Posts by bombastic bob

Trump’s immigration policies costing US tech jobs says LogMeIn CEO

"Please bear with us while we make it great again."

Beer, sir!

Re: That's certainly my experience

"We regularly get in my European office people who couldn't yet get a visa for the US."

I have a strong suspicion that the immigration reforms that Trump wants (i.e. end "the lottery" aka 'random pick' system and use a 'merit-based' system, along with ending 'chain migration' and of course building 'the wall') might actually make it EASIER for technologically savvy people to obtain visas and immigrate.

But that viewpoint isn't very popular. It doesn't have 'Trump hate' in it.

Once more qualified people CAN come into the USA more easily [instead of being randomly selected at the same rate as "unskilled" people and their 12th cousins] we'll see a LOT less of the *kinds* of complaints that are associated with H1-B visas, etc..

Stephen Hawking dies, aged 76

Re: That's a bummer of a way to start a Wednesday

well, if you consider that it's also "Pi Day" i.e. 3/14

Seems appropriate, though.

OK, deep breath, relax... Let's have a sober look at these 'ere annoying AMD chip security flaws

Re: Martin Shkreli or Paul Singer?

"And as usual, Linus Torvalds has a great quote."

Yep

Ex-staffers slam Microsoft's 'lackluster' response to stacks of internal complaints

Re: Always the same

"Slowly the wisdom of the profet Mohamed is like the light of the rising Sun in early morning, since his teachings prevent these issues."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisha

that's the first thing I thought of. Implications obvious.

Re: Service Normal then?

"the God Complex and 'I am the center of $projectFoo, I am Super Cool™' is rampant"

This became apparent OUTSIDE of Redmond with the release of Win-10-nic, following "Ape". I mean, what ELSE could possibly explain it?

Consider the engineer responsible for 'The Metro' and 'The Ribbon' and all *KINDS* of horrible ideas, who happens to be a woman. They kept her employed there until late last year, even promoted her, but fired Sinofsky over "Ape" (i.e. the tiles in Windows 8). Go fig.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larson-Green

If there was TRULY equal treatment, she should've been canned along with Sinofsky. Hell, fire the entire management team for coming up with Win-10-nic in the FIRST place. "In their own bubble-world", as I expected. NO clue as to what the customers want (that would be a Windows 7.1 that has minor improvements and solid design with no security problems or massive UI re-invention).

Re: Ooh, who do you hate more?

not contempt for women. Just contempt for gold-digger feminazi types, that claim discrimination and harassment where none exists.

When saying "you look nice today" becomes sexual harassment, it's time to stop it with the bullcrap.

Re: Ooh, who do you hate more?

"This behavior is commonplace today in tech companies worldwide."

Actual discrimination based on sex: I have my doubts (consider the 'Google memo' from a while back - if there is ANY discrimination it is REVERSE discrimination against white heterosexual christian men, who typically don't whine because it's not "manly" to do so)

Being sued by women who should NOT be promoted or given raises, because they were NOT promoted nor given raises: I suspect that THIS may be more common than not.

The problem is that the court system and the legislation *ENABLES* "gold digger" types to FRIVOLOUSLY sue their employers.

That doesn't mean I wouldn't want to see ACTUAL CASES of discrimination punished as hard as possible. It's just that I doubt it's REALLY happening to THAT extent.

I call B.S. on their lawsuit.

NASA on SpaceX's 2015 big boom: Bargain bin steel liberated your pressure vessel

the $5 part that blew up the rocket

OK maybe not $5 but still...

critical parts need a spec/paper trail. The U.S. Navy has a program called 'SUBSAFE' that deals with a couple of nuke boats that were lost in the 60's. In short, anything that is related to a safety system or the hull goes through a paper trail and inspection gauntlet. So the $5 bolt becomes a $500 bolt. It also doesn't sink the ship due to failure.

Similar program for rockets, I'd think.

