In ~5 hours I'll be on a plane heading to San Francisco... I'll be there for nCircle CONNECT. So if anyone is going to be in SF in the next few days... let me know... I doubt I'll have much free time, but I may have time for a drink in the hotel bar. Fire me an email (make sure you remove the ~ and the NOSPAM), or if you have the number, call my cell.
I've already partially talked about this recently but I wanted to bring it up again.
I'm a huge Google fan... I know a lot of people see them as the new Evil Empire, but I really don't see them that way. One of my favourite Google launches was Gmail. I used it for quite a while and only after Google Apps were released did I leave Gmail, but only because I could use my domain name with all the niceties of Gmail. I use Google Apps for Google Talk, GMail, etc... but I recently logged into my old Gmail account and noticed a number of changes. Gmail is getting a lot of revamp (as is Google Talk inside Gmail)... yet these changes aren't being translated to Google Apps (which I find very disappointing).
Changes:
I know I shouldn't be whining about something that's free, but I view a hell of a lot of ads and I view those ads while reading my email in exchange for all the Gmail functionality. What good is all of this functionality if I'm using an outdated UI with outdated abilities? I might as well go back to my own email hosting (which I'd rather not do). So to repeat my comment from my last post, I'd love if someone from Google could explain why users of Google Apps aren't getting all this new functionality.
Now the bridge from Gmail to LinkedIn. The LinkedIn Extension for Firefox is broken with the new Gmail UI. It is also broken for users of Google Apps (even though Google Apps is on the old working Gmail UI). If anyone from LinkedIn is reading this... please fix this.
Now that we've bridged to LinkedIn... What's up with the new UI over at LinkedIn? It's a major step backwards from the previous layout. I log in and feel like I'm on Facebook or MySpace rather than a "Professional Social Networking Site". I would LOVE to see a move back to the old version, and based on the discussions I've had with colleagues and the ongoing mailing list threads that I've seen, I'm guessing other people agree with me.
Lastly, on the LinkedIn issue... I haven't heard anything else regarding a LinkedIn App for the BlackBerry... not since Jim asked for some explanations via comment. So how about it guys? Any word on this yet?
I was bored the other day, so I've setup a silc server. You can use the silc client or Pidgin to access it. My client is idling on there in lobby, so feel free to come by and see if I'm floating around. The server is @ securitysentience.com
Your first thought might be, he just got a new phone in March... and you'd be right.. (See this post). I've been having battery issues with the UTStarcom and even after having the battery replaced under warranty, it just wasn't doing it for me.. On top of that I got an amazing deal.
My setup was as follows:
New Setup:
So... we're up a few minutes and we have a spare phone... for $20 + a system access fee... so we'll call it an extra $30/month... Or so it would seem. The fiance had to go to a Share 30 plan in order to get her phone, which would have added $15/month and she would have had her data which would have added $15/month. That makes $30... The same as the difference in my bill will be next month. The difference... I got a new phone and unlimited data for three years out of the deal.
Now I am concerned that when the bill comes in, I'll discover that it didn't actually include web (The contract calls it unlimited email / IM, however I double checked several times that the browser was included). If the web ends up not being included, then I'll get to have some fun at Telus' expense...
Anyways... I've found it pretty addictive already, and I want to go and play some more... just wanted to mention the new phone.
Before I head to bed, I decided to read any updated RSS feeds available in bloglines, I had an update for 0x000000.com and the update read:
There is a change, access is no longer allowed by default. Visit the webpage for more info.
That was all, just this cryptic message. So I visited the website and found:
I can understand having issues... RSnake just posted about an attempted hack on his site and I deal with ridiculous amounts of spam and new user sign-ups (all with .ru email addresses) but this is a little much. Now, this form, submitted in plain text is nothing but text fields; requiring name, email, company, username and password (IP address is also asked for, but already populated). The password you type is displayed on your screen (problem #1) and, as I said, submitted in plaintext (problem #2). If you leave a field blank, you are greeted with a question mark ('?'). If you fill in everything it says thank you for your support and that you will be contacted in about '1 week'. If you try more than 3 times, the word 'die' comes up and nothing else.
