Posts by ThatOne

It's been 230 years since British pirates robbed the US of the metric system

I wouldn't eat anything which has teaspoons as an ingredient. I'm pretty sure I won't digest it.

Re: Hooray for Avoirdupois and pounds, shillings and pence

> a pound of gold weighs more than a pound of feathers

It costs more too, isn't that proof of that the pound is the more rational unit?...

/s

Microsoft is checking everyone's bags for unsupported Office installs

Re: the answer from an IT officer in Taiwan military and defense ministry

> "We purchased special edition of Windows."

I guess that must be the special "military version" all armies worldwide buy of anything (exact same item, but 10x more expensive).

Re: I use a paid version of Office 2013

> Why do they need to scan me?

Because that's faster than requesting the information from their telemetry department I guess...

Re: "Malicious software removal tool"

> Every improvement to their (not your) OS isn't usually an improvement at all.

Hey, don't be ungrateful, after all they allow you to play with their OS as long as daddy Microsoft doesn't need it himself. As for why he needs it right now, on the spot, that's grown-up stuff you wouldn't understand anyway so there is no point in explaining. Just wait till he's finished and you might get it back...

Always keep in mind, daddy Microsoft knows better!

Re: More to follow

> While this may not fall under MS's definition of "malware" it is undoubtedly spyware.

Not for Microsoft. For them it's certainly considered totally legal and justifiable self-defense: Hard times are coming, you have to crack down on those potentially criminal egoists who don't give you as much money as they should.

PayPal says crooks poked around 35,000 accounts in credential stuffing attack

Corporate newspeak

"...a data incident that affected a negligible number of PayPal customer accounts, so we neglected it"

Who trusts a company who sprouts such tired cliches like "The security and privacy of our customers’ information remains a top priority"?...

Gonna run System Restore in Windows 11? Microsoft says some of its apps won't

"Remaining Redmondites told they need to ‘raise the bar’"

> did not say whether it was working on a formal fix for the problem

Why would they? They successfully managed to raise the bar (for their clients).

Re: Gee Wiz, this OS totally seems ready for primetime

In this case "must have" = "no alternative", also known as "My way or the highway".

It's not like they allow you to keep using older, more user-friendly versions.

Microsoft axes 10,000, already breaking bad news to staff

Re: Raise the "bar"?!? What "bar" izzat?

> I for one don't know what "bar" these wankers could be referring to.

It means more lock-in, so you can remove more functionality and lower costs.

_{The ultimate goal being an UI with a single button: "Pay us".}

What they mostly are up against is themselves...

Unix is dead. Long live Unix!

Re: About 15 years ago...

> Not like Windows that presents a stable, consistent interface eh?

Actually subject to (infected by) the same fads (flat monochrome GUI choices...).

Re: About 15 years ago...

> a bit of competition seems like a good thing

Linux's driving force isn't competition, it's urges: If enough (1 or more) developers decide they need [feature], [feature] will be implemented, maintained and improved. It's as simple as that.

On one side it's a good, solid way to make sure things are worked on, safe from the poisoned hand of marketing. On the other it's highly susceptible to fads, and you will be dragged, kicking and screaming, through all the silly IT trends which come and go.

Nice smart device – how long does it get software updates?

Re: Miéle...10yrs is faaarr to short

Indeed, buying expensive, purportedly high-end brands isn't a warranty of longevity (or quality, actually) anymore.

The only thing you're sure of paying for is, well, a higher price.

Re: Tech press could be better here

> But no discussion of software support promises

Saw the article; I guess in this case security requirements aren't necessarily the same as for a communication device like a phone. I don't even know if those Android Walkmen have their own SIM cards, or if they need to connect through an existing WiFi network, in which case they would be (somewhat) protected by the network's firewall.

That been said, knowing how things are, I am to assume that they will never see the slightest Android update. Because else it would had been mentioned as a marketing argument. It's the general law stating that if it isn't expressly mentioned, you don't get it.

Re: Case in Point

> for so-called "environmental reasons"

Everything is for "environmental reasons" nowadays.

