The Chronicles of Noivad

Category: Life

  • Why It is Stupid to Buy a SmartTV

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    Noivad
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    There are no regulations concerning what information can & cannot be collected with smart devices, nor how that information is transmitted. This article from the BBC explains how LG’s SmartTV sends the names of his family members in clear text across the internet— something that most people would be uncomfortable having publicly available. Besides selling your private information to any…

  • Tech Crime & Punishment

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    Noivad
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    In a recent article Sophos had a poll asking what the appropriate sentence for tech related fraud — such as fake “Windows Support” call saying you have a virus and asking for $300 to fix it over the phone. I have covered what to do with any unsolicited phone calls before (The “short” answer: do not believe any…

  • UI Missteps: Form over Function

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    Noivad
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    Don’t get me wrong. The people at MacUpdate usually do a great job of managing and taking user feedback. But even with their careful curation of Mac & iOS apps that receive updates (sometimes numbering close to 100 OS X apps alone in one day), things slip through the cracks. I wasted about 5 minutes trying to…

  • Almost Everything I learned about Teamwork and Leadership, I Learned in Clan Lord

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    Noivad
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    I’ve been threatening to write this post for about a year. I had this sitting on the back-burner for a month and asked for comments from another player also in the IT Admin field. So, without further ado… For the unwashed, Clan Lord is an archaic, sorely out-of-date Multi-player Online Role-playing Game  (MORPG) that has been…

  • This Week, Last Week, Next Week…

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    Noivad
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    Excuse any typos, but this is a seat of my pants post… I finished up one job last week, which led to time to refactor this proof of concept class while revising other work. Exterior demoes of these proofs get reactions akin to saying, “Wow!” But I feel like Oz, saying “pay no attention to the duct…

  • 2013 in review

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    Noivad
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    This past year saw another significant increase in page hits, which is cool in some respect. However I value interaction more, and comments are few and far between. Still people seem to care mainly about music and bluetooth headphones. The great thing is, BT headsets are now in the realm of “very affordable.” FYI, the…

  • Product Feedback: Sometimes the Customer Does Know Best

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    Noivad
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    There’s gold in them thar’ trash: Why companies need to listen to customers. And it isn’t just about social media awareness either.

  • Hypercritical

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    Noivad
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    On occasion someone comes across something I have written and completely misses my point (despite covering it in often more ways than one). That person completely misses the attitude and approach I use. That person thinks I am either a hypercritical hard ass, unappreciative consumer or worse, a hypocrite. So often I have to clarify…

  • The Shit List

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    Noivad
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    A while back I ended up on a newer friend’s shit list, unbeknownst to me. After a few days of short interactions or lack of interaction when possible, it was apparent that it wasn’t just a bad mood, but completely about something I did to upset this person. I did not know what I had done,…

  • Tribute

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    Noivad
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    Long ago, when I was in college, less humble — more of a dick — I partied a lot. I ended up getting in with the guys who set up the industrial room at a club in the early-to-mid 90s. This was a few years after the infamous club newsletter, and after I had moved…