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* Posts by R J

20 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Dec 2017

Microsoft tells people to prepare for AI search engine that goes Bing!

R J
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Re: Grumpy old man icon needed…

Uhm, DDG has a great and simple option for country search / all regions (whilst at least last time I checked, in Google you had to go look for it as a setting someplace, with Bing I don't know if it exists), with a nice, tidy dropdown list where the countries I want to search in is listed, in addition to an all all regions option.

As for my searches, I get much more relevant results than I get in Google where I used to have to do all sorts of black magic to get what I wanted, not what Google wanted to show me. However, I understand what works for me may not work for you, BUT I am free to suggest it when it is relevant for the topic at hand.

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R J
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Windows

Re: Grumpy old man icon needed…

I think that search engine you're looking for is hidden behind the URL duckduckgo.com

And with a bit of luck, there will still be browsers around (that's not too exotic) supporting that, and not just some newfangled AI silliness.

Just the thought of some voice based search engine makes me cringe. By the time the voice has reached the first third of the sentence, you would have finished reading the whole section.

That's why I can't stand a podcast either, I haven't got time for that, give me a good article instead, and I'll read it in no time.

Seems I need the grumpy old man icon myself ;)

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Cloud Software Group confirms 15 percent headcount cut

R J
Trollface

Citrix Marketing

Is it too much to hope for that among those let go, there's the marketing people re-naming and re-branding the Citrix products all the time?

30% of the certification process is knowing the current and past name of a product. And now that we finally got the Netscaler name back, can we please just end this already!

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Fixing an upside-down USB plug: A case of supporting the insupportable

R J

I remember back in the days when I worked in the local IT department at a hospital. The ambulance crew bought a, back then, new and modern digital camera to take pictures of car accidents and other situations for whatever reason. Looking for an easy way to transfer the files to the computer, the bright star and IT master (in his own eyes at least) amongst them wanted to upgrade one of the computers to Windows 2000 so he could get USB support. Back then we were still on Windows 95, so he wanted to take matters in his own hand. I was sent down to talk with them about the matter, and as he explained the situation he slammed a Windows 95 cd down on the desk saying something along the lines of "Look at this, this crappy OS doesn't support USB, that's why we need Windows 2000!". Unfortunatley for him, it was a CD with Windows 95 OSR2, and on the CD itself (or the cover, can't recall for sure) it said 'Windows 95 OSR2 - with USB support'.

I just pointed at the CD and asked him to read out loud what it said.

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FYI: BMW puts heated seats, other features behind paywall

R J
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Used to have the Mercedes and Peugeot import company in my country as one of my customers. They had the whole stack, both selling new cars, workshops, parts etc.

The money for THEM (they told me) was in service and repairs. Selling a new car got them next to nothing.

Of course, the producer is a different matter. Still, used to be they gave something to those further down the chain. But these days it seems to be all about monthly subscriptions and to heck with everyone else.

I dread the day I have to replace my by now 21 year old Volvo.

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Vulnerabilities and censorship tools among hot new features in Beijing's Olympics app

R J
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Re: Burner phones

Install it. Turn on the phone. Put it in a charger at home. Leave it there for 14 days. Bring it to China.

At work everyone who has to go to China (and a few other places) is issued a temporary laptop and phone. When they get back home, those are bricked.

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The wastepaper basket is on the other side of the office – that must be why they put all these slots in the computer

R J
Flame

Fire

I had built a nice little state of the art gaming computer with plenty of memory and a top-notch CPU (for that time) for SWMBO (who work as a graphich artist as well as enjoying some hardcore gaming from time to time, so performance was important). One day some 8-9months after I'd put it together it wouldn't turn on. Right enough, fans would start up, harddisks start spinning, and then it would mysteriously turn off after just a second or two. And there was this mysterious smell. You know, the nasty smell of burnt components.

So I opened it up, looked ok-ish at first. Thinking maybe it was a dislodged RAM or something simple, I switched it on again, expecting the FOTT (Fear Of The Technician) to make it behave.

This was the first time I've seen open flames on a motherboard. 6-7cm thick long flames were licking the side of the motherboard as I turned it on - and as the computer died again, so did the flames. Fascinated, I tried again, same result. This time leaving black marks of soot. I had to call SWMBO over so she could witness it too. Same result, but then she stopped me fearing for the rest of the computer.

I took some nice pictures and got a new motherboard for free.

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If I pedal faster and feed it spinach, my robot barman might pull more pints

R J
Happy

Kraftwerk - The Man Machine

Kraftwerk is of course great, but now, during lockdown, when you miss going to exotic places, maybe you should listen to the Latin version:

https://youtu.be/nGnFF5w5sro?t=2203

(Yes, do listen. Warning: Might bring a smile to your face)

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Behold the drive-thru of the California Highway Patrol: Fry me a river, has 'CHIPS' stopped working again?

R J
Mushroom

CHefs Industrialized Potatoe Strips

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As we stand on the precipice of science fiction into science fact, people say: Hell yeah, I want to augment my eyesight!

R J
Alien

Deus Ex

No mention of Deus Ex?

Currently replaying the series. Seems more relevant than ever these days. Even forces you to consider the moral and ethical problems related to augmentations.. and other things.

You played the first two, you get the icon :)

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OK, which Dombås stuffed Windows 10 to bursting at Swedish flatpack flinger?

R J
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Re: "Relationship-ending"

Ahh, but the problem is that without fail there will be only 7 out of 8 bolts, or screws, or whatnot.

It's happened to me the last 3 times I bought anything from Ikea (mind you the last time was 10 years ago, I refuse to go there anymore). I've learned to live by Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness, meaning I buy quality that last instead.

After the first two times I thought that at least buying kettles should be safe. Nope, the handles on the covers get lose after some years. It's also amusing with the rust on the so-called stainless steel.. And don't even get me started on the "quality" of anything electronic. Had to return one lamp when it melted the plastic parts inside. Good thing the house didn't catch fire, though the smell was awefull. Other things either stop working or the plastic clips inside break so nothing is fastened properly anymore.

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Windows 7 will not go gentle into that good night: Ageing OS refuses to shut down

R J
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Re: What is Nt?

My favourite was the startup screen of Windows 2000 saying in the bottom right corner iirc "Built on NT Technology"

Yes, basicly New Technology Technology..

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A stranger's TV went on spending spree with my Amazon account – and web giant did nothing about it for months

R J
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Big Brother

Re: Dont save credit cards on site

My thought exactly. I wouldn't trust writing down my credit card details on a piece of paper and hand it out to the staff in a shop I go to every now and then just because of any imagined convenience. Much less do the same online.

I never save those details online. And if some stupid site does it for me, I delete it at once and stop using that site.. but of course, Amazon (and the others) want you to spend your cash as easily as possible, and don't give a damn about your security, privacy or data. Well, ok.. they care about your data, since they'd LOVE to sell it onwards.

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Cyber-IOU notes. Voucher hell on wheels. However you want to define Facebook's Libra, the most ridiculous part is its privacy promise

R J
Big Brother

The Prisoner

Suddenly it occured to me how this goes.

It's like a certain show. That is, like The Prisoner. At least that's what Lord Zuck wants, a nice, little village where he controlls everything 'connecting people'.

But..

As "Number Six" would put it: 'I am not a number! I am a free man!'

And further: 'I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own!'

So, no thanks. I won't join.

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London's Metropolitan Police arrest Julian Assange

R J
Angel

This is just what Assange needed

After all, he'll finally get some attention again. Poor guy, he's been irrelevant for so many years now

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Crash, bang, wallop: What a power-down. But what hit the kill switch?

R J
Facepalm

This somehow reminds me of my school days

A long, long time ago, I can still remember.. when the "cool" kids used to set off the fire alarm at school.

This, of course, didn't only interrupt any teaching going on, but also triggered the fire department. Not really all fun anymore, and quite costly, or so they claimed.

So the brilliant solution? Replace the glass cover for the alert button with a metal one.

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Customers baffled as Citrix forces password changes for document-slinging Sharefile outfit

R J
Trollface

Lets just hope...

.. that they won't force you to change password as often as they change their product names.

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First Boeing 777 (aged 24) makes its last flight – to a museum

R J
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Re: Feeling old yet?

Cathay has some of those quite big airplanes servicing the Manila - Hong Kong route, which takes about 2.5 hours, so my guess is it's been running there. Those flights are always fully booked, and quite a pain to ride. I always look forward for the next part of the flight (usually Hong Kong - London) where there's something resembling service, good manners and civilized behaviour ;)

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VMware 'pressured' hotel to shut down tech event close to VMworld, IGEL sues resort giant

R J
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I used to support quite a big set up of WYSE/Dell thin Clients. Was never truly happy with them.

The last few years we've been using IGEL thin clients. Best thin clients I've supported so far. Their management console is superior anything I've seen from the other vendors. The clients we have are past the expected lifetime, and they still keep running and running.

We're currently upgrading all our IGELs to newer Versions, not even considering any competitors (even tho we do have a lot of Dell stuff here). Recommended if you need a quality thin client that's also easy to manage.

Now I just wish I could oust VMware from our server room. Sadly, someone is too "religious" to allow for any other hypervisor (weirdly enough, we have quite a large setup of XenServers.. I'm sorry, I mean Citrix Hypervisor (unless they changed the name again....).. in our lab.

Well, looking onwards, we'll probably have to look for ways to do things cheaper. My contribution will be to ditch VMware from everything I have a hand in :)

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'Please store the internet on this floppy disk'

R J
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Re: Stolen Focus

Running it seamless? You might want to give this a try https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX140095/

My guess is you won't run into the problem if it isn't a seamless session. That is, provided it is the problem I think it is.

Also, I've seen these reg-settings help out:

HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\ForegroundFlashCount - REG_DWORD - 0

HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\ForegroundLockTimeout - REG_DWORD - 0

There's also a whole range of problems with some of the semi-new receiver versions. Either stick with the old ones (around 12.x) or the newer ones (from 4.6 and onwards).

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