* Posts by DasWezel

100 publicly visible posts • joined 31 Oct 2013

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World+dog share in collective panic attack as Google slides off the face of the internet

DasWezel
Happy

Local OpenHAB install unaffected by Google outage. Engage smug mode.

That being said, depending on the setup, the light switches at least don't rely on wifi to perform basic functions, they'll still operate as regular light switches even if your whole network dies.

Not sure how you'd build that sort of redundancy into a light bulb, but that's the price of convenience I guess.

Suspended sentence for bank IT worker who broke into his boss's webcam because he didn't get a payrise

DasWezel
Boffin

Two commands? Pfft, effort!

" rm /root/.bash_history"

(Space at the beginning exempts following command from bash history)

It's National Cream Tea Day and this time we end the age-old debate once and for all: How do you eat yours?

DasWezel
Happy

Re: I solved this when I was eight

> "Order of coverings is whichever is closest goes on first."

Precisely, couldn't agree more.

Provided the jam is closest to hand, of course.

Iran military manages to keep a straight face while waggling miracle widget that 'can detect coronavirus from 100m away'

DasWezel
Boffin

They seem unsure if it works.

Why are they still wearing masks? Albeit incorrectly... Maybe they're going for a half-way house until they're really certain it's skookum?

Zoom goes boom, Teams tears at seams: Technology stumbles at the first hurdle for this homeworking malarkey

DasWezel
Thumb Up

Re: The dogs in the background

Couldn't agree more.

Provided the TV is off, of course.

DasWezel
Facepalm

And when calling from home

Please turn the damned TV/radio/etc off.

Capita Education Services accidentally spaffs email addresses in Helpdesk snafu

DasWezel
Angel

Re: Oh for fucks sake

> [snip] adults shouldn't need this sort of common sense check.

Lawks, you appalling optimist.

Late $440m Christmas present for HP: Judge triples damages windfall from Quanta in CD-ROM drive price-fix showdown

DasWezel
Thumb Up

Message recieved and understood

> HP's lawyer Alex Roberts told Bloomberg: "HP hopes this judgment sends a powerful message to suppliers all over the world"

Yes, indeed. "Don't deal with HP". Got it.

The IoT wars are over, maybe? Amazon, Apple, Google give up on smart-home domination dreams, agree to develop common standards

DasWezel
Thumb Up

Re: In all seriousness, though...

OpenHAB is working very nicely for me.

Mostly using Sonoff kit reflashed with Tasmota. Everything entirely on-prem. Bit of automation based on time of day, local Unifi controller etc.

Close the windows, it's coming through the walls: Copper Cthulu invades Dabbsy's living room

DasWezel
Thumb Up

Mycroft.ai and similar might be worth looking at, but otherwise I agree - no cloud managed voice gubbins. Apple, Amazon and Google can do one if they think I'm giving them a free mic in the house.

I'm going down a similar route, but with Sonoff gear flashed with Tasmota controlled by OpenHAB. Haven't really investigated the Z-wave stuff much but it does look interesting!

The only fly in the ointment at the minute is the cloud-controlled Haverland heaters, but I've already got direct access to the API (JS based web interface? Don't mind if I do!) bundled down to a couple of half-arsed libraries (that I really should finish and release), but ultimately what I do need to do is MITM the RF box and roll my own server.

No extra bank holiday for 75th VE Day, but the pub will be open longer

DasWezel
Meh

I can't help but think that we might be better off using the opportunity to remember what the consequences of letting unscrupulous governments running unchecked have historically included, rather than sitting in the pub getting shitfaced for a couple more hours.

Dropbox CEO: I will make your worklife a calmer experience

DasWezel
Thumb Up

Re: I really need a decent alternative to dropbox

Second that vote for Nextcloud. Use it at work and home, the latter is pushing about 2Tb of data with no bother. :-)

The D in Systemd is for Directories: Poettering says his creation will phone /home in future

DasWezel
Flame

"If you really want that this system can come up on its own, don't use this stuff"

I couldn't agree more. Bloody shiteware.

