tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202492522024-02-08T13:17:56.413-05:00MiXBSD's BlogA General Blog To Rant, Rave And Let Off Steam - Kind Of Net Group Therapy!MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-43727421076265871622008-05-04T12:45:00.005-04:002008-05-04T14:30:29.960-04:00Gartner: The "Experts" Get It Wrong Again In matters concerning IT security, <a href="http://www.gartner.com/AnalystBiography?authorId=14409">John Pescatore</a> of <a href="http://www.gartner.com/">Gartner</a> is supposedly an expert. That may be so, but he evidently does not know the first thing about logistics.<br /><br />According to <a href="http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/Daily-News/019f1d98-16ed-4fa2-9111-d3b7d659c7db.html">this story</a>, DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Canada lost a data backup tape when they sent it via UPS courier to a credit agency. Apparently, the tape was not encrypted - at least Chrysler have not confirmed so.<br /><br />The story concludes with Pescatore's comments that Chrysler should have bought more insurance on the shipment, because "You can get higher levels of insurance on any items you’re sending, so if it's lost, stolen or damaged, you can get some financial payments back". More proof that these Management Consultant types don't have a clue what they're talking about: insurance does not guarantee delivery - the package would still be routed through the same hubs on its way to its destination; it does not give the package "special treatment" or "special handling instructions". Also, unlike the physical medium it travels on, the data itself cannot be insured - and even if it was, this copy has still gone astray.<br /><br />This is the same guy who said that "<a href="http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/070918_pescatore.html">Organisations should aim to spend less of their IT budgets on security</a>". So, by buying more insurance for a shipment - instead of investing in encryption technology - an organisation is increasing its costs and, in the process, not decreasing the likelihood that sensitive personal data will fall into the wrong hands.<br /><br />As someone once said... words to the effect of "Better to keep quiet and be thought of a fool, rather than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."<br /><br />Way to go, Gartner!<br /><br>MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-62581763179576719912008-05-03T22:30:00.004-04:002008-05-03T23:04:03.677-04:00New York: New Hubris First there was the <a href="http://www.openplans.org/projects/campaign-for.nyc/project-home">campaign for .nyc</a> - a totally pointless call for yet another <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/top_level_domain">TLD</a> for the City of New York. We have enough TLD's already - we don't need to pollute the namespace any further with city TLD's. If .nyc or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.berlin">.berlin</a> get their way, who has the right to claim .bristol? The original one in the UK? Or Bristol, TN? Or Bristol, NB? The arrogance of these cities to think that they have the right to pollute the DNS namespace with this nonsense is astounding.<br /><br />Now there's a <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/02/amazon_sues_new_york/">story</a> that Spamazon is suing NY State because of a <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/14/new_york_legislature_approves_amazon_tax/">new tax law</a> that allows NY State to force online retailers to collect sales tax at the point of sale for goods shipped to NY residents. Normally, I wouldn't support Amazon (they're on my <a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/2008/04/mixbsds-boycott-list-work-in-progress.html">boycott list</a>, generically, for being email spamtards) but I have to admit that Amazon are in the right here. Only an arrogant State Legislature would pass a law requiring a business in another state to collect taxes on the State's behalf.<br /><br />It's also disappointing to read that this legislation was originally proposed by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. I had a lot of respect for the man - even when he was caught with his trousers down - due to his stance on spammers and <a href="http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2001/dec/dec19a_01.html">telescum</a> like <a href="http://whocalled.us/lookup/5103733869">Xentel Inc</a>.<br /><br />Still, this doesn't score as high in the hubris stakes as Judge Charles Kocoras of the IL courts, who suffers from a superiority complex: he was the one who returned a default judgement against Spamhaus, who don't even have a presence in the US.<br /><br>MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-33967541515517020662008-04-26T14:00:00.021-04:002008-05-28T22:31:06.190-04:00MiXBSD's Boycott List: Work In Progress Here's a current list of who I'm boycotting. Company names will be added on a per-incident basis and once added, they're highly unlikely to be removed (yeah, sometimes it's right and proper to hold a grudge).<br /><ul><br /><li>Company-specific:</li><ul><li><a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/2007/07/sony-keeping-up-that-boycott.html">Sony</a> and all its divisions.</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/31/creative_labs_developer_legal_action/">Creative Labs</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080528-judge-to-dell-dude-youre-defrauding-your-customers.html">Dell Computers</a></ul><br /><br /><li>Generically:</li><ul><li>Any company that does business with <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/29/phorm_roundup/">Phorm</a>.</li><br /><li>Any company that solicits business (or any organisation who solicits funding) through unsolicited advertising channels (eg. email spam, telemarketing).