I read today that Harry Harrison has died at the age of 87. Harrison was one of the greats of the SF glory years. Alongside Heinlein (whose work he spoofed mercilessly) Philip Dick, Asimov, van Vogt, Ray Bradbury, Bob Sheckley, Doc Smith and a host of others I grew up with in the 60s and …
2012 archive
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/08/15/the-stainless-steel-rat-bows-out/
Aug 08 2012
oops
An attempted quick search this morning using ixquick over tor drew a blank. In fact I hit a brick wall as the screenshot below will show. The commentary provided by ixquick is self-explanatory (click the image if you have difficulty reading the snapshot), but I can’t help feeling that this problem should have been foreseen …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/08/08/oops/
Aug 02 2012
outlook goes public – linus approves
Microsoft has (re-)launched its free public email service (previously branded “hotmail” and “windows live”) under the brand “outlook”. Outlook has been Microsoft’s email client on the corporate desktop for many years now, so they may be hoping that the new look email product will benefit from the existing brand’s goodwill. However, I noticed from a …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/08/02/outlook-goes-public-linus-approves/
Jul 31 2012
avoiding accidental google
Even though I set my default search engine to anything but google (usually ixquick, but sometimes its sister engine at startpage) I have occasionally been caught out by firefox’s helpful attempts to intervene if I mistakenly enter a search option in the URL navigation field (or just hit return too early). Firefox’s default action in …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/07/31/avoiding-accidental-google/
Jul 28 2012
too much bling
Avid readers will note that I have reverted to a simpler, two column, layout. Posts and pages are to the left, and additional navigation links are to the right. Some of my friends commented that the three column layout, with several images in the outer columns was distracting (actually, one said “bleah!”). I left it …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/07/28/too-much-bling/
Jul 24 2012
coercion
David commented on my gpg upgrade post saying: “How does one ensure that they are not coerced into signing a transition statement with a new (but compromised) key?”. Well, you can never be sure I can’t be coerced, and this is why I can’t be sure I cannot be coerced: My thanks as always to …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/07/24/coercion/
Jul 22 2012
the accidental stupidity of good intentions
For some years now I have used what used to be the freecycle system to dispose of unwanted, but otherwise useful items from my home. In return I have sometimes used the same mechanism to get hold of things like books which someone else wishes to get rid of. A couple of years or so …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/07/22/the-accidental-stupidity-of-good-intentions/
Jul 20 2012
gpg key upgrade
Following a recent discussion about gpg key signing on my local linux user group email list, one of the members pointed out that several of us (myself included) were using rather old 1024-bit DSA GPG keys with SHA-1 hashes. He recommended that such users should upgrade to keys with a minimum size of 2048 bits …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/07/20/gpg-key-upgrade/
Jul 07 2012
RBS meltdown
I’ve been away on holiday during the one of the most public, and potentially most expensive, IT screwups for some time. By now everyone will be aware of the meltdown in RBS/NatWest/Ulster Bank systems. Since my return, I’ve been catching up on some of the on-line commentary and analysis. I particularly liked this comment on …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/07/07/rbs-meltdown/
Jun 19 2012
fail
My new bank (which is actually one of the few remaining mutuals in the UK) sent me my voting forms for the AGM today (by postal mail). The information pack included details of how to vote on-line should I choose to do so, together with two unique “voting codes” one of eight digits the other …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/06/19/fail/
Jun 17 2012
microsoft goes all canonical
It would seem that Microsoft has been taking a look at the world of linux and decided that the best way to take on the emerging desktop threat is to emulate the competition. Unfortunately for them, they seem to have decided to emulate the stupidest of decisions recently taken by Canonical and have completely redesigned …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/06/17/microsoft-goes-all-canonical/
May 27 2012
software is /not/ biological
I know language evolves, and I know that jargon from one domain is sometimes reused in another, completely unrelated domain, but I really, really do not like the increasing usage of the word “ecosystem” to refer to software/hardware or information systems. I think I first heard the word used in this way by a Microsoft …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/05/27/software-is-not-biological/
May 25 2012
stupid hunt
According to reporting today, Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary Of State for Culture, Media and Sport, lobbied the Prime Minister in support of Rupert Murdoch’s bid for BSkyB. The report says: “The inquiry heard that the culture secretary drafted the email on his private Gmail account on 19 November 2010 despite being warned by his officials …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/05/25/stupid-hunt/
May 22 2012
tor abuse
I have been running at least one tor exit node for about three years now. Over that period I have occasionally had to move provider following one or more abuse reports. Most ISPs like the quiet life, and you can’t really blame them for not wanting the hassle of dealing with complaints from other ISPs …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/05/22/tor-abuse/
May 19 2012
pure bubble
El Reg reports that facebook share dealing opened at $42 per share (up $4 on the opening IPO price of $38). As they wryly point out, the Telegraph reports that that price makes the company “worth” more than Boeing. That is nonsensical beyond belief. Boeing actually make things. Big things, that other companies pay a …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/05/19/pure-bubble/
May 13 2012
disappointing satnav
One of my hobbies is motorcycling. I have travelled extensively by bike in central and southern europe over many years, but oddly, I have never visited scotland before. I intend rectifying that shortly. When travelling in europe I have always made do with the excellent Michelin range of 1/1000000 (1 cm to 10 km) maps. …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/05/13/disappointing-satnav/
Apr 24 2012
cheap?
Michal Zalewski (aka lcamtuf) has just announced that google is changing the terms of its vulnerability purchase program. The google announcement says: Today, to celebrate the success of [the program] and to underscore our commitment to security, we are rolling out updated rules for our program — including new reward amounts for critical bugs: $20,000 …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/04/24/cheap/
Apr 18 2012
now switch it back on
Bugtraq can be an interesting list. Back in June 2008 I noted that one Craig Wright had posted an advisory about a vulnerability in an Oral B toothbrush. Well, just over a week ago a chap called Gabriel Menezes Nunes posted a proof of concept remote denial of service attack on a Sony Bravia television …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/04/18/now-switch-it-back-on/
Apr 18 2012
stallman likes sharing
The guardian’s series on internet freedoms (or otherwise) continues today with an article by Richard Stallman on the kindle and ebook publishing. Stallman makes a point I’d missed in my own commentary on the kindle when he says: “Many other habits that readers are accustomed to are not allowed for ebooks. With the Amazon Kindle, …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/04/18/stallman-likes-sharing/
Apr 17 2012
battle for the internet
This week the guardian, my newspaper of choice, is running a week long series of articles under the theme “battle for the internet“. The reporting looks set to be interesting and is due to cover the following themes: “the militarisation of cyberspace”, “the new walled gardens”, “IP wars”, “civilising the web”, “open resistance”, and (doomladen …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/04/17/battle-for-the-internet/
Apr 16 2012
rockbox rocks
Some time ago my wife bought me a Sansa Sandisk Clip+ music player. When she asked me “what kind of MP3 player” I would like, I specifically specified the Clip+ because it could handle ogg vorbis encoded audio files. All my audio disks are encoded in this format. Picky I know, but there you go. …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/04/16/rockbox-rocks/
Mar 31 2012
this video is private
I have just tried to (re)view a youtube video I last looked at a couple of weeks ago from a link that a friend sent me in an email. On clicking the link I got the message: “This video is private. If the owner of this video has granted you access, please log in.” On …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/03/31/this-video-is-private/
Mar 29 2012
that didn’t take long
My last post contained two (non-existent) email addresses in my baldric domain in the extract from my postfix logs. As I said in the post, I had edited the log entry specifically to mask real details. Yesterday, only four days after that post, I received spam email attempts at those addresses. As I have said …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/03/29/that-didnt-take-long/
Mar 24 2012
android mail client is broken
In January of this year I wrote about t-mobile’s apparent policy of actively looking for and blocking any TLS-secured SMTP sessions over their network. At the time I believed this to be a cockup rather than a deliberate policy. I still prefer to believe that, but the episode left a rather sour taste in my …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/03/24/android-mail-client-is-broken/