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Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Archive for the ‘Power User’ Category

Anyone tried #Telegram to communicate securely?

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/01/22

Below are a few comments from [WayBack] Anyone tried #Telegram to communicate securely? Some nice features there… Looks way more secure than WeChat and all that. Thoughts? https://telegram…. – Jason Mayes – Google+.

The consensus seems to be

  • Signal is the way to go for secure chat. It is open source too.
  • When chatting with groups of people, there is technical security, but not social security.
  • Telegram is easier to use than some other chat platforms, and has a large user base.

The comments:

  • Ryan Ostendorf's profile photo
    Telegram is pretty nice, but its security leaves much to be desired. If it’s security and true privacy you want, Signal is the way to go.
  • M.A. Zaki's profile photo
    Hi+Ryan Ostendorf signal is indeed a way to go but didn’t have big users number compared to Telegram.
  • Wayne Harris's profile photo

    I use telegram, discord, slack & hangouts for variousn groups i talk with. Of those, telegeam is my preferred for ease of use etc. One thing i would like to see is a “index” of groups to maybe easier prioritise what i want to read (a-la how discord wokrs with its different servers) but im so used to the flat style of telegram/hangouts that i dont have a huge issue with its current design

    Re security, im not an expert, but it seems ok, with multuple options available. Havent heard of anything being intercepted/hacked, but who really know what our alien overlords – err governments – and other interested parties are up to behind the scenes.

  • oon arfiandwi (OonID)'s profile photo
    I use telegram more than whatsapp. I found many technical group discussion (at least for Indonesian) because telegram supports a huge amount of members per group.
    also, the telegram bot and channel give a unique feature for a developer to build an application on top of it.
  • Jason Mayes's profile photo
    +Ryan Ostendorf oooh thanks I shall check it out
  • Jason Mayes's profile photo
    Thanks everyone for feedback!
  • Leo Turing's profile photo
    I am using Telegram for 5 years now. Far faster and better than WhatsApp in many ways.
  • Christopher Gaul's profile photo

    It’s security level depends on who you ask. If you take their word at face value it’s great. If you believe the rumors it’s totally bent by U.S. surveillance agencies.

    Feature wise it’s decent otherwise.

    A few of us are on the hunt for a good, secure, multi platform messaging platform to replace Hangouts when they kill that. We’ve narrowed it down to a few that we’re testing.

    Signal was good until they killed their linux and browser clients.

    Retroshare is on the to test list along with…

    Viber.

    Tox.

  • epsi nurwijayadi's profile photo

    I have been a telegram user since october 2017.

    And I wonder, how do telegram make profit.

    Who is paying for the server to be alive ?

  • Christopher Gaul's profile photo
    Side note. You can just assume that any product based out of the U.S. or any Five Eyes country is not secure. I wouldn’t trust anything EU based either. What’s that leave you?
  • Christopher Gaul's profile photo
    +epsi nurwijayadi
    The NSA no doubt is footing the bills.
  • x Meta x's profile photo
    For dependable privacy, I use two cans and a string.
  • Jason Mayes's profile photo
    +x Meta x I can use a laser pointed at your string to measure the sound being transferred over it though
  • x Meta x's profile photo

    +Jason Mayes …..

    …. Curses! Foiled again!

  • Wayne Harris's profile photo
    I use the postal service. Nobody sends anything via that these days other than birthday cards from Nanna’s, so my most private missives go conpletely un-noticed by the authorities
  • epsi nurwijayadi's profile photo
  • Jason ON's profile photo
    I downloaded Telegram yesterday, in fact. Haven’t had a chance to try it out yet as I don’t know anyone using it. I had thought it would be more like BBM, with public groups in a social media-lite feature, but it’s not.
  • M.A. Zaki's profile photo
    +Jason ON telegram got more than that. The setting let you do much more.
  • epsi nurwijayadi's profile photo
    I remember getting very happy, when I got telegram from my father when I was a kid in about 80s. He had duty in other island faraway from home.
  • Willem Oosting's profile photo

    +Jason Mayes Check out Keybase.io they strike a sweet balance between Wire-like security (encrypted group chats), and Telegram-like usability/looks. And I thought it’s FOSS!

