* Posts by HT7777

17 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Jun 2020

Guide for the perplexed – Google is no longer the best search engine

HT7777
Thumb Up

Re: This was predicted - in El Reg - years ago.

"I don't want to play anymore... actually... I've never wanted to play. I will do everything in my power to thwart these greedy, insidious arseholes from my life."

Bravo and ditto.

I use several of those blocking tactics too. Additionally I use pi-hole - which is great.

My preferred tactic is to compartmentalise via vritualisation. I have separate VM's for news, shopping, banking and other activities. Some of them are via a VPN. Also using a variety of browers with preference given to Librewolf, Firefox and Brave.

As an aside I loathe the creeping insistence that I should receive HTML formatted email. I specifically use a text based email client to avoid the malware vector HTML facilitates. I use Forte Agent for anyone who might be interested.

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Beijing wants Chinese outfits to seek alternatives to US silicon

HT7777

Curious...

"Might not be so keen on them reporting everything back to Uncle Xi and friends, though...."

Why?

There are no extradition treaties between Europe and the US to China so I'm curious to understand the issue.

Surely it's much more of a concern that western nations slurp personal data as if it's going out of fashion?

Online media outstrips TV as source of news for the first time in the UK

HT7777

Re: Why not

Almost all of the print media in the UK is rightwing, you muppet.

Ofcom proposes ban on UK telcos making 'inflation-linked' price hikes mid-contract

HT7777

"Ofcom must have an interesting definition of "all" since the price of my SIM increased not one jot in 2023"

Ditto.

I can't recall my £10 a month sim only GiffGaff deal increasing over the many years I've had it. The only increase has been the data allowance.

I've had the same sim only deal for well over ten years.

HT7777

Re: Hobson’s Choice

"But if they are all doing it (and they are) then where does that leave the “decision making”?"

Buy the phone sim free - on a seperate credit agreement if required - and purchase a monthly sim only deal seperately.

You've just spent $400 on a baby monitor. Now you need a subscription

HT7777

Re: "the sudden imposition of subscription fees"

Having been a debt advisor for ten years the method I use is to divide my annual usage by 12 and set up a standing order for that amount. In practice I round it up a bit.

If the bill is larger than my credit (it never has been) it would only require a small payment to clear it. Currently I'm in credit by £307 but with the winter bills due this may tide me over till the heating is switched off in late April.

Standing orders have the significant advantage that you are in full control rather than let some useless corparation have carte blanche to take money from your account via a direct debit. Experience as a debt adviser taught me that direct debits are not to be trusted.

Users complain over UK state-owned bank's services as Atos eyes the exit

HT7777
Unhappy

MeToo...

Well done El Reg for this report. I had thought I may have an issue at my end preventing me logging to my account. Now I know it's down to NS&I. That'll be very helpful when I need to harangue them over this.

For years I had all my financial systems contained with a Linux based VM, which ran nothing else. My other accounts still run fine there. NS&I in their utter disdain for security and customer care now decree that I must use an "approved" browser in Windows, and they still can't make it work!

Useless does not begin to describe this shitshow.

It would be helpful if El Reg would stay on top of this.

Plugging end-of-life EV batteries into the grid could ease renewables transition

HT7777
Gimp

Containerise

Rack mount end of life EV batteries in containers which include a battery management system. There is going to be an absolute shit ton of end of life EV batteries with plenty of usable charge left in them.

Container infrastructure is ubiquitous and global so transporting them is a non issue.

They could be attached to electric trains to extend range in locations without overhead cables.

Located in electricity substations to deal with peak demands thereby obviating the need for an expensive substation and local grid upgrade.

Located in charging stations to smooth charging capacity.

Used as power sources in place of fossil fuel generation for construction, events, festivals and suchlike temporary events. I recall hearing of a dutch company planning something like this on a rental basis.

Containers could be built for specific battery types which may make the BMS easier to manage. So long as the output is standardised they could then be chained.

Containers come in a range of standardised sizes.

One of the reasons why there’s not a lot of recycling when the batteries are completely exhausted is because there aren’t large numbers of fully exhausted batteries available yet. Clearly this is set to ramp up in the coming years.

