Posts by JClouseau

France to replace US videoconferencing wares with unfortunately named sovereign alternative

Yes, "contraction" works, but "portmanteau" was exactly what I was looking for. Never understood how you guys came with the idea that a coat hanger was a good analogy for the concept, but it's cool, I like it a lot.

In the "let's try to translate English tech words into French and not look completely ridiculous" section I kind of like this one, even though it's not very widely used.

Because it makes sense : it's the abbreviation/concatenation (*) of "message électronique".

"Visio", on the other hand, is quite dull for the Ultimate Secure French National Video Call tool. How about "Sauron" ?

(*) I'm sure there is a word for this but it escapes me

GrapheneOS bails on OVHcloud over France's privacy stance

Re: It's complicated...

Regarding "coerced confession" : it is quite a stretch to put torture at the same level as spying/snooping. You may laugh at this, but I have nothing to hide (not even dodgy tax returns, honest!) and don't give a fliying duck about the DGSI checking on my emails/SMS/etc... once in a while. I would just be pissed off seeing my precious tax money being wasted.

Note that I'm staying local, because that's what we are talking about. I would definitely give a damn if the GCHQ/NSA/CIA/FSB/etc. did the same. If I'm being spied on I want it to be by MY spooks, born and bred here.

I don't dismiss any report, and see no reason to doubt the example you mention, or others revealed by respectable newspapers. It is not an excuse, but that one (stalking his ex) is quite mundane compared to fighting "hard" criminals. Yes, it could have ended badly, with murder for instance. But it didn't. What matter to me are the consequences, not the means.

What I meant is that 99.9% of people have no idea whatsoever about what the powers-that-be actually do in the cyberspace, other than a couple of scandals from time to time in the papers, or successes.

There are black sheeps, but without further information it becomes a matter of perception : you seem to be focused on how bad for privacy and liberty state surveillance can be to innocent people, while I prefer to see it as a necessary evil to fight people who are actively fucking up society. Am I naive ? Are you paranoid ? Who knows ?

I fully agree with your last paragraph, but I am perhaps a bit more optimistic thinking that in our democracies the black sheeps mentioned earlier often end up being exposed by whistleblowers, journalists, colleagues, etc... We are not living in fascist states (assuming you're not in Russia, or China).

I am actually more wary of some private (and filthy rich) endeavours, especially when combined with dirty politics. Cambridge Analytica anyone ?

Re: It's complicated...

Hi, thanks for replying. We obviously won't agree, at least not about everything, but I wanted to address a couple of points you make.

About those "minorities" you mention twice : I understand that the "2% assassins" are the law enforcement (OK, not assassins per se, but the bad guys), who may most likely "attack the innocent for their own gain".

You are talking hypothetically about law enforcement going after the innocent. Yes, it may happen, but in this particular case (the article mentions narcos) nothing is hypothetical : this is about cracking encrypted devices to find and put behind bars actual baddies who do harm people, by selling shit and occasionally killing competitors, witnesses and bystanders.

My personal feeling is that we are right now in a room with 2% assassins indeed, actual assassins, and no, I don't feel safe. I am lucky enough to live in a good and quite neighbourhood, but I can't help reading the news and there is grim stuff happening (in France) almost every day linked to drug trafficking. I don't see as much happening in the UK but I tend to read the Guardian. Can't stand the Telegraph.

Sorry about you knowing things because "you read about them", that's just as believable to me as someone from any State agency writing "relax, we play by the rules all the time". See ? We do have little things in common.

I do hope they don't play by the rules all the time when it comes to baddies. I guess I'm going all "Dirty Harry" as I grow old.

Now back to the object of this article, I checked GrapheneOS on X and they just went nuts about those articles, claiming that the Mighty French State is coming after them to put them in jail because they cooperate with the devil. As some sensible people wrote to them, this is hysterically bad communication.

I've read two articles from Le Parisien, and what the cyberpolice memo says is basically "narcs (and other baddies) are using Pixel phones with GrapheneOS and we are currently unable to extract information from these when seized". Nowhere it says "GrapheneOS are scum and we're going after them".

They (GOS) posted a (illegal ;-) ) link to one of the articles, and the lady (head of a cybercrime division) does say at one point "with this new tool (GOS) there is for some users legitimity in the will to protect communications [...] But that won't prevent us from going after the vendors, should ties with a criminal organization be uncovered, and they don't cooperate with the authorities". Fair enough ?

I can assure you Le Parisien is not a very important national media here (one hint being the title) so no, the "French media" is not after GOS. I get GOS are sensitive about security and State snooping, but some of their posts smell of conspiracy theory.

You seem to trust Law and Civilization, and distrust the authorities. I've almost lost faith in some people's ability to be civilized at all.

I hope we're both wrong. Have a pint for being civilized.

It's complicated...

I live in France and wasn't aware of a "press campaign against GrapheneOS" as someone posted. I did find one article in Le Parisien saying that some cybercops released an internal (and leaked) memo saying that narcos are using GrapheneOS with Pixel phones to thwart attempts to intercept communications and get useful information from confiscated devices.

So far no public request from the French government to GrapheneOS asking for backdoors, although that would seem logical.

Cue the usual "government snooping around = bad for privacy" comments here, which I usually agree with, only in this case I disagree with the "they'll do that to spy on us, the Great Unwashed", or, as said by GrapheneOS themselves (paraphrasing) "the French government is just another bunch of authoritarian fascists".

Yes, they did use the term "fascist law enforcement". Here. ffs.

Sorry if I'm naive enough to think that the majority of people working for these fascist law enforcement forces are just trying to fight actual baddies (narcos, but also terrorists : we're a bit touchy-feely about those around here).

Some would argue that "if the state/police/whatever did their jobs properly they wouldn't need to crack communication devices, there are other ways". Sorry again, it's 2025, digital comms and encryption are available to everybody with half a brain, are police supposed to work with carrier pigeons and telegraph to do their job ?

This is not Luxembourg or Bhutan, this is a large country with LOTS of issues, so please cut some slack to the people trying to sort out some of the mess. I'd be glad if Big Bad Gov't Snooping could prevent another Nov 13th. I'm well aware of what B. Franklin said of Liberty and Safety, I just think times were simpler then. Tough, but simpler. Nowadays Liberty benefits a lot of actual bad guys, not "rebels" or mere pacific opponents.

Will the police use this to snoop on "political" opponents, Gilets Jaunes and the like ? The naive in me would say that it's not that easy, there are laws, they need authorizations, etc... The not-so-naive doesn't have a clue as how it actually happens. Neither do 99.9% of commentards here.

Don't get me wrong : I understand GrapheneOS' position, it's the terms they use to react that irk me, along with some of the comments down here. I don't live in a fascist state yet and there are Real Baddies out there. Deal with it.

PS about /e/OS and iodéOS someone asked about here. According to GrapheneOS, they "make devices dramatically more vulnerable while misleading users about privacy and security. These fake privacy products serve the interest of authoritarians rather than protecting people". So that's sorted (not saying it's not true, I have no idea).

Logitech's MX Master 4 mouse buzzes with haptic feedback but lacks lefty love

Re: Let's not generalize

Surprised ? This is out of frustration for not always having proper left-handed devices available. QED.

Don't get me started on screwdrivers and tennis rackets. Shame !

Investment ?

Developing a left-handed MX Master mouse requires significant investments

Excuse me ? I have zero experience in mouse design and development, so can someone please explain to me why building a symmetrical device is not good enough ?

Had they said "it's too costly to build moulds and factory lines for 10% of the consumers" I would have understood, but "developing" ?

I know we lefties are artists, brilliant, creative and all that, but we can adapt. We don't need bespoke mice.

Megan, AI recruiting agent, is on the job, giving bosses fewer reasons to hire in HR

Re: Mmmmm....

"Megan is not an agent. She is a concert of agents."

And me thinking that Matrix was a bit far-fetched. Does anyone have Neo's ICQ number ?

Actually what we need here is a mix between Neo and John Wick.

Let me tell you about my mother...

Shove your office mandates, people still prefer working from home

OK, but personally I would feel rather miserable if I woke up every morning thinking about working with a bunch of drones I don't care about and who don't care about me.

I didn't need to like the people I'm friends with, it just came naturally. I'm glad we can talk nonsense together and have some laughs to alleviate the stupidity of most of our processes, outsourcing, "best-shoring" and whatnot. The usual stuff in a modern global corporation.

Correct, I don't meet most of them outside work, but it happens sometimes (common music/concert interests comes to mind) and that's allright.

