* Posts by Craig 2

590 publicly visible posts • joined 1 Jul 2009

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Is Russia using Starlink in Ukraine? Congress demands answers

Craig 2

Should be (relatively) simple...

Either disable all Starlink IDs close to the contested front that aren't on the list of IDs sold/given to Ukraine.

Or the nuclear option: Disable all Starlinks there and then re-enable as requested by the Ukranian military.

They could even ask Ukraine for a whitelist first.

Microsoft trying to stop Copilot generating fake Putin comments on Navalny's death

Craig 2

Re: Autonomous cars and other road users

" if you're close enough to be able to actually see the driver's facial expressions, then you're arguably too close already..."

Tell me you've never ridden a bike on the road without telling etc..

On a bike, you look at car driver's eyes ALL the time! Drivers pulling out of junctions (either way) or turning right (thus crossing the road in the UK) are prime examples. You then know when a driver has actually seen you. Of course, this doesn't guarantee they won't still pull out in front of you anyway, because: They misjudge your speed and think they have plenty of time, or they know that *you* have also seen them and will brake because you would prefer to avoid getting flattened today...

Toyota admits its engines are overrated – by its own power testing software

Craig 2

Car manufacturers hate this one simple trick!

"The company will take a step back and make company-wide efforts to identify how we were discovered and prevent a recurrence to ensure they won't catch us again," it added.

Hackers mod a Sony PlayStation Portal to run PSP games

Craig 2

Re: Playstation Classic did so poorly

Too right, it did so poorly because in typical Sony style, it was a complete money-grab. It should have been £99 with 100+ PS1 games on there. Instead it was £99 for 20 games, crappy emulation, region issues and locked down.

Look up Anbernic for much better Android handheld retro emulators.

Cops turn LockBit ransomware gang's countdown timers against them

Craig 2

Re: Where?

I doubt it's aimed at the unwashed masses (ie. us). People who are angry make bad decisions and there's nothing like a bit of ridiculing to make the hackers try for some hasty payback. I would bet the law are hoping to glean some extra intel...

Apple Vision Pro units returned as folks just can't see themselves using it

Craig 2

All good points, but you don't need an Apple watch to do 99% of those things... I use a Garmin watch mainly for sport but it's very handy for messages, alarms, weather, paying, health stats etc etc. The battery lasts a week or more...

As for `Why track your walks or health stats` - it's interesting... Have you ever watched a documentary, read a newspaper or article or absorbed any information not strictly related to your survival? Why is that any different?

Fake LastPass lookalike made it into Apple App Store

Craig 2
Trollface

“Even more evidence that the walled garden doesn't so anything but let Apple assert control”

The app was removed, so obviously you are wrong.

Well the app wasn't removed until reaching at least this news outlet who then emailed Apple, after which it was removed.

So obviously and more importantly demonstrably, you're wrong.

CERN seeks €20B to build a bigger, faster, particle accelerator

Craig 2

Re: Collide at insane speeds

Forget insane speed, we need to go straight to Ludicrous Speed

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity will fly no more, but is still standing upright

Craig 2

Amazing

72 flights over 3 years...

I'll bet there's not many earthbound drones that can match that record, with zero hands-on maintenance!

X reverses course on headlines in article links, kinda

Craig 2
Joke

Re: Move Fast and Break Things

Oh I think X has the special tool...

Apple pops blue bubbles of Beeper Mini's iMessage service again

Craig 2

Re: Blue bubbles?

Sounds like the answer is for everyone to own Apple devices, which is of course the idea and why it's anti-competitive*.

* Assuming you regard messaging as an essential service. Imagine if Apple's email servers discarded images if not sent from an iDevice...

Nostalgia for XP sells out Microsoft's 2023 'Windows Ugly Sweater'

Craig 2

Next year's Windows 8 ugly sweater will try and double between a sweater and a coat and fail at both.

Ukraine cyber spies claim Putin's planes are in peril as sanctions bite

Craig 2

Re: "the civil aviation sector of terrorist Russia"

I doubt Putin single-handedly decided to invade Ukraine. I imagine advisors (civil and military) were increasingly concerned about Ukraine pivoting to Western values. If you're a authoritarian regime gradually losing your sphere of influence and failing to install puppet governments, it's a last desperate attempt to regain control. It's looking to be ill-advised and woefully misinformed and will certainly be remembered in history as an epic blunder. (History in the civilized world anyway, in Russia I'm sure it will be a glorious victory)

...and the most frightening thing about JE's post is that there's a chance he/she actually believes everything written and isn't just trolling.

Firefox slow to load YouTube? Just another front in Google's war on ad blockers

Craig 2
Big Brother

Re: I do tend to ignore them

Do you really, truly ignore them though? Studies have shown even if you're fully aware you're being manipulated, it can still have an effect on decision-making.

