Posts by David Tallboys

We polled thousands of IT pros – and sustainability just ain't a priority right now

Re: Are we shocked?

The IPCC isn't mandated to examine the causes of climate change. It just assumes, without questioning, that man made carbon dioxide emissions are the only cause of climate change. If the Vatican said the correct number of angels on a pin is 7 would you accept that as true? It assumes the existence of angels without questioning it.

If you go into the IPCC report you will find they even admit there is no evidence of extreme weather increasing. It is in Chapter 12:

https://wattsupwiththat.com/ipcc-attributions-climate-and-extreme-weather/

There is no evidence of any increase or decrease, globally or by region, in the frequency, severity or extent of frost, mean precipitation, river floods, heavy precipitation and pluvial floods, landslides, aridity, hydrological drought, agricultural or ecological drought, fire weather or wildfires, mean wind speed, severe wind storms or tornados, tropical cyclones or hurricanes, sand and dust storms, snow glacial or ice sheets, heavy snowfall and ice storms, hail, snow avalanche, relative sea levels, coastal floods, coastal erosion, marine heatwaves, ocean acidity, air pollution weather or radiation at earth’s surface.

And even that is under the absurd RCP8.5 scenario. you do know what the RCP scenarios are don't you?

==

As for computer models - even the head of NASA's climate modelling, Gavin Schmidt, has admitted the computer models are running "too hot" - see his article in Nature magazine May 2022 if this link doesn't work:

https://irp.cdn-website.com/0bdd390b/files/uploaded/NatureGavinSchmidtClimateModels.pdf

Page 2 of that article shows that if you eliminate the more absurd hot models the climate crisis evapoates. (The blue lines on the graph)

iPhone XS: Just another £300 for a better cam- Wait, come back!

Note 3 size for web/email and iPhone 4s for calls and shirt pocket

I have my contract sim in the Note 3 but calls are diverted to the iPhone 4s which fits nicely in shirt or trouser pocket and has a PAYG sim.

Now about that Nokia 6310i I still have - it is so big compared to the iPhone 4s.

Memo to Microsoft: Windows 10 is broken, and the fixes can't wait

I've rejoined the Dark Side, dropped ubuntu installed Windows 10

Sorry guys, I'm too dim to cope with ubuntu.

A couple of years ago at someone's suggestion here I tried Linux. I bought a new Dell laptop which came with ubuntu 14 already installed - £200.

All I used it for was some short documents and spreadsheets using Libre Office; and Firefox for browsing.

It upgraded to 16 and I had a bit of aggro getting 2 printers to work - a Canon 3550 and an HP1102w.

Last week it upgraded to 18 and after hours and hours of trying and following web advice I can't get the printers to work.

I thought I would try a dual boot and used the Windows 10 usb I had and it installed within about half an hour (had to change some partition thingys) and both printers worked.

Sorry Grub or sodu or whatever.

Enigma message crack honours pioneering Polish codebreakers

My dog has no nose

How does it smell?

Awful

--------------------------

Whilst I'm still here - is uBlock Origin still good enough for a non tech not completely paranoid user who just wants a tidier browser and a bit less slurping?

Europe's GDPR, Whois shakeup was supposed to trigger spam tsunami – so, er, where is it?

Re: Privacy or accountability ?

Companies are supposed (in the UK) to list their name outside their premises. Companies House in the UK then provides, for a modest fee or none, the ownership.

Yes, I think the sender of every piece of mail should disclose who they are. Are you sending something you shouldn't?

Privacy or accountability ?

I think I should be able to find out who owns a company.

I think I should be able to find out out who owns a building.

So, I think I should be able to find out who owns a website; and who is emailing me.

And it shouldn't require a warrant or other legal shenanigans.

You can get company information from Companies House - but the usefulness of this is being diminished by shareholders such as : XYZ Nominees LLC - registered in an overseas place where you cannot find the real beneficial owners.

I don't think people or companies should be able to conduct business and expect the various protections that the law offers without public disclosure of ownership.

You want to know which is the best smartphone this season? Tbh, it's tricky to tell 'em apart

My current usage is a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - for screen size - but with calls forwarded to an old iPhone 4s that fits in my pocket.

