COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Stanley]

No Peter. it still tries to load a folder that defeats it so I have given up on it. I can find images by doing a data file search with the thumbnail option turned on, than I open in Gimp. It's quick and it works.

[Tizer]

I expect it will be due to a corrupted image file as I described in my post on 25 September. I can't see how it can be anything else now. That file will presumably be in the folder that was open when you last closed gThumb.

[Stanley]

I agree, but it doesn't stay on the screen long enough for me to cancel the last search.
I have better things to spend time on Peter.....

[Big Kev]

This seemed the most appropriate place for this. Tesla have an app that is used to get in and start their cars, the app failed yesterday and hundreds of Tesla drivers were locked out of their vehicles.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-59357306

[Tizer]

That's the joy of being `connected'!

[Big Kev]

I'll be sticking with my Yeti, it has a key

[PanBiker]

So does my Hyundai. Doors are electric central locking but you can get in with the key if push comes to shove.

[Big Kev]

Aye, same with the Yeti.

[Stanley]

One of the most expensive cars in the world and it has a fault like that. Why not give the owner some way of overriding the need for the app? Like a key..... Would it be fair to say they are too smart for their own good?

[PanBiker]

Looks like my Facebook page got hacked, don't know how but I noticed apart from the fact that everyone in my friends list had received a duff message. I inherited the TicTok app on the computer and on my phone. I have done all the security checks recommended by Facebook, deleted all the content not posted by myself and changed the password on my account.

[Tripps]

I closed my Nectar card last night. Trigger was seeing all my Sainsbury purchases listed as favourites when I logged into their shopping site. The list can only have come from Nectar. I'm not sure why this irritated me, as the same happens on Tesco with Clubcard, but that's all 'in house' and I was aware of it when I joined. Nectar it seems have an arrangement with 300 'partners' which I didn't know about. They don't need to know what I'm buying - just how much I spend surely. There's my charming naivete coming through again.

I wasn't able to do it on line - you never are! - so reluctantly engaged with 'Tincy' on the Telex. Still not sure if he/she was a real person. I suspect it was an algorithm. It was a bit of a struggle but finally happened. The account seems to have gone, but they haven't told Sainsbury yet.

[plaques]

Tripps you are not the only one that is getting a bit touchy about big data keeping a track on you. The other day I thought I would tidy up my laptop and get rid of all those cookies and search histories that quietly build up over the months. The Google search was easy but YouTube a bit more difficult with settings getting involved. Finally bumped into Googles search prompting system that bounces up as soon as you type a search query. This is outside the normal screens having to go to myactivity.google.com then trimming your past activities to suit. This last one is supposed to help Google help you with what you are navigating. After all this clear out you may be thinking you've got the buggers off your back but have you?

[Whyperion]

I closed my Nectar card last night. Trigger was seeing all my Sainsbury purchases listed as favourites when I logged into their shopping site. The list can only have come from Nectar. I'm not sure why this irritated me, as the same happens on Tesco with Clubcard, but that's all 'in house' and I was aware of it when I joined. Nectar it seems have an arrangement with 300 'partners' which I didn't know about. They don't need to know what I'm buying - just how much I spend surely. There's my charming naivete coming through again.

It has always been the case with nectar that it associated what was bought with the card, and that adding the card details to the Sainsburys Grocery Site would populate favourites - it does forget after about three months - though I think it brought back what I bought last christmas on the website. Its sort of useful , but If I shop in person I tend to buy the reduced bargains , which are pricey at the full whack on the website, also some products at Colne and Burnley stores are different in the London hypermarkets ( and the big - but its small - sainsburys near my son NEVER has anything remotely useful at a decent price , really strange, so its a half hour tram ride to the megastore on a london bypass). What tends to happen is even if adding favourites online one gets 'suggested' items , normally competitor ones at a higher price. Note also Sainsburys doing shrinkflation on the pack sizes on the biscuits, baby wipes and other items.

[Stanley]

Like the rest of you I know that somewhere I have a profile even though I only have one card account with my bank for credit and debit, no loyalty cards. But then I have my Co-op card which will work just like Nectar and I have no doubt other applications are tracking me. I know I can't stop them so I just ignore them.
If ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report of the hacking of the Spar systems. This was what caused the closures yesterday.

[Big Kev]

See THIS BBC report of the hacking of the Spar systems. This was what caused the closures yesterday.

It's certainly a fairly complex attack, both Spar garages in Barlick have been closed since Sunday.

[Stanley]

I wonder how many hacking attacks go unreported because the victims don't want a bad press?

[chinatyke]

My super laptop that I bought in Shenzhen five years ago isn't good enough for Windows 11. It needs augmenting with a better graphics card and SSD storage chips. I suppose 5 years service is good and I don't intend buying another. There must be more to W11 than I thought.

[Stanley]

Morning Graham.... "I suppose 5 years service is good and I don't intend buying another."
That's not what we expect from you! Go on, be a devil, go and get another super laptop, no pockets in a shroud!

[Tizer]

I suppose this might have an impact on Christmas shopping...
`Flaw prompts 100 hack attacks a minute, security company says' LINK

[Stanley]

From what Janet once told me the programmes running on the web are full of flaws like this, ancient bugs in pieces of code copied time after time. They only become a problem when someone finds a way of exploiting them. It's a good job we don't know how many there are out there.
Another thought that strikes me is that internet security thrives on fear. Report a threat and boost your sales? Surely not.....

[PanBiker]

Another thought that strikes me is that internet security thrives on fear. Report a threat and boost your sales? Surely not.....

Sales of anti virus software has worked on that model for years. I have heard it said by the cynical amongst us that computer viruses are created and spread by the same folk that have the solution. Effectively creating a licence to print money.

[Big Kev]

Another thought that strikes me is that internet security thrives on fear. Report a threat and boost your sales? Surely not.....

Sales of anti virus software has worked on that model for years. I have heard it said by the cynical amongst us that computer viruses are created and spread by the same folk that have the solution. Effectively creating a licence to print money.

Yup. Create a problem and a fix at the same time, release the problem and then save the world. Probably much nearer to reality than conspiracy.

[Stanley]

We live in a strange world. Have a look at THIS and then wonder at the mind-set that can even contemplate spending hard cash on something like this.

[Tizer]

I hope you are all listening to the Reith lectures on `Living With Artificial Intelligence'. The lecturer is very good and has interesting insights into how we view AI and where it will take us. He also has a wry sense of humour! There are four hour-long episodes but you won't get bored. Reith Lectures

Stuart Russell explores the future of Artificial Intelligence and asks: How can we get our relationship with it right? In this lecture he reflects on the birth of AI, tracing our thinking about it back to Aristotle. He outlines the definition of AI, its successes and failures, and the risks it poses for the future.

Referencing the representation of AI systems in film and popular culture, Professor Russell will examine whether our fears are well founded. He will explain what led him, alongside previous Reith Lecturer Professor Stephen Hawking, to say that “success would be the biggest event in human history…and perhaps the last event in human history.” He will ask how this risk arises and whether it can be avoided, allowing humanity and AI to coexist successfully.

Stuart Russell is founder of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at the University of California, Berkeley.

This lecture and question-and-answer session was recorded at the Alan Turing Institute at the British Library in London.