Posts by lafnlab

DragonFire laser to be fitted to Royal Navy ships after acing drone-zapping trials

"Lasers"

Did the RN skip past the "sharks with frigging lasers" or this a small step towards making them a reality?

Users call on Microsoft to update Outlook's friendly name feature

[External]

Where I work, all emails that originate outside our domain are flagged with [External] in front of the Subject line and we also see a header that warns that the email isn't from someone with our organization. We use Microsoft 365 and I think it's something the mail admins were able to turn on.

OpenAI's Sam Altman rattles tin for crypto startup that will support bot-replaced workers

Re: Because all human irises are unique, like fingerprints

Biometrics are a bad idea in general because of the inevitable exceptions. After they realize this, if the cryptobro project still exists, they will probably recommend something equally stupid like an implantable chip.

What does an ex-Pharma Bro do next? If it's Shkreli, it's an AI Dr bot

Re: what exactly is it's purpose?

I wonder how long it will be before Gwenyth Paltrow published a rave review about it in Goop?

If it's a "physician chatbot" but isn't intended to give medical advice, what exactly is it's purpose? Why would people use it? Is it supposed to hold some sort of entertainment value ("I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV"). The FDA regulates medical devices in the US and they would probably be interested in finding out more. I suspect it will be something more like the WebMD website, but with chatbot features. LLMs are new territory for many fields and the current laws and regulations weren't written with them in mind.

Musicians threaten to make Oasis 'Live Forever' with AI

Today...

...is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back at you.

Unless it involves drinking and fighting, will it ever truly reproduce the sentiments of the brothers Gallagher?

Plagiarism-sniffing Turnitin tries to find AI writing by students – with mixed grades

They must not read El Reg

Otherwise they would have learned there is no reliable way of detecting AI-Generated text

https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/21/detecting_ai_generated_text/

.

Splunk junks 'hanging' processes, suggests you don't 'hit' a key: More peaceful words now preferred in docs

Re: Well you won't find me...

Working on that day between Wednesday and Friday on account of trauma from the viking hordes

If you're traumatized by viking hordes, I'm afraid I have something to tell you about Wednesday and Friday then.

Texas blacks out, freezes, and even stops sending juice to semiconductor plants. During a global silicon shortage

Rolling blackout

Is that what happens when a Tesla loses power and needs to be pushed?

I wonder if Elon is rethinking the Texas move.

Pat Gelsinger promises Intel can go back to the future – in memo to staff shared with world+dog

Re: The time in now

One person's dead wood is another's age-discrimination class action lawsuit.

Arecibo Observatory brings forward 'controlled demolition' plans by collapsing all by itself

Moichandising!

I bet they could make money by cutting the remnants into small chunks and selling them online, sort of like the old Berlin Wall.

We're not getting back with Galileo, UK govt tells The Reg, as question marks sprout above its BS*

Launching

I wonder where the government plans on launching these satellites from.

High-flying Microsoft exec jumps to Magic Leap as CEO. No, we haven't got that the wrong way round

The article reminded of Stephen Elop who was supposed to rescue Nokia, but ended up selling it to Microsoft.

Call us immediately if your child uses Kali Linux, squawks West Mids Police

Moral panic

I worry that my local police department may be getting ready to create a moral panic. What can I do as a concerned citizen? Should I be concerned about their use of Photoshop? Is there someone to talk to about engaging them in positive diversions?

The Foot of Cupid emits final burst of flatulence in honour of fallen Python Terry Jones

Re: RIP Terry

A chalkboard? You were lucky. As a wee one, our family had to use twigs to write in the mud.

The $4.3bn trial of the century is over! Now we wait for judgment

It's only over until the appeals start, which is inevitable.

'Buyer's remorse' drove HP's legal crusade to go after Lynch, High Court told

Americanism?

The first reference of "pretextual" presented by the OED is from The Times (London, not New York) in 1837.

