Geekly Update - 23 January 2020

sure intersted in the 118. smartphone!!

Why do you say "Is your DirecTV satellite dish about to explode?" when the actual story you later relate is about a satellite that may explode? How is that going to make the dish on my rooftop explode? Are you doing clickbait now, Bob?

EDITOR'S NOTE: In the Geekly Update, I try to mix equal parts of humor, irony and satire. Some of the best writing advice I got was from Jack Rickard, former publisher of Boardwatch Magazine. He said "If you want to throw a joke in your article, don't worry if people will 'get it' or not. If you think it's funny, do it!"

I fear that I must intercede and in the process of doing so explain that Bob here is not doing clickbait. Besides the fact that clickbait either is or is not, and a further fact remains that clickbait can not actually be done the suggestion is silly. Clickbait either exists or does not exist. If one(like Bob) were to try to actually "do" clickbait the entire fabric of the universe would instantly unravel. This universal unraveling would be so i immense that it would start and stop ant the exact same time. That would confuse everyone except for the Uooogahthorms who are an alien race living on the dark side of a moon that orbits the planet KL477722b. (They have an intellect so gargantuan that nothing in (or out) of creation has confused them for 600 billion years.
((That is not quite true as they never have gotten the hang of Facebook.))

But back to the exploding satellite dish; the laws of infinite improbability suggest that an explosion of a satellite in space while connected to a dish on a rooftop could both disappear from existence in a mere millionth of an nth of second.

Keep your eyes on the skies.

Hi Bob. Minor correction to your summary of the Microsoft data breach - it was not exposed for 14 years. It was actually less than a month.

But the data *exposed* stretched back 14 years. Hope that helps. Thanks for linking to my article.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Thanks for clarifying that.

The NY Times article on how to end your smartphone addiction require you to register and sign up for a newsletter or access it through your Facebook or Google account.
If you care about your privacy, none of these should be acceptable to you. And the link to the book's method of how to stop smoking led to an amazon page through which one can buy the book.
There was no way to find out about that writer's method that did not compromise your privacy.
I suggest Bob may head paragraphs like that with something like "you can read the article if you don't mind linking thru Google or FB or sign up for a free NYT newsletter subscription."
The former monetizes your NYT tropism and the latter sets you up for unending requests to subscribe to the newspaper. For money (what else?).

EDITOR'S NOTE: That's odd. I don't have a NYT subscription, and there were no roadblocks to viewing the article.

top squirrel just to let you know if it is privacy you want the best and only sure way is to disconnect from the internet and go off grid in my opinion.

REALLY good information in this issue, Bob. Thanks !

I feel compelled to point out that Jims comment regarding the exploding satellite dish has an unclosed paren which caused a compile error in the Uooogahthorms megacosmic supercomputer.
I also was presented with the NY Times offer?

Weak passwords are, of course, the cause of many problems as they allow others to access to your accounts. But I don't see the direct connection between weak passwords and ransomware, as was casually mentioned on the page you linked to. Unlike clicking on a link in email, or visiting an infected website, a hacker who has discovered your password still does not have access to your computer itself. Your computer, tablet or phone is where the ransomware payload would have to be downloaded in order to infect you, just like other malware.

So am I missing something? Granted, if your password was compromised, and you don't know it yet, hackers can gain information that makes it easier to pose as someone you trust. Then they can craft phishing emails that will be especially effective because your guard will be down. But even then, it's only when you finally click a link that you shouldn't have, whether in an email or on a web page, that you opened the door to ransomware. That short article should really not have muddied its otherwise correct advice by blaming 30% of ransomware infections on "weak password" practices. Instead, the blame lies with the other weaknesses most of us have: hasty thoughtlessness and the constant craving for new and exiting things to click for.

Ordered a Mate 30 on Jan 24. Changing my mind I IMMEDIATELY responded (as instructed) to the confirmation email asking to cancel. No response. I emailed again. No response. Typical of Chinese companies who never respond until it is to their benefit to do so.

Feb 4 I get an email that the Mate 30 is "out of storage" (translation: out of stock) and asking if I want to cancel or wait. I request cancel and immediate refund. Much to my surprise they promptly process a refund to PayPal. That's a pleasant surprise, but overall I would not order from them again.