My quest for a reliable and acceptably powerful personal all-in-one printer is apparently over. See updates

I bought an Epson WorkForce WF-3620 networked inkjet printer/scanner/copier for 90 CAD.

Debian Jessie contains Epson's printer-driver-escpr 1.4.1, which supports that printer. But the CUPS test page I printed was incredibly pale. Upgrading to unstable's version of the driver (1.6.3) was easy, but the pages printed still had way too little ink, even though the cartridges were full (although pages were readable).

The workaround is in the end most simple. The default Media Type is, unsurprisingly, "plain papers-Standard". But surprisingly, that type gives abnormally pale pages. Changing that to either "plain papers-Standard-Vivid" or "plain papers-High" solves the problem. Both seem equally readable. The latter seems to print more slowly.

Except for a doubtful label in the Web interface (printing statistics are in a page named "Maintenance"), and a worthless sticker meant to make the printer French (they visibly sent the wrong model), everything but the drivers has been working fine so far. It has USB, Ethernet and 802.11 connectivity, another USB port for scanning to a USB drive, 4 ink cartridges, an automated document feeder, a web interface, a color touchscreen, actual buttons and more. Quite an upgrade over my last Epson (Stylus COLOR 200) 😯

This could still be easily improved. The interface does not say that the ink level of cartridges is fine. It would also be useful to detail printing statistics further, for example by indicating the number of pages requested from each client IP address. And of course at what time cartridges were last replaced.

Update 1: cartridge replacement is deficient. Once you find how to initiate it, the instructions are wrong (no, you do not open the scanner to change the cartridges).
Update 2: Copying works most of the time, but has crashed the printer once (requires hard reboot - i.e. unplugging the power cord).
Update 3: The UI for print head alignment is ridiculously unclear.
Update 4: 23 months after purchase, black print quality suddenly dropped dramatically, making the printer essentially unusable for printing black. 200 CAD and many man-hours spent on cartridge replacement, manual print head cleaning, automatic print head cleaning and multiple alignments only worsened the situation. I have replaced the WF-3620.
2021 Update: Wired's Why Do Printers Still Suck? gives me the impression that many more stick to ink for too long. I am most satisfied with going laser.

With the advent of smart TVs, smartphones and other computers, humans need to be a lot smarter about their usage of technology. Unfortunately, we are quite dumb - in particular the underprivileged. And unfortunately, even the smartest have apparently gotten dumber, even when they control their use of their smartphones.
Good thing at least technology is getting smarter and smarter! Well, perhaps

I don't remember having seen "tofu" on my personal computer for a while. That's probably thanks to the Noto font, which came pre-installed with my Debian 9.

Thank you, Google!

Most of the following link to YouTube.

Funny:

1. Discreet hunting cat
2. Highly domesticated but skilled Siamese cat eager to drink a hot beverage
3. Weird acrocat
4. Smart predators groom their preys

1. A seal and a duck

1. Nice puma also fond of plastic

Thieves have a new way to steal cars. A method for clean thefts, served on a silver platter by car manufacturers who sell cars equipped with key fobs instead of traditional keys, without any protection against a simple attack. Even Toyota!

If I had had such a vulnerable car stolen from me, I would be happy to discover that flaw. I would just sue the manufacturer for selling such a product. When you create such a vulnerability, you are guilty of gross negligence. The onus isn't on the customer to prove that this flaw was exploited, but on you to prove the theft was made with different means.

When manufacturers will have lost tens of millions of euros in damages, perhaps they will consider paying for security responsibles who have a clue or two about security.

Update 2025: Years after this flaw became an epidemic, Quebec at long last authorized a class action against car makers.

Computer maker Apple has found the recipe to avoid having to acknowledge any defect in its products: to instruct its technicians - I mean, its geniuses (of deception) - to avoid usage of the words "crash", "bug" or "problem".

Unfortunately, joining that cult is quite costly, given the sacrifices required by its gurus. Well, I guess that's just like any other sect, when it has managed to enslave enough fools.

As British Columbia is about to get a rare opportunity to get rid of FPTP, Fair Vote Canada shows just how relevant the topic is :

Could this finally be the start of the end? What better time than now to decide we can't afford such an obsolete system anymore?

Good luck BC. Good luck Canada

I took a week of vacation and on a friend's suggestion, decided to spend it at Club Med's village in Cancun, Mexico. I had never tried Club Med, but I needed to relax and thought that by paying for quality, I would take a break from bugs, as well as from problems in general.

Bugs

Short version

I saw surprisingly few biological bugs in the village. A lot less than I expected. Unfortunately, I stayed in familiar ground as for computer bugs. At least 2 major bugs before my stay, at least 2 issues during my stay, and 1 bug after. I wish I was looking for an IT Manager job.

Long version

Even before I confirmed my choice, I hit a major bug in Club Med's website - the booking calendar was showing me the wrong prices (I believe it ignored my departure city). I still found the booking procedure impressive and tried to create an account. I hit another major bug right there, unable to create an account for days! I had to call an agent to book.

WiFi

Before you book, Club Med advertises the following:

After you booked though, the formula gets more complicated:

Of course, there is no useful description of each access type. So since I wasn't travelling for business, I didn't purchase premium WiFi.

The reception staff told me to install the Club Med Villages app on my cellphone. Over 24 hours after my arrival, and despite multiple attempts, I still hadn't managed to download the ~ 70 MB application on my cellphone. Plus, network was really bad on my laptop. So I went back to the reception, asked if that was normal, and since I couldn't get a useful answer, I gave in despite the feeling of deception and paid for the damn Premium WiFi access. I then tried to setup the Premium access on the cellphone - and was greeted by a DNS error. 2 young employees at the reception failed to help. After rebooting and multiple attempts, I gave up.

Over 2 days after my arrival, after I had given up, I noticed the installation had finally ended. I then tried to access my village, but that turned out even harder. A scrollbar stayed stuck at 100%. I gave up on that too a day later. Only after I came back home did I realize that the application was finally usable.

Salvaging the Unsalvageable?

Nevertheless, I liked many aspects of Club Med and felt compelled to help them improve. I was disappointed that no one asked me how my stay went when I left (probably because I left early). So when I saw an email asking for feedback, I decided to set aside my reluctance to waste time with surveys and took at least 20 minutes to fill it. Here's what I wrote at the last step:

I was 98% into the survey then. I hit Next... and all I got was an image. No confirmation that my feedback was submitted. I tried to go back, but the document had expired.
Gah - apparently half an hour more wasted. All of that on my main desktop, with Mozilla Firefox 60 (ESR).

Other types of bugs, other life forms and Beyond

Other than technical issues, there is wildlife at Club Med, as my photos show.

This was my first time at Club Med, but I learned that it was bought by a Chinese company. Does Club Med still offer the best all inclusive resorts in the concept it created, or is there now a better option for those looking for real quality? I don't mind paying some more (my whole week was around 1800 CAD, direct flight from Quebec City included).

This summer I looked for cycling glasses which would not only protect my eyes from the Sun, but also minimize the airflow. After careful research, I chose Julbo's Aerospeed, even though I couldn't find a local retailer to buy them from. I bought online from trekkINN for 173 CAD and thankfully, the glasses fit well. Just a couple disappointments:

1. It wasn't clear whether these came with a single glass or several. In the end, there is one glass (and it cannot be removed).
2. At night, there is important reflection. You get used to it, but it requires some more attention.