Your window into Jim's life

An interesting article I have just read about future targets for hacking.
10 Devices Attackers May Think About Attacking

Well not really. There are some things I don't like about it but mostly I love its ease of use and functionality.

My Nokia N95, after a brief period of random failing stop working at all in early June. When booting it comes up with a message that it has failed and to contact my retailer. Quoted week at a Vodafone store to have it sent away for repair (or for checking out to see if repair is possible) I decided to buy an iPhone. It took a day to get to a store that had one in stock and about 20 minutes to go through the paperwork.

The interface took all of a couple of minutes to get used to and I had installed a LinkedIn app, along with Freshbooks and Highrise apps and Google Earth in no time at all. I don't use the iPod functionality at all and having to go through iTunes on my old PC (see below) to copy music onto would be a huge disincentive anyway. Does anyone know how to just connect an iPhone as a storage device on Linux and copy mp3 files to it - I would use it on occasion to download podcast but the hassle isn't worth it.

Two main beefs that I have with it are:
1. iTunes - it goes against the grain to be locked in to a proprietary tool to be able to even able to start using the phone as a phone be cause of having to register it and the iTunes store for downloading apps. What really grated was needing to give Apple my credit card number in order to download even free apps although I have now spent $1.29 on a Keepass, a password safe.

2. The other major gripe is that I can't save my contacts back to my SIM card. I have always kept all my phone list on the SIM card so that if the phone dies I can plug it into any compatible phone and be in touch. Now I am tied in to backing up through iTunes and can only restore onto another iPhone.

The only PC I have that runs Windows (out of about 6) and hence iTunes has only been used for running an accounting program. It has never before connected to the Internet apart from when first registering the accounting package. I therefore haven't worried too much about keeping it patched. It was a mission to get it into a state where I was comfortable with allowing it to talk off the LAN and it is slow and tedious to use - and now the only thing it is used for is iTunes... we have taken the accounts to Xero.

If the iPhone lasts only as long as my last Nokia I'll probably not replace it with another iPhone and will have to go through a complex process of restoring my contacts to my SIM to use in whatever I get next - may be a Google Nexus.

Another minor glitch is the battery life although I am using 3G Internet more than previously and I have to charge it pretty much every night.

Anyway mostly I am very happy with it.

I have just started using several 'cloud' computing services having found that they ease my pain in several areas.

First I was made aware of Highrise which has neat features to help me track my client contacts and relationships. I am still trialling the free version but it won't be long before three "Cases" is not adequate to meet my needs and I'll go for the paid service.

I also have started a trial account at Xero which is where I expect my business and personal finances will be managed in the very near future. I already am using it to track my personal finances through my BNZ bank account. My account details are automatically synch'ed from the BNZ to Zero so when I log in all my latest transactions are there already and Xero has done a pretty good job of categorising most of them.

About the time I started trialling Xero as I became aware of Freshbooks which has some excellent features for time recording and invoicing. It didn't take much of a trial before I jumped in to the paid for service. Being able to track my time and haev my colleagues and sub-contractor log on to the same system to log theirs and then being able to produce consolidated invoices is just magic. I have been using spreadsheets for that over the last 3 years and this will save me hours every month.

The really good news is that when I tag a contact in HighriseHQ as a client, the client details can be synchronised across to Freshbooks, and when I produce an invoice on Freshbooks it is posted into my accounts on Xero - all with no manual intervention. Setup was a breeze.

Well I bit the bullet and did the upgrade between LTS versions of Ubuntu over the weekend.

After backing up everything I ran the 8.10 -> 9.04 -> 9.10 -> 10.04 upgrade sequence. I'm not sure why I didn't just reinstall from scratch - it would have been a lot faster although I would have had to spend the time adding the extra programs I regularly use and I hadn't backed up all my VMWare Server virtual systems that I use for testing so would have had to go through a few hours of fun with that.

What was good?
Everything pretty much just worked - albeit somewhat slowly.

What wasn't good?
Took a long time (downloads ran at under 100k/sec a lot of the time - ain't broadband fun. Luckily I didn't have to sit in front of it and wait.
Some 'features' of newer versions of software are on by default and that is a pain. I don't want my password safe to lock after 2 minutes. I use it frequently at times and my pass phrase is long enough that it is a pain to type in too often (i know - its a trade off). And why do I now have to type in a password I never did before when using Thunderbird which has saved my Gmail login password?
And why does Thunderbird now start with a new set of defaults that I have to change back to how I use it?

It installed a set of games that I didn't want. Surely even a dist-upgrade should take some notice of what is already installed and if I have removed all games please don't gratuitously add them in for me - likewise a bunch of new apps I haven't even heard off. What are Akonaditray and Gwibber anyway and why do I care? Give me choice if necessary.

I have been very impressed lately by the ease with which I have been able to install and use 3 different printing devices on my Linux (Ubuntu) laptop. Years ago I struggled with compatibility lists and struggled to identify devices that had good support under Linux. Mostly it was hit and miss.

A couple of years ago I installed an HP2605DTN colour laser printer on my office network. The process was totally painless and I have all the normal options on the print menus in OpenOffice.org and other GUI Linux apps.

When I needed a fax machine last year I picked up an display model HP4300 fax/scanner/printer for under NZ$100 including a new ink cartridge. Plugged it into my USB port and it was correctly identified immediately and just worked. Printing and scanning plug & play. I haven't tried printing to the fax function yet.

A couple of weeks ago I dropped by a friends house and as I was leaving he pointed to an Epson R350 photo printer, said he was dumping it as he had upgraded, and did I want it. Not having a decent photo printer I put it under my arm, took it home and plugged it into my PC. Again it just worked. All the right paper and colour options on application menus in the right places. I am really impressed with the photos it prints on decent paper. I may be less impressed when I find out how long ink cartridges last but that is not a problem Ubuntu can solve for me.

What I am really happy about is that I didn't need any of the various driver disks for XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Mac that came with the devices I bought. Everything has just worked.

That is how things should be. Thanks Ubuntu.

I seldom bother with the hardware compatibility lists now except when I find things like the whizzy 3G card in my new(ish) netbook that needed special attention to get it working reliably (no thanks to HP) and whose GPS functionality is still an undocumented black hole.

Dave Johnstone has posted this clip of last weekends classic boat get-together at Lake Hood near Ashburton (NZ) on 21 March 2010.

It looks as though they had a great time with a fantastic turnout of classic boats.

I just spent 4 days in Hawkes Bay for my son's wedding. A couple of hours sailing in warm and comfortable conditions on Friday, catch-up with friends on Saturday before the wedding, again warm and sunny, likewise Sunday and Monday.....

Saturday and the wedding though was the peak of the weekend. Great weather, great people, great location, great food - what more can I say.

While it doesn't have quite the same attractions as Kerikeri did in January, the climate has to be an attraction. Having said that Wellington has been pretty damn good the last few days although the wind is drying out the garden.

Well the summer in Wellington has been pretty, well, cool and damp really, but we spent nearly 3 weeks away in sunny Northland and had a great time.

I lived in Dargaville when I was at primary school but haven't been back since apart from a one day trip when I was about 13 when the family went to visit old neighbours. It was interesting to see around the town again - lots of changes and much the same - but it was the rest of the trip that was memorable.

We camped in a few totally different campsites - Bayly's Beach, Ahipara, Waggeners at Houhora, Aroha Island and Mangawhai Heads. All great spots.

Since I hadn't seen anything much of the rest of Northland, and Jo hadn't been there for several decades, we spent much of the hitting tourist type locations with a in-between swimming, walking etc.

Lots of great sun, great beaches, good friends (thanks Jeremy & Ann in Kerikeri who told us about Aroha Island - a Kiwi Reserve/camping site.) Spent a day on the R. Tucker Thompson going out from Russell around the bay - recommend that trip for anyone who has the opportunity.

Highlights - Poutu Lighthouse (North Kaipara Heads), Kauri Forests, Kai Iwi Lakes, Whaling Museum, Cape Reinga, Rarawa Beach, Matai Bay, Aroha Island, Waitangi, Russell, R Tucker Thompson, Mangawhai Heads.

Also some market research in a bunch of chocolate shops - none of which measure up to L'affaire au Chocolat.

A practical view of security

Jeez - it sounds a bit pompous but I am - now - a grandad.

There is some debate going on as to whether I will be grandad or Jim (and no Poppa doesn't rate consideration thanks Gord). I'm in favour of Jim. My Mum & Dad called me Jim, my kids call me Jim, pretty much everyone else I know calls me Jim (one or two renegades insist on James) and I feel good about my name so that's that.

Still don't feel old enough to be a grandad though - does anyone ever?

Charlie Whipple has a new yacht named Endeavour. I like the colour scheme which uses that same colours as Resolution featured. Have a look at Charlie's blog

http://tokyowest.typepad.com/charlies_blog/2009/06/endeavor-260609.html

Having decided it would be pretty good to see the Simon & Garfunkel concert in Auckland in June I got prepared.

Tickets were to be on sale through Ticketmaster this morning. Not having dealt with Ticketmaster before, I spent a bit of time last night registering to use the site and checking out the Vector Arena seating plan to minimise the time it would take to select seats. 9a.m. this morning I was logged in to Ticketmaster and ready to go. Ticketmaster wasn't quite as ready but a minute or two later I was selecting 2 tickets/any price - let's see what the options are.....

Type in the robot prevention words and presto - nothing available that met my selection. OK - try some of the other selection options - same result. Try another PC and two different browsers - same result. Repeat until bored (actually I decided that I couldn't bill my client for the time I was spending and the lost income was mounting up to a significant percentage of the ticket price.)

Try phoning the local outlet a few times - busy every time as expected - that's why I want to do it on line. Actually I got the same result this evening too - one ticket any price. It doesn't say none are available/sold out/you have done something wrong/etc. Just nothing that matches my one ticket at any price criteria.

I guess the answer is to queue at a real outlet - but that is a time consuming process too and no more guaranteed to produce a result. The Internet should be a real alternative. Either sell me a ticket (or 2) or tell me there are none available. Don't screw me around.......

Time to get your act into gear Ticketmaster - booking systems aren't exactly rocket science and the customer experience should encourage not discourage returns.

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Update I have since found out that about 75% of the tickets had been sold in advance and the remainder sold out in 17 minutes. The transaction rate of 1 per second per 1000 tickets sold in 17 minutes is not exactly high performance. If the Ticketmaster systems can't handle that level of load they need sorting out.

Why couldn't they say "Sorry - sold out" or "Sorry the system is overloaded please try later".

Another great day on Saturday. My registration number was 40 so there were plenty of people there although there weren't 40 boats on the water. Photos and more later.

The 5th Plimmerton Classic & Wooden Boat Festival
is at the Plimmerton Boating Club, Karehana Bay, on Saturday the 14th March.

This event has been very popular with the public as well as the boaties over the past 4 years, and this year's one is again creating a lot of interest.

As well as old craft that have been restored there are always beautiful new boats designed in traditional style. Both sailing, motor boats and rowing or paddling craft are represented. There will be model boats, traditional boat designer John Wellsford will have a range of plans on display and there will be other displays of related interest. The sail past down to Plimmerton Beach will be at about 1.30pm weather permitting. There is also an open invitation to bigger boats of traditional style to come and anchor in the Bay near the Boating Club and just add to the character of the day.

"Messing about in boats" is the point of all this and if it inspires some more people to get involved, that will be a great result.

The Classic Boat Festival is now recognized as one of the main annual events at the Plimmerton Club and the public are most welcome to come and join in the event and enjoy the clubs' facilities, which include the bistro, restaurant and great areas for viewing the displays in the grounds and on the water. The public are welcome to come and enjoy this event any time from 10am to 3pm.

I have just been reminded of Marcus Ranum's "The Six Dumbest Ideas in Computer Security".

The idea that we should only allow what is necessary for the function we need to deliver is usually only thought of at the level of firewalls and other network level systems. Once we get onto a workstation or server we generally have access to a wide range of services by default - even on a locked down system.
I am going to start taking a serious look at the hundreds of installed packages on my Ubuntu laptop to see what I can remove or disable without stopping me doing what I need to on a day to day basis.

One that comes instantly to mind is the Vodafone Mobile Connect Client. The Gnome Network manager now handles my Vodem 3G USB device properly and I am no longer using VMC. Of course I won't be able to send or receive text messages (unless there is something else to do that) but actually apart from an initial test to see if it works, I never did anyway.

I'll keep a record of my application and executable cleanup activity and update this from time to time.