PhoneBoy’s Personal Blog

Simplifying My Life, Or Trying To Anyway
About Me

I'm a parent. I write. I do Information Security for a living. I like computers, mobile phones, and many other forms of shiny gadgets.

I think, sometimes too much, sometimes not enough. I help people make sense of complexity.

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Rescuing Dad's Blog from the Deadpool

Word came out today that Six Apart's Vox blogging service is entering the deadpool--closing it's doors on 30 September. Not a huge shock since the service, which I originally liked quite a bit, failed to evolve in a meaningful way. I had imported my own Vox blog not too long ago and deleted my Vox account. 

Meanwhile, my dad also had a blog on Vox as well. He passed away a couple of months back and I wanted to save his blog for posterity. Fortunately, Posterous' import process for Vox is simple enough that it doesn't even require a login to the site! I just pointed Posterous at the site, and it basically handled the rest.

Dad's new blog: TechZilla Said. I did a perfunctory "what this blog is" posting and created him a profile. Beyond that, I don't expect it to change. I don't even expect anyone to read it, but it's there in case anyone does.

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Red at Night, Sailor's Delight

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The Problem With Blogging

The problem with having a blog is that you sometimes have to post something so people don't think it's moribund. The problem is: I don't always have a lot to say. Or at least a lot to say that I want to post for everyone to read. Even if I post something, who's to say anyone will read it or take the time to respond to it?

Maybe I'm over-thinking this blogging thing.

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Oregon Trail Fail

From the New Digg (and yes, I have invites if you're interested)

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It's Sweet 15 time at @Starbucks

It's Sweet 15 time at @Starbucks
via Osfoora

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Three Rules To Live By

Apparently, these are the Three Rules my great-grandfather lived by. Not sure which one since that information died with my dad, who often quoted them, though not to me. 

  1. Don't trust anyone
  2. Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear
  3. There is no such thing as a free lunch

Wow, and I thought I was cynical.

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Packrats in the Digital Age

Both sides of my family have packrat tendencies. Between cleaning out my grandmother's trailer when she moved to Hawaii and what I saw up at my dad's place this year, I figure if I don't make a conscious effort to keep things in-line, I'll end up dying like the Collyer Brothers did. Ok, maybe I'm not that bad, but it's still a reality I don't want to approach.

Meanwhile, in the digital age, it is trivial to accumulate large quantities of stuff. Thousands of pictures, music files, movies, applications, and who knows what else. Furthermore, if you use social networks, you may be posting data in lots of places. I've lost count of the number of places various bits of my digital debris have been posted and hosted. 

I suppose the good news is that if you want to keep all that information, it won't create a Collyer Brothers-like problem in the physical world. Compared to the space it would take to keep stacks and stacks of newspapers, a hard drive or two takes up almost no space at all. 

Of course, if you actually want to find anything in this mountain of information--or attempt to manage it in any way--you've got a problem. I guess digitizing everything doesn't solve that problem, does it?

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iPhone SIM Extraction Tool

via Gravity

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That free WiFi at Starbucks? Not so free...

That free WiFi at Starbucks? Not so free...
via Osfoora

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Check Point Abra

Just playing with a new version of the Gravity app for Nokia phones. Was checking out the new image gallery and posting features. My Check Point Abra stick was handy, so I took a picture.

via Gravity

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