I don't need to meet all of them outside work to like them. There are different "grades" of friends out there. Call them "good grade acquaintances" if you prefer.

Most of us have to work for a living anyway, so better try to make the most out of it.

Seriously ?

I'm very happy with my current situation, we are asked to go to the office roughly twice a week, and (so far) those won't don't are not hunted down and punished.

Depending on how far it is and how you go it's a good balance : I'm perhaps of an older generation but I really like seeing my colleagues to chat face to face about work or (more usually) anything. Not to mention the beer-o'clock meeting at least once a week, doctor's orders. I made good friends at work.

Remote chats are just not my thing.

Also I fully agree with "some say younger staff can't get a feel for corporate culture and learn from older colleagues when at home.". I changed jobs during the pandemic, knew a bit about it already, knew most of the new colleagues and was "Teams-coached" by some of them, but it still was kind of a struggle to stay home alone with my thoughts and doubts. Much better when I could at last meet the team and customers in person.

I can't imagine a young person coming into their first job, especially in a large corporation, and having to discover everything through Teams meetings, remote trainings and other web based stuff. And this is not because I think they're not good or smart enough, most youngsters out there are smarter than I'll ever be. I just think we're all (still) humans and need direct human contact.

Perhaps we can just agree on the fact that "everybody back to the office, all the time" is indeed a quite daft demand in this century.

Slightly off-topic, but I remember a few years ago when I did love my job and "heart" was still a thing I could remotely associate to my employer (also a large US corp. but this was a time where "local" entities had more power and latitude). It is indeed not the case anymore by far, and I'm not sure the main reason is the fact I'm turning into yet another disillusioned old geezer.

I like to think there are still jobs like that, somewhere... It's just that I don't have the guts to seriously look elsewhere ;-)

Tech support warrior left cosplay battle and Trekked to the office

Re: What's the weirdest outfit you've worn to a tech support job?

Oh my, oh my, oh my, upvoted a thousand times, and Amen to that !

Still, Best Wishes to all, let's try to make this upcoming year a bit better than what it is looking like already.

After 3 years, Windows 11 has more than half Windows 10's market share

Hey, it didn't occur to me before your comment, but 2025 could be a great year for people wanting to acquire still-perfectly-functional refurb'd corporate PCs at unreasonably low prices !

I'm sure there are bets around about whether MS will lower the hardware requirements for W11 before 10/14/25. Could be an interesting game of chicken.

I for one, like so many others, have no reason whatsoever to upgrade to 11 (with a PC that is compatible, as MS reminds me of from time to time). I've upgraded from Win7 before only because Junior could not play some games that needed DX12. And some tiny security considerations...

Starlink's new satellites emit 30x more radio interference than before, drowning cosmic signals

Re: Just for curious...

But will disabling the stations stop the sats from emitting whatever garbage they are emitting ?

For the record: You just ordered me to cause a very expensive outage

Re: "I felt no inclination to do so"

This. What happened to Norman afterwards ?

Footage of Nigel Farage blowing up Rishi Sunak's Minecraft mansion 'not real'

Re: Pretty funny

Indeed.

for those fortunate enough not to live in Britain (which heads to the polls on July 4).

A couple weeks ago I would have agreed with this, now I'm afraid nous sommes way above the UK (or US for that matter) in terms of we-are-fucked-ness. Gold medal ahead for sure, we are doomed.

CEO Satya Nadella thinks Microsoft hung up on Windows Phone too soon

Plus, to be honest, Windows Phone was the only place where those ugly tiles made any sense. The missus kept a Nokia 520 (WinPhone8) as far as possible and it was not unpleasant at all to use.

Falling from a staircase and the lack of Whatsapp sealed its fate.

The Nokia, not the missus.

Virgin Orbit doesn't

Re: Had it been a success....

Thanks, but as a cheese-eating Bonapartist I must restore the truth. France alone would never have had the success Ariane experienced without our European friends.

But thanks for this brief moment of French Glory, much appreciated ;-)

As for the failed launch, that's too bad but indeed space is a complicated thing. I'm just not sure to understand what they are trying to achieve here. I imagine that the payload must be quite small compared to what the Arianes, Saturns, and other Falcon 9's are capable of ? What's the point exactly ? Interweb-for-all constellations ? More tiny crap in orbit ? Have nobody watched "Gravity" ffs ?

