[flashvideo file=http://mitalis-videos.s3.amazonaws.com/dont-judge-too-quickly.flv /]
Friday, February 27, 2009
Brilliant Advertising from Ameriquest Mortgage
Normally I hate sharing anything that involves advertising, but for this I had to made an exception. Whomever did the advertising for the Ameriquest Mortgage Company are fucking brilliant. Kudos.
Time Warner Internet been getting DDoS attacked for a week, finally releases a statement notifying customers
[caption id="attachment_1542" align="alignright" width="350" caption="Picture speaks for itself"]
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I can't help but laugh at my all friends whom are Time Warner customers. Every once in a while I witness my friends disconnect from our VOIP service Ventrilo, Steam, and WoW at the same time. It's just not one friend whom it happens to, it's 4 of them that all use the same ISP, Time Warner Cable. They all disconnect and reconnect at the same time. My one friend in particular Kyle, commented saying that he never had any major issue with them before, and they've been reliable for the most part. Except for like 3 weeks ago when he couldn't connect to WoW at all. But my other friends, Pio, John, and Ralph all seem to have connectivity issues on a regular basis.
Hell even my boss has Time Warner. She came into the office this morning saying that she was unable to load her website and called our hosting provider Rackspace asking if our site was down, where they told her the connectivity issue was on her end.
Time Warner for the past week has been getting bombarded with DDoS attacks. ISPs deal with this sort of thing all the time. However given the magnitude of this attack, Time Warner has been having a hard time blocking it. Seeing as the attack is still happening as we speak, their network has been going at a snails pace. Time Warner finally had came out and released a statement as to what's been going on:
It's my guess that somebody out there isn't happy with Time Warner, and this attack is probably his way of getting revenge.
If you are still affected from this attack then the only suggestion I can give is to change your DNS servers.
I use a free resource online called OpenDNS. You can change your DNS settings by logging into your router, and inputting in the numbers they provide. This should at least get you around the DNS issues Time Warner has with thier servers. This should let you view websites much quicker.
P.S. I in no way, shape, or form take responsibility if you screw up any settings attempting to change your DNS.
[/caption]I can't help but laugh at my all friends whom are Time Warner customers. Every once in a while I witness my friends disconnect from our VOIP service Ventrilo, Steam, and WoW at the same time. It's just not one friend whom it happens to, it's 4 of them that all use the same ISP, Time Warner Cable. They all disconnect and reconnect at the same time. My one friend in particular Kyle, commented saying that he never had any major issue with them before, and they've been reliable for the most part. Except for like 3 weeks ago when he couldn't connect to WoW at all. But my other friends, Pio, John, and Ralph all seem to have connectivity issues on a regular basis.
Hell even my boss has Time Warner. She came into the office this morning saying that she was unable to load her website and called our hosting provider Rackspace asking if our site was down, where they told her the connectivity issue was on her end.
Time Warner for the past week has been getting bombarded with DDoS attacks. ISPs deal with this sort of thing all the time. However given the magnitude of this attack, Time Warner has been having a hard time blocking it. Seeing as the attack is still happening as we speak, their network has been going at a snails pace. Time Warner finally had came out and released a statement as to what's been going on:
Official Statement From Time Warner Cable re: Southern California DNS Outages
Over the past 7 days, hackers have launched a series of DOS attacks on Time Warner Cable's DNS servers, affecting customer experience in our Southern California and National regions. Subscribers in those areas would have seen intermittent "page cannot be displayed" errors as their DNS queries timed out. The outage did not result in DNS services being 100% unavailable; the outage was limited to sporadic timeouts which appeared to be random events.
These attacks are not uncommon, especially for a network as large as ours. However, this particular series of attacks has been larger and more difficult to contain than similar attacks in the past. We suspect that the attackers are using "zombie computers," or hijacking unsuspecting subscribers' machines to perpetuate the attack without its owner's knowledge.
As of 6PM EST on February 24th, we have amplified and expanded early detection and response to this sort of problem.
Customers who want to prevent their computers from being used in this sort of attack should make sure that their anti-virus and firewall software are up to date.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please know that we are currently working with the help of law enforcement to bring these attackers to justice.
It's my guess that somebody out there isn't happy with Time Warner, and this attack is probably his way of getting revenge.
If you are still affected from this attack then the only suggestion I can give is to change your DNS servers.
I use a free resource online called OpenDNS. You can change your DNS settings by logging into your router, and inputting in the numbers they provide. This should at least get you around the DNS issues Time Warner has with thier servers. This should let you view websites much quicker.
P.S. I in no way, shape, or form take responsibility if you screw up any settings attempting to change your DNS.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sprint's Blackberry team responds regarding MMS protocol
[caption id="attachment_1498" align="alignright" width="212" caption="Sprint Blackberries will never have true MMS for technical reasons."]
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I find it quite frustrating that their Blackberry team even took those still running the Blackberry O/S 4.3 into consideration when they decided to implement MMS. If O/S 4.3 didn't technically support the MMS protocol from the beginning, then these people shouldn't have had Sprint's half-assed MMS capability at the start. If they're not willing to upgrade their phones for whatever reason, then they shouldn't be entitled to have these features.
In all honesty, I don't know why anybody would NOT want to update their phone. O/S 4.3 lacked alot of standard things that had to be filled using third party software. BBSmart E-mail Viewer was one of those programs that had to be used if you wanted HTML email.
Considering how other smartphones like the iPhone have been providing HTML email since the beginning, it's surprising that RIM didn't include something standard like this when they launched their Curve phones.
In any event, the Blackberry team from Sprint finally answered back about why MMS was implemented the way it is now:
Arrrrrg.....
Source:
[/caption]I find it quite frustrating that their Blackberry team even took those still running the Blackberry O/S 4.3 into consideration when they decided to implement MMS. If O/S 4.3 didn't technically support the MMS protocol from the beginning, then these people shouldn't have had Sprint's half-assed MMS capability at the start. If they're not willing to upgrade their phones for whatever reason, then they shouldn't be entitled to have these features.
In all honesty, I don't know why anybody would NOT want to update their phone. O/S 4.3 lacked alot of standard things that had to be filled using third party software. BBSmart E-mail Viewer was one of those programs that had to be used if you wanted HTML email.
Considering how other smartphones like the iPhone have been providing HTML email since the beginning, it's surprising that RIM didn't include something standard like this when they launched their Curve phones.
In any event, the Blackberry team from Sprint finally answered back about why MMS was implemented the way it is now:
4.5 software was not delayed due to MMS or PictureMail. As stated in previous updates there were some issues in the core code of the software we had to work on with RIM. We released the software as soon as they were resolved.
MMS for inbound messages is working as designed. While the user experience might require an extra click to access the MMS content, it is the best design that could be delivered with the current software configuration. Configuration of inbound MMS is not a per-device setting, and can only be enabled as a global setting.
In developing 4.5/MMS, we had to consider how the upgrade would affect all of our BlackBerry customers, particularly:
- Devices with software versions prior to 4.5 would not be able to receive inbound MMS for Sprint.
- Enterprise customer have certified configurations that would be impacted by a global change.
- Users who are receiving messages before the software upgrade would lose the capability (if we switched to inbound MMS) and would be forced to call Customer Care for assistance in upgrading to 4.5. (not everyone is intimately aware of all the nuances of MMS features).
Using incoming SMS as a transport to get to PictureMail/MMS was selected because it worked best given the setup. It allows all users (4.5 or not) to receive incoming PictureMail or MMS messages with embedded content, even though the device did not fully support our MMS until after 4.5. We are continuing to evaluate how to get bi-directional MMS down to our devices, but our goal was to provide the best possible customer experience given the situation.
Bottom line: There is no switch to flip and enable inbound MMS for all capable users. We wish it were as easy as pulling a lever.
Arrrrrg.....
Source:
- BuzzAboutWireless.com - Response from Blackberry team regarding MMS vs PictureMail
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Company offers unmasking of Caller ID block
[caption id="attachment_1485" align="alignright" width="200" caption="1) You get a blocked call 2) You reject the blocked call, it is then rerouted through TrapCall's servers 3) TrapCall then forwarda the call back to you with the caller ID revealed. "]
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A company called TrapCall, a subsidiary of TelTech Systems is offering a service (free or paid depending on what package you choose) where they can unmask numbers that are caller ID blocked.