What would Jesus sue? The FCC, it seems

Re: Chairman Pai's regulatory philosophy

"Check out the unexpurgated words of wisdom here"

It sounds REALLY GOOD to me, actually. Now we, as citizens, must hold him accountable to those words, and make sure he does what he says he'll do. If he does, I'll be VERY happy! But criticizing him for doing what he said he'll do? I don't think that's deserved.

Re: Well ...

the problem here is whether or not the FCC should be regulating CONTENT. I say they should NOT be.

When (back in the 60's, as mentioned by the article) there aren't any real competing TV news outlets available, the FCC might have a reason to regulate SOME content; that is, if there's deliberate bias in the TV station's news reporting (such as racism and "not reporting" things), a case COULD be made [and apparently WAS] that they're not "serving the public interest".

Nowadays most TV in the USA is available via cable and satellite, and the cable has a sort of "monopoly" in a given area FOR CABLE. Satellite and local channels are available WITHOUT the cable.

Now, if 72% of media coverage is a single cable company, AND they're able to provide content that people want at prices that compete with the satellites, I see no problem with that.

But, if 72% of media coverage is a single cable company, AND they're only letting people see what THEY want seen [let's say, dropping Fox News channels but keeping PMSNBC, FNN, and CNBC, NOT airing religious broadcasting, yotta yotta], AND there's NO alternative, then the FCC would have a case to REGULATE them "in the public interest".

I think the latter case is not relevant in the 21st century. Keep in mind that the "public utilities commission" of various states could ALSO regulate the cable industry to make sure this doesn't happen, since they have "monopolies" over geographical areas.

And because of THAT, you have to wonder whether or not the FCC really needs to regulate anything in this case. And I believe DE-regulation is a GOOD thing whenever it's done. So until there are ACTUAL ABUSES, let's not get our panties in a wad (or nickers in a knot) over something that has NOT happened.

If/when it does, let the lawsuits fly, and the regulations will follow. I doubt that Sinclair would want that. Instead, they'll probably "carry everything" to avoid that problem and keep customers happy. It's what Spectrum and Time Warner Cable have done. I've got 2 Fox News channels, and I _KNOW_ those guys are lefties. But they're not censoring the content I want. Because they want MY business. [I just wish it wasn't $92/month].

Yahoo! Can't! Toss! Hacking! Lawsuit!

Re: I do hope this will go through

Does Yahoo! own any intellectual property?

/me imagines Yahoo! becoming a patent/lawsuit trollhouse like SCO...

*shudder*

Tutanota blames Comcast block for March 1 outage

Re: Crisis?

"While it was probably just your standard routing issue"

ack. I think so to. Comcast looks bad because it took them WAY too long to fix it. So, rather than a sinister "we will, we will, BLOCK YOU" motive, it's just bureaucracy and poor performance on their part.

but it's hard to take THAT explanation into the realms of black helicopters and evil corporations...

London Mayor calls for social networks and sharing economy to stop harming society

Re: Delusional

"do things for the greater good rather than cold, hard cash?"

who says they have to be different goals? I say that the GREATEST GOOD is FREE SPEECH! _ANY_ form of censorship, which is what is being asked for here [do NOT doubt me], is NOT "the greatest good".

And when those who define "the greater good" as "being in LOCK STEP with THEM" _ENFORCE_ that "greater good" upon the free speech of OTHERS, you get the OPPOSITE of "the greater good", regardless of "feelings" or intent.

Re: Leader of the free world

"No I don't think Trump is much of a leader, people compare him with Hitler, I've no idea why, Trump can hardly read, and definitely can't write a book (on his own), he's hardly popular at home, about as presidential as a brick"

You're echoing the same unsubstantiated rumors as so many others, I see. Try watching Fox News (instead of PMSNBC or FNN or ABS or NBS or CBS or NPR or Comedy Central) and get the REAL story about how successful Donald Trump has been with only a little more than a year in office. Our "turned around" economy is #1 on that list. (hopefully BBC is better than the 3 letter networks over on THIS side of the pond when it comes to accurate news reporting).

