* Posts by Stoneshop

5951 publicly visible posts • joined 8 Oct 2009

ISO blocks NSA's latest IoT encryption systems amid murky tales of backdoors and bullying

Stoneshop
Big Brother

Re: Why does each IoT device need strong encryption?

How about you probably not wanting the not very strongly encrypted wireless communication between your implanted blood sugar level monitor and that IoT hub being captured by the neighbours' sprog's Furby Mk.IV, and relayed to someone who should not have access to that data?

Stoneshop

Re: Interesting times.

* Who says any of us *need* IoT things? 'need' and 'want' are different, remember.

I would consider your fridge ordering a fresh pint of milk to not require a particularly strong encryption, never mind that your fridge is mains-powered and not running on button cells. But for an implanted health-monitoring device (which these days also falls under the IoT label) you need as strong encryption as you can get while consuming next to nothing.

Academics: Shutting down Facebook API damages research, oversight, competition

Stoneshop

Currently, that trough of data is collected at Facebook's expense

Expense? FB sees enough reason to throw hardware, software and time at collecting that data anyway, and use it in ways that makes them money.

and presented with no additional cost. Quite a difference between then and now.

Another difference is that a social environment like FB simply didn't exist in the seventies. So the researchers were studying interactions that were different from the online environment now, and obviously had to use different methods to select and question their subjects.

Astroboffins discover the stink of eggy farts wafting from Uranus

Stoneshop
Boffin

Re: H2S isn't just a nasty smell

H2S is nasty. One of the effects it has is to paralyse the olfactory nerve, so you stop smelling it pretty quickly. As you go down the periodic table, the smell gets worse too.

H2Se has the distinct reek of rotten cabbage, and H2Te of garlic. At room temperature H2S and the other two are gas.

Going up instead of down in the periodic table we encounter dihydrogen monoxide, a colourless, neutral liquid.

Chemistry is funny like that.

Brexit has shafted the UK's space sector, lord warns science minister

Stoneshop
Trollface

Re: 'Gyimah – who is Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation'

or if for that matter we want some info on 4th century BC Mediterranean agriculture

's not going to help as I see it, rising temperatures notwithstanding. Anything from before the Industrial Revolution is bound to be rather labour intensive, and for that you would need East Europeans. Or whoever you lot can scrounge from your former colonies.

or even how to fight a war with the Gallic barbarians, he knows a thing or two,

They're just across the Channel; how difficult could that be?

Stoneshop
Boffin

Re: Hmmm..

Are those (few) opportunities available on this planet's surface by any chance?

I would expect the space industry to be eminently capable of finding those opportunities if they happen not to be on the surface of this planet.

UK consumer help bloke Martin Lewis is suing Facebook over fake ads

Stoneshop
Big Brother

Targeted

Compared to the old distribution systems like newspapers and post, Facebook probably offers much cheaper means to get to more consumers. So this is a new problem which needs new regulation.

If it was just cheaper it wouldn't really require new regulation. But it's not only cheaper, but also allows ads to be targeted in ways that other channels can't offer. Royal Mail can put (addressed) ads in people's letterboxes, and if the advertiser decides to to only send them out to addresses with a 'q' in them and the street number being a prime, then that's certainly possible but probably not particularly effective regarding targeting a specific audience. Facebook, OTOH, can and does target based on ethnicity, buying habits, political leaning and several other indicators unavailable to the RM or whoever provides the mail handling for said advertiser. It would be like 'only mail these[0] posters to people who are likely to put them up' without the advertiser itself explicitly providing those addresses, instead just dumping a pallet full of pamphlets at the nearest sorting centre with a note specifying the intended class of recipients.

[0] Leave, Stay, whatever.

Time to ditch the front door key? Nest's new wireless smart lock is surprisingly convenient

Stoneshop
Trollface

Re: Lock makers that you can trust?

plus the fact it's a pain in the ass to deal with a garage door opener on a motorcycle.

You may want to rethink the shape of the remote then.

Stoneshop
FAIL

Re: Not just Google

That nobody ever picked/drilled/kicked...

You can't pick or drill a lock without standing right next to it. With the right tools.

Hacking an electronic lock can be done from Outer Elbonia.

