* Posts by Charlie Clark

12172 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Apr 2007

H2? Oh! New water-splitting technique pushes progress of green hydrogen

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Liquid hydrogen

Yeah, hydrocarbons for storage make more sense and probably have a better energy path: CO2 + H2O -> hydrocarbon can already done at slightly over cost and has had far less spent on it that some of the marginal improvements to Lithium batteries.

GitHub warns devs face ban if they fork DMCA'd YouTube download tool... while hinting how to beat the RIAA

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Why is such a tool needed?

Depends a bit on the jurisdiction. DMCA is concerned with copyright violation which doesn't have to involve breaking encryption.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Well, no problem, I'm going to rip off GitHub code for my own use....

I don't think code repositories should be the point of enforcement. And, let's be clear: youtube-dl itself does not violate copyright. And, as others have noted, there's nothing in the code that can't be replicated relatively easy or actually break the law.

DMCA granted sweeping powers to rightsholders whilst exempting the platforms that facilitate copyright violation. If YouTube were to have been liable for the copyright violation, things would have developed differently. As it was, the liberal licensing helped establish YouTube's position worldwide and reinforced the largely US cultural hegemony. You could even argue, though I won't, that going after TikTok is an attempt to defend that hegemony.

As things stand, the last few years have shown, that, although copyright violations persist, the market has responded well to subscription models such as Netflix and Spotify. Whether this is good or not for artists is debatable but it does underscore the point that people will pay for convenience, something that Andrew identified early as people moved from CDs to MP3s and I seem to recall some research indicating significant uptick in revenues as well.

You will never entirely get rid of copyright violation, so you need strategies to minimise the suspected loss in income. I've still got cassettes of stuff I recorded off John Peel but at the same time I was buying a lof of music and I've bought more in the last two years than in the previous ten (or possibly twenty), though I don't stream. Pleased to have discovered Bandcamp (15% handling fee) recently to assuage my conscience, though I can also live with the guilt.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Why is such a tool needed?

That's basically what happens (using Python IIRC), though it's perhaps not as easy as you think because the URLs are heavily obfuscated.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Well, no problem, I'm going to rip off GitHub code for my own use....

But that's not the issue. The DMCA gives copyright holders fairly extensive powers to take stuff down on their say so, whilst indemnifying platforms like YouTube. If YouTube enforced copyright better then it wouldn't be as easy to abuse it. Andrew Orlowski covered this extensively when he was writing here.

Of course, when it comes to music it's difficult to see who stiffs musicians more: the platforms like YouTube or the music labels.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: I can still remember how I was chastised

Who reads T&Cs?

GitHub's T&C's have always been anti-developer in cases like these, where infringement is alleged, by requiring them to provide proof that this isn't the case. It was largely because of this that I kept my repositories on BitBucket.

Google's plan to make User-Agent string even less useful breaks our device detection tech, says NetMarketShare

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: We expect this change to improve compatibility...

Relying on the User Agent string was always broken, servers shouldn't be using this before deciding which content should be served. Client hints are definitely a more granular approach and can be disabled by the browser. In general, they shouldn't matter but there are cases where they can help in content negotiation.

Apple probably won't bother with them as is the case with much of the newer stuff that it didn't come up with itself.

Amazon blasts past estimates, triples profits to $6.2bn but says COVID will cost it $4bn over the next quarter

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Comparison

I stand corrected. Thanks!

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Comparison

As a point of comparison, Microsoft on Tuesday reported 48 per cent revenue growth for its Azure cloud service.

As the article only covers all Amazon's products and services, and doesn't breakout AWS, it's not really possible to make a comparison.

X.Org is now pretty much an ex-org: Maintainer declares the open-source windowing system largely abandoned

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Nobody likes X11

I agree that clipboards are great. But they can also be an unholy mess of complexity. Currently got some problems in MacOS when copying and pasting from Word to MailMate. If you inspect the clipboard it can be a real eye-opener!

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Nobody likes X11

You can solve that problem by adding a bit to make clipboards private but sharing between Windows is a key part of GUI functionality.

