* Posts by sal II

149 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Mar 2017

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Apple’s lousy AI didn’t stop it beating Samsung’s smartphone sales for the first time since 2011

sal II

Major iPhone design revamp in 2027

"The firm also thinks Apple will deliver “a major iPhone design revamp” in 2027 to mark the 20th anniversary of the iPhone."

Not with Tim Apple as CEO, and if latest rumors that his exit won't be until late 2026, this won't allow sufficient time for any major change.

Unless of course they mean a switch to revolutionary aluminum unibody with rounded edges. /s

Seven years later, Airbus is still trying to kick its Microsoft habit

sal II

Re: 20 million cells?!

Oh yes you/they do. The whole multi Bn insurance industry is running on monster spreadsheets like that

Airbus: We were hours from pausing production in Spain

sal II

Re: What about connectivity

yes but looks like their goal is to continue production, not just give them more time for controlled shut down

sal II

What about connectivity

"Airbus is now ensuring adequate generator fuel reserves and priority supply contracts across its facilities in Spain, France, Germany, and the UK. The goal is to maintain operations for several days during a "massive blackout" without relying on external fuel deliveries."

They will also need to make sure that whoever provides their connectivity has similar provisions. Otherwise it will be a bit futile.

'Largest-ever' cloud DDoS attack pummels Azure with 3.64B packets per second

sal II

in the coming years, once vibe codding by AI becomes the norm, people will mourn the "good" old days of low cost countries coders

UK asks cyberspies to probe whether Chinese buses can be switched off remotely

sal II

Same will happen when the computer and public cloud infrastructure they often rely on are blocked by their respective supplier. But I guess since it would be most likely USA based supplier it's all good...

UK agri dept spent hundreds of millions upgrading to Windows 10 – just in time for end of support

sal II

Re: Solution for low salaries in gov IT

They can't get employees, because the paybands, that can't have an engineer earning more than their mediocre middle manager that has been in the job for 2 decades on like £40k or God forbid the senior management £50-60k. And you are not getting quality techies for £40k, yet alone seniors. So for long time they are forced to resort to contractors, because that's the only way to pay enough to attract talent.

AI bubble to deflate as enterprises defer spending to 2027

sal II

Re: Spending and revenue

The problem is that there isn't that much revenue to begin with. It's all hype. Large portions of the supposed revenue should be coming from companies laying off staff to replace with AI, but a lot these are starting to realize that AI can't quite hack it in most areas targeted.

More and more organizations come to realize that genAI is not AGI and outside of semi-useful chat bots that already exists without spending Bns on AI and fake videos and images for light entertainment - there aren't that many real world applications that could warrant the exuberant costs.

Firewalls and VPNs are so complex now, they can actually make you less secure

sal II

Re: Companies that use on-premise HW VPNs more likely to be attacked?

The study definitely confuses correlation and causation. Provides little evidence of specific exploits that were targeted in aforementioned big vendor FWs.

It's like stating it's less secure to use armored cars for large cash transfers, because you are more likely to be a victim of an armer robbery.

It completely fails to recognize the fact that large chunk (if not the majority) of ransomware attacks are not coming through the FW, but are a result of phishing, social engineering and malware triggered by users etc.

Twist in Tesco vs. VMware case as Computacenter files claim against Broadcom, Dell

sal II

This is literally the title of the article....

sal II

Re: Took some reading to understand

Did you bother reading the article? As with many if not most companies, Tesco used a reseller, in this case Computacenter to purchase the licenses, it was Computacenter they had the contractual options for extended support with

Microsoft, Nvidia, and others inject $40B into AI bubble with massive datacenter deal

sal II

Re: Properly zoned and permitted land

There is a "small" problem with your suggestion of rebuild - those pesky customers that need to be evicted first and many of them would have multi-year deals

Alibaba Cloud plans expansion into Europe and South America

sal II

Re: Hopefully will be blocked

Why not let the free market handle it, rather than blocking it on national level? It's not like the US cloud vendors don't carry risk under the current regime in the US.

