Posts by LenG

Rental electric scooters to clutter UK street scenes after Department of Transport gives year-long trial the thumbs-up

Re: Trials?

I could use one of these for shopping, going to the doctor/dentist and local visiting of friends ... if I owned it. All of which would replace car usage. No chance of that with the rental model.

Linux Mint 20 isn't exactly bursting with freshness but, hey, there's kernel 5.4 and it's a long-term support release

Re: Upgrading?

There is actually an edition of Mint directly based on Debian.

Microsoft emits a colourful Windows Terminal preview

Re: Open Cmd Here?

I can open a folder in powershell but not cmd. I'd like to set a right-click menu option to open in Cygwin Terminal but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that and there is no "Open With" on folders as opposed to files.

NASA scientists mull sending a spacecraft on a 13-year mission to visit Neptune's 'bizarre' moon, Triton

Faster!

I wish there was some way of speeding these things up. At 67, and a space nut since the launch of sputnik 1 (which I remember) I am now getting concerned that I won't be around to see the outcome of some of these missions.

They've only gone and bloody done it! NASA, SpaceX send two fellas off to the International Space Station

A Sense of Wonder

Still gives me a thrill to see this sort of thing ... and the quality of the pictures was wonderful, but it didn't stop some brain dead conspiracy nut on the twitter feed saying he felt the loss of video as Stage 1 touched down on the barge was "very suspicious".

Remember when Republicans said Dems hacked voting systems to rig Georgia's election? There were no hacks

Re: A dry run for trumps loss in 2020

There are few countries where voting is technically compulsory, and even fewer where the requirement is enforced.

Classic. though, is North Korea. Everyone over 17 has to vote ... and there is only one candidate on the ballot.

Western Digital shingled out in lawsuit for sneaking RAID-unfriendly tech into drives for RAID arrays

Storm in a teacup?

I would like to see some proper data on how this affects the performance of the drives in their intended use The only drives in the Red range affected are between 2 and 6 TB. WD have done themselves no favours PR wise but provided the actual RL performance is up to par I really don't care what is under the hood. As an aside I see the WD website now specifies the recording technology used in their drives.

I would also like to see what "harm and damage" clients have experienced. I have a feeling this is mainly driven by lawyers looking to make a buck.

Campaign groups warn GCHQ can re-identify UK's phones from COVID-19 contact-tracing app data

Nothing unexpected here then.

All these concerns were raised before the excuse for a prototype was more than a gleam in Boris' eye. Just reinforces my decision to have nothing to do with the app in anything like its current or currently intended form.

NHS contact tracing app isn't really anonymous, is riddled with bugs, and is open to abuse. Good thing we're not in the middle of a pandemic, eh?

Just say no

Google/Apple (a scary partnership) got together and produced a working framework for a distributed app which would be much more satisfactory than the cludge put together by the NHS programmers. They can do this because they can do things a normal app can't. I believe there are several countries using this framework. Its major advantages are no central database of identifiable information and clean iOS/android interaction.

So the question is who do you trust most?

There is also the minor point that you have some (small) chance of recourse through the courts if G/A cheat on their promises. You have no such recourse against the NHS app as they have admitted up front that they will do what they want with the data (assuming the app works well enough to collect any).

Personally I will not download this app in its present form, even if it means I have to stay in lockdown longer than I might otherwise.

Third time lucky for Windows 10 2004? Microsoft yet again fiddles with code and adds a go-live SDK licence

Never do ...

"After all, it would never do to unleash the Windows 10 May 2020 Update in June now, would it?"

Nope, July sounds much more inviting. Or possibly October.

Not that I care too much as I have updates deferred by 12 months. Mind, I may change my mind if they announce a fix to the issue which keeps causing it to change the sound output device.

Microsoft's Family Safety app drills into kids' screen time, browsing habits to help 'facilitate a dialogue'

Turnaround

And how many parents will be locked out of their normal online entertainment when tech-savvy kids steal the keys to the cage?

We lost another good one: Mathematician John Conway loses Game of Life, taken by coronavirus at 82

Inspirational

I had the luck and privilege to attend lectures by Conway while an undergraduate at Cambridge. He had the ability to make even a mundane first-year analysis course an inspirational adventure, to the extent that the lecture room was always overfilled with people sitting on windowsills and floors. A great man and a great loss.

Apollo 13 set off into space 50 years ago today. An ignored change order ensured it did not make it to the Moon...

Why O-rings

I'm working from memory here, so please correct me if I am wrong, but the original idea for the solid fuel boosters (themselves spec'd as they were cheaper than more controllable liquid fuel devices) envisaged a one piece construction with the boosters delivered by barge. Unfortunately the contract was awarded to Morton Thiokol and you can't barge something from Utah so the design was changed to allow air freight. How far back do you really want to trace this accident?

OK brainiacs, we've got an IT cold case for you: Fatal disk errors on an Amiga 4000 with 600MB external SCSI unless the clock app is... just so

Rotten Apple

I had an Apple IIe which stopped reading the left-hand floppy (I had two, sitting side by side on the top of the case) after I bought a new monitor. To cut a long story short it turned out that the monitor generated a magnetic lobe from the LH corner sufficient to screw up the less-than-robust Apple disk drive. Stacking the drives away from the monitor fixed the problem but was a pain with my less than ample desk space.

RAND report finds that, like fusion power and Half Life 3, quantum computing is still 15 years away

Timeline

I have 50 year old books in my library claiming that fusion power would be available within 25 years. I believe that is still the estimate.

I do not anticipate general availability of quantum computing within my lifetime, no matter how long I live.

Microsoft prevents Domain of Danger from falling into miscreants' paws by forking out cash for corp.com

Do you trust MS?

So, after all this time with no actual evidence of malfeasance on the part of the corp.com owner we allow the sale of the domain to the corporation which made Windoze snoop central for all users?

Great.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Black hole quasar tsunamis moving at 46 million miles per hour

Good old Hubble

Still churning out amazing results despite age and (corrected) astigmatism.

Windows Dressing: Psst... Fast Ring folks, whispers Microsoft. You're in this for the cool icons, right?

New Icons

Maybe I'm the odd one out, but I hate the phone-style icons. They are not actually even icons (by definition an icon is supposed to represent something which reminds you of the underlying functions) but actually glyphs - intrinsically meaningless squiggles which you have to learn to associate with the underlying function - and they tend to appear in different places with different applications. At least the old menus generally had the same function with the same label in much the same place.

I liked the winXP interface. Or at least I did after I used the classic view option to make it look like Win2000. With the aid of add ons I could make Win 7 behave enough like XP so that I could still get back to Win2000. M$ screwed up years of familiar usage with the mess that was win 8 and then carried much of it over into Win 10 while removing most of the configuration options which would allow people like me make the thing look and feel familiar. I would like to meet some of the UI designers of that time ... preferrably in a dark alley while equipped with a chain saw.

It's official: In May, Microsoft will close the door, lock the vault, brick over the entrance of dreaded Windows 10 1809

1803

My (Pro) is on 1803 and still seems to be receiving updates despite the settings update page telling me that I am end of life/out of service for that release. I admit to being very reluctant to attempt to change this situation.

Bada Bing, bada bork: Windows 10 is not happy, and Microsoft's search engine has something to do with it

Happy

I am so happy with the bug which has stopped my Win10 system from upgrading since 1803 but still gives me the security patches it says I won't get.

What are those Windows 10 PCs running? Several flavours from 2019, by the looks of things

1803

I'm running windows 10 pro (1803) and have updates defered for 365 days to allow other people to find the bugs for me. I actually moved up to this level on 10/7/19.

The Windows Update page declares

"Your version of Windows has reached end of service. We recommend you update to the most recent version of Windows 10 to get the latest features and security improvements."

and but also tells me that I recently got the latest Win 10 Update with new features and important security updates. To my surprise I am still getting security updates (last on 28/1/20).

I'm not sure why it is not upgrading now I am past the 365 day period for the next upgrade unless it is counting from 10/7/19.

All I can say is that in this case the crap M$ upgrade system seems to be working in my favour as I have no desire to actually upgrade from where I am as long as I get the security fixes!

Pentagon's $10bn JEDI decision 'risky for the country and democracy,' says AWS CEO Jassy

Re: Respect Babylon 5

Errr, Patrick Stewart was in Star Trek, not B5.

