Posts by Roland6 10736 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Apr 2010
>Change is possible.
But as the case of Kentaro Kobayashi (Show director of the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony) shows, the individual might change, but those without backbone don't.
Basically, if you ever thought something about something, you will always think that and can not ever be thought of as thinking anything else. There is no rehabilitation for anyone, about anything, at any time. Ever.
So we can conclude the reason Amr Awadallah was let go by Google, was because of his admission of holding non-PC beliefs in the past.
>Welcome to 1984
I think we've actually gone beyond 1984 and some of the themes in A Clockwork Orange.
It is noteworthy that in these books that those who have been reformed are paraded as success of some theraphy. Likewise we see in China (and some other countries) the chest thumping parading of converts to the cause/party.
Here however, we (UK and USA and maybe others) seem to have warped this making 'gaslighting' a virtue. So here we have a classic example, the guy was made to feel good about his enlightenment/conversion, yet people are telling him that he should feel bad...
The problem is that gaslighting seems well ingrained in some quarters. It amuses (ironic) me when for example descendants of slaves, get to study at institutions founded on the fortunes of slave traders with some even getting scholarships, then turning round and denouncing the (long dead) person who effectively facilitated their education...
I suspect part of the problem is the "newly converted syndrome" [aside: a term I've just invented.] that we have seen with some who are in the first days/weeks of giving up smoking, going vegaterian, "seeing the light" and converting to xyz religion etc.
My suggestion is that yes he should of written what he did and made the video - in the heat of the moment, however he should have let it lie for a few months and then review in the cooler light of day when what was new is now more normal. I suspect then that 10,000 words would have been honed into a 500~1000 word essay that people would have found insightful.
>I have spent hours working to retrain myself to use the search function.
and then having to search the internet etc. to find where something is, because even though you used the relevant application's name (as used in Windows once you've found the right place), Search has been unable to find said application...
>Please...please...please...I just want an RJ45 coming in to the house.
That's so last century...
With the country moving to FTTP, I'm happy with an LC UPC Simplex OS2 Single Mode connection. Then practically any router with an SFP port can be used. Okay currently getting the right patch cable and BiDi SFP module combination that works with both the ISP's module and your router isn't quit as straightforward as will be necessary for Joe Public.
"– a capability the original 802.11 had in 1997, which nobody wanted then and probably won't want now."
Not so sure about nobody wanting, there are a lot of line-of-sight laser links around, these work well, just don't mix vendors.
Also back then I suspect there were questions about IEEE treading on the toes of the IrDA.
>In some ways it's actually quite good.
The concept was good, just poorly and inconsistently executed.
Having previously used applications such as ArtRage which make use of off-screen menu's, but include a1~2 pixel visual indicator on the screen that "something is hidden here", I could see the merit. However, for these menu's MS decided not to leave a visual cue, the user had to know there was something there. This was inconsistent with the behaviour of the taskbar when auto-hide is enabled.
The issue with W8 was that the design school idiots merely wanted to shock, they didn't have the Steve Job's attention to detail and tenacity to deliver a complete and consistent user experience. Given where W10 is now and what we are seeing with W11, MS still have a long way to go.
> Things change, as do peoples experience.
Yes, however, I think the issue is the amount of change.
If we look back at the icons MS have used for Office, we see both change and consistency:
Word: Blue icon with an 'W'
Excel: Green icon with an 'X'
etc.
So someone who had used say the pre-Office versions would stand a fighting chance of correctly identifying them on a Win10 system.
However, there are other applications where consistency hasn't been maintained. From memory both Apple and Google have been more pro-active in replacing skeuomorphic icons with abstract patterns and colours, than MS. A particular example (on Android) is the camera icon, on my phone it is almost just blue circle on a white background, whilst I can see that it is intended to be a camera len with the camera body stripped away, it is too similar to some other circle icons (that aren't cameras).
> you can design an abstract UI with clear meanings for its controls
Yes you can, however, skeuomorphism (used wisely) allow you to more easily tap into users pre-existing knowledge.
>We have to blame the web to have brought in IT too many artsy people
No the problem is that too many artsy people are in positions of power. The entire TIFKAM fiasco could have been avoided if someone with some commonsense had slapped down the design school idiots.
>Just need to decide how much future-proofing I need - 6a worth the extra at the mo?
Yes, I would go with Cat6a, although buy it by the roll rather than as pre-terminated lengths.
Need to be careful about Cat6a patch panels (if you need them), from an installers viewpoint, there are some really good ones around and some really bad ones, cost doesn't seem to be a factor.
As for future proofing, I would only cable the essentials initially and install more as and when required.
>conduit?
Yes, separate to the electricity and with capacity for a couple of additional runs. Basically, rewire in a structured way and give yourself access so you can access ceiling/under floor voids once the carpets have been laid.
Also make sure you have vertical conduit from lowest floor to attic and a power circuit (other than lights) to the attic.
If you make all your power outlets double socket, you will then be able to change them from double power to single power plus 1 or 2 data as required. Obviously, some places such as behind the TV/media centre will require additional sockets.
It will be expensive (compared to standard cabling) but enjoy the journey and the results!
>It is very hard to imagine a situation, ...where wireless is capable of delivering better throughput than wires.
In reading this and the "Data Center" comment threads, I think I can see a scenario where you could use wire-less, however, for this use case the caveat "good enough throughput" applies.
Given the deployment of array antenna for 5G cells, it seems reasonable to ask if fitting an array antenna to the door of a standard datacenter cabinet (or even a few feet away) directly attached to/integrated with a network switch backplane might be possible and have uses, namely removing the need for physical data cabling between a rack-mounted device and the switch.
>Er, that would be the mobile phone networks and they exist already and convergence, at some point, is very likely.
And we've been here before with LTE home cells; great if you want to pay your mobile provider for all your internal 'WiFi' traffic.
Funny how the fun and games of finding and then freeing up of increasing amounts of spectrum for mobile phones (most recent round was the transferring of spectrum reserved for TV to the mobile operators for 5G) seems to have passed by many people. Finding decent chunks of spectrum and getting international agreement on their reassignment etc. is not a quick process.
> cut an access hatch in the chipboard.
Had to do that under the bath, only problem the location and size needed destroyed the strength of the floorboard, a surveyor friend confirmed my suspicion - the remaining floor due to the location of the bath feet in relaton to the joists was insufficient to support a bath full of water. Fortunately, together we were able to workout how to strengthen the remaining load bearing floor and remove the point loads on the floor caused by the bath feet.
Also got laughed at by the central heating installer as I insisted on the under the floor pipe runs from the boiler to hot water tank and radiators being insulated.
I find it amusing that no has mentioned the other problem with WiFi - client device support. WiFi6 sound great on paper, but if your WiFi6 compatible laptop only has a single antenna, or even two antenna (relatively common these days) then don't expect it to be able to utilise more than a fraction the capacity of a decent WiFi6 AP.
However, that same laptop is likely to have a 10/100/1000 Ethernet port which it is capable of transferringdata at speeds in excess of the WiFi adaptor(*)...
In the main WiFi is good enough for many use cases, but if you really need the throughput then a cable connection is likely to be the superior solution.
(*) From memory, tests show that whilst many adaptors support 1000Mbps signalling, they will effectively top out at between 600~800Mbps effective data rate.
@Falmari - the tool tip only displays if you hover; something I don't do very often and if I do its more to confirm what the action is.
The alt key is interesting, I suspect if we didn't have mice then we would continue to access the menus via the alt key and so see and learn the shortcut codes. As it is, by using the mouse, I never get to see the shortcut codes and thus get familiar with them...
Trouble is the ribbon (and Windows 8 onwards) MS have largely removed the visual cues as to what the shortcuts are.
