* Posts by Mikel

2643 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Oct 2008

Windows 10 phones are not dead yet. Acer, Alcatel OneTouch just made some new ones

Mikel

Re: My phone should work like my Windows PC

Still angry they tried to kill my precious Linux powered Android in the cradle, frankly. And glad they'll never have a chance to pull it off. The future is open, despite their best efforts, and it is amazing.

Mikel

My phone should work like my Windows PC

Said nobody ever.

Patch Tuesday, rollback Wednesday, exploit Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Hardware firewall, software firewall, antivirus, malware, adware, spyware, spam - and that's just out of the box. Regular crashes, random crashes, screens in red blue and green. Updates that are incompatible with the software and hardware you already have for no reason. Updates that are incompatible with previous updates. Updates that replace stupid stuff from prior updates you removed on purpose - over and over. Bugs, faults and design horrors so persistent they have pet names?

Is that what you want in a phone? No. What you want in a phone is that when you put it in your daughter's hand and say "if you need me, call" that when she has to call the thing will ******* work immediately on the first try.

HPE's London boozer dubbed the 'Hewlett You Inn?'

Mikel

Re: Is the company bar a European thing?

Many companies in the US provide hospitality of all sorts to customers both off premises and on. The office beer keg or fridge for the workers is also not unheard of. The senior executive of a major corporation who doesn't have alcohol to offer his office guests might be a rare case. I know - it sounds terrifying, and totally alien to those of us on the front lines - but this is how business (sales especially) is done. With dignified courtesy.

Mikel
Pint

Don't mind me

Just here to get spiffed.

Activist investors want tepid Yahoo! to reboot crashed Marissa Mayer

Mikel
Facepalm

Check the expiration on the nog

When a business article about Yahoo descends into etymology and indiscreet MLP fan fiction involving the CEO at this time of year, it's time to check the date on that eggnog. It may have gone bad. Hangover face may result.

AMD to nibble the ankles of Nvidia this summer with 14nm FinFET GPUs

Mikel

Re: power consumption

Globally computers account for about 10% of electricity generation. An eye on efficiency is good for the planet. Also, thermals limit density which is critical in servers and HPC. And as another mentioned, noise.

Mikel

Look up Vulkan, and Khronos Group. Apparently they have you covered.

Good news! US broadband speeds are up. Bad news – they're still rubbish

Mikel

Re: Typical Feral Blovating

So there is no place in Greater London that there are an aggregate 90,000 people out of your 8 millions who could be served more easily than stringing fiber over and under 2700 square miles of rocky mountainous terrain. That is what you are saying.

I guess then that you agree the density argument is complete hogwash. We only differ about why.

My feeling is that when it comes to avoiding the future, any excuse - no matter how implausible - will do.

Mikel

Re: Typical Feral Blovating

Grant County got it by accident. The Power Utility District was going to install Internet Protocol based smart meters. But that didn't work out and they decided to make lemonade. Gray's Harbor county did it too. Comcast and AT&T then saw the threat and funded a bill that made it illegal for other counties to follow suit. The "Telecoms Investment Protection Act" or some such, as they did over much of the US.

But regardless, if Grant can do it fifteen years ago (and they have) and the density arguments hold then why does Greater London with 1/4th the area and almost 100 times the population not have 40Gbps Fiber to the home today? That would be the implied ratio adjusted for 15 years of technology's march. Because you are paying people to prevent it. Not because of population density.

You want the future? Stop paying people to keep you in the past.

Mikel

Re: Typical Feral Blovating

As I always do when I see this density thing brought up, I am going to remind everyone of Grant County in Washington. They have had gigabit fiber to the home for 15 years. The county is 2/3rds the size of Los Angeles county and is decidedly rural. The county seat holds 8,000 souls, some small towns as few as fifty. 92,000 total population in the entire 2,700 square mile area. And fiber to every single one.

You all live in the copper era because you pay copper era corporations vast sums to corrupt your politicians to keep you there.

After eight years, NASA's Dawn probe brings Ceres into closest focus

Mikel

Re: Ion engines - OK, TIE fighters.

The VASIMR engine appears to be the champ for specific impulse and thrust to weight, yes. And yes, at 200KW you are probably going to need a fusion power plant. And at that point, why not just use the bare fusion for thrust and skip the energy conversion losses, the heating and so forth?

