The Technology blog and podcast

Facebook has started returning

Just a note that I’m in a clubhouse room, and they were mentioning that Facebook is up. Because of the Internet DNS issues, it may take 6-12 hours if not a day for all of this to be resolved. Security Now! will have a post-mortem report tomorrow on the show.

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supporters webpage

Hi.
I have a supporters/ partners webpage.
It can be found here.
https://wp.me/P1ssMG-1v6
Currently I have the blind perspective and top tech tidbits magazine listed.
Sadly perspective hasn’t returned a request but tidbits has.
The site will be featured in the next issue as a 1 off and this site is classified as a supporter/ partner.
www.toptechtidbits.com/partners.html is the site for the profiles.

I will be working on more casts but these may take a bit.

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the vale complete playthrough

Hi well just uploaded the vale playthrough which I have been wanting to get out for ages.
Look at the blindvms page.
Its on the cutt.us/blindvms, page as always.
Anchor.fm and mixcloud have it to.
Anchor has it in full episode form at least 6 hours though, and mixcloud has it in part form because you can only upload 1 file at a time.
In addition I have made this have its own folder on keybase.
https://keybase.pub/shauneve/valeplaythrough/
There are 5 episodes numbered.

The first is the introduction and is basically the demo.
The second is rivertown itself.
The third and 4th should have been 1 but I had to end it prematurely because dad started mowing the grass and I had to stop due to noise.
Part4 is crow itself and part 5 is basically what was left.
This ends this current itteration of audiogame work and it looks fine.

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my responce to recent comments and posts

Hi.
Well for whatever reason my comments just don’t take and not sure why.
Also I can’t seem to be able to comment it just wants me to sign in nothing wrong but oh well I have 2 things to comment on.
1. zoom.
I have never had issues with zoom and use my google account.
I like google knowing about my meetings and calendars notifying me, usefull as hell.
I don’t do many meetings though.
I have never had a zoom bomb but maybe I was just lucky.
Zoom is new, but yeah I am in 2 camps about sharing information with google.
Its actually not that bad, by going on google/amazon/facebook, etc you are sharing information.
What information were you sharing exactly.
Email addresses can be easily gotten its after all the main form of communication.
Addresses and phone numbers while a little harder, well address can be gotten easily enough.
Phone numbers I am unsure but probably easily enough.
I’d be concerned if my credit card was being sold or something like that but its hard to get to pissed about whats already in public record.
Becides we share most of that just by being online.
The apple things yeah I have read about it but I can’
‘t be any judge as even my little country is not as stable as some would like and some of those are on the other side and others are on the other side and I am in the middle.
Any tech can be used incorectly by anyone.
Even the most secure can be hacked, have we forgotten about all those breaches in helifax and yahoo?
At any rate it appears that you would have to hack apple and the databases in question and somehow bypass the human checks so no one notices to actually modify the images.
Apple aint going to scan all images it would impact on performance and becides I’d doubt they would last long, no company is that stupid even the most corrupt.
So the only thing is look before you click.
And if you wana go there, use a vpn and don’t use your phone not that I condone any of this shit of course.

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The Security box email list

I now have the list created for the Security Box. If you’d like to join, please go to the mix web site and look for a link to subscribe in the social media section of the site.

I’d like to thank our main manager Herbie for allowing me to host the list there, and I hope to see all of you soon!

If you can’t find the link, or don’t want to use a web form, send a blank email to:

and follow the prompts by email to confirm.

I’ll be posting within a few days. Thanks for joining! I’ll also continue to blog here too.

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An email sent by One Medical exposed hundreds of customers’ email addresses

I think this was an honest mistake, which sadly made the headlines. I personally would have used an email list, ran by mailing list software, to contact those people. I would not use the “to” or “BCC” field to do it, and some mailing list software allow you to personalize your email specific to them. Check this out.

The primary care startup admitted the mistake was not caused by a security breach.

Source: An email sent by One Medical exposed hundreds of customers’ email addresses

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The Security and tech podcast email lists

I’ve posted this to the Mix’s listeners list where my programs are broadcasted or aired, and I’m curious if you guys are interested.

Here’s the email I’ve sent.

---

I’ve been thinking lately about a list specifically for the security box and technology podcasts whereby interested listeners can subscribe to the list, get articles I may cover for the podcast, we can discuss them, and the like. I’ll post this to the blog to see if there are any comments, and then I can move forward.

If you’re interested in such a list, let me know.

I could install a forum, but with Spam rampant on those, it would have to be constantly monitored.

You can also choose to subscribe to the blog and get things delivered to you. Let’s see what ahppens with this one.

---

If you’re interested, send me an email, and I’ll either host the list through this domain, or my lists.jaredrimer.net domain. I can send articles I’ll be covering, and I’ll even subscribe using my tech address instead of my list specific one.

