Reinke Faces Life

As reader’s here know, I use LOTS of email addresses. It’s especially comical when I get a “security notice” on one of these accounts. This one in particular is used for my fellow alums to report their upcoming alumni events. Naturally, I have an Outlook rule that takes mail from this mail account and, if it comes from an alumni’s email address, it is moved to an appropriate inbox. Everything left in that account’s inbox is suspect. Financial accounts have their own unique email accounts. SO, be definition, this trash is in the wrong place. I am immediately ‘on guard’! Add to the fact that I don’t have a Citibank account, and I am ready for a laugh. Now this idiot actually has a like to a German site. It’s a good think that they are stupid or someone might actually get fooled.

From: service@citi-bank.com [mailto:service@citi-bank.com]
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2006 7:08 AM
To: events@jasperjottings.com
Subject: CITIBANK Account Suspended

CITIBANK Update – Account Suspended !

We recently have discovered that multiple computers have attempted to log into your Citibank Online Account, and multiple password failures were presented before the logons. We now require you to re-validate your account information to us.
If this is not completed by August 13, 2006, we will be forced to suspend your account indefinitely, as it may have been used for fraudulent purposes.

To continue please Click Here <http://www.vedbaekgarden.dk/galleri/albums/citi/&gt; or on the link below to re-validate your account information :

http://www.citibank.com/update.html/ <http://www.vedbaekgarden.dk/galleri/albums/citi/&gt;

Sincerely,

The CITIBANK Team

Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. For assistance, log in to your CITIBANK account and choose the “Help” link in the header of any page.

© 2006 CITIBANK Security Manager

SPAM folder for this one, but it was good for a laugh and a blog.

Yesterday, my Outlook, or as I lovingly call it until I get off it, LookOut, started to request a password every time it went to one of my gmail accounts. Arghh. I thought that this was the beginning of one of the infamous LookOut problems. So I started fresh this morning to “solve” it.

1. Looked up the correct password. (Paper back up is wonderful.)
2. Plugged it in.
3. Same problem.
4. Logged onto the Gmail account from Firefox. OK!
5. Confirms the password is correct and usable.
6. Maybe GMailhas “forgotten” I want to use a pop client?
7. Bingo!
8. Setting for POP is “forgotten”. Reset.
9. Retest. A-OK!

Don’t ask me why GMail got stupid? I’m just happy it wasn’t LookOut!

That’s ten minutes of my life I won’t get back!

HOMEDESK has a bad case of winrot that won’t allow it to network with anything. Argh. So, it needs a reinstall. Always a traumatic event. I’ve ordered a WD500 external disk drive for taking a complete backup. I’m going to get GHOST for repartitioning. My tentative plan is:

1. delete all downloaded software installer distribtuions:
2. copy everything from HOMEDESK to the WD500;
3. make an image of HOMEDESK on the WD500;
4. GHOST HOMEDESK to cd;
5. pray;
6. repartition HOMEDESK’s 90 into 10-25-45-10+;
7. reinstall XP into the D drive;
8. see what I have lost?;
9. live happiply ever after?

Sounds like a plan. Comments

You know how I love free utilities. Here’s a screen print utility. I use it to take jpegs of screens for documentation or helping people understand what they will see. You may wish to put it in your arsenal.===

http://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/

What is Gadwin PrintScreen?

Want to create a screenshot suitable for saving or printing? Then just hit a key on your keyboard. Oh yeah, you’ll have to download this program first.

There are several hotkey combos to choose from (PrintScreen is the default). Once you’ve chosen your favorite combo, head to the Destination tab and have the screen print out instantly, copy the capture to the clipboard, save it to a specific folder, or even send it through e-mail. You can perform full screen captures, or only capture a specific window.

Gadwin PrintScreen is an easy to use freeware utility that allows you to capture any portion of the screen, save it to a file, copy it to Windows clipboard, print it or e-mail it to a recipient of your choice.

There are also six different image formats to choose from, and each one can be resized. With all the customization capabilities, what more could you ask for?

Who needs Gadwin PrintScreen?

Screen captures can be used for many reasons. Use captured images from Gadwin PrintScreen to show off your product on the web. Enhance technical or sales documents and embed captures into presentations. Gadwin PrintScreen can help you capture and print or save computer screen data.

Why Gadwin PrintScreen?

On most Windows computers a full screen of data can be put on the clipboard by pressing the PrintScreen key. This sends whatever you see on screen to the clipboard, which you must then edit in a different graphics program to cut to the right size and image format. Here are some other reasons not to use the prefabricated PrintScreen function of Windows:

Full screen of data can be put only on the clipboard.

It is either difficult or impossible to capture some elements of a Windows screen, such as different shaped cursors.

You spend too much time making image captures.

Use Gadwin PrintScreen to save time and enhance your screen shots! Download freeware Gadwin PrintScreen now and try it out! This is the best way to learn what it can do.

System Requirement.

Gadwin PrintScreen requires Microsoft ® Windows 98/Me/2000/2003/XP, or Windows NT 4.0SP6. If you are running any of these operating systems and have a Windows-compatible mouse or pointing device, your system has already met all the requirements necessary to run Gadwin PrintScreen. A full installation of Gadwin PrintScreen requires 1 megabyte of hard drive space.

######

In getting ready to fix my winrot problem, I’m not going to make the same mistake I made last time. I just laid it down over the old image. No, this is going to be a complete start from scratch. So, I am thinking that EVEN after I get all the data backed up, I’m going to “save my work”. Several sites seem to recommend having a partitioning strategy. They seem to favor: a CEE drive small; DEE drive about 25g for WINDOZE; an EEE drive for data; and an FFF drive for downloads and drivers. So if I carve up HOMEDESK’s 90g, it works out to be C=10g, D=25g, F=45g, and E=10g. Comments?

Well, I suspect that winrot will finally force me to rebuild the box. Arghhh. I just finished taking specific backups. I’m going to try one more trick. Hard wire the box into the home netwrk and see if that will allow it to limp along. Double arghhhh! I suspect that darn mcafee “security” package. That’s one thing that gets dumped in a rebuild.

I got tired of the LUGable frying my leg when I use it. There was also some mild concern about about the three dell fires that have been blogged about. So I bought a wireless keyboard. I highly recommend the MX3000 from Logitech.

It has to be Microsoft! It’s always Microsoft. I’ve been thru this drill before. I did an XP repair ng. It just doesn’t see the WAP. Maybe I’ll try an UBUNTU LIVE CD and see if it SEES the wap. In trying stuff, without touching ANY hardware, I triggered Microsoft’s Activation. I knew I didn’t like it when I heard it. I really suspect some Microsoft Update crap. Can’t prove it but I’m suspicious. Maybe I need to say good bye to Microsoft once and for all. Then, one have to decide if it’s Linux, the Web, or something else.

Dear F,

It seems that the good news about CardScan just won’t stop. And neither will my pleasure in sharing that good news first with our most loyal customers. This time, I am eager to tell you about the latest developments in CardScan technology – the new CardScan Version 8 products.

New scanners, even more effective software, and a totally new product, aptly named “Team”.
I think you’ll be astonished at just how different the new Version 8 scanners are from the ones you know now. They’re sleeker and altogether impressive. But your real delight will come when you experience improvements to our software, like the new navigation bar, the new export template for Apple iPod, better-than-ever drag-and-drop and de-duplication features, and many enhancements requested by our users. And I think you’ll find “Team” a terrific addition to our line – and one that will help your team do its work better, faster and more effectively.

Watch for our special “current customers only” advance notice.
In the next week or so, you’ll be receiving a special email offer from us. In it, you’ll get your first glimpse of the new CardScan Version 8 products – and a special, limited time offer to save when you upgrade to Version 8. I hope you’ll be as excited about the new products as we are and that you’ll take advantage of the offer. And, as always, if you have comments or suggestions about CardScan, feel free to contact me directly at pweyman@cardscan.com.

Sincerely,

Peter Weyman
President
CardScan, Inc.

