Posts by Auntie Dix

100-plus spies fired after NSA internal chat board used for kinky sex talk

If Intelink is supposed to be secure, is anyone investigating who leaked the chat logs?

Tech support world record? 8.5 seconds from seeing to fixing

Re: Doh..

Some laptops (I forget whose (OLPC)) have an LED connected to the camera's power so the LED would light up when the camera is turned on.

You're so worried about AWS reliability, the cloud giant now lets you simulate major outages

This totally makes sense for European customers try and learn on their resilience, and ultimately comply with the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) which requires active participation of third-party ICT service provider.

Mid-contract telco price hikes must end, Ofcom told

Percentage points surely?

> sometimes as much as 3.9 percent on top.

This is pennies. Do you mean 3.9 percentage points on top?

Academics have 'no confidence' in Edinburgh University's response to its Oracle disaster

Open University's excellent M.Sc.-level module "Learning from Information System Failures". If

I searched for "Learning from Information System Failures" and for individual keywords like failures and lesson but was unable to find it .. surely fault on my side. Would you kindly be able to point out this course to me

https://www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate/qualifications/f81

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses/full-catalogue

French parliament says oui to AI surveillance for 2024 Paris Olympics

Spoiler: Athens 2004 Olympics 'manual AI' prototype failed mostly

from "Security and Surveillance in the Athens 2004 Olympics: Some Lessons From a Troubled Story"

"[..] the Greek government demanded a more sophisticated, integrated system where television images, vehicle tracking, and other functions were all accessible through a single software platform and viewable from a single set of screens. That meant SAIC had to write new software interfaces for these discrete systems to cooperate with each other. [..[ The problem, according to the wellinformed Athens News, was the central software platform of the C4I system, called the Event Incident Management tool, which was the C4I nervous system. This article reported

that the system is designed to carry pictures, sound, radio signals and access existing electronic databases such

as criminal records. It has to ferry this information between approximately 1,200 users spread

across 116 operational centers that report across to each other like neurons in a brain. (Athens

News, March 5, 2000, p. A07). At the heart of C4I is the Command Decision Support System (CDSS), which comprises

the most crucial software packages and data. CDSS enables users from the police, coast

guard, and fire brigade to file incident reports, keep track of where they have allocated

their manpower, pull up maps, and check whether hospitals are able to receive more

patients, among other things. Also, through a vehicle tracking system, users would know

the location of police cars, fire trucks, and VIP cars, and a network of more than 1,000

cameras would have fed video through the system. According to the contract, this system

would even provide “software applications to enhance decision-making” (Athens News,

March 5, 2000, p. A07). C4I consists of 30 subsystems. [..]"

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249771030_Security_and_Surveillance_in_the_Athens_2004_OlympicsSome_Lessons_From_a_Troubled_Story

Oh, 07734! Internet Archive debuts vintage calculator emulator

Re: [TI & HP] were allowed into college entrance exams and various standardized tests

Similar, still use my 48G from 1991

John Deere signs right to repair agreement with US ag lobbyists

Re: Louis Rossmann - John Deere memo

Excellent video.

Additional background info:

https://pdfhost.io/v/Zb0hoWvhX_The_Capitol_Forum

Microsoft said to be thinking of sinking $10m into self-driving truck startup

Machete the Mitts of Monopolist Microsoft

Micro$haft does not belong anywhere near critical real-time systems, medical or otherwise.

Tributes flow as Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo - the mind behind Sound Blaster - passes aged 68

SIM-Wrong-Who

I read the obituary quickly and have been trying to phone the family of SIM-Wrong-Who. Thank goodness, he is fine, but it took them days of chip-swapping to respond.

Ireland fines Meta $414m for using personal data without asking

Ireland Got Paid for Its Complicity

"According to Schrems, the penalty being paid out by Meta will go to Ireland, 'the state that has taken Meta's side and delayed enforcement for more than four years.'"

Thanks to Schrems for leading the good fight.

If only the U.S. government gave a damn about privacy, Fecesbook and the like never would have metastasized.

Japan lacks the expertise for renewed nuclear power after Fukushima

Stop Listening to "Green"-Hippy Morons

Such drop-in-the-ocean BS: Wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, magic beans. Dream on, hippies.

Japan will import the oil and LNG that it needs.

Nuclear will continue, but it will be painful, given the shortage of talent.

Aging Japan cannot afford another prohibition, especially one advocated by the screwballs who "count carbon."

San Francisco investigates Hotel Twitter, Musk might pack up and leave

Stop Kowtowing to Megalomaniacs

Our sick society has supported traditionally the pathology of so-called "success."

