Posts by Jimmy2Cows

Repair store faces hefty legal bill after losing David and Goliath fight with Apple over replacement iPhone screens

Re: If Apple had their way then any scratch would require the owner to buy a new unit.

As would pretty much any other manufacturer. For all their other questionable attitudes, this particular attitude isn't unique to Apple.

Re: You kill our right to repair, we'll stop buying your over priced tat.

A few might stop buying. Many millions more won't.

Net impact to Apple tends to zero. Consumer activism can't fix this. Only right-to-repair legislation can.

All-electric plane makes first flight – while lugging 2 tons of batteries aloft

Re: Enough for ... a not overly large dog

But does the dog get a 'chute?

-----> The one with the inbuilt flying squirrel glide-flaps and parachute please.

After 30 years of searching, astroboffins finally detect the universe's 'missing matter' – using fast radio bursts

Re: Astroboffins. Really?

Much to learn, you still have.

Re: I can lend you a tape measure if you like.

Only if said measure uses El Reg-approved standard units. We'll have none of that archaic metric or imperial malarky, thank you very much.

Boeing brings back the 737 Max but also lays off thousands

Re: Is that so hard?

Sadly, for Boeing exec's, yes.

Those dozen+ initiatives are way cheaper than getting recertified as safe to fly. Thus they'll focus on what they have (apparently) done, definitely not on what they want to avoid at all costs. As a bonus they think it will sound good.

Combine with regulatory capture and a general loss of critical-thinking ability across the board, and I fear a lot of people will buy into this. Even those who really, really shouldn't.

Re: "more than a dozen initiatives focused on enhancing workplace safety and product quality"

Umm... because they're desparate to restart production before the product implodes completely?

Boeing haven't openly proclaimed there've been "yes" responses to all those questions. Had all answers been "yes" I'd expect a very public, very excited announcement to that effect.

Therefore, my money's on the answers to all being firmly "no".

HPE's Black Thursday: Staff face pay cuts or the ax, office closures to save $1bn+ after coronavirus slams IT titan

Re: dual monitors

Only two...? Pfft. Amatuer. Real WFH men* have at least 3.

[Sets himself up for similar disparaging remarks about only having 3 monitors...]

*Yes, and women, and whatever non-binary gender one may happen to assume at the time. But that wouldn't fit the meme, would it.

Stop tracking me, Google: Austrian citizen files GDPR legal complaint over Android Advertising ID

Android may be royalty-free, but licenses for Google services (Google Play, Play Store etc.) certainly are not, they cost manufacturers a lot of money. You can always, er, Google it.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Spacecraft with graphene sails powered by starlight and lasers

graphene is part of the solution

...The fabrication is relatively simple and could be easily scaled up to squared kilometres...

ORLY? Guess I missed the breakthroughs that have enabled this easy fabrication of kilometre-square graphene sheets. Guess we all missed them.

DBA locked in police-guarded COVID-19-quarantine hotel for the last week shares his story with The Register

Re: What a shit hole

That seems to be exactly what they're doing. All the while hiding behing the science and the data so they can point fingers if it doesn't go as they hope. I won't say as they plan, because clearly there is no plan.

O2 be a fly on the wall during BT and Vodafone's video calls: Telefónica's UK biz, Virgin Media officially merge

combined 46 million subscribers ...?

34m + 14m + 3.3m doesn't equal 46m in any maths I know of. I get 51.3m. Am I missing something? Or do they expect 10% to say "fuck off" and defect (escape) to other services while the getting's good (i.e. new org, significant contract change, contract and exit fees don't apply)?

UK IT contractors slipping back into old ways of working now IR35 tax reforms delayed

Re: but you don't "deserve" to pay less tax.

Ego has fuck all to do with disagreeing with you. There are a few chancers, sure, same as any other sphere, but mostly not. You do realise dividend tax was increased in 2017, so PAYE and contractors pretty much pay the same amount of tax overall, on the same gross income?

This whole "pay less tax" thing is bollocks these days. And no, I'm not a contractor.

All this does is create conditions whereby people can be fired then rehired (or not) on "inside IR35" terms - no rights, no sick/holiday/pension pay, no employment protection.

UK COVID-19 contact-tracing app data may be kept for 'research' after crisis ends, MPs told

Seems like a serious GDPR breach before it's even released. Except it's the government and GDPR gets in the way, so they'll just bypass all that by saying it's "lawful purposes". But they still need to ensure it's secure and protected.

Be interesting to see if that can be challenged.

Spyware slinger NSO to Facebook: Pretty funny you're suing us in California when we have no US presence and use no American IT services...

Re: Class action suit?

Fuck no.

As Brit cyber-spies drop 'whitelist' and 'blacklist', tech boss says: If you’re thinking about getting in touch saying this is political correctness gone mad, don’t bother

Re: They're only terrorists if...

Pretty sure that's totally not the argument being made. I see nothing about denying women's rights. I do see factual statements about Pankhurst and her group.

NASA signs deals to put a rocket under Artemis flights until 2029

Re: They

Gotta ride that leftovers gravy train! Making new stuff really gets in the way of profit.

Browse mode: We're not goofing off on the Sidebar of Shame and online shopping sites, says UK's Ministry of Defence

world's biggest English-language news website

Really...!?! Daily Mail is the world's biggest English-language news website? Well if that's not a damning indictment of the world we live in, I don't know what is.

Brit magistrates' courts turn to video conferencing to keep wheels of justice turning

Re: The elephant in the crown court

My tinfoil might be slipping a bit, but... citations...? It's a bold claim, after all.

Re: Misreading

You're not the only one.

Bezos to the Moon: Blue Origin joins SpaceX and Dynetics in a three-horse lunar lander race

Res: SpaceX lift

Some kind of backup ladder seems appropriate. Maybe rungs that emerge from the hull like a Tesla door handle.

Microsoft! Please, put down the rebrandogun. No one else needs to get hurt... But it's too late for Visual Studio Online

Maybe Gitpod didn't want to sell out, so MS found they had no choice but to try and... I can hardly bring myself to say it... compete.

[Shudder]

"MS" and "compete" in the same sentence, and with positive connotations. I feel dirty now.

Re: Safe option

Yeah, but... somehow their "work" has a recurring tendancy to leak and infest the real world.

International space station connects 100Mbps symmetric space laser ethernet using Sony optical disc tech

Re: sharks with fickin' "lasers"

Better find some megalodon DNA. Show me a modern shark that can take a 1m telescope assembly...

Re: What's the Wi-Fi speed of a unladen ISS?

African or European?

Re: Nice technology

Agreed, though earth to anywhere still has to get out of the atmosphere.

Radio link to a satellite relay station to minimise disruptions from weather, with tight-beam laser link to moon/Mars/wherever seems a better choice. Allowing for chance occlusions by passing satellite/debris/asteroids/etc.

But what do I know? I'm no ---->

What's worse than an annoying internet filter? How about one with a pre-auth remote-command execution hole and there's no patch?

Re: your!=you're

If your* replying to Prst. V.Jeltz, given the overall tone of the comment that might be intentional...

*Yeah I went their**

**Went there twice

Uber trials fixed-price hourly rentals for visits to the butcher, the baker and the candlestick-maker

Re: The urban transport solution for coronavirus and afterwards

When your only tool's a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Square peg of modem won't fit into round hole of PC? I saw to it, bloke tells horrified mate

Re: the picture in the article

Guard schmuard. I find the angle grinder guard just gets in the way of optimal grinding. So far I still have all my digits and haven't set fire to myself. Yet.

ICANN finally halts $1.1bn sale of .org registry, says it's 'the right thing to do' after months of controversy

Re: Now charities are doomed to never turn a profit.

If that was the OP's intent I'm struggling to see it.

Re: Now charities are doomed to never turn a profit.

Ok yes I do take your point.

Let me revise my original comment to say all charities are supposed to return all proceeds to their beneficiaries, minus their operating costs which they are generally expected to minimise.

Agreed some certainly seem to reach a point where one might question how much is actually distributed vs. how much is spent on "operating costs" such as overly glamourous HQs and questionable fact-finding missions to exotic locales.

Re: Note to ICANN board: In future, clean house before trying to pull shady shit

Ooops. Lose. Not loose. The shame! I bow apologetically before the commentariat.

Note to ICANN board: In future, clean house before trying to pull shady shit

Highly plausible the only reason they did their job properly is to head off being subpoena'd by the Cali AG. More to loose there than gained by allowing the sale.

Watch for this to be back on again once the shedders have stopped whirring.

Re: Just don't turn your back on 'em.

Gotta leave the door open for those kickbacks...

Re: Now charities are doomed to never turn a profit.

Ummm... what???

Charities don't ever "turn a profit". That's one of the core definitions of a charity. All proceeds are returned to the charities' beneficiaries.

Three things in life are certain: Death, taxes, and cloud-based IoT gear bricked by vendors. Looking at you, Belkin

Re: Blame the idiots...

There's plenty of idiocy to go around, and the blame game can get complicated.

Partial blame falls on consumers for happily buying these turds without bothering to understand the implications.

Majority of the blame falls on manufacturers for being greedy and treating stuff that should last for ages as a commodity, and trying milk their customers for all they're worth.

At the same time, some blame bounces back to consumers for wanting the cheapest stuff possible then being surprised when shit like this happens.

A counterpoint is that even manufacturers of expensive items pull this shit too. Looking at you Apple, Sonos...

In the end... caveat emptor. Try to understand the risks of what you buy, and expect IOT manufacturers to leave you with a brick after a few years.

India to build contact-tracing app for feature phones that still use 2G, don't have Bluetooth and can't run apps

Bluetooth is not baked into around a quarter of the world's mobile's

And even if it were, you need a way to program each device to use it's bluetooth differently to the device's in-built bluetooth profiles.

Doable on smartphones, if they can support the app. Which is a separate question.

Pretty-much impossible for feature phones without a firmware update. Given the age, manufacturer range, model range of feature phones out there, that seems like a non-starter.

You can get a mechanical keyboard for £45. But should you? We pulled an Aukey KM-G6 out of the bargain bin

Had a Logitech G810 for a few years now. Fully programmable RGB key illumination and it's a heavy beast so it doesn't move when typing. Only issue so far is slight wear on a few keys (A, left CTRL, left arrow). A bit pricey but for my work well worth the investment.

Academics demand answers from NHS over potential data timebomb ticking inside new UK contact-tracing app

Re: Presumably this will download and operate on all flavours of smartphone...

Given UK gov's technical mastery and ability to deliver workable, working IT projects, that seems incredibly unlikely.

Frankly I'll be amazed if it actually works at all. Expectations are low. Looking forward to buggy, power-hungry, privacy-leaking surveillance-enabling steaming piles and massive server under-provisioning.

CFOs are crossing fingers and hoping a second wave of COVID-19 does not appear, says Gartner

Re: SWEDEN GOT THIS RIGHT.

Not really.

Like most countries, Sweden reacted late, slow, but also couldn't be arsed with the economic hassle of lockdown. Their choice. We'll see how it plays out. It's way too early in this outbreak to flag their particular social experiment as success or failure.

Their death rate may seem low in absolute numbers, but that's perhaps because they have a relatively small population, and much of the population is social distancing anyway, wearing masks, avoiding large gatherings, working from home etc. In a lot of ways the population has locked itself down.

Compared to their Nordic neighbours, their death rate is much higher than countries with lockdown.

UK snubs Apple-Google coronavirus app API, insists on British control of data, promises to protect privacy

Re: really clear detailed explanation of why a centralised solution is seen as 'better'

Would that be one of those "grown-up" discussions, driven by the science? The kind where some jumped-up public servant basically says "because we're smarter than you" and then refuses to discuss it further? The typical sort of transparency we've seen of late.

Broadly speaking, the issue isn't that one person does it, so much as when 2 million people think they're the only one doing it.

Common sense should still apply, but that requires the ability to consider each situation objectively and not blindly apply the law with no thought for its intent. Naturally I don't have much hope in this.

Also I suspect a lot of cops are bored, and have a compulsive need to nick someone, anyone, relatively frequently else they start feeling inferior and powerless. Thus any excuse, any possible infraction, is overblown to compensate.

You made him look foolish. Always inviting trouble, that.

Microsoft decrees that all high-school IT teachers were wrong: Double spaces now flagged as typos in Word

Re: memory's the 2nd thing to go

The first being memory.

Now, where's my coat...?

Re: Not enough

Not spelling. Grammar. Ask him ----->

Australia's contact-tracing app regulation avoids 'woolly' principles in comparable cyber-laws, say lawyers

Re: "Here I Go, Again On My Own..." - DLR

Why do you think location data is required? The app just uses bluetooth to pass unqiue identifiers to other apps within bluetooth range. If a user becomes symptomatic or infected they register as such, and their identifier is sent to other app users. Your app checks if you encountered that user's ID, and alerts you if you did. You self-isolate, get tested or whatever. At no time is any location data consumed or required.

My bigger concerns are:

1. The number of false-positive alerts because of bluetooth's range. You passed within 10m of someone who's registered as symptomatic/infected. Depending on absolute proximity and duration, your chances of being infected goes from high to remote. Do they account for this? Is it even possible to account for this with bluetooth? Signal strength maybe, but that's subject to local effects.

2. Is the alerting recursive? You passed near someone, who passed near someone, who passed near someone, who passed near someone who's registered as symptomatic/infected. That number gets big fast. Might be useful to some depth. Might not. Most probably not useful beyond 2 or 3 deep.

Kerching! Intel PC chip shortage over just in time for everyone to buy computers for pandemic home working

Re: Rigging the market?

Not disputing your point, though it does feel like a startlingly convenient coincidence.

Royal Navy nuclear submarine captain rapped for letting crew throw shoreside BBQ party

Re: those that want to try and criminalise everything should just go and get a life

These and other impossible tasks brought to you by the Ministry of Fun.

Careful, they'll start threatening to patrol supermarkets for people buying sausages and burgers. Only to be shut down by a superior upon realising that made the force appear staffed by a bunch of control-freak fascist morons (again).