</li></ul></ul><br /><br>Last updated: 2008-05-28<br><br>MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-75132690128479387322008-03-16T22:30:00.001-04:002008-03-16T23:00:34.064-04:00Asterisk in Linux: Redux On Talking Caller ID Funny how certain things come around on an almost-yearly basis. Virtually <a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/2007/03/linux-why-windows-will-always-dominate.html">a year to the day</a>, I was trying to get Festival to work in AstLinux without luck (actually, trying to get AstLinux to recognise my SB Live sound card was the real challenge).<br /><br />Having some spare time to myself, I was Googling around to see what other flavours of Linux were being used with Asterisk and chanced upon some Ubuntu pages. Since my hobby servers are quite low-spec, I installed Ubuntu 2.6.15-51-server.<br /><br />Soundcard was detected - I heard it pop when the box booted up and went through device initialisation. I did an apt-get install of Asterisk (haven't re-configured it yet) and got the Festival package and it worked right out of the "box"!<br /><br />Very easy to install, although this is another Linux distro that seems to mess around with weird video modes, causing the console login prompt to be hidden off the bottom of the screen.<br /><br />The only real gripe I had, was that after unhooking my hobby box from my monitor and putting it back downstairs in the basement, I found that I couldn't SSH into it. Turns out that even if you install the server (not desktop) version of Ubuntu, SSHD is not installed by default. Seems a bit silly to me - how else is one meant to access the server? So I took the monitor downstairs, apt-get installed openssh-server from the CD and everything's fine now.<br /><br />Talking CID is not much of a project anymore, since I bought a pair of Panasonic phones last year and they handle the talking CID themselves. However, now that Festival is working, all I have to do is get Asterisk up and running and those "torture menus" will be good to go!MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-32715028659836561592008-03-09T13:30:00.004-04:002008-04-26T14:36:01.058-04:00Silverlight on Mobiles: World's Gone Ad-Mad Just reading <a href="http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/Daily-News/40fabe73-c0d1-4102-ac54-36b6b4cd19f5.html">an article</a> about Nokia's plans to incorporate MicroShaft's SilverShite (my medial caps) onto their mobile platforms. Apparently, SilverShite can be used to develop RIA's, but then so can Flash. However, very little RIA's (of any use) are done in Flash - most of the time it's used to generate those annoying banner ads, like "Punch the Monkey" or some other such nonsense. Yet another reason to surf with FireFox with Adblock and NoScript installed.<br /><br />Per the article, "Among the new functionality, RIA application developers and designers have the ability to better monetize their sites, and extend these applications to the mobile space". In other words, instead of using Flash to make ads, WebDev's can use SilverShite to push ads onto your cell phone.<br /><br />It seems that everyday, some marketing droid is out to push their ads on you via cost-shifted advertising (AKA spamming). WAP surfing is expensive enough without the ads: on <a href="http://www.primus.ca/en/residential/cellular/wirelessService-valueAddedFeatures.htm#data">Primus</a>, every 1KB of traffic costs 5¢ on pay-per-use, or the same cost per KB after you've gone over your quota if you're on a $3/month (256KB) or $7/month (1MB) data plan. It's the <a href="http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wireless-products/paygo_rates?content10=paygo_rates&tab=3">same rate</a> on Rogers pay-per-use.<br /><br />At $3/month (currently what I pay Primus) it won't take long to go over 256KB with sites laden with mobile ads. Perhaps they should be called "madverts".MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-59246219009366113232008-02-03T23:15:00.002-05:002008-04-26T14:36:25.187-04:00BlackBerry: Not All It's CrackBerry'ed Up To Be I recently acquired a second-hand BlackBerry 7290, which was fortunate timing as my Sony-Ericsson T226 was constantly complaining that the SIM card was dislodged, requiring a power-cycle.<br /><br />The good news is that I didn't pay anything for the BB. Which is just as well, as it has <span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">less</span></span> mobile data functionality than both the T226 (~3 years old, formerly on a Rogers contract) and my old T68i (that I bought in ~2002 and brought with me to Canada).<br /><br />See, whilst the BB has a bigger screen for websurfing and appears to have GPRS, it won't let me connect to any websites. Why is it I can download pictures and midi files (T226 can use them as ringtones) on Rogers PAYG via WAP on both the T226 and T68i, but can't get jack all on the BlackBerry's GPRS? The BB is locked on the Rogers network, so there's absolutely no reason why GPRS on a BB should be any different to GPRS on a Sony-Ericsson. MidpSSH doesn't work either. Also, on the old Rogers firmware and the new version I installed, both did not have a browser icon, so I had to install <a href="http://www.operamini.com/">OperaMini</a> via desktop manager and USB.<br /><br />One thing I did notice is that the config on the Sony-Ericssons asks for an APN, APN userid and password, plus an IP address. There's no IP address field on the BB.<br /><br />My guess is that the BB can't WAP surf and instead relies entirely on BES or BIS for its MDS. Since BES/BIS costs more and is only available on contract, it seems that the BlackBerry is over-rated, at least for non-business use. In fact, that begs the next question: why does my BB show "GSM", then "GPRS" with the signal strength, if it can't do anything on GPRS?<br /><br />Okay, I can't download pictures via WAP, so I try using the desktop manager. Nope, that doesn't work either, as it doesn't allow me to specify pictures to upload - all I can do is backup the entire device to one big file.<br /><br />Hmmmm, what about infra-red? No... unlike my ~6 year-old T68i, the BB has no IR connectivity that will enable my laptop to send files to it.<br /><br />Alright, it has BlueTooth. So I manage to pair the T68i and BB up, but can't do anything once the two are talking to each other. Can't even sync-up address books.<br /><br />A-ha, what if I send the pics over MMS? No... the BB doesn't even recognise MMS messages and totally ignores them. As a point of comparison, I can MMS in both directions between both Ericssons and the wife's Motorola V220.<br /><br />The only success I had was to use the directions given in <a href="http://blackberryforums.pinstack.com/1865-ring_tones_and_pictures_without_a_data_plan.html">this forum</a>. It does work but it's a heck of a lot of effort.<br /><br />My advice to anyone considering buying a BlackBerry for personal use: DON'T. I'm sure that with corporate BES or BIS, it's a productivity tool, but as a "standalone" phone/PDA it's useless without a[n over-priced] data plan.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-4757517881073689912008-01-23T22:55:00.000-05:002008-01-23T23:07:28.304-05:00Motorola: Marketing No Longer RAZR Sharp Reading about <a href="http://technology.canoe.ca/2008/01/23/4788859-ap.html">Motorola's woes</a> today, it comes as no surprise to see their share price drop by 23%. For the longest time, the market droids at Motorola stuck to the same old tired formulaic <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nomenclature">nomenclature</a>. Eventually, even the fashion victims (the POSRs) grow weary of 4-letter, missing-vowel names.<br /><br />LOSRs!<br /><br>MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-5888460506284561992007-12-01T14:30:00.000-05:002007-12-02T21:43:36.860-05:00Internet: Goodbye Rogers, Hello Caneris We've had Rogers cable for our internet connection for at least 6 years.<br /><br />In the beginning, it was great. I'd tell the AOL-bies to get a proper internet connection, not a <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mickey+mouse+outfit">Mickey Mouse</a> one.<br /><br />Then Rogers started messing around with their network. Suddenly, DNS would stop working for hours at a time; email servers wouldn't work, or would take forever to send messages; stupid re-branding to "Rogers Yahoo!" etc. So, I installed my own SMTP and caching-DNS servers. Then Rogers started blocking port 25 outbound. So now I have to use webmail. Then Rogers starts frequently moving me around their IP space. I called them 3 years ago and they said they planned to introduce static IP's "sometime in the near future". Never happened.<br /><br />"Their network, their rules", you may say. True. But when their <a href="http://www.rogers.com/web/link/hispeedCompareBegin?_removePackage=1">own advertising</a> states that their service is suitable for transferring large files, then they have no business traffic-shaping my connection to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/canadian-isp-is-throttling-bittorrent-traffic/">throttle BitTorrent</a>.<br /><br />This was the final straw. Aside from the fact that their internet connection prices are actually expensive, even after a bundled discount, I refuse to be screwed over any longer.<br /><br />So, I am moving over to <a href="http://www.caneris.com/">Caneris</a>, a local DSL provider that is hobby-server and <a href="http://www.dslreports.com/comment/3086/65226">BitTorrent friendly</a>. And, unlike Rogers, who didn't get a clue when I told them I don't like to be randomly moved around their IP space every so often, Caneris offers static IP addresses.<br /><br />Another advantage to moving my internet away from <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=todger">Todgers</a> (not a typo) is that I have one less reason to call them whenever my internet is down and have to speak to that <a href="http://www.kbcafe.com/iBLOGthere4iM/?guid=20051108134700#Fri,%2003%20Aug%202007%2001:39:50%20GMT">god-awful voice-activated IVR system</a>. On behalf of all the Rogers customers who have to spend ages on the phone <a href="http://www.mycanadajobs.com/job-1733.html">talking to a deaf computer</a> before even getting through to one of Rogers' inept script-monkey CSR's, thank you <a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/87FR.html">Ted Rogers</a>.<br /><br />It seems that there is <a href="http://www.dslreports.com/comment/1713/65516">an exodus</a> right now too.<br /><br />And it's not going to stop there: the next move away from Rogers will be to port my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prepaid_mobile_phone">PAYG</a> cell account away (probably to <a href="http://www.primus.ca/en/residential/cellular/wirelessService.htm">Primus Wireless</a>, but not decided yet).<br /><br />So, perhaps my blog title is not quite correct. It's not so much "goodbye", it's more like "good riddance".MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-2026188641003378102007-11-30T12:45:00.000-05:002007-12-01T13:59:56.797-05:00Googlewhack: Numeric Homophone Following on from a <a href="http://www.whocalled.us/lookup/01253757069">post</a> I made on <a href="http://www.whocalled.us/">Who Called Us</a>, that proves my theorem of never trusting a company that uses numbers in place of words in their company name, it suddenly occurred to me that I might be able to coin a new term: "numeric homophone".<br /><br />Unfortunately, someone else beat me to it, hence the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=%22numeric+homophone%22">unique single Google search result</a> (or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googlewhack">Googlewhack</a>). Of course, by the time this blog post gets archived by Google, the term will no longer be a Googlewhack! <edit>After posting this opinion, Google archived this blog in 7 minutes!</edit><br /><br />I could've coined this term back in 2006, when I <a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/2006/01/sony-boycotting-your-products.html">opined</a> on the Sony Root-kit Fiasco. Oh well!<br /><br /><edit>Hmmm, after looking at the <a href="http://www.googlewhack.com/">Googlewhack website</a>, it seems that the term is not a true Googlewhack if the search result is from two words enclosed in quotes. Seems like a silly rule to me, as quotes makes the search specific, as opposed to finding links that contain the words "numeric" and "homophone" in any order on the sites. As the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googlewhack">Wikipedia article</a> says, most Googlewhacks are nonsense words.