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Inside this issue:
Beware of This ATM Scam
You put your card in an ATM and enter your Pin. You are told that your card can't be read. You try a few more times and decide that your card or the machine is defective. The machine does not return your card, so you walk away determined to call your bank. As soon as you step away, someone else steps up to the machine. With a thin tool like a tweezer, he grabs hold of a tiny edge and pulls out a plastic sleeve he had previously inserted into the machine. That sleeve holds your ATM card. It was the reason why the machine couldn't read it or return it. From a vantage point some distance away, he watched you, possibly with binoculars. He now has your ATM card and your Pin.
Before you insert your card in an ATM machine, run your fingers over the slot. If the plasic sleeve has been inserted, you should feel some edges because these are needed in order for the thief to remove the card. You should also be aware of anyone who is watching too closely and when entering your Pin, block others' view. You might also want to put all five fingers on the keyboard, so it will be difficult to detect which button was pressed.
Personally, no, although I've heard of it happening. The problem, of course, is imbalance, just like an out-of-balance tire on your car. The faster you drive on an imbalanced tire (or spin an imbalanced CD), the worse the vibration. In CDs, the imbalance can be caused by off-center labels, stickers, excess glue, and such; or by poor manufacturing that places the CD's central hole just ever so slightly off center. Cracks, scratches, and the like can further introduce fault lines into the CD that accumulate strains as the disc spins up.
Three things can help: If possible, use only high-quality disks rated for the speed your drives can attain. Visually check CDs before use, and don't put a scratched or worn disc into a high-speed drive. Finally, if you hear excessive noise or feel unusual vibration from an in-use CD, stop the access to the CD and let it spin down ASAP.
I included this item because this happened to one of my customers. Though no shrapnel was sent around the room, a CD exploded. The drive would not open and when I finally pried it open, there were tiny pieces of CD inside.
Don't just take my word for it. Here is a summary of the review from Steve's Digicams, a very respected source of digital camera reviews:
The Toshiba PDR-4300 is a four-megapixel digital camera that creates images up to 2400 x 1600 pixels and incorporates a high quality Canon 2.8X optical zoom lens. The PDR-4300 is an easy to use camera for the beginner yet offers manual options for control of light and exposure for the more experienced user. And with a suggested retail price of just $379 it's also quite affordable.
PDR-4300 Features: 4-megapixel CCD, Image sizes: 2400x1600, 1200x800 or 720x480, Three JPEG quality levels (fine, normal, basic), 2.8X (35-100mm) optical Canon F2.9 zoom lens, 1.6" color LCD, polysilicon TFT monitor, Small, compact and lightweight, Built in 5-mode flash (auto, red-eye, forced, and off), AVI movie 320x240, 15fps, max 30/45/60 secs of recording, Automatic exposure, Shutter speed and Aperture priority and Manual, Mechanical shutter 1/2 to 1/1000 sec (up to 15 secs in Manual), Playback includes exposure data and histogram display, ISO sensitivity of 100, 200 or 400, White balance: Auto, Outdoor, Cloudy, Incandescent, Flourescent I and 2, Video output format user-selectable NTSC or PAL, Secure Digital (SD) storage: 16MB included - compatible up to 512MB, Wireless infrared remote control, Epson PRINT Image Matching (PIM) compatible, USB 1.1 port for Windows and Macintosh, Powered by standard AA type batteries
Steve's Conclusion (excerpt): The PDR-4300 delivers sharp and colorful 2400 x 1600 finished JPEG images the equal of other cameras costing hundreds more. When powered up the lens extends and is ready to take the first picture in about 4 seconds. Shooting in "Full" size mode, the camera processes and stores an image in less than five seconds but it can snap another picture before the last one is completely processed. This makes the shot-to-shot cycle time about 3 seconds or less. Sequence mode is even faster. The PDR-4300 will let you shoot up to three frames (in Full size) at a rate of about 1 frame per second. The PDR-4300 has AE Bracketing - the camera will take a sequence of shots and vary the exposure slightly between them, this assures that at least one of them is as close to "perfect" as possible.
