Posts by wobbly1 124 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Jul 2007
Pubs have struggled since drink driving laws and the relaxation of the off-licence laws. They will die because their purpose has been legislated out of existence and supermarkets are the source for home consumption. F'all to do with ecommerce. Tax those feckers like any indigenous business.
who actually gets to see the tax records of our MPs? It turns out the answer might be the American government rather than the British public.HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is moving ahead with massive contracts involving AWS and Fujitsu to manage our national tax data. While this is often framed as a move for modernising our systems, it opens a significant back door through the US CLOUD Act.
This American legislation allows their law enforcement and intelligence agencies to compel US companies to hand over data stored on their servers. Crucially, this applies even if those servers are physically located right here in the UK.
The irony is staggering. We are frequently told that the tax details of our MPs must remain private and protected from public scrutiny in Britain. Yet by hosting this information on American infrastructure, we are effectively making it accessible to authorities in Washington.
"The new documents introduce an irrevocable, perpetual license over anything users upload, broad surveillance-style monitoring of AI features, a clause preventing users from identifying potential patent infringement, years-long retention of usernames even after account deletion, and the integration of all user data (including minors) into Qualcomm's global data ecosystem.
If that were not worrying enough, it notes:
Users are now explicitly forbidden from reverse-engineering or even attempting to understand how the platform works unless Arduino gives permission."
I'm not sure there is a wait and see option for these moves , the longer you wait the greater the potential for harm.
Given the previous controversy and legal dispute concerning the attempted privatization of a portion of the Arduino ecosystem specifically the disagreement between the original founders (Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles, Tom Igoe, and Gianluca Martino) and a company led by Federico Musto (Arduino Srl, later renamed BCMI)I have decided to cease all future library contributions."
"This new blow creates a major schism within the community, setting a precedent that is unacceptable. Consequently, I plan to migrate my final ESP32 programs to MicroPython and discontinue the use of the Arduino IDE entirely. It is truly a disappointment to see such a valuable, open-source pathway into electronics compromised by these actions.
will it recognise me as a tripod with my walking stick or in my wheelchair, as the same person, (It can change 4 times from my front door to my car)? if so, at long f'ing last, a positive to having wonky legs. BTW when i was still able to walk for distances, the horses recognised me by the cadence of my gait, if morphologies can be determined , your gait is individual.
I wish that was the case. My dyslexic nephew was schooled the 80's- early 90s he hit the same non response from the education system.( he too uses his perceptual otherness to great effect in computing). )My understanding is a child with the severity of dyslexia i experience , would be "statemented" , except the County Councils are going to extraordinary lengths top not recognise a need as a recognised need must be met... hence the title for comment. the levels of dyslexia among the incarcerated stay worryingly high , a symptom of a society incapable of using the extraordinary talents of the dyslexic. I spent almost a decade doing mind numbingly awful manual jobs for poverty wages. That drives some to crime. Sorry to have gone so negatively off topic.
f i see the Mona Lisa , have I copied it? If not, training a ML system using existing data (out of copyright), is also not copying. A brushstroke for brushstroke or word for word or note for note duplication would seem to break copyright but if generative system is asked to create an image of a sad face women sitting in landscape and it is not a stroke for stroke replication of the Mona Lisa , it is not copy. The real problem is with Generalised Artificial Intelligence. It will be used by large powerful organisations against individuals , Hence the rush to legislate. But rather like the fax machine during the fall of communism in Russia circumventing censorship , the cat' is out of the bag. I run an LLM on my system at home i can develop that how i like. I have an aversion for connecting my machines for inbound data from the net and what there is is carefully filtered and sanitised, there is no way a the state could know what i am doing with my LLM. I happen to user it primarily for correcting my dyslexia induced e misspellings. I believe in mastering technology, so it is harder for it to be used to master me.
I'm still grappling with the problem this solution addresses. A fine art student studies the works of the old masters to understand their techniques. They can then utilise those techniques in their own paintings, and as long as they don't attach the name of the master whose technique they're borrowing, there's no issue. Similarly, a student of literature who reads existing authors can be "inspired" by a particular plot twist and use it in their own work. Again, as long as they publish under their own name, not the writer's, there's no problem. I see no difference between that and a machine learning system ingesting the same works. It's analogous to me watching a YouTube video on Python programming and advising another programmer based on what I've learned. I hope this ridiculous situation reaches the courts for a dose of common sense soon. I want a painting of the Mona Lisa smoking a bong, but not attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
The last window box on my network remains a thorn in my side. Its replacement has arrived and will have Debian Bookworm installed. Microsoft's constant meddling with settings lost any appeal it had long ago. It is currently objecting to Google Drive. It was quite happy with it before the last "update" or tranche of telemetry software as it should be known, and I can't be arsed to fix it. When Bookworm fires up on the new machine, for the first time since 1979 (a Commodore PET), I will not own or support any machines running a Microsoft operating system.
I wonder too if there is room for another service , particularly one so limited. , It's more for the data collection to sweeten post loss of licence fee side deals. the rapid price drop and functional advance of edge computing devices means the security leak of voice being sent to remote servers for interpretation and sense can be eliminated. .For those of us living with disabilities , having a voice front end to computer services is invaluable. Before hearing your comment , i had been listening to the weather forecast at the stables later so I wear weather appropriate clothing.
I broadly concur with the debunking. my ability to generate errors is pretty even across all the languages i have used , with the exception of Pascal ... where my error rates were 2-3 times those in other languages,including TI990 assembler including entry errors translated to binary to be entered a bit at a time via 16 push buttons. I have a deep loathing for Pascal.
when setting up my shiny new router, the interface made it quite had to drill down to the menu to disable UPNP. UPNP was enabled with no rules The menu was deep in the "advanced" section of the control software , nothing in the basic setup. Blaming users for not checking an apparently obscure setting is the wrong end of the telescope . talk to the manufacturers about ensuring settings that can allow unbidden access to your lan are made easy to make safe and need to changed to be enabled rather than disabled.
on finished devices i solder the power leads to the +ve and -ve TPs on the underside of the Pi board board below the power USB port. neater safer and more reliable. it reduces the size of the case or housing needed for the board too. I use rock 64s for heavy computing jobs and these have a barrel jack , I still prefer my method on the rock 64s too.
Synology DS209j It was when the security updates stopped i started building devices and branched out into IoT. Open Source NAS software gets updated and continues to be supported. my synology replacement costs about £50 based on a rock 64 sbc That's one advantage of not having shareholder value to consider ;)
"This server could run on the wireless access point, or be an online service on the public internet run by the maker of the gadget."
Therein lays the problem, I have been reducing the need for my custom built IoT systems to communicate with the internet, (in the main weather API calls) and replacing them with locally sensed data. outbound API calls are handled by one server and API responses are evaluated to ensure they conform to the expected response. The problem lays with the unending addiction of device manufacturers to have anything from your printer to the light bulb in the hall communicate with their backend servers. The reason is by and large to collect aggregatable data to sell on.Eliminating that extra income stream from manufacturers wold eliminate much of the attack surface. It was this "calling home" that lead me to build my own devices. relying on manufacturer to continue to secure your long ago bough IoT can opener requires trusting in the company to value your security over share holder value , the later being protected by law. . Got burnt by Synology obsoleting a recently bought NAS. If they do that with thick profit margins on a NAS box what hope for a sub £5 IoT device?
I get the same message as you with all my defences in place . When I dropped them, the page still failed to detect the devices in question on my network and then produced the "AW Snap" page in chrome. It is probable/ possible you are running protection software that objected to the javascript on the page . That is a different matter to being vulnerable to the dns rebind problem. If a dose is left on a page you allow to run scripts you and i still don't know if we are vulnerable.
A quick look at the early commercial IoT devices made it a no brainer to design and build my own. As person living with disabilities , it is easier for me to have one way traffic with the Internet. Data only comes from , never to the wider network. Even so, the overwhelming number of failures with a sh!t-ton of work around codes is with that minor part of the system. For example, I use an open weather API for some meteorological observations not possible from my 2nd floor flat. The api return is carefully evaluated for nasites before use I run servers here mostly on raspberry pi3,the price makes having a server per pi cheap and easy. , but for the heavy lifting and speedier communications a rock 64 SBC.
Kit communicating with remote backends unnecessarily is the problem rather than the technology itself. Those dangers exist in all communications with the wider net. In the main this is to benefit of the producer , rather than the end user. Determining the lifestyle of an individual from their habits is an easy task for machine learning . Some monitoring systems for confused and frail rely on this to alert possible problems with an individual's health. The main use is to profile people advertisers are interested in. opting out is not an option if the device is calling home continuously.
social media causes problem usage? i think they may be concentrating on the wrong sector of their activities... plenty of problem drunks but teenagers intoxicated by excessive twitter usage and causing trouble... not seen this being a problem after the vertical drinking establishments close their doors on a friday night .
....with the "Minusnet" supplied router failing to have an AP isolation mode , (they told me categorically my existing router would be incompatible, and having changed from ADSL2 to FTTC i took them at their word ) making the chromecast invisible to the any devices if it connects to the 5.4 Ghz network, i hadn't noticed this further hit. i have a tortuous work round for the no AP isolation problem, Minusnet have no interest in fixing this as searches for chromecast in their support forums shows.
Isn't the identification of the surface failures but the lack of will and skill in repair . In East Sussex, on line reporting ( iv'e reported many) has not produced either a timely or cost effective repairs. The local civil engineering companies fill the full depth of the holes with tarmacadam, usually cold, from a prepacked 10 Kg plastic bucket and leave the edges of the repairs unsealed . inevitably the repairs fail, usually with in 9 months (but more frequently when next it rains or is icy), and a new repair is paid for; a good cash flow guarantee. Now if we could only invent an AI system that prevents people simultaneously complaining about underfunded infrastructure whilst voting for lower and lower tax regimes...
