Posts by Halfmad

Man admits to paying magician $150 to create anti-Biden robocall

Clearly knew what he was doing and the consequencies. I've no doubt he's attributing his motives to something more grand than it really was at the time.

Alarm raised over Mozilla VPN: Wonky authorization check lets users cause havoc

Re: Does anyone take this seriously?

This is similar to how I use to test candidates for jobs. Bit of a pop quiz to start, some practical test e.g. point to things and ask them to explain how they work (such as a mechanical drive, switch, hub etc)

Then onto the actual interview.

If they couldn't tell me the difference between a network hub and switch they were generally doomed though.

Reg fashion: Here's what the well-dressed astronaut will wear on the Moon in 2025

Re: Why?

We'll see it when it's in space, they don't want it leaking before and someone (cough) china copying it and using it first.

Thought you'd opted out of online tracking? Think again

My daughter complains about not being able to play adverts in her games when at home because of pihole lol

Tough..

Bosses failing to offer hybrid work lose out in recruitment

Re: Ignoring Reality

I work with a 23 year old chap who had never used a paper hole punch, when asked to file something in a binder he also didn't know what a binder was.

It's a knowledge gap, nothing more. I remember being that age and being asked to make changes to velum drawings manually, I had no idea how to scrape and redraw on velum, same idea - just needed some guidance. I think the difference is people there days make a song and dance about it online like it's an entire group of people within an age rather rather than the tiny number who hit problems.

Social media is a cancer on our society for exposing private lives to others.

Internet "journalists" are the same for dramatising completely mundane things for clicks and views.

School laptop auction devolves into extortion allegation

Re: Silly school

We wouldn't let a drive out without it being wiped regardless of how late it came in when I worked in Education IT.

Then again we didn't resell kit, it went to libraries for public use or was gifted to local charities.

Another RAC staffer nabbed for storing, sharing car crash data

Bingo time

We take the security and confidentiality of your information seriously.

Lessons will be / have been learned.

Robust investigation.

Changes will be made.

Patronising advise to customers.

Blaming the dodgy staffers despite the need for organisational controls under legislation.

Time to buy a phone as shops use discounts to clear out inventories

Never bought a new phone

I have always bought second hand, I never need the extra megapixel camera RIGHT NOW, I can always wait at least a year to get it far cheaper but typically I keep a handset for 3-4 years.

Software engineer accused of stealing $300k from employer was 'inspired by Office Space'

Re: I'm going to need you to come in to jail this weekend. Mmmmm k

It's not that I don't want to go to jail, I just ask myself, what's in it for me you know?

*puts feet up on desk*

Ex-Twitter Brits launch legal challenge against dismissal

Re: Non-flattering flattering

I'd love to have that much money to lose.. yet somehow still be worth a fortune.

An IT emergency during a festive visit to the in-laws? So sorry, everyone, I need to step out for a while

Re: Your probem is not my emergency

I've worked with some who absorbed MORE competent IT departments and ended up pushing out the better staff because they made the larger company staff look bad by comparison.

I remember working for one company, when we merged they did a survey of both companies in relation to IT support (as they wanted to outsource it entirely). Our company had an approval rate internally over over 90% which is insanely good, the other, large company was under 20.

The poorly performing one was kept as oddly enough the person getting to make the decision was in charge of that for the previous 10 years, spouted some nonsense about "learning to do better" then went back to sleep while his best staff left.

New York gets right-to-repair law – after some industry-friendly repairs to the rules

iPhone part breakdown

Part A - the USB C charging cable and box.

Part B - the extensive list of components which comprise the rest of the phone package.

you can buy one or the other.

LastPass admits attackers have a copy of customers’ password vaults

Re: One Password ...

Hopefully people have MFA on their essential accounts and any email accounts used for recovering access to them.

Meta freezes development of $1.5B Alabama datacenter pending redesign

Meta are..

becoming the new Yahoo!

Too much money, too little common sense.

Eurozone plans to formalize passenger data, improve security

and have an applicable programme.