Times are changing in the U.S., albeit slowly. Its job market shows today that a greater percentage of smart people who made the mistake of working for a creep no longer stay.

When we write tech history, let us emphasize the exploitation realized by the "successful."

Also, let us apply to them some apt monikers and titles, to emphasize unsavory traits. For example:

- Gene(s)-Missing Musk the Maniacal

- Bezos the Bald, Ruthless Pee-Bottle Clown

- Communist-Chinese-Slavemonger-and-Lesbian Tim Cook

- Septic-Tank-Smell-Salesman-Who-Woz-Technically-Inept Steve Jobs

- Ugly-Old-Witch-Rich-Through-Predatory-Licensing Bill Gates the Attorney's Son

A brand new Linux DRM display driver – for a 1992 computer

Re: Falcon, ST, AmigaOS et al

FWIW Amiga 1000 had already preemptive multitasking it was in fact one of its marvels https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a27437/amiga-2017-a1222-tabor/

"The Amiga was decades ahead of its time—look no further than preemptive multitasking," says Perry Kivolowitz, a professor of computer science at Carthage College. "The Mac, until OS X, was a cooperative multitasking machine—you've experienced the handicap of this if you've ever seen the Spinning Beach Ball of Death. In a cooperative environment if any task hangs, the computer hangs. On a preemptive system, any hung task slows the machine a small bit but doesn't kill it."

JWST snaps first chemical profile of an exoplanet atmosphere

Re: Mission: Emissions Admissions

Very cool! Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fX5IlW8qK4

"...display the live image on the conference room screen."

A useful overlay, especially, for any PowerPoint presentation!

Re: Mission: Emissions Admissions

LOL...from the comments, "Christ, has he been eating diesel?"

Mission: Emissions Admissions

"Great: We know what's in the atmosphere of a gas giant eight times closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun."

If we can detect gasses at astronomical distances, why can't we identify with a spotlight and siren the one or more who dealt it in a cubicle cluster or cropdusted a conference room?

Japanese cubesat sends home pics from the far side of the Moon

Bad Bento Box

"The mission was designed to demonstrate the use of low-cost technology to land and explore the Moon's surface."

Turns out that the Hello, Kitty! automated sandwich press was a waste of weight, as no cheese was found on the far side, let alone Gary Larson.

San Francisco politicians to vote on policy endorsing lethal force for robots

Now Available from Roomba: Vac-and-Zap

Automated, laser-assisted enforcement in the home is an idea whose time has come.

Zap burglars, free-riding cats, and filthy roommates.

You choose the joules multiplier, from 1 (stun) to 11 (KFC).

Coming soon: Outside Vac-and-Zap. Free your 'hood from solicitors, joggers, children, and animals.*

* "California-Cleaning" upgrade (bums, pushers, addicts, shoplifters, Fecesbook employees, hippie pols, etc.) for an additional charge.

Foxconn workers protest over pay and lockdowns at iPhone factory in China

Slave Unrest Will Delay the Latest Apple Products

It is about time that large outdoor projection screens in China's factory cities broadcast Chinese-subtitled get-back-to-work messages from Tim Cook.

With his other face, via worldwide media, Tim Cook may apologize to Apple customers about a slight delay in product shipment. No need to mention the slaves.

Nvidia admits mistake, 'unlaunches' 12GB RTX 4080

Unlunch My Tray / Re: Unlaunch My Card

I unlunched what I had eaten at Chipotle, shortly thereafter. I did not know that they made bio-weapons.

Amazon halts work on ‘Scout’ delivery-bot that delivered parcels no faster than humans

The Real Reason that the Scout Walked Slowly

“We are ending our field tests and reorienting the program. We are working with employees during this transition, matching them to open roles that best fit their experience and skills.”

What the heck is Amazon going to do with the 250 midgets who were inside those coolers?

Papa John's sued for 'wiretap' spying on website mouse clicks, keystrokes

Re: When the tracking hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a priori

Actually, knowledge that proceeds from observations or experiences — such as tracking hitting one's eye, like a big pizza pie — that's a posteriori!

Capiche?

These Italian Suits Are Fitting

I am reminded of the 2022 class-action lawsuit of the State of Illinois against HireVue's illegal use of interviewees' biometric data.

The consumer deserves protection. Privacy laws are extremely weak in the United States. The misuse of data that companies get away with is atrocious.

Lawsuits like this one against Papa John's are a way of fighting back against unwanted surveillance and highlighting insufficient regulation.

When I call a pizza joint, I do not expect or want the store to record my call, rate of breathing, manner of speech, movement of the receiver, etc.

The same lack of creepy surveillance should be the business default on the Web.

