Posts by Adrian 4

Re: Failure of Understanding

It does have the hardware. It doesn't use hardware to detect 'hello Alexa', it does that in software. The only restriction is that, currently, the owners of the device (note : that's not you) assure us that the sampled sound isn't stored or constantly sent to them. A situation that, even if true, need not remain so.

Re: ESMCP

Really ? Whaen's someone going to tell gov.uk ?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-emergency-services-mobile-communications-programme/emergency-services-network

And what's so negative about ESN that it's better than an acronym that incorporates Master Control Program ?

Re: Is it still a choice...

>3. Linux: accessibility is a bad joke.

I'm sure you're right, but there are people trying to address it. Here's a fairly active project and I note that they're asking for problem reports from users to help direct the devs.

https://wiki.debian.org/accessibility

What are the difficulties ? Are the solutions adequate or are they too hard to install ?

It's always worth considering what you can do yourself to help improve Linux - it might be writing code, but it can also be testing, writing bug reports, project managing, project championing. They're all needed to keep something on track.

As people have noted about other Linux problem areas : at least when they get fixed, if they're used, they tend to stay maintained for long periods. Not just dropped or accidentally broken like Windows.

It's not so long since Wifi was potluck on Linux. Now it pretty much always works but I never know if the Windows 10 box is going to connect.

It's bizarre, isn't it ?

There can't be anyone who hasn't been burnt by Microsoft, but still they keep buying.

'A triumph of hope over experience' as Dr Johnson put it.

You're setting yourself up for a disaster there. This bug deleted files that were in the wrong place (still in the original directory when a new one was to be used).

How long before an update moves or deletes files that aren't in the Microsoft-sanctioned places ?

Re: I'm still amazed

The Naked Sun was an anthology, wasn't it ? Might have been one of the stories in it.

Re: 'None of the actors can be taken at face value

It's not part of the normal manufacturing system for conventional boards, though there are high-density stack-chip manufacturing methods with similarities. I think it could be done, at considerable cost and inconvenience. So unlikely in high volume, but possible for 'specials'.

Re: 60 to 70% accurate?

The problem is made worse by trying to categorise the sources as left, right, reliable etc. These are largely subjective, making the categories biased.

What would be better would be posting a link with each 'fact' to the source of that fact, so readers could click back through the trail and judge for themselves whether they believe the actual source.

Re: no surprise

Well argued. But I think you're overestimating the thoroughness of the typical english voter.

Re: Heaters are the bane of our lives

Those 3A fused sockets are a total pain. Why can't they just use decently rated cable ?

Re: ... / as a path separator and - as a switch character...

That seems to be a FreeDOS feature but I think I encountered it long before - maybe on CP/M-86 or MP/M-86 ?

Re: We know you'd never present us one made by the USA or UK, so yeah

As an intelligent reader, you're expected to make that assumption yourself. No need to make anybody break any laws, spying by 'friends' and enemies is a given.

Re: I use a blocker

I guess that consistent downvote on this thread is from a spammer.

Re: How it works

From that article : "said that as a general principle of learning, it “somehow smells right.”

Mechanical and electrical engineers point at software engineers and laugh : there isn't any engineering, they say, just guesswork and testing. Nowadays, just guesswork. And they have a point.

But if 'somehow smells right' is what passes for verification, I think the deep learning folks have taken it to a whole new level.

I'm also unsure that it's reasonable to describe deep learning systems as 'so successful'. Are they ? They've been successfully marketed recently but I haven't seen too much evidence that they're actually useful. Are you sure they're not just really good at confirming their author's prejudices ?

Re: Why?

@Will Godfrey

Sure, you may be able to run a proper native Linux. But there are, allegedly, people so buried in shit by their corporate slavedrivers that they have to run windows at the bottom of the stack. It sucks, but there we are.

Re: I had to use salesforce product for a while

It's a manglement thing, like SAP. Have to use the business trendy thing or they look stupid in the golf club. They're on a different planet.

Re: The big surprise here

Outside of the political management, there are at least some honest people who might object to big enough cover-ups. Snowden et. al. have frightened the government into not being caught out too badly. How many more whistleblowers would be needed to bring the whole thing down ?

Re: Who offered him a job?

To be fair, he's probably leaving because the job is impossible, not because he's unable to do it.

The fault lies with IDS and his evil masters.

And what is the 'something you know' if the password is gone ?

Perhaps there's a password on the phone. But if you enable another device with both factors, is that still 2FA ? or does the phone become a single factor to the security system, since once it's unlocked it can be used alone ?

Re: I downvoted him

On the other hand, you might expect that if you take on that sort of job, you'd at least get the support you needed to do it well. Which, apparently, is not something Facebook deems necessary.

Re: MPs are not Knowledgeable enough to ask these questions

..IT with a layer of marketing"

They are. But they don't admit it. They think they're terribly wise, experienced investment advisors like they used to be before they deskilled the bank staff and automated the decision making.

Re: 'organisations should pay'?

"Why would you trust the bad guys to provide the decryption key once you've paid? They're bad guys."

Because they want repeat business. If they have a reputation for failing to decrypt when paid, why would anyone pay ?

Re: Drivers ?

It's a valid argument for consumer devices (though designing to a decades-old standard creates many problems) but is irrelevant to a data centre, where you need only the peripherals you bought from the manufacturer (and often only disc and network).

And android phones seem to have very little difficulty running arbitrary Android apps. Because the OS isolates the user from the hardware, as it's meant to do.

We really, really don't want people coding applications for specific hardware any more. Meanwhile, with PCI and USB, drivers are getting more portable. They're more tied to the OS they run under than the platform the hardware is attached to.

Re: Secure Web Sharing without ads or tracking

There comes a time at which you just give up trying to care what businesses want to call themselves.

Re: Links to resolutions, will work with any browser

@Coward

Would those be the same staff that have to be retrained to use the clusterfuck that is windows 10 ?

Re: bad law

They do (approximately) what the politicians tell them. And they do what their paymasters tell them, be it lobbyists, the daily wail, whatever.

Re: Security feature bypass in Device Guard ..

Kind of puts the exploitation of Spectre etc. in proportion, doesn't it ?

There are lots of hermaphrodite connectors available (e.g. Anderson Power Pole) though perhaps not for higher frequencies.

I just hope this effort is a precursor to some decent laws to protect artificial intelligences from abuse.

Re: Works on my switch

When are you going to release the Power-over-Wifi version ?

I guess the people that find the notch so ugly also wear spectacles like Geordi la Forge's. Wouldn't do to have a notch on your face, right ?

Re: With no competition for miles ....

MS can do whatever they like with Outlook, because there really is no alternative need to use it.

ftfy.

Re: A possibly explosive question.

Hoodies, T-shirts and hairstyles decorated with random patterns that happen to include trigger points for facial recognition software could be fun.