Drama brews on high seas as Playmobil ship running out of steam

Stoneshop
Pirate

Re: moniker

Salty Dog: Ah, you see, they've already got one

Uninformed landlubber #1: What?

Uninformed landlubber #2: He says they've already got one

Uninformed landlubber #1: Are you sure they've got one?

Salty Dog: Oh, yes. It's very nice-a.

Stoneshop
Boffin

Solar panel weight

Next to nothing. I just looked at the first 5V 1W panel available on AliBangDeal, and it would add a whopping 23 grams (5.47mJubs) to the vessel. They might have actually needed a few smaller ones in series because of available deck space though, but that wouldn't make much of a difference.

BOFH: We know where the bodies are buried

Stoneshop
Devil

Re: Neat!

such an epic arse-saving effort

Given my chicken allergy, such a dinner would be far from arse-saving for me.

Pentagon sticks to its guns: Yep, we're going with a single cloud services provider

Stoneshop
Mushroom

the underlying foundational technologies required to maximize the capabilities of weapon systems

Eh, a cloud tends to be the result of "the capabilities of weapons systems", a.k.a. blowing shit up. And maximising usually just means a bigger cloud.

'I crashed AOL for 19 hours and messed up global email for a week'

Stoneshop

Re: AOL memories

My first modem was also 2400 bps, it was a 'loan' modem from where I worked as they'd just bought a 28.8kbs one.

Ohh, lookshoorey. My first modem was banging rocks togethera bit of veroboard with a NE565, a NE567, a CD4066 and an opamp, plus a bunch of resistors, capacitors, switches and some trimmers, lovingly soldered into a device that could whistle 300 bits per second down a phone line, and listen to them coming the other way too. You needed to dial the number yourself on a Real Telephone. It's still somewhere in a box. Then a Racal-Decca 1200 baud modem, which too required External Dial Assist. A 9600 baud one, previously used for Remote Diagnostics at DEC FS, and finally a 28k8 V32.something before ISDN arrived with its whopping 128k (and still 64k when you got a call).

Tried checking under the sofa? Indian BTC exchange Coinsecure finds itself $3.5m lighter

Stoneshop
Big Brother

Down the back of the sofa

Well, maybe that Italian/LG IoT sofa could report those BTC having fallen down the back of it, while at the same time leaking them to Dabbsy's bog. I'm not sure if either of these two possibilities is a positive one.

Best thing about a smart toilet? You can take your mobile in without polluting it

Stoneshop
Trollface

Technology question

Would this dunny also use logchain?

Stoneshop
Trollface

Re: nice one Dabbsy

Can I have a gold star now?

That would require not just this HyperBog, but the Star Upgrade upgrade as well.

Facebook scandal: EU politicians should aim for straight answers, not star witnesses

Stoneshop
Flame

is Zuck best one to grill?

He looks a bit lean, but with sufficient herbs, spices and judicious marinating he may become quite tasty still. And then a slow roast over a smoky fire.

What a time to be alive: LG and Italian furniture-maker build smart sofa

Stoneshop
Boffin

How does it stack up

to the Cray sofa, regarding comfort as well as processing power?

Stoneshop
Coat

Does it notify you

of the things you lost down the back of it?

Sysadmin’s worst client was … his mother! Until his sister called for help

Stoneshop

Re: Walls can be useful

Indeed. They're there to bash your head against once your desk is broken.

(mostly required for cow-orkers though; family computer matters don't give me much grief)

'Dear Mr F*ckingjoking': UK PM Theresa May's mass marketing missive misses mark

Stoneshop
Devil

Spelling error

"Britain's ruling Conservative Party"

That should be 'ruining Conservative Party'.

Imagine you're having a CT scan and malware alters the radiation levels – it's doable

Stoneshop

Crowbar

Could this be made only using mechanical (and simple electronic - no computation) components?

Probably, although I'm saying that based on my general understanding of this stuff; might need a different approach in specific cases.

Portable radiation meters, despite containing a bunch of electronics with quite probably a microprocessor at its centre, are meant to be autonomous (and usually portable, but that's not really relevant here). So they would make a decent base for such a crowbar system, provided they're sensitive to the radiation used in the CT or treatment device.

European Space Agency squirts a code update at Mars Express orbiter

Stoneshop

Update

""We were also helped by being able to take code flown on Rosetta and transplant it into the Mars Express guidance software.""