Buzz kill: Crook, 73, conned investors into shoveling millions into geek-friendly caffeine-loaded chocs that didn't exist. Now he's in jail

Chocolates with caffeine already exist

Awake Chocolate has been around for years now. and they really work. One time I made the mistake of eating four Awake Bites at work, and I didn't sleep at all that night. Since then I've learned to moderate my intake.

Beer in lieu of coffee icon.

Doogee Wowser: The S40's a terrible smartphone, but a passable projectile

Usefulness

At work (a university) we have a cold room in our building where some people do lab work. They have a ruggedized Dell laptop of some model which is connected to a piece of lab equipment, and is kept in the cold room full time. Since the room is kept at a constant 4º C, I'm not sure a regular laptop would withstand those temperatures for years on end as that one has.

A short note to say I'm off: Vulture taps claws on Reg keyboard for last time

Au revoir

Good luck in the new job.

Remember that competition for non-hoodie hacker pics? Here's their best entries

Playmobil

C'mon, Reg hacks! This is the perfect opportunity for you to break out the Playmobil set.

Delicious irony: Hacked medical debt collector AMCA files for bankruptcy protection from debt collectors

Liabilities

If the records included health information, they could be looking at serious fines. HIPAA allows fines of up to $50,000 per violation, and it sound like they have around 20 million violations.

Air Force intel bod Daniel Hale charged with 'leaking top secret drone documents' to journo

Own goal

Becoming a unnamed source for The Intercept is like committing an own goal during an important match, or going hunting with Dick Cheney. Not the place to be.

Switchzilla rolls out Wi-Fi 6 kit: New access points, switch for a standard that hasn't officially arrived

Nomenclature

I'm sure absolutely no one will confuse 5G and WiFi 6.

So, that's cheerio the nou to Dundee Satellite Receiving Station: Over 40 years of service axed for the sake of £338,000

Budgetary constratints

With Brexit looming, it's only a matter of time before Downing Street puts the ghost of Ron Obvious in charge of the space program. Obvious, known for his attempts at jumping across the English Channel and at running to Mercury, is sure to bring much-needed enthusiasm to the troubled Space Agency.

Sherlock, because Obvious.

Formulus Black – the artist formerly known as Symbolic IO – trumpets its new breed of dedupe

Any relation to...

Sirius Black?

Do they think they're wizards?

Super Cali optimistic right-to-repair's negotious, even though Apple thought it was something quite atrocious

Talk to/write to your legislator

I live in Indiana which is one of the states considering a right-to-repair law. I did this a few months ago and it was painless. It took about 20 minutes to write something and send it in.

If you make a living doing repairs, contact your legislator and tell them how the right-to-repair affects you and your job. Hopefully it will counterbalance what they're being told by Apple, John Deere, etc.

Hapless engineers leave UK cable landing station gate open, couple of journos waltz right in

Tourism

St Cuthbert's looks like a lovely church in case Bogdan happens to need a reason to visit the Southport area.

The UK's Cairncross Review calls for Google, Facebook to be regulated – and life support for journalism

"Institute for Public Interest News"

Ministry of Truth not good enough?

I like BigGANs but their pics do lie, you other AIs can't deny

"...it's a lot harder to use images of Dogball for political or unethical purposes than it is to use an image of another person.”

The creator of Pepe the Frog probably thought something similar.

Oslo clever clogs craft code to scan di mavens and snare dodgy staff

"...University of Oslo in Norway..."

Is there a University of Oslo outside of Norway?

UKIP flogs latex love gloves: Because Brexit means Brexit

I guess they're useful for someone who wants to pull out but doesn't know how.

GDPR forgive us, it's been one month since you were enforced…

Re: And once again...

What the fuck is GDRP?

General derp.

GNOMEs beat Microsoft: Git Virtual File System to get a new name

VFSme - millennial edition - to show they can pander to yutes as well as Apple

You know me, I don't know you: Hospital reportedly raps staff for peeking at Ed Sheeran data

Maybe the NHS is using different software, but in the US most hospitals have software that logs anytime someone's medical record is accessed. If they're not involved in the care of the patient, they're not supposed to access it. It's sort of an honor system - the software won't stop people from looking - but if they're not involved with the patient's treatment, they could be fired and/or sued.

Also, employees aren't supposed to look at medical records of family, friends, or anyone else they're not treating.

I deal a lot with HIPAA, and most hospitals are very serious about patient privacy.

Penis pothole protester: Cambridge's 'Wanksy' art shows feted

Obscene? Nah.

"Has this person, for just one second, considered how families with young children must feel when they are confronted with these obscene symbols as they walk to school?"

Did that person go to school in the Georgian Era? Children won't know it's obscene unless someone tells them and parents will likely roll their eyes when asked by the kids. There's a big difference between painting peckers around potholes and producing pornographic pictures.

FBI raids home of spy sat techie over leak of secret comms source code on Facebook

Re: Iran issues

That puts a whole new perspective on "If I had a photograph of you..." A Flock of Seagulls must have worked for the NRO!

Avatar in lieu of hairdo

SCREEEECH: US national security agency puts brakes on Qualcomm takeover

TITSUP

I wonder if El Reg will post something with all the permutations of TITSUP it has published.

UK Army chief: Russia could totally pwn us with cable-cutting and hax0rs

Re: But seriously

You mean the ones pwned by the North Koreans to mine Bitcoins?

Sili-spurned Valley! No way, San Jose! Amazon snubs SF Bay Area in search for HQ2 city

Indy!

As someone who lives in Indy, I like our chances, though it will ultimately boil down to what Amazon values most.

Real estate in Indy is relatively inexpensive, and since we aren't constrained by the ocean, there is plenty of room to grow. Indiana University and Purdue University share a large campus downtown. There are plenty of engineers because of all the IndyCar race teams and all the biomedical companies in the area. There are plenty of scientists due to Eli Lilly and other companies headquartered here.

The suburbs are attract a lot of families as good places to raise kids, while a lot of singles prefer to live downtown, where there is more stuff to do. It's pretty easy to catch a cab, Lyft, or Uber, and the bus service is pretty good (I use it every day). There are also a couple of car sharing schemes for people who want to use a car only once in awhile, but not often enough to warrant buying their own car.

Just my two cents.

Ecuador tried to make Julian Assange a diplomat

I think the position he plays is obvious; he's an own-goalkeeper.

The eagle has been grounded: Dutch anti-drone squadron retired

Are you falcon kidding me? I can't accipiter that you forgot to work in your carrion-eating mascot. You hawk to be ashamed of yourselves.

HMS Queen Lizzie formally joins the Royal Navy

I have this vision of the ship sailing up and down the English Channel with a bunch of bagpipers playing on the flight deck, all to annoy the French.

The Reg parts ways with imagineer and thought pathfinder Steve Bong

Good riddance

Good riddance to the shite-addled techno hipster.

Mm, sacrilicious: Greggs advent calendar features sausage roll in a manger

Sausage roll in a manger

Is it kosher?

Humble civil servant: Name public electric car chargers after me

Does, "I need to use the John," have the same connotations in the UK as it does in the US?

You can yacht be serious: Larry might be planning his own version of America’s Cup

Re: Oooh, clever..

It is named after the first boat to win the cup: the America.

'Alexa, play Charlie Bit My Finger.' I can't do that, Dave. No, really

Amazon video

Amazon should start their own YouTube rival, or buy one such as Vimeo. YouTube could stand to have more/better competition.

Dell's flagship XPS13 – a 2-in-1 that may fatally frustrate your fingers

"The plate pivots on a band of a dark polymer that doesn't seem built to survive years of fidgeting."

Not sure why you'd need to read the collection of compliance logos so often that this would become a worry. I have an XPS13 built in 2012 (via Project Sputnik) that gets used daily, and I think I've only needed to open this plate thrice. Leave it alone and stop fidgeting.