Proof of address: use common sense!
Classified in : Homepage, Debian, Miscellaneous, Grumble
As I have just moved to a new home, I had to declare my new address to all my providers, including banks and administrations which require a proof of address, which can be a phone, DSL or electricity bill.
Well, this is just stupid, as, by definition, one will only have a bill after at least a month. Until then, that means the bank will keep a false address, and that the mail they send may not be delivered to the customer.
PayPal cut a secure email project's funds
Classified in : Homepage, Debian, Miscellaneous, Grumble
It should be no news that PayPal have made an habit of opposing to projects that fight for the respect of freedom and democracy by cutting their funds. Anyway, they have just provided us another example of such an abuse, against the ProtonMail project.
Pure Sensia digital and Internet radio receiver: good idea, bad design
Classified in : Homepage, Debian, Miscellaneous, Grumble
Thanks to a corporate reward program, I just got a Pure Sensia digital and Internet radio receiver: basically, it is a device able to play streams from FM, DAB, HTTP and USB sticks. In overall, it works fine, and it has a remote controller, so it makes a nice addition to my home equipment, but it has what I consider a major flaw, which I suspect to have been designed on purpose.
Read more Pure Sensia digital and Internet radio receiver: good idea, bad design
Using a Plantronics USB headset under X.Org/Linux
Classified in : Homepage, Debian, Miscellaneous, To remember
I just received an USB headset from Plantronics. Since it has a keypad on it, with buttons to mute the microphone and to adjust the volume, it appears as both a sound card and a keyboard. Problem: that keyboard sends a mouse ButtonPress 1 (yes, a mouse button event, do not ask me how that is materially and logically possible) when the microphone is muted, and only sends the corresponding ButtonRelease 1 when it is unmuted. As a result, the pointer behaves as if the mouse button was pressed continuously, rendering the desktop quite unusable.
Do not reCAPTCHA!
Classified in : Homepage, Debian, Miscellaneous, Grumble
You probably know reCAPTCHA already: for the webmasters and the end user, it is an antispam system which asks you to read distorted words in order to prove that you are a human and not a spamming bot. This service has another end: instead of generating its distorted texts, it takes them from printed books to help digitalizing them.