SiFive inches closer to offering a true RISC-V PC: Latest five-core dev board includes PCIe, SSD interfaces

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: I wouldn't be surprised if this was of interest to ...

If the Raspberry Pi people were really interested in an open chip architecture they would never have chosen Broadcom as a supplier. While RISC-V might be an alternative in the future, ARM is currently the better offering because there are so many suppliers: Broadcom, Qualcomm, Samsung, Mediatek, Huawei, etc.

Japan testing sandwiches that discount themselves as they age

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Simpler alternatives

Though it's not really the bread that's the problem but the fillings. What do the dwarves put in their sandwiches?

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Simpler alternatives

There are lots of chemicals that will degrade predictably in oxygen and inks are around that can use them to show how long a product has been on the shelf. But, obviously, if it doesn't come with an app, who's going to be interested?

Trump administration proposes H-1B visas go to highest-paid workers first

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Low Paid Workers

But you can afford more of them and they will get the vote at some point.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: @TheMeerkat

Trump reduced the burden of government and the economy shot off with pent up energy.

In other words: he caused a bubble by reducing corporate taxes even while the Federal Reserve was keeping monetary policy very loose. Along with the national debt, the trade deficit has continued to grow despite all the capricious tarriffs.

And what happened to all the proposed infrastructure spending?

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: I've got to agree with Trump on this one...

But if that's the case, demand will see to this anyway so there is no need for further regulation. But also analysis would suggest that this could work like football transfer fees and continue to drive up the most expensive employees, whilst not solving the skills shortage caused by a poor education system. This, after all, is the main reason for the programme in the first place.

Besides this isn't policy, but simple electioneering.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: @TheMeerkat

He inherited an expanding economy and still managed to increase the national debt. What's good about that?

Planet Computers throws Linux fans a bone, improves calls, and adds virty trackpad to Cosmo Communicator

Charlie Clark Silver badge

That's what I bought mine for. But I had to replace the keyboard twice and still have real issues with the battery running down when the Gemini loses and then can't reestablish the local wifi signal. And now I have problems with the screen. It's still basically a great device but if you need support you'll be in trouble.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Hardware problems, poor support

My Gemini has recently become essentially unusable with the screen simply shutting down every now and then. No updates of any kind since 2018. Planet's business model of trying to finance everything by cashflow is doomed to failure. It's a pity, because the devices are clever and show lots of promise, but it was more or less bound to happen.

Need to build a Big Data app but can't be bothered to learn Python or Scala? Good news: .NET for Apache Spark is here

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Spark isn't fast anyway

Because there's too much memcpy between processes (doesn't matter whether it's Python, C#, Scala or whatever) which is why people are moving to Apache Arrow.

Uber drivers take ride biz to European court over 'Kafkaesque' algorithmic firings by Mastermind code

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: On the BBC coverage...

Yes, but lots of decisions are taken like that. And it's not as if it's not possible to infer the weighting that led to a particular outcome, we just need to develop the tools that do this as part of the process. Machine learning will continue to be useful and continue to have its problems.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: "irregular trips"

Sorry, what?

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: On the BBC coverage...

We'll probably see this is several cases to establish precedent. It's one of the key problems with any system that relies on machine learning to take decisions: while the decision may be sound, the system cannot explain it and decompiling the model to look at the underyling statistical calculations isn't really an option.

I don't think the problem is insoluble so we probably need some court judgements that force companies to commission systems that can "show their working" sufficiently. However, I suspect we'll have plenty of "trade secret" defences along the way.

AI Auditor as the next big thing anyone?

5 months later, 37.7% of Windows 10 PCs are running the May 2020 Update... Wait, people are still on 1809?

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Names and numbers

My Windows 10 is pretty vanilla and still running the 2004 version so I don't think this is surprising. Microsoft seems to have some additional heuristics for machines so that not all updates are installed on all machines at once. Quite often there's "Dave, you're not ready for the update yet" message.

None of this is helped by the weird name and numbering scheme: 2004 is 04/20 so April 2020 and 1909 September 2019, I think. If the tried and tested major.minor.patch system is good enough for our fruity overlords at Apple, why isn't it good enough for Microsoft?

Advanced Money-making Devices: AMD inks multibillion stock deal for FPGA specialist Xilinx

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Smart move

I reckon the FPGAs are going to get more popular in the industry. Lots of companies will want their flexibility now that the silicon is so fast and a nice way to prototype the inevitable custom chippery.

Didn't Intel buy another FPGA maker a couple of years ago?

Got a problem with trust in AI? Just add blockchain, Forrester urges. Then bust out the holographic meetings. Welcome to the future

Charlie Clark Silver badge
Coat

Re: Unethical AI goes to the blockchain instead of chain gang?

They get paid by drivelload.

FFS, it's Friday! Let's get down the pub. I hear The Three Bellends is worth a visit.

Mine's the one with the emergency pint in the pocket because I so lose valuable drinking time waiting for people.

Charlie Clark Silver badge
Pint

Rather you than me

Having to read this drivel!

Continuing to lick the hallucinogenic toad that constitutes IT futurism deserves at least one of these and I do believe it is beer o'clock!

Down the Swanny: '2020 has been the most challenging year in my career' says Intel CEO as profit plunges 30%

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Pah!

There's a reason for this: blaming COVID-19 makes you elligible for handouts. See Daimler's results: wouldn't be anything like that impressive if the German government hadn't paid the tab for at least 6 weeks short time work.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

I'd like to have their problems

Gross margin of 53.1 per cent, a decrease of 5.7 percentage points.

Who else in the industry has anything close to that? Means there's still a way to go, assuming orders don't dry up completely and the margins give them scope to cut prices aggressively if need be.

Of course, they still need to sort out all their other CPU problems as well.

Samsung to introduce automatic call blocking on Android 11-capable flagships

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: How does it work?

It is easy to do and some countries do it already. If someone is maliciously spoofing then the networks can tell fairly quickly and whichever network is allowing them on can be threatened with a global block if no action is taken.

Except, of course, in places like America, there is essentially no protection against marketing calls and this is by design.

Developer survey: C# losing ground to JavaScript, PHP and Java for cloud apps, still big in gaming

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Python least popular for web?

It certainly did use Python but not AFAIK for the web server, otherwise the APIs might be a little less strange. Python was certainly used for the "plumbing" and this is one of the things Google found Python wasn't so good for was the moving of massive amounts of data between systems. It was one of the main drivers behind Go, which compiles nicely and makes certain forms of parallelisation easier. Though it's also true that most companies will never need to do the same kind of thing on anything like the scale that Google does.

Python still is in use because it generally provides good, reliable solutions developed within an acceptable timeframe.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Java & C# & Lotus Notes

I know that, but the OP obviously doesn't.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Python least popular for web?

Python does not perform! It eats cpu and memory.

In comparison with? Benchmarks? 10 years ago maybe but that was largely down to how it was used rather than the language itself. Now it has similar requests/sec stats as other languages performing the same tasks, especially if run through the PyPy JIT.

Python is in use in lots of big websites but the server-side, whether it's Python, PHP or whatever, has become much less important than the frontend and the heap of JS frameworks that do most of the rendering directly in the browser.

Charlie Clark Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Java & C# & Lotus Notes

C# is like Visual Basic.

Sort of says it all really.

Congrats, Meg Whitman, another multi-billion-dollar write-off for the CV: Her web vid upstart Quibi implodes

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Let’s check in with that 30,000-job $10bn Trump-Foxconn Wisconsin plant. Wow, way worse than we'd imagined

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: El Reg becoming political now ?

The MSM has simply become a propaganda machine for whoever pulls the strings.

Hasn't that always been the case? Beaverbrook, Hearst, Berluscon,…

The plant was proposed to be a symbol of foreign investment demonstrating that high tech could be made in America: the I-Phones of tomorrow would still be "designed in California" but "made in Wisconsin" instead of China.

