Windows 7 & 8 Install New Updates: anytime it wants to?!

Today, both my desktop (Windows 8 Home Premium) and my laptop (Windows 7 Home Premium) shutdown and rebooted to install Windows updates WHILE I WAS USING them.  Yes, sitting there, typing, not idle, not at 3 AM when I have supposedly configure updates to auto install, and not with any warning or chance to postpone or override...  Just, boom!  Programs start closing, Windows logs me out, and "Windows is configuring updates".  Then computer completely reboots, Windows starts back up, and resumes "configuring updates".

My question is, how is this acceptable?  This is the default behavior of Windows.  I have not modified it in anyway, I simply chose "install Windows updates automatically for me (recommended)" during the initial setup of Windows.  Last I knew, that should not sign me up to have my computer randomly shut down while I am using it for something, possibly in the middle of typing a very LONG post on a forum or website.

And what of the only configurable setting I have access to (without making registry tweaks) in control panel, the one that says "Install New Updates: Every Day at: 3:00 AM".  Should this actually read "Install New Updates: anytime Windows wants to?"  My only other option is to disable automatic updates, and I highly doubt Microsoft wants to encourage that.

So essentially the Windows user world is supposed to put up with the possibility that their machine could shut down at any time while they're using it?  How is that acceptable?!

Bye Bye, 5th Gear

It had to have been within 10 minutes of my staring at the odometer, marveling at the nearly 199,000 miles I had wracked up on my VW Golf and thinking how trouble-free the car had lately been, when my cruise control disengaged, and the car started to do the all-too-familiar "death coast".  Without thinking or trying anything else, I immediately turned on my four-way flashers and started moving into the breakdown lane -scoping the distance to the next rest area.

Comcast to the rescue (too bad there was nothing wrong)

Comcast keeps calling me and leaving messages (I don't answer) saying that my modem "is not capable of receiving the full range of their speeds".  This has been going on for months.  I upgraded to a Motorola SB6121, a DOCSIS 3.0 modem, about 6 months ago.  Everything has been working fine, speeds are around 30 Mb/s download.  So I finally decided to call Comcast and... pretty much just see what they had to say.  I figured at best I could get them to stop calling me.

After almost 3 minutes of menu surfing, I finally was on my way to speak to a human.  The person I talked to verified my identity and had a look at my account.  She asked me if I had 2 modems.  (Wondering why this matters): "I only have one connected..."  Apparently the reason why she asked is that the other modem was shown as a Comcast rental.  I have ALWAYS owned all of my modems.  She put me through to the "Internet department" (haha) and I spoke to someone else, who asked me most of the same questions.  After I explained that I own all of my modems, she said she would need to create a ticket, and someone would do "research", and call me back.

E-Bike Rack Fail

Apparently my bike felt left out, and wanted to get in the game of things that are failing.  Riding home from downtown last night, very late, hit a sewer cover pretty hard (it was hard to tell how uneven it was at night) and busted my battery rack.  It was not a catastrophic failure, but the rack lowered down to the tire and started dragging.  Enough that I had to stop and figure it out.  So I was sitting on the ground in the parking lot of the Jolly, with the bike almost completely disassembled.

Bike rack, sans busted lower brackets.

Busted aluminum lower brackets.

The bottom part of the rack attaches to the frame via a tapped tab, and an L shaped, aluminum bracket with graduated tapped holes.  The aluminum obviously saw quite a bit of impact load when the 30 lbs. battery came slamming down.

This is the second rack I've bought, and I'm really not interested in spending more money to deal with this issue.  (But I probably will have to).  Wondering if maybe I can make a custom, tougher piece to clamp the rack right where I want it.  If I only had a welder...  Or a lighter battery.

Galaxy Nexus Tales of Woe

One of my ongoing battles with my Gnex is the charging port.  In the past, it has stopped working, and after lots of Google searches, I found out that a common issue is the little inner tab not making contact with the cable (fixed by bending it up slightly).

After a recent vacation, I found once again that my phone wouldn't charge.  This time, it seemed that the charging port was somehow mutilated, and the cord didn't seem to go in correctly.  The contacts were bent inside the phone.  I don't have the insurance, and I'm kind of used to being on my own warranty after rooting, ROMing, etc.  After researching, I promptly ordered this replacement USB flex board, for about $50 w/ shipping, and replaced the board following this iFixit how-to.

The procedure was a little tricky, but not too bad. In general everything felt like it went smoothly, and I expected no issues.   However, after putting the phone back together, the phone still wouldn't charge.  I disassembled the phone again, double-checked all my connections, and tried multiple cables.  It's a very curious (and frustrating) issue.

After some more thorough testing, the situation seems to be as follows:

• The microphone and notification light, also part of the replacement board, are working (ruling out a missed connector or a completely non-functional replacement part).
• The phone WILL charge off a wall AC adaptor, at the fast rate.
• The phone WON'T charge off my 12V lighter charger, which used to charge at the fast rate.
• The phone WON'T charge, or acknowledge a connection in any way, to a computer.  It's like it's not even plugged in, to both the computer and the phone.

So that rules out pretty much everything as I understand how the port works.  I could see maybe some of the pins not working in the port, but the 12V charger and the wall charger should be using the exact same pins, so I can't see how only the wall charger would work.  And above all, I don't see how a brand new replacement part, with such a straightforward replacement process, would fail to work in any way.

Not really sure what I'm going to do.  The temptation is to buy a used replacement off eBay, they seem to be selling for around $250-$300.  

A Second Class Citizen at the Verizon Wireless Store

A couple of days ago, a new, large Verizon Store sprung up down the road.  At about the same time, Verizon finally announced the availability of the new and long awaited Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone - The phone that was hyped by Google and Samsung in early October, announced in Late October, promised to be released in November, and then delayed and delayed until the middle of December.  It's been all over the news and in people's faces.

I figured the timing was no accident, and sauntered in to see if I might be able to have a look at this Ice Cream Sandwich laiden beast.  To be honest, I was half expecting them to tell me they didn't have one.  As a Verizon Wireless customer in Vermont for over 15 years, I've gotten used to being a second-class citizen.  We are the usually the last to get network upgrades, good stores with good phones, or sales people who can handle technical questions.

I walked in and quickly surveyed the store, before I was immediately swooped down upon by an overly-smiley sales lady.  The first red flag: all of the showroom phones were phonnequins (faux plastic mock-ups with stickers instead of a real display).  There were no functional units anywhere.

I asked her if I could see the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and she said "sure". She "just needed to know my account info", so she could look it up.  This was new and weird to me, as all I wanted to do was look at a phone.  I gave her my account info, and she returned a few minutes later with a brand-new-in-box Galaxy Nexus.  It had never been opened (and, as you may have guessed, was not activated).  She took it out and fiddled with the phone, which was sitting at the activation wizard.  She tried to subtly ask her colleague what the "unlock code" was for the phone (lol). Unsurprisingly, he was not much help.  She then cheerfully handed me the phone, saying "well, at least you can get your hands on it!".  Today would not be the day I would get to play with Ice Cream Sandwich.

As I inspected the phone's physical attributes, namely its bigness in the hand, and the appearance of its SuperAMOLED 4.65" high def screen, the sales lady pointed out that it was about the same size as the Samsung Charge, but, and I quote, "the big thing with that is the face unlock."  I almost burst out laughing, but she was serious.

I'd had all I could take, and I got out of there as fast as I could.  I think I'll wait until one of my friends gets a Gnex so I can look at it for real, since I apparently can't see one at my local Verizon Store.  Wait, what am I thinking?  I can just download a face unlock app to the Samsung Droid Charge, and I'd basically have myself a Samsung Galaxy Nexus!

Congratulations, You're BLACKLISTED!

A long time ago, I posted The Trouble With Greylisting.  My latest rant is brought to you by the current state of e-mail server blacklisting.  I'll relate to you the following anecdote, to help with the specifics:

My client recently purchased a new internet pipe from their ISP - (I won't specify, but let's just say they're "Vermont's largest wireline provider.")  Along with this new connection came a new block of public IP addresses.  This has been standard fare - they have switched connections 3 times in the last 2 years, and for a variety of reasons, each time it's been a fiasco to get everything migrated to the new block.

This time it almost went incredibly smoothly (without question, this was at least partly due to the help of an Astaro Security Gateway, and its almost infinite flexibility).  The only snag was when I moved the mail server over to the new IP block.  Within 20 minutes, people were reporting bounces (undeliverable message reports).  The new IP address was blacklisted for sending spam.  I moved the server to another IP in the block, and an hour or so later, received another report of the same issue.  For the record, this server is totally clean, and sends maybe 50 totally legit messages an hour, during peak.

The only explanation is that some (perhaps all?) of the IPs that were given to us were previously used by spammers.  As I played the scenario through in my head, it all made sense.  Due to the severely overtaxed IPv4 address space, addresses are constantly recycled.  Furthermore, every IP address in that space has probably used by a spammer at some time or another, given the number of spammers in the world.  Ok, perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration, but still...  It was enough for me to get the picture.

I moved the mail server back to the known good IP, and then set out to start the long and arduous process of delisting all these IPs.  Even though I don't plan to use more than one for sending mail, I need to have options, as obviously I can't predict what is going to happen to my IP reputation, regardless of what is actually my fault.

Throughout the process, one interesting thing I got to see was the variety of different types of blacklists out there.  They range from reasonable and responsible (think Spamcop), to strange, and obscure.  Some blacklists are very straightforward about removal requests.  The policy is simply "check yourself, and then click the removal button."  Some blacklist providers investigate reports of spam before listing a host.  However, the lower end providers take a very lazy approach to blacklist management.  They blacklist everything based on loose criteria, don't expire anything, and make it very difficult for hosts to request removal.  One delisting form was actually punctuated with a lecture about how

So, to review, we have 2 problems:

1. (some) ISPs sell IP blocks with no guarantees about the reputation of IPs within that block

2. (some) Blacklist providers use lazy tactics to manage their lists, including listing without due process, with complicated and indefinite delisting requirements, and without expiration of highly outdated listings.

With these 2 factors at work, it's a very disconcerting direction for private mail hosting in general.

Dear Indie Rock Musician,

A Letter From the Sound Crew 

Dear Indie Rock Musician,

It has come to our attention that we will be working your show at our venue.  This letter is to identify the  preparations we have made, in order to minimize any responsibilities on your part.

480 Million Needles Floating In Space

The dumb things people will do for war. I just read about this 1963 experiment, where the US launched a package of 480 million tiny needles into space, in order to create an artificial ionosphere that we could bounce radio signals off. The idea was to provide a backup method of communications in case our undersea cables were taken out by the enemy.

It "worked" for a couple of months, and then scattered to the point that it would no longer provide any effect, other than to obscure communications attempts beyond the orbit altitude of these needles, which it probably still does to some extent today. On top of that, this blanket of space junk is one of the many things that modern spacecraft have to avoid when doing, for example, real advancement for mankind.

Why Reward /Offer Cards Suck

Ok, here's another scam to watch out for. "Reward" debit cards. These are becoming all the rage. If you haven't seen one yet, rest assured you will. They may eventually replace all offer checks sent to you by companies (things like rebates, rewards, gifts, etc.) Popular amounts are $25 - $100.

They are basically debit cards with a fixed limit for the amount the company is giving you. If you have used one, here's a familiar scenario.

Joe has a $50 debit card he got from a cell phone rebate. He used it to buy dinner last night, and has $35.42 left on it. Today Joe finishes pumping his gas. The total comes up to $38.42. Joe inserts / hands the clerk his offer debit card and attempts to pay. Uh oh, transaction denied. No big deal, Joe can use it to buy something cheaper. Except, HOW MANY THINGS CAN YOU BUY WITH A DEBIT CARD UNDER $35.00? Here's the short list of reasons why these cards suck:

• Transactions for more than the balance of the card are denied. Yes you can split the transaction between 2 cards, if you know how much you have left on the card, and you are using it at a location where this is possible, but who has time to screw around?

• The balance is a pain in the ass to find out. It usually involves creating an account on some website or calling an obscure 800 number and typing in many digits.

• It screws up your accounting, if you like to track your spending through your bank statement.

Essentially, they know you're not going to be able to access the last bit of the money. So in essence, they are giving you $25-$100, but there's a pretty good chance that they may only actually have to spend about $5-$85.

The irony of it all is that they are frequently touted as being a "more convenient" alternative to traditional check payments. Keep your debit card, I'll take a good old fashioned check.

Broadvoice unable to call Fairpoint phone numbers

Not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but since last night, I am unable to call any Vermont landline (a.k.a. FAIRPOINT) phone numbers from my Broadvoice line. Message is: "I'm sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed." The same issue also exists at work, where we also use Broadvoice.

I called Broadvoice tech support, and they said the problem is on Fairpoint's end. They've reported it several times.

On an interesting and semi-related note, I have experienced (twice in the past) a problem where people with Verizon Wireless couldn't dial my Broadvoice line (similar message). I got through to someone at Verizon Wireless, and they were able to confirm and fix the problem. They said the issue was with routing tables (the dialing kind, not the IP kind).

Of course, being a Verizon Wireless customer also, it was a lot easier for me to get them to listen.

Prem tech visits the wrong location

I finally had the chance to play around with xtranormal.com. It's pretty addictive. You can make a machinima movie very quickly (once you learn how to deal with a few idiosyncrasies). I would recommend steering clear of the "Take 5" button, as it pretty much ought to be relabeled "trash my video".

If you aren't familiar, there is a subculture of "premise technicians" (technicians that go on site to make repairs), for certain well known cable and telephone companies. It's not a rewarding job. There is a raft load of satirical videos on Youtube, using xtranormal machinima, in the format of sort of "a day in the life" of a prem tech.

So, with that as my inspiration, here's my first piece. Yes, this is based on a true story. Some liberties were taken, and the names were changed to protect the guilty. Audio track is NSFW.

FAIL: The Snowdrift 2000

I'm sure everyone has thought about trying this at some point, right? Come on, it seemed like a good idea at the time.