Re: Slack
Using free wifi for a security update? Call me paranoid, but I have seen so many security issues in fre wifi that I only use it for non-sensitive stuff (like browsing the Reg)
Posts by Michael H.F. Wilkinson
4255 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Apr 2007
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Patch NOW! Microsoft slings emergency bug fix at Windows admins
Bible THUMP: Good Book beats Darwin to most influential tome title
Thursday 13th November 2014 13:11 GMT 
Parkinson's Law, or the Pursuit of Progress
Is one of my favourites. Excellent guidelines on how to understand bureaucracy. For superb moral guidelines I find the Discworld series offers a lot, like the definition of sin by mistress E. Weatherwax:
"Easy, it's treating people like things!"
It is more fun to read than the bible, and does not threaten you with eternal punishment.
Philae comet probe got down without harpoons
Fridge-size probot headed for comet touchdown
That 'tech-free' Nophone? It was already out years ago
CATACLYSMIC Sun BELCH causes hour-long RADIO BLACKOUT in SPAAACE
Saturday 25th October 2014 18:28 GMT 
It is an amazing sunspot, and some massive flares going on
Finally managed some quality time looking at that spot. Missed the flare, but the images I did manage weren't half bad, both in H-alpha and white light detail
Forget the $2499 5K iMac – today we reveal Apple's most expensive computer to date
Thursday 23rd October 2014 13:49 GMT
Never had an Apple 1 but we did work on an Apple II for a while (with Motorola 68000 board to do the heavy lifting). We actually did image analysis on that piece of kit. I think the Apple II is much more of a Ford-T equivalent (though not fully) than the Apple 1 (though many other machines would be contenders, like the IBM PC, the ZX Spectrum or ZX80/81, and a host of others). The Apple II was produced in much larger numbers, and had the expansion slots which allowed third parties to add stuff. THAT was an important step (not so much that the expansion slots were there, but much more that they were open to all). The IBM PC took that to another level again. Expansion slots were a way to stave off obsolescence (for a few months more ;-)), and to increase flexibility.
DEATH by PowerPoint: Microsoft warns of 0-day attack hidden in slides
Space exploration is just so lame. New apps are mankind's future
Is living with Dolby Atmos worth the faff?
Thursday 16th October 2014 10:05 GMT
Neat technology, nicely reviewed. Given my living room (and other expensive technological hobbies) not for me, alas, but interesting from the point of audio technology nonetheless. After working on phased-array data from radio astronomy for whole-sky imaging, I cannot help thinking that the ultimate solution must be a phased array of tiny speakers all around you, and the recording must be done by a similar phased array of microphones. That could record and recreate the sound field (similar to light-field recording by certain advanced cameras). Totally over the top of course, but a man can dream.
Facebook, Apple: LADIES! Why not FREEZE your EGGS? It's on the company!
Ancient Brits 'set wealthy man's FANCY CHARIOT on FIRE' – boffins
Wednesday 15th October 2014 13:49 GMT
Re: When archeologists aren't quite sure
Very true. In the "Cave of the Shaman" in southern France there are many carvings on the wall depicting women with exagerated figures (T & A), and a man (definitely a man, no chance to mistake him for a woman, especially in braille, as Terry Pratchett might put it) with a HUGE erection. The local guide explaied this probably had to do with fertility rituals. She was not amused by my alternative theory that this might have been the local communal men's room, and these were just the usual graffiti you might expect from adolescent men (of all ages).
The burnt chariot might have belonged to a much hated landlord
Protesters stop ground breaking on world's largest telescope
Microsoft WINDOWS 10: Seven ATE Nine. Or Eight did really
Supercomputers: The Next Generation – Cray puts burst buffer tech, Intel Haswell inside
Anti-Facebook Ello: Here's why we're still in beta. SPAMGASM!
Tuesday 30th September 2014 13:00 GMT
It will be very hard to promote any paid-for service now users are so used to have their social network for "free" (free as in beer, not free as in not-having-everything-you do-or-click-on-analysed-and-sold). Any "free" item will have to be paid for either from ad income or from selling analytic results, or both.
'This BITE MARK is a SMOKING GUN': Boffins probe ancient assault
Ellison: Sparc M7 is Oracle's most important silicon EVER
Tuesday 30th September 2014 09:50 GMT
I can see plenty of jobs for 32 x 32 cores with masses of RAM (just mopped up some drool after reading the specs), but unfortunately not all in DB territory. DB acceleration has much the same pros and cons as any specialist accelerator (like a GPU). Great for some tasks, suck big time on others. I must wait and see how these processors would perform on the tasks we have in mind.
Bruges Booze tubes to pump LOVELY BEER underneath city
Indian mom just loves it on Mars, tweets fave holiday snap
US team claims PARIS paper plane launch crown
GRAV WAVE DRAMA: 'Big Bang echo' may have been grit on the scanner – boffins
Tuesday 23rd September 2014 11:31 GMT 
I thought I had come to the right place for an argument
but I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition
Sorry, couldn't resist.
I went to a Jesuit school, and had frankly exhilarating discussions on life, the universe and everything with the (very few) priests who taught religious education. They greatly encouraged our setting up an astronomy club, and I was in my turn honoured to be invited to a (voluntary) extra class on "religious and philosophical matters" as one Jesuit put it. He said he knew I was an atheist, and that I had very good arguments, so wanted me on board "because I like people to think about their beliefs," as he put it. Hats off to the attitude of respectfully differing in opinion of those particular priests.
Hats off too to the scientists behind both BICEP2 and the follow up. Science is about presenting your findings, warts and all, and to encourage others to scrutinize your work. You should not fear losing face because you might be found out to be wrong. Most of the time, all you produce is not the next piece of the puzzle, but a glimpse of what the next piece might look like.
Moon landing was real and WE CAN PROVE IT, says Nvidia
Google+ GOING, GOING ... ? Newbie Gmailers no longer forced into mandatory ID slurp
Monday 22nd September 2014 07:35 GMT
Re: Am I the only one...
I have started to use it in moderation, and found it quite OK. There are some useful groups on it, and I do not get bombarded with loads of idiocy. I also like to post the odd solar image on it. Not a Facebook or Twitter user, but I find G+ tolerable.
To make it more geeky, they should have called it Google++, of course, but that plan might have offended g++ users.
Bacon-related medical breakthrough wins Ig Nobel prize
Stray positrons caught on ISS hint at DARK MATTER source
Every billionaire needs a PANZER TANK, right? STOP THERE, Paul Allen
Boffins: Searching for ALIENS is like looking for PIZZA among students
Sun's MASSIVE solar storm belch to light up Earth's skies
Apple's SNEAKY plan: COPY ANDROID. Hello iPhone 6, Watch
Wednesday 10th September 2014 08:46 GMT
Re: That side-on picture of the phone looks just like...
"I thought the thing looks remarkably like a Galaxy."
Nah, most galaxies are more elliptical or sport nice spiral arms, you rarely see any remotely rectangular ones (although the Small Magellanic Cloud is a bit rectangular).
I'll get me coat. The one with "Turn Left at Orion" in the pocket please
TROUT and EELS in SINISTER PACT to RULE the oceans
What the BLOCK? Microsoft to gobble Minecraft-maker 'for $2bn'
NASA said a 60ft space alien menacing Earth wouldn't harm us: Tell THAT to Nicaragua
Tuesday 9th September 2014 07:52 GMT
Re: 107,200
Actually, you need to calculate the relative velocity of 2014 RC with respect to Earth. According to NASA this figure is 10.95 km/s. Assuming the mystery object was traveling in the same orbit, it would be a "mere" 512,460 km behind 2014 RC. They could be related of course (if they share the same orbit, they almost certainly share the same origin).
I think the most telling bit is that nobody spotted the lights in the sky. An impact like this comes from a very bright meteor, so if somebody was sitting on their veranda and heard the explosion, they would have seen it with their eyes closed.
Beer in SPAAAACE: Photographic PROOF
Data entry REAR-END SNAFU: Weighty ballsup leads to plane take-off flap
DEATH TO TCP/IP cry Cisco, Intel, US gov and boffins galore
Friday 5th September 2014 09:05 GMT
Re: With incredible uptake of IPv6
Given the vitriolic comments I have seen about the design of IPv6 (don't ask me about the validity, I do not know enough about networks), I am not sure if there aren't people who would embrace NDN because it isn't IPv6 and we need something better than IPv4 at some point.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
