Posts by big_D 6779 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Nov 2009
My problem with smartphone camera systems is the fairly short focal length. With most of the photography I do, my Sony Alpha with a 300mm lens struggles to make the subject of the photo to be more than a pin prick - I was out a few weeks ago and managed to get some photos of a bird of prey on a field, but the cropped image was only around 300x200 pixels. I didn't have a bigger lens with me, enough to identify the bird, but not really a photo to keep.
But for such photography a smartphone is a non-starter. If the lenses were progressively stronger or could be used to make a decent 400mm - 500mm telephoto image at high resolution, then it is a nice step forward - i.e. each lens concentrates on a small piece of the overall image, in high resolution. If they just make offests and 3D, I am not really interested.
So, I'll withold judgement, until we actually see what the whole contraption brings to finished images.
"However, I am also mindful that this matter is sub judice before a court in California. It may be helpful for us to discuss this matter again after we have further guidance from the court."
A US court in California has no jurisdiction over the UK Government or UK courts or the UK in general...
@Shadow Systems to be fair, you mean Intel can't get an entirely Intel based machines drivers right!
Microsoft don't write drivers for hardware, the hardware manufacturers do.
My ThinkPad has an Intel update program that pulls down new drivers about twice a week at the moment.
The updates that come through MS Update are provided by the manufacturers, they aren't written by Microsoft.
The machine I had was still running BTOS at the time.
BTOS - Burroughs Technology Operating System (it was the Burroughs name for CTOS and it was also marketed under the name Starsys).
I also went on a training course in Milton Keynes at the Unisys campus in Fox Milne.
That was fun. Middle of the course The Blues Brothers was shown on TV. Just about everybody on campus had watched it. Just one boring old fart, who complained about the racket coming from all the neighbouring rooms.
We had a baby-Burroughs server. A BTOS modular jobby. It consisted of half a dozen modules plugged into each other, stretching across a desk.
I went on holiday and when I came back, I found site services had moved it to a neary-by table because the desk it was on was needed elsewhere... Only they hadn't asked anyone about it, and I was the only one who knew how to shut it down, they had simply picked it up (2 men, one at each end of the long sausage of components stuck together "Lego" style) and moved it to the table, whilst it was still running.
2 of the HDDs were dead, unsuprisingly.
This was a survey of online and bricks and mortar. I'm not sure how close to the line the stores were playing and whether they were contravening the relevant laws. I didn't watch the whole thing, because I was busy doing other things and I knew about the lack of real offers already, so I don't know if they said that they were breaking the law or not.
Wiso on ZDF (German equivalent of BBC2) on Monday said that prices generally spike for Black Friday, being cheaper up to October, then increase in November, go back down a bit for Black Friday, then sink back to normal levels in December and plumet in January.
They found there were one or two products that were actually cheaper on the day, but the majortiy were either the same price or more expensive than in October.
I went to one company, their previous sysadmin also found a standard password easier than individual passwords for all users. Apart from the CEO, every user had the password 123456 and wasn't allowed to change it...
Then, the best thing was, every user's email was available over OWA!
My first day there, I disabled OWA for everybody and set all the accounts to change the password at next login.,
When I left a couple of previous emplyoers, I ended up telling them to change their damned passwords after a couple of months, because i accidentally logged onto my old OWA instead of the new one and it was still active.
Or the Amazon or Also account etc. Web hosting? CMS system? Corporate Facebook page? Still Xing or LinkedIn corporate presence administrator... And that was an IT company!
In that case, I told them quickly, because I didn't want them blaming me for anything! I sent it registered post.
No they were kipper ties, flannel shirts and flared corduroy trousers, When it is cold, tweed jackets with leather patches on the elbows.
A pipe and a perm are also usually a prerequisite, the latter at least among the more hirsute, otherwise a brushover is recommended.
@djack that is the point. But the other side is, they are so cheap that uninformed people buy them, because cheap.
Given the choice of a Cisco ASA or a DLink WLAN Router, 99.9999% of home users will buy the DLink.
Given the choice between a $50 Mikrotik and and a $150 DLink, many will take the Mikrotik, because $50... And that makes it "dangerous", as recent press coverage has shown, because people are buying them, not configuring them and slapping them on their network and thinking that they will protect them.
A network pro will configure it, your average Joe sees a $50 router that has a good reputation and has no knowledge.
The problem with Mikrotik is that the default configuration is very insecure and you really have to know what you are doing to get the security tight.
If you have enough knowledge about firewalls and how the Mikrotik works, it is a great bit of kit, but for the average user the default configuation leaves a lot to be desired.
At the moment, I just don't bother buying a smart anything. They are all dumb and insecure and most will never get updates in the first year, let alone after 10 years.
What is the point of buying a smart fridge, if you have to disconnect it from all-things-smart after a couple of years (Samsugn EOLed their first smart fridge a couple of years back, but they were only about 4 years old at the time).
