Posts by Grunchy

Four reasons Pixel turns flagship Android mobe makers into roadkill

I AM STILL RUNNING MAEMO OMG.

'My REPLACEMENT Samsung Galaxy Note 7 blew up on plane'

Re: has there been any news on WHY they catch fire?

That power & ground short may be through a badly managed diodeless buck convertor using synchronously switched MOSFETs instead...

Yeah, good old "break-before-make". I made a sumo robot once for competition with a motorcycle lead acid battery (now illegal) & Atari 2600 controller for input (now disparaged), running high-current relays to supply big bully motors. Forward direction supplied the motors +/- and reverse direction supplied them -/+ (opposite). It tested fine, things were looking good. But during competition, when action became heated, I performed a quick reversal and actuated the reverse relays -- before the forward relays had a chance to break their connection! A momentary short & spectacular shower of sparks as the 50A fuses exploded in full glory, I mean it was a mighty big snap & arc that was thrown. Action was stunned for a full second before everybody cheered & my little mighty-bot got shoved out of the ring, dead as doornail.

The solution was simple relay logic: "break" the first connection before allowing the second connection to "make". Duh. Yeah, mighty-bot won the next round...

Seemed non-idiotic? He's flying on an airplane and his telephone shoots sparks out the side-hole. In what way is he not a blathering, gasping moron?

I mean that's proof-positive, if you ask me.

All lithium-ion powered devices need to be banned from flights.

Not just from the passenger area, but the cargo area too.

Time to develop some better battery technology... in the meantime - yeah I don't feel like suffering smoke inhalation because of your iTunes. Sorry about that.

Re: Replacement batteries

Let's say my iphone dies and the battery is shot, so I have it dismantled and the battery replaced. And this is possible to do! So what battery goes in there, one from Apple? or one from some other guy? I'm going for the cheaper one. But what consumer protection do I have now?

So in conclusion, companies that make unsafe batteries need to be sued out of existence, and the faster the better.

Good God, we've found a Google thing we like – the Pixel iPhone killer

It's a got a headphone jack!

Microsoft sues Wisconsin man (again) for copyright infringement (again)

Re: Security?

Volands right hand:

I bought Windows 7 pro licenses from a guy on Reddit for - real cheap. I don't know who, there seem to be many doing the same thing.

I always wondered where those had come from. Thanks for letting me know! I feel much better about my purchase now.

FCC death vote looms for the Golden Age of American TV

Ugh breaking bad, sopranos, the wire? I've never watched any of these shows. I literally do not know what they are about.

Neither game of thrones and all these other contemporary shows - they are too violent, too full of politically correct themes that I find distasteful both for the message & overtures of 'normalizing' their creepy behavior. Homosexuality is just an open door to perversion, sorry if that offends you, but that's exactly how I see perverted gay pride parades. I boycott everything I dislike, which is becoming everything that is broadcast.

I like Smithsonian channel, Nova, Nature, and such. News & weather. I get an enormous kick out of Adventure Time, which seems to me to be the best show on the air, even if it is geared towards 8+ audience. Other than that - broadcast TV is dead. My other favorite show is Roadkill which produces about 1 show per month, and only on Youtube.

Oh Well There's Always Books To Read - problem solved.

Did last night's US presidential debate Wi-Fi rip-off break the law?

Re: Mr

"intentionally block or disrupt personal Wi-Fi hot spots"

What means "block or disrupt": does that mean electronic jamming, or could that also include a promise to throw you out for daring to try it.

To me this is (another) argument over nothing but semantics. One group wants to control your ability to communicate on their property, and if they are prohibited from electronically jamming you, they will certainly get some goons to figure out whether you're communicating or not, and if you are communicating, well then they punish you somehow.

FCC stands for "Federal Communications Commission". Should a University have the power to monitor people communicating on campus and shut them down for not paying for the privilege? Anybody arguing "yes this is valid and noble" is an ASSHOLE.

High rear end winds cause F-35A ground engine fire

If you checked wreckedexotics.com you'll see plenty of high-performance craft are felled by powertrain fires. On a weekly basis!

It seems high performance equates to heightened fire risk. Though why that would necessarily be seems odd.

Anyway: F35 joins the high-flying ranks of Ferrari, Lamborghini, and even Jaguar!

Microsoft paid me $650 to scrub Windows 10 from my grandpa's PC, says man

I dunno, Windows 10 works ok for me. They've improved Minesweeper and Solitaire, but now they demand $5 per month or else you have to sit through their insipid commercials (about other Microsoft games, or even the very game you are playing). It's like, hey I like to play Solitaire and crack today's daily puzzle, except I have to sit through a Microsoft Solitaire commercial before I can do that.

