* Posts by David 132

3819 publicly visible posts • joined 1 Mar 2010

New SI prefixes clear the way for quettabytes of storage

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

Re: This is getting silly now

No, that's a very specific format for storing details of a certain type of savannah-based acacia-eating herbivore. The format is known primarily for its unusual image aspect ratio of 9:54 aka Super-Tall-Portrait.

Nvidia faces lawsuit for melting RTX 4090 cables as AMD has a laugh

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

Re: optimizing things

Look, I don't want any toast, and he doesn't want any toast. In fact, no-one around here wants any toast. Not now, not ever. No toast.

Or muffins. We don't like muffins around here. We want no muffins. No toast, no teacakes, no buns, baps, baguettes or bagels. No croissants, no crumpets, no pancakes, no potato cakes, and no hot cross buns. And definitely no smegging flapjacks!

Security firms hijack New York trees to monitor private workforce

David 132 Silver badge
Coffee/keyboard

Re: fine the company for the replacement cost of each tree

ChoHag> Trees don't grow on money.

Get out.

David 132 Silver badge
Thumb Up

Re: Watching the watcher

I don't think he made enough use of A.E. Pessimal as a character. I mean, there was his introduction in Thud! and a brief conversation between him & Carrot about the Dreadful Logic of Necessity in Snuff, but not really much more than that.

Sigh.

Qualcomm teases custom Arm-compatible Oryon CPU cores designed by Nuvia

David 132 Silver badge
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Re: Not really

I prefer the Big Island myself… Kona is lovely and has absolutely amazing snorkeling opportunities. Also coffee and beer!

KFC bot urges Germans to mark Kristallnacht with cheesy chicken

David 132 Silver badge

Re: A double insult

See also Paul Simon's song Mother and Child Reunion, the title of which was inspired by a similar dish.

Microsoft tests 'upsells' of its products in Windows 11 sign-out menu

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

>Nurse, could I have my next pills early please

Hang in there, we're grinding and dessicating the frogs as quickly as we can. There's been an unprecedented spike in demand for these!

David 132 Silver badge

Re: Microsoft does everything to stay out of companies

>But the pro version should be without that trash.

Alas, the days when "Pro" meant "Professional" are long gone for Windows. You have to now think of Home, S and Pro as all being aimed at consumers, but with different mixes of lockdown, and Group Policy editor thrown into the latter - as if half the GPOs actually have any effect on it... no, for that, you need the Enterprise version.

In Microsoft's current approach, their corporate customers should all be on Enterprise editions, paid for monthly and with all that lovely lovely ongoing 365/Teams/Azure revenue.

Everyone else - home users, professional enthusiasts, small one-man businesses - can go hang. They're just a revenue stream to be monetized, data-mined, and "persuaded" into other MS services.

Actually, before someone corrects me, I take some of that back. Enterprise customers are also there to be monetized... but at least Microsoft is a little more subtle towards them.

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

Re: Perhaps Next Year

It's funny isn't it, how up until Windows 10/11, anyone expressing enthusiasm for Vista would have been shunned as a clearly deranged lunatic. How times change.

Kind of like how until recently, anyone babbling about how "They" are watching us 24/7, satellites, spying on us, monitoring everything we do or say or buy... would be dismissed as a tinfoil-hatter. Now however the response is more likely to be "yes yes, all that's true, but apart from that, what's bothering you?"

David 132 Silver badge

Hah, I'm not surprised that such a thing already exists. When I needed to work around this exact problem, I just threw a quick Autoit script together to accomplish the same thing. But then, re-inventing the wheel is my forté, it seems.

Opt("MouseCoordMode",1)

Dim $aMousePos

While(true)

$aMousePos = MouseGetPos()

MouseMove($aMousePos[0]+1,$aMousePos[1]+1,0)

MouseMove($aMousePos[0],$aMousePos[1],0)

Sleep(30000)

WEnd

Tesla recalls 40k cars over patch that broke power steering

David 132 Silver badge

Re: Power steering

> 'cos otherwise I expect that some bright spark (did you see what I did there?) would have a completely 'drive by wire' steering train, like the fly-by-wire aircraft, and then they'd be completely *&^%$d.

Alas, I don't think Toyota got that memo. Their new "OMG" (yes, that's really the name they've chosen for it - One Motion Grip) steering system uses a yoke and fly-by-wire, with a battery as backup but no direct mechanical linkage.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/features/toyota-reinvents-steering-wheel/

Red Cross seeks digital equivalent of its emblems to mark some tech as off-limits in war

David 132 Silver badge
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Re: warning: Pedantry

No need to get cross about it.

University of Edinburgh staff paid late due to Oracle ERP troubles

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

All I could think of when I heard it was "that's one big Jobbie Weecha!"

NFT vending machine appears in London

David 132 Silver badge

Re: Delft Blue and The Night Watch

Does anybody else now have “Eye Level” looping melodically in their brain or is it just me?

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

Re: About last night?

At least the narrator in that one "got a paper bag".