IBM battles to settle yet more age discrimination claims

IBM Has the Bucks and Time, as Cases Drag

"IBM is preparing to settle yet more age discrimination and wage theft complaints against the IT giant, though in one instance where it has already done so, Big Blue is accused of failing to comply with the terms of its settlement agreement."

Obviously, crime pays a lot and costs little, or else IBM would not continue to do it. "Justice" has baby teeth.

Microsoft warns of North Korean crew posing as LinkedIn recruiters

Jobs In North Korea! (Not Steve. He Outsourced to Children in China)

I do not know which attracts me more to the Father-and-Son-land, the...

• Consistently simple, affordable wardrobe

• Year-round, slimming famine

• Scarcity of cell-phone yakkers

• Traffic-jam-free main roads

• "Green" non-use of 24/7 electricity

• Beatings until morale improves

• "Social" surveillance to make me feel like a celebrity

Unfortunately, the PRiKs do not have 7-11 stores, and I am not willing to give up my right to Slurpee.

Cesspool Hype / Re: "educating end users can go a long way..."

> "Unfortunately, though, a lot of recruiters won't look at you if you're not on it"

What a load of baloney! Stop repeating that ridiculously false hype.

Professionals know that LinkedIn has been a cesspool from day one, another "social" Fecesbook of narcissists, creeps, and the insecure. Maybe, you are in another part of the world, but in the U.S., LinkedIn has been a yawn for years.

City isn't keen on 5,000 erratic, traffic-jam-causing GM robo-cars on its streets

The Allure of LaCrosse / Re: Rename it!

In Québec, it was the Buick LaCrosse.

This one is no urban legend:

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Buick-s-name-means-masturbate-in-Quebec-slang-2581410.php

https://www.cbc.ca/news/gm-faces-car-name-conundrum-1.775246

https://www.iheartradio.ca/cjad/news/what-s-in-a-name-a-brand-new-buick-model-might-have-some-quebecers-giggling-1.3485196

SF's 5,000 Driverless EVs: Why not put inside each two homeless drug addicts?

Clears the sidewalks and provides tour guides who will dissuade visitors from ever moving there.

Soaring costs, inflation nurturing generation of 'quiet quitters' among under-30s

C-Suites Plant Stories in the Media, to Undermine the Worker Uprising

Look at the positives that came from COVID, the gift to labor.

In the 90s, "telecommuting" was the buzzword, along with "staggered hours." No more commuter traffic jams! Reality? Control freaks in the C-suite made sure that few workers ever got that "privilege."

Laptops matured, replacing desktops. "Work alongside your pool...or at the beach!", ads told us. Reality? Ditto the above.

IT became much more cloudy. The percentage of WFH/remote increased slightly, mostly in IT. Reality? Ditto the above.

Fast-forward to 2020: The pandemic FORCED C-suite @ssholes to relent. No WFH meant no work from anywhere!

Labor must seize this once-in-a-lifetime change to working conditions and never let go!

So, reject for positions that obviously do not require it:

• On-site daily attendance

• "Hybrid" bullsh!t

Let those worker-mistrusting jobs rot on the vine!

The obstacle for many new WFH workers to overcome is C-suite home invasion: Video meetings (no, I do not need to see my coworkers...let them dress in pajamas...audio is fine), corporate-laptop spyware, etc.

Pro-labor legislators in progressive States, get to work on WFH privacy!

It is unlikely that the next bio-weapon virus that China test-releases will free us a second time.

Sim...ulation / Re: Mmmmmm...

The ability of a manager to simulate that he cares while paying wages for which most would not vacate their beds...brings artificial tears to my eyes.

Let us imbue our forthcoming robot bosses with this manipulative AI!

SQL Server admins warned about Fargo ransomware

Reaching for the Maalox

Clearly, the file-extension-misspelling fiends know that they cause acid indigestion and have stock in the company that owns the remedy.

You've heard of the cost-of-living crisis, now get ready for the cost-of-working crisis

Re: Denmark Degrees / Email remains the most used...

In the U.S., State employees bring in their own heaters and fans to combat one-size-down-everyone's-throat thermostat mandates. I have seen a coffee pot suddenly take down a circuit because a new employee had added to his cubicle his own heater. Solution? Management fixed the crappy circuit!

Open-office plans are a herpes that spread in the 90s and never went away.

Meta, Google learn the art of the quiet layoff

Re: Sunday Pinch-a-Loaf, Baldie Zuckertart et al.

"...unreasonable or unattainable goals don't play well at tribunals."

No such process, here. In the U.S., HR most often works happily with management to remove the PIP ("Performance Improvement Plan") outcast, looking to find (read: create) fault and document it. No real money or effort will be spent, except on the write-ups leading to dismissal.

Alas, unions interfere with management's choreographed, easy-strangulation methods like the one above. That is one reason why management detests unions.

Only the naive in the U.S. believe that HR is there to help. The reality is, HR is the Gestapo at management's disposal. It is there entirely for the company's welfare, not the employee's.

Re: Sunday Pinch-a-Loaf, Baldie Zuckertart et al.

"Interestingly, the one that worked well was in a company with a couple of unions."

That is remarkable. I Imagine it is similar to having a lawyer by your side who knows when he hears BS and objects promptly!

Re: We tech workers need to shout more.

People understand "Union!" quite well, as we have seen recently with Starbucks, Amazon, etc. It is remarkable to see low-wage workers organize in spite of fly-in "emergency" consultants' tactics, as unions have been decimated over recent decades in the U.S.

Worse, labor laws remain weak.

Tech workers in California probably have the best (albeit very limited) labor protections in the U.S., but only those in a union (a very small percentage) have clout. Management HATES unions, because the latter will strike, rather than put up with abuses. I remember being invited by accident to an online meeting where management was announcing some ridiculous, degrading performance metric for its unionized techs.

Non-union employees would have expressed concern and acquiesced, fearing for their jobs and thinking about leaving (if only there wasn't a mortgage to pay).

What did the union techs do? Immediately, the chat room alongside management's BS presentation sprung to life, with techs calling out the BS, posting funny-retort photos, showing previous-BS documents, etc. IT WAS AMAZING, INSPIRING, AND FUNNIER THAN HELL!

Guess what? The meeting ended early, leaving the @ssholes in management with egg on their faces and the union techs cheering!

Sunday Pinch-a-Loaf, Baldie Zuckertart et al.

"We know that in...the UK..., companies by law have to make some effort, however token, to find you other work within the org if you're made redundant, generally speaking. America, not so much."

For the Brits: Please sound off on how well companies treat your redundant behind.

In the U.S., you are on your own. Company efforts are usually window-dressing.

Sunday Pinch-a-Loaf, Baldie Zuckertart et al. copy each other, like flies on a pile. It is all about getting away with layoffs quietly.

We tech workers need to shout more.

US accident investigators want alcohol breathalyzers in all new vehicles

No Thanks, Big Brother

"...force the operator to blow into a tube to verify [his] blood alcohol content (BAC)..."

To save far more property damage and lives:

911 calls excepted, cell phones and dash "telematics" (distracting crap) are disabled while the vehicle is in motion.

We should consider the dash tube only if it contains sensors that measure the potential oral skills of a date in the passenger seat.

Charter won't pay out $7b after cable installer murdered woman. Just $1b instead

Murder Kit

"...using a Charter-issued knife and gloves."

Charter was hiring on the cheap, again. Usually, it employs bargain-basement subcontractors (some, fresh out of the can).

If you give the low-wage-accepting, criminally insane really cool knives and gloves, murders are going to happen, especially when your customers complain about your sh!tty reception or refuse to hand over their credit cards.

Charter has no appeal and deserves to lose on it.

San Francisco cops can use private cameras to live-monitor 'significant events'

Warrantless Candid Camera

"Police should not be given access to the thousands of private cameras...to surround communities, protests, or city blocks with live surveillance."

Bingo. I am surprised that radical-left SF would approve of such overreach.

In Rust We Trust: Microsoft Azure CTO shuns C and C++

Re: Rust fixed that for you

Mark is awesome.

His friendliness, intelligence, clarity, wittiness, kindness, etc., are truly intoxicating. Every time that I have interacted with him, I have felt both fan-boy exhilaration during the engagement and fan-boy sadness at parting.

I wonder sometimes how much more forthright he might be if he were not bound by Microsoft. I wonder, too, how much better Windows and the rest could have been if he had been in the right places at the right times.

'Last man standing in the floppy disk business' reckons his company has 4 years left

God Bless Invention and the Floppy Disk

One of the most heartwarming experiences is to see someone make good, proper use of deprecated tools and technology from our not-so-distant past.

It is inspiring to realize that inventions such as the floppy — in multiple versions, no less — have continued to be utilized productively for decades beyond their often sensationalized deaths.

Let us rejoice in the continued use, restoration, and longevity of these wonderful tech achievements.

Amen.

Please do not forget to tip your server.

Egads! I mean, waitress!

Microsoft reveals what a growth mindset does to the letter ‘A’

Microsoft Marketing Management's Cranial-Rectal Inversion

“Our ability to meet your business and innovation needs is in part due to our growth mindset—which extends from front-end user experiences to small details like graphics and icons,” wrote senior product marketing manager Erin Zefkeles...

