* Posts by Michael

218 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Apr 2006

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Majority of Americans now use ad blockers

Michael

I wouldn't mind reasonable ads

If all the advertisment did was show me something relevant and not track me. I could possibly accept tracking which site a click came from if it could not be matched to a purchase in any way. Or possibly if you could guarantee that it couldn't be tracked to a specific user. I don't necessarily mind the company I buy from knowing I've bought from them before. I don't want them knowing I clicked through from an advert on the guardian and letting that leak to the world. I've a reputation to maintain.

When I want to buy a lawnmower I'm happy for adverts showing lawnmowers. I'm not happy to still receive them three weeks after I bought one and am trying to buy a computer.

Have an advert for a SAP on the reg when I'm viewing stories about a disastrous oracle deployment is amusing, appropriate and may very well target a group of people that are interested and can purchase these services.

Having the same advert on YouTube if my kid is looking at some pointless video isn't useful to anyone.

Fujitsu set to be preferred bidder in UK digital ID scheme

Michael

ID is not required

You can ride a moped at 16. That is why you can apply from 15 and 9 months. To ensure it arrives on time. You can learn to drive off the public road network and sit your exam on your birthday. I tried to do this to get my licence before the new photo licence was introduced. Unfortunately my birthday was the month before the change and I couldn't get a test booked within a reasonable distance from my home.

https://www.gov.uk/ride-motorcycle-moped/bike-categories-ages-and-licence-requirements

My five year old can brew a beer and could drink as much as he wants. Licence laws only prevent the purchase of alcohol for those under 18. Unless they are 16-17 and accompanied by an adult and eating a meal.

https://www.gov.uk/alcohol-young-people-law

City council megaproject mulls ditching Oracle after budget balloons to £131M

Michael

Re: What would it cost ...

Install odoo. Configure with required plugins. Import data.

Only thing that would really be needed is plugins for local authorities. Contract it out with a requirement it be made a free plugin or free for UK authorities?

Japanese government finally bids sayonara to the 3.5" floppy disk

Michael

Re: Trivia Question

1.4 MiB is correct.

Fun with numbers in computing has been on going for years. Probably why mebibytes were standardised. It happened when I was starting uni around 1998 which led to all sorts of fun in exams and assignments with lecturers using MB to mean either MiB or MB especially when they realised that they had to accept both and update thier questions and marking schemes.

Michael

Re: Trivia Question

Mega bytes

1.44 * 1000 * 1000

Mebibytes is 1024.

I think someone made a mistake and used base 10 at some point and it stuck.

The correct size is determined by multiplying the number of tracks, sides,

sectors per track, and 512 bytes per sector, then subtracting the bytes required

to format the disk, and then dividing this figure by 1024. For a "1.44-MB"

3.5-inch floppy disk, there are

80 tracks

18 sectors per track

512 bytes per sector

2 sides

Multiplying the above gives you 1,474,560 bytes. This is the unformatted size.

To determine the number of bytes formatting requires, you need to know how many

bytes are used for the boot sector, file allocation table (FAT), and root

directory.

There is 1 sector used for the boot sector, which is 512 bytes; 18 sectors for

the two FATs (9 sectors each), which is 9216 bytes (512 * 18 = 9216); and 14

sectors for the root directory, which is 7168 bytes.

NOTE: There are two ways to arrive at the 7168 number:

224 entries * 32 bytes per entry = 7168 bytes

-or-

512 bytes per sector (14 * 512 = 7168 bytes)

Adding these figures gives you 16,896 bytes.

Subtracting the amount used for formatting from the total unformatted size gives

you 1,457,664. (1,474,560 - 16,896 = 1,457,664 bytes)

Dividing the above figure by 1024 bytes generates 1440. (1,474,560 / 1024 = 1440

KB)

To convert to megabytes, divide by 1024. (1440 KB / 1024 = 1.406 MB)

Be honest. Would you pay off a ransomware crew?