The PDR-4300's LCD is quite readable outdoors. The manual mode options are easily changed with onscreen prompts and do not require complex or confusing menus. Size and weight considered, it's the kind of camera that you don't mind taking along on all-day outings. In automatic mode it's very easy to operate and qualifies as a "no brainer" point-n-shoot that anyone should be able to use. It physically resembles a compact 35mm film camera so those that are new to the digital world will immediately feel comfortable with it.
The PDR-M4300 appears to be the same camera as my previous favorite, the M81, with one important difference. The 4300 uses a securedigital card rather than smartmedia. There are a few technical advantages to the securedigital card. The most important one is that smartmedia is limited to 128mb while SD cards are currently available in sizes up to 512mb. The PDR-M4300 is available right now. Special package deals for readers of this newsletter. You can find the item at Our Camera Page. In the comments section of your order, mention that you are a reader of this newsletter for additional discounts.
30 for $10: 80 minute high speed CDR discs in discsaver plastic cases. I use these CDRs in my 52x CDRW drive. They are recorded at 52X. The discsavers are virtually unbreakable. My 5 children have been unable to break a single one. They are made of flexible material that does not shatter when dropped and the hinge is a solid strip of the same material, unlike the flimsy little catches on regular CD cases that break easily. Currently available in green only. If you prefer, I can also put them in half-width plastic CD cases. These are the cases that are half the width of regular CD cases but made of the same brittle plastic. Clear front cover and black back cover.
40 for $10: green Discsaver cases. A master case of 200 is available in any one color of your choice: green, blue, red, yellow or clear.
10 for $5: CDRW disks in plastic cases. These are rewritable, so you can add to them or erase them and reuse them. They work at 4X and come in regular CD cases.
As always, any order also comes with a free bonus of 500 megabytes of software including photo editing, programs to copy DVDs to CDRs, utilities and games. The software alone sells for hundreds of dollars on other sites. An order of $30 or more includes a CD head cleaner.
When you sign up for Spamgourmet, you select a username and an email address to which your spamgourmet email should be forwarded. Suppose your ID is Cowboy, your full id would be cowboy@spamgourmet.com. You can then select one of several methods of controlling your spam. The easiest is to create email IDs on the fly. If you sign up for a monthly newsletter such as mine, you only expect to get 12 issues over a year. You also expect that your email ID will not be used for any other purpose. But some unscrupulous sites will (despite their promises to the contrary) sell or trade your ID with others. Some will feel free to spam you with ads. How can you be sure you will only get one monthly email a month? By creating an ID that is restricted to 12 messages. If that ID is sold, traded or spammed, it will cease to exist after 12 messages. You simply subscribe with an ID of codeword.12.cowboy@spamgourmet.com. The codeword is any word you have not yet used. The 12 signifies that the ID self-destructs after 12 messages. The user ID tells spamgourmet where to forward your messages. After 12 messages have been forwarded, spamgourmet will destroy the rest.
The drawback to this system is that a spammer who vists the spamgourmet site can get around this. He can change the 12 to 1200. However, this only works for the first message. Once a message has been sent to newcodeword.12.cowboy@spamgourmet.com, changing the 12 to 1200 has no effect. The forwarding will stop after 12 messages. Of course, the spammer can create a new ID for you by changing the codeword. If you send email to something random like xxyywwbb.1200.cowboy@spamgourmet.com, that new ID will be created and forward 1200 messages. But most spammers don't have time to change or create IDs. They have software which trolls the web for IDs. So the spamgourmet approach does have its uses.
It also allows for other approaches where emails are not created on the fly, but this requires some extra effort by the user. Unfortunately, none of these approaches work for someone like me, who has a web site and an email ID that must available at all times.
Don't think that the credit card companies are too powerful to take down. Visa and Mastercard recently settled another class action lawsuit for $3 billion.
I just thought you'd like to hear a report of eBay actually taking seriously a fraud report and acting on it (pretty quickly, too). So it seems there is at least one ebay employee who takes fraud seriously. Thanks to him and to Robert for reporting it. Perhaps more people will be encouraged to report suspected fraud to ebay so that the auction world will become a safer place.
