Posts by Cederic

Elon Musk jettisons Twitter leadership, says takeover was 'to try to help humanity'

Re: Geez ...

Nonsense. It entirely celebrates Trump being banned from Twitter for telling people to "go home in peace" and attacks Musk for daring to support free speech.

Your point would only be credible if the illegitimate congressional investigation into the events of 6th January 2021 (El Reg editors: notice the correct way to format dates) were allowing Trump to testify in person live on TV, and if they had also demanding that Pelosi explain why she refused the support of the National Guard and if they had properly explored the role of Ray Epps.

In that context I can entirely understand why you're being voted down.

Apple exec confirms iPhones will switch to USB-C because 'we have no choice'

Re: But what about Brexit ?

I thoroughly and entirely support your desire to challenge Parliament on the laws it's passing.

Thanks to Brexit you're now allowed to.

As was stated in Parliament on Tuesday, "The laws with which we are dealing came in under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act. Either they came in with minimum scrutiny but could not be amended or changed, or they came in with no scrutiny at all."

Please, scrutinise the laws. I welcome this. The EU did not.

Re: But what about Brexit ?

Maybe because there is no breach in human rights in sending someone to a safe country that will provide them security and accommodation, and the ECHR are making bad judgements that don't factor in the basic human rights of British people to be safe and secure in their own country.

Meanwhile 12000 Albanian men illegally crossed the channel this year. Don't pretend to me that they've all had to flee persecution in France because I do not believe that.

Re: But what about Brexit ?

We were discussing trade rules and EU laws. The UN High Commission for Refugees is not an EU body. UK human right predate the EU, and indeed were a formative input to the ECHR, the European Convention on Human Rights, which itself predates the EU.

The UK has always and continues to lead the world in human rights. It would be ignorant to claim otherwise.

Yeah, no scope for consumer confusion at all.

https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/usb-if_usb_type-c_cable_logo_usage_guidelines_final_20220928.pdf

Now check how few cables actually carry logos..

Re: But what about Brexit ?

In the end, you still have to comply with the US rules if you want to deal with the US.

In the end, you still have to comply with the CPTPP rules if you want to deal with the CPTPP members.

In the end, you still have to comply with the Indian rules if you want to deal with India.

The UK already has to comply with a myriad of rules if we want to trade, and do, and will continue to. Quite why some people think the EU is somehow special is quite beyond me.

None of which incidentally requires us to allow EU law to be the law of the UK. That is what's wrong, and that is what's being changed. UK laws set by the UK, as it should be.

Amazon CEO accused of trampling labor laws with anti-union comments

I'm confused

The position of the NLRB is that it's illegal to disagree on the benefits of a union at a specific company?

Maybe there are comments that weren't cited in the article but it feels weird that someone wouldn't be able to tell people they work with, "I think you're better off with a different approach."

Purpleurchin cryptocurrency miners spotted scouring free GitHub, Heroku accounts

Your assumption that cloud service providers can perpetually absorb increasing costs is not one I share.

I would further contend that the price is not the highest level it can be. It's kept at a rate that's competitive with alternatives, while still allowing a return on investment.

If that return on investment falls then the investment funds will be redirected, to where a better return to risk ratio is possible.

Thus if costs go up (due to criminality) either prices rise or investment falls (leading to a reduction in services available). Either of those options is a poor outcome for non-criminal cloud users.

You don't have to believe me. The article includes the views of industry experts. You're welcome to provide evidence that they're wrong - if you can find any.

Yes. Cloud providers won't provide cloud services if they're not able to achieve a return on their investment.

Prices will rise or services will be withdrawn. Neither of these things are good for the people that use them.

Shutterstock partners with OpenAI to sell AI-generated stock images using DALL-E

Re: Time to put a stop to this

If these image generators are creating brand new images, then the raw output can be trivially processed to create a derivative work that is copyright to the person creating it.

By never releasing a public domain image only the copyrighted images would be accessible, and those come under existing law anyway.

(If the images are drawing on specific elements of existing images then it's all rather more complicated - much as the AI code completion efforts are finding.)

Your next PC should be a desktop – maybe even this Chinese mini machine

Re: Get a Used Desktop

That's my second PC. My first PC is only a year old.

The desktop under my TV is however one of these really tiny devices, and runs silently, and does what I need for streaming.

It's also under a year old, so I don't have the worries about component failure or incompatibility with OS/software updates that would come with buying a 7 year old desktop.

Finance watchdog warns of long-term risk Big Tech poses to competition

Re: "Administrative Time”

I really didn't need g-strings and truss in the same sentence.