Carmack quits Meta, brands it inefficient and unprepared for competition

Re: "Carmack joined Oculus as its chief technology officer in 2013"

It was doomed from the start.

*da dum tish*

When ERP projects go bad: Surrey County Council's £30m ditch SAP effort delayed again

Re: This will be interesting

Day one - applying patches to get it up to date.

Day two - finding out that the operating system requirements have changed and we can't update without a new OS first.

OK, we know iPhones are expensive but... $11 a month for Twitter Blue on iOS?

Re: Subscriptions offer different rates

Youtube is cheaper if you don't pay via Apple, by £5/month if you are willing to pay UK rates.

So it's not just twitter that's doing this, but clearly the narrative is Elon bad etc.

Red Cross seeks digital equivalent of its emblems to mark some tech as off-limits in war

Re: warning: Pedantry

First time I've come across this.

Unintentionally too, I'm off to the doctors to see why.

UK government set to extract hospital data to Palantir system without patient consent

Re: I'm sorry

It's not the UK though it's only England.

NFT vending machine appears in London

It's fundamentally an issue of supply and demand.

Infinite supply and Zero demand = worthless and pointless

Government IT provider UKCloud goes into liquidation

Re: Possible, certainly. Desirable or lawful, maybe not so probably.

Are you an AI gibberish generating bot?

Incoherent babbling.

Most Metaverse business projects will be dead by 2025

So it really was the next 3DTV?

Sounds great in concept but nobody is really interested in the general public but may be back at some point if the technology quietly improves in the background while being kept alive in specific industry sectors.

Microsoft and Meta promise facehugger PCs piping cloud desktops into VR headsets

Re: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz

They are trying to stimulate the market, I get it but the public aren't fooled. VR for now is purely an entertainment source, nothing more.

Re: I don't get it

Maybe in a couple of decades the tech will be up to the job, bulky headsets just aren't good enough for anything outside of a gaming session.

People wear contacts or get eye surgery because they don't want to wear stuff on their faces, the idea of actively having to wear something like this for the entire working day, or even half the day is horrifying.

I have a CV1 at home, I'm a fan of VR in general but it's got a LONG way to go even with the more modern headsets.

The new GPU world order is beginning to take shape

Re: hurrah

I can't see me replacing my second hand 1080TI for another few years, it's been a faithful card since 2018.

PayPal decides fining people $2,500 for 'misinformation' wasn't a great idea

Re: Think who this is targeting

policy the likes of which Paypal were considering (and probably still are) should never be created without a pressing legal reason, I don't see it here. They have exceptions for terrorism etc, misinformation is so option to interpretation that it's laughable and if based on scientific understanding will be subject to continual change - it will never be accurately enforced and is therefore a terrible idea.

So, on one hand you have an ever-changing understanding and on the other you have subjective opinions being used, this is a recipe for disaster which lawyers will love as it'll make them even richer.

Huge nonprofit hospital network suffers IT meltdown after 'security incident'

Re: Bingo!

Next they'll offer surviving patients identity protection for a year.

Former Uber CSO convicted for covering up massive 2016 data theft

Re: A fine is it?

If he's rich he'll be able to buy his freedom, this is the way in the USA.

If he's skint, he's going to prison.

DoJ ‘very disappointed’ with probation sentence for Capital One hacker Paige Thompson

Re: Whose fault is it?

There's hardly any punishment as people don't take their business elsewhere publicly.

A few will leave but not the droves the companies deserve.

Foldable smartphones crawl to one percent of global market share

Re: What do analysts know?

Very good point.

iPads, iPad minis etc are not often used portably outside of the home or business and with the way remote working has gone in-person meetings are fewer and fewer so the demand by sales people etc for portability has largely vanished too.

Schools certainly don't want foldable kit, its just one more point of failure.

I think it's a hugely niche market and will remain so until the technology has proven it's worth over a number of years.

Stop us if you've heard this one before: Exchange Server zero-days actively exploited

Friday

Always on a Friday.

Europe just might make it easier for people to sue for damage caused by AI tech

I don't see any issue with this.

