Posts by Just A Quick Comment

Odd homage to '2001: A Space Odyssey' sees 'Blue Danube' waltz beamed at Voyager 1

Re: Waste

Simply... In the general scheme of things the complete cost of the transmission was negligible.

Also, we're humans, we actually do fun and inspiring things from time to time. It's how we cope with the darker/nastier/boring sides to life.

Astroboffins analyzed old data and found a candidate dwarf planet in the Oort cloud

Re: SO last decade

So Artificial Intelligence's favourite song is that Paul Simon classic You Can Call Me Al?

Amazon Nova Sonic AI doesn't just hear you, it takes tonal cues too

It might be a nice name for a product...

...but - and call me an old misery if you like; I sometimes do - I just won't have it, or any of its ilk, in the house, in any form.

The risks are too great for the technology to be misued somehow, in my humble (and jaded) opinion.

Bad luck, Windows 10 users. No fix yet for ransomware-exploited bug

Oh well...

Wow, with six months to go us stick-in-the-mud Win 10 users are already being treated as second class users and forgotten.

I think it's time to investigate Linux Mint more seriously now; I was planning to do so in the summer but events have overtaken me, and the last of my faith/trust is ebbing away.

To put it simply so the backstabbers at MS can understand: No, I am not forking out for new hardware when my I7/16GB RAM machine with two SSDs and stuff is still perfectly good for my needs. Unlike you lot I am not made of money. My time with Windows - going back to Windows 3, and DOS before that - was (mostly) fun, but it's now over and I have a new challenge to face, that of Linux. Oh well, life goes on...

Apple shrugs off BBC complaint with promise to 'further clarify' AI content

It must not be forgotten..

...that Apple is a tech industry, only interested in selling you stuff. In this respect it is more like Facebook or X.

It is NOT a worldwide-respected news organisation like the BBC or CNN who are more interested in truth than making the next dollar...

Now Trump's import tariffs could raise the cost of a laptop for Americans by 68%

Is this madness unbounded...?

...or have I missed some fundamental point?

Windows 11 market share falls despite Microsoft ad blitz

Re: Have an upvote

Welcome To Tomorrow...

Disenchanted Windows user? Pop open a fresh can of Linux Lite

Agreed. I presume the good stuff - like Firefox - will install happily and easily, not needing cryptic (to Linux newbies) command line gibberish.

The end is nigh for Windows 10 21H2

It's a simple choice - thank you Microsoft

Yes, my choice will be simple - switch to Mint and run the Windows apps I've paid for under Wine. I have a perfectly fine I7 PC, but because it's not to Microsoft's liking it will be obsolete and insecure in October 2025.

I like to smirke though, with the impending release of Win12... Will it offer an upgrade path for us Win10 refuseniks? Probably not. What will it do to Win11 users? I dread to think, but I do like to smirke...

Council claims database pain forced it to drop apostrophes from street names

Up here just north of Southport...

...We have Ralph's Wife's Lane, connecting Crossens to Banks. Try sorthing that one out withour apostrophes...

New information physics theory is evidence 'we're living in a simulation,' says author

What was the Douglas Adams quote?

I remember something about if the purpose of the universe is discovered then that universe will be replaced with something even more bizarre. There are signs this may already have happened.

I know this is not accurate but that's the gist as I remember it...

This could be an option...

Could the thing being simulated and reality be the same thing?

In other words, this could be a real simulation we are living/existing in, not a simulated simultion.

I'm off for a lie down, my head hurts...

Workers don't want these humanoid robots telling them to be happy

It's just a thing

I want a machine in the workplace to be just that, a machine; a thing. My toaster (thank you Red Dwarf for that perceptive warning!) just makes toast, my microwave just goes beep. Neither give me inspirational messages; they'd probably be told where to go if they did.

What's next? A TV that suggests what you should watch? A book that suggests what you should read? Oh, hang on...

NASA's Mars InSight uploads its (probably) final image, shares it in a tweet

Another great achievement

This is America at her best. Making science and reason work for humanity not denying it!

Just follow the instructions … no wait, not that instruction to lock everyone out of everything

That's great as an ideal, but when you've got Management on your back, users breathing down your neck, and half a dozen other things on your plate it's hard to be so procedural...

Microsoft mulls cheap PCs supported by ads, subs

No, just no...

Do I want Windows 11? No thank you.

Do I want Windows with adverts? Really NO and NO!

Windows 10 may not be perfect, but it's become (almost by default) a mature and stable OS*.

I'd really like a decent Linux (such as Mint) to become more of a competitor, but (for me) this won't happen until the basic user unfriendliness of the printing system / options is sorted out - but that's probably just me!

