28 January 2016, 3:55 PM
I originally wrote this in 2011, but am copying it here for posterity:
Yesterday [in 2011], I rebooted my Android smartphone (i.e., removed and reinserted the battery) in a location with absolutely no cell phone coverage but with great WiFi. I then could access the Internet at large, but Google services (including GMail, Reader, and Plus), did not work (this is to say, locally stored data was still available, but I could not interact with the cloud). When I then moved to an area with cell phone service, Google services started working again. Who can explain why?
I doubt it makes a difference, but I have [had] a Nexus One on T-Mobile. Find the answer below the break! →
16 January 2016, 10:52 AM
(Details have been changed to protect the guilty and to make the story more entertaining.)
I work for a company that builds robotic kiosks (think vending machines that cut keys), which are stationed in various stores across the country. One morning, I arrive at work to find a coworker looking troubled. “We’ve got a kiosk in Florida that’s stuck in the middle of shutting down. Can you take a look?” This isn’t my area of expertise, but somebody’s got to deal with this, and it looks like I’m somebody.
I try to SSH into the kiosk, but the connection is refused with the message, The system is going down for power off in 1 minute!. “It’s been saying that since I arrived half an hour ago,” my coworker explains. “It’s not actually going to shut down in a minute.” Read on to learn how we managed to log in again. →