Likewise gone are the handy keyboard overlays that MS supplied with their office products up to Office 4.2.
From the screen shots it seems MS haven't extended the Edge option to switch between vertical and horizontal tabs/menus.
>Note their reference to "a compatible handset", you'd expect that all 4G handsets would work.
I wonder if it has been extended, previously it was only handsets with EE branded firmware. Thus my Huawei P30 purchased from an approved EE reseller supports VoLTE out-of-the-box (on EE), whereas one that was originally locked to another network doesn't support VoLTE.
Mind you had slightly different problem with a bunch of alcatel 3T8 tablets donated by EE to a charity last April: according to Alcatel tech specifications they support VoLTE, however the EE variant doesn't...
We also know that when confronted with instructions and information via digital interface, that users of technology tend to skim over what is being communicated [see here].
Much work was done on the comparative readability of on-screen text with hardcopy in the 1990's. Not able to grab the paper I was looking for but in general on-screen documents were significantly less readable. So not only do people skim or ignore the Ts&Cs, even those who do skim them are likely to not have correctly read what they did read.
I drove one of these cars on an 'empty' motorway, the car will slowly oscillate within the lane. However, depending on where it is in its oscillation when you hit a change in road markings you can find yourself going up the exit ramp instead of remaining on the road...
>and the development team right the way up to the CEO and the major share holder all get to stand in the dock
No, they should be forced to stay in an isolation unit/hotel until the case gets to court, using a system similar to CoViD track and trace. I expect their appetite for mass deployment of unproven tech will be considerably abated.
I think they were starting from a slightly different place.
If you believe self-driving cars are the future then that means removing the driving seat and controls.
For this to happen we need "the world's most experienced driver taking you everywhere".
However, as you note ML (and AI) isn't all it is hyped up to be, thus true self-driving cars aren't going to be a reality anytime soon.
>The current situation where children are taught metric right through school, then have to self teach imperial, ..., is absurd
Totally agree, but then my early education was all imperial until 'decimalisation' at which point we all learnt the metric system and how to convert between systems.
In later life when I starting working with my older brother on cars and motorbikes, it was a small step to understand the difference between AF, BSF/Whitworth etc. This also prepared me for DIY plumbing, where it is important (if you want a water tight fit) to know whether you are dealing with metric, imperial or metric equivalent to imperial...
For a few years I regularly drove rental cars, whilst it was fun playing with the new toys, what quickly became clear, there were significant differences between systems that would lead to the sorts of results related here about the J3 > J5 section of the M3.
One of the simplest systems that vendors seem to consistently get wrong, is the automatic windscreen wipers. My current car just can't do intermittent or detect when the rain/spray has stopped and windsreen is dry. It also has problems with cloud bursts/motorway spray, deciding that a leisurely sweep is better than full speed - it is at times like this I yearn for the full manual control that I enjoyed on various cars up to circa 2010.
>I don't think this has anything to do with the EU
Yes, MS simply didn't want International Standards - much preferring their own de jure proprietary standard which even then they had problems maintaining consistency across products.
>Microsoft recommends not using the older formats.
That is expected, MS want you to pay for the new products.
>Our policy automatically rejects any attachments with .zip files, .doc, .xls, .ppt etc. and the new formats xlsm, docm etc. New formats, without macros, are the only ones allowed through the filter.
I assume you are applying your filter to both inbound and outbound email...
Bet your business users think IT are a bunch of idiots, plus customers/suppliers can't be happy given the large growth in electronic documents where email is a good enough carrier.
>Looking at the pictures in the linked story - the girls to look pretty similar
Similar in the sense they are both dark skinned and wearing glasses?
I hope this does go to court, but it needs a decent lawyer and legal team to force the vendor of the facial recognition system to attend and explain in full detail how their system arrived at the 97% match figure, ie. strip away the AI cloak mysticism.
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