Archive for the ‘could_do_better’ Category
Full Fibre Saga
Almost two weeks later than planned, and after almost three days without an Internet connection to the house it seems like I finally have a working Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) install. Phew! This is the story of how it took so long, and the regulatory failure that underpins the sorry state of affairs. Background […]
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Tags: adsl, BT, CBT, fibre, FTTC, FTTP, full fibre, OFCOM, ONT, OpenReach, PlusNet, VDSL
January 2023
Pupdate I shied away from mentioning that Milo was ill last month. I guess I was hoping that he’d bounce back soon, and I didn’t want to worry anybody. But January brought terrible news, as it seems he has lymphoma. He’s started chemotherapy, and I hope I get to mention what he’s been up to […]
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Tags: apple, Beat Saber, cancer, credit card, fraud, lymphoma, MBNA, Milo, pupdate, skiing, solar
Dependabot Wishlist
GitHub is at the heart of how I do work, and Dependabot is one of the core tools. Even before we started using OpenSSF Scorecards, which pushed us to pin dependencies, Dependabot was something we used a lot to ensure that things were up to date. But, Dependabot isn’t perfect, and looking at the discussion […]
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Tags: Dependabot, dependencies, dependency management, github, rollup, wishlist
December 2020
I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad for a holiday break… In this post, a brief pupdate, some new toys, People Powered, the history of PCBs, toiletry vacations, and some Pi and VR stuff. Pupdate Max continues to grow, and get used to being part of the household. It’s been really fun having him […]
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Tags: AirPods, Beat Saber, crackle, earphones, headphones, Jono Bacon, motorbike, motorcycle, PCB, people powered, Quad Lock, reMarkable, Snugs, toiletry, vr
November 2020
There’s been lots happening this month, with the puppy growing, some IT failures, moving on from some previously loved products and services, more updates on streaming and VR, and a few things I forgot in October… Puppy He’s done a lot of growing from the start of the month: To the end of the month: […]
Filed under: could_do_better, monthly_update, Raspberry Pi, technology | Leave a Comment
Tags: Another Now, battery, Beat Saber, bookmark, Brio, dachshund, economics, electronics, JLAB, kit, lenses, mic, microphone, mobile, NAS, Pinboard, pinboard.in. pinner, PlusNet, prescription, puppy, pushpin, Star Wars, Starblinken, streaming, Three, UPS, vr, webcam
Leaving the Institution
TL;DR Yesterday the IET shut down their email alias service, which is the only thing I cared about as a member. So come 2020 I expect that I’ll no longer be a member (MIET) or keep the designation of Chartered Engineer (CEng) that goes with that. Background I joined the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) […]
Filed under: could_do_better | 3 Comments
Tags: alias, BCS, CEng, email, FBCS, IEE, IET, institution, MIEE, MIET
Surprisingly Slipshod for Amazon
I got an email proclaiming: AmazonFresh – now in your area If that wasn’t exciting enough in its own right (which would probably be the case) it went on to say: Get a £20 Amazon.co.uk gift card when you spend £60 or more on an AmazonFresh order and have it delivered between 16 – 30 […]
Filed under: could_do_better | 2 Comments
Tags: amazon, Fresh, London, UX
Southern Railway recently upgraded their train ticket buying website. The new user interface (UI) is very pretty, and I would guess it’s an easier place to buy train tickets online if you’ve never done that before. If you buy tickets frequently, and particularly if you need receipts for expenses then it’s a user experience (UX) […]
Filed under: could_do_better, grumble, technology | 1 Comment
Tags: Southern, ticket, train, UI, UX
The Dell Lesson on Trust Scope
Dell has been in trouble for the last few days for shipping a self signed CA ‘eDellRoot'[1] in the trusted root store on their Windows laptops. From a public relations perspective they’ve done the right thing by saying sorry and providing a fix. This post isn’t going to pick apart the rights and wrongs – […]
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Tags: CA, certificate, Dell, trust
I had many issues with the kitchen I bought from Wren living. One of the most troublesome ones came from wooden worktops, and in hindsight I should never have bought my worktop from Wren. Sizing Wren don’t supply a full range of sizes. So they tried to cover a 2605x945mm island with two pieces of 2400x900mm worktop […]
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Tags: kitchens, living, wooden, worktop, Wren
Chris Swan's Weblog 