2011 — 2 August: Tuesday
I suppose it's vaguely to my credit1 that my first thought, on seeing the headline "Sun website users' details hacked" in the Grauniad, was to wonder what data I'd given to Sun Microsystems, back in the earliest days of Java. Not so :-)
Guvmint computing
How about this charmless assertion? Source and snippet...
If you want to sell software to the NHS, for example, it has to run on Version 6 of Internet Explorer, Microsoft's obsolete and woefully insecure browser. Suppliers to many other branches of the public service are similarly constrained. The implication is that the UK probably has upwards of 1m public-service PCs that are running a dangerously insecure browser from which the government cannot afford to escape, because upgrading would break many key software systems and require the purchase of new machines to run more modern software.
I much preferred Mr Naughton's TV reviews. Typical example here.
Since I dropped my atomic clock onto the 1.5TB SATA drive a) said drive is now destined for the heap of scrap, and b) the (unscathed) clock now tells me how hot it is in "F" rather than "C" units. (Though that may be because I pushed one of its buttons on the back when I picked it up.) Anyway, it's already 76F down here. I'm going out before it gets any hotter.
And back, in time for my next lunch date. A technical session coming up. I found the right button to push, so I can now report it's 25.3C in my living room. Now I have a date with a dusty bin and some bleach.
Later that day...
Well, that's been a fascinating afternoon. Following a delicious lunch at the King Rufus, we got to work on the internal data network, here at Technology Towers, and also its portal to the rest of the world. Because Len has upgraded to "fibre to the cabinet" I've benefitted from his now redundant ADSL modem with its much improved wireless capability (though that's usually only used by guests such as Big Bro). All the DHCP-assigned "static" IP addresses have been revisited, once again assigning them on the basis of MAC addresses, and access to the outside world is back online once I'd phoned Peter who was able to remember where I'd written down my vital ISP userid and password details. So far, so mundane.
Of far greater interest is the fact that I finally have my "killer app" for a Tablet PC. I've simultaneously proved I don't need to get or build any further desktop machines. So from now on it will just be me, BlackBeast, and a neat Asus "Transformer" Tablet PC that has an Android app that's a dead ringer for the WinSCP program with which I log on to my web servers, to control getting and putting files. Len's almost sure he can crack the associating of such files with a reasonable text editor, too. So this would enable me to update my web stuff wherever I am, provided there's Wi-Fi around (either here in the house or, more excitingly, out and about). Old hat to the rest of the world, no doubt, but new for this Luddite.
Of course the Tablet also brings with it mobile email and web access, as well as music and video playing. A new toy. How cool is that?
A damn' sight cooler than the living room. It's 22:42 and a balmy 26.3C down here. Phew. [Pause] Right, that's enough for one day. G'night.