* Posts by Emir Al Weeq

179 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Mar 2020

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Watchdog calls for more plugs, less monopoly in EV charging network

Emir Al Weeq

Re: VAT

Don't forget that there's VAT on that fuel duty.

Just to clarify to non-Brits: you did read that right, we pay tax on our tax.

Techie climbed a mountain only be told not to touch the kit on top

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Try turning the cable end to end

>My grandfather was the director of a foundations company ... He started from the ground up

Upvoted

Ransomware payment rates drop to new low – now 'only 29% of victims' fork over cash

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Time to ban paying!

>It's the one whose directors are in jail.

No it's the one working out of a jurisdiction where such things are not illegal.

Junior techie had leverage, but didn’t appreciate the gravity of the situation

Emir Al Weeq

On install I suspect the server on the extended rails was on the verge of going over, but didn't. Pushing it in helped balance the weight. On recovery, when pulling it out, the sudden stop when it hit the end of the run was enough to overbalance it.

This could still wing its way to you, if you have the dosh: One Concorde engine seeks new home

Emir Al Weeq

Afterburner?

Concorde was Anglo-French, surely it was fitted with reheat?

Chinese boffins pitch quadcopter for Mars sample return mission

Emir Al Weeq

Why drop samples near the lander?

I don't understand why they want the 'copter to drop samples next to the lander, onto the contaminated soil they want to avoid.

Would it not make more sense to deliver direct to the lander?

UK government rings the death knell for SIM farms

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Poor proof reading

... and you can't remember which is which then I adviSe you to get some adviCe. That one's easy to remember because they are pronounced differently.

Your password hygiene remains atrocious, says NordPass

Emir Al Weeq

Re: The one password

friend

Emir Al Weeq

What about sites that force you to make it easier?

I often find that the password I try to use is rejected because the special characters chosen are too special and aren't from a very small subset that (if you're lucky) the site tells you to use. Why impose a limit on something that's supposed to be as varied as possible?

UK may demand tech world tell it about upcoming security features

Emir Al Weeq

Re: One time pad - with a twist

It's a shame your downvoter didn't comment: I'd like to hear their reasons.

Granted the exchange of one time pads is not always easy and, in this case you'd also need to prepare innocent messages so that both sides' versions agreed. (The real message would probably need to be padded to match length.) But it is a solution, albeit an ugly one.

India's lunar landing made a mess on the Moon

Emir Al Weeq

A dial on the side?

How quaint. You use an app! Then, once the cost of running the servers gets a bit steep, you either offer a subscription service or brick it and sell them a new one.

Obviously they will need a broadband connection, but that is not your problem; I'm sure there will be a starlink offering.

Brit healthcare body rapped for WhatsApp chat sharing patient data

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Sigh..

And that's the problem: so many people are happy to share their contacts list and don't consider that the data in it isn't theirs to share.

Nobody would ever work on the live server, right? Not intentionally, anyway

Emir Al Weeq

There may be some that do this, but "stacking" is the method that I and many others use. In essence you average out many frames to produce a good image.

Tesla's Dojo supercomputer is a billion-dollar bet to make AI better at driving than humans

Emir Al Weeq

Training your AVs at the fun-fair.

I saw the word "Dojo" and initially pronounced it "dodge-o". From then on, I couldn't get the image of dodgems out of my head. Probably not what their marketing department are aiming for!

Barts NHS hack leaves folks on tenterhooks over extortion

Emir Al Weeq

Dear Mr Banana,

That explains all those bloody phone calls.

Yours sincerely,

Emir Al Weeq

01234 567 890

Capita staffers told attackers stole data from its own pension fund

Emir Al Weeq

But the data hasn't been sold...

... on the dark web.

>The letter said the tech company had hired a consultant to check data had not been sold on the dark web.

So that's OK then. Just like if someone holds a gun to your head: your're totally safe if an expert can find no evidence that the trigger has already been pulled.

Meta's data-hungry Threads skips over EU but lands in Britain

Emir Al Weeq

Will I now receive lots of consent requests?

I'm in a lot of people's contact lists. I would like to think that every one of them who installs Threads will ask me my permission for them to share my details with Threads before granting it access to their contact list.

Just like they did when installing Facebook. Not.

The future of digital healthcare could be a two-metre USB cable

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Emergeny Room? Free to use?

I too assumed it was US from the use of a "two-meter USB cable".

In the UK that would be a cable used to connect two measuring devices.

Thanks for fixing the computer lab. Now tell us why we shouldn’t expel you?

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Command.com

I was going to say the same thing about 8", but the comment did relate to PCs and I never saw 8" as standard on a PC.

