Monthly Archives: February 2019

Jason Corey just published a Mojave update for his Timbral Ear Training software!

I grabbed this shot last week, walking home from the coffee shop during the snowstorm.

SSH Keys with FE File Explorer Pro

Following posts by Dr. Drang and Federico, I’ve been experimenting with FE File Explorer Pro. I learned a few things I thought I’d share:

As I noted previously, I only allow SFTP connections to my server with SSH keys. As of Mojave, ssh-keygen uses a new default key file format that is causing trouble for me on non-Mojave sources. By adding -m PEN to the call, you can force the use of the older PEM private key format:
```
ssh-keygen -m PEM -b 2048 -t rsa -f id_rsa_uniquename -P ""
```
In order for File Explorer Pro to use the SSH key file from the Files extension, the file needs to be in the app’s /Local/ folder, as opposed to /Local/On My iPhone/.
Even though the popover bar includes a ‘Favorite’ button, adding folders on from your SFTP destination to the Files ‘Favorites’ set is not supported by the app.

It looks like the upgrade to Mojave reset some of my ssh settings — I need to add verification of those security settings to my checklist for updates.

Checked out the new Fuel America location downtown; it was a nice spot to read and write for a few hours, and great coffee, too.

The World Deserves Nothing Less and Would Not Wait

I just read The Circle, Dave Egger’s 2013 dystopian novel about a young employee of a tech company that aspires to “complete the circle”: making all information available to everyone, all the time, with the mantra “privacy is theft”. I found the technology discussion obtuse, but the themes resonated with me.

In the book, the titular company seeks to abolish privacy through the use of “SeeChange” cameras. The leadership of this company genuinely believes that consolidation of the world’s information in a single for-profit company is in the interest of humanity. The novel illustrates the absurdity of this idea through personal tragedy.

Last week, the news broke that Facebook has been paying teenagers to provide them with complete access to their phone and web activity. This could easily have taken place in the world of this novel, in which The Circle seeks to implant tracking chips in the bones of babies at birth. In a year of escalating scandals, it’s also the tipping point for me; I’m done with Facebook. I deleted my Facebook account two years ago, and I haven’t missed it for a moment. I deleted my Instagram account today. This website is now my exclusive public presence¹.

The open web is the only inoculation against the tragedy that comes with the consolidation of information within companies like The Circle.

I’ve been inactive on Twitter for months, except for auto-generated links to this site. ↩

I’ve reached my Move goal 1245 times, but I finally broke through one year’s worth of consecutive completions!