Neither of which cuts out the spam PPI call I just received while writing this. Grrrrr.

EUROCONTROL outage causes flight delays across Europe

Didn't that happen in a hospital with the result that one particular bed in a ward had a high death rate?

Microsoft says 'majority' of Windows 10 use will be 'streamlined S mode'

My Casio EX-V8 camera has the same shamrock. And a nice little camera it is too. Dozens if not hundreds of pre-sets and favourite settings whereas even most DSLRs only give you a couple.

Now, as for this Microsoft nonsense; I read somewhere that Google are doing something to make android restricted, now Microsoft with S - so have they both agreed the Apple walled garden was the best approach after all?

I've tried Linux, pre-installed on a £200 Dell laptop I bought a year ago, but having to type pseudo this that or the other is not for me - but it did prompt me to have a go at running an old DOS game (Carriers At War) from 1991 - on an old XP machine.

How's that for a ramble? :)

Crowdfunding small print binned as Retro Computers Ltd loses court refund action

Venture Capital is risky, crowdfunding more so.

It takes about ten times as much money to go from working prototype to consumer product.

Beware next time you back a start up.

I've run a venture capital fund - I'm so pleased crowd funding came into being. We once got a handwritten business plan for a spaceship. Now the crowd funders get them.

Report: Underwater net cables are prime targets for terrorists and Russia

Re: Forced to use radio

On 5 August 1914, just a day after war was declared, Britain acted by cutting five of Germany’s undersea telegraph cables, which fanned out into the Atlantic from the English Channel. A ship called the Telconia sailed out into the English Channel sunk its anchor and hauled up the five cables, cutting off North America, and many of Germany’s more distant territories.

“Germany was instantly cut off from its major trading centres and the rest of the world. She was isolated from important and strategic military tools. It’s a very important piece of very early British technological decision making.”(Dr Richard Noakes, University of Exeter).

Surveillance Capitalism thinks it won, but there's still time to unplug it

Use a crisp packet as a Faraday cage.

There are several news stories about this.

Can The Reg's readers tell me whether this works.

Amazon told to repay €250m in 'unfair state aid' from Luxembourg

Meanwhile in the UK HMRC switches to Amazon

Yep, as I understand it, HMRC has dumped a Manchester provider in favour of Amazon. You'd have thought somebody would mention it to the Tory party conference. But then, maybe not.

Equifax's IT leaders 'retire' as company says it knew about the bug that brought it down

Re: admin/admin

I'm supposed to go to Barcelona next week, or not thanks to Ryanair,

I thought Barcelona was down and to the left from London so I am shocked to find out it is east of the meridian - but it might have moved as I just looked at a 1970 National Geographic map.

We don't need another hero: Huawei overtakes Apple – even without a big-hitter

Re: Apple is doomed

Sales are vanity, profit is sanity.

Note 3 - so good I bought another one second hand a few weeks ago.

But I've still got my iPhone 4s from about 2011 and use it when I want a shirt pocket phone. I just have all calls forwarded from the Note, then change back when happy to have Note in trouser cargo pocket.

But then I still like Microsoft Works 4.5 - which I found is OK on Windows 8.1.

Time for my medicine.

Oh, another thing. I did actually buy a Linux machine (Dell with Ubuntu) as a result of threads on El Reg, but can't be bothered to do more than use it as an internet machine. Sorry, but I made a small effort to be non MS..

PS, still got a Nokia 6310i which I put a sim in occasionally.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

DeX Station: Samsung's Windows-killer is ready for prime time

They should give these things away as promo or charge a fiver.

I have a Samsung Note 3 with a Samsung media device - about the size of a packet of cigs - that does pretty much this. I use it to plug in to 23 inch screens at a few of the places I regularly travel to. Power come from the same charger plug as the phone. So the marginal extra baggage is the packet of cigs device. I don't recommend taking a 23 inch screen on Ryanair.

It works OK for web browsing, light spreadsheet/word processing email.

But Samsung charged about 60 quid for it. Microsoft made the same mistake in my view about Continuum - they should just give the things away as it is hardly expensive to make. Instead I imagine someone thinks they can make a great margin by charging a hundred quid for a fivers worth of plastic and connectors. The result is low take up.

