[Richard]

Ed P wrote:

Steve, the main problem is one of security. A smart meter provides an ‘always on’ connection between you and your energy provider. If a hacker gets into that link then you have potential problems ranging from burglars monitoring when you are away, to malware deauthorising your connection on the pretense you have not paid your bills. I’ll take a small bet that insufficient thought has gone into encrypting the connection between your smart meter’s sim and the energy company. I would also worry about the reliability of my phone/broadband connection. I get enough problems with the ‘copper’ bit of my broadband to worry about what automated actions are set in train when my smart meter stops transmitting! I have come to the conclusion that I do not want to take one unless I am offered a large cash incentive. i.e. time of day pricing over and above my day/night rate tariffs. I’m not even sure I want one then as I get all the stats I need from my solar pv management system.

Wow, something on which we can agree. For me the major issue appears to be that the damned things are just totally unreliable, even if the data link issues can be sorted out – a real issue in some cases. SMART meters that show daily consumption closer to life time usage should be disturbing to all. Like you I am not happy with the remote access function, I saw some studies that suggested this was included because about 15~20% of connections were industrial and could be manipulated to smooth out the transient variation in demand – turning down freezers and fridges in shops, easing back on Air-Conditioning, even running up on site standby power plants, etc. Saving of load of ‘useful’ magnitude could be produced, though even those were subsequently disputed. These dodgy figures were then extrapolated to domestic situations without applying any intelligence. Later it dawned on some that most domestic fridges (a) use relatively little power and (b) typically only run for short period of five or so minutes in any hour anyway. The saving generated by load shedding an inactive fridge or freezer is surprising small! Not the wrong anyway ~20% or so estimated for commercial users but less than 1% for domestic users.

Edit: I forgot, to add, most domestic equipment has a longer life than that in commercial enterprises, so how long would it be before they get replaced and become ‘remote controllable’? I have three fridges, 40 plus years old, and two more that are between 3 and 8 years old. The freezer is about 25 years old. Most new equipment has a shorter expected lifespan but claimed cheaper running cost hence less consumption anyway.

So another total bust!

[Richard]

Ed I guess we must agree to differ on this one. Back in the day 100% of some traffic streams were monitored and known actors were monitored a considerable part of the time, i.e. 100% of the day. In fact if there were not enough monitors equipment would be shut to match the limited number of monitors.

As for the utter baloney about 100% monitoring, I guess no one carries a mobile at any time? So they can never be 100% back tracked after an event. And I guess we always buy tickets for public transport with cash, keeping our faces covered and never use a car with number plates, etc.

No one would ever think of allowing their mobile to send out details to beacons, etc.

I honestly think you missed or ignored the bit about full financial and trading details already being available to a range of actors, some of which are commercial but others are clearly not, or is HMRC a commercial entity?

I knew some of those involved in such work, many on secondment from ‘elsewhere’. Their attitude was with some many hay stacks containing needles we do not have time to look at the hay, we need better ways to pan for needles.

I am sorry but I do not care if someone knows what my grocery order contained, but I care a great deal about the risk of a family member being blow to bits or poisoned. Sadly such threat generators have been allowed in, that was the huge error. Now we are stuck with the effects and some foolish dolts want to admit more of such aliens. By the same token I am hugely in favour of intelligence and profiling. Long may they be used to good and full effect.

However, there are problems long predating the intensive gathering of more data, (which might in some cases have put a stop to past illegal actions). Some of the southern USA states have a long history of not needing little hang ups like evidence, – they hung them anyway. Such major atrocities may have been reduced, but the ugly side of totalitarianism still lingers on with false arrests and false evidence very much in evidence. I would also be careful in France, have worked in close contact with some of their often sloppy ‘services’ I would not trust them to buy a ripe cheese and get it right.

I accept graciously that we are clearly on different sides and that you will never persuade me, nor I you. Having seen real plots stopped before they happened, often because of stupid errors by the plotters, and the results of others that were not stopped in time I trust that successes will continue and increase while failures will reduce.

Oh, I still have little or no use for the likes of Alexa, simply because it cannot offer me anything to date that would be the slightest value.

[Richard]

Richard wrote:

For me the answer is the rule of LAW, not the rule of gray individuals lacking any track record of challenging Government abuses. By ignoring the recommendations of the oversight committee (without a published reason), Theresa May took away yet another smidgen of trust.

