* Posts by Eddy Ito

4662 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Apr 2007

El Reg gets schooled on why SSDs will NOT kill off the trusty hard drive

Eddy Ito

But if the prices don't come down you'll still have a very large number of people sticking with the platter spinners and a whole stack of SSD/NAND piling up. One thing folks like investors don't like seeing on balance sheets is a large quantity of inventory that only grows over time.

It's a bit like the oil market has been for a few years. Some clever guys figured out an easier way to get oil out of the ground while prices were high so they did and at a very high rate to the point where it was becoming difficult to find places to store it all. Remember in 2014 started with a barrel price over $100 and it was about $50 at the end of 2014 and that's where it still sits even with a real cartel doing their best to keep prices up.

In short, I don't see the SSD players being able to sit on a large inventory like DeBeers can with diamonds because they'll be paying real money to have the manufacturing capacity and accumulating inventory doesn't pay the bills as long as there's a ready alternative in HDD. Diamonds come pretty cheap at the wages paid in underdeveloped countries and diamonds also have the advantage of being a Veblen good. DeBeers spends lots of marketing dollars to make sure you believe diamonds are rare and precious stones and that ones dug up are somehow better than the ones you grow in the garage.

Google and its terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week in full

Eddy Ito

Having driven in China, Thailand, Cambodia, Taiwan, and a few other places in east asia all I can say is that you really have to know your shit because it's a completely different style of driving than we are used to in the west. It isn't that they are bad it's that the cultural expectation for driving is different. Hell when I first came to SoCal from the east coast I was shocked at how bad the driving was but now I know it's just a different set of cultural norms where sweeping across five lanes of traffic and motorcycles whitelining at 95 mph because 70-75 isn't fast enough is more or less normal. The one consistent thing between the east and west coast is that directional are optional although they tend to be more of a last second warning on the west coast when they're used.

Hey America! Your internet is going to be so much better this January

Eddy Ito

Re: Farcical

It was due to delays in rolling out the surveillance portion as they extended it much further than they had originally intended. This is just an attempt to move on so that they'll finally be able to tick off that box that says "real time broadband monitoring of everyone all the time". Unfortunately it may allow them to continue the build out of the thoughtcrime units.

World's largest private submarine in mystery sink accident

Eddy Ito

Re: Crush depth optimism?

Precisely. There's a reason why crush depth isn't operational depth. Consider a tube 2 meters in diameter with a 25 mm wall, a back of the envelope calculation at 50 atmospheres pressure, which is approximately 500 m depth, only produces stress of 180 MPa which is only about 70%-80% yield for mild steel and your high strength steels can potentially be 3 times stronger if not more. If you could make a perfect vessel it shouldn't have many issues. The problems are going to be in the slight defects introduced in welding and other things like seals for the hatches, shafts, and other miscellaneous but necessary holes which tend to make very nice stress risers.

We all deserve a break. Pack your bags. Four Earth-like worlds found around nearby Tau Ceti

Eddy Ito
Paris Hilton

What do you mean we can't bring our cat? What are we going to do for videos to send back to earth?

#TauCetiMaoNow!

Assange offers job to sacked Google diversity manifestbro

Eddy Ito

Re: Double standards

Sorry, I'll include a #sarcasm hashtag next time.

Eddy Ito

Re: Double standards

It's simple, permits and licenses promote law and order! Or they're used to bully kids and as politically connected protectionism that protects the guild more than it does the consumer. Seriously, in many professions you aren't even allowed to work for just anybody by law but I don't want to get started on the whole ITAR and EAR intact male Bos taurus excreta.

Your top five dreadful people the Google manifesto has pulled out of the woodwork

Eddy Ito
Meh

Kieren, here's a 6th person to add to the dreadful people list.

Admittedly I can't decide if it's real or a parody of Trump as a leftist bro.

FBI's spyware-laden video claims another scalp: Alleged sextortionist charged

Eddy Ito
Meh

Re: Telegraph Pole?

Electric pole, telephone pole, cable pole, utility pole? What difference does it make? I don't think anyone thought it was necessarily near the rail line. Given how many folks are cutting the landline phone and cable TV cords we'll be left with power and data pole until enough folk go solar when it becomes just a data pole, at least until it turns into an antenna or is replaced with underground fiber.

