* Posts by Raphael

155 publicly visible posts • joined 8 Jun 2011

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Yes, I did just crash that critical app. And you should thank me for having done so

Raphael

I may have told this story before. But many moons ago I was working for a largish international company (offices in NZ, Australia, the UK and Canada). An engineering intern had been allowed near the internet and read about the latest computer virus spreading around the internet.

Armed with this dangerous knowledge the intern decided he needed to warn everyone in the company. Instead of using some of the distribution lists (the memory is lacking as to whether or not he had permissions), he added every single person in the company to the To field.

This made the email about 2MB in size with all names added. Which meant the mail servers got hit with about 2GB of emails. Which they did cope with.....until a number of helpful folk hit Reply All. After which the mail servers expelled excrement and fell over taking most of the network down as they tried to handle the load.

The end of classic Outlook for Windows is coming. Are you ready?

Raphael

I work with State and Local government departments. all of them have COM add-ins that copy emails into their Electronic Document Management systems.

Even basic ones store these as a .msg file.

This could run afoul with a LOT of laws around records management.

AI comes for jobs at studio of American filmmaker Tyler Perry

Raphael

Re: So what's new?

AI will end up making such homogenous lumps of films that current Hallmark Christmas movies seem like varied well thought out scripts

US cities are going to struggle to green up their act by 2050

Raphael

Re: Chicago is South of Rome

And NZ's antipode is in Spain.

Apple sets new 16,000-foot iPhone drop test after 737 fuselage fail

Raphael

We've reached out to see if the iMaker has any closer-to-Earth drop test data but haven't heard back.

The chaps at How Ridiculous did a 1000ft drop of an iPhone11, a Samsung S10 and an old Nokia 3310

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2xGzHjYCcY

Uncle Sam will pay for your big ideas to end AI voice-cloning fraud

Raphael

I watched a Youtube Law stream a while ago, and the one lawyer does Family Law and was pointing out what a nightmare this is. You can relatively easily use AI to fake up a call from an ex having them say all sorts of nasty things. and you could probably get around any watermarks by using a crappy speaker to play it and then record from there. Now you have to try and prove that your client didn't say what was on the recording.

Superuser mostly helped IT, until a BSOD saw him invent a farcical fix

Raphael

in South Africa, the 3½-inch floppy was called a stiffy.

Musk floats idea of boat mod for Cybertruck

Raphael

Clarkson, Hammond and May did cross the Channel in a ute with an outboard attached.

To infinity and ... just over the Atlantic

Raphael

Re: Launch, yes. Make it to orbit, no.

I miss Lester Haynes.

Raphael

Re: Worth pausing and remembering ...

Angolan, no. but there was the Zambian one in the 60's

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/zambian-space-programme

after all rolling prospective "afronauts" down a hill in an old oil drum is the best way to training them

China's SpaceX wannabe recycles a rocket after just 38 days

Raphael

Re: "I" stuff

not to mention that Cisco had the iPhone years before Apple wanted the name

Ford SYNC 3 infotainment vulnerable to drive-by Wi-Fi hijacking

Raphael

Re: Dumb cars...

yep, while I like some of the new features, I do miss my old Mini where everything was simple (I even fixed an electrical fault once with a small piece of wire). You just had to remember to have a plastic bag over the distributor cap to make sure no water got in.

Never mind room temperature, LK-99 slammed as 'not a superconductor at all'

Raphael

Re: Which does raise the question...

the chap who made the video has apparently come forward and said that he faked it all.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/lk-99-video-fraud-taken-down

UK watchdog reopens consultation on Microsoft's bid for Activision Blizzard

Raphael

Re: They will get it

They would have to try really hard to be worse than Blizzard is right now.

The choice: Pay BT megabucks, or do something a bit illegal. OK, that’s no choice

Raphael

Re: QWERTZ/QWERTY.

I use the MS one at home, and the nice Logitech one at work (due to a wrist injury from a fall, and 3 surgeries to try fix it, I get sore if I have to use a flat keyboard)

Producers allegedly sought rights to replicate extras using AI, forever, for just $200

Raphael

this may be one of the reasons why the US Supreme Court recently ruled against the Andy Warhol estate that Warhol's painting of a photo of Prince was a violation of the Photographer's copyright (as it was used for Financial Gain).

I am sure the copyright cases against OpenAI by Sarah Silverman et al. will be citing this case.

Microsoft, OpenAI sued for $3B after allegedly trampling privacy with ChatGPT

Raphael

"citing The Register's March 18, 2021 special report on the subject."

Yep, you lads are never going to get replies from the MS PR department

Can noise-cancelling buds beat headphones? We spent 20 hours flying to find out

Raphael

"to the Galaxy Buds I recently washed (dammit) and broke"

I did the same recently to my Buds Plus. managed to get them, and the case, open cleaned and dried out and working again like a charm.

Texas judge demands lawyers declare AI-generated docs

Raphael

Re: AI Judges

Don't know. I was listening to a lawyer who is also a youtube (Good Lawgic) and he asked ChapGPT to provide the legal precedents for a case he had coming up. ChatGPT cited 5 cases, and 3 didn't actually exist.

Logitech, iFixit to offer parts to stop folks binning their computer mouse

Raphael

I use a Logitech MX Ergo trackball...I find the left click lasts me about 2 years (about to buy my third one) before it starts doing silly things. (double-clicking on a single click, dropping the mouse down when dragging etc).

being able to repair it would be great.

Curiosity gets interplanetary software patch for better driving and more on Mars

Raphael

Re: Eurpean format numbers?

My old high school Computer Science teacher (in the mid to late 1990's) always taught us that if a software program couldn't on a 1.44MB floppy disk it was badly written.

Boeing's first-ever crewed mission in Starliner ISS spacecraft delayed to late July

Raphael

I do appreciate them taking the extra time to do the extra checks, after all, it's not exactly something you want to be a "measure once, cut twice" scenario.

Microsoft and GM deal means your next car might talk, lie, gaslight and manipulate you

Raphael
Terminator

I wonder which would make the better AI driving companion persona, KITT or GLaDOS?d

ChatGPT, write a report about database glitches that crashed you today

Raphael

Is Zuckerberg essentially painting a future that will be AI personas messaging each other and carrying on without any human involvement?

No, working in IT does not mean you can fix anything with a soldering iron

Raphael

Re: Customer pushback

using my extensive knowledge from way too many hours playing Surviving Mars.

Making the fuel is the easy part.

SOFIA observatory's last hurrah set back by damage from high winds

Raphael

I saw it at the airport when I was in Christchurch last month, during that extreme weather.

Footnote: The weather played merry hell with our long-awaited holiday we were in Christchurch for. Couldn't get to some places due to blizzards and then major flooding a week later.

Microsoft: You own the best software keyboard there is. Please let us buy it

Raphael

Swiftkey is still my default Android keyboard. I can't recall exactly when I bought it, but If I recall correctly I started using it on my original Galaxy S.

Is it decadent that I use four different computers each day, at different times?

Raphael

Re: Love it!

I'm also on my third one (left the first on a plane, and then a couple of years later did the same with it's replacement). My kindle goes with me everywhere.

Raphael

Re: No headphone jack?

I have an older pair of bluetooth headphones connected to my kindle for audio books.

Even the cheapest model of Kindle now has it.

From the studio that brought you 'Mortal Wombat' comes 'Pernicious Possum'

Raphael

It's a pet named Mrs Scoby Lunchbox

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/pet-possum-mrs-scoby-lunchbox-exposed-as-the-blacks-rd-ripper/CUWNWUFLYUVFJUCXQCUS4VBEIQ/

I have a mate who used to practice his target shooting (was on the NZ air rifle team) by shooting the possums at the local golf course. He used make a fair bit of the fur (about NZ$100/kg)

Northrop Grumman throws hat in the ring to design NASA's next-gen Lunar Terrain Vehicle

Raphael

don't they have a good one

There was a Top Gear while the trio were still hosting where James May test drove a lunar rover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQFdEB8jARY

It started at Pixar. Now it's the Apple-backed 3D file format viewed as HTML of metaverse

Raphael

Re: The metaverse can kiss my balls*

Wasn't there an episode of Sliders where they ended up in a dystopic reality where everyone was plugged into their VR thinking things were great, but in reality were slaves living in squalor.

Ouch! When the IT equipment is sound, but the setup is hole-y inappropriate

Raphael

I do similar for audio cables with the Church sound setup.

Microsoft customers locked out of Teams, Office, Xbox, Dynamics – and Azure Active Directory breakdown blamed

Raphael

Re: I Hope El Reg Stays on This

yes, it has caused minor panic when we suddenly could not find any of our resources

What happens when cancel culture meets Adolf Hitler pareidolia? Amazon decides it needs a new app icon

Raphael

Adolf Hitler killed himself in 1945 having been responsible for the death of millions as the leader of Germany's Nazi party. He had a small rectangular mustache.

What a bizarre way to start the article. you make it sound like the reason he killed himself was because he was "responsible for the death of millions". I think the reason he killed himself is he was petrified at what the Russians would do to him if caught alive.

I work therefore I ache: Logitech aims to ease WFH pains with Ergo M575 trackball mouse

Raphael

I'm on my second MX Ergo, the first lasted me just over two years.

https://www.logitech.com/en-nz/products/mice/mx-ergo-wireless-trackball-mouse.910-005180.html

I have a dodgy wrist (TFCC tear and 3 surgeries) and it, along with a MS Ergonomic keyboard, means I can use a PC for more than an hour without needing lots of painkillers.