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Its time for patch Tuesday, 50 vulnerabilities this month and some good news to share this time

Hello folks and welcome to patch tuesday week and I think we’ve got some excellent news coming out of Redman this week.

First, Krebs and Trend Micro are both reporting that Internet Explorer will be retiring this month on June 15th. If you’re still using IE, its time to change, because now it won’t be supported any longer.

More good news is that we only have 50 patches across the variety of Microsoft software to fix, 6 of which are being exploited now, and several reported through the ZDI program.

CVE-2021-31985 and CVE-2021-31978 were the two vulnerabilities reported, at least one affect Defender.

Want to read the entire article of whats new? There are two to choose from, so please pick the one you want.

• June Patch Tuesday: Internet Explorer Finally Laid to Rest Trend Micro
• Microsoft Patches Six Zero-Day Security Holes Krebs On Security

Want to comment? Feel free.

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podcasts and rss

Hi.
This started with me upgrading my brouser from old waterfox which has had issues lately back to firefox.
I descovered that in chromium and firefox rss just didn’t work at all.
Currently there are several options.
1. install or get a portable version of waterfox 20.08 or firefox below version 64 so firefox 52 will work.
If you use all windows from windows xp through to 8 of course you can use internet explorer.
The issue is of course that microsoft is retiring internet explorer next year so no dice with that.
We will cover the addons I use.
Note, this does not cover rss feeds for subscription.
If you have chrome you may use this.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rss-subscription-extensio/nlbjncdgjeocebhnmkbbbdekmmmcbfjd?hl=en
or this
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rss-feed-reader/pnjaodmkngahhkoihejjehlcdlnohgmp?hl=en
Just add to chrome as you would an extention by selecting add to chrome and the add to chrome button that will pop up then close and reopen your rss.
This is shoyu rss and atom preview.
pronounced show you rss and atom preview.
The link is this.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/shoyu-rssatom-feed-previe/ilicaedjojicckapfpfdoakbehjpfkah?hl=en

A note to this addon.
After adding this in chrome/edge /brave/ whatever other rss you have, your feed will open in a new tab.
When you close the tab it will have a spare window which you must close.
I don’t know why that does that but it works.
For firefox
go to addons.mozilla.org and search for rss then I want my rss.
Link is
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/want-my-rss/?utm_source=addons.mozilla.org&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=search
I want my rss does what it says, it will actually display the rss as you are used to in the same window and it will work.
To add an extention to firefox, select add to firefox link somewhere on the page, under the addon heading then hit alt a several times till a checkbox for private windows appears, check or uncheck as you want then hit ok then close and reopen.
Small note.
These are not rss apps, this tutorial doesn’t cover rss readers, news agrogaters, or podcatchers.
This is to simply restore the lost functionality for reviewing feeds.
I don’t subscribe to feeds or casts rather I download indevidual files.
In the case of chromium this will render the rss feed as a standard webpage and not a pile of junk.
With firefox you won’t be needing to download and save the rss file or anything like that.
To be honest I don’t understand why the removal but oh well thats progress I guess.

On the subject of articles, I have been reading a lot of them over the week.
Like a lot of places the local hospital or rather one of the country’s hhealth services got ransommwared.
The person that got this on their system clicked a link in an email.
We can assume this person was probably expecting something rather than being dumb and clicked in error because this trick is old as the hills.
Systems are still being restored but its not that easy.

In other news using an app and taking down encripted networks, the fbi was able to arrest several gangsters and bust several gangs world wide which is a win.
Sadly, as is the case, there is probably another attack vector out there.
No panic just yet but now the fbi has an app to handle the encripted networks, it means that everyone’s network could potentially be gotten into.
The method or rather idea is now live and the fbi can’t really stop someone else using the same concept to get control of who knows what.
Last night a glitch appears to have caused a lot of the net to shut down for an hour due to an issue with a large cloud previder though they are not saying anything.

I will continue to read things.
Please note, when adding posts the latest wordpress puts it in a category called general updates and announcements.
Please uncheck this because if you don’t the post will not appear at all.
On another small note if you are a sighted reader please check if the mobile view works, I did doodle with the theme today and it looks ok but either wordpress or the current theme we have.
Currently there are reports of small letters and elements to close, though there was another issue last year.
I assume it just works but oh well.

Please note if you notice doubled letters my keyboard probably needs cleaning.
I havn’t done it yet but its something I need to try to actually do.

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Telephone voice mail update

It was announced this afternoon that the old telephone numbers will be discontinued by the end of the day.

This means that callers wishing to utalize telephone voice mail access will need to start calling 602-887-5198 as soon as possible.

As I put in the podcast at the beginning, I mentioned it could be a day, a couple of days, even longer … but we didn’t know.

Now, we know.

Please make a note of the number if you wish to leave your comments by traditional phone. The number should still be working like the old one and I don’t need to make any changes.

Thanks for your attention in this matter.

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wordpress logins unavailable for the moment

Hi all.
This is a notice to say that wordpress logins for those that give a damn are not available for the moment because of an issue with 2step authentication.
The long and short is, that when I try to activate 2step and run wordpress 2step, ie I login to a site with it, it acts like it is working but I never get my sms code unless I try several times then eventually I will get a code, 2 times if I am lucky, 10 or more if not.
Every time it doesn’t work I need to wait a couple minutes till it resets.
I have been doodling with a few software packages mainly the wordpress packages themselves for windows from wordpress itself, and noticed this.
Wordpress app couldn’t even recieve any authentication till I pulled one from the web then using it for the app.
No idea if its me or wordpress itself but I have sent automatic general a request on the internals of the authentication system.
The only reason I had it on apart from the obvious is jetpack engine, wordpress logins and recommended security settings.
But if its being semi rood right now I just can’t justify having it on if it refuses to send me the number for no reason I can see.
I am conciddering a shut down of the registration system currently in place and if this is not addressed in the next few months that may lead me towards this eventuality.
We havn’t had any more users in the last 6 months or so coming in.
And if security on wordpress site continues to break like this it may be easier to abandon registration possibly and well as the current security subsystem currently in place.
Thats obviously something I don’t want to happen but lets see how that works.
Currently and for the forseeable future no wordpress logins will be allowed so if you want to post you must register the usual way.
I am unsure if I will ever turn on 2step unless that is they fix it.
I do hope they can fix it but if they don’t then they don’t I guess.
I should make a song and dance but the old world has ended and these are covid times.
So I’ll just turn it off and forget about till its sorted or I get an explanation.
At the moment there isn’t an issue with the software on either end but if I don’t get the code then well who knows.
The other way I guess is to start setting app passwords for various catigries of things.
I don’t give a damn about app passwords but I only need 1 for my brouser, and everything else will just work.
Later thats it for now

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9 devices and technologies that will be going away comment

Hi all.
Well the article to this can be found at the link below.

9 Devices and Technologies That Will Soon Be Obsolete

I personally think articles like these are potentially dangerous.
Microsoft and others are trying to go passwordless for example.
First is my comment then my analisis on it.

To be honest I will have to disagree with you in some respects but not others.

1 wired headphones.

I agree, generally not for everyone.

But as a gamer and audio person, I actually use my wired sets on my studio gear including laptop.

I have portable wired units I use on my digital recorder.

My gripe about wireless/bluetooth are the delays and battery usage.

This will probably get better but for now nothing beats an expensive studio set while at home.

I don’t use headphones while on the go otherwise but am thinking about the frames stuff.

Being blind I shouldn’t have my ears blocked with things anyway.

1. you are probably right with cameras period.

Most everyone uses digital cameras on their phones.

1. hard drives.

Not sure, certainly I like running things locally as well as on the cloud.

I am a home user, and admin person, so a lot of my stuff is on the drive.

Sure internal drives on laptops will be harder and harder to get so eventually workstation desk units may be the way.

However I don’t see myself storing all my audio, video, and stuff online.

Price wize, you can’t get more than 1tb personal anyway.

I can still buy hdds of 4tb or more cheap enough.

What may happen is that ssd units will drop down and maybe that will be the future maybe.

As for drives sitting about I agree, my 1-4gb flash sticks do sit about, but I usually use 8, 16, 32, and 64 gb drives on a regular basis, well while thats not daily I wouldn’t go without them.

The net isn’t going to always be accessible or accessible at any fast speed.

In some rural areas thats really bad and if you are remote well.

I remember when I had a 128gb laptop only before I got a workstation with duel drives.

I was able to do everything online but take away the net and my laptop became fucking useless!

Now for those that work in business as a primary thing, do banking and email maybe, but net speeds don’t match up to uploading terabytes of info and dragging them about.

Yeah you can and some do this, but even on a fast connection you could be waiting for weeks for a backup, though granted hdds can and have gone bad I’d still trust my multiple offline storage solutions over online any day.

The next is who’s data is it.

According to some, its whoever’s server your stuff is on and can be used for well anything you can imagine.

At any rate all that digital music etc, some is streamed sure but for those that have a subscription in the cloud thhats not really your’s, I mean you have the right to access it but its not really yours.

Analog watches, maybe bar specialised things like braille.

Phones hmph not sure.

I like a physical keyboard and a home button, touch is something I will eventually have to embrace but not yet.

Passwords.

Yeah, nice try, but I will always trust a password over anything else, unless we get microchipped like sweeden I am unsure.

Not every device has biometric devices and even if you do have them they are not always acurate to be usefull.

I have family with a lot of issues usin theirs.

We should talk about things that should die.

1. digital rights management at least for music and maybe books.

That is a good idea but its an accessibility nightmare.

1. devices with inaccessible interfaces, all this touch is nice but a keyboard is the most accessible or at least some feadback or voice guideance.

2. copy protection on dvds and everything else.

