I've been involved in the development of a couple of secure messaging apps with my employers. At the very beginning of development one of our decisions was "how secure is secure?"

We considered three levels: secure against casual snooping, a determined hacker could find their way in, or an app to make the authorities nervous. We decided on the middle level, implementing best current practice with OpenSSL. If somebody wants to steal our customers' secrets that badly they can do it, but it would take some work. We're comfortable with that.

...laura

A Masters degree is highly saleable for advanced positions. A PhD isn't unless you want an academic or research career.

Academia in general has been highly oversold the last couple of decades. At one time post-secondary education was for the academically keen. It's not job training and never was. A generation are now finding that out the hard way.

My Masters paid for itself in about six months, BTW.

...laura

The phone company "upgraded" their network and bricked my old (Android) phone. So I bought a new one. It also has to have reasonable battery life. This was starting to be an issue with the old phone.

I recently bought an antique iPhone (iPhone 12) to support some mobile development I'm doing at work. I'm damned if I'm going to spend that much on a new one, but the price was right on the old one. It too works.

...laura

Until you run out of RAM, then randomly shit starts dying.

Here you go: No, California Didn't Turn Away Fire Trucks From Oregon Over Smog Certification

Our biggest customer bought what was left post-implosion. Mainly for the intellectual property that went with their core business, plus a select few to keep things working. Eventually that meant just me.

...laura

I've worked from home for nearly a decade. When the company imploded in 2001 we went from 1000-odd people to around 30, then down to two. The final two worked from a smaller office until one of them was laid off and it was just me.

We tried a shared office space. This worked, for a while. It gave me somewhere to go, got me out of the house. In the end we decided the cost wasn't worth the benefit, I packed up my company computer systems and took them home. I've worked from home ever since.

Not everybody can work from home. It takes a certain discipline. It can be liberating. It can be bloody lonely. I make sure I have reasons to get out. Lunch at my favourite restaurant once a week, work out at the local gym three nights a week, and so on. I do what I can. I visit head office once a year. The Powers That Be have decided face time with us remote types is a good thing. I agree.

Would I want to work from an office again? I'm not sure. But I'd love to try and find out.

...laura

That's because no beans were served at the canteen at lunch.

The nightlife on the Moon is lousy anyway. There's no atmosphere.

...laura

This is news?

Many systems had genuine issues but they were recognized, fixed, tested, ready to go when the time came. The panic was totally unnecessary.

I observed 0000 1 January 2000 three times: New Zealand UTC+13, first place west of the International Date Line with lots of computers. 0000 UTC (of course...), then 0000 local (Toronto, UTC-5). I was doing my Master's research in satellite data communications at the time and noted in mid-December that one of the satellites I was working with would be in the sky at 0000 UTC 1 January 2000. I logged the telemetry downlink and watched the timestamps with interest.

...laura

They really should use quantum-resistant algorithms alongside a traditional algorithm for now so that you have to crack both. Quantum algorithms are very new compared to our old favorites. One of the NIST finalists for quantum-resistant crypto was cracked using classical computing near the end of the standardization process, highlighting the danger of relying on these alone.

She should have used her broom. Especially on that day!

All the at-work goodies encourage you to be at work every waking minute. Your work is your life.

...laura