US military gets authority to shoot down citizens' small drones

Eddy Ito

Re: A safe way to do that? Can do.

It's largely worked at JFK for keeping the gulls under control so I imagine drones wouldn't be too different.

Foot-long £1 sausage roll arrives

Eddy Ito
Trollface

I don't see what the problem is. If you don't want BBQ sauce, don't put it on the pulled pork. I prefer the Cuban mojo style myself.

Oh wait, do they automatically bathe it in sauce before handing it to you? Ah, I'll bet it's greatly overcooked, drier than granny's 1 hour per pound roast turkey, and they're trying to cover that up. Seems the UK still hasn't figured out how to break out of that old bland and boring cooking and even messes up the imports. It's a shame really.

Google's macho memo man fired, say reports

Eddy Ito

No, I think he's saying that Google's left bias is showing and that anything going against the grain would be a reason to dismiss someone. It's a bit like grade school where kids get suspended for chewing wrong, wrong hair cut, being bullied, taking a picture, wrong clothes, snacking, etc. In short the lesson is conform or get out.

Eddy Ito

Re: Open discussion, oops, oppression

They aren't bound by the First Amendment but they are bound by the National Labor Relations Act. According to Reuters he had filed a NLRB complaint alleging Google tried to "shame him into silence" and it looks like it he is now going to use that as the basis for a suit claiming that his termination was retaliation for filing the complaint. I don't know how well it will fly but it will require more popcorn.

She's back! Jessica Rosenworcel returns to FCC as America's net neutrality row heats up

Eddy Ito

Re: Who's to say we will have to wait until 2020?

Interesting indeed as it seems that desperation has driven the blue team to saw off a rather primary plank from their platform in an effort to get into the good graces of the bible belt. Of course that just evens the field a bit since even true blue Massachusetts has a governor from the red team.

To truly stay anonymous online, make sure your writing is as dull as the dullest conference call you can imagine

Eddy Ito

Re: I could careless

... takes that abomination and gift wraps it in an atrocity.

Perhaps AC was being a little careless and couldn't care less whether others care about less cared for writing.

Go fork yourself: Bitcoin has split in two – and yes, it's all forked up

Eddy Ito

Re: Currency

The problem is that like gold or real estate, Bitcoin is subject to hoarding which artificially raises the perceived value as it is perceived to be more scarce whether it is or not. This makes it subject to manipulation by any actor who can afford to buy enough to spike the price. At the same time it is subject to crashes if hoarders find they need to dump their hoard to settle whatever accounts they need to or try to beat the drop precipitated by another hoarder selling off. Certainly Bitcoin has risen far faster than gold and has far outstripped inflation even though there are more Bitcoins now than ever so it is hardly something one would call stable. At the moment it appears more to be in the hands of speculators and potentially various state regulators which only decreases any stability it has.

Certainly government backed currency is also easily manipulated and problems mainly arise when the government itself finds itself in serious debt and prints notes at will leading to massive inflation. The problem facing many central banks is how does one balance the currency value so that rather than merely hoarding the currency people try to strike a balance of saving and spending to entice economic activity. Of course this manipulation is mainly to create enough economic activity to fill the taxman's coffers so the government can spend as much as it would like, which it always does and more, but that's a whole 'nother bucket o' eels and snot.

New iPhone details leak: Yes, Apple is still chasing Samsung

Eddy Ito

Just good luck using it in the dark

The article did mention "references to infra-red facial recognition" so perhaps it's possible to map the thermal signature of one's face which would make it less reliant on ambient light. Of course that brings a whole bunch of other problems like when you're out on a cold winter day and can't quite feel your nose anymore while at the same time suffering from the flu and have a fever of 104 °F / 40 °C or some such.

NEWSFLASH Now even science* says moneybags footballers are overpaid

Eddy Ito

Re: Ten grand a week?

Worse, it's only seasonal work. I'm amazed they're able to save up enough to make it through the summer months.

iRobot just banked a fat profit. And it knows how to make more: Sharing maps of your homes

Eddy Ito

Re: re: would you like to buy...

Does anyone sell a kit to turn a home into a giant Faraday Cage? (and don't say Amazon...)

Funny you should ask. I have on offer a special discount on my new Faraday wallpaper especially for owners of various IoT devices. It's available in rolls from 37.5 sq. ft. all the way up to 150 sq. ft., in multi-roll packs, and in two convenient widths of 12 and 18 inches. There's even a lighter duty version for those low trafficked areas that works well when applied to windows1 and ceilings. Act now and I'll double the offer for fee2, just pay separate shipping, fuel surcharge, taxes, title, destination, license, groping, and handling fees.

1. Alternate interior illumination sources may be required. 2. no, it's not a typo.

US Homeland Sec boss has snazzy new laptop bomb scanning tech – but admits he doesn't know what it's called

Eddy Ito
WTF?

It's a new kind of technology...

New? It's been in common use for over 40 years which means likely invented over 50 years ago. If this is the guy heading security it's no wonder it has a stasi checkpoint feel to it.

'Coke dealer' called us after his stash was stolen – cops

Eddy Ito

Re: Florida Man

To try and maintain a continuing rise in the average IQ of the population

That would certainly cause some sort of explosion similar to matter mixing with anti-matter as it would violate the Conservation of IQ law. The law states that at any moment in time for every exceptionally smart person there must be one equally dim person. It comes down to either there exists some sort of IQ quantum entanglement or that by definition the median IQ is 100.

Trump to world: Forget moving to America to do a startup

Eddy Ito
Meh

So the complaint is that something that wasn't started isn't starting. Got it, boo! - status quo! - boo!

Seriously, give it a year, change the name, make it more complicated, a little more broken, and it will become the Donald's next great idea at the whole betterization thing. Just like Trumpcare is getting rid of about 10% of Obamacare and trying to replacing that 10% with a slightly different 5%.

Plus ça change.

Create a user called '0day', get bonus root privs – thanks, Systemd!

Eddy Ito
Trollface

Re: "Nevertheless, some modern Linux distributions, like RHEL7 and CentOS, allow this."

There's an easy explanation for why it behaves this way. It's for the special super users 5eyes and 4NSAonly.

Just one icon? Ok, I'll go with this one.

Bonkers call to boycott Raspberry Pi Foundation over 'gay agenda'

Eddy Ito

Re: Rainbow

Well, according to Wikipedia there were eight colors originally.

Kaspersky repeats offer: America can see my source code

Eddy Ito
Facepalm

How are they going to check that nothing has been modified, added or removed from the source code in between it being shown and it being compiled into a binary?

If only they could do something like compile the source code themselves and compare that to the binary. Boy, that's sure a sticky one isn't it.

Shock: NASA denies secret child sex slave cannibal colony on Mars

Eddy Ito

think nuttier than squirrel crap

Clearly you have a misunderstanding of the diets of the average squirrel. Nuts are good for protein and fat but they aren't perfect. I mean if we consider all squirrels equally the diets of glaucomys, marmotini, and sciurus vary considerably.

Offhand, I'd suggest a bit of rodentblock and some applesauce to add a bit of sweetness for the more picky eaters. Of course it gets tricky depending on how you intend to prepare one.

Whatever you choose, bon appetit!

Tanks for the memories: Building a post-Microsoft Office cloud suite

Eddy Ito

Re: Whilst I'm no fan of Microsoft..

I'm a fan of neither Google's nor Microsoft's online offerings but I find MS to be more offensive at least with the OneDrive pop-up at work. It comes up at least once a day at the oddest times and every time I think I've finally killed it, it comes back. I don't know if it's an corporate IT thing or what but the push is pretty hard and all it does is suck a few more moments of my time away from more productive endeavors.

So how long before Amazon has their own cloud office suite?

Tremble in fear, America, as Daesh-bags scrawl cyber-graffiti on .gov webpages no one visits

Eddy Ito

Hmmm...

The group name is kind of catchy but honestly Team System Dz just isn't working for me. They should shorten it and give it a tweak. How about 'Dizzy Daesh Z'? Yeah, I think that will work.

Yo, yo, yo, Dizzy Daesh Z in da howse!

Oh yeah, that's it fo shure.

Let's go live to the 3rd circle of Hell – and see what Comcast and Charter are screwing up

Eddy Ito

Re: SNAFU

That isn't capitalism and corruption applies to all economic systems. The particular brand you're speaking of is crony capitalism not free-market capitalism. This type of anti-competitive behavior is the antithesis of a free market and the voluntary exchange of goods or services. What's needed is to remove power from politicians so they can no longer grease the wheels for their corporate pirate friends.

Canadian sniper makes kill shot at distance of 3.5 KILOMETRES

Eddy Ito

Given how high the shooter had to aim, the bullet would have been coming down at an angle.

It's not actually that bad. While the drop makes the elevation sound impressive the stated angle of 327 arc minutes is 5.45 degrees. To put that into perspective it's about the long edge of a business card at the distance of a meter so while considerable it's not exactly a lob. Judging from the drop of at 3700 and 3800 yards the downward angle would only be in the range of 10 to 15 degrees depending on the actual BC of the projectile.

Homeland Security: Putin’s hackers tried to crack electoral networks in 21 US states

Eddy Ito

If only, like an Olympic medal, the Presidency could be taken and given to the next runner-up when malfeasance was detected and subsequently confirmed.

Have you seen our government officials? That would wind up getting down to the junior dog catcher in Peoria but that person is likely way too smart to take the job. Of course if it also gets rid of everyone in Congress as well so we can start again with a clean slate, I'm all for it.

Tesla death smash probe: Neither driver nor autopilot saw the truck

Eddy Ito

Re: Still driving?

It is still required to have a mechanical linkage between the wheel and steering in the US. Lots of automakers would love to move to steer-by-wire because it would radically open the interior to substantial design changes but the US DOT isn't budging as of yet. In a way it is a pity as a joystick like control would greatly ease driving for persons with certain disabilities as many functions could be integrated into a single control and if centrally located the driver could sit on either side making cars region agnostic.

Emergency braking shouldn't be too hard, just switch it so the motor goes into full regen mode although I believe Tesla uses induction motors so that won't bring it to a full stop as there is always some slip.

Eddy Ito

Getting stuck at rail crossings

There are plenty of lowboy, possum belly, and car carrier trailers in the US which navigate over or around rail crossings largely without much difficulty. Those are typically quite a bit lower than the 550 mm (~21.5") side bar height required by the UK and landing gear travel is often only about 400 mm (~16") as well.

I don't see the hardware cost as much of an issue since it's mainly a one time expense and largely falls into the noise when you consider new tires run about $1,000 a set and the other costs like grease, brakes, hoses, lights, etc. The real cost is going to be rerouting which will add both time and distance to the delivery route. That said the side bars may save some fuel on longer runs if they can bring aerodynamic improvements as well.

Of course additional signage would also help to indicate locations where hang-ups are likely including advanced notice and not just 20 feet ahead of the obstacle but that's an infrastructure cost and isn't on the truck companies.

Has riddle of the 1977 'Wow!' signal finally been cracked? Maybe...

Eddy Ito

Re: I wish this wasn't true.

Don't take to so hard, there's almost certainly life out there. It might just be slime mold at the moment or maybe it has already gone extinct or well, you get the idea. Given the distance, we'll probably never contact it since the whole syn/ack thing would take a generation or more and that's only if they (we?) are smart enough. The cockroaches who will evolve, become sentient, and take over earth in our stead will have a much easier time of it because they'll be more likely to speak the same language.

I fought Ohm's Law and the law won: Drone crash takes out power to Silicon Valley homes

Eddy Ito

Re: Get used to it people

Already used to it in Cali. There was one in West Hollyweird back in '15 and another in San Frisco in '16 so I suppose it was due although it's probably already a thing that has stopped being news if it only takes out one block or so and only bigger ones like this make the news now.

Eddy Ito

"a white adult male with white hair who fled the scene in a white hatchback car"

Was he at least wearing a white suit? I'm sure that would make him easier to find.

DIY self-driving cars are closer than they appear (and we're not talking about in the mirror)

Eddy Ito

"... to give recent Honda Civics and some Acura models adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist capabilities."

So what this says to me is that all these cars already come with the needed equipment but it doesn't have the right software or computing power. It's like my cousin's base model '09 Fit, it didn't come with remote entry but it's just a matter of buying the $20 key blanks with the radio in the fob and programming the car or paying the dealer a few hundred bucks to "install" it.

Eddy Ito

Re: New Zealand has a much better solution

So it's back to horses. Except in the U.S. SW where rattlers are fairly common on the side of the road.

Intel to Qualcomm and Microsoft: Nice x86 emulation you've got there, shame if it got sued into oblivion

Eddy Ito

Re: No risk for Intel

Why would they be 'slapped early'

If I could read judges minds, I'd have retired long ago. Having not read the patents myself, I can see it happening simply because it seems to me that very often in cases like this the judges are a fickle and non-technical lot and at times it's largely a roll of the dice with the decision hinging on which lawyer is more eloquent and convincing that particular day and less the actual bare facts. Hell, if it was solely based on facts, the judge could just read the patent in chambers, compare it to the implementation, and thus save everyone a bunch of money but that never happens. Most times I'd be rather surprised to find the judge ever actually read the patent word for word, especially the long winded ones that run on for pages on end.

Eddy Ito

Re: No risk for Intel

I can still see them being slapped early which would then force them into playing defense and pushing it through appeals. Each setback is going to greatly embolden folks to give it a try. Before you know it everyone from Nvidia to Sunway to Power has Windows running via emulation. It might not make sense for Sunway or Power but I have to believe Nvidia would love to have Windows running on their Tegra series of ARM SOCs and I'd think the graphics side would be a snap.

Donald Trumped: Comey says Prez is a liar – and admits he's a leaker

Eddy Ito

Re: Impeachment?

@Marshalltown

Trump's "power" to execute the laws of the US as enacted by congress. He is also responsible for protecting and defending the people and Constitution of the US. That's why he's the chief "Executive." He isn't a a law enforcement officer and hasn't any legal say in what laws are inforced.[sic]

Let's make this simple. In the U.S. there are three branches of government. The legislature makes the laws, the executive executes the laws, and the judiciary judges the law including whether it is legitimate or has been broken. Law enforcement falls under the execution part not the judging part. If the chief executive chooses to not enforce the law it doesn't get enforced. The only way the judicial branch can enforce anything is by asking federal marshals but of course that requires reaching a judgement as often happens after a court proceeding which has not happened. Please see Worcester v. Georgia when they did not and look up the Little Rock Nine for when the President, not the Supreme Court, used the 101st airborne to enforce the Court's ruling from Brown v. Board of Education.

Eddy Ito

Re: Impeachment?

@Olivier2553

If a President had the authority to overrule the judiciary system, that would be the en of democracy, he would not have to follow any law, nor would his friends, the government, etc. and there would be no limit. Some people would be subject to the law and some wouldn't.

You are absolutely right the President as the top of the Executive branch can't overrule the judiciary which is in the Judicial branch of government whose top position is the Supreme Court. He can shut down the DoJ because the DoJ is not part of the Judicial branch of government and the USAG, Jeff Sessions, is the top member of the DoJ. Notice that the AG is not part of the judiciary either but falls under the executive.

The President would have to still follow the law because things like perjury are impeachable offenses. So far I haven't seen anyone throwing any claims of perjury around because if they did the howling would be far louder than it is now. Listen, I don't have a dog in this fight simply because both Donald and Hillary are both far and away too authoritarian for my liking which gives me some objectivity the rabid blue and red teams don't have. That said talking to the FBI guy over dinner about an investigation isn't going to reach the level of perjury because it wasn't part of the official investigation regardless of what was said. If it had been part of the official investigation there would have been a stenographer sitting in the room recording the whole thing or a video recording and we wouldn't even be discussing who said what because we'd just look at the official record. That's why so many cling to this notion of "obstruction of justice" meme. Frankly I'm not sure Donald is actually smart enough to know he could have simply told Comey to shut the investigation into Flynn down but he didn't.

@AC

Not if he himself is implicated, and until this investigation has run its full course (which is very much hasn't) he is under suspicion as a consequence of some very clear established contacts with Russia that fell far outside the purview of anyone with nothing to hide.

You say he was implicated and under suspicion yet Comey himself said Trump wasn't under investigation of a crime and that "there was not a counterintelligence investigation of Mr. Trump". I get your rage but there's still no evidence of a crime.

If he's got nothing to hide, the latest 10 years worth of unredacted tax returns would help quite a bit

I'm sure there are both red and blue team members working at the IRS and I'm equally sure a fair number of them have pulled up Trump's tax returns out of curiosity yet they haven't been leaked even given the governmental agencies are a sieve at this point. There must be a Lois Lerner acolyte still at the IRS or perhaps a stodgy version of Reality Winner or even a Snowden. I'm equally sure that eventually they'll come out and they may likely be embarrassing but I doubt you'll find the smoking gun you're so eager to find in there. At worst, we'll find out just how good his accountant/lawyers really are at hiding money but don't expect a 1099 that reads "income: Putin, fellatio".

Eddy Ito

Re: @ Ian Michael Gumby

Taking notes is fine but until there's third party corroboration you aren't going to get any convictions based on 'he said, she said' type of evidence.

Eddy Ito

Re: Impeachment?

I don't see an impeachment coming because it begs the question of whether obstruction falls under "high crimes and misdemeanors" and even then an obstruction of justice charge is unlikely since the hierarchy is that the FBI sits under the DOJ in the executive branch and the chief executive is the president of the US. As the chief executive, if he says to drop the investigation then it gets dropped and sorry kids but there is nothing illegal about it. Heck he could proactively pardon Flynn. Obama could have done the same for Hillary but appearances and legacy clearly matter to Obama and no, I won't mention the Rich pardon by Hillary's husband who cared somewhat less for appearances. Oh I already mentioned it, oops. This is also why independent investigators are often brought in in cases like this so that they are more independent although typically still under the executive branch.

Look, Obama took the step in backing off on some aspects of the drug war as was his prerogative and it's well within Trump's power to back off on the Russia - Flynn affair if he so chooses. Granted the former is in my opinion a nice first step but needs significant expansion and/or reform and the latter is about as bone-headed as is possible but neither are illegal. Look at the AG of most, if not all, states and you'll see they have the power to drop charges against anyone whether in exchange for something like testimony against bigger fish now or in the future or even nothing at all.

Human-free robo-cars on Washington streets after governor said the software is 'foolproof'

Eddy Ito

Re: Have you ever heard of a politician...

This.

Washington has a lawyer governor so clearly he is qualified to judge the quality of software and self driving cars. As they say about lawyers, a fool and your money are soon partners.

State senator sacked by broadband biz Frontier after voting in favor of broadband competition

Eddy Ito

Re: I dont get Americans...

I still stand by my inability to understand Americans acceptance of political corruption

It's not so much acceptance but especially at the Federal or big state level it's more a matter of somebody has to do the job. The honest folks who are smart and likely would be the best aren't interested1 because it's essentially a disgusting ball of snot and requires too much money and fame. That pretty much leaves stupid, evil, and rich megalomaniacal prats to run for office. It's a little different in small states where it's more a matter of people voting for someone because it's John from down the way and he seems so nice when I bump into him at the market. Each state is going to have both factors but in differing degrees but in the big state model corruption is simply a given in politics and the small state model it gets overlooked because, well, it's John from down the way.

Not really knowing WV, I'm guessing that with about 14,000 residents per legislator it's probably something like 75-80% small state. Compare that with California at one end of the spectrum which is over 325,000 residents per legislator where you're well into big state territory, probably over 99% and New Hampshire at the opposite end which is two orders of magnitude lower at about 3,100 residents per legislator likely being nearly entirely small state model. None of that changes the actual level of corruption but it does change the perception of it.

1 - Sure, you get some of your civic duty types who will do the job because they find meaning in it just like you'll find folks who don't mind or even actually like jury duty and take the impartiality bit very seriously.