* Posts by Jimmy2Cows

2252 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Feb 2015

Copilot pane as annoying as Clippy may pop up in Windows 11

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Re: Closing Windows

Yeah but aren't the majority of Windows users SME and Enterprise? Home users are a small minority overall. Business are historically slow to shift, so it'll be a very slow loosening of the wheel bolts that gradually drop off one by one, the wheels getting wobblier and wobblier, and suddenly one (or all) of them falls off and MS plunges into a financial ravine.

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Re: fed a bunch of data grabbed from the windows underneath

The mere possibility of this happening, or more likely that CoPilot is actively scanning everything you're working on "to be as helpful as possible" is why I disabled it immediately, and suggested the rest of my team do the same.

Dear MS, kindly stop putting shit on our PCs that we didn't explicitly ask for. Thank you.

Microsoft drags Windows Subsystem for Android into the trash

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Mushroom

Re: Next they will deprecate Windows

They're welcome to deprecate Windows 11. Right now. Please! Pretty please? With a cherry on top?

[Take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.]

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Re: Microsoft wasn't really committed

We should be so lucky.

Chinese 'connected' cars are a national security threat, says Biden

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Re: Targeting data

Pretty sure these days you can just look at Google maps to figure that out. Look for a prevalence of large houses with swimming pools, for instance. No hacked (or freely given) telemetry needed.

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Western manufacturers simply can't compete with the cheap labour, lax environmental regs, subsidised resources and cheap coal-based power available to Chinese factories.

The CCP really is the ultimate loss-leader, subsidising it's own industries to drive the rest of the world out of business until everything is made in China and only in China. No need for wars or invasions. They'll already control everything.

And we're actively ceding more and more of that control to them every day by continuing to outsource more and more production, while tying our domestic manufacturing in ever-tightening environmental knots.

Not saying there shouldn't be environmental protections. Just saying we might be going too far, and playing into the hands of the CCP who really don't give two shits about environmental damage. They say they do. Their actions say otherwise.

Cops visit school of 'wrong person's child,' mix up victims and suspects in epic data fail

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Devil

Ah good. It's not just me enjoying the irony of so many mistakes, in an article about cops making many mistakes.

Hands up if you want to volunteer for layoffs, IBM tells staff

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HR were in the list mentioned in TFA. Which surprised me, since usually finance and HR mysteriously seem to exclude themselves from such cuts.

Meta's pay-or-consent model hides 'massive illegal data processing ops': lawsuit

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Re: Re:numerous websites in France that follow this model

I think that's heyrick's point; the French sites are also acting illegally At least that's how I read it.

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Re: basically proposing you pay it in order to enjoy your fundamental rights under EU law

UK too. Or have to toggle off a thousand individual "legitimate interest" options, which are presented in a separate tab to the main cookies options.

Some sites are getting better though, with "Reject All" for cookes and "Object All" for legitimate interset. But the default state is usally everything on, and you have to opt out, which is contrary to the rules.

They need to start enforcing some of this and making a strong example of some offenders.

Microsoft trying to stop Copilot generating fake Putin comments on Navalny's death

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Re: leaders queued up to declare it a murder and blame Putin

Given his history of bumping off the inconvenient and troublesome, are you actually surprised at these declarations?

And please don't tell us you actually believe the "approval ratings" coming out of any dictatorship-in-all-but-name. They're about as reliable as Trump saying he didn't have any official US gov documents stashed all over Mar a Largo.

Rivian decimates staff to put a brake on spending

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Thumb Up

Re: The end of electric vehicles

Nice to see a rational discussion of the downsides of the headlong rush to EV-only, without it being immediately downvoted to hell.

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Re: When somebody runs a red light and hits your car,

What? Struggling to see even a vague, tangential reference to the OP's comment.

The ICE can still be fixed, even it if means stripping one or more donnor cars to do so. Whether it's economic to do so is a different matter. But if the car requires a connection to the mothership to function, when that mothership crashes ithe car is immediately a massive paperweight.

No idea if this is actually something Rivian's need in order to function, however.

Japan launches satellite to eyeball derelict rocket stage

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Re: Is it just me...

Maybe not quite hitting the cadence, but here goes...

Under-LEO, over-LEO, Wombling free.

Space-Wombles of Earth-orbiting machines are we.

Making good use of the things that we find.

Things the US and Ruskies leave behind.

Two days into the Digital Services Act, EU wields it to deepen TikTok probe

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Black Helicopters

There's a budget for black holes? Was CERN lying when they said none were formed by the LHC?

Staff say Dell's return to office mandate is a stealth layoff, especially for women

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Re: This is why we can't have nice things

Your authorisation is not required for someone to move house.

