Just spotted
an article about the new security requirements for a
DigiD. A DigiD is an online username password for (secure (??)) communication with the government. The ID is also used for filling in your taxforms and submitting them online.
I was, and still am, not in favor of a username and password for communication with the government. Username and password is a very weak form of authenticating people. Especially when those usernames and passwords can be used for identity theft.
Now there are
additional security requirements for having a DigiD. It seems that they require a unique phone number (a cellphone) for non basic services. At this moment there are multiple entries in their database which share the same phone number..... What's wrong with that? I don't own a cell phone. The cell phone I have is owned by my boss. I'm not using this phone number for this ID, because this phone can be used by my colleagues. Same for my wife. That leaves us with the phone number from my good-old analog (non SMS enabled) phone. That's one phone number for two people.... I guess that means that I'll be doing my tax returns the old-fashioned way.. by paper.
A couple of days ago, I upgraded Internet Explorer on the laptop from my work. Initially, everything seemed fine... Until I wanted to access our web-based HR system (PeopleSoft).
In the good-old-days, this website worked (not good, and not bad). Since IE7, the login page remains blank, while the sourcecode of the page is fully loaded. So no way of logging to my personal HR page. I have no idea what's causing this (PeopleSoft or IE7). I do know that the (simple) login page holds a gazillion lines of Javascript.... Why? It's just a login page.
A temporary work-around is using FireFox 2.0. Version 2.0 seemed to have solved some of the bugs I got with FireFox 1.5.x in PeopleSoft. Problem is that I need to change proxy settings for FireFox. I use IE for intranet browsing, because the developpers are MS-fans, and FireFox for global Internet browsing.
Mind you that you have to
disable the NoScript extension for FireFox (when installed). Just allowing all scripts for the PeopleSoft website gives erratic behavior, and lot's of errors on the pages. Only disabling the extension seems to work (which requires a reboot :( ).
Anyway, somebody has to do some work to improve things.
Two more pictures from our trip to Africa. The beautiful african sunset at the Ngorongoro crater. Taken from the Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge.
Microsoft released the MSDN versions of Windows Vista, and Office 2007. Since I have (legitimate) access to the MSDN downloads, I downloaded both ISO files.
Unfortunately, I don't have any spare hardware available for testing Windows Vista, so I decided to install it in a Virtual Machine.
First I installed it in
Parallels on my Mac Book Pro (
see earlier post), but I needed something more portable for work, so I installed it in
VMWare Workstation.
The installation was a piece of cake, but the VMWare Tools seem to be as buggy as the Parallel tools. You install these tools to enhance the user performance (seamless mouse), and add drivers for network adapter, etc. Both virtualisation software packages fail to shutdown the Vista OS properly. Probably has something to do with the ACPI drivers included in the tools.
Anyway, that will most likely be solved with an update for both pieces of software in the next weeks. For now, I've got a proper Virtual Machine running Windows Vista Ultimate with Office 2007 Professional.
Let the evaluation begin.
B.t.w. I just hate the shutdown button on Vista. There's no confirmation on if you actually want to shut the system down. The old XP interface was better, but perhaps it's behavior is configurable.
When we were in Africa, we had some money problems. Even though they accept credit cards in most of the hotels, it's hard to withdraw cash from ATM's. During our stay there were a gazillion number of public holidays in Kenya, and Tanzania, and during those holidays, the banks are closed. So getting some serious cash was a problem. Especially when you're on safari (not that many ATM's on the Serengeti).
When we entered Tanzania, we needed cash, because we needed to pay some fees (in cash). We were taken to the
Impala Hotel in Arusha. Here we could charge our credit card for cash (Tanzanian Shillings, and US Dollars). I seperated the 300 USD, because we needed to pay exit-tax when we fly home again from Zanzibar.
At the end of our vacation, we needed to pay the exit-tax (or departure tax) to get form Zanzibar to Nairobi. The official in charge of collecting the departure money told us that most of our money was fake...... Well, that's just great.
The only place where we could have gotten the fake dollars was in the Impala Hotel.
'Damn those bastards....'
Back home, I contacted the Impala Hotel by e-mail, and explained the situation. Fortunatelly, they remembered the transaction and suggested to correct the problem. They were very cooperative on solving this issue.
A few e-mails later, I got the details of a Western Union Money Transfer. They had sent me the complete amount of 160 USD.
There is only one thing I can say about this: Awesome service. Keep up the good work.
There's a new (beta) search engine on the Internet. It's called
chacha.com. The new thing about chacha.com is that it offers an alternative search method. Normally you enter the thing you search for and press submit (or whatever). This engine has the impossibility to search with a guide.
What happens is that you get contacted by an actual person (a chat interface like thingy) and he/she does the search for you, and returns the thing you actually needed. No more thousands of pages to dig through. Note that there are
some rules you need to follow.
As mentioned by Leo Laporte in the Net@Night podcast, it's a girly-search-engine.... Guys don't (or won't) ask for 'directions'.
First the Music bought online (DRM protected)
won't play on the Zune, and now it seems that the
Zune doesn't work with the new OS Windows Vista (at this moment).
Well, that's just great. :D
Microsoft has released their latest
Internet Browser, and the new features are phenomenal.
LOL
Hamachi is a great tool of connecting to your server / PC at home while you are on the road (or at work). The program allows you to create a Virtual Network between (configurable) clients without the need of opening ports in your DLS/Cable modem or router [
screenshots].
I use Hamachi at home where I can access my servers as if it were on the same network.
After a long beta period, they finally released an official final
1.0.1.1 version of this tool (available for Windows,
OSX). If you need some tool for administrating servers on a 'shielded' network, this is the tool to use. Another practical use is for remote assistance for family or friends. Just have them install Hamachi, and when ever they are in need of any assistance, they launch their Hamachi client and you can access their PC for troubleshooting.
How Hamachi Works
Hamachi is a UDP-based virtual private networking system. Its peers utilize the help of a third node called a mediation server to locate each other and to bootstrap the connection between them. The connection itself is direct and once it is established no traffic flows through our servers.
Hamachi is not just truly peer-to-peer; it is verifiably secure peer-to-peer.
Believe it or not, but we are able to successfully mediate p2p connections in roughly 95% of all cases we have dealt with so far. This includes peers residing behind various firewalls or broadband routers (aka NAT devices). It is high-tech and it is really cool :)
Don't worry about other people getting in, because the Hamachi client needs to run, you need to know the name of the created network, AND you need to know the password created for that network.
Good news for the air-traveller, who owns an iPod. Apple is planning a cooperation with several Airliners to integrate iPod support in the seats on the planes
Apple Teams Up With Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM & United to Deliver iPod Integration
Even though that the Dutch airliner KLM denies it at this moment, it definitely adds up to earlier news that KLM would invest millions of euros on improving the interior of their planes.
UPDATE: The denial from KLM seems to hold. Apple acknowledged that there was a misunderstanding. iPod integration is scheduled for Continental, Delta, and Emirates though.
