentard. After all, victim blaming is a fine and honored pastime on the interwebs, as in real life.

Brits believe the bots even though study finds they're often talking nonsense

Re: Proof of the obvious

I assume you mean the "other half". The other half is always the stupid half.

Google Chrome bug exploited as a 0-day – patch now or risk full system compromise

Re: Do I need to panic?

According to Hacker News, both CVE's affect other chromium based browsers, although they didn't elaborate other than mentioning specific example browsers (Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi).

How to bluff your way to AI credibility with the right buzzwords

Re: I'm suspicious

Gartner created a bullshit generator long before there were websites, and they have been perfecting it ever since.

EY exposes 4TB+ SQL database to open internet for who knows how long

Re: Ernst & Young

I worked with KPMG auditors all the way up to partners, and they were very competent, although several had toxic personalities. But we also had a major accounting systems rewrite contracted to KPMG, and the joke in my area was that we were paying KPMG to train their employees for them. The KPMG staff who developed their proposal knew our business as well as employees with 30 years of experience in the industry, and really snowed the CFO and Controller. Once the contract was signed, the actual KPMG staff who were doing the work didn't even understand basic concepts and terminology. I was spending a large part of my day answering their basic questions about accounting rules and terms. Not fun!

Re: Ernst & Young

Oh come on, KPMG has eye watering bills for uni students to come and perform more than just audits! Their technology and business transformation consultants are equally inept and expensive. They do have extremely competent employees - you just never see them after the contract is signed.

Claude code will send your data to crims ... if they ask it nicely

Fixing vulnerabilities costs money, whereas blaming the user is basically free. It's good to see that the art of victim blaming is alive and well. At least AI hasn't screwed that up.

Google reminds EU that Microsoft's cloudy licensing still stinks a year later

I don't disagree with your basic premise about US regulators, but the decision not to force Google to sell Chrome or Android was made by the judge that found Google guilty of monopolistic practices, not a regulatory body. Why the judge would decide on such a toothless penalty is beyond my comprehension, but the judiciary has the ultimate decision in these cases, and can override any regulatory decisions.

Nork snoops whip up fake South Korean military ID with help from ChatGPT

s there anything that 'AI' can do right ???

Well, evidently they can make good quality fake id's. This is the sort of thing that takes apprentice forgers years to learn. What's not to like?

'Powerful but dangerous' full MCP support beta for ChatGPT arrives

We have met the enemy, and he is us

We are pushing on that AI gas peddle as hard as we can. Cliff, what cliff? I don't see any cliff..

ChatGPT hates LA Chargers fans

...anyone with half brain will tell you, AI is flawed.

Actually, most people with half a brain are dead*, and won't be telling you anything.

*Yes, I know there are exceptions where people have half their brain removed surgical and live a somewhat normal life, a fact I find astonishing. But they are few and far between.

Everything is 'different on Windows': Zed port delays highlight dev friction

"Take as long as you want. No rush."

But if they take too long, it might get Rust-y. Maybe they needs some WD-40 to free up development. Don't forget, Rust never sleeps.

Arch Linux takes a pounding as DDoS attack enters week two

Re: ELI 5

Because they can? For bragging rights? After all, what better way to prove your technical prowess than to attack a community based project with low funding which is, by its nature, based on trust and cooperation.

China cut itself off from the global internet for an hour on Wednesday

Re: "Chinese netizens couldn’t reach most websites hosted outside China, which is inconvenient"

I've worked with hundreds of people born overseas, and live in a neighborhood where probably a third of the families have one or more members born in Asia, but I live about 2 thousand miles east of California (3.5 thousands Kilometers). Living near a large University and a large Japanese auto manufacturing plant is part of the reason, as are a number of technology based companies nearby. Being personally languages challenged (I blame it on a severe childhood speech impediment), I am amazed at how well many of my Chinese and Japanese acquaintances speak English, including a number of neighborhood kids who are truly bilingual. This shouldn't be a total surprise - over 60 years ago my brother visited Japan while in the navy, and was amazed at the number of Japanese kids who wanted to talk to him so they could practice their English.

By contrast, one of my coworkers started talking to one of our Chinese actuarial students in the elevator in Mandarin, and she couldn't believe he knew any Mandarin at all (he had spent 2 years in Beijing working as an IT consultant). She had never run into anyone at work who new Mandarin and wasn't Chinese.

Law and water: Russia blamed for US court system break-in and Norwegian dam drama

Dam(n) rite!

"https://discoanon.bandcamp.com/track/dam-rite"

You've got drought: UK gov suggests you save water by deleting old emails

Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink

See the title.

Long live the nub: ThinkPad designer David Hill spills secrets, designs that never made it

"As long as that real estate won't be taken up by 5 different "AI" buttons"

I couldn't agree more. Four different "AI" buttons should be enough for anyone!

Okay, okay, I'm leaving. You don't need to shove me.

'Elevated' moisture reading ignored before Heathrow-closing conflagration, says NESO

But it's cheaper to lower your standards than raise your performance!

Glazed and confused: Hole lotta highly sensitive data nicked from Krispy Kreme

What is your problem?

To the one, and as far as I can tell, only cyber criminal on the planet who hasn't stolen my private information, what is your problem? Are you too lazy or too ignorant ? Do you think you're too important to lower yourself to my level? Am I not rich enough or important enough for you? My Urologist, my insurance companies, my utilities, hell even my city government has done their best to make sure my information is freely and readily available to anyone with internet access, and you can't be bothered?

You are a disgrace to the whole cyber criminal community. Get with the program - this is the twenty first century, not the stone ages.

Okay, sorry for the rant. I'm going to take my meds and have a lay down. Crooks these days just don't live up to the standard set by my generation.

Firefox is dead to me – and I'm not the only one who is fed up

Re: OK, but what now?

Damn, that gave me a much needed laugh. Have one on me --->

Eurocops arrest suspected Archetyp admin, shut down mega dark web drug shop

Re: "there is no safe haven for those who profit from harm"

"Launched in 2020, Archetyp was Europe's longest-serving drug market ...". Admittedly my math skills have deteriorated the last few decades, but I don't believe 2020 was 15 years ago. Unless, of course, I slept longer than I thought last night.

FYI: Most AI spending driven by FOMO, not ROI, CEOs tell IBM, LOL

Re: 1 in 4

My guess is 1 in 8 were lying, and another 1 in 8 were being lied to by their subordinates. Remember, the primary role of middle management is to keep senior management in the dark about any problems. Nobody wants to be the messenger who gets shot!

Please sir, may we have some Moore? Doesn't look that way

O(n!)

Excellent! The class was a course on algorithms and data structures, and much of the discussion concerned determining the order of magnitude for various approaches O(1), O(n), O(log(n)) and the drastic affect as the input data size increased. It seemed like a highly theoretical subject at the time, but it helped make me a much more highly paid developer later in my career.

The need for speed

I can remember a Computer Science professor in the mid 1970's telling our class: "it doesn't matter how fast the hardware gets, poorly written software can still bring it to its knees". It was true then, and it is still true.

Sage Copilot grounded briefly to fix AI misbehavior

...LLMs unpredictably generate bullshit...

Are you implying that politicians are LLMs, or that LLMs are politicians?

What happens when someone subpoenas Cloudflare to unmask a blogger? This...

I assume you don't have a law degree. In fact, "shouting fire in a crowded theater" is covered by the first amendment - this is probably the most common misconception held in the U.S. about the first amendment, and has been thoroughly debunked by many lawyers in articles available on the internet. There have also been cases where the courts have shielded identity on free speech grounds, including a well publicized case eight years ago where a college professor lost a new job due to an anonymous post on PubPeer (https://retractionwatch.com/2016/12/07/pubpeer-wins-appeal-court-ruling-unmask-commenters/).

Apple shrugs off BBC complaint with promise to 'further clarify' AI content

Is this Apple Intelligence (AI), or should it be renamed

Apple Lack of Intelligence (ALOI)? Enquiring minds, etc.

Shackleton's Endurance sets sail for polar peril in Lego

Well Crafted

Both the model and the article!

US Treasury Department outs the blast radius of BeyondTrust's key leak

Re: At this point

You could replace the "U. S. government" in your question with just about any government and the answer would still be "none". Hell, you could probably replace it with any organization with computers connected to the internet, and the answer would still be "none".

Technical issue briefly grounds American Airlines flights across US

Vendor Problem

Could it have been cloud-y weather related?

Apple called on to ditch AI headline summaries after BBC debacle

Apple Intelligence - the myth continues

Okay, to be fair, you really shouldn't criticize someone for having low intelligence. Doesn't Apple deserve the same consideration?

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory datacenter flooded, offline until 2025

"No estimate was provided on how much rice might be required."

If El Reg had a "best line of 2024" poll, this would get my vote.

Japan's wooden cube-shaped satellite rockets to space

What will they think of next

Will someone create a paper aircraft and release it into space? The vultures will be circling waiting for its release.

Man, I miss Lester. So many great articles. Thanks for the memories.

LottieFiles supply chain attack exposes users to malicious crypto wallet drainer

Re: "Please connect your wallet"

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was starting to believe the commentards had completely lost the talent for victim blaming and shaming. You have renewed my faith.

Having dealt with the super old, I can think of reasons why someone would fall for something so obvious. I'm not just considering the cognitive decline, there is also an innocence that is almost childlike. Also, there are many medications which make people highly subjectable - there is a reason you are told after certain surgical procedures to avoid any financial transactions, and they require you have someone you trust take you home.

Sketchy financials send Supermicro auditors running for the hills

...settling with a corrupt judiciary without admitting guilt.

They settled with the SEC, which is a regulatory body which is not part of the judiciary.

Apple quietly admits 8GB isn't enough in 2024, M4 iMac to ship with 16GB as standard

64K is enough

64K! This is the very definition of profligation! 1K of ram was more than enough for my first PC (KIM 1). Anything more is just showing off.

41-million-digit prime crunched by datacenter GPUs

Re: Is this any more useful than "AI", or more amusing cat videos?

I doubt anyone searching for Mersenne primes does it because they think it will be useful. This has more to do with proving you can meet the challenge, and bragging rights. Much pure maths has been created with little to no expectation of usefulness, although a surprising amount has subsequently turned out to have serious importance, once the physicists, cryptologists et.al. got involved.

Missing Thunderbirds footage found in British garden shed

Re: What about the animated?

You never got board of watching them? I wood have like watching them also.

ESA spending €17M on spacecraft just to watch it go up in flames

They're watching it get pooped out! Definitely more than just scandalous! And I thought the lack of privacy online was bad! On toilet is even worse.

10 nasty software bugs put thousands of fuel storage tanks at risk of cyberattacks

Re: Tank commander

You do realize that rust is the main problem these storage tanks have. One of the main reason for monitoring the fuel level is to catch leaks caused by rust. I doubt anyone is looking to increase the rust risk.

Cyber crooks shut down UK, US schools, thousands of kids affected

Re: “we cannot have school without these critical systems in place”

Similar experience, although we did miss one day when the morning temperature was -23F/-30C. Mind you, school wasn't cancelled directly due to the cold, but rather because the school buses wouldn't start. I lived in a small town, and many students lived on farms far from the schools.

Google splats device-hijacking exploited-in-the-wild Android kernel bug among others

On a wing and a prayer?

Bring the hammer down on Nvidia, US progressive and antitrust orgs urge the Feds

Re: Zero biiiiiilion dollars!

Maybe zero-infinity dollar market! Oh wait, there be dragons.

AMD stalls Ryzen 9000 launch over poor chip quality

Re: Didn't anyone tell them?

HAL, is that you?

Life, interrupted: How CrowdStrike's patch failure is messing up the world

Re: What's the bet..

What's the likelihood that Crowdstrike had already started using AI to help with their patch process?

Batten down the hatches, it's time to patch some more MOVEit bugs

Is the solution as simple as reMOVEit?

Okay, okay, all sufficiently complex applications exposed to the internet have security bugs, security is extremely hard, and perhaps most importantly MOVEit's security vulnerabilities have been found and patched. However, we could have said the same, and many probably did, after the last MOVEit fiasco, and here we are again.

Europe accuses Apple of preventing devs from telling users about world outside

"The Register has asked Apple to comment."

Time to place your bets! Which is more likely: AI superintelligence in 3 years which is 10,000 times human intelligence, or Apple responds to El Reg's request for comment. If I read an article saying either one has happened, I will just assume it was written by a hallucinating AI.

systemd 256.1: Now slightly less likely to delete /home

"...hear the sound those ancient AT MFM drives..."

I can still hear the sound the old IBM Deathstars made in their death throes, even over the sound of my gnashing teeth and screams of anguish.