Re: Long term risk has already arrived

No, you're thinking of the new markets Big Tech have created.

Now imagine them applying those same approaches (and costs) to established markets - online payments, payment cards, utilities..

UK.gov finds billions in cash for big data contracts

Re: "We will ensure that data can be leveraged"

I've never joined a political party so lack a party chairman (local or otherwise), and my point regarding the electorate holds.

That the appointment was and is legal and constitutional does not alter this.

Re: "We will ensure that data can be leveraged"

Nonsense, the Bank of England can just print more money.

After all, that's been the approach for the last few years and the man that printed the most has been appointed Prime Minister against the wishes of the electorate and his own party members.

Sorry, I may be depressed about the state of the economy and democracy in the country. On a positive note I'm surprised and delighted to see Infosys isn't included in either list. Maybe all is not yet lost.

Nvidia RTX 4090: So hot they're melting power cables

This winter they appear to be for paying people to use their tumble dryers and dishwashers outside of peak hours.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/people-to-paid-use-dishwashers-24819332

Which is a kick in the teeth for those of us that don't own tumble dryers and dishwashers.

It may be worse than that. A lot of high powered PCs are put together by custom build outfits who, as part of the service they charge for, look to make the inside of the PC extremely neat and tidy, as this helps airflow (and aesthetics).

So they bend all the cables around sharp corners to neatly tie them out of sight or at least out of the way. I suspect there are a few custom builders sharing this article with their teams right now.

I want a GPU that allows me to enjoy my hobbies.

Anybody that wants to complain about the power I use had better sell their car, cancel their mobile contract and stop buying food at the supermarket, because as soon as we start dictating others' energy use they're going to find out that being a hypocrite will be a very unhealthy position to hold.

India's – and Infosys's – favorite son-in-law Rishi Sunak is next UK PM

Re: You're all smart people (cough cough)

I was assuming you provided numbers to support your argument and discovered that you did not. You have since, instead of providing evidence, called me a smartarse :(

I would though like to distance myself from the other person responding to you. I regret that you're having to deal with that.

Re: Easing of Visa requirements for Indian travellers?

Perhaps you don't care about over 2000 people a week risking their lives to illegally enter the UK.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats-weekly-data/weekly-number-of-migrants-detected-in-small-boats-10-october-to-16-october-2022

Many people in this country do.

Re: You're all smart people (cough cough)

I did no guesswork. I used the figures you provided for UK revenue and UK tax paid, and used Amazon's annual report (for 2021) for their global revenue and global profit before tax.

You're welcome to tell me where my inputs were wrong but I'm feeling confident in my statement that your numbers do not support the argument you were making.

Re: Talking points

Sadly reality belies your claims of racism.

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/penny-mordaunt-kemi-badenoch-favourites-next-pm-tory-members-poll-1736577

Re: You're all smart people (cough cough)

I do earn income in India. I don't pay tax in India. I pay tax on that income in the UK.

But I've never been to India..

Re: it is not easy (or necessarily possible) to define where income was generated.

Sure, the revenue is generated where the customer is.

The cost of goods sold however is a direct input to the profit, and it would of course be farcical to disregard the international contributions and costs involved.

This is why transfer pricing exists, why trade deals exist and why multinational companies have complicated tax affairs.

Re: You're all smart people (cough cough)

Going by your numbers, that means that Amazon paid tax on £3.4bn in profits from £22bn in sales.

That's a profit margin of around 15%, which is substantially higher than their global profit margin of around 8.1% (based on the 2021 annual report).

While the discrepancy is likely related to the blend of revenue sources (the UK may spend more on higher margin Amazon services) it's hard to use those numbers to argue that the UK is being stiffed on tax.

Re: Easing of Visa requirements for Indian travellers?

I'm so sorry I listened to the Home Secretary.

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/uk-minister-suella-braverman-indian-overstay-visas-in-uk-2282574-2022-10-08

Re: Easing of Visa requirements for Indian travellers?

How about Indians stay in India and people in the UK who love India that much be invited to go and live there too.

The UK has a housing shortage, public service shortages and doesn't need further mass immigration. There's too much already, illegal and also legal. Opening the floodgates to another 800 million people might make the UK hating leadership of India happy but not the people of the UK.

And no, I don't care what the skin colour of those people are, or indeed that of Sunak. Something I sadly can't say about several of the people celebrating his coronation.

From the Great Resignation to demand for more overtime

Re: Overtime?

Ah, I see your problem. You relied on mass media.

Allow me to do your research for you:

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2022/october/statement-on-end-of-gilt-market-operations confirms that they were protecting LDI funds. In layman's terms, that primarily means pension funds.

https://fullfact.org/economy/bank-of-england-65-billion-gilts-mini-budget/ confirms that although £65bn was the maximum the Bank of England would spend, it didn't in fact spend that much, indeed spending less than £4bn of the first £25bn it might have spent.

I'm glad I'm able to help you correct misconceptions and become better informed. Might I suggest you use your limited and valuable free time seeking the truth rather than sharing misinformation.

Re: Overtime?

The BoE did not 'bail out' bonds or gilts, let alone to the sum of £65bn.

But do please explain how the BoE actions caused inflation and higher mortgages. Economists across the world would love to hear this new and interesting theory.

Re: Overtime?

Truss didn't hand billions over to fraudsters, didn't cause high inflation through hundreds of billions in quantitative easing, didn't impose the highest tax burden for 70 years.

All of that came from one Chancellor.

Overtime?

I'm waiting for Sunak to put up taxes yet again and I'll be reducing my hours. I'm fed up of paying for his mistakes.

Inflation? Just makes it even more sensible to spend my savings, while they're still worth something.

I'll kill myself before I retire anyway.

As Russia wages disinfo war, Ukraine's cyber chief calls for global anti-fake news fight

Re: Can we hold our own

Yeah, Pelosi claiming Trump didn't win in 2016, Stacey Abrams claims in 2018 and all the pro-EU sheep that keep citing a bus that I haven't heard a single Leave supporter say was influential.

You could also have mentioned the Russia collusion hoax and a myriad of claims regarding COVID vaccinations.

Meanwhile Ukraine is doing an excellent job of managing its online presence, generating memes galore and easily skewering the Russian disinformation. But Ukraine isn't fighting against the massed forces of big tech and big media.

Data loss prevention emergency tactic: keep your finger on the power button for the foreseeable future

Re: My thought when reading this

It's ok, the articles no longer care about correct spelling so the comments shouldn't need to either.

Why are PC webcams crap? Lenovo says it knows the reason

Re: meh

Like most deaf people, I reduce the amount I draw people like you into interesting and career enhancing work.

I'll work with the people willing to communicate.

New measurement alert: Liz Truss inspires new Register standard

Re: Incorrect measurement

Johnson didn't eat any of the cake.

Incorrect measurement

Ah. Truss is still in office, and will be until Friday next week.

So a Truss would be, what, 52 days?

How GitHub Copilot could steer Microsoft into a copyright storm

Re: Liability has already been defined

Allowing MS to share it does not allow the person with whom it's shared to use it to build their own software.

That would require permission from the copyright holder. MS are not the copyright holder.

Oops, web trackers may have leaked 3 million patients' info

Re: Nobody cares

Perhaps try reporting it as a HIPAA violation instead?

Windows Subsystem for Android declared ready for prime time

Re: Nice one but

Yeah, downgrading to Windows 11 so I can downgrade to Android doesn't entice me.

CEO told to die in a car crash after firing engineers who had two full-time jobs

Re: Judge on results, not appearances

You mean like Bob?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/16/software-developer-outsources-own-job

In the UK it does indeed feel it comes under section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/section/2

Re: Judge on results, not appearances

The problem is, most of us have integrity.

UK government in talks with datacenter operators over blackouts

Re: contingency planning

Your maths don't match my usage. If I switched every single watt of electricity use from my day time rate to my night time rate it would save me £376.42 a year.

At about £6k installed that gives me 16 years just to recover the up front cost, and that's assuming 100% efficiency and no day time electricity use.

I don't think the battery will be providing 100% efficiency, especially not in 16 years' time.

Re: contingency planning

Spending £5k or more to cover the risk I might need to enjoy going outside for a walk instead of sitting in front of a computer 2-3 times this winter might be justified if that risk was substantial. I don't perceive it to justify the expense.

Re: contingency planning

Not really. Even at current inflated prices, the saving in cost by filling the battery overnight and using it to power work devices during the day equates to around 18-20 years to cover the cost of buying the battery in the first place. Which won't last 18-20 years.

Now factor in the time value of money..

contingency planning

It all sounds rather sensible to me. I'm doing some of that at home, although I've decided the ROI on a large battery for the house means it's not an I because there's no R.

If only we'd planned and started building more nuclear power stations in the 90s, as we should :(

Children should have separate sections in social media sites, says UK coroner

Re: “nudge them towards different content”

There's a lot of material I access online that I wouldn't recommend for a 9 year old.

All of it legal. Comparable material readily accessible in their local library. Which has a children's section too.

Why shouldn't the internet have a children's section?