<br /><br />What's also strange is that when I <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=numeric+homophone">removed the quotes</a>, I actually got a search result for the words "numeric" and "homophone" <a href="www.yorku.ca/foe/_files/file.php?fileid=fileRsboSxmsUe&filename=file_Lothering_Xu_2004.pdf">right next to each other</a>. In theory, these search results should have come back when quotes were used. In fact, this appears to be a bug, as the two words are sequential, but only inside a PDF file.</edit>MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-71914597076172815782007-11-09T23:10:00.000-05:002007-11-10T00:38:41.221-05:00Xentel DM: Will Continue To Expose You For the Google archive, I am quoting a transcript of a telejunker's toll-free announcer:<br /><br /><quote><br />[1 second burst of music] You have reached our automated information system. You're probably calling one of our toll-free numbers that appeared on your display phone. Fund-raising efforts are now well under way and we will be calling you back to explain the programs we have for this year. Calling you is the most cost-effective way to reach our goal. If you prefer, contact our Customer Information Centre at [1-8xx-xxx-xxxx]. They will be glad to provide you with any further information. Those phones are staffed 9AM to 9PM Eastern Time. Goodbye for now.<br /></quote><br /><br />More information on this telejunker-for-hire can be found <a href="http://www.whocalled.us/lookup/8003073697">here</a> (just follow the links, or search <a href="http://www.whocalled.us/search?domains=whocalled.us&sitesearch=whocalled.us&q=Xentel&sa=Search&client=pub-4188324036772400&forid=1&channel=7352804960&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&flav=0001&sig=L1fcMS0jm2MTTDIB&cof=GALT%3A%23FFFFFF%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23FFFFFF%3BVLC%3AFFFFFF%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A11&hl=en">here</a> or <a href="http://www.whocalled.us/search?domains=whocalled.us&sitesearch=whocalled.us&q=FOP&sa=Search&client=pub-4188324036772400&forid=1&channel=7352804960&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&flav=0001&sig=L1fcMS0jm2MTTDIB&cof=GALT%3A%23FFFFFF%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23FFFFFF%3BVLC%3AFFFFFF%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A11&hl=en">here</a>).<br /><br />If you've been contacted by a "charity" such as The Fraternal Order of Police ["FOP"] or a State Troopers' organisation, chances are you've been tele-spammed by <a href="http://www.xentel.com/">Xentel DM</a>, AKA Xentel Inc (in the US). Be aware that most of the organisations that Xentel calls on behalf of do not have charitable (tax deductable) status and even then, Xentel keeps ~80% or more of the donations.<br /><br />Unfortunately, Xentel exploits/abuses a loophole in the law that allows non-profit organisations to <del>harass</del> <del>scam</del> call anyone, even if you have registered for the DNC list. The fact that Xentel makes millions of dollars a year in profit, doesn't seem to matter to either the <a href="http://www.fcc.gov/">FCC</a> or the <a href="http://www.crtc.gc.ca/">CRTC</a>. It seems that only the state AG's do any real job of <a href="http://ago.mo.gov/newsreleases/2003/082703.htm">spanking</a> these telespammers.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-74636316458647647122007-10-27T16:45:00.000-04:002007-10-27T21:37:24.620-04:00Email Spammers vs Tele-Spammers: Parallels I love my VoIP service. In the bad old POTS days, we'd get 3, 4... 5 telejunk calls a day, 7 days a week, some days worse than others.<br /><br />Now I can block the telespammers, my phone only rings for the occasional low-level telejunker: usually a local duct cleaner, or some 2-bit company trying to hawk windows and doors. All the toll-free numbers go straight to voicemail.<br /><br />Repeat offenders get auto-forwarded to an out-of-service number. But, just as the email spammers ignore 5.5.x SMTP error messages and keep trying an email address that will never deliver, it seems the tele-spammers' autodialers ignore "number out of service" messages too:<br /><pre>SelectiveCallFwd 112595140000002 Unavailable 2007-10-20<br />SelectiveCallFwd 112595140000002 Unavailable 2007-10-27</pre><br />Here are a few more parallels:<br /><br /><table border="0"><tbody><tr><td><center><b><u>Email Spammer</u></b></center></td><td><center><b><u>Tele-Spammer</u></b></center></td></tr><tr><td><ul><li>Ignores 5.5.x mailer messages.</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Ignores "out-of-service" messages.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul><li>Plays numbers game: harasses millions of email users with unsolicited messages for one lousy sale.</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Plays numbers game: harasses millions of phone users with unsolicited calls and voicemail messages for one lousy sale.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul><li>Sells "sucker lists" of email addresses.</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Sells "sucker lists" of phone numbers.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul><li>Routinely forges "from" addresses.</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Routinely forges Caller ID.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul><li>Uses rogue ISP’s to host their "bulletproof" websites.</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Uses rogue SIP providers to host their VoIP systems.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul><li>Obfuscates messages to bypass spam filters.</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Obfuscates Caller ID to bypass Privacy Guard.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul><li>Uses cost-shifted advertising to spam your mailbox.</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Uses cost-shifted advertising to spam your cell-phone.