I sometimes wonder if my own psyche is subverting conscious decisions.... Who fancies a bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes?

FAA stays grounded in reality as SpaceX preps for takeoff

Craig 2

Re: Failure IS the desired option while developing.

It's entirely possible that whatever failed on the launch test was modeled or simulated and found to be ok. How else do you improve your modelling and simulations if not from real world testing of those predictions?

As soon as they get a starship / booster back in one piece I'm sure it will be examined in great detail to find parts that "almost broke". Then it will probably be launched again to see what breaks next time. Of course simulations and modelling are important but there's no substitute for doing it for real...

Also, ref planes: Boeing would like a word...

Google dragged to UK watchdog over Chrome's upcoming IP address cloaking

Craig 2

Re: B0ll0cks!

I think this is just written in a way open to confusion - I interpreted it as "Google can see the user's IP, but the websites being visited cannot."

Aside from that, NOBODY should be praising Google for this. It's purely a monopolistic land-grab since Google control the overhwelming majority of both advertising and browser markets. By locking them together they will become the identity gatekeepers and websites will have no option but to pay up for any kind of analytics.

Robot mistakes man for box of peppers, kills him

Craig 2
Joke

Re: Enquiry or hearing of any kind?

You don't use hydraulics for griping things either, you use internet forums...

Meta's ad-free scheme dares you to buy your privacy back, one euro at a time

Craig 2

So...

Every Facebook user who doesn't pay the £9.99 is going to GET £9.99 every month because that's what their data is worth... Right??

Windows CE reaches end of life, if not end of sales

Craig 2

What's in a name?

I always thought it stood for Consumer Electronics...

Privacy advocate challenges YouTube's ad blocking detection scripts under EU law

Craig 2

I'd have thought advertisers would have caught on to the fact that anybody actively blocking adverts really does NOT want to see them. If you've taken the extra steps to install software and deal with all the other crap on most websites that breaks when you use blocking software then you are probably not a ripe target for advertising. My initial reaction to unwanted adverts is pure hate and that's not the kind of brand awareness most companies are looking for!

Windows 11: The number you have dialed has been disconnected

Craig 2

Re: So have we reached, forty years on...

Ha! Fat chance of that... A quick perusal of the Windows 11 update history shows issues regularly being fixed with drivers and OS functions that have been around for decades.

New information physics theory is evidence 'we're living in a simulation,' says author

Craig 2

World of World of Warcraft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw8gE3lnpLQ

Authors Guild sues OpenAI for using Game of Thrones and other novels to train ChatGPT

Craig 2

It doesn't store the original, just 'interesting' features of the original

Absolutely, this is the crux of "what is copying" or "what is reproducing". If an actual person manually performed the same categorization as OpenAI does then would there be any copyright issues? Obviously impossible in the lifetime of the universe*, but just because computers can perform tasks insanely quickly compared to humans doesn't automatically make it "copying".

*Or at least extremely improbable unless you have access to an infinite supply of monkeys.

Darth Vader voice actor James Earl Jones allows AI to take over the role

Craig 2

Re: Negative Function

As a lighthearted alternative film featuring JEJ, I loved The Scarlet Buccaneer (AKA Swashbuckler) Nick Debrett is a great character and I still remember his (now) rather inappropriate limerick... "There once was a maiden..."

Google settles another Play Store antitrust case

Craig 2

Re: Settlement??

Yep, filed as a rounding error under "cost of doing business"....

California DMV hits brakes on Cruise's SF driverless fleet after series of fender benders

Craig 2

This is novel situation #24863 - I'm sure it will be added to the database for the AV to deal with next time. Unfortunately there are millions more novel situations out there waiting to be discovered and each is subtly different.

I've said for years that trains* will be the first widespread automated mode of transport. Until that happens, automated cars are a distant dream.

*Or maybe ships, or planes, or spaceships, or whatever. But not cars.

AI on AI action: Googler uses GPT-4 chatbot to defeat image classifier's guardian

Craig 2
Terminator

"GPT-4 does not get distracted, does not get tired, does not have other duties, and is always available to perform the user’s specified task."

It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop... ever, until you are dead!

DC thermal management, power kit is getting easier to find and a lot more expensive

Craig 2

Every company that reports record profits....

But, but... Capitalism! What your suggesting is a step towards state control of commerce.

I do agree with the sentiment, but the devil is always in the detail...

Microsoft keeps quiet amid talk of possible DDoS attack against Azure

Craig 2

Re: I think it was a break away group.

Splitters!

Meta threatens to pull all news from California rather than pay El Reg a penny

Craig 2

Re: Do people really only use Facebook?

