* Posts by Dave 126

10622 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jul 2010

Uber, Apple, Amazon and Sully Sullenberger walk into a bar – er, self-driving car committee

Dave 126

Re: Sullenberger: the movie

The consensus view on Rotten Tomatoes suggests that Sully is a typically well made film from its director Clint Eastwood:

As comfortingly workmanlike as its protagonist, Sully makes solid use of typically superlative work from its star and director to deliver a quietly stirring tribute to an everyday hero.

Mr Eastwood has a reputation for knocking out good films ahead of time and under budget.

Maps and alarm clocks best thing about mobes, say normies

Dave 126

>I can stop the stand-alone clock's alarm without properly waking up. The snooze and cancel buttons can both easily be found by touch.

'Hardware hacking' is your friend! Just prise off the plastic buttons with a screwdriver - you will then have to hunt around for a pen or matchstick to silence the alarm!

Dave 126

Re: >So Mr Average uses his smart phone as an Alarm clock and map.

>True buts its all about pro's and con's or compromising when your battery hasnt gone flat.

Not a valid complaint: if your battery has gone flat because you are using your phone instead of a discrete camera, calculator, book etc, then you can carry an extra battery pack and still be making a saving on weight and bulk over carrying discrete devices.

>Books wont damage your eyes as much or keep you awake due to being exposed to too much blue light at night which suppresses melatonin...

You can use a blue-light filter such as f.lux to have the phone screen emit similar light to that reflected from the page of a book. I believe Google have it baked into their eBook app, as Apple have done with iOS.

>I can enjoy my time to a higher degree by not being at everyone elses beck and call which happens most often at the least convenient times,

Android has a 'Do Not Disturb mode, with settings (so, for example, the phone will block all calls except those from a frail family member, for example). I imagine iOS has something similar.

>I can enjoy wearing a nice watch instead of carrying around a device more loaded with bacteria & virus

I wear a watch too, but my phone makes a superior alarm clock because it is louder than the alarm on my Casio, and offers more useful options. Oh, and most of the time I wear a mechanical watch wich doesn't have an alarm function.

>I can read newspapers, listen to the radio, watch tv or watch a film if I dont want to waste time doing the job of an editor, programming director to filter out the rubbish

Me too. However, the science and cultural output of Australian radio is superior to that on my native Britain's BBC radio stations. Luckily, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/ just lets me listen to it. Also, the pop music stations on FM in the UK are largely shit, whereas Radio 6 Music (on DAB and Internet) is good... in my it is easier to listen to it (or thousands of other music stations from around the world) over WiFi. You can boost or relay your WiFi signal; you can't do the same for a dodgy DAB signal. I do like FM though - especially the brilliant battery life of an FM receiver.

>I can take comfort in the fact that spooky hackers are not reading my every thought and predicting my actions if I carry a diary or filofax around with me.

And then kick yourself when leave the only manuscript of your great novel on a rail platform, as did T.E Lawrence. Or have someone take a peek at your diary when you're not looking - no hacking required! There are pros and cons to all approaches, and I still read books and newspapers, and listen to FM radio, know how to use a map and compass etc (in fact a major point you could have made is that of redundancy). However, I feel that the examples you provided aren't as clear cut as you presented them to be.

Dave 126

Re: Pareto analysis

>While it might be true that 80% of "features" on a phone go unused, has anyone asked why?

It isn't an observation peculiar to phones, or even technology in general. The 80/20 rule of thumb holds true across a staggering range of natural and man-made phenomena. So yes, people have asked 'why', but the answer lies in statistics, not in phone OS design. Oh, not every rarely used phone feature is 'fluff' as you put it: in ten years of using feature/smart phones, I have only used '999' once (It is a feature that I can dial '999' without a SIM and using any availavble network).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

Dave 126

Re: Um

Skoda made brewing plant and iron work for roads, too, amongst other things.

Dave 126

>... according to a survey by uSwitch. The comparison site asked Joe Public to name their favourite smartphone features.

From this we can assume the vast majority of respondents use electricity, internet, phones and insurance. Not a randomised selection, but visitors to uSwitch are a not terrible proxy for the bill-paying population at large.

