Tag: Technology

Posted on

I Hate Verizon, I Hate Verizon, I Hate Verizon!

Indian Call Center guy from Transformers

I hate Verizon for ohhh so many things but today I especially hate them for the following. 

I’m paying for 3372 / 768 DSL I think that’s the right number combination. I’d look it up to be exactly spot on, BUT Verizon’s web page is behaving like I’m using a dial-up connection.

The speeds I’m getting on my DSL connection are varying from 1024 to 2112 / 500 to 860. (First number is download speed, the next number is upload speed)

As I said I’ve tried to access their web page to figure out if there is a way to report the problem without having to wait on hold for 45 minutes then speak to someone who sounds like an episode of SouthPark. You know the sounds… dirka dirka bla dirk neeig hhhaaa dis is johnny coon I dirka you?

Fried Chip

Then be run though a series of dumb assed “TESTS” that prove nothing about the quality of their shitty service but everything about their condescension to their customers.

After all, what part of; “Your service was working this morning, then degraded, then quit, and my router is saying it can’t see a stable DSL connection. The router is indicating the failure by the display of RED indicators on it’s front panel and its control interface which I am looking at via my internal network, is saying that the DSL Carrier signal is dropping at .5 second intervals,” don’t these morons understand?

“Well sir your network cannot work unless you have your computer directly connected to our DSL machine.”

The Riddler

Really? then riddle me this… how am I supposed to print to a network printer?

“Sir, you would connect the printer to the computer.”

Then how would I be able to print a web page? The computer and the printer only have ONE ethernet port.

“I don’t know sir, I can’t advise you.”

BUT YOU JUST DID! You just told me to disconnect my DSL modem from my fully functional internal network and connect my computer directly to the DSL modem in order for your service to work. I’ll tell you what, let me speak to a supervisor.

“Certainly sir, one moment… “

I sigh in frustration, all I want to do is report that they’ve got a problem with DSL in the area.

Hitler on Hold with a call center

Thinking about it this is exactly why I left Verizon Cellular. (I think) Aside from them overselling their network to the point that I couldn’t have a conversation along the 91 Freeway that didn’t drop the call every 30 seconds, I called them to report one of their cell towers had part of the antenna array hanging by its wires and blowing in the wind.

I knew it was their tower because Verizon Signs were all over the fence surrounding the base of the antenna mast.

Hitler NEIN!

But the idiot that answered the phone wanted to put me through a phone diagnostic instead of listening to what I was reporting; “Hey your have part of your antenna at this location swinging in the wind you might want to get a repair crew out here.”

After realizing I wasn’t getting anywhere I hung up I figured, “Fine, let 150,000 dollars worth of equipment crash to the ground from 80 feet up. Not my problem!” The moron called me back to complete the phone diagnostic.

Click, Click: “dirka dirka blingbla dirk neeig hhhaaa dis is Ronny coon I dirka you?”

Me after dealing with Verizon

ARRRRHHHHHGGGGGGGHH!

After 45 minutes, I suit up…

I’m gonna go collect me some Skulls!

Posted on

In the “Bet your butt on a machine,” category…

I have a friend who used to say, “Bet your ass on a machine and you’re going to get screwed.”

This is ironic considering that later in his life he, by necessity had to do exactly that, literally! He’s still alive and kicking thankfully.

The reason I thought about my friend, his phrase, and the ATM machine that had just screwed me, is due to reports coming out of Illinois where voting machines have been reported (and recorded) switching votes from Republican to Democratic candidates.

The machines are sentient I tell ya, Next election cycle they’re going to demand full citizenship! Alright I’m taking off my tinfoil hat!

No I’m not that crazy, neither am I a believer that it’s a nefarious plot on the part of the Democrats to steal votes.

It’s a touch screen and while the units should be factory calibrated, it’s possible that a scratch protection screen has been added or replaced which has caused the factory calibration to be invalid.

This isn’t a plot to take over the world by the Democrats, I’d bet if the Republican candidate was the top listing that a vote for the Democratic candidate would be switched in the same fashion.  Of course it would be much bigger news then.

After all it would finally prove to the media and progressives, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Republicans sit at the right hand of Satan and are using their fell powers to take over the world…

It’s Skull & Bones, or the Illuminati I tell ya! 

Conservatives aren’t the only group who line their baseball caps with tin foil…

Here’s a link to the Breitbart Article and the Video.

 

I hope you al have a marvelous day and don’t forget to review your candidates, propositions, measures, and please make an informed choice at the polls next week. Just because the TV says something is good or bad doesn’t mean it’s so.

Read all the information you can about candidates and in the end, don’t vote for party, or perceived personal gain, vote your heart. Vote for  what you believe will be the best course of action for your country, state, county, and ultimately… Your neighbors.

Our Republic works if we participate.

Posted on

Well, that was relatively painless

OSX Yosemite

Ok, Perhaps I am a fan boi.

I downloaded Apples newest OS today and it installed without a hitch… so far as I can tell.

Yosemite is awesome, flat and fast.

I’ve never had an OS update that was faster than it’s predecessor and I’m kinda digging this.

Obviously there is a lot more to investigate but honestly, in this full OS Upgrade thing, Apple is king.

I’m looking forward to the integration between the Computer, the phone, and the iPad. All that stuff should be implemented fully on Monday when the IOS update to 8.1 happens.

In the mean time, I get to explore a new Mac OS. 

Happy Friday!

Posted on

And now I know how personal information get’s released

IMG 0351

Thursday I was sitting in a Starbucks next to an insurance guy.

That isn’t a big deal. What is a big deal is this; He kept leaving his machine to walk outside. And  leaving the computer up & unlocked talking to a VPN connection (I think) to the home office.

When I first sat down the machine was unattended for at least 20 minutes and I could see the guys corporate email.

If I happened to be a hacker it wouldn’t have taken me too long with his machine and I’d have been able to download tons of private client data.

He was looking at Client profiles on a web page that has a ton of personal data plainly visible.

I mean DUDE at least lock your screen!

Heck if I’m running my machine on battery, the screen dims and computer locks within 4 minutes of inactivity.

I’m really surprised at the carelessness of this guy and several other people in the room.

And don’t even get me started on the unsecured WiFi signals my computer is seeing.

I swear! All it would have taken is 3 – 5 seconds with a flash drive and this guys computer, and several others in the room would have been sending me all their account information, and all their corporate data too.

I always try to teach my clients about security and how to make it at least more difficult for bad guys to get at their data.

For example, I was using my phone hotspot instead the Starbucks WiFi. I was connected to the ONE authorized connection my phone will allow. Why should I expose my email passwords and logins to a network that I’m not familiar with?

I suppose I’m a little strange. But I can’t see making it EASY for a bad guy to screw me!

Perhaps I should start teaching Operational Security to corporate clients.

Posted on

Oh, quit your bitching! – Updated

Update – 2014/10/01

CNN

A friend sent me a link to what must be one of the most ironic news items I’ve read recently. CNN is reporting that the creator of a “Spying” App has been arrested for creating and marketing the application.

Read the Article Here

While I agree that the Application is a bit creepy and speaks to the paranoia that spouses often feel when the relationship starts to go down the tubes. I completely fail to understand a couple of issues here.

This is exactly the sort of thing the FBI is whining about not being able to do anymore. Have they thought about corporate licensing??

This application and others like it, have been around for a while.  But ONLY now the FBI or justice department is interested? Can you say sour grapes? 

Then there’s this quote that made me blow coffee out my nose.

“As technology continues to evolve, the FBI will investigate and bring to justice those who use illegal means to monitor and track individuals without their knowledge,” said Andrew McCabe, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

(Thinking about it, Perhaps Assistant Director McCabe need only wander the halls of the FBI, NSA, CIA, and IRS with search warrants, handcuffs, and a very large police van parked on the curb. Assistant Director McCabe might be the last honest man in the FBI hierarchy. A large part of me hopes so.)

Which is it FBI? Is spying on people via their phones legal… or not? Or are you saying it’s only legal when the government does it?

Is it just me???

Or are we looking at hypocrisy of Titanic proportions?

FBI Director Comey

The Director of the FBI has been complaining bitterly about the fact that IOS 8 and soon Google Android OS are securing the private information of their users in such a way that law enforcement can’t simply show up at Google or Apple and command those companies to unlock the phones data.

To him I say, “Quit your bitchin!”

FBI Logo

This is the inevitable and completely logical response on the part of the American people to unwarranted government surveillance of average people who have committed NO CRIME.

I’ll tell you what, if the FBI or any other law enforcement officer shows up at my house with a lawfully obtained valid warrant to search my phone, I’ll unlock it for them.

Constitution

I live under the protection of The US Constitution. Contained therein is The Fourth Amendment, and I quote;

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,[a] against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized

I am seriously concerned that the Director of the FBI has been quoted as saying, 

He said he could not understand why companies would “market something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law.”

When clearly the Fourth Amendment is the law

Perhaps Director Comey needs to re-read The Constitution and familiarize himself with that document more diligently.

The FBI can still obtain most, if not all of the information they need to pursue, and prosecute criminals, They just can’t do it unconstrained.  What happened to good police work, collecting physical evidence, and observing the suspect? In the days before cell phones, crimes were solved by law enforcement by these means. Cellphones made the job easier, but shouldn’t be the end-all, be-all in proving a case.

In the Washington Post article linked above, some law enforcement officials chose to try scare tactics, citing murder and pedophilia as valid reasons NOT to encrypt cellphone data. 

Here’s a reason that the data should be encrypted.

Do you really want to have your stolen phone lead a criminal to your friends homes, your parents, or your children via the contact list or one of the applications that allow parents to keep track of kids locations?  Plug an unencrypted phone into a computer with a little bit of free hacking software from the internet and all those horrors become suddenly viable.

IOS 8

So FBI and other Law Enforcement officials, You’re paying the price of the unbridled abuses of the NSA, CIA, DIA, IRS, and God knows how many other three letter agencies.  Stop the scare tactics, get a warrant, do your jobs, engage in old school police work, and…

QUIT YER BITCHIN!