30 April 2015

Hafiz Adewuyi

Instagram.com SSL certificate expired - 30th April 2015

Not like I was even looking, when this hot afternoon, I came upon the picture-sharing website and got to know that its SSL certificate was overdue for renewal. My first impression - when I saw my Chrome browser render an SSL warning - was that some malicious person was trying some sort of foul play. However, upon a little further investigation, I got to find out that indeed, the SSL certificate for Instagram (https://instagram.com) is expired as at the time of writing this post (W.A.T: 1 p.m.,  30th April, 2015).

instagram-certificate-expired-2015


Personally, I'm absolutely surprised. Like, we tech people in this part of the world always look up to our Western counterparts as champions of standard practice. If I had heard it in the news, I would have struggled with believing, just like I had struggled with believing a friend who, yesterday, let me know how he once went 21 days, back-to-back, without taking any food or drink. He seemed sincere enough though, and I'm starting to believe that indeed, truth is stranger than fiction. I wonder now, what I should think of those articles which told me that a human cannot survive without water for more than, what, was it seven days?

Anyway, this just goes to show that, humanity, no matter how close to perfection we come, will still have its fallibility. I can imagine some admin guy in Silicon valley right now, scrambling about to get this fixed immediately. I might be wrong though. Perhaps, the nature of instagram makes it such that the vulnerability due to an expired SSL certificate is not significant. For a web app of its scale though, I'd like to think otherwise. Perhaps, they are not even aware of the error yet. Could this be my chance to be the hero from Nigeria who saves Instagram's face by preventing the leak of a billion nude pictures into the dark wild web? Not like I'm bothered enough to find out anyway.

My major moral takeaway from this discovery?

"No mistake is too big to beat yourself up over. Dust your coat and move on, everyone messes up."

EDIT: 
As at 3 p.m. W.A.T, same day, the certificate has been renewed with one which is valid till October. Admin guy to the rescue *thumbs up*
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27 April 2015

Hafiz Adewuyi

Dragon or Lion; two miserable options

And every single night, sitting on my room table, I have to make a choice. A choice between these two terrifying monsters; is it the dragon or the lion?

No, I am not fortunate enough to be given the option of choosing the cricket. A choice that is my natural right but which I and my fellow earth dominators have forgone for the sake of civilization. For the security that a brick house offers, we've forgone the feels of a beautiful African night. The chirps of the crickets, the beauty of galaxy andromeda who lies beyond our endless skies.

With our giant fortresses, we've created obstacles that keep the cool lagoon breeze away from our settlements. In the blink of an eye, I'd forgo all the glamour and promises of city life for the serenity of a calm suburban habitation. I long to know how it feels, to sleep in the nude, with the eyes appreciating the beauty of the skies. With the only sound filtering into my hear being that made by crickets. The only sensation, that of the cool breeze being waved over to me by the blades of grass that so willingly share their scent with the wind.


While I daydream of a utopian existence in a rural setting, I have to face my current urban reality here though. Two options, the city gives to me:
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18 April 2015

Hafiz Adewuyi

And Glo wins the data bundle price wars

Yeah, yeah. Of course I know it's not news that Glo is one of the most cost effective options for a mobile data plan in Nigeria. However, this information was not of much value to me until recently. My office broadband used to cater for majority of my data needs. That coupled with the fact that I had a salary, I was fine with the 3500 naira for 4.5GB data plan on Airtel. For some reason though, I decided to walk out of my job, in the process, forfeiting a couple of freebies, one of which is free wifi. This used to be available round the clock (more or less).

Inevitably, I had to step up or risk widening the hole in my already leaky pockets. Behold, I remembered Glo and sometime during the week, I picked up a 200 naira SIM card while passing through computer village. Today, I proceeded to look up the specifics of Glo's data plans. What I saw, I must say, is truly impressive, considering what the rates are at competitors. Glo is doing nothing short of giving core data providers like Swift, Smile and Spectranet a run for their money.

Following is a quick presentation of my today's findings:

1. Glo's amazing data bundle offering is actually a promotion called Glo OVERLOAD. When you subscribe to the offer (dial *200# on your Glo sim), you become eligible to receive thrice the original data allowance on data bundle purchases from 2000 naira, upwards;
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Hafiz Adewuyi

Amazing Easter Road trip to Ghana via Dealdey (April 2015) - Negative review

Towai! That's the Nigerian pidgin transcription of the bloody hot slap that landed on Paul's face on the second day of hell. The offender was a co-travelling lady who was fed up of the bullshit Paul and his organizing team members had fed us, non-stop, for the past thirty hours.

It's almost midnight and I've got to rush on this article. My aim is to highlight why this deal from Dealdey, is like, the most surprisingly tacky organization I've ever been a victim of. Yes, victim, because that's what I and the other 50+ passengers of the road trip feel like. In that light, I'll make it very simple. I will make a list of all the deal highlights (promises) and indicate the degree to which each one was fulfilled (TL;DR: Promise fulfillment ratio was less than 10 percent).
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13 April 2015

Hafiz Adewuyi

Nature just is - Destination Wild

Nature doesn't take selfies

It doesn't care about the car you drive

It isn't concerned with money

It never argues over politics

And, it isn't looking for your approval

Nature just is

Destination wild,

Embrace the untamed

Sundays at six, on Nat Geo Wild.
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Hafiz Adewuyi

Follow your instincts to Nat Geo Wild

Follow the seasons;

Follow the water, or the wind;

Follow the scent, or the paths left behind;

Follow the crowd,

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10 April 2015

Hafiz Adewuyi

Kabukabu works - App review

It was a bit of a surprise for me, to have the cab driver call me thirty minutes before scheduled pickup time. He had called to tell me that he was in my street already. I asked him to park somewhere closer to my house, while I hurriedly put my belongings together for transportation.

Now, I've had more than my own fair share of services and goods  accessed through an online interface. However, never before had I considered booking a cab online. Reason is, I strongly believed that online cab booking would always prove more expensive than going the traditional way of flagging one down. A download of Uber and a couple of experiments had helped cement this opinion.

I had come across Kabukabu in the most serendipitous way just last week; I wasn't looking and couldn't even guess that I'd be needing the service a few days down the line. The idea had caught my attention, because it's one I had pondered on several times before. The simplest way to describe the service would be: "help people share a cab, so the fare is cheaper for everyone". So, you can call it a cab sharing service. On another note, it also allows interested car owners, who won't mind sharing a ride to offer a ride to pedestrians traveling in their route.

I'd suggest that they make rider (taxi driver or car owner) registration available over the web, as currently, the only way to do that is by placing a call to the company.

My entire experience using Kabukabu Nigeria in Lagos, just last Tuesday was nothing short of amazing. I'd admit, part of the reason is that I was skeptical of the service and not really expecting it to work.

Kabukabu was awesome on the following notes:

+ The feedback time, after I filled the route form was short (within an hour).

+ The lady, who called to confirm my booking was courteous and helpful.

+ The fare was alarmingly cheap: 2500 naira from Yaba to Iyana Ipaja (and I was the only passenger). Hailing a cab traditionally for this trip would have cost me no less than 4000 naira, considering the amount of luggage I was carrying along.

+ The taxi driver besides arriving well ahead of time, was very friendly and helpful. He helped to load and offload my luggage into and from the vehicle respectively.

+ The cab was air conditioned, and in huge contrast with the traditional yellow taxi, smelled nice.

Need I say more? The taxi service provided by Kabukabu is indeed one to try. I only pray that as their popularity and demand increases, that they are able to maintain the service at this current or even a higher standard.

Kudos, Kabukabu Nigeria. Try them out at www.Kabukabu.com.ng to save some good bucks on your next taxi ride.
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