Another good justification for my continued insistence on wiping all my new laptops and installing Linux on them, is that manufacturers can’t be trusted. Apart from all the bloatware and advertising crap they fill them with; apart from the fact that Windows is an appalling beast of an operating system with more security vulnerabilities than… Read More »
GnuPG is the premier open source public key encryption software. It’s compatible with Pretty Good Privacy, but has mostly supplanted PGP’s use by those who care about encryption. It includes key management, encryption and digital signature facilities. For those of us with a healthy distrust of government — you need all of these things. Introduction… Read More »
This article explains how to get a stacked encrypted directory using the ecryptfs Linux kernel driver, and to transparently automount that directory using the ecryptfs PAM module. Being “stacked†means that the real storage is provided by your existing file system in a nominated directory. That directory is decrypted on the fly once the ecryptfs… Read More »
The IPocalypse is upon us. It’s not as bad as the media makes out, but neither is it the nothing problem that Y2K was. Here’s the problem: IPv4 is the protocol upon which the vast majority of the Internet runs. IP addresses for each broadband connection, and for any publicly contactable server must be globally… Read More »
Here’s an idea. Credit/debit card transactions are now verified online (that is to say, contact is made with some centralised authorising authority). Here’s how to stop fraud. I don’t even need a chip-and-pin terminal to do it. However, I do need a mobile phone. I tell the bank/credit card company my mobile phone number. They… Read More »
Electricity comes in many forms. Your residential house supply is 230 volts alternating current (AC from here on). The AC is supplied on two pins, and an earth connection on another. The AC pins are live and neutral. You shouldn’t go around touching any bare electrical wires, but if you did touch the earth or… Read More »
Best Android Apps Review aren’t doing their job as reviewers properly. I’ve complained before about not calling Android developers out for requiring invasive permissions without due cause for their apps. When I spot them I’m going to start naming and shaming both the app and the review that didn’t note it. Top Android Game: Slice… Read More »
Sometimes the world isn’t so bad. Driving to a Mariners game, Duane Innes saw a pickup ahead of him drift across lanes of traffic, sideswipe a concrete barrier and continue forward on the inside shoulder at about 40 mph. A manager of Boeing’s F22 fighter-jet program, Innes dodged the truck, then looked back to see… Read More »
Price I paid for an off-contract Android-based HTC Desire: £389.99. Consumer electronics arguably unnecessary with a smartphone in your pocket: GPS receiver: approx £100 Wireless VoIP phone: approx £60 Archos multimedia tablet: approx £150 Kindle: approx £100 iPod: approx £100 Netbook: approx £300 Nintendo DS: approx £110 Therefore, my phone was free. (I realise that… Read More »
Paypal released an Android app. “Greatâ€, thinks I, “I’ll install thatâ€. Here is the list of permissions that the paypal app “requiresâ€: Your location, coarse and fine Full internet access Add or modify calendar events, send email to guests, read calendar events Read contact data Send Linux signals to applications Read phone state and identity… Read More »