Posts by BobBob

That doomsday critical Linux bug: It's CUPS. May lead to remote hijacking of devices

Patch available

It looks like a patch is available, at least for Ubuntu: https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-7043-1

US commerce department yanks back Huawei export licenses

Wrong move

I think the US is shooting itself in the foot with this move. With Windows on ARM (until they add Microsoft to the list) they could realise a performant and low power laptop using their own silicon. I’d be interested in one with Ubuntu on ARM. Their machines are pretty good and not bad value.

Being British I support the underdogs so decided to try out the MatePad and have to say it’s not bad. Despite no Play Store I still managed to get all my usual apps installed and I like the look of that camera on the Pura 70 so I might end up being a switcher…

Google promises eternity of updates for Chromebooks – that's a decade for everyone else

Re: At Google, 10 > 13

You can also get a free personal Ubuntu Pro license giving you 10 years of support for an LTS install

If you like to play along with the illusion of privacy, smart devices are a dumb idea

Smart washing machine/dryer/dish washer

The only reason I can think of having a smart washing machine/dishwasher or dryer is to be able to activate it automatically when the electricity is cheap if you’re on an hourly varying electricity tariff based on the next day spot price (companies like Tibber). Even then, it doesn’t need all this personal data to offer this functionality. You still have to remember to load the machines though and it’s not a good idea to leave your clothes in the machine for too long.

I can’t think of a realistic reason to have a smart fridge/freezer though.

Dyson moans about state of UK science and tech, forgets to suck up his own mess

Re: With two-faced "friends" like Dyson, Britain doesn't need enemies

I think it’s better to try and improve the place you’re living in and make use of your vote to do so. That’s why we have a democracy. It’s easier to just run away from problems than try and fix them.

NASA finds crashing spacecraft into asteroids is a viable defence strategy

Re: Crashed. Will the insurance pay?

ESA and NASA work together very closely, so this would never happen anyway. In fact, ESA also supported NASA with DART:

ESA’s network of eyes on the sky, Estrack, is supporting NASA in the weeks before impact by tracking DART, helping to provide data on its status, location and velocity and crucially keeping a constant watch during its final 12 hours when a live stream of images will be pulsed home to be made available and watched ‘live’ by countless around the globe.

https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Planetary_Defence/ESA_deep_space_network_tracks_DART_asteroid_impact

Afraid of the big bad Linux desktop? Zorin 16.1 is here

Re: Support for Ukraine

Try it out with the Live USB stick. You can use balena Etcher to create the USB stick. You may need to go into Additional Drivers to enable the proprietary WiFI adapter. Also use a wired keyboard and mouse for the first use, you can then add your Bluetooth keyboard and mouse after.

Re: Support for Ukraine

Already made donations, but I was looking for a distro for the other half to put on her aging MacBook from 2008 (upgraded the hard disk to a bigger SSD, replaced the battery and maxed out the RAM). It still works really well but it's getting harder to use as the root certificates have all expired. This distro will make it look like macOS and I get a warm fuzzy feeling that the profits go to a worthy cause.

Support for Ukraine

“pledged to donate all profits from sales of Zorin Pro between now and 1700 GMT on March 17 to charities providing humanitarian aid in Ukraine”

Might just place an order now

Saved by the Bill: What if... Microsoft had killed Windows 95?

SCSI is/was a dark art. I remember by Iomega Jaz drive. Amazing - a fast removable disk that could hold as much as 1GB! Bigger than my hard disk at the time.

And the joys of having to switch off your computer, taking the sound card out and physically move the jumper to change the IRQ and then cross your fingers that it worked.

Memmaker

No problem. Create a boot menu once you’ve found the right combination of loading DOS high in the UMBs and tried Memmaker to optimise everything…

You forced me to use this fancypants app and now you're asking for a printout?

Re: PDF

Yep, it’s a recent update. At first it didn’t show them and it was all over the news about how it was affecting travel to places demanding the booster as they had sent an expiry date to the first jabs. Now the booster appears in the NHS App. (The Corona-Warn-App in Germany has supported booster jabs for quite a while)

Terror of the adtech industry iOS 14.5 has landed, and Siri can answer your calls ... though she/he can't hang up

Re: Mask unlock

Interesting. I understood it still looked for your eyes to recognise when unlocking and your watch has to be pretty close.

Surprise! Copying crummy code from Stack Overflow leads to vulnerable GitHub jobs

Copyright

It’s worth noting that the examples are subject to copyright of the original author and shouldn’t be copied and pasted into your code without checking for permission/license first...

Give ALL the EU access to Netflix, says Vince Cable

About time!

As an ex-pat living in Germany, I can't buy all the available UK music online from Google Play Music and iTunes. If I were to buy it from iTunes UK in Germany, it would be illegal. Likewise music from German bands I like can't be bought by friends in the UK, unless they went to the German store.

Amazon blocks you trying to buy MP3s in the UK store for music I can't even get here. I have an Amazon Prime subscription enabling me to watch lots of movies and series in German. A handful of "OV" (original version) films are available in English. Glad I learned German. The last series of "Not Going Out"? No chance.

Changes to the legislation is, in my opinion, way overdue. I should be able to make use of my Amazon Prime subscription when I'm elsewhere in the EU on holiday, but I can't legally do this. Well, I can download them to my Kindle Fire and turn off the Internet connection, but that's not the point. It needs planning in advance.