David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
I recently had a task: Find an industry best practice that says you need to remove all rights or permissions or groups from the account of a former employee, rather than just disabling the account.
There was only one problem. I could find no such thing. None. Nothing. In fact, I expect this blog entry to rocket to the top of the Google search results for just such a thing, because no such guidance exists. The question is, will anyone else ever search for such a thing. Read more
I won’t call it a revolution, because I wrongly predicted that RISC (in the form of DEC Alpha and Motorola/IBM Power PC) would start a revolution. But Micron released a new form of memory this week that promises to at least be a game-changer.
It’s non-volatile like the flash memory in your cell phone, digital camera, or SSD, but with a longer life expectancy, and it’s much faster. It’s fast enough to potentially use it for system memory, as well as storage.
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I drove to the Kmart the 90s forgot–on Manchester Avenue in St. Louis, if it matters–in search of a $70 Nook Simple Touch. I found it in the electronics section, in the very back of the store, in a glass case with a bunch of obsolete stuff. If you need VHS tapes, I know your place.
The price was wrong. That was a bad sign, but I waited until the clerk wasn’t busy.
Kmart is selling the Nook Simple Touch–the e-ink, black-and-white version–for $70, which is nearly 30% off. I’m tempted. Very tempted. Tempted even to buy one and just use it as–drum roll–an e-reader.
Disappointed in me?
I’ve used Magellan GPSs for about five years. I find them pretty easy and intuitive to use and like them. I’m not sure if it’s just a matter of what you’re used to, though. Magellans have their quirks–they’re more prone to sending you on u-turns than other brands–but mine doesn’t recalculate unless you change directions, its routes are fairly intelligent, its time predictions are pretty close, and I like that it dings at you just before you’re supposed to turn. My only gripes with it are that it doesn’t display the speed limit and the newest maps available for my model date to something like 2009.
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Veteran blogger John Dominik reported yesterday that upgrading to Firefox 13 fixed some problems for him. So of course he’ll be thrilled to know that Firefox released a new version the very next day. The. Very. Next. Day.
From a security standpoint, there are two things to like about the new version.
HR departments and recruiters are watching you on Linkedin and other social networks. That’s an opportunity and a warning. Read more
I found a nice trick this week. If those microfiber cloths that came with your LCD monitors and TV(s) have all wandered off, you can use a dry eraser instead to clean your LCD. They’re bigger, so they’re easier to keep track of, and easier to use too. Just wipe the screen with the eraser like you would if you were erasing a whiteboard.
If you have fingerprints or other gunk on the screen that a microfiber cloth or dry eraser can’t remove, dilute some white vinegar 1:1 with distilled water and apply it to a soft cloth to clean the screen.
The site was down last week due to a series of power failures that extended longer than the capacity of my uninterpretable power supplies. As it turned out, I wasn’t home to fix it. But now I’m back, and so is the site. All of the machines recovered gracefully.
My apologies for the downtime. If there’s an upside, it’s that I now have about a week’s backlog of content.
Thanks for hanging in there with me.
I’m writing this to hopefully save someone from having as bad of a day as I’ve just had. You see, I started a new job on July 3. My new health insurance starts August 1. My former employer terminated my coverage on July 2. COBRA is intended to fill gaps like that, but all I have is a promise that my COBRA paperwork will show up someday. My former employer didn’t send the COBRA paperwork, just a promise that it was coming. Famous last words, you know.
That promise doesn’t help when my wife needs insulin today. And when my current employer doesn’t know what to do, my old employer won’t answer the phone, and my old insurance company doesn’t know what to do either, that’s enough to ruin your day.
What I didn’t know was that COBRA doesn’t work that way.