* Posts by werdsmith

7096 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Feb 2011

Canadian owes bosses for 'time theft' after work-tracking app sinks tribunal bid

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Thinking Time

These time recording systems don’t really fit with many work processes. I wouldn’t be surprised if 90% or more use creativity to make them fit what is required.

Basecamp details 'obscene' $3.2 million bill that caused it to quit the cloud

werdsmith Silver badge

We went to cloud, major migration project, closed down the on prem data centre replaced with a comms cabinet.

Then when the real costs happened another major migration project, moved everything prod to co-lo. Kept cloud for dev/test environment, which is switched off for no cost at night and weekend.

Savings compared to the old cloud infrastructure are significant.

SpaceX tells astronomers: Fine, we'll try to stop Starlink spoiling stargazing sessions

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Figured Musk would

Send them into the local industrial estate to get a velvet black wrap, and deep tints. Den no one gunna mess wid dem innit.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: For what purpose??

https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/04/prehistoric_comet_makes_nakedeye_return/

https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/01/three_close_asteroids_discovered/

It’s not all about distant galaxies and new exoplanet discoveries.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: LEO is a very valuable space

Surface based astronomy will remain the overwhelming bulk of astronomy for the foreseeable future.

You only partly redeemed yourself by apologising for your lie.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: This is a worldwide issue

No, the rest of the world is not important unless it has something the US wants.

Surely you can't be serious: Airbus close to landing fully automated passenger jets

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: reducing the crew cost of operating the plane

As a pilot, I feel windshear as an increase in sink rate, a reduction in G which I presume my inner ear detects, then I add more throttle, a hand stays on the throttle the whole time in readiness. I would say that a sensor could also do that. Some places I approach and there is never any windshear, it is geographic conditions that produce it. For instance, approaching Luton from the west where there is a kind of cliff edge before the runway. I alway expect windshear and I'm ready for it.

Crosswinds. Well, pilots have their limits and so do the aircraft have a max demonstrated crosswind component. If I am going to be outside this on my approach then I just have to divert to a more into wind runway somewhere else. Same if I can't land due to visibility minima.

Maybe airports need more tarmac so one runway is always into wind.

I find there are few things more satisfying than a greaser on the centre line after an approach with loads of crab or slip.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: reducing the crew cost of operating the plane

In my day this kind of trickery was being tested with Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) for GPS. This is a ground based system that increases the usable accuracy of GPS. Autoland can only operate where the ground systems are in place and this is at major facilities that can justify it.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: reducing the crew cost of operating the plane

Bigger issue is ground taxi, as with AutoDriving Beta's too many random items moving around between rampies, service vehicles and other aircraft.

This is not a big problem with single pilot operations. Nobody is suggesting pilotless yet.

but if you did, then I presume the aircraft would be towed out to the runway hold point. There are already some trials going on towing the aircraft out to the hold in order to save the taxi fuel.

Self-driving car computers may be 'as bad' for emissions as datacenters

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Go restomod

I have a modern EV which can drive itself.

By strange coincidence everything works on this car too! Imagine that!

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Rare earth minerals extraction (cost, environment)

Old fashioned cars also use various kinds of battery and other materials that are of similar source to the ones that are being whinged about here.

Lots of work is going into improved energy storage density cells with an aim to avoid the use of these environmentally unsound materials.

This work is only happening now because it is being driven by the move to EV.

NASA overspent $15m on Oracle software because it was afraid an audit could cost more

werdsmith Silver badge

They have customers because the incredibly high cost is usually something that is dealt with at upper levels of management where all the morons are. In many cases their software does not offer value to a business where the benefit of using it is worth its cost. I have managed to help people get Oracle instances moved to Postgre, with better results in terms of performance, TCO and supportability.

I will not have anything tainted by the red monster anywhere near me. No MySQL, no Java, and no Oracle DB. I accept that I am missing out on the one thing I would be interested in - VirtualBox, but that is the cost of descumming.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Won't be the only ones.

If you agree to purchase a version of SQL Server then your licensing terms are the ones agreed at the time you purchase, they don't change next year if you are still using the same version. Nor do they change if you upgrade using Software Assurance.

You can still license Server+CAL or by core (in packs of 2 minimum 4) it hasn't really changed much recently except for the addition of pay as you go option.

Microsoft to offer unlimited time off for US staff

werdsmith Silver badge

4 weeks is only 20 days, that’s a very miserly allowance.

werdsmith Silver badge

here in teh USA you have to be paid for accrued but unused vacation time

I think that’s standard anywhere.

werdsmith Silver badge

Having a think about this, I have 30 days of leave plus public holidays. I use them all, any left at the end of the year I tag onto Christmas / New Year shutdown, have a 3 week break.

