Posts by Is It Me

Don't Zoom off elsewhere: Google plugs video-chat service Meet into Gmail as user eyes start wandering

You can get Teams for free, just sign up with any email account that isn't associated with an MS account/service

Bose shouts down claims that it borked noise cancellation firmware to sell more headphones

Re: Never, Ever Buying Bose Again...

Is the answer not in the article, that they didn't actually change anything to do with the ANC.

I have seen this in desktop support, you tell users that you are going to do something and don't do it for some reason. Suddenly they are all logging tickets saying "since the change such and such hasn't worked", even though there was no change.

What ever it was either is working fine, or had been broken for ages but the idea that we had changed something prompt them to notice it.

Where's the best place to add Mentos to Diet Coke for the most foam? How big are the individual bubbles? Has science gone too far?

Re: Back in the old days

Mint imperials work very well, in fact from the unscientific testing I did a few years ago they work better than Mentos.

And cheap diet cola also works at least as well as name brand diet cola

Marriott Hotels hacked AGAIN: Two compromised employee logins abused to siphon off 5.2m guests' personal info

Re: 2FA FTW!

Having the customers turn on 2FA wouldn't have made any difference, having staff use it probably would

Yeah, that Zoom app you're trusting with work chatter? It lives with 'vampires feeding on the blood of human data'

Re: What are the alternatives?

Same here, used it for a few years at work and found it to be reliable and works with our existing Polycom kit, which Teams won't

Stuck at home? Why not let an edgy, GPU-boosted slice of Azure keep you company?

Re: "Wooden box market"

Shouldn't that be artisanal wooded racks hand crafted by the monks on a Himalayan mountainside?

Reach for the sky: Pixar founders win Turing Award for pioneering 3D animation – and getting rid of jagged edges

Re: So well deserved !!!

If that was at the BFI I went to that too

Oh, we may have found the COVID-19 silver lining: Coronavirus pandemic halts Xerox hostile takeover of HP

Re: Well that's new

It looks like part of the reason they are stopping is that they can't go out and meet & greet the current HP shareholders at the bribery events (like expensive dinners etc.)

Hey, friends. We know it's a crazy time for the economy, but don't forget to enable 2FA for payments by Saturday

Re: Not on amazon

I believe the rules are for the bank/card issuer.

Amazon have taken on the financial risk of card holder not present for a long time by not asking for the CV2 number. They decided that any loss is worth it to minimise the effort from their customers

Deliveroo UK adds 'Don't interact with the help' option for when ordering a burger

Re: 10,000 or 596?

It is quite simple, the number of cases were someone has been tested and tested positive is 596.

10,000 is the expected number of actual cases that there in the UK allowing for the fact that the majority of people with symptoms aren't being tested and allowing for people who are infected and not yet showing symptoms.

Computer, deactivate self-destruct system requirement, says Sonos... were it on a starship in space, and not a smart-speaker slinger

I am probably coming across as a Sonos apologist, but for those who have suggested possible alternatives none of them come near the Sonos experience and especially not for non-technical people.

The multi room side of Sonos gives perfectly in sync sound across rooms, the set up is user friendly and simple, adding music services is also user friendly and simple.

The sound quality out of the "Play" speakers is good enough for most people under most circumstances and the "Connect" is there for those that want better quality from their existing speakers and amps.

Management seems set on destroying the reputation of the product with these announcements and then retractions though

Re: Firmware

They have, and this was referenced in the article.

Electro-smog, govt snooping be damned. Two thirds of folks polled worldwide would trade in their mobes for 5G kit

Re: So...

My reading is that they will be trading in their existing handset, so it will be refurbed and flogged on again.

Drones must be constantly connected to the internet to give Feds real-time location data – new US govt proposal

Re: Useless

That assumes that there aren't any legitimate uses for guns.

So no target sports, no hunting to manage populations of animals (e.g. deer), no pest control, etc.

I think in the UK our gun control is close to being right, although it is a bit odd that the Olympic pistol shooting is effectively banned in the UK (apart from oddities like Northern Ireland).

Social media notifications of the future: Ranger tagged you in a photo with Tessadora, Wrenlow, Faelina and Graylen

Re: Due diligence

Thanks for this, I didn't realise that they Swallows were based on a family like that.

Ancient Ore Crusher or KillBot 2000? NASA gets ready to pick a name for its Mars 2020 Rover

Re: Poll Participation Map

Maybe they are mechanical turks...