We all knew when the project was announced that it was just a PR wheeze that would lead to any new jobs but would be another subsidy bucket. But I will admit to being depressed by the details with people still being paid to do nothing so that the subsidy still flows. And the details do matter. The US trade deficit is at record levels as its borrowing and the money that has been wasted on this will be missing for other important things such as, I don't know, providing IT equipment and training for schools in Wisconsin.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: El Reg becoming political now ?

Where's the bias? There is comment but the reporting is of the facts: this was promised but this is what happened.

Will there be no end to govt attempts to break encryption? Hand over your data or the kiddies get it, threaten Five Eyes spies

Charlie Clark Silver badge

I think you're givng them too much credit,. While there may be a bit of misdirection here, these are the same policitians who routinely make calls for finding out "what we do best and finding more ways of doing less of it better". (W1A). That's even assuming they can remember the policy they've just announced.

Atlassian pulls the plug on server licences, drags customers to the cloud

Charlie Clark Silver badge

All aboard the Gitlab train

Really, Atlassian should know better. There are so many reasons for companies to host their source code on their own infrastructure, but licence fees won't be among the top ten. Fortunately, other products are available.

Need a new computer for homeschooling? You can do worse than a sub-£30 2007 MacBook off eBay

Charlie Clark Silver badge

I've got one of these that will be going on E-Bay when I can get round to it. 2010 MBP is a good machine and as you point out you can change the most important components: mine has a new disk and new battery. Apple's upgrade policy sucks.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Did this with a BlackBook

The plastic fans are shitty in the MacBooks: I had to replace mine twice.

Come on, Amazon: If you're going to copy open-source code for a new product, at least credit the creator

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Matt Asay is FOS

Is that where that particular media whore is now? Lost track of the number of companies he's been the mouthpiece for but still have a note to skip any "articles" (puff pieces) he writes.

LibreOffice rains on OpenOffice's 20th anniversary parade, tells rival project to 'do the right thing' and die

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Why I use OO

It's not the space on the disk that matters, though on some MacBook Airs that is still at a premium, but the size of the executable affects load time. I, too, have both and would add that OpenOffice has by far the better UI and why I generally prefer to use it. Yes, icons in toolbars are details, but details are important.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Why didn't you revert to the previous release?

Pretty much the biggest problem with LibreOffice, even with the so-called stable version is that it breaks so much stuff. Until the developers realise how bad this is for users they will never find people prepared to pay for a commercial version.

"Move fast and break things" has its place in early development but when it comes to release management "Don't break anything" must be the priority.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: @Charlie Clark - Rally!

Is this what you're suggesting ?

Not at all. If the projects merged then it would be easier to provide a coherent commercial offering and there's nothing to suggest that people from TDF could not be involved in actively developing the merged project.

Samsung aims boot at Apple's decision not to bundle a charger in with the iPhone 12, foot ends up in mouth

Charlie Clark Silver badge

When Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone, so did everyone else.

Did they? My S10e has a headphone jack and support for an SD-card, and it has a tiny hole rather than a notch. Though I've been using Bluetooth headsets for more 10 years mainly as this avoids cables getting tangled, snagged, etc. And my S5 had wireless charging years before Apple realised they couldn't establish their own Apple Charge™ standard.

Apple makes great phones and compelling packages but, with the exception maybe of the graphics, in terms of hardware has largely be playing catchup for the last five years. But this hardly seems to affect sales (the i-Phone X was a sign of going too far) so they will probably continue to do so.

Elizabeth Holmes' plan to avoid her Theranos fraud trial worked out about as well as her useless blood-testing machines

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Sympathy with investors is limited

In 1976 things were different, especially when it came to making speculative investments. Since then the investment industry has got very good at lobbying for its way of doing things: preferential tax treatment, one-sided contracts, secrecy, etc. Things like the JOBS Act were designed specifically to work around existing restrictions so the banks could get in on the act regardless of the risks for their customers because of the agency principle.

If you can see this headline, you're certainly not reading it on Twitter: All tweets, notifications vanish

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Re: Don't understand

I never use it but I read or see too many articles that refer to the brainfarts made on it and that's what I and others object to: ascribing some kind of status to the useless ephemera.

Charlie Clark Silver badge

Somebody managed to shut the twats up!

Rinse and repeat.