There are days I think I should include a table of contents with these things :-). It’s been a crazy two days, so here are some various thoughts:
I hate Desktop Replacement time. This is something that periodically happens here at work when you are informed your computer is too old, and you’re the lucky winner of a new one. Now, the company comes out and moves your data (that you have in the standard places), and gives you a system with the standard software installed. This is fine for about 60% of the staff, but us engineers often have non-standard software as well. This means that DRP time is stressful in that you’ve got to find and reinstall a lot of software, and figure out where the configuration settings are to migrate. My system was replaced just about 24 hours ago—this morning has been rebuilding and reinstalling, and I think I’ve figured the last missing piece I needed.
Brian Krebs had a nice piece yesterday on how Google is implementing 2-factor authentication for Gmail: The factors are a user ID, password and six-digit code sent to their mobile phones. This suddenly turns your cellphone into the something you have, without you (or the service provider) having to buy any additional hardware. Quite elegant. This is something that banks and financial institutions should implement, although I can see it creating potential problems with automated downloads such as Quicken.
Bruce Schneier’s blog yesterday touched on something that has impact over here on Livejournal: The four immutable security laws of Malcolm Hawkins. These laws are:
- Users want to click on things.
- Code wants to be wrong.
- Services want to be on.
- Security features can be used to harm.
Think about these laws in light of the current debate about Facebook Connect. The combination is scary.
Some television thoughts. Last night, I watched the premier of “Mike and Molly”. I thought it was a cute program and relatively funny (more than I can say for many comedies on TV these days). Right now, I think CBS’s Monday night lineup is pretty strong. Did anyone else watch M&M? What did you think? It will be interesting to see how Big Bang Theory and the Bleepin’ Bill Shatner show does on Thursdays. On the other hands, I read how “Weeds” has been renewed for another season. After watching last night’s episode, I think the show is going off the deep end, diving into the big vat of batshit. It seems like they are just throwing things at the characters to see how they react; the show has really been sliding down the razorblade of life since they left Agrestic.