Remember that Sonos speaker you bought a few years back that works perfectly? It's about to be screwed for... reasons

Re: Suggestions please...

Just don't do anything, according to the email and the notes here it will keep working.

Re: Makes logitech look like....

The reason for the popularity is non-techies.

I got some initially for my mother as she was struggling to control her DAB radio as she lost motor control, the Sonos app on a large iPad solved that instantly.

I inherited them and my technophobic other half has no issues finding and playing music, creating playlists, have the music move around the house with her etc.

At this point I am not sure that I would buy any more kit from them (was looking at getting a "connect" so it will play through the higher quality amp and speakers in the living room) which is a shame as they did perfectly well for a non-audiophile.

Hospital hacker spared prison after plod find almost 9,000 cardiac images at his home

Re: hahahahah

You used to have "hacker" as someone that could do cool things with computers that they weren't originally expected to do, this is the sense it is used if those horrible "life hack" videos people keep posting on YouTube and FaceBook.

Then you had a cracker, which was someone that cracked security systems to break their way in.

Over time main stream media just used hacker for anything related to doing something dodgy with computers and that is now how it is used by the general public.

Unlocking news: We decrypt those cryptic headlines about Scottish cops bypassing smartphone encryption

Re: The FEDs want remote access...

Our happily uses it's cat flap (or teleportation abilities) when no one is looking, but as soon as there is a human slave it sits and stares at the outside world until the door magically is opened.

The time that Sales braved the white hot heat of the data centre to save the day

Re: This is an old, old problem

HR normally have to have it, and if someone sufficiently senior asks it would have got passed on in the past.

Hopefully if that happened now you could hit them with a GDPR complaint.

This is also a system for GPs, right? UK doctors seek clarity over Health dept's £40m single sign-on funding

Re: WTF are they doing ?

I have managed to get connected to Portsmouth Uni's (not my employer) EduRoam with out noticing when at the ferry terminal, and only have a couple of visitors to my employer mention issues when connecting so I believe it must.

Leaks point to Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra with mammoth 108MP camera and ... what? 16GB of RAM

Re: How big is the imager?

It will probably be the other way around.

There have been articles on here about using multiple pixels to cope with low light etc.

Whirlybird-driving infosec boss fined after ranty Blackpool Airport air traffic control antics

Re: Having been in a private whirly bird..

"Kilburn White horse", had to search that, as the the only Kilburn I know is in North West London and I wasn't aware of any horses there

Someone needs to go back to school: Texas district fleeced for $2.3m after staff fall for devious phishing email

Pretty much the same on Monzo and even Barclays. I think I had to pay a small fee when I have done it from Barclays.

If at first you don't succeed, pry, pry again: Feds once again demand Apple unlock encrypted iPhones in yet another terrorism case

Re: What about that 'Cellbrite' kit?

Probably wasn't a scam, could probably only unlock a particular version of iOS based on a flaw in the OS.

A user's magnetic charm makes for a special call-out for our hapless hero

Re: Been there. Almost.

Also seen it from FitBit style watches with a magnet based strap.

Mostly (at least on the laptops I played with) the magnetic switch was on the right and most people wear their watch on the left so it is quite rare

A sprinkling of Star Wars and a dash of Jedi equals a slightly underbaked Rise Of Skywalker

Re: waiting for the video...

Saw it at our local multi-screen cinema, and paid £15 (aprox. $20) for two adults in the "VIP" seats (nice big leather chairs).

Would have been £10 if we had gone with the standard seats.

I think you need to find a new cinema.

iFixit surgeons dissect Apple's pricey Mac Pro: Industry standard sockets? Repair diagrams? Who are you and what have you done to Apple?

I am pretty sure that this is the way it was done in the early days of digital video editing.

IT isn't supposed to stand for Insider Trading... Palo Alto Networks sysadmin and pals accused of $7m shares caper

I think you are probably looking at this the wrong way, the data analysis flagged something suspicious and then looking at logs they found his IP address.

Microsoft's Teams goes to bat for the other team with preview on Linux

Re: "There is no escape from collaboration"

We have only been using it a few weeks but I don't have all the issues that you seem to (I am running the Windows client).

In chat you can add multiple people to the chat, it isn't intuitive, you have to click a strange people icon at the top right of the chat.

I work in UK English, so type things like colour and haven't yet have it flag up anything that I have correctly typed as being misspelt.

I do agree that one thing at a time in one window needs to be resolved, and that there are lots of other things that can be improved.

