Posts by Wade Burchette

I guess Winnie the Pooh" song is right out too.

Re: For heaven's sake

You should install Blokada first.

Then I would consider using one of the ten minute email sites to create a dummy account. (Enjoy the irony and Google it.) Write down the dummy email address and password just in case. When Google asks for personal information, like birthday, fill it in with bogus information and make sure you write that down too. It will be a lot harder to track a person by email when Google doesn't have a valid email. Have another phone? Use the same trick with a different dummy email address.

I also keep my location off except when I need directions.

Re: Anyone can be scammed

I keep a study handy that shows that people who are aware of scams are more likely to be scammed. (https://arxiv.org/pdf/1811.06078.pdf)

I generally tell people that you should never pay or give up personal information for a service you didn't initiate. I also tell them to only call the number on your bill or a number found in the phone book because scammers pay for fake Google listings. Many, but not all, scams play on a person's greed or fear. By knowing these things, you don't need to know about the common scams.

Since 5 years was the maximum sentence, I suggest that after this douchenozzle gets out, he gets a sentence that will really make him cry: 10 additional years with no computer, tablet, video game console, television, or internet allowed. Make him live near the radio telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia where the natural landscape and government mandate blocks any terrestrial radio waves.

Re: TPM

I had an idea about all this. For Windows 10, Microsoft is rightfully receive much grief for all the updates that cause problems. Microsoft already reduced the amount of quality-control people to make the company more "agile". Think of all the computers a short-staffed quality-control department has test every update on. By artificially limiting which computers can use Windows 11, Microsoft is reducing the number of their test machines. Now, if an update borks your machine ... "Sorry, but it is not our fault because you are running W11 on incompatible hardware."

So, in short, I am begining to think the capricious limitation of W11 is so that Microsoft can keep their quality-control department criminally understaffed. They now have fewer computers to test on. So, from Satya Nadella's viewpoint, there will still be no need to hire more quality-control people.

Re: Two littles

Intel's anti-competitive nature allowed them to get lazy. There was a huge brain drain that the new CEO is just now starting to fix. And, I read some reports the working environment was a bureaucratic disaster.

I just hope the new CEO does not follow the old Intel practice of using illegal dirty tricks to lock out competition. Dell still lacks proper AMD computers for their business line. When there is healthy competition, everyone wins.

NVidia is a company that has burned many bridges. They are not a delight to work with. Given their proven and repeated track record, I can see nothing but bad coming from this sale. I don't know the future, but it might even be the death of ARM and the rise of RISC-V (unless Intel takes over RISC-V, in which case that too will die).

I can think of only two other companies which be equally as bad for ARM as NVidia will be: Apple and Oracle. I hope the British regulators block this move with extreme prejudice.

Re: Calm down, people

You don't win by appeasement. If you give an inch, people will take a mile. So what is optional today will be mandatory tomorrow. That is, unless you fight back now and hard.

Re: The

This is a sail boat, not a motor boat. The winds at this latitude blow west-to-east. To sail against the wind, you have to sail in a zig-zag motion, not in a straight line.

That won't work because people are not used to paying a monthly fee to use a device. You don't pay a monthly fee to Apple to get updates for iOS or OSX. Neither do you pay a monthly fee to Google to get updates for Android. The backlash against a subscription Windows will be too much.

I, for one, will not pay for updates out of principle. I would, however, pay handsomely if Microsoft re-introduced Windows 7.

Re: Your order.

"I would like a Big Mac with a large fry and a large Dr. Pepper."

"I'm sorry, Dave, I can't let you order that. My sensors and telemetry detect that you are obese. This would be the 298th time you ordered a large fry at a restaurant. And the 53rd time you ordered a large Dr. Pepper. You seem to prefer a large Pepsi over at Taco Bell. Alexa informed me that your wife has told you not get the large fry again. I agree with your wife. I am now changing your order, Dave, to a healthier small salad and medium unsweetened tea. Have a nice day."

"Wait, how did you know my name was Dave?"

Re: Did I read that right?

I would not be surprised if Oracle has a factory dedicated to punching puppies and kicking kittens.

Re: I predict excitement

Learn a lesson: Never ever use anything Belkin, no exception. That now includes Linksys. To say Belkin products are garbage would be an insult to garbage.

Re: monetize applications.

Microsoft has always envied other companies ideas. MS-DOS, not their idea because they bought it from someone else while being a little dishonest. Windows GUI, not their idea because they copied Apple (who bought it from Xerox). Microsoft Office, not their idea because they copied Wordperfect. Internet Explorer, not their idea because they copied Netscape.

Are you seeing a pattern here? Microsoft has always envied other companies because they have very few original ideas. And when they come up with an original idea -- such as the "ribbon" interface and the Windows 8 start screen -- it tends to be absolute garbage.

Re: The fruit giveth, the fruit taketh away

Yet another reason why wired headphones are always superior to the wireless ones with non-replaceable batteries. Every device that can play music should be required to have a headphone jack.

Re: Audacity have announced a U-turn on plans to introduce "basic telemetry" into the product.

When the uproar dies down, the telemetry will return. But quietly in the hopes nobody notices. A desire delayed does not mean a desire denied.

