Archive for the “Web/Tech” Category

To much to post, just go to the link below – it’s a long read.

http://www.evanwashere.com/StolenSidekick/

Yeah, I know – catchy headline eh?
So, the Cable Guys are pissed that Craigslist.com has a big foothold on classifieds? Well, they do.

Amidst the battle for Net Neutrality, there’s some discussion happening around Cox Internet, who provides software to customers that intentionally blocks Craigslist. Why would they do that? Well, because Cox has its own classifieds service, of course.

The background: Whenever you sign up with just about any Internet service provider, they provide you with a bundle of software that they want you to install and use. Outside of AOL, no one actually has to install the stuff in order to use their internet service, but most people don’t know that. Thus, people get the install CD, and happily plug away through (often crappy) software that the ISP bundles.

[.. This kind of behavior by ISPs is irresponsible and detrimental. It's as bad as spyware being installed on your computer as part of a bundled software package... only worse, because you got this crap from a trusted source, the people you pay money to in order to simply access the Internet. And who knows what sites they'll block next?

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – For the past decade, newspapers have seen their help-wanted advertising under siege from online rivals. Now, as the Internet begins to eat into automotive and real estate classifieds as well, newspapers are fighting back.

Classified advertising accounts for more than a third of revenue at newspapers, which until recently didn’t want to accept that advertisers are increasing their spending on the Web, which is better suited to connecting individuals and delivering up-to-the-minute information.

"Now they totally get it and they’re scrambling to make sure they’re not left out of the equation," said Peter Zollman, founding principal of Classified Intelligence, a research and consulting firm.

Favored attack strategies include banding together, buying or forming partnerships with upstart Web sites and building new sites to serve local needs.

One such effort is Classified Ventures LLC, which is owned by six media companies, including Knight Ridder Inc., McClatchy Co. and The Washington Post Co.

Mmm.. McClatchy, heard that name before.

Sources:
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2006/06/craigslist_is_b.php
http://www.deannazandt.com/
Reuters

Oh, one more thing: From NewsDay.com
Cops, using the Net, nab five in prostitution ring
Those arrested are accused of using Craigslist.com to push prostitution at motels in Plainview, Jericho

Millions of online users turn to the popular Craigslist.com Web site in search for a home, tickets or a car, but many also use it to find sex.

Understanding that, Nassau police routinely monitored the site and this week arrested five people accused of using it to advertise prostitution.

We will soon be able to watch for illegal wetbacks and terrorists, (not to mention the occasional liberal democrat returning from watering down the illegals) as they cross the border into the United States from Mexico. The state of Texas is installing web cams and not only will all of us be able to watch, we’ll also be able to report the little bastards to the border patrol.

From ABCNEWS.com

Texas Governor Announces $5 Million Plan to Install Web Cameras Along Mexican Border

EL PASO, Texas Jun 9, 2006 (AP)— The governor of Texas wants to turn all the world into a virtual posse. Rick Perry has announced a $5 million plan to install hundreds of night-vision cameras on private land along the Mexican border and put the live video on the Internet, so that anyone with a computer who spots illegal immigrants trying to slip across can report it on a toll-free hot line.

"I look at this as not different from the neighborhood watches we have had in our communities for years and years," Perry said last week.

Right, why not enlist 298 million potential viewers to help keep the border safe. But wait…

Some say it is a dangerous idea and a waste of money.

"This is just one of those half-baked ideas that people dream up to save money but have no practical applications," said Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project in Austin. "We would be far better off to invest that money in Mexican small towns along the border so people wouldn’t have to emigrate."

Fscking liberal asswipe. Sure, let’s send them money so they can buy the latest model of hiking shoes to make their trek more comfortable.

Under the plan, announced on the eve of the state GOP convention, cameras and other equipment would be supplied to willing landowners and placed along some of the most remote reaches of the border. The live video would be made available to law enforcement and anyone else with an Internet connection.

Viewers would be able to call day or night to report anything that looks like trespassing, drug smuggling or something else suspicious.

Great idea.

After over two years and 2000+ web-tip related arrests to their credit in Allen County Alone, The Most Wanted Network (www.indianasmostwanted.com) has launched their state-wide campaign by adding all of the active warrants from Steuben county. Within the next three weeks DeKalb, LaGrange, Kosciusko, Noble and Madison Counties (Bloomington) will also be added .

The new counties are currently holding between 1,500 – 2,000 active warrants each, so roughly 6,000 – 8,000 new warrants will be available for the scrutiny of the general public.  Each individual warrant offers viewers the option to view larger photos (if available), learn the nature of the warrant and report any pertinent information to law enforcement officials.

Gregory Lewis, Director of Northeast Indiana Crime Stoppers, agrees, saying that Indiana’s Most Wanted has “doubled or tripled” Crime Stoppers productivity. “This thing, to me, is one of the greatest tools I’ve ever seen in crime fighting, and I was a policeman for over 30 years,” he says.

The Most Wanted Network expects to blanket 80% of Indiana by years’ end in additon to rolling out the program on a national scale.

They’re really trying to get creative to get around the spam filters, this one did.

From: Dennis Blake [mailto:msbqt@sadik.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 9:08 AM
To:
Subject: telegraph

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From StockPatrol.com

Barnum was all about presentation.  In a cynical mood he is said to have conceded that "there’s a sucker born every minute."

Today, he might have been the first to recognize that there seems to be a promoter born every minute as well.  In recent days, some of those promoters have been aggressively hawking Dark Dynamite, Inc.(OTCBB: DKDY), the born again penny stock that, in its latest incarnation, has been touting plans to profit from a theme park operating at the Qin E-Pang Palace in Mainland China. See, Dark Dynamite, Inc. – Time For the Gong Show.  The viability of that plan remains a matter of conjecture.  Investors have little information about the theme park, its operations and its revenues.  Control of the Company recently was shifted to Shanxi Kai Da Lv You Gu Wen You Xian Gong Si, ("Kai Da"), the entity that operates the theme park.  Although Dark Dynamite promised to provide audited financial statements for Kai Da, and pro form financial information for the merged entity, by mid December- 2005, that information has yet to appear in any public filings. 

Apple and Steve Jobs are pissed at the French, (hell who isn’t?) and they have every right. The French are isolationist. Speak French not English.

From News.com

A proposed French law that would force Apple Computer to make the songs it sells through its iTunes music store playable on devices that compete with its own iPod amounts to "state-sponsored piracy," Apple said Tuesday.

France’s lower house of parliament passed a law Tuesday that would require digital content providers to share details of their rights management technologies with rivals. iTunes songs are protected by Apple’s FairPlay technology and are incompatible with most non-iPod players.

The bill, designed to prevent any single music-playing technology–and hence, any one media seller or device maker–from dominating the online market, now moves to France’s senate.

It’s called capitalism you friggin nuts. I say let’s block all of France from accessing any web site based in the U.S. and see how long it takes for them to start whining about not being able to buy Levis and Nikes online.

From News.com

In a lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission, a subpoena is sent to Google for the complete contents of a Gmail account, including deleted e-mail messages. This is unrelated to the Department of Justice’s own subpoena to Google for search terms and excerpts from its search database.

Hey, if the can get to Google, Hotmail and yahoo are wide-open targets as well.

In November 2003, the Federal Trade Commission sued AmeriDebt and founder Andris Pukke on charges that the company deceived customers about credit counseling and failed to use customers’ money to actually pay their creditors.

AmeriDebt settled, but the courts are still trying to uncover the location of Pukke’s apparently sizeable assets. (A Washington Post article in September said the IRS is seeking $300 million from Pukke. His attorney at the venerable firm of Jones Day charges a hefty $575 an hour.)

Pukke’s missing money has been linked to a Belize developer called Dolphin Development, which counts a fellow named Peter Baker as a shareholder. The court-appointed receiver in the FTC case, Robb Evans & Associates (click here for PDF), sent a subpoena to Google on Nov. 1 asking for the complete contents of Baker’s Gmail account.

If you’re suspect of your email ever being divulged through a court order, here are some pointers:

1. Do not use the company mail server, (Outlook for example). If the company is served a subpoena, they will have to comply.
2. Do not use free email services, the same applies.

Your best bet, use Outlook Express, it’s installed on almost every computer that ships with windows. Then install a program that will clean your disk after you delete emails because they will continue to be accessible by geeks with subpoenas using programs like Active Undelete.

Example programs:

• Advanced Disk Cleaner
• Internet Disk Cleaner