(Although I suspect someone here will have seen it done.)

Emir Al Weeq

Don't forget post/deliveries.

I would always pop round to the post room in early December with a tub or two of chocolates and wish them "Merry Christmas" just before the annual "do not use the company address for personal deliveries" email came round.

They never delivered obvious Christmas purchases to my desk where the boss could see, instead a quiet phone call would advise me to bring my car to the delivery entrance at the end of the day and they'd help me load up.

Child-devouring pothole will never hurt a BMW driver again

Emir Al Weeq

I've posted this story before...

Many years ago (12+) I test drove a BMW 7 series with indicators that did not self-cancel mechanically by having the steering wheel reset the control stalk; instead the electronics cancelled them when it detected a big turn of the wheel.

The problem was that I couldn't figure out how to manually cancel when the auto cancel failed to detect gentle turns such as motorway lane changes: I kept setting off the opposite indicator and so I gave up using them.

No, I didn't buy the car.

Amazon opens its ad-hoc Wi-Fi-sipping Sidewalk mesh to all manner of gadgets

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Nope.

The problem is that if you have an Amazon device and your neighbour does too, their device can route via your device which does have access to your WiFi / broadband.

Your list needs to include the step:

Chuck everything Amazon in the bin.

Workers don't want these humanoid robots telling them to be happy

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Asimov nailed it

I'd buy that for a dollar!

Don't worry, that system's not actually active – oh, wait …

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Do Not Change The Settings

I recently replaced two of these and set out to dispose of the old ones. My local council website does not differentiate different types of detector and says to use the metal and plastic wastebin.

When I phoned them I got the same answer; I tried to explain that they have a little radioactive warning sign on them but I don't think the lady believed me.

They're still in my garage.

To explore caves on Mars and the Moon, take a hint from Hansel & Gretel, say boffins

Emir Al Weeq

Re: ICE : how many TLAs ?

I always think of William Gibson's Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics

Ford seeks patent for cars that ditch you if payments missed

Emir Al Weeq
Joke

Re: What crap

>Cars that automatically report driving info

You could use that to your advantage: take it on a track day on the first day of the month. You're unmonitored for the rest of the month because you've used up the SIM's data allowance.

Emir Al Weeq

Re: BOFH tampering..

You will be waiting, along with everyone else stuck behind it in the tunnel.

PC tech turns doctor to diagnose PC's constant crashes as a case of arthritis

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Don't get me started...

We are by no means perfect. I've already heard people say that Charles III will be coronated.

Biden: I want standard EV chargers made in America by 2024 – get on it

Emir Al Weeq

Re: I'm starting to think this is the wrong approach

If you're going to hit them with a mains powered cattle-prod, being grounded is something they do need to worry about.

(We call it "earthed" on this side of the pond.)

Find My Kids app is basically AirTags for your offspring

Emir Al Weeq

Perfect business model

Let's sell Air-tags to people who want to track others.

Now let's sell an app to detect if someone's tracking you with an Air-tag.

Now let's sell a new way to track people.

Coming soon: an app to tell if there's an an Apple watch (that isn't yours) following you about.

Fast-evolving Prilex POS malware can block contactless payments

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Not me.

Nematoad: make a small cut (5mm) in the edge of the card. This will break the antenna and disable the contactless feature. I do two opposite cuts to be sure; it's something I've been doing for years. I've never found typing in a PIN a big inconvenience.

I started because I knew two people who had their purses stolen and had the thieves go from shop to shop buying easily resellable goods (cigarettes and booze) with each card. They both got their money back, but it was a lot of hassle.

Mind you, after reading this, I may have a rethink.

Hi, Pakistan? You do know anyone can edit Wikipedia, right? You don't have to ask

Emir Al Weeq

Must try harder

429,343 websites were deemed "smut."

Is that all they found? They weren't looking very hard; my "favourites" list is bigger than that.

Three seconds of audio could end up costing Fox $500,000

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Harmony by disharmony

>Do sirens in the UK now "fssssh" periodically

You've got a few "no"s but over quite a few years now, I've heard emergency vehicles with that sort of siren. Not enough to say it's common but enough that I don't find it surprising anymore.

Smart ovens do really dumb stuff to check for Wi-Fi

Emir Al Weeq

I used to like the Samsung tune because I knew what it meant and didn't need to investigate which appliance wanted my attention.

However I echo the "don't buy Samsung" comment because it stopped working after about 5 years and every repair person that I phoned simply said "buy something else" as soon as I told them the brand.

Emir Al Weeq

Re: No-brainer

I thought my washing machine had the right idea: it can be controlled using Bluetooth, so no internet access required.

The thing is, I downloaded the app and the first things it wants are internet connectivity and my email address. App deleted. I was only doing it out of curiosity and didn't even know the machine had Bluetooth when I bought it.

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Baidu.cn and Yandex.ru.

But we do need to sensor your comment, otherwise how will we know its temperature or orientation or GPS coordinates or...

...sorry! Just getting ready for my job interview with AEG.

Disaster recovery blunder broke New York Stock Exchange this week

Emir Al Weeq

Why do I think this happened?

Two years earlier:-

Tech: So, in conclusion, factoring in design, planning, development, testing and installation this should cost $x. We then have added confidence that live and DR cannot degrade each other's performance. Does the panel have any questions?

Beancounter: surely it's cheaper just to write a line in a process document somewhere saying "do it like this" and file it in a locked filing cabinet in a disused lavatory...

NASA, DARPA to go nuclear in hopes of putting boots on Mars

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Project Orion

I couldn't help but think the same thing. Lift-off would be awesome to see (dark goggles please) but not sure I'd be happy with the environmental impact.

Punch-drunk Apple Watch called 15 cops to a boxing workout when it heard 'shots'

Emir Al Weeq

Re: Hey, Siri

I've almost* given up trying to tell people that. I inevitably get a reply along the lines of "So what? My life is not that interesting."

They don't realise that we all have different ideas about what's interesting. With this sort of attitude so prevalent, it's only going to get worse.

*If I had no children whose future I care for, I would give up.

FCC calls for mega $300 million fine for massive US robocall campaign

Emir Al Weeq

If carrier B is terminating a call from carrier A, it doesn't need to know if the originating number is genuine (or even sent), it just needs to bill carrier A for its (B's) share of the bill. Billing the caller is carrier A's problem.

A may not be in the same juristiction as B so things get complicated.

License to launch: UK space regulator gives Virgin Orbit satellites the go-ahead

Emir Al Weeq

Re: liicences, nor licenses

My thoughts too...

UK regulators don't issue "licenses", they may however issue "licences".

Women sue Apple claiming AirTags helped their stalkers

Emir Al Weeq

Thanks.

I had wondered about bulk upload over mobile but not WiFi. I can think of a few use cases where WiFi would work.

Emir Al Weeq

Does that cost and battery life include the radio that you'll need to forward the GPS info to whomever needs it?

Two signs in the comms cabinet said 'Do not unplug'. Guess what happened

Emir Al Weeq

A plug as a single point of failure

With the redundancy used, I'm surprised they didn't put a bit of thought into the power distribution and connect each side to the mains with a separate plug. I appreciate that the setup may not deserve independently resilient redundant feeds but, with the design used, the fuse in the plug was a SPoF, sign or no sign.

Man wins court case against employer that fired him for not liking boozy, forced 'fun' culture

Emir Al Weeq

Re: "Fun & pro, that's our motto!"

Which makes me think the answer should be...

None: they use jet fuel.

Someone has to say it: Voice assistants are not doing it for big tech

Emir Al Weeq

> and it's (sic) companion app

I take it that you are using something to check what the app is really doing.

Since using Duck Duck Go's App Tracking Protection I find it quite shocking what unrelated* data some apps try to send to unrelated* destinations.

I say "try" because the tracking protection and I take steps to stop it.

*Unrelated to the apps's purpose

All of the norths are about to align over Britain

Emir Al Weeq

Or you could...

1. Point your watch's hour hand at the sun* and South then lies half way between the hour hand and noon (or 1 o' clock during BST).

2. Use the fact that Sky TV dishes point South. It used to be 22 degrees East of South if my 30 year-old memory of the time when I helped to install them is any good.

3. Use the fact that moss is usually found on the North side of trees. Is that really a thing?

*Yes, I know sun is a rare thing in the UK but I once used this trick quite a bit to help navigate whilst driving in Morocco from Fez to Tangier, all the while accompanied by a look from SWMBO that translated as "remind me again why you didn't pack the satnav".

Business can't make staff submit to video surveillance, says court

Emir Al Weeq

I used that very trick. Shirt, tie and suit trousers when almost everyone else in the office was in jeans and t-shirt. At the end of the day I could "take work off and put on home". Kept it up when WFH.

Block this: Using satellites to plaster ads over our skies could work, say boffins

Emir Al Weeq

Fuel?

If they have to shuffle around for every different city they zip over they will go through their fuel rather quickly.

BOFH: You want presentation layer, but we're physical layer

Emir Al Weeq

Color? Liter?

Et tu, Simon?

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