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Re: Sueball Time

Ah, whataboutism at its finest. A couple of oh-so-subtle differences, however:

The "dementia patient" didn't deny he had them, and quickly returned them when requested.

The "orange stain" persistently denied he had them until the feds metaphorically kicked his doors in, persistently denied there were any more each time more were found, then switched to saying he was entitled to keep them because he used to be el Presidenté.

See the differences? Too subtle for you?

NASA solar sail tech is ready – now who's up to use it in a mission?

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Re: 17780 square feet?

Public (mis)perception. 17780 sounds really big to most people, because they can't conceptualise that. 40% of footy pitch doesn't. Won't even get you out of your own half.

'Scandal-plagued' data broker tracked visits to '600 Planned Parenthood locations'

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Re: Planned Parenthood not-so secret Agenda

Funny how the people who post this kind of crap are usually ACs.

Several things on that list are perfectly reasonable to any person who doesn't want to force their world view on everyone else. The others just make you sound like an absolute nutjob.

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Re: worshipping upon the altars of greed and pridefulness has been at best, unseemly.

Many people manage to worship neither a God nor greed, nor pridefulness. They just get on with life by not telling everyone else what to do, and generally not being a twat to anyone.

Weekly prostration is not a requirement to have a decent moral compass. An upbringing where one is taught right from wrong and not force your views onto everyone else, is.

It's the upbringing part that is lacking these days, not the lack of religous worship.

Ford pulls the plug on EV strategy as losses pile up

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The refueling speed of an EV plugged in at one's home is nearly instantaneous.

Not sure where your definition of instantaneous is coming from.

While you're asleep for several hours is not instantaneous. The act of plugging in / unplugging it may only be a couple of minutes (including retrieving / stowing the cables), but that's a tiny fraction of the overall "refueling" time. You still can't use the car to go anywhere while it's plugged in. Therefore not at all instantaneous to fill it up.

Almost feels like you're deliberately trolling.

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Res: You see that the details will vary from person to person.

Which is exactly why forcing BEV as the only long term choice is an inherently terrible idea.

Solutions exist to make ICE fuels carbon-neutral and dramatically lower all manner of emissions, but no, that's not good enough. Come 2035 if you want a new car it's BEV or nothing.

It's not like EVs don't produce emissions. They just don't come out the end of a tailpipe. There's a load of particulates from brakes and tyres, moreso than ICE cars because of the extra weight. And never mind the increased road damage from that extra weight. Most roads just weren't built to take that much load. Decades of poor maintenance has many roads crumbling already. Making cars dramatically heavier will only accelerate that.

It's not that BEV as an individual choice is a bad idea. But the realities make them a bad choice for the mass market, and the worst possible only choice. It only makes sense if the endgame is to force most people into public transport.

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Re: choice of fast/ultrafast charging rates depending on your model choice

If you can afford them. The really high charge rates tend to be on the more expensive marques.

And if there's a suitable charger available where you need to stop for a charge. How many motorway services have more than a handful? And how many of those can you be sure are working and not occupied when you need them?

Microsoft seeks patent for tech to put words into your mouth

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Boffin

Microsoft’s filing doesn’t state the intended purpose of its invention

Purpose is twofold:

1) Continuing to flood the patent office with an overwhelming number of applications. The main aim being to get some flakey stuff approved by underpaid, overworked patent clerks who don't have the time to do proper dilligence and prior-art checks.

2) Prevent anyone else from doing what this claims to do, or at least be able to sue them for licensing fees and damages if they manage to get it working. Stifle the market. MS wants to be the only AI game in town.

You're not imagining things – USB memory sticks are getting worse

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Re: Amazon is not a party to this contract nor assumes any responsibility arising

Maybe not, but they should be. There's a clear loophole here where low-quality sellers can set up shop, hide behind Amazon's contract terms, scam a load of unwary buyers with shoddy crap, then shut down and disappear when the complaints start coming in.

Amazon as the facilitator must bear some responsibility, they are the enabler. They are using their presence to put otherwise unknown sellers in front of millions of eyeballs, sellers who otherwise wouldn't get a second glance. Amazon should be obliged to ensure goods sold in their name, which is essentially how this is seen, are of adequate quality and aren't cheap knock-offs or dangerous crap.

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Re: Simple solution?

Terms and conditions be damned. This might be a contract clause, but if it it trying to override local law it will not be valid.

Amazon may say they are simply the facilitator of the transaction, but if Amazon is taking your money and delivering the goods, how is that any different from say Currys PC World? If Amazon is taking their cut, that seems to make them the retailer, and therefore liable under consumer protection laws. Even if they don't want to be.

If they are just putting the buyer in contact with the seller, that is slightly different. But then Amazon should not be processing the transaction, and should not be storing the seller's wares. They should be passing the transaction through to the seller in full, and taking their facilitation fee at some later time. If the transaction goes through Amazon, if they are storing the seller's goods in their warehouses, they are the reseller. Whether they like it or not.

