San Francisco from Hill 88
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Monday, September 6, 2021.
Leaving Chrome
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Saturday, February 12, 2022.
My Chromebook was stolen over the weekend. The good news is that I didn't lose anything given the cloud only nature of the device. The bad news was that I didn't really want to get a new one.
I loved the cost and the boot speed and being able to do nearly everything I needed to with a browser-in-a-box.
But the nearly was a deal breaker. I sometimes need to VPN and the Chromebook wouldn't. It just wasn't compatible with our flavor of VPN and I didn't want to buy another Chromebook on the off chance that Google would eventually fix this. I also have to use Skype (I'd rather not) and this isn't really possible on the Chromebook either. Imo.im was good while it lasted. IM+ is horrible.
I've abandoned the Chrome dream and picked up a Surface Pro 3.
Read the full Chromebook Adventure
(Published to the Fediverse as: Leaving Chrome #etc #microsoft #google #chromebook #surface Why I moved back to Windows after a year of using a Chromebook as my secondary system. )
Google PageSpeed Insights hates Google Analytics
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Wednesday, February 22, 2017.
I so want to get to 100% on Google PageSpeed Insights but I'm getting dinged for loading Google Analytics!
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Google PageSpeed Insights hates Google Analytics #etc #google #speed Why is it impossible to get a 100% Google PageSpeed Insights score if you use Google Analytics? )
Is it safe to open securedoc.html (Cisco Registered Envelope)?
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Monday, July 15, 2024.
I last got one of these in 2010 and assumed it must have died by now, but no, otherwise sensible organisations are still training their customers to fall victim to phishing attacks by asking them to open dodgy email attachments.
The product in question is Cisco Registered Envelope and it deals with the lack of security in email by sending you an encrypted HTML file. Opening this file sends you off to register on some website and then runs a Java app to decrypt the message. This is insane. The HTML attachment in insane and the Java applet is insane.
The latest email I got in this format was an appointment reminder from UCSF. I'm sure there is some HIPPA requirement that they can't just send medical information in a plain text email. But they could send an email that lets you know you should login to your account to see the appointment. It's not like the securedoc.html method is magic, you still have to create an account on a website to use it so it buys you literally nothing.
UCSF, shame on you. Look after your patients digital health as well as their physical health. Out of self interest if nothing else, nobody can pay you if their bank accounts have been emptied after falling victim to a real phishing attack.
Cisco, shame on you. This product is so wrong headed it's impossible to believe that you're doing anything right.
(previously)
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Is it safe to open securedoc.html (Cisco Registered Envelope)? #etc #securedoc #cisco #phishing #ucsf #hippa Securedoc.html looks like a phishing/malware attack but isn't. Here's why it's dangerous anyway. )
Crushing PNGs in .NET
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Thursday, May 13, 2021.
I'm working on page speed and Google PageSpeed Insights is telling me that my PNGs are just way too large. Sadly .NET does not provide any way to optimize PNG images so there is no easy fix - just unmanaged libraries and command line tools.
I have an allergy to manual processes so I've lashed up some code to automatically find and optimize PNGs in my App_Data folder using PNGCRUSH. I can call CrushAllImages() to fix up everything or CrushImage() when I need to fix up a specific PNG. Code below:
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Crushing PNGs in .NET #code #png #compression #crush #asp.net #mvc How to automatically reduce the size of PNG images for a .NET website using PNGCRUSH. )
LEGO Management
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Wednesday, February 22, 2017.
Good HBR article on LEGO and girls: LEGO’s Girl Problem Starts with Management, depressing conclusion:
"Don’t hold your breath, though. Despite its first-day sold-out success, LEGO has decided not to continue the Research Institute line. It was only a “limited edition.” So girls, back to the pool. The guys in this boardroom don’t seem to want to give you any ideas… let alone seats at the table."
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(Published to the Fediverse as: LEGO Management #etc #lego #girls More on LEGO's girl problem (it starts with management). )
Autumnal Equinox 2014
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Wednesday, February 22, 2017.
Autumn starts now in the northern hemisphere, Spring in the southern. Rendered in Catfood Earth (Windows, Android).
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Autumnal Equinox 2014 #code #earth #equinox #autumnal The exact moment of Autumnal Equinox 2014 rendered in Catfood Earth. )
Sunset sunset
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Saturday, February 19, 2022.
Sunset over the Sunset district in San Francisco. There is also the start of moonset at the start of the video and then clouds roll in and, unusually, out before the sun goes down.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Sunset sunset #timelapse #sanfrancisco #sunset #moonset #video Time lapse of sunset over the Sunset District in San Francisco, California. )
Cable Car Museum
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2015.
Worth a visit. When I first moved to San Francisco I assumed that the cable cars were the type that go up mountains rather than a cunning way to drag trolleys up hills.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Cable Car Museum #photo #muni Photo of the Cable Car Museum in action (San Francisco, California). )
Please Stay
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Wednesday, February 22, 2017.
My Scottish Grandmother would always tell me off if I said I was English instead of British. She also said it was better to be moving in the wrong direction rather than standing still in the right one. That mostly applied to navigating traffic, but I think it's true for Scotland as well. Help make the UK better and don't become small and stagnant and some sort of irrelevant bland euro-region.
And if you do go then this.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Please Stay #politics #scotland I don't get a vote, but I'm a quarter Scottish and I think Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom. )
