Posts by Dwarf

FCA 'gold-plates' EU rule, hits BYOD across entire UK finance sector

Mobile devices

So that would apply to everyone's private mobile phones too then given that they can do Voice, Text, E-mail, video calling etc.

How 1980's

Meltdown, Spectre: The password theft bugs at the heart of Intel CPUs

Re: Extraction rate is a function of RAM capacity.

Think you missed the point I was trying to make. The volume of data is higher, therefore it will take more time to get anything useful out, hence slowing down the attack. Sifting the useful bits from the non-useful bits takes more time again and who's to say that the couple of bytes you got from VM1 and couple from VM27 are any good without the rest that has not been recovered yet.

I accept that it doesn't fix the problem, but it would buy a lot of time.

Extraction rate is a function of RAM capacity.

If the extraction rate is a function of RAM capacity, then there must be a benefit in Increasing RAM, just like bit lengths are increased to improve resistance to brute force in security functions.

Cloud vendors and virtualisation providers stack machines high with RAM to get better consolidation ratios, so does it follow they are better protected ?

UK drone collision study didn't show airliner window penetration

What happens if you freeze them ?

Seem to recall that there is some previous testing done with turkeys and a missive to "defrost the bird" due to testing not going the way it was planned on the first test cycle.

Azure VMs borked following Meltdown patch, er, meltdown

Should we be worried

Aren't MS preparing a similar patch for various machines enslaved with Windows OS's *

* Except probably versions we care about and that they don't

Maplin Electronics CEO ups stakes for steak house

Must be a joke in here somewhere ...

Perhaps the Steaks became to high at Maplin

If you won't use your brain our machine will use it for you, Nissan tells drivers

Emissions

Unlike VW, this sounds like emissions of another type.

Just trying to work our if its bovine (marketine) or genuine

Kernel-memory-leaking Intel processor design flaw forces Linux, Windows redesign

Re: Counting chickens?

Talking about chickens, don’t processors have an array of “chicken bits” to allow chunks of functionality to be disabled, I wonder if those would help resolve the issue at a lower cost than the rumoured 30% performance hit

How convenient

Intel likely to sell a bunch of new chips - $PROFIT$

How about a free issue replacement chip of the appropriate generation to everyone so that we don't have to have a performance penalty or for their mistake - think its called warranty. MS will probably need to disable the hardware change = new licence thing though.

Intel could also regain trust by wrapping in the fixes for other big screw-ups too - like the management chip, which can be disabled or better still removed.

Oh and don't forget all the microcode changes too.

Seagate's lightbulb moment: Make read-write heads operate independently

Re: What's the point?

Having said that: I never understood why hard drives don't "stripe" across all heads.

They do, its called a cylinder, you look down the heads across all surfaces and write across them,

See CHS Hard Disk Addressing

No reason to believe that the vendors stopped doing this when they moved the external interface to LBA back around 1980 ish

Unlike what the other post on this thread claims, its not hard to analyse errors on a per surface perspective, since the drive's controller and firmware knows the real geometry of the drive and grown defects do just that, so you can easily determine if the failed sector is adjacent to an existing defect.

None of this is new technology.

How fast is a piece of string? Boffin shoots ADSL signal down twine

Yes, Cisco did Ethernet over Barbed Wire.

Looks like most of the links to it have faded away, but I found this one from 2007

This needs adding to the units converter

This yardstick needs adding to the register's conversion tables at

Units converter

Spy-on-your-home Y-Cam cameras removes free cloud storage bit

Keep this in mind when your Windows 10 subscription kicks in.

Assuming you fell for the Windows 10 con in the first place ....

Remember, theres no such thing as a free lunch, free beer or free cloud storage.

Now add the word unlimited to the front of any of those expressions would anyone realistically think its a genuine offer ?

Boffins foresee most software written by machines in 2040

I smell BS

Even if it were possible, we would still need a way to explain what we want the system to do, which by definition would be a programming language

Ok machine, I want you to take a reading from that sensor, convert the returned data from its packed form into something usable, modify the value by applying the calibration data in your eeprom that I explained earlier, now take a rolling average over 500ms to stabilise it and remove mouse/ measurement uncertainty and use the result as the stable and accurate sensor output

Me thinks I could write the c/c++ in less time. Wonder how I’d apply optimisation like bit shifting and Boolean operations to any of the above ?

