Our world today is so commercialized that event Christmas has been hijacked by bad businesses. We all need to stop and be present for one another during this time and remember what it’s all about.
Thanks to Being Frugal for reminding me this.
Advent Conspiracy [via Being Frugal]
It’s not often I read a blog post on a security tip pass around on a chain mail. However this security tip is good and important enough that like the blog which I read it from, I’ve forwarded it to my friends and family; and of course pass it forward here too.
GPS
A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was
parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included
a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard.
When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.
The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain
entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so
they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.
Something to consider if you have a GPS – don’t put your home address in it. Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you
can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.
MOBILE PHONES
I never thought of this…….
This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which
contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet… Etc…was stolen.
20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says ‘I received your text asking
about our Pin number and I’ve replied a little while ago.’
When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen
cell phone to text ‘hubby’ in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their
bank account.
Moral of the lesson:
Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list. Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc….
And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.
Also, when you’re being text by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came
from them. If you don’t reach them, be very careful about going places to meet ‘family and friends’ who text you.
Now you read it, pass it on. More power to your safety!
This was originally posted on TBR.cc (http://briefingroom.typepad.com)
It’s almost common place in every city I’ve been to these days. Traffic is everywhere.
Recently on a trip to Christchurch, an apparently bike friendly city; I was surprised at the traffic and dangerous driving practices of the local drivers there. This is coming from me, an Auckland driver! This is why I love driving small cars (among other reasons, go karting comes to mind) and am now seriously considering taking up cycling where I can. Sure its sound crazy but I have to start somewhere.
Queentown, Wanaka and Te Anau has given me a glimpse of what a cycling friendly town can be like. But first I need to start to learn to cycle myself (^^; I’m getting better but still a fair way yet). Have a read on this old article (70’s) on cycle infrastructure and let me know if I’m crazy.
The Social Ideology of the Motorcar via
Bakfiets en Meer
It seems that Skype may leave over 480 million registered users without services due to a licensing dispute. This is the perfect example of why you should use open source software and APIs for your business (or products). All it takes is a dispute, misunderstanding or plain old greed to potential damage your business.
I’m sure most Skype users won’t hear this news. But when their call service stops, or when their Skype devices fail (once eBay re-writes their P2P software), there’s going to be a lot of very unhappy users. Google will be happy to step in with Google Voice and Google Chat.
They should look into the source code for eMule for some open source P2P love. Or maybe some open source P2P libraries. I hope eBay gets this sorted out. I need Skype here, well until Google Voice is avaliable here anyway.
- story via Slashdot
“Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!”
Ah! Wasn’t that fun. It’s been a while since I wrote anything on my blog. There’s also been a lot of spam as well. So when I thought of upgrading wordpress and askimet I simply decided to reinstall. Go for a new start and what not.
It was then I thought what was my blog all about. It’s was really just some random rants. There really was no direction or purpose for my blog unlike many others out there. That’s when I realise that my blog is just an extended comment box. I simply write when I have something to write about. All past post will disappear when Google cache or Bing is cleared.
This blog is just a tool I use. It’s an extension to Twitter, Facebook, Flikr and whatever social media platform or software is coming our way. There is nothing more to it.
Move along, nothing to see here. ^_^;
Firefox