Mind, we also have a Star Trek image. Maybe pictures from the Star Wars franchise is too expensive for El Reg?

Oracle and Google will fight in court over Java AGAIN and this time it's going to the Supremes

Oracle's Innovations??

"reject Google’s continuing efforts to avoid responsibility for copying Oracle’s innovations,"

Oracle may own the copyright (if such exists) but it is a bit steep for them claiming that this was Oracle Innovation when they simply purchased it from Sun.

Socket to the energy bill: 5-bed home with stupid number of power outlets leaves us asking... why?

You can never have too many sockets.

I got fed up with having about 8 power bars daisychained under my desk, so I mounted 15 double sockets on a chipboard shelf and mounted it on the wall above the desk with the sockets facing forward. The board hides the wiring and means I don't have to make holes in the walls. I have a switch at one end which cuts power to 10 doubles while the other five stay live, so I can leave routers and ethernet switches powered on while turning all the chargers etc off at once. A spur from the 30amp ring main goes to a 20amp RCD protectng the whole setup. Despite running 2 computers, several NAS devices and assorted USB accessories and chargers I've never had the 20amp breaker drop. And nowadays I no longer have to untangle the cats from the nest of power leads.

US Air Force inks deal with Raytheon on Windows 10 (and other) support for ARSE

Win 10 on missiles?

Can somebody please recommend a reliable installer of bomb shelters??

It's back: The mercifully normal-looking Moto 360 smartwatch

Usage

Can I use it to unlock my car when I forget my phone?

Huawei with you! FCC's American Pai proposes rip-and-replace of scary Chinese comms kit

Follow the money

Why do I feel it likely that most if not all of any available rip-and-replace subsidies will end up the the pocket of the largest teleco's?

Like the Death Star on Endor, JEDI created a ton of fallout and stormy weather in cloud market

Re: Jump!

Lorien, if I remember correctly.

I see your blue passport and raise you a green number plate: UK mulls rewards scheme for zero-emission vehicles

Green?

I drive a petrol car. It has a small engine and I only do about 3000 miles a year. Much greener than an SUV lugging around a ton of lithium ion batteries but guess who will get the subsidized parking, despite taking up twice as much parking space.

Her Majesty opens UK Parliament with fantastic tales of gigabit-capable broadband for everyone

Re: It's no problem...

Pity you can't spell grammar ... it sort of spoils the effect

Remember, remember, it's now called November: Windows 10 19H2 update has a name

Why?

Personally I can understand a sysadmin having a test machine running the latest pre-release but I am at a complete loss as to why any normal user would be on the "fast road to hell" or whatever the preview release system is called this month. Are there really desirable functional upgrades rolling out at 6 month intervals? I can't say I have noticed anything new that I actually wanted since I moved to Win 10, a decision made only because of driver availability fears.

The system more or less forced me to upgrade to 1803 in July. Can't say it had anything I wanted nor is there anything new in the November refresh that I can't do without. I shall happily remain 18 months or so behind the crowd and let the poor saps with Windoze Home find the bugs.

We, Wall, we, Wall, Raku: Perl creator blesses new name for version 6 of text-wrangling lingo

Next release

So, if there is ever a new Perl-5 compatible major release of Perl will it be Perl 6 (major confusion), Perl 7 (minor confusion over absense of Perl 6) or some other new and equally obscure name?

Just askin'

Edge, Internet Explorer users Czech their settings after MSN 'forgot' their language

Number of users?

"Heck, at time of writing one topic had clocked up 143 views and 19 replies. Who knew?"

So, 19 users and 124 people who browse the forum to laugh at them?

IBM cuts ribbon on quantum computing centre wherein a 53-qubit monster lurks

Re: Crypto

And of course encryption by one-time pad is inherently uncrackable. The problem then becomes security and distribution of the pads.

Re: Forgive my ignorance

It depends on your definition of useful. The IBM machines are extremely useful for researchers and the like but for practical day-to-day purposes, no.

Au my bog: Bloke, 66, on bail after 'solid-gold' crapper called 'America' stolen from stately home

Is it really art?

Not sure why copying an everyday object in gold is classified as art. Would it still be art if it were made of dried poop?