OpenAI's GPT-4 finally meets its match: Scots Gaelic smashes safety guardrails

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Coat

Re: there be GBIrish too

Would that be prounced GB Irish, or gibberish...?

Hmm... is there any discernible difference in their content...

Elon Musk's brain-computer interface outfit Neuralink tests its tech on a human

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PRIME

Tortured acronym. Almost as tortured as the monkeys.

I mean, I see the need for non-human testing; simulations can only go so far. But they got through a lot of monkeys. From the outside this seems quite callous.

'Exemplar' digital hospitals trust hit by multiple tech-related traumas

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Re: A lot of moving parts

Interop between medical systems should be a legal mandate. Don't want to open up? Piss off somewhere else.

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IF NOT, WHY NOT?

Cheaper, init. This is what happens you you outsource everything to the lowests of low bidders.

Actually the high bidders wouldn't be any better. They'd just hide their actual cheapness behind a bigger bill.

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Re: Typo or misunderstanding?

Hopefully most of the staff aren't pen pushers and are actually looking after the patients,

Leaked email: Unit4 ERP system leaves some school staff with 'nil pay'

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Re: Picking numbers out of the air here but...

Sounds easy, right? Seems like a lot of money for something so apparently simple.

But unless this team of developers has an intimate understanding of the entire business, all its operations, its supplier interactions, its obligations to its clients downstream, all its staff, all its needs, how/where/when everything will be stored and accessed, then it's likely to be a very rude awakening for them.

And that's usually where these things go wrong. The contractor sends in their best hotshot consultants who know how to make it sound easy, they understand enough of how these things generally work. The client usually lacks sufficient competency to see they're being bamboozled. Once the contract is signed, the expensive consultants disappear onto the next bid, and the project is passed off to the cheapest code monkeys they can find. These guys often have little to no understanding of the business they're building this stuff for, and can only work from inadequate specs.

The specs are inadequate because of the aforementioned incompentency of the client, who also doesn't really understand exactly what they need or how they want it delivered.

And so it all, inevitably, goes to shit. Again and again.

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WTF?

You have to have a legitimate reason for not choosing a vendor

Say what!?!

The client can choose whoever the fuck they like. For public bodies, the tender and acceptance process is supposed to be transparent, documented, and provide value for money. That's it. If they don't feel the encumbent is value for money, or will do they job well enough, they're under no obligation to use them again.

Sure, the encumbent might sue. Seems to be standard toys-out-the-pram practice these days, and the supplied often has more money and lawyers than the client. But if the reasons for non-selection are genuine, it'll get thrown out.

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IT service providers need to start carrying financial penalties

Agreed, but it is up to the contracting body to put those into the contract. Usually that body is too incompetent to do that. Often they can't even spec the project properly.

And contracting bodies who include such penalty clauses might find no one bids for their work.

Sure, you might say "legislate that every software project must be delivered error free, and the suppliers are liable for any defects". That could either kill all external development entirely, or the courts would be even more clogged than they are now. It's a complete fallacy to suggest that anything but the simplest hello world software can be guaranteed to be bug free. Even with extensive testing.

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Facepalm

Re: You seemingly work in IT and live hand to mouth?

Hard to believe anyone could miss the point quite this badly. But here it is.

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Re: Compensation?

And the damage to their credit rating that goes with it? Thought not.

It took Taylor Swift deepfake nudes to focus Uncle Sam, Microsoft on AI safety

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Criminalize the creation and sharing

I get criminalising sharing these fakes. The distress and damage potentially caused by such sharing is abhorent.

But criminalising just the creation of them? Privately, where no one else can see? Apart from being completely ineffective, how's it any different to sticking a photo of her head on a pronstar's body while she's going at it? As mentioned above ("Frankensteins"). Been going on for decades. Not a new thing. Just easier with AI.

How people get their kicks behind closed doors is no one's business but their own, if it's not actually harming anyone. All this puritanical hysteria around the existence of these images, and generally others like, needs to stop.

FBI recruits Amazon Rekognition AI to hunt down 'nudity, weapons, explosives'

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Childcatcher

Re: Nudity is banned in the US, at least in the media.

Imagine! The horror of seeing another human as $DEITY intended.

Fucking ridiculous. Not to be confused with ridiculous fucking.

UK biometrics boss bows out, bemoaning bureaucratic blunders

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Not a bug

Sampson said if he challenged a chief police officer's retention decision, asking them to drop it by a few years, there is no way to make that change in the system, leading to biometrics being held for disproportionate periods.

That's a deliberate feature. Reduce the retention period? On purpose? Are you nuts? Cops never want to lose their juicy data.

