* Posts by Unep Eurobats

426 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Oct 2012

Page:

Concorde without the cacophony: NASA thinks it's cracked quiet supersonic flight

Unep Eurobats
Go

Re: Hey...

'Special relationship' or SpeshRel 1.

(In the artist's impression it does look a little like one aircraft is being mounted by another.)

Linus Torvalds slams 'pure garbage' from 'clowns' at Grsecurity

Unep Eurobats
Holmes

'I stopped trying to be polite'

Like, ever.

IBM's contractor crackdown continues: Survivors refusing pay cut have hours reduced

Unep Eurobats
Holmes

Re: “be forced to reduce their CLAIMED hours by 15 per cent.”

But taking a pay cut in return for reducing your hours is a lot fairer than taking a pay cut ... and having to work the same number of hours. I know which I'd prefer.

Unep Eurobats
Trollface

Re: Why contract these days?

I know it happens in the States but I don't think companies are allowed to do the furlough thing in Europe. Although it may be coming to the UK in a couple of years.

Disney mulls Mickey Mouse magic material to thwart pirates' 3D scans

Unep Eurobats
Holmes

Re: Workaround

It doesn't have to work perfectly. Anything that makes things even slightly more difficult for the counterfeiters will still reduce piracy.

DXC Technology puts reluctant office movers on naughty step

Unep Eurobats
Go

2.5 miles may not sound like a lot

But in London, it can be enough of a difference to turn a viable, fine-tuned commute into something that's significantly less bearable.

Having said that, it is cool around King's Cross these days.

State of DevOps: Everyone's slinging code out faster

Unep Eurobats
WTF?

Just when I thought I was starting to understand devops

'the highest [performing] deploy only 46 times more often than the lowest ... They also deploy code less frequently than the bottom rung'.

I'll save that for my next performance review. 'I may be making mistakes more often, but they're less frequent.'

Windows XP crashed too much to spread WannaCrypt

Unep Eurobats
Windows

Re: Funny

Also the immediate successor to XP was Vista which was widely panned, thus putting people off from upgrading when their hardware might have coped with it.

Windows 10 love to see PC market grow again. Future iPhone to be clear. Elvis to re-appear

Unep Eurobats
Angel

You clickbait merchants, you

You get me every time. But like most others I guessed Elvis too.

Orbital boffins cut four years off NASA mission to shiniest object in the Solar System

Unep Eurobats

Shiniest, you say?

"We challenged the mission design team to come up with a snappy backronym," said director Jim Green, "and they totally failed to come through."

So how about ... Mars Assisted-Gravity Psyche Inspection Expedition?

Huawei Honor 8 Pro: Makes iPhone 7 Plus look a bit crap

Unep Eurobats

Re: On the other hand...

I maybe have different fingers because I find the iPhone 6 Plus fingerprint sensor a pain. I usually have to try two or three times before it lets me in, and often it activates voice control instead.

In my experience the rear-mounted scanner on a Google Nexus is better placed and works much more reliably.

Samsung Galaxy S8+: Seriously. What were they thinking?

Unep Eurobats
Paris Hilton

Re: Biometric balls

So to unlock your phone you stuff it down your trousers?

It's a method, I suppose.

Google DeepMind's use of 1.6m Brits' medical records to test app was 'legally inappropriate'

Unep Eurobats
Boffin

AI usage out of control?

That's the issue. Did doctors rely on the AI's diagnosis to provide treatment?

Test data is no good without an outcome: you feed in 1.6m sets of symptoms, 1.6m treatment regimes and 1.6m outcomes (eg died, got better etc). The AI learns what treatments work best for a given set of symptoms. The hope is that eventually it can give a better diagnosis than a human.

So how do we get from this to Google's AI being used to treat real people? If Google simply flagged anomalous results for clinicians to follow up, that seems fine. As Mark 110 says above, they would presumably rather know. But clearly the project has greatly exceeded its original scope if the still under-development AI was blindly used to direct treatment, either for patients in the initial data set or others.

Unep Eurobats
Childcatcher

Re: 'inappropriate' or 'illegal'?

Exactly - as AC says below, stop the pussyfooting. Was it illegal for the hospital to give Google 'identifiable patient records'? Or was it illegal for Google to then use those records beyond its remit? Or both?

London app dev wants to 'reinvent the bus'

Unep Eurobats
Holmes

Re: So they're going to be big

Except they don't need to be big all the time. At rush hour, yes. In the middle of the day, not so much. One of the dispiriting things about travelling in central London is seeing all the near-empty buses clogging the roads.

So ... expandable buses. Some sort of concertina section, but not like the bendy buses - something that can be fixed in an expanded or contracted configuration. Or inflatable modules, maybe. I'm only half joking here: I'm sure someone ingenious could come up with something that might work.