Tut – you wait a lifetime for an interstellar object then two come at once

Re: Yeah, they saw this one coming

Surely the more expert you are, the less likely to encounter something unexpected (in your own field) and thus the more surprised you are likely to be if you do.

Mainstream auto makers stuff in more self-driving tech: 8% of new Euro cars have Level 2 smarts

Re: Lexical noise

There are many ways of implementing AI. Often a neural network is used which generates its own rules from sample data. The point is that at no time does anyone sit down and attempt to enumerate the rules by hand.

Level 3 is a disaster waiting to happen

The chances of a driver being alert enough or quick enough to take over if the automatic system gets into trouble are remote. This is already a problem on aircraft where the autopilot does most of the flying and the readiness/experience levels of the human pilots is deteriorating over time.

Re: Lexical noise

There are no "structured texts" associated with AI. What you are describing is a rules-based system where the programmer attempts to envisage every possible situation/outcome.

For real this time, get your butt off Python 2: No updates, no nothing after 1 January 2020

Re: see if it still works

The Win98 machine may work but you may find that the bits have fallen off the floppies.

As for Win 7, you do know that neither Intel not AMD support it on their more recent CPUs? From what I have read, installing in on a new AMD Ryzen system is a real pain due to the USB support.

Allowlist, not whitelist. Blocklist, not blacklist. Goodbye, wtf. Microsoft scans Chromium code, lops off offensive words

The solution is simple

Remove all comments.

All variables to be 6 character randomly generated strings. (No vowels to avoid unintentional word formation).

All error messages to be replaced by "Something went wrong" in 10 languages randomly selected from all the languages into which the phrase can be meaningfully translated.

Windows 10 Fast Ring Insiders see double while SQL Server 2019 sidles closer to release

Paint and notepad

are the only two microsoft "applications" that I use. They don't do anything I can't do with gimp and vi but they are convenient to have around, especially if I am using someone else's machine. There is nothing else which comes with the basic Win10 install that I would miss if it wasn't there.

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

Decent range

I was thinking of upgrading to an electric car but wanted a decent range. Then several companies (such as Hyundai/Kia) announced eVehicles with 250+ mile ranges. I made enquiries but there were a number of major issues, including the fact that they were all SUV class vehicles and I didn't want anything that big. But the real killer was being told that the "2019" models would not be available for at least 14 months even if I put down a deposit immediately.

So I said sod it and ordered one of the new 1 series BMW's. Initially I was promised delivery pre-Brexit (good as it means I miss any new tariffs) but since then the date has come a month closer and may be even sooner.

'Hey Google, remind Greg the locks have been changed, and he should find a new place to live. Maybe ask his mistress?'

Re: Dystopia, one improvement at a time

"There's talk of using smartphones in supermarkets to scan and pay for our goods via an app"

Sainsbury's supermarkets in the UK have had an app for this for some years. I tried it once and went back to the dedicated scanners. Why? They fit on the bracket on the trolley so you don't have to hold the damn phone all the time and also the in-store Wifi had dead spots.

Astroboffins have spied the largest star that has gone supernova and it's breaking all the rules

Re: Soup

Nit picker here. The poster was a punctuation Nazi, not a spelling Nazi.

And for the most part both breeds have my support as correct spelling and punctuation do make text far more readable.

1Gbps, 4K streaming, buffering a thing of the past – but do Brits really even want full fibre?

Customer's don't want it?

This one does.

Ouch. Reinstalling Windows 10 again? By 2020, a 'cloud download' may be all you need

Take a different path

I'd rather have an OS which didn't bork itself in the first place.

Darkest Dungeon: Lovecraftian PTSD simulator will cause your own mask to slip

Re: Narrative flavour

I have a set of Lovecraft stories read by Wayne June. No one does it better. I occasionally play the opening to "The Dunwich Horror" to more ... sensitive ... friends and it never fails to induce terror.

BT adopts Ubuntu OpenStack as core brains for its 5G, fibre-to-the-premises rollout

FTTP?

"the cloud platform that will help support the introduction of 5G and fibre-to-the-premises connectivity"

I've given up the hope of ever getting FTTP to my current premises in my lifetime. As far as I can see the only way to improve by internet connectivity is to move house.