Please do not reply to this email. The mailbox is not attended. To reach me, please send an email to pweyman@cardscan.com.

CardScan, Inc. 25 First Street Suite 107 Cambridge, MA 02141

This email is sent only to CardScan owners. If you do not wish to receive these emails in the future, please unsubscribe. For Sales or Customer Service, please call 1-800-942-6739 or for Tech Support 1-866-900-6902.

MOZY was in the running to displace the XDRIVE now from AOL. I don’t like to reward bad behavior so I have been entertaining replacements for AOL’s XDRIVE. And, MOZY was certainly in the running.

HOWEVER, today it took itself out of the running.

It did an upgrade on itself and, when I didn’t allow it to restart the platform, (thanks MSFT for a crappy architecture), it seized 98% of the box and wouldn’t let go. Eventually I had to restart costing me a30 minutes of my life, what I was doing at the time, and loss of position (i.e. all the balls I was juggling dropped).

So in recognition of the PPP, I uninstalled it. Arghh!

My old desktop has always been balky with the wireless networking. I stop and start the zero wireless configuration or restart the wap and it usually works. This time it’s not. AND, somehow — by doing nothing — I have triggered the dreaded Microsoft activation! Arghh. I can’t activate cause I can’t get the wireless working. I gave up my dial up inet account besides the phone line in the room ain’t working either. (I’m a mess!)

SO I may be going to linux sooner rather than later!

Offer specific searches on your web site. (This wasn’t what I thought when I read their write up?) But, I did one for Jasper Jottings and it seems to work. Now what’s the difference between this and site:www.jasperjottings.com I don’t know. Aggh, so much to learn and grok!

Imagine my chagrin when I thought that I nailed a bug in LinkedIn, but was wrong!

My vampire process detected a “silent” change. Someone had shifted up a position. Immediately I was on the hunt for the “missing” record. I visually compared my two lists. And found the “lost” one.

Ahh hah! I had proof of them losing a contact’s record. I complained to LinkedIn support, and notified my counterpart.

A return email from the contact, told me he had nuked me to “eliminate my messages to him”.

How embarrassing!

Now, if he had been amenable to some question, the I would have like to ask him:

(a) What do you expect to get out of LinkedIn if you don’t want to have a conversation?

(b) How does nuking it prevent me from emailing you? Not like I am going to forget your email address. IF you had responded “buzz off”, I certainly would have honored your request. If I wasn’t on top of my game, you’d still be getting my email.

(c) I sent you exactly one personally addressed individual message. Politely, offering some ideas and extending an invite to engage in a networking conversation. And that is “too much” email. What are your expectation in networking?

Now, I am still undecided as to the value of LinkedIn. All though I did sign up for an upgraded plan, it has yet to show benefits. But, I’m hard headed enough to keep trying. I know those benefits are in there somewhere.

I did take away some lessons.

Lesson #1: Investigate the entire list to confirm that there is more than one defect. If I had done that, I’d have been more suspicious if I found every thing else was right. I jumped to a conclusion.

Lesson #2: Try to extract what people’s expectations are up front. Perhaps this fellow thinks that LinkedIn is like the yellow pages.

Lesson #3: LinkedIn’s removal process is flawed. (a) It’s a manual request. (b) It’s “silent”. They mess with my data and I don’t know about it. (c) They have a bug since it didn’t take it out of the search result set that showed him still in my contacts.

Hmmm, jury’s still out.

Strange!?! If I wasn’t watch it fail I’d not have believed it. The ones if front and in back all fired. Rerunning the batch job worked perfectly. Hmm. Ghost of Bill Gates!

http://home.comcast.net/%7Ev2y2r0n27rhj6y/TURKEY/index.htm

It displays correctly in IE, but not in Firefox or Opera. It used to?

They don’t parse a search string with a blank in it correctly.

Here’s an email that I send a lot of sites:

To whom it may concern:

I think you may wish to reexamine your search code. I publish an ezine for my fellow alums of Manhattan College. Hence, I visit a lot of sites and do searches. My search string is “manhattan college”. When I executed it at XXXXXXXX, it searched as if it was “manahattan or college”. I see this behavior a lot. Just thought I’d call it to your attention.

