* Posts by find users who cut cat tail

366 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Mar 2016

Page:

Meet the Frenchman masterminding a Google-free Android

find users who cut cat tail

> Maps is one that comes to mind where Google is far ahead of anyone else

Sorry, but if you think this, you have never seen a good map -- or at least one that's not utter shit. I often see people first trying to find something using Google's Maps, which is of course prominent on the phone, realising after while that it is useless and switching to a proper map app.

UN's freedom of expression top dog slams European copyright plans

find users who cut cat tail

> With the much harder job being for the "ones who write checksum catchers" in this example.

They can make their jobs easier by aggressively marking anything and everything as copyright violation if at least a remote possibility exists it might be one. And by ‘can’ I mean they are already doing it. There is no penalty for false positive copyright harassment, so why not. And few are able or care to challenge ‘computers says no’...

Plans for half of Europeans to get 100Mbps by 2020 ain't gonna happen – report

find users who cut cat tail

Re: one really needs Gigabyte speed to get a 100 MB advantage.

Probably depends on where you live... I have 100Mbps (symmetrical) because that's simply the cheapest option my ISP offers (14 €/month) and really see 90+ every time I measure it or transfer huge data from/to the uni (anecdotal evidence this one).

But most of the time I would hardly notice half or even slower speed. Do really half of people need 100Mbps? For what?

You have suffered without red-headed emoji for too long. That changes Tuesday

find users who cut cat tail

Re: I demand moustaches and beards!

U+1F9D4 ?

find users who cut cat tail

Obligatory XKCD

xkcd 1953

Africa's internet body in full-blown meltdown: 'None of the above' wins board protest vote

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Mismanaged Africa

Is anything anywhere?

Make masses carry their mobes, suggests wig in not-at-all-creepy speech

find users who cut cat tail

Re: ID Cards and enforced bio-metrics

Ken Hagan: You think no here one can imagine ID cards can stolen, faked, ...? And that all other means of proving your identity do not share the same problem? Well, all except pervasive biometrics. So is that what you would like to see?

find users who cut cat tail

Re: ID Cards and enforced bio-metrics

What's your problem with bloody ID cards?

They don't track you, they cannot be read from distance, the number of people who can request your ID is pretty limited. Yes, and they solve much of your overcomplicated nonsense like voter registration. I took mine out twice this year, once for elections and once at the post office because of delivery that had to be to me personally. You have mobile phones, CCTV and all kinds of sensors and systems tracking you automatically -- and you are still terrified of ID cards?

Ubuntu sends crypto-mining apps out of its store and into a tomb

find users who cut cat tail

Either systemd is evil because it makes managing services needlessly complicated. Or because it makes it too simple (like here). Choose one.

If you complain about both you just demonstrate you do know anything about systemd -- aside from being a popular thing to complain about.

Making calls? Ha, not what most peeps use phone for – Ofcom

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Was The Survey Big Enough...

The part where consumers were asked to download data-collecting apps evidently was not. If you have (a) phone as a purely utilitarian device (b) any remaining sanity, you will not do that. Provided that you even can do that -- my phone for phone calls cannot download their apps for sure...

Signal app guru Moxie: Facebook is like Exxon. Everyone needs it, everyone despises it

find users who cut cat tail

Grikath: That's not what indispensable means. Facebook does not bring anything unique -- it just has lots of users. However, ‘lots of users’ is something that can and will change over time. The only question is how long it will take.

But most importantly: Stating that it is indispensable and discouraging from looking for alternatives is a self-fulfilling prophecy -- and exactly what Facebook wants you to do. So stop saying that for start.

Intel's security light bulb moment: Chips to recruit GPUs to scan memory for software nasties

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Threat detection enhancement algorithms

Ah, Harvard architecture. It separates CPU instructions and data and so prevents things overwriting native code in memory, etc.. However, even pure Harvard architecture (which is IMO unsuitable for general purpose computer) does not really separate code and data if any kind of command interpreter (shell, scripting language, Excel formulas, TeX, ...) exists. So you can still instruct users to run stupid things.

No password? No worries! Two new standards aim to make logins an API experience

find users who cut cat tail

WebAuthn

Anything called WebAuthn must die.

Just because of the name. Even if it cured cancer using bacon and beer.