(I admit I didn't read much about this endeavour)

Lastly, I sense here some despise towards Sir Richard. Again I don't follow his life with much interest but he looks like a decent billionaire to me, compared to the Bezos, Dysons and Musks. So he's not such a Nice Guy after all ?

OK, he also wants a piece of the space tourism cake, but isn't this a trait of all aging filthy rich guys ? Let him (her) who is sure he/she wouldn't indulge into some serious rocket fun, with the appropriate funds, cast the first stone !

Corporations start testing Windows 11 in bigger numbers. Good luck

Re: it's the GUI, stupid

OK I'll bite (for the last time) : this is not about MS having changed my habits and I'm an old grumpy geezer who can't tell his right from his left mouse buttons.

This is about me being perfectly at ease from Windows 3.1 through 7 (included), thinking that the UI was getting better most of the time. No major UI-related complains from my part.

Then came 8 and all hell broke loose (not on any of my PCs, but as lots of IT people here I'm the "support" guy for the family)

I'm not a fan of MacOS either (family support, etc...) but at least the UI is consistent.

Oh, and screensavers are still a feature that is available today in Windows (don't know about 11), so if I want to use it please let me be, thankyouverymuch.

Now the article is about 11, not 10. So perhaps they learned and did improve the UI, but reading comments here and there I'm not holding my breath. Certainly won't be trying this out on my main home PC any time soon.

it's the GUI, stupid

Of course I don't have any meaningful stats about this, but from my personal experience and (IT) people around me the problem is not about what's under the hood. There is no question Windows 10 is quite stable, and the jury is still out regarding performance (OS and apps get more and more bloated over time but hardware has progressed a lot).

But Windows 7 was, as far as I'm concerned, very stable and mature as well. I kept it until last week. Honestly XP was not too bad either.

The big problem with Windows 8/10 is indeed the GUI. And sorry, but it's not just about "oh they changed my menus, I'm all miffed" (holds breath, turns red) as you seem to imply. It's just crappy and unfinished. I'm quite afraid of 11.

I've been tinkering with computers for ~35 years, as a hobby and then a job. And I like to think I'm not (yet) completely senile.

So why did it take me around 5-10 minutes the first time to find where to set the bloody screensaver, understand why the screen would go black without showing the chosen screensaver ? Oh yes, let's not forget the fact that the settings are shown in a Windows 7-style window (?).

This is a mundane example, but shows the "philosophy" (or lack thereof) of this GUI. I could go on about the network/wifi settings. At times it feels like the interface has been designed by Terry Gilliam. Or Terry's chimp.

It has nothing to do with "looks" or taste, just plain functionality.

This is Microsoft, a company that's more than 50 years old, with thousands of (I guess) talented employees, sh*tloads of cash, there is simply no excuse for them to offer (impose ?) such a crappy, nonsensical and illogical UX to millions of users/customers/businesses.

"Suck it up" ? Yep, we have no choice if we want to run some specific workloads. But we shouldn't have to put up with this.

Granted, I haven't really tried 11 yet, but the 10 "experience" is not too encouraging.

Aaaand I'm spent...

SystemRescue 9.06 is here with the shiny new Xfce 4.18

Re: Question

If you want to stick with SystemRescue I don't know, but the last time I needed to "hack" (at a friend's request, his laptop) a Windows admin account with chntpw I used Kali

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to 11 years in prison

Re: A CEO being held accountable?

That one too. For those who haven't yet, try to watch "DOWNFALL" on Notflix. I haven't lost anybody in those crashes but felt gutted about how this mess went (and eventually vanished without much happening to the aholes in charge).

The parallel is interesting insofar no-one died directly because of Theranos (or possibly a few desperate and broke investors).

Looks like the satisfaction of living investors is more important than some justice for the families of 346 dead people.

Re: A CEO being held accountable?

Indeed. Make it two patterns then. They are not mutually exclusive.

Is it time to retire C and C++ for Rust in new programs?

Re: C/C++ - really?

As the Great Philosopher said (I'm paraphrasing)

Error Handling is for Wimps

Yep, I'm not a developer anymore, haven't been for ages. How'd you guess ?

Icon because, indeed, where is He ??? --->

G7 countries beat UK in worldwide broadband speed test again

Re: What is "enough"?