Fjohn

I get many interesting responses. Some actually say thanks and fix it. The bigger the site the less likely it is to get fixed. Interesting common oversight.

http://community.eons.com/blogs/index/17146

***Begin Quote***

What’s a blog?

A blog is like an online journal that allows somebody to share their thoughts with the public in the form of blog posts. This page shows recent posts on whatever topics are of interest to the author.
***End Quote***

I’m not so sure that this is the best definition. But, it’s a good start. Currently an internet blog is a collection of DIKW of one or more people around a topic or theme.

I would assert that when it is done by one person alone. It becomes a “personal web log”, a plog! It then is an online journal of sequential musings, ramblings, rantings, or opinions about one or more topics. It does have privacy issues. For example, in my blog, I say I am “lazy”. Does that make it so? How would a potential employer, family member, friend, or acquaintance react to something in my plog? Can I assume an identity in a plog that isn’t really me? Remember Ghandi’s thought about “departments of life” and spillover. Interesting?

http://www.eons.com/

I track news of Manhattan College alums. It interested me that perhaps this might be a resource I could use. Unfortunately a search with “manhattan college” fails with a ruby error message. Searching for a well known obit by name returns no result. Maybe the dbs aren’t loaded yet? Hmmm. Maybe the “what I want to do before I die” section will work better.

You may wish to consider Plaxo. It is a free internet service that sync address books between different people who “know” each other. In exchange for the information you share with them, which I am sure they have various ways of making a profit on, you not only get up-to-date info on fellow Plaxo “members”, but you get a usable web-based address book which is a backup of the address book on your computer. It will even sync multiple machines. I have found it a great tool. Some call it “Faustian”, but:

(1) They are upfront about they reuse data. Everyone does it but are not honest enough to admit it.

(2) I seeded my address books with fake people (i.e., my non-computer literate elderly uncle complete with an isp email address). If spam was to show up in the email boxes for my “fake people”, then it could have only come from them. And, I’d rat them out to the inet community. If it sounds like “trust but verify”, it is. I did a few tours in security, so I am very skeptical of stuff on the net. Wanna see my tin foil hat?
FWIW

http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/07/four_big_ideas_about_open_sour.html

***Begin Quote***

The architecture of participation beyond software.

Asymmetric Competition.

How Software As a Service Changes The Points of Business Leverage

Open Data. One day soon, tomorrow’s Richard Stallman will wake up and
***End Quote***

I’m not sure I’d say it that way. Here are the dimensions that I would use.
(1) “Open Source” kills the expensive software license business model. Think Open Office as opposed to Microsoft Office. The BSA can take a hike.
(2) “Open Standards”, the xmil-izing of the planet, kills locking people in by holding their data in a proprietary format. An example is how OPMLs have launched RSS readers with easy transfer of reading lists between readers. Think of your Outlook Contacts  exported into a series of VCF files and import into any contact manager.

(3) “Participation” allows an ordinary store of data (e.g., book titles) to be developed into a store of knowledge (e.g., what do others think and say about a particular title). If there was reputation, then it’s be wisdom (i.e., who is knowledgeable about the topic).   Think Amazon as opposed to Barnes & Noble.

(4) “Service” that satisfies any user’s need at a reasonable price can be turned into a lucrative revenue stream. Think Mozy as opposed to doing your own backups when you remember. The more transparent you can make it then bigger the hit. It doesn’t even have to be cheaper. Think GoToPC as opposed to Microsoft’s Remote Desktop.

(5) “Micro payments”, that is the ability to charge a hundreth of a cent for something, will blow the lid off the marketplaces of content or service. Notice that suing the Customer like the MPAA is doing is so counter productive that it has to be a jugundo blunder.  If I had a virtual credit card that would allow me to pay hundredths or a thousandth of a cent, then I wouldn’t care about paying for certain services or content. Then, when you get a million page hits, you are not depending upon advertisers.

