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    5. Simple games for Android

      ~games Ask (recommendations)
      I've never really been into gaming on my phone, but in the last couple of weeks I've found it's particularly good for entertainment while getting the baby off to sleep. He tends to need holding...

      I've never really been into gaming on my phone, but in the last couple of weeks I've found it's particularly good for entertainment while getting the baby off to sleep. He tends to need holding for 5-20 minutes, during which time no interaction is needed and something to stave off the boredom is good.

      I've been playing Tiny Bubbles which is good because the levels are relatively short and discrete, it's challenging without being too hard (at 4am I don't want that much of a challenge), it's mostly not timing-based, I can play one-handed and drop it at a moment's notice without particularly being penalised.

      Any suggestions for other suitable games would be appreciated.

      12 votes

    19. How reliable is IP ownership information?

      ~comp Ask
      I have interactive firewalls like OpenSnitch running on most of my desktop OS's. I like to see what is going on with my machines' network connections to learn about networking, infosec, and to...

      I have interactive firewalls like OpenSnitch running on most of my desktop OS's. I like to see what is going on with my machines' network connections to learn about networking, infosec, and to have have some peace of mind.

      Example workflow:

      1. Get a firewall notification of a new incoming connection to some process running on my machine
      2. If no DNS entry exists and only the IP address is provided, then I google the IP
      3. I find something like https://ipinfo.io/74.125.20.189
      4. I make a decision as to whether allow/deny based on the ownership info which I found in step 3.

      Aside from trusting the particular site presenting the ownership info, how reliable is this information regarding IP ownership?

      For example, if an IP came back as "Google" could it really be a GCP instance running a command and control server?

      Another example, I know that large corps own big blocks of IPv4, but they must lease these IP's out to whomever, right? I imagine there is some wild-west market for these with little accountability?

      Are either of these scenarios realistic? If so, is my entire workflow for "do I trust this IP" pointless?

      edit: btw, I used to catch and deny incoming connections from *.ru to the Windows legacy Skype client all the time. I cannot think of any non-evil reason why that should have been happening. That particular series of events is what really validated me doing this. If you can think of a non-evil reason for any incoming connections to skype from *.ru, please let me know.
      5 votes

    49. What personal goals are you working towards?

      ~life Ask (survey)
      Inspired by similar topics such as "what are you reading" and "what creative project are you working on", and being obsessed with structured self-development, I thought I'd start this. As the...

      Inspired by similar topics such as "what are you reading" and "what creative project are you working on", and being obsessed with structured self-development, I thought I'd start this.
      As the title says. Share what your goal is, why you want to achieve it and how you will go about it (the steps/behaviors). You can include a timeline/target date which hopefully will instill a sense of accountability and increase motivation.
      I'm also hoping to get some inspiration and/or tips for my own life goals.

      If this gains interest I might post this once a quarter for follow-ups and new goals.

      I'll share mine in a comment below.

      25 votes