You should be encrypting any cloud data anyway, so the risk that remains is availability in case of a Government mandate. Which at this point is probably less of an issue with China, than US based companies.

sal II

No surprise

"The move to France and The Netherlands is harder to explain, as both nations have expressed concern that Chinese tech vendors present risks to local users."

Trump's USA has proven to be just as risky as China for running workloads in Cloud. If they can provide better pricing I can see people and companies using it.

Defiant Broadcom calls for tech to go back where it belongs: On-premises

sal II

Re: On-prem cloud?

Dell already offer a solution to that conundrum with APEX, you get a bunch of hosts and only PAYG for the ones that go over 5% CPU utilization. Allowing you to have a sizeable standby capacity to meet increase of demand without going through procurement. More importantly it's all structured as OpEx, which is music to the beancounter's ears.

Sadly you still need to pay for the VCF licenses regardless.

But if you have big enough ELA with Microsoft and go down the Azure Local route with Dell APEX (or similar PAYG offering from other vendor) you kinda get the best of both worlds

Asda's tech separation from Walmart nears £1B as delays mount

sal II

Re: Where do they get these charges from?

Most of the cost is payments to Walmart to continue using/renting their system (the same they used pre-separation). Until the new solution is fit for purpose.

Auf wiedersehen, pet: UK Deutsche Bank contractors plan to leave rather than take 25% pay cut for IR35 – report

sal II

Re: Drop in quality

There is only one way from the bottom.

Or so they think...

UK contractors planning 'mass exodus' ahead of IR35 tax clampdown – survey

sal II

Re: A bloke called Norman

No, he was a permitractor. And people like him are the reason for the reform.

This is the only positive thing about the IR35 reform - it will weed out impostors like him that give contractors bad name.

Unfortunately the ham-fisted approach by HMRC is going to make a lot of collateral damage.

Fingers crossed, once the dust settles, the rest of us will be able to resume providing our services on a flexible and professional basis.

sal II

Re: hyperbole?

The problem is that IR35 is so ill defined that even HMRC are having trouble explaining it. so they don't even bother. They never provided companies with clear set of unambiguous rules that would allow them to make proper determination of the tax status of the freelancers they employ

Which lead to a situation where the biggest market for freelance work - large corporations are faced with a choice:

A) Accept quantifiable risk of HMRC investigation and tax grab

B) Stop using freelancers at all

Guess which option most of them are going for...

It's not apocalyptic, labour market have seen much bigger upheavals through the years, but there will be significant impact for both clients and freelancers.

HMRC doesn't care either way, they wan their pound of flesh

Very little helps: Tesco flashes ancient Windows desktop on Scan-As-You-Shop device

sal II

The more interesting question is who the hell still writes applications for Windows CE, for a handled device nonetheless.

Well Symbol I guess.

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

sal II

Re: Captain Obvious

Only it wasn't true redundancy. The secondary/passive one couldn't take over mid flight if the main failed. It required manual switch over.

In server terms it wasn't a cluster, but a identically configured cold spare sitting powered off at the bottom of the rack, used as a failback while the main is being fixed, or under maintenance etc.

Their latest fudge I guess is trying to run them in parallel for actual HA. Only every engineer understands that you need a 3rd (or any higher odd number) point for arbitration, they haven't learned even the recent lesson of having 2 pitch sensors speak to the MCAS

LastPass stores passwords so securely, not even its users can access them

sal II

Re: KeePass

As with most password managers it allows for copy/past of the password without revealing it on the display. Handy against shoulder surfers in the office etc.

It also handles well concurrent updates to the same DB file and merge of the changes.

Neither of these is an option with just a file. I'm sure there are other advantages to it. Not saying it's the best password manager or anything, just pointing out that it's one of the last remaining non-cloud and completely free options for a decent password manager.

sal II

Re: KeePass

Must have been long time ago. It's definitely an option now and fairly sure has been since version 2 release.

sal II

KeePass

This is why I will keep relying on the good ol' KeePass for my password management needs.

Local DB, stored on several PCs, flash drives and clouds with massive master password.

Zero dependency or exposure to 3rd parties.

Das Reboot: Uni forces 38,000 students, staff to queue, show their papers for password reset following 'cyber attack'

sal II

Re: That is taking security seriously

I suspect the digging out all the obscure places where service accounts are used, to update their password might be actually harder than going through 40k identified humans.

