(Usual disclaimer - I used to work for Vodafone UK and Telefonica UK & maintain commercial interests in both. This is intended as a general discussion, not an in-depth investigation.) I just received a scam call - you've probably had a few. A monotonic robot voice told me it was calling from HMRC - the UK tax authority - and there would soon be a warrant out for my arrest. https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/HMRC-spam-call.mp4 The phone number is suspiciously similar to the…
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I made a little girl cry recently. "But why do I have to learn Python?" She wailed, "I like Scratch!" "I know," I said, "But there are different programming languages for different sorts of tasks." "That's stupid" she said, with all the perception of 6 weeks Code Club experience. "You can do everything in Scratch." I found it hard to argue with the twelve-year-old - you can do just about anything with the child-friendly Scratch programming language. You can even build an entire Operating…
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The visionary author’s masterpiece pulls us—along with her Black female hero—through time to face the horrors of slavery and explore the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now. Brutal and perfectly executed sci-fi. Doesn't waste any time on the well-worn tropes of paradoxes or stealing a sports almanac. I'd usually find the lack of exposition to be annoying - but here the story was so powerful that I had no time to miss it. Published 40 years ago, but hasn't aged a day…
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I have a limited amount of time on this planet. I also have a limited amount of money to spend. Therefore, like any Homo Economicus, I have a rational desire to get the most value for money for my time-wasting distractions. So, after months of memes, I bought Untitled Goose Game on the Nintendo Switch to play over the Xmas break. I baulked at the price - £18 - but figured since everyone else on Twitter enjoyed it, I would as well. I settled down to play it one afternoon, picked it up the …
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Yesterday, January 2nd, my wife received a billing alert from her phone provider. Luckily, she's not with EE - because it's a pretty convincing text. That domain name is specifically designed to include the day's date. If you're stood up on a crowded train, with your phone screen cracked, would you notice that a . is where a / should be? A quick look at the URl shows a trusted domain at the start - followed by today's date. It starts with https:// - that means it's secure, right? Is .info…
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It's really easy to think "I haven't achieved anything this week!" and fall into self-pity. So, at the start of 2019, I decided to give future-me a present. I started a Trello board called "Done!". Each week, I created a new column - "Done 2019-01-04", "Done 2019-01-11", and so on for the rest of the year. Every day, when I'd completed a task, I'd add a new card to the list. Mostly simple things: Emailed Jo about Project X's Q1 results. Meeting with Y Corp Got new badge from security …
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I've been waiting for these for a long time. Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edent#LazyWeb can anyone find me some Bluetooth headphones which recharge via USB-C.All the C ones I've found are wired.❤️ 0💬 3🔁 017:18 - Fri 04 November 2016 Anker, through its sub-brand SoundCore - have released the "Life Q10" headphones. They're usually about £45 - but Amazon had an instant coupon which took them down to £33. Bargain! They're exactly what I want in over-ear headphones. They're large enough for my flap…
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