Posts by Sleep deprived

Spent Chinese rocket stage set to make an uncontrolled return to Earth

China dumping a rocket on Earth

Bah! A one-time limited event. It's not like it were a global pandemic.

NASA’s getting really good at this flying a helicopter on Mars thing

At last a noiseless drone!

Let's hope DJI and others reuse NASA's design in their consumer products...

Apple extends Find My support to third-party vendors including Belkin, Dutch bike maker VanMoof, and Chipolo

Apple has Find My Airpods?

I should have told the skier and hiker I met along a ski trail both looking for their all white expensive ear buds in the snow...

This scumbag stole and traded victims' nude pics and vids after guessing their passwords, security answers

Tabloid title

If it weren't on my computer screen, I'd swear I read this article title on some tabloid while waiting in line at the grocery store... I'm surprised no mug shot is attached to make your point.

We've got some really bad news about Apple's privacy measures, Google tells iOS app devs: It'll hurt your Google ad revenue

Keep trying, but...

Even before I had an ad blocker, I don't recall ever clicking on an ad. Nor replying to spam, be it by fax, phone, mail or email. I'll search for what I want or need at my sole convenience. In the meantime, lots of businesses are just wasting their money to ad brokers. On the other hand, it's cheaper to advertise junk than to make good products...

Facebook finally finds something it thinks is truly objectionable and needs to be taken offline: Apple

Facebook's revenues rose 21% at 84B$

Not bad for a company that produces nothing. But I guess there's never enough.

US cyber intelligence officer jailed for kidnapping her kid, trying to hawk top secrets to Russia in Mexico

Russia, one of America’s foremost adversaries

This is very recent news. A week ago, Russia was a friend of the USA, unlike those pesky secret services of the deep state, and Putin was a nice and very smart leader. He had even assured the president of his re-election, hence the outcry over the inevitable rigging.

In a trial run, Google Chrome to corral netizens into groups for tailored web ads rather than target individuals

Opt-in advertising?

The only ads I could perhaps opt-in to see might be from Victoria's Secret, but that doesn't mean I'm about to buy anything, which must be the underlying goal.

If my calculations are correct, when Google Chrome hits version 88, you're gonna see some serious... security

Limited Chrome use here

Since Google pushed Manifest v3, I only use Chrome when Firefox has problems rendering a page (often to get the same with Chrome) or to cast the screen to the TV. Long live Ublock et al.

NASA pulls the plug on InSight's mole after Martian surface bests boffins

No wonder it's hard

You landed in a ghost town and hit a leftover concrete slab.

Backers of Planet Computers' Astro Slide 5G phone furious after shock specs downgrade

Re: A perennial crowd funding problem

My admittedly limited experience with crowdfunding so far has given me the impression that as backers, we're acting as venture capitalists, but without the oversight.

That's it. It's over. It's really over. From today, Adobe Flash Player no longer works. We're free. We can just leave

I skipped installing Flash on my new Thinkpad last Summer

That's the thing I most strongly agreed on with Steve Jobs.

Cybersecurity giant FireEye says it was hacked by govt-backed spies who stole its crown-jewels hacking tools

If you seek authoritative advice

Hire those hackers, not their poor victim (unless you only fear to be hacked by less capable pirates).

Where's the mysterious metal monolith today then? Oh look, it's atop a California mountain

Did they pry it open?

OMG, it's full of vaccine!

Mysterious metal monolith found in 'very remote' part of Utah

Stainless steel?

It's a T-1000 Terminator at rest, waiting for its next mission.

A visit to a crafted webpage would have been enough for a bad guy to munch all your Firefox for Android cookies

Won't budge from FF 68 on Android

After I saw how Firefox for Android 80+ had messed with tab management and reduced authorized plugins to a dozen (removing Cookie AutoDelete, among others), I reverted to the last flavor of version 68 (68.11.0) and turned off auto-updates on it. Why do software writers have to constantly change the UI for the mere sake of change? So that newbies get noticed by their boss? They're bored? The world started with them and they have no previous experience?

Max Schrems is back... and he's challenging Apple's 'secret iPhone advertising tracking cookies' in Europe

Re: Price comparison sites

Hum, I recall standing at a hotel desk booking a room online because the site was giving us a 20% discount the attendant couldn't. We.then handed the phone to her to claim our reservation. Silky.