Which can be used to hold stuff. And is infinitely more useful than an NFT.

Microsoft feels the need, the need for speed in Teams

David 132 Silver badge

Re: Far too many meetings as it is

Oh, they’ve been taking inspiration from a John Cleese film all right. Unfortunately the film in question is “How To Irritate People”.

AMD’s latest, greatest Radeon graphics card $600 cheaper than Nvidia’s top RTX 4090

David 132 Silver badge
Coat

Re: 68 Billion Colours ?

If the extra colours only exist in your head, are they just pigments of your imagination?

(I'll see myself out.)

David 132 Silver badge
Coat

Re: 68 Billion Colours ?

It reflects the gamut that my monitor can display.

Which admittedly, is a an analogue VGA one with a missing Green pin and with the Red and Blue pins shorted together.

So "puce" and "not puce" are 100% accurately reproduced here, under all lighting conditions :)

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

Re: 68 Billion Colours ?

"Not puce". There, that takes care of most of them. And waaaay simpler than Pantone's system.

Xiaomi reveals bonkers phone with bolted-on Leica lens that will make you look like a dork

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

El Reg, I am disappointed.

I am most disappointed that the site that coined the word "phablet" didn't take the obvious step here. Tch. Standards are slipping.

Surely, this is either a phamera or a chone.

Either way, phunny phrasing phail. I shall cancel my subscription forthwith, etc. etc.

China reminds world shock and ore can hurt tech supply chains

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I hadn't caught that story. Thanks for sharing.

But I suggest that you're wrong about Ars being "El-Reg's brother across the pond". These days El Reg is 100% rootin', tootin' USA-centric. I fully expect the vulture motto to be replaced by a bald eagle any day now :)

Version 252 of systemd, as expected, locks down the Linux boot process

David 132 Silver badge
Flame

Re: Funny how that feature the expert said "needs some work"

We all know his standard response...

Works on my system. WONTFIX.

David 132 Silver badge
Trollface

Re: For a second....

> [0] All y'all

I think you mean "youse".

(Note icon. :) )

The world was promised 'cloud magic'. So much for that fairy tale

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

Re: Cloud must be used right

> lift&shit

Eww. More fibre, and wait at least an hour after each meal before attempting physical labour.

Former Apple worker pleads guilty to $17m mail and wire fraud charges

David 132 Silver badge

Re: So ig I read this correctly,

As the saying goes, though, "one crime at a time".

The classic example is that if you're drug-running, you make sure your car is insured/taxed/inspected, all its lights work, and you don't speed or run any red lights. Basically, drive like a grandma.

(all of which admittedly, in some parts around here, would be suspicious in and of itself... but I digress)

That, and knowing when to take your ill-gotten gains, cash out, and vanish into the night.

Firefox patches Windows 11 Ctrl+C hang, introduces new bug

David 132 Silver badge

Personally I use old.reddit.com and that version seems to work perfectly on Firefox, for what it's worth.

Porsche wants to sell you a rusty tailpipe soundbar for $12k

David 132 Silver badge
Pint

Re: 's not for your electric Porsche?

Drat, found out. No-one ever said the member had to be attached to, or even of the same species as, the person making the claim...

David 132 Silver badge
Coat

Re: 's not for your electric Porsche?

My first thought reading after the title was that Porsche had made it to enable your electrified p̶e̶n̶i̶s̶ car to sound like the petrol guzzlin' ones

I myself have a large penis to compensate for my very small car.

David 132 Silver badge

And one of the higher 5 reasons being "it's not expensive enough. Add a zero and some waffle about how it gives brilliant clarity and warm overtones to the 1s and 0s, and then we'll talk."

Minecraft's 'first luxury goods collection' features real-world $3,000 Burberry coat

David 132 Silver badge

Re: "one of the most iconic fashion brands in the world"

Not to contradict you, but are you sure you're not thinking of Barbour? When I think of waxed green jackets, that's the name that comes to mind. I didn't even know Burberry ever made such a thing. But then again, I'm a bit of a Dwayne Dibbley when it comes to matters fashion.

Crowds not allowed to leave Shanghai Disneyland without a negative COVID test

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

Re: The virus spreads quickly

Such a good joke that the article writer used it in the very first sentence :)

Ritz cracker giant settles bust-up with insurer over $100m+ NotPetya cleanup

David 132 Silver badge
Coffee/keyboard

Re: Ritz cracker giant settles bust-up?

You all made me snort out my coffee. You gitz.

Microsoft mulls cheap PCs supported by ads, subs

David 132 Silver badge
Coffee/keyboard

Around the turn of the century, there were a few vendors doing this same thing - cheap PCs, subsidized by advertising on the desktop. It was a dismal failure then, and it'll be a dismal failure - one hopes! - this time round.

Of course back then, as someone above alluded to, there wasn't the likes of Pluton and TPM and SecureBoot to ensure that the PC only booted what makes the vendor moneythe best, most exciting software optimized for the user with carefully selected premium offers...

The icon is because I think I just threw up a little on my keyboard typing that last phrase.

Qualcomm: Arm threatens to end CPU licensing, charge device makers instead

David 132 Silver badge
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They'll use it to build random access mammary chips first.

Zoom to mandate client updates every ninety days, starting Nov 1

David 132 Silver badge
Flame

Re: Insanity prevails?

Yep. Teamviewer, for example, does a similar thing. I use it about every 3-6 months to do tech support for various elderly family members, and it is the most frustrating thing to get the stupid "You have an outdated version of Teamviewer! Sorry, you must update to the latest version before doing anything!" message. Which means I then yet again have to coax said family member through the update process.

Yes, it's often as easy as "click the 'Help' menu, now click on Check for New Version, now wait for the Setup window to appear..." but if said family members were comfortable with following instructions like that, I wouldn't need to be using fucking Teamviewer in the first place... aaargh!

Dear software vendors. Unless there is some absolute, technical reason why an older version can't be used - i.e. you've changed the protocol so significantly that there is no interoperability - please don't enforce new versions "just because". And "security" is, IMHO, a crap reason for enforcing this. If someone's using an old version, warn them - warn others on the Zoom call too, if you really want - but grant them the autonomy of deciding on their own terms when to upgrade.

Especially because in too many cases these days, the reason for pushing a new version is that the marketroids have embedded new adverts or telemetry into it, and there is no benefit to the user.

Grrr. Rant over.

Microsoft boss Nadella's compensation pack swells 10% to $55m

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

Re: the other way to get rich

Having a big bucket of blood would make you rich and happy? I am confused. Is your name Dracula? Do you run a cut-price wholesale bloodbank?

Microsoft's Windows 10 Patch Tuesday update crashes OneDrive

David 132 Silver badge

Re: Groundhog day

The whole thing really is a Jenga tower, or house of cards if you prefer, isn’t it?

“Fix one thing, break three unrelated things” does seem to be their SOP.

Why I love my Chromebook: Reason 1, it's a Linux desktop

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

"Ribbing"?

What the hell are you doing with it, and do we really want to know?

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

Ooh! So if I say "Bonzi Buddy" to you you'll start to twitch and gibber in an entertaining way?

US orders safety recall of Tesla Cyberquad-for-kids ATV

David 132 Silver badge

Re: Ah well ..

Or Happy Fun Ball.

Apple exec confirms iPhones will switch to USB-C because 'we have no choice'

David 132 Silver badge

I think they pretty much rely on being prominently placed in the likes of Best Buy, PC World, the supermarkets, etc... aiming at the technically-naive sector of the customer base.

David 132 Silver badge
Pint

Re: Contact life span

I'm sure it'll turn out better than Ronnie Barker's effort!

Icon: I didbringabeeralong. ("and a couple bottles of sweet sherry for the ladies"...)

David 132 Silver badge

Belkin. ‘Nuff said, sadly. Their hardware has caused me so many problems over the years that these days I actively avoid it.

If you're still on Windows 7/8.1, it's time to say goodbye to Google Chrome

David 132 Silver badge

Re: Au revoir but not goodbye

Companies love steering users to their apps of course, because the apps are a walled garden where the user's experience is completely at the whim of the company. If you're accessing Amazon, Youtube, etc through a browser on your phone, you might be running ad- or script-blockers to filter out the shite, and we can't have that can we? No, no,no.

Microsoft's Lennart Poettering proposes tightening up Linux boot process

David 132 Silver badge
Pint

Re: Glad I'm a hoarder...

Your stoicism in the face of such incredible temptation is truly an example to us all!

Now, let’s go have some of these ——>

and try to forget all about Lennart Bloody Poettering.

David 132 Silver badge
Happy

Re: Glad I'm a hoarder...

But on such old hardware, you won't be able to mine crypto! Or trade NFTs in the exciting new world of Web3! Or take part in the cyber future of the Metaverse!

You're cutting off your nose to spite your face!

David 132 Silver badge
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Re: Is it just me?

Actually, this is the one that came to my mind: https://youtu.be/vWNJZrdn7i4?t=51

The question is, does Poettering's suggestion suck or blow?

(¿Por qué no los dos?)

Logitech, that canary in PC coal mine, just fell off its perch

David 132 Silver badge
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Re: Quick Win

Oh, hear, hear.

In my case it would be the Microsoft Internet Keyboard Pro. That was the non-ergonomic one, with USB connection and a (unpowered, alas) USB hub built-in - perfect for connecting the wireless mouse dongle. I'm still using mine after, what, 20 years? Haven't found anything that feels better. And yes, I know that's entirely subjective.

Luxury smartphone brand returns with $41,500 device

David 132 Silver badge

Re: Porsche designed BB10 phones

And the first gen Seat Ibiza had a Porsche-designed (ok, tweaked) engine.

Some brands will whore themselves out to anyone for $$.

David 132 Silver badge
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KHAAAAANNNNN!!!