Great Moments in Computer Programming

[Flack]

Last night, two hours into a marathon live stream about horror movies, my microphone went mute and an alert popped up on my computer from "Acer Purified Voice" informing me that "the conference call as started." Once I went mute the other host cut to commercial and I had exactly five minutes to troubleshoot and fix the issue.

Per Google, it appears that Acer, by way of Microsoft's monthly Windows updates, pushed out an update to this program (Acer Purified Voice Console), a program that apparently came with this computer and that I did not know was installed. The recent update added "AI noise cancelling," and to its defense, the software immediately and without prompting decided to cancel all noise from my microphone -- specifically, my voice. Through "Add/Remove Programs" I was able to uninstall this undesirable and uninvited program and decided to randomly activate itself for no particular reason in the middle of a live stream.

As a user and supporter of Microsoft, goddamn do these companies make it increasingly difficult to understand their intentions, much less defend them.

[Jizaboz]

Hahaha fuck Microsoft. I've somehow just got by on this Windoze 10 based on a pirated version of 7 Ultimate.. I don't live stream but I have noticed in-game chat in games like TCM being glitchy. But most of all.. fuck Azure!

[AArdvark]

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!

[Jizaboz]

ROFL

[AArdvark]

They weren't lying

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I am trying to login to Verizon to pay my phone bill.

They locked me out for some reason and want me to reset my password.

They are using the phone for this, which is SO FUCKING DUMB.

I am trying to set a new password and one of their requirements is "Hard to guess." I am not able to make it think the password - a random assortment of characters, numbers and symbols - is not "hard to guess."

I of course have to do this through my fucking phone AND TYPE IT OUT THE SAME TWICE and everytime I press the little eye icon to see what I am typing, it blanks out the password again.

I am so unbelievably fucking mad at the sheer amount of stupidity on their part.

The only unlimited force in the universe is mankind's ability to fuck up a login screen.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Expedia is a place you buy flights, they have all your flight info. I couldn't remember what days I was going on a work trip, so I logged into Expedia.

No .... no password. Okay.

So I login, and go to itineraries and this is where none of you will believe me. Expedia doesn't LIST YOUR FLIGHTS.

It wants YOU to give it the itinerary number, then it shows it.

(waits 30 minutes, stroking chin)

They .... they want YOU to tell THEM what your list of stuff is. Then they show it. I have simply never seen such stupidity for a middleman site in my life. What the living FUCK.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I have no idea how to buy an album via Amazon Music any more. The pop punk band "The Maine" put out a self-titled album. Guys? Guys? Guys? Don't do that any more. I am trying to give you money. You can't search for "The Maine" on Amazon's utterly terrible search engine.

I went to their music page a zillion times. I get it, everyone wants to shove you over to a thing where you don't own the music and you can just pay for Amazon Music every month. I am not doing that, and it won't work on a plane because you can't download anything on an airplane.

What a mess. Music again reached the point where piracy is easier.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Expedia is a place you buy flights, they have all your flight info. I couldn't remember what days I was going on a work trip, so I logged into Expedia.

United canceled my upcoming flight.

It took 80 minutes with the online chat via Expedia to get it rebooked.

[Tdarcos]

Expedia is a place you buy flights, they have all your flight info. I couldn't remember what days I was going on a work trip, so I logged into Expedia.

United canceled my upcoming flight.

It took 80 minutes with the online chat via Expedia to get it rebooked.

This is why hotels will tell people who booked through a website not run by the hotel, that if there is a problem with booking, you need to talk to the reservation company, not them, because they have no control over the booking or reservation. So the same thing would apply in the case of a reservation for a flight that was booked through a third party service. You have to talk to the reservation company, the airline has nothing to do with your reservation.

It may seem unfair, but that's what you take when you book through a third party reservation system in order to get a lower price. They buy rooms or flights in bulk at a discount, and then resell them at a slight markup. So the hotel or airline is not really going to care about you, you're not their customer, the reservation company is. What they're going to say is "You're the reservation company's customer; you need to talk to them."

[Da King]

II get it, everyone wants to shove you over to a thing where you don't own the music and you can just pay for Amazon Music every month. I am not doing that, and it won't work on a plane because you can't download anything on an airplane.

They have this neat feature now that lets you download music to your phone, and listen to it offline.

I'll get off your lawn now.

[AArdvark]

It's called piracy! Arrrrr

[RealNC]

It's called piracy! Arrrrr

Legal piracy, even:

https://github.com/th-ch/youtube-music

For all the (deserved) shit Google gets accused with, they did something right. They created a music streaming service and did not lock it behind a DRM mechanism. I just download whole albums as if it's nothing. They're just normal, unprotected m4a files that can be played everywhere.

(Who knows for how much longer they'll be doing that, so I hoarded all the stuff I care about before they also start doing the DRM thing.)

[Jizaboz]

Last summer working security I started getting into a show on Amazon while I had a subscription.. Reacher or some other Tom Clancy shit. Anyway, glancing somewhere on the UI of the app on my Samsung tablet while looking at the show details.. "download episode"! I don't have wifi access there (even if I did.. it sucks) and didn't want to use up the data on my phone so I was pleasantly surprised with that.

[Flack]

I'm currently on a cruise ship. We paid for the internet access so that we can stay connected and post pictures during our vacation. The internet package allows one person to connect on device at a time. I can have my laptop and my cellphone connected to the internet, but not at the same time.

Several sites, including YouTube and Patreon, are throwing up security validation checks because I am logging in from a new IP address. Each one insists on sending me a 2FA verification code. When I try to log in on my laptop, it sends a code to my phone. The codes expire in one minute and there isn't enough time to disconnect the laptop, connect the phone, get the code, disconnect the phone, connect the laptop, and enter the code.

I appreciate what they are trying to do with 2FA and it's doing a good job of keeping the bad guys out. Right now it's also keeping the good guy out.

[RealNC]

The internet package allows one person to connect on device at a time.

If you were a total nerd who likes to spend his vacation doing networking, you would make your laptop into a NAT router, and have the phones connect to that instead. Just like your ISP at home only allows you to connect one device - your modem/router. But you are not a nerd. Right?

[Da King]

Last summer working security I started getting into a show on Amazon while I had a subscription.

This does not make me feel secure.

[Da King]

When I try to log in on my laptop, it sends a code to my phone. The codes expire in one minute and there isn't enough time to disconnect the laptop, connect the phone, get the code, disconnect the phone, connect the laptop, and enter the code.

You can't access texts on your laptop? I could never live without that now.

[Jizaboz]

I'm currently on a cruise ship. We paid for the internet access so that we can stay connected and post pictures during our vacation. The internet package allows one person to connect on device at a time. I can have my laptop and my cellphone connected to the internet, but not at the same time.

Several sites, including YouTube and Patreon, are throwing up security validation checks because I am logging in from a new IP address. Each one insists on sending me a 2FA verification code. When I try to log in on my laptop, it sends a code to my phone. The codes expire in one minute and there isn't enough time to disconnect the laptop, connect the phone, get the code, disconnect the phone, connect the laptop, and enter the code.

I appreciate what they are trying to do with 2FA and it's doing a good job of keeping the bad guys out. Right now it's also keeping the good guy out.

This sort of thing frustrates me too! Dude it's ME. Can you not just send me a text (some services do such as Bill.com. More should) this time? Ffffff

If you were a total nerd who likes to spend his vacation doing networking, you would make your laptop into a NAT router, and have the phones connect to that instead. Just like your ISP at home only allows you to connect one device - your modem/router. But you are not a nerd. Right?

I could see that working in a lot of places! Though I wonder if some networks restrict it or if it will be in the future. In a total asshole hotel/ship/etc wifi network, I envision that they would scan all connections periodically to catch things. Such as.. "Oh. I see 2 or more active MAC addresses on the same IP. Ooh ALL of those connections have been active more more than half an hour! I will now throttle traffic to this IP or just restrict all but 1 of their MAC device address :)" This sort of restriction of course could be completely automated. I don't think most of these establishments care enough though as of now to do such thing.. I'm just saying they can and potentially already do in some places.

Last summer working security I started getting into a show on Amazon while I had a subscription.

This does not make me feel secure.

Haha! I'm mainly there for insurance purposes. Basically if there is water in the pools then someone has to be on the premises 24/7. That person can be watching Amazon videos, taking naps, whatever so long as that person keeps homeless people and dogs from getting in the pools, report suspicious activity, let the street cleaners into the parking lot promptly, and make sure all gates are locked. I also spend 1-2 hours a night walking around and electronically hitting a bunch of "check points". It's security.. but it's a fucking water park.

I had a kid maybe 17 ask me last summer before he went home after his shift: "So yo you surcurity right? What you gonna do if someone breaks in?"

Me: "Tell them to leave."

Kid: "Ok then wut?"

Me: "I physically remove them."

Kid (eyeballing how scrawny I am): "Tha fuck you mean physically move them? How?"

Me: "There's ways man. I mean.. I know a bit of Ju-Jitsu but all I would do is put up my hands in an open and defensive gesture and tell him he has to get the fuck out. Then I start pushing at him as I repeat it."

Kid: "But what if he bigger that you? What if he got a weapon? What if.."

Me: "Then I fucking yeet outta there, hide, and call the cops. This is a waterpark bro and these are stupid fucking questions."

[Tdarcos]

make your laptop into a NAT router, and have the phones connect to that instead. Just like your ISP at home only allows you to connect one device - your modem/router.

Though I wonder if some networks restrict it or if it will be in the future. In a total asshole hotel/ship/etc wifi network, I envision that they would scan all connections periodically to catch things. Such as.. "Oh. I see 2 or more active MAC addresses on the same IP. Ooh ALL of those connections have been active more more than half an hour! I will now throttle traffic to this IP or just restrict all but 1 of their MAC device address :)"

Wrong.

I see your argument and raise two, no three potential objections. (1) For the system to work, it would have to use DHCP to issue IP addresses; (2) If he uses his own router, then all traffic goes through it, and the facility has no knowledge of how many devices are using its connection, just as external sites have no knowledge how many users are connected on the same IP address; (3) routers have "MAC spoofing," you can instruct the router to report a different MAC address than its own. So it can just impersonate the WI-FI card of your phone or laptop.

I actually used option (2) back home in University Park. I had FIOS Internet from Verizon which uses a password to connect to the router. My devices used that. For all the devices my friend upstairs had that did not really support this (or he did not know how to set it up) I had a (then) $9 Tenda WI-FI router that itself connected by Ethernet to the Verizon router, and it had no password. Worked fine.