Fairberry project brings a hardware keyboard to the Fairphone

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Re: someone makes a new chat app because they want to offer some feature that's not supported

Interop doesn't mean everything has to support everything else. Just there's a minimum subset everything must support in a clearly defined way. Your new killer app could still add features beyond this.

If they're really so good they become a universal demand, you'd probably be required to include the details in the interop standards. But that's just describing the data, not how your product uses it. Your product still has first-mover advantage.

On the other hand, if the feature is more than niche, but less than universal, it'll still get good traction without needing to open up.

UK lawmakers say live facial recognition lacks a legal basis

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Stop

Ban it 'til it works

LFR use anywhere should be banned until it is 6-sigma accurate, doesn't have any baises (racial, women etc,), and is not affected by variations in lighting and weather. Can't do that? Get lost.

Cops and spooks don't care about any of this, however. They'll happily ignore any such mandates and carry on as usual.

Missed expectations, zero guidance: Tesla's 'great year' was anything but

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Re: Sunak will be looking for a job over there soon

Fortunately for the left-pondians, he's as inelligible to stand as Musk is.

Amazon Ring sounds death knell for surveillance as a service

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Re: disprove

"Later texting that the child had done this before."

That's damning enough by itself. Put a snapshot of this on the Facebook post, and show it to the police. Oh, and make a counter allegation of attempted fraud.

Psst … wanna jailbreak ChatGPT? Thousands of malicious prompts for sale

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Re: "Guardrails" ... they can be typically climbed over by those who wish to deliberately do so

Or, it's industry knowing that it means exactly that, and also knowing that politicians, regulators, and the majority of the great unwashed won't have a clue it means exactly that.

Look at it as pre-emptive arse-covering, for when those same politicos and regulators try to complain AI is jumping the guard rails. Industry can say they used entirely the correct terminology and it's not their fault they were misunderstood.

Forget guard rails. Put the damn thing in a box - a very small, strong, box - and be really careful when you open the lid.

UK Civil Aviation Authority ponders vertiports for flying taxis

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Re: They're not taxis

I just don't see the point in flying taxis that mean you need to take another 2 taxis to get to and from the flying taxi. Which makes it more like a private plane or chopper, and about as accessible to the general population.

40 years since Elite became the most fun you could have with 22 kilobytes

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Re: 40 years ago

As a Reg reader and former rave-goer, I respectfully dispute your set theory hence a DV from me. Doubt I'm alone.

FDA approves AI-powered skin cancer-screening device that's just a teensy bit tricorder-ish

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Re: Ongoing costs

So build it into the initial cost, rather that trying to bleed everyone month after month. No, this is pure greed, coupled with the fact that subscription models tend to improve your business' cashflow. I can imagine the reasoning (beyond because we can) was something like:

Doctors get paid a lot, and they'll just pass the cost on as a diagnosis fee anyway. Victims patients will pay because it's cancer and this could save their life.

Can solar power be beamed down from space? Yes. Is it commercially viable? Not yet

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Re: Ok, Dyson Swarm?

Dyson swarms are typically around a star, not a planet. They aim to maximise capture of the star's entire energy output. They're a step along the Kardashev scale to a Type 2 civilisation.

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Re: Archimedes Would Approve

True, if SBSP concepts were based on giant mirrors floating in space. But they're not. Not even close.

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Re: 13sq km of mirrors to heat 3 boilers to 560C

This really isn't the same thing at all. This is simply reflecting and focussing sunlight onto a salt tank, which heats up and uses that heat to drive a working fluid through turbines, generating electricity. Totally different principle.

Space solar uses photovoltaics panels to generate electricity from sunlight, converts that electiricy to microwaves of very specific frequency that is not absorbed by water molecules, and transmits that microwave energy to receiving rectennas spread across the ground. Those the microwave energy induces electrical current in those rectennas. Direct electrical conversion. No heating involved.

Same way that radio waves induces a tiny current in an antenna. Just on a much larger scale, and a very specific frequency.

Focal spot of the transmitter is deliberately spread out to avoid concentrating a large amount of energy in a small area. The frequency is chosen to not be absorbed by stuff. There's no way anything in the beam will catch fire. This won't kill any birds, down any planes, or anything else.

Oh, and people keep saying "what if this is hacked and used as a weapon?" It can't be used as a weapon because the beam cannot be focussed tightly enough. That's an aspect of how it is constructed. Not something you can hack in and tamper with. Worst thing hacking could do is move the transmitter (slowly, it's a satellite - it'll have reaction wheels and station keeping thrusters, but that its) or turn it off. It might use a phased array to keep the beam tracked to the receiver, so you could maybe redirect the bam that way, but the beam still can't do any damage.