I actually enjoyed the articles in 'The Hacker Webzine' but why would I want to provide all of that information just to read the articles... I use bloglines for a reason... it's a single tab and I don't have to a) flood my favourites lists with links to blogs and b) go from page to page just to read the latest that people have to say. Now I don't know if I'll even bother continuing to read the site, it's actually an effort, just to read a few blog posts... I hope more bloggers don't get the idea to do something like this... it will very quickly destroy the blogging community.
Update: Apparently this was a bit of a research project. Read more here.
Greetings,
While this is a bit of a personal gripe, it really does apply to IT and on a broader scope... universally.
The player in this complaint is Rogers (A Cable, Phone (Home / Cell), Internet) provider in Canada.
The item is a Rogers PVR (I already have a generic one, but I want one that ties in with all the features of Digital Cable)
So I call up our "Local Rogers Rep" and the conversation goes like this:
Me: Hi, I'd like to add a PVR to my account.
Rep: It'll be $15 to trade in your receiver and $20 to add it extra.
Me: I'll add it.[For those keeping score I just increased my bill by $240 annually before tax]
Rep: Great, you can pick it up at a retail store.
Me: I want it delivered, if I wanted to pick it up, I would have just gone and got one.
Rep: Ok, we'll have it delivered... it's a $60 delivery fee.
Me: Excuse Me?
Rep: It's $60 to have it delivered?
Me: Nevermind then, I'll pass on getting a PVR
Now, I'm not cheap... just the opposite I love to spend money, but if I'm giving a company an extra $240/year don't you think they could deliver the item for free? After all, I'm going to be a customer for more than a year, so they will just keep making more money and all they had to do was deliver a PVR to my door. There are Rogers trucks outside my building *ALL* the time. I'm sure if I go down there right now that I'd find one. This is a great example of squeezing your customers for every last dime you can get out of them. Given that I've been investigating Satellite for quite some time now, I do believe this is the perfect time to make the switch. I'll have to spend the afternoon calling around getting prices from Satellite providers. I'm also not the first person to have this complaint, I've heard the same thing from other people, which is why I find it to be such a travesty.
This is an important note for all the businesses out there... customers won't stand around and let you shake them by their ankles until the change stops falling out. This is customer abuse... plain and simple. As a loyal customer who takes advantage of everything Rogers has to offer, I would think that sending over a PVR (which would take a whole of 5 minutes, as I'm sure all the trucks keep a few handy) would be a great way of saying, thank you for being a customer. It really is that simple.
Rogers has slowly been losing my business... My home phone was with Rogers, they wanted to charge outrageous prices for VoIP so I made the switch to Vonage (much cheaper and better quality). I had a Rogers cell phone, it was 4 years old and I wanted a new one... I was told I'd have to pay full price for a new phone, I went to Telus and said that I had a Rogers phone... they took the Rogers phone, gave me a new phone and a year of free service (on a 3 year contract).... A couple months ago (my contact was almost up) I went into a store and said I wanted a new phone. They got me a great deal on a PocketPC phone without any hassle.
So far, I'd kept my Internet and Cable with Rogers because they provided great service... now I'm not so sure, they are doing the same thing they did with my home and cell phone... They think they are the only game in town and are abusing that power. It's time to stand up against customer abuse by big business.
Jesper has an interesting blog post up on some toys he found in Sweden.
It's an interesting idea, taking networking and putting it onto a railroad track... I don't know if I wish I was a kid again, or that I had kids... even though I can't use either of those as an excuse to buy the toys, I may order them just for the hell of it.
Do you ever log into web based email and feel like it's 1995? I do every time I log into OWA on Exchange 2000 with Firefox or 1&1's web based email. And even when I log into GMail. Other than that, it's come a long way... Even Hotmail was pure crap until not too long ago... these days I find myself torn between which account to log into. I think that Gmail had everything to do with that... Until Gmail and the 2GB account, I used Outlook w/ POP3... these days Outlook is seldom open because I don't have to worry about that annoying 100MB threshold being crossed. Everyone followed Gmail... Yahoo! and Hotmail are both offering larger email accounts but they are now taking steps beyond Gmail... Will Gmail catch
up?
I'm very interested to see if Gmail will attempt to play catch-up on the interface. It is the one "sore point" I have right now... it's very basic and clumsy... some may enjoy the minimal feel and I do use it as my primary email but after playing with the new Live Hotmail and the new Yahoo!, I feel like I'm missing something with Gmail. Now perhaps I'd grow irritated of all the fanciness and the flash and I'd desire the minimalistic feel of Gmail. Gmail is definitely usable and fast, however I would like to see it become a bit cleaner... With the "Web Two Point Oh-ee-ness" of Yahoo! and Live Hotmail, you can actually right click to delete files and mark as read, which, even if Gmail kept it's look and feel, I'd like to see added...