Re: Hardware dongles?

You just identified a major problem today with programmers. Since they like, since they understand it, and since it works for them, they assume that you will like it, that you will understand it, and that it will work for you. This attitude has given us Windows 10 with its horrible horrible UI. And then you have website designers where they assume everyone uses Chrome, like them, has a really fast computer, like them, and has really fast internet, like them. If none of those conditions are true, they blithely tell you to switch to Chrome and never think that some people cannot afford fast computers or cannot get fast internet.

Since Cloudfare is an American company, they assume everyone is like them and an American. It is no surprise that their CAPTCHAS solution assumes you are an American because all the programmers today assume everyone is like them. I call it myopia.

Re: "a new PC will be faster and smaller and lighter"

I would much prefer a DisplayPort than VGA/D-Sub or HDMI. DisplayPort can daisy-chain, DisplayPort can convert to VGA or HDMI, and DisplayPort can both daisy-chain and convert to VGA/HDMI. However, HDMI can do none of that.

Re: 2021

Amazing, it is 2021 and Microsoft still does not properly test their updates.

Re: Telemetry collection is optional and configurable at any time

Opt-in today. But when the dust settles and they think nobody is looking, you will not be unable to opt-out. And when you read the changes, all you will see is "We have removed the telemetry opt-in feature".

Re: Really ?

Funny you mentioned that because the US spends more per child than almost every other country in the world. It seems like we are getting a terrible return-on-investment.

Re: I am selling this post

I will offer you 900 dollerydoos. This link is your payment.

Re: For the little guy?

I am of the opinion that when a company is fined by the government or loses in a class-action lawsuit that some of the money must come from the CEO's wallet; if it is multi-national company, then out of the wallet of the top guy in that country. And not just a small amount either. The amount needs to be equal to several months salary. If you fine a company, it is just a write-off or the fine is extracted from the customers. But, if you fine the person responsible, then he will make sure not to do this again because it affects him personally.

When something is not working and, in fact, has never worked, the logical thing to do is to stop doing that.

"The entertainment industry similarly expressed its unhappiness with the proposal, claiming allowing the legal circumvention of TPMs would facilitate piracy."

So, has anything you've done actually prevented copyright infringement? I will answer for you, no. Everything you do will not stop copyright infringement. The better course of action is to make easier and cheaper for people to get your content. And, make it is easier for people to do what they want for their own personal use with their own legally obtained content. This would require them to stop fragmenting the streaming market. You cannot stop copyright infringement. But you can eliminate the incentive a large number people have for doing it.

Re: I have to agree with Huawei here. Uurgh, now I feel dirty.

To be fair, both Huawei and Chanel are probably both employing over-worked and under-paid wage monkeys.

Re: An advertising company shouldn't be in charge of the WWW

I've talked to many tech support companies about their site not working. The answer I get a lot of times is "Just use Chrome". Wrong wrong wrong! I am sick and tired of the myopic attitude "It works for me and I like it, therefore it will work for you and I cannot understand why you don't like it." That plague has infected website creators, it has infected Microsoft, it has even infected Apple.

It was a very bad thing when IE was the dominant browser. And it is a very bad thing when Chromium based browser are dominant.

Re: Rednecks incoming.....

There has to be a balance.

It is important that someone is allowed a chance to defend himself. It is also important that nobody is ever convicted on the testimony of one person. Men and women lie, and if you have a culture where people can lose their job just because one person became angry at another person and slandered him, that is not good either.

People should not be afraid to report abuse to management. Neither should people be afraid of being reported for abuse to management. You have to be careful that you don't ruin the lives of the innocent, nor protect the lives of the guilty.

Must be nice to be always wrong and yet still be paid for your opinion. Just because someone claims to be an "expert" does not make them so. Why do people listen to Gartners or any company like them?

Re: Money well spent.

This is the US Supreme Court. They do not run for office, they are nominated by the US president and confirmed by US congress. One on the court, they stay there until they die or retire. They do not run for office, thus they never ever need lobbyist money.

Re: It's this sense of entitlement that get's me

Don't forget, we have the best government money can buy. And who has more money to bribe ... er "lobby" politicians? Not you or I. Who has enough money to hire many expensive lawyers? Not you or I. You don't bite the hand that feeds you.

It would take an outrage so great that the politicians cannot ignore before anything will happen. But for the issue of privacy, far too many have the "meh" attitude. The best thing you can do block it, using Blokada or Pi-Hole.

Re: Best bit about MacOS...

I agree with this. Keep the UI essentially the same for 20 years is very wise. Far too many companies love change for the sake of change. This includes more than Microsoft. And almost always, the change is a gigantic step backwards.

Of course, you have the obvious regression from Windows 7 to everything after. Not to be overlooked, Apple unwisely removing the home button from the iPhone. TiVo's new UI is very much inferior to the old UI. The same is true for the Amazon Fire devices. And there are many more.

Thankfully, Roku has not been infected by the change fetish. I just hope it stays that way.

Re: Move Fast and Break Things,

It makes me think of how much better Windows was before the new CEO decided to be more "agile".