Particularly as the NHS is using AI in many, many more health related decision making processes. Not that I think our government will for a second adopt similar legislation.

School chat app Seesaw abused to send 'inappropriate image' to parents, teachers

Colorued waffle?

Anyone for some coloured waffle?

UK hospitals lose millions after AI startup valuation collapses

Heads should roll

I am not a fan of cancel culture or firing for the sake of it but there are serious ethical issues at these hospitals and arguably compounded by financial incompetence.

You could argue that it was an exchange and not purchase - but I'd argue that value was purchased with patient information, highly unethical and is in financial reports = it's been bought somehow, exchange of goods.

ICO should have it's big boots on and the boards need clearing out.

UK, South Korea strike data-sharing pact

Re: Pi-Hole

For the lols go to the daily mail before and after setting it up. The difference is insane.

Sadly it's not an entirely blank page which would be the ultimate improvement.

British Army Twitter and YouTube feeds hijacked by crypto-promos

Re: The standard

Oh they care.

Bigwigs will not be pleased.

Start using Modern Auth now for Exchange Online

Re: "it essentially hardens all email users who rely on Microsoft Exchange Online"

Don't forget it also encourages them to adopt other related products to secure their Microsoft Exchange Online.

Not much of this actually from 'China anymore,' says Northern Light Motors boss

Re: Sourcing everything from the UK

and most of that coal comes from one place, a surface level mine that's almost the size of a city.

Cisco compresses Catalyst switches to compact size

Re: None of those are "home office"

I'd be happy with a 5MB/s thanks.

NSO claims 'more than 5' EU states use Pegasus spyware

Because those supplying the phones are happy with the status quo.

Your data's auctioned off up to 987 times a day, NGO reports

As an added bonus.

For your added benefit we also fingerprint your activity, device and track your usage all over the internet even when someone else uses your device we help you by attributing that use to you as well.

You are welcome.

FBI warns of North Korean cyberspies posing as foreign IT workers

Outsourced development

Reminds me of the developer who outsourced his own work abroad and simply rocked up to work, switched his PC on and let the third party remotely do his work for him each day. Took a while for him to be caught.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21043693

Legacy IT to blame for UK's inflexible benefits system

Blame the IT but..

I would put money on it being a LACK OF KNOWLEDGE problem instead with the people who knew or understood the system in depth having left for retirement etc and there being insufficient documentation.

They likely need to more or less start from scratch.

Engineer gets Windows 11 working on a Surface Duo

Requirements are included to ensure a consistent experience and reduce support calls due to under spec'd hardware but they should always been seen as a guide.

I can't remember the number of times my PC in the 90s didn't meet requirements for AutoCAD or games - yet I used it perfectly happily.

Windows 7 could have been supported for longer but was becoming a complete mess of code. That was part of the bonus of Windows 10 although it's going the way route.

The need for new OS isn't always to punt new machines, Linux variants offer updates just as often, not from a commercial stand point. A lot of it is code housekeeping.

The bigger question is why MS can't keep it's code tidy on new OS for longer.

Study: How Amazon uses Echo smart speaker conversations to target ads

It's mining your interactions with it irrespective of whether you make a purchase or not. Any interaction can be used and that could also be accidental - or why not even expand that to be passive listening and mining since that's how the devices have to operate in order to be ready to respond?

It's not ridiculous to complain that you are unaware of essentially dubious use of your interactions

Former NHS AI leader joins US spy-tech firm Palantir

from her bio: "Break the silos and let's get S*** done."

Silos are sometimes there for a good reason.

Five Eyes nations fear wave of Russian attacks against critical infrastructure

Re: I have just one question

Those of us working in CNI were aware of it before the invasion. What you should be asking is what CRITICAL national infrastructure needs warning and to be told to "shields up" just on the days we might be at risk.

We're at risk 24/7.

Meta strikes blow against 30% 'App Store tax' by charging 47.5% Metaverse toll

Early tactics

Set the price high then claim you are oh so generous when you drop it later.