* Posts by Charlie Clark

12110 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Apr 2007

Lockheed Martin demos 50kW anti-aircraft frickin' laser beam

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A lot of drones can be disabled with EM interference and most of them are slow enough for small arms.

Tesla's Autopilot is losing out to Ford, GM in self-driving tech

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FAIL

Re: AutoPilot, years ago

Yeah, er no. This isn't about impeding anyone: you do not have to give way to anyone just because they want to drive faster. And strange how few of the "boy racers" don't flash their lights or toot their horns when a lorry decides to overake in front of them.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: AutoPilot, years ago

Far too many idiots with more HP under the bonnet than they know what to do causing accidents, as courts continue to determine. It's a also "rule" in Italy not to worry about what's going on behind you.

Microsoft shells out for 2.5GW of solar. Not that it'll make a big dent in its emissions

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Re: Dumb idea?

What? Are you talking about a national energy grid? As is common in Europe (Portugal to Ukraine, Norway to Greece). Many US states have argued that this is unconstitutional.

Global network outage hits Microsoft: Azure, Teams, Outlook all down

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Re: Advertising Standards

Isn't it funny, however, how all those outages seem to happen at the start of any such period?

Google institutional investor calls for wider cuts: 30k jobs

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FAIL

Above average earnings are often associated with above average salaries

While the numbers are important, they don't give a very good idea of the productivity of any particular individual or group of individuals. But, if you start at the top, executives including Mr Hohn, are almost always paid more than the value they can ever have contributed to the company. So, why isn't he calling for the executives to take pay cuts? If this is all he can offer, he can be replaced by a ChaGPT bot that has read a couple of Jack Welch books.

There are regular case studies that demonstrate that a headcount approach to management almost only ever brings short term benefits and usually leads to declines in the medium to long term. You have to pay compensation that is sufficient to attract, and keep, the talent you need to continue to perform. This is particularly true in tech where markets change quickly. For examples of how quickly, and how badly things can go wrong, he could do worse than look at fellow investor 3i. Darling of investors for years and now it has all gone to shit.

Google has a pretty impressive track record in paying its staff reasonably well, trying out new markets, and also not being afraid to ditch stuff that isn't working (Boston Dynamics, a long list of web-based products). The Alphabet structure also allows it to invest heavily in new areas at a discount to capital markets, whilst keeping its main business on its toes by breaking out the numbers. Can't always says this of the competition that loves to roll underperforming pet projects in with cash cow departments.

Break up Google now, says US govt in ad monopoly lawsuit

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Re: Torn

It's not about the other advertisers which have essentially the same structure, but the customers who have effectively no choice of provider for whichever network they choose. Even if big tech hasn't explicit agreed on this kind of market carve up (definition of a cartel), the effects for customers are the same.

Vertically integrated companies are almost always anti-competitive: they integrate precisely to provide customers with less choice.

Twitter tweaks third-party app rules to ban third-party apps

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Re: Klaxons blaring!

What's this Twitter thing you're talking of? The name rings a bell somehere but I can't remember exactly what. Did it make vacuum cleaners, or deliver pizzas?

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Flooding it with ads will only drive users to alternatives. Even journalists are catching on that there are alternatives and you're increasingly seeing reports referencing Telegram, et al.

Microsoft’s mixed reality dream meets harsh reality of job cuts

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Low-tech for consumers, hi-tech for industry and medicine; porn to lead as usual

Whoever comes up with a real Orgamastron™ can expect to make a lot of money. Otherwise markets are limited: consumers want to be able to plan their fashion, interior design, etc. and can already do this with existing software. Industry can use AR for remote work in dangerous or difficult to access places: inside power stations; remote installations. Proper remote consultations (phone ones are a joke) and even operations will become possible as sensors improve. But none of this is ever going to be big enough for the kind of network effects and monopolies that big tech love. Instead, the opportunities are there for those with the specialised knowledge of the various sectors and Google may have an advantage here because this is how it's built its AI business: call centers, drug research, etc. But, as this is also what IBM was hoping to do with Watson, it's possible that Google too will run out of road.

Bringing cakes into the office is killing your colleagues, says UK food watchdog boss

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Re: What a load of cobblers

4 bottles of wine a day? Will kill you eventually but lots of people do this for years before they realise there is a problem. But, in the case of treatment, the number of units will be reduced gradually to allow the body (and the brain) to adjust the biochemistry.

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Re: What a load of cobblers

Agreed and I wasn't trying to downplay eating disorders of any kind: they often causes as much suffering for the patients and relatives as any kind of physiological addiction.

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Re: What a load of cobblers

Yes, as a psychological condition it's well known. But that does not make it an addiction in the same way that alcohol and nicotine do. Though, of course, psychology has a lot to do with both, particularly nicotine and the induced stress association.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Can we get rid of birthday cards too?

No, I don't sign cards for people who I can say something to personally.

I love sending birthday, greetings and post cards to people I don't see regularly but otherwise restrict them to very special occasions. Make it personal or special or don't bother.

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Re: What a load of cobblers

If you're addicted, you're addicted, though I've not come across food addiction as a medical condition.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: What a load of cobblers

I've never had a problem with that. There are things I like and things I don't like and if I'm not hungry I don't like to eat. There are times when I drink alcoohol and times when I don't. I respect that in others, what's so hard about it?

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Re: What a load of cobblers

There are lots of cakes I simply won't eat because I don't like anything sickly sweet or too fatty. But it's also true of my nephew who has always preferred fruit over chocolate.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: What a load of cobblers

Add to this the sense of camerarderie that is fostered by sharing and communal dining (yes, this is measurable) and that includes people who don't particularly like cake like me. That's less cortisoid and other inflammatory hormones for the price of some calories, which can easily be burnt off by an extra few minutes walking,

But this shouldn't be about cake but about general eating habits: the sheer volume of ready meals in supermarkets is proof of this. Making simple and reasonably healthy meals isn't that hard but too many people have either never learnt or have forgotten.

Google dumps 12,000 employees after project probe

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It's a good time to let the chaff go

Lots of tech companies hoovered up people over the last two years. Fair enough to take stock and let some go, but also a good opportunity to poach talent from competitors: cheaper now than next year.

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Re: What [insert tech co name here] we can do better

And, most of the public companies have shareholders who expect profit growth and hence, either share price or dividend growth, all the time.

Arca Noae is modernizing OS/2 Warp for 21st century PCs

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Re: MS still playing catch-up

OS/2's excellent support for subsystems was eventually part of its problem: companies didn't need to bother writing native code and thus becoming invested in its success. The APIs were better, hardware support was fantastic (including driver virtualisation) but it was hobbled for many by the WPS locking up so easily. This felt like the OS had crashed and, unless you knew that it hadn't and how to close and restart the WPS, it was to all intents. But for decades airports and banks ran on OS/2 because it never crashed and provided fantastic support for all their mainframe systems.

In the meantime Microsoft continued to make Windows more acceptable and eventually even better. Though, even today, there are things that OS/2 could do that Windows still can't without running virtual machines.

And any good IT student could do worse than take a peek at OS/2, especially the internals to understand that there are ways of making better mousetraps.

Oh dear, AWS. Cloud growth slowing as customers get a dose of cost reality

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Re: Maturing Market?

Just wait till they discover the costs of moving and getting their data out. Buyer's remorse won't begin to cover it!

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Like the laws of physics, some things can't be changed and cloud will always be more expensive because of the overprovisioning required to provide that notional "on-demand" capacity: you always pay for what you provision.

Tesla faked self-driving demo, Autopilot engineer testifies

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Re: Everybody knew this is a tech demo

While this was promotional, it didn't come with such provisos and disclaimers. Any student of US tort law will know that the "man on the Clapham omnibus" defence is no use whatsoever. And, because damages can be unlimited (depends on the state), lawyers are normally all over such releases before they happen.

Tesla's image will be tarnished forever. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Intel, AMD just created a headache for datacenters

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The customers must decide

Regulation is fine, but until customers start voting with their wallets there's unlikely to be much change in the market. Autonomous data centres should be at an advantage because their insulated from price swings in the electricity market. They also free up capacity from power networks under increasing strain due to charging electric vehicles.

You can see how this is going to favour the big players even more as they have the capital to build large, off-grid data centres in remote locations. But this is only going to increase the demand for high density units.

I was reasonable to ask to WFH in early days of COVID, says fired engineer

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Re: Massachusetts in the early days of COVID

Overreacted? Maybe. You certainly acted from a position of privilege and sound appropriately smug.

Any epidemiologist will tell how quickly viruses adapt.

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Stop

Re: Massachusetts in the early days of COVID

I'd argue that the health and safety of somebody working from home is the employee's responsibility.