Will I use my Yahoo! or Live Hotmail accounts over my Gmail account? Not yet... Why? My Live Hotmail account is old, so unfortunately it's plagued with random crap from high school and Yahoo! is even worse. While a relatively new account (3 years or so), the Yahoo! spam filters suck... Yahoo! provides the WORST spam filtering of any email provider I've seen. On top of that, I watched an HTML Injection vulnerability that I reported to them go over two years without being fixed. I just can't trust them as an email provider. The other reason? Google Apps for Domains... I love it... I think it was one of the best things that Google provided and unlike the Live companion... I don't need to provide a credit card just to sign up for an account.
Why did I write this? Since I didn't seem to say anything... basically to get to this point. I was really impressed with this video, Gmail: A Behind the Scenes Video. I'm impressed that Gmail users would put in such great effort... it shows product backing (like there was ever any doubt)... Also to express my desires for changes to Gmail... little changes that are needed at this point to I) keep it in the game and II) bring it to the top again.
The List:
That's about it... I'm not greedy... I just have a few things I want to say... and since I just lifted my head of the keyboard to type this last line, I'll say g'nite and hope this made sense 
Yes, you read that correctly... the internet is safe. So safe that almost no one is actually taken advantage of, and only 0.08% of kids are meeting people off the internet without their parents approval. At least that's what a National School Boards Association report says. I would say that kids are smart enough not to mention that they are doing it... it's similar to surveys that ask teens if they drink, use drugs, or are abstinent. They give the "right" answer, not the real answer. The report goes so far as to suggest that perhaps social networking sites should be introduced to classrooms, after all businesses and higher education are using social networking sites...
That in itself leads to some interesting questions. Do these businesses know that their employees are using social networking sites for collaboration? Are these institutions of higher education using external sites or internal sites?
Do businesses know that their employees are using social networking sites for collaboration?
This is an interesting question for a couple of reasons. Primarily because social networking is anything but secure. If you are collaborating via public social networking sites you're risking disclosure of private and confidential information. The second issue is ownership. Many Web 2.0 collaboration sites "mention" in their EULA / Terms of Use that they own any work completed on their sites. There are exclusions to this (Google Apps for Business, at least I hope it has that exclusion) but there are others that do include it.
Do post-secondary institutions use internal or external social networks?
When I was in college I could get my grades, my tax paperwork (T2202A) and other confidential items from our internal social network. I don't think that I'd have been very impressed if this information was being passed to me via Facebook or MySpace.
These are questions that the report fails to answer. There are many others as well. They also call youth who excel on the internet non-conformists... essentially insulting the "geeks" and "nerds" and internet-literate people that enjoy the internet and prefer it.
I suggest everyone read the report, it's a sham that was co-funded by Microsoft, News Corp. and Verizon and I can't believe the drivel that was spouted in it. Social networking is the last thing that needs to be introduced to the classroom and I hope the dedicated teachers out there will see this. It will distract from class work, interfere with studies and be an all around hindrance to education. Sure students will know "how to use" social networks, but they are learning that on their own.. in their free time. Why not just provide students with Blackberries and allow their use during class time. That seems to be as intelligent of a choice as allowing them access to social networks.
If you really want to enable students to perform at a higher level in a technology dependent world, introduce them to a wider range of Microsoft products in the classroom. Access, Project, Visio... software that's used in all sorts of business that is never taught, unless you have a specific college class on subject. Schools should have Project and Sharepoint servers... this would benefit students... learning proper document check-in and check-out and "true" collaboration skills... Not throwing them on a social network because only 0.08% of students were honest about their actions regarding meeting strangers and how they spend their time.
How does something like this. It links to a page that will "reportedly" crash IE6 and IE7 (although it fails to crash my IE7) (link here). This page has been picked up and reported by many sources, and has even appeared on Digg and Slashdot. I have to wonder why?!?!? There are tons of IE DoS floating around... why does this warrant appearing on Digg and Slashdot? I could see maybe Digg... given the people that frequent it, but Slashdot? I would expect better from a "geek" site.