"Why would you pay to read it on the Chronicle website if you could get it from Facebook for free?"

Who would know about some random news website if they didn't see it on Facebook?

Professor freezes student grades after ChatGPT claimed AI wrote their papers

Craig 2

`AI` generates human-looking text by having digested an insane amount of historical human-generated text. So an AI detector would have to digest large amounts of AI-generated text to have a reference point. I would assume it could eventually become just as proficient at detecting artificial content as both generation and detection models improve.

A problem is that there is now an increasing amount of AI generated text in the public domain and future models could be training on this content. AI could eventually, as someone earlier put it `crawl up it's own arse`.

Apple pushes first-ever 'rapid' patch – and rapidly screws up

Craig 2
Trollface

Now is the time install Windows 10 then.... no feature updates, but security updates for the next couple of years!!

Techie wiped a server, nobody noticed, so a customer kept paying for six months

Craig 2

Re: Would have done otherwise

A real pro asks for such an obscene amount that the company end up telling YOU to `buzz off`.... Warm glow ensues

Thunderbird email client is Go for new plumage in July

Craig 2

"Thunderbird is just awful, I am really missing Microsoft Outlook"

I couldn't adapt to something different in 5 minutes so I criticized it...

Microsoft strokes UK's ego by pooh-poohing EU approach to AI regulation

Craig 2

beneficial to the machinery of government

ChatGPT generates text that looks plausible on the surface but is full of errors, lies and misinformation...

So yes, it will fit right in...

Google's AI search bot Bard makes $120b error on day one

Craig 2

So now a Wikipedia search is likely to be more accurate than a Google search.... and this is progress?!

Wikimedia Foundation confirms, and bemoans, Pakistan ban

Craig 2

Re: The ban-hammer

Ah, the "I didn't really read what was written" comment, the source of much online misunderstanding.

Note that I included myself in the "flawed opinions" group...

Craig 2

Re: The ban-hammer

"No, everyone can form their own opinions. Literally any opinion they can think of."

Oooh, I would love to see an academic paper discussing that... Given that your thoughts and opinions are formed from the summary experiences of your life and upbringing until that point, I really believe some people simply cannot see the flaws in their own opinions.* I mean, I really believe that what I'm writing now is based on logical, rational thought processes but who know what historical "corruption" lurks in my synapses...

* See the majority of the Russian general population for current examples...

Microsoft injects AI into Teams so no one will ever forget what the meeting decided

Craig 2

Re: Translation...

“I seem to be having this tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle.”

(Arthur Dent)

Bringing cakes into the office is killing your colleagues, says UK food watchdog boss

Craig 2

Re: Innumeracy

Or, In medical terms overweight is a range rather than a boolean...

Microsoft and community release scripts to help mitigate Defender mess

Craig 2

Re: I'm still running Windows 7

Yep, if only it wasn't dumped for inane reasons (shiny, mobile, saas etc etc) we could all be leading happy, productive lives...

Uncle Sam OKs vaccine that protects honeybees against hive-destroying bacterium

Craig 2

"better to bodge a expensive workaround than solve the problems we created."

So, go back to having a global population a tiny fraction of what it is now? We're waaay too far down the road now to go back to Nature.

TikTok confirms it tracked journalists' locations as part of leak investigation

Craig 2

Re: Keeping your parts private

IP addresses are not private, but those with comprehension competence (aka reading the article) would know that using them to track individuals on a pervasive basis IS an invasion of privacy. Your physical location isn't really private, but following a specific person around 24hrs a day is also an invasion of privacy.

US Air Force reveals B-21 Raider stealth bomber that'll fly the unfriendly skies

Craig 2

Re: Eye-watering

"equipment that may never be used for its intended purpose"

I suggest you look up the definition of the word `deterrent`.

"never enough money for Social Security, housing, healthcare"

Recently a few European countries are increasing their defense spending and one which is probably regretting not spending more... There's no point having a utopian society if anyone can come and smash it down.

Google cut contractors off from online 'Share My Salary' spreadsheet, union claims

Craig 2
Trollface

They should have created it in Office 365, at least it would be available 365 days...err most of the time...

Russia says Starlink satellites could become military targets

Craig 2

Shoot down just 1 US satellite and see what happens... I dare you... I double-dare you motherfucker...

I'm sure Russia knows that too and this is just more empty posturing for their domestic audience.

China chip imports down 12.4% as tech trade war with US intensifies

Craig 2

Re: Withdraw

"...they have more resources. They also make most of the products"

The key word you're missing there is "cheaper". The have cheaper resources and make cheaper products than can be mined / built in other parts of the world. (Mainly due to cheap labour and lax regulations) If China shut up shop tomorrow we would be paying more for everything but there's nothing at all that couldn't be replaced.

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