Last Updated on November 12, 2020 by Christopher G Mendla

I have a Ruby on Rails site that I use as an online portfolio. GitHub released a warning that there were vulnerabilities in Rails and associated gems. I started incrementally upgrading Rails. However, when I tried to push the Rails 5.2 update to production, the site crashed. Here is how I recovered

Tags: disaster prevention, Ruby-on-rails Read more

Last Updated on November 3, 2020 by Christopher G Mendla

The simple command, rake stats will show you how the lines of code are distributed in your Ruby on Rails application. ‘rake about’ will show you the ruby and rails versions, the database engine and some other helpful information.

Tags: Ruby-on-rails, Ruby-on-rails beginners Read more

Last Updated on October 22, 2020 by Christopher G Mendla

Sept 2019 – Pretty soon you won’t even be able to trust your toaster.   Voice activated toilets and faucets could be used to spy on your conversations and water usage. 

Tags: Protect your Privacy, Security Read more

Last Updated on October 22, 2020 by Christopher G Mendla

Adobe Photoshop will set you back at least 9.99/month. Other plans will cost from $10 to about $80/month. Fortunately there is an open source image manipulation program that is free.

Tags: image manipulation, Productivity Read more

Last Updated on October 21, 2020 by Christopher G Mendla

Rubocop is a code linter for Ruby on Rails. When installed, configured and used properly it ensures that code is formatted properly and will identify some security issues.  This post will cover installation and fixing basic auto-correctable errors. 

Tags: Ruby-on-rails Read more

Last Updated on October 4, 2020 by Christopher G Mendla

I’ve been seeing an increasing number of Facebook posts that ask something like

What was the first car you ever owned?   -or- Where did you meet the love of your live?

Tags: Protect your Privacy, Security, Social media Read more

Last Updated on October 4, 2020 by Christopher G Mendla

The whole system of “secret questions” used by tens of thousands of sites, including email providers, banks and government sites is fundamentally flawed. If you have even a casual acquaintance with someone, you can pick up enough information to access at least some of their sites. The “Where were you born” question is a joke.  The problem is that if you give a fake answer you might not remember it when you need it and find yourself locked out of your account. Tags: Protect your Privacy, Security Read more

Last Updated on October 4, 2020 by Christopher G Mendla

Beware of Facebook games such as this Facebook maiden name game as they can possibly be a scam. This game could be harmless but it exposes information that could be used to compromise your accounts. 

Tags: disaster prevention, Security Read more

Last Updated on September 30, 2020 by Christopher G Mendla

I purchased an outdoor Guardzilla security camera. I got it set up and working with my Moto X Pure edition. After a few minutes, it started downloading a camera update. After that, I could no longer connect.

I tried reinstalling the app on my phone but still could not connect. I exchanged that unit for a new one at Staples. Guess what.. the new one wouldn’t connect either.

Tags: Home automation and security, rants, Security Read more

Last Updated on September 30, 2020 by Christopher G Mendla

I tried a Guardzilla in 2017 and couldn’t get it to work with my phone. It appears that the company has closed it’s doors. 

Tags: Home automation and security Read more