Remember to not be surprised when it starts trying to locate and sneak up to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Civil war erupts at top of FCC over Sinclair's creepy grasp on US telly

Stoneshop
Pirate

Re: No news here

IMNHO these politicians should all be terminated

with extreme prejudice.

El Reg needs you – to help build an automated beer-transporting robot

Stoneshop

Re: Ballistic Delivery

This tends to be rather incompatible with the behaviour of the carbon dioxide content of nearly all beers, when subjected to severe agitation or similar abrupt changes in velocity.

Stoneshop

Re: Before the electronics...

Of course, if all beer glasses are of uniform height, one can just use a hinged clamp-down lid to avoid spillage.

Or, you could transport the beers in their original, closed containers accompanied by an equal amount of glasses[0] and this ingenious device[1] used to get access to the contents of a closed container of the bottle variety, commonly known as a bottle opener.

[0] do the set of available beers include ones that would call for dedicated glasses?

[1] not required for Grolsch (and several German beers) half-liter bottles, and tins.

Stoneshop

"a selection of beers"

Corny keg will hold about 30 pints in total and you could also encourage the creative types to BYOB (Brew Your Own Beer).

Well, yes, but the Corny Keg will only satisfy the demand for one particular beer at a time. So, there's a certain mismatch between the requirements and your proposed solution; a mismatch that is also present in some of the other proposals.

Facebook crosses off one legal headache, another pops up: Server blueprint theft spat with Bladeroom settled, but...

Stoneshop

Re: in other news, cigarettes give you cancer

And with two degree to my name

Two implies plural, hence degrees. And further spelling errors at least indicate sloppiness, if not the stupidity you claim to be free from.

and a reputation amongst colleagues for my insight, I don't think "stupid" applies.

Having no way to verify your possessing those degrees (in which disciplines, or is it simply that you are involved with 66.6% of a certain pop group?) or your standing among colleagues, your statement appears to be somewhat lacking with respect to actually supporting what you claim. Furthermore, engineer's disease is not uncommon.

Stoneshop

Re: Zuck won't willingly talk about this, that's for sure

Installing an Adblocker doesn't stop Facebook from tracking you through your friends.

I knew there was an upside to not having them.

Nope, you're still a transport biz, top EU court tells Uber

Stoneshop

Those of us who consume taxis

can be said to have a rather uncommon diet.

My Tibetan digital detox lasted one morning, how about yours?

Stoneshop
Thumb Up

Note: WITH milk

“No,” he said, “look, it’s very, very simple ... all I want ... is a cup of tea. You are going to make one for me. Keep quiet and listen.”

And he sat. He told the Nutri-Matic about India, he told it about China, told it about Ceylon. He told it about broad leaves drying in the sun. He toit about silver teapots. He told it about summer afternoons on the lawn. Htold it about putting in the milk before the tea so it wouldn’t get scalded. Heven told it (briefly) about the history of the East India Company.

“So that’s it, is it?” said the Nutri-Matic when he had finished.

“Yes,” said Arthur, “that is what I want.”

“You want the taste of dried leaves boiled in water?”

“Er, yes. With milk.”

“Squirted out of a cow?”

“Well, in a manner of speaking I suppose ...”

*Thunk* No worries, the UPS should spin up. Oh cool, it's in bypass mode

Stoneshop
FAIL

It was my third day as the new network manager

You took this job without inquiring into such niggly little things like disaster scenarios and such BEFOREHAND

DXC Tech CEO continues to wash away HPE old guard

Stoneshop
Devil

Just about getting closer to customers,

Next step, getting the customer to do all the work themselves.

UK.gov: We're not regulating driverless vehicles until others do

Stoneshop

Nasty stuff to keep where it should be, hydrogen.

But how can I refill my Hindenburg II when its buoyancy gets low?

Stoneshop
Holmes

Re: Hmm...

If others regulate it out of existence that is good news for us as the industry will find it cheaper to do it here and we take the lead on the technology.

And now you want to sell your technology, and the vehicles made with it, outside the UK. Where the stuff is regulated out of existence, per your own words.

Watchdog growls at Tesla for spilling death crash details: 'Autopilot on, hands off wheel'

Stoneshop
Trollface

Re: Stupid is as stupid does...

