By @edent · error forms racism · 9 comments · 300 words · read ~1,733 times.
The world is a complex place. It is tempting to enforce simplicity upon it to make things easier for computers. Gender is a boolean, no one is older than 99, all text flows left to right, and names are always in English. That makes it nice and easy for us to write computer systems - […]
Continue reading →By @edent · mobile spam voice · 150 words · read ~452 times.
Like most of you, I'm inundated with spam calls. So I have a new solution. When an unknown number calls me, they get routed to this audio file. This was created with Amazon Polly which is free for casual use. I was pretty impressed with the voice quality. Although there are limits to how well […]
Continue reading →By @edent · MSc · 4,400 words · read ~3,427 times.
I'm doing an apprenticeship MSc in Digital Technology. In the spirit of openness, I'm blogging my research and my assignments. This is my paper from the Technical and Digital Leadership module. I think it is fair to say I didn't get on too well with it. I found it very focused on American companies - […]
Continue reading →By @edent · art books · 1 comment · 150 words
I was inspired by this delightful bookshop clock: Bookshop clock... pic.twitter.com/1tvwJiI4kn — David Coates (@OziasMidwinter) May 16, 2021 I wondered - if it was possible to create a similar clock using books from a single author? So here's my first attempt - using Agatha Christie's novels. I've tried to use first edition covers, where possible. […]
Continue reading →By @edent · android mobile phone sip spam voip · 3 comments · 300 words · read ~193 times.
Like many of you, I'm inundated with spam calls. I've suffered endless car accidents, my National Insurance Number has been suspended multiple times, and my broadband will be cut off imminently. Wouldn't be nice to screen out all the fraudsters? So I've set up a Bananaphone. When people ring me, they get 30 seconds of […]
Continue reading →By @edent · hack security svg xss · 450 words · read ~221 times.
Bit of a boring write-up, but here we go. Taxi app Gett had a content injection flaw in its search function. By searching for an HTML string, it was possible for an attacker to add links or images to a page. It was really hard to contact them - but the threat of media attention […]
Continue reading →By @edent · games google · 7 comments · 450 words · read ~1,061 times.
I got a student discount to buy a Google Stadia games system for £60. Seemed like pretty good value. But I didn't buy it - because Google refuses to tell me how much their ecosystem costs. Upfront Cost There's nothing on the main Stadia page which says that you need to pay £9/month to get […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review max berry Sci Fi · 450 words
Felicity Staples hates reporting on murders. As a journalist for a mid-size New York City paper, she knows she must take on the assignment to research Madison May's shocking murder, but the crime seems random and the suspect is in the wind. That is, until Felicity spots the killer on the subway, right before he […]
Continue reading →By @edent · food vegan vegetarian · 6 comments · 500 words · read ~318 times.
I'm an indifferent cook, and mostly-vegan. But I like to be adventurous in my eating habits, when I can. So I decided to follow and then adapt this intriguing recipe for "banana peel bacon". OK. But Why? Food waste is a big issue. People throw away lots of perfectly edible food. They also discard tonnes […]
Continue reading →By @edent · mobile ofcom · 3 comments · 600 words · read ~1,135 times.
Here's a little telephony mystery for you - can you find out how much your phone provider charges for 056 calls? (Skip the background and jump to the survey) Background Way back in the mists of time - 2004 - Ofcom decreed that "Voice over Broadband" was going to be the next big thing. VoB […]
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