Perhaps the REAL problem is brainless people echoing the same lies and rumors as if they are truth, and trying to sound 'authoritative' in the process.

Re: The problem it's personal, take people off Twitter and Facebook

from article: "Social networks, he said, have empowered and amplified those who spread divisive ideas by turning a blind eye to their own influence and being slow to develop rapid takedown technologies."

politicians on Twitter - would that be like Donald Trump?

OK here's a thought: what are "they" really after here? Let's read between the lines.

"those who spread divisive ideas" - read: Those who say things I don't like when others agree with them.

"turning a blind eye to their own influence" - read: How DARE they convince people I'm wrong!

"being slow to develop radpid takedown technologies" - read: They should be SILENCED before ANYBODY can read what they said, because others MIGHT actually BELIEVE it!

So, to me, the politicians here don't LIKE public discourse on matters THEY do not want discussed... and the LAST thing THEY want to see, is the equivalent of Donald Trump over in the UK!

meanwhile, I think 'The Donald' is doing QUITE well over here on the other side of the pond. G'head, howler monkeys, downvote me. yeah it's "divisive" to NOT fall in LOCK STEP [think Nazi Germany] with YOU people. So, you throw poo and downvote and think it affects people like me. But the truth is, we all knew this stuff before, and were simply VERY HAPPY to know that there are OTHERS out there who are like US, and not YOU.

Windows Mixed Reality: Windows Mobile deja vu?

Re: Things are different under SadNads

"And developers stayed away in droves." (from article)

Seems it was better under Ballmer (at least for a while) when they were MORE about "Developers, developers, devellopers, developers" except when it became ".Not" "C-pound" and then "The metro" and UWP and now we get "YET ANOTHER FAIL" Hololens.

Thanks, Microshaft, for the moving target confusion. When developers see Windows "APE", Win-10-nic, and UWP, we say "Why the FORNICATE would we want 'yet another Micro-shaft developer platform' to develop for, when we all KNOW it will _REQUIRE_ Win-10-nic and all of our customers use 7!!!"

And THAT is why it failed.

/me points out if Win-10-nic had been made to be like 7, without the "cram it up your ass" adware/spyware/updates/2DFlugly, this would not have happened, or happened so quickly.

In other words, Micro-shaft, you _DROVE_ _THE_ _DEVELOPERS_ _AWAY_!!!

Millionaire-backed science fiction church to launch Scientology TV network

Re: Xenu is a lightweight

Cthulhu - spell it right! Otherwise, he who normally should not be named in polite company may become *DISPLEASED*. I can't imagine what Cthulhu's wrath might ent[r]ail...

/me once knew a guy who had a T shirt "Cthulhu saves"

Re: Tottenham Court Road, early 1970s.

I should make one of those my next I.O.T. project

Re: Theme Song For The Scientology Network

I'm having trouble putting that to music in my head...

Re: Can't fault their record keeping

you might try taping the envelope to a brick, writing "return to sender" on it, and making sure that it arrives at their office with postage due...

Re: Great news, I might get to see Battlefield Earth the series.

"You may be right however we have since then had Catwoman all of those movies that get Oscars because nobody would ever watch them, otherwise."

fixed.

Re: Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath

what primarily defines a cult has several aspects to it:

a) hierarchical authoritarian leadership, wielding control over your personal life

b) punishment for non-compliance/rebellion

c) manipulation (emotional or other types of coercion)

These things alone (unfortunately) aren't necessarily a guarantee that it's a cult, but if you see all three in an organization, it's probably time to leave. If nothing else, it's a recipe for abuse.

Also, you have to lie down to be a doormat. Just sayin'

I came to the conclusion long ago that a number of people get involved in a church or religion so that they can have control over other people's lives, and there's enough people WANTING others to control them, that they have plenty of willing victims showing up. Both sides of this (in my opinion) represent some kind of psycnological disorder, and I wouldn't even begin to guess how to cure that. I doubt therapy would be enough. Problems like _THAT_ are most likely too deep.

