The Lance J. Technoweb

I was helping a friend install the "Examity SB" software for proctored exam taking. What a mess! I'm not complaining about the concept of the proctored online examines. It is the quality of Examity's client software implementation and associated process that is nothing short of an embarrassment. Examity's software and process design flaws can turn the test-taking process from "stressful" to "idiotic nightmare". "Examity SB" is one of the worst "professional", publicly distributed software packages I've seen in years. A Rant for the Ages. Adobe Flash? Please! First, Examity's website suggested that I download and install the obsolete Adobe Flash software system. Since Adobe Flash is dangerous from a computer security perspective and unavailable, I decided to download the native SB application. Just as a data point, my organization decided to sunset our use of Adobe Flash for user-facing pedagogical software developme...

Today is the day! I am "installing Internet" in a friend's new city apartment. The goal: great Internet service for a group of young professionals, while keeping the cost as low as possible and the reliability very high. Here is the story of what I did to accomplish that goal. The overview of the who, what, and where: Four professionals, mostly working from home. Very densely populated urban environment. Comcast Xfinity is the area's wired, high-speed Internet monopoly. High reliability and reasonable performance for video chat is critical. Internet Service Ordering: Don't Over-Do It. Let's say you want to reduce your daily commute time. Right now you drive a stock Honda Civic that costs $80 a month. How much commuting time will you save by investing $200 a month on turbocharger? Zero hours and zero minutes. "Gigabit" download speeds are an extraordinary waste of money. Sure, we'll have four people being busy all day, but busy does not mean there...