In what Universe does it make sense to interrupt somebody using a product in order to force them to watch a commercial about other people using that very same product?

Microsoft seems to be more stupid lately than they ever were before.

Google rushes in where Akamai fears to tread, shields Krebs after world's-worst DDoS

Big Deal

I don't care about DDOS, what do they overwhelm, the FBI web site? Department of Justice?

Like, I never surf to those sites. I just have no reason to!

Krebs internet security website gets shut down, well big whoop. It's nothing I read anyway.

The mechanism of this DDOS seems straightforward, some URL becomes targeted for some form of traffic overload. The structure of the internet should be able to identify this situation & resolve it. I'm positive a very straightforward algorithm could be invented to detect the overload & shut it off, automatically.

I don't see what the problem is here.

UK copyright troll weeps, starts 20-week stretch in the cooler for beating up Uber driver

What does this have to do with my internet business? I earn 7,500 per week at home eating cheezies and completing surveys. Contact me for details and I will tell you how you can do it, too!

Virgin Media costs balloon by MEEELLIONS in wake of Brexit

I am growing my mullet. Thanks to you Sir Branson for your teechings!

2 in 3 Millennials block ads

Only 2 out of 3?

It should be 3 out of 3, and all age groups to boot. I also boycott any website that blocks me from viewing because of my ad blocker.

(Well my boycott is moot, technically they blocked me first. I guess all I'm doing is not giving up the ad blocker).

Daddy, what's 'P2P file sharing'?

Re: I'm surprised...

Lack of morals, ha ha ha you should see what goes on in the music world.

"Morals" in no way describes the music industry.

I think the entire sector is defined by drugs & debauchery. I have no moral dilemma "stealing" their product. I do have a big problem consuming it though: as Mojo Nixon famously stated, you pretty much have to be on drugs to listen to that crap.

(I am, of course, referring not-so-indirectly to the London Symphony Orchestra + their ilk).

I have no sympathy for the music industry, I think I despise all musicians. They're pretty much all drug addicted, depraved, and full of hatred, and routinely in and out of jail. Of course I'm speaking of the London Symphony Orchestra, but in general this applies quite well to many in the industry. Everything they produce is overcharged and most of it, to my taste, is substandard and un-entertaining. It also has no protection, not even moral protection.

Of Course I'm gonna steal it!

I just go down to the library and borrow all the CDs I want and rip it onto my Walkman, no penalty, no worthwhile humans harmed (in my estimation).

Here's the thing: I boycott something like 99%+ of all musicians, world wide. Why would I pay anything to the remaining ~1% of this gang of scumwads?

If the Biebs starves I'm not crying.

Is Tesla telling us the truth over autopilot spat?

Re: Autonomous Cars

I think Tesla is embracing self-driving tech because focusing solely on an all-electric powertrain is not all that remarkable, and very easy to replicate by competitors. I'd buy a Leaf or a Volt or any other thing (hybrid) over any Tesla, if that was all they had going for them.

Tesla cannot afford to not have a working self-driving technology to differentiate them from other car companies. They have never turned a profit, and they may never, now (and especially with so many other companies now focusing on creating their own flavor of that technology). The actual car companies are going to run Tesla out of business if they don't bring in new deliverables such as a whole-home battery and a home-generating solution.

I won't miss Tesla when they're gone. I do miss Aptera though, that was a sweet looking machine...

Asian hornets are HERE... those honey bee murdering BASTARDS

Oh tosh, I can fix those nests.

Here's my secret: I take my motorcycle helmet and close up the vents and make sure the chin guard is in place and tuck my pants into my boots (and tape 'em) and make sure my leather gloves are tucked into my leather jacket. Big wooly scarf to close up any remaining holes.

Once I'm secure, I go out there with the spade and churn 'em up until the queen is dispatched. You'll know when the fighters start acting dazed. Then I crush em, up to 40 per minute.

Make sure you've got a helper to check out your costume beforehand...

Tesla to stop killing drivers: Software update beamed to leccy cars

Re: Never mind the Mansfield bars...

Latest Tesla death (wrecked exotics dot com): Tesla driver going 96 mph on a 50 mph road, explodes into smithereens, burns down to a crisp.

Tesla company confirms the most crucially important fact: the autopilot system had been disengaged. No fault to the company.

Cheers!

The road sign after a road dip are just one of probably dozens & dozens of odd situations that would all have to be reckoned.

If the car can't see an 18 wheeler lumbering across the road, on occasion, then there's no way I'd let it drive me. Just because Tesla says this is remarkably rare situation is fallacious, because I see dozens of such trucks on my way to & from work each and every day. Tesla & Musk: pants on fire.

The man had his head chopped off because his stupid self-driving car couldn't see a 40' pup trailer in its way. Have you ever heard of hubris?

If one of these Tesla cars drives into me, I'm getting some lawyers and I'm going for the jugular. If I survive!

IBM lifts lid, unleashes Linux-based x86 killer on unsuspecting world

Isn't Intel just gonna put out some new iteration of itanium then?

Intel tit for IBM tat.

Something like that.

Inside our three-month effort to attend Apple's iPhone 7 launch party

Yes, I've been boycotting Apple for years.

I do have an iPhone though! It was turned into tech recycling at the local Staples & I liberated it from being crunched in their machine.

I never used it though. So, so much for that.

Sony levels up PlayStation 4

How about Sony VR?

That's what I'm looking for.

I also want first-person RC aircraft control functionality. I want Sony VR to communicate with a wireless camera of my choosing!

Sigh, I want, I want.

Behold our SPINNING DATA GRAVE: WD carts out 6.3TB cold storage drive

Re: WD reliability?

Back it up onto CDs!

Oh - right.

Having offended everyone else in the world, Linus Torvalds calls own lawyers a 'nasty festering disease'

I never ever swear, but I have my own reasons.

The thing about sweeping generalizations is that they're practically always wrong, because there are always exceptions. Not always, always: you & I would probably agree that all fish are slimey. I mean, they just soak all day in that ocean water! Fish are always all wet :)

Re: So?

Good counterpoint - except Linux is much more successful than Unix.

I too don't like lawyers - on principle!

Robert J. Ringer, in numerous of his books, even calls them "LegalMan!" as they swoop in to kill deals and claim hefty fees.

If you really need a lawyer, it's great that they are around - but they are relevant much less often than you'd think.

'Neural network' spotted deep inside Samsung's Galaxy S7 silicon brain

What if you had 3 versions of each branch instruction:

Branch back most of the time;

Branch back 50/50;

Branch back almost never.

Depending on the software loop you're writing you'll know which kind of branch instruction to write, they really are all the same logic. It's just that if you write the first one "branch back most of the time', then the predictor already knows the prediction: branch back. Same with the third one, branch back almost never (it would predict not to branch back then). The only time active prediction is needed is with the middle, 50/50 instruction.

My headset is reading my mind and talking behind my back

They demonstrated the power of mind-reading wearable hat in Firefox c.1982, in which Clint Eastwood stole a Russian Mig but was supposed to think in Russian (!) in order to fire the dang missiles.

Spoiler: after concentrating hard enough, he was able to think in Russian.

Queensland creep cops charged with snooping through police records

Can you pay a police officer to obtain private information about somebody you're interested in?

They should set up a service desk, I hope they make the fee reasonable...

The curious case of a wearables cynic and his enduring fat bastardry

I may be the only one to give a Hearty "Well Done!" to Dabbsy for dropping 10 WHOLE KG, that's a big blop of blub to get rid of, bub.

The extraordinarily sad fact is you have 95% chance of gaining it back, and dying with it.

What works well is to jump on the scale each and every morning for a look at the news, and take every bit of gain deadly serious and fight it and never ever stop fighting. Sadly, yeah that's the fact of life for the (formerly) rotund, so long as we succeed to not give up the fight.

In my own personal anecdote I had run 5km "fun run" Mon/Wed/Fri and 1 hr spirited kickboxing at the activity centre Tue/Thurs and dropped not AN OUNCE for 12 months solid.

Yes - it was dietary intake was what made the difference. Fit bit is interesting for general fitness & muscle tone and that sort of stuff. Losing blubber, in my personal experience, is a not-overeating diet-related thingy.

Re: Fat chance / not a coat

Skirts for men!

Hey have I got a fashion choice for you: it's called Kendura.

(basically an Arab version of MuMu for the portly - except in UAE, it is de rigueur).

Adblock Plus blocks Facebook's ad-blocker buster: It's a block party!

Be cautious fighting a gigantic monolith like Facebook in the courts - they can crush your entire life flat.

Scientology has this attitude and Facebook is perhaps only a little less evil...

Re: upvote

Banks are the original "big data" mining outfits.

They know exactly what people buy all of the time. I mean, 24/7. That's one reason why debit is usually "free" - they are interested in your precise purchase habits.

Same thing with box stores (Walmart, Home Depot, etc). They are super interested to know what you, and people somewhat like you, are buying.

You know where the "demographic" myth comes from btw? It comes from the horoscope superstition.

According to horoscopes, every single person born on Aug 11 is a Leo and is therefore the same.

Even though practically everybody knows it's fake & knows how it's fake, yet still marketing pursues demographic info.

In a way it could be self-fulfilling prophecy: if I'm born on Aug 11 that means I'm a Leo and today's horoscope must therefore apply to me, therefore this is how I will choose to behave. I would guess similar to demographic programming.