That, of course, does not in any way impugn that those others NOT in the above 2 categories have something wrong with them for attending a church or being part of a religion. Most likely they're just regular people who happen to be religious, like maybe half of the world's population...

/me thinks: party in hell, I'll bring the liquor. it beats hot cocoa and s'mores

Re: Z-lister club

When I was 4 years old I distinctly remember having a dream in which my sister and I were eaten by a lion and got turned into poo. Anthromorphic poo. I suppose vegetables feeil pain when we turn THEM into poo. So I should be a 100% carnivore [at least the animals are DEAD].

So how can I turn _THIS_ into a religion so _I_ can be a gozillionaire with an infinite number of women to have sex with at my command, ordering people around and acting like an evil dictator all the time, muahahahahaha!

[it'd be a bit like being the 'dear leader' of North Korea]

Re: Sounds familiar

and yet, it seems that Elron actually BELIEVED his own B.S. - or else he was an excellent actor.

Also worth pointing out, why do SO many celebs fall for this obvious bullcrap? are they THAT desperate for meaning to their otherwise vacuous lives that they MUST fill it with *THAT* ???

Elon Musk invents bus stop, waits for applause, internet LOLs

Re: 150 mph

ACK

this is the reason why trains over short distances don't work very well, and why we have busses and shuttles at train stops (for things _like_ commuting, for example). If you're stopping every few hundred feet, the train can't get up to speed. Same kinds of implications here, as the meatbags inside the "transportation device" can't handle more than 2G of acceleration safely (this number may be smaller than 2G, I was guessing).

So, unless the stops are several MILES apart, which would defeat the purpose of its existence, it ain't gonna be practical.

"How much money would that save anyway?"

When it comes to ANY kind of public transportation, it's not about the money, it's about the SQANDERED TIME, waiting around to connect to another bus/trolley/train/whatever. If you're lucky, they show up every 30 minutes (or less, in some places). Some busses have hourly schedules. Some even WORSE.

[no wonder people don't like public transportation in way too many places, with notable exceptions ONLY in a very small number of localized areas]

Somewhat recently I pointed out that, with all of the hassles involved in flying between San Diego and Las Vegas, it would have been cheaper (overall) and taken the SAME AMOUNT OF TIME to rent a car and drive there and back, if you share the same car. And you wouldn't have to leave "at a certain time" etc. or hassle with baggage claim.

(other implications are obvious I think)

I like the self-driving car concept instead. You call up for a car, it shows up in under 5 minutes, and takes you to your destination. you subscribe to the service, theoretically being cheaper than car ownership. If properly managed, THAT would work (and it would be PRIVATELY owned, not "public" and therefore NOT subject to governmentium and politics).

Tim Berners-Lee says regulation of the web may be needed

"How about an open standard for publishing social media posts"

USENET

Re: It's already fucked

"Blame the webmasters lawyers and lawmakers"

Fixed it for ya.

The moment that Google [and other search providers] were *REQUIRED* to insert filtering for whatever reason, 'right to be forgotten' being ONE of them, it opened the door to MANIPULATE the search results any way that "they" see fit.

So how about THIS instead: FREE competing services that don't filter, except for settings YOU send along with the query.

The internet does best when completely UN-regulated. Don't try and justify socialist or moralist ideas upon the world. THAT will _ONLY_ empower some "Internet Pope" (self-appointed or otherwise) to wield power, and we don't need YET ANOTHER one of _THOSE_ kinds of people, now do we???

[And _I_ thought the 60's was about "power to the people" - turns out, it was about "power to CERTAIN people" - just the same old CRAP under a different [mis]label I guess]

Sneaky satellite launch raises risk of Gravity-style space collision

Re: IoT in Spaaaaaaaaaace ...

I noticed the downvote on every post I've made already. Looks like the howler monkey fan club is ba-aaack!

Re: I recall an incident

"if CERN discovers as predicted that antimatter generates weak negative gravity (ie around -3%) and entangled antimatter more so, its possible that the drive I've invented could work."

well, as one mad scientist to another, you can try kickstarter...

either that or realize that the energy required to produce enough antimatter is of "stellar" proportions.

