Author Archives: David K.

Our Lives are Run by Bad Software: Verizon Edition

Posted on February 20, 2023 by David K.

My son broke his phone, front and back. Instead of fixing it, I went to a local Digital Replay store, and bought a second hand phone. We logged into the phone with his Apple account, which wanted to send a … Continue reading →

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Corporate IT “Automated Systems”

Posted on February 17, 2023 by David K.

Today, I was contacted by #CorporateIT as to whether I was still using <expensive software>. I said no, and that I had tried to uninstall it, but it didn’t work. And, by the way, I’ve tried to “surrender” several other … Continue reading →

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Corporate IT “Support”

Posted on February 17, 2023 by David K.

Suppose you have a problem on your company laptop, for which you contact #CorporateIT, using Microsoft Teams. Now, you’re already logged in as yourself, in Teams, but the first thing they always ask is to confirm that it’s… you, who … Continue reading →

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Our Lives are Run by Bad Software: Discord Edition

Posted on February 16, 2023 by David K.

A friend invites me to a watch a stream of him playing a game on Discord. I’m not at my computer, so I install the app on my iPad. It asks for credentials, but the login process doesn’t seem to … Continue reading →

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Ebony and Ivory

Posted on February 15, 2023 by David K.

This is actually what McCartney and Jackson were singing about. Sony and Microsoft, living in harmony. I bought the Xbox because Microsoft bought Bethesda, and will be making Starfield an exclusive. According to leaks, it’s releasing in the summer. (The … Continue reading →

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Fallout 76

Posted on February 8, 2023 by David K.

I screwed up. I’ve been wanting to play Fallout 4 again, but I’m waiting for the next-gen refresh, which is supposedly due “this year.” Fallout 76 is an MMO by Bethesda, which are the same people that do Elder Scrolls … Continue reading →

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AI and the Big Five – Stratechery by Ben Thompson

Posted on January 16, 2023 by David K.

Mobile ended up being dominated by two incumbents: Apple and Google. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t disruptive, though: Apple’s new UI paradigm entailed not viewing the phone as a small PC, a la Microsoft; Google’s new business model paradigm entailed … Continue reading →

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Mastodon

Posted on January 2, 2023 by David K.

So I’m just now realizing that Mastodon is a Rails 6.1 application. I just looked over the Gemfile, and it includes a lot of the usual gems, notably cocoon, right at the end. I have a love/hate relationship with this … Continue reading →

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Why Not Mars (Idle Words)

Posted on January 2, 2023 by David K.

Somehow we’ve embarked on the biggest project in history even though it has no articulable purpose, offers no benefits, and will cost taxpayers more than a good-sized war. Even the builders of the Great Pyramid at Giza could at least … Continue reading →

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Don’t Get Involved with Things you Can’t Fix, and You Can’t Fix Stupid

Posted on December 13, 2022 by David K.

Twenty-odd years ago, I was involved in a Product Data Management system implementation. This is just part of a much larger story, but the salient point from the epic saga is that I worked for a psychopath, and he tried … Continue reading →

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