* Posts by Necrohamster

481 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Jan 2022

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Wanna run Windows on an M-series Mac? Fine, buy a license, but no baremetal

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The first line of the macos EULA says "For use on Apple-branded Systems", so I'm guessing the answer is never.

Nothing stopping you from making a Hackintosh on a Surface Pro X in the comfort of your own home though

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Facepalm

If you want windows, why are you buying a Mac?

Your company made the hardware decision for you?

You're a software developer?

You're in customer support?

You're a hobbyist who likes messing around with things?

You prefer Apple hardware? Or the resale value?

All valid reasons which don't make you a "fanboi". What do you call a reverse-"fanboi" by the way?

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Windows

Re: Windows is no longer a necessity...

"...refuses to ditch Windows because Adobe Premiere/Photoshop/Illustrator, AutoCAD or Solidworks or Microsoft Office aren't available for Linux."

Oh come on. Not this old chestnut.

Premier/Photoshop/Illustrator/AutoCAD/Solidworks are industry-standard applications, and aren't going to be replaced in the workplace by an open source clone....for reasons of training, usability, compatibility and support. If I'm hiring a draughtsperson for my architecture company, I don't want to hear from people with FreeCAD experience. Can you understand why employers might think like that?

MS Office is probably the one exception as 99% of users just run Word and Excel, and don't scratch the surface in terms of features. Hell I use Sublime Text for most of the day but I'm not preaching about it.

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It's also not a particularly cheap platform

"The base tier will run you $31/mo and gets you access to 2 vCPUs, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage."

For $370/year I think I'll buy a cheap Dell instead, and not worry about needing an internet connection

The Post Office systems scandal demands a critical response

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Re: Fundamental flaws at the specifications stage

2. Horizon was by design unable to supply subpostmasters with a log of the transactions they had performed that day, thus preventing them from being able to find errors.

That seems like a pretty basic feature for anyone handling cash all day long.

If the system was deliberately designed like this, it effectively prevented the accused from raising evidence in their own defence.

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Private Prosecutions

Private prosecutions are an anachronism from a time before police forces existed as we know them today.

The job of prosecuting alleged offenders should be left to the CPS, based on evidence collected by police, not those with a vested interest in an outcome.

BreachForums admin 'Pompourin' sentenced to 20 years of supervised release

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Re: "forbidden to use the internet"

I'll agree with you on that first part. Deviants who traffic in child sex abuse material have a special place waiting for them in hell.

The only reason this guy's not in prison is obviously that he provided the FBI with useful information. The court document linked in the article suggests that the monitoring and associated probation-related expenses are on him rather than the taxpayers. Which is something, I suppose...

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Re: "forbidden to use the internet"

He's forbidden from using the internet for the first year.

The defendant shall not have any access to the internet within the first year of his supervised release. After that year the defendant shall not sell or offer to sell any item on the internet for another person or entity without pre-approval and authorization from the court or probation officer. This includes, but is not limited to, selling items on internet auction sites.

The sentencing conditions also read:

The defendant shall disclose to the probation office all computers as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1030(e)(1)*, and similar

devices that provide access to the Internet, that the defendant owns, possesses, or uses. The defendant shall not possess

or use any computer or similar device, which includes use of computers at work, unless the defendant cooperates with

the probation office's computer monitoring program or receives permission from the probation office. The defendant

shall permit random, unannounced inspections on any unmonitored computer or similar device under the defendant's

control to ensure compliance. The defendant shall not use the Internet to communicate with any individual or group

who promotes sexual abuse of children.

Don't forget that (aside from his headline conviction for running BreachForums) this guy was found to be in possession of CSAM, so the internet monitoring relates to that too.

The judgment states that he needs to turn over his devices to a probation officer upon request. Failure to do so = revocation of release.

At the risk of going to prison for 20 years, I wouldn't be looking for any loopholes in the sentencing guidelines if I were him.

* "...the term “computer” means an electronic, magnetic, optical, electrochemical, or other high speed data processing device performing logical, arithmetic, or storage functions, and includes any data storage facility or communications facility directly related to or operating in conjunction with such device, but such term does not include an automated typewriter or typesetter, a portable hand held calculator, or other similar device;"

Huawei prepares to split from Android on consumer devices with HarmonyOS Next

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Re: Spotify will bend like a reed in the wind

Spotify was just an example. Pick any app that needs Google Play Services to function and try again.

I don't particularly care what way app developers on the Huawei AppGallery might bend...not my circus and not my monkeys.

Huawei have had years to get developers' acts together if they really wanted to. All they need to do is prevent apps from being published on their store if a hack is needed to run.

Chinese users don't give a damn about Google services anyway because they're all in the WeChat/Weixin ecosystem.