Re: US only I presume?

"Why not unspool a small piece of foil, to act as attached chaff, so that even a tinysat can be tracked?"

I was thinking "inflate like a balloon" but ok, not bad either.

Re: How big are these things?

"You mean Vantablack?"

I want a T shirt made out of that, with a caption similar to one I already have: "I'm only wearing Vantablack until they come up with something *DARKER*" - Muahahahahaha!

Re: IoT in Spaaaaaaaaaace ...

"what could possibly go wrong..."

the satellites are running Win-10-nic?

(icon obvious)

Re: Regulatory Oversight

"So the FCC has authority over space as well, now?"

I think they just authorize the use of RF to communicate with them. But, effectively, it looks like it, for U.S. companies at least. Yeah I'm not happy about that either. I'd think NASA or even the FAA should have that jurisdiction. Maybe it's time for Con-grab to define the regulatory roles better.

"In the U.S. you need to bribe the son wife"

Fixed it for ya.

Will the defendant please rise? Utah State Bar hunts for sender of topless email

Re: Terribly American

"It's even more fun to watch women moving from in front, easier to see their tits."

Yeah, I guess I'm an ass-man... And like I always like to say around time when the breast cancer charities are asking for money to cure breast cancer: A boob is a terrible thing to waste! So yeah, definitely cure THAT!

Suspicious cert-sellers give badware a good name for just a few thousand bucks

Re: Fairly light on detail

as far as I can tell, these are app-signing certs, not SSL. So "signed" apps are supposedly "safe". Apparently NOT.

"I won't be happy until, 'It's Certificates all the way down.'"

I won't be happy until *THE* *TOLLBOOTH* on the intarwebs (and for for appLICATION developers, particularly open source and independent developers) has been ERADICATED, because it OBVIOUSLY doesn't do a DAMN bit of good to have the *DAMNED* *CERTS*! Except, for those skimming off of the top and keeping "the little guy" in his place...

And that goes TRIPLE for KERNEL DRIVERS.

/me points out that in the Linux world, YOU! DO! NOT! HAVE! THIS! CRAP!!!

Europe is living in the past (by nearly six minutes) thanks to Serbia and Kosovo

Re: Maybe the Young Earth Creationists have it right

"radioactive decay rates can't be constant if the Earth is only 6000 years old"

I don't think that even the 6000 year old Earth crowd believes THAT. Instead the theory is that the earth was created with isotopes "in that state", including light beams from distant stars and stuff like that.

just playing "angel's advocate" on this one. I'm familiar with creationist arguments and some of them have merit. Claiming the earth is only 6,000 years old, however, is completely clueless. [you can still reconcile biblical creation against evolution, if you don't take it word-for-word literally, but those who do take it literally are subjecting themselves to rules they can't possibly defend. Still, creationism is an interesting study, at least to me].

but yeah, it's convenient to 'hand wave' the science when your god can just create it "that way"

Re: For those who wonder...

"It wasn't about efficiency, it was about Edison (DC) versus Tesla (AC), with Edison 'proving' that AC was more dangerous by demonstrating electrocutions using AC."

They certainly weren't more 'dangerous', as high voltage DC and high voltage AC will still kill you. But the AC version would be a LOT more entertaining... [doing the 50/60 cycle jitters in the chair].

Edison was just wrong about AC and we all know it. But he was a SORE LOSER. And he HATED Tesla because of it. They used to get along, until AC vs DC. Tesla was right. Tesla had the ability to think 'dynamically' and do simulations in his head. That's how he came up with the idea of a rotating magnetic field, and alternating current, as I understand it. He pictured it in his mind. Those of us who can ALSO do that kind of thing understand it completely, I'd guess. And I'd also guess that Edison couldn't really do that, though his 'static' imagination was still pretty brilliant.

Re: For those who wonder...

"The issues with sources like wind and solar is that due to politicians swallowing the green lobby lies"

I'm with you on that last part (swallowing the green lobby lies), but I think we should still use wind and solar generators, because other forms of energy are still finite, and I doubt the EU (or post-brexit UK) wants to prop up the price of oil by using even more of it for electricity. If you want energy independence, you use more of what you have, and less of what you must import. So there ya go. Besides, most of the trouble in the Middle East is ultimately caused by too much world money going into the hands of people who tend to support things _like_ terrorism, and we don't need Middle East politics affecting the world economy so much, now do we?

So even if the 'renewables' policy was driven by 'human caused global warming' hysteria, it's still a reasonable outcome to have plenty of solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and whatever other 'renewable' someone can think up and implement at a reasonable cost to the consumer.

Then, on non-windy winter nights, you can burn the midnight oil for power [so to speak]. But the rest of the time you can get it from Mr. Sun instead.

Re: For those who wonder...

"AC was just more efficient with less line loss."

this mostly has to do with distribution locally, not over distance. the problem with DC is that you can't EASILY convert a high voltage (like 100kv) into a line voltage for home use (let's say 220 or 110). So the generators had to make DC at 'what you get at the wall socket', meaning very high current and lots of loss.

However, if you send DC over distance at 100kv (let's say), then all you need is a motor/generator setup on each end. In fact, an MG can go BOTH directions. A DC line under the channel could then be a bi-directional power connection. It's probably why they do it "that way". Also a DC setup could have surge capacitors and batteries on it to help absorb transients etc. etc.. Sort of like submarine power, which still has backup generators and batteries very similar to old WW2 diesel subs. Hey, it works!

The motor/generator [for those who do not know] is what it says on the tin. It's a motor on one side, and a generator on the other side. The mode of operation is essentially based on how the regulators are set up to work. A generator on the DC side will regulate voltage. A motor on the DC side will regulate speed. Similarly, if the AC side is operating as a generator, its frequency regulates the DC side. If it's operating as a motor, the voltage and current on the DC side determines the loading. Both the voltage and speed regulation modes would have appropriate settings curves, so that load is shared and regulated properly, and you adjust the regulator's curve point to maintain 50Hz (or whatever), or 'n' volts on the DC bus.

Also in this way you can parallel the MG sets, so that you can take one or more off line for maintenance [yeah those DC brushes will need to be changed out periodically, and the contacts cleaned, etc.] but with proper care and maintenance, an MG set will spin for DECADES without major problems, and operate very efficiently. They really do work very very well, and are probably the most reliable way to transfer very large power levels between AC and DC, while simultaneously allowing bi-directional flow.

Additionally, you could use a motor/generator for standard conversion - a 60Hz unit on one side, a 50Hz unit on the other, with an appropriate number of poles on each so that they spin the same speed. Often they're used for 400Hz systems in that way.

Another advantage of using DC to transfer power is that you separate the line frequency controls on either end of the distribution. I assume this is what they wanted to do here. And when you're putting power lines under water, maybe the inductive losses are much higher with AC than with DC. I'd guess that's it at face value, without researching even.

I'm pretty sure that HDTV standards allow for different frame rates, like 24fps [movies], 25fps (EU standard I guess), 30fps (US standard I guess). Over here in the USA we're doing HDTV pretty much everyplace now. The 'pulldown' and 'telecine' algorithms are well known and supported by common open source tools like ffmpeg and mencoder, last I checked. And at least one HDTV I've seen had Linux on it (GPL declaration in the printed stuff). I think even VLC can do the conversion. So there ya go.

I don't think it really matters any more what the actual frame rate is for the video, other than the perception of the viewer. I happen to like 25fps since it makes the files a bit smaller.

But the reason "back in the day" was to synchronize the vertical sweep with the line frequency in order to avoid the kinds of problems that a CHEAP CRAPPY POWER SUPPLY would have, a line frequency pattern that would vertically sweep across the screen. If you synchronized it with the line frequency, it was less annoying. Fortunately electronics have improved since the 1950's, and that's no longer a problem.