(6) “Crypto” is over due. My email should automagically establish a private conversation with my counterparts. It could allow, for example, bank statements over email with zero risk. It could put spammers out of business. The ISPs have to help support the key exchanges. People can exchange keys personally to jumpstart the process. Lame attempts like Vangard’slogon change wouldn’t be necessary.
IMHO

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/07/verizon_unlimited.html

***Begin Quote***

unlimited

***End Quote***

Interesting that “unlimited” is really limited!

***Begin Quote***

Protecting your information is very important to Vanguard. Over the next few months, we’ll be introducing significant security enhancements to better safeguard your information on Vanguard.com®. These changes will help ensure that only you—or those you’ve designated to act on your behalf—can access your information online.
***End Quote***

They’re basically splitting the  logon and password screens and putting a user selectable picture on the second page. I guess if you don’t see your animal, then you’re not supposed to put in your password. I don’t understand how this prevents a man-in-the-middle attack. It does prevent a dumb phishing but not a sophisticated one. If you present yourself at the phish site, it can quickly open a connect to Vangard, present you credential, take the screen, show it to you, and you’ll give them your password. It’ll probably take a day of a good coder’s time to beat that one. And, it breaks all teh login tools that people, like me, currently use. ARGHH!

Dear F,

Did you ever hear the expression, “The more things change, the more they stay the same?” Well, once again I am delighted to deliver great news about the exciting changes that are happening at CardScan – and to reassure you that CardScan will remain the company you’ve come to know and trust.

CardScan joins DYMO as part of Sanford Brands, the office products division of Newell Rubbermaid.
After 13 years as an independently owned company, CardScan has been acquired by Newell Rubbermaid, a giant in the field of consumer products and owner of some of the best known brands in the world. As the newest member of its Office Products division, Sanford Brands, CardScan becomes a part of DYMO and joins such famous brands as Sharpie, Waterman, Papermate and Expo.

Greater opportunity for us to deliver even greater products and services for you.
While we are proud of what we’ve accomplished as an independent company, we believe that becoming part of Newell Rubbermaid will give us the best of all possible worlds – the continued freedom to develop better products for our customers and the much larger resources to bring those products to market more quickly and support them more thoroughly. As always, innovation will continue to drive us to break new ground in contact management as we continue to provide our usual high standards of technical support and service.

Thank you for your past and continuing support.
I hope you join us in celebrating our exciting news and that you will continue to turn to CardScan for superior contact management products. As a thank you and a welcome to the Sanford Brands family, we invite you to a special offer from DYMO to CardScan customers. And, as always, if you have comments or suggestions about CardScan, feel free to contact me directly at pweyman@cardscan.com.

Sincerely,

Peter Weyman
President
CardScan, Inc.

Please don’t reply to this email. The mailbox is not attended. To reach me, please send an email to pweyman@cardscan.com.

CardScan, Inc. 25 First Street Suite 107 Cambridge, MA 02141

The Journalist Dilemma

July 23, 2006
The Journalist Dilemma
***Begin Quote***

I definitely agree with the absurdity of having thousands of journalists all covering one single-dateline story, whether it’s a convention or a Michael Jackson trial. But I wonder, too, how this obsession with new approaches to media — citizen journalism, community interaction, local coverage vs non-local — is going to look a few years down the track. For sure, there’s a lot to be said for breaking down the barriers between newspaper and community between professional and amateur reporter/photographer/editor. But this movement will also have some heavy long term effects that aren’t really discussed in this blogocratic world.

***End Quote***

I find little that is truly “local”. I find a lot of tech that is all over the field. I find little that changes my thinking. That’s the most valuable. In the DIKW scale, I get a ton of D and very little W. But I guess that is to be expected.

After a recent mandatory Outlook update for “security”, I see two things have happened:

(1) Links are turned off in all email messages. Who agreed to that?

(2) The junk mail filter is capturing good emails. Even people who are in the Address Books. What’s that about?

http://www.ziggs.com

It’s interesting that the site started by taking every public page that cited people and using that to see its social networking site. Now you can go an put your own page there. Interest for turkeys, seekers, and egotists who can brag about themselves. Not sure what the business model is?