So I'll say again, there's little to no demand for HarmonyOS specifically in the West (aside from a handful of tech geeks). China, sure. But the West? No.

Necrohamster Silver badge

The Huawei AppGallery's been running for several years now, and it sucks.

e.g. Installing Spotify:

Install Spotify.

"Spotify needs Gbox to run."

Do you click 'install' or 'cancel'? I mean you're invested in the outcome at this point.

You say to yourself "WTF is Gbox?". The dialog box doesn't give any indication...

Switch to your browser and google 'Gbox'. Turns out it's some hack that allows you to access Google services.

That's the problem: it's a hacky, clunky mess of apps that weren't even adapted from their Google Play Services-aware counterparts

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Re: Outside of China, is there a market for another smartphone ecosystem?

Wow, you're quite the trendsetter. Give yourself a pat on the back.

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WTF?

Re: ''split'

"That's how they got their moon lander."

By stealing from mainline Android? Those crafty buggers.

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Outside of China, is there a market for another smartphone ecosystem?

Samsung couldn't crack the Linux smartphone space with Tizen (or Bada before that).

I can't see anybody in the West being inspired to move off Android or iOS to an unknown OS which will probably have limited app support Huawei's current version of Android isn't spectacular in terms of app availability. And no, before anybody says it, regular users aren't going to install thrid-party app stores or sideload apps to get the functionality they need.

Five ripped off IT giant with $7M+ in bogus work expenses, prosecutors claim

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Re: Wait, what??

"...whether HMRC (or Inland Revenue in those days) would pass that information along to the police..."

Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs :D

I found the HMRC guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/business-income-manual/bim22010

Turns out Ireland taxes criminal proceedings too:

https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/documents/notes-for-guidance/tca/part04.pdf

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Big Brother

Re: Wait, what??

Ok, so I did a bit of digging on this:

In James v. United States, 366 U.S. 213 (1961), the Supreme Court held that an embezzler was required to include his ill-gotten gains in his "gross income" for Federal income tax purposes.

But...

While embezzlers, thieves, and the like are forced to report their illegally acquired income for tax purposes, they may also take deductions for costs relating to criminal activity. For example, in Commissioner v. Tellier, 383 U.S. 687 (1966), a taxpayer was found guilty of engaging in business activities that violated the Securities Act of 1933. The taxpayer subsequently deducted the legal fees he spent while defending himself. The U.S. Supreme Court held that the taxpayer was allowed to deduct the legal fees from his gross income because they meet the requirements of §162(a), which allows the taxpayer to deduct all the "ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year in carrying on a trade or business."

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Wait, what??

The WTF (for me anyway) in this case is that the IRS would take a % of money that was stolen from somebody else.

Actually why am I surprised at all?

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Wait, what??

” Additionally, Mark Angarola, Cox, and Garcia have been charged with tax evasion and failing to report their true income to the IRS, including proceeds from the alleged embezzlement scheme.”

I didn’t realise that income from illegal activities was reportable for tax purposes.

You learn something new every day.

Ransomware attacks hospitalizing security pros, as one admits suicidal feelings

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Re: Russia

Ahem.

Russia and neighbours are source of most ransomware, says UK cyber chief

North Korea would probably be in distant second place. China mostly wants to hack you for your secrets, rather than a payoff. South American countries like Brazil prefer banking scams.

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Headmaster

Re: Eh, if you can’t stand the heat…

Re-stating what you yourself wrote in your comment: “try and prevent” (I assume you meant to write “try to prevent”). Trying is all a person can do, as I don’t believe anybody anywhere on the planet offers a 100% guarantee that they will block all threats. As the IRA said after nearly blowing up Thatcher: “ We need to be lucky once. You need to be lucky all the time”

I give your trolling attempt a score of 3/10.

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Re: Russia

” Is it time to cut Russia off from the ROW?”

That time was in the early 90s, but the West thought it could turn Russia into a democracy. Instead we’ve got a autocracy/kleptocracy

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It’s just a job

If you die, your employer will be searching for your replacement (or redistributing your workload to your colleagues) before you’re cold in the ground.

No job is worth sacrificing your health for. Remember that.

Businessman faces 20 years in prison over accusations of illicit chip exports to Russia

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Big risk for a small payout?

Although the full details may not have been disclosed, the affadavit doesn't appear to suggest that Kahn made a huge amount of money from his scheme. Nothing worth a potential 20 years of prison time anyway...

Post Office threatened to sue Fujitsu over missing audit data

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Re: Somewhat elementary?

”… where the developers allowed invoices to be altered and deleted after issue. So maybe there's some business principle I've missed?”