Up Wolf Creek without a signal: outback cable cut disconnects top end TPG, Optus customers

Internet, in the outback? It must have ruined the place.

I worked near Katherine in 1975, well actually 3 hours east from El Sherana which is about 50 miles east of Pine Creek which is North of Katherine.

The remains of the end of one of my fingers are there after an accident with a radon drill. "Oh, that's a hospital job mate, here's an aspirin. Now, it'll take you about 10 hours to get to Katherine hospital. Good luck."

No phones, no radio, no internet. Tell that to the kids of today. Etc....

Reception at Katherine hospital: "Oh look everyone, this pommie boy's hurt his finger. Poor little darling."

Well, hot-diggity-damn, BlackBerry's KEYone is one hell of a comeback

Dual SIM 2g 4g Archos - but is android

As usual I'm late to the party, but for 80 quid at Dixons at the airport a few months ago I bought a Helium 50 by Archos

This is dual sim - one is 2g the other 4g.

So what? Well, you can fit your 3g/4g data slurping sim for when you want data, but switch the 3g/4g sim off and have just 2g for receiving calls. Then turn the 3g/4g back on when you want.

The battery seems to last ages now with only 2g on - (thanks to an El Reg reader who pointed this out apropos something else).

Sure, the camera and sound aren't as good as a 600 pound phone, and for some reason it won't run NavMii - but for most data stuff it seems OK. And no Facebook built in.

I like my key board HTCs but age and eye sight mean a large screen is good for me.

Up close with the 'New Psion' Gemini: Specs, pics, and genesis of this QWERTY pocketbook

Bluetooth keyboard with Win ios Android

I've got a small, but not folding, keyboard that works with Android, Ios, and Windows devices. About 20 quid from Maplin, less online I guess.

It fits OK-ish in a jacket pocket and works with my Note 3.

The Note 3 can be connected to a large screen through a media dock.

I can also connect the keyboard to a larger tablet - e.g the ones with phone sims in from Yuntab.

Works fine as a cheap PC when abroad with office mobile apps.

I've never forgiven my business partner for giving my psion 5mx to his son without telling me after an unguarded moment I said I wasn't using it as much as I thought I would.

Train your self-driving car AI in Grand Theft Auto V – what could possibly go wrong?

Surely they are using Carmageddon, aren't they?

Much more fun for programmers with a sense of humor. Runs in Dos Box for those who've moved on to windows something, remember. Check Point.

My weird neighbor is a programmer for an avionics company. There is an increasing list of planes I do not want to be a passenger in.

NB u removed for US spelling in several places, it seems.

Password hell, too drunk to cope.

Is! Yahoo! dead?! Why! web! biz! will! rename! to! Altaba! – the! truth!

Think about the poor investment bankers

If this deal doesn't happen.

There will still be huge fees, but not as huge as if it does happen.

Investment bankers are like scummy marriage brokers. A fee for the search, a fee for a marriage; and who cares if it's a disaster and there's a divorce, closing the deal is the only thing.

Fake History Alert: Sorry BBC, but Apple really did invent the iPhone

I thought I invented it.

Somebody gave me an iPod and i said "Wow, it can do all this. Wouldn't it be great if it could make phone calls too?" A week later there's an iPhone.

Don't pay up to decrypt – cure found for CryptXXX ransomware, again

Help the users

"Six weeks after it was all up and running, the idiot clicked an email." (from an earlier comment); and there was another about a lady clicking on some game.

Clicking on stuff is what a mouse is for isn't it?

Please stop sneering at the customers/clients/users - help them.

I'm not a dev/sys admin or whatever. I've registered here as a user interested in understanding more about datacentres/cyber security but as a generalist not an expert. I am glad I did because I am getting aware more about this bad stuff. It's not if bad things will happen, it's when.

People (users, me) have no idea - and about half of them have an IQ lower than their body temperature - yet they are allowed to use computers, drive trucks, cars, planes.

If Microsoft can do the top right X not closing but agreeing trick then the really bad guys are going to have worse tricks.

Is there a solution?

I don't know - perhaps concentrating anti malware effort at the internet ISP level - because that's a sort of data funnel. A billion users can't be made malware savvy, but a few thousand ISPs can, maybe?

A PC/phone/tablet should be tool or a toy not a way to blow up your own company or whatever.

Higher tech prices ARE here to stay. It's Mr Farage's new Britain

But, but ..Champagne is almost free

A bottle of champagne for a price equivalent to less than about two hours work at minimum wage?

You people really are suffering under austerity.

OK, it was Tesco, and it was non vintage.

KCL staff offered emotional support, clergy chat to help get over data loss

KCL has quite a large and respected War Studies department. I guess the importance of cyber warfare has just been demonstrated by this KCL own goal.

Low-end notebook, rocking horse shit or hen's teeth

Dell Linux (ubuntu) laptops 200 quid including delivery

I'm not really a Linux guy, but as a result of a reply to a El Reg comment somebody made to me a few weeks ago I have tried Linux. I got confused by all this dual boot which flavour stuff but I found I could get a laptop direct from Dell with ubuntu pre installed.

Overall - well I've saved about 50 quid on what the same would be with Widows 10. Ha, but one in the eye for Microsoft, Apple etc. Eh?

For most people - (who don't need game playing machines) - almost anything is good enough by the time you pay a couple of hundred quid. I bought an Acer Revo from Staples - 119 quid Windows 8.1 - added Classic Shell and plugged it in to a screen. It's GREAT.

For those who paid 400 quid for a BBC micro back in the middle of the last century the amount of computing you get for that money now is terrific. But I just can't type any FASTER AND STILL LEAVE 'kin CAPS LOCK on.

Windows 10 backlash: Which? demands compo for forced upgrades

Ok, thanks for the reply. I'll give it a try on an old laptop.

Somebody please make Linux user friendly so that those of us with an IQ lower than our body temperature can install it, use it, browse the web, print things out and generally make life simpler again. I don't need no fancy graphics and photo or video manipulation.

I'm variously pissed off at Apple, Android and MS. Perfectly good devices rendered unusable by upgrades, data slurping and a general increase in aggro rather than diminishing of it.

Has anybody got a solution for a simple system?

Woo hoo, UK.gov has unveiled yet another tech creche – for infosec

I'll buy you a razor.

As a resident of Cheltenham I am trying to recruit infosec and cyber security guys. They are good in pub quiz teams, but no beards please.

Backup biz Arcserve: Private equity... there's nothing like it

Venture capital or private equity

I am a venture capitalist and I like private equity.

It's a bit like confessing to drinking too much, but I do that too.

By the way I'm looking for a bit barn to buy.

Well done to Arcserve for getting someone to write a cheque.

Microsoft’s Continuum: Game changer or novelty?

I think this should have been Microsoft's ace (at least for those of us for whom boring spreadsheet and document editing is what I want rather than social media stuff), so it seems silly to me that they go and kill Windows Phone just as they've got this to work well enough.

I use a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and a Windows Lumia 640. The Samsung not surprisingly has a much better display and all the apps; but whenever I have a marginal signal or aggro sending emails I have found the cheapo Lumia 640 more reliable and with longer battery life.

But am I going to pay the price for the last Windows phone just because of this now? No. (Not sure if the 640 will get the software update - anybody know?)

Incidentally I tried using the Samsung dock for projecting to an external screen, this does give some of what I wanted but is a bit clumsy,

Hungry UK services slinger swallows hosting biz for £65m – sources

Re: 65m?

I agree, but I want to buy a data centre. Tell me some others up for sale maybe.

Apple's 'lappable' iPad Pro concept is far from laughable

Re: Control ...

Asus T100 - decided to use Never 10 to avoid upgrading - I actually like the Win 8.1 touch version of Internet Explorer - which you don't seem to get with Edge on the (albeit cheap) win tablet I bought.

I've had a Bluetooth keyboard with my Ipad 2 from about 5 years ago - but used it very little anyway.

Incidentally, latest software had made it like treacle - as has Android on my Nexus; and now Microsoft with win 10. Hate them all now.