Category Archives: Internet

Timewaster or a Waste of Time

Although I am often a sucker for online timewasters (and never more than during the exam-writing season!), and although I gather some folks love this thing, I'm having some trouble figuring out the attraction of Pass the Ball, a shockwave object.

Can someone explain?

Posted in Internet | 2 Comments

I’ve Been Joe-Jobbed Again

Someone has emailed the entire universe a series of cheap ads for tawdry goods forging my email address in the “from” line. It is not the first time I've been 'joe jobbed' but it seems to be an even more thorough job than in the past.

As a result, I'm getting a flood of mailed bounces, rejections, spam complaints and the like. No doubt many systems will now blacklist my address. And so on.

And it makes finding the real mail a bit of a needle in a haystack problem. Not to mention that if I tried to mail you, misspelled something, and it really bounced, I'll never notice.

If you need to reach me in the next few days, or more, please consider the phone if I don't reply.

Posted in Internet | 4 Comments

Another Reason Why Comcast Isn’t My ISP

Most of the reasons that Comcast isn’t my ISP have to do with its aggressive opposition to net neutrality. But there’s also a substantial quality of service issue: see, for example, Steven M. Bellovin, An Outage from Managing P2P Traffic?.

Not that I love AT&T, or that their net neutrality politics are so much better. But their service seems somewhat better, and they’re a little less in-your-face about their views.

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Gmail Unveils ‘Custom Time’

Google has unveiled what looks to be a Really Useful Service as an enhancement to its Gmail (eternal Beta). They call it “custom time”.

New! Gmail Custom TimeTM  

Ever wish you could go back in time and send that crucial email that could have changed everything — if only it hadn't slipped your mind? Gmail can now help you with those missed deadlines, missed birthdays and missed opportunities.

A Google approach to email.

 


Gmail is a new kind of webmail, built on the idea that email can be more intuitive, efficient, and useful. And maybe even fun. After all, Gmail has:

Less spam

Keep unwanted messages out of your inbox with Google's innovative technology

Mobile access
Read Gmail on your mobile phone by pointing your phone's web browser to http://gmail.com/app. Learn more
Lots of space

Over 2757.272164 megabytes (and counting) of free storage so you'll never need to delete another message.

Pre-date your messages
You tell us what time you would have wanted your email sent, and we'll take care of the rest. Need an email to arrive 6 hours ago? No problem.

Mark as read or unread
Take sending emails to the past one step further. We let you make emails look like they've been read all along.

Make them count
Use your custom time stamped messages wisely — each Gmail user gets ten per year.

Worry less
Forget your finance reports. Forget your anniversary. We'll make it look like you remembered.

I can imagine so many uses…. Do be sure to note the various limits on functionality.

Posted in Internet | 10 Comments

Internet Considered Dangerous

Or maybe that should be, 'Reliance on Internet Considered Dangerous'.

There's this amazing, if somewhat mis-titled story Man scammed by Craigslist ad

A pair of hoax ads on Craigslist cost an Oregon man much of what he owned.

The ads popped up Saturday afternoon, saying the owner of a Jacksonville home was forced to leave the area suddenly and his belongings, including a horse, were free for the taking, said Jackson County sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Colin Fagan.

But Robert Salisbury had no plans to leave. The independent contractor was at Emigrant Lake when he got a call from a woman who had stopped by his house to claim his horse.

On his way home he stopped a truck loaded down with his work ladders, lawn mower and weed eater.

“I informed them I was the owner, but they refused to give the stuff back,” Salisbury said. “They showed me the Craigslist printout and told me they had the right to do what they did.”

The driver sped away after rebuking Salisbury. On his way home he spotted other cars filled with his belongings.

Once home he was greeted by close to 30 people rummaging through his barn and front porch.

The trespassers, armed with printouts of the ad, tried to brush him off. “They honestly thought that because it appeared on the Internet it was true,” Salisbury said. “It boggles the mind.”

The followup is slightly cheerful: Some items being returned to victim of Craigslist hoax

Apparently this sort of thing has happened before, perhaps as part of a family feud. Although neither story explains clearly if the vandals broke in or if the victim left the door unlocked.

Posted in Internet | 3 Comments

Check To See If Your ISP Is Diverting Your DNS

Lauren Weinstein's Blog, Testing Your Internet Connection for ISP DNS Diversions

I passed, but then I've set my machines to use OpenDNS, which may take me out of the BellSouth default.

Posted in Internet | 4 Comments