Dave 126

> car-like devices that cannot transport you from A to B.

They're called sheds. Comfy seat, stereo, reading light, heater, USB power outlets... why d'ya even want to go anywhere?

Dave 126

Re: Maps and alarm clocks best thing about mobes, say normies

Old Nokias and feature phones would wake from power-off for a scheduled alarm, but not all Android phones will. Therefore, if I'm low on battery but need an alarm to wake up I'll put the phone in Airplane Mode.

Dave 126

Pareto analysis

It's the old rule-of-thumb that 80% of the time you're only using top 20% of features. Much as 80% of failures can usually be attributed to 20% of components. I haven't used Windows Phone, but I did note that the sizes of tiles on its home screen reflected this (phone, SMS, clock, maps, email, calendar), and it seemed good to me.

However, the top phone features in this article are averaged out across the survey. Whilst most people do make use of the alarm clock and maps, one normal person might also use the guitar tuner app on a daily basis, another normal person might use iPlayer radio etc.

Smart fingerprint padlock startup to $320k backers: Sorry for the radio silence

Dave 126

It really shouldn't have glossy finish, since it might retain the owner's fingerprints.

I don't know why they used an Industrial Designer, and not a Product Designer (which is a more integrated role that considers the eventual manufacture throughout the design process, as well as function and appearance etc). Really, it doesn't need to look different to a conventional padlock, and by drawing attention to itself it will only encourage kids to smash the sensor with a rock.

Train your self-driving car AI in Grand Theft Auto V – what could possibly go wrong?

Dave 126

> Still I wonder whether the pixel output will be on a one to one basis, or whether GTA can output more pixel data than the receiving learning to drive AI.

Indeed, my thoughts were whether the GTA game can be made to output several camera views simultaneously to simulate the multi-camera setup that Tesla et al use.

Lots of real racing teams use a simulator called rFactor 2 for 'testing' new car setups and driver practice, such is the accuracy of its physics - it even simulates the multiple layers of tyres with respect to temperature and wear. Of course it is geared towards track racing, not the everyday world of traffic lights and pedestrians, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't pressed into service developing AI code in future.

Wi-Fi for audiophiles: Alliance preps TimeSync certification program

Dave 126

Re: Amazed that this stuff is so difficult

This protocol is for convenience, something our stereotypical audiophile isn't fussed by.

Multi-room audio was done by B&O decades ago, and since then by Apple, Sonos and Google Chromecast. It's a slightly different, and probably bigger, market to the gold-plated TOSLink brigade.

EU tosses Europe's cookies... popups

Dave 126

Re: woo hoo

> They are cookies, if you don't want them you can set your browser to deal with them in a way that you see fit.

Just out of curiosity: would you hazard a guess at how many internet users who were not previously aware of what cookies are took notice of these consent banners, and so went on to educate themselves about them? I have no idea. More than 'zero', maybe. For some, after years of gradually more intrusive website adverts and 'features', these banners might have been the straw that broke the camel's back, and the user goes on to clean up their web experience wholesale.

Only people who know what cookies are will set up their browser to deal with them.

Dave 126

Re: So we commit to leave

Right to have government read our emails cruelly snatched away by EU

THE cherished British right for government spies to have full access to our emails has been snatched away by the despotic European Court.

A ruling on a case brought by heroic Brexiter and despicable traitor David Davis MP has banned patriots from joyfully and involuntarily sharing their texts and emails with UK surveillance.

- http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/right-to-have-government-read-our-emails-cruelly-snatched-away-by-eu-20161221119365

How Apple exploded Europe's crony capitalism

Dave 126

Re: Fake History

>"Almost every vision of the future made in the past involves a crumby CRT display" - hmm, maybe as 0laf says in cheap TV sets but in the early 80's William Gibson had already envisaged cyberspace as virtual reality.

Gibson would back Orlowski up on this: he wrote a story set in the nineties, in which the protagonists keep having flash[sideways?] visions of an alternate world - a vision of 1990 as imagined by the futurists of the 1960s, complete with meal pills. To some extent, the forgettable 2015 movie Tomorrowland plays along similar riffs.