China rallies support for Kylin Linux in war on Windows

HT7777
Big Brother

Re: ChAOSIC thinking?

I'm curious about what you think China can do to born and bred UK nationals?

The UK has no extradition treaty with China. The USA on the other hand can whisk UK nationals away on a whim.

Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? Consult our cynic's guide to desktop Linux

HT7777
Happy

Re: Not be happy ... to reinstall my OS from scratch every year or two

It surprises me how few regtards use VM's on their personal kit.

I use VMware workstation on top of W10. I regard the base OS as a platform for running VMware. (I've looked at ESXi and enjoyed wrestling with Proxmox but neither suited my use case)

The sandboxing provided with VM's is great for security, malware protection, ad blocking and obfuscation, and general disposability should there be a problem. Combine these with their own VPN's for added goodness.

It's brilliant for testing, scoping out and playing with assorted OS's.

The main downside is the hardware requirement. VM software likes lots of cpu cores, lots of ram and lots of diskspace.The flexibilty and convenience I get from running multiple VM's is worth every penny to me.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s: Impressively average, which is how corporate buyers like it

HT7777

Re: from countries with which there are extradition agreements

You are free to believe whatever you choose.

Have a nice day.

HT7777
Big Brother

Re: from countries with which there are extradition agreements

You evidently chose to dishonestly selectively quote from a particular post I made.

You ignored the following paragraph:

"Nonetheless in the context of a comment section about a Lenovo laptop review I think it's safe to say that western born and bred nationals have little or nothing to be concerned about from Chinese "spying" on their personal IT devices. Whereas spying from countries with which there are extradition agreements could be a matter for concern."

I have no difficulty believing that all nation states will do whatever they can to suppress their own dissidents. That includes all western nations as well.

If you wish to believe the west is all innocent sweetness and light then that is your choice.

You are using the appeal to extremes fallacy to address the point I have been making that western born and bred users of Lenovo IT devices have nothing to fear from the Chinese authorities "spying" on them.

That is the conext for this thread. If you wish to push it further then that is a very different debate.

HT7777
Big Brother

Re: from countries with which there are extradition agreements

If your hypotheses was correct then surely western governments and media would be making a lot of noise about it.

Just to make sure we are clear here; are you saying that a western user of Lenovo kit has more to be concerned about from Chinese spyware than they would from their own and other western nations spyware? For me this is the crux of the matter.

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HT7777
Big Brother

Re: why would you be concerned about spying by Lenovo? [for China]

Whilst the Chinese state may well be pissed off and irritated by external criticism I have never heard of any issues arising from that for western nationals.

The nearest I've heard is allegations that Chinese dissidents living abroad may have been approached by teams from their Chinese ministry to intimidate or harass ethnic Chinese to return to China voluntarily. I would have thought that if this was the case western media would be banging on about it. Our media do this with with Russian interference so why would they ignore this if it was China?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/15/chinese-official-seeks-interpol-role-sparking-fears-for-dissidents

Nonetheless in the context of a comment section about a Lenovo laptop review I think it's safe to say that western born and bred nationals have little or nothing to be concerned about from Chinese "spying" on their personal IT devices. Whereas spying from countries with which there are extradition agreements could be a matter for concern.

I'd be interested to hear of anything to the contrary.

HT7777
Big Brother

Re: Hmm

Let's assume you are purchasing a new laptop and the vendors are, Dell, HP, Apple and Lenovo.

All three US companies can have their data grabbed by the US authorities. Assuming this is also the case for Lenovo and the Chineses authorities, which of those options is the one with an extradition treaty with the UK?

Given that the UK has no extradition treaty with China why would you be concerned about spying by Lenove, given that they have no power over you? Whereas, the US can easily extradite UK nationals.

It should also be noted that US citizens will be free from the threat of extradition to China.

Whose side you on, Nominet? Registry floods .co.uk owners with begging emails to renew unwanted .uk domains

HT7777
Happy

Re: +1 mythic beasts

I'll third the recomendation for Mythic Beasts.

Of the four domain name providers I've used 123reg, TSO and LCN; Mythic are the only one's I have a good word for.