ActivityPub mastodon · 2 comments · 500 words
I didn't realise this, so I'm documenting it to stop other people making the same silly mistake that I did. Messages in ActivityPub have two distinct ID strings. Here's a (truncated) view of what happens when I send a new message on Mastodon: "id": "https://mastodon.social/users/Edent/statuses/1234567890/activity", "type": "Create", …
Continue reading →ActivityPub CyberSecurity http security · 5 comments · 400 words
It's never great to find out you're wrong, but that's how learning and personal growth happens. HTTP Message Signatures are hard. There are lots of complex parts and getting any aspect wrong means certain death. In a previous post, I wrote A simple(ish) guide to verifying HTTP Message Signatures in PHP. It turns out that it was too simple. And far too trusting. An HTTP Message Signature is a…
Continue reading →android google GrapheneOS LineageOS · 1 comment · 750 words · Viewed ~721 times
These are notes to myself - and anyone else who finds them useful. Before starting, I booted the Google OS to install the latest firmware and an eSIM. After a few days of enduring Google's naggy software, I was ready to commit to installing something better. I tried using the Web Installer. It managed to flash some of the partitions and then failed with: Failed to execute 'claimInterface' on…
Continue reading →Movie Review · 2 comments · 200 words
Yes. Every single frame of this movie is a delight - even the closing titles. It is an explosion of outrageous colour, extravagant lenses, and delirious shots. Like an Escher woodcut electrified into life. I adored director Yorgos Lanthimos' earlier film The Lobster - this feel almost like that film was injected with several million more dollars and a sprinkling of psychedelics. This magic is…
Continue reading →Open Source privacy Proton · 2 comments · 450 words · Viewed ~372 times
I've recently signed up to the privacy-preserving service Proton. All the email, calendar, drive, VPN, and other services seem to hang off the proton.me domain. I wanted to download the Android apps to my phone - without using the Google Play Store. The VPN app is on F-Droid but none of the others are. So, because I'm lazy, I Googled "Download Proton Mail". I landed on…
Continue reading →OpenBenches · 1 comment · 100 words
I was delighted to be interviewed by the Volunteer Technologist podcast about our OpenBenches project. Huge thanks to Gene Liverman for having me on. It is available, as they say, wherever you get your podcasts. …
Continue reading →Star Wars · 5 comments · 550 words
I've been watching the new 4K77 fan-releases of Star Wars (AKA - A New Hope). It is amazing seeing the graininess of the original picture and hearing just how lush the original stereo soundtrack is. There's even some good bonus content in terms of a long-lost LaserDisc commentary. But rewatching the film made me re-asses what I thought I knew about The Force. My childhood was dominated by trying …
Continue reading →internet isp virgin · 9 comments · 200 words
Virgin Media - a UK-based fibre-optic ISP - recently sent me a survey about their potential product offerings. It was desperate to know if I wanted bundled streaming video (no), or Sky Sports (LOL no), or any other digital subscriptions (no, go away), or a landline (what, is this the 1990s?). They even wanted to know if I'd pay extra for priority support. In amongst all the other offers, they …
Continue reading →mobile mvno sim uk · 6 comments · 450 words · Viewed ~8,841 times
After railing against eSIM-only phones for over a decade, I've finally succumbed. It appears impossible to buy a modern phone without them. Thankfully, most seem to be dual-SIM. So I can have a regular SIM card and an eSIM. I find dual-SIM phones handy. I have a disposable number which I give out to people who don't need my main number. And when I go abroad, it's useful to have a local SIM. …
Continue reading →ffmpeg tv video · 4 comments · 500 words · Viewed ~325 times
A few years ago, classic TV comedy MASH, was remastered and released on streaming platforms. The picture quality was massively increased with just one minor flaw. They cropped the image to 16:9 widescreen 😱 This upset some fans. The thing about widescreen is that it chops off the top and bottom of the picture. The top of Hawkeye's head? Gone! The bottom of Hot-Lips' boots? Vanished! אױ װײ איז …
Continue reading →comedy gig review · 3 comments · 300 words · Viewed ~1,439 times
Bill's back! Fresh from winning some dance show on linear-TV and ready to... well, do the same thing as he's been doing for years. Rambling tales, dozens of instruments, innovative tech, and a charming whimsy - undercut with, perhaps, a little more darkness than usual. It is a classic, if unsurprising gig. There's an odd segue into Pachelbel's Canon - material which has been mined to extinction…
Continue reading →CyberSecurity gdpr o2 privacy security · 7 comments · 250 words · Viewed ~219 times
It's always fun keeping your network inspector tab open. While looking around the O2 UK website, I found this page all about eSIMs. For some reason, it wants to know the user's phone number. I put in a random number, and it refused to let me in. Putting in a genuine O2 number let me through. So what is it doing to validate numbers? It is making an API call to this URl: …
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