* Posts by I.S.

19 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Aug 2012

HP printer software turns up uninvited on Windows systems

I.S.

It just happened to me, again!

I had already uninstalled the HP Smart app from my Win10 PC, but just now I noticed that it's back again.

The only HP devices I have are old (late 70's) sig gens and freq counters, and they're resting on the shelf.

So far my Win11 lappy has not been infected.

s.

Sharing is caring, except when it's your internet connection

I.S.

Re: When you move to your own connection

I spent my first 5 years in HK surfing off my neighbours open access points. After I eventually paid for my own service I set the SSID as passwordsniffer and left it open just to see if anyone was game enough to try it.

Imagine a fiber optic cable that can sense it's about to be dug up and send a warning

I.S.

Having worked with major and minor Telco's around the world, getting someone on site to be able to pinpoint any break location with an OTDR in less than an hour is generally viewed as 'best case'. Even places like Singapore and Hong Kong, quite small geographically but with very extensive fibre networks, know from experience that the OTDR, the tech who knows how to use the OTDR, and the nearest fibre cabinet to the break, are all in different locations.

I.S.

Many years ago ('02 or '03)I was asked by the CEO of Telstra, if I could provide them with a backhoe detector.

It was already well known that the same fibre that carried the comms could also be used as a sensing element.

The company I worked for already had the tech to do the sensing.

We declined.

You certainly can sense when the digger is about to rip your cable to shreds,

But when that digger and cable are kilometers, if not tens or hundreds of kilometers away from your sensing point, well... whats the point, you'll never alert them in time to stop them.

Yes ti can be done, and has been done already for a long time in specific cases where the distance to be sensed is very small and the response is guaranteed to the rapid. But for normal teclo networks.. dream on.

Kim Kardashian and Big Tech slapped for spruiking craptocurrency – and holding back useful crypto

I.S.
Paris Hilton

It aint so!

Now, how much did you agree to pay me to say that?

Paris, obvs.

What could be worse than killing a golden goose? Killing someone else's golden goose

I.S.

So bad it's not even funny.

Pop quiz: You've got a roomful of electrical equipment. How do you put out a fire?

I.S.

In answer to the question in the title, you don't.

In the 20+ years that I worked for a tier 1 telco I never saw fire suppression systems of any kinds inside the equipment rooms.

There would be the occasional dry powder extinguisher clipped to the wall by the door, but no water sprinkler or gas suppression system anywhere.

There was always a VESDA system that was routinely checked for correct operation, and the occasional false alarm that triggered a 5 truck call out from the fire brigade.

Company OH&S policy was very clear: the equipment rooms do not have fire suppression, you shouldn't be in there unless absolutely necessary, so in the event of a fire get out quickly.

The other thing I never saw, or even heard of, was a fire in an equipment room.

All equipment and cabling going into service was tested (often to destruction) before deployment so as to sure that it not only met spec, but was safe.

Maybe the IT crowd have different priorities.

Spotted the ISS in the sky yet? How about pulling out some spare kit and giving it a listen?

I.S.

Re: Slow scan TV through Internet?

Even the simple ones work up to about 1.7GHz.

RTL-SDR (currently v3) is one of the most common, very well made and supported. rtl-sdr.com

Airspy (currently v2) is a step up, with more features for hardcore HAM's. airspy.com

You need software to process the output of either one. Airspy provide SDR# and it is pretty much the standard for windows, and there is GQRX for Linux.

I.S.

Re: Slow scan TV through Internet?

For a few dollars you can get a SDR receiver dongle that will pick up the ISS from a very simple home made antenna. No HAM license required in most western countries.

Linux desktop org GNOME Foundation settles lawsuit with patent troll

I.S.
Thumb Up

Re: An excellent result

I had to look up schwedentrunk, but I'm glad I did.

BOFH: Here he comes, all wide-eyed with the boundless optimism of youth. He is me, 30 years ago... what to do?

I.S.

I faced this same issue when the company I worked for took on two recent uni grads and I was asked to help them get up to speed on what life was like in the real world.

