TECHNOLOGY: Who “owns” your hardware?

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2011/03/06/google-nukes-rogue-android-apps-on-users-devices

Andy Greenberg
THE FIREWALL

Google Nukes Rogue Android Apps On Users’ Devices
Mar. 6 2011 – 9:26 pm
Your Android phone has a built-in kill switch for nasty apps. And Google, apparently, is not afraid to use it.

*** begin quote ***

Over the weekend, the search giant announced that it had remotely wiped “a number” of malicious Android apps from users’ phones, programs that earlier in the week had been identified as malware and pulled from Android’s app store. “We are remotely removing the malicious applications from affected devices. This remote application removal feature is one of many security controls the Android team can use to help protect users from malicious applications,” Google wrote on its mobile blog, linking to an explanation it posted in June of a built-in functionality for deleting apps from users’ phones.

*** and ***

The last time Google deleted applications that were already downloaded to users’ devices was in June, and its targets were two proof of concept apps built by security researcher Jon Oberheide. As I wrote at the time, that use of its kill switch seemed to be a loud warning to malware writers about the company’s ability to remotely destroy their tools. After all, Oberheide’s apps were designed to show the possibility of creating an Android-hosted botnet, not to actually create one.

*** end quote ***

Isn’t anyone concerned that “HeadQuarters” can assume control of YOUR hardware and override something you’ve done?

“Sorry, we know better.”

We’ve seen Amazon nuke content that a reader had paid for. We’ve seen Microsoft “Live Update” computers into bricks with “fixes” that break rather than fix. And, content purveyors have always harassed legitimate uses and legal Users with “digital rights management” schemes that “fit” like a suit from Omar the Tent Maker (i.e., good for the provider, disasterous for the User).

I think this is a demonstration to Android Users that you’ve taken a “snake to your bosom”. And, what happens when the bad guys crack the HQ code and they can put stuff on or take it off your hardware.

Haven’t we been down this road before?

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: FACEBOOK can’t be the internet’s identity server

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

http://stevecheney.posterous.com/how-facebook-is-killing-your-authenticity

How Facebook is Killing Your Authenticity
Mar 6, 2011 at 6:14pm

*** begin quote ***

Face it, authenticity goes way down when people know their 700 friends, grandma, and 5 ex-girlfriends are tuning in each time they post something on the web.

*** end quote ***

An interesting and astute observation.

On a personal note, I have some relatives, close friends, some not-so-close friends, acquaintances, e-friends I’ve never met, fellow alums fro different schools, past colleagues from various past employers, consulting contacts, fellow “outplacement” turkeys, headhunters, fellow authors, a few companion tin foil hats, and a few complete strangers.

On Facebook, like Twitter, like LinkedIn, they become one glob of undifferentiated mass of folks.

It makes the news streams into a torrent of items that can’t be reviewed, used, or actioned in any rationale way.

Since Facebook doesn’t allow alternate identities, either by its initial design — back when they required a college email address to get on, its current TOS (according to how I read it, but I’m not a lawyer, or do I play one on TV), or its new assumed role as the inet’s “identification server”.

In considering “identity”, information security gurus always identified the concept of an “identity” with the concepts of “roles” and “user control sharing”.

Interesting?

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: BOXBE NOTRECOMMENDED

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

*** begin quote ***

Hi – thanks for sending me a message. I am using Boxbe to manage my email inbox. Once you’re on my Guest List, your email to me will be delivered with priority.

*** end quote ***

BOXBE doesn’t present the challenge for me to “solve”.

So there is no way for my message to get thru.

Anyone ever test these things?

And, when you use spam filters, what are you missing?

Argh!

BOXBE, and all spam filters as a general rule, NOTRECOMMENDED!

I “wash” email though gmail for a spam filter.

Argh!

Sorry, but the ISPs could stop this in a heartbeat if they wanted to spend the effort of implementing email authentication.

# # # # # posted 2011-03-08 07:53

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Posted by reinkefj

MACBOOKAIR: HIgh CPU effectively locks up box

Sunday, March 6, 2011

ADDRESSBOOKSYNC appears to be the culprit.

Argh!

