I’ve completely redone my network.
I had problems with my old router. I considered replacing the firmware with DD-WRT but I decided against that. After reanalyzing things I decided the old router just couldn’t handle the number of devices and traffic on my network (despite its specs). It simply didn’t have the horsepower. I’ve replaced it with the one below.
[Read more…] about My New Network
Tuesday Random Stuff…
VLC 3.0.8
Download | 64-bit | Release Page
CCleaner 5.61
Download (I use portable) | Release Announcement
See also: Blocking A Programs Internet Access Via The Windows Firewall
Macrium Reflect 7.2.4433???
Was released and pulled I guess. Watch here: https://forum.macrium.com/Topic30606.aspx
Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:
Black hole shock: Astronomers spy black hole SWALLOWING neuton star
“Scientists scouring the cosmos for faint ripples in space-time have spied a black hole devouring a neutron star for the very first time.”
Pumpkin Spice Is Back
Yeah, I’m one of those people. I’ve already had 7 different Pumpkin beers. Dunkin’ Donuts pumpkin stuff hits the shelves tomorrow. Starbucks Pumpkin Spice coffee comes out the 27th.
Pumpkin beers I’ve had so far this year: Avery Rumpkin, Schlafly Pumpkin Ale, Alewerks Pumpkin, Blue Mountain Spooky, South Street Twisted Gourd, Southern Tier Pumpking, Southern Tier Warlock.
Study: People Who Use Emojis Have More Sex (Kinda)
Old School Country
The band is called Midland. No “Hick-Hop” here, just “90s-influenced” country. You can read about it and stream it here:
NPR: Midland, Connoisseurs Of Country Craft, Evolves Its Vintage Sound
I liked it enough I pre-ordered it at Amazon.
Weekend Random Stuff…
Some Win10 Versions Updated
1903 – no release
1809 – August 17, 2019—KB4512534 (OS Build 17763.720) A whole bunch of “Addresses an issue” fixes.
1803 – no release
1709 – August 16, 2019—KB4512494 (OS Build 16299.1365) 7 “Addresses an issue” fixes
New Intel Drivers
Intel Processor Identification Utility 6.1.0731 – ***Patches vulnerability
Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) Driver 17.5.2.1024
Intel Wireless Bluetooth for Windows 10 21.30.0
Windows 10 Wi-Fi Drivers for Intel Wireless Adapters 21.30.3
Wise Disk Cleaner 10.2.4
“Minor bug fixes, Updated various translations, GUI and usability improvements”
Download (I use portable) | Release Announcement
Etc.
Avidemux 2.7.4 – “Tons of bugfixes”
Another Question For You, DD-WRT?
At any given time I have 2 dozen or more devices on my home network including 11 video cameras, a home server, 2 Amazon Fire devices, Roku, 6 PCs, 2 phones, a tablet, 5 switches, and 2 wireless APs. The weak spot in my network seems to be my router, a Netgear R6400v2. My network will get wonky (collisions, timeouts…) and a reboot fixes it for a few days or so. I’m considering flashing the router to DD-WRT mainly because it supposedly allows timed reboots. Have any of you used this? If so any thoughts?
My other solution is a new router which of course is $$$ that I would rather not spend ATM.
Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:
LAST A-10 Warthog Brrrrrrt EVER to be built – theCHIVE
Despite the efforts of some morons over the years they aren’t going out of service yet: A-10 re-winging completed, will keep Warthog in the air until late 2030s
Repost from a few months back:
A-10 Brrrrrrrt Warthog Thunderbolt II Photos Gun Firing : theCHIVE
Cool pics of one of the worlds greatest ground combat weapons. True story…
I was stationed at Kriegsfeld Army Depot in Germany. It was a “special weapons” facility. We MPs that guarded the weapons were called “Towers Rats” (pic below). Every so often the A-10s from Sembach Air Base would come buzzing around the site. One day I climbed on top of my tower and as the A10 approached I dropped my BDU pants and mooned the pilot. He did a quick loop and buzzed my tower so close it shook for 30 seconds. Still makes me chuckle…
Kregsfeld Army Depot pics
Samsung 970 EVO 500GB NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD
One of the fastest most reliable SSDs out there. This is even cheaper than the 250GB version!
List Price: $149.99
Price: $89.99
You Save: $60.00 (40%)
Wednesday Random Stuff…
Firefox 68.0.2
A few bugfixes and a security fix.
