Posts by JohnFen

Windows 10 April 2018 Update lands today... ish

I loathe update days

They almost always end up costing me hours of my workday, and I still can't effectively postpone them to a time that isn't disruptive.

I hate Windows updates so very much.

Shocker: Cambridge Analytica scandal touch-paper Aleksandr Kogan tapped Twitter data too

This. There's no point in avoiding affinity cards if you pay with a credit or debit card. Indeed, the entire point of affinity cards is to allow stores to expand the customer surveillance they were already doing with people who pay by card to customers who pay with cash.

Re: And they STILL wave their Clubcards at tills

"even if they have some idea of the problems around data collection, they have no real option"

This may differ in other parts of the US and in other countries, but where I live, there are plenty of stores that don't use affinity cards. I shop at those stores because I want to reward them for respecting their customers. The prices at those stores are similar to the prices you get when using affinity cards at other stores.

So, at least in my area, there really are options.

Penguins in a sandbox: Google nudges Linux apps toward Chrome OS

"Linux based distribution slows down over time"

I've been running various flavors of Linux since the very beginning, and haven't noticed this yet.

Re: Secure ≠ Privacy

"but you can, as in the case of most current OS's, have security without privacy."

I disagree entirely with this. The very best you could possibly do (in an ideal world) is reduce the number of attackers to 1 -- the entity that you're sharing data with.

"You are confusing security and privacy."

I'm not, really. Privacy is a subset of security. Once my data has been transmitted to another entity, that's a security issue. Whether or not you consider it an unacceptable security risk depends on (in this case) how much you trust Google. I do not trust Google.

"And with regards to privacy, it depends on the type of account you are signed into"

Really? So there's a way to use Chrome OS that does not involve sending data to Google at all?

"There is no way anything can slip between those cracks"

Be careful with those sorts of sweeping statements. There is always a way, no matter what. The only question is how much effort is required.

As secure as it gets? So ChromeOS doesn't send any data back to Google?

Google founder Sergey Brin promises to protect humanity from AI

If we need Google to protect us...

If we need Google to protect us, then we're already doomed.

Leave it to Beaver: Unity is long gone and you're on your GNOME

Re: More evidence that the Gnome crowd have the Win10 problem:

Well, I'll be honest here, I haven't seriously tried Gnome after 2. Gnome 2 wasn't my speed, but perhaps I failed to understand it sufficiently. I could never get it to behave in a way that made me happy.

Re: More evidence that the Gnome crowd have the Win10 problem:

I've honestly never really understood the appeal of Gnome (or Unity) at all. But, (Ubuntu aside, as they sortof break this), that's the beauty of having the DE being distinct from the OS -- you have a choice of desktop environments.

Amazon: For every dollar of op. profit going into Bezos' pockets, 73 cents came from AWS

Re: "a cloud provider with a gift shop on the side"

I hope so. At least that way, I'll be getting some kind of benefit from this cloud stuff.

Re: Azure vs AWS

"Two horse race, and personally I think it shows the true value of healthy competition."

Having only two serious competitors does not constitute "healthy competition".

Europe fires back at ICANN's delusional plan to overhaul Whois for GDPR by next, er, year

Re: Contact email

It should be, but a large percentage of domains don't implement those email addresses.

Re: The World is still bigger than EU

"keep your regulation for yourself (EU) and do not disturb other people who are OK with the current system."

Just because someone isn't in the EU doesn't mean they're OK with the current system.

Re: EU-only root servers

".eu would cease to exist for the rest of the world."

Only until the rest of the world updated their systems to query the .eu servers.

Re: I don,t get it.

"Why is domain name registration any different?"

Because domain name registration is a different thing than starting a corporation. A corporation is a grant of special governmental privileges. Registering a domain name is linking a human-readable name to an IP address.

And what about domain names that aren't for commercial purposes? I have a number of domain names myself -- none of them for commercial purposes -- and if my real name and address were publicly available, then I can be put in real danger by putting something up on my web site that angers a psychopath.

Re: It's always fun when organizations pretend that the law doesn't apply to them

"Normally I believe organisations should be given time to comply"

Me too. And ICANN had plenty of time to comply. They just decided waste the majority of that time doing nothing, and so they shouldn't be given any special consideration.

If they had begun the effort in good faith and ran into some sort of implementation difficulties that delayed compliance, that would be a different matter, but this is just them getting tripped up on their own arrogance.

You actually trust the accuracy of the Whois database?

"Sit back and wait for the explosions"

What you'd hear wouldn't be the sound of explosions. It would be the sound of ICANN imploding.

Facebook: Crisis? What crisis? Look at our revenue, it's fantastic

Re: "you should sell Facebook stock"

"You cannot complain about the level of unemployement and lack of jobs and simultaneously call for selling stock of US companies that create jobs."

Why not?

Are you really saying that job creation is such a high ideal that we should tolerate any level of abuse for it? I think that we should demand more from companies than that.

Also, relying on large corporations as the primary source of jobs is a recipe for disaster. Most jobs in the US don't come from such companies, and the US is the better for it.

Re: horrible companies

I actually know of, and do business with, a lot of profitable companies that not only avoid being horrible, are actually good for themselves, their customers, and society.

They are all small companies, though. I do think that a certain amount of evil is required to become a very successful large corporation or an extremely wealthy individual. It's pretty much built into how business is funded in the US.

Just goes to show

Just goes to show that horrible companies can be very profitable. But we already knew that.

Google Pixel 2 XL: Like paying Apple-tier prices then saying, hey, please help yourself to my data

"It's a bit tinfoil hat though, isn't it?"

"Tinfoil hat" is used as a synonym for "paranoia". Paranoia is an unjustified fear of something. Pervasive data collection is a fact, not a paranoid delusion.

But, really, it doesn't matter -- the point is that if I don't want my data collected, no matter how innocuous the purposes it's put to, then I should be able to prevent the collection.

Also, once collected and combined with other data, it's not going away. It could be the more altruistic thing in the world today, but a change in management or business direction tomorrow could instantly transform it into the exact opposite.

"I get things out of them in return."

Fair enough. I don't. Or at least, what I get 'in return" is nowhere near worth what I'm giving up.

Re: Apple?

"Google doesn't sell your data, per se, they "sell" you as an advertising target but the companies that advertise with them don't literally get a list of names with a complete list of what each person searched for, locations they've been, etc"

True, but that's a distinction without much of a difference. Although it is better than if they did sell the raw data, it's not that much better. The data collection, storage, and mining is still unacceptable. Particularly given that these companies combine their own data collection with offline data collection so they can track you both online and off.

Re: It's not for me then...

Calm down, there. We're talking about bluetooth earphones replacing wired earphones. With the Pixel 2, the DAC must be in the bluetooth earphones. I was in no way saying that the DAC was part of the bluetooth communications protocol itself.

"It's obvious you weren't comparing onboard DAC to inline DAC, as you thought it was something to with Bluetooth."

No, it has something to do with the bluetooth earphones that devices such as the Pixel 2 require -- they require an inline DAC. You're right, that concept is distinct from Bluetooth itself, but they both exist in the same piece of equipment in this case. I was talking about the equipment overall.

Re: 'If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever'

"Its pretty clear we are in a 2 horse race now."

Yes, and both horses suck. This is why I'm getting out of the race entirely and won't be purchasing any smartphones in the future. At least not until/unless a reasonable one actually manages to make it to market.

Re: It's not for me then...

"Listen to a pixel2 with the bundled inline DAC and compare it to literally anything with an integrated DAC and it's not only significantly better"

I have, it's not. But even if is was, it still has all of the other annoying issues that come along with Bluetooth.

"Do you know how dumb that is?"

No, and you haven't explained. Why is it dumb?

"Enjoy your chunky turd. As long as it's cheap enough to replace, who cares if you got to take it into toen for 10 minutes in 3 years time..."

My current Galaxy has a replaceable and is no thicker than other high-end smartphones on the market. And, you're ignoring use cases where carrying a spare battery for extended runtime away from a place you can charge is useful. (Battery banks can do this, but come with the downsides of being bulky and having to wait for the phone to charge.)

I get the these features aren't useful to you, but to claim that they aren't useful to lots of other people is just incorrect.

Me too. I heartily second your recommendation.

X marks the Notch, where smartmobe supercycles go to die

Re: My problem with the latest top-end phones

Again, I never said it did -- that's just the topic of this discussion.

That said, I'd love to have a high-performance phone, and am dismayed that I can't find any that are adequate.

Re: My problem with the latest top-end phones

"So nobody makes phones with SD slots, headphone jacks and replaceable batteries?"

Can you find a top end phone that has these?

"I struggle to see why SD/battery are ironclad must-haves though, what use case makes them mandatory rather than convenient?"

Why are you so dismissive of convenience? If I'm paying top dollar for something, convenience becomes much more important.

Then they aren't must-haves for you. I was only saying that they are for me, not that they should be for everybody. But since you're interested, here's why I consider them must-haves: I use my phone to store a lot of data (music, documents, etc.). Most phones don't come with enough storage for me, so I need to expand it. Also, it's important to me to be able to be able to transfer that data to and from the phone quickly, and nothing beats being able to remove the SD card and insert it into my desktop machine to do this.

As to battery, there are two reasons this is important to me. First, it means that I can easily replace the battery when it gets worn out. Second, it means that I can use the phone for a longer time between charges (important when I'm away for a few days) without having to lug around a battery bank. Also, it's a lot better to swap a depleted battery for a fresh one than to have to keep the phone attached to a charger for hours at a time.

Re: My problem with the latest top-end phones

"my current phone, which is a 6 year old flagship"

I did the math wrong -- my phone is 5 years old, not 6.

Re: History repeating itself

I think he was referring to the time (1997) when Apple was in danger of going under, and Microsoft bailed them out by buying a bunch of stock in exchange for Apple promising to support MS Office for five years. https://www.wired.com/2009/08/dayintech_0806/

Re: Feature trickle down

"I just haven't read anyone make the case for the downsides of a notch other than aesthetics"

Yes, because that's the objection -- aesthetics. That's not a small thing. The notch is horrible.