</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />I'm sure there are plenty of other examples, including parallels between tele-junkers and fax spammers.<br /><br />My personal favourite site for reporting telejunkers: <a href="http://www.whocalled.us">Who Called Us</a>.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-53097739604446273012007-10-08T19:39:00.001-04:002008-04-26T14:36:56.376-04:00CyberHome: Don't Buy Their DVD+RW's A few weeks back, I purchased a <a href="http://www.panasonic.ca/english/audiovideo/dvdvcr/recorder/dmres16.asp">Panasonic DMR-ES16 DVD Recorder</a>. So far, I'm really pleased with it. The functionality is great and it's very easy to use, even for a beginner.<br /><br />Of course, I needed discs to record on, so I bought a stack of 50 no-name DVD-R's for movies we edited in MovieMaker from our mini-DVD camcorder. I also bought a stack of 25 4.7GB 4x DVD+RW's, manufactured by CyberHome [more <a href="http://www.mtannoyances.com/?p=803">CamelCase</a>].<br /><br />So far, 2 of the 25 discs have failed to format. Even if none of the other discs fail, that's a fairly bad failure rate.<br /><br />Naturally, I did not have the luxury of checking out CyberHome's reputation, as I bought the discs on impulse when I got my DVD Recorder. In hindsight, had I visited their website [or in this case, <a href="http://www.cyberhome.com/">webshite</a>] I would not have bought this brand anyway. Seeing a domain-parking page with their logo would not have inspired confidence in their brand. Perhaps they can't afford to maintain their webshite, after <a href="http://www.twice.com/article/CA6344162.html">federal agencies seized more than 20,000 CyberHome-brand DVD recorders that allegedly used Philips patents without a license</a> last year.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-35798517282994711972007-10-06T13:47:00.000-04:002007-10-07T21:30:44.209-04:00CyberLink PowerProducer: Redux On Crapware Just in case anyone's interested (since <a href="http://www.google.com/search?&q=%22authoring+engine+failed%22">Googling for "authoring engine failed"</a> yielded only 2 search results with no clear answer) I managed to get PowerProducer to work in the end.<br /><br />Since I don't have the time to test each of these 3 remedies separately, I did all of them before re-attempting the burn:<br /><br />(1) Although I had over 12GB free, I deleted the source .WMV files that I had used in MovieMaker to make the final cut - this freed up ~2GB.<br />(2) Pulled a different DVD-R from the stack.<br />(3) Ran PowerProducer under an Admin account.<br /><br />I really don't know which one (or more) of these remedies worked, but now PowerProducer is working again. Still, I stand by <a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/2007/10/cyberlink-powerproducer-piece-of-sht.html">what I said originally</a>: that hardware manufacturers test OEM software before releasing it with their products.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-31815159297685487962007-10-04T17:44:00.000-04:002007-10-04T19:09:51.554-04:00CyberLink PowerProducer: Piece of Sh*t Software When I purchased an <a href="http://www.lge.com/products/model/detail/gsa-h22n.jhtml">LG multi-DVD rewriter drive</a>, I acquired a software suite with CyberLink PowerProducer [their <a href="http://www.mtannoyances.com/?p=803">CamelCase</a>, not mine].<br /><br />Honestly, this program is a piece of crapware. Not only does it take <b>HOURS</b> for it to generate the DVD top-menu, it seems to take just as long to actually finish the burn process, so I usually set it to do its work overnight.<br /><br />So I set this program running last night and find a cryptic error message this morning:<br />"Burning Failed<br />PowerProducer has failed to complete the task(s) because:<br />(e0080007)<br />Possible cause(s):<br />Authoring engine failed."<br /><br />I mean, what kind of idiotic error message is this? It doesn't tell me the cause, only that it possibly, perhaps, might be due to the "authoring engine failed" (whatever the fsck that is - Googling for "authoring engine" yields many different types of applications, from 3D RPG's to DVD's). Was the DVD-R bad? Did I run out of disk space? Not enough memory? WHAT?<br /><br />Of course, it couldn't tell me this shortly after I started the burn process (I had it running for about 30 minutes or so before shutting the monitor off).<br /><br />LG and all the other manufacturers who bundle OEM DVD software: you really need to test these OEM software suites before bundling them with your hardware.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-62871488390667984892007-08-25T15:54:00.000-04:002007-08-25T17:26:30.097-04:00Spammers: Money-Chasing Is Not The FUSSP Reading a <a href="http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2007/02/google-news-and-book-search-via-ajax.html">News Bar</a> article today, about <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136367-c,cybercrime/article.html">spam-fighters who close down spamvertised websites</a>, I was amazed at the amount of sites <a href="http://www.knujon.com/index.html">project KnujOn</a> has claimed to close down.<br /><br />Apparently, 32,000+ sites are 404-compliant due to their hard work. And that's a lot of hard work, given that many of the <a href="http://www.spamhaus.org.uk/statistics/networks.lasso">big-player ISP's are still spam-friendly</a>. Then it occurred to me: that's a lot of time and money these folks have invested in contacting these ISP's and webhosts. Must be a full-time job!<br /><br />When everyone adopts tagged email addresses, the real culprits (the ones who sell your personal information) will be exposed. Turning off a tagged address won't prevent that first piece of UCE coming in, but at least it guarantees you won't be bothered again. Of course, there are <a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=103104&cid=8783189">some</a> that believe that temporary/one-time email addresses are cumbersome. True, but not as cumbersome as JHD'ing or continually tweaking filters/blocklists.<br /><br />The trouble with most anti-spammers, is that they like to in-fight. Very few will have anything positive to say, only comment that this won't work, that won't work. They're like the <a href="http://drmomentum.com/aces/archives/000627.html">PFJ versus the JPF</a>:<br /><br /><center><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/l4EygLtChOg"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/l4EygLtChOg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object></center><br /><br />Naturally, <a href="http://www.knujon.com/index.html">project KnujOn</a> hasn't closed down 32,000+ spammers, only 32,000+ websites operated by around 50 groups of spammers. Not that I'm not grateful, but this means that they are simply playing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whac-a-mole">Whac-A-Mole</a>, providing short-term relief from the current tide of spam flowing from rogue networks.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-29269790457760659362007-08-23T18:30:00.000-04:002007-08-25T13:17:31.166-04:00Pantene: More R&B Sh*t Another dumb advert using more <a href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/natashabedingfield/unwritten.html">tedious R&B nonsense</a>. Of course, Pantene is one of numerous products made by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procter_%26_Gamble">Proctor & Gamble</a> - the same idiots who use R&B for the <a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/2007/04/tide-lose-r-already.html">Tide commercials</a>. Just another reason to <a href="http://www.uncaged.co.uk/pg.htm">boycott P&G</a>.<br /><br />Here are some more reasons to boycott P&G:<br /><a href="http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40828">WorldNetDaily: P&G boycott builds momentum</a><br /><a href="http://slashdot.org/yro/03/08/22/0327247.shtml?tid=158&tid=99">Gillette Pulls RFID Tags In UK Amid Protests</a>MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-6433411023837778542007-07-03T22:15:00.000-04:002007-07-03T22:47:04.475-04:00Telespammers: Business As Usual As if proof were needed that the <a href="http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/welcome.htm">CRTC</a> has no teeth, the <a href="http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2007/r070703.htm">news today</a> is that they are <b><i>finally</i></b> launching a nation-wide DNC list. Great news, huh? Well, wait a sec... <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/07/03/no-call-list.html?ref=rss">according to The CBC</a>, the same exclusions will apply as the US' version: quasi-charities, or the telespammers-for-hire who call on their behalf; political parties; public opinion surveys; newspapers of general circulation; businesses you have done business with in the last 18 months (thereby establishing an <a href="http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/FTC-TSREBR.htm">EBR</a>). The <a href="http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/welcome.htm">CRTC</a> also excludes B2B calls as well.<br /><br />What this essentially means (at least for me) is that the same telescumbags that I've been blocking on my VoIP line will be able to keep trying to call me. The only telemorons that this will affect, will be your common-or-garden telescum who telespam for themselves (it seems that duct cleaning and windows installation companies seem to be predisposed to this type of abusive advertising).<br /><br />Some relevant links:<br /><a href="http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/INFO_SHT/t1026.htm">Fact Sheet</a> - National Do Not Call List<br /><a href="http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/INFO_SHT/t1027.htm">Fact Sheet</a> - Information for telejunkersMiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-21410977366968395222007-07-01T20:38:00.000-04:002007-08-25T13:17:31.167-04:00Sony: Keeping Up That Boycott Back on 2006-01-02, I outlined <a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/2006/01/sony-boycotting-your-products.html">my disgust</a> at <a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/search/label/Sony">Sony</a>'s rootkit fiasco. Today, I happened to be Googling around for the term <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing">astroturfing</a></i> and chanced upon another (albeit old) story involving <a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/search/label/Sony">Sony</a>'s marketing around the PSP during Christmas 2006. Turns out that <a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/search/label/Sony">Sony</a> hired an outfit called <a href="http://www.zipatoni.com">Zipatoni</a> to create a fake blog (mirrored <a href="http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/sonylieblog/default.aspx.htm">here</a>) shilling the PSP amongst your stereotypical, leet-speaking gamers. Ironically, <a href="http://www.zipatoni.com">Zipatoni</a> sounds like a character out of a <a href="http://www.nintendo.com/channel/ds">Nintendo DS</a> game... he could be Mario's long-lost brother!<br /><br />Along with their patronising behaviour towards gamers, it seems that <a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/search/label/Sony">Sony</a>'s greed makes them believe that they are above the law when it comes to graffitti. This is the same sort of stupid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing">viral marketing</a> that big corporations with no scruples indulge in these days. This is why I tell everyone I know that I boycott <a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/search/label/Sony">Sony</a> and now I have 2 more reasons to add to that list.<br /><br />Hope the PSP and PS3 sales sink without a trace.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-18911624961658684102007-06-15T18:15:00.001-04:002007-08-25T13:17:31.168-04:00Chinese Products: Boycott Them All Disclaimer: I have Chinese acquaintances - this is not aimed at Chinese people per se, only the incompetent, dictatorship Chinese Government.<br /><br />In these <a href="http://www.theatre-musical.com/chess/llibretto.html">dangerous and difficult times</a> with rogue nations such as Iran and North Korea testing nuclear weapons, it's easy to lose focus on other threats.<br /><br />In the space of just over one month, I have heard and read about at least 3 stories involving tainted products from China... <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6638113.stm">pet food protein tainted with melamine</a>, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6742293.stm">fake blood protein</a> and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6684563.stm">fake Colgate toothpaste contaminated with diethylene glycol</a> (a toxic chemical used in engine coolants).<br /><br />One has to wonder if this truly is the result of an incompetent, rogue nation dictatorship with no controls over its industries, or if the Mandarins are deliberately using this as a weapon to poison the West. In any case, one has to wonder why it isn't already time to stop doing business with these types of Governments. How Beijing managed to win the hosting bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, given their history on human rights violations, still amazes me.<br /><br />Boycotting does work. When complaints about massive amounts of spam went ignored by the Chinese Internet Administrators (appointed by the incompetent, nepotistic, retrograde Chinese Government) half of the world decided enough was enough and started blocking emails originating from their IP net-space. When the Mandarins found out about this, they suddenly became <a href="http://www.spamhaus.org/news.lasso?article=153">very co-operative</a> with <a href="http://www.spamhaus.org/newsindex.lasso">Spamhaus</a>.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-40037087489683827072007-05-14T18:15:00.000-04:002007-08-25T15:51:51.047-04:00Paris Hilton: About Time Not that I particularly care about celebrities and what they are up to, but I have to admit a certain degree of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude">schadenfreude</a> when I heard that the horse-faced one received 45 days in the slammer.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42888000/jpg/_42888571_paris_ap203b.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 203px;" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42888000/jpg/_42888571_paris_ap203b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Thinking of "Hilton" and "jail" within the same sentence, reminded me of the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096540/">Bankok Hilton</a>. I'm sure as a segregated, high-profile prisoner, her stay will be a walk in the park.<br /><br />Some <a href="http://www.anagramgenius.com/archive/paris-hilton.html">anagrams</a> of Paris Hilton:<br />Hi, A-List Porn<br />Ha, 'Til Prison<br />L.A. 'Ho In Strip<br /><br />I'd sentence her to another 45 days for wearing those dumb-looking "Roswell" glasses.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-86612754169213854072007-04-19T19:15:00.000-04:002007-04-22T03:44:10.339-04:00Tide: Lose The R&B Already Not sure what kind of demographic Tide is trying to reach in its latest TV ads for Simple Pleasures, but the R&B $hit they use is loud and annoying. Seriously, I have to reach for the remote control every time it comes on... usually when I'm watching Discovery.<br /><br />Time to change my brand of laundry detergent, methinks.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-64319993086450889242007-04-18T20:10:00.000-04:002007-04-21T22:08:42.356-04:00Full Stop Abuse: Stop It... Now. An annoying trend emerging in advertising is the abuse of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_stop">full stops</a> ("period" if you're a 'Merkin). Recent examples of this silliness include, "Doing it right. Before your eyes." and "The Sportscast. Redefined."<br /><br />Pedantic grammarians will state that it's grammatically incorrect to start a <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/g31.html">sentence with a conjunction</a>. Whilst true, this structure is often used informally to give the air of an afterthought. This is fine if the following sentence is complete and not just a <a href="http://www.orbilat.com/General_References/Linguistic_Terms.html#sentence_fragment">fragment</a>.<br /><br />Oftentimes, poster adverts are composed by semi-literate buffoons. An example of this was the local bus transit company's poster that stated, "Your home free New Year's Eve" - doesn't anyone proofread these days?MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-83521454342488758992007-04-17T19:00:00.000-04:002007-04-21T19:42:15.672-04:00Andrew Younghusband: Canada's Worst TV Host Season 2 of <a href="http://www.discoverychannel.ca/content/?pid=331">Canada's Worst Handyman</a> started on Discovery last night. Brought to you by the <a href="http://www.propertelevision.com/">same folks</a> and hosted by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Younghusband">same smart-ass twerp</a> who presents <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0453328/">Canada's Worst Driver</a>.<br /><br />This time, the contestants are set to build an eco-shed, while Younghusband provides his sniping voice-overs and critique in front of the camera. True, these clueless DIY'ers should probably not be allowed within 50 meters of a power-tool, but let's see how Younghusband would fare in his handyman skills against the others. I'm willing to bet that he would not do much better.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-9506889132153352682007-04-16T21:25:00.000-04:002007-10-07T14:15:25.465-04:00Tim Hortons: RUTRTW Redux A month on from <a href="http://mixbsd.blogspot.com/2007/03/tim-hortons-rutrtw-is-crock.html">last month's post</a>, it appears that the Roll Up The Rim To Win "contest" is wrapping up: no more <s>winning</s> losing cups are being dispensed by the franchises I frequent, although you still have until May 27th to redeem your prizes, if any.