Posts by FlippingGerman

To stop web giants abusing privacy, they must be prevented from respawning. Ever

Not sure how much the parents have failed in their raising of children - from what I've seen the people believing any old rubbish they read tend to BE the parents, and their parents.

Re: Autoplay

Sometimes disabling JS works, but that can also stop websites from working altogether, and this is hard to do on a mobile browser. Reuters is rather ruined for me, they have a pretty decent news service but their website is so full of horrible moving things.

Top doctors slam Google for not backing up incredible claims of super-human cancer-spotting AI

Weights

Does anyone ever publish the structure of a neural network and the associated weights, saving everyone else the effort of training their models?

When you gaze long enough into the bork, the bork will gaze back into you

"short something out"

Speak for yourself...

From the Department of WCGW: An app-controlled polycarbonate lock with no manual override/physical key

Yes!

I can get TWO doses of Dabbsy directed straight to my face every week?

The perils of building a career on YouTube: Guitar teacher's channel nearly deleted after music publisher complains

Re: Isn't this a grey area?

Was about to post this myself. Worth watching for everyone.

Corsair's K70 MK.2 does nothing a cheaper keyboard can't, but the steep price gets you top-notch components

Corsair Strafe

I got a Corsair Strafe a few years ago, for about half the price of this. It has Red switches, and also only red backlighting, although also per-key programmable. Expensive keyboard, but one I expect to be using for many years to come - and given the cost of the PC I was building at the time, it felt well worth buying a very nice keyboard (and mouse, G403), since that's how I interface with the thing.

It's very well made. I will happily recommend it and other Corsair products to anyone.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 debut derailed by website glitches, bots, lack of supply

Feeding

"I’ve spent $2,000-plus on a specific pair of shoes that retailed $170" - and *that* is why scalpers exist, because people like you will spend that money and make it worth their time. Stop feeding the bastards, stop buying cards for twice the price on ebay, and this won't happen.

And, as Tech Jesus (Steve Burke of Gamers Nexus) says, don't buy because it's new and shiny, buy because you actually need to (or rather, can justify) upgrade.

Don't pay the ransom, mate. Don't even fix a price, say Australia's cyber security bods

"5G...risks of being online" - are you saying 5G can give me a virus?

With a million unwanted .uk domains expiring this week, Nominet again sends punters pushy emails to pay up

Moneymaking

As others have mentioned it's baffling (or not) that they've taken the route of trying makes loads of profit, and yet are doing a spectacularly bad job of it, much worse than when they were slightly less evil.

iFixit horses around with Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G to discover glue in abundance

Re: Problem? What problem?

I was looking at them recently 5000mAh battery in something for £150! Why can't everyone else do it? The more expensive the phone, the smaller the batteries seem to get. Unfortunately no NFC and their pricier ones are worse.

SQLite maximum database size increased to 281TB – but will anyone need one that big?

Re: Actually...

Interestingly, your link points out that the max size is 256 TiB = 281 TB.

The future of signage is here, and it wants an update

Re: Even Microsoft

I use WSL because it gives me bash in Windows (cygwin is rubbish). I use Windows because it does the things I want an OS to do, and Linux does not (run games).

Intel NDA blueprints – 20GB of source code, schematics, specs, docs – spill onto web from partners-only vault

Kottmann's Twitter account

seems to be suspended, from following those links.

ZFS co-creator boots 'slave' out of OpenZFS codebase, says 'casual use' of term is 'unnecessary reference to a painful experience'

My first thought:

Pointless, unnecessary, scared of words, etc.

Then, on further contemplation: there's not really much (any?) downside to doing this, and while it's inconsequential to me, it might have some slight positive effect on others. So go for it.

Tech's Volkswagen moment? Trend Micro accused of cheating Microsoft driver QA by detecting test suite

Public

Well of course he posted it publicly, what's he supposed to do, "hey guys, looks like your doing dodgy stuff" "oh yeah sorry we'll just fix that". Nah. Going public is the only choice he has.

Also, 18 years old and already doing this kind of stuff and presenting DEFCON and BlackHat? He's someone to watch (and I mean that in a complimentary, non-FBI-y way).

Spyware maker NSO can't claim immunity, Facebook lawyers insist – it's time to face the music

Re: Anything outside the US

Ah yes, the never-ending battle between tareists and people-who-mentally-subtract-the-initial-weight-ists.

UK judge gives Google a choice: Either let SEO expert read your ranking algos or withdraw High Court evidence

Compromise

It seems if the two parties could agree on an expert, this matter would be settled, although as stated, Foundem has no reason to do this - they're not trying to see IF they're right, they're trying to win a court case.

What's inside a tech freelancer's backpack? That's right, EVERYTHING

Re: Additional forgotten items ..

Except it's a totally different standard, and you're not paying a couple of Her Majesty's pounds for every HDMI port in royalties. AND (I think) the maximum framerate/resolution is better. TLDR DP is more better (albeit a one-way signal).

Built to last: Time to dispose of the disposable, unrepairable brick

Re: Reduce, re-used, recycle

Doing it real-time on consumer hardware is new.

There are already Chinese components in your pocket – so why fret about 5G gear?

I recently read some talk of "not being reliant on foreign powers for technology" - well guess where *all* of our electronics come from already? Sure, Maybe Cisco or Intel designed them, but they're all Made in China (I concede that exceptions may exist).

I don't disagree with being careful with national infrastructure (remind me who paid for Hinckley Point C?), but I'm not a fan of paranoia or protectionism.

You're not Boeing to believe this: Yet another show-stopping software bug found in ill-fated 737 Max airplanes

Don't trust the buggers

Or if you must, verify.

The whole plane should be re-certified, not as a minor upgrade but as a whole new plane, before being allowed to fly. And lots of people should be fired and forbidden from working in aerospace again. Fucking up when it gets someone killed - or in this case lots of people - should not be given second chances.

National Lottery Sentry MBA hacker given nine months in jail after swiping just £5

Proportional sentences

It bothers me that seemingly petty crime like this gets a fairly heavy sentence, but crimes that to me seem to have caused far more harm get far less, or are simply not prosecuted at all.

And sure, Camelot spent 230k on dealing with it, but that doesn't at all mean that it was actually necessary. And perhaps they could and should have spent rather less had they fixed the holes beforehand.

BOFH: You brought nothing to the party but a six-pack of regret

Re: Learnings

"Gifted", "birthed", ugh.

Why can't passport biometrics see through my cunning disguise?

On lifts, and how to use them when you're not supposed to

See Deviant Ollam and Howard Payne's talk on Elevator Hacking, somewhere on YouTube.

Internet Society CEO: Most people don't care about the .org sell-off – and nothing short of a court order will stop it

What a

twat.

Close the windows, it's coming through the walls: Copper Cthulu invades Dabbsy's living room

"Me, I've just moved into a house" - oh, you've moved house? You should have said before!

Remember the Uber self-driving car that killed a woman crossing the street? The AI had no clue about jaywalkers

Uber

Uber’s arrogance in everything they do is simply horrendous.

I like the business model - ride-hailing is the logical modernisation of taxis, but the company is just awful.

The UK's Civil Aviation Authority asked drone orgs to email fliers' data in an Excel spreadsheet

Weighing in

Do they weigh them on thee ground or in mid-air?

To be fair, the downdraft ought to give a higher reading than the drone itself.

Radio nerd who sipped NHS pager messages then streamed them via webcam may have committed a crime

Ofcom says nothing -

good. They have better things to do.

And someone get the NHS to update their tech.

Father of Unix Ken Thompson checkmated: Old eight-char password is finally cracked

Re: DES

Trying to give some a terabyte-sized password would cause a few problems. Reasonable limits seem...reasonable.

UK Supreme Court unprorogues Parliament

Re: Damning...

So, the PM does not have the power to do what he did, and Parliament can ignore him, is that correct?

Are you who you say you are, sir? You are? That's all fine then

British Gas

Does the "tell a robot what your problem is" on the phone. Bastards. That alone is enough reason to find someone else (I've found Scottish Power to be much better, call them, they talk to you and do the thing).

Microsoft Surface users baffled after investing in kit that throttles itself to the point of passing out

I bought an SP4 some years ago. It's a lovely device, but I will never recommend any of the line to anyone I like - there have just been too many problems. Also, Microsoft seems to simply make up the battery life numbers - "8 hours of streaming video" my arse, half that.

Hack-age delivery! Wardialing, wardriving... Now warshipping: Wi-Fi-spying gizmos may lurk in future parcels

But then someone opens the box and sees a load of electronics. Isn't that a bit suspicious? Sure, it might be too late, but that opens a whole new set of ways to catch the perpetrator.

It's official! The Register is fake news… according to .uk overlord Nominet. Just a few problems with that claim, though

I've never seen The Register act with anything but integrity. Anyone claiming otherwise up had better prove it.

Anyone using the phrase "fake news" unironically should really catch up, get a life, and stop lying.

Apple disables iPad for 48 years after toddler runs amok

I was under the impression that was how it worked - you lock it for a minute, fail again lock it for 5 minutes, and so on. So at some point, the iPad went from some probably at most hours to tends of years? That's idiotic design.

Ca-caw-caw: Pigeon poops on tot's face as tempers fray at siege of Lincoln flats

"Heartbreaking"

I don't think it means what she thinks it means.

It's a pretty easy problem to solve, though. Just give some kids air guns, they'll take care of it.

Boffins debunk study claiming certain languages (cough, C, PHP, JS...) lead to more buggy code than others

Typo

"the broader question question"

Interesting article.

Man drives 6,000 miles to prove Uncle Sam's cellphone coverage maps are wrong – and, boy, did he manage it

Admirable

The results are obvious, but someone had to go and do it. Well done Vermont and Mr Chase.

Also: "40Mbph" -> mph.

Giraffe hacks printers worldwide to promote God-awful YouTuber. Did we read that one right?

Interesting

how many posters here in support of PDP joined just to make that post. No doubt some would attribute this to his "army" of supporters.

I have essentially no opinion on him, since I know little about what he does, apart from that I find it to be of little interest. Mass printer hacks are more my thing.

TV Licensing admits: We directed 25,000 people to send their bank details in the clear

Dreadful lying people

They once actually sent someone round to my parents. He walked past my father in the garden and dropped a "we missed you" note through the open door. Bastard.

I cannot fathom how the sending of letters as nasty and threatening as they do (and sometimes even containing flat-out lies) is legal - if I were to do it, I would rightly be classed and punished for harassment.

Microsoft: You don't want to use Edge? Are you sure? Really sure?

To put it simply, Microsoft:

Fuck off.

I paid for my OS. And my Surface Pro 4. Quite a bit. I'm not bitter, because yes, it takes a lot of work, and devs deserve to be paid. But please just let me use it without constantly nagging me.

A flash of inspiration sees techie get dirty to fix hospital's woes

Re: Thanks for the God Mode tip

I find the biggest problem to be the glued-together piece of crap that is settings on Win10. There's there Settings app, in which individual settings are in the most bizarre places (notifications are in "system", app permissions are in "privacy" instead of in "apps"). Then there's still the old control panel we know and love, with a few things removed, or even still there but disabled. (startup in msconfig is now in Task Manager, but with the tab still there and a helpful link - why move it then?)

Windows 10 July update. Surface Pro 4. Working fondleslab. Pick two

Mine

is currently running 17134.228. Either I bypassed that one (I often have Battery Saver enabled, which stops updates, because MS's "8 hours" is a flat-out lie) or never had any problems. For which I thank the gods daily, because MS just can't get this right. I love thew device, I just hate all the problems I've had with it.

Chap asks Facebook for data on his web activity, Facebook says no, now watchdog's on the case

Did FB even read GDPR?

Doesn't look like it. Or perhaps they think they can get away with it? I rather suspect the ICO and EU equivalent are itching to give someone a massive fine.

Unbreakable smart lock devastated to discover screwdrivers exist

He just happened to buy the one with a dud pin? Fuck off.

This ought to be counted as fraud, although writing a definition might be difficult. Obviously padlocks aren't supposed to be unbreakable, but harder than trivial would be good. The alternative is to say market forces make bad products disappear, but how many will see this for sale in a shop and buy it without checking up on it?

Woman sues NASA for ownership of vial of space dust

Possession is...

Who actually has the dust in their possession? Is she suing because NASA nicked it off her and she wants it back, or is this preemptive?

Welcome to Ubuntu 18.04: Make yourself at GNOME. Cup of data-slurping dispute, anyone?

Opt-something

It doesn't have to be opt-in or opt-out in the way it's often used, where an option is preselected. It's quite possibly to have radio buttons, which if used HTML-style do not have a default one "clicked". The user MUST make a choice, and cannot simply click next. This seems much better for the privacy conscious, since it's not a default setting, and better for Canonical than opt-in because a default of "off" gets them hardly any useful data.

As Tesla hits speed bump after speed bump, Elon Musk loses his mind in anti-media rant

Taking it personally?

It seems the author may be doing just so.

That said, the article is a good one, and makes a point that too many seem to forget: "the media" is seen as some shadowy group of people who conspire to do evil.

Also, Twitter is not a good place to hang out for peace of mind. Alfie wouldn't approve. Those who regularly use it seem to think that those they encounter there reflect the broader population, which to me does not seem to be the case, for both the left who encounter the right, and vice versa, along with those who dislike being labelled as either.

Much as I admire Musk, he has an alarming tendency to get annoyed about things and then start a new company to fix the problem. I'm not sure this is a good idea.