Lady, you have been inhaling your own fumes.

What happens when cancel culture meets Adolf Hitler pareidolia? Amazon decides it needs a new app icon

Forget the Logo: Replace Jeff Bezos and His Squeeze

Bezos looks like Egghead; his plastic-surgery squeeze, The Joker.

Do we have to wait for their icons?

Stand back, the FTC is here to police gig work

Good for the FTC

Reality:

Using scum-company middlemen to convert FTE jobs into sh!tty-benefits contractor positions has been a tactic that U.S. corporate lawyers have supported like flies on a pile for over forty (40) years. Promulgated by lying-scum Uber, Lyft, etc., tycoons, the "gig" BS of recent years, the latest FTE-to-contractor subterfuge, has spread like herpes.

The U.S. is long overdue for a vanquishing Federal legal cure.

—————

Perfect:

"No matter how gig companies choose to classify them, gig workers are consumers entitled to protection under the laws we enforce," said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. "We are fully committed to coordinating our consumer protection and competition enforcement efforts within the FTC as well as working with other agencies [such as the Department of Labor] across the government to ensure gig workers are treated fairly."

Typical, disingenuous @sshole:

“The thrust of the FTC’s policy statement is that gig work is inherently unfair, but millions of Americans choose gig work because of its flexibility and how it's helping them make ends meet in the face of inflation," said Chamber of Progress [Porcelain] CEO Adam Kovacevich.

Can't wait. Let's hope that the FTC delivers:

The agency, today chaired by Big Tech arch-critic Lina Khan, said it intends to look for: deceptive or unfair pay practices; undisclosed costs or terms of work; and unfair or deceptive practices by an automated boss – e.g. algorithmic abuse. It also says it will keep an eye out for unfair contractual terms, unfair competition, wage fixing, and market monopolization.

Academic publishers turn to AI software to catch bad scientists doctoring data

Joel's "Uptown Dror Kolodkin-Gal"

"Proofig's...Dror Kolodkin-Gal..."

My screen reader made a choking sound and my spelling checker hoisted red flags.

I suspect that this article is fraudulent.

Amazon 'punishes' sellers who dare offer lower prices on other marketplaces

Re: Notorious Ebay, Re: Prefer to pay more...

Ebay is an unreliable nightmare far too often. A marketplace for scammers of every kind, Ebay hides its telephone numbers, uses a VRU to drop calls deliberately, and employs Third-World, English-incapable reps to thwart you and your concerns.

Ebay rigs customer feedback of sellers, via behind-the-scenes-crafted, ever-tweaked, company-serving, anti-consumer policies.

Did you know that your feedback may be one of an arbitrary number that the seller may quash immediately on his own? I watched as legitimate, rules-following feedback disappeared within minutes: The feedback addressed an Ebay seller-fraud case found in my favor.

Further, the seller may respond to your feedback with the last word: As long as he does not swear, he may lie about your feedback. Ebay refuses to step in.

So, you are on your own. Ebay does not care; it does not make enough money on any one customer. Amazon makes profit on the Prime member, and it tends to behave better on bad-product issues because of that, it seems. Amazon never removed any similar bad-product/seller feedback.

Re: Ecosia, Re: Amazon doing something useful?

I have been wary of Berlin-based Ecosia, ever since the deaths of John Gill and Ekosian Deputy Führer Melakon.

Re: AG Bonta: Full Steam Ahead!

Regarding manufacturer-imposed pricing, in the United States, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) states:

Reasonable price, territory, and customer restrictions on dealers are legal. Manufacturer-imposed requirements can benefit consumers by increasing competition among different brands (interbrand competition) even while reducing competition among dealers in the same brand (intrabrand competition). For instance, an agreement between a manufacturer and dealer to set maximum (or "ceiling") prices prevents dealers from charging a non-competitive price. Or an agreement to set minimum (or "floor") prices or to limit territories may encourage dealers to provide a level of service that the manufacturer wants to offer to consumers when they buy the product. These benefits must be weighed against any reduction in competition from the restrictions.

Until recently, courts treated minimum resale price policies differently from those setting maximum resale prices. But in 2007, the Supreme Court determined that all manufacturer-imposed vertical price programs should be evaluated using a rule of reason approach. According to the Court, "Absent vertical price restraints, the retail services that enhance interbrand competition might be underprovided. This is because discounting retailers can free ride on retailers who furnish services and then capture some of the increased demand those services generate." Note that this change is in federal standards; some state antitrust laws and international authorities view minimum price rules as illegal, per se.

More here: https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/dealings-supply-chain/manufacturer-imposed-requirements