Vegard Skjefstad

March 19, 2019 / 0 Comments

“The Running Man” by Stephen King

Would you risk your own life to make sure your daughter survives? Here’s my The Running Man review.

I read The Running Man well over two years ago, so it’s about time I sat down and wrote a proper review. It was the third book I read in my ongoing A Book A Month effort, and I gave it a handsome 4 out of 5 score back then.

The Running Man is one of well-known author Stephen King‘s first novels. Originally published in 1982 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, the novel is set in America in 2025. That was the far away future for King at the time, but it’s the very near future for us now. Fortunately, the world is (probably) in better shape in 2025 than King imagined it.

A bunch of STOP SPAM signs on top of each other.

March 16, 2019 / 0 Comments

How To Stop WordPress SPAM

Is your WordPress website being flooded with SPAM? Here how to stop WordPress SPAM.

WordPress now powers a third of the web, so if you’re running a website, there’s a good chance your using WordPress. Since it’s such a popular platform, it’s also a huge bulls eye for spammers looking to promote their bullshit.

There are two types of WordPress SPAM; automated and manual. Automated SPAM is created by computer programs, or bots, that try to post SPAM to every WordPress site they can find. Manual SPAM is created by people who enter SPAM manually on WordPress sites.

CAPTCHA

A common way to stop automated SPAM bots is to use CAPTCHA. This is a type of challenge-response test used to determine whether or not a user is human. The first CAPTCHA implementations were very basic. You just had to recognize a few numbers and letters in a picture, and enter them in a form to prove you were not a pesky SPAM bot. This was a trivial task for humans, but very hard for computers.

But the spammers soon caught up with the early CAPTCHA technology, and taught their bots to solve the simple CAPTCHAs. In the inevitable game of cat-and-mouse, the CAPTCHAs then had to become more advanced to stop the bots. The result was that, more often than not, a CAPTCHA was too hard for humans to solve as well. This made the technology a less desirable way to stop SPAM since they also stopped legitimate users.

March 11, 2019 / 0 Comments

Is WebAuthn the Key to Passwordless Authentication?

Can WebAuthn succeed where Universal 2nd Factor failed?

Back in October, 2015, I wrote about the FIDO Alliance, their U2F standard, and the YubiKey implementation by Yubico. The goal of U2F is was to describe a method for universal two factor authentication (2FA). Today, 2FA is usually done either by text messages, or by using a mobile application that provides one-time codes. U2F is aimed more at physical tokens, with the YubiKey the most well-known implementation.

I thought the idea of a physical token was brilliant so I shelled out for a YubiKey Neo. Since 2015, I’ve used it for anything practical exactly zero (0) times¹.

While using a physical token like the YubiKey for 2FA is a killer concept, U2F support was only implemented in Chrome, and only supported by a tiny handful of sites. Because of this, U2F never saw any wide spread adaption, and the YubiKey on my key chain continues to be dead weight. It’s not terribly heavy, but dead weight nonetheless.

Now, a new authentication standard, WebAuthn, is seeing the light of day. And it might succeed where U2F failed.

March 7, 2019 / 0 Comments

The Turing Test

Is it possible uncover the hidden mysteries of Jupiter’s moon Europa, and not feel like a dumb-ass while doing it? This is my The Turing Test review.

The Turing Test is a first person puzzler that explores the phenomena of consciousness, and challenges the meaning of human intuition. The game is developed by British video game developer Bulkhead Interactive.

I kind of suck at puzzle games, and feel like an idiot every time I have to duckduck the solution, just to realize it was so simple. But when The Turing Test appeared on sale on Steam for NOK 28 (about $3) a while back, I decided to get it anyway.

The previous first person puzzler I finished was Valve’s 2011 title Portal 2. I thoroughly enjoyed that game, but not so much because of the puzzles. They aren’t bad, but the strength of Portal 2, at least in my view, is the captivating story unfolding as you work your way through the puzzles. How can one not be scarred for life by GLaDOS and all the broken promises of cake?

March 4, 2019 / 0 Comments

Alpine MusicSafe Pro Review

Looking for a pair of concert earplugs that will protect your hearing without spoiling the live music experience? Here’s my Alpine MusicSafe Pro review.

I love listening to music, and as an extension of that, I’m careful with my hearing. Unfortunately, after 4+ years with kids in the house, my hearing has sustained some damage. I’ve been careless when picking up crying kids, and a kid crying directly into your ear can easily do irreparable damage to your hearing.

Since that happened, my goal has been to prevent further harm, mostly by avoiding more loud noises¹. Last weekend, however, I did the complete opposite, and went to see The Midnight live with my better half. But we came prepared: Enough beer money, and two pairs of Alpine MusicSafe Pro earplugs.

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“The Running Man” by Stephen King

How To Stop WordPress SPAM

CAPTCHA

Is WebAuthn the Key to Passwordless Authentication?

The Turing Test

Alpine MusicSafe Pro Review

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