Frank Fenten

Frank Fenten's twitter account. Opinions my own. Ish.

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@9600 TBF, Tod has the ageing raver demographic all sewn up because of the Golden Lion. Hebden doesn't get a look in.

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@robmanuel Figure does this.. And it's Badass. And it's 79p from the app store of your choice. Wonderful piece of software.

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@meldh That's perfect. I love it.

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

I don't know if this is true. But I want it to be.

[Owen Gregorian @OwenGregorian]

𝗔𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟭𝟬 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗢𝗳 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝗜𝘀 𝗘𝗻𝗰𝗿𝘆𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗩𝗶𝗮 𝗟𝗮𝘃𝗮 𝗟𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀

A wall of around 100 lava lamps is keeping your data safe.

We don't want to sound completely unhinged, like someone yelling "sharks have been around the galaxy twice" (they have) or "McFlurries look the way they do because of hedgehogs" (they do), but around 10 percent of the Internet is encrypted via lava lamps.

Encryption, in its most basic form, is scrambling data (be that text, image, or video) so that only the sender and recipient with their encryption keys can read it. Though now associated with computing, encryption has been around for centuries, with the first recorded cipher dating back to around 400 BCE, used by Spartan military officers to secretly communicate.

Encryption varies in complexity. By using simple substitution ciphers (e.g. a = b, b = c, and so on) you are taking plain text and converting it into encrypted ciphertext, which someone else can convert back to readable text if they have (or guess) your very simple key. Meanwhile, in computer encryption, 56-bit encryption keys, with 72,057,594,037,927,936 possibilities, proved themselves to be too easy to crack when they were solved by security experts on refurbished computer equipment within 56 hours by brute force.

As well as using 128-bit or higher keys, security experts try to make them harder to break by making them as random as possible. Computers, with their ordered logical "if this then that" way of working, are not great at introducing randomness, but fortunately for your encrypted top-secret WhatsApp meme group, we have other ways of doing that, including lava lamps.

"To produce the unpredictable, chaotic data necessary for strong encryption, a computer must have a source of random data. The 'real world' turns out to be a great source for randomness, because events in the physical world are unpredictable," CloudFare , which encrypts up to 10 percent of the Internet using the lava lamp method, explains on their website. 

"As one might expect, lava lamps are consistently random. The 'lava' in a lava lamp never takes the same shape twice, and as a result, observing a group of lava lamps is a great source for random data."

At CloudFare, there is a wall of around 100 lava lamps, which are running and doing their gloopy thing. At intervals, a camera pointed at the lamps takes a photo. The random colors of the pixels are then used to create an encryption key.

@ScottAdamsSays

https://t.co/p6yytnOQ4J

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@peeplaja Fabulous. Thank you.

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@horse_says_nay @ibhregore @genji2000 @johnredwood Here you go. 29000 annual early deaths due to poor urban air quality, with source. Makes a huge difference

https://t.co/K4qyIBw6S7.

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@jgspace_design Basic design 101 fail on all 3. Literally illegal in many contexts.
The '25pt' font size here is too small to read easily for anyone without 20:20 vision. Or over 60% of the population.
Rule 1 of good design. Make it usable. Only then make it pretty.

https://t.co/I0QaiRFaRQ

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@9600 All good on the first two, but the 3rd. Nah man, apple people are that weird evangelical cult with the charismatic dead leader who has shown them the one true path....

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@ScottAPatient Todmorden is taking the photo, because it always was the creative one that actually got stuff done whilst the others were faffing about 😄

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

So much this.

[The Secret CFO @SecretCFO]

McKinsey say 70% of ERP rollouts FAIL

But why is it so HARD?

Let me break it down: 👇

[The Secret CFO @SecretCFO]

McKinsey say 70% of ERP rollouts FAIL

But why is it so HARD?

Let me break it down: 👇

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@ivortymchak @robpatrick Whilst safari is still dreck, it really isn't acceptable that firms don't test in safari. I mean, we used to support internet explorer and that was way worse.. There is no excuse for this stuff. It's usually a case of 'no budget allocated for ongoing support and testing' meh.

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@9600 @timharbour The horror.
The horror

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@timharbour @9600 This is morally repugnant and should be banned immediately. Apps being 'cute' was.bad enough. App bros is an anthropomorphisiation too far. I will die on this hill

[Santiago @svpino]

I just spoke to myself, and it was weird.

You can now clone your voice using a few seconds of audio, give the robot personality, and deploy a clone of yourself.

Here is a step-by-step process on how to do this in less than two minutes:

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@WolfieChristl If he had any idea what he was talking about and any serious prospect of being in power in 18 months, I'd be seriously worried about his statement.
Current vibe : frowsty chill

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

After far too long an absence, Chemical Soup springs back to life. 8th July, Golden Lion, Todmorden.
With the lovely Black Bones from Belfast guesting it up, Tim Hamblin on the one's and two's and much frenzy on the dance floor. w00t!

https://t.co/w1zlm6AyFE

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

Oooh wuthering bytes is back!

[Wuthering Bytes @wutheringbytes]

A huge thanks to DesignSpark for sponsoring this year's Wuthering Bytes festival!

https://t.co/B8ju9aUbCZ

#technology #HebdenBridge #OpenSource #FOSS #science #engineering #community

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@YorkshireWater Hi Ather, you have everything you need to investigate.
Below is the lat/long of the block, you can read the job number from the boards. Don't wish to sound churlish, but what else can you possibly need?
53.71283931835605, -2.09209872798014

[Frank Fenten @welovetheweb]

@YorkshireWater the path I reported as having been blocked for over a month is still blocked. It's an important route into town. And it's been blocked for nearly 8 weeks now.