* Posts by Jeffrey Nonken

1208 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Sep 2007

Surface Book nightmare: Microsoft won't fix 'Sleep of Death' bug

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Still copying Apple

Not entirely true, historically. I have an old Black Mac (late 2006 edition) with a flakey bluetooth module. Ever since Leopard the MacBook won't sleep if the bluetooth module isn't responding. Disabling the module does nothing because the machine will re-enable it next time it's detected, no matter how briefly. It's a stupid problem, especially since I'm not even interested in using bluetooth on that machine. Why on Earth would a non-responsive bluetooth module stop a laptop from sleeping?

Of course I'm not using the machine any more, and I gave it away to somebody who just leaves it plugged in all the time anyway. So it's academic now. But it's a known problem, never fixed, with an Apple laptop that does not require installing any malware. Just any OS later than Tiger.

Apple makes quality stuff, no doubt about that. But they're not perfect either.

As US court bans smart meter blueprints from public, sysadmin tells of fight for security info

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Bah!

Uh... What? Did you and I read the same article?

In-flight movies via BYOD? Just what I always wan... argh no we’re all going to die!

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Read a book

If you can carry on a laptop, you could use that and a cable to recharge any modern phone.

Yes, it's a workaround, not a solution.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Read a book

Hmmm. Does that include power banks? (...He asked, expecting the answer "yes".)

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: "The very fact that so much stuff in the digital age is bashed out poorly...

Personally, I object less to mistakes in comments than in main articles if only because the latter should have been proofread by another party, where the former may have been dashed off on a mobile device with a perverse autocorrect feature whist sitting on the loo.

Well, that and Murphy's Law, of course.

$10bn Oracle v Google copyright jury verdict: Google wins, Java APIs in Android are Fair Use

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Phew...

APIs are a method. Methods are not copywriteable. Oracle are being greedy and selfish.

Dropbox gets all up in your kernel with Project Infinite. Cue uproar

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Put your que in your ****

I think he's conflating "queue" with "cue".

iPhone 'Error 53' plaintiffs say Apple not giving reimbursements

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: With apologies to DA

Correct, the original material said "torch".

Hulk Hogan's sex tape, a Silicon Valley billionaire, and a $10m revenge plot to destroy Gawker

Jeffrey Nonken

"I'm gay, and so is my wife..."

So either you're female, or you are each other's beards.

Tsk. Ruined your joke. I am a bad person. :)

Jeffrey Nonken

LinkedIn mass hack reveals ... yup, you're all still crap at passwords

Jeffrey Nonken

OMG now I'm going to have to change the combination on my luggage!

Seriously... My LinkedIn password is rubbish, but it's not THAT rubbish.

Gillian Anderson: The next James Jane Bond?

Jeffrey Nonken

Oh, you must be thinking of Casino Royale. No no, not that one. David Niven. Peter Sellers. Ursula Andress. And, you know, Woody Allen.

Facebook's turbo-charged Instant Articles: Another brick in the wall

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Bah!

I stopped using the El Reg app as soon as I saw the mobile site gave me more of what I wanted. Haven't looked back.

Mars satellites show remains of massive tsunamis that ravaged Red Planet

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Isn't it time to start thinking in terms of Human Mission Support?

...Who says there aren't sharks on Mars?

Great, IBM has had a PCM breakthrough. Who exactly is going to manufacture?

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Best article I've read here in a while!

Agreed. Last article I read was unabashed marketing fluff. At least this one had some meat I could chew on.

Three UK: Our MMS prices are up. Get around us with WhatsApp or Skype

Jeffrey Nonken

AFAICT, MMS is also used for group messaging. Though iPhones with iMessage group-messaging only other iPhones with iMessage will apparently revert to iMessage only.

To clarify -- there seems to be some confusion on the matter -- here in the Colonies our MMS are simply lumped in with data charges, at standard data rates. Yes, we still pay for them, but not at outrageous per-message rates. Waving your hand and saying "either way they still cost you" is a bit disingenuous.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Can I disable MMS?

"And the Bell Telephone Company discovered video calls...were a technology no one wanted in 1955."

Indeed. It's not like anybody actually USES Skype.

Modular phone Ara to finally launch

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: So much pessimism?

"...the Android Phones of the 1.x and 2.x era were everyone's laughing stock."

They were? Huh. I LIKED my G1. Still miss having that physical keyboard.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise hiring temps to cover for redundancies - sources

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: SharePoint

"...but aren't aware of the phrase 'Once bitten, Twice shy.'"

They are, they just keep hoping you aren't.

5% of drivers want Nigel Farage to be their in-car robo butler

Jeffrey Nonken

As a 'Murrican I find I prefer a generic female British voice, and went out of my way to download one for my Garmin. I did try Pam, the Aussie who apparently is a favorite, but for myself I like the English lady better. Also had one in my Magellan years ago.

It is mildly amusing when they use different terms for things than we do in the US. "On ramp" or "off ramp" becomes "slip road". "Legal" U-turn becomes "authorized". "Highway" or "freeway" becomes "motorway". Kinda cool, really. Like a tiny glimpse into a different culture.

Help! We're being crushed, cry billionaire cable giants

Jeffrey Nonken

"We increasingly are saddled with heavy rules without any compelling evidence of harm to consumers or competitors."

By "without compelling evidence" he means "LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

'Knucklehead' Kansas bloke shoots self in foot

Jeffrey Nonken

...Because repressive governments are so passé.

Inside Electric Mountain: Britain's biggest rechargeable battery

Jeffrey Nonken

"Gotta feel sorry for the yanks sometimes."

Most of us prefer coffee anyway.

...though the quality varies. My daughter, for example, drinks the instant stuff. Can't stand it, myself. Still, it uses hot water, so would benefit from your faster kettles.

Me, I drink tea, so I'm left standing and waiting. Guess I need to move to England so I can get a faster cuppa. During commercial breaks that I don't get because I don't watch TV. ...And that's where it all falls apart. :)

Compression tool 7-Zip pwned, pain flows to top security, software tools

Jeffrey Nonken

Security by obscurity always works! Because nobody is as smart as you are.

Burger-slinger Wendy’s admits: Cash-till data breach hit 1 in 20 outlets

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: They (and others) have a bit of a cheek

I agree with you in principle, but legally and by definition they are a restaurant.

Boffins flip the unflippable: Meet the latest storage extender contender

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: "it'll take years"

Wow, somebody who remembers bubble memory. ... Well, somebody else, I mean. I gathered at the time that the real reason it never took flight was they never really got it working reliably. But it's quite possible it was due to, as you say, other technologies overtaking it.

But... bubble memory? No, think core memory! Stored as individual magnetic cells, programmed via magnetic pulse, read back by magnetic pulse, persistent without power applied... at least they've apparently managed not to have the read function be destructive. Took longer to read than write core memory due to needing to write back what it read.

I wonder if it uses a sense wire?

Banning computers makes students do better on exams – MIT

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Not Surprised

Yes, but why? Real books more familiar? Newer generations will be more comfortable with electronics. Easier to scribble in the margins or otherwise take notes? Always on, no problem with charging, specific to the task, frees up the computer for looking up references on the side, easy to add (and see) sticky bookmarks? Doesn't react to stay touches when you're reading in an odd position and shift positions? Or for that matter, if you set it down and pick it back up. Also, the screen doesn't go dark to save power.

There are lots of possible contributing factors, and some may merely be problems to solve. Others may be inherent. I'd be curious to know why, not just what.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Not that new....

I started learning computer programming in the 1970s. FORTRAN, mostly. As programming became my main focus, the result is that I now tend to print in block capitals, slow down for printing lower case, and have real trouble with script writing. Even my signature is an illegible scrawl, though that's mostly laziness.

Keypunch machines with their asymmetric controls contributed to my deteriorating touch typing skills. Actually I do pretty well there still, but my form is terrible. Fortunately speed and accuracy aren't paramount. (Yes, accuracy is, but only needs to be corrected. I'm not typing on paper, so can easily correct after I type. In case anybody misunderstood what I meant.)

Anyway, yes, I represent what is wrong with the world: people losing skills that are less relevant than they used to be.

Blocking ads? Smaller digital publishers are smacked the hardest

Jeffrey Nonken

Serve more most interesting ads. People are more likely to happily view good content.

https.

Stop with the intrusive, annoying crap. Pushing stuff into my face will alienate me, not force me to buy.

Stop. Putting. Malware. In. Your ads.

Stop telling me it's your God-given right to make money from me and that blocking your crap is stealing. It's not my fault if you can't create a sustainable business.

Some websites refuse to serve me content if I'm running an ad blocker. That's OK, I refuse to access their content. Whereas if they merely ask politely, I almost always whitelist their site.

29 years of data shows no mobile phone brain cancer link

Jeffrey Nonken

I blame Marconi. If he hadn't invented radio waves, the government wouldn't be using them for mind control!

Jeffrey Nonken

Probably the same people who try to convince me that higher quality digital audio interconnect cables will give better bass response.

Microsoft: Why we tore handy Store block out of Windows 10 Pro PCs

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Hey Microsoft, keep up the good work!

GWX Control Panel.

Suck on this: White hats replace Locky malware payload with dummy

Jeffrey Nonken

Huh. So THAT'S what's in all those messages I've been ignoring.

Sat TV biz Dish: I'm not an authorized iPhone repairer ... but $20 is $20

Jeffrey Nonken

Not the iPhone SE? I'm disappointed.

IBM's quantum 'puter news proves Big Blue still doesn't get 'cloud'

Jeffrey Nonken

IBM is and always has been a marketing company. It's always so cute when they try to pretend they're a computer company.

Ex-HP boss Carly Fiorina sacked one week into new job

Jeffrey Nonken

Iceland. Moving to Iceland.

Apple: Don't 'overreact'

Jeffrey Nonken

Uh... Think about not wearing his watch? Why on Earth would he imagine I would ever spend that much energy on it? The only time I think about his watch is when I encounter mention of it in the news, otherwise I don't think about it at all.

Microsoft's Windows 10 nagware storms live TV weather forecast

Jeffrey Nonken

GWX Control Panel FTW

I'm sure it's been mentioned, but I'm not prepared to read all 156 comments to check. Mind you, GWX Control Panel is mitigation, not a cure. The cure is for Microsoft to pull their collective head out.

For those people who are saying "Windows Enterprise blah blah...", you're suggesting the station should have to spend extra money just to avoid this pervasive nagging? Sounds like a protection racket to me.

Apple man found dead at Cupertino HQ, gun discovered nearby

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: hmmm

Guns don't kill people. Butter kills people.

...

Seriously, can we not turn this into Yet Another Useless Debate About Gun Control? Next thing you know somebody will Godwin this thread. Thank you.

Jeffrey Nonken

I think the point was that it wasn't a rampage or mass murder, and nobody is likely in danger of physical harm who wasn't already harmed.

Trouble at t'spinning rust mill: Disk drive production is about to head south

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: My old...

My ST238 sees your ST225 and raises you 6%.

... My God, what we used to do for a little extra capacity. RLL, what a disaster. Never saw one that was worth the powder to blow it to Hell. I still have an ESDI drive and controller in the garage, but I don't think they work any more. Full height 5 1/4 inch and weighs a ton.

The capacity of every one of those drives I've ever owned added together is barely a footnote, less than the bad sector table of any modern drive.

Pro who killed Apple's Power Mac found... masquerading as a coffee table

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: I have

I used to be really good at making drum cards, and I could touch-type 026 keypresses on an 029 keypunch. Hah, had to add "keypunch" to the local dictionary. Stupid phone. So yeah, camped out on your lawn. I brought the pizza, you bring the beer.

Ad-blocker blocking websites face legal peril at hands of privacy bods

Jeffrey Nonken

Stacks of cash? I hardly ever use cash any more, and never on the internet. It's all about shoving numbers around.

I don't even use it much for live transactions. I keep some cash for the occasional candy bar, bag of chips ("crisps" if you like), tips and such, but the rest goes on a credit card. (Just for convenience, not a mounting debt.) $100 cash usually lasts me several months.

...Oh sorry, you said "pedants", I thought you were calling me. ;)

Everything bad in the world can be traced to crap Wi-Fi

Jeffrey Nonken

Well... I'm on Sprint.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Wi-fi kills Google Maps on Android

Alistair, please tell us about your experience with the satnav in Audi's car of the year.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Wi-fi kills Google Maps on Android

Garmin GPS FTW. Though I was happy with my old Magellan, too, back in the day.

The point being that I do not rely on having a live internet connection to get turn-by-turn navigation. And yet, I still have it as an option if needed.

And yeah, maps are updated less frequently. Funny how that was always an issue with paper maps, too.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Shit coding

Here, I'll be happy to lend you an acoustic coupler modem. ... If you have a matching phone that can use it.

Europe's digi-boss tells YouTube to cough up proper music royalties

Jeffrey Nonken

I didn't see any mention of making the legacy labels pay their artists fairly, nor practice transparency with their accounting. Everything wrong in the world is because of Google. Apparently.

And oh, yeah, God, the melodrama. He did everything except rend his clothes and eat worms. What is he, twelve?

Are bearded blokes more sexist?

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Age thing

Not a grey hair on my head! Mine's all turning silver. So nyah.

;)

Jeffrey Nonken

Beard? Check.

Misogyny? Hmmm. Ask the wife. Here, let me unchain her for you.

...Sorry, couldn't help myself. I'm in the "too lazy to shave" and "sensitive skin" camps. Which is ironic since these days I sport a goatee, which requires constant maintenance.

Then again, you can't draw a curve from one point. Maybe I'm a statistical outlier, like the other dozen or so men in this forum making the same claims.

Or maybe I'm just lying or fooling myself and I really do hate women. I could claim not to be racist either, and which of you would know?

So I haven't proven anything by posting here. Never mind. Back to work for me!