Author: Dave Farquhar

More encryption = more safety

Dave Farquhar security , , ,

Mozilla, Akamai, Cisco, the EFF, and Identrust are teaming up for Let’s Encrypt, an effort to make SSL encryption free and easy.

This is important, because it means mundane stuff will get encrypted. When SSL/TLS traffic are no longer flagged as special, security will increase. Read more

What to look for in a cheap laptop in late 2014

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , , , , , ,

So the sales fliers for the 2014 Christmas shopping season are out, and I’m seeing tons of cheap laptops. If you only have $200 to spend, they have something for you.

Some of them look like they’re even worth having. Yes, I’m shocked too. Here’s how to figure out which ones are worth taking home, and which ones are best left for some other sucker. Whether you’re shopping for yourself or someone else, you’ll probably want to keep the following in mind.

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When subversion doesn’t get you promoted

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized

Many resources for up and coming go-getter managers tell managers to subvert or go around processes in order to get things done.

Let me tell you a story about that strategy backfiring.
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How I accidentally fixed the garage door

Dave Farquhar Landlording

My garage door wouldn’t go down. You know the drill–you push the button, the door goes down for a few seconds, then reverses course, and maybe your opener blinks at you a few times. Not all garage door openers do the blinky thing though.

The reason is simple. The safety sensors couldn’t see each other, so they assumed something, or worse yet, someone, was in the way, in danger of being hit by the door, and made the opener reverse course. As annoying as a door is that won’t close, a door that mashes stuff is a lot worse.

My sensors couldn’t see each other because we’d moved some stuff around and, I guess we bumped one of them. Read more

Enerlites HOSS: an occupancy sensor switch without ground

Dave Farquhar DIY, Saving money , , , ,

The Enerlites Top Greener HOSS is an occupancy sensor switch without ground wire requirements, and it’s pretty cheap too, at $12. A Lutron switch costs almost twice as much.

But the HOSS does come with some compromises. The HOSS does require a neutral (white) wire. But most switch boxes will have the whites in there and accessible, so that’s not a big deal. It’s also a bit trickier to wire than a Lutron, and it doesn’t look as nice.

That said, it’s nice to have an option for older houses that may not have a ground connection available. People in older houses need energy savings too. Read more

Diaper raid!

Dave Farquhar Parenting

This past weekend was the annual Scouting for Food drive. My oldest son participated, and I was proud of him because he complained a lot less than the older kids.

In fact, he was perfectly happy running up and down people’s driveways, picking up bags, and putting them in the trunk of our car as I drove 3 miles per hour with the hazard lights on.

But somewhere along the way, something started to smell funny. Read more

A new way to measure reliability and quality of hardware

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , ,
A new way to measure reliability and quality of hardware

If you’re in the market for some new PC gear, it helps to measure reliability and quality of hardware. How do you measure that? How about buying the one that induces the least buyer’s remorse? That’s an approach you can take with the data from Hardware.fr. It’s in French, but Google Translate works.

This doesn’t measure long-term reliability–only DOA rate and short-term reliability–but it’s data I haven’t seen before, so I think it’s a welcome resource.

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How to protect executives traveling to hostile countries

Dave Farquhar security , , ,

Slashdot ran a story about executives being targets in high-end hotels in the Far East. I didn’t realize this was a new phenomenon; perhaps I just assumed it’s been going on all along.

At any rate, it’s possible to protect against it.

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Got tech support scammed? Worry about your credit card, not your computer

Dave Farquhar scams, security ,
Got tech support scammed? Worry about your credit card, not your computer

A college classmate contacted me a week or two ago. A relative of hers got scammed, and she wanted to know what to do.

“Get the charges reversed on the credit card,” was my simple response.

“What about cleaning up the computer?” she asked.

That’s the easy part. Read more

Comments are working again

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized

One of my very earliest readers alerted me today that comments were broken. I traced the problem back to WP-Spamshield. I disabled it, and comments are working again. I hate to lose that plugin, but comments are important, so I’ll search for a replacement or a fix action. In the meantime at least it’s working.