Jimbo announces Team Wikipedia: 'Global News Police'

Unep Eurobats

'No single story ... generated more than 1m engagements'

You don't have to click through to a fake news story to be influenced by it. We're more subconsciously susceptible than we think. Don't discount the cumulative effect of half-forgotten headlines.

After skimming my favourite news sites at breakfast I usually consider myself updated on quite a few current events just from having read the home page.

Stanford Uni's intro to CompSci course adopts JavaScript, bins Java

Unep Eurobats
Boffin

US courses are more modular

Comp-sci majors will learn enough other things to avoid being spoiled by this. The hope is that it could tempt people from other disciplines.

The big advantage of JavaScript is its low cost of entry. Notepad and a browser? You're ready to program. It's so straightforward to start that students who are mainly interested in another subject might give it a go.

The result could be that graduates in, say, literature, philosophy and economics leave university with at least some understanding of programming in addition to their other skills. Contrast this with the situation in the UK where the Classics and history graduates who run the country seem to think that any kind of technical knowledge is best avoided in case it somehow dirties their minds.

Not auf wiedersehen – yet! The Berlin scene tempting Brexit tech

Unep Eurobats
Holmes

Free movement of people

Sometimes you want someone from your tech supplier on site ASAP. If you're in Paris, you may be worried that a company in post-Brexit London will have cost and bureaucracy issues with this that won't affect their counterparts in Berlin.

Hard-pressed Juicero boss defends $400 IoT juicer after squeezing $120m from investors

Unep Eurobats
Windows

IoT? Maybe...

As has been pointed out above, fresh juice can be healthy and tasty.

I regularly throw a few handfuls of fruit and veg into the juicer and fondly imagine it's doing me some good. But how much? I can see some value in an app which could immediately tell me something like, 'You've just had 50% of your RDA of vitamin D - why not have some carrots? But you're at 100% for vitamin C: well done you.'

Next up: an augmented reality app that surrounds me with a dazzling Ready Brek glow.

And I might be prepared to share my consumption stats with a health insurer in return for reduced premiums. Although they'd have no way of knowing I wasn't following my kale smoothie with half a dozen deep-fried Mars bars and a bottle of Scotch.

Official science we knew all along: Facebook makes you sad :-(

Unep Eurobats
Coffee/keyboard

Re: Facebook makes you sad

Well that backfired spectacularly.

Commentards I salute you.

Unep Eurobats
Unhappy

Facebook makes you sad

But El Reg upvotes make my day (you know where to click, peeps).

|

|

\/

Franken-firm DXC Technology is born today, the fun begins...

Unep Eurobats

OK, there's some understandable cynicism here

But if I turned up to work and someone dressed as a zebra gave me a balloon and a cupcake I have to say I wouldn't really mind too much.

DevOps hype? Sometimes a pizza really is just a pizza

Unep Eurobats
Flame

Re: learning

I think you mean 'key takeaway'. Which reminds me, we never got the punchline of the pizza story.

(Mine's the one from the wood-fired oven ->)

Miss Misery on hacking Mr Robot and the Missing Sense of Fun

Unep Eurobats
Flame

I'd heard of this

But I thought it was about an actual robot. You could have flagged up this massive spoiler. It's been completely ruined for me now.

As of today, iThings are even harder for police to probe

Unep Eurobats
Facepalm

No Siri, I said 'googly'

A cricket-savvy digital PA? I'll believe it when I hear it.

How Ford has slammed the door on Silicon Valley's autonomous vehicles drive

Unep Eurobats

Re: unattended

I think you'll find it's quite sufficient to glance out of the bathroom window every few minutes while you shower, shave and clean your teeth.

Douglas Coupland: The average IQ is now 103 and the present is melting into the future

Unep Eurobats

Re: several pages of pi

I think I recognise that. Was It JPod? I enjoyed it. Even better is The Gum Thief. But then Generation A, the one about the bees - that's terrible.

Boffins reveal how to pour a perfect glass of wine with no drips. First step, take a diamond...

Unep Eurobats

Re: Alternative approach

You beat me to it, icon and all.

Unep Eurobats
Windows

Comme il faut

I always thought the correct etiquette was to finish pouring with a snappy Gallic twist of the wrist and then lick the side of the bottle.

Perhaps that's why no one comes to my dinner parties?

New iPad revealed. Big price cut is main feature

Unep Eurobats

Re: Differential

What's wrong with 'gap', eh?

Three cops to data breach

Unep Eurobats
Headmaster

From the headline

I understood that three law-enforcement officers were about to leak some information. But I guess then it would have been data-breach, or even the modish databreach (I mean who uses hyphens?).

So I approve of your pixel real-estate minimisation.

Samsung's Bixby totally isn't a Siri ripoff because look – it'll go in phones, TVs, fridges, air con...

Unep Eurobats

Re: Bixby?

I'm guessing it's named after Bixby Bridge on California's Highway 1. Wikipedia comments on its graceful architecture and magnificent setting.

