* Posts by DropBear

4733 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Mar 2013

Rooting your Android phone? Google’s rumbled you again

DropBear
WTF?

Re: This is not...

"If you modify the gas and electrical installations in your home don't be surprised if the utilities decline to offer you continued service. You can do what you want to things you own, but you can't do that and expect other organisations to support you in it."

So I guess it's perfectly fine if my bank won't let me do internet purchases from home unless I install THEIR OS on my PC and promise to never ask for the admin credentials...? What sort of fucked up world are we live in again, sorry?

Microsoft sinks to new depths with underwater data centre experiment

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Why put it all below water?

Now that you mention it, lighthouses sound like a perfect fit for the form factor of a bunch of stacked Crays...

Chip company FTDI accused of bricking counterfeits again

DropBear
FAIL

Somebody at FTDI seems awfully intent on shooting themselves in the other foot. If this is true (and I fully expect it is) it just shows they learned nothing the last time around: they're "sorry that we got offended about them being assholes", not "sorry about being assholes", and are actively looking for ways to keep being assholes having perceived that being their God-Given Right as merciless avengers toting a Flaming Sword Of Justice or something. Good for them - I swore never to use an FTDI chip ever again in a design if I can help it the last time around...

Brit airline pilots warn of drone menace

DropBear
Facepalm

"It also wants "technology to stop drones from being able to fly in areas where they could meet commercial traffic to be routinely fitted to the devices"."

Yes! Because compulsory backdooring encryption will absolutely thwart those evil bastards who just roll their own oh terribly sorry, wrong thread...

DropBear
Facepalm

Re: Registration will not help

And what will you be transmitting - ultra-wide-band noise? My 10cm-wide "don't take it outside unless you're crazy" nano-drone theoretically operating at "2.4GHz" skips around 16 different frequencies many times each second (exactly to help with interference) - and which exactly those are is randomized every time I turn on the transmitter...

BOFH: In-depth IT training needs a single-malt distillery

DropBear

a) all hobby-sold solder I've _ever_ seen is still very much leaded (unless you take pains to explicitly order lead-free)

b) what is this nonsense about _removing_ solder to desolder a chip? You _add_ solder until it's a continuous molten blob that releases all pins at once on one side - then the other (to be honest though - not feeling like lifting pads and burning a hole through the PCB all the way to China? Just use Chipquik...).

SpaceX breaks capsule 'chute world record

DropBear
Trollface

Re: But why are they all red and white?

Well, for one, they're clearly missing the central blue disc with fifty small stars...

'Printer Ready'. Er… you actually want to print? What, right now?

DropBear

Re: I can point you to some code

"able to trace it through without a color printer"

...wait, source code can actually be printed...? Hmmm. Nobody told me of this before...

The monitor didn't work but the problem was between the user's ears

DropBear
Facepalm

Tune in same time next week...

...for the true tale of the "more magic!" switch connected with a single wire that could bring down mighty servers...!

DropBear
WTF?

Re: I used to think 'the clearner' was urban myth...

"There's a reason for separating computer power from 'general use' power"

Yup, and it's all in your head. Modern switching supplies don't give a flying fart about the "quality" of what comes in, within astonishingly liberal limits. You don't necessarily want to weld right next them, but minor disturbances just don't matter. Go on, tell me with a straight face you have never seen the lights actually flicker but the PC soldier on as if nothing happened...

AI no longer needs to fake it. Just don't try talking to your robots

DropBear

Re: Actually ...

"Have you not come across Alistair Dabbs before?"

Oh, but I have. The questions that come to mind are

1) Who are you? and

2) What did you do with the real Alistair Dabbs?

DropBear

Indeed. Taking a good hard look at the countless programmers slowly abandoning their quite often highly useful open source software projects or the countless artists taking ever longer and longer "breaks" from their free-to-view but quite often award-winning webcomics just because "bills needs to be paid" is enough to make one lose faith in the future of humanity, at least based on the current economic model. There are more people who yearn to create awesome things but lack the time to do it than stars in the known universe. Oh, I know there would be even more who would just sit back and watch Youtube - but expecting everyone to "go be all they can be" is ridiculous anyway. At any rate, inability to occupy yourself productively or at least pleasurably tells a lot more about you than the alleged perils of not being chained day in and day out to some soul-crushing "job".

We Googled the ex-Google guy and Google said he was clean, says Wikimedia

DropBear

Re: Love it..

Not all that surprising. You become a cop so you get to decide which laws you deign to obey (if any). You go to work at Google to get to keep your privacy...

OnePlus ends rationing. You can now buy its phones just like that!

DropBear

"usually somewhere that knows how to put enough people on the staff to deal with the number of customers you have at that time"

You must live in a truly magical place indeed. Not to put too fine a point on burger joints (although I've never seen an idle clerk in any of those either) but as a more real-life example, I don't think I've ever been in any supermarket that was staffing more than _at most half_ the actual number of checkout tills that were needed at that specific moment for a vaguely civilized experience (out of the myriad more tills they had sitting empty and sad)...

Samsung: Is gadget lust still a thing in 2016? Nope

DropBear

Actually, X10 patents were _expiring_ around 2000, so yeah that thing is old as dirt. But yeah, all people wish for is being told they should get healthier ten times a day, and gadgets able to freeze their homes they don't know how to set the clock on. IoT will bring in the moolah?!? Oh, Lordy...

How to build a starship - and why we should start thinking about it now

DropBear

Re: @Chemist - Coms

Oh well, if push comes to shove we can always fall back to naquadah generators instead...

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Coms

"Try running the numbers on the power levels required to send a radio signal over interstellar distances"

Bah, humbug - we'll just have the probe modulate the luminosity of the local sun once it gets there - I'm sure we can receive that transmission...

Aereo TV boss is back ... pitching gigabit internet and a $350 Wi-Fi router

DropBear

Re: Shared?

Then there's the tiny problem that "short wave" is usually defined as roughly 1.6-30MHz, which is the frequency of the carrier - so what are we looking at, about a few megabits per channel...? How is this supposed to serve everyone all at once...?

GitHub falls offline, devs worldwide declare today a snow day

DropBear

Hmmmm...

"That pretty much locks out a big wedge of open-source project developers from their Git-controlled source code"

a) It does seem quite online for me right now and b) we all do know that every cloned git repo is a complete local copy of all the files involved, on which you're welcome to code / compile / commit as long as you don't need to actually share your changes, right?

Techie on the ground disputes BlackEnergy Ukraine power outage story

DropBear
Facepalm

So we're basically uncertain there were any actual blackouts at all?

Google patents robotic 'mobile delivery receptacle'

DropBear

"What's equally unclear is how it'll get from the drone drop-off point to the customer's garage without being mugged."

I'd bet simply inside the delivery bot. Sure you can still steal the whole thing (unless it turns out to be really heavy or something), but it should prevent casual swiping...

Brit censors endure 10-hour Paint Drying movie epic

DropBear
Devil

Re: Too easy

"They should have hidden somewhere a few seconds of "special" scene"

Rookie mistake. NOT putting in anything is much more insidious - if there is something and you found it, you know it's there; but if you don't find anything you can never be sure whether you just missed it or there really isn't anything to find...

Stop the music! Booby-trapped song carjacked vehicles – security prof

DropBear

Re: why?

"That's fine, so long as you can only read it"

Great idea, as long as you don't mind that anyone able to pwn your smartphone anyone can know exactly where you are, where you're headed, how fast, etc... (hey, the on-board satnav needs that stuff...)

In this Facebook and Google-owned world, it's time to rethink privacy

DropBear

I suspect the "not wanting to put a price tag on it" is meant in a "it might turn out you'd need to pay a thousand dollars a year to drop your data because that's how much you are worth now to them - how do you feel about that?" sense...

DropBear
Devil

Re: I've already dealt with FB.

"email sent to you is not your email it belongs to whoever sent it"

Ah, jolly good! Is now email one of those things that we just "license" too...? Do I need to return it to you after reading? Will swearing on my parent's grave that I'll delete it right after be enough perhaps? Or shall we do it properly and have me sign a new NDA before reading each one? Perhaps with a clause requiring me to drink sufficient amounts of alcohol post-reading to ensure a short-term memory lapse? Sounds like the safest bet...

Lenovo's file-sharing app uses hardwired password '12345678' ... or no password at all

DropBear
Trollface

...in their defense - it IS called "ShareIT"...

AMD emits fresh open-source GPU tools for HPC, game devs

DropBear

This stuff flies miles above my head, so I'll just get to the obvious question - will this likely mean better Linux drivers for AMD? Anyone with half a clue please do chime in... (...anyone? Bueller?)

How to save Wikipedia: Start paying editors ... or write for machines

DropBear

Paying the editors would kill Wikipedia more effectively than anything else possibly could. It only works as long as people do it because they care and they happen to have the knowledge; as soon as you give them secondary motives, those that care only about the reward quickly outnumber those that care about the work - not to even mention you couldn't possibly pay the massive amount of people making edits today, or what only paying _some_ people would do to the motivations of the rest. And at the end of the day, you would STILL have zero guarantees that there are no errors. No. Just... NO.

DropBear

Re: Is it a monopoly?

"They'll take the first paragraph and call it good."

And I don't see why that would be a problem. It means they only wanted a very general idea on a subject they probably knew nothing about, and they're not interested in the finer points; and again, there's nothing wrong with that, considering that in my experience the number of articles getting the general idea completely wrong is vanishingly small. One can safely go even further and assert that getting educated about the details of the subject is perfectly possible on Wikipedia, for the exact same reasons - mistakes, accidental or deliberate are far from unheard of, but are exceedingly rarely overwhelming the bulk of an article. It is only foolish to take _everything_ you read there as absolute truth - but hey, if you're citing Wikipedia as a source in your research paper you deserve absolutely all you gonna get...

BOFH: I want no memory of this pointless conversation. Alcohol please

DropBear
Trollface

Just mumble something about the place not being re-entrant and throw the newcomer out...

How to help a user who can't find the Start button or the keyboard?

DropBear
Trollface

Re: My personal input.

"gadget that moved a pointer on the screen"

You must be new to this: light pen, obviously...

AMX backdoors US govt's comms system with Batman-inspired surveillance mode

DropBear
FAIL

Re: Backdoor

This was a shitty way to "assist the customer" even back in the day of AWARD_SW - by now, even the village idiots should know better, m'kay?

Samsung sued over 'lackadaisical' Android security updates

DropBear
WTF?

Re: About time

"Honestly, I don't know why people continue buying Samsung crap. Nothing they sell is really supported for longer than it takes for you to walk out of the store."

Mate, far from me to try to defend Samsung (they absolutely deserve everything they get on this) but you're seriously talking out of your ####. My Galaxy phone was released with 2.3.4 (Gingerbread), was later upgraded to 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and is now running an official 4.1.2. (Jelly Bean)...

DropBear

Re: Move along, nothing to see

No idea what the average service life of a phone is, nor do I care; my phone is getting five years old right about now, and it will stay in service indefinitely unless it breaks or they come up with one that can make and bring me breakfast (now get off my lawn)...

Watch: SpaceX Dragon capsule breathes fire during crucial hover test

DropBear

I'm kinda wondering though - is a 1.2s burn (or even a few seconds longer) really enough to bring a capsule in freefall from terminal velocity to a dead stop?

GCHQ spies quashed this phone encryption because it was too good against snoopers

DropBear
Childcatcher

Re: "The third myth is that we encourage vulnerabilities and leave them there."

Well, I'm sure at least _some_ hitmen do have kids to feed, and they're definitely payed [sic] to do the job they do too... won't someone finally think of the children please?!?

Brit boffins brew nanotech self-cleaning glass

DropBear
Trollface

hey, let's all get hip!

By the same token of obtaining enhanced properties in a material purely by altering its structure, I propose we start calling trusses "smart beams", gussets "smart corners" and bolts "smart rivets" henceforth! Who's with me...?

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Cleaing Costs for Skyscapers?

"a Toronto guy ramming a skyscraper window (about 25 stories up)"

...as if we need any more proof that blind faith is always a bad idea...

Sorry, kids. Microsoft is turning Minecraft into an 'educational tool'

DropBear

Re: Give Microsoft a break

The outcome may or may not end up providing fun and engaging tools - we'll see (and praise appropriately). The intentions? BWAHAHAHAHA....

Boffins: There's a ninth planet out there – now we just need to find it

DropBear
Joke

Re: If Pluto is taken.

"You know, I really like just plain "Planet Nine""

Aha, sure... and I suppose that makes its far, weird orbit "plane nine in outer space"...?

Europe's satellite laser comms system set to shine

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Er, no officer...

...in unrelated news, the use of satellite phones is now banned around airports.

Twitter goes titsup

DropBear

Well they better fix it _before_ the next SpaceX launch or we'll never find out how it went...

DropBear
Joke

Re: Umm...

Flintstone, huh...? Let me guess - the twitter app on your smartphone is an actual bird?

El Reg mulls entering Robot Wars arena

DropBear

Re: March is far too early.

there's really not that much one can do to a decently built slab of thick metal battle bot by flipping or hitting... they basically insist on turning this into a boring wrestling match.

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Web of Death

Hmmm, I don't see anything in there about... non-flammable liquids. Are these bots actually watertight...? I'm not sure the electronics would like that. Dual-wielded Super Soakers, anyone...?

DropBear
Trollface

Re: Bring it On

Hmmm, perhaps a Faraday-net thrower then...?

DropBear
Trollface

...nuclear powered EMP then?

SpaceX: launch, check. Landing? Needs work

DropBear

Re: Live embarassment

"Why on earth should they tell you that their stage just blew up? Right away? Live?"

Because _that's_ what every single viewer was there to watch, and because they agreed to webcast it, that's why. The launch itself - as awesome as it is, and as relatively new to SpaceX as it may be - is nothing particularly new or exciting in the general context of human rocketry. The attraction is the landing, and they should know that full well.

If they really had uplink failure _right_ before touchdown, that sort of thing is not something I really can hold against them, as much as it did piss me off - broadcast technology is not rocket science, allegedly. But simply shutting up about the result with all those people waiting for some news and getting none was not cool. They didn't have to go "okay well we blew up" if they didn't want to - all they bloody had to say was "we have just received word the landing was not successful". That's all. I'm pretty sure that much was obvious to everybody involved within seconds, except all those people watching, holding their breath for some sort of result...

DropBear
Facepalm

Barge landing? Pshhh, kiddie stuff. Now a video uplink that doesn't cut out precisely thirty seconds before the landing, on the other hand...

It's Wikipedia mythbuster time: 8 of the best on your 15th birthday

DropBear
Facepalm

"Moreover, Wikipedia's coverage of topics that would actually be useful to those lacking access to good education is often inadequate."

Really dunno about that... Surely there are scientific articles with less than ideal clarity or content, but the Ars article's main bugbear of complicated things like quantum mechanics not being explained in kidergarten-compatible language just sounds ridiculous - yes, guess what, science is hard, and whether or not an intelligible summary can be prepended, you simply can't sum up the entire symbolism, conventions and tools (including all the underlying knowledge) of a field in a single page about a specific subject.

Yes, to treat that subject meaningfully even on an introductory level you WILL have to read up on all the underlying notions, and the ones supporting those (and the ones supporting those) if you are not well versed in that field. Yes, there will be scary-looking formulae. What else were they expecting - "science light" for dummies in ten simple sentences, buzzfeed-style?!? "Up goer five" or something...? Wikipedia in NOT a free ticket to knowledge - you still have to do all the legwork yourself if you want to understand complicated concepts, there are no shortcuts...