* Posts by John Brown (no body)

25250 publicly visible posts • joined 21 May 2010

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America was getting on top of its electronic voting machine security – then suddenly... A wild pandemic appears

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: I don't understand how you can have trouble printing enough ballots

"No doubt there will be at least a few states where he's in the lead on election night, but loses once all the absentee ballots are tallied."

Ah, something else different. Here in the UK, postal votes are sent in advance and counted on the night with all the rest. Not hours or days later.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: I don't understand how you can have trouble printing enough ballots

We still do manual counting of ballots here in the UK and one of our local cities, pop. 340,000 is usually first in with their results, their record being 48 minutes after the polls closed. The election is usually a done deal within 4-5 hours of the polls closing, only the some of the more outlying Highlands and Islands constituencies coming in late due to obvious logistics issues.

All it takes is logistics and people. Nothing complex. On the other hand, we tend to hold only one election at a time. We tend not to vote for our local Sheriff or dog-catcher on the same ballot.

Google to pull plug on Play Music, its streaming service that couldn't beat Spotify, in favour of YouTube Music

John Brown (no body) Silver badge
Coat

"whatever next!"

Drop another platform?

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Luddite

"it rearranged a bunch of albums incorrectly"

Sometimes, Albums, playlist, tv series etc are released in a different order in different parts of the world for various reasons. I find online source designed to list album tracks or TV series by adding metadata etc are invariably based on what was released in the USA and sometimes orders stuff for me in ways I don't it to or adds incorrect metadata to what it deems is the correct track based on the track number.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"Search defaults to online media rather than your library, and then when you switch to your uploads, it lists all the music in a random order. Trying to actually find the album is a nightmare."

It's funny how open source s/w such as Kodi allow you to select how things are sorted or displayed, have multiple options for showing lists in different ways and many, many complete new skins to changes things so you get pretty much exactly what YOU want in a media player. But most of the paid ones and ALL of the branded ones such as from Google,m Netflix, Amazon etc, with their huge dev and advertising budgets can't seem to offer even the most basic user customisation options. It's their way or the highway.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Play Music App

"So what happens to the Play Music App, in that case?"

It's disabled on my phone. I'm hoping that a Google Play update will delete iot and give me the space back

(Yeah, yeah, I know!!)

Self-driving car supremo Anthony Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in the clink for stealing trade secrets from Google's Waymo

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: All for nought

Ah, ok then. I must have missed that detail in all the reporting on that crash.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: All for nought

FYI, it was the Volvos built-in auto braking system that was disabled so as not to interfere with their self-driving systems brake control.

NSA warns that mobile device location services constantly compromise snoops and soldiers

John Brown (no body) Silver badge
Holmes

I also wonder how the tin-foil hat brigade will react now its "official"

I'm buying shares in Bacofoil :-)

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"and that's a major step up from the 1980s when all you had, best case, was that single desk phone!"

And not all were important enough to warrant a phone on their desk unless that was part of the job, even that recently.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"I'd be "rather irritated" if I had to be out of touch from family, friends, people who service the car, people I buy stuff from, etc, etc, etc for 10 for 11 hours a day.

So? It's barely a generation since that was the norm. I understand your point, I just don't thinks it's as big a problem as you seem to do.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"And of course that's not possible with lots of newer devices. Taking the SIM out may help."

To echo the first quoted sentence in relation to the second quoted sentence, "And of course that's not possible with lots of newer devices." because they use software SIMs. Not that it matters, because a SIMless phone can still make emergency calls therefore it's still connected and identifiable by the IMEI.

China slams President Trump's TikTok banned-or-be-bought plan in the US

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Now is probably a good time to ask about intentions before the security letters arrive on the door mat.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Right

"So China bans FaceBook, Google and Twitter but the USA banning TikTok is unfair and goes against market transparency."

Correct. Hypocricy on both sides. But China have laws on censorship which Google et al were unable to follow properly with filtering and take downs, so got told to follow the law or get out. The USA is being far more blatant. TokTok are not apparently breaking any laws but are being threatened spuriously anyway.

As people often say when defending Amazon, Google et al tax payments, if you want things to change, make the laws that you need to get the change.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Counting the seconds to the end,..TikTokTikTok..

"China have always been very restrictive of letting foreign companies into their market, and even those that jump the hurdles and submit to the restrictions find themselves in a biased market."

The Chinese ruling elite have long memories and long term plans. The remember The Opium Wars. That's a big reason to distrust outside powers aside from politics and dogma.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Fate of UK TikTok?

Makes you wonder if that's the crux of it all. He didn't like the idea of TikTok world HQ being anywhere other than the US, nothing to do with China at all. That was just a convenient hook.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Fate of UK TikTok?

Because, for the sake of appearances, the UK follows the US at distance of at least 10 paces.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"all the big social media platforms are already owned by US companies."

..or have been/will be bought up by cash rich US tech giants. We've already seen Google and Facebook buy up competitors putatively to operate them, then shutting them down because "we wanted the IP and technology" making it harder to even begin to compete and knowing you'll get stamped on if it looks like you might succeed. And now we have Bezos admitting that Amazon staff get to see ALL the data for sales through their site so they can decide what to sell, and for how much, in direct competition with their own sellers/marketplace shops, the very people who made Amazon what it is.

This is the downside of free market capitalism with little to no regulation or oversight. Monopolistic behaviour and abuse.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: tit for tat

Trumps response to the EU and the near monopoly of US "big tech" and data transfers to the US makes for an interesting comparison. Maybe the EU should be threatening Google.ie, Google.co.uk etc with being banned or sold to "native" companies. :-)

You think the UK coronavirus outbreak was bad? Just wait till winter: Study shows test-and-trace system is failing

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Really?

Sure it isn't! The statement I responded to quite clearly stated that a vaccine may offer NO immunity. That's NOT a vaccine. It's a placebo.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: COVID is nothing compared to being hacked to death with a machete over the last tin of beans.

You are failing to take into account the fact that even with lockdowns and/or other quite severe restrictions, many places saw their medical systems almost at the breaking point. Without temporary restrictions, the death rates would have been much higher due to lack of ICU beds, lack of ventilators etc, Just look at the USA today. They talk of a "second wave", but from what I'm seeing, they are still not managing to escape the first wave. It's still ongoing and some states are again almost at breaking point.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: We are not discussing pneumonic plague, Ebola, or smallpox

He was referring to my 1.7 million figure based on Long John Silvers "death rate" and his suggestion covid-19 should be allowed to "run rampant".

I too am shocked at the downvoters who clearly think 1.7 million deaths is acceptable. It may even be significantly higher since allowing it to "run rampant" would mean people who might be saved in hospital won't be due to the sheer number of cases and ICU availability. This isn't even "science". It's not even maths. It's basic arithmetic FFS.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: We are not discussing pneumonic plague, Ebola, or smallpox

"As of July 10, the USA CDC regarded 0.65% to be the current best estimate of 'Infection Fatality Ratio' (IFR, aka case-fatality). "

Total population of the USA: 328,000,000

You want about 80% to get infected to get herd immunity: 262,400,000

Death rate quoted by you, 0.65% : Resulting deaths: 1,705,600

You happy with that? 10x more than the current number of deaths?

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: 6th week of deaths below 5 year average!

"Most people had the infection already.

Total confirmed cases is about 300K. Even if you assume the actual real life figure is ten time greater, that's still a hell of a long way from "Most people had the infection already." Maybe we guess a 100x greater? That's still only half the population.

I'd be interested in where you get that from.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Really?

I'm not fully sure which side you are arguing for. Too many people in the world like Donald Trump sounds like a good argument for a killfile :-)

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Really? - masks are not what they seem

Clearly you don't understand the point. The mask isn't to protect YOU from others. It's protect others from YOU. ie it reduces the spread of virus through breathing, talking or coughing by someone who may be infected. If you're not infected, wearing a mask won't do you any harm but if you ARE infected and don't know it yet, it could be saving others.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: COVID is nothing compared to being hacked to death with a machete over the last tin of beans.

"Given that transmission rates are supposed to be extremely low for those without symptoms, and symptoms are extremely rare in the young, we should NEVER HAVE CLOSED THE SCHOOLS."

Does that plan involve teachers spending all day in HazMat suits? Likewise, have you cracked the problem of identifying just how immune a recovered patient is and for how long? No one else seems to have that cracked yet and people all over the world are working on that problem. Write it up and we'll see about getting your Nobel Prize to you ASAP.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Really?

"even then we dont know if it will offer any immunity once made."

If it doesn't offer any immunity, it's not a vaccine!!

Bored binge-watchers bork beleaguered broadband by blasting bandwidth: Global average speeds down 6.31%

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: The death of broadcast TV?

That would be all of them then?

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: The death of broadcast TV?

"I see it in my own household, where the default is Netflix or Prime and the only thing we still watch at the programmed time on TV is the news."

It's the opposite here. We set series links on VM across our subscribed channels and that covers much of what we watch. We have a bottom-end Netflix sub, but I find that after a few months of watching stuff, it rapidly tails off to "not much new that we want". A while back, my wife took a free months trial of Amazon Prime. Hated their interface, not only hard to browse, but it's interspersed with rows of of stuff not available without paying more. Although, like you, we rarely watch "live" other than the news.

Aviation regulator outlines fixes that will get the 737 MAX flying again

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Hmm.

"But I'm guessing China is likely to play a joker against America's Trump card (see what I did there? ;-) ) in trade negotiations and refuse."

It wouldn't surprise me, in the current climate between the USA and China, especially if it worsens any further, if China licenced a single 737MAX to fly to China where it can then undergo their own flight worthiness exam "in person".

Trump bans Feds from contracting H-1B workers and makes telehealth the new normal

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

I wonder if...

I wonder if the Trump Org will stop importing cheap unskilled labour now, considering the numbers of unemployed US citizens?

Co-inventor of the computer mouse, William English, dies

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Trackerball?

"a pen sized one to work on a desk."

That idea did make it to market eventually. The "nib" was a lot more than pen sized though and a bit unwieldy compared to using what was now the accepted standard of a mouse.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge
Pint

Re: Revolutionary

The mouse that roared?

Microsoft confirms pursuit of TikTok after Satya Nadella chats to Donald Trump

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Completing these discussions no later than September 15, 2020

When MS bought Hotmail, it took them YEARS to wean Hotmail from BSD and *nix and onto Outlook mail server, and then it failed frequently because Outlook couldn't scale that well. So, even of MS do get to buy the US operations of TikToik, what are they getting? A licence to use TikTok in the US or the whole kit and kaboodle including the servers in China?

Amazon gets green-light to blow $10bn on 3,000+ internet satellites. All so Americans can shop more on Amazon

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"finalization of its space station design"

“It is further ordered that upon finalization of its space station design and prior to initiation of service, Kuiper must seek and obtain the Commission’s approval of a modification containing an updated description of the orbital debris mitigation plans for its system,”

Wait, what? Space station design? Did someone let slip the Top Secret behind the cover story?

Lizards for lunch? Crazy tech? Aliens?! Dana Dash: First Girl on the Moon is perfect for the little boffin-to-be in your life

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: An interesting review

The name "Dr Cavor" and the overall outline of the story reminds me strongly of The First Men In The Moon.

Does the story involve an invention of Dr Cavor called Cavorite and is it an anti-gravity element?

First rule of Ransomware Club is do not pay the ransom, but it looks like Carlson Wagonlit Travel didn't get the memo

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Just make paying a ransom a criminal offence

Agreed, except that across the EU, GDPR comes into play. Don't report the breach and the fine could be more than the ransom you already paid.

Elite name on Brit scene sponsors retro video games preservation project at the Centre for Computing History

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Screenshot

"MS DOS version.... EGA.... ick"

Not even that good. The screen shot is 320x200 4 colour CGA. Not sure if there was an EGA version but if there was it would 16 colour 640x350.

Burn baby burn, plastic inferno! Infosec researchers turn 3D printers into self-immolating suicide machines

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: old story is new again

Ditto, never actually on fire, but paper wrapped around the fuser all brown and crispy and flaking into bits that had to be cleaned out. Also, once had to throw away a fuser when dipstick tried to print onto an A4 OHP sheet not rated for laser/photocopier use.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: For want of a nail (thermal cutout actually)

"They cost no more than a couple of dollars in one-off quantities (much less in bulk). Obviously the makers didn't think of this."

The software thermal cut off probably cost 10s of $ at most for a one off and then can be replicated for free in every model ever produced. I suspect the makers very much did think about this.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge
Coat

Re: Hardware failsafes?

You've not the new Origami printers?

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Is this really news ?

"So, this is not just a 3D printer issue."

Not so long ago, many homes had internet connected CRT devices, ie computer monitors. Malicious software could play with the frequencies and set them on fire too, so no, it's not new at all. I never heard of anyone who did it though.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Since when is a 3D printer a HOME appliance?

Take a look at aldi.co.uk.

FWIW, the middle aisle is all non-food. Range changes constantly. There's regular specials (Thurs and Sun) which often includes electricals/electronics, cycling gear, camping gear, hobby stuff, pretty much anything really, often seasonal related. I got my first breadmaker machine from there about 10 years ago. Cheap and cheerful, but usually good enough considering the price.

Same applies to Lidl (if you have them over there too)

Dutch Gateway store was kept udder wraps for centuries until refit dug up computing history

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Cow boxes

Ah, Escom, like Gateway, also a buyer of Amiga.

'I'm telling you, I haven't got an iPad!' – Sent from my iPad

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"I have upvoted, but only with reluctance as this story of somebody attempting to cover their own mistakes by vociferously lying to put the blame on others, being proved wrong and still rewarded for it saddens me. The one bright note is being able (twice) to pull out unambiguous proof to the contrary and have it believed."

Sounds like she was demoted from front line teaching to a simple and basic admin role.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Which is why I always turn off email sigs...

Then they should go back to law school. The act of forwarding is "making a copy", something very different to using a vinyl record as a Frisbeetm

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Which is why I always turn off email sigs...

"Pfft. I got a Cycling Proficiency Certificate in the 1960s. "

Pfft! I took and passed the Advanced Cycling Proficiency Certificate too. Wimp!

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Which is why I always turn off email sigs...

"How's the photocopier meant to copy that shade of blue? So inconsiderate of them."

You probably don't want an exact copy of certain shades of blue, especially if of the intelligent shade.

Voyager 1 cracks yet another barrier: Now 150 Astronomical Units from Sol

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

POWER RECEIVED -155.86 dBm (2.59 x 10-22 kW)

KW? Is that for standard comparison with other signals? Or should it be 2.59 x 10-19 W

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