    Keybase

    Keybase
    keybase.io
  • Robert Wallis's profile photo

    Telegram has a very tempting feature set for a “messaging” service.

    I have recently started using it. Top reasons I like it so far are the ability to add a username, which means I can be available without giving people my phone number.

    My URL 👉 t.me/qwallis

    Also the ability to have branded public broadcast channels is different. I’ve set one up for London Meet-ups for +Happening London the URL for that is here 👉 t.me/HappeningLondon

    Any public post cam be embedded, so I’m surfacing the next meet-up on the +Happening London web site too 👉 happeninglondon.co.uk

    Those feature (and others) make Telegram interesting.

  • Christopher Gaul's profile photo

    +Robert Wallis I agree. With the caveat that this is as long as you aren’t expecting 100% guaranteed secure communications.

    Of course the question of whether such a thing even exists is valid. But in Telegram’s case, at least expect your local Five Eyes government surveillance state to be “reading” them.

  • Jonas Hellström (shellström)'s profile photo
    I’m giving Matrix/Synapse and riot.im a whirl.
    Mostly because I can selfhost it, and it’s got some good things going for it, like encrypted convos.
    They still got a mile or two on their clients and that’s where I’m holding off on inviting everyone and their dogs until there’s something that can be used by more people without becoming a troubleshooting nightmare/”this isn’t as easy as whatsapp. Can’t we use messenger instead?” kind of deal.

    Riot – Riot – open team collaboration

    Riot – Riot – open team collaboration
    about.riot.im
  • Robert Wallis's profile photo

    +Christopher Gaul yeah, but where aren’t they?

    As far as I understand Telegram has been validated for “secret chats” between two users, where security models are more easily implemented, but for groups of up to 200,00 that’s never going to be “secret” just hidden, and public broadcast channels are … well public.

–jeroen

Posted in Chat, Keybase, LifeHacker, Power User, Security, SocialMedia, Telegram | Leave a Comment »

Limiting Google Research to multiple web-sites using the OR and site: operators

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/01/22

I knew Google Search had a site: operator and I thought you could or them together using something like this:

reboot site:superuser.com or site:android.stackexchange.com

To my surprise that returned zero results as in empty result list.

Indeed: the OR needs to be in uppercase to work:

you can use the OR operator to add another site to your query:

reboot site:superuser.com OR site:android.stackexchange.com

–jeroen

Source: How to limit Google search result to a set of websites? – Web Applications Stack Exchange [WayBack]

Posted in Google, GoogleSearch, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Thought experiments can help you solve a problem early

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/01/21

Important logical principle to take away from [WayBack] The dialog manager, part 2: Creating the frame window – The Old New Thing:

If you’re not sure whether something is true, ask yourself, “What would the world be like if it were true?” If you find a logical consequence that is obviously wrong, then you have just proven [by contradiction] that the thing you’re considering is indeed not true.

Thought experiments like these can really help you get a feel for parts of a problem before you completely resolve the full problem.

Related: Thought experiment – Wikipedia

–jeroen

Posted in Development, LifeHacker, Power User, science, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

Node-RED is on my research list.

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/01/19

Cool stuff that is on my research list: redundancy through Node-RED.

NodeRED Multi-Node Redundancy Example – YouTube:

A simple proof of concept showing how to implement multi-node redundancy using four NodeRED instances, with Modbus TCP Remote IO.

Example Flow: https://app.box.com/s/mevo3fq9u6x6khr…

Parts used:

  • WAGO
    • 750-352 Ethernet Coupler ModbusTCP
    • 750-1506 8ch DI/DO 24VDC Module
    • 750-461 RTD Module
    • 750-600 End Module
    • 787-1602 24VDC 1A PS
    • 789-801 DIN push button
  • Raspberry Pi 3b +
  • DIN Rail mount: www.DINrPlate.com

–jeroen

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Development, Hardware, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

Cool: Apple mini-assembler found inside Woz’ monitor inside Apple II Integer Basic

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/01/18

From a while back: [WayBack] This week, a mini-demo of the mini-assembler found inside Woz’ monitor inside Apple II Integer Basic. CALL –151 F666G … – mos6502 – Google+

This week, a mini-demo of the mini-assembler found inside Woz’ monitor inside Apple II Integer Basic.
CALL –151
F666G
You can find reconstructed sources in Jeff Tranter’s repo here:
https://github.com/jefftranter/6502/tree/master/asm/Apple%5D%5BMonitor
where we see credits to Steve Wozniak and Allen Baum. But in this oral history it seems the assembler was Baum’s work:
“Baum: So it was brute force, very simple and fit into 256 bytes if you already had the 256-byte disassembler.”
https://youtu.be/wN02z1KbFmY?t=3941
Anyhow, one page of code – or two – is very impressive!

For more info, try searching for F666G! (We wonder at this memorable address – the Apple I price was $666.)

Related:

–jeroen

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 6502, Apple, Apple I, Apple ][, History | Leave a Comment »

Google Chrome URL chrome://devices/ -> your registered Google Cloud devices like printers

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/01/18

Just learned a new Google Chrome URL chrome://devices/ which lists your Google Cloud devices like printers.

Though in the case of OKI printers, you have to enter your printers at the printer which the Menu button is a painful exercise. [WayBackoki-c332dn-control-panel_maxwidth.jpg (525×550).

You can also view the device list in https://www.google.com/cloudprint#printers

For some OKI printers (including the MC342 series) you need to update the firmware. For a Mac, you need the below firmware update tool that automagically:

  1. detects the printers
  2. finds the firmware on the internet
  3. updates the printer

Tool: [WayBackFWUP_020000_10.7.dmg via [WayBackFirmware Update | OKI Global

–jeroen

Posted in Chrome, Google, Hardware, OKI C332, OKI Printers, Power User | Leave a Comment »

The messenger – Delta Chat – Email Based Instant Messenger; based on IMAP push

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/01/18

[WayBack] The messenger – Delta Chat: Delta Chat – Email Based Instant Messenger

From the FAQ at [WayBack] Help – Delta Chat:

What are the advantages of Delta Chat compared to other messengers?

  • Independent of any company or services. You own your data.
  • Your data are not saved on a central server; this way, in contrast to most other messengers, Delta Chat even protects your metadata (who writes to whom?)
  • You do not distribute your address book to anyone.
  • Fast by the use of Push-IMAP
  • Largest userbase – receivers not using Delta Chat can be reached as well
  • Compatible – not only to itself
  • Elegant and simple user interface
  • Distributed system
  • No Spam – only messages of known users are shown by default
  • Reliable – safe for professional use
  • Trustworthy – can even be used for business messages
  • fully Open Source and Standards based

What if the receiver does not use Delta Chat?

  • The receiver will get a normal email then – if he replies to it, you will see the reply in the Delta Chat app.

Releases: [WayBack] DeltaChat multi-platform releases rolling … – Delta Chat

Repositories via [WayBack] Contribute – Delta Chat:

Via:

–jeroen

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Posted in Chat, LifeHacker, Power User, SocialMedia | Leave a Comment »

Hoe we omgaan met kwetsbaren: UWV en de Wajong. Het UWV weet het ook allemaal niet meer, en bepaalt volgend jaar wat je dit jaar had mogen krijgen

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/01/17

[Archive.is] jim faas 🍀 (@🏠) on Twitter: “LEES DE BRIEF van UWV aan een Wajonger EN HUIVER❗️ ✅de regels zijn aangepast ✅de zoveelste keer 🤭 ✅niemand kon er nog een touw aan vastknopen 👉Pepijn krijgt uitleg 👉hij snapt het weer niet worden gecompliceerde regelingen expres bedacht voor de meest kwetsbaren? /1… “

via:

Thread: [Wayback] Thread by @JimFaas on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App

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Posted in About, LifeHacker, Personal, Power User | Leave a Comment »

TUMBLEWEED Ordering cycle at boot with nss-lookup: named fails to start initially; workaround: manually `rcnamed start`

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/01/15

I have seen this on one Raspberry Pi 3 system: named failing to start during a normal reboot.

The solution is to manually rcnamed start as root after boot.

From [Wayback] TUMBLEWEED Ordering cycle at boot with nss-lookup, the rcnamed status is the same as on my system, but no solution in that thread:

# systemctl status named
● named.service - Berkeley Internet Name Domain (DNS)
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/named.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: inactive (dead) Jul 02 08:13:40 hpprol2 systemd[1]: nss-lookup.target: Found ordering cycle on named.service/start
Jul 02 08:13:40 hpprol2 systemd[1]: nss-lookup.target: Found dependency on time-sync.target/start
Jul 02 08:13:40 hpprol2 systemd[1]: nss-lookup.target: Found dependency on ntpd.service/start
Jul 02 08:13:40 hpprol2 systemd[1]: nss-lookup.target: Found dependency on nss-lookup.target/start
Jul 02 08:13:40 hpprol2 systemd[1]: nss-lookup.target: Job named.service/start deleted to break ordering cycle starting with nss-lookup.target/start

Apparently, sometimes there is a service startup dependency loop, and named becomes the victim of it, effectively rendering DNS inoperable.

My system was running this version of Tumbleweed:

statler:~ # cat /etc/SUSE-brand /etc/os-release 
openSUSE
VERSION = tumbleweed
NAME="openSUSE Tumbleweed"
# VERSION="20200825"
ID="opensuse-tumbleweed"
ID_LIKE="opensuse suse"
VERSION_ID="20200825"
PRETTY_NAME="openSUSE Tumbleweed"
ANSI_COLOR="0;32"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:opensuse:tumbleweed:20200825"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.opensuse.org"
HOME_URL="https://www.opensuse.org/"
LOGO="distributor-logo"

On an identical system, the boot just worked fine, so it might be timing related.

waldorf:~ # cat /etc/SUSE-brand /etc/os-release 
openSUSE
VERSION = tumbleweed
NAME="openSUSE Tumbleweed"
# VERSION="20200825"
ID="opensuse-tumbleweed"
ID_LIKE="opensuse suse"
VERSION_ID="20200825"
PRETTY_NAME="openSUSE Tumbleweed"
ANSI_COLOR="0;32"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:opensuse:tumbleweed:20200825"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.opensuse.org"
HOME_URL="https://www.opensuse.org/"
LOGO="distributor-logo"

It has been fixed late January 2021 as per [Wayback] Bug 1177491 – systemd ordering cycle with nss-lookup.target:

Josef Möllers 2021-01-27 15:50:15 UTC
Fixed by removing "Before=nss-lookup.target" from systemd's service file.

It means editing /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/named.service from

[Unit]
Description=Berkeley Internet Name Domain (DNS)
After=network.target
After=time-sync.target
Before=nss-lookup.target
Wants=nss-lookup.target
Wants=time-sync.target

[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/named.init start
ExecReload=/usr/sbin/named.init reload
ExecStop=/usr/sbin/named.init stop

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

into

[Unit]
Description=Berkeley Internet Name Domain (DNS)
After=network.target
After=time-sync.target
Wants=nss-lookup.target
Wants=time-sync.target

[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/named.init start
ExecReload=/usr/sbin/named.init reload
ExecStop=/usr/sbin/named.init stop

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Note that it is an alias, so it won’t show up in a versioned /etc directory (for instance using etckeeper):

# ls -Alh /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/named.service 
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 37 Sep  5  2020 /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/named.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/named.service

–jeroen

Posted in *nix, Linux, openSuSE, Power User, SuSE Linux | Leave a Comment »

The multi-carrier platform for future-proof delivery

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/01/15

In case I ever need to setup shipment tracking: [WayBack] The multi-carrier platform for future-proof delivery.

We believe delivery is the biggest game changer in e-commerce. So you need software that makes shipping easy and your customer happy. We do just that.

–jeroen

 

Posted in Cloud, Infrastructure, LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »