* Posts by Kistelek

14 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Jul 2021

Microsoft rolls out AI-enabled Notepad to Windows Insiders

Kistelek

or removing the formatting from text before putting it back into Word.

NASA mulls using SpaceX in 2025 to rescue Starliner pilots stuck on space station

Kistelek

No "if" about it.

If you were the poor sod expected to get in it and fly it home, would you? Nope. Me neither. NASA has history here and at least there's a practical alternative to getting in the Boeing clown carpsule.

RISE with SAP plan fails to hit go-live date in West of England council

Kistelek

Equally applies to any council IT system. One service, reskinned for each council, is the obvious answer, like nearly every train ticketing service is basically a re-skinned Trainline without the processing fee.

PIRG petitions Microsoft to extend the life of Windows 10

Kistelek

Re: "All software reaches a point at which it's no longer supported"

This. 100% this. Write the bloody stuff right in the first place. And if it's not right, then make it mandatory to fix it for free for however long someone's using it. We've been doing this computer malarky long enough now to stop writing shonky code.

Millions of smart meters will brick it when 2G and 3G turns off

Kistelek

Re: No corruption here.

Your DNO is responsible for the supply fuse, not your electricity supplier. Ring them. They'll be out sharpish.

Kistelek

Re: No corruption here.

Octopus do variable direct debit. I pay the what I've used every month and I get the DD discount.

Comms watchdog to probe errors that left Brits unable to make emergency calls

Kistelek

999 not working? Just dial oh one one eight nine nine nine eight eight one nine nine nine one one nine seven two five three

IT phone home: How to run up a $20K bill in two days and get away with it by blaming Cisco

Kistelek

Controlware, how I miss thee

Been there, demanded an itemised bill from BT. Manged to find a few lines where their billing computer couldn't keep up with Controlware kit's dialling so showed 000000 as destination number. Declared the whole bill as crap. BT Voided it. Happy days.

Nice smart device – how long does it get software updates?

Kistelek

Speaketh the person with a gas boiler, not an ASHP.

Kistelek

Re: Nobody

If you had teenagers who appear incapable of using a light switch you might, or, as we've done, use LED bulbs with motion sensors and Dawn 2 Dusk sensors in to achieve the same function without informing Amazon of our action.

'I wonder what this cable does': How to tell thicknet from a thickhead

Kistelek

Proper training

I used to work in network operations for a large IT outsourcer when that new fangled NT 4.0 came out. One morning we started getting calls saying no one could access the Notes servers or the internet and rudimentary checking over the phone showed they had IP addresses but none that matched our range.

A stroll around the building found a bunch of young server admins on a training course for the new wonder OS with a server on the floor brought in by the instructor. A pair of wire cutters through his patch lead soon removed his errant DHCP server and after a reboot our users returned to their paying work. Strong words about competence to instruct were had.

The UK is running on empty when it comes to electric vehicle charging points

Kistelek

Sideways glance at USB C connector on wifey's phone and lightning connector on my iphone.

EV vehicles will just be a new excuse for us geeks to have yet another box of cables in the garage for years.

The coming of Wi-Fi 6 does not mean it's time to ditch your cabled LAN. Here's why

Kistelek

But have you seen the price of it?

So I'm having a bungalow extended and refurbished so of course I'm having 2 wired sockets put in behind the TV and 4 in my office but there's also going to be 2 at each end of the loft and 4 in the garage. Wired is great for things that don't move. Wifi is OK for the Alexa stuff and the laptops and, given the 4g signal wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding in Deepest Darkest Hereford*, the phones but wired wins for the high bandwidth (SkyQ, Smart TV, My "hobby" machines to my home server (also going in the loft) and PoE stuff like CCTV.

My gripe is the price of WiFi6 stuff. It's bonkers.

(*) 4 miles from the city centre.

Revealed: Perfect timings for creation of exemplary full English breakfast

Kistelek

When does the fried bread go on?