You do realise that all of your financial data, trading data and a great deal else besides can already, what am I saying, it is already being accessed by a range of actors, some of which are government departments? Bothering about what you say to your TV, mobile or anything else will not make a halfpennyworth of difference to that. However move money, about buy stuff – is it in excess of that which your declared income(s) should allow and then expect a follow up.

There is one standout exception of course, if you  are a halfway ‘decent’ money launderer, then the world is your oyster. Still who cares about that?

I have lived in countries where the monitoring was far closer than anything this country can afford, yet I was not affected in any harmful ways.

Edited to include a cut out from your message.

I refer you my earlier comments about the problem of a range of misfits who have been inducted into the CIA and others and the ‘changing’ standards being applied by our own recruiters. Unless and until a bar is placed upon the malicious, the unhinged and those with an alignment with other locations then problems will arise. Have I suggested that every tin pot fool should have access to the keys of the Kingdom? – NO. However the evidence is that too many are granted access well above their capabilities and suitability and yes, dodgy councils I am aware of you.

[Richard]

Do I care about any of this rubbish and mock horror? No, except in one important regard. Anything that limits the ability to detect and if necessary neutralise those I doubt anyone here would like to encounter is a rather unpleasant idea.

As for anyone taking an interest in my TV, well forget it, there is no mike anywhere near any of them. My mobile? Half the time I can forget to pick it up anyway and while I am in the house it is largely out of sight and mind in another room. Why would anyone waste their time and my tax money tracing my boring life? I they are really that bored with life I guess the world is already a safer place, otherwise get working and keep working on the real stuff.

I am certainly far more concerned about both the Russians and their map-cap imperialist leader, and the Chinese, though not for my own personal and largely useless communications.  The Russians persistent attempts to sow discord and steal any data they can, are real but do not in anyway affect me directly, my cupboard is bare and always was.

I have growing concern about Uncle Sam and their questionable leader and his cohort. Apparently out there it is now OK to arm the mentally unwell and deny the sick healthcare. Though even some in his his own party are having some concerns over that one. Still, that is US domestic politics and they are very well welcome to keep that state of affairs.  They made it, they can keep it just the way they want it, if they all in fact want it that way it is still their affair.

Do I worry about them tracing my activities?  No. I do not send ‘dodgy pictures’, belong to any groups at all other than the likes of this and have a profile that could bore the backside off any halfway skilled and motivated operative. However, sadly there is the rub, does the US have any half way decent or reliable operatives who can be trusted to sharpen a pencil let alone do anything actually productive? It appears not, all they can do is follow the wrong leads and leak out whatever they once had. So not much hope there I am afraid, and even less to fear, except the certainty they will never find any useful targets and will waste their time on useless ventures. As it happens ours are about the only ones I have any passing trust in and even that is being eroded by news and comment on their current recruitment processes.

[Richard]

The Duke wrote:

They all have to do free roaming now Dave, that is untill we leave the EU then I don’t know what the s ore will be.

Roaming is not really an issue for me as long as it does not apply for going outside of Hertfordshire. The last time we were out of the country the mobile kept pinging away welcoming us to all sorts of places, but they need not have bothered as no one was going to make any calls. A holiday is to get away from troubles and the telephone only brings grief. I am not sure why we even took them with us to be honest, since then roaming might have got cheaper but the need is even less now than it was back in 2009

[Richard]

Thank you to all who responded. I looked at Giffgaff as I have previously heard good things about them. However, most of their web site failed to even load at all which made it very hard to find out much about them.

I did once have an encounter with Talk Talk, they took over a service offered by someone else which became redundant as it changed so much at the time of the take over. Getting out from them was  horribly difficult as they would not take rejection easily. It was a Hotel California service. That and their habit of giving away customer details did not make me feel warm and cuddly towards them.

I am tempted to give Tesco a trial with a PAYG for a month before committing to anything serious like porting my number or anything mad like that. Nothing Anywhere (EE) have been OK-ish, I started with One2One and Freeserve before several changes that resulted in Nothing Anywhere. However, they are not cheap and the cancellation of their mail service has made me want to rethink using them. With three mobiles and broadband, the need to adjust the packages I purchase, as well as the need to establish a new mail service, a rebalancing of my/our cost base is in order. I can get a mail service tailored to my needs for between £40 and £50 pa, adjusting the broadband and mobile packages should allow me to recover most of that cost and possibly a little bit more. However I do not need or want to rush things too far. One thing is certain, BT will not be in the running since they are hiking their broadband to subsidise buying ‘services’ that I would wish to avoid and certainly never use. Because of the new phone I do now have a gmail account, but while it can be set to interwork with the likes of Outlook, which I use heavily, Gmail does not like doing so and comes with several problems for what I need. I guess I could set up several different accounts, but is that what I want?  Currently the answer to that one is no.