The idea of taking them both to the pub and not coming back until their money ran out was tempting, but I decided to tell them the truth. Well, my version of the truth at least.

They were saved by the almighty POP of dot com bubble bursting and the only employees remaining were accounting team, and me, of course.

This news article about the full public release of OpenAI's 'dangerous' GPT-2 model was part written by GPT-2

I.S.
Paris Hilton

Awesomesauce!

"It was a dark and stormy night" was my input, and the output was not at all what I was expecting...

...and the snow-drifts were high; but the boy had his coat and his shoes, and with one hand he was holding on to a tree for support, and in the other he was picking flowers, or peeping out of holes in the snow.

"I have found a bird; I have found a bird!"

And at that he let go the other hand, and the tree was suddenly moved and fell into the snow.

"It is a bird," he said, "and there are two of them; they are dancing; they have two hearts, but one is beating; they have two tails, but one is flapping; they are on their way to a place where they will live on water, but only for a day or two; they are going to a place where they will live on sand, but only for a day or two. One is green, and the other is yellow."

"Is it possible that they are a bird?" asked his mother; "that they are not a man, and that you...

You could cull the odd line that clearly doesn't fit and churn out quite reasonable stuff. I assume that you can feed the edited output back in again to refine the process? I must call my agent at once!

Paris, because any no talent loser can become famous

Now, how to boost fibre throughput to a stonking 240Gbps? With frikkin' spin-lasers, of course

I.S.
Thumb Down

Bollocks.

"In contrast, conventional optical communications currently max out at around 40 to 50Gbps."

Bullshit.

400Gbps Ethernet (standardized IEEE802.3 bs) has been shipping to data centre customers for the past year.

More complex versions of 400G have been deployed in DWDM backbone networks since 2014.

This allows in excess of 30Tbps per fibre!

The race has been to develop plug-able optics modules to fit the form factor demanded by data centre customers. Power consumption and heat dissipation are the biggest hurdles, but they've all been cleared.

RIP 2019-2019: The first plant to grow on the Moon? Yeah, it's dead already, Chinese admit

I.S.

Re: Bad planning

Clearly what the Krynoid was based on.

Lets just hope that the Chinese don't bring anything back.

The Krynoid scared the shit out of me as a kid, I still can't stand ivy unless it is on fire.

Australia’s .au admins told to reform or get rooted

I.S.

auDA, aka Disneyland dot com

It's not only the Minster for Communications that is taking an interest in the goings on at auDA, the police have also been called in. This was published on Monday before the Minister's report was released.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/disneyland-dot-com-police-asked-to-probe-spending-at-web-agency-20180416-p4z9yd.html

FUKE NEWS: Robot snaps inside drowned Fukushima nuke plant

I.S.

Re: Industrial strength endoscope?

One issue with glass in radioactive environments is that it becomes opaque with exposure to ionizing radiation, and the higher the ionizing energy the quicker the darkening.

Spare ship found to fix broken submarine cable slowing Oz internet

I.S.

Re: Ship visit

Who said the ship is going to Guam?

The fault is approx 4,590km from Guam, and on a cable route that is 6,900km long that puts the fault approx 2,310km from Sydney.

Cairns seems like a fairly good place dock.

Submarine cable cut lops Terabits off Australia's data bridge

I.S.

Re: Microwave?

There have been microwave links from mainland Oz to Tassie since 1959. One was from Mt Oberon on Wilsons Prom, via Mt Tanner on King Island, to Waterhouse. The other was from Cape Otway, via Grassy on Flinders Island, to Cape Grim (Woolnorth). I think that they are no longer in use as Telstra has the Bass Strait 1 fibre cable operating since 1995 and Bass Strait 2 operating since 2003.

Basslink is not the only comms link to Tassie.

Olympics TV HQ future: Catwalk beauties elbowed out by IT bods

I.S.

Re: Sustainability

... and never forget that the '6,600 people' will actually be data center nerds, not the beautiful people depicted in the artist impression.

A giant Maccy Dee's could never be more appropriately located.

i.s.