Wondering why your internal .dev web app has stopped working?

I must have missed the change in standards bodies.

Since when was Google appointed as the body responsible for deciding Internet standards ?

More importantly why are they not working with standards bodies to propose changes - where these sorts of things are scrutinised by other experienced people, hence reducing the impact of poorly thought through ideas.

Sure, HTTPS is a good thing in most cases, but is not necessary everywhere.

Only the person implementing the site will know if its applicable and will be able to consider the raft of other security related tasks to ensure an appropriately designed, built and operated site. This may include security principles like role based authentication, resilience, firewalls, etc or perhaps none if its a noddy application that runs locally within their home or some management interface on a dumb device (like a home grade switch) that doesn't offer an HTTPS capability as its not powerful enough to do that.

Pro tip: You can log into macOS High Sierra as root with no password

I'm puzzled

Its amazing how many of these root privilege bypass "bugs" tend to exist in so many OS's - I can't imagine it due to poor coding, its almost as if they were put there deliberately, but who would want to do such a thing ??

I also wonder if they get fixed, or just hidden a bit deeper ?

Someone has fixed the ESX 'VM stun' problem

Stunning

How this got through testing, particularly given that its a key step in the backup process.

Barracuda gobbled up by private equity sharks

Eaten big a bigger fish.

SurfaceBook 2 battery drains even when plugged in

Windows Sucks

Power ..

Sci-Hub domains inactive following court order

Re: I am leet hacker

@AmenFromMars

Do scientists still use Windows ???

Under par: HPE 3PAR US sales are limping

Tech savvy customers

I wonder if HP* will realise that their customers are tech savvy and when they read in the news that they have 'optimised' or whatever the BS bingo word is for "laying off" a large portion of their engineering team for the product, then they get worried about the long term support impact and product roadmap.

Oddly enough, I had until that point recommended a couple of fairly chunky 3PAR arrays as the storage tier in a new project, but as soon as that announcement came out, we dropped them and went to our alternative shortlisted vendor, this had the effect of taking all the servers, backup, network, PS and maintenance agreements with it to keep everything in support with one vendor, so now HP will get nothing.

Hopefully things can get better now the captain of the boat is changing, unless she realised that its now just heading straight for the rocks.

DNS resolver 9.9.9.9 will check requests against IBM threat database

@ASAC

Nowhere in he article did it say that the whole of 9.0.0.0/8 was used for this service.

Defining /32 routes isn’t exactly rocket science, however I’d expect that they defined something like a /28

World Vasectomy Day: 15k men line up for live vent-blocking

Re: Where do I sign up ?

Most will do it while-you-wait

So you are saying there is another group that will do it whilst you go off for a spot of lunch and a quick pint.

Presumably you don't feel a thing too - sounds like a real positive.

Remember CompuServe forums? They're still around! Also they're about to die

CIS Goodbye

Another technology era ends and a new one begins

DXC spills AWS private keys on public GitHub

AWS Security 101

1. Learn how the AWS IAM role based access works (its in the first chapters of the training for a reason)

2. Don't publish your keys on-line

They should engage with a security consultancy to get some advice on this.

Oh, hang on a mo ....

Your next laptop will feature 'CMF' technology

Cost vs spec

Obviously the cost won’t be changed at all to cover the new necessary overhead.

I’ve got a better idea, up the spec with the same money (my money btw)..I don’t care about the colour or material as long as it’s durable and rough enough that it won’t slip out of your hands when you carry it.

I do care about getting the job done with the machine, how long it lasts, what OS and what ports it’s got, so I can connect it to other stuff.

ZX Spectrum Vega firm's lawyers targeted by empty-handed backers

Completely authentic

The original Sinclair machines were unreliable, they are just giving an authentic experience.

Logitech: We're gonna brick your Harmony Link gizmos next year

Re: Idiots !

@AC.

I get your logic and indeed cloud done right and on the right systems where there is a demonstrable need is fine, but marketing a product with the word cloud in its description and not supporting it for a reasonable period (which BTW is 7 years in the UK if we use the returns policy on faulty goods as a reference.) then cloud services or anything else for that matter should offer the same or better services.