Imagine you're having a CT scan and malware alters the radiation levels – it's doable

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Imagine..

> But, don't quote me; I'm no radiologist.

No, please don't.

Sievert is simply J/kg, i.e. absorbed energy per mass. Getting the absorbed energy right makes it a bit more complicated, but this does not change the basic idea.

Why you decided to write the ratio 350/30 as ‘something between 2^3 and 2^4’ is beyond me (even though technically it is indeed between 8 and 16).

T-Mobile Austria stores passwords as plain text, Outlook gets message crypto, and more

find users who cut cat tail

Re: T-Mobile

> Each combination is hashed and the hashes stored together with a note of the positions of the characters of that combination.

This certainly provides *more* information about the password than a single hash if it leaks. Might need some new clever rainbow table tricks or something, but anyway: do not attempt home-baked security based on ideas you gave about 20s of thought...

Birds can feel Earth's magnetic fields? Yeah, that might fly. Bioboffins find vital sense proteins

find users who cut cat tail

Re: How would it feel?

> claiming that those who slept in a north-south orientation generally had a better sense of direction than those who slept in an east-west orientation.

Interesting, as I've been always (well, when there was a choice) sleeping in east-west oriented beds. Not west-east, mind you. That would be just wrong and I might rotate 180 degrees during the night. I have a pretty good sense of direction and tend to confuse people by diving directions using NSEW even inside buildings -- but the bed orientation thing may have more to do with some light/darkness cycle. Who knows. I am willing to participate in a rigorous scientific study, especially if it involves me sleeping a lot without disturbance...

Blackberry snaps, yakkity-yak Snapchat app brats slapped with patent trap rap

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Bollocks

> until someone else steals your own money spinning idea and rips you off

So you are the guy who patented ‘offering products and/or services in exchange for money’?

You cannot steal ideas. Even according to the most moronic IP laws which protect much more than they should, mere ideas are not protected.

UK regulator bans slasher-flick parody ad for OnePlus 5 mobe

find users who cut cat tail

Re: "an unanticipated amount of gore"

The amount was definitely unanticipated -- I anticipated more gore.

How machine-learning code turns a mirror on its sexist, racist masters

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Actual stereotypes versus desired sterotypes

Sure, you won't find any evidence if you only listen to SJWs as they try to ban even research on this topic -- because when you are trying to figure out which differences betweens sexes are inherent and which cultural, you must at least admit as a hypothesis that some are not the result of male oppression. Immediate outrage!

But to give you one example: women-people vs. men-things toy preference is exhibited even by monkeys. And correlated with hormone levels. You only need to stop putting fingers in your ears and going lalalalala... and read some actual scientific papers.

Any social media accounts to declare? US wants travelers to tell

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Trump's Struggle

a) must be involved in the minutiae

Check.

b) The "I love me" wall filled with accomplishments and trophies.

Check.

c) No sense of humor about himself

Check.

d) 'power motivated' - it's about having control (over others), and NOT about getting the job done.

Check.

But thank you you anyway for providing us with this nice list of criteria.

Amazon warns you have 30 days before Music Storage files bloodbath

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Too expensive for Amazon

Adam JC: You can make my books ‘subscription-based’ if you pry them from my cold, dead hands.

Please no Basic Instinct flashing, HPE legal eagles warn staffers

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Two lines per bullet point?

People who show pics worth a PhD may have something interesting to say -- and may not. But people showing pie charts never do.

Similarly, give me equations, schematics, diagrams and code, not bloody bullet points.

> maths and physics are worse

And we want to keep it that way.

Happy as Larry: Why Oracle won the Google Java Android case

find users who cut cat tail

Re: As usual Andrew hates Google

ForthIsNotDead: A successful product which others cannot be legally interoperable with is one of convenient ways of creating monopolies.

And BTW, yes, Microsoft is a monopoly. It just happens to be a monopoly in a market which is quickly becoming niche.

NASA fungus problem puts theory of 'Martian mushrooms' on toast

find users who cut cat tail
Headmaster

Re: Why not.....

For start, a meteoroid only becomes a meteorite after hitting the planet...

More ad-versarial tech: Mozilla to pop limited ad blocker into Firefox

find users who cut cat tail

Re: They lost me with Quantum

> Most addon stuff has been ported to Quantum.