We have a ways to go, but we will solve this star travel problem eventually now that it's "finder's keepers for as long as you can maintain possession" for everything off of Earth. As if it wasn't always that way down here too.

To the people who would call me a "space nutter": a homeless disowned 18 year old refugee from South Africa grew up, challenged your preconceptions, and just took ownership of all the world's space launch business by inventing something you said wasn't worthwhile - a reusable rocket. Now he's got a dozen launches scheduled in the next year that are already paid for, and he gets to keep all those rockets for free! Remember that to the buyer a proven rocket is $80M with of critical delivery. To the manufacturer it's $8000 worth of scrap metal, some plant, some IP, and some labor. And the plant and IP is paid for. And that kid? Why? He wants to go to Mars, personally, and the $3B he got for inventing PayPal wasn't enough to get him there without smashing your despair meme.

Lockheed Martin thinks they have Fusion sorted, and are developing the commercial product. Unless they've been smoking dope, we're on our way. And these are the people who invented the SR71.

The rest of the world, on notice that this is actually possible, is now on a nation-state funded race to compete because apparently all the money on Earth ain't a grain of sand on the beach of the Cosmos.

Mikel

>In 2007, we launched Dawn from Cape Canaveral, and it will never again visit its erstwhile planetary home.

I wouldn't be too sure about that. Ceres is the most valuable object in the Solar System that isn't the sun or a planet. No doubt someone will be out that way shortly, and returning NASA's spy satellite and eradicating its priority claim to ownership will be a priority. In the name of its historical and cultural value as a museum piece of course, and as a signal of goodwill from the people of Free Ceres.

Mikel

Re: Ceres has been colonised

Wrong. What keeps people from jumping into orbit is that there is no ellipse trajectory that doesn't intersect the jumping off point. For simple jumping the paths are escape velocity or impact. To achieve orbit you have to add a horizontal thrust of some sort.

Microsoft in 2016: Is there any point asking SatNad what's coming?

Mikel

No point to it

>you can see why Microsoft needs it, more than you can imagine why you'd want it.

The most insightful part of the article and, frankly, an apt summary of every Microsoft product since Windows XP.

Patch now! Flash-exploitin' PC-hijackin' attack spotted in the wild by Huawei bods

Mikel

Hey now

Which one of you was still installing Flash? We need to talk.

Bah humbug. It's Andrew's Phones of the Year

Mikel

We aren't going to agree on the best phone

I think we can agree the selection is amazing though. And who knew a smartphone was going to do all this stuff?

Bookstore sells some data centre capacity, becomes Microsoft, Oracle's nemesis

Mikel

Microsoft cloud

The purpose for this is to rent you Microsoft's server, rather than have you buy one from their hardware partner. Through some mystical mind bending they have somehow convinced these same hardware partners to help steal their own bread and butter. Talk about the dark side of the Force....

Microsoft in 2015: Mobile disasters, Windows 10 and heads in the clouds

Mikel

Since they peaked 15 years ago, you may be the last person on Earth to notice this.

Microsoft halts downloads of new PowerShell power-up

Mikel

Re: How come this wasn't discovered during testing?

Testing? What's that?

Getting metal hunks into orbit used to cost a bomb. Then SpaceX's Falcon 9 landed

Mikel

Re: Why the unnecessary snark?

It doesn't take months of training to bear a couple days of free fall. It takes a handful of Xanax and Dramamine. The months of training is for being useful while you're there, and mindful not to open the patio door.

Mikel

Re: Real numbers would be interesting

>To engineer for hundreds of repeat launches probably won't be worth it, but if in this simplistic example you got five successful launches, your costs would be 40% of using disposable launchers (ie a 60% saving).

You don't engineer it for hundreds of launches. You engineer it for dozens, and after you get your dozens you throw up expendable payloads (rocket fuel?) as long as you can bear the risk and then scrap the rocket. The recycler then takes three of them and slaps together the least worn parts and repeats the process. Iterate until it's no longer space worthy, and some hick converts it into a Bezos-style thrill ride for the county fair.

Mikel
Thumb Up

Unreservedly, unabashedly euphorically optimistic

They will figure it out. They'll make the unavoidably expendable pieces inexpensive and quick to replace. They'll analyze the structure of every piece to determine the stresses it has undergone and remove the bits discovered to be excess. They will spend more on the parts that need changed less often. It will be made faster, cheaper, more reliable and produced in more volume. Now that they have a sample of a used orbital booster that lands, they have what they need to build one that does so every day. This was the invention - the "Eureka!" Moment. What follows is iteration, improvement, refinement. It is the Wright Flyer of reusable orbital boosters - just barely enough to survive the landing and prove the concept. What comes next from this group is the 737 of reusable orbital boosters - the pickup truck of the next generation.

Everybody else in the space launch industry had best get cracking, because SpaceX is not just undercutting them by half - they are getting a free reusable orbital booster out of each launch deal as well. That is going to break their business model. They are in the horse buggy business. That is what makes me the most excited. The gold rush is on!

Knowing it can be done is the biggest deal. Once it is known to be possible, greed and competitiveness will take us the rest of the way. No doubt in China, Russia, India, Europe are government agencies in emergency meeting to discuss how they can get in on this before the Americans claim the whole cosmos for themselves. Man is finally going to get off our little mudball and start claiming our destiny.

Surface Pro 4: Will you go the F**K to SLEEP?

Mikel

They aren't popular

That is a lie. They are getting better at hiding the bleeding is all.

Microsoft grabs ex-Google and Facebook brains for unstructured SQL engine

Mikel

Brain drain

Microsoft has been capturing the best brains in tech for 20 years. You can tell by their products what they do with them.

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Sausage.

SpaceX launch is a go for Sunday after successful static fire completed

Mikel

Never tell me the odds.

Mikel

Astronauts

These are a strange breed. They would try to fly a kerosene powered propane tank with a lawn chair tied to it if you let them and it had some chance of reaching space. Even if the trip were one way.

Assembly of tech giants convene to define future of computing

Mikel

Notably absent

A certain small Redmond software house specializing in malware. I guess it's now them against the whole world.

North Wales Police outsourcing deal results in massive overspend

Mikel

Invest in organic intelligence

The cost savings of hiring someone who knows what he's doing to vet these suppliers and solutions is remarkable. One $100k guy can save hundreds of $millions.

Which is why they don't do that.

13,000 Comcast customers complain to FCC over data caps

Mikel

Comcast?

I remember them! We fired them ages ago. Thanks for the update.

Windows 10 won't come to old WinPhones until some time in early 2016

Mikel

Question

Is there some field of endeavor these guys do well in? They should try focusing their efforts on that. Origami, maybe, or performance art. Shirley not software design and implementation.

Google gets into the start-up game with own accelerator program

Mikel

Etsy wannabe

I actually had to look up what an Etsy was. Apparently it's an eBay wannabe specializing in crafts.

Which makes sense in the markets Google is incubatoring. Remove the friction between the individual and the market and you lift people out of poverty to the point where you can sell them stuff. Or sell other people ads to sell them stuff.

As for the no-investment free money, no doubt an open faith JumpStart will build the faith and confidence in Google for later rounds of capital raising if they are inclined. Or not. Whichever. This stuff seems likely to bear fruit somehow.

Be afraid, Apple and Samsung: Huawei's IoT home looks cheaper and better

Mikel

The biggest threat to IoT isn't hackers

It's the DRM light bulb.

Behold, Backblaze’s public B2 beta blast off

Mikel

Backblaze is an amazing company

Remarkably open, honest and fun. Fanatically frugal in a good way. Can't say enough good about them.

If they could figure out a way to backup Linux desktops on their unlimited service without inadvertently becoming a backup archive for Archive.org, every porn and FTP server and bittorrent seed on the Internet they probably would do so... but they can't.

Beleaguered Microsoft customers: Streamline your licensing

Mikel

When you want to be sure you are violating a license

Microsoft software is the way to go. There is no way to use it for anything that doesn't violate some term of the license somewhere.

GOP senators push FCC to kill support for local broadband

Mikel

The US Department of Justice declined to defend the FCC in court

Reading the letter now. The US DoJ is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the media and communications monopolists. From Kim Dotcom to Aaron Swartz, the past few years have been a DoJ war on people who want to communicate. Immediately after his first inauguration President Obama (probably at the urging of "Hollywood" Joe Biden) appointed a whole herd of their enforcement lawyers to prominent positions in the DoJ - presumably in appreciation for the support they gave the campaign not just in dollars but in tilted news coverage. This is a much overlooked aspect of their whole game.

