* Posts by joed

826 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Jun 2013

Page:

Microsoft catches the Wi-Fi 7 wave with Windows 11

joed

Re: does anyone

more like - has everyone even moved on to wifi 6 (or cared to move)? It's not like an expensive and often huge "spider" of fancy wifi router would magically upgrade ones internet connection (definitely not without addition outlay of money). Not only this, some of the promised speed can only be realized within short range/same room and even then, anything past 50Mbps is irrelevant for normal use. I bet that tech giants would love if everyone was on Ggps+ plan but most have different priorities.

Microsoft adds more AI to Photos in Windows 10 and 11

joed

but does it even matter any more?

Some time into 22h2 update cycle MS has made most of their crApps removable (with no need for powershell). Why would anyone keep any of them is beyond me. One can't even trust the old Notepad either (now also hijacked by "search with bing"). At least there's the option to just run LTSC build and forget about most of the nonsense MS it trying to trow onto their hostagebase (I could care less for the watermark in the corner of the screen).

Microsoft kills off Windows app installation from the web, again

joed

M$ always leaves barn door open for "business"

On one hand how nice of M$ to not require signing apps by their own CA (for a fee of course), on the other hand how the hell they allowed zero touch installs of all appx packages instead of restricting them to ones signed by specific CA (as defined by a group policy pushed by a business that cared for this sort of app deployments)?

Firefox slow to load YouTube? Just another front in Google's war on ad blockers

joed

4k and no ads. I did see the nag once buy it's been working after brief youtube detox.

Microsoft unleashes Copilot preview on Windows 10 insiders

joed

Everyone on w10 will be snapping theirs taskbar to the right to fix the "feature" that nobody'sasked for.

Could this really be the reason why MS locked the Taskbar position in 11?

Microsoft pushes Azure Government Cloud as homefront defender

joed

Re: "There are a couple of problems that leap out here"

It's worse than "Microsoft sees what you do on your machine." MS can track you between all the systems you volunteered to sign in with your personal account (or were tricked into doing so on more recent Windows versions) and system where you had no choice whether to sign in or not (like your employer's computer that's more than likely running some MS product with - just as likely - misconfigured privacy policies). Managing both work and personal accounts/systems gives MS an opportunity to map true identities (and activities) of users. Google (and others) at least need to work to get that sort of details and don't asks for money for the privilege of being spied on (MS taxes every product and service, including these provided by governments).

Mozilla tells extension developers to get ready to finally go mobile

joed

Re: Finally!

I had to double check phone - I've been running FF (standard channel and beta) for almost a year now with ublock and noscript. None of them has been installed through F-droid. I'd not use Chrome for regular web browsing.

Microsoft's 11-year itch: The uncelebrated anniversary of Windows 8

joed

Re: There's no 'benefit of hindsight' required.

It's worse than that. The whole metro abomination had no place in desktop environment but MS managed to make it also utterly crap in the tablet mode. I gave their useless grove (?) media player a chance to shine as a head/media unit in a car. Absolutely useless UI with buttons fit for mouse cursor interaction but almost impossible to deal with using touch. Pointless exercise that annoyed Windows users. And not like MS has relented since in destroying Windows (sure they'll pretend to restore some user interface features every other generation but the writing is on the wall and so the enshitification continues).

Tenfold electric vehicles on 2030 roads could be a shock to the system

joed

rolling blackout on wheels

And yet US - effectively - encourages monstrosities on wheels (the bigger and more expensive, the larger the tax write-off for those who can afford them).

Great for the grid, environment and other taxpayers /s.

Let's just wait till the trickle down economy passes them used but properly greenwashed trucks to dirty masses. One day we may all be driving "clean" electric vehicles but our fridges will be running off gas powered generators (to keep food from spoiling when neighbors plug in their fleet of monster trucks).

Imagine a world without egress fees or cloud software license disparities

joed

Re: Imagine a world without egress fees or cloud software license disparities

On the other hand, network traffic does cost and consumer of the service will pay for this in one way or another. I'd rather have the actual consumer paying than all of us chipping in to secure "free seevice". As much as iinternet access and cloud services are considered essential, I'd argue that they are not (maybe for hipsters).

Look ma, no fans: Mini PC boasts slimline solid-state active cooling system

joed

Re: is that good?

Maybe it has more to do with noise levels than power dissipation itself. Speaking from personal experience power, noise levels and ability to provide smooth youtube playback (1080p or 4k depending on the attached tv) are deal-breakers for mini pcs. I still have an zbox pc and this thing rocked for 1080p media pc (and was fanless). Somehow I've had no such luck with newer celeron based Nuc like systems. Somehow Intel could not 4k deliver video decoding performance in the power envelope required for fanless build. Went through couple newer gen lower end boxes before settling on i7 Nuc (definitely not silent). In the end got a deal for the cheapest m2 mac mini and while this thing is virtually silent, the idiosyncrasies of macOS are not the best match for htpc (limited media playback support, no support for CE and Apple's UI choices), still livable though.

Google offers some copyright indemnity to users of its generative AI services

joed

Re: "Whether or not AI systems violate copyright laws"

Well, Google and MS can offer protection from copyright claims but hopefully they'll become targets of racketeering charges. Their offer is not much different from mob offering protection to their clients, aside from the fact that clients are not coerced into the relationship. It's outsiders who pay the price of potentially villainous clients being sheltered from legal consequences by large corporations with competent legal teams that nobody can afford to challenge (often not even governments). We'll see how far this protection extended.

Microsoft reportedly runs GitHub's AI Copilot at a loss

joed

Re: At one time...

80$ per month per user. This sounds similar to claims of RIAA with regard to loses due to piracy. Either BS or MS' AI is so inefficient as to consume s.load of power and hardware to account for that 80$.

I bet they'll still claim it being carbon neutral.Can we reing in this insanity before all we have is just bunch of hot air over data center littering countryside?

Infosys launches aviation cloud it claims can halve lost luggage

joed

Re: 5 days

No supervisors but hypervisors aplenty.

UTM: An Apple hypervisor with some unique extra abilities

joed

I did prove of concept corporate w10 build using standard sccm deployment path (we've had no option to use w11). It worked but at abysmal speed (m1 pro MacBook). The situation improved once I edited some text file to force multicore use but even I'd not use it for any compute heavy apps. Needless to say 1 deployment was all I did.

Still, I can't argue with the price of the tool and number of available options is indeed surprising.

The only way is WebKit: Vivaldi's browser arrives on iOS

joed

Yep, I can confirm proper FF experience on Android with critical extensions available (noscripy, ublock origin) and no Google login implied. Minor gripes would be that mainstream version does not give access to some/all about:config flags (like ability to specify dns over https provider). Still one can install FF Beta to get that option.

Vivaldi fot Android is also fine.

Chrome is there to download better browsers.

Life of iOS users is so restricted (one would wander if they've got paid to suffer like that). I guess it just works, just.

Microsoft suggests businesses buy fewer PCs. No, really

joed

And how do these users will connect to MS' cloud pc? From a PC they'd likely not be required to have otherwise (quite common for folks working aforementioned jobs). So the employers offload their equipment cost onto their labor and MS pockets all the imaginary savings (no way it was cheaper once everything is accounted for) and can make all the greeneashing claims (I bet it'll also ask for some green tax credit taxpayers are complied to hand over to cash strapped corpos and equally handicapped shareholders).

Win win/s

Rivian wants out of Amazon electric van lock-in

joed

I guess Amazon's commitment reflects business sense (or lack of if) for fancy EVs of any kind. To be honest I'm surprised to see these slow rolling blackout that far north in winter. Having said that, these are still better than luxury personal rides subsidized with taxpayers money (and parasitizing grid beyond what's reasonable to move ~200# human from A to B).

Microsoft makes Outlook Mac native email app a freebie

joed

I do not know in what way the Outlook for macOS could be considered a native app. Another Teams like electron thing - sure. The looks of Outlook web access is the 1st giveaway, another are similar limitations not present in Outlook for Windows (like no option to update DL membership etc). No idea whiy MS is trying to misstate facts, though it lines up with bs like x/do not upgrade doing the opposite during w10 push.

What goes up must come down: Logitech sales tumble amid PC slump

joed

Re: Forced market dump

Untill you stumbled onto a non-unify set. All i needed was fairly cheap replacement keyboard. Picked one on sale but little did I know, logitech decided to ship something totally incompatible, not a warning on the box (preferably in big red letters). Now I'm stuck with this crap and i do not really feel like switching 2 receivers between work and personal device. And pricing of their other reasonable kit (mouse with forward/back buttons) seems to have gotten out of hands. It's not like everyone was some hipster keyboard connoisseur. If I have to replace the whole set, i may get some competitively priced but still half decent generic.

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

joed

Re: Weight is relative...

I do not know that cars, especially heavy one cause little damage to roads and surroundinds (in the event of a crash). Bikes, sure (but not dirt bikes on dirt roads)

joed

Re: American cars are too heavy - solution blame electric cars

Id argue that such limits should be placed on both ice a electric vehicles. And get rid of stupid cafe loopholes for trucks. Only this would force maximizing efficiency. Simple a penalty for each # over total mass/average vehicle occupancy in eccess of standards set and updated periodically would take care of some of the problem. And no shifting co2 credits between gaz guzzler manufacturers and efficient or electric ones. And cars should be sold based on its own merit/value and no tax breaks mudding the water and benefitting those who could already afford theam at the cost to the rest of tax payers.

joed

Re: More mass = more energy, right?

It does not really matter how that electricity is generated. Claiming the use of clean energy only means that others have to do with dirty sources. And all that extra power generation capacity (regardles of the type) has to be built (with signifficant release of co2 and often destruction of natural lands). This fact somehow escapes greenwashing PR).

joed

Re: More mass = more energy, right?

Not to rain on that 1000km parade but most of travelers - at least in US - would skip any but a "pit stop" breaks for such a trip. Not to mention that they'd be done within 10 hours with absolutely no speeding (obviously assuming no gridlock on the way).

And with such a low average speed i could almost make it on just one tank (obviously i drive a euro car with mass nowhere near behemot SUVs, electrics or even worse - electric SUVs).

Parental control apps prove easy to beat by kids and crims

joed

nature will find the way

what did they expect?

Where are EU going with that Teams antitrust probe? Microsoft wants a word

joed

Re: not surprised it's shit

The funniest thing is that it's most s...t at MS' own platform.

But definitely, their market position is such that effectively blocks any competing product once a business used any of MS Office products (it amazed me rhat anyone considered zoom an investment at the beginning of covid with Teams creeping onto corporate desktop). And now that Teams is bundled for 'free' with the rest of o365, no sane IT would bother with anything else. Also you get free Bing search bundle that nobody would pay for otherwise, hooray.

Rivian abandons electric van partnership with Mercedes-Benz

joed

Arguably the biggest issue is calling these monster trucks a reasonable replacemt for efficient cars (of any tupe). One would hope that switch to electric vehicles would give opportunity to fix US' personal vehicle market insanity (perpetuated by cafe loophole) that seems to be spreading worldwide, but nope, the bigger, the 'premierer'. Just what's doctor prescribed. A rolling blackout. The perfect way to delude masses about fighting global warming.

TikTok could be banned from America, thanks to proposed bipartisan bill

joed

another distaction

from urgent needs. A proof that elected officials are hard at work. If everyone keeps looking the other way nobody will notice sore reality (and spice will flow into worthy pockets)

Voice assistants failed because they serve their makers more than they help users

joed

Just ask Alexa how much loss she made to Amazon and you'll find out learn irrelevant details about rain forest. Hard coded answers, no wonder that people got borred with gimmicks

Apple preps for 'third-party iOS app stores' in Europe

joed

we'll see if it matters

If the rules and entry costs are similar to that of Apple's self repair kits or 3rd party payments it'll just a veiled farce.

btw. Apple will still keep the platform key and will be able to revoke access from non-compliant store so all that security talk is missing the point. And likely they'll provide option to lock 3rd party store access for worried parents (not like internet was not full of s...t their kids could play with all day).

Mozilla will begin signing Mv3 extensions for Firefox next week

joed

Re: How about letting Android users choose the plugins they wish for Firefox

And dns over https controls (outside beta and nightly). But at least NoScript and uBlock Origin work as God intended.

US Justice Department requests more info from Adobe on $20b Figma buy

joed

Re: Surely not !!!

"There are fears among some users that Adobe will combine the two and raise subscription costs, something that Figma co-founder Dylan Field said isn't happening, and that the platform will remain free for education users." - hook them while they're young.

US Supreme Court asked if cops can plant spy cams around homes

joed

Unrestricted the use by government is/should be limited by existing wiretaps laws. Obviously government agents are notorious for testing the limits of the law and supreme court is here to intervene. Being preoccupied but by other controversial matters likely won't help here.

If you think 5G is overhyped, wait till you meet 5.5G

joed

Re: A problem...

I bet the the "solution" would help consumers discover the problem with paltry data caps (if one was to use 5G as it's advertised). Maybe a stadium full of mobile phone users would be plausible use case but why any sane person would willingly pay for something he/she is not likely to ever need.

joed

Re: RE: 2G

Tmobile nagged me earlier this year, yet my emergency use flip-phone (15+ years old, not the the bendable fancy type) keeps working on their network. I bet that 3G network will remain in use for water/gas meters etc (and few consumer holdouts won't make much difference).

Letter to FCC: Why are US carriers locking handsets to networks?

joed

Re: Buy cheap

Absolutely, 6s was peak iPhone (functionality-wise). The idea of paying 800$ for base model is ridiculous (not to mention missing features like more convenient fingerprint reader, audio jack and proper home button instead haptic fakery). Apple has great PR with regard to respecting privacy but some of this is plain bs (why else personalized ads are opt out) and being locked into walled garden gets old over time. Esim seems like another lock-in vector (judging by the ease of switch from physical to esim but not the other way).

joed

Re: Buy from the Mfr

Arguably, taking credit on anything means purchasing what one can't afford and maybe should reconsider buying. The only thing it helps is bank's bottom line and inflation. Paying twice for anything makes sense, not.

joed

Re: Got screwed by Xfinity Mobile

Are you sure of this? I have a work phone and personal one. iPhones, the same model. ATT. The work one is sim locked, the personal one I've got off ebay, brand new, unlocked and it's remained so despite "sim-swapping" the card from work one into it. No harm done (and I'd be unhappy if your statement was true as I may eventually place the prepaid tmobile card into it, when I cut it down in size to fit once tmobile for real cuts off my emergency flip phone from their 3g net, surprisingly this thing still works).

Chromium's WebRTC zero-day fix arrives in Microsoft Edge

joed

Re: Are they really trying to jam Edge down peoples throats?

If you're not certain that M$ jams Edge down peoples throats just try using Windows. Sooner or later you'll end up in Edge, peddling Bing search results and with some nags to change default browser (if not already reset "for you"), import your browser settings and sing in to MS account. And that crappy new tab page (and news and interest adware on taskbar to spare some change for poor MS).

Inspur hot on liquid-cooled servers as part of quest for carbon neutrality

joed

green-washing

"liquid-cooled servers as part of quest for carbon neutrality" or an indication of out of control power requirements of current gen chips that forces complex solutions just to deal with waste heat.

Apple's new MacBook Air: Is the jump to M2 silicon worth another $200?

joed

That 1.2k M2 model with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD is not doing particularly well. Actually, it's even under-performing compared to the last gen 14 inch M1 base model (serious SSD bandwidth bottleneck and thermal throttling). Considering the price of effectively required RAM and SSD upgrade (still no fix thermal issues), I'd call it a dud. Not that I've ever found their M1 models performance particularly exciting in normal use. Whole lot of hype.

Microsoft teases Outlook Lite for Android

joed

what about the browser?

The lite option is already there and does not require cluttering phone with MS cruft or - worse - mobile management.

Btw, while MS is at it, could they take care of Teams? Why is taking 700MB+ on iPhone?

Rufus and ExplorerPatcher: Tools to remove Windows 11 TPM pain and more

joed

Re: I wish it was retroactive.

The problem with MS account setup is that the time you're done, you had to provide them with your phone number (because mfa is essential for a junk account). All these foolish games are just example of MS' fomo.

Microsoft backtracks on lack of easy Windows browser choice

joed

Re: Customer Enhancement Programme

3 incorrect assumptions. Neither majority of Windows users makes any changes to telemetry settings (sad but true) nor MS can be trusted to not siphon this data even when limited controls would appear to turn them off. 3rd - MS does not have good track record of responding to user feedback (e.g. they simply doubled down with BS features following W8 beta response). They tend to prefer damage control in face of failure (like following W8 with slightly less tabletty W10). It's not like their user-base had particular choice.

FTC sues Intuit for false advertising, says 'free' TurboTax isn't always free

joed

Re: The real problem

Absolutely the crux of the problem. These scammers corruptedlobbied Congress to block possibility of direct electronic filing for US citizens. In effect everyone ends up paying to them either for "value added" service (fine if this was true choice), with personal financial data (if one qualified for the "free" filing) or with personal time (if one refused to deal with the middleman scumbags). And while my state does offer electronic filing for state taxes I've been forced to medieval ways for federal tax. True undisturbed "free market" solution they argued for.

Thailand bans use of crypto for payments

joed

and good ridance

hopefully others will follow. Now, how do we put all this hot air and CO2 wasted in the process of reinventing the wheel.

Intel updates ATX PSU specs, eyes PCIe 5.0 horizon

joed

Re: 600W for a GPU?

It's a dead end with efficiencies barely acceptable for a space heater in polar regions. Definitely the computing segment looking for a revolution and very similar to car market where almost all efficiency gains have been jeopardized due to never ending increase in mass of vehicles. Some governments (EU) are forcing impossible standards for some industries (with diminishing returns and failure prone solutions) while losing sight of growing powers hogs (data center etc). And no amount of greenwashing will help (all the talk of data centers using "renewable sources" means that other demand had to shift to dirty ones).

Intel boss presses Congress for manufacturing subsidies

joed

Nah, wealth transferred is inherent element of free market. There has to be corporate outlet for taxpayers' money. Paying twice for your chips is the only way to go.

Intel eyes subscriptions to grow software sales from 2021's $100m

joed

slippery slope

Soon cpu microcode updates will ensure that intel code outperforms competing solution on "their" platform. MS showed the way back in the day.

It's your Loki day: The Reg takes Elementary OS Jólnir for a quick test drive

joed

Re: General question

? It may be just because I'm predominantly a Windows user and my macOS exposure is only on the support side (likely still more in depth than that of average Mac user) but I'd not call File Explorer trade for the Finder an upgrade. What a mess (other that proper file search that MS can't grasp and keeps trying to shove in Bing instead).

Page: