Month: November 2015

November 23, 2015
Max Technology , ,

My password is password

IMG_0593Or why you should stop worrying about passwords and just enable two-factor authentication….

If, like me, you have several e-mail accounts, a few forum accounts, bank and credit card accounts, eBay, paypal, Apple, gym and numerous others, you probably have a small number of passwords that have some level of re-use or even variations on a theme.

For example, your gmail might be Pa55w0rd!, your bank account Pa$$w0rd! your credit card P4ssw0rd123 etc.

If you can find any variant of it in the top 500 worst passwords list, then you have a problem.

Unless you are using two-factor authentication that is. 

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November 20, 2015
Max Life

Planet Fret revisited

Something over five years ago, I wrote a post, Planet Fret, in which I pointed out that oil is probably not finite and that using it at the rate that we are is probably not leaving a good legacy for our children.

One thing that I almost entirely failed to mention in that post is of course the potential damage to the environment in terms of global warming.

Much of the blame for that omission is due to my living in the US at the time.

In the US, many of the oil companies have spent significant amounts of time and money leading the general public to believe that climate change is not only not-man made, but actually does not exist at all. Any variations are purely down to cycles, rhythms or bad data.

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November 16, 2015
Max Movies

S.P.E.C.T.R.E

James Bond movies are generally fun to watch, but since just after Roger Moore took over the reigns from Sean Connery, they devolved into a gadget-strewn mess. It was obvious that the gadget that Q had demonstrated at around the 22 minute mark would get Bond out of a fix at the 55 minute mark. It was also a forgone conclusion that the sleek sports car that he was driving would have a number of tricks up its sleeve, but would ultimately get destroyed.

To me, the simplicity of ‘Dr. No’ and the style and sophistication of ‘From Russia with Love’ were simply never matched in later films. I understand that the world turns and moves on and that a spy that operated with such panache in the 60’s would be expected to wear flares in the late 70 and to trade his Rolex Submariner in for a Seiko digital, but it all seemed somewhat unbecoming. 

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November 16, 2015
Max Life, Religion , ,

Terrorism – Again

ParisOn Friday the 13th of November 2015, almost 130 people were killed by a small number of terrorists.

The people that died were simply out enjoying their Friday night in Paris. They were not a part of an army, they were not even joined by a single demographic. The victims of terror were male, female, young and old and spread across their political and religious beliefs. They were a diverse group.

As far as has been reported, none of the victims had any ties to groups that may have been targeting the terrorists. At least no further link than being in a country that opposes terrorism and has taken part in the global action against the Islamic State group in Syria.

On Monday 16th November it was reported that France dropped around twenty bombs on an IS stronghold in Syria. At best this is revenge, this is probably the thing that the French public, and much of the world that is appalled by Friday’s attack would like to see.

I doubt that this will really prevent future attacks. 

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November 6, 2015
Max Life, Technology , , ,

The Perils of (public) Beta Testing…..

HealthyI have always been an early adopter. As far as I can remember, I have always been at the forefront of tech stuff. Quartz watches – check, Compact Disc – Check, MiniDisc – Check, DAT decks – Check, Home computers – check, Android – check, iOS – check, early releases – check, tubeless mountain bike tyres – check, pretty much everything – check.

Friends and colleagues nearly always ask my opinion on things, simply because they know that I will have got it first and they want to know what something is like.

Quite often, it has bitten me, but this does not seem to stop me. 

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