I'm a fan of the Prez, but this was not his finest hour.

Mikel

Think of poor Comcast

Won't someone think of the rights of the Internet giants to totally deny Internet access to the people they freely admit they have no intention of serving ever? Muni broadband is nothing but a socialist plot to thwart their God-given right to not compete. If rural areas give themselves gigabit in cow country, how will they look raising rates on 1.5mbps service in the center of the metroplex? It's anti-business and Anti-American and it must be stopped!

Microsoft steps up Windows 10 nagging

Mikel

Re: When the trust is gone

Keep running their software. They'll get you eventually.

Mikel

Re: oh this is so funny

Wait until you see the Christmas PC sales numbers. It ought to be hilarious.

Salesman: we have all these laptops on this aisle. 48 of them. As you can see, they are all chunky black clams with low resolution displays, four hours of battery life. Their screens show that they all have Windows 10.

Customer: I have that. That's why I'm here. What else you got?

Mikel

Want it or not, here it comes

Something about enjoying role playing simulated submissive surprise sex with power tools...

This is it. They are out of dirty tricks to pull short of broadcast updating everybody involuntarily, and Legal would never approve that. Come January the W10 install rate will therefore plummet, and the cat is out of the bag: people don't want it.

Windows XP spotted on Royal Navy's spanking new aircraft carrier

Mikel

Replacement

>so there is plenty of time yet to bin it for a more up-to-date and secure version of the venerable operating system.

Of course. Because a new version is the only available option, right?

In related news, they are getting even more desperate to get their "upgrade" numbers.

Windows' authentication 'flaw' exposed in detail

Mikel

Imagine that

Shocked. Shocked I tell you!

Microsoft extends Internet Explorer 8 desktop lifeline to upgrade laggards

Mikel

Purr

Only $1600 per seat? A deal at twice the price. Free is only worth it if you earn your money.

Microsoft beats Apple's tablet sales, apologises for Surface 4 flaws

Mikel

Figures lie, liars figure

Of course these numbers don't include Apple's direct figures. Nor a bunch of other info. It is tilted to cast Microsoft in a successful light. That is a key Microsoft marketing strategy: declare victory early and often. I lost count of the euphoric early howls of victory over such dogs as Vista, Zune, Windows Phone, Windows 8 - all of which were nowhere near as beloved as the claims. They even start this victory dance before the product is even launched - as with the original Surface and their shopperless retail outlets, to make sure it builds some perception of momentum as it heads out the door.

All a bit silly to us, but hey - at least the author paid his rent for another week. That's good for him, right? We're reading about it, posting about it, so the analyst earned his fee.

Mozilla backs away from mobile OS as Android looks invincible

Mikel

Re: "This depressing picture"? Aye right...

That's only 2.8 billion potential users for an app you can develop on a garbage bin PC with Linux for no money, and sell in every country in the world with no marketing, shipping or sales overhead. How tragic for the nerd kid who hopes to make it big - to come to an age with such a dearth of opportunity.

Ceres' salty history hints at bright spot origin

Mikel

Caves

Patiently waiting for the new highest rez photos. I think I can make out some caves in this one. Astro-spelunking: where the REAL treasure is to be found.

Chicago and LA teased with promise of Google gigabit pipes

Mikel

Darn it Google

You are supposed to bring ME Fiber. <- everybody else

It's nearly 2016, and Windows DNS servers can be pwned remotely

Mikel

Re: SMH... Edge was promised to be better, safer and without the baggage!

>I think Microsoft should move to North Korea...

Isn't that a little harsh?

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What did Best Korea ever do to you?

Windows Phone won't ever succeed, says IDC

Mikel

Re: Does anyone think this is a good thing?

When Microsoft succeeds in a market they consolidate their success by eliminating choice. So yes, it is a good thing. Look at there all the innovation is in tech these days: where they aren't in control. There are thousands of different mobile device designs. Meanwhile on the shelf at Best Buy is still one choice of laptop OS and all the machines are bulky, low resolution, have four hours of battery life, might as well all be the same brand as if it was still 2005.