* Posts by EvilGardenGnome

97 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Feb 2015

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Exposed Hugging Face API tokens offered full access to Meta's Llama 2

EvilGardenGnome
Flame

W. T. Absolute. F.

Who in their bloody right, left, middle - I don't care what - mind honestly names their service after a sci-fi creature that infects you with a parasite that will explode from your chest and kill everyone around you?!?!? Seriously, are we just that rampant for allusion, reference, and one-upping on the zeitgeist train that we can't even come up with a minimally obscure, yet apt reference? Maybe the Alexandrian (since something will burn eventually), or Pandora (maybe, just maybe, something good will come of this nonsense).

Are we all just racing for the Torment Nexus? Seriously? Don't even bother stopping the ride, I'm just getting off now.

Epic Games, Google head to court over epic Play Store cut

EvilGardenGnome

What is unsaid matters

"Google VP for government affairs and public policy"

The fact a corp has a dedicated VP and department for gov affairs and policy speaks so many volumes.

On a semi-related note, what is the reg standards soviet for amount of text? I'd imagine the "art gallery". The National Gallery in London has about 2300 paintings; at 1000 words per painting, an art gallery would be, in this case, 2.3 million words.

Meatbag mishaps more menacing than malware? CISOs think so

EvilGardenGnome
Unhappy

Re: Good

Make executives personally criminally, civilly, fiscally, and professionally liable for company decisions and abuses/failures in their area of responsibility. Additionally, make CEOs, Presidents, and other over-arching powers responsible for the company in general along with the execs in specific areas. Throw board members in there for good measure.

I'm pretty sure you'll see a very quick shift on many fronts as companies suddenly get very serious about their legal and regulatory requirements.

Oh, who am I kidding. They'll just hire more lawyers and lobbyists.

OpenAI pauses Bing search feature over paywall bypass abilities

EvilGardenGnome
Pirate

Because someone in the pipeline paid for the access to increase the available content. Now that world and dog is using this subscription, someone has realized that EULAs can really, really bite you in the ass.

California man jailed after manure-to-methane scheme revealed as bull

EvilGardenGnome

I don't know about that, but the author reused puns. An outrage! They'd better hoof it before we band together and herd'em out the door.

Time running out for crew of missing Titanic tourist submarine

EvilGardenGnome

Re: Where’s Dirk Pitt when you need him?

Frankly, I'd rather implosion and nigh instant death. If they can't open the hatch, suffocation is the end point. Add to this they likely have no or little food and water, so those could come first.

Anything that extends the time you live makes you ask an obvious question: Do we kill people to extend the time for the others? I hope to never go through that, and hope they didn't have to either.

My condolences to their families.

More ads in Windows 11 Start Menu could be last straw for some

EvilGardenGnome

Absolutely agree MS doesn't care about anyone's Mum outside her wallet. They care about the bottom line, and the fact is Windows is in the loss lead category, and not directly a revenue generator. Some of the bean counters (and sadly more than a few engineers I've talked to) lament this on the regular.

To your point about corps, the sad fact is they already effectively pay a subscription and so won't see these adverts. They'll be turned off in Intune or what have you. The sad fact, and damn MS for this, is that this targets consumers and is a blatant money grab.

EvilGardenGnome

I don't know their reasons for using Windows, but I'm gonna assume they have a reason of some sort (and not knowing about Linux, as unlikely as that is, is a reason for people). And I agree with them; in a dichotomy between Ads and Subscription, I'll take the ads.

That said, it isn't a dichotomy, and if you have the option (that is, no specific reason to stick with Windows as opposed to a reason to change), then change. Heck, there's a ton of drop in Linux options, or even try a Mac (has it's own semi-subscription issues, but at least the "subscription" lasts a good long time with their current support windows). With any luck saner heads at MS will prevail since I don't want to have to teach my parents about the new ads and that they haven't been hacked.