Now you'll give the Youtubes ideas on how to make orange juice!

That's where Juicero got their 'inspirationj' from.

Stoneshop
Facepalm

Re: Watching

In real life on this side of the pond I've seen drivers go straight into the divider

Or, probably with less injury unless it's to someone's funny bone: http://media.dumpert.nl/foto/cb098dcd_Bmw_vangrail.JPG (the guardrail starts at ground level). I've seen cars 'parked' like that a few times myself.

Stoneshop

Re: Wonder why it swerved

Even more fun is driving on a flat expanse of white between two distant fences, knowing that somewhere under the snow is a road.

Late at night on a motorcycle, clear night with near full moon, and ground fog up to about half a meter high. On a local road with alternately ditches to the side(s), or fencing with barbed wire. Riding with only the parking light it was possible to make out the road when looking not more than a few meters ahead.

I don't think I did over 10 km/h that stretch.

For some reason, you lot love 'em. So here are the many ThinkPads of 2018

Stoneshop

Re: Something to look forward to

currently trying to sort out the models from 5 years ago

ThinkWiki.{org|de} can offer a lot of insight there. There are even lists of models that were the last to use particular features, such as a 4:3 screen.

Stoneshop

Unicomp

A discrete keyboard with trackpoint exists.

Indeed they do. It's even a worthy successor to the venerable and indestructable Model M.

I haven't yet tested whether you can beat someone to death with it, then write their obituary, like you can with the original.

Stoneshop

Re: Blast from the past

X201, X201s, X61 and an X31 that appears to need an OS reinstall. Briefly owned an X301 as well, but for my daily use it had too little horsepower and so I sold it to someone whose use-case had a much better match. There's another X201 in this house, two X60s, an X40 tablet and an X30. Coming soon, an X60 tablet.

Any social media accounts to declare? US wants travelers to tell

Stoneshop
WTF?

Re: MySpace

Did MySpace still exist 5 years ago?

Even more surprising: it still does.

Stoneshop
Devil

Re: ESTA

Any contact with any business gets to use theirbusinessname@mydomain.com

Which means there's a wide selection of choice words to be used for contact with the US State Department. Preferably those not known as being invective to the average US (un)civil servant.

Stoneshop
Devil

Re: Wonder how many State Dept employees would make the cut?

No sweat. If they find enough shady business in your history, you'll immediately become a prized member of the Orange Turnip's Inner Circle. That is, if your bank accounts show a sufficient number of digits left of the fractional separator when converted to Real Money.

He's in dire need of a few new ones as he's burning through the current ones at a bigly rate.

Stoneshop

Re: I'm Amish.

One word & I've just rendered 99% of your questions as irrelevant. No electronics, no electricity, no phones, nothing.

It's a good thing someone built a semaphore-to-Internet gateway then.

llama shearing

How about yak shaving?

Tesla crash investigation causes dip in 'leccycar firm's share price

Stoneshop
Headmaster

The paint is actually specially designed to produce noise in most Eu countries.

It's loud, but not that loud.

Stoneshop

The question is - if this WAS in "autopilot" mode (yeah, yeah, I know) then why did it crash?

Apparently it was. "Tesla says the 38-year-old driver, who died shortly afterwards, had activated Autopilot moments before the accident.

But they did not say whether the system had detected the concrete barrier."

Uber self-driving car death riddle: Was LIDAR blind spot to blame?

Stoneshop

Re: with no light

I still think at some point Uber might try to sabotage self driving cars if it looks like it's going to kill it's business

With the second or third such 'accident' they will get their license to test self-driving cars revoked by the relevant federal agency, so no getting out from underneath that by moving the testing to a more lenient state. With the other companies maybe getting a couple of restrictions, if at all when they can show their accident rate being way lower, especially when they would have zero fatalities, because of their setup.

Which would leave Uber at a severe disadvantage, still having to use badly-paid wetware to provide their service, when the others can reach full vehicle autonomy much sooner and leave the scraps to Uber

Stoneshop
Devil

Re: "...a [Lidar] blind spot low to the ground all around the car."

What about sinkholes?

Perfect, especially when they're large enough to swallow the whole Uber self-driving car.