Technorama

An omnibus of tech posts by a Futurologist on software development primarily.

Tuesday 24 January 2017

Blog public vs Private companies

What works best?

eg in the UK we had the Post Office Telephones (PTO) there was next to no investment. The government and civil service thought everything was fine, 3 month waiting list to get a phone line installed was reasonable.

We can't have planners choosing what businesses should innovate.

posted by 東京 # 17:49 0 Comments

Monday 23 January 2017

Slashdot's Interview With Swift Creator Chris Lattner

Interesting interview on Slashdot's With Swift Creator Chris Lattner talking about LLVM and GCC. I know those global variables too well. Same in Binutils. Time to refactor and adopt good programming style? Obviosuly LLVM is a complete re-implementation of a compiler from scratch, maybe this is what was needed.

posted by 東京 # 19:30 0 Comments

Monday 16 January 2017

Software Audit guidance

http://news.softpedia.com/news/eu-to-give-free-security-audits-to-apache-http-server-and-keepass-506526.shtml

My own experience is that the projects that corporations and governments make millions out of, are run by volunteers. An audit report is not as useful as real contributions to the project, over the long term.

Most code bases are not as well structured as they could be. In the case of C, there are globals, externs, and unclear design. This also makes it difficult for additional contributors to get started in a project. eg GNU Binutils project "objdump"

I reviewed Apache http server, they weren't welcoming of my suggested fixes for NULL ptr denial of services bugs

posted by 東京 # 22:45 0 Comments

Google Automated App tester

I wish Google should introduce an Android App Quality Tester. Upon submitting the app for review, it would be run in a sandbox, and checked that it doesn't crash, lock up.

Android Automated App checker.
So many apps are published that don't function on even basic usage.
eg National Rail app, crashes when clicking on the box to put a station name.
Very easy to have an automated app tester, that clicks on each button, and selects something from each dialog. Within two minutes, the whole app would have had this basic monkey test.
Google should do it in a sandbox for each app they accept in the Play Store.

Basic features, like clicking on each button in the UI, should be responsive.
Rotating the screen should not crash.
Entering text in any text boxes should not crash.
Writing very long strings in text boxes should not cause a crash.

posted by 東京 # 22:41 0 Comments

Friday 13 January 2017

Add Text, Edit and Overwrite PDF with Ubuntu GNU-Linux

There are a few great tools to easily Add Text and Overwrite PDF with Ubuntu GNU-Linux. This saves printing out, filling in details such as bank account details and then scanning it again. Also avoids bank details getting miss scanned, or bank details not being clear as if typed with an overwriter.

I've been using Foxit Reader on Windows, it works well. There isn't anything as good natively on the Gnome Desktop yet, but at least they have an Ubuntu GNU-Linux package. Edit the file, add the text, and then Save as PDF again.

To add Signatures, just drag the PDF into GIMP, open your PNG of your signature (with the background white, or transparent) and drag it into place. Resize the Layer if needed. Then again, Export Overwrite PDF.

posted by 東京 # 21:46 0 Comments

Foxit Reader Ubuntu includes .svn files

Which muppet made this tar.gz file? Why not just ship a Deb package like everyone else.

posted by 東京 # 17:37 0 Comments

Uber App Team Incompetence

Has anyone reported a defect in Uber app? Like when it crashes every time the app is opened. Google takes the crash report, and stores the core dump on their server with all the appropriate info (android version, app version etc).

I've taken my time to report this to Uber, but their support team refuse to investigate the defect. Their only response is "re-install the app" - it's like they don't have any trained Software Engineers. Even escalating as a complaint, they don't take it seriously.

It is a shame when a company gets big, and becomes complacent. Refusing the investigate crash dumps in this case etc. It's actually the way that big companies become unstuck, and dynamic, smaller businesses with innovative and responsive processes take over market share from the monolithic complacent companies.

posted by 東京 # 11:31 0 Comments

Tuesday 10 January 2017

NHS winter crisis

It's the same every year, peaking in 3rd week of Jan. Perhaps they should increase beds and staffing for Jan, or alternatively should reduce the scheduling of routine operations in January.

I recognise it is a balancing act, between having wasted empty beds and facilities, and the counter, having wasted staff and surgeons because there aren't beds and x-ray facilities available. The aim is to deliver value for money, and I wonder if the wasted staff, or wasted facilities are more expensive. I imagine NHS has already costed this, and determined that the facilities cost so much, so better to have some wasted staff and cancelled operations at certain times of the year. It seems to cost them more to have empty beds.

posted by 東京 # 18:45 0 Comments

Android Paste Without Formatting - Missing Feature

Hello Google!
Please add [Paste Without Formatting] to Android. When I press and hold, I can only [Paste], which isn't what I want, when I am copying the title of an article that is 18pt

posted by 東京 # 17:26 0 Comments

Monday 9 January 2017

Tube and Rails strikes

The tube row is apparently a "Row over job security and safety"

The tube strike goes back to the one in 2014 about closing ticket offices, which are no longer needed because of Oyster. They saved the cost of 800 employees. That allowed TfL to deploy those savings to improving the lines, and enhancing the network. They are now striking, because they can't agree on how many additional staff to recruit. Assuming their salary is 30k, and 100 jobs more could be created, that would cost £3M. Why not just hire them? £3M is more than the impact to the rest of the economy for one day of standstill.

Re Southern Rail, the independent safety regulator has already confirmed they are safe, with just a driver. It is the union that is simply protecting their workers jobs (conductors), in an role when they are no longer required. Why not make the point, by agree to keep them on, but oblige them to sit in the drivers cab with the driver, and not do any real work for a six month period, to prove they are no longer required.

Worth calling the Safety board to report if it's genuine concerns

posted by 東京 # 18:55 0 Comments

Saturday 7 January 2017

linuxformat.com https site

It's ironic when a Linux website has their website miss-configured.
Google is linking to their https://www.linuxformat.com/ site, which is normal nowadays to go for the secure site. The problem is Linux Format's web team haven't set it up, so it doesn't work.

Linux Format web team haven't realised, that if google detects an HTTPS server, they will link to that, rather than plain old HTTP

Since reporting it on 28 Dec 2016, Linux Format web team haven't bothered to fix it, and seem to be in denial about the issue. Can you take it seriously? It's your magazine guys!

posted by 東京 # 10:49 0 Comments

Evernote, please add plain text mode!

When will Evernote finally add a plain text mode? The formatted text is terrible, and I have to install as separate app (Notepad) just to remove the formatting.

It's trivial Evernote, please just implement it!

posted by 東京 # 00:56 0 Comments