# # # # # posted 2011-03-06 08:05

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: There’s nothing more frustrating than bouncing email

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Don’t you just hate when you “lose” someone? I do. The symptom is that you’ve taken your “eye” off them for a minute and — poof — like Jack in Titanic they’ve slipped beneath the waves. Lost forever. That’s what happens. Guess it’s a fact of life. Emails, especially corporate emails, cease when the person moves on. Would it be such a big deal to forward it? People should really use their personal email or, even better, have their own domain.

# – # – #

May I suggest that you have your own domain? The common wisdom, or is that common whizdumb, is to own your own name as a domain name. I own “reinke.cc”. (I like saying “sea sea me at reinke.cc”! me@reinke.cc will actually work!) I gives one quite a bit of control. And, it’s very cheap. I know three solutions at 15$/year using wordpressdotcom with gmail, 25$/year email only with 1and1, and 60$/year for domain+email+webspace also at 1and1. My point is not that you should use 1and1. I could care less which one you use. It’s that getting on to your own domain with email is cheap and easy. And, it’s not hotmail, yahoo, or gmail. It IS your own “personal brand”.

May I suggest that you need a website? As a student, you have tons of time and are producing content. Papers, pictures, whatever. You need to get them on the web to estabish “your brand”. The web is always straved for content. By adopting a consistent strategy of displaying high quality content under your own “brand name”, you will take over the first page of Google. (For example, Google “Ferdinand J. Reinke” or “ReinkeFJ” and you’ll see I have EVERY one of the first page entries.) You don’t want a dry static page, but a page that shows off all that stuff you claim to have (i.e., organizational and communications). :-) LOL

# – # – #

People shouldn’t be “lose-able”.

They should “stay” where I left them. Like keys.

Argh!

# # # # # posted 2011-03-05 07:07

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Posted by reinkefj

MACBOOKAIR: Could Apple have a wifi software problem?

Friday, March 4, 2011

I don’t know. I don’t have the hardware, software, or expertise to debug the situation. But, when my MIFI and my WIFI, both have sucky performance. And, programs, that access the network, seem slow. And, I ‘always’ see “searching for networks”. Could it be that they have a significant problem with wifi at the operating system level?

Sigh!

How to figure that our?

# # # # # posted 2011-03-04 11:58

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Posted by reinkefj

SOFTWARE: CARBONITE is NOTRECOMMENDED

Friday, March 4, 2011

I did the fix and the problem still exists.

Their response is to “call” us. Argh!

This is supposed to be “production quality” software on a bullet-proof OS.

It’s an illusion.

I’ve moved CARBONITE to my list — NOTRECOMMENDED!

# # # # # posted 2011-03-04 05:54

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Posted by reinkefj

SOFTWARE: CARBONITE has a complicated fix?

Thursday, March 3, 2011

To whom it may concern:

This is a stunning set of instructions. And, you expect non-techies to perform these steps. I’d say you have a design problem to have to do this.

Fjohn

# # # # #

Carbonite Mac Support wrote:

Response (Ricky C.) 03/02/2011 02:26 PM

Hello Ferdinand and thank you for contacting Carbonite Customer Support.

We reviewed our records under your email address ‘XXXXXX’ and it indicates that you have backed up 33GB of data approximately on Carbonite server from your Mac named ‘ferdinand-reinkes-macbook-air’ and 5 files are left pending for backup.

We request you to uninstall Carbonite from your Mac manually and then reinstall it in order to fix the issue of high CPU usage of your Mac.

Please follow the steps below to manually remove Carbonite’s program files:

1. Restart your Computer.

2. Control click on Finder on the dock and select ‘Go to Folder’.

3. Type /Library/Application Support/ into the window that appears.

4. Move the ‘Carbonite’ folder to the Trash.

5. Control-click on the Application Support folder in the header bar and click the Library folder.

6. Go to the Contextual Menu Items folder and move ‘CarboniteCMM.bundle’ to the trash.

7. Go back to the /Library folder and go into the LaunchAgents folder.

8. Delete ‘com.carbonite.launchd.carbonitealerts.plist’ and ‘com.carbonite.launchd.carbonitestatus.plist’.

9. Go back to the /Library folder, and to into LaunchDaemons.

10. Move ‘com.carbonite.launchd.carbonitedaemon.plist’ to the trash.

11. Go back to the /Library folder, and to into PreferencePanes.

12. Move ‘Carbonite.prefPane’ to the Trash.

13. Restart your computer again.

14. Empty your trash.

You can reinstall Carbonite by logging into your Carbonite account and clicking the ‘Reinstall’ button. Reinstalling Carbonite will not affect your previously backed up data. It will resume your backup from where it last left off. For more details, please click the link below.