Michael

lasiness is

Hmm, this is the register. Are you aware that people troll for fun?

Also, who doesn't have backups that they test regularly. Fuck you bad guys I'll restore from backup lockdown your entry method and apologise to my customers with a month's free access and get on with life. If I can't recover in less than 3 hours I haven't designed the system correctly.

I expect my team to be able to recover in that time without any effort. Admittedly every time we try we discover something wrong on the documentation. Equally we manage it within the three hours.

A backup is only as useful as the procedure to restore it. It is only a valid backup when you test the restore process.

E.g. I remember a fun period during my master's course when both I.T. people responsible for our computers were due to go on holiday on the same week. A mistake that should never have allowed. The solution was to appoint two students to work in I.T. for a week to provide cover. Actually I think they started before they left and finished after they returned. Being ignorant of how things worked and terrified of the .I.T. professionals they went out of their way to test everything they did during that week. It was made clear that everything they did would be tested, verified and they would be held responsible for every mistake.

Holiday over, the I.T. team returned in trepidation. What had broken? What did they have to do to fix everything? The students had discovered the backup scripts pointed to a server that didn't exist and failed silently. They pointed it to a valid server and set email alerts on failure. They created scripts to recovrer systems and tested it. They upgraded all the Solaris servers to the latest versions which had been an issue until that point.

Then they installed the tape decks and verified the backups worked and documented the recovery process.

I.T. were so terrified that anyone would notice what the students had achieved that we got away with anything on the networkg that year. Network gaming was no longer banned and we had outstanding games against staff and students. The students, learned a very important lesson. Test your bloody scripts regularly, then get someone else to check your scripts regularly and be certain you can recover from disaster.

Simply put, don't pay up, pay ahead and test your backups and know you can recover from an attack. It isn't difficult, it is what you get taught as an apprentice, as a student and as a professional. Don't be a lazy arsehole.

UK immigration rules hit science just as it rejoins €100B Horizon program

Michael

Re: We are overdue an adult conversation about immigration

Or the NHS could just have its own agency and only allow shifts to be allocated via it. No external agencies allowed. Retain all money.

Late Qualcomm cofounder teleports $200M into SETI to bankroll hunt for alien life

Michael

sensible use of funds

SETI Institute deserve some recognition too, they are being incredibly sensible in looking to invest for the long term. Too many organisations would look to spen immediately without thought for the future.

However Franklin Antonio definitely deserves a toast.

Twitter name and blue bird logo to be 'blowtorched' off company branding

Michael

Mulder and Scully

X-files, the new online storage system from Elon. The FBI will be early users.

Tesla's Dojo supercomputer is a billion-dollar bet to make AI better at driving than humans

Michael

Re: But will it be clever enough

Oh I don't know about that. Tesla's are involved in more accidents than any other self driving car. Getting plenty of dataon what causes crashes.

IR35 costs UK Research and Innovation £36M – the same it spent funding tech projects

Michael

description chosen to make a point

UKRI have a budget of £7,904 million in 2022 to 2023, to £8,874 million in 2024 to 2025.

The costs here are for the project managers that monitor the actual research projects. I've previously contracted PMs that do this job a number of days per month. So I don't see why they should be classed as inside IR35. Most of these people will only be doing this part of the time.

EU monopoly cops probe complaints about Microsoft Azure

Michael

Re: Monopoly Cops

That was the most unexpected comment I've seen in a while. Cheered me up no end. Bravo.

Ten-day optical burst shows star eating giant planet, scientists say

Michael

I misread that headline

I thought that the planet was eating the star. I was very confused. I need more beer.

NASA solar satellite burns up over the Sahara desert

Michael

Proper engineering

I always appreciate it when a system is designed and budgeted to run for a fixed period of time and then massively exceeds all expectations.

I've managed this once with a system designed to work for 3 years off of two AA batteries. We shipped a lot of units. Average age for failing units was 5.9 years. Longest lasting of the original batch made it to 9 years.

If only every company would produce systems that just kept working.

BT in tests to beam down 5G coverage from the stratosphere

Michael

Re: Google Loon (but with wings?)

It would allow 99% coverage and not coverage by population as is stated now. This allows government to mandate coverage that allows emergency services to access data services anywhere. It allows new services that could collect remote data if only there was coverage.

It would allow the entire rail network to be covered ensuring remote monitoring would work and reduce the likelihood of fatal crashes. There are many industries that want to use data services in remote locations. You don't need population densities toake use of the data services.

If your DNS queries LoOk liKE tHIs, it's not a ransom note, it's a security improvement

Michael

Re: Colour me surprised (in upper case)

A continued argument I've had with a member of our sales team who is incapable of entering his email correctly. Apparently the spec is wrong...

PostgreSQL 15 promises to ease Oracle and SQL Server migrations

Michael

Re: I'm always pleased when PostgreSQL gets some coverage

LAMP stack was hugely popular especially as so many content management systems relied on it. End of the 90s early 00s it was the stack you used in open source webservers.

Musk says Starlink will ask for exemption to US sanctions on Iran

Michael

Re: Re-Wording Dept

They are.

EU puts smart device manufacturers on the hook for cyber security

Michael

Re: I can understand...

Mistakes are allowed. You just need to fix them and provide updates in a reasonable time period. No company that does this will have to worry. Those selling junk that is insecure and unmaintained will not be in business for long.

Plenty of people will continue to launch and release products in Europe as it is a massive market that has money to spend. Equally of all the cheap and disposable junk stops being sold and nobody wants to ship new products to Europe then European businesses will launch their own products to fill the gaps. You do realise that plenty of products are designed and manufactured in Europe?

Michael

Re: "Expected product lifetime ... or five years"

Cars are excluded as they are regulated separately.

This is a starting point. It will most likely be expanded over time. It is a good thing that suppliers will be expected to ensure products are secure for a reasonable time period.

After eleven-year wait, Atlassian customers promised custom domains in 2023

Michael

I'd prefer them to fix the performance

I have to use the web hosted version for work. It is the most painfully slow application I have to use.

I honestly despair at getting anything done when I use it, it is un-useable when I am on a teams call and sharing the screen. It doesn't save changes unless you click the button, unfortunately it is so slow, that you can navigate away after hitting save and it doesn't work.

EU law threatening 'commercially painful changes' for tech out tonight

Michael

Re: So, painful changes, limited scope to reduce their impact, global standards ?

Finally a use for blockchain...

UK.gov threatens to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

Michael

Re: Much cheaper plan:

Yep. As a parent it is my job to control what my kids do or watch. Not the government. I can enable limits on what they can easily access from the internet with my router if I want. Or not.

Parents should do their job and government should stop interfering.

UK science stuck in 'holding pattern' on EU funding by Brexit, says minister

Michael

Re: Equality

Anyone can get published. Submit away. Take on reviewers feedback and follow standard practice for submissions and you will be fine.

There are plenty of places to pick up papers from. A certain online system is available with better access to papers than my university had at times.

Working in Arm's engineering team? You're probably happy with your pay rise

Michael

Re: "our people are core to our success"

Still the engineers. Should the IT department bugger off the engineers will manage just fine once give the appropriate passwords. Then you can hire a replacement IT team with minimal impact of the product. Lose the engineers and things will slip.

MariaDB takes a dip into Angel Pond to clean up and go public

Michael

Re: Well I hope that the inevitable next free fork

Just use postgres.

22-year-old Brit avoids US extradition over SIM-swapping conspiracy after judge deems him to be high suicide risk

Michael

The question is why is he not tried in th UK by default. The crime he is accussed of occurred in this country. Not the United States of America. We have laws here that are applicable. Surely there is no good reason not to have a trial here. Especially as video evidence is now standard practice.

