Posts by Necrohamster

Irish power crunch could be prompting AWS to ration compute resources

Re: Did you ever hear about...

Isnt that the one where Ireland made an agreement with Apple and Ireland wants to honour the agreement?

An agreement that the state would turn a blind eye to creative accounting?

Also that money could possibly pay for some stuff but not the maintenance, the killing of the goose that lays the golden eggs.

There's not much point having a goose that lays golden eggs if the farmer only gets a few of the golden eggs and the goose keeps the rest.

However Ireland is finding it is not a sovereign country and belongs to the EU.

The point of joining the EU is that sovereignty is ceded in return for other benefits such as freedom of movement, freedom to trade etc. This isn't some kind of newsflash lol. Anyway, how's sovereignty working out for the UK at the moment, given that it enjoys a lower standard of living than its former colony to the west?

Re: Irony

The Isle of Man's on an interconnector (according to the URL you posted, did you read it?), which implies that it's not part of the National Grid.

The Manx Utilities Authority operates the transmission network in the IoM.

it's amazing how much incorrect information you post, with such confidence.

Re: Irony

If you drill down into Eirgrid's interconnection stats for today the flow between Ireland and Wales is pretty much balanced (power goes one way in the morning and the other way around lunchtime), while NI takes power from Scotland without ever returning the favour.

It's not true to say that Ireland (ROI/Eire in the context of this article) is dependent on the UK for its electricity needs (i.e. importing power most of the time as claimed). If you drill down into "Fuel mix" on that page you can see that 67.3% of Ireland's (not NI's) electricity is coming from renewables, and 0.7% from imports.

Re: Did you ever hear about...

"The Irish people gain because their government has higher tax revenues.."

lol you might think so, but no...

Apple owes the Irish state €13billion in taxes, but for some reason the government doesn't want to take it. That money, from just one multinational company, could pay for more than a few hospitals, schools, roads etc etc

Re: Did you ever hear about...

The killer with data centres is that they're a huge drain on the power grid, with little or no benefit to the average taxpayer.

It takes a handful of people to run a data centre. You need just a couple of maintenance people locally in case the roof leaks or something needs to be turned off and back on again, the rest can be offshored to some low-cost location.

Re: Irony

"Ireland[1] relies on importing electricity from Great Britain[2] most of the time"

Citation please.

Did you ever hear about...

...how the Irish energy regulator allowed the country's defacto monopoly electricity supplier to increase consumers' bills so they could subsidise the electricity costs of big businesses - data centers included?

Apparently it was supposed to be a short term measure, but due to an "administrative error" the overcharging went on for 12 years, until 2022.

"Pharmaceutical firms, food producers, IT companies and data centres all benefited at a cost to householders.

The subsidy, called the Large Energy User Rebalancing Subvention, was a little-known measure introduced by the government in 2010 to reduce the electricity bills of big businesses in a time of economic crisis.

Network charges, which made up around 25pc of a domestic customer’s bill, were reduced for large businesses and increased for households to make up the shortfall.

It was designed to take €50m off the bills of around 1,500 high electricity-using companies every year.

The Irish Independent revealed last October that the subvention, framed as an emergency measure, had continued to be applied every year for 12 years, resulting in €600 million worth of supports to big businesses."

So now you know who calls the shots, as if there was ever any doubt.

Google sues app devs, claims they're Play Store crypto scammers with 100k+ victims

I've never heard stories about crypto scam apps like this being deployed on the Apple app store.

if you're going to give app developers too much leeway, you're going to have to expect scammers to take advantage.

When life gives you Lemon, sack him

Re: Lemon Party

That's one of those images that's seared in my brain

Exchange Online blocked from sending email to AOL and Yahoo

Re: AOL

Mr. (or Mrs) One (wo)man band's target audience doesn't care that they've got an aol.co.uk email, or that they've had the same phone number since they got his first phone on Cellnet back in the 90s.

SAP accused of age discrimination, retaliation by US whistleblower

Re: Demeaning?

"So the outcome of your reasoning is that people should not blow the whistle?"

I'm sorry that you suck at reading comprehension. That's not what I wrote. Try again.

Re: Demeaning?

That's not a strategy, that's a gamble.

If your plan - thought out in advance before you blow the whistle - is to sue for discrimination (age-related in this case), it would be argued that you're acting in bad faith from the start, and the act of whistleblowing is just the golden ticket.

Demeaning?

""It was specifically created in response to Plaintiff's legal claims, and designed to be so demeaning that Plaintiff would quit. "

Demeaning in what way exactly?

lol some people attach too much of their identity to the job they do. "Retire in place"...so what? Sit around, do nothing, get paid.

By the way, has whistleblowing ever worked out well for anybody? If you want to go down that road you better have an exit strategy planned well in advance

European Union lawmakers line up to defend world's first AI Act

Re: E for effort

I disagree with your "E for effort" analysis.

It's a world first - you have to start somewhere. You know that laws can be updated to cover new developments, right?

Sunak's defunct SaaS scheme spent seven percent of budget designed to help 100,000 SMEs

I'm just suprised...

...Rishi didn't give his Infosys-stake-holding wife a cushy consulting gig.

Too bad Tories don't know anything about the day-to-day running of small businesses.

You got legal trouble? Better call SauLM-7B

Re: AI is not going to replace a human in Law.

There are vast troves of Case Law and Legal Precedent. No human is capable of trawling through it to find every pertinent thing.

True. In common law, so much is open to interpretation...as we see when a higher court overrules the existing precedent due to a more persuasive argument (or where a lower court was deemed to have erred in law). I'm not sure how an AI could consider all the variables of two competing viewpoints and produce a "fair" outcome.

European-style codified law would be easier for AI to handle, for example did someone break penal code article 102.3.4? If yes, consider aggravating/mitigating factors and calculate punishment.

Can't wait for Futurama-style courtrooms... :D

"The humans are hereby sentenced to live as robots. They will pеrform tedious calculations and spot-weld automobiles, until they become obsolete and are given away to an inner-city middle school."

―Computer Judge

I imagine this works great in countries with a codified legal system, where everything's "cut and dried", but not so much in common-law countries.

I know from experience that expecting an AI to understand and cite common-law case law correctly is like Russian Roulette.

Trump, who tried kicking TikTok out of the US, says boo to latest ban effort

Re: Authoritarian

"Given that he is CEO of a company that is ultimately owned by the Chinese govt..."

Do you have any solid proof that your claim is true?

TikTok's parent company is ByteDance, which as far as I can see is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government.

Human Rights Watch raised the question, but ultimately failed to find any connection and admitted that:

"While there’s no definitive evidence that TikTok is following Beijing’s direct or even indirect orders — TikTok has repeatedly issued assurances that it hasn’t and won’t spy for the CCP..."

TikTok itself says:

Myth: The Chinese government has a "golden share" interest in ByteDance Ltd.

Fact: As is required under Chinese law, in order to operate certain news and information products that are offered exclusively in China, media licenses are required for those services. As such, an entity affiliated with the Chinese government owns 1% of a ByteDance subsidiary, Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd.

Re: Authoritarian

"Its all "reds under the bed" again from the McCarthy era."

The senate hearing where Tom Cotton (Republican, Arkansas) questioned the TikTok CEO is toe-curlingly cringey.

Sen. Tom Cotton: "Have you ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party?"

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew: "Senator, I'm Singaporean. No."

Cotton: "Have you ever been associated or affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party?"

Chew: "No, senator. Again, I'm Singaporean."

Re: US politics is basically

I guess the TL:DR is that US voters are old farts

Re: Reference

/s implied, I would guess.

Corporate "persons" are of course the biggest lobbyists in most countries, and OpenSecrets is a great asset in finding out who's bribing lobbying US politicians.

Interesting that you think TikTok is only used by 13 year old girls, AC. It's popular across all age ranges, except boomers (which I suppose explains their fear of the platform).

https://backlinko.com/tiktok-users

2.5% of TikTok’s monthly active users in the U.S. are 11 or under.

17.7% of TikTok’s monthly active users in the U.S. are 12-17.

23.9% of TikTok’s monthly active users in the U.S. are 18-24.

25.2% of TikTok’s monthly active users in the U.S. are 25-34.

17.1% of TikTok’s monthly active users in the U.S. are 35-44.

6.7% of TikTok’s monthly active users in the U.S. are 45-54.

5.2% of TikTok’s monthly active users in the U.S. are 55-64.

1.8% of TikTok’s monthly active users in the U.S. are 65 or over.

...