Still, does it matter? Alien featured CRT monitors, and it still looks better than Lawnmower Man.

Dave 126

Re: I had to laugh at this

It's 2017. Maybe even the denizens of the Reg forums have realised that enforcing an echo-chamber is of no use to man or beast?

Dave 126

Re: America isn't Crony Capitalism?

>Isn't Apple the American company that keeps trying to screw customers with non-standard components that you can only buy from Apple at extortionate prices, but which the EU keeps forcing to adopt industry standards to protect consumer choice?

Apple had a 13 pin iPod/iPhone plug, then a Lightening plug. That's it. Either are available for next to nothing from numerous 3rd parties from a petrol station or supermarket near you.

Over the same period, my non-Apple devices have required USB B, MiniUSB, microUSB barrel chargers of two sizes (Nokia), headphone adaptor (Nokia), three types of power connector and headphone adaptor ditto (Samsung) and some similarly daft stuff from Sony Ericsson. Not only that, but these never-twice-the-same-plug devices shipped with cables hardwired to the mains power adaptors. It was incredibly annoying, and I'm glad the EU stepped in and standardised microUSB. Oh Wait! It turns out that microUSB was not as user friendly as the orientation-agnostic Lightening cable, so now we have to adopt orientation-agnostic USB-C!

Not having owned any Apple kit, I can't tell how irritated 'fanbois' were at having to change their cable type once in nearly fifteen years. I won't lose any sleep on their behalf, though. Lucky sods.

Dave 126

Re: Mobile money

>Not that I particularly like any corporation using my electronic wallet as an interest free loan or a way for them to make money from commissions from the payment services chain, but I'd like Apple and Google using it the least.

Could you share your rationale? The traditional card issuers wanted a big percentage of every transaction, and to know what you were buying. The Apple model is a small percentage per transaction, and neither Apple nor the card issuer know what you have bought because it is token-based. By saying you'd like Apple the least, you leave us in the dark as to exactly what it is you find objectionable.

Dave 126

Re: CRTs

The IBM-branded tablet computers in Kubrick's 2001: Space Odyssey. The props don't move on from their spot on Bowman and Poole's desk, so had ether a CRT or projector mounted beneath them.

Yet Heywood Floyd, a big fish in the organisation, doesn't have a tablet - he has to go to an ATT booth to 'Skype' his daughter from orbit.

Dave 126

Re: Absolutely agree

>RIM had an edge with secure communication technology but didn't seem to realise that there was value in improving the handset and the services. By the time they woke up Apple had got themselves established. Even now, Apple are not offering as good a corporate or government system, but continue to nibble away at that market.

RIM do software for iPhones these days, a mate of mine - a MOD contractor - has been issued a locked-down and RIM'ed iPhone. A couple of years back, it was announced that IBM were to start doing corporate iOS software (that I haven't heard much of since means nothing, because it is not my area). It appears that in between appealing to executives and being more secure than Android, Apple got a good chunk of the corporate market without trying too hard.

Renault goes open source with next-gen electric buggy you might generously call 'a car'

Dave 126

Re: Electric Kit Car

>but i would have thought that Elon Musk et al would have presented an electric kit car, based on a standard frame, where you can upgrade the software to enhance performance or add features as per this article.

Hey Shadmeister! It's a nice thought, but the are reasons why you've not seen many electric kit cars:

1, the software is limited in how much it can improve performance. If you tweak it too much, you'll damage your expensive batteries. Tesla's 'Insane Mode' does its best to limit this, but it is still a compromise.

2, Musk is after the mass market, and has gone some way to changing the public perception of electric cars. Kit cars have always been niche, and don't aid the change in public perception that Musk seeks.

3, Being light weight, small in number and only used on sunny days, kit cars with internal combustion engines aren't big polluters anyway.

4, Lithium Ion battery lifespan is a function of time (as well as recharge cycles, drain, temperature etc) so you'll be losing value on you batteries even when you're not driving your kit car.

Still, in the future you may well be able to get electric vehicle motors and kit from from the scrap heap and build your own kit car from reclaimed components - in true kit car fashion!

Regards

(Disclaimer: Mates of mine build space-frame 3-wheeled two-seat vehicles that take motorcycle engines)

You have the right to be informed: Write to UK.gov, save El Reg

Dave 126

Re: Am I misreading this?

>Special interest titles

>4A person who publishes a title that—

>(a)relates to a particular pastime, hobby, trade, business, industry or profession, and

>(b)only contains news-related material on an incidental basis that is relevant to the main content of the title.

The Reg publishes stories about every sector and business that uses IT (that's effectively everything, then), and more general stories, articles and opinion pieces about the wider effect of IT on society, economics and politics. Nice try, but I can't see the Reg qualifying as 'Special Interest'.

Dave 126

Re: Missing the point a bit

Indeed. This Autumn saw the child abusing bent cop Gordon Anglesea sentenced to twelve years for his crimes. In 1994, he successfully sued several news outlets, including Private Eye, for libel.

This is far from the only case. Private Eye doesn't harass the victims of crimes as the News of the World did, its targets are the rich, powerful and corrupt, with some gentle ribbing for the merely stupid.

Dave 126

>Sorry but the UK press deserve this. It's an utter cesspool of filth. Sorry that you'll need to be sure what you write is accurate, I guess that's terrible for you.

Part of the British press have behaved abysmally for decades, it is true. However, this law would affect long established news organs that expose the bullshit of our British press, politicians and others.

http://www.private-eye.co.uk/

Dave 126

Re: Question

Ian Hislop has been vocal about this issue for the last year. It also formed a large chunk of last week's Media Show on BBC Radio 4.

The wait is over ... Nokia's BACK!

Dave 126

Re: ditch the Apple

It seems to me that you could get close to the phone you want if Moto's Mod system was open to other phone vendors, thus attracting more 3rd party developers of hardware attachments.

It is better to have a physical keyboard as replaceable component - it can be swapped out if a key fails. The Moto MOD system phones have a small array of recessed plates, which can shunt power (both ways) and data between the phone an add-on such as a battery pack, loud speaker, zoom camera or projector. When attached, these add-ons look incorporated into the phone.

There is no engineering reason that a good physical keyboard - QWERTY or BlackBerry style - wouldn't work well with such a system.

Man jailed for 3 days after Texas cops confuse cat litter for meth

Dave 126

Re: I'm assuming

IIRC it was liquid hand soap of the type commonly used in public toilets that gave a false positive for Semtex in a high profile case.

I believe Semtex, being a trade name for C-4, has an almond smell artificially introduced to it - just as the UK's mains gas has an added smell. I might be wrong though, an almond smell might be inherent to it (cyanide?), and this subject I'm inclined not to Google it. I would like to play with shaped charge explosives though as a way of cutting metal in the workshop... the hacksaw makes my arm tired. And damn it, I like things that go Bang!

Dave 126

Re: I carry a whole bag in winter

>I think the smart thing to do here is, if you're going to keep kitty litter in your car, keep it in the bag it came in.

[Can't tell if serious!]

The bag that kitty litter is shipped in is designed to keep moisture out. The litter won't work unless it is exposed to the damp environment.

Some folk place trays of kitty litter around the interior of caravans that they won't be using for a while - again, to keep dampness at bay. The litter can be reused byheating it gently in an oven to remove the water it has previously absorbed.

Dave 126

You've used some long words there.

There is however a simple test for kitty litter:

Take suspect substance. Weigh it. Place sample on a piece of mesh or sieve. Drench in water for a few minutes. Weigh it again. If it now weighs roughly thirty times more than before, sample is likely to be silica kitty litter.

I'm assuming that the driver was using silica kitty litter to keep his windscreen demisted, as it is more effective than clay-based litter. Also, clay-based litter is even harder to mistake for crystal meth (of which I know little, but assume looks kinda crystally).

I say assume, but you never know [Link to Reg article about fire in US nuclear waste storage facility caused by someone using organic matter-based kitty litter instead of the good stuff]

Soz fanbois, Apple DIDN'T invent the smartphone after all

Dave 126

Re: Apple? Invent?

I'm hard pressed to think of any invention that isn't a combination or adaptation of prexisting inventions.

"Tharg didn't invent the wheel! He just combined the rollers we use for shifting stones, and combined it with the rotating stick idea we use for roasting meat over a fire! What a phoney Tharg is!"

Dave 126

The phones that were around in 2005 aren't the only devices that should be mentioned in this story. There was a distinct category of Palm powered devices we called PDAs, of which some like the Sony Clie were full of techno fun; colour touch screen, music and video playback, rotating camera.

Dave 126

Re: Apple didn't invent it no...

The first iPhone was a compromised device, but it didn't take much imagination on the part of consumers at the time to see what it would be like after a few evolutionary upgrades in battery, connectivity, CPU etc. Such a device would resemble the phones - Android, WinPhone, iOS - the majority of use use today.

Dave 126

Re: Thumbs up

It's not just the networks that slow Android updates... It is also chip vendors, handset vendors with their daft skins, and sometimes regulators too.

Please remember that to gain foothold, Android was ostensibly open source, so there was no monolithic entity to force a clean and quickly updated version of Android on device vendors. The AOSP is still open source (though hardware drivers often aren't) but Google has been pushing its extra proprietary bits.

Dave 126

Re: "The iPhone dominates."

Indeed. There are probably more of a single model of iPhone sold than any single model of Android phone, of which there are many.

And yes, most of the profit in mobile phones goes to Apple.

Dave 126

Re: I am puzzled by the premise of this article

People can argue over what makes a 'smartphone' - at the time, it was generally taken to mean one that could run 3rd party software, usually Symbian or Windows Mobile. However, the 1st iPhone resembles the Nexus 5 I'm currently typing this post on - capacitive touchscreen, gyros, proximity sensor, GPU. Most people now just say 'phone' for their Android or iPhone, or they say 'Nokia' if they use a £10 phone call and sms device.

CES 2017 roundup: The good, the bad, and the frankly bonkers

Dave 126

Re: Another journo out of touch

You link results in a page "Video is no longer available".

Can you expand upon your point? I quite grasp the link you're making between voice-based 'digital assistants' and car manufacturers.

Nor were such things mentioned in the article, so I'm unclear on why you say the 'journo is out of touch'

Dave 126

Re: Nothing from Intel on this list?

It's interesting to consider the Intel Compute Card in conjunction with Sony, LG and Samsung's last attempts to sell anything other than a Nice Dumb Screen. They are making some very nice screens (dynamic range, loads of pixels, colour accuracy etc) that are so slim that they use a break-out box, which handles inputs, power supply and in some cases doubles as a sound bar. These break-out boxes connect to the screen via a proprietary connector.

The Intel Compute Card is intended as a way of upgrading the innards of 'Smart TVs', at a time when many of us just use the TV as an output for a Chromcast, HTPC, XBOX, Sky Box or whatever.

Dave 126

Re: Predator

But is it the most convenient way to house the hardware? The damned thing weighs nearly 20 lbs! Before buying, it'd be prudent to spec up a solution based around flight cases or Pelican boxes - being more rugged and modular, cheaper, and with greater thermal headroom. I mean, you're not going to be using this thing that far away from a power outlet for very long anyways!

There is also the issue of ECC RAM and Quadro (instead of GeForce) graphics. Most of the time you won't notice the difference, but some regulations mandate ECC RAM for critical calculations (just in case), and some software prefers (and has been tested on) professional GPU drivers.

Engineering (simulation, visualisation etc) applications will often harness GPU hardware to perform calculations, and not just throw pixels at a screen - so in some circumstances you might benefit from a bank of GPUs in a flight-case (a mini 'render farm'). This is of course if you need a lot of computation whilst away from a fast, reliable internet connection (oil rigs are the oft-given example) and are thus unable to use scalable cloud computing resources.

You could also just have a flight case rammed full of compute power and then just X-windows (or equivalent) in with a normal laptop (er, Mobile Workstation) - and save yourself some noise and heat in the process.

Of course, if you are moving desk several times a day and don't want a collection of boxes, then you can get close with a Dell Precision for $6,000 - but you'll have to slum it with a single GPU, only two internal drives and tiny 17" screen.

Dave 126

Re: Project Valerie

I don't think that the Predator was designed to be practical! It's more a concept machine that will be sold in small numbers. For that reason, I don't Acer is taking the piss - gamers have lots of options, and so don't have to buy it, especially when they can get most of the experience for a third of the price.

For those of you looking for a lot of mobile grunt but don't want a machine that looks like plastic Lamborghini made for 12 year boys, the Gigabyte Aero could fit your bill: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=6176#kf

Dave 126

Re: Well...

I once met up with a slightly-built female acquaintance in a bar in a city she wasn't familiar with. She told me she didn't like navigating from her hotel to the bar whilst holding an expensive phone. And to be honest, for the amount of information she was gleaning from ( Forwards, Left, Right etc) a super-duper IPS screen was overkill; a few LEDS or the movement of hands on an analogue watch face could have done just as well.

Haptic navigation isn't a bad idea, but putting it jeans seems strange idea to me. Putting it in a belt would be a better solution because:

-A single belt can be worn with many different trousers. Hell, make the belt reversible with black on one side for formal occasions, another colour on the reverse for casual wear.

-Belts are already routinely removed from trousers before the trousers are washed.

Dave 126

Re: AirBar

Whilst it might have some niche use cases, there are other ways to achieve much of the same functionality, often with additional advantages.

- The MacBook screen can be mirrored to a tablet with 3rd party software.

- Individual tool pallets on macOS can be controlled from an iOS app, depending upon the software.

- For extended use, the location of a Macbook's screen isn't ideal

- For for hand and finger gestures correlating to certain parts of the screen (for presentrations, for example) a Leap Motion controller could be suitable.

- Use a Windows PC instead. This gives less distance between the user's finger / stylus and the pixels, thus reducing parallax error. Also, stylus import will be more nuanced and accurate. The same advantages can also be had by:

- Use a Cintiq touchscreen monitor in conjunction with the MacBook, or a standalone Citiq tablet.

- Use an iPad Pro with stylus

I'm not saying that the AirBar doesn't have a place, but it isn't without competition from existing ways of doing much the same thing. That is why I was surprised to read that a lack of touchscreen was a 'consistent complaint' amongst Mac users. It's also worth noting that the company Modbook - who turned Macbooks into touch screen tablets - hasn't posted any 'News' on their website since November 2015... lack of demand, I assume.

Slim pickings by the Biggest Loser: A year of fitness wearables

Dave 126

My design for a fitness wearable.

My design would consist of two wrist-mounted devices, each weighing 1 Kg.

They wouldn't motivate the user to exercise more through arbitrary goals, oh no. They would make the user exercise more through physics.

If you really want, the mass can be made up of Ni Cad battery cells.

Routes taken by UK prosecutors over supply of modified TV set-top boxes

Dave 126

Re: Thanks for the heads up

This wasn't a native Reg article. In other reports, some in dead-tree newspapers, I have seen them referred to as Pre-loaded Kodi boxes. Whatever they might be.

Dave 126

Conspiracy...

... requires another party to conspire with. Like when, it is alleged, Murdoch bought the tech firm that developed the smart card encryption system used by Canal+ and other broadcasters - some time later, consumers were routinely downloading new card images and thus depriving Sky's competitors of revenue. That would fulfil the definition of conspiracy, if it did in fact happen that way. It was reported by Private Eye many years back.

NASA plans seven-year trip to Jupiter – can we come with you, please?

Dave 126

Artist's impression?

Wow, where did they find that artist, when most engineers have a better grasp of Photoshop and a CAD model or two? It looks like collage made by cutting out pictures from a Ladybird book, it is that naive.

I quite like it for its novelty!

Put walls around home Things, win $25k from US government

Dave 126

Re: The prize is mine.

You'd still plug them in after soaking them in petrol? Hmmm, negate the need for home automation by destroying your home with fire... that's a solution of a sort, I suppose ;)

Anyway, have you consulted your offspring about the tools that will aid in your care when you are old, infirm and possibly demented? No? Well, they might send you to a home before your time.

Let's not fuck about here: demographics and economics. Strains on our health and care services are showing right now. Sensors that communicate data to the outside world (temperature, pulse, blood sugar levels, medication doses etc etc) are going to happen whether we like it or not. We might as well play a role in steering them into something good. Methods exist to greatly mitigate the downsides, but you won't find them in 1st gen consumer IoT toys, I grant you.

Dave 126

Re: Will. Never. Happen.

>Companies don't give a crap about security, and they never will.

By being so general, you're missing an opportunity to exercise your power. A company will care about your privacy if it allows them to differentiate themselves on the market. That was the motivation behind Apple's spat with the FBI over unlocking an iPhone, and their adoption of Differential Privacy in their Health Kit and Home Kit. Apple make lots of money by giving you a reason to buy their pricey hardware, not from advertising.

DP is not Apple's invention - that'd be Cynthia Dwork* - but it is in their own business interests to promote it in their products. This is an option not available to Google, who make their money from advertising.

Apple isn't alone in using privacy to promote their products - you may have heard of Silent Circle, Jolla, Sailfish, Blackberry... or maybe you haven't, no would blame you!

*https://www.quantamagazine.org/20161123-privacy-and-fairness-an-interview-with-cynthia-dwork/

Dave 126

Re: One idea

>IOT shouldn't mean send data to the cloud.

To parse your sentence: "The internet of things shouldn't involve the internet", or rather "I want an *intranet* of things". Fair enough, it's a common point of view. For an Intranet of Things, you can roll your own, maybe starting with the links in my above comment.

However, it is possible to avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater, but to understand how involves hard maths; that is, there is a way to offer your data for the betterment of mankind (think: medical data cross-referenced with empirical lifestyle data) without identifying yourself, or allowing your identity to be inferred. Differential Privacy:

Differential Privacy (DP) was originally proposed by Dwork in [6]. It refers to a privacy

goal requirement that must be satisfied by algorithms (or mechanisms) that describe

a given data set using disturbed statistical values like an average or the count of

elements in the data set. This goal is basically set by the epsilon (ε) value, that is the

difference between the probabilities of receiving the same result from a randomized

algorithm against two different data sets that differ in just one record, so it can be

guaranteed that a re-identification was not caused by the participation in a data set. A

smaller value of ε represents stronger privacy, and values are usually set between 0

and 1, like 0.1 or ln(2), for instance.

It soon gets into brain-hurt territory, but I do believe that it will be worth it.

Dave 126

Re: One idea

That's more like it.

The only hurdle is the use of propriety algorithms to crunch through the raw data collected by these sensors, and then act upon them. This won't be an issue if open source algorithms are used on user-owned kit.

For there to be open source algorithms, hobbyists need to get involved. Cheap sensors, a cheap hub (could be Raspberry-Pi based, more advanced machine-vision system could be based on that silicon nVidia is developing for the automotive industry), cheap actuators (thermostats, blinds, locks, power states etc). It's all available.

A quick search shows:

http://www.openhab.org/ Vendor and technology agnostic open source automation software for your home.

https://home-assistant.io/ Home Assistant is an open-source home automation platform running on Python 3.

http://freedomotic.com/ Freedomotic is an open source, flexible, secure Internet of Things (IoT) development framework, useful to build and manage modern smart spaces

Ransomware scum: 'I believe I'm a good fit. See attachments'

Dave 126

Re: Why Excel?

Indeed. When I applied for a job at Dyson, they wanted my CV to be in plain text, pasted into a web form. Seemed sensible enough. Also, it meant no applicant required a Word licence, or would have to cross their fingers that Libre Office formatting would be rendered correctly at the recipient's end.

If I had needed to send them photographs of my work, I could have just included a link to a reputable designer's portfolio hosting site.