What we are seeing reported regularly in the press is all the pointless products collapsing in the steaming pile of poo that they are - due to reliability; security; performance issues or being dropped by the manufacturer. I fully expect more to follow in the coming year.

Idiots !

I wonder if their marketing people are expecting previous customers to buy any successor products ?

I think that the expression "what goes around, comes around" is probably applicable at this point.

I also wonder how many cloud evangelists are now so happy with the cloud disabled bricks.

Perhaps the right course here is to send all the now defunct products back to their CEO at their home address, so that they can dispose of them in an environmentally friendly way and to show what customers think about the marketing and support strategy.

AWS adopts home-brewed KVM as new hypervisor

I hope their judgement wasn’t clouded in this decsision.

ATM fees shake-up may push Britain towards cashless society

Cash will be here long beyond when we all are

Banks (and governments - don’t forget the tax tracking...) may want it all electronic, but many offices have coffee shops that only take cash and are miles from town centres, roadside burger vans won’t have a reluable data connection if any connection and the risk all moves to them with cards.

I use cash a lot in many shops and trades. I can’t pay the window cleaner with a card (they don’t take it due to the monthly cost). I haven’t seen many down and outs that take cards (at least not in that way) either. Any replacement system has to work for everyone or they will create alternate economies.

What’s the exchange rate for a sheep these days ?

HPE HQ to leave Palo Alto birthplace as it 'consolidates' offices

A Sad day

Everything has got roots and when your root is gone, you are done for.

Works for trees

Works for Linux (UID and /)

Works for HPUX

Works for HP|HPE

But at least a line on a spreadsheet said they saved a few £, so that makes it all OK

(Even though the model was flawed, even though it didn't consider customers,even though the accountant couldn't count, etc)

TalkTalk glitch causing mobiles and landlines to go off at the same time

Always remember why its cheap ...

Official: Perl the most hated programming language, say devs

Re: Perl.... Arrggh

If Perl is so bad, then why did MS use so many concepts of it within PowerShell ?

Perl is a great tool. Like many, I have done really useful things with it, but I know it will take a bit of time to re-read what I meant in the old scripts if I ever go back to them.

Car insurers recoil in horror from paying auto autos' speeding fines

Re: Speed Limit Signs

Surely no programmer would make such a simple mistake.

Didn't someone do the same on a registration plate too - seem to recall a pic on the Internet in distant memory

Biz quadruples value overnight by adding 'Blockchain' to name

Gravity

What goes up must come down.

Fines for crossing roads while TXTing enacted in Honolulu

@syntax

Sounds like an opportunity for selling services to those who must live as a mobile phone zombie.

Same logic can be applied for Mr and Mrs. - e.g. can you hold my phone for me please.

'Screaming' man fined $149 for singing 'Everybody Dance Now'

Land of the free

So, now being happy is illegal in the US of A ??

Seems stupid, unless it was at 3am with lots of bass.

Screaming in a public place - must remember that if you are being mugged or worse -- sounds like the police will be immediately there.

MEPs vote to update 'cookie law' despite ad industry pressure

Re: "Content that must be given away for nothing will ultimately end up being worth nothing."

@malle-herbert - I was about to post exactly the same thing !

Worth is very difficult to measure since there are lots of indirect channels between the publisher and the potential consumer.

Adverts being a good example. I don't need adverts for cars every day since I've already got two (his and hers). so don't expect me to want to buy another since yours has got glitter on it. I will pay someone at some point when I replace and old one with a newer model, but much of the decision is based on service and reliability, not how many adverts I've seen in the last 4 years. This is likely to p**s me off and make me not buy from you.

There's also a big difference between content and quality content. How many videos on YouTube are just re-posts of existing videos. how many click-bait windows exist on web sites.

If the result is that people think twice before spinning up a new web site to peddle junk content, then that;s got to be a good thing. Conversely, if people think that pay walled sites will result in lots of extra profit, then think again - until I can see that the content is worth it, the wallet stays closed.

As for those who want to try and monetise me or ignore my on-line preferences - which BTW must be opt-in for anything like tracking or analytics, location, etc and for which there will be a monthly fee payable to me for each type of use and recipient organisation, since the concept of payment for content thing runs both ways.

Oh and getting rid of the pointless cookie pop-up has to be a big plus. Nice idea, but a rubbish implementation that achieved nothing for the consumer.

uBlock Origin ad-blocker knocked for blocking hack attack squawking

No, just no.

We are told (but don’t believe) that only a small percentage of people install blockers, so it follows that there will still be plenty of sheeple out there who’s browsers will report back to the provider.

I see this as another telemetry mechanism, hence I I’ll block it, +1 for uBlock. I use it and it works very well.

As For assuming you can use my pc for your sites monitoring - no, it’s mine, I decide what it does and when, not you. If you want to do some monitoring of your web site, go and spin up a monitoring server somewhere in the cloud and fill your boots, don’t try and freeload off my pc’s CPU cycles.

Here's a timeless headline: Adobe rushes out emergency Flash fix after hacker exploits bug

Wow their first one - but at least they will have it fixed in a flash.

Seriously though, does anyone really still use Flash - now that virtually every system can support HTML5.

Microsoft faces Dutch crunch over Windows 10 private data slurp

@Alumoi,

You claim to know what I run - wow !

If you look at previous posts, you will find that I've been Windows free for several years. There are plenty of good alternatives in Linux and Apple land. The only windows I have are double-glazed.

People are voting with their feet and MS are still trying their hardest to lock people in.

Homework for Microsoft - Research how you measure customer satisfaction. As a tip - when you can't even give it away, then you've lost.

Likewise, Microsoft says it will work with the agency to come with a solution, though Redmond also took issue with some of the DPA's findings.

Precisely how difficult is it to just turn it off / remove it from the OS / give the user the option to opt-in, rather than forcibly give them no real options to turn it off.

MS - do you really think we are that dumb ?

FCC Commissioner blasts new TV standard as a 'household tax'

Re: VR Glasses

Nokia bailed from the VR Biz last week citing slower than expected sales.

Ahh, the age old problem of the chasm between the marketing departments PowerPoint presentation and the real world

Dumb bug of the week: Outlook staples your encrypted emails to, er, plaintext copies when sending messages

Testing a product works properly Isn't hard

Oh, I forgot, the got rid of those people didn't they.

Bring back the testers !

Star Wars: Big Euro cinema group can't handle demand for tickets to new flick

So the story is that ...

There is a disturbance in the force and a couple of people cried out in anger ?

Ain't that called every day life on the Internet ?

I wonder if the ticket companies have heard about that not so new elastic technology that can flex up and down based on demand and you only pay for what you use ?

Seems to be a perfect fit for a company who keep on selling places to watch new stories that are based on old stories that made a mint.

As to me and films - I can't remember the last time I want to a cinema, nor watched the TV because of all the adverts and in the case of the cinema, the unnecessarily loud volume.

Home Sec Amber Rudd: Yeah, I don't understand encryption. So what?

Re: Rudd

So no acid to under 18's. but at 17 you can drive.

What happens when the old car that the 17 year old buys needs a new battery - will they be refused ?

What happens to the old battery ?

Do 17 year old's need yet another reason to have an unclean toilet if they can't buy bleach ?

I hear that people can get hurt by a brick when its thrown too - will those be next on the list ??

Azure fell over for 7 hours in Europe because someone accidentally set off the fire extinguishers

Cost a pretty penny

That fireproof gas (tm) ain't cheap to replace

I bet the maintenance folk needed some new trousers too.

Twitter's 280-char blog mode can be enabled client-side. Just sayin'

Never understood why ..

The underlying technology choice from something that most people don't use these days (SMS text) still dictates the message size.

Files aren't limited by disk block size

data transfers over IP aren't dictated by the size of a packet

Even SMS messages can be more than an old style SMS message

Letters in envelopes aren't limited by the number of words on a single A4 page

So why oh why should twatter still care about an old technology message size.

Surely if they can join together two payloads, then they can repeat that several more times.

Brit military wants a small-drone-killer system for £20m

Seek and destroy - build a better drone that is given a target and just homes in on it to take it out.

Could even go retro and go for the Maximilian character from The Black Hole

And for bonus points, make the same thing work on those Asian Hornets !!

I've not worked out yet how to overcome the fact that the target drone is only 50ft from the nearest plane, but that's another issue.