* Posts by MiguelC

1704 publicly visible posts • joined 22 May 2014

Yes, I did just crash that critical app. And you should thank me for having done so

MiguelC Silver badge

I recently told this story about a former colleague who managed to create a mail flood between his inbox and mine, but here it goes again.

Whenever I or the other senior tech on my team went on vacation we'd set up a regular OoO response and, for a select number of addresses, a supplemental forwarding rule to the other one of us who was there, just to make sure requests from higher ups were properly followed up. One day I went on vacation and set the rules and, during that period, my colleague had to take a day off so did the usual. Unfortunately the forwarding rules weren't set to just forward mail from those contacts, but also when they were CC'd... so when the first email form someone on the list was sent to his address (or mine, really don't remember who first triggered the glitch), mails started being forwarded from one account to the other until it froze the Exchange server). He got a bit of an earful the next day, but nothing of consequence, and learned not to do it again (which is always good :) )

Caffeine makes fuel cells more efficient, cuts cost of energy storage

MiguelC Silver badge
Coffee/keyboard

Re: Nope, not sharing

The only problem with such a setup is remembering not to look at the keyboard, or your brain will mix it all up.... trust me on this, I know....

Whizkids jimmy OpenAI, Google's closed models

MiguelC Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: In the words of Wanda Maximoff...

And if the NYT does it, it's hacking

Intern with superuser access 'promoted' himself to CEO

MiguelC Silver badge
Devil

Back in the days of offices and phones on desks, a new colleague joined and had, as luck would have it, the same name as the COO.

I started by pranking other colleagues, who were usually quite nervous receiving those calls.

Then I got the lightbulb idea! Whenever I really needed people to pick up my call, if they ignored it they would then get a call for the COO - rarely missed the mark!

Swiss cheese security? Play ransomware gang milks government of 65,000 files

MiguelC Silver badge
Joke

Re: One of these things is not like the others

When your only sport is shooting, everything looks like a target

Google dresses up services for the EU's Digital Markets Act

MiguelC Silver badge
Big Brother

Re: Google, why are you like this?

I have Google assistant disabled, but this happened to me nonetheless....

German defense chat overheard by Russian eavesdroppers on Cisco's WebEx

MiguelC Silver badge
Coat

Maybe they're like that Japanese soldier stranded on a Pacific island, defending his position while ignoring that WW2 had ended for 30+ years

Twitter's ex-CEO, CFO, and managers sue Elon Musk for $128M

MiguelC Silver badge
MiguelC Silver badge

That 40k car is just a 10k car on top of a 30k battery

MiguelC Silver badge

Grab shrank its superapp by a quarter in order to survive

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: If it is really a "superapp"

No need for the Troll icon, that is their ultimate goal.

But even then it might use too much storage on those entry level phones to allow it to perform at a reasonable level.

It's that most wonderful time of the year when tech cannot handle the date

MiguelC Silver badge
Facepalm

Add Euronext stock exchange to the lot.

This morning they warned their clients they're unable to process orders with validity for today.

New solvent might end winter charging blues for EV owners

MiguelC Silver badge
Coat

Re: Tesla owners complained....

Yes, but if it was an electric S-Type, it would have caught fire TWENTY times less!

Microsoft's February Windows 11 security update unravels at 96% for some users

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: "Something didn't go as planned. No need to worry – undoing

I don't want any toasted teacake. In fact, no-one around 'ere wants any toasted teacake!

Or muffins, we don't like muffins round 'ere! We don't want muffins, no toast, buns, baps, bagets or bagels, no croissants, no crumpets, no teacakes, no potato cakes and no hot cross buns! And definitely no smegging flapjacks!

Musk 'texts' Nadella about Windows 11's demands for a Microsoft account

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: "There's a name for individuals who demand to speak to the manager"

But he's not your usual, run-of-the-mill, Karen, he's a SPAAAAAAAAAAACE Karen

Google Maps leads German tourists to week-long survival saga in Australian swamp

MiguelC Silver badge
Terminator

Re: Unless I'm mistaken...

They've changed it now. Even if you try to add a spot in the middle of the Peninsula Development Road, Google tells you to go there and come back the same way you went (instead of the crossing it all - so it seems they've hard-coded it)

I've been on Google Maps' crosshairs too - it once tried sending me though a dirt road on the mountains where nothing short of a tractor should go - I did trust my better judgement, though.

Are you ready to back up your AI chatbot's promises? You'd better be

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: Separation

Thankfully, the court though otherwise.

Rice isn't nice for drying your iPhone, according to Apple

MiguelC Silver badge
Happy

Re: "An old lightning charger"

I've never owned an iThingy and can also probably dig one out of the useless cables box.

The thing I can never find, though, is the one I need at that precise moment I star the dig

OpenAI tries to trademark 'GPT'. US patent office says nope

MiguelC Silver badge
Coat

chatte, j'ai pété!

Space nukes: The unbelievably bad idea that's exactly that ... unbelievable

MiguelC Silver badge
Coat

Re: who would win?

John Oliver

Pentagon launches nuke-spotting satellites amid Russian space bomb rumors

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: Pretty sure...

No need making up facts, GDP of Russia is around 8x Greece's (different estimates are available)

Although per capita it's quite dire, but only 2/3 of the Greek estimates

Cybercriminals are stealing iOS users' face scans to break into mobile banking accounts

MiguelC Silver badge
Coat

Re: Can I be the first to say

No problem, now affected punters just have to change their faces. No biggie.

HP CEO pay for 2023 = 270,315 printer cartridges

MiguelC Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: How much ink ?

Talking about standard Reg units of volume, did you notice the Bulgarian Airbags unit is now gone?

It speaks volumes about the PC direction ElReg is headed...

Australian Tax Office probed 150 staff over social media refund scam

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: "The scam promoted in online ads detailed a means of securing a loan from the ATO"

So some might not understand they were committing fraud?

And how were the scammers making money from these people?

I find the article lacking in details.

Mozilla CEO quits, pushes pivot to data privacy champion... but what about Firefox?

MiguelC Silver badge
Pint

Re: many will block untrusted JavaScript and content via NoScript and the like, and so will simply never show up in the logs of JavaScript-driven usage analysis tools

Exactly this!

Microsoft's Notepad goes from simple text editor to Copilot conspirator

MiguelC Silver badge
Happy

Re: "multiple undo, code highlighting, (...), yadda yadda."

For all that you use Notepad++

Europe's deepest mine to become Europe's deepest battery

MiguelC Silver badge
Coat

Re: Stick a pipe full of water down the shaft and GENERATE electricity

That article about your invention... are you aware of Betteridge's law of headlines?

Fintech engineer grounded by crypto fraud caper, including $300m spoof trades

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: Ponzi

Most (all?) cryptocurrency schemes are not of the pyramid kind - I've never have heard of one where 'investors' get a direct cut of the profit for bringing others in

Apple Vision Pro has densest display iFixit's ever seen, and almost-OK repairability

MiguelC Silver badge
Facepalm

There where videos of glassholes (for the lack of an Apple Vision Pro themed moniker) *not* driving (i.e., using FSD) their Teslas while wearing those goggles

Deepfake CFO tricks Hong Kong biz out of $25 million

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: Root cause

And those are what makes the news, the litany of other errors that they get to correct before serious impact almost never reaches public attention

The literal Rolls-Royce of EVs is recalled over fire risk

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: Glue?

having that many cars recalled and a specific time-frame might indicate an error in the order of the assembly process's steps

Robots with a 'Berliner Schnauze' may appear more trustworthy to locals

MiguelC Silver badge
Coat

Re: High or low?

Afrikanisch oder europäisch?

GPS interference now a major flight safety concern for airline industry

MiguelC Silver badge
WTF?

Re: WTF did people do before GPS?

While crossing oceans?

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: Alt

Totally different situation, init?

Microsoft hires energy mavericks in quest for nuclear-powered datacenters

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: Nuclear power the Microsoft way

Let's hope we never get to experience the "White Sky of Death" (™)

Japan recovers moon lander data, puts craft to sleep due to solar panels' bad attitude

MiguelC Silver badge
Trollface

It'll depend on how close to a cliff you are when you start

Poor communication led to complete lack of communication

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: Email...

Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: etc.

A colleague once triggered a mail flood between his mailbox and mine.

When me or the other senior tech on my team went on vacation we'd set up a regular OoO and, for a select number of addresses, a supplemental forwarding rule to the other senior to make sure requests from higher ups were properly followed up

Well, I went on holidays and set the rules, but my colleague had to take a day off and did the usual. Unfortunately the forwarding rules weren't set to just forward mail from those contacts, but also when they were CC'd... so when the first email form someone on the list was sent to his address (or mine, really don't remember who first triggered the glitch), mails started being forwarded from one account to the other until it froze the Exchange server)

I think he got a bit of an earful the next day, but nothing of consequence (except learning not to do it again, which is *a good thing*)

Fujitsu gets $1B market cap haircut after TV disaster drama airs

MiguelC Silver badge
Flame

Re: Fushitesu

And torches, don't forget the torches! Burn them all!

The 'nothing-happened' Y2K bug – how the IT industry worked overtime to save world's computers

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: Yeah but…

I've already told this (in the linked article) but I'll paste it here for your enjoyment

That fateful night I was on duty, after a year and a half working on that project, for a large bank.

At around 1AM I went to the nearest ATM and checked my balance and latest account movements (not an account from the bank I was working for). There was an interest credit of around the equivalent of 3000€. Resisting the urge to spend it there and then, I went back, showed the slip to my co-workers and pondered on what would happen from there on. At 8 AM, after an uneventful night on the job, I went down and checked my balance again. Without a trace of that earlier payment, it now showed the correct and, unfortunately, much smaller interest deposit...

Someone's night was indeed a lot more eventful than mine ;)

YouTube video lag wrongly blamed on its ad-blocking animus

MiguelC Silver badge
Angel

Re: Ads are not the problem

I recommend using all of it - AdGuard DNS, uBlock Origin, NoScript, Cookie AutoDelete, Tracking Token Stripper, etc.

Working from home never looked better: Leopard stalks around Infosys and TCS campuses

MiguelC Silver badge
Thumb Up

Not having to hide from a leopard

Of the many perks about WfH, that's one that I'd never imagined I had

Apple claims top spot in global smartphone market for first time

MiguelC Silver badge

Maybe if Samsung listened to customers and tailored their offering in that direction, instead of whatever direction marketing droids feel the wind is blowing, just maybe they would have kept their number one sales spot

WTF? Potty-mouthed intern's obscene error message mostly amused manager

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: Depends on the target audience.

As I've recounted here before, I was once tracking a mainframe bug report (more than 20 years ago, yes) and got a message on my terminal stating that "if you reached this point you're fucked".

Although the original coder was no longer working with us, I eventually confirmed his prescient statement...

MiguelC Silver badge
Coat

Re: "If your design had a 1/1,000,000 million chance of failure, it would fail every time he walked by."

Wouldn't it fail just 9 times out of 10?

Mandiant's brute-forced X account exposes perils of skimping on 2FA

MiguelC Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Brute forced?

If only someone could invent some kind of password vault.... (hint, not online ones)

Drivers: We'll take that plain dumb car over a flashy data-spilling internet one, thanks

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: "I hate that I don't own Microsoft Office or Photoshop. "

Just this week I found out that Excel functions "MinIfs" and "MaxIfs" are available in Excel from version 2016 forward, but only in the Office 364 subscription-based ones.

Why? Because $$$!

BOFH: Nice air conditioning system. Would be a shame if anything happened to it

MiguelC Silver badge
Angel

Re: Tea and coffee

My office has specialty coffee and several kinds of high quality teas (gunpowder, oolong, earl grey, etc.).

Another perk of working form home!

ShinyHunters chief phisherman gets 3 years, must cough up $5M

MiguelC Silver badge

Re: Is $5million his net worth ?

"According to estimates, the large volume of sales during this period netted the group more than $6 million."

He was just one of several (many?), so probably does *not* have 5$ million to give back.