Edent

Edent, 2 years ago to shopping

Thoughts on instant grocery apps

My life isn't cool enough for most apps. I'm never wandering through a new city, waiting to be bombarded with special offers. I don't need to meet hot singles in my area. And I can't remember the last time I went to a secret last-minute gig.

But I do like eating cheap food!

London seems flooded with Instant Grocery apps right now. A dozen different start-ups which

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/12/thoughts-on-instant-grocery-apps/

#/etc/ #shopping

Edent, 2 years ago to Starwars

Star Wars and Standards

I recently read Future Law - a book of essays about using popular culture to explain technological and legal concepts. One essay looks looks at GDPR issues experienced by Disney® Princesses. I thought I'd try my hand at something similar! So here's my (brief and incomplete) guide to Technical Standards in Star Wars!

Where do we see compatibility - and incompatibility - wit

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/12/star-wars-and-standards/

#/etc/ #standards #starwars

Edent, 2 years ago to random

Review: Virgin 1Gbps Fibre

Exactly a year ago, I asked "What's the point of Gigabit broadband?"

Well… I'm about to find out! Despite my well-publicised annoyance with Virgin Media, they are the only fibre provider in my area. They've also recently merged with O2 - my old employer1 - and are offering a free speed boost to any joint customers.

I had an old pre-pay O2 SIM, so s

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/12/review-virgin-1gbps-fibre/

#/etc/ #broadband #gadget #isp #review #virgin

Edent, 2 years ago to BugBounty

Responsible Disclosure: Chrome security bug let tabs draw over each other ($1k bounty)

Chrome for Android had a flaw which let one tab draw over another - even if the tabs were on completely different domains. A determined attacker might have been able to abuse this to convince a user to download and installed a

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/12/responsible-disclosure-chrome-security-bug-lets-tabs-draw-over-each-other/

#/etc/ #bug #bugbounty #google #responsibledisclosure #security

Edent, 2 years ago to home

Thermal Imaging Our Home

As I blogged about a few weeks ago, I've been playing with the Seek Thermal Compact Infrared Camera. I've been using it for such incredibly interesting things as seeing how cold my nose is and whether my radiators are balanced. Fun!

But what I really wanted it for is to see how well - or poorly - insulated our new house is. So I waited until it was freezing outside, then

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/12/thermal-imaging-our-home/

#/etc/ #home #seekthermal

Edent, 2 years ago to ukteachers

Smart Quotes and Coding Examples

Every so often, I copy and paste some code from a website and it utterly fails. This is probably a good reminder not to practise ✂️ & 📋 development, but it is also a reminder that "smart" formatting often trips up new students.

Here are a few examples I've seen recently - produced as a result of computers trying to be cleverer than humans, and huma

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/11/smart-quotes-and-coding-examples/

#/etc/ #code #education #NaBloPoMo

Edent, 2 years ago to random

What small inventions did you think we'd have by now?
I'm not talking personal jetpacks or holographic TV.

I'm talking hydrophobic ketchup bottles that get out every drop.
Or something more durable than velco.

What is our future missing?

Edent, 2 years ago to random Dutch

Falsehoods (American) programmers believe about timezones.

Edent, 2 years ago to random

Other than planting trees etc, is there a viable method of carbon capture for the home?

Edent, 2 years ago to Electronics

No, you can't save £30 per year by switching off your "standby" devices

Every few years, a dodgy stat does the rounds claiming you can save £££ if you switch off all your gadgets at the wall. The standby mode of your TV is bleeding you dry!!!

https://twitter.com/EnergySvgTrust/status/1447185187956211712

This is known as

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/10/no-you-cant-save-30-per-year-by-switching-off-your-standby-devices/

#/etc/ #electricity #electronics #energysaving #green #power

Edent, 2 years ago to random

Time to check out my Direct Message Request Inbox on The Twitter.

(Kudos to the person roped both me & Hilary Clinton into a massive spam thread. She didn't reply.)

Edent, 2 years ago to random

EBCDIC is incompatible with GDPR

Welcome to acronym city!

The Court of Appeal of Brussels has made an interesting ruling. A customer complained that their bank was spelling the customer's name incorrectly. The bank didn't have support for diacritical marks. Things like á, è, ô, ü, ç etc. Those accents are common in many languages. So it was a little surprising that the bank didn't suppor

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/10/ebcdic-is-incompatible-with-gdpr/

#/etc/ #gdpr #name #unicode

Edent, 2 years ago to Health

Where are the high-tech dental implants?

When I was a kid, I had two of my adult teeth surgically removed. As such, I still have two of my baby teeth. And, as I get older, they're starting to wear down.

At every dental check-up my dentist prods them, gives them a wiggle, and sometimes takes an x-ray. "Well," they say, "They're fine for now…"

The "for now" is getting closer with every

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/10/where-are-the-high-tech-dental-implants/

#/etc/ #health #teeth

Edent, 2 years ago to random

Found lots of graffiti in an underpass near a school.

This is a vicious insult 🤣

Edent, 2 years ago to BBC

TTSF (Text To Shipping Forecast)

The BBC Shipping Forecast is one of those strange bits of national tradition which, somehow, bridges the gap between infrastructure and folklore.

You can listen listen to the latest forecast on the BBC - read by professional newscasters.

But what if we wanted a robot to read it? If our speaker is sick, bored, or too expensive - how would we automate the audio

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/10/ttsf-text-to-shipping-forecast/

#/etc/ #bbc #robot #tts

Edent, 2 years ago to random

Fun Fact!
You can view a web page's HTML on Android using either Firefox or Chrome.
view-source:http://example.com/
No need for plugins, emulators, or 3rd party services.

Chrome showing a page's source.

Edent, 2 years ago to random

SlideShare is selling your old slides - here's how to stop it

Remember SlideShare? It's where we used to upload PowerPoints back in the day. It was easier than emailing them around. I think. No one really remembers. I think they got bought by LinkedIn? Anyway, they're now owned by Scribd.

If someone visits one of your old slideshows and wants to download it, Scribd will char

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/10/slideshare-is-selling-your-old-slides-heres-how-to-stop-it/

#/etc/ #slides

Edent, 2 years ago to android

Gadget Review: Seek Thermal Compact Infrared Camera

Winter is coming! And, as such, I want to check which parts of my house are leaking heat. So, the natural solution is to buy an Infrared Camera and point it at things!

The Seek Thermal is a curious beast. While you can buy Android phones with built in thermal cameras, and dedicated devices, this is a

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/10/gadget-review-seek-infrared-camera/

#/etc/ #android #gadget #PIR206 #review #seekthermal #thermal

Edent, 2 years ago to academia

Opting Out of TurnItIn

The web service TurnItIn is a "plagiarism detector". Lots of universities use it to assess whether their students are copy-n-pasting content which they haven't written.

I'm not a big fan of it. First, I'll explain how to opt-out your websites. Then I'll explain why I don't like the service.

Block Their Robot

TurnItIn scans the web and records everything on your websit

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/09/opting-out-of-turnitin/

#/etc/ #academia #msc #turnitin

Edent, 2 years ago to random

Magnetic chargers are the future

Apparently, Apple plans to make a port-less iPhone which only uses wireless charging.

This is something I predicted 7 years ago!

Qi - the wireless charging standard - is excellent. Put your phone down on a mat, or in a cradle, and it starts charging. Lovely! But there's a problem. You can't pick up your phone while it's charging. How many times have you lain on

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/09/magnetic-chargers-are-the-future/

#/etc/ #mobile #qi

Edent, 2 years ago to art

Turning an eInk screen into a monochrome art gallery

Previously on Terence Eden's Blog: I turned an old eReader into an Information Screen.

This time, I'm taking a different Nook, and turning it into a magic gallery. Here's what it looks like in action:

https://twitter.com/edent/status/1440788013236195335

Video

With the front light off:

With

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/09/turning-an-eink-screen-into-a-monochrome-art-gallery/

#/etc/ #art #eink #images #nook #php #tutorial

Edent, 2 years ago to random

Upcycled an old eReader into an art frame.
Displays a new black & white piece of art from Flickr every few minutes.
Full write-up this weekend, but pretty straightforward to do.

The same frame showing a moody photograph.
The same frame displays a black and white drawing.

Edent, 2 years ago to random Italian

Predictions of the far future!

Edent, 2 years ago to random

Tell me Google Maps was made by Americans without etc etc.