I'm sorry, but most of the stuff was *somewhat* ported to Quantum. With developers cursing and scratching their heads while trying to build versions of their extensions that offer at least some reasonable portion of the previous functionality, And users cursing and scratching their heads while trying to to figure out how to recover the functionality they are used to.

I am still in the ‘looking for the browser’ stage. Sometimes I use Firefox with start-from-scratch wipe-out-afterwards profiles for things that need to allow half of the universe to work properly, although I try to avoid these. If setting up a throw-away VM for each site I visit was a bit easier, I would be probably doing that. The web is a toxic dump nowadays...

Less than half of paying ransomware targets get their files back

find users who cut cat tail

Re: I actually am surprised

> Not even for some twisted ideology of politics, or culture, or even nationalism. Not because of a personal belief. Just for money.

Is that really worse?

If they do it for money, they are scum and want easy money. But they can move on to another -- hopefully less actively malicious -- occupation which matches their risk/reward/labour prefs, or retire, ...

But when they hack you because of twisted ideology, they probably just not have figured out yet an efficient way to get bombs on your trains or poison to your drinking water.

Java EE renamed 'Jakarta EE' after Big Red brand spat

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Unsurprising outcome

Enterprise Profile can be only one thing: Outline of Starship Enterprise (from side).

Ex-Google recruiter: I was fired for opposing hiring caps on white, Asian male nerds

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Won't somebody think of the....

How on Earth are these examples of discrimination -- as opposed to people doing dumb things because they are not good at their jobs?

If a little green alien from Mars groks human anatomy and is competent, he/she/it/whatever can animate female human hips and does not even need to be human (female or otherwise). Do we need dogs to animate dogs and fish to animate fish?

Sure, being of specific species, gender, ethnicity, social group, ... can automatically bring some domain specific knowledge others have to (and can) acquire. If your identity is your main qualification you are pretty much unqualified.

Blockchain nears peak hype: UK politicos to probe crypto-coin

find users who cut cat tail

Also, how on Earth someone got to Bitcoin unaware it is unregulated? That's like the main point, isn't it? (Or at least one of them.)

The only exception may be people who fell prey to ransomware -- but I doubt Bitcoin regulation would solve any of their problems...

New Google bias lawsuit claims company fired chap who opposed discrimination

find users who cut cat tail

Google will simply fire people not taking their Joy pills regularly. Not surprising, since bringing dystopian future closer is their main business...

A print button? Mmkay. Let's explore WHY you need me to add that

find users who cut cat tail

People will always find ways to do something useful -- from their point of view, anyway -- with your software/device/web-thingy by abusing some obscure edge-case behaviour. And then become dependent on it. And angry when it is fixed (obligatory xkcd).

This is often simply because using in an awkward manner a tool one knows is still easier/faster than learning to use something new. Whatever you make, it will be misused all the time. You should not design for misuse -- but you should expect it to happen anyway.

How do you win at HCI? It's SimpliVity ... or maybe not, right Dell?

find users who cut cat tail

Re: How do you win at HCI?

Win at hydrochloric acid? Don't drink the stuff for start...

You can resurrect any deleted GitHub account name. And this is why we have trust issues

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Source code, source code, source code

> somebody has to own the registration of the domain, arrange for hosting, etc.

In contrast to personal accounts, all these things can be transferred (and have been in practice). Moreover, when they exist there is strong incentive to continue *the existing project*, as opposed to creating an endless forking mess and leaving users confused.

find users who cut cat tail

Re: 'a bare minimum would be forking'

> What do you do with your forked dependency's dependencies? You fork them too? And *their* dependencies? And their dependencies dependencies? And...

By avoiding dependencies that bring such dependency hell with them.

Are you an open-sorcerer or free software warrior? Let us do battle

find users who cut cat tail

Sigh

I did not even get to reading the article -- the title alone makes me want to strangle the author...

You've got a yottabyte on your hands: How analytics is changing storage

find users who cut cat tail

Four words

Law of diminishing returns.

Why aren't you being arbiters of truth? MPs scream at Facebook, YouTube, Twitter

find users who cut cat tail

Re: How would they know?

> I can't remember the last time I heard a politician make a truthful statement.

And your approach is certainly helping the matter.

If you a priori think -- even expect -- that politicians always lie, just some say more pleasant and some less pleasant lies, then guess what is the only kind of politicians you get. Any telling the truth will end up in the ‘telling unpleasant lies’ bin and doomed.

Winter is coming for AI. Fortunately, non-sci-fi definitions are actually doing worthwhile stuff

find users who cut cat tail

Lots of things are unintentionally discriminatory, including nature itself (think genetic lottery and generally the role of chance -- which people completely underestimate, clinging to the delusion they are in control). AI is one of them...

The problem with AI is that there is no appeal against its decisions. We are already neck deep in ’this must be correct because the computer says so‘, but AI makes it orders of magnitude worse. You can -- in principle -- reason with people and you can -- in principle -- point to bugs in code. You cannot do either with AI. So even discrimination that just appears randomly will likely become self-fulfilling prophecy.

Web searching died the day they invented SEO

find users who cut cat tail

Re: The one thing SEO is good for...

> I search for me on Google then I'm not there

Well, that's nice you never contribute to any open source software, do not write articles or books, do not organise any public events, ... Some things can be done under pseudonyms, but for instance for scientific articles it is rather impractical.

Maverick internet cop Chrome 64 breaks rules to thwart malvert scum

find users who cut cat tail

Re: This is why you should use adblockers

> So how are websites meant to generate revenue?

Do they have to?

1) You want to publish something -- so you pay the web hosting costs (that is BTW what I do).

2) Your web thingy does something others want -- so they pay for it.

Why is throwing ads at people as the sole business model fine, good, not at all crazy and everyone should be doing it? You just assume it, despite ads being one of the major reason why the web is the shithole it is nowadays.

Aut-doh!-pilot: Driver jams 65mph Tesla Model S under fire truck, walks away from crash

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Don't call it Autopilot, for a start

> What's your point?

And what's yours? Fighting a strawman?

The point is that you cannot expect people to be alert all the time with autopilot on. This is simply not how human attention works, so stop pretending it is possible and everything will be fine when the pesky humans just start doing that.

'There was no monetary incentive for this' = not what you want to hear about your tattoo

find users who cut cat tail

Re: what about

> When 64-bit ints become ubiquitous

Which will be... about ten years ago?

Sure, if you see C int it is most likely to be 32bit. But 64bit ints are ubiquitous (except on microcontrollers, but there your integers can be even smaller than 32 bits).

Upset Equation Editor was killed off? Now you can tell Microsoft to go forth and multiply: App back from the dead

find users who cut cat tail

Re: People who keep old cars and bikes going

> Many teachers and academics have now lost the ability to edit their own equations in their documents and presentations.

Serves them right for not using TeX.

1 in 5 STEM bros whinge they can't catch a break in tech world they run

find users who cut cat tail

Re: This is absolutely true when it comes to gender balance

You are aware you quoting Canada stats, right?

Quentin Tarantino in talks to make Star Trek movie

find users who cut cat tail

Whether the result can be called Star Trek or not, at least it should be an *interesting* movie. You know what I am talking about...

Is Oomi the all-in-one smart home system we've been waiting for?

find users who cut cat tail

We've been waiting for an all-in-one smart home system? That's news to me.

Google Chrome vows to carpet bomb meddling Windows antivirus tools

find users who cut cat tail

Thanks for the info -- BTW that is why I said ‘trying’ Palemoon not ‘switched to for good’. Things that can make me worry about such choice are NPAPI plugins, etc.. But performance? Hardly. It is just a web browser after all. I want it to display web pages, be reasonably secure (again, I can see the problem here) and have a sane GUI. It does not have to run Crysis...

find users who cut cat tail

The latest release of Firefox was the final nail in the coffin (currently trying Palemoon). If you want Chrome, but worse, there is no reason to use Firefox. Just use Chrome and wait -- Google is working on the ’worse‘ bit.

US politicos wake up to danger of black-box algorithms shaping all corners of American life

find users who cut cat tail

tom dial: Does the credit reporting company provide their service (or disservice, but that is not the point here) for free?

ML fails: Loyalty prediction? Not really. And bonus prediction? Oh dear

find users who cut cat tail

Re: Fails at basic logic...

If 5 stars are a necessity, then they carry no information. Why bother faking it the complicated way? Do not actually allow any rating and simply display five stars...

Also,

https://xkcd.com/937/

Page: