Posts by steviebuk

Facebook's anti-trademark bot torpedoes .org website that just so happened to criticize Zuck's sucky ethics board

Always nice when...

...you have enough of a following to get the register to do an article about it and to be able to create a social medium storm on Twitter to make people aware.

My YouTube channel is tiny, not even 1k subs but a shady parking fines company here in the UK flagged a year old video of mine for a copyright strike. It got instantly pulled and I've been trying to argue with YouTube, with several counter claims that all the work in the video is my own. That you can't possibly claim a copyright strike over a video of someone browsing your website and pointing out all the security issues with it. This has fallen on deaf ears with their bots saying over and over I haven't given enough info. But not telling me what more they need.

Its clearly an abuse of the parking company where they know its an arse trying to fight YouTube to get a video back. Thankfully we have lbry who ignore bullshit claims such as this so the video is still available there.

I asked The Register if they'd like to do a story on this. The abuse of the YouTube copyright strike system and a parking company abusing it. I've had no reply and its been several weeks now since I asked.

I'll be doing my own article and putting it on my website soon. I gave up the YouTube fight. I make no money from my videos and reluctantly followed the copyright school section so the strike expires in December. That way the parking company don't get my real address, which I'm most certain they wanted so they can either abuse it or send goons round. But, as I'm small fry, doubt it will be noticed on my site.

The company is clearly somewhat shady. In their privacy statement now, where they made no mention of GDPR originally (which was one of the issues including the security issues) they now have a statement claiming that policy was updated in April last year. Which is before my video was uploaded about all their security issues. This is clearly an attempt to fool any investigation by the ICO. Unfortunately for them the wayback machine captured the same page in May of last year and that same statement is missing :)

Robot wars! Scandi automation biz AutoStore slings patent sueball, claims it owns Ocado warehouse tech

Re: Patents

I wonder if the robotic tape drive was mentioned because its so similar to robotic tape drives like StorageTek Automated Cartridge System. It is very possible for two people to come up with the same idea based on another idea (Robotic Tape Drive) that end up very similar. Stuart Lee does a bit about this in his Plagiarists Corner like

LEE & HERRING / THE GOVERNMENT – EXAM MARKING SYSTEM SUMMER 2020

:)

And he's also pointed out issues with his own stand-up with stuff that pre-dates his to show he's come up with an idea without knowing the original existed.

Who watches the watchers? Samsung does so it can fling ads at owners of its smart TVs

Re: Likewise

He can say in and think it but doesn't mean they'll be able to ditch it. If they ditch GDPR they won't be able to share or potentially do business with the EU. So it's easier to keep it. And I want it kept so I can keep asking the local Waitrose carpark management company to "Remove my number plate from your ANPR system as I've been within the limit and not getting a ticket. So under right to be forgotten there is no need for you to keep my data".

It's the year of Linux on the... ThinkPad as Lenovo extends out-of-the-box Ubuntu support to nearly 30 machines

Isn't the point that they past the cost on to the buyer. Even if they got it for a few pounds per device, they can slap 50+ onto the list price and claim "You're paying the extra for the Windows license innit" when really they are just using that as an excuse for extra profit.

Hey kids! Ditch that LCD and get ready for the retro CRT world of Windows Terminal

Re: You had one job.

Ah laplink. I discovered in college in the 90s. And discovered you could just copy the laplink directory and you now had the full install of an official licensed laplink. Used it for years. I know its naughty to not have paid but I was a poor student.

.uk registry operator Nominet responds to renewed criticism – by silencing its critics

Re: Other companies try to silence their critics

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/whats-worse-than-coulda

Other companies try to silence their critics

Like Parkshield Collection LTD. Did a video of their website back in August last year on how insecure it was and how it breached GDPR. Their T&C made no mention of the existence of GDPR (they've now back dated their T&C to make it appear they had it in place before august 2019). They had no SSL and all forms anyone filled in were sent over in plain txt. No email address to inform them of the issue so the video was made. Has been on my YouTube for almost a year, along with my email address which they could of emailed.

But no. A couple of weeks ago the idiot owners decided to claim a false copyright strike on the video so it got instantly removed. An attempt to hide their crimes. They clearly don't understand how the Internet works. My channel is backed up by lbry. So every video uploaded also gets uploaded to lbry. Lbry won't stand for the bullshit claim nonsense so its still available there :o)

All they had to do was email me, explaining they've fixed the SSL issue on the Parking Enforcement Agency site. I'd have thought about removing the video. Despite the issue having been on going for months and months. And despite their main company site parkshieldgroup still having no SSL by default.

You'll always get shady companies attempting to silence their crimes.

Adidas now stands for All Day I'm Disconnecting All Servers as owners of 'smart' Libra scales furious over bricked kit

Chrome books just as bad

At a place I was at, some idiot was touting the idea of replacing all laptops with Chromebooks. Ignoring the fact you can't install custom software on them, ignoring you can't install legacy software on them and the final part (which I only found out recently) Chromebooks have a expire date stamped on them with the date Google will stop updating the software on it.

Fuck that. It was a dumb idea thats just gotten worse.

I can't stand IoT stuff because of issues like this but when you have people that flatly refuse to listen to this argument (the other half) you can see why comes still sell this shit to people that they know they won't support for long.

Have no idea WTF is going on with the Oracle-Walmart TikTok deal? Don’t sweat it, here’s our latest rundown

Yes but the republicans could take the high ground and say they aren't going to do it like they said in 2016 but they aren't and attempting to go ahead

We don't need maintenance this often, surely? Pull it. Oh dear, the system's down

In the mid 90s

I was at college and we an a minor infection of the Form virus. I was still early days of learning computers back then and being on a computer course was fascinated by finding a live virus in the wild. I managed to get one of my floppies infected and took it home in an attempt to examine it. Managed to infect my HDD bootsector but never mind, just started booting from the 5 1/4 floppy instead.

Looking through an infected file with a hex editor I found the message it was supposed to display but never did

"The FORM-Virus sends greetings to everyone who's reading this text. FORM doesn't destroy data! Don't panic! Fuckings go to Corinne."

I changed the wording, infected a floppy and took it to college to try and spread my version with a different message. I can't remember the message. I loved my LA Kings ice hockey jacket back then so I think I put the name Kingz which I used to draw all over my books :) even if only I'd know Kingz was me.

Pointless, boring story but good to remember for me.

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

We have history books for a reason

So we can learn from fuck ups. Google glassholes ended up getting punched on a few occasions. I don't condone that, punching them for wearing knobby tech is wrong and a cunt move but it won't end well with the Facebook glasses either.

I was piss poor at predicting the popularity of smartphones but can say for sure, these WON'T be a phone killer. As a spectacle wearer they are fucking annoying.

The Battle of Britain couldn't have been won without UK's homegrown tech innovations

Re: The war is over, the empire is gone

You never forget or it will happen again.

Sounds like Spotify and Epic have been chatting: Music streamer blasts Apple One service as 'anti-competitive'

When will it happen!?

I've been waiting patiently for years for Apple to be hit with the anti-trust suit they deserve. If MS got one for the way they screwed Netscape, then Apple have deserved one long ago. Considering they were found guilty of price fixing ebooks, how have they never been hit with one?

Nvidia says regulators will be 'very supportive' of $40bn Arm buy despite concerns about chip designer's independence

Re: Few here seem to understand

True but when SoftBank bought them, we were all forced to accept SoftBanks higher than market rate for each share we owned. So wouldn't of been able to keep an hand in unless, I guess, you owned a massive slice.

They'll do nothing

Bojo will do fuck all as he's simple a fuckwhit. They never cared when we had Arm and Softbank wanted it. They claimed it was a side of how popular the UK tech industry was, ignoring the fact they were selling it off. I had shares in ARM then and I can't moan as made 2k from it and I really needed the money. But I don't understand Hermann. Surely if he's that bothered he'd have kept enough shares that he'd have final say on what happens, but he never did, I assume he cashed out himself.

Having said that, he still has a right to moan and say its a bad idea.

If the orange one somehow gets re-elected and I fear he will (his supporters are blind to his fuck ups and bentness) then we know if this sale goes through, he'll tell Nvidia to stop selling chips to China.

You can never get rid of mice and keyboards. Some of my poorly written posts are an example of why. I hate typing on touchscreens. I'm on one now making sure it doesn't look a mess as frequently they do.

Family wrongly accused of uploading pedo material to Facebook – after US-EU date confusion in IP address log

Re: Another reason an IP

You do realise a contract can be deemed unlawful. Years ago I bought a digital camera, I think in 2002 or round that time from Kodak on their online store. Someone made a mistake and put the wrong price. I'd checked out and paid and they'd given me a receipt. Now technically a contract. For everyone that ordered one they later rejected as a mistake, saying they had a right under their contract blah blah. It was deemed later, that their contract could infact be illegal and void. They eventually, as a "good will gesture" honoured all the orders.

The camera ended up being shit but was fascinating having an early digital camera.

So contracts can be deemed illegal if challenged.

Another reason an IP

Address shouldn't be used as evidence. Like the old story of a IP being on a list of movie or music pirates. That IP address turned out to be a printer.

And with the ability to break into anyone's home wifi, you could easily set anyone up. "It came from their IP address, so must be someone in that property and couldn't possibly be the person sat outside in their car with a big aerial on the roof"

Microsoft's Surface Duo cops 1 repairability point for each of its screens: That's 2/10

They have become as bad

As Apple. Both, I believe, talk about eco their data centres are. But no one seems to pull them up about how unrepairable their kit is. With Apple going as far as fighting Right To Repair.

Court hearing on election security is zoombombed on 9/11 anniversary with porn, swastikas, pics of WTC attacks

What?

"Back in March, Michigan’s top law officials put out a statement warning that “anyone who hacks into a teleconference can be charged with state or federal crimes. Charges may include, to name just a few, disrupting a public meeting, computer intrusion, using a computer to commit a crime, hate crimes, fraud, or transmitting threatening communications.”

The statement also noted that “all of these charges are punishable by fines and imprisonment.”"

And how would that work out in court with a decent lawyer in your defense.

"This defendant hacked into the zoom call and....".....

"Objection. There was no hacking involved. You fuck whits left the meeting open to allow anyone to join. You were the ones using the wrong license (I suspect because you went for the cheap option to save money). So there was no hacking, you left the door wide open. We agree, my client was a cock, but you can't charge him/her for computer misuse or hacking as there was none."

HMRC claims victory in another IR35 dispute to sting Nationwide contractor for nearly £75k in back taxes

Re: Wait? I'm a contractior now?

I was technically called a "Contractor" and I worked for 7 years in the same roll at the same place, all because the arseholes didn't want to make me perm so they could get rid of me with only a weeks notice whenever they wanted. Luckily, I was paying NI and TAX so I'm safe but it is possible to be seen as a "contractor" yet still work in a place for years.

Surely places like Nationwide should have to foot the bill or at least part of it? If this one was apparently a contractor scamming the system, then surely Nationwide were colluding.

Is today's AI yesterday's software routines with better PR? We argued over it, you voted on it. And the winner is...

And don't forget the holodeck.

Re: Is this like triple-A mortgages

I think I understand the Triple-A and Triple-B mortgages because of The Big Short, but still don't understand how you're allowed to take, what are mostly Triple-B mortgages, then somehow wrap them up that allows you to sell them as Triple-As when they clearly are not.

Is this like triple-A mortgages

That were actually made up of shit triple-Bs, yet somehow they were allowed to sell them as triple-As

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

Re: Mark

That post is the exact reason I hate typing on touchscreen smart phones.

Need to learn to proof read before sending.

Mark

must obviously not care about all the hate he gets as he's still there. If I had all that money, I've have retired from it long ago. But then I guess that's why I've never made money like that. I see these top execs and always wonder "Fuck the strees. Just retired and enjoy the money". I thought may its my laziness (it most likely is) but then read about Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell. Created software together, created WinInternals together later changing to Sysinternals. Then got offered the big deal with Microsoft to be bought out but they had to go and work with them, I think, for 5 years then they could fully cash out and do what they wanted. Never realised if you get bought out you don't always get the cash straight away and your contract states you have to work with the company for a period of years before you can grab the cash.

Anyway. It was a very nice deal. Both made a lot of money from it (Mark's old water front house that was recently up for sales was very nice) Mark Russinovich stayed and is now CTO of Azure and Bryce, just liked I'd do, decided he'd had enough of it all and it was time to retire and enjoy the money and freedom.

Techie studied ancient ways of iSeries machine, saved day when user unleashed eldritch powers, got £50 gift voucher

Re: You get told "We're not renewing your contract anymore"

Yep. In a place I was once at, the "peanuts paid contractors" (I'm not condoning what they did but it was predicable due to how they were treated), decided that about 20 of the over 100 PCs they were in charge of rolling out, wouldn't make it to the offices they were marked for. But instead, would be distributed amongst themselves and end up in their homes.

1. Because the audit travel of the kit was PISS POOR it was someones pet project and they just wanted it rushed.

2. They knew because auditing was so PISS POOR, the PCs could disappearing without much notice and if they were eventually noticed, they'd be long gone.

3. Because at the start of the roll out they were all called into a meeting with a proper cunt of a manager who said "You're all here to do a PC roll out. You're all monkeys and can be replaced so if you don't turn up or turn up late, you're out and will be replaced by the next monkey".

I'll say again, he was a cunt!

You get told "We're not renewing your contract anymore"

Despite being helpful, useful and liked, you could get told the above. Despite, no managers being in one specific day and helping theatres take in much needed money that day. Where an update at the outsourced payment company, had killed their server. So they needed someone to go round and update all the chip and pin machines for them. No one was around but me. I said just tell them to send me what they need to do and I'll do it. All I got was a thanks then about a year later all was forgotten and my contract wasn't renewed.

Cunts.

Bletchley Park Trust can’t crack COVID-caused revenue slump without losing staff

Re: I'm sure they are trying

Because I'm an idiot and didn't sort by videos. My mistake.

Never reported the charity at the time as I was a little clueless to such things back then.

I'm sure they are trying

But why haven't they hit YouTube. The computing museum part appears to have a channel yet last updated 4 months ago. Why haven't they been using social medium to get their message out there.

The Centre for Computing History also has issues but has hit YouTube alot more to get its message across about money issues but not just that, showing you more areas of the museum and history but in a virtual way.

Even The Tank Museum before covid and during used YouTube and Patron. During covid they've been trying to convince people to buy from the shop and their online talks have been really good along with the dog Fin.

I'd be curious how much the CEO is on. There was a charity years ago in London, can't remember the name now, that I volunteered at one day due to struggling to get IT work. They take old PCs, rebuild, refurb and ship off to Africa. The one day I was there it was awful and never went back. They didn't monitor people probably so one boxed up shipment went with power leads. I commented but no one appeared to care. They'd take people on day release from prison not because they cared but because they got money to do so. Showed us around and the toilets were fucking awful. One cubicle in a large room. A cubicle that looked a bit fucked as is. One urinal all in a shared room with no door to lock. So the few woman that worked there had to share it and eveyone just had to put a sign up.

My point? We then got to the CEOs office. It was massive, clean and nice, he was tan tastic because he'd "just got back from a business trip in South Africa". It was fucking clear he was just rinsing the place of its money for his pleasure. Fuck the working environment for the staff. Fuck the charity. I assume he didn't stay as with him in place they'd have gone bust long ago, but I did find them recently but still can't remember the pissing name. Fuck my bad memory.

Your 2.3m Instagram fans won't stop the FBI... Web star accused of plotting to launder millions from cyber-crime

Tit

Deserves to be in jail but when will these crooks realise, if you flash the cash you will get nabbed. I think John Gotti was disliked in the mob for being too flash with the media which drew too much attention to himself and the family.

Microsoft adds 'Here's what we may have broken' screen to Windows 10 Insider PCs

WIn95

This always (possibly a bit sad to say) brings a tear to my eyes. Just found this the other day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okt9GcWiWmE

As we were stuck with a 386sx for years because we couldn't afford anything better. Then the next machine we got were were able to get Windows 95 for it and most amazing of all, it had a sound card. This was the first video and sound I came across and it brings back nostalgic memories.

UK govt reboots A Level exam results after computer-driven fiasco: Now teacher-predicted grades will be used after all

Re: Teachers know a lot more than government ministers

Not really. We can't criticise someone for their school choice when it would of been the parents that sent them there. They may have had a nice school but its still your parents that make you go there.

I can see my house from here! Microsoft Flight Simulator has laid strong foundations for the nerdy scene's next generation

Not read

The review yet but what made the old ones so good on PC was the squawk. I can't remember if it was in the base game on it game from mods. They had volunteers I believe, creating them. It made it so much better when round big airports being able to listen to the radio chatter. Doubt you'll get that on the console.

Single-line software bug causes fledgling YAM cryptocurrency to implode just two days after launch

Re: Money Money Money

Having said that I past on Bitcoin in the early days as it SO SO SO SO looked like a Ponzi scheme. Could of made a killing. Oh well. I'm also the same person that, in the 90s, said "Mobile phones? I don't want one as they are just a fade. They appeared in the 80s and never took off so they won't this time either".

I think I was wrong about that also.

I've stayed away from digital coins ever since.

So

"This bug would likely have been caught by in-depth outside review or audit," said Prestwich, who observed that the project attracted interest because its creators leveraged relationships with influencers in the crypto community. "It would certainly have been caught by industry-standard testing practices."

Hipsters invested in it because of a hipster developer. The sort of hipster developer that would say "We want to be infrastructure free" or "We don't do testing. That is so last year. We are agile. Move with the times grandad"

Donald Trump thought-bubbles an Alibaba ban as Chinese clouds clam up about Clean Cloud plan

"I never said what scale the wall would be. I never did, I never said. It doesn't matter that it's just a model on a model map, its still a wall and its still great. Its the greatest wall that has ever been seen. I would say, I do say, its greater than the Great Wall of China (that we're also going to ban)."

America's largest radio telescope blind after falling cable slashes 100-foot gash in reflector dish

Re: Oooo

I miss that map. I think it was BF3 I have a great memory of a bomb run from one of the jets. On a map with a canyon. Came in from a distance and lined up a target. Knowing full well if you get lock on, they get a warning before bombs are dropped.

I was low enough that I could see the soldier hop out the tank and leg it before the bomb hit. It was amazing to see and is why the game was so great.

Oooo

has someone been playing Battlefield 4?

Well, what are we waiting for? Three weeks later, Windows Embedded Standard 7 still didn't have the answer

I really need

to send mine in from the EE store in town that had a BSOD.

We have bad news for non-US Microsoft fans: The incoming Surface Duo is underspecced, overpriced, and over there

Re: Why?

Depends which ones and who's using them. I've dell stock Dell keyboards rub off real easy because they aren't laser etched. And the person using them had long nails and insisted on typing with the tips of her nails. This was on a Dell laptop keyboard.

Firefox maker Mozilla axes a quarter of its workforce, blames coronavirus, vows to 'develop new revenue streams'

Please

Make a Google Keep plug-in that is legit. Then I can be back with firefox at work. I always loved firefox, was annoyed we went with gsuite at work so was encouraged to only use Chrome. Then I got use to Chrome. I still like Firefox but the integration with Google keep on Chrome is really good. Being able to highlight txt on a site and right click, save to google keep, which does and automatically adds the link, is so very very useful.

Microsoft confirms pursuit of TikTok after Satya Nadella chats to Donald Trump

Confused how this works

So they sell the American arm due to be forced with a threat of a ban so they want to get some money for it. However, now what would happen? If MS buy it they now have all the code and tech and can check if its secure (any backdoors will be religiously removed before the sale so won't show anything). But they now have their own US tiktok? That is in competition with China? Or not because it won't be available in China?

USA decides to cleanse local networks of anything Chinese under new five-point national data security plan

Get your own house in order also

The amount of issues with security with American made devices and software is just as bad. Although was quite some years ago now, I reported to Twitter about their account issues. Upon attempting to rest your password it would frequently push you to the http version of said site. I was ignored. Wasn't until a security researcher contacted them with the same info after having found my video of it, that they bother to acknowledge it. To him, they still ignored me.

Self-driving car supremo Anthony Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in the clink for stealing trade secrets from Google's Waymo

Re: “Why I went to federal prison,”

You sometimes do. Back in the early 90s a US man came to our school in the UK, I can't remember if he was in prison in the UK or in the US, it was for drugs. Anyway, he convinced us it wasn't nice. One story was:

"I could hear a guy screaming in his cell, then he proceeded to crawl out on all fours with a broom handle stuck up his arse that another inmate had forced up there as punishment".

Grime.

You think the UK coronavirus outbreak was bad? Just wait till winter: Study shows test-and-trace system is failing

Re: Really?

Heard immunity may work BUT only if the whole of England was healthy. We are not, so its a fucking bad idea and will kill off most of the poor, who tend to eat poorly due to money and/or time issues. Time issues due to having to work multiple, fucking, low paid jobs.

Some here are starting to sound like the knob that was on the Isle Of Wight ferry the other day "I don't believe in this Covid nonsense", with no mask on. The knob in Wickes on Saturday morning with his mask round his neck and another one with his mask on his chin so he could talk on his fucking mobile. And not to mention the various people that don't bother to cover their nose with the mask.

As mentioned in Private Eye

"Masks do not reduce your oxygen saturation but they can only work if used correctly, and yet many spectacle-wearers steam up and lower the mask below the nose, which is akin to wearing underpants with your penis on the outside."

Re: But... but...

Both, considering Hancock is the cock who has his own MP app that was massively flawed and full of security holes and privacy issues.

If you own one of these 45 Netgear devices, replace it: Kit maker won't patch vulnerable gear despite live proof-of-concept code

Re: I wonder

I've tried, with my shit Virgin up that has the shitest built in aerials but, the Draytek it is bridged too, gets an IP address yet doesn't ever go out to the Internet. I don't know what Virgin are doing to it but it refuses to get an Internet connection so I'm still stuck with the shitty Virgin hub.

Google extends homeworking until this time next year – as Microsoft finds WFH is terrific... for Microsoft

I'm enjoying it

Missed the 2nd screen so grabbed one from work. Get up later, don't have to walk 20mins into work but always available to pop into office if needed. This has got to be better on a lot of peoples mental health due to not having to commute.

It annoys me that the last place I was at, I said all along "Why are you having your monthly meetings at each others site? We're IT, we can surely teleconference". No, I was told, this is the way we do it. I suspect a few were claiming more on the travel than they were actually doing so making a bit of money from it. Now there is no choice but to teleconference and shows I, and others that said it, were right all along.

Mysterious supernova is blasting far-flung galaxy with flashes of UV light – and astroboffins don't know why

Its the Borg

at least it normally is.