Just wait 'til they fork it...
Posts by Pat Att
185 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Jul 2012
Realizing this is getting out of hand, Coq mulls new name for programming language
Google employee helped UK government switch from disastrous COVID-19 strategy, according to Dominic Cummings
Bitcoin is ‘disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization’ says famed investor Charlie Munger
Tuesday 4th May 2021 11:45 GMT
Re: Insert meme here
Gold is actually not that great a conductor. Yes, it's pretty good, but copper pisses all over it. Gold is used on connectors to stop them oxidising, so they remain able to be taken on and off without having to scrape through a whole load of rust (or verdigree) to get a connection.
Michael Collins, once the world's 'loneliest man,' is dead. If that name means little or nothing to you, read this
Over a decade on, and millions in legal fees, Supreme Court rules for Google over Oracle in Java API legal war
Openreach engineers vote to strike amid changes to job grading structure
Missing GOV.UK web link potentially cost taxpayers £50m as civil servants are forced to shuffle paper forms
With depressing predictability, FCC boss leaves office with a list of his deeds... and a giant middle finger to America
Backers of Planet Computers' Astro Slide 5G phone furious after shock specs downgrade
As UK breaks away from Europe, Facebook tells Brits: You'll all be Californians soon
Voyager 2 is back online after eight months of radio silence
South Park creators have a new political satire series with some of the best AI-generated deepfakes on the internet yet
First they came for chess, then Go... and now, oh for crying out loud, AI systems can beat us at curling
Exercise-tracking app Strava to give away data sweated out after four billion runs, rides and rambles
Safety driver at the wheel of self-driving Uber car that killed a pedestrian is charged with negligent homicide
Take your pick: 'Hack-proof' blockchain-powered padlock defeated by Bluetooth replay attack or 1kg lump hammer
Wednesday 16th September 2020 08:58 GMT
Re: Confessions of a bolt cutter
You may be right. The only sweepers I've seen though seem to have brushes with plastic bristles on. It's popular in the lock picking community to use the stainless steel strips found in wiper blades as tension tools, but I've not seen them used as picks. They might be a bit too thick, and they'd certainly need a handle of some kind added too.
Amazon spies on staff, fires them by text for not hitting secretive targets, workers 'feel forced to work through pain, injuries' – report
Wednesday 2nd September 2020 08:10 GMT
Re: If you do not like this ...
I agree about not buying from Amazon if you can.
I wanted to buy a Velux window opening stick. Amazon had the correct thing, but I looked around and found a small window company in the UK selling them for similar price (maybe a pound more or so), but who didn't mention their postage charge. So I emailed them asking what it was, and waited. Few days later I just bought from Amazon, as they didn't get back to me.
Trouble with Amazon is that they make it so easy to buy from.
Sick of AI engines scraping your pics for facial recognition? Here's a way to Fawkes them right up
Nominet shakes up system for expiring .uk domains, just happens to choose one that will make it £millions. Again
UK formally abandons Europe’s Unified Patent Court, Germany plans to move forward nevertheless
Wednesday 22nd July 2020 08:01 GMT
Re: What sensible patent regimes?
Mr Kroes, I don't know where you learnt your patent law, but you have it all wrong. You can't renew a patent every 20 years. After 20 year it dies and is free to use by anyone.
Please link to some of these patents that cover gibberish that you mention. Patents aren't the easiest of documents to read, but to successfully sue someone you have to show they are infringing the claims of the patent. If it's gibberish then nobody will be doing that.
You can't patent the idea without explaining how the invention can be made to function. The patent is not valid if that is the case.
There is a requirement that a patented idea works. And if there wasn't, and I had a patent for something that didn't work, then nobody would infringe it, and it would have no value.
You are correct that litigation is expensive (although you have exaggerated the costs). There is in the UK the IPEC that is a lower cost approach, and so is within the scope of many smaller businesses.
I get that you hate patents, but there's no need to come out with this nonsense about them.
CEO of motherboard maker MSI dies after plunging from headquarters' seventh-floor
Mixed signals? Yes and no: Analog Devices snaps up rival Maxim Integrated for $20.9bn
After 84 years, Japan's Olympus shutters its camera biz, flogs it to private equity – smartphones are just too good
CSI: Xiaomi. Snappy Redmi Note 9 Pro shows every fingerprint, but at least you get bang for your buck
Thursday 25th June 2020 07:40 GMT
Re: !!Stupid Question Alert!!
I think it's a reasonable question. Huawei made the mistake of being too successful, and hence economically threatening Apple, Cisco etc. in the USA, so Trump banned them. He says it's for security reasons of course, but I don't buy that personally.
Xiaomi will also be in the firing line if and when they are big enough, if it happens with Trump still in charge.
Blight the power: Jamming attack cripples wireless signals using clever reflective technology
Tuesday 2nd June 2020 11:01 GMT
It's passive in the sense that it's not generating any RF power of its own, and so is not detectable as a source of such power. A bit like how RFID tags in bank cards etc are passive - they modulate the impedance of the pickup coil, which is detectable by the transmit coil in the card reader, and so transmit energy without generating it. The term "semi-passive" is often used for such things.
Russia admits, yup, the Americans are right: One of our rocket's tanks just disintegrated in Earth's orbit
Author of infamous Google diversity manifesto drops lawsuit against web giant
The Great British anti-5G fruitcake Bakeoff: Group hugs, no guns, and David Icke
Academics demand answers from NHS over potential data timebomb ticking inside new UK contact-tracing app
So how do the coronavirus smartphone tracking apps actually work and should you download one to help?
Wanted: An exit strategy from the overt surveillance of smartphone contact tracing
Fitbit unfurls last new wearable before it's gobbled by Google, right on time for global pandemic lockdown
Short of tech talent to deal with novel coronavirus surge? Let us help – with free job ads on The Register
Asterix co-creator Albert Uderzo dies aged 92
Brexit Britain changes its mind, says non, nein, no to Europe's unified patent court – potentially sealing its fate
Windows 7 will not go gentle into that good night: Ageing OS refuses to shut down
US government grounds drone fleet (no, not the military ones with Hellfire missiles) over Chinese espionage fears
Well, well, well. Fancy that. UK.gov shelves planned pr0n block
Twitter: No, really, we're very sorry we sold your security info for a boatload of cash
This won't end well. Microsoft's AI boffins unleash a bot that can generate fake comments for news articles
Auditors bemoan time it takes for privatised RAF pilot training to produce combat-ready aviators
1Gbps, 4K streaming, buffering a thing of the past – but do Brits really even want full fibre?
Thursday 8th August 2019 09:11 GMT
Most don't need it ...
Apart from a few people (who will be present in bigger numbers on this site I suspect), it's not currently necessary. If your current link can provide a couple of streaming services and a bit of browsing without falling over then that suits most families.
I think 5G is a bit pointless for most people for similar reasons.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
