Posts by Fred Flintstone

Re: That's instant jail for whoever tries that in Switzerland

So, time, once again, for that excellent Freefall cartoon.

Enjoy.

I wonder if they accept bitcoin as payment?

:)

Re: Disgusting

The land of the free

Sorry, that was just a spelling mistake.

It's actually the land of the fee. HTH.

Re: Optional sensible title here

Only if you take the laser off for the ride.

Re: Cash

.. yet I never, ever lose count. Weird, that.

:)

Re: Why the obsession with MP?

A decent lens can comfortably cost multiples of what your smartphone is sold for.

There is an astonishing amount of engineering involved in creating good optical lenses, and it gets even more complex with the whole anamorphic side of things.

I've been using SecureSafe for ages. Even the free version has password inheritance features, so someone I trust has the inheritance password which, when used, will give access to the passwords I have so designated, but only after a few days.

I, however, get a daily countdown message from the moment that "clock" is started, so I can cancel it and reset the password, which stops any abuse of that right of access.

Simple, effective and, astonishingly, free..

By the way, I'm not worried about social media passwords - I don't use it :).

I could not agree more (I tried :) ).

Admitting an attack was "basic" amounts to accepting culpability for not even putting an effort in, so every single breach is always deemed to be the work of "sophisticated" "hackers" who deploy what must be sheer magic to break in, like using the immeasurably complex and impossible to memorise login combination of admin/admin.

Given what I've seen so far of a lot of these "hacks", the people who run these sites probably live in homes with locks that you could pick with a toothpick without even slowing down and must exclusively use 0000 or 1234 for PIN codes.

Re: Please forgive my ignorance...

According to Google it's Icelandig and means "with translation options"

Cheers :)

Re: Special Compliance

Obviously you have to clean that up, because of COVID risks. Can't be too careful.

:)

Re: Gaming laptops

We need a standardized H2O plug specification.

Gardena, Hozelock ...

:)

Re: "Disgusting cable management"

Decent cable management is a simple job.

One cable trunk with open slots fitted at the wall side underneath the work surface (two if you have sensitive audio), and one leading down to whatever power source you have (I have a UPS) and cables are out of sight because the eye overlooks straight lines.

How effective is this? Well, I have a glass, see-through desk (hence my use of Logitech Anywhere MX mice, they work on glass), and you don't see any cables. Yes, you have to spend some time lying on your back underneath the desk looping it all in and then put the lid on it, but once done it's good for a long time, and it's not that hard to add or remove things later either.

This idea works near miracles behind a stereo and TV set, and it makes it far easier to keep it clean, very helpful with an allergy sufferer in the house (until she becomes allergic to cable trays, of course).

I used to use black Betaduct 50x50mm for it which came in 2m lengths, but it appears it's no longer made now so I'll now have to find an alternative..

Ditto on Grammarly, and bonus points for deliberately misspelling it :)

OK, now I'm curious, Worse than what used to be called Place d"Etoile in Paris?

What are the challenges in Athens? Genuine question.

Re: Nemo propheta in patria

Well, even Monty Python sang about it.

I occasionally send that to a friend in Helsinki - I'm not sure he's representative of all Fins, but his sense of humour is *very* well developed so good natured windups are simply part and parcel of our interactions :).

Re: Place your bets...

in a fairly restricted field

Nicely put :)

Re: Obligatory Honest Government Advert

Thanks, I was about to dig that one up as well.

They pretty much tear this agreement to shreds - those ads are IMHO fantastic and ought to win some sort of award.

Re: Where can I find a link

Ah, the dietary equivalent of the emacs vs vi wars.

:)

Re: As an American, I can tell you some Super Bowl secrets

For those who could not quite follow that comment, here is some help.

:)

Re: what the fuck is wrong with using the key, anyway?

That reminds me on an Elektor joke circuit they published years ago: it was an heated key to defrost a doorlock. It was basically a managed shortcut that would heat up a power transistor so the assembly got toasty. It was perfectly functional and would heat quite well, you just had to plug it into the cigar lighter socket ..

:)

Re: Orange Turnip again

He might be out of office then, but clearing the stench of his influence will take years.

Re: Never under estimate the ability of a user to out stupid you

Hmm. If that worked you could give the gloves to someone else, so I don't think this passes the logic test.

But then again, neither do most end users :)

Re: Have an upvote

That's the thing with these brexitters... Never happy.

Well, OK, but Farage is in a class of his own. Also because nobody wants to sit with him, of course.

Re: "cumbersome to read, difficult to understand"

I will again offer up this most excellent Freefall cartoon.

There's a shocking amount of truth in it as there is in truth little legislation to curtail such an approach.

I recall there was once a project that gave policies and terms a TL;DR readability score, but I cannot find it now. A shame, because it was a laudable idea, but maybe it floundered because our definition of what is "normal" and "acceptable" has experienced a wrenching, IMHO near tectonic shift..

They're also easier to replace. Saves time, and you don't need to keep spares as they can be quickly obtained in a shop or online, and restored that way too if they use cloud based storage - and that almost anywhere in the semi-civilised world.

Re: My goose is cooked

Hopefully they can minimise some of the efficiencies by only having the charging circuit active when a device is detected

Most wireless chargers do that already, also to avoid heating up non-chargeable metal things that happen to stray onto them.

That said, my concern is more with data transfer. WiFi is still a heck of a lot slower than cable.

Re: Why?

I just loved the engineering on their pizza boxes. They were superbly put together.

Re: fish leather is a thing

I wouldn't mind one of piranha leather, to catch pick pockets..

Re: Isn't this a grey area?

That is a fantastic video. Thanks for that link.

Re: I wouldn't call it "Linux despair" ...

Most modern barcode readers pretend to be a USB connected keyboard, even the cordless dongle ones, and there are also variants which act as a Bluetooth keyboard (I have two of those, and they tend to also read QR codes as they're camera based, not LED/laser scan). Most of these can also be programmed to hit Return after a scan.

So, as long as your software uses keyboard input routines it should not be hard to replace the barcode readers with something from Amazon.

Look for the name "Netum" - they tend to be reasonably well documented and are usually in stock.

There's also the problem with door openings as they may not be high enough :)

(which reminds me of that cartoon with a chin-up bar fitted in a door frame and an unconscious person on the floor :) ).

Hmm, do we qualify this as a "person"?

"It's life, Jim, but not as we know it"

Re: If you want to see the scary bit ..

Bizarre uses of facial recognition? In public toilets there you have to look at the camera for 3 seconds in order for toilet paper to be dispensed.

Does that also work with a strained face (on account of the specific circumstances)?

:)