I came across a point-of-sale application about a decade ago that was used by the hospitality industry…pubs and restaurants mostly. One of the implemented feature requests allowed transactions to be removed from the database and subsequent transactions to be re-numbered. The purpose? Tax evasion.

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”The details emerged today as the public inquiry into the scandal — which saw 736 managers of local Post Office branches wrongfully convicted of fraud…”

It’s amazing that nobody looked at those 736 cases of “fraud” and thought “736? This is way higher than any incidence of fraud we’ve seen in the past. Could there be an explanation other than fraud?” Why didn’t the Post Office go through the financials with a fine tooth comb?

Junior techie had leverage, but didn’t appreciate the gravity of the situation

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Facepalm

Plenty of blame to go around

If this was junior’s first time doing anything like this, their mentor’s the one who should’ve been suspended (or had a UPS hooked up to their ‘nads). The fact that junior tried to install the UPS at the top of a rack suggests they weren’t adequately instructed.

Thieves steal 35.5M customers’ data from Vans sneakers maker

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Re: Why do they need customers' SSN?

” SSN is a good way to uniquely identify US residents…”

If I’m buying a pair of Vans online the seller doesn’t need to be able to identify me. I present a valid payment method and a delivery address (and maybe a billing address, if different from the delivery address). Identity verification should not be required by a seller of shoes under any circumstances.

Japan's lunar lander is dying before our eyes after setting down on Moon

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My hat’s off to Japan

“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”

- Some space captain

If it was so easy, the list of countries that have landed on the moon wouldn’t be so small. Even to my jaded, cynical mind it’s an amazing feat to get there.

You’ll do better next time Japan!

IT consultant fined for daring to expose shoddy security

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Re: The problem is law is old and tech is new

Details like the precise moment when checking if anyone’s home turns into trespassing or burglary have been discussed to death in English case law (and German case law too no doubt)

The title “researcher” doesn’t provide immunity from prosecution. Save the research for companies who’ve got a bug bounty or otherwise state publicly that they don’t mind people sticking their heads through the metaphorical window.

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Re: The problem is law is old and tech is new

”… a quick glance at the code in question says you shouldn't try to use passwords you know you don't have permission to use, regardless of how you came across them, and how tempting it is.”

Precisely why those messages (that nobody ever reads) are displayed on login screens. If you get past one without authorisation, you risk being reported to the relevant authorities if or when someone notices

IBM Consulting is done playing around, orders immediate return to office

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Re: I thing it is OK

Boomers tend to prefer the office because they can wander around all day doing nothing, while giving the appearance of working. Or wasting other people's time waffling on in meetings. Once that generation's retired, we'll see less resistance to WFH....

I'm not paid to onboard new staff...that's HR's job.

Nothing about working on complex tasks is more difficult in Zoom or Teams. I prefer online meetings because you can say "hard stop" after an hour to avoid having your time wasted.

The real reason managers want people in the office is that their "management" effort is harder to measure (or "appreciate") when their teams are WFH

University chops students' Microsoft 365 storage to 20GB

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Re: Well gosh, who'd have guessed?

A1 was free for an unlimited number of individual users last time I looked

A3 was $2.50 per month per student and $3.50(?) per month per staff member

Can't remember what A5 cost...

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Re: OneDriving Me Up The Wall

They allow email to be kept as an alumnus privilege, sometimes, but not storage.

Can you point me to a university that states they give free storage for life?

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Trollface

OneDriving Me Up The Wall

"No one will need more than 637KB of memory for a personal computer. 640KB ought to be enough for anybody,"

- Bill Gates (allegedly)

In the meantime, affected users have taken to social media to express their displeasure at the news. One noted that "the implications for research integrity are massive" thanks to retention requirements for research data that can't simply be stashed on a personal drive due, in part, to the aforementioned security risks.

Research students with retention requirements make up a very small percentage of college students, so I'm going to be like Bill and say the vast majority of students won't be affected by a 20GB limit on their OneDrive.

"Microsoft’s storage reduction is driven by security risks associated with large amounts of potentially forgotten confidential or sensitive information and data."

This is nonsense as a student's account is terminated after final exams or before graduation. If McGill University isn't doing this, they need to hire some new admins. There simply isn't a mountain of forgotten sensitive data out there

Google is changing how search results appear for EU citizens

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Re: Access the "Linked Google services" page directly

I'm in the EU and can access it through both of my personal Google accounts. If you're in the EU and can't see it, maybe it's being rolled out on a country-by-country basis or Google thinks you're not in the EU?

People in the UK aren't going to see it because they're not the intended audience.

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Re: Brexit ?

"I thought Google had no presence or commercial operations in the UK ?"

They've got locations in Manchester and London. I guess for government contracts they need people with clearance and can't use +91 talent.

