Equipment Longevity

Posted: Mon 3 June, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Geeky, Technology, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

As part of yesterday’s post about equipment failures, I realised just how long I’d actually had the previous laptop, which was quite surprising.

Looking back, I should have realised it was quite a while, thinking back to where I was and so on at the time I got it.

I’m pretty tough on technology, so it’s actually quite impressive that the Dell laptop lasted just under four years. I do a lot of travelling (as has been written about too many times to mention) and the laptop will always just get shoved in my backpack, rather than using a ‘proper’ laptop bag.  (Mainly because I’ve seen too many idiots carrying laptop bags over one shoulder, seen how easy it is for people to steal them, and how much it makes you a target, a sign of visible wealth/gadgetry)

I dread to imagine how many hours of use the Dell laptop has had, but I’m pretty sure that it’s more than paid for itself over the four years.

 

Equipment Failure

Posted: Sun 2 June, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Change, Domestic, Finances, Geeky, Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, iPhone, Shopping, Technology, Thoughts, Weirdness | 1 Comment »

Don’t worry, this isn’t another post about the joys and pitfalls of getting older…

No, instead it’s about technology, and why the bastard stuff all ends up failing at the same time.

First of all, this post is being written on a new laptop – which I really could’ve done without having to get, but needs must when the devil drives (and/or you’re a web techie and wannabe-writer).  The old Dell laptop – which it turns out I bought back in September 2009, so I shouldn’t whine so much, I guess – had been getting flakier over the last six months, but I’ve been eking out the life of it since then, suffering the occasional (and then more regular) hard-drive crash, and the ropy keyboard with some keys that only worked intermittently.

This week though it’s been crashing every time it was in use, and was obviously getting to the point where I needed to a) pull all the relevant data off it like NOW, and b) replace it with something else. And with a trip up to Manchester this week where I’m *really* going to need a reliable laptop, this was the weekend for it.

So I’ve bitten the bullet somewhat, and the new one is a (dirt-cheap) Asus thing, running the already-much-disliked Windows 8. To be fair to Windows 8, the old laptop was on the much-loathed Vista, which I never really found all that annoying. Eight annoys me more so far, but I’ll get used to it.

The other two equipment failures are both iPhone related, allbeit power-related rather than device-related. (Although I did think one of them might’ve been the phone being fucked, which was a real worry)  First the Mophie battery case has failed. Again. (More accurately, the cable/charger for it, which will no longer charge) I love the Mophie cases, but they do seem to be somewhat crap, and only last about a year. And then the normal iPhone charge/sync cable also went kerfut and wouldn’t charge the phone.  So I’ve had to get a new cable for that as well – considerably less expensive than the laptop purchase, but still, why all at the same time?

Oh yeah, and the fridge in the house also played up this week, with one day where it didn’t appear to be working all that well. Fortunately it’s now back up and running.

But why the hell would four things, two fairly major, all decide to kiff out within the same week? Weird things, I tell thee, weird things.

Increased Security

Posted: Sat 13 April, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: D4D™, Geeky, Getting Organised, People, Security, WordPress | 1 Comment »

At the moment, there is a huge attack going on against blogs using WordPress.

It’s primarily attacking the blogs who’ve kept a lot of the default settings – particularly keeping the primary user as “admin” with weak/known passwords – but still, it’s better to make sure that things are secure.

D4D™ has always been on an altered install of WordPress – mainly because I’m really bad at leaving things alone – so I’m less concerned about it, but all the same, I’ve added in a couple of security plugins just to reinforce things.  I’m also making use of Cloudflare to add another level of security.

It’s going to make things interesting for a lot of Blog Owners on the WordPress platform, though.  Basically, if you’re on WP you need to :

  1. Make sure you’re not relying on the “admin” user
    1. Add a new user to WP , give it admin rights (and a strong password)
    2. Set “admin” to have the lowest possible permissions (contributor), or delete it completely.
  2. If possible, make sure your database isn’t using the wp_ prefix for all wordpress tables.
  3. Use Cloudflare or similar
  4. Install the Limit Logins plugin
  5. If you know what you’re doing, also install the Extend WP Security plugin
  6. Take backups!

There’s other stuff along the way, but those really are the key points.

One Year On – Work

Posted: Wed 10 April, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Geeky, Work-related | Leave a comment »

Amazingly, I’ve now been in the current job just over a year and this week, among other tasks, has involved my 12-month appraisal.

All told, all went well. They’re pleased with me, and I’m OK with them.

Even better, I also got told today that the BTEC e-learning package I put together has been approved by the BTEC examiners, and the whole course including my tech is apparently “excellent”

So I must be doing something right.

Phone Security

Posted: Tue 5 March, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Geeky, Technology, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

Yesterday there was a load of stuff on radio news with police warning about people who don’t secure their phones with a PIN code.

Supposedly it makes them more valuable (to thieves) if they’re unlocked, and also means all your personal information is available – which is obviously usable for nefarious purposes.

Personally, I’ve always had a PIN-lock on my phones, and don’t really get why most people don’t – yet apparently only 20% of people use a PIN-lock at all.

I do understand the concerns of some people – that, for example, they may be in an accident and emergency services would need contact numbers – but at the same time I’ve always got that elsewhere in my wallet etc.

As it is, I’d rather keep my primary information safe.

Sign Typography

Posted: Sat 12 January, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Driving, Geeky, M1, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »

I’ve already written about the M1 on my commute, and the new “use the hard shoulder when the road’s busy” policy.

This week I’ve noticed something odd about the typography on the signs, particularly when viewed from a distance.

When you can’t use the hard shoulder, the text reads like this :

Hard shoulder
Emergency
Use only

When you can use it, it looks like this :

Congestion
Use
Hard shoulder

What’s interesting to me – and probably to absolutely no-one else – is that when the lane is open, the typography looks like an X, which would imply it’s closed. When it’s closed, it looks like an arrow, implying the lane is open.

I don’t know if that contributes to why people don’t use the hard shoulder when they can – I doubt it, but who knows? – but it’s still something I find interesting, regardless.

Counterfeits, and Real Refunds

Posted: Wed 17 October, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, iPhone | Leave a comment »

Back in March when I got the iPhone upgrade, I ordered a new Mophie Juice Pack Plus battery pack – I’d had one for the old iPhone, and really liked it. Plus it has the nice side-effect of doubling the battery life of the phone.

I bought the pack – me being me, the purple one – via Amazon (as I usually do)

Over this weekend, it stopped charging, and is basically broke and fucked. Not impressed. It was past the 90-day period on Amazon, so I contacted Mophie direct to ask what could be done.

I got a reply the next day, asking for the normal sort of thing – receipt, serial number etc., which got supplied.

Then yesterday they sent an email, saying that the battery pack I’ve bought is actually a counterfeit product, so Mophie can’t do anything about it. Understandable, but nightmare.

Anyway, I contacted the seller via Amazon (and left a warning on the product page) last night, just letting them know, but really expecting knack-all.

And today, I got an email, telling me that I’d been completely refunded for the purchase, to not worry about returning it or anything, very sorry, and that they’d actually stopped selling those packs recently following other concerns about their quality.

I’m annoyed about the pack’s death, but very, very impressed with the resultant customer service – both from the seller, and from Mophie themselves.

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