Since the early 1990's, Caller ID, and Caller ID blocking has been around. All phone carriers are required per the FCC to offer these services. Those who choose to have their phone number blocked would at times have to unmask their ID for their call to get through by hitting "*67" before dialing the phone number.
However, the way TrapCall handles this process this is different. Anytime you receive a phone call with Caller ID block, you are supposed to reject the call; at that moment, the call is rerouted through TrapCall's servers where then it's forwarded back to you with the phone number of the recipient. This whole process is supposed to take up to 6 seconds.
At this time, the service is limited with certain phone carriers. AT&T and T-Mobile were listed among the carriers that TrapCall is currently supports.
Some organizations are not thrilled about this service. Cindy Southworth, director of the Safety Net Project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence said:
Teltech's (parent company of TrapCall) CEO Meir Cohen said this service was made with domestic abuse victims in mind. "They been complaining that they have stalkers and are getting harassed, so we made a product to unblock Caller ID [so they know who is calling them]."
Revealing Caller ID isn't the only feature that TrapCall offers. They also have additional services (part of their premium packages) that allow you to record your calls, blacklist unwanted calls, get alerts when you miss calls, obtain a billing names and addresses of the callers, and transcribe your voicemail messages. (The voicemail transcription is actually done by individuals not a machine, so beware if you decide to get this feature.)
Cohen also recommended using their other product, SpoofCard which allows you to change your phone number on caller ID so that the recieving end of the phone call will see a spoofed number rather then your actual phone number.
... Doesn't that ultimately defeat the purpose of TrapCall? Personally I've never known of a company to provide a product that counters a service they offer.
Sources:
http://www.trapcall.com/
[/caption]A company called TrapCall, a subsidiary of TelTech Systems is offering a service (free or paid depending on what package you choose) where they can unmask numbers that are caller ID blocked.
Since the early 1990's, Caller ID, and Caller ID blocking has been around. All phone carriers are required per the FCC to offer these services. Those who choose to have their phone number blocked would at times have to unmask their ID for their call to get through by hitting "*67" before dialing the phone number.
However, the way TrapCall handles this process this is different. Anytime you receive a phone call with Caller ID block, you are supposed to reject the call; at that moment, the call is rerouted through TrapCall's servers where then it's forwarded back to you with the phone number of the recipient. This whole process is supposed to take up to 6 seconds.
At this time, the service is limited with certain phone carriers. AT&T and T-Mobile were listed among the carriers that TrapCall is currently supports.
Some organizations are not thrilled about this service. Cindy Southworth, director of the Safety Net Project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence said:
When Caller ID first came out, phone companies worked very closely with domestic violence advocates to make sure victims could make anonymous calls and this strips away that anonymity.
Anonymity matters in many cases, sometimes women are mandated by a judge to discuss where they're going to drop off the children for visitation and they have to make that call. Now I'm advising victims to use a third party -- a mother, a sister or a friend -- to make the call and not to trust that their number really is blocked.
Teltech's (parent company of TrapCall) CEO Meir Cohen said this service was made with domestic abuse victims in mind. "They been complaining that they have stalkers and are getting harassed, so we made a product to unblock Caller ID [so they know who is calling them]."
Revealing Caller ID isn't the only feature that TrapCall offers. They also have additional services (part of their premium packages) that allow you to record your calls, blacklist unwanted calls, get alerts when you miss calls, obtain a billing names and addresses of the callers, and transcribe your voicemail messages. (The voicemail transcription is actually done by individuals not a machine, so beware if you decide to get this feature.)
Cohen also recommended using their other product, SpoofCard which allows you to change your phone number on caller ID so that the recieving end of the phone call will see a spoofed number rather then your actual phone number.
... Doesn't that ultimately defeat the purpose of TrapCall? Personally I've never known of a company to provide a product that counters a service they offer.
Sources:
http://www.trapcall.com/
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Photographing Police/Military Personnel now illegal in Britian
A new British Anti-terrorism law went into effect on Feb 15th stating that any pictures taken of London police or military personnel can be deemed terrorist.The basis of the law is to is to prevent real terrorists from taking pictures that would assist them in reconnaissance. Several Civil Liberties groups have been fighting against Britain for years over measures passed that prevented people from being able to do things they once were able to. In 2005 another law was passed that made it illegal to have demonstrations near Parliament.
Britain officials stated that the law is to protect police officers when conducting counterterrorism operations. However with that said, many officers in the past have threatened those whom photographed them with arrest if they didn't put their camera away, now it's the law.
Jess Hurd, a freelance photographer was stopped by police when photographing a wedding of Irish travelers, which ironically was about how the travelers whom roam from site to site, often face harassment from the police.
Those choosing to resist arrest from the law could spend up to 10 years in jail.
For some reason, when I picture the concept of this law, I picture some lawmaker sitting down watching a movie of some professional stalker taking numerous pictures of his target, and then concluding: "Oh hey! He's a bad guy! That must mean all people that photograph stuff are terrorists!" That's bullshit.
I sincerely hope that our country doesn't reach this point where all our first amendment rights are taken away because of "terrorism." It seems now whenever any lawmaker comes up with new legislation putting a ban or restriction on something "terrorism" is involved in some way, shape, or form.
Source:
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Blizzard... You guys are fucking greedy sell outs
[caption id="attachment_1447" align="alignright" width="120" caption="This sidebar in my opinion is a pretty accurate representation of what Blizzard has become since the merge with Activision (devil picture of Kotick originates from Ars Technica)"]
[/caption]Ok Blizzard, what the fuck...
Are those advertisements I see on the WorldofWarcraft.com website? Why? Why do you need ads on your website? You make millions of dollars DAILY from recurring World of Warcraft subscriptions. Why in the fuck do you feel the need to advertise third party shit to us when we already pay you money? The only people that actually visit your website are those that play your game. Is it because we're not paying you enough money that you need to come up with new ways to generate MORE revenue from us in other ways? The fucking ads aren't even relevant to YOUR game!
I just don't get it. You offered the option for us to change our character names for $10; you offered us the option to transfer between realms so we can play with our friends for $25; hell you even added in the option to let us change our character names, as well as their SEX for $25. That's fine! I can understand the reasoning behind these types of decisions because they're optional convenience fees, and they're also services that are revalent to your game.
When I saw the ads appear on your forums, I was hoping that this was a temporary thing. The ads we saw then were at least somewhat relevant to what your game offered.
You guys decided to merge with Activision to where you guys now are now call yourselves Activision-Blizzard. Activision alone made millions with popular games like Guitar Hero, and Call of Duty 4, and despite the success of these games, even their websites don't have ads on them.
You know what this means, it means you guys are fucking SELLOUTS. None of your other websites like Battle.net, Diablo II, have ads advertising cell phones, credit cards or pizza. Sure other websites have banner links to WorldofWarcraft.com, but I wouldn't count those as ads because it all ties together with your company offers.
It's not very hard to connect the dots here. Ever since this merger, you guys have started doing things that the old Blizzard would never do. Should I point the finger at the new CEO, Bobby Kotick? Ars Technica pointed out alot of things that reflect upon this guy and upon reading up on these articles, I'd say that his way of doing business by milking out everything he can is certainly showing.
Ars Technica's excerpt on Bobby Kotick:
The only reason we care about him is that he makes a ton of money, and yes, that's great for business. I get that. But usually, when you put the devil in charge, you have the good graces to at least keep a smooth-talking demon or two around to deal with the press. With Kotick, he's very brazen about his need to squeeze every last dollar he can out of every franchise under the Activision Blizzard label. He wants to exploit his games. He wants to make sure he has a sequel every year, and don't forget the Wii and DS ports. Why have one StarCraft game if you can have three? Just because people are used to Battle.net being free doesn't mean you can't find some way to make more money from the service.
What's next? What other unnecessary method are you guys going to come up with to bring in more cash? In-game advertising? You might as well start now because you guys already seem to be heading in that direction. You guys are the #1 successful gaming company in this nation, you made a 92% increase in net revenue compared to the prior year. I don't like what I'm seeing here, the latest WoW patch 3.0.8 was a complete disaster, you guys seemed to have shifted your focus from quality, to "how much money can we make.?"
Thank god for Adblock on Firefox.
Oh did you notice how cluttered this particular blog post looked? I had to make a point by doing exactly what Blizzard did to their website... Looks like shit doesn't it?
Sources:
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