Interestingly if you're a Google user in the UK, your data controller is in the US now:

Unless otherwise stated in a service-specific privacy notice, the data controller responsible for processing your information depends on where you are based:

Google Ireland Limited for users of Google services based in the European Economic Area or Switzerland, located at Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.

Google LLC for users of Google services based in the United Kingdom, located at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California 94043, USA.

Necrohamster Silver badge

Access the "Linked Google services" page directly

If you're in the EU and haven't seen the dialog box yet, you can access your "Linked Google services" page directly here:

https://myactivity.google.com/u/3/linked-services

More info on the "Manage your linked Google services" support page:

https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/14202892

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Re: Brexit ?

Well, the Digital Markets Act is an EU regulation (Regulation 2022/1925, if you're interested).

You guys left the EU a few years ago, so why would it fly in the UK?

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There will be extra consents for linked services – European users can expect to see some additional consent banners regarding data sharing.

I've already been presented with the linked services "consent" box earlier this week, so the deployment is under way.

According to Google, opting out of linking services could result in limited functionality or some features stopping working altogether.

That's fine. YouTube doesn't need to know where I've been yesterday, or Google Play doesn't need to know if I've been searching for info on how to dispose of a body.

In fact Google doesn't list any benefits for the user in keeping your data linked:

When linked, they [Google services] can share data with each other and with all other Google services to:

• Combine data to help personalize content and ads

• Develop and improve our services

• Measure and improve the delivery of ads

• Perform other purposes described in Google's Privacy Policy at g.co/privacypolicy

The listed benefits all work in Google's favour, not yours.

Intel finds a friend in fight against $1.2B EU antitrust fine

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Intel won't be popping champagne corks just yet.

The Advocate-General is a judicial advisor and, as noted way down in the second-last paragraph, their opinion is non-binding.

The EU usually gets its pound of flesh where antitrust cases are concerned.

YouTube video lag wrongly blamed on its ad-blocking animus

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Re: I can smell something... smells a lot like bullshit

"The Upvote/Downvote ratio here fairly accurately represents People with Common Sense / Freeloaders."

Or maybe you're consistently collecting downvotes because you're consistently wrong. Something for you to consider...

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Thumb Up

Re: YouTube adverts

For me, it's Fairy Non-bio detergent and hair replacement clinics in Turkey. Both missing their target demographic by a long shot...

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Re: I can smell something... smells a lot like bullshit

"users feel like they're entitled to google's storage and bandwidth...".

Google analyses every byte you store in their cloud or that passes through their pipes. Users aren't getting something for nothing.

"Google doesn't force feed anybody anything."

lol, naive. You sure about that?

Google reportedly pays $18 billion a year to be Apple’s default search engine

"You can always ... ignore them."

Not really. People are opted in to their data slurping.

Opting out (if someone can even first realise or understand that they've been opted in) is a deliberately byzantine process spread across multiple pages/sites.

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Black Helicopters

Re: it will run fine

As they say, if you're using a "free" service...you're the product.

On the flip side, many regulatory bodies have quite rightly called out Alphabet aka Google's attempts to slurp our personal information.

e.g. "Google uses unclear language and deceptive designs that trick users into agreeing to give up their data, EU watchdogs have said."

I could sit here all day highlighting similar cases...

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Re: Firefox UBlock fine

Yep, can concur

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Surprise, surprise

"...Adblock Plus 3.22 and AdBlock 5.17...are separate but related projects that are both owned by eyeo, an ad filtering company that makes money by not blocking so-called “Acceptable Ads,” for a fee. The Germany-based biz, run since 2022 by Frank Einecke, former Google managing director of global marketing partners"

There you have it: two ad-blockers that don't block ads, whose parent company is run by a person who used to be a marketing overlord at an ad company.

Shady.

Tesla owners in deep freeze discover the cold, hard truth about EVs

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Re: @jmch - Norway

I've been to Siberia in winter. They leave their engines running 24/7, light a fire under the engine, or they use block heaters (rarely) to prevent the engine freezing solid.

Vehicles don't magically run just fine.

Cloudflare defends firing of staffer for reasons HR could not explain

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""At will" or not, there's a massive opportunity for a lawsuit there..."

On the basis of the available information in this specific case: No, there's not.

She wasn't discriminated against. She wasn't fired in retaliation, or for being a whistleblower. Nor was there any mention of a breach of contract by the employer.

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"As an Account Manager, they have quotas, and they are essentially disposable sales drones. Either you close deals, or you don't and eventually get fired. They obviously didn't, regardless of how many they had "in the works"."

Glengarry Glen Ross should be mandatory viewing for any aspiring salesperson.

Always

Be

Closing

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