Imagine if Facebook could read your mind: Er, I have some bad news for you...

DasWezel

Re: Gym

My "gym-alternative" which I like to refer to as "get arse off sofa and go and do something" seems to be considered a pretty radical option based on reaction.

People are weird. :-(

Time for another cuppa then? Tea-drinkers have better brains, say boffins with even better brains

DasWezel
Unhappy

Pretty low bar

I mean, really? Four times a week for 25 years? That's 5200 cups of tea. I'm on at /least/ 12-15 on a slow day, at which rate I'd hit that figure within a year.

I can only assume there is some kind of tea-based variant of the Ballmer peak at work here.

What a depressing thought. Might as well have a brew-up.

Fairphone 3 stripped to the modular essentials: Glue? What glue?

DasWezel

Manage around ~200 Samsung xCover 3s at work. Dud batteries, broken USB ports, and smashed screens are far from uncommon.

UK plod could lose access to 79 million criminal alerts in event of a no-deal Brexit

DasWezel
Joke

Re: Project fear!

I look forward to hearing how that particular government IT project works out.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson moves to shut Parliament

DasWezel
Mushroom

What an unmitigated shitshow

I'd call it a complete and total one, if it weren't for the fact this fucktangle seems to become even more of a total farce with every passing day.

Yes, TfL asked people to write down their Oyster passwords – but don't worry, they didn't inhale

DasWezel
Facepalm

Thanks, TfL

All those hours put in to training users to use passwords that aren't totally shit, to not use [pet][1..10], to not write it down, to not give it to anyone, to definitely not give it to IT, and you just give them a gods damned form demanding it.

Fuckin' thanks, you absolute shower of bastards.

Oz watchdog claims Samsung's leak-proof phones ad campaign doesn't hold water

DasWezel

Re: Clumsy Clutzes!

Steering wheels and pedals are designed to be tactile and reasonably grippy.

Smartphones seem to be almost exclusively designed to be fashionable and shiny. Half the current crop is comparable with trying to hold a slightly moist bar of soap.

I'm in agreement with driving standards, but I'm not totally convinced it's comparable here.

FedEx fed up playing box cop, sues Uncle Sam to make it stop: 'We do transportation, not law enforcement'

DasWezel
WTF?

Re: Damn

Youtube has recently taken to showing me adverts for period apps for Android so I can track my menstrual cycle.

Not /entirely/ sure how that's relevant to me, partly since I don't recall searching for anything even vaguely related to the tracking of one's periods, but also because I lack all of the necessary internal plumbing.

Bit of a long shot as ads go, I thought.

Go fourth and multi-Pi: Raspberry Pi 4 lands today with quad 1.5GHz Arm Cortex-A72 CPU cores, up to 4GB RAM...

DasWezel
Thumb Up

Mind blowing

I still can't get over the RPi, haven't since 2012, and every time I get close they impress me again.

I know there are alternative SBCs out there, but for a pittance you can get something the size of a credit card that can serve so many purposes from a plethora of robotic applications to a full-blown lightweight PC or server substitute, all while running a pretty tight variant of a /very/ common free OS, all very well supported and documented either by RPF or the aftermarket.

I've got or had these things running everything from robotic tea carriers while I was on crutches, to webcams to model railway controllers to IR cameras on rallies to email/web/etc servers to TV alternatives and countless other things beside. It's a fantastic platform for learning, for any age - the original RPi was my gateway to Arduino, ESP etc., while other people have made personal compute clusters, 3D scanners, or put them into use in industry. (I'm pretty sure someone will be churning out RPi4s as VESA-mounted thin-clients pretty soon, if they're not already)

To my mind, it's the closest thing to an utterly universal and accessible computer currently going. Such a wonderful piece of kit.

Beers for all at RPi Towers.

Meet the new Dropbox: It's like the old Dropbox, but more expensive, and not everyone's thrilled

DasWezel
Happy

Nextcloud

I jumped ship a couple of years or so back. Very glad I did.

I'll grant it's not got half the integration functionality, but for my purposes it works flawlessly, and as an added bonus, I know exactly where my data is.

This move by Dropbox will reduce users' files to tiers: Rarely, regularly accessed data now kept separate

DasWezel
Thumb Up

Re: Just Drop[ped]Box. new three device syncing limit is unworkable/pathetic, 5 minimum needed.

A vote for Nextcloud here. o/

Obviously self-hosting won't be suited to everyone's requirements, but it works grand for me.

Cops use bread and riot shields in desperate bid to contain crazed swan running amok in streets

DasWezel
FAIL

Tabloid maths

"So we're approaching £200k to defuse this situation already."

What is this, the Daily Mail?

Unless you want your wine bar to look like a brothel, purple curtains are a no-no apparently

DasWezel
Paris Hilton

House of ill repute?

House of Negotiable Affection, surely.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon shows up at pad 39A, nearly 8 years after the last Shuttle left

DasWezel
Mushroom

Re: What's in a name

Perhaps then it should be simply called Errol.

Microsoft, you shouldn't have: Festive Windows 10 Insiders build about as exciting as new socks

DasWezel
Thumb Up

Maybe they got it right this time?

That'd be lovely, given that there's currently a user's laptop on the bench that's been running Windows Update for 9 days solid. (So far...)

Makes it all seem worthwhile!

Finally, someone takes a stand against Apple, Samsung for slowing people's phones. Just a few million dollars, tho

DasWezel

Re: Wrong Metric

So I buy a new battery, pop the back cover off, swap out old for new and keep on truckin'.

... What do you mean I'm not allowed to replace a consumable part of my device?

Julian Assange said to have racked up $5m security bill for Ecuador

DasWezel

"Innocent people don't run and hide, they accept what they've done"

Eh, run that one past me again?

You're a govt official. You accidentally slap personal info on the web. Quick, blame a kid!

DasWezel
Facepalm

Re: Laws and Lessons

Read the document again slowly.

- There was no security, because they were *publicly available documents*

- The application provided *no* access controls, because they were *publicly available documents*

- The publicly available documents were sent directly to the person who put in the request, as well as being made *publically available* online for anyone else to read. Deliberately.

You hypothetically eavesdropping on my communications would be illegal, because they are not public domain. These documents were in the public domain, for public consumption, in response to Freedom of Information requests.

So, please enlighten me: Precisely which f*cking law did he break? Because pointing out that a *public document* hasn't been redacted properly sure as hell is not illegal. And making someone who failed to do their job properly look like a pillock isn't illegal either.

Amazon and eBay agree to expose potential VAT evaders for UK tax man

DasWezel

"The taxes haven't been avoided, or even evaded. They just haven't been paid." - Vetinari.

Planning on forking out for the new iPad? Better take darn good care of it

DasWezel
Facepalm

Re: Just

"People bitch about things they know nothing about..."

Well, quite.

It's Pi day: Care to stuff a brand new Raspberry one in your wallet?

DasWezel
Thumb Down

Re: All Pi's need USB3!

Why do they *need* it exactly?

You might need it for the use-case you've got in mind (I'm guessing you want a dirt-cheap file server or some such) but I'm willing to bet the majority of folk don't need a whole lot more than basic peripherals.

AFAIK there is no SBC with USB3.0 and gigabit ethernet, much less one for $35. Sure, USB3 would be nice. I'd hardly call it essential though. You might not care about a price increase, but the price is and always has been the big leveller of the RPi and makes it so readily available to practically anyone. I'll live without it.

Good luck saying 'Sorry I'm late, I had to update my car's firmware'

DasWezel
Facepalm

Re: OTA Updates for Cars

Here speaks someone who's knowledge comes almost entirely from drama shows on the TV.

- How do you "just turn off the ignition" in your ICE car when the ignition switch is just a trigger to a computer?

- How do you "just put it in neutral" when a lot of ICE autobox gear selectors are nothing more than a fancy switch?

As for battery overcurrent controls, I think you're underestimating a little invention from the far off days of 1864: the fuse.

If you think your ICE car is truly "off" when you remove the key, you're about 40 years out of date.

BBC Telly Tax heavies got pat on the head from snoopers' overseers

DasWezel
Thumb Down

Re: Why persist?

"when pretty much everyone HAS a TV set"

[citation required]

Frankly I suspect TV ownership is actually going down, what with more than enough decent content being available on demand via the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Youtube etc. That said, I've got about as much evidence to support that as you have in claiming that pretty much everyone has a TV.

Put it this way. Since pretty much everyone has a car (amirite) how's about we all just pay road tax, then apply (probably to the bastion of reliability and morality that is Capita) for a refund if you don't own a car, or drive an EV, or drive a classic.

tl;dr: Nope the nope right off.

Beyond code PEBCAK lies KMACYOYO, PENCIL and PAFO

DasWezel
Happy

One for call-centres

I'm reliably informed by a former call-centre colleague that a popular acronym was BOAT = Bit Of A Twat

UK Foreign Sec Bojo to tell Kremlin: Stop your cyber shenanigans... or else!

DasWezel

Re: What's happened to the UK?

"It's time to find people who understand good ole British strength!"

It's time to find people who understand getting their own house in order first.

DasWezel
FAIL

If our strategy was to send over the hardest and scariest MP in our arsenal, why did we send a talking mop that's missing it's bucket? ;-)

Did you unwittingly support the destruction of net neutrality rules?

DasWezel

Is that you, Bombtastic Bob?

Linus Torvalds 'sorry' for swearing, blames popularity of Linux itself

DasWezel
Happy

Re: Good!

Personal goodliness is not correlative with software development ability. Jus' sayin'.

Homeland Security drops the hammer on Kaspersky Lab with preemptive ban

DasWezel
Happy

Suddenly

I feel reassured about our recent decision to move to Kaspersky.

It's happening! Official retro Thinkpad lappy spotted in the wild

DasWezel

Re: Screw 16:10

Never had two documents open side-by-side? I'll admit I wouldn't want to go any lower than 1920x1080 for that sort of thing, but in the spirit of fairness it should probably be mentioned.

(Daily is a x61 1024x768 Thinkpad with a 2048x1152 23" monitor from 2008 before "Full HD" ruined everything)

What weighs 800kg and runs Windows XP? How to buy an ATM for fun and profit

DasWezel
Devil

"...too accessible to ne'er-do-wells"

You mean banks?

Foot-long £1 sausage roll arrives

DasWezel
Trollface

Re: We are in IT

0.328 fathoms?

WannaCry-slayer Marcus Hutchins 'built Kronos banking trojan' – FBI

DasWezel
Facepalm

"Would he really make himself known with regards to wannacry?"

Let's be honest, he didn't. He got doxed by the Daily Torygraph. (https://esist.tech/2017/05/15/doxing-the-hero-who-stopped-wannacry-was-irresponsible-and-dumb/)

Who incidentally released this gem today with no sense of irony whatosever (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/14/revealed-22-year-old-expert-saved-world-ransomware-virus-lives/)

Bastards.

Want to visit your loved one in jail? How about Skype instead?

DasWezel

You're looking at that comment completely the wrong way - it's not written from the perspective of "Lower classes are too stupid to know the law"; it's written from the perspective of "Upper classes are too well off/ and/or connected for the law to apply to them."

That is and always will be the way to some extent. For a kick-off, and Ignoring all the claims about connections and hands in pockets etc.,the wealthy would be utterly stupid not to use their wealth to employ much a better legal defense than somebody on the dole. The wealthy are also less likely to fold under the financial strain of defending a case through the courts.

May the excessive force be with you: Chap cuffed after Star Trek v Star Wars row turns bloody

DasWezel
Trollface

Which is better?

Surely they're all the same?

(Braced and ready for the tirade of downvotes!)

Huawei Honor 8 Pro: Makes iPhone 7 Plus look a bit crap

DasWezel
WTF?

Re: The problem, is Android

"it's the fact that Apple are the most moral corporate company on the planet"

u wot m8?

I presume that is ignoring their labour practices, tax practices, and their overworked army of lawyers?

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