Michael

Re: Oh FFS

Fortunately I'm perfect in every way. I'm an expert in everything.

Behold! The first line of defence for 25% of the US nuclear stockpile: Dolphins

Michael

maybe not

Has anyone checked if cockroaches can get covid?

Former Oracle execs warn that Big Red's auditing process is also a 'sales enablement tool'

Michael

makes me cry

My company are currently planning to use oracle netsuite as the sales guys carefully explain they can do everything that is asked of them whilst carefully ignoring mentioning the additional cost with every requirement.

Throw away your Ethernet cables* because MediaTek says Wi-Fi 7 will replace them

Michael

Re: Does it go through brick walls?

Brick walls? I wish that was all I had to contend with. I've 800mm thick solid stone walls in parts of my house. I think I'll stick to the cat 6 cables.

MPs charged with analysing Online Safety Bill say end-to-end encryption should be called out as 'specific risk factor'

Michael

Re: Sorites problem

Surely banning all children would also solve the problem of child pornography?

Rust dust-up as entire moderation team resigns. Why? They won't really say

Michael
Coat

Sam Vines?

At least that what he always says.

The one with night watch in the pocket.

Linus Torvalds releases Linux 5.16 rc1 with new performance-enhancing memory tech

Michael
Joke

Needed a database they could afford

They couldn't afford an Oracle licence and associated audit.

They needed a relational database that just works and that they could use without fear of breaking the bank.

Microsoft engineer fixes enterprise-level Chromium bug students could exploit to cheat in online tests

Michael

reminds me of uni exams

We had had a computing exam in first year. To prevent cheating internet access was disabled on the computers in the lab. After finishing up the programming task I used telnet to connect and chat to my friend on the computer behind me. After 10 minutes or so the lecturer walk up behind me, leaned over and asked very politely what I was doing. I answered chatting to him.

He informed me that internet access had been disabled and I explained I was using the local network. He gave me a look, said carry on and walked away. I thought it a most reasonable response.

FYI: If the latest Windows 11 really wants to use Edge, it will use Edge no matter what

Michael

Great plan

I can highly recommend the switch. My now 9 year old daughter has only every used Linux for home schooling over the last year. She has never been forced to use a Microsoft application yet and will remain happily ignorant of their software for as long as possible.

I unfortunately still need to use it in occasion for PCB design as altium still doesn't run on Linux. However, it is only on a work machine with windows 10 and as much as possible the tracking turned off.

Trojan Source attack: Code that says one thing to humans tells your compiler something very different, warn academics

Michael

Re: vim singled out for praise.

Well, as I do all code reviews in vim, I'd catch this issue so no problems for me. The joy of being too lazy to use the latest new tools. Sometimes the old one just work well enough.

Real-time crowdsourced fact checking not really that effective, study says

Michael

Re: One word: Duh!

I'd suggest it is the lowest IQ of a member of the group divided by the number of people in the group.

Apple's Safari browser runs the risk of becoming the new Internet Explorer – holding the web back for everyone

Michael

Re: clearly you don't pay for the developers

You are aware that you can adjust the UI to suit different screen resolutions in a web app? It's a relatively minor overhead written in the same language/framework which ensures that things work consistently. I can have one set of code that runs everywhere, the UI may look slightly different on your phone or pc. Hell, I can disable or remove features that won't work or be used on a mobile and make them appear on the desktop version.

Want to enter the barcode on the desktop you can type or use a barcode scanner. On your phone the camera. Provided the API supports it.

Michael

No

I remember that time. I remember the ability to switch in a new battery when traveling. It was great. I remember adding storage via and card. I still do.

I don't remember using a single site that used or needed flash at that time. I certainly don't remember anyone saying flash support was a benefit. I do remember people saying why does android not drop support too.

Michael

clearly you don't pay for the developers

The cost of me to have to build apps for Android, iPhone and the web so that all users can access my systems anywhere is prohibitive. Browser based access simplifies design and testing.

Having web standards to allow access to Bluetooth or RFID or photos to scan a barcode allows customers to configure systems with a simple click of a button from a web app that will run everywhere that the support is available. It means that the UI is consistent and testing and bug fixes are readily available.

I don't want to have to buy an iPhone for the 2 users that I have that use them to view data on them. I don't want to pay for a service to test them on. I want to run on a selection of browsers that run on my developer machine and verify that it works. I can automate testing easily and quickly.

I want to push out a bug fix in days for customers because we can test it readily on all browsers. I don't want to test on 30 different versions of iOS, windows, android, etc to support native apps across multiple OS versions.

Nobody cares about DAB radio – so let's force it onto smart speakers, suggests UK govt review

Michael

try visiting the Scottish Highlands

I was traveling last week. DAB was non existent not long after Pitlochry, switched to FM, perfect reception and random local radio stations.

DAB is fine if you are in a city. Outside, I'll stick to FM. Also, as stated elsewhere, DAB bitrate has been dropped to support new stations meaning sound quality can't compete with FM. The UK should have upgradedto DAB+ years ago.

Better late than never: Microsoft rolls out a public preview of E2EE in Teams calls

Michael

Fix Linux support

As I'm forced to use teams for work. I'd be happier with decent Linux support. I'm fed up with having to kill and restart when I change volume or microphone/speaker source. Using 100% CPU when in a call, slowing my machine so that I can't click or type when sharing a screen. E2EE isn't required for my calls, they never bloody work.

UK altnet CityFibre's boss on its hopes to capitalise on market churn as fibre broadband rolls out

Michael

No even tjhe city

I'm in Glasgow. They have installed 3 separate fibre connections on my parents street. My house is currently less than 300 meters from the CityFibre lines. They have no intention of coming down my street. Nor do any of the other suppliers.

No BS*: BT is hooking up with OneWeb to tackle UK notspots

Michael

Re: Sincerely, Good Luck

I'm 3 miles from Glasgow city centre and get 11mbps down on a good day and 0.8mbps on a really good day. More often than not 9mbps down and 0.45mbps up. My parents street 3 miles further out has been dug up three times in the last year for city fibre, BT and virgin to install fibre. They have three options for fibre. I've been told there are no plans for any fibre in the next 4 years for my area at the moment.

Fibre network should be a national installation with suppliers selling access. Why the hell do people need three options on the same street. Honestly they could have covered the whole of Glasgow for a fraction of the cost of they just managed installation properly.

Workday bets big on staff coming back to the office by splurging $172.5m on HQ and five more Bay Area buildings

Michael

Re: Nope

You clearly don't have network connectivity issues. I've a 900kbs uplink speed when it isn't raining on FTTC. I have no 5G connectivity options and 4G signal is unreliable. Office working is definitely not disappearing any time soon for me.

Web prank horror: Man shot dead while pretending to rob someone at knife-point for a YouTube video

Michael

Re: This is why they should be banned.

I always believed that there were 10 types of people in the world too. Those that understand binary and those that don't.

Showering malware-laced laptops on UK schools is the wrong way to teach them about cybersecurity

Michael

Re: Why still MS?

Nope. Works under Linux too.

My kids don't have access to windows machines. Too risky.

UK Prime Minister Johnson knows not when 400k+ deleted records from police DB will be back

Michael

Re: Johnsons fault or click bait?

They have a higher number of old people with multiple illnesses that have been kept alive by the NHS and have now died of a new illness. We pushed people out of hospital into care homes without testing and killed more people by spreading infections.

Signal boost: Secure chat app is wobbly at the moment. Not surprising after gaining 30m+ users in a week, though

Michael

not to be a business

From the signal website: "Signal is an independent nonprofit. We're not tied to any major tech companies, and we can never be acquired by one either. Development is supported by grants and donations from people like you."

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