Posts by rcxb1

HP bets big on future of hybrid work with $3.3bn Poly buy

Re: VoIP phones

I would assume "conference" phones are too small a market for different manufacturers to chase after it. Not remotely like the market for office desk phones.

VoIP phones

After Cisco bought Linksys, they took their VoIP phones in a rather locked-in and proprietary direction. I hope that's not the case here, as Polycom phones are easily the top brand, supported far and wide. (FWIW, Grandstream devices are flashy and inexpensive, but not impressively reliable; while Yealink devices have seemed a little bit more boring).

Still, as with any merger, HP is going to expect to earn their money back in short order, so I would expect prices to increase, and redundancies for some who make and support the devices. Not a good prospect for their future.

Hackers remotely start, unlock Honda Civics with $300 tech

Re: Steering Wheel Lock Anyone?

> it was a visible deterrent. The casual car thief would more likely go for one without it because there's a known extra time involved.

I guess that's true if all vehicles are equally valuable. Not so if it's a more valuable car that has the simple anti-theft bar in place.

> And anyone prepared to take the time to fit it when leaving the car will less likely leave valubales in the car and have an alarm or other anti-theft features.

Here, I'd assume the opposite... Someone installing a cheap bar on their steering wheel likely does NOT have a working anti-theft system, otherwise they wouldn't always bother with the hassle. Exceptions for vehicles found in long-term parking or other special scenarios.

Re: Steering Wheel Lock Anyone?

> he found the car doors unlocked and the steering lock open and waiting for him on the driver's seat.

The obsessive-compulsive locksmith strikes again.

Re: almost never use remote key fob features

> I assume that is much harder to sniff out then pressing the unlock or lock buttons on the key fob from a distance

You assume wrong. Advanced two-way radios like Cell Phones and Wi-Fi adjust their transmit power based on proximity, but simple RF devices like key fobs have no such intelligence.

Nvidia CEO: We're open to Intel making our chips

> Nvidia is trying to book as much factory capacity it can, Intel is investing billions to build advanced factories in the US and Europe. Supply, meet demand; demand, meet supply.

The current surge in demand with low supply sounds like the pork cycle to me:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_cycle

Everyone is massively investing in expanding fabs. But when they actually get built, demand for chips will likely have dropped off, leaving them to compete on price to fill their excess capacity, leading to fabs being a low-margin business, and everybody closing unneeded fabs, and unwilling to invest in next-gen developments... Until there's an uptick in demand with no supply, when it suddenly becomes profitable again.

Hooking up to Starlink might be pricier than you thought

Inflation?

> "excessive levels of inflation"

Google should bring back their 'loon project. They might benefit from a little "excessive inflation"

JavaScript library updated to wipe files from Russian computers

> - Destroying files is bad

> - Adding one .txt file is not

As far as I'm concerned, after intentionally publishing malware, Brandon Nozaki Miller (RIAEvangelist) should have had his access to github and NPM permanently revoked with the project's code frozen.

The second round of malware should never have happened.

However, I also have to say that dropping a text file somewhere is not harmless. It's unexpected behaviour from code that shouldn't have a need access files in that location. It's one small step from adding desktop icons. e.g. A shortcut to visit amazon.com via sponsored/referred link. If you want to say a file on the desktop with political statements is okay, get ready for the money making schemes to infiltrate and destroy all open source projects...

Russian demand for VPNs skyrockets by 2,692%

Re: Not yet banned

> the SSL ones that run over port 443, et al are much harder to identify from normal HTTPS web traffic.

Actually not.

If you ran some non-TLS protocol over port 443, it would be extremely easy to identify it as invalid traffic, and seeing lots of that traffic to an IP address would be reason enough to block/ban the server.

Most (or perhaps all) of the port TLS-based VPNs try to use DTLS first, rather than plain TLS, (1) because the extra layer of TCP would greatly harm performance. Very easy to differentiate DTLS (udp) and TLS (tcp) traffic.

Those who are running TLS-based VPNs could disable DTLS to the detriment of their customers to prevent the few regimes trying to identify VPN traffic, but that's just a start.

None of the TLS-based VPN I'm aware of even try to prevent active probing from identifying them as such. It's very easy and effective to identify and block them. (2)

(1)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datagram_Transport_Layer_Security#Applications

(2)https://gitlab.com/openconnect/ocserv/-/issues/393

Think tank: US will need to import semiconductor talent to fill new factories

Re: Oh jees, the first sentence...

Perhaps you missed the part further on where it explained:

> non-citizens make up the bulk of graduate students studying semiconductor-related subjects in the US.

So it's okay that they go to University in the US for years, but you don't want to hire them to work in the US after that? Why?

Moscow to issue HTTPS certs to Russian websites

Re: "Z" for zombies

> why don't they use "Let's Encrypt" like all of the budget ISPs and individuals do...

Because this has nothing to do with Russian companies getting cut-off from other SSL authorities, and everything to do with Russia's growing ambitions to surveil their own people to easily find and arrest dissidents.

Fedora inches closer to dropping x86-32 support

Re: In other words...

There's a 10-year window after x86-64 was introduced, before AMD PSP came along. Not quite as long between Intel adopting x86-64 and introducing the IME, but you've got options there as well. Plenty of options.

Not to mention, you can buy a cheap RPi without those, which is likely to outperform any i686 processor.

Re: In other words...

> anything running a 32bit processor is landfill

They're not landfill. There are always collectors of old PCs, running old operating systems.

The last 32-bit only x86 CPUs introduced were Atoms back in 2010. The rest of Intel's line-up supported x86-64 at least 4 years before that, and for AMD you can go back to 2003 for the first x86-64 CPUs. That's just shy of 20 years, so rather old systems are still alive and well.

Something that old is not worth keeping alive for normal uses, though. Their electric bill will quickly pay for a much newer and higher-end system that's much more energy efficient. Of course there are legacy applications, but those don't often handle an OS upgrade gracefully, either, so they're virtual time machines which won't benefit from continued OS support anyhow.

Re: In other words...

Can't have one without the other.

> This will in time have knock-on effects on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL),

Doubtful. RHEL7 dropped support for booting i686 systems years ago. Fortunately CentOS made its own spin-off, relying on the i686 RHEL7 packages (compiled for compatibility). Having installed it on an old laptop, I can speak from experience that a tremendous amount of software is missing i686 versions, requiring compiling from the SRPM. Not pleasant at all on an old CPU. Pretty clear it's the end-of-the-line for i686 CPUs.

The last 32-bit only x86 CPUs were Atoms back in 2010, and most x86 CPUs 5+ years old than that supported x86-64. You can go back to 2003 for the first x86-64 CPUs, so you can keep rather old systems alive.

It's a shame, though. The 32-bit version of Firefox has minimum RAM requirements of 512K, while the 64-bit version requires a minimum of 2GB. I run the 32-bit version just for that reason.

Cloudflare, Akamai: Why we're not pulling out of Russia

Re: Putinski makes him sound too Polish

Hitler is already #2, behind Stalin.

Microsoft says hello again to China, goodbye to Russia

China

> has apparently become the world's fastest-growing cloud market

Wow. I didn't realize spammers required that many resources.

Intel creates lite version of vPro management tech

Still Waiting...

> At the time of writing, Intel had not provided The Register with a list of features omitted from the Essentials package.

Oh, I see. Well do be sure to let us know when there is an actual story to publish on the topic.

ICANN responds to Ukraine demand to delete all Russian domains

Re: DNS damage not necessary

China won't abandon Russia, and the world isn't going to disconnect China from the Internet. Routes between Moscow and Europe will get slower and higher latency, but that's about all.

Google to wind down pandemic work-from-home

Re: What I learned from the Pandemic

> refusing to follow common sense public health policies due to an inane concept of freedom

That was only the excuse cynically used by the politicians. A big portion of the mob were lunatics convinced masks will kill you, and vaccines include mind control microchips.

If you want to save democratic countries, invest more in free public education.

Real-estate correction

Remember hearing about those record real estate prices outside the cities? Get ready for a crash.

Those who unload their homes first might turn a small profit, many will break-even (but find the record high real estate prices in the cities making them feel poor, anyhow). but a great many will lose a considerable amount of cash try to unload their retreat homes in a falling market.

I'm wouldn't mind a repeat of 2008... I didn't have enough cash on hand to pick up any of those houses going for "new car" prices (which all tripled in value after just a few years).

Ericsson report details how it paid off Islamic State

Re: Ironic

> our internal training is delivered in web based formats that don't allow skipping ahead or faster playback speeds

Not explicitly allowed, of course. But what just might do it is hitting F12, clicking Console, and typing something like:

document.querySelector('video').playbackRate = 4.0;

Ukraine asks ICANN to delete all Russian domains

> would hurt ordinary Russian citizens and business who have nothing to do with the invasion

Yes. That's usually how sanctions work.

> I swear every phishing text message I have ever received has been on their DNS.

Is that just a result of them being the cheapest? Are there some reasonable anti-fraud measures you know they could implement to flag most of the scammers when they sign-up?

Tech world's Ukraine response mixes evacuation efforts, ad bans, free phones, infosec FUD

Re: Dear Ukraine...

> *Giant warm fuzzy hug*

I think they would prefer giant warm fuzzy javelin missiles. At least those worked out better for the mujahideen in Afghanistan when Russian (well, USSR) soldiers showed up as uninvited guests.

Fujitsu confirms end date for mainframe and Unix systems

Re: The Cloud does not replace a mainframe.

> It's far from unheard of for them to have zero downtime over the course a year. How many other systems offer that kind of uptime anywhere outside of their marketing materials?

I've maintained lots of Linux servers with multiple years of uninterrupted uptime. Or main order entry system was up over 4 years with hundreds of sessions at a time at peak, and operating around the clock, before a scheduled power outage required ending its run.

Linux kernel edges closer to dropping ReiserFS

Re: Puzzled

> ReiserFS was always an also-ran a long way behind the leaders.

Not true. It was quite popular when it first came out, right up there with ext3. It was rather common right up until Hans' arrest (whether or not that event was part of the cause). At the time, XFS was immature and early adopters were reporting data loss after power failures. Ext3 was a good upgrade over Ext2, but performance was not great. Ext4 was years off, but it greatly improved matters.

I stuck with Ext3 for the backwards compatibility myself, only briefly trying out ReiserFS to see what the hype was about. It did help with video playback, as you didn't have the stutter on Ext3's sync every 5 seconds (nrsec)...

That was nearly two decades ago, now. ReiserFS hasn't improved enough over the years to keep pace with others, so there's no reason at all to use it any longer, and removal seems overdue.

Kyndryl completes hyperscaler trifecta with AWS partnership

Kyndryl? I'd run the other way. Why pay top-dollar prices for overworked, entry-level Indian techs? The seemingly proficient pre-sales technicians disappear. Then... prepare to be ignored.

I can't tell you how many times our sites were down ALL DAY, over and over again, until we informed them their systems had a problem. Each time we were assured they've got all the monitoring in-place properly THIS TIME. And then it happens again... and again... and again. Most recently, they suddenly switched to using an old, expired SSL certificate for our site... until one of our processes errored and once again we were notifying them our site is down.

And that's all AFTER we worked through and sorted out all the ways they misconfigured our site and could not figure out the problems (they caused) on their own. The lack of knowledge of, or interest in, our systems was astounding. It seems you get the exact OPPOSITE of what you pay for; as small, cheap shops show a bit of motivation and initiative. All we got was a lot of long conference calls where they ask us basic technical questions, and then forget all the work they were going to do until moments before the next call.

FreeDOS puts out first new version in six years

Re: "It installs to a FAT32 partition"

support for FAT32 partitions larger than 32GB is unofficial. They'll read them, but no official utilities will create more than 32GB at a time

Windows 95B, Windows 98, Windows ME (and DOS boot disks for same) will all format much larger FAT32 partitions. That's rather "official" if you ask me.

Nokia Bell Labs gets funding to cool down data centres

> Move all US datacentres to Canada and Alaska?

Those areas have heat-waves, too, so you still need to install a large and expensive cooling system, and have adequate power supply for it. That is, unless you're as big as Google and can power-down entire data centres without affecting your operations.

> Given that access to potable water is already becoming a fight I think that may not be the best approach

I never said potable. Grey water or similar will work perfectly well for cooling. The increased local evaporation could even result in rain, possibly increasing potable water supplies in the area.

I wouldn't advocate them getting a special deal on water, certainly. In areas where people are fighting over water, the price should rise accordingly.

As long as water remains cheap, why shouldn't data centre operators continue to locate them in dry deserts and utilize evaporative cooling? What are the chances this $2M project is going to find a revolutionary way to keep servers cool that both uses less energy and is cheaper to implement and operate?

IT technician jailed for wiping school's and pupils' devices

Re: Hmm

> the things are bloody dangerous

They are, but I still don't know why...

The kind of shields ship deck guns had in the 19th century fitted to a chainsaw would render them quite difficult to injure oneself with. A modernize plexiglass version would provide full visibility.

Amazon, Visa strike global truce on credit card charges

Re: Innovative payment experiences

> an alert on the app which allows me to approve or deny the charge from there. That's pretty innovative*

It might work well for you, but no, it's anything but innovative.

The traditional method is for banks to figure out patterns to your purchase activities, and stop any that are sufficiently shady. Simplifying that process down to just ASKING YOU if you did it each time is rather giving up on innovating, and taking the easy way out when their systems can't actually get the job done...

More innovative methods would be that retailers only get cryptographically generated tokens your smart credit card outputs, which can include restrictions you've dialed-in as well...

IBM looked to reinvigorate its 'dated maternal workforce'

Re: Millenials

> unlike the generation before them, boomers had no interest in training up newer generations.

Just sounds like when you needed mentoring, Boomers were at the wrong age to help. Can't expect someone relatively new in the industry to even think they are knowledgeable enough to mentor someone else.

'Boombox' function sparks Tesla recall

Re: The press has really gone all in on these headlines

> trying to spin them into the same level as an exploding Ford Pinto

If you don't know that a "recall" is any issue requiring a manufacturer to offer a free repair, then the "spin" is in your own head. There have been recalls for things like indicator lights and floor mats...

RAID expansion comes to OpenZFS at last

> The suggestions of potential lawsuit around the use of ZFS have been a giant red herring (pun not intended) for years now.

There is no risk from using it, but there is plenty of risk for anybody distributing it, tied to GPL'd code. That's why the distros are wary.

> there is not that much original code left

That doesn't matter at all. They'll remain derivative works even if the last line of original code is replaced.

> lawsuits by Oracle are not going to be a problem.

Oracle isn't likely to file lawsuits, but they've been cagey and refused to make such a commitment. They very well could. The fact that they haven't yet doesn't provide any added safety.

What would be damn interesting is if RedHat included ZFS in RHEL... Oracle have been repackaging RHEL as their own supported distro and redistributing it for years. If RHEL just sneaked ZFS code into their kernel, Oracle would redistribute it, and the GPL would oblige them to allow it to be treated as GPL-compatible.

Your data centre UPS could feed power to the smart grid, suggests research

Battery lifetimes

Batteries have a limited number of charge/discharge cycles. There will need to be massive incentives for it to be worth shortening the lifttime of your battery packs, and those incentives will mean very expensive electricity... More expensive than starting-up a peaking plant.

This is a bit like Uber and all the other contract delivery driver scams. You already have a car, right, so driving someone/something around all day is just like free money for you, right? But there aren't that many big data center operators with so little intelligence, so it doesn't seem like there will be any takers.

Breath of fresh air: v7.3 of LibreOffice boasts improved file importing and rendering

Re: Version numbers

> They're forks of the same codebase.

Yes.

> That's why the major and minor are comparable.

No.

There is no external authority which makes LO and OO use similar version numbers for similar milestones.

I could fork LibreOffice and release version 77.0 of XB1Office tomorrow, almost no effort required. How many years behind would that put LibreOffice?

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.11 was released October 2021. What it contained is not at all comparable to what the old LibreOffice 4.1.x from 2013 contained.

> OO has been in "security fixes only" mode

Fair enough. That's doesn't make the statement about version numbers any more correct, however.

Version numbers

> OpenOffice – long orphaned by Oracle – its current version is 4.1.11. LibreOffice 4.1 was released way back in 2013, which means that OpenOffice now lags by nearly a decade.

Right, because version numbers between different things are always equivalent. Version numbers are an objective metric of progress.

Windows 11 users are primitive cave-men next to my far future Windows 95 installation. At the rate Windows version numbers are increasing, it'll take them centuries to catch up.

Why is the little guy getting rinsed for hardware? Because top OEMs had to spend 25% more on chips in 2021

Re: At least Sony didn't

> Has anyone seen a pay increase?

Yes. Entry-level wages are up all around here, and usually come with a big-bonus for new hires due to the worker shortage.

https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/minimum-wages

https://www.reuters.com/business/amazon-hire-125000-workers-pay-hourly-wages-18-2021-09-14/

Mike Lynch loses US extradition delay bid: Flight across the Atlantic looks closer than ever

Re: Let the chuckles ring out!

> is this deal substantially different to Microsoft's purchase of Nokia Phones sans IP?

Yes. Microsoft was trying to bail-out a known-failing Nokia, because the survival of their Windows Mobile OS was on the line.

HP didn't intend anything like that. They just saw big profits from a massively successful company.

Assange can go to UK Supreme Court (again) to fend off US extradition bid

cupboard fancier

I don't see the problem. Assange seems to be a cupboard fancier. Can we just hang a sign that says "Ecuadorian Embassy Broom Closet" on a US prison cell? He would have to be dragged out of it.

Tesla driver charged with vehicular manslaughter after deadly Autopilot crash

> it's all about Tesla and how they are marketing the autopilot. In fact the first error is in the "auto".

Would you prefer they call it "horseless-carriage-pilot" perhaps?

I doubt anyone believes the namesake autopilot systems aboard jumbo jets are designed to stop at red lights, either.

US-China chip cold war? It's only helping the Middle Kingdom, silicon makers warn

Re: Sanctions

> Space Station something which the US can't build herself as the ISS was built by a bunch of countries

The US had its own space station in Skylab decades ago.

The ISS program was really designed as a Russia welfare program. It gave unemployed Russian rocket engineers something to do (other than build military systems for the highest bidder) while their economy imploded. It's a convenient excuse for the US to financially support Russia without the later losing face. After all the US is just paying for seats on Soyuz launches and funding joint developments, much like it funds a joint program with Russia to secure their nukes. The US is surely NOT sending truck loads of monetary support to Russia because it was on the verge of falling apart...

Think small, score big: India details subsidies for chipmakers

Re: China wafer manufacturing?

As with most high technology, if you stay back from the bleeding edge, things are far cheaper. India could get a great deal out of their modest investment.

Fabs cluster around the same areas (see: Chandler, AZ) because of all the suppliers and service providers that spring up around them. Once there is existing industry and infrastructure, the price of entry for other fabs is lower as a result.

The largest tree grows from a tiny seed. Starting small and moving forward slowly is a very cheap way to start building an industry with a minimum of cash, while opening the door for future growth.

New submarine cable to link Japan, Europe, through famed Northwest Passage

Re: Who are the customers?

> if there's no station in Alaska, traffic might end up going via terrestrial capacity from somewhere else in N.America

I'm going to go out on a limb and say they're not doing all this just to get high speed access from Europe to the 400,000 people on the southern coast of Alaska... I'm also pretty confident there will be a few Starlink stations in Asia and Europe.

Re: Who are the customers?

> doesn't suffer from handover problems. I've been using it for a while now

Oh? Have you been doing lengthy VoIP calls? Where you'd notice latency.

Re: Avoiding NSA tapping?

They get bored if you always make things too easy for them.

They love any opportunity to pull out their big, expensive toys.