Reinstalling Carbonite on a Mac: http://carbonite.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1406

Please let us know if you need additional assistance.

Sincerely,

Ricky C.

Carbonite Customer Support

http://www.carbonite.com

Back it up. Get it back.

Important Message: If you have recently restored your Carbonite backup to a Windows 7 or Windows Vista computer, please take a moment to verify your backup settings. Visit http://carbonite.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2654 for instructions.

For the latest news, tips, and discussions about Carbonite, visit our blog at http://www.carbonite.com/en/blog.

Customer 03/01/2011 02:56 PM

to=macsupport

to-domain=carbonite.com

subject=User incident report

from=XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

version=1.1.4 build 389

os=Mac OS X 10.6.6

category=Troubleshooting

comment=Carbonite is absorbing 75% of the CPU. Is this the reason my macbookair slows down to a crawl periodically.

serial=212XXXXXXXX

==================== application File Attachment ====================

CarboniteLog.zip, 1436252 bytes, added to incident

# # # # #

>

> Question Reference #110301-001874

> Date Created: 03/01/2011 02:56 PM

>

> [—001:002431:43220—]

# # # # #

1 Comment | SOFTWARE | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: CARBONITE client absorbs 75% of the cpu

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

201103011455.jpg

Argh!

# # # # # posted 2011-03-01 14:56

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: CAREMARK is robotic and uncaring.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

FOUND THIS IN THEIR EMAIL BOX THIS MORNING

in response to my simple message: “My wife, Evlynn, is dying in Saint Peters Hospital. It’s now inevitable. Please stop ALL RXs.

# – # – #

From
Caremark Customer Service
To
EVLYNN REINKE
Date Sent
02/25/2011
Subject
RE: Other – Other (Call Us, Better You, Corp) – ZBA21
Message

Your Unique Tracking ID is: 493432

Dear Plan Member:

Thank you for contacting CVS Caremark. We strive to provide quality customer care to every one of our plan participants.

All pending orders have been canceled per your request. Thank you for allowing CVS Caremark the opportunity to be of assistance.

Should you need additional assistance, please respond to this e-mail or you may contact Customer Service at 1-800-701-5833. We appreciate the opportunity to serve all of your prescription benefit needs and to help you better manage your health.

Regards,

Brandon M.

CVS Caremark
Web Support

This e-mail communication and any attachments may contain confidential and/or privileged information for the use of the designated recipients named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this communication in error and any review, disclosure, dissemination, distribution, or copying of it or its content is prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone and destroy all copies of this communication and any attachments.

Coming Soon!

The New Caremark.com

Always working hard to make things easier for CVS Caremark members, we will be launching a new and improved site soon! The new Caremark.com has simplified and enhanced the features of the current site to make getting your prescriptions, finding savings, and learning about your medications even easier. Get a preview of the new Caremark.com at http://www.caremarkrelaunch.com/”>< a=””> face=”Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif” size=2>www.caremarkrelaunch.com<>.

— Original Message —
From: EVLYNN REINKE_76299229 <SecureOutboundEmail@caremark.com>
Received: 2/25/11 12:24:55 PM CST
To: Caremark Customer Service <customercare@advancerx.com>
Subject: PSDCSV: [CVS-76299229:76299229:902966664:APCS]

INFORMATION SUBMITTED FROM WEB FORM
———————————–
Email Address = evlynn@reinke.cc
Question Subject = Other – Other (Call Us, Better You, Corp) – ZBA21
Question Type = Customer Service
Portal logged-in =
Group Code = ZBA21
Name = EVLYNN REINKE
Member Id = 902966664
Contact Me = Yes
Phone = 908-209-3625
Benefit Question =
Address Line 1 =
Address Line 2 =
City =
State =
Zip Code =
Plus 4 =
How did you hear about us =
You are =
Question:
My wife, Evlynn, is dying in Saint Peters Hospital. It’s now inevitable. Please stop ALL RXs. Thanks, fjohn reinke
———————————–


# – # – #

Argh! Doesn’t anyone really think about what they are doing? Do they really think we are fooled by this “caring” email? And, what about all the “barbara streisand” in and around it?

Finally, can they make the font any smaller?

Argh!

# # # # #

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Posted by reinkefj

HARDWARE: Thermostat absurdity

Saturday, February 26, 2011

DSCN0021

OK, here’s a hospital room thermostat. It’s cold in the room. How do I make it warmer? Or, colder.

Those three buttons must DO something, I feel like I’ve been dropped into a future civilization. Or stuff changes, and I didn’t get the memo.

How about a big + and – sign?

Argh!

# # # # # posted 2011-02-26 03:28

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Posted by reinkefj

MACBOOKAIR: AddressBookSync is taking 98% of the CPU?

Thursday, February 24, 2011

AddressBookSync is taking 98% of the CPU?

I have “sync” set to manual. What’s up with that?

# # # # # posted 2011-02-24 07:28

1 Comment | MACBOOKAIR | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MACBOOKAIR: Out of space condition

Thursday, February 24, 2011

POSTBOX2 and CHROME running. Zero free space. Reboot. 7 Gig free. Argh!

# # # # # posted 2011-02-24 07:18

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: Cute little video about calling via GMAIL

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/make-and-receive-calls-in-gmail.html

*** begin quote ***

We’re rolling out this feature to U.S. based Gmail users over the next few days, so you’ll be ready to get started once “Call Phones” shows up in your chat list (you will need to install the voice and video plug-in if you haven’t already). If you’re using Google Apps for your school or business, then you won’t see it quite yet. We’re working on making this available more broadly – so stay tuned!

*** end quote ***

[JR: Lotta times I see them announce stuff and it is not there. Hmmm?]

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: Having one is really having none

Monday, February 21, 2011

http://artofmanliness.com/2010/11/15/the-10-essentials-for-outdoor-adventures/

The 10 Essentials for Outdoor Adventures
by CHRIS on NOVEMBER 15, 2010

*** begin quote ***

Navigation: As mentioned above, the navigation system could include traditional forms of orienteering such as a good topographic map of the area you are in and a compass, or it could include a GPS unit. Just remember, should you choose to rely solely on GPS, you put yourself at risk of poor signal coverage, dead batteries, water damage, and other mishaps that could leave you without a navigational aid.

*** end quote ***

In the tin foil hat TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) crowd, there is a very relevant expression:

“Having one is really having none.”

First heard that in the USAF Survival School. And, having done that two weeks of hell on earth, I can attest that in every field exercise, every man had TWO compasses. True the secondary one, your eye sight better be good to read it. But there was TWO.

Two ways to make a fire. Two knives — one big and one small. Two canteens — one which was required to always be full and secured to your personal belt. Your only excuse for losing that belt was to be sawed in half.

And, you certainly didn’t want to fail that course and have to repeat it if you were lucky. Otherwise, you were scratched and sent back to “personnel”. Euphemistically call “Human Resource Assignments”. There was always a need for garbagemen, grease trap cleaners, or “weeds ‘n’ seeds”. (We were told that one flunk out was sent to do gardening at “Than Sue Nutt, VeitNam, Republic of”! But we thought that was a fairy tale to scare us. Since we all had our next stations assignments, it did. If I’d have flunked, I’d have lost my gig in Maryland. Sweet.)

SO I have a quibble with the navigation advice, one GPS and TWO compasses and one analog watch, are the minimum.

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: Google’s two factor authentication

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Google’s two factor authentication has arrived at one of my accounts.

It’s an excellent idea and turns one’s cell phone into the equivalent of a SecureId token. Maybe better?

Basically, before you turn it on, you have to consider THREE things.

(1) Understand that the initialization process takes a few minutes of your undivided attention. (If you screw it up, then I’m not sure how you fix it.) So “multi taskers” be forewarned.

(2) Understand what you need to do for all things that access your Google Account but don’t support two factor authentication (i.e., you email program). You’ll generate a special password for each of these applications. (It doesn’t say to, but makes it easy to generate on unique on for each such use.)

(3) Understand you have to have a plan if you loose your cell phone (i.e., losing one of your two factors will lock you out). Google allows you to specify another number and to print out a bunch of backup one time use passwords. Don’t fail to do this.

All in all, seems like a good working implementation.

I’d suggest that you do it on a test id. (Like I didn’t. I was excited to see it finally. That’s could be a bad blunder.)

I assume that you can revert if you want to. But I don’t know that for a fact.

Do as I say; not as I do?

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: DROPBOX client didn’t restart after reboot

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Interesting!?!

Could have been disastrous. So there is nothing in the MACOSX operating system that ensures everything that should be in your environment is. And, by extension, nothing that shouldn’t be there isn’t either.

Argh!

What else can’t we see?

# # # # # posted 2011-02-19 06:43

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Posted by reinkefj

SOFTWARE: LibreOffice 3.3 recommended “Office” suite

Saturday, February 19, 2011

http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7959?hq_e=el&hq_m=1174302&hq_l=4&hq_v=e357d8d5d7

LibreOffice

*** begin quote ***

Sure, LibreOffice 3.3 is basically a recolored OO.o, at this point. But, adding its own fixes and features sets it in a new direction. LibreOffice should retain its compatibility with OO.o so that extensions, fixes, patches, and code enhancements can be used in either product.

*** end quote ***

RECOMMENDED!

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: APPLE is enforcing its headlock on “their” hardware

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/15/ibooks-1-2-1-detects-some-jailbreaks-disables-ibookstore-purchases-in-response/

*** begin quote ***

Users of devices jailbroken by one of the methods that allows Apple’s test binaries to successfully run who attempt to open content purchased from the iBookstore are met with the following error message:

There is a problem with the configuration of your iPhone. Please restore with iTunes and reinstall iBooks.

Restoring a device from iTunes obviously removes the jailbreak, again rendering the device in compliance with Apple’s standards.

Apple’s tactics are of course drawing some scrutiny from jailbreak fans, many of whom are pointing to recent actions by the U.S. government to explicitly allow jailbreaking. Consequently, Apple’s move to prevent access to legitimately purchased iBookstore content just because the user attempts to view it on a jailbroken device is seen as interference with legal usage.

*** end quote ***

Now, I remember why I didn’t like LOTUS. And, why I shouldn’t like APPLE.

DRM!

APPLE sells me some hardware and dares me to use it.

Henceforth and forever more, all APPLE hardware is, be definition, “NOT RECOMMENDED”. Windoze may be “bad”, but at least you can be “OPEN”!

On to Linux!!!

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Posted by reinkefj

MACBOOKAIR: Fails to restart from sleep

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Don’t think I lost anything. No obvious error message. Send report to Apple.

Argh!

# # # # #

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Posted by reinkefj

DATA: Open Gooferment data in New Hampshire

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/02/08/0112246/New-Hampshire-Begins-Open-Data-Efforts

*** begin quote ***

Now, with over a dozen Free Staters elected to the NH legislature, these geeks are starting to affect government data-sharing policy.

*** end quote ***

http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/new-hampshire-opens-its-states-legislative-data

*** begin quote ***

Chalk up a new one for the open-government-data geeks.

In the past few days, New Hampshire’s General Court, as the state legislature is officially known, started releasing data on legislation and legislators in nerd-friendly, “pipe-separated” files, uploaded daily. In non-geek speak, this means the data is presented in a way that any competent web developer can easily process for use in an application or a researcher can feed into a database system to explore.

*** end quote ***

Seems like the “crazy Free state Project members” are making a change that was completely unexpected.

They are cracking the Gooferment data open like a dropped Chinese porcelain urn.

Imagine that people are actually interested in what the Gooferment is up to.

“Very interested”!

Now we just need to make the Gooferment switch to free Open Source Software and save some money.

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: Serendipity! I get to watch a red light camera from wife’s ICU room

Monday, February 14, 2011

I find the Universe has a sense of humor.

In observing the Red Light Camera by Saint Peter’s University Hospital, I think it’s “unacceptable”.

I don’t have a stop watch to determine the timing.

Some folks obviously enter the intersection on red and it ain’t even close. Other’s not so clear.

If a car is in the intersection to make a left turn, and the light goes red, sometimes it “fires”.

If a car yields to a light’s ‘n’ sirens ambulance while in the intersection, it fires?

If a pedestrian interrupts some poor slob making a legal right or left, and he’s caught in the intersection, it fires.

To do a good study, we need to mark the pavement with what I’d call the 25mph line. If a poor slob is doing 25mphs, how much distance does the yellow give him to stop. I can’t tell with out some tools: radar gun; pavement markings; and a stop watch.

If the Old Lady is stuck in the ICU long, maybe I’ll have time to do a real study.

Make a movie?

Yeah, I have too much time on my hands.

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: Red light camera as like an ATM to the Gooferment

Monday, February 14, 2011

http://reason.com/blog/2011/02/07/more-fights-over-red-light-cam

More Fights Over Red Light Cameras
Radley Balko | February 7, 2011

*** begin quote ***

Actually, the argument is that there’s good evidence showing that lengthening yellow times is a far better way to prevent intersection accidents than red light cameras. It’s more effective, and doesn’t come with the creepy surveillance state vibe. Somehow, that doesn’t seem as appealing a policy to city governments. Another reason we critics have impugned the motives of public officials is that several cities have been caught shortening yellow times at intersections after they’ve been outfitted with cameras. That would seem to be a pretty good indication of a government that values revenue more than safety.

*** end quote ***

Yes, cash-strapped jurisdiction would have a very good motivation to install the camera and then shorten the yellow.

See the Gooferment can’t be both a participant in the game and the game’s referee.

Any illusion that there is a difference between the supposed three branches of Gooferment is just a corrupt illusion.

# # # # #

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Posted by reinkefj

NETWORK: “In the same way”? Not Quite

Sunday, February 13, 2011

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/ipv6-marks-next-chapter-in-history-of.html

IPv6 marks the next chapter in the history of the Internet
2/03/2011 01:39:00 PM

*** begin quote ***

In the same way your phone is associated with a unique number, your computer is assigned a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address when you connect to the Internet. The current protocol, IPv4, allows for approximately 4 billion unique addresses—and that number is about to run out.

*** end quote ***

Unfortunately, not really.

I’ve had the same home phone number for more than three decades. Thru three PSPs (Phone Service Providers).

ISPs play all sorts of games with “my” IP address. Not to mention that I have wifi router that automagically “counterfeits” the mac addresses to allow me to “fool” the ISPs network.

Argh!

It’s more imprecise language that encourages fuzzy thinking.

We really have two different kinds of internet. An internet of things controlled by the manufacturers with mac addresses and the internet of people controlled by the ISPs.

We can say that the IPV4 problem is an ISP problem; not a User problem.

Certainly, not MY problem. I get nothing out of it.

I’m more interested in mesh networks and P2PDNS.

# # # # #

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: GOOGLE starts to make two factor authentication available

Friday, February 11, 2011

Advanced sign-in security for your Google account
Posted: 10 Feb 2011 08:30 AM PST

*** begin quote ***

Most of us are used to entrusting our information to a password, but we know that some of you are looking for something stronger. As we announced to our Google Apps customers a few months ago, we’ve developed an advanced opt-in security feature called 2-step verification that makes your Google Account significantly more secure by helping to verify that you’re the real owner of your account. Now it’s time to offer the same advanced protection to all of our users.

2-step verification requires two independent factors for authentication, much like you might see on your banking website: your password, plus a code obtained using your phone. Over the next few days, you’ll see a new link on your Account Settings page that looks like this: …

*** end quote ***

Now maybe this will embarrass the financial institutions into real security. As opposed to “password theater”.

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: Extended Opt Out Time is unacceptable

Friday, February 11, 2011

*** begin quote ***

Opt out

You have successfully opted out of Clearance Jobs Communications. It may take up to 10 days to fully process your opt-out request.

*** end quote ***

TEN DAYS!

Ya gotta be kidding?

CONSTANTCONTACT does it INSTANTLY!

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Posted by reinkefj

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