Murder in space: NASA orders astronauts to KILL cripples – then fire bodies back to Earth

Unep Eurobats
Childcatcher

Is this really necessary?

Maybe I'm just getting squeamish, but I can't believe that what's holding us back from conquering the solar system is the fact that we don't know what'll happen if someone breaks their leg half way to Mars.

And I'm sure there would have been some actual people with broken limbs who would have liked a free trip into space. The euthanising might have been a bit of a harder sell, mind.

Unep Eurobats
WTF?

'Murder ... bodies ...'

You rascals. I thought you meant people.

Do you use .home and .mail on your network? ICANN mulls .corp, .mail, .home dot-word domains

Unep Eurobats
Coat

Completely.e

Dot you see what I did there?

Uber: Please don't give our London drivers English tests. You can work out the reason why

Unep Eurobats
Flame

TfL are caving in to the taxi-driver cartel

This is a blatant attempt at protectionism. The driver knows where you want to go because you entered your destination when you booked. If you want to freestyle/change your mind/get emergency medical help then don't book an Uber in the first place.

The arguments made on safety grounds are totally spurious and could apply equally in many other situations that have nothing to do with hiring transport. The fact that the hapless but unharmed Aaron Wray is the best example the Sun could come up with indicates that it's unlikely passenger safety is being compromised.

San Francisco uni IT bods to protest Tuesday over cuts, outsourcing

Unep Eurobats
Coat

IT bods to protest Tuesday

I've never had a problem with it - a fairly innocuous midweek day. But if anyone's protesting Monday I'll be first out on the streets.

Huge if true: iPhone 8 will feature 3D selfies, rodent defibrillator

Unep Eurobats
Gimp

The Unbelievable Truth

I feel like I've stumbled into an episode of the Radio 4 panel game where contestants have to spot the five truths hidden among the lies. All that's missing is Henning Wehn claiming that 'der iPhone vas invented by Jesus', whereupon Stephen Fry buzzes and David Mitchell says sarcastically, 'So you think the iPhone was invented by Jesus ... well you're absolutely right.'

FAKE BREWS: America rocked by 'craft beer' scandal allegations

Unep Eurobats
Holmes

Dilution of the language

The word 'craft' has essentially become meaningless in this context. It can be applied to anything: craft muesli; craft knitting.

As a craft programmer I offer hand-coded, artisanal if-blocks and for-loops that are only marginally more expensive than their mass-produced counterparts.

Unep Eurobats
Flame

Re: "Deluxe"?

And don't get me started on 'homemade'.

Talk of tech innovation is bullsh*t. Shut up and get the work done – says Linus Torvalds

Unep Eurobats
Boffin

'Linux kernel chieftan'

He does look a little orange in that photo.

In real life, Q is a woman! Head of MI6 calls for more female techies at SIS

Unep Eurobats
Coat

Re: Dunno about the leg, but the clock...

'outside my office at Vauxhall Cross there's a big grandfather clock which he built himself with his own hands'

Eeuw. He could have used a couple of metal pointers like normal clocks have.

Northumbria Uni fined £400K after boffin's bad math gives students a near-killer caffeine high

Unep Eurobats
Boffin

Northumbrian espresso

I don't wish to trivialise what must have been an awful experience for the victims, but one of the positive outcomes from this unfortunate experiment could be the introduction of a new El Reg standard for the measurement of caffeine.

Unep Eurobats
Devil

Re: bad math

I assumed it meant bad meth but that would have been a drug trip too far.

Congratulations – you're looking better than ever this morning!

Unep Eurobats
Coat

Re: " geostationary satellite's key missions "

What, you believe all that post-truth 'spherical earth' nonsense?

I'LL BE BATT: Arnie Schwarzenegger snubs gas guzzlers for electric

Unep Eurobats
Go

'charged to 80 per cent in just 25 minutes'

Now that's the really attractive part and makes it viable as a long-distance vehicle. OK, I'm sure the world record for filling up with petrol is much quicker (if there is one), but it's still not too long to spend at a motorway service station.

Unep Eurobats
Terminator

'failed to drive down a walkway'

I should hope so. That'll be the AI override kicking in then?

Seven pet h8s: Verity is sorely vexed

Unep Eurobats
Coat

Closures

Use Java. Call them lambda functions. It's an even less meaningful name, so at least you don't make any assumptions about what they're supposed to do. Which is, er, let me get back to you on that.

Stanford boffins find 'correlation between caffeine consumption and longevity'

Unep Eurobats
Boffin

Re: confused

"the link between a reduction in inflammation and caffeine is not causal"

Yes, I got a bit confused by that. I think it means the research doesn't prove that caffeine causes a reduction in inflammation, but it does show a correlation between caffeine consumption and longevity. Since inflammation impedes longevity it may be that caffeine is reducing the inflammation.

Sounds like more research is required. In the meantime - put the kettle on, mine's a doppio.

Unep Eurobats

Re: I AM IMMORTAL!!!

But a little wired.

Page: