Friday, January 09, 2004
STUFF, nothing I like, but STUFF. From STEELHOOF
http://news.com.com/2100-7352-5137344.html Feds seek wiretap access via VoIP Last modified: January 8, 2004, 7:42 AM PST By Declan McCullagh The FBI and the Justice Department have renewed their efforts to wiretap voice conversations carried across the Internet. The agencies have asked the Federal Communications Commission to order companies offering voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service to rewire their networks to guarantee police the ability to eavesdrop on subscribers' conversations.
Thursday, January 08, 2004
***VIRUS UPDATES Reminder
It's Tus. or Thur. , time to update the virus definitions. Yes, twice a week. That's being safe. And as you do that, if you use Norton, which as of 1-05-04, I still think is the best. (this well change, once McAfee was) Norton well update the program as well.
Do so sometime after 9AM GMT, or 1 PM EST US, 4PM PST US.
And if it's Tusesday, check out Tech Tuesday at Yahooand even if it isn't.
Something from a friend that I believe in. If you take care of "the small things, the big things, will take care of themselves".
Always check the fine print! (Rev #1)
While checking my phone bill, I noticed that the phone company added 200 minutes of long distance to my bill. This was all for a nominal charge of $8.00. The only problem was I did not request this, authorize this (to my knowledge) or have any knowledge of the addition, till I looked at my bill.
This proves that you must always look at the complete contents of your bill(s).
What the problem for consumers, is that most businesses like utilities, phone companies, and even credit card companies are pushing electronic billing or what they call the "E-bill". Now don't get me wrong, this is really good for the businesses. They get to save a boatload of money by reducing costs across the board. Some of the things they benefit from are small. But some are very big (for them). The bad part is that the benefits for consumers (you and I) usually appear big, but turn out to be very small.
Some of the items that business come out ahead are listed here, but I know there has to be more I have not remembered at this specific moment.
(No bills, envelopes, or even rate notifications that are the normal part of a bill and I didn't even mention the paper costs)
(the recovery of mailing costs are huge. Plus, requiring fewer mail handlers drastically lower costs. The word for this specific trend is called "layoffs")
(More reasons to say that dreaded word; "Layoffs"?)
(and will keep generating them additional revenues)
(If your debited one day early, no big deal. If ten thousand are billed one day early.... Think about that),
(Paying for electronic payment services is probably $2.00 a month as with Cincinnati Gas & Electric. Now do you think the cost of a stamp is all that much? I would rather pay $4.44 for tweleve months of stamps, than $24.00 for annuals charges for a not very convenient, convenience)
Now, for the benefits for consumers, there is only two I can think of right now (There actually might be more):
(as long as you have a computer and internet access)
(This is great when your at work and you forgot to pay your bill)
Sure, I understand this is a fairly socialist view, but not really. It is more of a notification for people who I know, who do not know this is possibily happening to their bills. Yes, I know that businesses are there for one thing, To make money. But I am not stupid and understand things like this are normally a good business practice. But I also feel that this does more to take advantage of people who (credulously) trust a company to put their best interest in front of the companies. Neither is a little naïveté of consumers the responsibility of the companies to correct.
The bottom line? Whether paper or electronic, check your bills completely. You probably don't really know what your paying for.
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
**** TECH REMINDER
It's Wednesday, check to see if there are updates for Windows
Remember, Microsoft DOESN'T EMAIL UPDATE. Just click on the "tools" hotspot in your "Tool Bar", then go to "Windows Update" and click there. Do so sometime after 9AM GMT, or 1 PM EST US, 4PM PST US.
**********************************END
It's Wednesday, check to see if there are updates for Windows
Remember, Microsoft DOESN'T EMAIL UPDATE. Just click on the "tools" hotspot in your "Tool Bar", then go to "Windows Update" and click there. Do so sometime after 9AM GMT, or 1 PM EST US, 4PM PST US.
**********************************END
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
TECH NEWS
Yahoo says it's going to drop Google and go back to it's own software for it's search service. Google's going Public soon and as I see it, has been become more like a competitor to Yahoo anyway. And Yahoo bought Inktome software awhile back anyway.....
Tips
D, Advising at Keen. My other Blog is a lighter, joking, personal blog.
Avoid The Worst Of E-Mail Gaffes
Beware of "Reply All." NO email oops has claimed more victims than hitting REPLAY ALL when you really meant to reply to one persom. Before you belittle your boss, discuss your undying lovve/uter hatred for a co-worker, or reveal and cross-dressing secrets, check to To: and CC: lines carefully.
CC? No No. If you're sending a message to a large group of unrelated people, don't put all their names in the CC (carbon copy) field where everyone can read them. Most people don't want to share their e- mail address with strangers. Use the BCC (blind carbon copy) field instead.
