I've got an impact driver they can borrow.
Posts by Headley_Grange
1460 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Feb 2010
Page:
As NASA struggles to open OSIRIS-REx's asteroid sample can, probe heads off to next rock
Florida man jailed after draining $1M from victims in crypto SIM swap attacks
Alphabet CEO testifies in Google Search trial: We pay billions to keep Apple at bay
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: What he's worried about
I don't see search, or apps in general, as part of Apples core offering, though. They don't make any other apps that are world leading and even in the creative areas they historically dominated they are no longer the best. Everything that comes as standard on my Mac is serviceable for creating shopping lists, films of your kids' birthdays and a spreadsheet to track your spending, but there's nothing you'd use if you were a professional or power user. It would cost them a tiny amount of their budget to turn Reminders into a decent GTD app, but they don't seem interested. They make their money on the hardware that's good enough to run pro-apps that they seem happy for others to make and they take their slice off the sales. Unless they start losing money on hardware, or there's a very, very long-term strategy to lock users into the garden before hitting them with home-grown produce, I just don't see Apple even trying to compete in search.
Apple Private Wi-Fi hasn't worked for the past three years
NASA to equip International Space Station with frikkin lasers (for comms)
Privacy advocate challenges YouTube's ad blocking detection scripts under EU law
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
uBlock origin does the job for me and you can use it to permanently block that annoying row of "shorts".
I started getting the warnings a couple of weeks ago and last week I was completely blocked. I tried deleting youtube and google cookies and deleting cache with little expectation that it would work but it seemed to. The only difference is that playback is delayed a lot more than previously; presumably because there's a battle going on in cyberspace. Like you, if there's something I'm really interested in I download and watch it later.
It is 2023 and Excel's reign of date terror might finally be at an end
Windows 11: The number you have dialed has been disconnected
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
The problem is that the stock market wants blingy new functionality every couple of years. What users (well, this one at least) would like is for them to focus on fixing bugs that have been in the OS for years. I could rant and bore you with my list for MacOS and I'm sure there are equivalent lists for Windows, but a if Tim Cook stood in front of a 20m screen with an audience of thousands and his big announcements were that they'd fixed the bug where iCloud synch gets stuck at 99% and you could now paste UK street addresses straight into Contacts then the share price would plummet.
Amazon unveils new drone design, plans liftoff of aerial delivery in UK, Italy
Royal College considers no confidence move after Excel recruitment debacle
Making the problem go away is not the same thing as fixing it
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Scotland's recent legislation on domestic detectors requires a heat detector in kitchens.
I used to live in a house where the detector in the hall was too near the kitchen so it went off without much provocation. It was great for grilling meat. Put the bacon/chicken/chops under the grill, leave the door open and retire to the living room to watch telly. When the smoke alarm went off it was time to turn the meat over. The meat wasn't burnt - it was just right. I think it was fumes from the fat that set the detector off because it was always a bit late if the grill pan was clean.
3D printer purchases could require background checks under proposed law
Atlassian users complain of cloud migration dead ends, especially in UK
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: Only yesterday I wrote:
If the company's got a hard requirement for UK hosting then it should have ensured its hosting contract included guarantees and liquidated damages to cover the costs of moving if their host renaged. Atlassian would, I'm sure, have said "it's our standard contract - take it or leave it", at which point the company could have walked away.
Or - IT were ignored when they warned the directors that this could be a problem and running their own servers could be cheaper in the long run than moving to a new provider every few years.
If you're brave enough to move fully-laden datacenter racks, here's the robot for you
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
When I ditched my cassette deck and used the space to move my home IT (NAS, Router, Streaming, USB A/D converter, etc) to the HiFi rack I wish I'd had the foresight to put the rack on wheels. As it is, it's on those pointed feet that are meant to make everything sound better (I know...) so it's a two-man lift to move it. As a result, whenever I plumb in something new it I just push any new cables into the rats-nest tangle of mains, phono, UHF, VHF, and cat 5&6 cables that's lurking at the back and probably evolving into a new form of wiry life.
One door opens, another one closes, and this one kills a mainframe
Nvidia's accelerated cadence spells trouble for AMD and Intel's AI aspirations
Judge tosses Sonos's $32.5M patent win over Google with savage slam down
Microsoft drops official support for Python 3.7 in Visual Studio Code
You've just spent $400 on a baby monitor. Now you need a subscription
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: Someone else's computer
If someone sells me an app-based service for a fixed price then they need to include the costs of security updates, OS rolls, bug fixing, etc. in that price, not come and hold me to ransom at a later date. If they can't do that, don't want to do that or don't know how to do that then they need to make it clear that I'm either buying an unsupported service that might not work in a couple of weeks time or they should sell it with a subscription from the start. If they don't understand that software support and maintenance can be as expensive as development, moreso if it's multi-platform, multi-OS and they don't know how to cost it then they shouldn't be selling it.
I wouldn't buy a toaster or fridge that was cobbled together by a hobbyist and I don't want to buy software-dependent services from one either.
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: "the sudden imposition of subscription fees"
A good argument for smart meters is demand pricing and only recently some power companies have been offering cheap or even free electricity to consumers to get them out of the peak demand times and run their washing machines and tumble dryers overnight.
A good argument for not getting a smart meter is demand pricing with the likelihood that in the absence of a powerful regulator the power companies will find way to raise electricity prices dramatically just when people have little choice but to turn the heating on.
Which of the arguments you prefer depends how much of a cynic you are.
I haven't got a smart meter, and I've no intention of ever getting one.
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: "the sudden imposition of subscription fees"
True - but check your NAS's specs before you head off to buy cameras. Most have limitations on the number of cameras you can attach before having to pay them more money. For baby monitoring this probably wouldn't be a problem cos one or two cameras would suffice - but the basic software that comes with the NAS sometimes has limitations on where the videos can be shown and how long they can be saved for and other annoyanceware. Unlocking these limitations will require the purchase of additional "plans".
Big Brother is coming to a workplace near you, and the privacy regulator wants a word
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
%Utilization
"...as long as you get what you need that's all you need to know..."
You're thinking like an engineer, not a manager (a compliment).
They also want to know that you took the amount of time that they costed in because if you did it with less hands-on time (but still delivered and booked the planned time) then it means you've got more capacity and could be doing something else productive and the company could be more profitable. That's the main reason why they don't like WFH - the terrifying thought that they could be making more profit by sweating people who they think could be working harder.
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: Dumb companies equate activity with productivity
A company I worked for was about to make a bunch of people redundant. I was in a meeting with some other managers and all the directors discussing the the (UK) process and the criteria we would use to decide who should go. The subject of productivity came up and as we discussed it it became clear that many of the people in the room were talking about utilization, not productivity. One of my peers got a bit fed up of this and pointed out that how occupied or busy someone was is not a good proxy for their productivity. When the HR director started arguing the manager pointed out of the window at the cars in the front car park - where all the directors parked their company cars - and said something like "those cars are probably used for about two hours a day on average - about 10% utilization - so I assume they'll be going before we get rid of any staff.
Apple blames iOS 17 bug for overheating iPhone 15 woes
Scandium-based nuclear clocks promise punctuality for next 300 billion years
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
My mechanical watch runs about 3 secs per day fast. I set it 30 seconds slow on the first of the month and re-set it at the end of the month when it's running 1 minute fast. That's over a month between settings and if I need to know the time more precisely it's easy to calculate to within a few seconds based on the date. I can't think of the last time I needed to know the time with such accuracy - nothing else happens in my life that starts or finishes on time to this precision. If I were in charge of this scandiuum clock it would run for almost 900,000 years before it needed adjusting.
Mozilla's midlife crisis has taken it from web pioneer to Google's weird neighbor
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: Self-reinforcing
Same here. I'm defaulting to Safari more often just to get sites to work properly. I get the login loop on one of my banks and a couple of sites I use simply don't work - either don't load fully or stuff is missing. Tried troubleshoot mode and they don't work. The most worrying is one bank where the login seems to have failed, I get presented with the login screen again but if I do nothing and wait a few secs then it logs me in. I don't know much about web design and security, but it feels like there's a few seconds where a token or something is lost and wandering and could be a security issue. The bank says "use Chrome".
It's a shame. I know it's not FF's fault other than they're not popular enough for sites to test with them.
Search for phone signal caused oil spill, say Japanese investigators
You shouldn't be able to buy devices that tamper with diesel truck emissions on eBay, says DoJ
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
I understand that, and legally I'm sure you're correct (in the UK) , but no one says "....yeah, I bought it from seller0985123", do they? Whatever the legal position, people "buy stuff from ebay" and if it walks like a duck........
The concept that eBay (and other sites) is just a marketplace and no different from the newsagent's noticeboard or the farmer who rents his field for Sunday morning boot sales might have been OK when they first started as an any-old-tat auction site, but they've moved on a bit since those days and, as others have posted here, maybe it's time that the law caught up with the changes.
Switch to hit the fan as BT begins prep ahead of analog phone sunset
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: I want to know the equipment...
I've started looking at VOIP providers, but only half-heartedly - I don't want the hassle at the moment. I don't really use the landline and I might drop it when my contract comes up, but I'll be buying a new router before that so I'll get one with a phone socket which will let me me transfer to a VOIP provider or - when the pigs are on final approach - use Digital Voice when BT release the SIP settings for their service.
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: Absolute chaos
Much as I agree about OfCom caring more about pressure from Telcos than customers, it is customer's demand for higher and higher data rates that's driving this. On this forum I've seen recent posts wihngeing that 50Mb/s can't be considered high speed.
On a more positive side there are a couple of things that OfCom could do. It could force roaming in the UK; if there's no Vodafone signal then let me use O2 at no extra cost. The other thing it could do is manage 5G roll-out licensing so that the Telco's have to install it areas with no coverage first. Want those lucrative central-London cells? Not before you've provided good coverage in the Lake District, Scotland and Shenfield railway station.
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: It is contacting customers at least four weeks ahead of the switch
A friend's dad has some sort of man-down system that relies on BT. The good news is that they did contact him in advance. The expected news is that it's an ongoing pain in the arse for my friend to get his dad set up with the right system and battery backup. He's playing a lot of phone ping-pong.
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: I want to know the equipment...
My understanding is that you have to use a BT router for BT Digital Voice. From the Draytek website (which has other useful information about this)
"The BT Digital Home Phone service does not work with other routers, other provider's devices or ISPs other than BT"
The same is true of the wireless extension sockets that BT will sell you - they will only connect to a BT router.
I don't know if it will be locked down this way for ever or whether eventually BT will open it up, just like they did with their routers. I can live without my landline but don't want to ditch it yet.
It's on my todo list to try to set up my BT router just as a modem with DHCP and firewall being handled by my Draytek and then see if I can plug my phone into the BT router and make the service work. I'm putting it off partly because there's a rat nest of mains, cat 6 and audio cables behind the hifi/IT rack that I've got to do battle with but mainly because I don't think it will work. If BT have tied VOIP to its router working as a router then I suspect I won't be able to configure the setup I've just described.
CERN experiment proves gravity pulls antimatter the way Einstein predicted
Lawsuit claims Google Maps led dad of two over collapsed bridge to his death
Menacing marketeers fined by ICO for 1.9M cold calls
Singapore may split liability for phishing losses between banks and victims
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: who is responsible?
"If a bank has reason to believe that they're giving money to the right person, and they're not, is it their fault"
If I woke up one morning to find my fence knocked over and then just after breakfast a fencing contractor knocked on the door and said "I'm in the area and noticed you need a new fence." then I'd be a tad suspiscious.
If I were a bank and noticed that someone wanted to transfer a shedload of money to an account that had been created the day before with almost the right account name then I'd be suspiscious.
I think the banks could do more, even, as you point out, if it meant inconveniencing customers, but they do seem to make it easy for some of the scammers.
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: Who is responsible for rampant payment and transfer scams?
If someone phones my mum to con her out of her money and says they are from her bank and my mum's phone confirms it's the bank's number then the phone company should be responsible either for collusion, an accessory before the fact or some other criminal offence that sees their directors in jail.
BT confirms it's switching off 3G in UK from Jan next year
![Silver Badge Silver badge](/design_picker/215565f179ecd9dd919cfd297e581ca79d1eed05/graphics/icons/silver_badge.png)
Re: Elderly and Vulnerable?
From a UI - both screen and physical - I loved my BB Classic and if they brought out an iPhone with the same keyboard and PDA management I'd buy two. I could have written a novel with that keyboard whereas I struggle to type "Red Lion, 8pm" on the iPhone and phone in anything longer than that. Message organization was fantastic. I loved the idea of it - and the heft of it.
The things that made me bin it (literally - I couldn't give it away) were no way to synch anything between it and anything else without it being a right pain in the arse. All the BB/RIM native desktop synch tools for Mac didn't do anything - I never got them working and got no help from BB/RIM. Synching contacts and calendar was a pain (mainly Apple's fault, but the net result was the same) and there was no way to synch ToDos with any Mac apps.
And then useful stuff stopped being supported. I was travelling all over the place then and there was a BB app that found all travel data from mails and texts, collected it together as trips in a dedicated app and added it to the calendar. Fantastic - till it stopped.