This PDP-11/70 was due to predict an election outcome – but no one could predict it falling over

Raphael

Re: The elevator did it

In about '99 I used to own an old Mini, and when I used to drive to visit my girlfriend (now wife) out at her folks farm, they could tell when I was about half a kilometre away because a short in the distributor cap would cause interference on their TV.

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

Raphael

Re: Moderately aggravating

Plex account and a home media server.

That's the approach I am taking.

The show Musk go on: Tesla defies Silicon Valley coronavirus lockdown order, keeps Fremont factory open

Raphael

I'm not a huge fan of Musk, but he's right, the panic over Covid-19 is dumb.

I'm not saying we shouldn't be cautious or that we shouldn't be following the restrictions, but the complete plonkers cleaning out the shops and generally behaving like morons is dumb.

Theranos vampire lives on: Owner of failed blood-testing biz's patents sues maker of actual COVID-19-testing kit

Raphael

Re: That $11,000 valve story

Except the story comes out of Italy and the litigious maker of the valve is based in Luxembourg.

So nothing to do with the US and their medical costs.

(and I'm a Kiwi, living in Middle Earth, so no dog in that fight)

Stop us if you've heard this one before: HP Inc rejects Xerox's $36.5bn buyout plan as takeover saga drags on

Raphael

won't someone think about Canon :P

I also read yesterday that Canon has stated that if the Xerox/HP merger were to happen, they would end their 35 year relationship with the company. That would remove about 14% of HP's sales.

Source: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-deals/Canon-to-cut-ties-with-HP-if-Xerox-takes-over

Dead or alive, you're camming with me, says RoboPup: Bomb squad hires Boston Dynamics Spot to snoop on suspects, packages

Raphael

This one was begging for a link to the new Bosstown Dynamics video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3RIHnK0_NE

BOFH: Trying to go after IT's budget again?

Raphael

Many moons ago I worked for a South African forestry company, Sappi, shortly before I left, they inked a deal with Volvo where people buying a Volvo would have their carbon offset by Volvo paying Sappi some money for a tree they were already going to plant....

IBM stands for I Block Money, says sales rep: Big Blue sued yet again by its own staff over 'missing' commissions

Raphael

Re: IBM ....

Have an upvote for the Schlock Mercenary ref.

IIRC Howard Taylor used to work for IBM

Microsoft explains self-serve Power platform's bypassing of Office 365 admins to cries of 'are you completely insane?'

Raphael

Many moons ago

back when I was a junior dev in South Africa I worked for a large forestry company. This company had a lot of research staff who liked to fiddle.

One several occasions we would have this scenario: there would an MS Access db application that one of the researchers had cobbled together to help him in his day to day work. He would then share this with his colleagues. And in some cases the researcher would have moved on to a new job, shuffled off from this mortal coil, or simply forgot what was happening in the back ground of the app

Then suddenly IT would get a support ticket as something had gone wrong, and as the whole department was now using this Access App it was mission critical.

Ok, where is the documentation? What's that.

Ok, what does it do in the background? Not sure (often some very complicated modelling).

Do you really need it? Yes!

And so a rewrite of the MS Access App into Oracle and .NET1.1 would start.

My boss eventually banned all users from having MS Access.

HP to hike upfront price of printer hardware as ink biz growth runs dry

Raphael

The HP Toner I bought this week has a shipping label for recycling in the box....BUT it's only good in the USA, so pretty useless here in New Zealand

MacOS wakes to a bright Catalina sunrise – and broken Adobe apps

Raphael

Re: Groundhog Day for Apple...

My dad is a little upset his 20 year old copy of Corel Wordperfect 8 seems to have stopped working on Win10 1903.

(the save throws a missing dll error)

Hey, I wrote this neat little program for you guys called the IMAC User Notification Tool

Raphael

back in South Africa

When Technikon Natal merged with ML Sultan, they had a submission process for the new name. The Dean of Engineering (a Sea Captain) suggested Southern Hemisphere Institute of Technology.

His suggestion made it almost to the final round of decisions before someone on the Council noticed the acronym....

BOFH: We must... have... beer! Only... cure... for... electromagnetic fields

Raphael

Methinks Simon has been having to listen to the numpties who live up the Coromandel who recently, successfully, protested against the construction of a new cell phone tower (regular 4G, not even 5G).

Eight-hour comms lags and shock discoveries: 30 years after Voyager 2 visited gas giant Neptune

Raphael

Re: Bah!

But it will confuse the hell out of the Beetle Overlords whilst they try figure out how we achieved it all.

now to go dig up that dinosaur fossil holding the "End Nuclear Testing Now" placard....

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