Working in IT and having ~1000/600 fibre, one big advantage I see is when a customer struggles to download some large patch/service pack/other file and I can not only download it for them, but more importantly upload it to another repository they can access, in no time. In the ADSL days the upload was painful.

Granted, it doesn't happen very often, but when it does it's usually critical/urgent ;-)

The "download a movie in seconds" is actually interesting for saving bandwidth : the kids/missus can download several episodes of their favourite Netflix/whatever series, thus hogging the line for a relatively short time, then watching them later on without even the need to access the Net.

(and when I say "hogging", it's not even accurate, either the source is capping its upload speed or it's the interwebs that can't cope with the speed)

Other than that yes, it's a bit overkill...

Wash your mouth out with shape-shifting metal

Re: I'd totally use something like this

Seeing how much brands like Braun charge for their toothbrush heads I wouldn't hold my breath (ah !). A bit like printer vendors and platine-priced ink.

I can imagine that because some of the stuff will be swallowed/lost, we'll have to "refill" our STARS thingy from time to time ?

the IONP continually reattach themselves and also get gathered by the magnetic field and reintegrated into STARS mass.

Why do I have this eerie feeling ?

"But it will fit inside the mouth."

That's a good start, at least someone is setting priorities right here.

France levels up local video game slang with list of French terms to replace foreign words

Clutching at straws

I'm glad and thankful that the comments for this "news" didn't turn out as the total french-bashing-fest I was expecting, it even came up with interesting linguistic discussions.

But personally this kind of thing, along with the abysmal/appalling/monstrous/inept/etc... handling of last weekend's Champions League disaster makes me want to crawl under a rock and stay there for a week. Possibly even try to get a UK (blue, right ?) passport.

That commission did find some acceptable words at time ("mél" for email, pretty harmless, and nobody uses it), but "joueur-se en direct" for "streamer" ?? This is public (mine) money we're talking about folks !! Do something useful ! Secure the freaking stadiums and put the thugs in jail ! Send them to Guyana !

I'm OK with "jeu en nuage" though. I don't know exactly how "cloud" is perceived in English, but "nuage" for me retains some kind of poetry, whatever the context.

Again, sorry a thousand times to all Liverpool supporters out there. Have a beer. Yes, the kids too if they want.

French court pulls SpaceX's Starlink license

Yep, that argument is a bit strange.

But I don't think this has anything to do with "cancelling" a potential foreign competitor, because a) Starlink is mostly aimed at people who can't get any other existing coverage, WiMAX, ADSL, 4G/5G, fibre, at least not with decent throughputs and b) the monthly subscription is/was 99€, which is way above what the "traditional" competitors charge.

I may be naive but I really believe that the Conseil d'Etat thought those two associations had a point, and chose to apply the almighty "principe de précaution" which is one of our lovely local peculiarities.

I've checked, and Priartem is an association against anything electro-magnetic or which could be linked to EM waves in a way or another : smart meters, 5G, etc... Not sure how much lobbying power they have but they are a bit extreme for sure. To their credit I couldn't find any signs of a campaign against sunlight.

As for the "pitch forks and peasants" caricatures I could read in some comments, yes, it's true french farmers tend to be a pain when they're not happy, but besides the big and rich ones there are many who struggle making ends meet, with way too many suicides and/or bankruptcies. The thing is they feed us and work hard, so give them some slack and please excuse me if I don't want to end up buying Vladimir's wheat.

But I digress.

About chivo's argument (space pollution), well, whether France authorizes Starlink or not it won't change the fact the satellites are already up there, right ?

I see the subject woke up some good ol' french-bashing commentards. But this is a Brit site (with typical funny and witty comments most of the time), so fair enough ;-)

In the graveyard of good ideas, how does yours measure up to these?

But, but, but...

...these are supposed to be just (plain and innocent) oat flakes, not porridge. Basically tasteless breakfast cereals (hence the fruits and, er... leaves ? on the picture).

I had to check online what exactly porridge/oatmeal was and I can confirm this revolting exotic meal will be hard to find in France, or perhaps in selected, organic shops for yuppies.

Interesting example of cognitive bias due to your (complex) origins no doubt ;-)

...or perhaps this was just some typical tongue-in-cheek Scottish-Hungarian humour and I missed the point entirely...

Not looking forward to a greyscale 2022? Then look back to the past in 64 colours

Re: To be fair on BMW

Well, I just happen to have patented a revolutionary and unhackable e-ink registration certificate ("V5c" I believe you call it your side of La Manche).