Samsung Galaxy S11 tipped to escalate the phone cam arms race with 108MP sensor

lots do image stabilisation, and more are now doing multiple lenses on different sensor to do optical "zoom" but are in reality two or three fixed focal length lenses.

Motorola's mid-range One Hyper packs 64MP cam, huge screen and – ooo – 'Quad Pixel' tech

I was looking through the specs as I am starting to think about replacing my Pixel 2, but it isn't IP rated and after I went swimming with my current phone by mistake I decided that I will only get ones rated to at least 1m for several minutes.

Is your computer doctor secretly a racist? Two US senators want to find out the truth

Re: Fortunatly

And one of the main reason the premiums are so low is the NHS and universal healthcare.

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

I have found it useful to be able to print to my home printer from Chrome on my work PC and from my phone anywhere.

This is a shame as it can be genuinely useful

Orange is the new green: Nigeria scammer bags $1m while operating behind bars

Re: Picture posed by model ...

Beef wellington as well.

No wonder cops are so keen on Ring – they can slurp your doorbell footage with few limits, US senators complain

Re: The un-named PR gave half an answer of course

If you are somewhere with no exception of privacy you can be photographed or recorded with out your permission. This is why street photography of and dashcams etc. are legal.

If you are then storing or publishing the images/video then you start to look at GDPR type issues if there is personally identifiable information in them.

'Literally a paperweight': Bose users fume at firmware update that 'doesn't fix issues'

Re: There’s a reason people say

Because QC35s (and QC25s) have replaceable cables.

In fact the QC35s in theory don't need a cable as they are bluetooth based, but can use one even if the battery has died.

From humble Unix sysadmin to brutal separatist suppressor to president of Sri Lanka

Nothing in the article said the Masters was required, or even in a relevant subject.

Where I am now we have at least one sysadmin with a masters, and I have a friend who is a sysadmin and has just completed his masters part time.

Physicists are rather giddy after creating a rare type of laser using laughing gas

Re: "Focused energy is the first step to a Star Trek-like transporter"

I want to be able to up vote this one more.

What a boar! Wild pigs snort and snuffle €20k worth of marching powder stashed in Tuscan forest

Re: besieging stables?

Ursine not equine I believe. But love the image

Judge shoots down Trump admin's efforts to allow folks to post shoddy 3D printer gun blueprints online

Re: Why a 3D printed gun?

I think the point being made was that it shows how the powers that be can handle things in such a way that some thing innocuous (in this case 14" string with loops on) can be classed as weapon and thus made illegal to own

They terrrk err jerrrbs! Vodafone replaces 2,600 roles with '600 bots' in bid to shrink €48bn debt

Re: we have already reduced 2,600 roles

Would we have heard if they just reduced their contract with an outsourcer?

I think probably not, and that is what is likely to have happened, rather than they reduced their own head count by 2600 people.

Teachers: Make your pupils' parents buy them an iPad to use at school. Oh and did you pack sunglasses for the Apple-funded jolly?

I think this counts as a GDPR assurance:

"Committing in our contracts to comply with the GDPR in relation to our processing of customer personal data in all Google Cloud Platform and G Suite services"

Taken from https://cloud.google.com/security/gdpr/#gdpr-what-you-can-do__footnotes

UK Home Office: We will register thousands of deactivated firearms with no database

Still classed as a firearm below that, just don't need to be licensed in England and Wales (they are licensed in Scotland)

When the IT department speaks, users listen. Or face the consequences

Re: Beautiful

Too generous, it should default back to a clean build every evening, that way people will SOON learn to save on network drives.

Concerns raised over privacy and security of UK Home Office's £842m biometrics programme

Re: Bio - hazard

People still think of biometrics as replacing passwords, they should only be used to replace a username.

Baffled by bogus charges on your Amazon account? It may be the work of a crook's phantom gadget

Re: Liability

I thought that they just took on responsibility for the loss rather than pay extra, at least that is what my memory of reading about it a few years ago was.

Boffins blow hot and cold over li-ion battery that can cut leccy car recharging to '10 mins'

Re: Charge or just swap the batteries?

The books referenced by the poster above always had the cars drive over a pit, with the batteries lowered out and then replaced from below.

They might even have been on a conveyor belt with robotic arms doing the work

Linux kernel is getting more reliable, says Linus Torvalds. Plus: What do you need to do to be him?

Both he and Dirk are actively working on a open source project called SubSurface, which didn't get a mention in the article at all.