Telegram, Documentation, 6to4, Amazon Go, Email, Metadata, rDP, e-Receipts, eIDAS, PSD2

Post date: May 7, 2017 3:01:24 AM

  • Updated one Telegram Bot API interface using Webhooks to support latest version of Telegram Bot API 2.3.1.
  • In some cases documentation is just painful. I mean there's too much of it, yet still lacking vital details. I used 45 minutes to read documentation how to replace a password in one software. There are two places of talking about the password replacement, and both of these places got reference to the other place. Yet neither of these sections describe in enough detail how the task should be done. Ouch! Well, I got it done. But it was still high risk operation, because it was based on trial and error and not on 'documented guaranteed to work correctly process'.
  • Noticed that 6to4 gateway routing has been changed and suddenly routing is also very stable. Now it's handled by Hurricane Electric in Stockholm. It seems that Trex (trex.fi) / Funet (funet.fi) aren't announcing 192.88.99.1 multicast addresses any more. Well, that's good, because the FUNETs 6to4 gateway was quite unstable. Just wishing that all providers would provide native IPv6 globally, but as we all well know, that hasn't happened yet, unfortunately. Some operators like Sonera are runnin their own 6rd gateways.
  • Amazon Go Introduced - Finally. Isn't that the the dream everyone in POS sector has had for decades? Only obstacle still is the slow QR code reading to enter the store. But I assume that's used for control purposes, not for purely technical purposes. So that you can only enter, if you've got valid account etc. Some people say this is taking away more jobs. But this is age old discussion. You can't resist the future, it's not a way to win. I personally often prefer self-service POS stations, because it's faster. But this is just much better. But traditional these solutions have been RFID based instead of AI & Video. Yet individual item tracking would help on stock management. It's very common to hear a question from chain or shop manager that they would really love to track individual items in store. But as we know, the cost is the real reason why they aren't doing it.
  • Sigh! Microsoft again, it seems that Microsoft doesn't know how to validate an email addresses. It's amazing that such large company lacks even basic competence of implementing stuff.
  • Wondering why people use something like Microsoft Word or Office. It's almost legendary how much background information leaks through Office documents and included metadata. If there's a Word document, all the metadata leaking with it is often extremely revealing. Who created the document, who has modified it at which stage, which template was being used, what's the old title, which companies and persons have modified it and so on. Sometimes it's very funny to notice that a document might have been circulating the industry for a very long time. Everyone has just ripped it off and modified it slightly for their purposes, even competitors, clients and suppliers. This is again one important reason not to use overly complex systems, which endanger data security, privacy and corporate secrets. Think about it, why do I prefer plain ASCII files for important data? It's very hard to hide tons of metadata which such solution. As well as it's pretty obvious if there's hidden payload, there aren't any scripts, etc. Using Word or PDF files is just pure insanity and asking for trouble with very bad data hygiene. Also all the formatting issues caused by rotating badly constructed documents around is absolutely horrifying. But we're unfortunately all probably more than familiar with that.
  • Once again and more problems with the old trusted (not to work) Remote Desktop Protocol and Terminal Services. Oh boy, it's also quality code from Microsoft which often fails to work, unfortunately. Well well, it's what it is, very bad and unreliable code.
  • Had some discussion about e-receipts and the ecosystem which could be build around the data. Very interesting discussions with nice guys with Big Data, Machine Learning and Business Intelligence Insights experience. - Good.
  • Checked out eIDAS.
  • Recapped on PSD2 - ASPSP, PISP, AISP, XS2A. It also requires strong customer authentication.