Showing 1-10 of 14 results
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Is the new Twitter just like the old?
Life, James Hein, Published on 01/02/2023
» The Twitter situation is complex and somewhat confusing. On the one hand, all kinds of people from The Babylon Bee satirical website to former US president Donald Trump have been allowed back on the platform. The stated aim is to allow freedom of speech to be supported by Twitter once again. On the other hand, you can be banned by linking to a public photo of a public person on a public platform. The rule for the latter appears to only be for friends of Elon Musk. A YouTube channel I enjoy watching, The Quartering, did this after someone else had been banned and was also almost instantly banned himself. This is of course wrong in every respect especially given the individual in question, apparently now hypocritically, is always banging on about freedom of speech. Update, the ban is permanent.
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AI is causing concern again
Life, James Hein, Published on 06/12/2023
» There have been two big stories in the IT world over the past couple of weeks. The biggest one concerns OpenAI and its three-day boardroom drama. In a nutshell, the board voted Sam Altman and other members out of the company. The next day, Microsoft picked them up and anyone else who wanted to head over to a new division. That same day, 700-plus employees of OpenAI signed a letter saying they would go if a rogue board member did not quit and bring Sam Altman back. On the third day, Sam was back and three board members were gone.
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Reddit trumps Google search
Life, James Hein, Published on 15/02/2023
» Since my last column Twitter has had a number of technical issues, but I also found out that many of the problems I wrote about last time stem from the Content Management Head, not from Elon himself. Musk is putting in some very long days to try and get things sorted out at Twitter so it looks like he is nothing like the old boss in that respect. There remain a lot of traps in the code he inherited that will take time to sort out and may need a complete rewrite to address.
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Protect yourself when online
Life, James Hein, Published on 03/08/2022
» A friend of mine, let's call him Dave, wrote to me recently about identity theft. He told me that all of his identifying information like phone numbers, email addresses, old passwords and his usual security questions, were all available on the dark web. He also had a number of notifications of personal information breaches that resulted in fraudulent charges, the need to replace credit cards and attempts to set up fake bank accounts in his name. The latter is used if a hacker is planning to get into your other accounts so they can transfer funds to themselves under your name.
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The fight for a freer web continues
Life, James Hein, Published on 17/03/2021
» The social media platform Telegram has over 500 million users with over 55 million active every day. Unlike other platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and others, you are free to express your opinion there without being cancelled, shadow banned or throttled in searches.
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The perils of an electronic voting system
Life, James Hein, Published on 13/07/2016
» I was talking to some friends in Australia about the recent election and by the time you read this, a week-and-a-half later, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has declared victory for his conservative coalition. The reason it has taken so long besides it being very close is that the process is still a manual one. People put numbers in boxes with a pencil and other people then count all of the numbers entered on the ballots to eventually work out how many people voted for which people in what order. To make it more complicated Australia has a preferential voting system that can see someone with 0.5% of the vote get a Senate seat due to redistribution rules. The discussion was around how difficult it would be to set up an electronic voting system.
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A smooth watch with Android
Life, James Hein, Published on 20/04/2016
» I just took delivery of the Android based Neo X8-H Plus media player from Minix. Plugged it in, booted it up and I was up and running. The first thing I noted was that unlike all the Linux based devices I have used in the past, LAN access was simpler. All I needed to do was provide the base IP address and all shared directories were available. You can run the device as a pure Android 4.4 device or use the Minix shell. This means that once you plug in your Google password, you can install Android apps and use them while sitting in front of your TV.
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Taking a bite out of Apple
Life, James Hein, Published on 30/03/2016
» It now appears the FBI will be able to get into the iPhone they are interested in without the help of Apple. No, it isn't a back door, but a non-disclosed asset, which is FBI-speak for a hacker. This could be someone from the Cyber Division or a White Hat (hacker) or even a friendly Black Hat that has been co-opted to break into the device. None of these options is outside the realm of possibility, because people have successfully hacked into iProducts before. Although the FBI was probably hoping for some kind of free-access method to future iPhones, this will at least get them access to the contents of this particular phone and perhaps some additional info on the terrorist in question.
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110-inch TV is proof size does matter
Life, James Hein, Published on 18/09/2013
» One of the best things about being involved in this industry is the continuous stream of new goodies I get to look at. The IFA gadget show was held recently in Berlin with the usual range of new devices on display. A Cliff's Notes-type synopsis follows.
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How to create your dream house with a 3D printer
Life, James Hein, Published on 21/08/2012
» It wasn't that long ago when printing something involved at least one sheet of paper and some ink. In recent times this has changed to no sheet of paper, an engineering plan and some exotic printing materials.
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