I've grown to loath IFTTT. What started out as a cool way to plug internet things together has being an opaque an uncommunicative company with no real interest in customer service. That's not surprising, I suppose, its paying customers are the companies who can't be bothered to develop a proper API and so just shove some integrations up there. But it is annoying for those of us who want something simple - like debug logs or notifications when scripts fail. Or something complex like conditional …
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Amazon now let you secure your account with Two-Factor-Authentication (2FA). This means you can log on with a one-time password which changes every minute. For some reason, Amazon call it Two-Step-Verification (2SV) - but it is exactly the same as all the other 2FA solutions. The Process There's no direct link to 2FA settings. So the process is slightly convoluted. Assuming you are signed in to your Amazon account, you need to Go to https://www.amazon.co.uk/your-account Click on "Login & …
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Music streaming service Spotify has launched a new range of adverts which have gathered mixed reactions. On the surface, they seem like the usual bland corporate attempts at chumming down - trying to cynically pass off advertising as friendship. It's kinda funny, right? Teresa López Ortega@TLopezOrtegaAt least a funny way to display the privacy we're allowing companies to violate: Spotify's New Global Ad Campaign adweek.it/2gRLL18❤️ 1💬 1🔁 011:08 - Wed 30 November 2016 Is that OK? It fe…
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The Internet Fridge is a standing joke among technologists. I was writing about them in 2002, and they still haven't appeared! So I'm going to show you how I built one. Stop giggling at the back! All I want is for my fridge to notify me if the door has been left over for more than a minute. I'm building this with an Onion Omega2 - but you could just as easily use a Pi Zero or any other board. Design This should be simple (as all complicated stories start): When the fridge door is…
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I've been sent an Omega2 Plus from Onion.io - it is a $9 Linux computer with built in Wi-Fi, Made for IoT. The obvious comparison is with the Raspberry Pi - and the ultra-cheap Pi-Zero. The Omega2 has a few advantages. It has a (small) amount of built in memory - so even if you don't have an SD card to hand it is still usable. WiFi is also built in - only 2.4GHz, but good enough for most purposes. Arduino compatible. A whole range of expansion boards. It runs Linux Embedded Development…
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Has it really been 6 years since I last had vegetarian caviar? That's far too long! Sadly, the manufacturers of that particular brand have disappeared - so I was overjoyed when I discovered the UK-based Vegetarian Caviar Club. There are four flavours available, and jars cost between £6 and £7 plus postage. Let's get one thing out of the way first - I've never had real caviar. Not the hundred-quid-a teaspoonful proper stuff. If you're reading this blog, I doubt you have either! Before I b…
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Welcome to another edition of "Middle Class Whinging!" The exciting blog where I chronicle disappointing experiences with admired brands. Virgin Wines loudly and repeatedly promise "next day delivery" on their wine cases. What they don't tell you is that this excludes orders made on Friday. And Saturday. And Sunday too. Basically, they only consider an order valid if it was placed on Monday - Thursday. I believed their lies and ordered my wine on Friday morning - so it would arrive in time…
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As ever, mostly notes to myself. RAR is a silly and proprietary format. I prefer free software and I find that ZIP files are smaller and decompress faster. Not everyone agrees, and that's fine. Assuming you've downloaded a RAR file and want to convert it to ZIP, what's the easiest way? Install P7Zip sudo apt-get install p7zip-full p7zip-rar Script This basic bash script will Extract a RAR example.rar file to a temporary directory on a RAM disk. Recompress to example.zip. Delete the…
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Gmail is usually pretty good at stopping spam from reaching my inbox. When it slips up, it reminds me of just how terrifying the modern internet is. Early one morning, I received this email from someone I know (details redacted by me). It came from his email, it has his signature at the bottom. This doesn't look like someone hijacking his email so far. I don't put much stock by "Protected by Antivirus" claims - because they provide no proof that scanning has taken place. I know you…
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This is mostly written so I can copy-and-paste it on to forums where people keep getting this basic information wrong. If you've ever moved house, you'll know how annoying it is to receive mail for the previous occupants. When those letters have a big red BAILIFFS ARE COMING warning on them - it is especially distressing. The relevant section of the law is: A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which h…
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I'm 16. My mate Pete has been humming "Achinta beyda beyda tatvaaaah" endlessly. I finally break and ask him what gibberish he's spouting. And thus I am introduced to Kula Shaker. It was the first CD I ever illicitly ripped to MP3. It was my reference album for any audio equipment purchase. Potential girlfriends were unfairly judged on their appreciation of its mystic tosh. I'm 36. My mate Vicky posts that she has spare tickets to Kula Shaker's 20th anniversary tour. I sprint to the web a…
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Virgin Media are trying to resell your internet access. Worse still, they appear to be doing it without users' permission. A brief recap: Back in 2015, Virgin Media announced plans for a WiFi sharing network. A user's router would broadcast a separate WiFi network and other Virgin customers could roam on to it via an app. By default, all customers were opted-in to this service. Like most of Virgin's plans, it was marred by delays and technical problems. I was on the trial for their new…
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