Uncategorized Archives

Back in business after a 20-hour hiatus

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized November 10, 2011AT&T, AT&T U-verse

A routine upgrade to AT&T U-Verse ended up being anything but. The good news, however, is that everything works now, and I have a much faster upstream connection than I ever had before. If the blog is faster now, that’s why.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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Firefox 8 lands, and there’s still no official Windows 64-bit support

Dave Farquhar Software, Uncategorized November 8, 2011November 7, 2011firefox, New Firefox

It’s Tuesday. Time for a new Firefox release. One without official 64-bit Windows support, of course.

The official line is because there aren’t enough native 64-bit plugins yet. Although Java and Flash are available, which are likely to be the two people care most about. Release a 64-bit browser, and the other lesser-used plugins will have no choice to follow. Wait for the plugins, and tomorrow never comes. Somebody has to blink first to end the stalemate.

At this rate, it’ll probably be Google.

Dave Farquhar

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Serious hints for your employee self-evaluation

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized October 30, 2011October 29, 2011

Since posting my tongue-in-cheek hints for completing your employee self-evaluation, it’s received a ton of hits, presumably from people who want serious advice on filling out employee self evaluations. Just to clarify, I do not recommend calling yourself “awesome sauce” on your evaluation.

The main thing is to be understated if anything, fair to yourself, and back up what you say.

Dave Farquhar

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Google guts.

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized October 24, 2011October 23, 2011android

Dan Bowman tossed a very interesting rant my direction. Basically, it’s an inside view on what Google is doing wrong and other companies do right.

I admire Google for allowing what could be embarrassing to remain out on the light.

Dave Farquhar

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RIP, Steve Jobs

Dave Farquhar Macintosh, Uncategorized October 5, 2011April 27, 2026apple, pixar, Steve Jobs, unix

Though I’m sure you’ve seen it hundreds of other places, the tech industry lost its most memorable pioneer and greatest marketer today. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died, aged 56, after years of declining health. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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In lieu of a tip jar…

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized September 19, 2011

A longtime reader asked me today if I have a tip jar. The short answer is no. But if you like what you see here, I am on the Amazon affiliate program. So any time you follow a link here to Amazon (whether it’s in a post when I mention something on Amazon, the banner ad on most of my pages, or this link: Amazon.com) and buy something–even if it’s a different product than what I linked to–you’ll get the same pricing on Amazon as you always would (promise!) but I’ll get a small commission.

The commissions help to underwrite the cost of running the site and occasionally buy a little something for the family.

Dave Farquhar

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Rest in pieces, Borders

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized September 13, 2011Barnes Noble, Circuit City, Sunset Hills

The Borders at my local mall is closing today. I’ll miss it.

I still remember when the store was being prepared. It was around the time I got married. My then-pastor said he was really looking forward to it opening. While his wife and his daughters shopped, he could hang out in there. I agreed with him. Nearly every time I went to the mall, I would sneak over to Borders for a while.
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Dave Farquhar

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Remembering 11 September 2001

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized September 11, 2011antenna, cleveland indians, Jim Thome, New York, oakville

I was on my way to work when they said on the radio something was wrong. The details were scarce, but an airplane had hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center. Then the other. And as I was pulling into the parking lot, the news came that one of the towers had collapsed.

The day didn’t get any better as it wore on. I remember it well. Looking back at what I wrote on that day, some details faded over the decade, but my recollection of most of the day is vivid. I can tell you more about that day than I can most of the days of the past week.

Dave Farquhar

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Why Amazon can’t make a Kindle in the USA

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized September 6, 2011asus, dell, hp, kindle, Western Digital

Dan Bowman sent over this ongoing series at Forbes. I’d seen the first couple of parts of it, but didn’t realize it was still ongoing. In light of new Amazon tablet rumors, it takes on new relevance.

It’s a thought-provoking look at the state of U.S. manufacturing today, and the state of management. I don’t know if the author thinks it’s too late to reverse this decline, but presumably no. Otherwise he wouldn’t be writing it, probably.
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Dave Farquhar

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If the AT&T/T-Mobile deal is dead, good riddance

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized September 2, 2011AT&T, consolidation, pc magazine, sprint, verizon

If you haven’t seen, the Department of Justice voiced its lack of support for AT&T’s buyout of T-Mobile USA. I find myself agreeing with Sascha Segan’s analysis at PC Magazine.
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Dave Farquhar

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