It allows to you to change pretty much any information regarding your vehicle. And play Angry Birds.

Thank you, FAQ chatbot, but if I want your help I'll ask for it

Nice

Vous me devez un nouveau keyboard, M. Dabbs.

But I guess just a fishing license should do as well.

Happy Holidays to this (mostly) fine community !

Leaked footage shows British F-35B falling off HMS Queen Elizabeth and pilot's death-defying ejection

Re: Well...

Absolutely, the alias is a tribute to my illustrious fellow countryman Jacques.

And of course the "quote" is a tribute to your not-less-illustrious (I should say "notorious") hay-haired PM...

Re: Well...

Oh come on, donnes-moi un frein...

How much would you pay me to develop a COVID tracking app that actually works? Ah, thought so: nothing

Vive la Fra..... oh, wait.

This, just this, in large amounts ----------------------------------------->

The site is brilliant, the guy seems rather modest and in his description actually speaks French instead of using "Big Data" (traitement des masses de données). My hero.

I'm happy this young talented fellow will have been a fellow citizen, if only for a few years.

Because no doubt he'll soon be nabbed by some US borg company with Deep Pockets and fly away to California (or, these days, more likely Texas/Florida).

I hope he's really bad in English. Or can't live without his raw milk Camembert.

University of the Highlands and Islands shuts down campuses as it deals with 'ongoing cyber incident'

Re: Would your mothers be proud of you?

Indeed. As the great Bill Watterson said (of school bullies), "they spawn on damp locker room floors."

Half a million stolen French medical records, drowned in feeble excuses

Nice one !

Sad news indeed for way too many people who probably didn't need this right now, that being said I can't help but be amazed by how you brought this up after last week's note. What a transition.

Well done ! Have a ....

...er, no, on second thoughts, no, don't...

France's cyber-agency says Centreon IT management software sabotaged by Russian Sandworm

"rusty high school French and online translation services"

...or you could go straight to the English version ;-)

My bad! So you're saying that redacting an on-screen PDF with Tipp-Ex won't work?

Re: Lego™®

Pah, not even that.

In these days of wokeness even Lego parts have lost their "edge". I can't stand how they now make custom "bricks" for some specific sets.

OF COURSE you can't build a proper Bugatti Chiron using only the good old "jump-to-the-ceiling-in-pain-when-walking-on-in-the-dark" bricks !

But perhaps I'm just getting old and grumpy.

Return of the flying car, just when we all need to escape

Thanks

Thanks for writing in this time of doom, gloom, and many other totally unfunny things.

Re: where you live, my parents live there and have cable internet. Granted, it's SFR, but kind of works and it's fast.

Or perhaps just like most of your compatriots you chose to buy a rundown (but charming, with plenty of character) old manor in some obscure outskirts of M, that you will spend the rest of your life playing "Rénovation impossible" (Flip N move) with. :D

With a one-pair copper cable barely reaching the house. And behind a big hill that hides the nearest cell tower.

You guys are weird, but at least thanks to you we can sell our rundown houses located in desert places. And then someone buy a rundown café nearby and opens an English pub. And that's cool.

Thanks as well for the surreal "chat" between ministers, I didn't see that, it didn't make much noise in the press (strangely).

Hackers hack Hackney: Local government cries 'cyberattack' while UK infosec officials rush to figure out what happened

Where's Fatima

....when you need her ?

Sorry

From the Department of WCGW: An app-controlled polycarbonate lock with no manual override/physical key

Inspirational quotes

Like everybody else, very pleased to read you again. Have one (on expenses).

those who post inspirational quotes or virtue-signalling tales of how fantastic their working lives are.

That's it, we must be connected you and I. Now I don't troll them (at least not using my official account) as you never know who might hire you in the future, but these make me cringe, they're almost on par with the smurfs who keep informing you on Faecebook how wonderful the BA VIP lounge at Heathrow is (insert your favorite airline and trendy airport). With pictures of the complimentary cocktail and awesome snacks.

Where is the "love" icon ?

Third time's still the charm: AMD touts Zen-3-based Ryzen 5000 line, says it will 'deliver absolute leadership in x86'

Mum's rig

Ditto here, the "big" PC is (drum roll) a Phenom II X6 1065T (a 2011 design I believe) coupled with a GTX1060. And a SATA SSD for the system.

It's more than OK for browsing and office work, and the kid isn't complaining about Fortnite, Rocket League or Battlefront performance.

The real bottleneck at some point was the HD5770, but now I don't feel compelled to "refresh" (i.e. replace) it. I can also proudly contribute to the Vulture's COVID F@H effort.

Hell, I'm still running Win7

So unless OP's mum is a serious gamer, or an AI researcher, I see no reason to replace everything.

Now I really love AMD, but am I the only one confused by the complete lack of synchronization between the "Zen" architecture numbers and the Ryzen CPU references ?

This "Ryzen 5000" thing based on "Zen 3" lost me for good.

He was a skater boy. We said, 'see you later, boy' – and the VAX machine mysteriously began to work as intended

Re: Changes

And they're selling 1TB microSD cards these days, I for one :

1. will never trust such a tiny little thingy to hold reliably any "serious" data;

2. would probably lose it in less than 48 hours;

I've never worked on mainframes/minis but I'm quite sure at least those disks were rather hard to lose.

CSI: Miami

"The branch tech," said Ethan, "made the profound statement: 'I think we may have found the source of our problem.'"

Great. Now I'll have David Caruso and his impersonation by Jim Carrey in my head for the rest of the day.

Thankyouverymuch

AI in the enterprise: Prepare to be disappointed – oversold but under appreciated, it can help... just not too much

Re: Whose intelligence?

Not directly related to the topic, but amen to that :

It might be more effective in the long run to improve our education systems so we can unlock the vast pool of increasingly wasted human potential.

Emphasis on "increasingly wasted".

https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity#t-7850

RIP Sir Ken.

As Amazon pulls union-buster job ads, workers describe a 'Mad Max' atmosphere – unsafe, bullying, abusive

Re: There's a simple solution

Other similar companies are usually not philantropists either, but the way Amazon brings "productivity" and "efficiency" to extreme levels in such a brutally industrial fashion makes them clearly stand out, at least to me. Other retailers, as big as they can be, look like corner shops in comparison.

I don't know how life is in Alibaba/express' warehouses though, never bought much from/through them anyway.

I haven't been buying from Amazon in months, except for little gadgets you can't find anywhere else (cause nobody can compete with Amazon on some items anymore) when I'm desperate, it's not too hard to find alternatives, sometimes for the same price. But again I'm not an avid consumer and perhaps some people just can't live without "them".

In France you can usually find alternatives with the "big" players for books, electronics, PC parts, etc... as they try to align with Amazon's prices, I just hope it's sustainable for them in the long run...

To be fair, Amazon is fair game for critics because of their incredible success, but all the reports seem to confirm that they've crossed a line at some point with regard to employee "wellness". I don't believe Bezos would need to sleep in a cardboard box if the "rates" in warehouses went down a bit, to more humane levels.

China slams President Trump's TikTok banned-or-be-bought plan in the US

Re: Incorrect premise?

to stop China from doing asymmetrical business

To be fair China's never forced us (US/Europe) to off best-shore our entire production of goods (or services) there (or India, Vietnam, ...), it's not as if there was ever a deal like "OK guys, we're giving you large chunks of our manufacturing, but behave, let's play fair, right ?".

I've heard a not-too-PC joke the other day from an Asian stand-upper, it was like : "Rumor has it that we Chinese have a very small d|ck. That's true : we've been fcking you in the arse for some time and you didn't feel a thing".

IBM's sacking spree reaches Australia – and as staff wait to exit, they're offered AU$4k to find new workers

Re: What Would You Say You Do Here ?

If we're talking about the same Michael "You can just call me Mike" Bolton, then you beat me to it.

The "they can escape redundancy by explaining why their role should be preserved" thing immediately brought to mind the interviews with the Two Bobs.

"What would you say you do here ?"

Priceless, if this wasn't about actual people losing actual jobs...

I used to laugh while watching that movie years ago, and "sorry, your job has been sent to Bangalore" was more of a US thing.

Used to...

Cloudflare outage caused by techie pulling out the wrong cables

Re: Cables with labels on

Tell me about it....

https://www.color-blindness.com/ishihara-38-plates-cvd-test/#prettyPhoto

What a nasty, nasty little test.

That's when I found out I would never be a fighter pilot. Turned to IT out of despair (and probably lack of any kind of other competence).