As I said, thank you for the feed back, I thought I would share my thoughts and reasoning as a courtesy to those who feed back. If anyone has any other comments I will use them to further refine my thinking.

PS The club card points are another ‘draw’ of course. Tesco are also almost half the price of Nothing Anywhere for the equivalent or better service provision.

[Richard]

Yes Steve, though I understand that there may have been more than one dodgy wire in the loom, when given a good pull and push it cried ‘enough!’, so with its replacement I am hoping that all is now good.  The poor thing has only done just less than 100,000 miles, but still feels pretty good and lively when it works correctly.

The mechanic is Hungarian and I am told he is apparently rather good at finding and fixing such problems, I just hope the stories are true.

His training was at the school of, if you want a spare part make it yourself as they are out of stock until next January 12 month.

[Richard]

I’m on the side of hardware being an issue. My daughter’s PC had a memory module go sick and after a number of such issues it managed to take the disk drive with it at which point I delved into it a little more deeply. In several other cases it was the motherboard itself, but to be honest it can be almost any item of hardware, if you can find it sooner then collateral damage can be limited and can thus be cheaper.

On a similar and completely unrelated subject, I had a second garage look at my troublesome car, they say it was a wiring problem with a worn wire or wires which they have replaced with a new section of loom to replace the faulty issue. I hope so, the computer analysis was never ringing quite true – there is that damned word again – computer. After all the spare parts and labour I hope this is an end to the issues, which on reflection, always sounded and felt more like an electrical issue. than a mechanical one

 

[Richard]

I’ve done it, Nokia did manage to make a copy of the data in a number of v-card files one per name/number and store them on the PC. Using e-mail I sent them to the  gmail account which got them across to the new phone via WiFi then after the rigid application of enough dumb ignorance they appear to be sat in the new phone. Do not under rate the level of dumb ignorance that was applied, the first number went in fine, the rest took at least half an hour before anything moved from the mail to contacts…

That is enough battling for the moment, I am knackered, I was not helped by a very disturbed night.

[Richard]

Thank you for that Steve,I spoke the pharmacist on Saturday about the neck and was given strict instructions to visit the building across the green where the docs hang out on Monday morning. It is probably nothing but I guess you cannot be too careful.

I have set up the synchronisation for the new phone but for the moment all the contacts are on the SIM and the old phone. I have looked at the Nokia software – and even updated it but while I can back up the old phone data crowbarring it out of the old set up into a form that others can read is proving a slight issue. Nokia use their own format that others do not read… Several slightly dodgy sites offer to read or convert the files so that is a bit of homework for me to continue with for the moment. If I can get it onto the PC or further up the chain then what will be a result. I will let you know the result if I can get a good one.

[Richard]

Well I finally threw my hat into the ring and went for the Moto G$ Play which arrived this morning. I have had a SIM less play while it has been mains connected to ensure a full charge. I managed to get logged onto the router via WiFi so it has done all of its updates, but it has been an uphill process getting it all set up. Maybe tomorrow I shall try to sort out a new SIM to fit. Though first I shall try to see the quack about another abnormality in my neck, a rather solid, unfamiliar lump.

No doubt I shall find the phone a new hill of user effort to climb.

I’m not sure I can transfer all my details from the old SIM to a new one, but maybe the local service provider’s (preventer’s?) shop has something to do that process.

[Richard]

John, I was only saying that in my book voice to text is assistive so another reason to claim the option when updating and that anyone might find a need to use it sometime. I feel it is a very useful feature. Glad you have already found it and made use of it. I do not use the read back function so I had not found the need for a different voice but the one I encountered by accident was ‘not my cup of tea’ so thank you, it is useful to know that choices exist.

[Richard]

Has anyone tried using voice to text? I know some of us are, ‘of a certain age or more’ also that some have accidental damage or other issues. Voice to text can be very useful and I am sure that is a form of assistive technology, by the way it does take a little training which might be time well spent before an urgent need hacks you in the shin.

I also use the screen magnifier when the old eyes play up, but all of our current machines have already been Windows 10ed.

However accidents do sometimes happen and need to be overcome and one of the party already gets a disability payment so that might count for something as well.

