Category Archives: tech

Aside

One thing that irritates me as an Apple user but I appreciate (a bit) as a cyber security professional is how developers will glom on to a version of MacOS. Customers have to either upgrade their OS (linked to hardware by Apple by their inscrutable reckoning) or, if available, accept an older version.

There are security implications to these options. It is important to note that regardless of what Apple and developers want to happen on the platform, users are going to use. For example, I am writing this on a MacBook Air 11 inch from 2015. I’m impressed by the number of applications that still run on this.

And they can, these apps that enjoy a solid user base. Yet many chose otherwise. For example, I tried to install Vivaldi browser on this MBA. It wants something newer than MacOS 11, but on Linux Vivaldi is fine with an older OS release.

Aside

In Elfeed (Emacs RSS feed reader) with the Owncloud/Nextcloud protocol integration (via elfeed-protocol), I discovered that

(setq elfeed-protocol-lazy-sync t)

is necessary to keep read RSS articles in sync. Disabled (by default) it will update after the article is read in Elfeed, triggering what I think is rate limiting in newer server installs, causing articles to not be marked as read. Enabled it will update articles’ read status with the next update (article fetch).

If a software firm sells 4 months before anyone notices, does it make a sound?

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Just before I read about the news of Evernote laying off its entire staff I printed and saved a receipt in DevonThink. That I cannot think of the last article I read or person who referenced Evernote (EN) is indicative of the state of that … service? Software? And it changed hands in February yet there was no mention of it in my tech heavy feeds until July.

I was a devoté of EN back in the day. It seemed magical in its ability to save things for later in an on-line world. There were apps for OS X and Windows and other platforms (via API) and a recipe app, an app to log your meals, and Skitch for capturing drawings.

The story was compelling. And it was ahead of its time. Sadly, mismanagement and security issues and EN being sold (& resold & resold) and focus shifts doomed the product.

R.I.P. Evernote, I guess?