Posts by John Brown (no body)

Re: Windows repair?

"I've never understood the purpose of Windows Repair."

Think of Windows Repair as being the level 1 service/help desk. It can fix the most basic of problems, ie the most common ones, the sort those us with a bit of experience rarely cause because most of the time we know what we are doing. But your average user, who doesn't always understand why Windows should be shutdown properly or the battery should not be forced to keep going even after the OS warned you to shutdown or plug in, or who doesn't understand the difference between Restart and Shutdown (helpfully obscured and bastardised my MS), or or or etc and "break" things the equivalent of "is it properly plugged in" and "have you tried turning it off and on again" situations that 90% of users have 90% of the time when there is a "problem".

Re: USB

Based on that, you are not the target market. the Z16 is more what you'd be looking for. 2xUSB4 & SD card reader on the left side and 1xUSB3 on the right edge.

Looking at the shape and size of the Z13 and Z16 system boards, I'm not sure they could fit more ports there without interconnects and daughter boards. They both look to have some pretty hefty heatsinks and dual fans too.

The Hardware Service Manual is interesting. The entire screen assembly is classed a single unit, so no replacement of a failed camera without a new screen and even the CPU cooler is not classed as a Customer Replaceable Unit, which is unusual even for Lenovo. WiFi is built-in on the system board, Wireless WAN and SSD are both plug-in devices and, unusually for a business grade Thinkpad, soldered on RAM with NO DIMM slot for additional RAM, which will be a deal breaker for many readers here.

Re: USB

"that are small enough to fit in a bag."

s/bag/pocket/ :-) Admittedly, mine doesn't have the SD card reader but it's small enough that I sometimes have to rummage around in the bottom of the laptop bag to find it. There's plenty of really small ones to pick from these days, pretty cheap, work just fine.

I agree with other posters about the limits of only two USB ports on this new model, but it's not as if a power user wanting to plug in multiple devices in all sorts of different locations isn't going to know what they are buying up front. They'll either buy something with the ports they need already built in or probably already have hubs/docks/adaptors they need anyway. I think someone earlier also wonder why Lenovo don't provide a PSU with ports on. Well, the answer is probably that they looked at the market and calculated that making it an optional extra or 3rd party purchase is better and cheaper for the few that want one rather than providing one in every box by default. Sort of the same argument for mobile phones often not coming with a PSU by default these days. Saving on waste and improving their "green credentials". Which kinda makes sense.

"which is why they 1. outsourced to 2. the lowest bidder."

I was speaking with a guy who handles a local councils outsourcing and procurement deals a couple of years back and he said they are legally obliged to go with the lowest bidder who can meet the criteria, even when they have an existing and preferred supplier and really don't want to go with the actual lowest bidder because they know they will shit service. The best they can hope for is that they can get or keep in enough penalty clauses to mitigate the problem they know will come down the line. But the big outsourcers and/or suppliers can afford much better lawyers.

Yes, when they are being created and haven't been publicly announced. Getting a heads-up in advance can be very lucrative when you more time to prepare in advance of the upcoming changes. Ideally, all tax changes should be flagged so far in advance that even a sneaky and surreptitious early warning would be of no real help, but we all know how governments like to introduce changes to increase the tax take so they are implemented almost instantly while those changes which reduce the tax take are announced to take effect in the next tax year (or even later in some cases), especially if they can announce the tax reductions multiple times so it appears there are even more reductions than are actually happening :-)

Re: Easy fix

Does, for example, a US company actually need specific identifiable data on, say, EU citizens, or is the genuinely anonymised and/or aggregated data really all they need? Do they need to know exactly where *I* live and what websites *I* visit, or do they really only need to know that a certain number of people *like* me, in a particular region, visit certain types of websites, all the processing being done inside the EU and only the results sent to the US? I suspect that most of the granularity of individuals data is actually useless to almost everyone other than the people doing the initial data collection and so has little to no need to ever leave the country of origin.

So-called targetted advertising, as all readers here are aware, is rarely properly targetted and, if anything, is more likely to show stuff you previously had a passing interest in, or bought, than to show stuff you might be interested in soon. Because I used a car insurance comparison site, a number of car insurers send me snail-mail about a month before it;s due, but even when online with script/ad/cookie blockers off, I don't see any car insurance ads. Maybe my precautions are actually working? Maybe the "browser fingerprint" and other tech to get around blockers simply doesn't work as advertised?