Prospective bidders will “need to demonstrate how these platforms can be supplied and operated at a low cost and how they can integrate technologies from other suppliers in a cost-effective way”
"Hello Thales? I'm thinking of entering this competition can you give me the APIs for your proprietary kit, so I can make my kit integrate with yours? Is that hysterical laughter i can hear?"
in the latest battle in the war Facebook Purity remains ahead again , no noticeable drop in posts by friends or groups or pages. I also use an android tablet and use Facebook through the browser not the app (the android version of the chrome browser r cannot run the FB purity scripts as far as i am aware), the difference in the swarf and cruff is staggering.
Took 5 months of constant reports to them for one of their clients to stop spamming me . He ignored emails, Heart didn't seem to think enforcing their Ts and Cs was their job. Probably their support staff were fully employed bicycling on the static bike with a hub dynamo to provide the power to run their server.
"During his time in Redmond, Ballmer oversaw numerous projects and initiatives. Many succeeded. He preserved Windows' position as the dominant desktop operating system."
It felt more like the competition were unable to capitalise on windows falling reputation. I used several Linux distros during this period. they failed to be replacements for windows inasmuch that you didn't have to go very far and the the command line reared it's ugly head. The killer blow, the range of software was incomplete. The inertia of commerce deeply entrenched in windows technology was a further factor. Neither in the control of Balmer.
Microsoft Seems unsure who it's allies are .In Balmer's time it sided with big media against the consumer, whilst asking the consumer to pay the bills. reduction in media capabilities in windows 10 suggests this confusion still reigns.
Also announced yesterday, "Microsoft And Arduino Partnership Announced At Build 2015" ( http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/microsoft-and-arduino-partnership-announced-at-build-2015-30-04-2015/ )
Left me wondering why. If i want a user interface to a network linked Arduino device, i use HTML and Curl. Then any browser can access the device regardless of platform. If i need a machine based app for a serial connected arduino , Python would be the language of choice. I fail to see the what interjecting Windows into the process would offer a developer or user.
I can see the advantages to Microsoft, attempting to gain peripheral relevance by opening up to other platforms and their developers, but it looks like the advantages are all for Microsoft,The market has squirreled away from the lumbering behemoth. the fact that with little change your Android app can run on windows a declining platform is a great big "Meh". Time to do an IB'M,' flog of the divisions that can work autonomously, Xbox stands as good chance as any other in the declining dedicated games machine market. Microsofts declining share in many markets , is a lagging indicator to their relevance
Experience triumphs over hope on this one . For a variety of reasons including attempted left to right conversion (like the author of the article) coupled with dyslexia, i form my letters backwards. Before the educational psychologists stepped in, I mirror wrote , in way that was perfectly readable held to a mirror. Post their "assistance" I am left with writing left to right whilst still drawing the characters mirrored . I have tried every handwriting input system that has come into my price range , my combination of differences to the expectations of programmers has defeated every system i have tried. Each has had a different set of assumptions , Microsoft's system seemed to use drawing dynamics.So a horizontal stroke on top of a "t" was interpreted as "delete all you have just entered". others pattern match against a generalized model or a personal model of character form or drawing dynamics , none seem to get the mixture right. , but always the algorithms start with some basic assumptions that cut of very close to the centre of the bell curve of style and ability. My neuromuscular impairment affects my ability to use speech input systems and keyboards are hard and slow with groty co-ordination. Until i can output ASCII directly from my cerebral cortex via bluetooth a something like 256 characters per sec, entering text is always going to be difficult . I'll give google's offering a go, but don't hold out much hope the above took 25 mins to enter and correct.
Why would the BEEB want to provide IoT computers to Schools? Because they are experts in IT? Because they have boundless legitimate wealth? nah answer is less laudable than that. The new system would need to be more able than the Shiva-plug clone (raspberry) or match the infrastructure of Arduino... Think Barclays Bank, think 50 years of bad publicity starting with sanctions breaking in South Africa, Think taking money from questionable middle eastern potentates think "Digital Eagles". It's the latest PR foil to bad press; looking crap? Nonce-gate and Clarkson-gate getting you caned in the press? Do a digital dalliance and write off against tax (or licence payers). If they have spent money on this "Me Too" pile of crud, it's no surprise we will only see recorded highlights of F1 this weekend. if you want to help children into programming and hands on screwdriver computers, buy an Arduino Uno clone (available for less than a tenner) 2 quids worth of components and sit with them while they learn. at the end of it they (and you ) will have better understanding of electronics and a dialect of c++
win 8 the "...worst MS OS ever conceived"? Only if you disregard Win 98 ME Win CE (pronounced wince in our office) or vista. Un-crapwarering consumer machines from all manufacturers phones upwards, is necessary before use. only Arduino boards escapes the extraction process... Hang on what's that screen printed in 3 point next to A0... pass me the emery board
Prosecute and fine the individual responsible and the compliance officer for FoI. More importantly , Have a "Muppet Register" of those who have cocked -up. to ensure any potential employer can keep them away from vulnerable and sensitive data.
The Hatfield rail crash and it's aftermath showed the laws for corporate culpability are a defence lawyer's best friend. The legislation desperately needs the loop holes and voids redressed with effective legislation sufficient to make the organisations crap themselves all the way up to the board members and shareholders if a commercial entity.
