Posts by frank ly

I found the IT crowd's porn stash

Many years ago (about 1996), I would pass away rainy lunchbreaks by exploring the company network by doing directory traversals, up from where I was to where I probably wasn't supposed to go. (As someone who wasn't an 'IT person', even I was amazed at how lax that was.) One day I found a stash of soft-core porn (beach 'n' bikini and some lingerie stuff) in a mapped drive that seemed to be an IT function area. I quickly got out of there and made a mental note never to go there again.

A short time later, word went round that people were using too much space for personal files and it had to stop (e.g. personal letters, domestic spreadsheets, etc.) Individually they may not have been much "but it all adds up you know and it's really not what you're here for", as the local IT manager told us with a wagging finger.

I quietly told him, "I'll delete my spreadsheets and Visio drawings when the hundreds of Megabytes of soft-core porn is removed". He said "What?!", so I took him to my desk and showed him the collection. He made snorting noises and stormed away. The porn cache had gone by the next day and I was never asked to delete my 'personal' files.

Amazing?

"The BND helped the NSA with spying on European ministers and enterprises, without anyone in the German parliament being aware of this.

BND bosses didn't pass on their findings to the Chancellor's Office ... "

The security services of a country acted against the interests of that country and its close allies while keeping its activities a secret from its own government. How weird is that?

If somebody who worked for me did that to me, I'd drag their sorry arse over hot coals before booting it out of the door; unless of course they had some serious deep dirt on me. Hmm......

Nice picture ....

.... but it has no precious things inside.

Oh well

I was hoping for salacious stories about orgies at Goldman Sachs. This is more worthwhile though.

Hold on there

"The lawsuit claimed the company should not be allowed to block ads on websites owned by the plaintiffs: Zeit Online GmbH and Handelsblatt GmbH."

Adblock Plus doesn't block ads on websites; it blocks ads on user's browser displays. That's why users install it. Anybody who _wants_ to see the ads can still see them if they choose to do so.

Bearing in mind the first comment, I will have a look at Privoxy.

Wait a minute

"PGP isn't a good comparison, [as] Metasploit Framework is still open source and available globally," he said in a Twitter update.

Apart from a name change, isn't 'PGP' open source and available globally?

Retro

"MLC and TLC flash state is worked out from the amount of current that passes through the cell, with a charge level corresponding to a state."

It's discrete analogue storage!

That fireman was LUCKY

See title

Squawk

"... so you can privately send your appreciation for the salted caramel without any barriers."

It seems that the world has become very trivial. When did this happen?

Just wondering

Would it be worthwhile to have cold air input delivered from floor mounted access points to an underfloor cold air duct? Similarly, the hot air outlet could be coupled to an overhead manifold that would take the hot air away. If the cabinets all have standard footprints and spacing, then a line of screw-cap covered access points wouldn't be difficult to plan or be inconvenient.

commit "a sexual act on a tree"

Is this illegal because the tree can't give meaningful consent?

Technical Details

Is that picture taken under available sunlight, passive IR, some composite of wavelengths? Are the spots 'bright' because they're whiter or hotter or what?

"... after being posted, bizarrely, to Jeremy Paxman."

He did have a reputation for working tirelessly and ruthlessly at 'cracking' interviewees.

Competition?

Wasn't there an attempt to make a European-developed search engine some years ago, in response to the perceived 'cultural threat' posed by Google? I have a vague memory of reading about this, possibly in The Register.

"... a 16-metre wide crater will be formed ..."

That's what I call "sending a message".

Deeper thought

"... someone hacks into your oven, turns the gas on, waits 36 hours, then lights the pilot, ..."

A sensibly design IoT oven would not allow independent control of those items from outside. It would have 'on', 'off' and 'temperature demand' inputs. Local hardware/firmware would determine any safety related activity and sequences. If it was very clever it would notice any 'crazy' external command behaviour and disconnect itself from the internet.

I'm confused

" ... a logical component that, not unlike a transistor, is made up of graphene and magnetic materials."

That sounds totally unlike a transistor.

They should be charged

With conspiring to and commiting indecent assault.

New paradigm

We've had the 'on a computer', the 'on a website' and 'on a mobile' patent applications. Now it's time for 'with robots' patent applications. I wonder if they count as a subset of IoT applications.

"Just read the instructions".

Did the barge name itself?

re. anti-tarnish protection

Does this include a more dust/moisture resistant design of connector in any way?

When the day is dawning

on a Georgia Sunday morning,

I wanna shoot some vermin

but with my gun, I'mma still learnin'.

Is this the way to shoot an armadillo?

I just tried it and shot my poor MIL oh!

Is this the way to shoot an armadillo?

She called the cops - I hope they believe me.

Sha la lah, lah lah la lah la......

Silicon-28

It seems that Silicon-28 is the most abundant (92%) naturally occuring isotope, but that still leaves 8% 'impurities' to get rid of. I wonder how difficult/expensive that is.

Podcast introduction

".... explores the history of the languages we use to talk to computers ..."

I use English to talk to my computers - lots of swearwords are are used.

"... check players for electronic devices before they enter the toilets."

That wouldn't have helped in this particular case. Maybe a competition official could decide which toilet room and which cubicle they were allowed to use on each visit.

Don't/Can't people notice these infections?

If infected, don't people notice sluggishness when doing ordinary things on their computer and is there an unusual amount of data transfer in/out of the intertube?

Entertainment Software Association

Shouldn't that be written as - Entertainment Software Ass. in The Register?

A stupid question

Will Adam Carolla (and others) be able to claim any of his money back?

"... along with his PwC auditors"

Oh, what a pity.