Now pointlessly enhanced with AI
January 3, 2018
Some one at the office reminded me that the candy bucket is almost empty. In the mean time, I’ve been busy following the Meltdown and Spectre news. My colleague and I have been talking about this subject since we got together after work.
If you don’t have the time and patience to read the details, you can get a summary from Ars Technica.
P.S.
For some reasons I thought about James Bond’s SPECTRE when I first read the news.
January 2, 2018.
Back to work after a few days off; New Year’s Day and whatnot.
What a year to start with some big computing news, which is not a good one. Tip of the hat to my colleague for forwarding me the article.
From the original article:
tl;dr: there is presently an embargoed security bug impacting apparently all contemporary CPU architectures that implement virtual memory, requiring hardware changes to fully resolve. Urgent development of a software mitigation is being done in the open and recently landed in the Linux kernel, and a similar mitigation began appearing in NT kernels in November. In the worst case the software fix causes huge slowdowns in typical workloads. There are hints the attack impacts common virtualization environments including Amazon EC2 and Google Compute Engine, and additional hints the exact attack may involve a new variant of Rowhammer.
Yikes!
The first installment of Photo of the Day for 2018.
When I saw this scene, I told myself that I had to capture the moment.
Taken using an iPhone.
Apple is preparing iOS 11.2 for public release. With the deployment of iOS 11.2 beta 6 which internally labeled as the Release Version.
Apple Pay Cash is expected to be made available following iOS 11.2 public release.
Apple will be issuing Software Update to disable “root” user which is inadvertently enabled by default with blank password in macOS High Sierra.
To disable “root” user, follow the instruction from Apple or the instruction below:
Disable the root user
Choose Apple menu () > System Preferences, then click Users & Groups (or Accounts).Click the Lock, then enter an administrator name and password.
Click Login Options.
Click Join (or Edit).
Click Open Directory Utility.
Click the Lock in the Directory Utility window, then enter an administrator name and password.
From the menu bar in Directory Utility: Choose Edit > Disable Root
In previous incarnations of macOS/OS X/Mac OS X, “root” user is disabled by default.
Note:
Anyone with physical access to your Mac potentially can reset your password.
I picked up Master Of Puppets (Remastered) – Deluxe Box Set that I pre-ordered from Amazon at one of Amazon pickup locations.
Master of Puppets (Remastered) hit the street on Friday, November 10, 2017 but the Deluxe Box Set was not delivered until Tuesday, November 14, 2017.
This limited edition deluxe box set contains a lot of things:
Wait a minute, a “cassette”?
What is it?
How do you even play this “cassette”?
Thankfully, Amazon includes AutoRip of the box set, including the cassette (tape). I didn’t even have to use the MP3 Download Card. The cassette contains fan recording from Solnahallen, Stockholm, Sweden – September 26th, 1986; it was Cliff Burton’s last show.
Eight songs off Master of Puppets, tracking in at 54 minutes and 46 seconds, reinvented heavy music in 1986.
On March 23, 2016, Master of Puppets was selected as one of 25 recordings that were added to the National Recording Registry; as it is deemed as “cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society.”
I would like to add that Master of Puppets is culturally, artistically and historically significant to the world.
I have not watched Atomic Blonde, neither in the theater nor on Blu-ray. Since it is directed by one of the guy who made John Wick, a movie that I really like, I took a leap and ordered the movie.
I ordered a copy. The 4K Ultra HD and it comes with the Blu-ray and iTunes copy. It is also a Movies Anywhere eligible movie.