It doesn’t take long for me to forget how long it’s been since I did one of these posts! Here’s a quick update.
What I’ve been doing
Coding: I’ve actually been coding after almost 15 years! We needed to rewrite a custom URL handler to automatically open a member account based on incoming phone number. I’m surprised how fast I picked up VB.Net as I stopped developing just as .NET came on the scene. I forgot how fun it can be! I was able to repurpose a custom screen-pop application for our call center to work with a new contact center solution. My next trick is building powershell routines to keep the user and contact lists updated as the app doesn’t support SCIM user creation.
Cord cutting My wife recently left her positon, so we’ve been trying to downsize our discretionary expenses. Entertainment is a bit part of that expense, so I’ve taken the leap and dropped internet TV in favor of using an HDHomeRun box with the Plex Live TV services. I still need to experiment with how to best record TV shows, but the live TV works well enough. Bandwidth is the biggest issue with antenna placement the next. I’m still experimenting with these. I’ve also jumped on a few deals for older DVD’s and BlueRays to build up a legal movie collection. I’m still working on a solution for sports.
pfSense I’ve come into a few extra hand-me-down PCs, so I’m going to try again to setup a pfSense firewall. My main concerns right now is not getting the full throughput on my fiber connectivity, so I need to run some tests first. More on this as I experiment more.
Writing
Patch Tuesday updates for all! – Unstable Path – It’s patch week…like every other week.
Reading & Listening
Technology
CIO who dropped VMware 18 months ago now very pleased • The Register – Yet another story about how Broadcom is shooting itself in the foot and driving vmWare into the ground.
Security
LastPass Employee Targeted With Deepfake Calls – SecurityWeek – “In our case, an employee received a series of calls, texts, and at least one voicemail featuring an audio deepfake from a threat actor impersonating our CEO via WhatsApp,” LastPass says.
Special Edition: Chris Krebs, Alex Stamos and Patrick Gray – Risky Business – Excellent discussion on supply chain sovereignty! I highly recommend infosec nerds take a listen to a new spin on an old issue.
How it Works – Knocknoc – Interesting tech that I heard about on Risky.biz. Allows you to open ports and access services behind SSO that don’t typically support it.
iOS 17.5 bug undeleted sensitive photos—even on devices you no longer own – The Mac Security Blog – Oops Apple! One of the better descriptions of this issue. And another reminder to think twice before you click that pic.
Windows 11 to Deprecate NTLM, Add AI-Powered App Controls and Security Defenses – MS is putting some needed fixes into Windows 11 security.
Financial
U.S. Economy FAQ: Rising Insurance Prices, Stuck Inflation, and More – The Ringer – This discussion of what’s driving inflation rates contains a great explanation on how inflation is tied to the national debt.
Powershell
Invoke-WebRequest or Invoke-RestMethod? – Truesec – Simple answer – Invoke-WebRequest gives you the complete unfiltered results, where Invoke-RestMethod returns just the results in a custom PSObject.
How to use Invoke RestMethod in PowerShell — LazyAdmin – Great summary on how to use the Invoke-RestMethod in Powershell, including new features in Powershell v7.
Science
Britain says it is developing a radio-wave weapon that can take out a swarm of drones for just $0.12 a shot – This would be far more effective than trying to shoot down a drone.
Quantum networks are closer to reality – The Verge – Amazon is dabbling in quantum networking? I’m not sure what this gets us that current fiber technology doesn’t. My vision for quantum networking is instant communication across any distance, similar to Three Body Problem sophons or Eve Online’s fluid routers.
Ancient viral DNA in the human genome linked to major psychiatric disorders – Could viral DNA explain why humans develop these mental illnesses which appear to go against evolution?
Blogging
How and why to make a /now page on your site | Derek Sivers – If you have a blog, create a /now page and let folks know what you are up to!
sites with a /now page – A collection of /now pages.
Tools
ThomasKur/M365Documentation: Automatic Microsoft 365 Documentation to simplify the life of admins and consultants. – This project is a life saver for documenting your Intune configurations.
jordanbaird/Ice: Powerful menu bar manager for macOS – Awesome little tool to collapse your Mac menu bar icons to only display what you actually need until you need them.