<br /><br />So, here's the over-all results:<br /><br />Number of days worked from February 26th to April 14th: 30 (took a week off of work)<br />Approximate (conservative estimate) number of coffees: 68 (avg 2.25 coffees)<br />Number of coffees won: 3<br />Number of doughnuts/muffins won: 0<br />Number of iPods, plasma TV's, cars, cash won: 0<br /><br />Not exactly a 1-in-9 win. Of course, <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20249252&postID=5690795269852055668">YMMV</a> and it appears people have had better luck. Seems to me that Tim Hortons needs to work on a better way of distributing the cups.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20249252.post-53313523469506703722007-04-08T13:08:00.000-04:002007-04-08T21:48:03.201-04:00CAPTCHAs: Stop The Political Correctness Spammers play the numbers game. They send millions of emails a day, hoping to hit at least a few <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_%28victim%29">marks</a>. Any idiot that responds by doing business is pure profit for a spammer. The phrase "<a href="http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/There's+one+born+every+minute">There's one born every minute</a>" certainly fits there.<br /><br />Since no-one wants to let go of their beloved SMTP and come up with a brand new, trust-based email protocol, the only logical step is to make <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha">CAPTCHA</a>s an interstitial part of the SMTP handshake for unknown senders. I don't claim this to be my own idea - there's plenty of hits Googling for "CAPTCHA" and "spam". Most of the search results are for discussions on why CAPTCHAs are evil and why they should not be used for website sign-up verifications, because they apparently <a href="http://www.trenholm.co.uk/?p=113">discriminate against blind users</a>.<br /><br />Of all the discussions and arguments put forward, there isn't one single <a href="http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/FUSSP">FUSSP</a> - only a blended defence (of technological and sociological measures) will make a significant dent in the spam problem. Anyone who tries to think differently from the net-intelligentsia, is labeled an <a href="http://www.rhyolite.com/anti-spam/you-might-be.html">Anti-spam Kook</a>.<br /><br />So here are the arguments and counter-arguments:<br /><br />(1) Visual CAPTCHAs discriminate against the blind: yes, they do. But then, logic-test CAPTCHAs discriminate against persons with learning disabilities; natural language-based CAPTCHAs discriminate against persons who don't speak the language used in the CAPTCHA; audio-CAPTCHAs discriminate against the deaf. So, whichever CAPTCHA is used, it will inevitably impact a person with one disability or another. Just as there is no universal solution to the spam problem, there isn't one CAPTCHA that will tell a human from a computer without affecting a minority of people. Trouble is, there are so many vocal tax-payer-subsidised, minority pressure-groups out there, who'd rather tell us to eat our spam than allow one disabled person to be unintentionally excluded. Solution: make alternative contact methods available or have a person assist the user in decoding the CAPTCHA.<br /><br />(2) Spammers will just hire people to decode CAPTCHAs: perhaps. But remember, spammers play the numbers game. Use this against them. When it becomes prohibitively expensive for even the biggest of spammers to hire manual decoders, the spam will stop. To send 1 million emails and hire X number of <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/flunky">flunkies</a> to decode even half of the CAPTCHA challenge-responses in order to reach a handful of marks would just not make it worth the cost or effort.<br /><br />(3) Spammers will redirect CAPTCHA images/logic-puzzles to their own sites and have people decode the CAPTCHA in exchange for access to pr0n: perhaps. But again, it's all about the numbers. How many visitors (dynamic) could decode a CAPTCHA before it expires? Hot-linking of images is easy to disable anyway.<br /><br />(4) SMTP challenge-response systems are evil and just add to the spam volume: sometimes. I believe a dynamically-generated 5xx SMTP error message with a CAPTCHA URL is an acceptable method of challenge-response. To accept a message and then reply to it with a CAPTCHA URL is not acceptable. Also, until the original unknown sender is CAPTCHA authenticated, no more 5xx messages should be sent.<br /><br />It's unfortunate that it's come down to this. But let's not forget that people have been obfuscating (munging) information for a long time - even before spammers started harvesting email addresses from usenet, people used images of email addresses on their websites. Did anyone complain when a blind person couldn't privately email a usenet poster because they had munged their email address? I'm sure I would have noticed the noise from the pressure groups if that happened.<br /><br />Talking of usenet, here's an <a href="http://internet.california.com/spam/thankthespammers.html">extremely inciteful post</a><a href="http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=7jes6vca30nrdanhs21s29n1ikti4qef6b%404ax.com">*</a> made in 2003 by a <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/news.admin.net-abuse.email/topics">NANAE</a> regular. I am not going to repost the contents here, as it's archived on numerous sites - just Google for "thank the spammers". Even in 2003, CAPTCHAs were being used to prevent access to WHOIS data miners.<br /><br />In our zeal to bend-over-backwards to help people who are less abled than ourselves to get onto the 'net, the spammers have been exploiting that good will to pump out their spam. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be told to eat my spam in deference to the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_correctness">politically correct</a>" pressure groups.<br /><br />And anyway, spammers themselves discriminate against the blind since there's a trend to circumvent text-based spam filters by <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003655642_inbox07.html">using image text</a> in their spams. Would the pressure groups complain about that? Didn't think so.MiXBSDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06507053768268250191noreply@blogger.com0