When Google cost cutting goes molecular: Staples, sticky tape, and PC sweating

EvilGardenGnome

Re: "Google will no longer provide staples and sticky tape at print stations in offices"

I'mma just gonna leave this here...

Milton's stapler

System76 teases features coming in homegrown Rust-based desktop COSMIC

EvilGardenGnome
Megaphone

Re: One Window to rule them all

Warning. Lots of anecdotal/personal reasoning here. Your mileage WILL vary.

Having multiple overlapping windows is useful sometimes, and one big window is useful sometimes. However, I tend towards one big window for my main task.

I'm lucky enough to be on a three monitor setup, and routinely have 7 or 8 windows open. However, I usually see 4 or 5, since I have my main task on one monitor, another monitor is split between two windows for quick check stuff (like checking the side mirror of the car), and the other monitor is either a secondary task (one window) or helper windows (usually two, splitting the monitor). Having a splash of many windows is a focus killer for me, and I avoid it.

This works for me, and so tiling doesn't come up much unless I'm away from my monitors. However, screens on laptops are small/distant enough that age has taken it's toll. Tiling simply isn't as ergonomic for me when compared with full screen and switching between windows.

Maybe this is a holdover for me from DOS; maybe I'm just a crotchety, old, grey hair; maybe y'all better get off my lawn and take that cloud with you. Whatever the cause, to each their own - and leave me alone. ;]

Microsoft to offer unlimited time off for US staff

EvilGardenGnome
Meh

Mandatory minimums or bugger off

My company has "unlimited" PTO, and they regularly talk to employees about their time off needs. Ignore they only do that for people with high rates of time off, ignore that they pass them over for advancement, ignore that they still have blackout days. Unlimited is great. /s

Also, if a company is bringing in unlimited PTO without adding a mandatory minimum time off (ie. all you need, but you have to take at least 15 working days per annum), they are not doing it for the employees. If they actually cared about your stress and well being, they'd make sure you took enough time off to be healthy.

C++ zooms past Java in programming popularity contest

EvilGardenGnome

Re: Damn Statistics

It screams survivor bias, like armouring the parts of planes that returned home in WW2. They had to armour the parts without the holes.

Without context, we can't tell if the queries are positive (learning, best use cases), or negative (why doesn't this work?).

San Francisco investigates Hotel Twitter, Musk might pack up and leave

EvilGardenGnome

Work from office

By moving the HQ after closing local offices, he'll be telling his SF staff they have to move to Texas or quit. The sum of his proclamations seem to be funnelling towards further reducing the work force.

I'm thinking Musk has trouble tracking multiple variables, or at least keeping them all in mind as far as consequences are concerned.

Musk: Twitter will have 1 billion monthly users inside 18 months

EvilGardenGnome

Re: The problem with bad journalism

Musk is purposefully couching his language to avoid being called out for failure while still being able to claim glory if it works. It's a classic BS move and is sophistry (or at least related to it).

Musk has a habit of doing this sort of thing. There's always a "reason", handy excuse, or party to blame; it's out of his control. Then, when something great happens, he's front and centre to tout his divine vision and ability. Why is this ability so fickle? Why can't he bring it to bear on command? Before he'll answer, he'll bring out a "flamethrower" or claims of vox populi and the cycle moves on.

He's a rich hokum vendor, and money loves money; that's his power. He's not made anything, only bought in. It could be that this time he's done so at the worst time in very public fashion.

University orders investigation into Oracle finance disaster

EvilGardenGnome
Headmaster

Re: Software 101

Peter Principle would hold that this cock up is the result of a promotion. If it's proper Peter Principle, once you hit your level of incompetence you stop getting promoted; any further movement is based on an external factor - nepotism, cash, blackmail... You know, the classics.

Cloudflare tries to explain why it protects far-right forums that stalk and harass victims

EvilGardenGnome
Headmaster

Correction

Sorrenti was SWATted at her home in London, Ontario, Canada. Not in Blighty.

Please carry on.

