Pure CSS Segmented Buttons
Sunday, 18th September, 2011
So, I was playing around with some CSS the other day, and was challenged to make some buttons “look like a mac”, specifically, the segmented ones shown on Wikimedia (I don’t have a mac!) What I managed to get working are some buttons, which are actually radio buttons, so standard HTML form elements, which look like this: (more…)VirtualBox and Harddrives
Thursday, 21st April, 2011
Whilst playing with VirtualBox I came across a recurring error, which failed almost silently. I was installing XP and Fedora on one virtual drive, which was given ample space to accommodate both, but Fedora repeatedly failed to find enough space to automatically partition. Upon investigation I found the drive had enough space, yet still no luck. So I increased the size of the virtual drive, still no luck, increased it again, no luck. It turns out that the issue wasn’t the virtual drive that was too small, but my real hard drive that didn’t have enough space to fit the virtual drive on! I thought it interesting that the error would show up within the virtual machine, rather than being highlighted on the host as the issue was on the host side. Yet another example of errors which don’t always mean what they say…Most of a day
Friday, 25th March, 2011
23 hours in the life of my camera. Most of a DaySelf Signed Certificates
Sunday, 13th February, 2011
I recently set up self signed HTTPS for my sites, and I have to say it was very easy and it got me wondering about the issues of “trust” in security and networking. Certificates in this context provide two main things: end to end (ish) encryption, and trust. The first is simple, data is encrypted at the application level and passed over the network to the server, where it is decrypted. All very nice, especially if passwords etc. are involved. Trust however is somewhat more complex. My self signed certificate provides me, or anyone using it, with endless warnings from my browser, because the identity cannot be verified. Who said it can’t? Trust is complex. Certificates work on a chain of trust, and at some point we have to just decide to trust (for no better reason than “because we do”), the root of the chain. This leads to issues. Over the years there have been many root nodes, and most of them are now not trusted, but how does this affect me? I can pay for a certificate, in which case somebody decides I am me and I can be trusted. i.e. they verify my identity. But why should I trust them? Because I paid them? My self signed certificate provides the same level of encryption as any paid for offering, so why is it less trusted? Mostly, because I didn’t pay. However, consider this. I trust me. I signed my own certificate. No one else has ever touched it. My thought is that a self signed certificate, for me, is more secure than a paid for one.Snow
Thursday, 2nd December, 2010
Well it would seem that once again we are all going to die from a little frozen water. However, it makes for some nice photos without even leaving the house!
Snow covered bins