New lawsuit: Why do Android phones mysteriously exchange 260MB a month with Google via cellular data when they're not even in use?

Just as I was thinking of getting a 250Mb/month* data plan...

That would be barely enough to feed the Beast...

* Canada's Public Mobile's 13$/month plan. I have so far stayed away from our highest-in-the-world cell rates with a call & SMS-only limited plan.

Apple on the hook for another $503m in decade-long VirnetX patent rip-off legal marathon

If we lose, it means the trial was rigged

Reminiscent of a certain election.

Flash haters, rejoice! Microsoft releases tool to let you nuke Adobe's security horror before support ends

Re: Does my Win10 laptop have Flash?

I just checked with Adobe's Flash test page and it's not installed.

Does my Win10 laptop have Flash?

I bought a Win10 Pro laptop this summer and in the Control Panel/Programs, I don't see Flash. And if I did, what would prevent me from removing it? Is a Microsoft tool required for that?

Microsoft drives users to the Edge: Internet Explorer to redirect to Chromium-based browser in November

Re: Windows 7?

Using a Microsoft browser never made you safe in the first place.

For Foxit's sake: Windows and Mac users alike urged to patch PhantomPDF over use-after-free vulns

The reason to run Foxit is long gone

I used to run Foxit as a simple reader for local PDF files, but it kept growing into a connected PDF browser, so much that I'd avoid updates to keep it small and simple (and not connected). Now that I use Acrobat DC for commenting PDF files, I'm almost perfectly happy with it, let alone for some UI glitches, and didn't even bother installing Foxit when switching to a new laptop.

Yahoo! Groups! to! shut! down! completely! on! December! 15!... Tens! mourn!

Time to die peacefully

The Groups feature is the only reason I ever use or visit Yahoo. Everytime I hear about Yahoo, I expect to learn they're closing shop. I'm surprised it takes so long to happen. What value has Yahoo nowadays?

Was he sent on a spool's errand or something? Library staffer accused of stealing, reselling $1.3m of printer toner

An honest mistake

At first he thought the library was responsible for printing the loaned books, hence the toner purchase. He was later embarrassed to admit his mistake and silently sold the toner instead of discarding it in the sink.

Not content with distorting actual reality, Facebook now wants to build a digital layer for the world

"The device will shine a white light to indicate when Facebook’s AR explorers are exploring"

Will an approching car or bicycle also shine a light inside the glasses or will wearers keep walking blindly in the pursuit of unseen objects à la Pokemon?

Surprise! Apple launches iOS 14 today, and developers were given just 24 hours' notice

Samsung should sue, claiming that customers could erroneously buy an iPhone thinking they were getting a Galaxy.

If you think Mozilla pushed a broken Firefox Android build, good news: It didn't. Bad news: It's working as intended

Re: Delete Updated App then Install APK from previous version

Can Android auto-updates be blocked only for a specific (Firefox) app?

Desperately seeking regolith: NASA seeks proposals for collecting Moon dirt

I'm not getting it

If NASA brought back 328kg during the Apollo program, why would they want 300g more now?

Facebook apologizes to users, businesses for Apple’s monstrous efforts to protect its customers' privacy

So, Apple moved fast and broke (Facebook's) things?

That's bad.

What a good eye-dea: Battery-less, grain-of-sand-sized 2.4GHz transmitter to help save your eyesight

Re: transmitter is about the size of a grain of sand

I have firsthand experience that a grain of sand in the eye is most annoying. But perhaps less than glaucoma.

If you're on invite-only tech-testing scheme, take care with Amazon's Alexa-powered answer to Google's Glass

Much less capable than Google Glass

With no camera and no display, this is basically a wireless earphone and microphone built into an eyeglass frame connected to Alexa running on your smartphone. No recording/snapshot feature and no augmented reality, only the spying remains. You can do the same with any earbuds, and keep your regular glasses.

It's now safe to turn off your computer shop: Microsoft to shutter its bricks-and-mortar retail locations worldwide

Does this mean

I can now uninstall the Microsoft Store on my new Windows 10 laptop?

Smart fridges are cool, but after a few short years you could be stuck with a big frosty brick in the kitchen

Our fridge turned 30 last month

A non-smart consumer grade Whirlpool. Purchased by a smart couple in 1990. Only needed update was a new coat of appliances paint "downloaded" from the local hardware store last year

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

No wonder Iran officially reports so few cases

...if testing is done with this device.

So how do the coronavirus smartphone tracking apps actually work and should you download one to help?

Re: Good for data-less phone plans

Canada has the most expensive cell phone rates in the world. I pay 10$CDN per month (7,5€ incl. taxes) for 100 minutes and 100 SMS. I could pay more and get data access, I can afford it, but I don't feel I need it so much and decided to vote with my feet.

For example, a Bell plan with unlimited calls and 2Gb would be 38$CDN a month (28€ incl. taxes). See https://www.planhub.ca

Re: Good for data-less phone plans

My minimal cell phone plan offers calls and SMS. I can also use my smartphone for offline GPS navigation, and email or browsing whenever I have wifi (in malls, stores, hotels, libraries, theaters, airports, etc.).

Good for data-less phone plans

An app that only uses Bluetooth and stores data locally also doesn't require constant Internet access. That's a good thing for folks like me whose smartphone only accesses the internet through wifi.

We could all do with a bit of empathy in our systems, says Mozilla as it ships Firefox 75 in the thick of global pandemic

Re: I wish they'd stop messing with things that don't need "fixing"!

As a Firefox enthusiast and advocate, I'd be much tempted to make them a donation, but if it's to support constant unwanted UI "improvements" like this not-so-awesome address/search, I'll think twice. Maybe they still have too many engineers with too much spare time on their hands.

Google tests hiding Chrome extension icons by default, developers definitely not amused by the change

Now avoiding Chrome everywhere

For me, Manifest v3 was the turning point. Before that, when I had a problem rendering a page with Firefox, I'd launch Chrome, sometimes with success. Now, I do everything I can to avoid Chrome, both under Windows and Android, instead trying to fix the problem with Firefox, eventually sending them a report with URL and relevant data. Google has become a despicable software publisher with every move making the attached strings ever less subtle.

COBOL-coding volunteers sought as slammed mainframes slow New Jersey's coronavirus response

Volunteer to program in COBOL?

You'd have to pay me for that!

Apple's latest macOS Catalina update mysteriously borks SSH for some unlucky fans. What could be the cause?

You're using the wrong protocol prefix

It's oops://

What happens when the maintainer of a JS library downloaded 26m times a week goes to prison for killing someone with a motorbike? Core-js just found out

Working from the prison library computer?

But he may have to buy his cellmates' computer time with his Kickstarter gains.

Uber takes a downer as ride-sharing app service crashes

So all those lonely motorists...

who wanted to share a ride will have to travel alone? Bummer!

Not a Genius move after all: Apple must cough up $$$ in back pay for store staff forced to wait for bag searches

Conclusions

1- Ridicule does not kill

2- Apple did not become rich for nothing

3- Geniuses should get an Android kit to speed up searches

4- I'd be afraid to waste unpaid search time exiting an Apple store, so I'll skip

Bada Bing, bada bork: Windows 10 is not happy, and Microsoft's search engine has something to do with it

Isn't disabling Bing a good idea in any case?

Even when you do get results, they're poor at best.

No backdoors needed: Apple ditched plans to fully encrypt iCloud backups after heavy pressure from FBI – claim

Who needs encryption...

...when you can decide who testifies at your trial?

What can we rid the world of, thinks Google... Poverty? Disease? Yeah, yeah, but first: Third-party cookies – and classic user-agent strings

Why would I want to use Chrome even if Google pretends to play nice?

I started disabling third-party cookies in Firefox and Chrome the day I learned about them. Then I stopped using Chrome when Google released its hypocritical V3 Manifest, soon before Firefox strengthened its anti-tracking features. I only launch Chrome if a website doesn't load properly to check whether it's browser or plugin-related (UBlock, Privacy Badger and Cookie Autodelete - NoScript prevents so many websites from working I was always whitelisting). Or maybe I should launch MS Edge in those cases ;)

Are you getting it? Yes, armageddon it: Mass hysteria takes hold as the Windows 7 axe falls

Re: "plugging the holes in that decade-old code"

It worked! You did better than Windows Updates, where clicking on the failure code would never yield any useful advice, month after month. If you need a referral letter to apply for a job at Microsoft, let me know :)

Re: "plugging the holes in that decade-old code"

No doubt the problem is in my system, but how can I fix Microsoft's inabilities at applying fixes to its own OS with an error message just saying "update failed"? Or is this all open-source code and I missed it?