"You probably also think we use inches."

you don't? (how about miles, pounds, gallons, ...)

yeah only us US'ians still measure based on a King's anatomy. I wouldn't mind using all metric if the damned bolts on my car were all metric... and I needed a 5/16" wrench the other day to loosen the battery terminals so I could replace the battery. Yeah, it's just unavoidable.

And every damned recipe in every recipe book uses freaking tablespoons and cups. What the hell?

Re: Mains powered clock

"They explained that the grid had to let the frequency change when compensating for load"

Exactly. The frequency (generator shaft speed, essentially) is regulated based on load. There's a "curve slope" that's used, essentially like a speed control, to make the generators turn a bit slower as load increases. Doing it this way is a lot more stable, and handles transient load conditions better.

So, at high loads, frequency is just a bit lower than at no load. And this has several interesting effects: First of all, if you run generators in parallel, they tend to load balance very nicely. Second, if you get a power transient, it's a very smooth transition with very little over/undershoot. And every generator on the grid would essentially be able to maintain this load balance correctly. You could, for example, cause one generator plant to take up more load by INCREASING its frequency setting, and leaving the others alone (this is what an Independent Systems Operator would be responsible for managing). Doing this could keep the generation and the load close to one another. If Kosovo is using more power, then generators close to Kosovo should be providing it. That kind of thing. And you can keep nuclear power plants running at 100% power as well [they don't do so well with transients, inherent design thing]. Anyway, it's really very cooperative like that.

Re: Mains powered clock

"The real issue is that of less electricity being put into the system than was claimed and is not being provided."

Yes, and that means power was STOLEN.

One of the following probably took place:

a) power generating company(ies) reported more power going onto the grid than was really provided;

b) someone(s)'s tapping power from the system and NOT paying for it

c) equipment seriously malfunctioning (probably not likely)

In the case of 'a', they're being ripped off by one or more power generating companies. SOMEONE is getting the money for "providing" more than was actually on the grid, so I'd guess "follow the money".

In the case of 'b', some marijuana grow houses (or other gross power thieves) tapped directly into the distribution lines somewhere, in a manner that's not being sensed well enough to indicate a problem, and are powering up some large equipment [like growhouse lighting] on a rather massive scale with stolen kilowatts. So an audit of the grid seems to be in order [it was detected down to the region already, so I'd guess "more of the same" to locate it].

Re: Mains powered clock

"Is there such a thing at all nowdays? It is cheaper to throw in a quartz osciallator or a real time clock than to measure grid frequency."

not necessarily. old-school analog clocks probably still have synchronous motors in them. And I remember constructing a digital clock (well, back in the 70's) that used line frequency. Since you had to have a transformer [back then] it made sense to just use it. Seriously, though, it's not that hard to get the incoming AC frequency, through a very cheap capacitor, and then measure it with a single input pin on a dedicated clock IC. Crystals probably cost $1 more than that (and typical crystal oscillators need 2 capacitors, one on each end of the crystal). And that assumes that you don't want a backup battery for when power goes out, so the clock just flashes 12 after a power outage. This would be, a VERY cheap clock, yeah.

Anyway, my $.10 worth.

Slingshot malware uses cunning plan to find a route to sysadmins

Re: Eh?

"The filename heavily suggests Windows code."

Right, and then the article mentions that the malware gains 'root access' suggesting NON-windows code...

A smartphone recession is coming and animated poo emojis can't stop it

Re: Manufacturers are spending more

"Bad news: it might take 6 months to charge in the first place!"

most LiPo can charge at 0.5C safely, so ~3-4 hours for a full charge, at a peak of 1.5 giga-amps . You'll need a ~6 GW power converter for that. yeah, might need to run it on a 12kv line, too (at half a million amps).

your power company would either hate you or love you, depending.

Also the peak current would only be for about 30 minutes, after which it tapers off for the next 2 hours or so.

/me thinks of Griswald's christmas lights, and the need to start up a nuke reactor to power them

post-edit: the flux capacitor only needed 1.21 "jiggawatts"