"!" A Dim View of Google's LED Light Bulb

Since being announced in May 2011, neither Google nor Lighting Science Group (LSG) have made mention of the Android@Home light bulb.  It's not clear what the holdup is, but it could easily be another case of Google pushing a product out before it's ready.

I sent a message to the LSG asking for comment or an update.  We'll see if we get a reply.

"Quality Associates" Indeed

A small note tonight...

I was reading this article in the NYTimes today about how some contractor for the FDA fucked up and posted 80,000 pages of silent monitoring online.  Unfortunately for the FDA, a significant part of that surveillance may be illegal.  Worse, they don't even have "good faith" to back them up as they fired the employees monitored after giving them permission to use the monitored equipment for personal purposes.

There are lots of implications in this case, but here's where I find things get fun.  The NYTimes was oddly specific about how they found the documents.  My first Google search landed me some results.  :)

Search: Julian Nicholas m.d. fda
Page 2 of Google yields fruit:

That link looks juicy... A consulting firm with an FTP site that's indexed Excel files (generally you do NOT want these indexed).
Let's take a bite.

Shit.  Requires a username and password.  Well, the Times did say it was "taken down."  As always though, check Google!  The cache, that is; if it's showing in results it means Google has or had access.  This is my favorite way of passing paywalls on content BTW.
Click the "View as HTML" link from Google and...

Bingo!
See those file names?  Cruzer is a brand of portable flash drive, or USB thumb drive.  These were files Dr. Julian Nicholas likely had on a personal flash drive that he plugged into his work computer at some point.

Better than that, there are more to be found.  Adding "site:qualityassociatesinc.com" limits our Google results to those from the qualityassociatesinc.com domain.  Google shows 18 results for "Julian Nicholas m.d. fda site:qualityassociatesinc.com."

I can't wait until someone comes out of the woodwork with these documents.  I plan on having a feast.

The FDA.  Quality associates indeed.

A Real Error

So it looks like I found a real error in Windows 7.

The issue is this:  That config file is in the Program Files folder so modifying it requires administrative privileges. Simple enough (although Notepad++'s error wasn't so useful...).  I zip over to the Notepad++ executable, right click, go to properties, the compatibility tab, and tell it to "Run with Administrative privileges."  Really not complicated unless you're an end user.  Click OK and save the settings.  Zip back over to my .ovpn file, right click, and use the context menu "Edit with Notepad++" selection to open the file and this pops up.

Maybe it's the way Notepad++ adds itself to the context menu, IDK, but this seems like a really old-school error.  And the first such one I've found in Win7.  Just thought I'd give everyone a heads up.  :)

Sideways and slantways and longways and backways and squareways and frontways and any other ways that you can think of.

So this is hilarious.  I've updated a DNS entry on Afraid.org to point at a new server I've rented.  So I'm waiting for the address to propogate.  It's like watching the pot waiting for the water to boil (assuming you don't have an inductive stovetop).  Plus I'm extremely impatient when it comes to this kind of stuff.  Anyway...

I update the record.  Great!  Now let's go see if it's updated.  "ping foo.bar.com" I write.  It resolves.  To the old address.  That's fine, I'll check my email.  Nothing new.  "ping foo.bar.com."  Nada.  OK, I'm bored already, let's check with a tool online.  Using an online ping tool, I hit foo.bar.com at its new address.  Yay!  :)  "ping foo.bar.com"  WTF.  Still on the old address.  Well now this is silly.  Check my DNS servers and they're set to Google.  "ping google.com" Hmm, pings are really high for a DNS server (around 150ms) but just to be sure... "ping 8.8.8.8" (Google's public DNS address).  Still around 130ms.  Alright, I'll just be clever.  I like the reliability of Google's DNS but also the speed of the local DNS.  I'm used to being in the USA where latency is low enough no matter where you are.  Let's go see...

These are my current settings and guess what?

This is how I got them :)

Yota, my WiMAX provider, cheap as they are, decided to point EVERYONE'S DNS at Google.  Which would be fine!... If everyone were located in the US close to Google's servers.  :/  Basically this means that Yota doesn't have to pay for purchasing or operating a single DNS server in the entire country.  Which is pretty impressive really.  I just wish Google would catch on and co-locate a DNS server here at an exchange or something.

Anyway I just thought it was funny.  In the US, I'm used to always having to configure my router and/or clients to point at Google's DNS (it's more reliable AND returns legitimate "record not found" entries).  Here, with Yota, I have to change it to something more local.  It's hilarious.