The funniest one, of course, the "Also bought..." on shopping websites (looking at you, Amazon). I go there, buy a Raspberry Pi (I can wish LOL), an HDMI cable and a boc of chocolates for my wife (she can wish LOL) and the next person looking at a Raspberry Pi sees "People who bought this item also bought a box of chocolates" WTF? So what? I suspect that is very unlikely to attract an impulse buy from someone whereas "Also bought..." links to suitable Pi accessories more likely would.

Re: Easy fix

BeReal Has 73.5 Million Active Monthly Users

This is a new social media company based in France. Dunno who owns it, I'm not that interested, but it's based in and headquartered in the EU. At the very least, they can't claim ignorance or "operational difficulties" in terms of GDPR compliance since GDPR pre-dates their founding and is most definitely in their jurisdiction :-)

"In August 2022, BeReal reached 73.5 million active users. Additionally, 20 million of those users access the app daily. That was a significant jump from July when the app had 21 million monthly active users.

BeReal had 13.89 million downloads in the Apple App store in September 2022. This is nearly double the runner-up, TikTok, which had 7.51 million downloads in the same month."

So, maybe Facebook/Twitter et al no longer have the "pull" to threaten to leave the EU if the EU doesn't dance to their tune? Maybe the Zuck saw this coming and that's why Meta was created. Facebook may be the biggest part of Meta, but the structure allows Facebook to shrink or fail while protecting Meta and it's other subsidiaries. Others have grown "too big to fail" and still failed :-)

Re: Easy fix

Easy fix?

The Patriot Act. Meta would need to create a fully independent EU based company to run it's services within the EU with no connection to the US based Meta. MS tried to do that in Ireland and the US still came knocking on the door with legal threats to hand over data as it wasn't independent enough by their rules. The EU and Ireland were a bit miffed about that and it dragged on and on until some sort of compromise was worked out in favour of the US.

Re: pointless

At current numbers, assuming you aren't allowed on line unsupervised until the age of 10, and by the time you reach the age of 80 you longer care or are dead, you'd need to visit approximately 18,000 websites per hour to reach the end of the Internet in those 70 years :-)

Of course, there's more new sites coming online then dropping off each year, so it'd be a never ending, ever extending, task.

Re: pointless

Phishing attacks already using the .zip TLD

Earlier this week, we investigated existing registrations using the .zip TLD and confirmed that there is already evidence of fraudulent activity.

At the time of writing, there are fewer than 5,000 registered domains using .zip. 2,253 of these have an A record, pointing to 838 distinct IP addresses. We have discovered phishing attacks on five of these domains so far, none of which are still live at the time of writing.

Re: Lesson from history

Really sorry to hear that. I drive a lot and try to always be hyper-aware of bikers.

Re: Lesson from history

"To all those who think these are a good idea I would like to point out that in the UK we have this strange stuff called RAIN. Most cars are specifically designed to keep the RAIN outside."

I did try to emphasise the geographical location where it would be a good idea as per the article. There are towns and cities across Asia where motorbikes/scooters/mopeds are the standard mode of transport for millions of people commuting, delivering, even taxiing etc within those towns and cities and immediate surroundings. I would imagine few of those millions doing enough miles to make range a significant issue :-)

"In all seriousness how much of this hyperconnection actually helps the users, and how much is there only to exctract more profit out of the people?"

When "things" don't work at all because some non-essential part has failed is when you know you are being screwed over. The most obvious to us El Reg readers is the multi-function printer where the scanner stops working when the ink/toner runs out. Yeah, came across this AGAIN on a customer site just yesterday.

Re: Lesson from history

Not sure why you got the downvotes. It seems to me that electric bikes equivalent to proper motorbikes, mopeds and/or scooters are an ideal way to go with electrification and I'm wondering why they've not already gone mainstream/mass market, especially in the Asian countries mentioned in the article. It seems like a no-brainer to test and develop the power train technology on a smaller and cheaper scale than with cars. The whole "connected" and "self-driving" stuff is superfluous to the requirements of the vehicle, things which can be added at a later date when the tech has matured. Currently, the few electric motorbikes all seem to be high end, large, expensive things that few people seem to want and, in the markets referenced in the article, unaffordable. Maybe what the world actually wants is the equivalent of a Honda 125 with an electric motor in the hub of the rear wheel, batteries where the engine, gearbox and fuel tank currently sit and the option to add "power panniers" for extra range. No connectivity, no autonomy, not even self-balancing unless it can be done cheaply. Just simple, basic and easy to produce in numbers. The tech even already exists. Just scale up the current "throwaway" e-scooters that are clogging up pavements the world over!

Re: I can never ....

Yes, but ALWAYS widdershins first THEN deosil or it won't work!

Re: Did I get this right?

'Passed' is a standard industry term.

I'm sure that's true, but as per the poster below, "passed" can be twisted to mean anything a company wants when it's in their favour :-)

It's probably almost as variable a term as "coverage" in mobile phone terms :-)

No, but they're watched carefully curated demonstrations with crafted questions showing expected responses.

On the other hand, while it will likely be frustrating for people with a clue and who have an "out of band" problem, automated chatbot like front line service desk will probably deal with a large portion of callers to the satisfaction of both sides. After all, a lot of 1st line is scripted with the operator not allowed to deviate, have little to no training and yet still deal with many, many calls to "switch it off and on again", "check the cables are plugged in" etc. So, not really that much of a change other than possibly having to learn new ways to short circuit the process and get to 2nd line :-)

Re: Seems a bit premature

The "people installing fibre" that will be going are the contractors doing the large roll-outs, trunk lines and the like, which they expect to be more or less finished and certainly scaling down in 10 years time. The people you see out in the streets wiring up and fixing the cabs etc. will still be around, although they claim the newer kit is more robust so should need less maintenance and therefore fewer people to do the fixes.

Re: Did I get this right?

"in excess of 80% of UK residential properties will be passed by openreach by the end of 2026"

The operative word being "passed". Like the poster upthread reporting the fibre and junction box being within 20 metres of his house but absolutely no chance of tapping in for that small group of houses.

Re: "employee injury rate at least 30 percent above the average"

I think using the term "law enforcement" might have been a poor choice of words on the OPs part. Whoever is responsible for enforcing health and safety in the workplace should have the right to carry out unannounced inspections and/or investigate accidents in any workplace. It's concerning that the Bill as written only seems to offer this power over p[laces that are 30% over the average. Surely it's their job to not only investigate all workplace accidents, but to put in place enforceable measures to lower the average as much as possible. Maybe it's a "freedom" thing? Companies are people and are "free" to act as they will, even if it causes injuries to others without "interference" from authorities? It's like there is an acceptable baseline of death and injury before action is taken to sort out the mess when the reality is that everyone should be working to minimise those number as much as possible. The most worrying thing is that in some (many?) cases, the workers accept that as normal and defend the situation.

Re: No FIXED quotas

"he right to request a written description of the quotas"

Doesn't seem to worded in such a way that the "warehouse owner" has to actually comply though. Although keeping a record of all those who make the requests might be a good way of deciding who goes out the door first at the next round of redundancies or fired for "performance" reasons,

Re: I'm a bit torn

Well, the enforcement order lasts for 20 years, long after their sentences will be completed, of which it's quite probably they will only serve 1/2 to 3/4 anyway. Unless they are planning on taking minimum wage employment and living on the breadline, I'd expect there to be a percentage based repayment plan in place on all future earnings. I suppose a lot depends on who they are still friends with once they get out. They'll need to be very creative to get back to their previous lifestyle while trying to "hide" money as being theirs. Family might let them live in a mansion rent free and pay their bills for them I suppose, but it will all be scrutinised very carefully.

Re: Great observation you have

Or, sometimes the research produces tech that can then be repurposed into something else entirely. I was just watching an episode of Aussie Inventions That Changed the world. Some obscure astronomer wanted to detect the explosions of mini black holes. He and his team had to develop signal processing far beyond what the best supercomputers of the day could do. They never did detect the black hole explosions, but the digital signal processor they created was too good to waste. So they went off and invented WiFi with it{**} :-)

(Then the Yankee Pig Dog[*] corporations tried to rip them off and they got rich from the patent infringements fines and licensing fees)

* sorry, couldn't resist :-)

** grossly simplified explanation, obviously.