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This is a Weekly (or so) mailing from one of the sites more prolific providers of cool and interesting stuff.  As such I enjoy hosting it as long as the posts keep coming in.  Essentially if it’s a cool gadget, computer or not (we’ve shown bicycles, shower heads for example); affects your privacy online; funny or entertaining (subjective of course); or just news worth promoting because the mainstream missed it, you’ll find it on Links13.

The email is sent once there is 13 stories of interest and is dispensed of in a standard fashion including a title, a blurb that may try to be funny, and a link.  Most of the links are ‘shortened’ to http://jamesfriesen.net/xxx, and will redirect you to the appropriate page.  This was done for a couple reasons.

• I hate LONG/SEO-enabled links as they’ve become incredibly wordy and long. (I think I said that, but just in case, they’re long)
• I did not want to rely on a 3rd party URL Shortener in case they mysteriously vanish leaving all the links dead, or they become spamvertised, etc.
• I want to see what you are visiting so I can see what you (the list subscriber) are interested in, then I can recommend more of the same.
• I want to see what you are not interested in so I can stop such links from appearing on the list.  If no one cares then why have them?
• They should work well with micro-blogs and Twitter where space is a concern.

So again, to sign up, subscribe, become a member/contributor click on this link and start enjoying Links13.

http://jamesfriesen.net/mailman/listinfo/links13_jamesfriesen.net

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to send email to me directly.

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I received a rather interesting spam the other day and it would seem to have included some well private details.  It looks like this email contains login information for various mail systems but I honestly did not follow up with it.  I figured it may be of interest to the owners of these sites so I’m posting it here rather than attempt to start tracking abuse emails for various domains.

Continue reading 'Spam with a bonus — ‘Oops’'»

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I have been running a links related mailing list for several of my friends and fans over the last few months and I’ve decided that I would make the list available to the general public. One person suggested I use twitter to announce new posts, but I’m still adverse to getting a twitter account at this point.  I finally got my spam down to nil tyvm and want to keep it that way.  However…I could change my mind.

This mailing list is simply a mailout published infrequently seldom more than twice a week and has the latest in technology events, the latest gadgets and toys, privacy and copyright issues, funny videos and some astronomy/aeronautics and science stuff on occasion.  Submissions are allowed and welcomed but no guarantee they will show up.  I don’t manage the content on the list and it isn’t censored so you may encounter content that may not be suitable for a younger audience.  Viewer discretion is advised.  The list is moderated by me.

If you want to subscribe simply visit this link and follow the instructions.  If you have any concerns or questions don’t hesitate to send me an email or contact me via this site.

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As part of my constant survey of false and misleading job ads, I came across this interesting one on craigslist at this link.  http://calgary.en.craigslist.ca/etc/1415300999.html

It tells us that if we participate in the “focus group” that we will get paid $100 for this.  Well I’ve participated in many surveys and ‘focus groups’ and enjoy doing so, but many are not all they seem, and some are downright invasive about ‘knowing your personal lifestyle’ or worse, resellers of your information.  So I decided to check it out and reply to the email listed in the ad as Haley.Axel@gmail.com.  My first suspicion about this was when I received a reply almost immediately.  Very rarely do ad responses get immediate replies, and instead of asking for a time to meet, it simply directed me to a ‘screener’ survey via Survey Monkeys.  Well Survey Monkeys is a free online service anyone can use to generate surveys and submit them.  So I’m thinking they wanted to stick me into doing a survey for free.  Well the questions were in my mind serving nothing other than providing a clear redirect to the real company Lightspeed Reasearch, based in New Jersey, to ‘become a member’.  Well membership is free so I’m thinking so far so good right?

Continue reading 'Focus Group Music Survey for $100 – I don’t think so.'»

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I know some avid mac users are going to try to flame fest me with this comment, but I really hate stupid support people.  You know the type.  Don’t have a clue, reading the flowchart like it’s a bible.

Yes, sometimes it’s important to follow procedures and ensure all bases are covered, but I welcome anyone’s comments regarding my personal experience of recent. Frankly, even Apple is not immune to this!