*Yes, ok, I know stability is a relative, even a subjective, term, but my Win 10 is behaving itself...

Rare hexagonal diamond formed by crash of dwarf planet and asteroid, scientists believe

They use a blade that is at least 58% harder than the one they use for regular diamond.

Mars Express orbiter to get code update after 19 years

Re: I am not surprised at all that such a mission is still in flight after 19 years

I'm sorry. You think humans have civilisation?

Voyager 1 space probe producing ‘anomalous telemetry data’

Re: "Thats odd"

"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, Good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight."

Turing Pi 2 crowdfunding goal smashed within a day

This would make a cracking chess computer...

Help, my IT team has no admin access to their own systems

Re: Forget the turtles...

Hang on a minute guys! This is an IT forum yes? Then how about a recursive key? For impressive-ness this could be stored in a recursive fire safe, and the only thing it would be at risk from is dodgy algorithms.

Robot vacuum cleaner employed by Brit budget hotel chain Travelodge flees

Re: Paging Thomas Disch

...and that's how Talkie Toaster got started, or evolved, or something...

Amazon's AI chips find their way into Astro butler bot, latest wall-hanging display

No thank you!

I won't have anything Alexa related in the house - I just don't trust them.

And that goes double for a robot that will, once the novelty has worn off, end up (a) back in its box, or (b) in the cupboard under the stairs, or (c) dumped on some unsuspecting pensioner ("This'll help you through the day Gran"), or (d) set up in the back yard to be shot at.

Maybe in ten years the technology will be useful, so long as the reporting back/cloud computing/spying has been sorted out, but now it's simply not for me.

UK Ministry of Defence apologises after Afghan interpreters' personal data exposed in email blunder

"Several people deserve to be hauled over the coals on this one."

Yes, but they won't be... Government departments closing ranks and all that...

Magna Carta mayhem: Protesters lay siege to Edinburgh Castle, citing obscure Latin text that has never applied in Scotland

Re: The average IQ of a population is always 100

"My brain hurts!"

Pi calculated to '62.8 trillion digits' with a pair of 32-core AMD Epyc chips, 1TB RAM, 510TB disk space

Secret messages?

Have they found any secret messages tucked away in the depts of Pi, maybe from the Creator to us Subjects?

"This is a Beta version. Please report any problems..."

"Hello to mum and dad. Told you I'd get to 32 trillion..."

"Congrations! You have just discovered the secret message."

"I think I made an error back a few digits. Better check..."

Ch-ch-ch-Chia! HDD sales soar to record levels as latest crypto craze sweeps Europe

Re: litterer and sweepers

This proves it - Crypto Coins suck...!

Steam-powered computers: Retro cool or old and busted?

Re: Magic Roundabout

That's the brilliance of the Swindon Magic Roundabout. You can go around it either way.

Anyone still using cash? British £50 banknote honouring Alan Turing arrives

Too little, too late, but better than nothing...

I agree with the above. However, at least he is now being honoured, which is better than NOT being honoured, and it will help preserve the memory/name of a remarkable man.

Windows 11: Meet the new OS, same as the old OS (or close enough)

Memories

Ahhh, WordPerfect 5.1...! Now THERE was a word processor worth having...

Emergency mode? Bah! It takes a Microsoft product to really break a digital sign

Interesting choice of words

So Microsoft prefers "bugcheck" to 'death'-type words/descriptions. That's playing loose with the English language - something MS are very good at - but I prefer 'crashed' or 'knackered' as a description. They're not offensive words and are more descriptive of the problem compared to "bugcheck" which is another MS non-word.

I'm sure others can come up with other synonyms...

If HAL did digital signage. I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that...

Yeah, but what horrors would you find in Southampton?!

Still, could be worse. Could be Swindon...

Firefox 89: Can this redesign stem browser's decline?

We need Firefox to keep going

I use Brave on Android and Firefox on Windows/Linux, and see no reason to change. What with Google's casual attitude to ad-blocking (i.e. not much) I'm avoiding Chrome and recommending others to do the same.

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz? Detroit waits for my order, you'd better make amends

Re: Sometimes though....

Thanks for the link. Will prank/terrorise SOME of my customers with these nostalgic sounds in the next few days...

IBM creates a COBOL compiler – for Linux on x86

Readable? Concise?

"Still nothing quite so logical and readable as COBOL"

Finnegans Wake?

Report on Probability A?

Gummy bears as a unit of measure? The Reg Standards Soviet will not stand for this sort of silliness

Obsolete unit?

How many Jelly Babies are there in a Gummy Bear? Yes, I know, it depends on how hungry the bear is...

Hero to Jezero: Perseverance, NASA's most advanced geologist rover, lands on Mars, beams back first pics

They've done it again!

