Posts by Innocent-Bystander*

Make America, wait, what again? US Army may need foreign weapons to keep up

Re: F-35 Su-35

Perhaps they should consider buying the Su-35 from Russia, it already works and apparently doesn't need a patch Tuesday each month.

And in case of a conflict, be dependent on your adversary for munition and parts supply?

Chevy Bolt electric car came alive, reversed into my workbench, says stunned bloke

Re: Odd belief

Ever tried to get a car moving after the break cables have frozen solid?

Ever tried to take an automatic out of Park when parked on an incline without applying the parking break first? It takes some serious muscle. I'm also convinced that letting the transmission hold the car on an incline when parked will kill your transmission in short order.

Here in Canada we have -20 to -35 in February as a matter of course. I have never had the parking break cables freeze on me.

Canada fines Amazon seven hours of profit for false advertising

Re: Dear Canada...

No but you can have the CRTC (Telecom regulator). Not sure how that will help your current situation though... :)

The calm before the storm: AMD's Zen bears down on Intel CPUs

I wish them the best

But I still went Intel / Nvidia.

Last time I had an AMD processor (Phenom II X4 965 140W) my system would crash randomly. After RMA'ing several parts (Video card, memory) the issue didn't go away. After about a year, it turns out that this particular chip (but not the lower power Phenom II X4 965) randomly crashes when a full set of 4 memory sticks are installed in the system.

According to their warranty, design erratas are not covered.

Thanks for a year's worth of troubleshooting pain AMD, I wish you luck but fuck off.

Windows 10 Anniversary Update is borking boxen everywhere

Re: Boot scoot

So you have Windows, and yet another update borks your machine.

You know the drill: Clean install!

You say you're afraid you have a virus? Clean install!

You have a txt file that won't open? Clean bloody install!

Why do they always stall instead of coming clean?

Weird. On my end, I installed it once, updated it with the second major release, then swapped motherboard/CPU/GPU combo and it just kept on trucking, no problems. I've yet to do a clean install of W10 since it released.

Probably famous last words, you never know what tomorrow brings.

Bought a GTX 970? Congrats, Nvidia owes you thirty bucks

Can You File a Valid Claim?

Please proceed to fill out this 35 page claim form in the next 5 minutes, submit it to our claims department along with the original receipts (which will inexplicably disappear never to be seen again). If something goes wrong, our complaints department will be available from 3AM to 3:04AM local time with a 5 minute wait time for your convenience.

Free Windows 10 upgrade: Time is running out – should you do it?

The free version of Windows 10 is locked to the PC. You probably won't mind if you have an OEM version of Windows 7 or 8 but you might if you have a retail version.

Not my experience.

I had an OEM Windows 7, later upgraded to 8 (carried the OEM License) then upgraded to 10 when the upgrade offer started.

I just swapped motherboard and CPU a few weeks ago. Rebooted off the same hard drive, the system found and installed the drivers for mobo et al. and activated via digital entitlement when I signed on to my Microsoft account. Still activated, running happily on a different motherboard.

Microsoft to rip up P2P Skype, killing native Mac, Linux apps

Tried out Facebook video calls the other day... it's so much better than Skype it's shocking. Doubt too many people will shed tears over Skype's future direction.

The alternatives seem to have it beat. Never tried Google Hangouts but I wouldn't be surprised it that was better quality than Skype.

One in five consumers upgraded to Win10 for free instead of buying a PC

Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

handful of fanboi masochists who might even have bought the retail version of Windows 10 instead of buying a new computer.

Those of us who still build from components a retail license is important so we can transfer between motherboards without having to put money down for the OS each time.

Just saying.

'Windows 10 nagware: You can't click X. Make a date OR ELSE'

Shit's Getting Real

My wife's laptop just updated today, despite her insistence that she wants to have nothing to do with Windows anything-but-7.

Needless to say, Microsoft didn't earn a fan today.

Tech titans demand free speech law to head off President Trump

Absolute Defense

The absolute defense against a libel suit is the truth. If you tell the truth, they can't win.

I can see this law being abused to no end for character assassination. You can fling libel at anyone and claim public record to protect against a suit... Anyone in Congress or the Senate supporting this is a grade-A moron who needs to be removed from office without delay.

EU wants open science publication by 2020

Should have always been this way

I was quite shocked when I went back for my masters to find that publicly funded research results were locked behind what seemed like an impenetrable wall.

This would be a great step in the right direction indeed.

Next step: textbook pricing. If my employer hadn't been picking up the tab on my textbooks I would have gotten multiple breakdowns by now over $200+ books...

Forget high-powered PCs, mobile is the future of VR, says Google

This one's going the way of 3D TV's

People refuse to wear the dork glasses for 3D TV... what makes manufacturers believe that they'll go for full-on nerdblinders?

Microsoft boots fake fix-it search ads

Re: A classic case of Driving While Blonde

Would you prefer they use Yahoo?

Yahoo is powered by Bing.

Gotta hand it to them though: Bing is good for two things. Image search and their daily desktop backgrounds.

Criminals exploit zero day Flash vulnerability

What?!

Flash has security problems?

Linux Mint to go DIY for multimedia

Re: The end of Mint is complete

Mint was the best distro for a decade because it removed the painful aspects of Linux setup. This was the original reason it was created.

Was it? Mint always had exactly the same installer as Ubuntu... OK, it was green highlights, not puke brown but regardless, setup was always identical.

I was under the impression it was created because the creators had a decade long WTF moment when they looked at Unity and Gnome 3.

Re: Er... NO!!!!

Well, unfortunately, yes. If we are to generalize a robust, stable OS for most people to use...

That's no longer a technical problem. It's a marketing problem. If you want market penetration on the desktop you have to pre-install it. Plain and simple. Mint is good enough for most home users but very few care enough to go through the trouble to switch. That's mostly because Windows is also good enough.

I personally don't care for the whole "Linux desktop success" theme. It works for me, does what I need it to do, it's successful on my end. End of story. What everybody else uses is everybody else's problem.

'I thought my daughter clicked on ransomware – it was the damn Windows 10 installer'

Re: Slow checking for updates...

Windows 7 has always been slow checking for updates.

I remember waiting for hours for the list to show up back in the SP1 days. It was one of the catalysts to move to Mint. System install, customization, updates and extra installs were done before Windows 7 would generate an update list.

Windows 10 is far better in that regard. The update list comes up in less than a minute, applies in about 30 minutes and that's that.

Still would be nice to have some control over the update process but f*ck it. I'm too old to care.

If the Internet of Things will be SOOO BIG why did Broadcom just quit the market?

I Spy With My Little Eye...

...a crack in the IoT market potential narrative.

Windows 10 handcuffs Cortana web search to Bing and Edge browser

Well, They Got the Consistency Down

Consistently shit, but consistent.

Thanks guys, always knew we could count on you for an "integrated experience".

Microsoft's Windows 10 nagware storms live TV weather forecast

Re: $&%#! Microsoft!

Not only will they charge for it after July, they'll charge anyone who got it for "free" if they have to change their motherboard for any reason.

That's only true for those who upgraded from an originally OEM license. Those who upgraded from Retail, get Retail Windows 10. All their upgrade licenses carry the rights of the originals.

Re: Oh, yeah...

Since when is running a display a server's job?

When you run huge LED walls and a dozen projectors stacked and blended, all driving the same (usually insanely high resolution) video or composite, desktop gear just won't cut it. Usually you get into specialized equipment. Servers, scalers, video repeaters, mixers... the setup is ellaborate to say the least.

Desktops need not apply.

The IT side of large venue setups also tends to run older OS' than Windows 7 so I doubt the nag screens would be a problem.

PC market shambling towards an unquiet grave

Old Story

The industry has matured, the technology is more than good enough for 99% of the population and we are in a phase where if a computer is not broken it won't be replaced. Since well built desktops usually don't break for about 5-7 years, I don't imagine these numbers will be getting any better.

That doesn't mean that the PC market is heading to its grave. It just means it's settling into a stable replacement cycle. We just haven't found what that looks like yet..

Microsoft drives an Edge between Adobe and the web: Flash ads blocked

Security at Last!

This should make the global user base of Edge very happy.

All three of them.

Official: Toshiba pulls out of European consumer PC market

Re: Ah, well

+1 for Dells. Just not the cheap ones.

I have an Inspiron 15 7000 series from 2013 and it still works very well. I lug it around for school, work and my 4 year old abuses it to no end. It's starting to show but it's still working well.

I have Latitude 6000 series laptops at work. You couldn't nuke them if you wanted to. Best laptop keyboards I've ever used too.

Who hit you, HP Inc? 'Windows 10! It's all Windows 10's fault'

Re: Win-10-nic lowering new PC sales (as expected)

People don't give a toss about the OS that runs on their systems. They keep them because it works, when it doesn't they go out and buy something new with whatever Windows version it comes with. No fuss.

Perhaps HP should invest some MARKETING CAPITAL and R&D into making HIGH END LINUX MACHINES and selling THOSE for LOWER PRICES than their Windows equivalents... convince people that LINUX is BETTER, CHEAPER, and JUST AS EASY to use

Take your meds. They might as well invest some serious capital into tech support as well.. and training for tech support. And PR damage control when Jane Doe's computer doesn't open macro'd Excel files or screws up formatting in Word documents. The cost implications are horrendous.

The printer busines tanking is a no brainer. Who the hell prints anything out anymore instead of taking the entire Library of Congress along for a train ride on an iPad? Printing for home is dead.

Linux lads lambast sorry state of Skype service

Microsoft Support for Linux?

They can barely get their shit together on Windows. They had to revert back to the old desktop Skype client because they couldn't make the modern app work worth crap. What would make anyone think that they have and/or willing to put in the time to support the Linux side?

The paperless office? Don’t talk sheet

Re: It's not me, it's everybody else

Anyone know why most people are addicted to paper?

Ain't nothing like the feel of a nice quality pen on heavy bright paper.

Reading on paper also has a more "substantial" feel to it. Like it triggers your brain that whatever you're reading is more important to commit to memory than everyday Internet claptrap.

Or maybe I'm just old and hold online content in complete contempt.

Re: Getting there slowly

You can't tuck a mobile between your shoulder and cheek, while typing

Try putting it in an Otterbox. They are the ugliest, most industrial looking caves you could put a phone in but can't argue with the grip. And your phone survives the fall if you still manage to drop it. Which I admittedly do. Repeatedly. Once I get home the kids do it on purpose straight down the hallway. This thing never let me down.

Five technologies you shouldn't bother looking out for in 2016

Re: Five technologies you shouldn't bother looking out for in 2016

I think you should have given them something more specific, like download link to the latest Mint. It looks and acts more or less like Windows and installs without a hitch in less than 20 minutes in most cases

I agree that most people would react in horror if they had to find a distribution first.

Windows Phone won't ever succeed, says IDC

If they're Right

It would be a real shame. Windows Mobile is a really pleasant to use OS. Too bad about the apps. Those that are there are noticeably less "feature rich" than their Android / iOS counterparts.

As a communications hub, it's hard to beat though.

Dell: How to kill that web security hole we put in your laptops, PCs

Re: SOP when buying new laptop (with Windows, obviously)

What we need is for Microsoft to make a clean copy of Windows available at no extra charge to anyone who buys a Windows computer.

You mean like the image you get with the Windows Media Creation Tool? It looked pretty legit and clean Windows to me.

I also requested physical media for my Dell Inspiron. The USB key they sent me also contained clean Windows 8 without any of the OEM crudware.

Microsoft rolls out first 'major update' to Windows 10

Wonderful :\

Another update that will restart my system in the middle of class while I'm trying to take notes.

Roamers rejoice! Google Maps gets offline regional navigation

Meh

I've been using HERE maps on Windows Phone and I continue to use it on Android. It hasn't let me down any more or less than GMaps.

BlackBerry makes Android security patch promises

Re: what's it got to do with OEMs?

Assuming you are not trolling:

OEM's put their own skins / launchers on top of Android so they release updates after making sure it doesn't bork their customization.

There is delay #1.

#2 is the carriers, which also have their own turn at compatibility testing their supported devices before pushing them to their respective customer bases.

All quite legitimate concerns but it adds a lot of delays between google releasing the patch and said patch getting applied to your device.

PC's are a different animal all together. MS and Linux vendors update their own codebases without having to test to make sure patches don't kill entire networks.

If you work on a domain you'll notice that it's actually your IT guys who control patch releases, not Microsoft. The reasoning behind this is the same. They don't want rogue patches killing their networks.

'iOS 9 ate my mobile broadband plan'

Re: Only one reason...

I agree here.

I think Apple's team has had the importance of a flawless user experience beaten into them so hard they are willing to forego common sense and introduce something like this.

On the other hand, it also highlights the ridiculous data plans we have in North America. I may be one of the last to be grandfathered into a straight $10/GB flex plan.

Bacon as deadly as cigarettes and asbestos

It's Worth a Deep Dig

I usually don't go deep into research papers, digging for their methodology, models, simulations, etc, but this one might be worth it.

I'm almost positive they f*cked up somewhere.

And if they didn't, well, there is worse ways to go that dying from too much bacon.

Caption this: WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

Hey Cortana!

When are you getting an upgrade?

Windows 10 out, users happy, PCs upgraded, my work here is done – says Microsoft OS chief

After a Project That Size

I'd be taking some time off too.

WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

It was easy till now, but what will I do when I get one that folds all the way back?

'One Windows' crunch time: Microsoft tempts with glittery new devices

?

Your bitching about cataloging your data / user tracking and your mention of your Android phone in the same comment is driving my common sense circuitry into an infinite loop...

Microsoft has developed its own Linux. Repeat. Microsoft has developed its own Linux

Re: "Microsoft Linux" ?

Just port office over to Linux, that's enough for me.

It's still 2015, and your Windows PC can still be pwned by a webpage

Sigh

Everything is awesome...

Wileyfox Swift: Brit startup budget 'droid is the mutt's nuts

Finally!

An affordable phone with decent specs not coming from a Chinese company? Sold. I've been looking to update my trusty Lumia 920 this year. Looks like the search is over.

So Quantitative Easing in the eurozone is working, then?

Apile of Turd Shined to Perfection

This reads like the "intellectual" underpinnings of 100 years of failed economic policy.

QE is theft. Plain and simple. Every unit of unbacked credit emitted into the money supply without a proportional increase in economic output reduces the purchasing power of all units of currency already in circulation. It also happens to not work, as we have seen for the last 8 years, or the last 20, if you want to go as far east as Japan. We have tried, the world over and in the last 2 months it's all started toppling over, just as predicted by those who know better than the author of this central banking blowjob piece.

Monetary stimulus is idiotic. It is a blunt instrument that applies across all sectors of the economy (even healthy sectors), creating asset bubbles that inevitably blow up, calling for more easing to mask the credit destruction driven deflation with increases in the money supply.

There is a simple answer to economic collapse: do nothing. Go back to 1919-1920 for an example. The economy slid into a depression and within 18 months the smoke cleared and we had the roaring 20's. Doing what the article advocates 7 years after 2008 we are still on a road to nowhere.

Keynes' father should have pulled out in time.

Samsung’s consumer IoT vision – stupid, desperate, creepy

Re: Just you wait...

""To register your <appliance of choice> guarantee it must be connected to the Internet."

Back to the store with that PoS.

The 100GB PHONE! Well, it has shades of Chrome, so not quite

Just throw in 128GB of built in storage and charge me an extra $50

Enough Said. For those who can't afford the extra money for built in storage they will most certainly won't be able to afford the data charges that go with the cloud pipe.

Looks like a dud from where I'm sitting.

Collective noun search for security vulns moves into beta testing

Missed the Alpha Round

I'd say "Bork" just about covers it.

Get whimsical and win a Western Digital Black 6TB hard drive

"I'M THE ONE directing the Windows 10 mobile convergence strategy around here!"

OpenOffice project 'all but dead upstream' argues prominent user

Re: That Weird Sound You Hear

They didn't have to bribe anyone. You can laugh just the same while your competition self-detonates. Or at least slows itself down with a ridiculous duplication of effort.