Posts by Saint 23 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Sep 2017
I did a big data migration project for a Government Dept. Contract said I wasnt allowed to view the top-secret, high level data - earth will implode, upon threat of arrest and execution data, instant dismissal yadda yadda yadda
The job spec included testing and verifying that data was correct
The voting and arguments on this thread are ridiculous !
BlokeInTejas makes a completely valid comparison. Cross-selling happens in many aspects of our lives, and at some companies is even mandatory and people are graded according to their ability to generate sales leads. HSBC and Sky TV are two that spring to mind. I dont like it one little bit, but advertising is a fact of life and maoning wont make that stop, their job and livelyhood depends on selling things to you and I.
The argument lower down that Alexa is not a vendor is just as daft. Thats like saying your phone is not a vendor when you phone HSBC/Sky/whoever. No shit ! What it is, is an implement used to communicate with the vendor. What the vendor does or doesnt do with that information is a different conversation entirely. Again, I hate advertising, but I'm certainly not going to blame the telephone for it
People need to look beyond the tech and realise that just because its now being done with new tech/kit, its not really anything new. Its just that its in your own home. Welcome to the internet-enabled 21st century. So the only concern should be wether or not it is listening to you all the time (not just listening for the trigger word, Alexa) AND sending that data on to Amazon for marketing purposes.
If this is proven to be the case, I will be among the first to ditch my kit and press for legal proceedings. But otherwise, I just watch what I say when talking to sales people, including Amazon (via Alexa), as a rule of thumb
As a matter of interest, I did a quick web search and found a page that says "Alexa is always listening but not continually recording. It doesn’t send anything to cloud servers until it hears you say the wake word (Alexa, Echo, or Computer)"
This ties in with my understanding and observation of how they work. And if this is the case, then a lot of the concerns mentioned are based on mis-information (not that I am promoting them, just pointing it out).
Is anyone able to actually verify this ?
"Remember when they said that Windows 10 was the end of it and we'd just see evolution of that release forever and ever?"
Yes, and its utter bull*** !
I recently reinstalled Windows 10 from an oldish iso and found that it can no longer be updated due to missing previous updates, which are no longer available. The message "Click here to install service pack XYZ by going to this Microshaft page" leads to "Click here to buy Windows 11". "Click here to use our helper tool" (forgotten the name), takes you to the same upgrade page
Getting a newer iso works, but at that point it not the same thing any more is it ?
You didnt have my personal favorite in there, the meeting about having too many meetings and what can be done about it.
Normally at some point during the call we get the old chestnut that if we dont think we need to be contributing in the meeting or if its not beneficial to us, then we are fully empowered to drop off the call.
I'm still a bit confused as to why I got into trouble for dropping off that particular call, but havent made the same mistake since
Related.... "DXC also said it had hired 2,000 people with “digital capabilities,” including data scientists and security engineers, but hadn’t seen steep wage inflation in hiring those heads because they were “much earlier in their career”."
Having contracted there pretty recently, I can confirm this means employing young graduates that havent got a clue, and even less experience
About bloody time. Now they need to deal with this nonsense about getting out of yearly contracts. I recently ended a contract, not knowing that I had at some point accidently upgraded to a yearly contract. Vodaphone would not let me cancel the cancellation, nor send me a sim card to use up the remaining air time on my contract, nor would they tell me which regulatory scheme they are part of. All because I dared move house to an area that they dont cover !
Why is it that whilst the new Mate & Budgie have attractive desktops, the older, (better, solid & much loved) distros look like they fell out of a kids bag on the way to kindergarten ? They are just as capable of displaying nice (advertising) backgrounds as the other two !
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
