* Posts by Will Godfrey

5893 publicly visible posts • joined 8 Sep 2007

Dirty COW explained: Get a moooo-ve on and patch Linux root hole

Will Godfrey Silver badge
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Pah

I see the armchair analysts are out in force again. I wonder how many of them have ever had to maintain even a moderately sizeable chunk of code.

The Internet of Things is 'dangerous' but UK.gov won't ride to the rescue

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A bit rich that.

They are forcing insecure IOT (trash) on us in the form of smart snoop meters, but if we get stung it's all our fault.

China blamed in drone hack

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Mushroom

Re: Misleading Headline

Be careful what you wish for!

You work so hard on coding improvements... and it's all undone by a buggy component

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Unhappy

Biased?

In the article I see the negative reference to open source software, but no mention of the many years-old known bugs that are only fixed by the 'professionals' when forced to.

NHS patients must be taught to share their data, says EU lobby group

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Meh

Possible?

Well maybe if there was any confidence that the information wouldn't be abused by the money obsessed.

So, I guess that's a 'No' then.

Microsoft boffins: Who needs Intel CPUs when you've got FPGAs?

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Meh

Hmmm

Article implies that FPGAs will replace CPUs. I doubt it. Support - yes. Replace - only some fuctions.

Google: We look forward to running non-Intel processors in our cloud

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Happy

Re: Blast from the past

Possibly because it's a simple reliable interface that gets out of the way when you don't want it - and most if the time you don't want it in a server farm.

Casino cops are coming if we can't move all this cash in a hurry

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Interesting

So this wasn't a computer failure. It was a security error.

Pocket C.H.I.P. makers go Pro with cloud-linked ARM-flexing module for IoT gizmo builders

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Just what we need

More poorly secured on-line kit.

Snowden investigator slams leaker-detector background checks

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Meh

Stating the Obvious

Maybe don't act like jerks, and the people working for you won't get disillusioned.

FCC slams Comcast with largest-ever fine for a cable company

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Happy

Re: Fines are not a deterrent

You forgot to add"... with a golden parachute".

Yahoo! halts! email! forwarding! to! outside! email! addresses!

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Happy

On the other hand...

Maybe it's their way of getting rid of the whole pesky email problem. Just get everyone to leave.

Windows updates? Just trust us, says Microsoft executive

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Re: El Reg sat down with....? Wow!

I don't know about these days, but at one time the greatest unseen danger of Word, was that with every document it saved the whole of the current paste buffer.

I have yet to understand why.

Don't panic, but a 'computer error' cut the brakes on a San Francisco bus this week

Will Godfrey Silver badge
FAIL

Design?

Seems they used a small car as their model, when it should have been more like a train.

Lots of people = brakes firmly on by default.

BOFH: The Idiot-ware Project and the Meaningless Acronym

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Happy

Re: One, no, two down.

For a moment I read that as "job sanitation"

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Happy

One, no, two down.

But how many more to go?

Zilog reveals very, very distant heir to the Z80 empire

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Happy

Re: http://www.pofo.de/S8000/S8000_scaled.jpg.

Clearly the last one has just gone from ebay

P.S. pic loaded fine here.

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Meh

How exciting

I can't say I was a fan of the Z80 instruction set (preferred the 6502), but two phase power correction. Wow {yawn} that's just so {snark} novel.

OK, it is slightly interesting :)

SpaceX searches for its 'grassy knoll' of possible Falcon rocket sabotage

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Meh

Re: watergate must've seemed far fetched at the time too

I'm also not into conspiracy theories, but at the same time, I'm mindful the US business interests have a very long history of dirty dealings.

Turing, Hauser, Sinclair – haunt computing's Cambridge A-team stamping ground

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Thumb Up

Re: Indeed....

I stand, open mouthed, in awe of your great skill.

We really struggled to chisel the 'ones' out of the granite slabs. We never managed to do the 'zeros'.

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Happy

Re: Indeed....

What are these 'kays' of which you speak

Intel, Lenovo officially gone to the dogs – with FIDO fingerprint logins

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A distant memory

I seem to remember reading somewhere that fingerprints were not actually unique, close to it yes, but not enough that you couldn't get two people with ones than matched within the normal range of any person's medium term variation.

Related to that, does the reader account for such variations and self-modify to correct for trends?

Avaya explains its 'hyper-segmentation' approach to security

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Meh

A question

Now everything in IT is 'hyper' what's the next superlative the marketing wonks are going to jump on?

Windows printer bug fixed

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Unhappy

Printers. Pah!

Why is it that we seem to hear of more problems with printers (on any OS) than all the other devices people attach? They've been around as long as I can remember and have always been a pain in the arse.

Just what is it about sticking (mostly black) dots on paper that's so arcane?

Double KO! Capcom's Street Fighter V installs hidden rootkit on PCs

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FAIL

History? Learn?