Download | Release Notes
Good Deal?
I can get this PC for $550. It is 4 years old but is still a really good system. Specs include:
i7-4790k, ASRock z97 Extreme 4 mobo, 16gb G.skill, Nvdiia GTX 1070 8gb, EVO 850 M.2 Sata 500gb SSD, Cooler Master Gold 550w PSU, Silverstone Grandia GD09B HTPC case, Windows 10
I would actually swap the GPU into my system that currently has a GTX 1060 6GB.
I’m tempted. What do y’all think?
Didn’t get it. Decided $500 was all I was gonna do and the guy wouldn’t come down in price.
Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:
Microsoft warns Windows 10 users to update immediately
“The company said the vulnerabilities are potentially “wormable,” meaning affected computers could spread viruses and malware without any action on the user’s part.
There are “potentially hundreds of millions of vulnerable computers,” Simon Pope, Microsoft’s director of Incident Response, wrote in a blog post Tuesday.”
Amazon’s Rekognition software can now spot fear
“The facial recognition tech is also getting better at estimating a person’s age, the company says”
Huge security flaw exposes biometric data of more than a million users
“The breach… included the fingerprint data of more than 1 million people, facial recognition information, unencrypted usernames and passwords, and other personal information of users of Suprema’s Biostar 2 security platform. The information, which included a total of 27.8 million records totalling 23 gigabytes of data, was found in a publicly accessible database, although it’s unclear whether any malicious actors accessed the data while it was unsecured.”
Ring Told People to Snitch on Their Neighbors in Exchange for Free Stuff
“Ring helped people form private ‘Digital Neighborhood Watches’ where they report ‘suspicious activity’ in exchange for free Ring products and discounts, according to a presentation obtained by Motherboard.”
Manhattan DA Got Innocent People’s Google Phone Data Through A ‘Reverse Location’ Search Warrant
“prosecutors sent Google a warrant for phone records near the conflict…the warrant was a reverse location search warrant…Court records show that this dragnet data request captured the location data of multiple people who were put under law enforcement scrutiny, even though they had nothing to do with the crimes under investigation.”
Facebook Paid Contractors to Transcribe Users’ Audio Chats
“The work has rattled the contract employees, who are not told where the audio was recorded or how it was obtained — only to transcribe it, said the people, who requested anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. They’re hearing Facebook users’ conversations, sometimes with vulgar content, but do not know why Facebook needs them transcribed, the people said.”
Someone Modified A Roomba To Curse When It Bumps Into Things And It’s Hilarious
“Technology YouTuber Michael Reeves, known for his colorful language and clever but ultimately pointless robots, decided to take a different approach, however, by responding to his followers’ requests to make a Roomba that screams and curses when it bumps into stuff.”
Not really a new concept. People used to pay me to have their Garmin swear at them back before smart phones had decent GPS. “Turn left dumb f***”…
Patch Tuesday
Windows 10
“Security updates to Windows App Platform and Frameworks, Windows Storage and Filesystems, Microsoft Scripting Engine, Windows Input and Composition, Windows Wireless Networking, Windows Cryptography, Windows Datacenter Networking, Windows Virtualization, Windows Storage and Filesystems, the Microsoft JET Database Engine, Windows Linux, Windows Kernel, Windows Server, Windows MSXML, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge.”
1903 – August 13, 2019—KB4512508 (OS Build 18362.295)
1809 – August 13, 2019—KB4511553 (OS Build 17763.678)
1803 – August 13, 2019—KB4512501 (OS Build 17134.950)
1709 – August 13, 2019—KB4512516 (OS Build 16299.1331)
Windows 8
“Security updates to Windows App Platform and Frameworks, Windows Input and Composition, Windows Wireless Networking, Windows Virtualization, Windows Datacenter Networking, Windows Storage and Filesystems, the Microsoft JET Database Engine, Windows MSXML, and Windows Server.”
August 13, 2019—KB4512489 (Security-only update)
August 13, 2019—KB4512488 (Monthly Rollup)
Windows 7
“Security updates to Windows App Platform and Frameworks, Windows Wireless Networking, Windows Storage and Filesystems, Windows Virtualization, Windows Datacenter Networking, the Microsoft JET Database Engine, Windows Input and Composition, Windows MSXML, and Windows Server.”
August 13, 2019—KB4512486 (Security-only update)
August 13, 2019—KB4512506 (Monthly Rollup)
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
Version 2019.012.20036 releases.
Download (EN-US) | All Downloads | Security Bulletin
Start10 1.75
“adds support for Windows 10’s Dark Mode UI”
Release Announcement
Download from within program or from here.
Blink Cameras “Review”
Short and sweet folks.
[Read more…] about Blink Cameras “Review”
Wednesday Random Stuff…
I am NOT liking the Blink cameras…
Chrome Updated
Desktop version 76.0.3809.100 has 4 security fixes.
Download: 32-bit or 64-bit | Blog Post
Intel Graphics – Windows 10 DCH Drivers
Version: 26.20.100.7000 (wth is with all the numbers?)
“Performance optimizations”
Download & Info
Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:
Revealed: Microsoft Contractors Are Listening to Some Skype Calls
“The Skype audio obtained by Motherboard includes conversations from people talking intimately to loved ones, some chatting about personal issues such as their weight loss, and others seemingly discussing relationship problems. Other files obtained by Motherboard show that Microsoft contractors are also listening to voice commands that users speak to Cortana, the company’s voice assistant.”
Ahem…”talking intimately”… LMAO
Package Delivery! Cybercriminals at Your Doorstep
“What most people don’t realize is that some packages they receive may be looking to steal personal or confidential information. And the proliferation of e-commerce-related package deliveries is exactly what cybercriminals can exploit with a tactic IBM X-Force Red is calling “warshipping.” Warshipping counters these limitations in many ways by using disposable, low-cost and low-power computers to remotely perform close-proximity attacks, regardless of a cybercriminal’s location. Adding to that, warshipping increases target accuracy dramatically. An attacker could control the device from the comfort of their home anywhere in the world.”
Interesting. Ingenious actually. Diabolically so.
Hey Noob
System cleaners are about privacy, not speed.
&
“Speed up your computer by getting an SSD“. It’s 2019, we all know that now.
Tuesday Random Stuff…
Insecure Nvidia Drivers
It was widely reported today that drivers older than the current Nvidia drivers have several known security vulnerabilities.
The latest secure ones are version 431.60 from July 23rd.
Download | Release Notes
CVE-2019-1125 | Windows Kernel Information Disclosure Vulnerability
“An information disclosure vulnerability exists when certain central processing units (CPU) speculatively access memory. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could read privileged data across trust boundaries.
To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would have to log on to an affected system and run a specially crafted application. The vulnerability would not allow an attacker to elevate user rights directly, but it could be used to obtain information that could be used to try to compromise the affected system further.
On January 3, 2018, Microsoft released an advisory and security updates related to a newly-discovered class of hardware vulnerabilities (known as Spectre) involving speculative execution side channels that affect AMD, ARM, and Intel CPUs to varying degrees. This vulnerability, released on August 6, 2019, is a variant of the Spectre Variant 1 speculative execution side channel vulnerability and has been assigned CVE-2019-1125.
Microsoft released a security update on July 9, 2019 that addresses the vulnerability through a software change that mitigates how the CPU speculatively accesses memory. Note that this vulnerability does not require a microcode update from your device OEM.”
This is an update on the Spectre mitigation issues.
Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:
How the smartphone affects Mobile Network Experience Report
“Samsung users experienced faster download speeds than Apple and Huawei users in 35% of countries, across 40 countries analyzed…In the U.S., Samsung users experienced download speeds 8.2 Mbps faster than iPhone users.”
Amazon Is Coaching Cops on How to Obtain Surveillance Footage Without a Warrant
“When police partner with Ring, Amazon’s home surveillance camera company, they get access to the “Law Enforcement Neighborhood Portal,” an interactive map that allows officers to request footage directly from camera owners. Police don’t need a warrant to request this footage, but they do need permission from camera owners.
Emails and documents obtained by Motherboard reveal that people aren’t always willing to provide police with their Ring camera footage. However, Ring works with law enforcement and gives them advice on how to persuade people to give them footage.”
My “everyday carry knife” is on sale: Gerber Paraframe Mini Knife, Fine Edge, Stainless Steel
2 1/4 inch blade, pocket clip
List Price: $13.00 | Price:$8.94 | You Save: $4.06 (31%)
Fitness Experts Debunk 17 Exercise Myths
“Crunches will give you abs. Cardio is the key to weight loss. These are two of more than a dozen exercise myths that do more harm than good. Business Insider brought in three professional athletic trainers to debunk them.”
Just Setup My Blink Cameras
A got Blink cameras to monitor my Dad ( see My Dad Has Alzheimer’s – Gadgets, Gizmos, Etc.).
A few quick notes:
– It was the 5 camera setup
– The range of the Blinks did not reach across the house and down a floor. Fortunately I had 2 wifi routers and relocated one to the basement.
– Every unit has a friggin’ BRIGHT blue light that comes on when the camera is recording (XTs allow disable). Seriously, WTF? I found a video that shows how to take it apart and disable it. Screw that, I don’t have the time. As noted in the comments for the video you can stick a pin in and break the light. That’s exactly what I did. Very un-Geek of me I know.
– I put the Android app on 2 Samsung Galaxy S7s and an Amazon Fire tablet. They work OK.
– There is no official desktop app but there is an app out there called Bling Desktop. Works fine for viewing.
Home Page | App Download
***Updated 07 August, 2019
I am NOT liking the Blinks.
When I get a chance I will post why.
more later…
Monday Morning Random Stuff…
Linux Mint 19.2 Released
“Linux Mint 19.2 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2023. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use.”
I upgraded my VM and it went well.
Release Announcement | How to upgrade
Macrium Reflect Updated Pulled?
v7.2.4398 was momentarily released last week. Not there anymore. No statement from the company on this.
Release notes still there: http://updates.macrium.com/reflect/v7/v7.2.4398/details7.2.4398.htm
Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:
CafePress Hacked, 23M Accounts Compromised. Is Yours One Of Them?
“According to that HIBP notification, the breach itself took place on Feb 20 and compromised a total of 23,205,290 accounts. The exposed data included 23 million unique email addresses; some of the compromised records also included names, physical addresses and phone numbers…Why has it taken so long to find out about the CafePress breach? Good question. An equally good one might be “why have I heard about this breach from HIBP and not CafePress itself?” of course…There have been no notification emails from CafePress as far as I can ascertain.”
Amazon now lets you stop human review of your Alexa recordings
Apple and Google temporarily stop listening to Siri and OK Google queries
***Here’s How to Stop ‘Human Review’ of Your Alexa Interactions. (Apple and Google Too)***
81 of the Best Barrel aged Imperial Stouts, Blind-Tasted and Ranked
IMHO missing a bunch. Isn’t that the case with all such lists?
Good for Google, Bad for America
“At its core, artificial intelligence is a military technology. Why is the company sharing it with a rival?
“A.I.’s military power is the simple reason that the recent behavior of America’s leading software company, Google — starting an A.I. lab in China while ending an A.I. contract with the Pentagon — is shocking. As President Barack Obama’s defense secretary Ash Carter pointed out last month, “If you’re working in China, you don’t know whether you’re working on a project for the military or not.”
No intensive investigation is required to confirm this. All one need do is glance at the Communist Party of China’s own constitution: Xi Jinping added the principle of “civil-military fusion,” which mandates that all research done in China be shared with the People’s Liberation Army, in 2017.”
These scientists may have solved MLB’s ‘juiced’ baseball problem
“Within a matter of weeks, according to Smith and Nathan, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred could be ready to present the research findings and explain what has caused the baseballs to drive up the home run totals — not to mention fuel conspiracy theorists who have accused the league of juicing up the balls.”
This should make my home boy Justin Verlander happy.: Justin Verlander Says MLB Is Juicing Baseballs To Goose Up Offense
“It’s a f—-ing joke. Major League Baseball’s turning this game into a joke. They own Rawlings, and you’ve got Manfred up here saying it might be the way they center the pill. They own the f—-ing company. If any other $40 billion company bought out a $400 million company and the product changed dramatically, it’s not a guess as to what happened. We all know what happened. Manfred the first time he came in, what’d he say? He said we want more offense. All of a sudden he comes in, the balls are juiced? It’s not coincidence. We’re not idiots.”
Asked if he believed the balls were intentionally juiced by the league, Verlander said: “Yes. 100 percent. They’ve been using juiced balls in the Home Run Derby forever. They know how to do it. It’s not coincidence. I find it really hard to believe that Major League Baseball owns Rawlings and just coincidentally the balls become juiced.”