The insidious nature of advertising is a lot more subliminal / psychological than people realize.

You don't even need to 'look' at advertising for it to work on you. It can be on the side where you only see it peripherally, and you're being manipulated. In fact it even works better that way.

Even better, the most susceptible people are the people who feel they are Least susceptible!

So the more confident you are of your immunity - the more easily manipulated you are.

So, in conclusion, that's how come I love Ad Block Plus.

Julian Assange^TM to meet investigators in London

Re: He jumped bail

I betcha Assange has a whole list of other folks to blame for his woes.

Sure he only has himself to blame - unless he gets creative!

Crocodile well-done-dee: Downed Down Under chap roasted by exploding iPhone

I'm waiting for a Tesla (or other Li-ion powered car) to burn itself down.

I've heard it cannot happen, but if so I wonder why that tech cannot be implemented into a phone/tablet device to make it a little safer?

Star Trek Beyond: An unwatchable steaming pile of tribble dung

Regretfully I did not follow that wisdom when Will Smith was cast as the lead of I Robot.

I sat through it, and wept.

Here's how police arrested Lauri Love – and what happened next

I think this story is crafted to misinform without actually telling a lie.

For example, the parents claim they were told they would get their computer equipment (presumably necessary for their work as prison guards) back within 21 days - 3 weeks - but did not get it back for 96 days - 3 months. And the officers said they would not have made such a promise. Ok but who made the promise, and most importantly was it done on paper & therefore provable?

Another one is they sought to prohibit him from using the internet, but this was rejected because he had no prior history of criminality. Meaning that he was under no prohibition? So if he was released without such prohibition then what's the problem, why even mention it? It's suggesting that the cops are being excessive, yet if no such prohibition is imposed - then what's the problem! Sounds like complaining for the sake of being butt-hurt, or something.

Next was the news that a Vicar's son in Suffolk was charged with computer offences. But if that's what was broadcast - was he named, was his address provided? I mean obviously a lad in Suffolk involved in computer crime could only possibly mean one individual, and everybody knows it - but was he explicitly named & shamed? I'm wondering if it is at all possible that there was another person, who actually was a Vicar's son, who coincidentally was charged on that day as well. The article doesn't dwell on such possibilities, nor does it get around to explaining how journalists had put 2+2 together and identified "Lauri" as the Vicar's son. Is he actually a Vicar's son? Or is he a prison guard's son. I'm confused.

Empty your free 30GB OneDrive space today – before Microsoft deletes your files for you

Omg just delete these services from your life. These cloud services are just smoke, they are all liable to evaporate at a moment's notice.

I got a NAS and a hard drive and the Western Digital app and I have 10 TB of storage, and it costs me $0 per month. Microsoft and Google can both go suck it.

BOFH: Follow the paper trail

That reminds me of the G2 / Mont Blanc hack...

http://www.instructables.com/id/Save-$200-in-2-minutes-and-have-the-worlds-best-wr/

Re: Oh training budgets....

I used that old Wordperfect software for DOS, it still runs perfectly today.

Why upgrade when the old stuff still runs? It does still run.

Apple to kill off Mac OS X?

Re: Apple have a mountain to climb

You're absolutely right - I had Win7 on the desktop and Win8.1 on the tablet, and they both worked great! Why did I let Microsoft force me to update to Win10 on both???

It was better before!

Well, whatever.

Ad-blocking super-weapon axed by maker for being TOO effective

Re: He's not making any sense

Be that as it may, it's also up to him whether or not to publish. And a guy can choose not to publish for any and all kooky and zany reasons, and nobody can argue against that person.

For instance, my reason for not publishing is that I'm too lazy about it. Sorry..

Verizon! to! bid! $3bn! for! Yahoo!'s assets!

I remember they had a big billboard and it flattened Ferris Bueller and he came back as Inspector Gadget.

Those were the days!

Bloke flogs $40 B&W printer on Craigslist, gets $12,000 legal bill

Holy Cow!

This guy needs to set up a legal defense fund, I'd donate to it.

And for the record, I'll donate to anybody who challenges Scientology too. I'll stump up $100.

The legal defense fund has to be "anonymous" because I want to make sure they don't start chasing me also.

Get it? Anonymous.

Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter and Pinterest password was 'dadada'

Twitter and pinterest and facebook? People still use those?

Huh.

Electronic Superhighway 2016-1966 – a retro: Texts, ar*se and ASCII rolls

Re: Smell of flowers

I think everyone has forgotten the AA BBS by now???

One's sense of "crap" trumps your entire ontological thesis.

I can easily walk past the Louvre and hand-wavingly dismiss everything as I stroll by, and there's nothing you or your type can do about it!

Well, you could titter away I suppose. Ohmigosh.