There is always that one critical app that no one knows how it actually runs.

Capita unfurls new consulting arm. Hmm, what shall we call it?

sal II

Polished

Polished turd, eer Crapita

Hey Dixons, you know what's mobile? Your rapidly shrinking sales

sal II

5G Boon?!?

"That said, analysts have some expectations that 5G networks and devices will be a boon for the smartphone industry next year."

Really? I see zero incentive in buying a new handset for the upgrade from 4G to 5G alone.

Oh noes! Half the NHS runs on Windows 7! Thankfully, here's Citrix with a virty vaccine

sal II

Re: Shall we analyse why this is the case?

You of course are talking about commercially available software.

Large organisations like NHS thrusts are riddled with custom in-house software that someone wrote/bought donkeys years ago and the original developer is either gone or otherwise incapable of updating the application for Windows 10.

Then there are a host of medical devices that for whatever reason use windows as OS and the hardware is simply incapable of running Windows 10

We took a shot every time Qualcomm said 5G, AI or mobile gaming in its Snapdragon 865, 765 system-on-chip launch...

sal II

Re: " 'desktop-level' performance"

You know that you can put these chips/SoC in a non-phone envelope right?

This should read as ARM (at least mobile derivation of it) being more powerful than x86

And it's already the case with Apple's A13 that has performance comparable with Intel's Core i5/7 CPUs and has been gaining 10-20% YoY, vs. like 3-5% for Intel's x86 CPUs gimped by legacy architecture way past it's life time.

Mayday in Moscow as devs will be Russian to Putin mandatory apps on phones, laptops, TVs

sal II

Re: "the company cannot tolerate that kind of risk"

Russia isn't that important market for Apple, they don't even have Apple store there.

Despite the territorial size of Russia, it's population is slightly higher than Japan (about 140 mil). The low income for large portion of the population is pricing them out of Apple products.

Even if Apple officially pulls out, there will be plenty of sales on the black market and people just buying from abroad during their holiday etc. So the financial loss to Apple will be minimal, while the "moral" gain will be significant.

Now if China decides to pull something like that....

sal II

Re: New Voice APP

If only it was limited to Russia...

UK parcel firm Yodel plugs tracking app's random yaps about where on map to snap up strangers' tat

sal II

They had an app?

Who the hell uses their app, or their services for that matter. Only an insane person and corporate bean-counters going after the lowest bid would hand Yodel their parcels.

The odd time when I'm due shipment from an above mentioned company i try to keep my interactions to a minimum, tracking the delivery on their website. Really no point in installing their app.

After 10 years, Google Cloud Print will finally be out of beta... straight into ad giant's graveyard

sal II

Re: Oh no

Not really if restricted to only print from e-mails from the company domain(s)

Intel end-of-lifing BIOS and driver downloads for dusty hardware

sal II

Re: Hosting Costs

Not a rocket science:

Step 1) lift and shift the entire legacy portion to legacy.downloads.intel.com and put it on a separate web server.

Step 2) slap an "as is" disclaimer on the main page

Step 3) don't lose reputation over pennies in hosting costs

Leeds IT bloke pleads guilty to hacking Jet2 CEO's email account

sal II

Re: Setting Up

It's not unusual to use a generic/service high privilege accounts to run scripts etc. for the migration. Easy enough for a PM to get his hands on the credentials, as they are even hard codded in plain text in scripts.

Bad idea, but I have seen in done plenty of times.

Open wide, very wide: Xerox considers buying HP. Yes, the HP that is more than three times its market cap

sal II

Funding

How are they going to fund it? the 3Bn windfall from the the Fujitsu JVs and lawsuits are barely 1/10 of what they need.

The interests on a 27Bn loan for God knows how many years will be crippling for already struggling businesses. There is only so much that streamlining and economy of scale can achieve in terms of savings.

Seems like some C suits are looking for a way to cash in from the transaction and then jump ship.

If you really can't let go of Windows 7, Microsoft will keep things secure for another three years

sal II

Re: Given the cost of a Windows 10 Pro license...

These are most likely OEM licenses only legal for sale with a device by approved re-sellers.

Juts have a working license key, doesn't mean you are using a legal copy of Windows.

Microsoft has made an Android phone. Repeat, Microsoft has made an Android phone. A dual-screen foldable mobe not due until late 2020

sal II

AMD Ryzen Laptop

For me the highlight of the announcement is not the gimmicky dual screen devices that might never come to fruition.

It's the advent of AMD Ryzen powered Laptops, that will light a fire under the lazy Chipzilla butt.

Have you been Thomas Crooked? Watch out for cybercrims slinging holiday-themed fakes

sal II

Re: Thomas Cook had hired Skurio

had hired, past tense. Presumably the service is already paid for as an yearly subscription or contract.

Even if it wasn't and Skurio is out of pocket, if they already had done the work in setting up the monitoring etc. releasing the info to the public is good marketing for them.

How to lose a UK contractor in 10 days: Make them commit after upcoming IR35 tax upheaval, apparently

sal II

Re: How are the government going to cope?

The same It people engaged as contractors for a small consultancy not caught by the new rules charging double the rate to the end client.

WeWork, but We don't IPO: Self-styled techie boarding house calls off cursed stock offering

sal II

Re: If there is a way to revolutionize the commercial real estate business...

The problem in Blighty is the B-word, and the potential for businesses collapses and/or exodus depending on the outcome.

Why worry about cost of banning certain Chinese comms providers? Fire Huawei, says analyst

sal II

ROFL

"Strand believes the US has achieved "a leading position in 5G" ROFL

Stopped reading at this point, the man is clearly delusional and/or sponsored.

Consumer campaign to keep receiving printed till receipts looks like a good move – on paper

sal II

Re: Amazing technology

I wonder which is faster - Booting up a laptop/phone and starting an e-mail client/application or browsing through 100s of faded paper receipts in a drawer to find the one you are looking for. I somewhat doubt you are using the Dewey Decimal Classification system.

I agree the paper copy should be always available as an option, but make it an opt-in, rather than opt-out similar to how most self-checkouts now ask you if you want a receipt at the end, instead of automatically spewing one, just to remain discarded there or instantly binned.

UK Supreme Court unprorogues Parliament

sal II

Re: Remain MPs all broke the law and should all be in prison anyway.

And this Ladies and Gentlemen is a prime example of a gullible Brexiteer "living and dying" by the Daily Mail.

sal II

There was no evidence of WMD in Iraq either, that didn't stop him...

sal II

Re: Regardless of which side of the fence you are on.

They didn't overrule the Parliament, they "overruled" an Executive decision that broke the law.

Scotiabank slammed for 'muppet-grade security' after internal source code and credentials spill onto open internet

sal II

Re: called it

Aaah DevOps... <3

If Syria pioneered grain processing by watermill in 350BC, the UK in 2019 can do better... right?

sal II

Corn in Syria?

"Syrians started using water wheels to grind corn in about 350BC"

I always thought it was some Italian dude was the first to visit the Americas in circa 1507AD, how did the Syrians get their hands on corn 2000 years earlier? Aliens?

Electric vehicles won't help UK meet emissions targets: Time to get out and walk, warn MPs

sal II

What a joke

"National Grid said that just 54 charging stations, placed at appropriate points along the strategic road network, would mean 99 per cent of drivers in England and Wales would be within 50 miles of a charge point.

It estimated that this could be delivered at a cost of £800m but said "investment will be needed by industry and enabled by government"."

So 100 miles round trip with couple of hours wait for the charge, when most EVs have about 200mil range... How moronic do you have to be to even put that proposal forward...

And then to top it off, ask for £15mil per charging station

What is it with hosting firms being stonewalled by Microsoft? Now it's Ionos on naughty step

sal II

The "problem" has two parts:

On one hand MS is upping the ante in spam control, simultaneously better protecting their Outlook.com users and highlighting shortcomings with other providers to promote O365

On the other hand mid size e-mail hosting providers have grown complacent and not staying on top of the spam emitted from their networks.

I'm surprised that in this case where it appears only individual IP addresses are being blocked, they haven't redirected the traffic to the servers that are not yet blocked by MS.

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