Keeping your head as an entire database goes pear-shaped

EvilGardenGnome
Devil

Top manager: "Who was that?"

Mid manager: "Don't know, but they're our best Sys Admin."

TM: "How do you know that?"

MM: "Because I haven't the foggiest who they are."

Elon Musk needs more cash for Twitter buy after Tesla margin loan lapses

EvilGardenGnome

Re: Genuine question

Well, just off the top of my head is to prevent covert purchasing. The price goes up more due to the consolidation into a single entity. If I have the means, I can set up a series of shells that each buy, say, 5% of the shares slowly over time. This appears like normal trading, preventing a large movement in the price. Once my shells have done that, I then purchase my own shells from myself and collect their stakes, centralizing power without a major price shift.

By making a major takeover public you ensure the current holders of the shares get a proper value based on your desire rather than using clandestine means to keep the price low.

Repairability champ Framework's modular laptop gets a speed boost

EvilGardenGnome
Happy

Framework owner

I am an owner of a Framework, and have been very, very happy with it.

First, a story: I had a battery drain issue where the main and coin batteries ended up fully drained due to leaving it in sleep for too long without plugging it in (this represents a negative, in and of itself). However, the fix was fully documented on the site and - aside from charging time - was fixed with 10 minutes of effort after 5 minutes of reading the forums. For many modern laptops, a battery issue means a service visit. To me, that you-can-do-it mentality is a big part of the appeal.

Now, a bit of tea leaf reading. I don't think Framework really intends these devices for tinkerers and developers. I know there's a lot of uptake in that community, but they're not the target. I truly think Framework sees these as "technology worker" or office PCs. They aren't specced very high, but more than capable of office work, are easy to maintain, and can fill many niches due to the swappable ports. That swapping also means less dongles, so it's more portable. Also, let's face it, the general office PC represents a bigger market than enthusiasts.

These feel like very accessible PoC devices to give to the managers, support staff, and even your parents. They're easy to fix, eminently configurable, and have just enough power to service most users. Depending on their success, I think you'll see new SKUs come out with GPUs, different keyboards, and narrower niches. These two generations represent the base, and they'll release mods that build off that for people like devs and designers and such.

Atlassian comes clean on what data-deleting script behind outage actually did

EvilGardenGnome
Pint

Oof

This sounds like a series of horrible, dumb, but honest mistakes. Also, I have to commend them on their honesty and directness; most would obfuscate, but this seems like a clear request for forgiveness.

Icon for all involved, but the victims and people currently fixing the problem get first dibs.

Ukraine's IT sector looks to business continuity plans as Russia invades

EvilGardenGnome

Re: keeping it to the tech

I like this plan. It's a good plan. Let's do it.

EvilGardenGnome

Re: keeping it to the tech

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

It's in moments like these that we must be loud, vocal, and clear.

I stand with a free, independent Ukraine.

EvilGardenGnome

Re: Don't just criticize.

IIRC, Ukranians have access to a four-week, no visa period in Europe. After that, though, all bets are off.

RIP Ninjacat: No longer fits in Windows 11 world

EvilGardenGnome

Re: "the general concept of holding the Microsoft flag and being proud of what we're doing"

Every company makes you test their code. Microsoft just forces you to live with the consequences for years on end while doubling down on the borkage.

The inevitability of the Windows 11 UI: New Notepad enters the beta channel

EvilGardenGnome
Devil

c:\something\Desktop> notepad new.txt

;]

Developer creates ‘Quite OK Image Format’ – but it performs better than just OK

EvilGardenGnome
Pint

Re: Pronouncing...

It's absolutely "koi", and the logo is a carp. See the the project page from the article: https://qoiformat.org/

Seeing as Mr Szablewski appreciates a good pun, indicating a refined sense of self-deprecating humour, I have to give this a 10 on the typical decimal scale. We all know a lot of the existing formats are all wet, so a new, sensible, addition will go down just fin.