You can argue that, but it many cases it's most definitely the employer's legal responsibility. This is why, in many countries, any "mandates" to work from home we couched as "offers to employees where possible" to avoid transferring liability to the state. Any company that processes data for other companies will also be contractually obliged to ensure that data accessed remotely is secure. Such contracts usually include the right for onsight inspections…

For tax purposes, a worker may need to be treated as an employee, but for H&S they might need to be treated as an independent contractor providing their own work area.

I'm sure a lot of companies would love to be able to do this but I can't see the courts agreeing as recent verdicts over Uber, et al. suggest.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Massachusetts in the early days of COVID

I suspect his employment contract gives the normal level of complete control to the employer: WfH is at their discretion unless (in this case state or federal law stipulate otherwise). American employment contracts frequently include clauses (non-compete, attire, ban on smoking, etc.) that would be considerous onerous in other jurisdictions. Furthermore, recent Supreme Court decisions have strengthened the hand of religious employers over things like paying for contraception.

Companies who let employees work remotely must ensure that the necessary data security and personal safety regulations can be complied with in their chosen location. That might not be relevant here but shouldn't be dismissed as employers have a duty of care towards their employers.

Unix is dead. Long live Unix!

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Stop

Re: "So, as of 2023, open source really has won."

There was a time before software sales: you bought a piece of kit from AT&T and it came with the source code…

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"So, as of 2023, open source really has won."

But Uinx™ was always open source: it was essentially unusable otherwise. This, together with generous ARPA grants, effectively kickstarted both the internet and the whole idea of software, ie. code that could be distributed independent of hardware. Who knows, historians may at some point come to view proprietary software as an anomaly.

Nice smart device – how long does it get software updates?

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Re: Connected thermostat

All thermostats have a frost-free mode that should mean the pipes never freeze.

I do have programmable thermostats, though these are not "connected". In most rooms, most of the time you either want the same kind of programme or have them at a minimal temperature. When we go on holiday the heating goes to night mode.

The risks of anything kind of home device that is connected to the internet generally far outweigh their benefits.

BOFH: It's 4ft tall, heavyset, has optional fax. No they didn't take the toner!

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WTF?

The Boss departs for the liquor store…

I hope it's a cold day in hell before that ever happens! Presumbaly, the BOFH and PFY no longer go to the pub for their offsite brainstorming sessions but to a "sports bar".

Fair enough if you think it's necessary to normalise the spelling to EN_US but the BOFH is clearly located in the UK copy editors would do well to respect this.

EU plan to make big tech pay 'fair share' of telco fees reportedly weeks away

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Re: Everyone should pay to get to the Internet backbone

Tariffs based on bandwidth rather than volume are standard because they better reflect the costs incurred for the services provided: the max volume for specified bandwidth for a period of time is also easily calculated.

But the main reason that the internet remains open is that interconnect agreements generally forbid preferential charging: a packet is a packet, whether it's carrying video or e-mail. The interconnects are also where any adjustments should be made. This can and should be done without any kind of political interference. It would be a big mistake to threaten this just to make it easier for the telcos to provide similar services: vertical integration never favours the customer.

Heata offers free hot water by mounting servers on people's water tanks

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Re: Ridiculous

You're suggesting this should be a government-funded scheme to profit from the arbitrage between government regulated electricity tarriffs? Piece work for the 21st century?

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WTF?

Ridiculous

As others have noted: the servers require electricity to run; electricity is generally considered to be the most expensive way to generate heat. Furthermore, boilers are on the way out as a way of heating buildings with heat pumps acting as inverse air conditioners to extract warmth from the environment. I suppose you could do that here but it would be the equivalent of driving one with a hair dryer.

But, as a business proposition, there is also a glaring risk over the data security and server reliability. Can't imagine any corporate lawyer or security team signing off on this.

No, far better to connect data centres to district heating (and perhaps cooling) systems and take advantage of scale.

But, given all the problems, does it surprise us that this gets UK government funding?

Native Americans urge Apache Software Foundation to ditch name

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Re: Bit ridiculous

Drought and floods, the latter especially south of the Alps and east of France.

German cartel watchdog objects to the way Google processes user data

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Re: Good for Germany

Actually, as this is the monopolies commission intervening concerned about the use of personal data to gain an unfair advantage in the market. Some of the DMA is pure protectionism but this is a very reasonable approach: in some situations (eg. holiday booking) the data slurpers may be considered to have the kind of advantage that some market makers have on the stockmarket.

Microsoft to move some Teams features to more costly 'Premium' edition

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Re: vanilla

Yes, and the raspberry sauce had as little to do with raspberries as the vanillin in the ice cream, which itself had nothing to do with cream!

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Re: This is silly MS

We're currently suffering with Teams, some Surface Hubs and on-premise Exchange: Microsoft really does not want to do this and is using Teams to force incompatabilities. Expect more Azure / Office 365 lock-in "goodies" down the road. :-/

It's not popular to say so but Google's work on WebRTC has, at least in theory, made conferencing apps interoperable. Or at the very least things that can be purely browser-based.

Chinese Tesla owners protest another round of price cuts

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Re: Catch Up Time

The same could be said of the US where, at least for foreigners, the economy looks decidedly mercantile…

But the factories in the Pearl River Delta, and elsewhere, long outgrew state planning.

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Stop

Re: Catch Up Time

The Chinese don't seem to have got the hang of capitalism yet

What a fatuous remark! They understand capitalism probably better than most Americans, which should be obvious from the growth of the economy over the last 40 years.

This is why, having realised they've been sold a turkey, they're so annoyed. They were promised that they were getting a scarce, luxury product but it turns out the warehouses are full of unsold vehicles. They have form here as with some of their actions in the housing and investment market illustrate. Almost invariably companies, not least due to pressure, offer to make good.

Swiss Army's Threema messaging app was full of holes – at least seven

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Re: "infested with bugs – possibly for a long time"

A lot of them don't care that much as long as the servers are still in Switzerland, like many of their bank accounts.

Tributes flow as Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo - the mind behind Sound Blaster - passes aged 68

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Re: RIP - thanks for the memories!

Yes, I know the history of MCA. Fact remains that, in the early eighties, it was a significant improvement over the ISA.

I guess one of the lessons of the battles back then has been the rise of industry bodies that work on these standards, with perhaps surprisingly, GSMA leading the way in demonstrating that cooperation in standards with even the fiercest of competitors make sense over the long term.

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Re: RIP - thanks for the memories!

The VESA-LB vs PCI fight was one of the many "standard" fights that, while they encouraged competition, also held things back. VESA-LB was a horrible kludge but it forced Intel to work on PCI but really the problem was the industry sticking with ISA when it was known to be no longer suitable. If only IBM had been prepared to license MCA at a reasonable price in the early 1980s…

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Sound on the PC was hobbled by the ISA architecture and DOS: a lot more processing was required and communication between devices was awful. Anti-competitive behaviour is standard within the industry, especially once external investors get involved.

Forget the climate: Steep prices the biggest reason EV sales aren't higher

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Re: The ICE will be with us for...

You seem to be ignoring the EV charging horizon because charging infrastructure will take longer to build than concomitant vehicle sales.

Cleaner ignored 'do not use tap' sign, destroyed phone systems ... and the entire building

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Re: Water and IT

Which you'll find out if the downpour is greater intensity that drainage system can cope with and the water decides it's time demonstrate Archimedes principle. This is why there are usually pretty strong rules about what can go in the basement and what kind of failsafes (at other levels) you need.

Next-gen Qi2 wireless charging spec seeded by Apple

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Re: Efficiency is in the eye of the echo chamber, apparently ...

They're already several existing projects for this but losses are probably lower due to the larger surface area and lower losses in the transformer. It's possible also to optimise transmission losses by using movable pads but the most important thing will be requiring the power to come from renewable sources (closed-loop systems become more viable as the cost of grid power rises).

Microsoft said to be thinking of sinking $10m into self-driving truck startup

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Chump change

Given the sums being spent in this area, an investment of this size hardly counts, though it might in the form of credits for processing on Azure. Self-driving vehicles, especially trucks, require, pace Steve Balmer, telemetry, telemetry, telemetry from existing vehicles. This gives incumbents and their partners a pretty good advantage and they're already including it in their products.

Microsoft chases Google with ChatGPT-powered Bing

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Re: This is going to eat Googles lunch

Newsflash: Google doesn't make money from search results directly but from the skills required to provide those results. This is what advertisers in all kinds of different forms are more than happy to pay for and why Google has continued to invest to keep its lead. It also identified "conversational services" as a market a few years ago and has been building it skills their for years. Of course, this has been largely driven by search and voice recognition, giving it invaluable domain knowledge in an area where this is key: nobody needs a single AI customer support system for every possible service.

Both companies are anti-competitive but at least Google generally tries to keep customers through the quality of its services. Microsoft's race to be make everything a subscription entirely on their own terms is frankly alarming.