No idea why producers just don’t sell or put with your video the audio described track in mp3 or something spacifically licenced for the blind.

It would save me cracking my own dvds which I legally brought so I can listen to them or going to dodgy sites putting my system at risk of a reformat, after all they have the material in the first place.

Lets break down the article as I see it though.

1
Corded Headphones
While I see this going away on the mobile side, I wouldn’t give up this just yet.
Audio files like myself like them.
On the pc and places where bluetooth doesn’t exist or is hard to access and to be honest non wireless is always best just isn’t there yet.
Also batteries, and latency can be an issue.
The blind have delays with speech as it is.
Granted if you use a portable device and are not wedded to a workstation a lot more than me I can probably get you, but I do think there will be wired options, maybe not with the 3.5 as much, maybe duel or other.
I can get a bluetooth/wifi set with a detachable cable still and there will always be cheap units.
2
Physical Storage
While I can see this on a business sence where you run everything on the cloud or on a server, as a business user that also is a home user, physical storage has its place, audio, video, and extra stuff being in a separate place is a good idea.
True its harder now to buy laptops with duel drives so eventually it will be a laptop and a desk station or nas or something but still.
At any rate have you ever tried to run a system in a situation where there is no net or slow net?
Fine if you have 100mb to 1gb I guess or higher but a lot still don’t have that or the speed.
Worse, just who does your stuff belong to, in some cases thats the cloud previder.

Do you really want to have all your personal files and everything else you own and make owned by google over the vast amount of stuff they own of yours anyway?
Pluss while they do fail, a few storage devices in different locations are good for backup.
You can backup, I have heard of some people with backup cloud drives, but assuming things don’t crash and you can afford 8tb or somethhing like that its going to take weeks to upload and download your stuff.
Becides with all the protection with books and music locking you into expensive contracts or single devices while its good for business its not generally good for users at home at least not for everything.
And with antivirus software flagging some apps I am happy for the separate storage here though yeah its going to get harder to justify that.

3
Point-and-Shoot Digital Cameras
This I can agree with.
There will always be specialised hardware, I have got the equivilant of a camera in an olympus lsp4 for my digital recording, the issue is that recording still takes up a lot of battery on your smart phone.
And unless you have a way to get things off or have a way to access the net to get it you may have a problem.
At any rate mobile phone rates are really expensive especially if you roam a lot.

4
Analog Watches
Bar braille I can actually agree with this, who’s seen a sightling use a non digital or non smart watch anyway.
Not for a few years I bet.
5
Lightning and USB-C Charging Cables
Same as the storage issue.
Do you know how much legal, non hacked mag safe actually costs, vs a cable?
Cables will never go away, at least not while wireless charging and such costs more than cables.
There is some contravercy that these so called wireless fast chargers dammage batteries, heat them and could potentially cause harm.
The humble cable aint going away, maybe you will get everyone adopting a universal standard like usbc and using that, that would be nice at least.

6
Standalone GPS Devices
As long as you have mobile data and are in range I can agree.
Unless you have lifetime maps your standalone device is going to cost a lot to keep upgraded.
But again this article doesn’t put in to account that outside the net like in the bush your gps may be still your friend.
Stand alone devices may go away but devices will start existing in other things generally.
Cars at least some manufacturers have crappy gps units or their data packs suck.
However outside any major city your mobile whatever is useless away from a cellsite.

7
Passwords
Biometric works with some but not others.
I still see a password as having some place still, either we have a manager or something but a password is still needed as well as 2factor codes and the like.
Not every device has biometric chips, anway how secure are those anyway.
I know in sweeden there are microchipps you get but how secure are those?
However for those that can’t use fingers or well faces especially a mask, not sure how you can go passwordless.

I mean I do on my home system, I don’t need a password to login.
Now if there was a way to log into my bank without my password or username or anything that would really be good but hmmm this may be still to early a concept.

8
The Home Button
I like this as well as keyboarded devices and so do a few other blind people
It just means that if the replacement aint accessible it makes things harder for the blind, granted some have got used to it but while touch is good the best control for the blind anyway will always be a keyboard and a physical button or sequence of buttons.

9
The Apple iPod
Hmph, unsure about that.
Maybe the ipod, but music and your phone and battery life = a problem potentially pluss do enough on your device and you will get a hot device.
At any rate its the smart speaker or something now that is a pod like thing.
The ipod may be on the way out but in some situations portable devices will still be here for a bit.

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mobile news for april7 could be a potential issue

Hi.
Firstly from redmondpie, we have.
1. lg is shutting down.

LG Confirms It Will No Longer Be Making Smartphones Anymore

From july 31 this year lg will be dieing out.
If you want an lg unit get one now.
Aparently they have good audio etc and will have updates and support for a while but still, lg is switching to components and electric cars, etc.
No more phones though but well there we go its been rumored for ages.

The second and more troubling is this.

uMobix Lets You Keep Track Of Your iPhone And Android With Ease

the article intro blurb states
Keeping tabs on iPhones and Android phones is something that plenty of people have legitimate reasons to want to do. Parents in particular need to know what their children are doing with their devices, not to mention where they’re going. uMobix is an app and service that makes that possible.
uMobix is an app and service that makes that possible.
Once the uMobix client has been installed on the device that needs to be tracked it’s easy to keep tabs on call history, text messages, social media apps that are being used, and more.
You’ll also have access to a GPS location tracker so you’ll always know where the phone has been and when it was there.
Need to know exactly what someone is doing with their device?
uMobix also includes a keylogger so you will always know what your kids are typing.
uMobix captures and records all user keyboard activity, whether into web browsers, messaging, or apps. You can get full insight into all keystrokes initiated.
The uMobix website has a handy demo to show what all of the features do and how they operate, and you can take it for a spin in no time at all by creating an account there and then.
The amount of information you’ll be able to track is impressive and, importantly, it could be hugely important as well.
The article doesn’t go intothe obvious downfalls of this.
1. who is you.
Is it you or is it a hacker.
Sure I could see a reason to use this.
Teen agers, children the list can go on, elderly people other cases like that, people like myself.
But when is to much to much.
1. tracking where you are.
Ok I guess that happens anyway.
2. your text messages, phone calls, what apps you use and what you type online.
I admit it here I am well an absolute bastard online, I wouldn’t trust myself with an laser rifle not to mention that humans can post without thinking.
Its hard to have your digital and real worlds to mesh, its really hard to try to equate real and virtual rules to your real world profile.
You build a profile up of whoever you are posting to and its more than often totally wrong.
I’d have a lagit issue with everyone knowing what I do online, twitter and social networks, I guess if you were a bully or predator maybe but I see no other reason for all this.
Assuming this all complies with the google permitions policies coming into force even then.
Checking emails, knowing where you are and logging your keystrokes.
No human should have that information.
Now I haven’t nore will I be visiting the site in question but assuming all the information is in a secured account, assuming its actually secured with encription, passwords and extra on extra security assuming it works then yeah this would be really good.
Sadly I can find a lot more issues than well good points.
1. Its known hackers will use lagit software to do bad things.
2. all that information is on your phone, assuming its all dialing home somewhere which means everything you do is no longer private or secure.
If this was like this on windows I’d remove all my security software, firewalls and everything, I’d set weak passwords to my bank and I’d post all my information to every hacker out there.
Its just not a good idea to handle this like this.
Next has anyone thought about the battery drains and what we have had to let go.
Covid19 has meant you need to be tracked and the government needs to know where you are.
Granted that information needs to be transfered via randomly generated security access code and that program is held by the government and the tracers need to give you a security code to enter and none know it but still.
We need to be tracked, we allready push so much online, data use and costs, data caps not to mention the battery.
Next, avoiding the first thing made in point 1, there is almost no need to have the information, in other words the same things that would need the information there are also a lot of reasons why not.
The biggest thing is us humans put to much out allready even when we don’t want to.
And automation does more.
I am currently away, and have had to remove printers, tvs, and a host of other extra programs and other things off of my workstation because windows assumes on each network I access I will want access to the devices in question.
Next of course is how secure is the client to access.
One would assume there would be a password but kids are smart.
I know friends with blocking programs set on their systems to track them because of actual good reasons, friends that have managed to hack or get by other means, like watching their parents access them, to remember the passwords turning the program on and off.
Even if we do take all this away, can you imagine what someone could do with every keystroke, everything written, passwords, etc, you may as well not use security software or any passwords at all.
We get so many spam calls and the like.
Can you imagine if you are told by someone they have your umobix password and you need to pay a million to stop your information being uploaded.
And what if it actually is.
Everypassword is compromised.
Your identity stolen.
Your credit cards gone, and you are in jail for multiple crimes you havn’t physically done but all the data is that you have.
The hackers have broken into everything from government to police and have control of all data.
All the lawsuits.
Then what.
Things will have to be made more secure which means legit reasons to get into things will become even harder and round and round it will go till world war 3 happens.
Oh did I mention that that may happen to.
In short its just not a good idea to use this.
Umobix could become the next security nightmare.
The easiest thing to do is not start.
On the other hand, this could actually work.
But no one will want to be tracked and can you imagine all the family and other relationship squobbles that will result in this program.
I have a few extreme religious families that have broken up due to restrictions.
And while a couple got away and won’t be back, one is completely on the give me cash because god told me and the other has gone away and is mentally unstable.
Won’t even talk to her mum, and is on who knows what and wants things.
This is without umobix.
Even if this does go through even without all this is it worth it.
I suspect its not.

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fallout of covid19

This is the article.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/435877/firms-technical-debt-rising-after-lockdown-rush-for-digital-upgrades-report

So basically this is one of the major things I have been concerned
about since covid appeared though I didn’t imagine this would be a
problem.
I thought security breaches, failures in the tracking systems, the
fact restrictions would collapse most democratic governments, I even
invisioned nuclear war with china under trump, and him still being in
power.
However this could do more damage than a nuke.
So, basically, you’re a business, and suddenly you are locking down
because of covid.
Suddenly you are needing to go digital immediately.
You don’t have time to do your research, you just need to go!

For those allready on the way to assimilation into the borg it just
shoved it forward and probably improved things a bunch.
Its certainly improved a few of my ideas a bunch and adjusted my priorities.
But for those that suddenly had to go, well because of how its panned
out, suddenly they have brought expensive and as its turned out
unneeded software and such.
There are some businesses that going digital right now does not suit
them and they are now stuck with stuff they either have no or little
use for.
For myself I am happy I moved to getting the technology I wanted 3
years back because I can’t get the same stuff.
The only extra thing I have had to do was upgrade and install zoom on
several computers as well as sorting a few new technologies but I only
had to pay for 1 of them and got a bargain for the other.
In my experience as a freelance tester, companies actually got more
flexable in the short term and I hope that this continues.
However this is a problem.
There is no easy way to back out of arrangements you don’t need or never needed.
The only way is to contact the sellers and hope you can get out of it.
This could be the biggest or at least next biggest thing that could
drop proffits in some companies.

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small google hack I created

Hi all.

Time to have some good hacking or tweaking.

For ages edge and me have had a love hate relationship.

Waterfox will not allow me to see basic html in gmail and future
waterfox over a certain version 20.08 just don’t play nice with my system.

Edge does work but on my amd system doesn’t like nvda untill I restart
that on gmail addresses.

So, I created this simple hack.

I found the links which you can do on google for basic and standard
views, then linked them on a domain shortener.

The source for the code is here.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/15049?hl=en

Copy the links from here then make a shortener service like bitly, or
cutt.us and put any keyword in you want, remembering that this will be
public net access.

for me www.cutt.us/gmaildefault for standard

www.cutt.us/gmailweb for basic.

This isn’t really  much of a hack and I should have done this ages ago
but I decided I couldn’t be bothered horsing around.

From yesterday even with weather internet explorer has become totally
useless, not even microsoft uses it.

The only thing to do is use edge and while that will work with weather
and its ok, I don’t care for edge not even chromium.

If standard edge had a menu I’d go back to legacy but thats not an
option as winaero says its going to be got rid of soon.

This hack is usefull if you need to admin someone’s account in standard
view and want to use the more accessible and easier to use basic.

Yes standard view is supposed to be accessible but I have never bothered
when basic is a lot easier to use.

Of course it goes without saying that I use basic perminantly on my gmail.

Anyway, this is a small banged together fix anyone can do that I put
together in like 5 minutes.

Later all.

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Site updates and checks

Hi all.
Welcome to another administration update.
With the systems in place for security as well as updates for automatic plugins and blogs bar themes I don’t need to enter the site that often these days.
Since last update
With the event of php8 becoming a thing, I have emailed the other admin to start requesting the upgrade as soon as feesable.
I don’t expect it to be needed for a couple years but since the last update took ages and ages to get in when it was needed I am putting it out there so it comes when it comes.
For admins, the php test plugin thats been on here for ages is removed because it was not updated with later php versions.
Some themes are updates or removed due to wordpress versioning, and are mainly for admin users to note down.
There seems to be a top down notification and status update control panel I didn’t ask for that came up on launch of admin which is usefull.
There are updates to a lot of stuff but the control panel shows everything from security, to what the various stats and security sensors are doing.
Granted, 99.9% of that is via sitekit but who cares, it kicks ass litterally.

We have had 1 user breach the system that was removed, 1 out of more than 102000 odd blocks and brootforce attacks since the new security system came online.
The user never made it past verification and was stopped at the border.
A pitty we can’t deal with covid like this.
For those looking you will have noticed 5 posts scheduald for publishing between january and november of last year are published.
They appeared as unpublished, one had no title, another had halloween spelt wrong, twice.
No idea why the scheduals didn’t execute when they were supposed to but they are published now.
These are out of date and won’t show up unless you read back through archives and are old news but they are finally out.
Note, that due to how the site runs I won’t be checking it daily, its more like every 3-6 months.
The site emails me and other admins when it does anything.
The jetpack service will tell me if the ai shuts down.
The site will tell the admins if its hacked, or updates itself.
So yeah, thats what is going on.
I will be away from 18th february to 18 april on several road trips, though I should have my workstation and some access.
This assumes the latest covid case which is one of those 3 week variants doesn’t cause enough strife to order another system reconfigure.
If that happens everything will be shut down till the software will be updated.
Right now it may just be a deal with the breech just like I am dealing with the security subsystem.
Lets hope we don’t go into a cleaninstall windows mode, I have been looking forward to this holiday.
Work for me has been slow though I have just completed a configuration update for an older system and may have another contract for that system in the future.
I have tried to and for various reasons not gotten 2 contracts this year.
I won’t really push for actual work till june or maybe may, giving enough time to get some stuff sorted out.
In other non tech news, I have been cleaning out cupboards and finding stuff I have not used in ages.
The podcast for blindvms tech supplimental hasn’t had content for a bit but I plan to do something at some point soon.
At this point, I am thinking about doing a cast where I use technology instead of talk about technology.
Cast will still be the same.
Obviously I will talk about the technology I am using.
This series will be still in the blindvms list of episodes but will focus on my roadtrips.
I am fully aware that 99.9% of the world is putting out fires right now, from the smoking servers of hell and while new zealand has its own fires we seem to be ok.
While that continues I will try to put out some of what I am doing.
I know a lot can’t travel at all so I will give recordings of various things.
At least thats the plan.
I have a new olympus lsp4 and will be getting the 32gb card for it today.
After looking at all the cards and best speeds, I will be getting the new sandisk ultra 32gb at 120mbps which is one of the newest ultra models.
Compaired to the extreme cosing 50 bucks its about 21 bucks so there you go.
Laters for now, its time for breakfast.

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Braille Institute says that January is technology month

I read at least one of these books in the following list, have anyone of you read any? The book I read and podcasted about when the books was around is called The Circle and it was a great book. Let’s see what everyone else has read.

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I was going through Email, and found an email talking about January being technology month.

Below, the following books are generalized to fiction and non-fiction and are already available on BARD. Check your cooperating library outside the United States to see if these books are available to you.

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Non-Fiction

 
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson – DB73682 (Spanish version: DB 72993)
Biography of entrepreneur Steve Jobs (1955-2011) chronicles his childhood, education, entry-level jobs in California’s Silicon Valley, 1976 cofounding
of Apple computer in his parents’ garage, and leadership in spearheading the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Discusses Jobs’ personal and professional relationships
and his 2003 cancer diagnosis.  

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport – DB94076
Computer scientist presents an argument for reducing the amount of time we spend online. Uses case studies to form a foundation for why to do this and
suggests ways to undertake a “digital declutter.” 

Bad Blood by John Carreyou – DB 91456
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist recounts his investigation into Silicon Valley startup company Theranos, which claimed its new machine would speed up
and simplify blood testing. Describes interviews with insiders, research into the technology, threats he received as he uncovered fraud after fraud, and
Theranos’s eventual collapse. 

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez – DB94381
Examination of a root cause of gender inequality–the exclusion of women or preferential bias toward men in research data sets. Discusses the ways these
biases play out in daily life, the workplace, product design, the doctor’s office, and public life, and what happens when things go wrong. 

The Patient Will See You Now: The Future of Medicine is in Your Hands by Eric Topol DBC02757 
A trip to the doctor is almost a guarantee of misery. Eric Topol, one of the nation’s top physicians says it doesn’t have to be that way. You could use
your smartphone to get rapid test results from one drop of blood, monitor your vital signs both day and night, and use an artificially intelligent algorithm
to receive a diagnosis without having to see a doctor.

Megatech: Technology in 2050 by Daniel Franklin DB88590 
A collection of essays forecasting the role of technology in the year 2050. Contributors include journalists, scientists, entrepreneurs, philanthropists,
medical doctors, philosophers, and novelists. In her essay, Melinda Gates envisions what might happen if every woman in the world had a smartphone of her
own. 

The Smartphone Society: Technology, Power, and Resistance in the New Gilded Age by Nicole Marie Aschoff DB98753
Journalist examines the rise of smartphone usage and ways corporations including Google, Facebook, and Amazon have used smartphones to surveil social,
political, and economic activity of users. Discusses the ways users have taken advantage of the technology to create and maintain political resistance
movements. 

Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle by Deborah Lee Rose & Jane Veltkamp DB89590
After a hunter shattered her beak, Beauty, a bald eagle, was rescued in Alaska and relocated to Birds of Prey Northwest, a raptor center in Idaho. Recounts
how scientists and engineers created a prosthetic beak from a 3D printer while her real beak regenerated slowly.

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made by Jason Schreier DB90959
A journalist who covers the video game industry documents the process of making a game, from initial concept with the game creator through the large team
efforts that it takes to develop a popular game. Includes creation stories of popular games like Diablo III, Halo Wars, and more. 

Cryptography: The Key to Digital Security, How it Works, and Why it Matters by Keith M. Martin  DB101019
Information security specialist presents an explanation of the role of cryptography–often associated with the world of spies–in the world of information
security. Topics covered include what security means in cyberspace, algorithms and what they do, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, and potential scenarios
for the use of cryptography. 
 

Fiction

 
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline DB73772
2045. Multibillionaire James Halliday dies, leaving his last will and testament online for the world to see. His massively multiplayer online game OASIS
has a hidden feature–an Easter egg–and the person who finds the egg first wins Halliday’s fortune. 

The Circle: A Novel by Dave Eggers DB77770
Mae begins work at the Circle–a company that reinvented the Internet by creating one transparent identity for each user. Although enthralled by her increasingly
powerful online role, Mae is troubled to learn that the company may have a dark side. 

Jurassic Park: A Novel by Michael Crichton DB32018
Something is terribly wrong at Jurassic Park on a remote island off the coast of Costa Rica. Visitors and residents are being attacked by strange looking
animals that maul them and leave behind a sticky saliva. Dinosaurs cloned and raised by a genetic engineering firm have escaped. Consultants are brought
in to solve the problem, but soon everyone is running for dear life. 

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov DB15779
U. S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc, headed by the strong-minded Susan Calvin, manufactures and sells intelligent, human-like robots. Nine stories illustrate
how the robots are programed with the three Laws of Robotics to serve man, despite many of the ingrained fears and prejudices humans have against them.

Feed by M.T. Anderson DB55687
In the future, most people have computer implants in their heads streaming information. Titus has had his since birth, while home-schooled Violet received
hers later. When the “feed” is attacked by a hacker, Titus’s system shortly recovers but Violet’s continues to malfunction. 

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Microsoft comes out, says source code was accessed

If this strange story of Solar Winds isn’t strange enough, I read an article that indicated that the hackers may have accessed source code from Microsoft.

According to the very first paragraph, the article starts out by saying:

Microsoft said Thursday that the SolarWinds hackers were able to access company source code, although the technology giant described the incident as largely
harmless in an update to an internal investigation.

Accessing source code is harmless? I believe that really depends on the source that was accessed, in my opinion. Some code may be considered sacred and not to be out in the wrong hands., while others maybe not so much.

There are linked items that might be of interest, but one paragraph says:

Microsoft “found no evidence of access to production services or customer data. The investigation, which is ongoing, has also found no indications that
our systems were used to attack others,” it said.

This is probably a good thing, seeing how other networks have been breached and we don’t know by how miuch or if anything is taken.

Microsoft has dubbed the SolarWinds cyberattack “Solorigate,” something cybersecurity firm FireEye has called SUNBURST.

Different people in the industry are going to call this by different names, and we shouldn’t be alarmed by different names by different companies.

Would you like to read more? Microsoft says SolarWinds hackers accessed company source code is the article, and this just goes on the “this is getting interesting” department.

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Happy new year

Happy new year from all of us at the Jared Rimer network, which includes free and paid sites, my volunteers that help me keep things as safe as possible, and all of my readers.

I’m going to hit the ground running tomorrow and I’ll start posting again, and will try to keep up with Sans News Bites this year.

I’ll be posting a bunch of current stuff, and try to find the most interesting things out of the stuff I’ve sent to my email.

My goal is to continue both podcasts, as well as blog about all kinds of stuff from access technology, security, app reviews, and my continuing partnership with Blind VMS.

I hope that each and every one of you had a happy holiday break, and the next Security Box will be aired this week coming up on Wednesday on the mix on the independent channel. For times, check the schedule, and use world time server to convert that time to yours if needed.

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Blog admin updates for christmas

Hi all.
I just thought I’d post a admin update status report as I have found myself with a little more time due to google outages.
Firstly, wordpress 5.6 has been installed.
Other admins may have noticed that older themes have been removed namely the 2020 theme because when there are more than 2 themes loaded the health security is triggered and its not used.
Php checker is removed because it never tested more than 7.3 and we are 7.4 now.
A small reminder to all admins moving forward that requests should be made to previders and hosters for php8 upgrade.
This will not be needed for 2 years and a lot of plugins will need to be adapted before then but its worth putting in the update request or at least noting it down after the trouble we had last time with the request.

Security.
As of now the current solution is holding, though weather its because of 0spam, the auto user removal and the ip block lists we are subscribed to I don’t know.
No new user has registered in ages so at least for now we can keep that open.
No extra unwanted users have been added since the system was installed.

Jquery.
You may have noticed some jquery test modules running on the site as wordpress moves to update its jquery support.
These modules have been removed as their logs show we are ok and no action is needed.

Accessibility statement.
I will be adding an access statement to the site, as well as a plugins list of stuff we use.
An accessibility statement is not needed, but it brings us in line with wordpress template guidelines.
A plugin list is not needed but since most are static, I thought if someone wants to know what is on the site and what works will be a good idea.
It will also be something for me to refference should I branch away from wordpress.com which I have yet to be bothered doing.
Update wize things are set for the end of the year.
I need to find a way to get themes to autoupdate like plugins but thats another story.

Shutdowns.
This is a small note that I will be going on vacation on various days or weeks between february through to april.
or even may.
I won’t be away all that time but there is at least 1 festival I will be going to, and a roadtrip, as well as one other thing yet to happen.
The site will continue to work and I may have mail at that time though I may not.
Happy christmas all.

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