If I didn’t have that number 30 to aim at, maybe I would end up taking less days off.

I recall over hearing two ladies who worked as prototype wiring people, having a conversation: “I’ve still got three sick days left, I don’t when when I’m going to take them”. I think referring to her annual allocation of days that can be taken sick with full pay.

Fat EVs may cause 'more death on our roads' – watchdog

werdsmith Silver badge

Mine goes about 30% less distance on the tyres than I used to get with old fashioned cars, I guess due to both the weight and the torque.

Space startup ABL emulates Virgin Orbit failure by crashing

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Do I need a hard hat now?

None of the orbiting satellites escape the Earth's gravity.

Haiku beta 4: BeOS rebuild / almost ready for release / A thing of beauty

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Really good news!

I don’t think any ARM version exists yet, but this is a promising candidate to fit between RISC OS and Linux.

I’m guessing there is no GPU acceleration, and perhaps Haiku doesn’t need of for its already efficient gui, but video playback would benefit.

Microsoft to move some Teams features to more costly 'Premium' edition

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: vanilla

You sure you remember the 70s? Rum and Raisin, or choc mint both much older than that. Not to mention "Neapolitan" the stripey one, which means you could also have chocolate.

How to track equipped cars via exploitable e-ink platemaker

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Stick them on a Tesla.

“Four star” was banned in 2000 so that was a very old example of a Subaru Forester which first appeared in 1997. But I recall any Subaru EJ Boxer engine was very thirsty by European standards. Probably not bad compared to the average under endowed compensating Hemi driver.

I spy with my little Pi: Upgraded cameras for single board computer

werdsmith Silver badge

It’s the 3B+ on Notifiy me. 3B is still available. Clear your cache.

werdsmith Silver badge

3A and 3B are available as I write this at PiHut in the Uk.

PiHut also had all RAM variants of 4B as recently as 23rd December.

The supply is improving.

Virgin Orbit doesn't

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: On the positive side

Coming back down at hypersonic speed with the payload fairings off into the hard atmosphere would have made for an interesting couple of minutes.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Too much willy waving here

I don't think the unsuccessful launch is a such a big deal to us here, although the Virgin share price is now on a similar trajectory to the rocket.

The "historic" part of it is a silly stunt.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Just out of interest ...

The only British bit is partly Branson, I think most of it is UAE owned.

It's Branson being narcissistic, some desperate flag waving people and also a bit of drumming up business.

The same roadshow is also due in Brazil and Australia soon.

werdsmith Silver badge

If the fella is going to be using the road system in Wales then he will need a ferry boat across the Bristol Channel.

Going down the A30 in summer can sometimes take longer than a flight to Orlando.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Here we go, Gromit!

The successful landing was probably a bit harder than it could cope with causing the panel unfolding mechanism to fail.

werdsmith Silver badge

High inclination and slightly retrograde so it could come crashing down on the Canaries.

werdsmith Silver badge

It's a bit of a stretch to claim the launch is from British soil, when the first part is simply transporting the rocket to it's actual launch site over the Atlantic.

It’s using the Boeing as a first stage. Just like launches from Florida use a rocket as a first stage and then somewhere over the Atlantic it drops the first stage and then another booster actually takes the payload to orbit.

But this is just a team from the US using a runway in Cornwall for no actual pragmatic reason than a bit of flag waving.

werdsmith Silver badge

I love your whataboutery but I observed people trying to justify this stunt and come up with reasons that it’s a good idea without admitting they have been bought with subsidies and Richard wanted to do it for the sake of old Blighty and his personal glory.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Here we go, Gromit!

The first Black Arrow satellite launch attempt failed on a second stage problem, but they were ready to go again and successful within 2 months. I wonder if Virgin Orbit will be back for another go so quickly.

Virgin Orbit are planning on doing a similar stunt in Brazil and another in Australia so I am starting to feel like this is a travelling circus act.

werdsmith Silver badge

On the live stream it was fairly obvious something was wrong as around the end of the 2nd stage first burn and the start of the coasting phase, the telemetry showed it hadn’t reached orbital velocity, the altitude went down rapidly and it decelerated. It stopped showing descent and went to zero mph at 244,500 feet, presumably when it broke up. It took them 25 minutes after this to announce there was anomaly.