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I was a lucky person who received a Ipod Nano for Christmas.  I really didn’t see myself as a Ipod user, and never would have bought one myself, personally I was more interested in the RCA Lyra (sp?) or a PSP. But I still welcomed this lovely black beauty in my gadget collection.  So I set it up, and discover that it’s using a custom proprietary driver to copy files via another software tool called “Itunes”. I really don’t want Itunes as it behaves very poorly with Avast Anti-Virus, and since AV solution are more important than another media player, I can well do without Itunes.  Not any more.

Yes, in order to transfer my content I much use Itunes driver.  Ok.  I can handle this if that’s all I’m going to be doing with it.

So last week a couple advisories were posted, one involving Quicktime, the other involving Ipod Software. I had JUST installed the latest version of Itunes and really didn’t want to upgrade again, or thinking I didn’t need a upgrade but I confirm my version of Quicktime is old.  I decide to see if the programs themselves are competent at finding the newer version and upgrading automatically. Wrong.  Quicktime offers no facility for “check for updates” so I check Itunes since the downloads are combined these days.  Itunes quickly tells me I’m running the most current version of the software.  A quick audit, shows that I am running the latest Itunes, but not Quicktime.

So I gave up on this facility, and do it the old fashioned way.  Search out the download directory and download the file.

Get the download no problem, and install fine.  Now I’m patched.  But WAIT!  I still have to get the latest Ipod software yet. 

So back to apple.com searching for this, I find the slew of versions for various Ipods in existence, and locate my version and click on the download link.

It wants to know if I’m the registered user, if I registered then login, if not fill out this form.  I never register hardware I don’t trust anyone with this information, and in this case they also elect to put you on spam mailing list from undisclosed third parties. 

Anyways I fill out the form, and click on the submit button, and I get greeting with a white page.

No file, no download, no link, just a blank page.

I try this a few times to the same results.  I try another PC same results.  I decide that I am eligible for support so I call the number on the web page.

I get a nice fellow who discovers I’m Canadian, not American and directs me to Apple Canada Support.  I explain I only need to download the software off the .com site, and really don’t need ‘official’ support., but I get directed anyways.

This is one of my pet peeves.  The site does NOT disclose the various support numbers nor assist the user in self-directing themselves to the proper support line.  Instead they inconvenience and waste everyone’s time with this ‘I cannot help you, let me transfer you to the department that does’. syndrome.  I usually take ineffective companies like this and flush them in the toilet.  I could still get a refund on my Ipod and I’m thinking very seriously about it.

My partner says I should give it a try as there is probably some stupid easy solution to this (you’ll be amazed at the solution), and to be patient and try the Canadian Support.  Well I’ve heard good things, and investor solutions (yes we used to own Apple Stock years ago) was fabulous to deal with.  So I’m really expecting good things even though this upgrading is annoying me to no end.

I get this lady on the phone who asks how they can help, I explain my Ipod is working fine, I just need to figure out why I cannot download the Ipod software from their web site.  She asks me what I’m installing the Ipod on, I explain it’s on a Windows XP box.  She asks if it is SP2, and I state no, it’s only SP1.  She then tells me to go to microsofts website and install SP2, and try again.

Ok, I’m stunned.  I’ve been downloading files off of networks for over 20 years, and never told my OS was insufficient to download a file.  I try very hard to explain this to the lady to no avail.  She gets very rude, and tells me that I do not meet the minimum requirements for the Ipod.  I explain that it WORKS FINE!!!!  I just want the latest version of the software due to the security vulnerability.

I may as well have asked my dog to fetch me a new car. I stated that I’ve NEVER had to meet minimum requirements to download software EVER in my life, and I have no intention of installing XP SP2 on these boxes.  Yes, I own two copies, but I regressed to SP1 since I did not require any of the features of SP2.  Did not matter, she would not help me.

So now I’m off the phone very dismayed with the nonsense I was told.  My partner is even getting upset over this nonsense (yes she does tech support for a large ISP) and can’t believe it, so she tries to download the file for me.  When the form loads, she tries it fails.  I get really annoyed and debating about causing a short but heavy load on the server submitting 1024 charater data strings into each of the forms, but then I decided to fill it with vulger comments instead.  Email address youassholes@apple.com   Name ‘Whatdoyou *censored*ingcare’, I think you get the point.  After filling out the form I then click submit, and I’m then presented with a download.

 

I guess unless you tell them off in the rudest fashion your not allowed to download software.  Perhaps someone else may have registered this email address and it recognized this and allowed me to download the software.

Now I have to install it.