Posts by DomDF

Make your neighbor think their house is haunted by blinking their Ikea smart bulbs

Re: Rule 1 : Anything labelled 'Smart'

I don't think these are smart bulbs though. You control them via ZigBee with a battery powered remote, or an internet connected box which does the same things as the remote. The bulbs themselves are dumb. The gateway box is the closest thing to a smart device, and even if the vendor pulls the plug you can still control the bulbs over ZigBee.

Heroku to delete inactive accounts, shut down free tier

Alternatives?

Any good recommendation for an alternative host for a Python WSGI application? I looked at AWS lambda in the past but it appears to start the app fresh for every single request, which sounds like a bad idea. I could host it myself on a VPS, but I'd like something more managed like Heroku was.

Boffins rate npm and PyPI package security and it's not good

It's considered very bad practice to have pinned dependencies in libraries on PyPI. It's fine for applications, but PyPI isn't geared towards distributing them. Why then is pinning being recommended here?

Being declared dead is automated, so why is resurrection such a nightmare?

Someone at my university told Student Finance I'd withdrawn, so they stopped my loan payments. That took 6 months to resolve.

Why is it that hard?

Smart thermostat swarms are straining the US grid

Re: Randomized time offset ?

My Honeywell (or whoever they are now) does this too. It's not exactly what I'd call a "smart" feature.

It was admittedly a long time ago, but couldn't the pre-smart (dumb?) thermostats *also* be programmed to come on at a set time? How do smart thermostats make the obvious and unavoidable morning spike any worse?

Ubuntu Unity desktop back from the dead after several years' hiatus

Looks promising. Hopefully the final rough edges will have been ironed out by the time my 20.04 install is retired.

NanoAvionics satellite pulls out GoPro to take stunning selfie over Earth

I hope GoPro gave them the camera for free, seeing how they're getting free marketing out of this.

GitHub drops Atom bomb: Open-source text editor mothballed by end of year

Embrace, Extend, Drag behind the bins and strangle.

.NET 5 and Windows 10 20H2 drop out of support

LTS

How long do Windows versions get support for? My Ubuntu 18.04 install still has another year of support left, and predates 20H2 by two years.

Perhaps this should be classed as "Medium Term Support" ?

Email domain for NPM lib with 6m downloads a week grabbed by expert to make a point

Re: No software can be trusted

Unless you wrote it yourself.

SAS backs Python as alternative to its own language

Special Air Service?

From the headline I was confused why special forces would use a computer programming language? Are the SAS branching out into cyber warfare?

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS arrives on everything from a 2GB Pi to AWS Graviton

Doesn't 20.04 run on Pis too? I'm running it on a pair of 500MB Pi 3s.

Netflix to crack down on account sharing, offer ad-laden cheaper options

Re: GREEEEEED

I liked Lost in Space because it had a clear trajectory and ended at the right time.

Designated Survivor, on the other hand, got progressively worse. By series 3 I got the impression Netflix didn't want to make it either. They should've stopped after series 1.

Funky Pigeon pauses all orders after 'security incident'

Re: Funky Pigeon?

A pair of dice with random words on them. I think W H Smith even stock something like that.

IT outage at Scotland's Heriot-Watt University enters second week

Do as I say...

Did the university used to teach any IT security courses?

GitHub explains outage string in incidents update

Could the problems be related to the algorithmic feed? Even if not directly, as the feed itself should be read only, it could be driving traffic to new repositories where users then star, fork, create issues and PRs, all of which add write demands.

Mozilla creates paid-for subscriptions for web doc library

Works for me about half the time, which isn't great.

Complaints mount after GitHub launches new algorithmic feed

Re: Umm...

Embrace Extend Extinguish

I pay, but I've been ignoring the feed ever since it stopped showing issues and PRs. I'm amazed they could've made it worse.

JavaScript library updated to wipe files from Russian computers

Re: Any sanctions?

Im still waiting for GitHub to sanction Russia

Europe's largest nuclear plant on fire after Russian attack

Re: I know it can't be done

Highway of Death Mk. 2

Ukraine asks ICANN to delete all Russian domains

Those same "ordinary Russian citizens" who keep Putin in power?

UK.gov threatens to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

Boris must go before this gets through parliament, not after. Hurry up and write to the 1922 committee you lazy tories.

Apple, Broadcom allowed to press Ctrl-Z on billion-dollar Wi-Fi patent payout to Caltech

Boo patent trolls

Wolfing down ebooks during lockdown? You might want to check out Calibre, the Swiss Army ebook tool

Does it support Python 3 yet? Last I checked the maintainer was going to keep it on 2 forever.

For those worried about Microsoft's Pluton TPM chip: Lenovo won't even switch it on by default in latest ThinkPads

How long's left on the antitrust lawsuit timer? Surely it's about to go off.

Email blocklisting: A Christmas gift from Microsoft that Linode can't seem to return

Anticompetitive

Given that Linode compete with Microsoft Azure, I can only assume Microsoft are doing this to try and put Linode out of business.

Mozilla founder blasts browser maker for accepting 'planet incinerating' cryptocurrency donations

Re: Expanding horizons and equations

Most websites give up at my hyphenated surname before even getting to my email address.

Worst of CES Awards: The least private, least secure, least repairable, and least sustainable

Screenwash?

Our EV has a leaky screenwash bottle, which can only be topped up by opening the bonnet. Do Mercs not need screenwash? Presumably the windscreen is cleaned with the owner's tears.

Some errors fill the screen. And some come from the .NET Framework

Re: No change given?

That'll be the convenience fee. Their convenience, not yours.

Windows takes a breather in London's Spitalfields

Re: Tick tock

Since last March

Who you gonna call? Premium numbers, but a not-so-premium service

I called 999 from Warwickshire and got through to Northamptonshire Police. Had to be redirected by the very helpful call handler, but it took about 10 minutes before I was speaking to the right force.

East Londoners nicked under Computer Misuse Act after NHS vaccine passport app sprouted clump of fake entries

Can we please call them by their correct name of "Covid Pass"? A passport is a blue book with the holder's photo in it and a polite message from the Government on the first page.

Confirmed: James Webb Space Telescope team plans launch for this Xmas Eve after data cable fix

Hopefully no crossed wires

French telco tycoon Patrick Drahi ups Altice UK's stake in BT to 18%, says he is not planning a takeover... at least not yet

If the government cares so much about protecting BT why did it sell it in the first place?

Re: Copper

The phone masts round here have no battery backup and all go off when there's a power cut.

Pen Test Partners: Anyone could view Gumtree users' GPS location by pressing F12

Not another one

First Guntrader, now Gumtree. At this rate there'll be nothing left in my house to steal.

Re: In a statement Gumtree told The Register: "We were made aware..."

Probably used one of those "no code" solutions.

Another Debian dust-up with Firefox dependencies – but there is an annoying and awkward workaround

Re: "dangerously outdated browser"

I'm still on 89 (I think) , the last one before the abysmal UI redesign

Re: Install Firefox directly from mozilla.org

This is Linux not Windows.

UK watchdog's punishment for Blackbaud, Easyjet, other big privacy lawbreakers was slap on the wrist in private

Bribery?

I wonder a) how many of these companies made donations to the Tories in exchange for the wrist slap, and b) employ Tory MPs as "consultants" to ensure they only get their wrists slap.

I guess its 100%

Want to buy your own piece of the Pi? No 'urgency' says Upton of the listing rumours

Re: Beginning of the end?

Agreed. I wrote an essay of a comment to this end, but the comment form threw up and lost it when I clicked submit.

Apple's Pegasus lawsuit a 'declaration of war' against offensive software developers, says Kaspersky director

Re: They know they won't get any money

No, it shoots them in the back or kneels on their neck until they can't breathe.

Alleged Brit SIM-swapper will kill himself if extradited to US for trial, London court told

Internet Police

Hacking's bad, obviously, but what makes it any of the Yanks' business? Have they been appointed as internet police suddenly?

UK health secretary confirms end for NHS Digital, architect of the GP data grab debacle

Re: Here we go again

It's the same story with Buckinghamshire Council, the result of a five way merger between the district and county councils, but run as if it is still five separate councils. So much for the promised cost savings and efficiency improvements by pooling staff and resources.

Amazon tells folks it will stop accepting UK Visa credit cards via weird empty email

Visa?

I didn't realise Visa did credit cards. I've never seen one. Plenty of debit cards, but never a credit one. Presumably because of their excessive fees.

Streamlabs shamed into dropping 'OBS' from product name after open-source OBS Project wades into Twitter spat

Re: Complaining on Twitter

Careful, I got banned from twitter for complaining too much.

Ofcom slams slammers: Telcos fined for switching punters' phone lines without their knowledge or consent

Having purchased the previous company's assets for £1

Sheffield Uni cooks up classic IT disaster in £30m student project: Shifting scope, leadership changes, sunk cost fallacy

Blind leading the blind...

straight through a field of nuclear landmines.