You know the rest... Apparently, they don't.

UK copyright troll weeps, starts 20-week stretch in the cooler for beating up Uber driver

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Thumb Up

One down

But how many more to go?

Forgive me, father, for I have used an ad-blocker on news websites...

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Mushroom

Is this a joke?

You know there's a problem when the list of blocked adds, trackers, beacons etc is so long the bottom of it falls off the page

New Gnome emerges blinking into the sunlight

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Happy

Re: Meh

I'm one of the 'undecided'. Sometimes I XFCE other times I openbox

She cannae take it, Captain Kirk! USS Zumwalt breaks down

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Meh

OK it looks small to radar

But what about that guy with a pair of binoculars?

Victoria Police warn of malware-laden USB sticks in letterboxes

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Happy

I'd have a play with one.

I've got a couple of very old boxes knocking around so might fire one of them up for this (not on any network of course) just to see what happens. If the worst happens, all it means is I end up with a computer shaped hole in my junk cupboard.

Will US border officials demand social network handles from visitors?

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Science Fiction

So those stores were not fiction after all. You know, the ones where America becomes totally cut off from the rest of the world and only a handful of very brave people manage to escape.

UK.gov's Digital Catapult wheels out Central London IoT network

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Oh goodie

Lots of luvery user info to slurp.

Building IoT call for papers: What have YOU done with the internet of things?

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Happy

Erm...

What have I done with IOT?

Nothing.

Ofcom smacks Sky for breaching broadband switching rules

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Meh

O really?

I take especial note of the words "could be".

Let's Encrypt won its Comodo trademark battle – but now fan tools must rename

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Happy

Re: Big Business in the US (fails to) fuck the little guy

FTFY

Two Sundays wrecked by boss who couldn't use a calendar

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It's amazing what you can get if you push back

... whilst reading carefully through the contract, silently crossing out bits you don't like (and signing the crossings) without saying a word, followed by a quick double-check then handing the amended document back to the (usually open mouthed) company official with a friendly smile.

The Rise, Fall and Return of TomTom

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Meh

SatNav? Wot Satnav?

Never use it myself. While driving there's too much happening on the roads these days to look away, and I find either their 3d effect road view or the very reduced map field completely destroys my sense of spatial awareness and mental mapping.

If I'm going to an unknown place I'll check the on-line maps first (also look out for likely problem areas). Also, there's a large size map book on the back seat under the car rug, as a fall-back. Never had a battery problem and replace the 'hardware' every couple of years :)

Call me a Luddite if you like, but it works for me, and on the occasions I do go slightly astray I usually end up finding some fascinating places that most people never see.

You should install smart meters even if they're dumb, says flack

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Happy

Hmmm

The bad news: Just checked my half-cellar. A surprisingly strong signal there!

However..

Purely in the interest of saving energy, maybe I should insulate the walls and floor above. There's that nice double layer foil stuff you can get these days.

UK nixes Land Registry sale

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Re: Sensible

Thanks for the link.

Very useful.

Pains us to run an Apple article without the words 'fined', 'guilty' or 'on fire' in it, but here we are

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Adapter

Apart from the obvious inconvenience of loss or breakage...

How long will replacements be available?

How steep will be the rise in price of these?

This 'walled garden' looks progressively more like a prison.

Speaking in Tech: Windows is coming to smart refrigerators

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Re: Smart fridge

You're stuffed if the fridge and the Pi are having a clandestine affair

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Obvious really

Fridges are getting far more intelligent than the users and need to be dumbed down.

Inside our three-month effort to attend Apple's iPhone 7 launch party

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Meh

A suggestion

At the start of any review of any Apple product:

"We asked Apple for information about XYZ but they refused. We have also frequently asked to attend their events but they have always refused that too."

Linus Torvalds won't apply 'sh*t-for-brains stupid patch'

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Unhappy

Slow news day?

Why are we still seeing these pieces? Are they simply click bait?

It's time for humanity to embrace SEX ROBOTS. For, uh, science, of course

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Happy

Excellent Idea

I would heartily recommend it to as many people as possible.

This leaves the field clearer for those of us wanting the real thing, but past our peak of attractiveness.

Universal Credit: 'One dole to rule 'em all' on verge of recovery – report

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Unhappy

Re: "Unrealistic timetables ...

Apparently, it is

Adobe reverses decision to kill NPAPI Flash plugin for Linux

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Meh

Nope

Haven't got flash installed on any machine here. Can't remember when I last did have it.

HSBC: How will we verify business banking customers? Selfies!

Will Godfrey Silver badge
Coffee/keyboard

Re: I see a flaw

New keyboard please

We want GCHQ-style spy powers to hack cybercrims, say police

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More! More! We must have more!

Lightspeed PoS vendor breached, sensitive database tapped

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Impressive

" It boats more than 38,000 customers"

So they're into refugee transport too!