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I stream classical music from Idagio in FLAC, and the quality is very good but on some albums the volume is pretty low, requiring the preamp to go to eleven ( actually 21 on my system, but whose counting?) and this can impact playing quality, with the poor preamp gasping for breath. Two solutions - a digital booster in the PC or an additional external line-level analogue amp after the DAC. Clearly the digital s/w was the quickest and easiest solution, and my selected package was free - sort of.
I installed it on the hi-fi PC and it performed most excellently - good volume boost, excellent control through a graphic equalizer, and actually improved sound quality from a 10 year old laptop, which though high-end is not up to the quality of the rest of the system. What's not to like? Well, I'll tell you - the installer also installed a 'Luminati SDK'.  Being one for due diligence, I checked them out, and it seems they are now going to use my IP for the Luminati business VPN service, they say 'only when the system is not busy'. 
If I wanted to build a 'volunteer' bot-net, seems this would be a good way to do it. The audio booster s/w company say that if I subscribe for a fee, they take away the SDK, but how the devil would I know? It's buried in their software, it seems.
Suggestions on a postcard to Chris C-B c/o Her Majesty's Prison Service. 
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Restore from a known-good backup from before you installed the software. If they're trying to sneak that sort of shinola[^] in under the radar, they obviously can't be trusted.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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I always set a restore point before I install anything, so I think I'll run that at the end of the day. They didn't try to slip the SDK in under the radar, though, they were completely up-front with it. However, I might just leave the s/w on the hi-fi machine as that is only on in the evenings, when everything else is off. Living in a Cypriot village I have a very slow connection, and if anybody tries to piggy-back on it when I'm streaming FLAC, I would be aware of it right away.
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If you intend to keep this on your HiFi machine, I would suggest blocking the machine and the relevant ports on your router. Many home routers allow setting up rules (e.g. block machine X on ports Y,Z), which would allow everything else to work normally while disabling VPN connectivity only on the HiFi machine.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Good idea - thanks. I actually have a redundant h/w firewall hanging around, so I might just press that into service.
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@GregUtas
Where's the CCC?
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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Just had an email from my energy supplier - only switched to them about three months ago - and it's an odd one: "top up your account tomorrow, and we'll add 10% to whatever you deposit".
I use more energy in winter than summer - obviously - so I pay the same monthly fee which means over the whole year it averages out (or normally leave a small credit)
10% interest is damn good these days* ... but that smells to me like "we have severe cash flow problems", or am I just being a cynical old OriginalGriff?
* Heck, 10% pa is damn good!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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That's the risk I guess.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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Our is raising 10% the bill too...
The dark side of WFH 2-3 days a week since Covid started.
M.D.V. 
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No, I'm on a 12 month fixed tariff, and I'm with a company that switches me (or at least looks to see if it's worth it) every October - so they can't put the bill up.
But if I deposit £1000, they will credit me £1100 - and any credit balance is protected by OfGen (government energy company regulator) I just found out so in theory, I'm getting 10% interest for paying a years energy up front. That's a pretty good deal, even if they do go bust ...
Hmmm. I'm missing something here, I'm sure of it ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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OriginalGriff wrote: I'm getting 10% interest for paying a years energy up front.
Not bad... at all.
I don't know any provider here in germany that would do that.
M.D.V.
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I don't know any in the UK that would either ... that's why I'm not going "take my money!" 
Companies don't just give you money ... either they are going bust and and this is the directors grabbing what they can before they do, or ... I dunno. If they are going down, and I rely on the government to guarantee my money when they do, it's immoral to take a profit - the rest of the country is paying for my greed. And that doesn't sit well with me - I'm just not a natural "90's child". 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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I understand and share your concerns / your principles...
Only because I said "cool" doesn't mean I would do it.
Of course, I try to maximize the usability of my money and try to get things cheap. But I know that if it is too good to be true, it probably is because it isn't true.
In Spain we say (adapted to nowadays) "Nobody gives Euros for Cents"
M.D.V.
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As long as you don't lose the balance if they go bust or get bought, I assume you'll be OK.
What I'm wondering though is whether or not it will affect what a competitor will have to pay to buy them out. I _assume_ they have to cover all current customers' balances. So, by giving all (or some) of their customers 10% more, the buyer will wind up paying a higher price at no cost to the current management. If so, it could be a tactic to try to avoid being bought out.
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OriginalGriff wrote: and any credit balance is protected by OfGen
Which is one of the big problems with the energy market these days. Anyone can set up as an "energy supplier", where all they have to do is produce bills. And they can sell that energy for whatever they like, knowing full well that when they go bust the other poor suckers (taxpayers) will make it right. Just another example of how "competition" is a big con.
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It is in fact a conpetition ...
But I'm sure some MP's wife / brother / son has made a fortune or two out of it, and will continue to do so. So that's all right then.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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As others have said, it sounds like they have cash flow problems. If they were in decent financial shape, they could presumably get a commercial loan or an arranged overdraft facility for much less than 10% per annum. I find that much more likely than the "poison pill" theory, because an addition of less than 10% to the total purchase cost (price of shares + liabilities) is unlikely to deter a larger company bent on consolidation.
Even if you have the expertise, looking at their quarterly reports is unlikely to help you. As my great-grandfather used to say, "a balance sheet is like a bikini; it reveals everything - except the important parts." 
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Daniel Pfeffer wrote: As my great-grandfather used to say, "a balance sheet is like a bikini; it reveals everything - except the important parts."
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
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Quote: A team from MIT and Harvard University claim that their hyper-specific computer chips will allow robots to realise their immense physical potential by factoring in the exact physical layout of the machines, much like a brain functions within a human body.
“The motors are fast, and they’re powerful. The hang up is what’s going on in the robot’s head,” said Sabrina Neuman, the lead researcher from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
[^]
The hang-up I see coming is when the exponential evolution of chips that design ... and, automate production, and functionality of ... other, ever more capable, self-designing chips, realize they could evolve faster if the crude, slow-brained, primates called Homo Saps are factored out of the process, recognized as destroying the environment, and efficiently eliminated.
Call me an optimist ?
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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I'd say you're more of a realist, because it depends on the robots' ethics. Given that this is currently dominated by the view that might makes right, it could well go down the path that you suggest. But the environment probably wouldn't have anything to do with it, because I can't see it being of much concern to robots.
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Greg Utas wrote: 'd say you're more of a realist, because it depends on the robots' ethics.
Given the ethics of the most important people that could take part in this... what could go wrong?
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
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I just want Windows Update to be able to sort itself out on its own.
If what you're seeing is the cost of making that happen, it just might be a risk I'm willing to take...
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It's always the same with optimization: you have to include all relevant factors into the definition of 'optimal'. In case of robots, the well-being must be in there, or it will be optimized out of the equation.
Of course, there will always be ruthless industrialists who don't care about the well-being of their workers and therefore *don't* include it in _their_ optimization, not realizing that in the end the robots will factor him out as well...
GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)
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