Posts by Marjolica

Some signs of AI model collapse begin to reveal themselves

Re: Predictions

Words like Gaza, Palestine, Genocide?

Datacenter developer says power issues holding up new builds

Re: I'm old enough to remember when ...

Results from Google queries now start with an AI summary that is bullshit by default. This costs 20x the energy use at the bitbarn of the actual search results. What a way to bring forward the end of human civilisation.

Boris Johnson's mad hydrogen for homes bubble bursts

Re: Start right, now

We should have had these improvements in Building Regulations years ago, They were planned and have been postponed by Tory government's ever since.

The only people who have benefitted are the major house builders who are noticeable big donors to the Tory party.

New houses are typically B rated not D.

The additional cost, on a new house typically costing £250k, not £100k would typically be less than £10k (with current HP subsidy) and would soon pay for itself. Retrofitting the same would cost £30k.

And it is alway open to the government to choose to subsidise more: infrastruture investment is capital spend and is allowed under the fiscal rules.

Re: Gas network updates for hydrogen

At the moment most hydrogen is made from gas for when it's needed as a chemical intermediate to eg make ammonia for fertiliser.

Hydrogen made this way is more expensive than gas if just used as fuel because of the losses in conversion while the carbon stripped from the gas (CH4+O2 - > CO2 +H4) will result in even more CO2 is emitted unless you can expensively pump it underground.

In the future we may have green hydrogen from electrolysis (or other innovative processes that are electrically powered) once we have so much renewables that we start to want to store it as hydrogen - at the moment we simply pay the wind turbines to stop turning when we have too much generation.

But even then there are better uses for hydrogen, which would sensibly be used on site at ammonia plants or to displace coke for steel production.

Re: Gas network updates for hydrogen

What needs to change is how we calculate the price of electricity vs. gas as the relative prhce incentives for consumers are all wrong.

At the moment gas is usually the marginal energy source for electricity generation on an hour be hour basis so this also sets the price that renewable sources receive. So they make lots of profit some of which the government may claw back if they are on Contracts for difference or there is a government claw back on those with ROCs. All the profits are going to the suppliers or the government not to us consumers.

The electricity price for consumers should be set equal to the long run marginal cost of supply (including a sensible mark up for the suppliers) , which will be mostly renewables and it would be then much cheaper to run heat pumps than gas central heating and we would all have lower energy prices.

Man who nearly killed physical media returns with $60,000 vinyl turntable

Re: Balmuda toaster

What no bagel mode? - toasts just one side.

TCS bags £234M Teachers' Pensions deal as Capita set to end 29-year run

Re: Darlington

Darlington is surprise, surprise, where Capita offices running the TPS are currently located.

I expect (initially at least) the staff will just get to change employer, probably running the same software.

But obviously as it's a cheaper bid no doubt there will be savings to be made.

Brit newspaper giant fills space with AI-assisted articles

Re: Will anyone notice?

My adblocker (uBlock Origin) seems to keep the cruft at bay, on Devon Live at least.

So you want to replace workers with AI? Watch out for retraining fees, they're a killer

And when they retrain these models in future what new data will they train them on? If this takes off then much of that new data won't be the result of new thinking generated by human neurons it'll just be the garbage that these models has newly produced. GIGO.

Cops chase Tesla driver 'dozing' with Autopilot on

Re: Shirley?

Teslas on autopilot are programmed to ignore stationary objects - so they run into parked emergency vehicles or barriers between the carriageway and a slip road if the lane marking are worn.

If a police car were to get in front and then slow down then it might work - OR the Tesla might just pull out to overtake.

SEC says brokerage accounts hijacked for $1.3m pump-and-dump scam

Re: Stupid people tricks

He's Zoltan Nagy. Both common Hungarian names.

Wi-Fi hotspots and Windows on Arm broken by Microsoft's latest patches

Re: "the patch contains a number of security updates as well as the usual raft of bug fixing"

For those of us who want a bit more stability Firefox /do/ provide Firefox-esr, so the monthly updates are just security fixes and they only screw over the interfaces etc. once a year.

Available on all platforms, not just Linux.

Thunderbird is coming to Android – in K-9 Mail form

Re: Lightweight?

I use K9 as my mail client on android on my phone and tablet.

I use evolution as my mail client on my PC. It's footprint is much smaller than Thunderbird and offers contacts and calendar integration with google, which I use on android. So K9-Thunderbird integration isn't of much interest to me.

All three devices sync incoming mail perfectly but then I run my own postfix mail server.

I also don't have any issues with the 2021 K9 update: I still have a unified inbox over my 3 mail accounts, though it tends to be a bit slow to refresh, and, of course, I can still see all three individual IMAP accounts.

The only major features I miss in K9 is an ability to print emails, that I have to dig in the headers to view sender email addresses rather than just sender names and that I can't just swipe to mark any spam that gets through my server spam filters as spam (and update my Bayesian classifier).

The next time your program is 'not responding,' (do not) try these steps

Of course not. If my system crashes I want to be able to read my system logs to try and find out why.

AI-powered browser extension to automatically click away cookie pop-ups now promised

Anyone else tried CookieBlock?

There is already an extension available for most browsers, CookieBlock (see https://karelkubicek.github.io/post/cookieblock and https://www.ghacks.net/2022/03/24/cookie-block-corrects-gdpr-violations-in-the-browser/), that uses ML to try and eliminate non-essential cookies.

Rather than simulate clicks it bypasses that stage and just deletes the non-GDPR compliant cookies you don't want.

To make it work you do also have to use something else to auto click through the consent dialogue (e.g. uBlock Origin / Dashboard / Filter lists / Custom / Import ADD : https://www.i-dont-care-about-cookies.eu/abp/).

This extension is also developed by academic researchers but without Google involvement.

Anyone else tried it?

Vital UK customs system outage contributes to travel chaos at its borders

Updated to add at 16:00 on April 18, 2022

" Updated to add at 16:00 on April 18, 2022

A HMRC spokesperson told us the system is back online: "Following an outage last week, we have successfully made changes to the HMRC network to allow availability of the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS).

"Contingencies will remain in place over the weekend to continue to ensure the movement of goods and allow continued testing. From Monday midday, Goods Movement References will be required for all movements using GVMS.""

That's quick : 10 day notice that it will be fixed.

UK's new Brexit Freedom Bill promises already-slated GDPR reform, easier gene editing rules

Re: Company get out of jail free clause?

And this worked so well with CEST?

Predictive Dirty Dozen: What will and won't happen in 2022 (unless it doesn’t/does)

Re: I predict .....

We are even more dependent on electricity than you think:

Gas boilers - won't work very well without electric ignition and pumps.

Gas cookers have a electrically powered safety thermocouple that failsafe to off so matches are not an answer.

I expect the gas grid uses electric pumps too.

No electric power - you're stuffed.

Apple debuts iPhone 13 with 1TB option, two iPad models, Series 7 Watch

iWatch and e-biking

I'm a bit puzzled by Apple's claim that they need to adjust their active calorie calculation if you use an e-bike. The full press release statement says that:

"Apple Watch can more accurately measure active calories when riding an e-bike, with an updated cycling workout algorithm that evaluates GPS and heart rate to better determine when users are riding with pedal-assist versus leg power alone".

If you don't have a power meter, most bike computer/app calculations just use your heart rate and have correlated that to power used and hence energy expended. I am somewhat unconvinced by the experiments these are based on: they are, in my opinion, poorly calibrated adjustment for age and gender and my Wahoo Element estimates less than half the calories that Ride with GPS does on the same information.

However I find I don't work any less hard, and raise my heart rate by a similar amount, when I use my e-bike as I average about 1/3 faster at a higher cadence than riding my unassisted one. Not sure how Apple can claim to improve on that by using GPS and presumably AI to infer I'm on using electrical assist.

Facebook CEO puts picture of himself wearing too much sunscreen on new board

Sunscreen?

Sunscreen? As I row/sail/cycle I use plenty of SPF50 sunscreen and all it does is keep me more pale and interesting than I would be otherwise.

I suspect what we are talking about is fake tan (as also used by a former US President).

Not just Microsoft: Auth turns out to be a point of failure for Google's cloud, too

Re: GMail out again today...

Agree. I resent one and got that through earlier but it's now down again at 22:25:36 +0000 (GMT), same message, for two more recipients.

Re: GMail out again today...

Authentication was also problematic yesterday evening: I don't use gmail but send two messages to friends' gmail accounts around 23:00 and got:

I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not

be delivered to one or more recipients.

...

<[e-mail]>: host gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[173.194.69.26] said:

550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please

try 550-5.1.1 double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or

550-5.1.1 unnecessary spaces. Learn more at 550 5.1.1

https://support.google.com/mail/?p=NoSuchUser cw4si6981ejb.196 - gsmtp (in

reply to RCPT TO command)

Italian competition watchdog slaps Apple with €10m fine over allegedly misleading iPhone waterproofing claims

Re: After a short dive in sea water.

"Dive" is also pertinent here. "waterproof to 2m" implies at static pressure, if you dive into water then the effective pressure is much higher, ditto, but to a lesser extent if you are swimming with it. If you ever look at the info about waterproof watches you are usually wanting a 50m or 100m rating if you intend to swim wearing your watch.

Doesn't mean that Apple's advertising isn't misleading.

Has Apple abandoned CUPS, the Linux's world's widely used open-source printing system? Seems so

Which model is that?

I have a Brother DCP-9015CDW, of similar vintage, and it prints using IPP Everywhere fine.

UK privacy watchdog confirms probe into NHS England COVID-19 app after complaints of spammy emails, texts

I got the email at 7:41 Sunday. I already had the app installed. On most phone's it's possible to set a 'do not disturb' so it doesn't wake you up with a nocturnal notification. Needless to say mine turns back on at 7:30, as that is also when my wake-up alarm goes off. Normally I make a cup of tea and check for any overnight emails and texts then so for my use case it would make more sense than later in the day as I don't live with my phone except when I'm out and about.

NHS COVID-19 app's first weekend: With fundamental testing flaw ironed out, bugs remaining are relatively trivial

Re: Location ID

The QR encoded information is for the organisation and the postal address. It could easily have been organisation + what3words locale.

In our case (a rowing club hut, located at the back of a pub car park) we've 'borrowed' their postal address. The organisation name is what makes it unique. A What3words address wouldactually locate it more accurately.

Re: What about checking out?

"I've created a qr code for my home to mitigate the false data"

Does that actually work and log you out of the previous QR-ed location?

I was expecting to be able to see the lost of places an times that I had logged but it seems to be hidden.

My suggestion is that checkout could be done transparently, if approximately, using GPS: read the QR code, let the app record your location; Move 50-100m away and you get logged out; the GPS data doesn't need to leave your phone.

If you think Mozilla pushed a broken Firefox Android build, good news: It didn't. Bad news: It's working as intended

Primary is problematic too

Yes, noticed that (it's in the FAQ).

Completely ignores the problematic use of 'Primary' (and 'Secondary') amongst many younger polyamorous people.

Re: Genuine question

One difference is that if you' press-and-hold' the browser back button you get to choose from the entire in-browser back history, so from 'here' (Comments) back-and-hold you can go direct to the Register front page. Also it won't close your browser if there's no more history to go back to,

I agree 'forward' is also useful and not duplicated in the Android 'thee buttons'.

Firefox did flash me a notification - in advance - yesterday (maybe because I have an account?) and I had already seen mention of this elsewhere so had disabled play store auto updates and I've removed my Master Password for now, just so my passwords don't get blitzed.

I could probably live with the new version - I use uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger to block ads and trackers and they are available in the new version (though I'd be unsurprised if Badger needed to relearn all the trackers it blocks.

However the lack of back/forward buttons (if true) would be a complete bummer - how else do you get back to the Register home page from here?.

I also understand that they haven't enabled about:config which would mean I have no control over my DNS (amongst other things): I do use DoH (via Nebulo) but avoid Cloudflare (the company whose Chief Security Officer was previously sacked by Uber).

On my PC's Firefox-esr (LTS) I have three months overlap of the old and the new version, so I don't get bumped into upgrading. On Android, not only do they stop supporting the old version for security immediately they hit you with an automatic upgrade.

For now I'm sitting fast on the old version. Any suggestions for a good alternative mobile browser? Don't say Chrome.

GRUB2, you're getting too bug for your boots: Config file buffer overflow is a boon for malware seeking to drill deeper into a system

Re: Be nice if they could make it secure *and reliable*

Devuan user here. System did an unattended-upgrades at 9:45 this morning (that installs security fixes) and provided a new grub-common (grub-common_2.02+dfsg1-20+deb10u1_amd64.deb).

However just did a hibernate (that restarts the machine and reloads grub) and everything is still working OK.

Ubuntu is Debian based, as is Ubuntu, so seems like you have a specific problem. If you don't reboot that often then all sorts of other changes you made since last reboot might be triggering it.

Three UK: We're sending you this SMS to warn you not to pay attention to unsolicited texts

Ironically I got my first smishing text on Saturday: allegedly from Three. Said there were problems processing my bill payment and go and provide details by clicking through a bit.ly link. I didn't click the link, went to the Three website instead to check my account details. Going to login I was first redirected to a http address, which threw up the usual stop/warning from HTTPS Everywhere. I had to click through that (!) to get a redirect to a proper https page to login. Needless to say no problems with my account as bill still being prepared and I pay by Direct Debit anyway.

When I checked where the bit.ly link pointed (no, I didn't click it) it went nowhere, so presumably by then it had been taken down.

Along with today's faux-pas must say I'm not that impressed by Three's security at the moment.

Everyone loves our new desktop web search design so much – the one with ads that look like links – that we're tweaking it, says Google

Re: Debt

Odd. If I search for 'debt' using DDG (UK) in Firefox (ESR-Devuan) I'm not seeing any obvious ads, even when I disable uBlock Origin. First three are from Citizen's Advice, Gov.uk, Wikipedia.

DoH! Secure DNS doesn't make us a villain, Mozilla tells UK broadband providers

Are ISPs already sabotaging Firefox DoH?

I enabled the Firefox/Cloudflare DoH on my Firefox-esr (v60.7.2) a few days ago and all was working OK. Thawed my computer this morning and Firefox started to crash. I had a lot of tabs open and lost them. Started to re-enter the ones I use regularly (eg. El Reg), when I got to google calendar it crashed again. Crashes re-occured on other google sites., Repeated attempts led to repeated crashes, each more severe than the last to the extent that the browser wouldn't stay open unless I disconnected the WiFi. Firefox on Android, that I hadn't enabled for DoH, was still working.

Disabled the DoH (network.trr.mode=0) while offline and now I'm happily sending this. So is it a bug, problems at the Cloudflare doH or are BT injecting something malicious into my DNS?