CC? Oui Oui. Got an important question that needs to be answered? Don't put a million addresses in the TO field; if you do, nobody will feel responsible for responding. Address it to one person and CC anyone else who needs to be in the loop.
Gossip on your dime at work. If you must get catty about your coworkers (especially your boss), use a private e-mail account, not the company's. Legally, if you typed a message on your machine at work, your boss may still have the right to read it--communications in the workplace are usually the property of whoever owns the equipment being used--but it's a lot less likely.
The Right File Be de-tached. So your boss asks you to e-mail your quarterly report and instead you send photos from your vacation at the nudist colony. Could be worse, right? Wrong. Sending the wrong file attachment can cause all kinds of heartache. Double check that you've attached the right file before you hit the Send button.
Contributor, Dan Tynan
D, Advising at Keen. My other Blog is a lighter, joking, personal blog.
Avoid The Worst Of E-Mail Gaffes
Beware of "Reply All." NO email oops has claimed more victims than hitting REPLAY ALL when you really meant to reply to one persom. Before you belittle your boss, discuss your undying lovve/uter hatred for a co-worker, or reveal and cross-dressing secrets, check to To: and CC: lines carefully.
CC? No No. If you're sending a message to a large group of unrelated people, don't put all their names in the CC (carbon copy) field where everyone can read them. Most people don't want to share their e- mail address with strangers. Use the BCC (blind carbon copy) field instead.
CC? Oui Oui. Got an important question that needs to be answered? Don't put a million addresses in the TO field; if you do, nobody will feel responsible for responding. Address it to one person and CC anyone else who needs to be in the loop.
Gossip on your dime at work. If you must get catty about your coworkers (especially your boss), use a private e-mail account, not the company's. Legally, if you typed a message on your machine at work, your boss may still have the right to read it--communications in the workplace are usually the property of whoever owns the equipment being used--but it's a lot less likely.
The Right File Be de-tached. So your boss asks you to e-mail your quarterly report and instead you send photos from your vacation at the nudist colony. Could be worse, right? Wrong. Sending the wrong file attachment can cause all kinds of heartache. Double check that you've attached the right file before you hit the Send button.
Contributor, Dan Tynan
***VIRUS UPDATES Reminder
It's Tus. or Thur. , time to update the virus definitions. Yes, twice a week. That's being safe. And as you do that, if you use Norton, which as of 1-05-04 I think is the best. (this well change, once McAfee was) Norton well update the program as well.
It's Tus. or Thur. , time to update the virus definitions. Yes, twice a week. That's being safe. And as you do that, if you use Norton, which as of 1-05-04 I think is the best. (this well change, once McAfee was) Norton well update the program as well.
TECH stuff
Protect Your Personal Information and Security by reading this, http://www.opera.com/support/tutorials/security/.. Opera is one of the Browsers I use. And you can try it for free. When I'm going to a website I don't know or have never been to before, I use Opera. Because as Opera opens the site or page it shows you the cookies that are being put on your computer and allows you to take'em or not. Opera also tell you and rejects illegal cookie right a way. And all cookies are deleted when you close Opera. So they're not building up and taking up space on your harddrive. Which means they are not reporting what your up to.
And for the investors I adivce, Yahoo sets an illegal cookie everytime you use their Finance Service.
Monday, January 05, 2004
Cell phone user now being abused...
One of my worst fears is coming true. The technology that allows cell phones to be located so that emergency personnel (911 and 999 operators for instance) can find them is being abused by people who should not have access to that information.
I don't like this, I don't like this, I. do. not. like. this.
My main objection to this is the possibility of companies sending advertisements to people arriving within a certain distance of their retail location. Imagine walking through a mall and being barraged with unwanted text messages from every store within 50 feet. People are going to start just turning off their cell phones until they're ready to make a phone call. Yet another great technology rendered nearly useless by out of control marketing.
People should not have the right, or even the ability, to track another person's physical location without their express consent. I can make an exception for parents keeping tabs on their kids and for the authorities keeping tabs on people out of prison and on parole. Other than those and a few other exceptions, this is something that needs to be stopped NOW.
This is outrageous. People are not cattle to be branded and monitored every second of their lives. McDonalds does not have the right to know that I am around the corner and about to walk by their store. If I decide to spend lunch sitting in my car at the park eating a cheeseburger and listening to talk radio, that is no one's business but my own. I have the right to keep that to myself.
I have a simple solution to this. Require the phone makers to provide a button that disables the tracking signal when the phone is not dialed up to an emergency service. Require them to make that the default setting. If people want the phone to tell the world where they are, fine, but give us the ability to turn it off.
I've been saying this for years. We need the ability to disable this tracking feature. Long before I first plugged into the internet, I wrote a letter to my newspaper calling for this.