For instance I just got me a cup of coffee, for "environmental reasons" obviously.

Re: Nobody

> And if the sun is not shining, they wont run the dishwasher?

Oh well, I'm assuming the sun will eventually shine where ever they live... Obviously if they live in a polar night zone, they'd better not rely too much on those solar panels...

Re: Nobody

> wakes you up in the morning and makes you a cup of tea

It's called a butler.

It's guaranteed to last, but subscription fees are high.

Re: Smart fridge

Well, we already have the most important, the refrigerator which after a while will yell "Close that door already you (redacted), this is not a cupboard!"...

Essential with some persons.

Re: Nobody

> (Of course, most of those same benefits could be realised with an old fashioned time switch - if only the appliance had physical switches instead of push-buttons!)

Or some kind of local automation along the lines of "sun shines = start the dishwasher"... Now if you want to go overkill, add a module which only starts the appliances if/when the solar panel output goes over a given threshold.

Re: Nobody

> I have never met anyone saying even once

Wait and somebody will pop up to tell us he can't live without being able to launch his dishwasher from the subway, using voice control. Now why this might be a necessity would need quite some creative argumenting, but I'm sure somebody will step up eventually...

Re: IoS

> no such thing as a smart device

It's called so because it's clearly smarter then the buyer...

Microsoft and community release scripts to help mitigate Defender mess

Genius

> Microsoft and community release scripts

Is that their new business model? Microsoft takes the money, customers do the work?...

Fat EVs may cause 'more death on our roads' – watchdog

Re: More mass = more energy, right?

> 300 miles of unsupported range

It's not about unsupported range of course, few of people here live in that kind of boonies. It's about convenience, about knowing that whatever happens, gas won't be a problem to factor in.

I admit that if you live in a city and use your car mainly for short trips this is very unlikely to be an issue, but some of us do make longer trips, potentially to places they don't know very well, and/or with a less consistent infrastructure.

My point is that leaving your car filled up or empty will cost you the same, but in the first case you never risk running out of fuel.

Re: American cars are too heavy - solution blame electric cars

> people that drive large large SUVs are unlikely to switch to Fiestas

SUV driver for the record, and I agree I wouldn't change it for a Fiesta, because as I said further up my use is long trips, often through bad weather and difficult roads. Using a Fiesta for those trips would be doable, but uncomfortable and slightly crazy and/or dangerous.

That been said, my SUV is small(ish), because I don't need a vehicle the size of a small family house, even to transport two adults and 2-3 kids plus baggages. And I have seen SUVs which literally dwarf mine! I'm pretty sure their occupants don't live in there, so I wonder what its extraordinary size is good for, except of course showing off and making sure everybody notices you.

Re: More mass = more energy, right?

> If you're the kind of person that likes to be prepared for that kind of emergency

I never managed to understand how people can leave their cars with half-empty tanks (bar financial or supply problems). I'm the kind of guy who feels queasy if any of my vehicles has less than 3/4 of a full tank. And when traveling long distances, I tend to top it off just before arriving, so I'll have a full tank the next morning.

_{Needless to say I never ran out of gas in my 40+ years of driving...}

Re: More mass = more energy, right?

> we're talking about exceptional journeys, not routine. Most trips are not 1000km+, even in the US.

YMMV, quite literally. I use my car 95% for 700+ km trips (up to 1200 km, with the occasional 3000 km one). I rarely do "short, run-to-the-shops-in-traffic" trips with it, because not only it isn't adapted to inner city traffic conditions (medium sized SUV), but also fuel consumption skyrockets in stop & go traffic.

My point is, although I admit my usage is not common, it does exist.

SpaceX tells astronomers: Fine, we'll try to stop Starlink spoiling stargazing sessions

Re: For what purpose??

> You need to up your astronomy knowledge. Those earth telescopes are well booked.

^ This. Terrestrial telescopes are essential, because they do things orbital telescopes can't do, not to mention they are much easily available (hundreds of thousands of those, as opposed to only 2 on orbit), way cheaper to operate (which determines how much/often you will be able to use it), easy to reconfigure for a specific task (changing the camera can be done in a couple hours for next to no cost) and all that.

Besides there aren't just half a dozen astronomers able to play full time with Hubble/Webb, there are hundreds of thousands of them trying to book time on any available telescope to further their research, which often requires long observation times or special equipment (wide field, special filters/cameras, and so on).

Orbital telescopes get all the headlines, but most of the science is done down here on earth with perfectly adequate if not better ground-based equipment.

Re: Get a Hubble...

> These days, what do you expect to find (?) given that "the good stuff" is in orbit viewing the early cosmos.

Showing you're talking about things you haven't the slightest clue about. Storybook Dunning–Kruger, and also slightly insulting in a "let them eat cake" kind of way.

Orbital telescopes might have all the fancy headlines, but there are thousands of earth-based telescopes of all sizes and specifications doing essential scientific grunt work, all over the globe. They do things orbital telescopes simply can not do. Technically can not, even ignoring the (rather obvious?) availability and price issues.

The years fly by on first exoplanet confirmed by James Webb Space Telescope

Stardom

> oldest, coolest and most plentiful stars in the galaxy

You're talking about rock stars, aren't you...

AI-generated phishing emails just got much more convincing

Re: Just WOW!

> If you're capable of writing that there level of machine instruction, surely you can write your own scam letter?

Sure, but in this case it's clearly a template. So just feed the AI what to put into "[person1]", "[person2]", "[company1]" (and so on), and let it do the work for you. I guess that unlike copy-paste jobs which are easy to detect after a short while, the AI generated letters would all be slightly different, and thus can't be spotted by signature-based means.

(That been said anybody who falls for the now cliched "big boss needs cash, NOW!" scam is really terminally stupid. I guess he/she/it would also fall for the friendly Nigerian prince with liquidities problems...)

Re: Rules would help

> a legally enforceable standard for integrity of news reporting

That's impossible, because "integrity" is subjective, each party being usually convinced to have the moral high ground (also the end justifies the means and all that). It's not that they will outright lie, but in a world full of nuances each party will emphasize the parts which further their own goals, while readily and routinely ignoring any embarrassing bits.

Integrity, or at least some relation to reality, has so far been guaranteed by the need of news outlets (newspapers) to preserve their good reputation as serious sources of information. Lose that and people stop buying your paper.

This disappeared with internet news, where the sources are free, pretty well anonymous, and thus don't really need to care about their reputation.

The obvious (and only IMHO) solution is to only trust reputable (as opposed to convenient) sources having something to lose. The last part is important, because even in the heydays of written press there were the tabloids which took some license with truth to increase sales - But to compensate they sported big pictures of undressed ladies...

_{(Didn't downvote you.)}

First Patch Tuesday of the year explodes with in-the-wild exploit fix

"First Patch Tuesday of 2023" missing information

All right, we got what it pretends fixing, but I missed the part about what it is breaking.

_{Don't tell me it doesn't break anything!...}

No more holidays for US telcos, FCC is cracking down

Black day for telecom companies

> Negligence isn't going to be a good excuse for much longer.

Their whole business model comes crumbling down...

Re: LastPass : "the attacker made off with customer data"

> just don't use an online password manager

Indeed. If you're worried (I am), you simply use a local password manager (I do). It allows me to handle hundreds of strong and different passwords.

I'm not so lazy as not to be able to handle the unspeakable strain of having to manage my passwords database and copy/backup it as needed myself, so no drawbacks I can think of.

CES Worst in Show slams gummi gouging, money-wasting mugs, and other dubious kit

> the one in this photo

??? There is no photo, your link goes to an online comics which doesn't even mention mugs (or cost anything).

_{(Didn't downvote you.)}

Re: “Vitamania”

> herbal supplements are literally just dehydrated random weeds from wherever!

Sure, the mark consumer won't see the difference anyway. See Placebo.

_{After all your lawn requires regular mowing, why shouldn't you make a little profit off it.}

> More than one person (the inventor's mum) actually bought one of these things?

You know, there are people who think it would be beneath them to drink from anything costing less than $200. It's all about positional goods and status symbols... (Translation: "showing off")

Re: JBL clarification

> Otherwise, they're basically the same as any other set of TWS headphones.

True, I wondered too.

My TWS earbuds also have an additional battery inside the case (which recharges the earbuds), magnets (that's what holds the earbuds firmly inside the case), the only difference is my case uses a simple button and LEDs to indicate charge level. I'm pretty sure they are made by the same Chinese factory to the same specifications, with just a change of shape and color to "make a difference"...

Uncle Sam OKs vaccine that protects honeybees against hive-destroying bacterium

> "may" is their Get Out Of Jail Free card

Indeed. Haven't you noticed everything is only 99.9% efficient, never 100%? Simply because if you claim infallibility, you're game for every lawsuit-happy get-rich-quick idiot out there. Only claiming there is a chance your product won't work can prevent this.

Should open source sniff the geopolitical wind and ban itself in China and Russia?

Re: Keep politics out of open source

> As you say, VLC is already out there, in the wild

Seriously? While admitting that VLC is "already out there", you go on explaining that once it is considered "ammunition" by the US government everything would change. How, since you admit it's already all over the place?

Besides you say foreign devs would have to go, ignoring the fact that this would mean all of them, since IIRC it's a french project!... Chances are VLC would simply give the US government the finger and keep doing what it has been doing since the beginning (ie. working for the destruction of western civilization as we know it...).

Are you really that oblivious to the physical impossibility of controlling Open Source, something wildly distributed all over the planet, completely out of the jurisdiction of any one government? I'm all for US-centrism, but please try to understand that there are several billion people on this planet who don't give a damn about USML, ITAR or any other US regulation - simply because they don't live in the USA or any of its subsidiaries.

Re: Keep politics out of open source

> Hope for leniency?

Leniency? What for? The public prosecutor will need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it is you who gave it to them, which (unless you're terminally stupid) is about as impossible a task as it gets.

Unless you somehow were caught red-handed, as I said above, nobody can prove anything, and since proof is required, you walk.

To illustrate, let's say VLC was put under export control. Now please explain how you would legally manage to throw VLC's devs in prison if the latest version turns up in "Bad Guys Country"? You can download it about anywhere, and anyone who has downloaded it can give it to anybody, anywhere. Can you legally imprison somebody for something he hasn't done? No. Who will you imprison? Some unknown random, potentially residing in a different country? Good luck with that...

Re: Code is speech

> China can topple the US from the top economic power

Sorry but the USA was (over)ripe for the picking. Too much resting on one's laurels I'm afraid, thinking the world would stand still and never ever dare challenge one's supremacy. If History teaches us something, it's that great empires rise and fade, eventually. Ask the Babylonians, Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans (and so on).

Re: Keep politics out of open source

> “Guns don’t kill people, Rappers do”

Indeed, and I'm all for banning rappers.

Re: Keep politics out of open source

> If that code gets traced back to you…

And how exactly do you plan to trace that code back? The developer (or Github, or whoever) can always claim it has been stolen, potentially from somebody else, and unless you catch somebody red-handed you'd be hard-pressed to accuse anybody in particular. Sorry, but that's how law works, righteous wrath doesn't have anything to say in it. This idea is clearly unenforceable, impossible to implement, and thus would be just empty political gesturing.

_{(Didn't downvote you though.)}

Re: Keep politics out of open source

> but being digital, harder for TPTB to detect that

Well, you gave your own counter-argument. What works for hardware doesn't work for software, which is virtual and thus near impossible to trace. All right, the forbidden code appears in the hands of the Bad Guys. What can/will you do?

Re: Keep politics out of open source

> you lose the license

And that will scare the bad guys away?

I feel much safer since I've put up a notice on my door stating that it is forbidden to break in...

Riding in Sidecar: How to get a Psion online in 2023

Re: Very interesting

Thanks!

Re: Very interesting

> or even, gulp, 3" Amstrad disks

I for one would be ready to pay to get stuff off my old 3" PCW disks (hundreds of pages, 6 books...).

Good news

Great! I still have a fully functional Psion 5 somewhere in a box.