Recent gender demographics in October 2023 show that around 49.2% of TikTok users worldwide were women, while another 50.8% were men.

Re: Trump's like a 10-year old child with the name-calling.

"This post has been deleted by its author"

Imagine an AC posting a comment so stupid they actually deleted it later.

Zero reputational blowback (because AC) but they realised how moronic they sounded lol

Re: Tik Tok Youth Brigade

"...It also illustrated how TikTok could mobilize an army of people and gather data to push user behavior, which some lawmakers say is the exact reason they don’t want the company to have ties back to China."

The (Republican?) lawmakers forget that the January 6th insurrectionists were mobilised on Truth Social. If we blocked every platform that had the potential for misuse, there wouldn't be any left.

As an aside: "Some say..." is such lazy journalism. pretending to add a hint of legitimacy to a dreamed-up claim.

Re: US politics is basically

It's a damning indictment of a country, its electoral system, its politicians, and voters (!) that the best candidates out of a population of 332 million people are Biden and Trump.

I'd say "Stop voting for old white men!" but Joseph de Maistre was right - every country gets the government it deserves.

Re: Tik Tok Youth Brigade

“They made the point for us,” Rep. Kat Cammack (R., Fla.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in an interview Friday. “They hurt themselves pretty tremendously by doing what they did in targeting members of Congress and using content creators and users of the app as foot soldiers” of the Chinese government, she said.

Sorry, Florida Republican - contacting your political representative to express your displeasure is a legitimate activity, even if you happen to find it annoying. It's part of the democratic process.

-5 points for the use of "Chinese government foot soldiers" red herring argument.

"Zuckerschmuck"

Seriously, Trump's like a 10-year old child with the name-calling.

The guy's a goldmine for psychology thesis material.

Microsoft sends OneDrive URL upload feature to the cloud graveyard

Re: Resilio Sync

Another yes for syncthing here

Chrome users – get an alert when extensions are in danger of falling into wrong hands

Sounds like engagement farming...

https://mattfrisbie.substack.com/p/introducing-exboost-revolutionizing

Introducing ExBoost: Revolutionizing Chrome Extension Discoverability

Empowering extension developers with community-driven promotion

Matt Frisbie

12 Feb 2024

As a Web Extensions Google Developer Expert, I constantly see this question asked by extension developers:

How can I get more users?

Makes me think "Matt" isn't being honest about his intentions re. the "Under New Management" extension.

His GitHub is interesting:

https://github.com/classvsoftware

Spy Extension

This Chrome extension will steal literally everything it can. User discretion advised.

Read about it here: https://mattfrisbie.substack.com/p/spy-chrome-extension

Media:

Hacker news discussion

Featured on NBTV

Featured in tl;dr sec

Is Russia using Starlink in Ukraine? Congress demands answers

Re: Should be (relatively) simple...

Shhhh troll, I'm not interested in your demented whataboutism. Go waste oxygen somewhere else

Re: Weasel Words

Don't believe the hype - Elmo does nothing for free. He's all about squeezing as much government money as he can.

Pentagon discloses it’s paying for Elon Musk’s Starlink internet in Ukraine

Jellied Eel will be along shortly to tell a different story with an anti-Ukraine spin.

Re: Should be (relatively) simple...

"It's also curious why Starlink is being singled out. Nobody is using Apples or Androids inside Russia, or Russian held Ukraine? Sanctions apply to those devices as well."

Back in 2022, Putin legalised the grey import of sanctioned items. So enterprising mafia are making a killing importing phones, computers, cars, car parts etc from the Middle East, China, Kazakhstan and Russia's other surrounding countries. Same thing's happening with Starlink terminals

Weasel Words

"SpaceX does not do business of any kind with the Russian Government or its military,"

Elmo's more than happy to do business with intermediaries though.

Cut federal funding for his companies...I'd imagine he'd answer some questions then

HP print rental service seeks more users to become subscription addicts

Who's still using an inkjet printer at home in 2024?

"As for the All-in-One service, the entry-level plan starts with the HP ENVY at $6.99 per month for 20 pages"

A fool and their money are soon parted.

I guess a large proportion of the alleged 13 million subscribers are on this plan, but never use it and can't be arsed cancelling due to the cancellation fee.

German defense chat overheard by Russian eavesdroppers on Cisco's WebEx

Re: Huh?

There's a character in the show - Colin Robinson - who I imagine is based on you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_brpPpjZ5I

"When they call you a dumbass, you know you've got them"...your tactics are identical. :)

Re: Huh?

Jellied Eel, have you ever watched the TV show "What We Do In The Shadows"?

Re: ... again

Next to every username you should see a little grey stripey circle with an angry face (between the name and the badge).

Must be a gold-badge option. I don't have it.

Believe me, I've looked.

Re: Huh?

Yes, referring to German military as Nazis is a slur, and it's obvious propaganda from a Russian point of view - unite the locals through a perceived outside attack.

The word is a dog-whistle, nothing more.

Russia's supporters use it to describe anybody who opposes a return to the Soviet "glory" days.

Remember that they weren't ideologically opposed to becoming friends with actual Nazis back before "The Great Patriotic War" (1941-1945 *cough* *cough*) when they signed to Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

https://jordanrussiacenter.org/news/what-russians-think-when-they-hear-the-word-nazi/

"Claiming that a country whose head of state is a Jew with relatives who died in the Holocaust is “neo-Nazi” is absurd. Yet for many Russians, this claim could sound credible, because “Nazism” and the more commonly used “fascism” carry a different set of associations than for most people in Western Europe and North America. In addition, Soviet and Russian understandings of fascism and Nazism’s essence have made it easy to use the terms to describe contemporary enemies in Russia."

Re: ... again

The sooner The Register implements an ignore function on these forums, the better.

That's not aimed at you DS999, but the troll you're replying to. ;)

Re: Paranoia Is Mandatory In 2024!!

Dont forget Crypto AG

The BND and CIA teamed up (with the knowledge of the UK and Sweden) to buy a Swiss company that sold encryption terminals to governments around the world. They backdoored the machines, naturally.

Re: Why?

Conferences send out plain text emails with links to participants. The Russians got ahold of one.

I'm inclined to agree. That, or the mark's hotel room was bugged.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it's that the Russians aren't the geniuses we previously thought they were. They are good at disinformation though

Google dresses up services for the EU's Digital Markets Act

Google, why are you like this?

On Tuesday, Google elaborated on its efforts to comply with the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) – a set of competition obligations that take effect on Thursday.

...

Those using Google services in Europe – Search, YouTube, Ad services, Google Play, Chrome, Google Shopping, and Google Maps – will also be able to choose whether or not to keep those services linked so that they share data.

I wondered why Google was spamming my Android phone yesterday about the Google services I'd previously gone to the trouble of unlinking.

Looks like they're making a last-ditch effort to get users to reconsider...

Ruggedized phone group takes the Bullitt, calls in PWC as administrative receiver

Incredibly niche lifestyle phone, depending on which Bob-The-Builder brand you identify with.

And there lies the problem. As a tough-phone maker, is it better in the long term to develop your own brand or piggyback on the brand recognition of Land Rover or Caterpillar?

As others have pointed out, you can go on AliExpress and buy a no-name Chinese tough-phone for a hundred quid.

Palantir boss says outfit's software the only reason the 'goose step' has not returned to Europe

Re: Terror? It's a CIA-linked outfit.

Nah. Glenn Greenwald's hated because he's a Russian shill, not because he's an independent thinker.

Re: Clean your own house first

"Illegal guns"

"Southern border"

"Big pharma"

You just needed "COVID hoax" and "Hunter Biden" for a Trumper conspiracy theory bingo. You were so close AC...

Re: Clean your own house first

"You will likely find the VAST majority of those gun deaths are committed by a small group of people"

The VAST majority of gun deaths in the US are actually suicides, followed by mass shootings (which are *not* performed by gangs, but by people who are questionably mentally ill)

Re: Clean your own house first

"A good start would be to stop medicating people as a 'quick fix' and to stop the current 'treatment' of mental health issues with affirming 'care'.:

Yawn. Another AC making a poor attempt at trolling.

Not enough people with mental illnesses are being detected and treated.

Not enough people with detected mental illnesses are being treated.

Not enough is done to prevent people with detected mental health issues from possessing guns.

The EU's population is broadly comparable to the US, and I don't believe the EU has had 5,000 gun deaths (or gun and knife deaths) in the first six weeks of 2024.

The US is a sick joke country

Clean your own house first

Maybe his company's time would be better spent working on preventing America's ridiculous number of mass shootings a.k.a domestic terrorism?