For Mr Szablewski ->

Linux PC shop System76 is building a new desktop environment in Rust

EvilGardenGnome

Re: No causation

That's a novel way of looking at where competition and piracy intersect. I'd argue at that point, however, that the piracy wasn't what drove the budget priced company out of business. If people really liked their product, they'd have pirated it rather than the other. At that point, you may be facing a cost of entry problem, or even (chills from the thought) a marketing problem.

All that said, it's a neat perspective. I'll have to talk to some business researcher friends if this is something that's been studied.

EvilGardenGnome

No causation

The argument that starting up a new DE project will dilute existing efforts is pearl clutching, bollocks. It's the same thing as saying downloading copyrighted media reduces sales, and thereby is theft. For the vast majority of pirates, they wouldn't have bought it in the first place, so there's no reduced sales. Similarly, if someone decides to help build this new DE, they likely wouldn't have contributed to existing efforts. For those who jump ship, they likely weren't happy and may have just stopped completely.

That said, it would be nice if the various DE projects had a common extension model or API. That way, if someone extends GNOME, they're also extending KDE et al. That would really make for a vibrant community. I do, however, acknowledge the monumental (and likely illusionary) task such would be.

Microsoft's problem child, Windows 11, is here. Will you run it? Can you run it? Do you even WANT to run it?

EvilGardenGnome

Re: Want to run it?

Yeah, I wish. All glue, welds, and not a screw in sight. I've been crucified on my own need for easy portability.

The approximately 15 years old desktop, on the other hand, is loving it's fresh Linux install.

EvilGardenGnome

Re: Want to run it?

My lappie is about 10 years old, and it starting to show the age. I'm in the boat of actually needing to update. So... resisitance is futile.

8 years ago another billionaire ploughed millions into space to harvest solar power and beam it back down to Earth

EvilGardenGnome
Boffin

Quick maths

Based on the linked article, some maths:

* 220 billion kilowatts (global energy need by 2030) = 220000 gigawatts

* 1 satellite yields 1 gigawatt

* assume 1 satellite : 1 receiver therefore 220000 receivers

* transmission beam is 60 feet wide, so we'll assume that's a diameter on a cylindrical beam

Based on this, we can assume that meeting the 220000 gigawatt power needs will require 220000 receivers, each covering 2827.4 sq ft (262.68 sq m). That's a combined area of about 14279.8 arces (57789.6 sq km). That's ever so slightly more than the area of Croatia.

That's a lot of government expropriation and materials investment.

UK artists seek 'luvvie levy' on new gadgets to make up for all the media that consumers access online

EvilGardenGnome

That's how you end up with only Marvel movies and TV reboot series. Also, the spin-off money from the arts has the highest ROI for any government investment.

Google pushes bug databases to get on the same page for open-source security

EvilGardenGnome

Can't really disagree with logic.

EvilGardenGnome

Yes, because a Date in json _is_ a string, as this proposal is the json format for transfer and not the db schema itself. What's more concerning is whether it complies with ISO 8601.

Mandatory XKCD.

Google Play to require privacy labels on apps in 2022, almost two years after Apple

EvilGardenGnome

KISS, make it easy

"The app’s safety section is verified by an independent third-party [...] Developers will be responsible for writing their own disclosures."

Is this included in the free developer account? Do we have to find a service? Is there one, or many? Is there a list of allowed third-parties?

Without those answers, this actually reduces my feeling of security using the play store. It makes it feel like theatre, which makes me wonder what I'm being distracted from.

Also, it's just more noise to parse when making a decision. I'd rather an authoritative review outlining, simply, what is going on. Google can afford to do that, and should.

Flatcar Linux takes the 520, drives up to Redmond: Microsoft acquires Kinvolk

EvilGardenGnome
Windows

I kind of think we need to shift this meme a little. Doesn't seem to work quite this way with the Beast of Redmond anymore.

Maybe: Acquire, Acclimate, Audacity!

The last one since they either screw it up horribly, turn it into something it was never meant to be, or leave it alone enough to let it grow (then fsck it up).

You only need pen and paper to fool this OpenAI computer vision code. Just write down what you want it to see

EvilGardenGnome

still deciding on whether to release the code

How about, "No."

Please?

Apple, forced to rate product repair potential in France, gives itself modest marks

EvilGardenGnome

Re: 3rd Party Verification should be law.

Add in forcing the company to pay all disposal costs for their product would see suddenly increased repairability and longevity. Just a thought.

Attack of the cryptidiots: One wants Bitcoin-flush hard drive he threw out in 2013 back, the other lost USB stick password

EvilGardenGnome
Trollface

Re: Don't ever write down your password on a piece of paper

No, risk of misplacing one or the other is still too high. Write the password on the USB drive with indelible ink. Just like on my bank card.

COVID-struck holiday rentals firm Airbnb shacks up with ex Apple design honcho Jony Ive in multi-year deal

EvilGardenGnome

Re: Covid down the chimney

Only problem is he's from Canada, eh. His workshop has a dedicated postal code (H0H 0H0). Since Europe just blocked us from traveling there, parents have a new excuse!

The Surface Duo isn't such an outlandish idea, but Microsoft has to convince punters the form factor is worth having

EvilGardenGnome

Early edition

This feels like an early release to test the technology and evolve the platform in the wild. MS did similar things with Kinect and MS Band. Kinect eventually yielded HoloLens, while the Band died.

For the Duo, I'm having a bit of trouble seeing the progression, however. I really like the concept, but outside of further miniaturizing computers, what's the endgame?

Have I Been Pwned to go open source – 10bn credentials, not so much, says creator Hunt

EvilGardenGnome

At the core, sure, but he has other systems tied into it (password checker and API, for instance). I imagine it's not too complex, but the dust that collects on a personal project is high, as is the anxiety/embarrassment of showing off your dirty underwear. I personally understand wanting to have trusted people look first.

* cautiously eyes own private repos *

The W3C steers the way the World Wide Web works. Yet it is reluctant to record crucial meetings – and its minutes are incomplete

EvilGardenGnome

Or have an anonymous submission system. Record the content, not the speaker. If you want to lend the weight of your organization to your voice, damn well do it publicly.

EvilGardenGnome

Re: They need a secretariat

For a professional, organized group with the power they wield, it is very strange they don't have such a group in place. If they're worried about recordings, then hire a few stenographers while they're at it. Record everything by default, redact if there's sensitive information, and make use of in camera sessions.

You know, like every other responsible body that doesn't want to rule by fiat.

Modular edutech PC crew opens fresh Kano beans with expanded kit and accessories

EvilGardenGnome

Looking at their site, the webcam is actually the more interesting option, I think. Flexible arm, built-in light, and a privacy cover? And cheaper than most externals? For simple use-cases, that's not bad at all.

Bye, Russia: NASA wheels out astronauts, describes plan for first all-American manned launch into orbit since 2011

EvilGardenGnome

Iran military manages to keep a straight face while waggling miracle widget that 'can detect coronavirus from 100m away'

EvilGardenGnome
Unhappy

Re: Fools

And one kills thousands in the same period.

NASA's classic worm logo returns for first all-American trip to ISS in years: Are you a meatball or a squiggly fan?

EvilGardenGnome
Devil

Sperm or worm?

Team worm.

OPPO's Reno 2, aka 'Baby Shark', joins the deepening pool of high-spec midranger mobes

EvilGardenGnome
Headmaster

Lexicon options

I humbly offer the following options to name the camera mechanism:

* Peek-a-boo

* Whack-a-mole

* Pop-up

* Periscope

Further, obviously lesser ;] , suggestions welcome.

An Army Watchkeeper drone tried to land. Then meatbags took over from the computers

EvilGardenGnome
Trollface

Re: More Training

No need. Simply swap the manual override's endpoints to the test server. Problem solved.

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