They don't need to act as browsers or gain any extra access rights on the phone, all traffic goes through them, so they know where the traffic is routed and what you have been looking at.
The same as ISPs and mobile operators, if you aren't using a VPN. The traffic goes through their network and they can log where you are going and what you are doing - to a greater or lesser degree; if the traffic is encrypted, they only know where you have been, if it is unencrypted they can see what you are doing.
That is why responsible VPN providers don't keep logs or delete them after a few hours, if they don't have network problems which need investigating.
The problem is, Apple and Google are victims of their own success. They never designed their approval systems to consider actually vetting apps, other than a quick code scan to ensure they don't do anything bad on the phone (which, mostly, works). None of these systems actually seems to check the background of the companies writing the apps or the web services behind the apps.
That would require time and effort and, due to the scale that has built up, it would be next to impossible to start now. You would have to implement this sort of checking when the system was introduced and scale it up with demand. But that would mean hundreds of extra employees who do nothing but background check companies applying to be app developers and auditing their backend services on a regular basis.
That would then impact their profits, so users are screwed.
Yes, they were all the same, but different...
I remember programming a system for DEC CP/M86, HP125 (CP/M), HP150 (MS-DOS), HP Vectra (MS-DOS) and IBM PC (PC-DOS). The code was pretty much the same, only different. Each used its own video card escape sequences, for example. Converting the core code was quick, it was the UI modules that took the work.
Then there were the exotics, like BTOS.
I remember at one stage, my desk had a Burroughs BTOS workstation, DEC Rainbow, DEC VT100 (connected to a Gandalf running in our data center), Apple Mac Plus, HP 150 and a Vectra, with an IBM-PC XT on another desk at the side of the room. I was supporting systems on all of them. All slightly (or very) different.
Yeah, I used to be able to jot down 6502 hex codes directly as well.
For Z80, iAPX86, 68K and DEC I needed an assembler.
The x86 was horrible, from a programmers point of view. 6502 and 68K were much more aimed at assembler / machine code programmers. I always had the feeling that the iAPX86 was designed for high level languages and was downright hostile to machine code programmers.
It's a processor, not a phone, so it is irrelevant. It is only once it is plugged into a phone that that becomes relevant, and that is dependent on the quality of the microphone (nothing to do with the chip), the speaker (nothing to do with the chip), the circuit board(s) (nothing to do with the chip), the controlling software (minimal influence from the chip) and the ENF smog (partial influence from the chip)...
@AC
But with source code in hand anyone can fix it even long after the original developers or company has ceased to exist.
Okay, I'll bite. How many open source projects do you go through each week, looking at and correcting security bugs?
@Duncan McDonald, sorry, every video you watch has copyright. It is automatic assigned to the creator for new material.
If you watch a "compilation" video of snippits from other people, that is an infringement of copyright, unless the compiler has received a waiver from every single film maker who's clips he has used - and yes, that means Vine compilations, dashcams, pop videos, silly accidents, sports coverage etc.
If a person hasn't uploaded original content that they themselves have filmed or for which they have bought the copyright or a license to reproduce, that video is in breach of copyright.
YouTube knows this, Google knows this, most people making the videos know this - and legitimate vloggers get permission, before they include other people's clips in their videos. But it is a lot of work for Google, because they let YouTube build up its volume on the back of copyright infringement, instead of finding a way at the beginning to vet content and scale that up with the service.
No they are faced with running an illegal service and they can't be arsed to do anything about it, so they are threatening to throw their toys out the pram.
And, yes, I do watch about half a dozen YouTube channels, but they all show their own original content.
@AC yes, 128GB should be more than enough for most people (yes, not everyone).
I have a 128GB P20 and a 128GB Mate 10 Pro (business and private). I have 115GB free on the P20 and 90GB free on the Mate. My wife has a 32GB Hauwei P-Smart and she still has over half of the storage free.
Some people "must" have everything available all the time, but for most people it is a non-issue.
My ex-boss on the other hand is a prime example of a data horder. He had an iPhone with his Exchange account on it, he replaced his BMW 5 series with a VW Touareg. It could "only" show him 500 contacts. He had over 2,500 and "all" of them had to be available. He sent the car back 3 times to get the "problem" sorted, I had to find a solution (there was none, the 2017 model did solve the problem, but he had a 2016 model). In the end, he gave back the keys and got a Mercedes GLE Coupe... That was much easier than sorting out which contacts were actually still current. :-S
I was out and about at the weekend and I was surprised at the number of iPhone 4/4S still in use. My youngest daughter's friend still has a 4S and is looking to replace it next year, when he finishes his intership and can get a 200€ phone to replace it - so probably not an iPhone.
IPX5 should also be fine for perspiration and the odd shower. x7 and x8 are really for prolonged submersion.
We used to sell IP65 industrial terminals, they were protected enough for cleaning with high pressure water jets... Although that is way above standard IP65.
We tried IP67, tested it inhouse and everything was fine, took it to TÜV for testing and it let water in. The difference was 2cm in height difference in the tanks - with out mounting bracket to pull the terminal down to 1M depth, we only managed 98cm, which the terminal survived without problems. By the TÜV it reached exactly 1M and those 2cm made all the difference.
My last two phones haven't had a headphone jack and I can't say I've missed it. I use a USB-C to headphone adapter and a good pair of Sony in-ears. I also have BT sport headphones for training and a set of noise cancelling Sony BT cans for when I am on the train / in a bus.
I thought that I would miss the headphone jack and the typical "what do I do when I need to charge and want to listen to music?" But for the half an hour every 2 days to get a 60% - 70% charge, or an hour for a full charge, I've never encountered the problem - and I probably listen to around 4 hours of audio a day.
@Gordon10 on the other hand, the Lumia had the same type of sensor in a sub 700€ package, cheaper than iPhones with fingerprint sensors at the time.
And Apple could have easily moved the fingerprint sensor to the back of the case, where it fits nices to the index finger as you pick up the phone...
You can't hack these with a photograph, or at least not the Lumia 950, Apple iPhone X or the Hauwei P20...
But Andrew did make a point of saying that biometrics aren't safe.
They are your identity (username), not your secret (password), because if they are hacked or stolen, you can't change them!
One example is Apple's FaceID, developed at great expense, released on 3 November 2017.
Which is technology they bought in. It was also used in the Lumia 950 a couple of years before Apple got their mits on it. The iPhone X version was a generation or two further on than the Lumia 950, but it is essentially the same technology, from the same company; just that it is now a division of Apple.
Also, the Hauwei version debuted on the P20 and P20 Pro during the summer.
In the 90s I was working on Hyperion Essbase, or Arbor Essbase as it was then known, one of the first OLAP systems.
It had a slight problem. Recalculating the Hypercube took <insert swear word here> ages if it was already full - in that recalculating a full cube would take, for example, 24 hours, whereas just loading the bottom row data it would take 1 - 2 hours.
As the corporate reporting database needed to be recalculated several times a day, obviously re-calculating the full database was out of the question (and this was on a "high end" server, with dual Pentium Pro processors and "bags" or RAM).
So, the "standard" procedure was:
1) Export bottom rows
2) Clear the database
3) Import bottom rows
4) Re-calculate
Being new on the project, yours truly promptly forgot step 1! Yikes!
A quick discussion with my colleague didn't help ease my mind. His advice was to use the backup from the previous run and blame the missing data on (l)user error, as opposed to administrator error! :-O
Instead, I went to the client and informed them that I had borked the export and that we would try and re-assemble the database from the previous exports and the transaction log. It took about half an hour longer than usual and only 2 transactions were missing.
I actually got brownie points from the Finance Manager for being honest...
@AC1 & 2 I agree, there are cheaper options, even from Logitech. I was just pointing out that the Apple mouse isn't an exception, when it comes to price (although the price/performance ratio is much lower).
We used to get the Streams for around €10 - €12 each, but I find the typing experience to be very poor.
As to using Mac over Windows/Linux, we support around 500 employees on a Windows network, we usually get 2 or 3 calls a week that are related to Windows problems.
In fact, at the companies where I've worked with both Mac and Windows, the Macs generally caused more problems, because they didin't integrated very well into the existing infrastructure and were always having problems accessing network resources (Samaba shares, for example) or features in the applications responded differently or were missing in the Mac versions of the software.
The worst was a CEO who had a Mac, but we weren't allowed Macs, so we had to produce his presentations on Windows, only to find that the Mac didn't display them "properly", it changed the size of text in certain elements, meaning the text was no longer visible or poorly aligned. But, of course, it was our fault that the presentation didn't display properly on the Mac... :-S
@diodesign and Logitech, sorry, Logi charge over $100 for their mice (MX Master 2S) and Microsoft charge similar amounts for their Surface mice and the Surface keyboard and Surface Ergonomic are also well over $100. The same for decent mechanical keyboards, my Razer Black Widow Red cost over $100 as well.
Okay, the quality of those mice is head and shoulders above the quality of the Apple mice, but good quality mice and keyboards are expensive.
For the mice, I managed to get Amazon Warehouse deals and the 2 MX Master 2S were in the $80 range.
We are just saying, for the type of photopgraphy we do, a smartphone camera is useless. I'm not saying get rid of them, but trying to photograph wildlife at 300M + distance isn't something you can do with a smartphone.
For me, personally, I'd like a cheaper model without cameras. But most people want cameras, so I put up with the added cost.
I regularly download ISOs. When we roll out new servers etc. we need the latest ISOs available.
Same for Windows, we often roll out custom images, based on the latest stable image.
Then there is WSUS Offline (and WSUS itself), which, whilst individual files are smaller than 5GB, often comes in around the 12GB mark.
At home, we generally get through between 200GB and 400GB a month.
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