[Richard]

Happily I have never been in that sort of situation and it is something that I can feel satisfied about, though not at the expense of neglecting the feelings of others.

While I understand the plan to forget them I also understand that the plan will never work. It might have been a different life but it was still part of your life and can never be taken back again. The pain will always linger on there was after all unfinished business there but well done for forging a new life that is your better life now. The new family have gained and the old one has lost.

Perhaps that is why they are now so bitter?

[Richard]

Bob, Did you think to keep any written notices from either the vindictive spiteful witch or the sadly infected offspring she clearly poisoned? If you have any evidence of their bile it would be useful to ensure that this is kept associated with the will, I am not sure of the correct way to deal, it might be via a codicil to the will or as a letter to any executor you may appoint. I would try to ensure that something is done so it is legally water tight and blocks any prospect of them being able to come after you.

On the other hand you might be best advised to assume they are dead and buried, though this feels like a dodgy route to take. Assuming that you have not already do so, either way I feel that a legal consultation under wills week or the like might be valuable.

I know it will be no consolation but even when the break was initiated by the female party she is almost always the combative party and full of spite.

[Richard]

If no work has started, unless there are a very simple set of assets, getting the probate application in before 1st May will be a real challenge. The costs of professional support can be eye-watering, never trust a bank! If property is involved things can get costly, though if most of the estate is ‘jointly owned’ (especially the house), then it can make a huge difference to costs and complexity for any widow inheriting.  I was able to file for probate within a month of one passing but the other was more complex, (thank you some lesser banks and building societies) and took just over 4 months to be ready to file. There is an issue if you take more than six months as cost then escalate.

Warning, the executor(s) is (are) responsible for any errors and will need to gather papers for any professional. A bit like the usual consultant, ‘borrow your watch to tell you the time and then keep the watch!’

[Richard]

To heck with EOL, I made a list of accounts and passwords so that I could know what they all were, some are rarely used and very easily forgotten.

Anything else was a bonus.

However, Ed’s point is a good one, valuable gear and no clues what to do with it, what it was worth and where the important stuff was located is a nightmare. It is not just passwords and ‘software’ accounts, what about insurance policies, investments, house deeds, log books, bank accounts, deposits and so on? Make the life of any executor easy, no possible by leaving a road map – along with a will. Also give very serious thoughts to an enduring power of attorney, life via the court of protection, perhaps more widely known as the useless court of abuse can be hell. However, do make sure you can trust the attorney to do the right things.

I have been an executor and fortunately knew all the affairs of the deceased. Some certificates were still missing when they were needed, which increased both time and costs.

[Richard]

Dave Rice wrote:

I’m finding small businesses very skeptical these days about Cloud storage.

Is that something new or was the cloud storage issue one that had never been fully appreciated before?

Many small businesses are pretty busy keeping pace with in their front of face issues, like getting staff who know what their jobs actually mean and paying the increasing business rates bills, etc. I wonder if cloud storage is another issues that feels more like a threat than an aid? There have been a number of recent news items about storage losses. Those rather than leakage must put the frighteners on businesses already worried about the VAT many and HMRC in general. The cloud ate my data would possibly not fly well with them.

[Richard]

Robin Long wrote:

Just with Dave saying about the hidden power switch reminded me of these I wonder if you’ve found a larger variant of this, from memory it ran an XP variation and crashed an awful lot.

I knew one of the founders of the godawful Patient line. They charged a fortune but to the best of my knowledge never made a profit. They negotiated an exclusion clause that required hospitals to prevent the use of mobiles to avoid competition, but as you say that damned things only worked when they wanted to and not usually when the patient wanted them to do something. Are they still in business or use?

Edit, I checked, yes they have changed the name, now a US owned and managed shark-bunch. Still charging a fortune with frequent complaints about what many see as chiselling charges.

[Richard]

A magnifying glass on a stand can be a great help as long as you can keep the bits in view long enough without moving up, down or sideways and out of view. It is over 30 years since I did any of those, I found a few, a very few left over bits in a box a few months back though the pin removal tool, though unused these days is more readily to hand, it is just a bit of plastic and bent metal really.It was very useful if you had to change a made up item or had  inserted the pins or sockets in the wrong layout.

As I remember it the crimper was quite a small lightweight item and much easier to handle that the ‘it can do everything’ types sometimes offered for sale. I would really struggle with a heavy tool and tiny pins and wires.

Richard

[Author]

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