Congratulations to the NASA team responsible for this.

In these troubled times any good news is most welcome.

Remember life on Venus? One of the telescopes had 'an undesirable side effect' that could kill off the whole idea

Re: Captain, we have recalibrated the sensors and it seems we were in error

Knowing the conditions there is one thing - that's relatively easy to find out. It's making a craft that can survive them - now that's difficult!

O2 cuts ribbon on UK's first commercial driverless car lab where it'll blend satellite and 5G signal to stay on the road

Why go to the shops?

The next step is macro programming your car to go to the shops for you (emailing your shopping list to the shop) or, even better, order your shopping online and have someone else deliver it to you.

More time for you at Beer o'clock, while the technology does what it's always promised to do/deliver - which is great until the adverts (that will inevitably appear in the system, just like Smart TVs) mean your car will detour to get some Free Samples You May Like and then runs out of fuel a mile or two from home because of its abysmal range.

Behold the Bloo Screen of Death: Bathroom borkage stops spray play

I live in Southport - the one in England

Which pub in Southport is this? I wish to visit before we all suffer from Lockdown (again).

A bridge too far: Passengers on Sydney's new ferries would get 'their heads knocked off' on upper deck, say politicos

No monopoly on stupidity

I thought us Brits and certain US states had the monopoly on idiotic politicians - I happily stand corrected! Where do these people come from, and what are they using for brains?

ZX Spectrum reboot promising – steady now – 28MHz of sizzling Speccy speed now boasts improved Wi-Fi

These retro computers are fun - and that's the point

Yes, these retro computers aren't up to much compared to a good PC and a good graphics card etc, but they're fun; simple, nostalgic fun.

Also it's nice to have a computer that doesn't need an anti-virus or some complex OS to boot it. Yes, I know the Pi is almost that, but my The C64 and the Next (oh so tempting) behave in a different, and simpler, way. If you're interested in just playing a few games, get an emulator, but for the whole physical experience a solid machine you can touch (and even "ooh" over - oh, hang on, that sounds rude and even... um, ewh!) and appreciate (like an LP compared to a download music track) knocks emulation into a cocked hat.

Plus, for the average IT worker, £300 isn't much - it's a round of drinks, a filling up of the Porsche's tank, a weekend away for drinking and sex, or even... Well, hopefully you get my humorous point :-)

What happens when holes perfect for spyware are found in the engine room of millions of Qualcomm-based phones? Let's find out

Why do us customers bother?

More bloody security issues - don't people have procedures in place to catch this sort of thing?

Plus, considering the piecemeal Android updates (often, none at all) these vulnerabilities will last the life of the product. It's like footballers in an Aberdeen bar all over again...!

Voyager 1 cracks yet another barrier: Now 150 Astronomical Units from Sol

Oh, the days when things lasted more than a year...

If only washing machines, phones, TVs etc were as well made today...! Well done to NASA and all concerned.

You call Verizon. A Google bot answers. You demand a human. The human is told what to say by the bot

Oh dear...

We are SO screwed...!

LibreOffice community protests at promotion of paid-for editions, board says: 'LibreOffice will always be free software'

This has been handled badly, but it's not beyond hope.

We need software like LibreOffice, partly to try and help keep M$ honest (note I used 'try' and 'help' - I don't have a lot of faith). If I didn't need MS Publisher to handle my homemade booklets (I just don't get on with PagePlus) then I wouldn't pay good money for my Office subscription, plus I need to know the basics of Word, Outlook etc to have a chance of teaching/helping others - it's what I sometimes do...

I still advise them to get free (and Free) software, when it's of good quality and suitable, so stuff like Firefox, Thunderbird and LibreOffice (plus Avast) are always high on my Recommended list.

ALGOL 60 at 60: The greatest computer language you've never used and grandaddy of the programming family tree

Old languages

Yes, not only do we need to remember the old languages just to prove they existed but, also, to learn from them that sometimes the old ways can have merit.

Voyager suffers a power wobble as boffins start the final countdown for Spitzer

Or it may bounce back from the rigid shell which contains our 'universe' (whatever that is) and may come heading back to Earth, beautifully synchronised so it enters a parking orbit, and can be collected and put on display.

I've had it with these motherflipping eggs on this motherflipping train

Smell? What smell?

All these comments make me glad I don't have a sense of smell. Never have had. Farts at school were, to me, just funny noises.

MAMR Mia! Western Digital's 18TB and 20TB microwave-energy hard drives out soon

Well, how big is YOUR head?

With 20TB drives a reality, and larger in the pipeline, how long until you can backup an adult human brain - and how big would the backup need to be?