In my use case anyway, it probably wouldn't matter much, assuming that I'd have some way to move the status bar down below the notch where it can take up the full width of the screen, so the "ears" would always be black. If I couldn't do that, then the notch is not just an aesthetic problem, but a functional one.

Re: In defence ..

"suspended apps can do nothing without you knowing about it."

If they are actually suspended, then they can't do anything, period, I would hope. But how do I know if they're really suspended or not? You even mention one case where they're not (VoIP apps listening for connections).

The bottom line is that you can't trust apps. Even if it's just a feel-good measure and has no actual effect, I feel much more comforted being sure that they're actually shut down.

Re: In defence ..

"I can't see the downside."

Well, there's a few downsides, including that damned notch. But how does putting the phone in a case resolve the problem with the lack of bezels? In order to resolve that problem, the case is going to make the phone physically larger, cover up some of the screen, or wrap the phone in such a way as to not change the bezel situation. None of those are good solutions.

Also, and this is just a minor point, I really hate phone cases. If I need to put a case on a phone to make it functional, that's me making a sacrifice in order to fix a design flaw. If I'm paying top dollar for a phone, why should I have to make a sacrifice?

Re: My problem with the latest top-end phones

Headphone jack, sd card slot, and replaceable battery are must-haves for me in a high-end phone. If I'm paying top dollar, I am not willing to sacrifice functionality. I'd also really like to have a bezel, but that's not a showstopper.

"But why would you restrict yourself to flagships?"

Who said I do? I was just responding to the topic, which is high-end phones. There aren't any that I've found that meet my needs. Unless someone puts one on the market, when it comes time to replace my current phone, I'm going with the lowest-end phone that can run a WiFi hotspot, and carry a pocket computer to do the stuff that I currently use my phone for. It sucks that I'll have to carry two devices, but such is the state of the market.

"since today's $100 Android phone has performance that matches if not exceeds a 5 year old flagship."

I am unaware of a $100 phone that comes close to my current phone, which is a 6 year old flagship. But even if there was, a $100 phone is also missing important functionality -- just different functionality (such as a large, attractive screen, etc.)

Re: In defence ..

"Closing apps need only be done if you have something that's wedged, or needs terminating with extreme prejudice like the Facebook app."

Or if you want to be absolutely sure that it won't start operating without your knowledge.

Re: In defence ..

Indeed. This push for "no bezels" is not desirable. It's the exact opposite of desirable.

Re: In defence ..

The notch is a problem in search of a solution. A big problem.

"Because there are things on the top of every phone that take some space, but not the whole width of the phone"

Except, on my phone, those things absolutely take up the whole width, and I want every one of them there. So the "notch" solves nothing. It could even make things worse, if I'm forced to cram everything into those ears.

"Person B has money and wants all the blls and whistles, theres a phone for them as well."

I must be person C: I can afford a high-end phone, and want high-end features, but there are no phones on the market for me. The high-end phones that I see are missing one or more critically important features.

"Apple has finally found the high end (and beyond) of what the market will bear."

This isn't clear at all. It might not signify that people aren't willing to pay that much, it might instead signify that the X doesn't deliver enough value to be worth that price tag.

Facebook can't admit the truth, says data-slurp boffin Kogan

Let's not forget that Trump lost the popular vote. Not by enough to matter, but the American people as a whole did not elect him.

Danish submariner sent down for life for murder of journalist Kim Wall

In comparison to the US, where a "life sentence" is often just as brief, it sounds like the Danes are just more honest about it.

Oh dear... Netizens think 'private' browsing really means totally private

Re: Forensic Analysis

"Wouldnt disabling cookies do it?"

No. There are numerous methods of tracking that don't require cookies. In fact, internet ad companies are relying less on cookies every year, because so many people block them anyway.

Eclipse Foundation pushes faster, cloudier Jakarta EE

Re: Lennart Poettering

Wait, you have the power to stop him?

Happy having Amazon tiptoe into your house? Why not the car, then? In-trunk delivery – what could go wrong?

Re: Would love to see the look...

Don't worry, they won't do it with your car. You have to have a 2015 or newer Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, or Volvo and an OnStar or On Call account (that's how they locate your car and open your trunk). Oh, and you also have to ask them to.

IETF: GDPR compliance means caring about what's in your logfiles

Re: Difficult

"Redacting might also be classified as destroying evidence."

How so?

As I understand it, it's only "destroying evidence" in a legally prosecutable sense if you know, or should know, that the data you're destroying is relevant or likely to be relevant to an active criminal investigation. Routine redactions for privacy purposes wouldn't qualify.

But I'm no lawyer, so I may very well be wrong.

"What if my local shop website is using Fasthosts, or even a US-based hosting company, and is sharing Apache2 server logs with US-based sites."

If your host is combining your server logs with those of other clients, you really need to find a new host.

"I am bound to provide suitable protection against any intrusion"

Intrusion is only one part of the issue. The other part is the abuse of that data by the service provider itself. What protection do you provide against you?

State spy agencies 'outsource surveillance' to foreign partners – campaign group

That's the entire point

The entire point of intelligence-sharing arrangements such as Five Eyes is to bypass restrictions on domestic surveillance.