The curious case of the Commodore TED machines
Dan Bowman kindly pointed out to me that former Commodore engineer Bil Herd wrapped up his discussion of the ill-fated Commodore TED machines on Hackaday this week. Here in the States, few remember the...
View ArticleHome Depot: A security pro’s dilemma
I was listening to podcasts about the Home Depot breach, and something occurred to me. Home Depot isn’t talking much about the breach. And it’s driving security pros nuts. But the general public takes...
View ArticleDon’t like paying for software? There’s an answer but old software isn’t it.
Corporations are in business to make money. That’s the premise of the classic business book The Goal, and the point of The Goal is that a lot of companies forget that. That also means they’re not...
View ArticleRemembering Dolgin’s
Growing up in Missouri, a lot of my Christmas gifts when I was young came from a catalog showroom called Dolgin’s. One of my earliest memories is going to Dolgin’s with my mom and aunt, who showed me...
View ArticleHP splits in two.
Don’t you feel like trying something new Don’t you feel like breaking out Or breaking us in two You don’t do the things that I do You want to do things I can’t do Always something breaking us in two...
View ArticleDefusing in person
My name, and my department’s name in general, gets thrown around a lot at work. We have a bit of a reputation as the can’t-do guys. Professionalism dictates I not go into specifics about what kinds of...
View ArticleWhy we can’t have nice things: The reaction to IBM’s big black and blue quarter
IBM announced yesterday that it had a terrible quarter. They missed earnings, the stock plunged, and Warren Buffett lost a billion dollars. Everyone assumes Warren Buffett is worried, or livid, and...
View ArticleGetting fewer tech support scam calls lately?
Last week, the FTC shut down a major operator of tech support scam cold-callers. I’m heartbroken. So I imagine you’re getting fewer of those calls lately. I know I am, but they seem to come in waves...
View ArticleThe Sony breach and why every company should be worried
To me, the Sony breach is noteworthy not just because of its magnitude, but because it doesn’t appear to be driven by profit, unlike the other big breaches in recent memory. Instead, it’s a return of...
View Article1984 called. It wants its surveillance back.
So, the reaction to my story about my coworker’s 10-year-old going all Scooby Doo on the guy who had the nerve to steal his dad’s car was definitely mixed. Most people, of course, lauded the...
View ArticleData breaches don’t cost anything–so here’s why they matter
What seems like a million years ago, when Sony Pictures got breached, some pundits were predicting that was the end of the company. I always thought that was hyperbole, but I have to admit I never went...
View ArticleHillary, hackers, threats, and national security
I got a point-blank question in the comments earlier this week: Did Hillary Clinton’s home-made mail server put national secrets at risk of being hacked by our enemies? Depending on the enemies, maybe...
View ArticleIn defense of Anthem declining the OIG audit
Anthem recently refused to allow the Office of Personnel Management’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) to perform an audit of its networks. Coming on the heels of a large breach, there’s been a bit of...
View ArticleVictory ping.
“Whatever happened to the Legions of Doom server?” a coworker asked me as a technician swapped her computer. I smiled a wicked smile. “Victory ping!” I then turned to my computer. “Ping pmprint02....
View ArticleUse asphalt roofing shingles for cheap and easy roads and ballast
I saw a great idea in a train layout photo last week–you can make ballast for your track out of asphalt shingles. My first thought was that you can get asphalt shingles for free when someone in your...
View ArticleThe problem with open source, especially security
Security-minded open source software has taken a beating in the last year, as numerous projects have had holes exposed, or, in the case of Truecrypt, got audited heavily. This fanned the flames of the...
View ArticleThe new firewall
Monthly patches and upgrades don’t always go well, but getting them down is increasingly critical, especially for applications like Flash, Reader, and the major web browsers. This week I called it “the...
View ArticleFare thee well, Radio Shack. Hello, Battery Shack!
The new owners of what’s left of Radio Shack want to specialize in batteries. Although this isn’t a guaranteed survival plan, it makes sense to me. Last week, I went to one of the few remaining Radio...
View ArticleThe first (and maybe cheapest) Amiga product for Amigaholics like me
Before the Amiga was a computer, Amiga was a struggling independent company trying to stay in business so it would get its chance at changing the world. In order to make ends meet while they developed...
View ArticleBeware “graded value” baseball cards on Ebay
There are a few hucksters on Ebay, whom I don’t care to give free advertising by mentioning by name, who hawk “graded” cards on Ebay and claim them to be especially valuable. One even puts supposed...
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