Posts by that one in the corner

Senior engineer reported to management for failing to fix a stapler

Re: Not just in IT

On the bright side, the vehicle interior designer won an innovation award for that.

Re: Shredder

Of course network Shredder - else how could he contact the Turtles?

Cowabunga!

AI recruitment software is 'automated pseudoscience', Cambridge study finds

Just stick with graphology

For example, given a pencil during the interview, did they write with a leftwards slant or did they stab it into the interviewer's hand whilst screaming "this trash was debunked in the 1920s"?

Boffins

Care to give us an example of your idea of the correct way to use that word?

Microsoft HoloLens proves to be a headache for US soldiers

To pass-through or not

I agree with what you are saying, but there is clearly some disagreement on terminology, which really doesn't help :-(

According to Tom's Hardware about the device, where they report on a briefing given by MS:

"Unlike VR headsets, which produce visuals via OLED displays that are situated right in front of your eyes that you view through glass lenses, HoloLens is a passthrough device. That is, you see the real world through the device’s clear lenses, and images (holograms) are projected out in front of you, up to several meters away."

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-hololens-components-hpu-28nm,32546.html

FWIW my understanding of the phrase matches yours, not Tom's/MS's - e.g., "the system could fill that bit of the display with an unaugmented pass through from the camera".

cybersickness

Really, Thomas.

Just because that report's authors want to use a word like that, there is no need to repeat it. You could at least have put it in quotes!

Please only use that word to refer to the result from getting a bite from a cybermat.

It's official: UK telcos legally obligated to remove Huawei kit

So conflicted over Huawei telecoms kit

The best broadband (hah!) we can get is base line ADSL from a green cabinet with a BT logo on it. A few metres down the same street they get swanky stuff like ADSL2 fed from a better-looking green cabinet with Huawei embossed into it.

Microsoft leaves the Office, rebrands everything as 365

Create content like a pro

(as the MS website puts it)

Whenever I see "content" used like that I always read it as "pablum". Just an observation about their target audience.

Microsoft and Meta promise facehugger PCs piping cloud desktops into VR headsets

Re: Not this but I can imagine similar

Weird - I keep seeing people who don't need to wear corrective lenses wearing glasses every Summer. Even people who have contact lenses have been spotted wearing sunglasses. I'm informed that some even wear them indoors just to look cool!

It is almost as if people are happy to wear something that hooks over their ears to hold things over their eyes just as soon as doing so provides a benefit to them.

But there are also probably people with a crippling fear of specs who will try to divert attention from their own limitations by claiming to speak for *everyone* who is already lucky enough not to need a prescription.

Re: Time for a clockwork orange remake

Other facehuggers than Geiger's finest are available, which may reflect the intent more accurately (it can upset your customers to have the support rep burst halfway through the help desk consultation: that does not reflect Company Values, although it does make the rep feel better than having to dealing with that bunch of morons one more day). Those other huggers tend more towards mind control, creating a (literally) single-minded army bent upon World Domination (ref. CEO's Vision, para 3).

Such alternatives include Starro or my favourite, the huge one-eyed leaves that the Zero-X crew encountered back in the 60's: the botanist kneels down to look at the plant, the leaf unfolds and schwup! Hmm, wonder if Geiger or Scott ever read that story...

Lufthansa bans Apple AirTags on checked bags

Hidden World

Mapping that hidden world would be limited by the density of active iPhones behind the scenes, which I'd guess at being pretty low. Certainly for major airports with robot baggage handlers (insert joke about solidarity with their Android brethren).

No, working in IT does not mean you can fix anything with a soldering iron

Also common design for things like old style hi-fi boxes, tape recorders etc: anything large, heavy and/or stackable where the mains came in the rear but the on/off was more conveniently placed on the front. Made life more exciting as the front switches were often just the same as the other function switches, so they all looked neat to the user, but when opened one set of tabs out the back of a line of switches had mains, the rest were quite safe.

Oh, and the generic switch design was double throw, so when the amp was off the unconnected tags were live.

Some designs were too cheap to run the wire rear to front to rear again so the front push was just a dummy stuck to a wooden (later plastic) dowel. Cheap 'cos they rattled but nice as they were safer!

FYI: TikTok tracking pixels can be found all over the web – just like Meta, Google

Re: Pot, meet Kettle

All part of the new regime.

Re: TikTok still need co-operation

"Webbie" : I tried to find a word that could be applied at whatever level in the org was appropriate, rather than just dumping it all on "web devs". Anyone who sticks their oar into the process, be that Marketing supremos or, and we know it does happen, sadly, an actual " dev" who just copy'n'pastes, trackers and all.

I'm open to suggestions for a better noun to use and apologies to the good guys who try to fight this stuff if they feel I've maligned them.

TikTok still need co-operation

to get their trackers onto the webpage, as do Google, FB and anyone else in this game.

So how about pointing some of the ire at the webbies who invite these people onto their pages and try to get them to stop doing that in the first place? I'm sure we can come up with some epithet that can be used to help shame them (better than my attempt, which so far stands at Visitor's Information Collection, Help Yourself).

USB-C iPhone, anyone? EU finalizes charging standard rule

Who is so boring they throw away "unused" cables?

Aside from the obvious, for a techie crowd (cut the ends off and use for wiring elsewhere - for PCB work there are some really fine wires in the cheap leads):

- some are just the right size for LEGO figs to grip, Indibrick Jones style

- posh braided cables have been made into bracelets (purple works well)

- thin leads can be braided and used as handles for shopping bags woven from old plastics

If imagination runs out, just use one to tie the rest in a tidy bundle until a wild idea strikes.

Re: Another EU bad idea

> so nothing would be lost if they dropped it entirely and went for wireless charging

except for the power lost due to inefficient wireless charging.

Re: Finally

Ah memories - working out just which combination of adapter plugs and gender-benders would connect two devices together (not forgetting a 25-way patch panel adapter in the middle) and then trying to get the resulting solid 18 inch (maybe boasting a bit here) long block to stay in the back of the box without tearing the socket out with the weight.

Oh, and every single one of the adapters had those screw fasteners on *both* sides; only the cabinet end was actually screwed into binding posts, so anyone walking past can knock the stack and the pieces fall apart. Did the null-modem have to go here or was it after that patch panel, yes, the one that now has all the leads on one end flapping about?

But at least you could try sticking LEDs across the patch panel and see if any flickered as someone continually tapped on the carriage-return key.

Re: By the time it is standard

As noted by more than one commentard here, USB-C is already capable of delivering 130 plus Watts, which is more than the up to 100 W covered by this legislation.

If your bigger laptop, or even super gamer mouse with 500 LEDs and realistic gut-shot action electric shock, needs more than USB-C can happily provide it can use whatever connector is appropriate.

Up to 100 W, what need do you see for there to be any new charging connector, if USB-C can do the job?

Re: The EU fails in IT.

The regs only cover devices pulling up to 100W.

USB-C is already good for 130 plus Watts.

So anything that needs more than USB-C can already provide is at liberty to use whatever connector and cable is appropriate; if they feel the need to use 5 AWG wire to handle the current at 24V then this EU reg won't stop them. Although I'd be wary of carrying in my pocket a phone that charged at around 1 kW.

Re: By the time it is standard

Odd, all the laptops around here have more than one connector already. More than one type of connector, come to that. Don't quite see why you think the EU ruling is going to prevent having more than one connector per laptop.

Just what is it you are griping about?

Those cables you linked to - how on earth do you think they or any similer-but-different products, are incompatible with anything? Or that there is anything in the EU legislation that means you can't have such cables?

The EU has said that devices need to be chargeable via a USB-C port. The leads you've pointed us at claim to plug into a USB-C port and do so via a magnetically held coupling, which is the extra twiddly bit you are after. Just so long as you can shove the required electrics up the other end of the cable (hard to tell from that JPEG), you are in business.

Perfectly functional, perfectly compatible, perfectly allowed.

Of course, if you still manage to break one of those cables and decide to replace it with one from another manufacturer, there is no guarantee that the magnetic couplings will be compatible, but you'll have a full set of parts in the new box to connect to USB-C. No problem there. Well, except you'll have a broken lead and its ancillary bits to dispose of properly, just as you would after ripping apart a less expensive lead.

UK politico proposes site for prototype nuclear fusion plant

Re: the distance in feet, divided by the time in minutes.

This is all high-tech, where things move faster than feet per minute! Use the microfortnight instead, just like VMS:

http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/microfortnight.html

No Shangri-La for you: Top hotel chain confirms data leak

Re: "a sophisticated threat actor"

"Exfiltrated" == "copied", with an entire box of Milk Tray on the pillow

Google Japan goes rogue with 5.4ft long keyboard

Official Home of the International Chindogu Society

http://chindogu.com/ics/

Not convinced though, many of these look like they've been dreamt up for this site. But it says "official" so who can argue.

Although I could use #281, the Back Scratcher’s T-Shirt.

Hot swap key switches?

For stress-free pair programming, it is important that both partners are comfortable.

When you make your own copy of this innovative keyboard it will be vital to ensure that you use hot-swap key switches, so that they can be swapped between say, Gateron red and green between each line of code.

You thought you bought software – all you bought was a lie

> I suggest that you investigate what Octave can do and what MATLAB can do

That is an even *worse* response! Octave does *absolutely* everything *I've* wanted it to do, as has MATLAB!

Why? How? Because neither of those has ever been important in anything I've worked on. Just never been appropriate (guys in the office have used both, at various times, and I've used their results - but have aso used their results from Excel, Casio calculators and the back of a timesheet; all the same to me).

I could compare the feature lists until the cows come home, but I'd still have a better idea of how useful the abilities of the cows are in practical situations than I would those bits of software.

Re: not (just) control

Agreed, Standards and interoperability are the key.

(Deleted long rambling piece about the history of how to run trains, except to say that I miss the days as a BR *passenger* being allowed to break up a long journey by getting off, wandering around somewhere I'd never visited before then getting on to a later train; compared to being fined for detraining a couple of stops early as the wife happened to be there with the car).

Re: "You own, at most, a serial number"

If you can't get the ribbons any more, get the forms made up with an extra sheet of NCR on top - it can even be blank. May have to put some tape over the ribbon detector, if there is one. Hopefully no-one will get stroppy about not getting "the top copy".

Hope the rest of the kit stays alive long enough to need such a hack, 'cos that is actually a very nice position to be in, not having to chase the software dragon just because third parties can't be taught how to "save as" an older (but perfectly satisfactory) format.

It'd be good to have a pithy descriptive name for systems such as yours, which just keep going - in the olden days I'd be referring to it as a "calculator" rather than a "computer", as it is used for a single purpose and has no desire to change the software (whether that be in firmware or not). Not a literal "pocket calculator" of course: embedded systems like Pelican Crossing controllers were so described as well. But that usage doesn't seem to fly any more.

> I really can't see what's so terrible about paying a company to pay a programmer to write specialist software I need

But have you ever actually done that? You name-check MATLAB and I'm willing to bet you never paid anyone for thst *before* it was written. You just saw that there was this program out there and bought a copy in whatever state it happened to be at the time. Nice serendipity if it happened to fulfill all your needs.

You day that Octave isn't a valid alternative, but why? Is it simply incapable of running the calculations you need or is it just less convenient (or just less familiar). Or is it that you ate now simply tied into MATLAB? It needn't be a long explanation, but given the breadth of the points in the article it would make it possible to understand your claim.

Hmm, some people argue that FOSS is in a bad way way because it is written by amateurs, some say because it is being written by professionals (paid for by all the Usual Suspects).

This is all very confusing.

Re: Nothing wrong with services

And just like the trains, your SaaS can be shut off without warning, leaving you stranded.

Although, in practice, we usually are forewarned about rail strikes, closures are accompanied by the dreaded rail replacement bus (because, unlike software suppliers, they have a duty to get you from A to B) and there will be stern words spoken on Panorama.

So the comparing trains and SaaS, trains come out on top. And isn't that a scary thought.

But the point of the article wasn't ownership of software but of being (more) in control of your situation. What level of service are you being promised and how is that backed up?

Re: Documentation and code quality

and the Linux in their TV, DVR, probably the washing machine by now (and no, it doesn't *have* to be "connected" to be making use of Linux).

But not the toaster, never make the toaster smart.

Re: Public Domain

One point: Public Domain is a legal construct that only exists in some countries: the US has it, but Germany does not, for example.

So anyone arguing about PD must state where they are talking about or the discussion will be null.

Re: DOS Editor

edlin fred.txt

or

copy con: fred.txt

Which one was worse?

Foldable smartphones crawl to one percent of global market share

Multiple parallel folds

in an A4 screen, so that it can collapse into a 30cm "stick" (with the screen completely inside) would be great. Should be strong enough to push into and pulled out of a bag without worrying about protecting a large flat panel, could even be popped into a water bottle pouch on the side of the bag. Need not pull it out completely flat to use, just unfold one or two slices.

Basically, an electronic newspaper/magazine/briefing paper that is actually as mechanically convenient as paper with the benefits of the 'tronics. That is something I'd love to have - in today's real life, the large Boox e-reader is good to use but isn't usable in the way a paper magazine is (ignoring the use of e-paper in the Boox).

We are nowhere near a foldable screen that size, but smaller phone screens are a step on that path. So I'm happy to see these phones appearing, even if I can't see these models being something I'd ever buy.

This rumor needs to Die Hard: Bruce Willis denies selling face to deepfake biz

Deepfaking Deepcake

So the new story is that the original news story was someone faking a fake company (as in a company that makes fakes, not a company that is a fake) but are we really sure the retraction isn't a fake from the fake fake company (as in a non-fake company that makes fakes faking another non-fake company that makes fakes) which would imply that the original fake company was faking Bruce after all?

Re: Not the only one.

Never have continents been so insulting.

From today, America and UK follow new rules on how they can demand your data from each other

CLOUD act

Well, it has a super-duper-special acronym so we can all trust it, can't we.

Seriously, they seem to spend more time on making up names of acts which they can use to bamboozle people than the actual content of the acts.

It's 2058. A quantum computer is just another decade away. Still, you curse Cloudflare

China and others are stealing data now to decrypt later

"and others" being absolutely everyone who can get of the traffic. But make sure to deflect notice from the "Good" (?) guys by only naming the Big Bad du jour.

Samsung’s Smart Monitor tries too hard to be clever

Re: TL;DR - isn't this a "terminal" ?

There was no mention of an RS232 port, telnet or ssh so, no, it doesn't sound as useful as having a VT100 or any more modern terminal.

Tetchy trainee turned the lights down low to teach turgid lecturer a lesson

Most of the list is the same each week - milk, bread, quicklime

Just get that lot tattooed on your wrist and cross the items off with felt-tip.

Tell anyone noticing that you're counting The Silence.

Scientists, why not simply invent a working fusion plant using $50m from Uncle Sam

Re: Cold Fusion

> The problem with hot fusion reactors is that they've been 20-40 years away

I think you'll find that they have always been only 10 years away.

Re: Great

Nuclear bombs; pick your favourite type:

Fission = A-bomb

Fusion = H-bomb

Fake vibrating teeth could make great hearing aids

No doubt fitted with Bluetooth - Munch on that.

Visions of the car stereo offering to pair with your teeth or the horror of being bluejacked or rickrolled, knowing you can't even keep it out with hands over the ears!

Know we understand the true meaning behind Munch's The Scream, begging the viewer to help with the aid of some pliers.

NASA, SpaceX weigh invoking Dragon to take Hubble higher

Re: why stop there?

> the movie Gravity is not an accurate representation of how things work

Very true; never have understood why Clooney's character, supposedly the most experienced astronaut on that flight, decided to commit suicide.

Hmm, if physics really did run on drama like that, would we have more countdowns safely ending at 1 or more explosions for no apparent reason? Probably need to watch a few more historical documents and keep count.

Re: 32-year old hardware

Can even iFixit sell you a space-rated spudger?

OK, Google: Why are you still pointing women at fake abortion clinics?

Is your agenda showing through?

> in the fact that no woman, anywhere in the US will be persecuted for having an abortion

Yes, women will be persecuted in the US, shunned and worse.

Bitcoin worse for the climate than beef, say economists

Given the heating effects of bovine gaseous by-products

have they remembered to account for all the damage caused by the hot air and noxious fumes emitted from the pro-crypto speakers' arguments?