MEANWHILE, WOULD-BE buyers are also pointing the finger at SquareTrade, an eBay seller verification service, which had vouched for Liquidation Universe’s legitimacy — and, the buyers thought, offered a fraud guarantee.
“This one is going to be among the higher amounts of fraud we’ve seen, both in number of victims and in dollar amount,” Pursglove said. “It’s bold, something that was very organized. They were very skilled at what they were doing.”
So skilled, in fact, that Liquidation Universe had participated in eBay’s new SquareTrade seller verification service, which is run by a third-party company, SquareTrade.com. The company’s principal business is online dispute resolution, Pursglove said, but it also offers a special program designed to reassure auction buyers that they won’t be scammed.
SQUARETRADE LOGO CALLED DECEPTIVE
Participating sellers pay a fee to SquareTrade, which then verifies the seller’s identity and provides a special, Good-Houskeeping type logo place on the auction listing. Consumers say they were lured into buyers computers from eBay seller Liquidation Universe because they believed SquareTrade offered them $1,000 in fraud protection. But the logo, consumers say, was deceptive. It included the words “$1,000 protection.” Many consumers believed they would be reimbursed up to $1,000 if they ran into trouble with their auction. But actually, buyers have since learned, SquareTrade’s protection was capped at $1,000 per seller, not per buyer — leaving a tiny pool of cash to be spread among victims.
The first victim is Chris Melton. Desperately looking for a job, he accepted a "job offer" that he should have recognized as a con. What kind of company pays somebody to accept checks and money orders made out to him, deposit them in his bank account and the send out money orders to foreign addresses? As you can guess, the payments were for merchandise ordered on the Internet.
The second set of victims are the buyers. All they knew was that they had won auctions from the seller "Chris Melton," who had a verifiable address. Despite the fact that the average purchase was a thousand dollars, none thought to call him before sending out payment. None thought to ask how he was able to offer brand new watches at less than 25% of their retail value. Were they maybe hoping that the merchandise was hot? That would make them pretty stupid. It would mean that they sent money to a thief in the hope that he would deal with them honestly.
I hope they learned their lesson. But of course, for every one who learns it, a dozen more come along thinking they are smarter.
While similar products are available, those can be disabled by reformatting the hard drive or removing some external attachment. The Theftguard solution is built into the hardware. Even exchanging the hard drive will not subvert it.
We then drove to Canada. (I figured that with the rebate, if we drive to Canada and back 50 times, I'll make enough money to pay for a trip to Israel
-never use a Microsoft product that hasn't been around for a while
What about cameras that use proprietary batteries? The external power pack works with most of them. But if you prefer an internal battery, we stock a number of batteries, including the NP80 (for Kodak DC4800, Toshiba PDR-M4, M5 and M70, Ricoh RDC-7 and RDC-6000, Fuji MX-2700, 2900, 4800, 4900, 6800 and 6900), the NP60 (for Fuji, Panasonic and Pentax), the BP-511/512 (for Canon Powershot G1, G2, G3, Pro 90IS, ZR10/ZR40/ZR45/ZR50, Optura Pi/100mc/200mc and EOS D30), the En-El2 (for Nikon Coolpix 2500 and 3500).
What about chargers for these batteries? We carry a charger for the NP80 which works in both home and car, at 110 and 240 volts ($30). We are now carrying the ultimate charger, which not only works in home or car, it charges all of the following batteries: Nikon EN-EL1 & EN-EL2, Canon NB-1L & NB-2L and Fuji NP-80 ($45).
Incidentally, new American currency may soon appear with multi-colored bills. This decision was caused in part by a recent spate of counterfeiting using scanners and color printers. The new bills will contain colors in various shades, which is difficult for the average computer scanner or printer to reliably reproduce. Unfortunately, it seems that once again the government is missing a very important aspect of this effort. There is no plan to recall the older bills. If an announcement were made that older bills must be turned into the bank within 90 days, a lot of drug dealers, counterfeiters and other criminals would have a hard time explaining where they found a suitcase full of bills. As long as the older bills are allowed to continue being used, little will be accomplished.
Some people think that if you use a compatible cartridge, it automatically voids your warranty. Again, not true. They can not legally void your warranty unless they can show that the use of the cartridge caused the damage. Since it is extremely unlikely that this can happen (and since you can return the defective printer without the cartridge, so they won't even know about it), it would be highly unusual for your warranty to be rejected.
The June issue of Computer Shopper has this to say about compatible cartridges:
The major cause of inkjet printer failure is a clogged head. The holes through which ink passes are microscopic. Any ink, including the "genuine name brand" can clog. A typical scenario is this: the heads clog and the printer reports out of ink. The customer puts in a compatible cartridge. The printer continues to report out of ink. The customer blames the cartridge. In fact, the problem occurred while the original, name brand cartridge was still in the printer.
In over three years of selling clone cartridges, I have had an equal number of failed printer reports where the compatible cartridges were used as where only the genuine brand name was used. And in every case where running several head cleanings was not enough to correct the problem, Epson exchanged the printer without any problem. I also had two strange cases where ink leaked out into the printer and damaged it to the point where it had to be replaced. In both cases, the original Epson cartridge was being used.
1) reduce accidents. The cars will use radar or lasers to determine the speed of flowing traffic and adjust accordingly, maintaining a safe distance behind the car ahead.
Note that these are computer assisted systems, not computer controlled systems. Without a human driver, the possibility of a problem is still too high. How will the computer respond to a rabbit darting out on the road? Will it slam on the brakes? What about a car broken down in the lane ahead? A human driver has the ability to slow down, glance in the next lane and move over when it is safe to do so. So these devices are a preventative and not a cure. But since car accidents is one of the biggest killers in the modern world, we should take advantage of any assistance offered.
When I first set up XP on my system, I made a duplicate of my main drive. I believe that this is the most effective means of backup. Periodically, I copy the main drive to the backup drive. If the main drive were to go bad, I can switch to the backup and bring up the system. I can then copy the backup to the original and be back in business in minutes. But this new feature of XP created a problem. Unknown to me, something had gone wrong with my main drive. Windows continued to operate because it substituted the files that were missing or corrupted on my main drive with working files on the second drive. But as most people know, when files become corrupt and nothing is done to fix them, the problem usually becomes more severe. At one point I started to notice the problems. Further investigation revealled that neither my main drive nor my backup drive would boot properly by themselves. At that point I didn't realize the reason for this. So I formatted a drive and completely reinstalled all my applications.
Again, XP worked for a while and then I started to notice problems with some applications. At one point I discovered that some of my startup programs were being loaded from C: and others from D:. I removed the backup drive and found that my main drive would no longer boot. At this point I realized what must be happening. I set my backup drive as the master and reinstalled all the applications I had recently installed. I tested it for a day all by itself. I then copied it to the other drive and put that one in the system all by itself. Now I am running my system with only one drive. Periodically, I will insert the second drive, copy the first one over and then remove the backup.
DO YOU WANT TO MAKE MORE MONEY? Have you ever dreamed about working from the comfort of your own home? Do you wish you could be your own boss, working as much or as little as you like?
I know I've had these thoughts, but that kind of success always seemed out of my reach. After all, what chance do I have of striking it rich? I'm almost 40 with NO SKILLS, NO COLLEGE EDUCATION, and NO CREDIT. Well, that's precisely why I developed the Instant Money Invention Plan. It changed my life... in an instant! From the very first day, I was able to tell my friends and neighbors that I made $80,000 a year working from home! It was SO EASY! I needed NO SPECIAL TRAINING, and there were NO STARTUP COSTS.
With the Instant Money Invention Plan, you, too, can tell people that you've achieved financial independence without even breaking a sweat. DO NOT miss out on this amazing opportunity!
To get you started right away, call for our special informational packet. You'll learn everything you need to know to convince people you are making more money than you've ever dreamed possible. Soon, you'll be saying, "It was so easy!" and "It only took a few minutes a day!" and "Finally, I have the home and car I've always wanted!"
How does it work, you ask? It's simple! All you have to do is make up a story about your AMAZING FINANCIAL SUCCESS. Soon, everyone you know will hear how you made $7,000 in your first month!
Do you own a computer? Do you know the location of a gas station with a copy machine? If the answer to either question is yes, you can send letters to thousands of people you don't know and tell them YOU ARE MAKING YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE! What are you waiting for?
Wouldn't you like to see your picture in newspapers and magazine ads? Could you imagine seeing your glowing recommendation for the Instant Money Invention Plan in a mass e-mail originating from an untraceable location? Everyone will hear about the fortune you claim you made!
Why slave away at a job, barely eking out a living, when you could have any salary you dream of? How much money do you want to say you make? $25,000? $250,000? $1 MILLION? How about $500 KAZILLION? THE SKY'S THE LIMIT! If you can say the number, you can tell people that's how much money you make!
Best of all, you will pay NO TAXES. And, because you are not taking in any money, this plan is 100% legal. The Instant Money Invention Plan may not be ethical, but it is TOTALLY LEGAL!
This is NOT a multi-level marketing scam. It is not one of those make-money-at-home schemes that don't work. You will not be selling term life insurance. You will not be selling a bunch of worthless products nobody wants. With the amazing Instant Money Invention Plan, you will not be selling ANYTHING. All you will be doing is lying. That's all!
Thousands of Americans receive tax-free money from the government for education, new businesses, and so on. But the problem with these money-making schemes is YOU DON'T QUALIFY. You would have to actually go to school or start a business to get a piece of that pie. But can you lie? YES, YOU CAN! You've done it a million times in your life, to a million people—your ex-wife, your parents, the departmental supervisor at your former job. With the Instant Money Invention Plan, all you have to do is lie about something else... your salary!
Wouldn't it be great to work from the comfort of your own living-room couch, sitting back and watching the money roll in? Of course it would. Unfortunately, there's no such thing. But I'm not talking about some get-rich-quick scheme. I am talking about FOOLING PEOPLE into THINKING you've gotten rich quick.
Wouldn't you like to call up that pretty girl you've had your eye on and say, "Let's go on a luxury Caribbean vacation next month, my treat"? As long as the date for the cruise is far enough in the future, you've got no problems. Why? Because THE FUTURE IS WIDE OPEN. After all, no one can call you a liar and confront you about something that hasn't happened yet.
What do you want? A beach house? A new sports car? Your own private jet? It could all be yours in the future! It's up to YOU to start talking about it TODAY!
Windows XP Services
Photo Tags.
First, it lets you record several captions and categories for each photo. You can call it Cousin Harry's Wedding AND Summer 2002. You can list all the people who are in the photo. You can file it under Special Occasions AND Summer Vacation. You can record all sorts of information about who took it, when it was taken, even the camera and settings used. All of this information is stored digitally within the jpeg file itself. When you browse your directory with My Computer or Windows Explorer, as you move the cursor to each file, a pop up window will display the information you recorded. This lets you know immediately that Cousin Harry's Wedding 023.jpg is a photo of Cousin Harry and Cousin Harriet dancing with your 2 daughters.
Photo Tags also lets you edit the photo right from within the program or call up your favorite photo editor. It lets you create slide shows or email photos to your friends. It's a nifty program and well worth $19.95.
Unstoppable Copier.
Want to comment? Email sales @ ccs - digital.comIs Microsoft Trustworth?
ZD Net Story
This one speaks for itself. Microsoft released a buggy update that did not work with third-party firewalls. It was obviously not well tested. It caused as many as 600,000 people to be unable to connect to the Internet. And when the problem was discovered, Microsoft did not bother to alert their users. The author's conclusions are similar to what I have been saying for a long time:
-never allow Microsoft to have automatic access to your system.
Digital Camera Battery Chargers
For cameras that use AA batteries, there are three choices. 1) Keep buying and tossing Alkaline batteries. 2) Buy at least one set of high powered Nimh batteries and a charger ($13) and use it hundreds of times. Nimh batteries last about 3 times longer than Alkalines and can be recharged to full power hundreds of times. I recommend buying two sets, (a set of batteries alone is $8) so one set is charging while the other is in use. 3) Buy an external power pack ($20) which lasts about 3 times longer than Nimh batteries and can be recharged hundreds of time.
Intuit Drops Copy Protection
ExtremeTech Article
After all the griping about the insidious copy protection scheme they implemented last year in Turbo Tax, Intuit has decided to remove copy protection from future products.
Computer Chips In Money?
ZD Net Story
Hitachi has developed a radio-controlled chip half the size of a grain of sand which may soon be embedded in Euros. The use of this chip can prevent counterfeiting, allow stacks of currency to be counted in seconds by a scanner and track bills if they are used for illegal purposes such as ransom payments. The chips need no battery because they are powered by the radio signal to which they respond.
About Compatible Ink Cartridges
Because I have been asked the same questions repeatedly, I just thought I'd include this information:
Some people think that brand name cartridges are manufactured in the U.S. to strict specifications and that is why their cartridges are priced so much higher than the compatibles made in China. Not true. Take a look at that "genuine, brand name" cartridge that came with your printer. Many of them are made in China, perhaps even in the same factory as the clone you can buy for 75% less.
Although companies can't legally void your warranty simply for using third-party toner or ink, most manufacturers warn that print quality and printer reliability may suffer, and most reserve the right not to cover the cost of repairing a printer damaged through the use of third-party cartridges. Printer manufacturers may exaggerate the risks of using such cartridges, but at least in some cases, their concerns seem justified. That said, plenty of people have long used third-party toners and inks without any problems.
Smart Cars In Our Future
ZD Net Article
There are now several different systems which allow cars to control driving speed. Manufacturers claims that these will:
2) reduce traffic jams. Computer-controlled speed will avoid the problems caused by rubbernecker and cars moving slower than normal traffic.
3) improve gas mileage. A constant speed yields better gas mileage that acceleration and deceleration.Windows XP
XP Needs Constant Defragmentation
Ziff Davis Article
Windows XP tends to fragment files more rapidly than previous operating systems. Even worse, fragmentation in XP does more than just slow down your system. Files can actually get corrupted. If you use XP, remember to defragment your drive often.
XP Feature: double-edged sword
Windows XP has a feature that makes your system practically failsafe. If you have two drives in your system and a file on the main drive is missing or corrupt, Windows will automatically look on the second drive. It will do this without even notifying you that something is amiss. However, this is a double-edged sword because you are not even aware that there is a problem.
$80,000 Working From Home
From theonion.com
I Lied About Making $80,000 Working From Home...And So Can You!Software and Sites
LspFix WinsockFix
There are numerous causes that can damage your Internet connection. Sometimes you remove a program because it is interfering with your Internet experience, (a pop-up stopper or spyware blocker) or an add-on to your browser. Now you are having general Internet connection problems. The files at the two links above can often correct these problems. Note that they do not erase anything. They simply refresh files and correct common Winsock problems.
Windows XP runs numerous services on your PC but do you really need all of them? This site gives you a list of settings you can change.
Here is the solution to a problem many of us have with digital photographs. You have a great photo of your family at Cousin Harry's wedding in July 2002. How do you name it? Do you call it Cousin Harry's Wedding.jpg or Our Family at Cousin Harry's Wedding.jpg? How do you remember which people were in it? Where it was taken? When it was taken? Which directory do you save it in? Do you create a special one for Cousin Harry or do you file it under Summer 2002? Photo Tags solves all this and does even more.
Ever try to copy a large file and have the process stop because of one bad sector? Unfortunately, the standard copy programs are an all-or-nothing proposition. Roadkill's Unstoppable Copier will try the file different ways. If it absolutely can't copy a sector, it will replace it with blanks and continue with the rest of the file.