I have heard rumors of some models of cell phones having the very feature I am discussing. I promise you this, whoever makes a cell phone that lets me disable this tracking technology will have my business the next time I have to buy one.
Taken from the Spyware Weekly Newsletter12-24-04. Thank you.
One of my worst fears is coming true. The technology that allows cell phones to be located so that emergency personnel (911 and 999 operators for instance) can find them is being abused by people who should not have access to that information.
I don't like this, I don't like this, I. do. not. like. this.
My main objection to this is the possibility of companies sending advertisements to people arriving within a certain distance of their retail location. Imagine walking through a mall and being barraged with unwanted text messages from every store within 50 feet. People are going to start just turning off their cell phones until they're ready to make a phone call. Yet another great technology rendered nearly useless by out of control marketing.
People should not have the right, or even the ability, to track another person's physical location without their express consent. I can make an exception for parents keeping tabs on their kids and for the authorities keeping tabs on people out of prison and on parole. Other than those and a few other exceptions, this is something that needs to be stopped NOW.
This is outrageous. People are not cattle to be branded and monitored every second of their lives. McDonalds does not have the right to know that I am around the corner and about to walk by their store. If I decide to spend lunch sitting in my car at the park eating a cheeseburger and listening to talk radio, that is no one's business but my own. I have the right to keep that to myself.
I have a simple solution to this. Require the phone makers to provide a button that disables the tracking signal when the phone is not dialed up to an emergency service. Require them to make that the default setting. If people want the phone to tell the world where they are, fine, but give us the ability to turn it off.
I've been saying this for years. We need the ability to disable this tracking feature. Long before I first plugged into the internet, I wrote a letter to my newspaper calling for this.
I have heard rumors of some models of cell phones having the very feature I am discussing. I promise you this, whoever makes a cell phone that lets me disable this tracking technology will have my business the next time I have to buy one.
Taken from the Spyware Weekly Newsletter12-24-04. Thank you.
***TECH STUFF ON SPAM
President Bush Signs 'Can Spam' Act Into Law
President Bush on Tuesday signed the 'Can Spam' Act into law. As with many of the misguided laws that have been passed in recent years in the United States, this law is sure to make the situation worse while doing nothing to solve it.
The 'Can Spam' Law makes it legal for companies to email massive amounts of advertisements to people who do not want it. All a spammer needs to do now is include "ADV" in the subject line of their spam and include a working "opt-out" method. That's it.
Do those two things and the US Congress grants you permission to send as many unwanted advertisements as you wish around the world. It will be up to you to remove yourself from spammers' mailing lists, not up to the spammer to have your permission before sending you their junk.
It makes you wonder if the Congress and the President actually use the internet themselves. Anyone who has been online lately knows that spam is out of control.
What makes this outrageous law even worse is the fact that it overrides more sensible and effective laws such as those in California and Virginia. Virginia outlaws many tactics used by spammers to hide the origin of their spam. California has banned spam altogether.
Neither state will be able to enforce their laws because of the lobbying by the spamming industry. The Direct Marketing Association and other spammers saw to it that effective state laws would be overridden. They managed to squash all hope of amending the laws to allow enforcement of existing state laws.
The same thing happened three months ago when a new federal privacy law was put into effect. On August 27, 2003, then California Governor Gray Davis signed one of the nation's most sweeping financial privacy laws, allowing Californians to prevent banks, insurance companies and other financial companies from sharing their personal information without their express permission.
Unfortunately, heavy lobbying by the financial industry in Washington saw to it that no provision was made for state laws with stricter privacy protections. Banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions paid good money while lobbying for the right to continue selling their customers personal information. And the Congress delivered just what they wanted. Clearly, the DMA took careful note of this.
All I can do is make two suggestions here. First, write to your Federal Representative and to your Senators and ask them to please amend this horrible law. Second, find a good spam filter. You definitely are going to need one after this law takes effect.
THIS WAY I USED YAHOO, WELL ONE REASON ANYWAY. Try this for help for now www.ad-aware.com
President Bush Signs 'Can Spam' Act Into Law
President Bush on Tuesday signed the 'Can Spam' Act into law. As with many of the misguided laws that have been passed in recent years in the United States, this law is sure to make the situation worse while doing nothing to solve it.
The 'Can Spam' Law makes it legal for companies to email massive amounts of advertisements to people who do not want it. All a spammer needs to do now is include "ADV" in the subject line of their spam and include a working "opt-out" method. That's it.
Do those two things and the US Congress grants you permission to send as many unwanted advertisements as you wish around the world. It will be up to you to remove yourself from spammers' mailing lists, not up to the spammer to have your permission before sending you their junk.
It makes you wonder if the Congress and the President actually use the internet themselves. Anyone who has been online lately knows that spam is out of control.
What makes this outrageous law even worse is the fact that it overrides more sensible and effective laws such as those in California and Virginia. Virginia outlaws many tactics used by spammers to hide the origin of their spam. California has banned spam altogether.
Neither state will be able to enforce their laws because of the lobbying by the spamming industry. The Direct Marketing Association and other spammers saw to it that effective state laws would be overridden. They managed to squash all hope of amending the laws to allow enforcement of existing state laws.
The same thing happened three months ago when a new federal privacy law was put into effect. On August 27, 2003, then California Governor Gray Davis signed one of the nation's most sweeping financial privacy laws, allowing Californians to prevent banks, insurance companies and other financial companies from sharing their personal information without their express permission.
Unfortunately, heavy lobbying by the financial industry in Washington saw to it that no provision was made for state laws with stricter privacy protections. Banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions paid good money while lobbying for the right to continue selling their customers personal information. And the Congress delivered just what they wanted. Clearly, the DMA took careful note of this.
All I can do is make two suggestions here. First, write to your Federal Representative and to your Senators and ask them to please amend this horrible law. Second, find a good spam filter. You definitely are going to need one after this law takes effect.
THIS WAY I USED YAHOO, WELL ONE REASON ANYWAY. Try this for help for now www.ad-aware.com
Students to to class via the net. link to the story
URBANA, Ill. - University of Illinois students were able to visit a lab at the College of Engineering last semester without leaving the comfort of their dorm rooms.
MSN Messenger Worm Making Rounds
By Ryan Naraine
A new worm targeting users of Microsoft's (Quote, Chart) MSN Messenger network is making the rounds and anti-virus vendors are warning that the threat level and distribution remains high.
The Jitux.A (W32/Jitux.A.worm) was detected squirming through the text chat application and trying to get users to download malicious code. The worm comes in the form on a URL which downloads the "jituxramon.exe" file.
According to an alert from Panda Software, when a user runs the file, the worm sends new messages containing the link every five minutes to all contacts stored in MSN Messenger.
The worm has no destructive effects, nor does it cause changes to the system configuration. It is compiled in Visual Basic and runs on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP.
Network Associates (Quote, Chart) and Trend Micro (Quote, Chart) have updated virus definitions to nab the Jitux worm.
The appearance of the Jitux.A worm is not the first time virus writers have target instant messenger networks, particularly the MSN Messenger. In recent times, the Henpeck/W32/ Fleming worm was also intercepted within MSN Messenger.
The appearance of IM worms comes on the heels of several warnings that instant messaging networks will be a major target for malicious virus writers.
The increasing popularity of IM usage -- among home and enterprise users -- comes with security concerns and security vendor Symantec (Quote, Chart) has already warned that users of IM and peer-to-peer networks are at high risk of attack.
Statistics from Symantec showed that of the top 50 virus threats during the first six months of 2003, IM and peer-to-peer technology played a role in 19 -- a 400 percent increase from the previous year.
By Ryan Naraine
A new worm targeting users of Microsoft's (Quote, Chart) MSN Messenger network is making the rounds and anti-virus vendors are warning that the threat level and distribution remains high.
The Jitux.A (W32/Jitux.A.worm) was detected squirming through the text chat application and trying to get users to download malicious code. The worm comes in the form on a URL which downloads the "jituxramon.exe" file.
According to an alert from Panda Software, when a user runs the file, the worm sends new messages containing the link every five minutes to all contacts stored in MSN Messenger.
The worm has no destructive effects, nor does it cause changes to the system configuration. It is compiled in Visual Basic and runs on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP.
Network Associates (Quote, Chart) and Trend Micro (Quote, Chart) have updated virus definitions to nab the Jitux worm.
The appearance of the Jitux.A worm is not the first time virus writers have target instant messenger networks, particularly the MSN Messenger. In recent times, the Henpeck/W32/ Fleming worm was also intercepted within MSN Messenger.
The appearance of IM worms comes on the heels of several warnings that instant messaging networks will be a major target for malicious virus writers.
The increasing popularity of IM usage -- among home and enterprise users -- comes with security concerns and security vendor Symantec (Quote, Chart) has already warned that users of IM and peer-to-peer networks are at high risk of attack.
Statistics from Symantec showed that of the top 50 virus threats during the first six months of 2003, IM and peer-to-peer technology played a role in 19 -- a 400 percent increase from the previous year.
Sunday, January 04, 2004
OK, I've been talking about how bad it is that fewer and fewer "Corps" supply our news. Well, it didn't take long for the snake to sticks it's head up out of the muck. CBS is denying they paid Michael Jackson for the interview he did for them on 60 minutes. Read what MSNBC has to say. This is a fine item to show you what we are going to see in the way the news is becoming more and more just another way of entertaining us. Real news come from an industry that would say " the more the better". Not the few the more $$$ for us. Call, write, or e-mail your "rep. in the fed.".