The live stream before that was off the scale bullshit with random Americans spewing disingenuous platitudes and Richard Branson wittering on about when the Virgin Records label signed the Rolling Stones.

Texts from your dog and brain-free astronomy: The best of the rest from CES

werdsmith Silver badge

I think it’s for taking photos.

I must admit I have a CCD eyepiece and a goto mount, and a carefully fettled Raspberry Pi so I can observe indoors on a 65 inch TV. Because the clearest nights are the coldest nights. Loads of people use setups like this, the idea is far from new. You can share near live images on the web. It’s not like astronomers are lesser astronomers because they book an observation from a robotic telescope on a mountain top in Tenerife or South America and collect their image next morning.

But Saturn just looks the same as the first time you saw it, and Jupiter, changes a bit and its Galilean satellites move about. Mars is very consistent . Nebulae don’t change much. Galaxies are fairly inert. The real variables are the observation conditions and the opportunities plus the occasional cometary visitor.

First satellite to be launched from European soil leaves Cornwall tonight

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Polar orbit

If you look at the map you can fly to any part of the north atlantic from Heathrow or Gatwick and launch for any inclination. That's not the matter in hand. It's technically not SSTO, the first stage is made by Boeing a long time ago.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Polar orbit

A big attraction of the Cornish site is pasties. There is no safe down range for orbital rocket launches from the airport for polar or other inclination. That would be the site off the north east of Scotland.

Here's how to remotely take over a Ferrari...account, that is

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Spying on Government Vehicles

A Chinese device found in a car.

Most electronic devices are made in China. If I bought one from banggood and put it in a government car, would it be relevant where it was made? An iPhone with find my friends enabled is a Chinese made tracking device

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Once upon a time.......

You don’t need to put them in faraday cage, the double lock or similar process, disables the keyless entry until you use it again. I think the early ones had a problem, but not for years now.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Pure BS and security is really only a PR problem

I have a connected car app/account and it is so secure that I can’t get into it myself.

It sends a code to the car which appears on the screen and it won’t work unless I put that code in and I can’t be bothered to do it again. So it just locks me out.

It was sort of useful if I couldn’t remember locking the car I could quickly check, but not that big a deal.

Cleaner ignored 'do not use tap' sign, destroyed phone systems ... and the entire building

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: University blues

How does Aston’s building compare to the wonderfully named Malbork Castle, which also claims the largest brick title?

Quantum entanglement discovery could enable futuristic comms tech, Nuclear physicists say

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Seek and Ye Shall Find, has forever been the case, has it not?

Why, oh why, isn't there a way for me to block posts from a selected individual?

A little bit of browser extension fettling should see you right.

NASA's latest AI will navigate the Moon using landmarks

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Armstrong and Aldrin were lost.

They plonked down a LRRR laser reflector as part of the ALSEP or EASEP science package.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: but I can see a slight flaw in this method

Yes, it will be shit using it on the far side.

Rust projects open to denial of service thanks to Hyper mistakes

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: So Rust is not memory safe then

The looking-over-their-shoulders C programmers will jump on anything like this to comfort themselves.

Cops chase Tesla driver 'dozing' with Autopilot on

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: A different perspective....

Tomatoes To mate ohs.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: A different perspective....

No, the steering weight is a well known hack. It’s not necessarily about having a nap.

It’s about not having to hold your arms up.

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Some clarifications to comments below

Secondly, this may help correct some of your stats, and that's just deaths alone.

That really is not much help.

werdsmith Silver badge

The article doesn't really say that he intended to sleep.

As Arm plays chicken with Qualcomm, both have a lot to lose

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Mature

I also predict that hardware people will extend RISC V implementations in a proprietary way in attempts to get a performance / market advantage.

This may lead to fragmentation that holds RISC V back, or if one comes to dominate then it will surpass ARM but put us back to square one with the proprietary ownership.

Tesla misses Q4 delivery expectations as stock keeps sliding

werdsmith Silver badge

Re: Tesla could be in real trouble

I have my second EV, it’s not a Tesla and it was expensive. But I haven’t got it for the economics, that is not the first consideration, I know it would be cheaper to drive an old fashioned petrol car. There is no economic justification claimed.

But there’s no way on Earth I would ever willingly go back to driving an old fashioned ICE powered car, the EV experience is just so much better for me. I also like that my engine isn’t adding to local air pollution.

The problem for Tesla is that there are better alternatives now, and the alternatives are improving still faster. When I was buying the first EV years ago, I considered Tesla but found better. For my next EV car, didn’t even consider Tesla.