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2008.10.27Economics: Cut out the Middle Man
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2008.10.07
Google block email from Apple?
I just tried to re-register to download the iPhone SDK, and after 5 attempts to get the registration email to my normal email address - handled by google apps - and nothing, i tried a different email address and , voila, it was there within seconds. Co-incidence or conspiracy?
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2008.05.09
Opinions are the mind's way of making dung,
they are what is left after we have stopped thinking.
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design: typochondriacs, 1997
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Words: Alison Leeper, 1997
Something said elsewhere reminded me of this postcard my mum sent me in 1997. I've had it by my desk ever since, and is an adage I remind myself of often, one of my tenets in life. It was even my .sig for a while.
Opinions are the mind's way of making dung, they are what is left after we have stopped thinking.
I wondered who had originally said it, and so did a search: no references. Anyone? perhaps it was just the typographers - Typochondriacs, whoever they are/were - thoughts. It seems this card is perhaps long forgotten, so I thought I'd post it and save it. And the nice message from my mum - 'another obscure bit of designer typography for you'....
See also:
Opinions are like assholes; everyone has one and most are full of shit.
1 Comment:
what a fantastic bit of typeography -
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2007.04.03
Don't trust MediaTemple.net with your information
Krop Creative Tech Jobs: Their marketing department should be using this to find new roles.
I've just received a marketing email from MediaTemple. To my mobile phone. Twice. The email address for my phone is private, because I use it for paging me server warnings.
What's so bad about this? Well - I asked them to remove that email from their list , twice before, when they did the same thing. And was assured it had been. It's a pager address, which was put into their account manager to allow for notification of urgent issues ONLY. The last time I got SPAMmed at 3am, and got out of bed expecting a server to be down. This was when I had an account with them. I terminated SHOWstudio's account with MediaTemple last year due to their extortionate costs and decreasing quality of service. At the time I requested my account details be deleted from their databases, especially marketing databases.
OK, so this stuff happens all the time. However the service the provide is one of trust. It's not that they are selling newspapers, or Viagra, but I entrusted them with servers that contain thousands and thousands of peoples contact details ... might have even considered passing credit card details through a server hosted with them. And this is how they repay me? By not honoring opt-out requests and re-introducing old data back into their marketing databases!
Their opt out email address even bounced - not a good advert for an apparently savy tech company (though I have heard many complaints about them loosing email) :
Hi. This is the qmail-send program at dao.hosteverything.net. I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses. This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.marketing.email.optout@mediatemple.net: User and password not set, continuing without authentication. 64.207.129.38 does not like recipient. Remote host said: 550 5.1.1 marketing.email.optout@mediatemple.net: Recipient address rejected: User unknown in local recipient table Giving up on 64.207.129.38.And via a different mail server too:
Hi. This is the qmail-send program at tcs1.showstudio.com. I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses. This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.marketing.email.optout@mediatemple.net: 64.207.129.38 does not like recipient. Remote host said: 550 5.1.1 marketing.email.optout@mediatemple.net: Recipient address rejected: User unknown in local recipient table Giving up on 64.207.129.38.The implication, to me is, basically: you can't trust this: http://www.mediatemple.net/company/legal/privacy.php
And therefore, you can't trust them with your details. MediaTemplate have some clever branding going on, but underneath my experience proves they aren't all that they say.My worry is this: if they are unscrupulous enough to mine their administration databases for email accounts they can send unsolicited marketing emails to then where will it end? Would they use all the email addresses that are passed through their primary mail servers? Would they start greping backups stored on their servers (or even your hosted box) for email lists? Probably not. But I don't even want those questions raised in my mind about a server which is located on the other side of the world from me.
My other big concern: if an ISP acts like this then what chance have we of them acting against other people sending unsolicited email from their network?
My advice? If you have your servers hosted with MediaTemple then move them to The Planet... their service has been excellent, they are helpful and responsive, trustworthy and they don't send SPAM. And they are considerably cheaper. Win-win if you ask me.
5 Comments:
that is pretty whack. I had to fumble around with a site hosted on media temple a few months ago, so the guy organising the project put my email into the alert system (I was the only person really working on the site). I still get spam off them, even though I removed my email after the project was done.Kinda sucks that they spammed your "emergency only" point of contact.
Sorry to hear you two have had such a bad time with MT. I've been using them for years with no such issues. In fact, I've moved all of my other hosting accounts over to them - for two main reasons, they've always offered excellent 24/7 support and (more importantly) they all speak English.
I've had too many experiences of setting up hosting through a US office, but then every time I call support I'm either in India or the Philippians. Ironically, they all say their name is Bob. 1&1 is famous for that. Would never suggest those folks for any of my clients.
Another point of reference. When I did have an issue with MT (more of a concern about features of their DV boxes) it was suggested to me by their support department (again, excellent service as always) to send an email directly to their CEO explaining my issues and, here's the important part, that the CEO DOES ACTUALLY READ THEM. Less than a week later (hey, he's the CEO, he's surely busy) I got an email back from him. We've had numerous discussions since and he's shared things with me that apparently haven't been properly documented within their online knowledge base articles (of which has since been remedied).
So again, as far as hosting goes - at least if your interested in staying in the US and speaking to someone that actually is from the US - I wouldn't look any further than MediaTemple.
Well, anyonymous, thanks for your comments. A bit too gushing, and rather late for my liking. After all, their CEO never responded to the emails I sent them.
I've since had friends have many problems with MediaTemlples Grid service, their Virtual Servers, and their support being terrible, so I'll stick to their point of view. They are also still terribly over-priced - like MT have some kind of badge of coolness that appeals to Designers.
I'll stick with The Planet - US Based company, US Based Support, and good and reliable. In the UK you wouldn't do badly to check out PoundHost who also do a very good job for me. That said both these companies are providing dedidcated and co-located servers for me, not virtual hosting, so may not be everyone's bag.
Some people in life are realistic and some people in life just aren't happy unless they have something to complain about.This guy stands out as the latter.This is the real world my friend, if we all split hairs over every company's service we dealt with in life we would have no time for anything else. They used you mobiles email so what? Unless your on the run from the FBI? Then I guess you have good reason to hide it.
Um, sorry anonymous, but that doesn't make sense. They used my details in a way they didn't have permission to, repeatedly, and then did not act upon my requests.
How you can jump from the fact that I am complaining because I am unhappy to I am only happy if I have something to complain about I don't know. There is no logic in that.
MediaTemple have failed to deliver on their promises to me serveral times, and acted in a way which I feel is in appropriate for an ISP, so I am writing about it. I'm not 'splitting hairs', just stating it as it is.
You are right, it is the real world, and people, companies and governments (amongst others) fail. We all have a right to complain when that happens. If a private complaint leads to inaction, if the recipient of the complaint ignores or carrys on with the inaction then we have a right to complain publicly. Again this is what I am doing.
And whilst I have no reason to hide my email, that doesn't mean that all and sundry have permission to use it however they see fit. There is, again, no logic in your argument. You are just wasting space in an attempt to discredit my opinion, and failing quite badly, without any attempt to reason or apply any intelligence to your point of view.
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2006.09.25
Now I've heard them all...
... posteverything's server is down, and why?
At 18:50 this evening, our old Maidenhead datacentre was struck by lightning.
At the request of the Fire Service and Southern Electric, we powered-down all (approximately 200) servers in the building.
We are currently awaiting approval from the Fire Service and Southern Electric before powering-on these servers. We have been informed that this should be in approximately one and a half hours.
Well, hopefully it won't strike twice.
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2006.05.02
Please Help.
My Godson's uncle is to be deported as part of the Charles Clarke 1000.
Here is an outline from his sister (also attached as PDF).
At 8.00am on Monday 1st of May 2006 my brother – Ernesto Leal (41) was arrested and taken from outside his home and held at Bishopsgate Police Station with a deportation order, he was later sent to Belmarsh Detention Centre.
Collette Bowens (my brother’s long term partner) was met by up to 30 police officers who had been in their home all night. Their home has been ransacked, his personal computer has been interfered with, personal papers and files (including his passport) have been removed and there was evidence of the back door to their home being forced open. On asking the Police Officer why they were there and how had they got in they were told that they had entered through the back door which had been left open, which it hadn’t.
Just over two years ago my brother was sentenced to 3 ½ years for GBH with intent. He served, on the judges advice 18 months where he served the majority of his sentence in an open prison, Ernesto was later released and electronically tagged for 4 months and reported weekly as part of his probation which was relaxed to once a month after 4 weeks.
My brother has no previous criminal record or convictions and this was his first offence.
The detention form states that he
• Is likely to abscond
• his release is not considered conducive to the public goodThe deportation form states
• he will be deported to JamaicaHad my brother been a threat to the general public he would not have been held in an open prison or have had early release or have been electronically tagged. If he was to abscond, there would be no where to go as his home is in London and no reason has been given to why he would be deported to Jamaica given that we are of Chilean origin.
My whole family arrived in the UK in 1977 when my brother was 13 yrs old as political refugees fleeing Pinochet, we were given sanctuary in the UK and have been given ‘indefinate leave to remain’. We have no immediate family left in Chile and he has very limited Spanish, we all consider out first language to be English.
Ernesto has spent his formative years in Scotland when my family was adopted by the Scottish National Union of Mineworkers and settled in Cowdenbeath, Fife. Myself and my brothers have gone through the education system here and have worked and started families in this country, he later moved to London.
I am appealing for questions to be made to The Home Office as to why my brother has been detained and to stop his deportation.
There is no question of his status in this country, he has been punished and has served his sentenced and should not be discriminated further, he has not committed any further offences and is therefore no cause for public concern, in addition to this several mistakes have been made by both the Home Office and The Metropolitan Police Force who carried out my brother’s arrest.
1. There was no Home Office case worker present so my family have been unable to petition for an appeal.
2. The Home Office detention officer did not have an up to date report from the probation services.
3. The arresting officers advised my brother’s partner that he was being arrested because he had not given his whereabouts. This was not the case as he had been tagged and reported to his probation officer once a week for the full time he was required to do so.
4. His status is not in question as he had previously provided, through lawyers, his passport with a Home Office stamp clearly stating that he has ‘indefinate leave to remain’.
5. He has been unnecessarily sent to a detention centre merely because there was no Home Office caseworker present.
6. My family was advised that his deportation to Jamaica could be a typo which is indicative of the mistakes made on my brothers case.This process would have been facilitated had there been a Home Office Case worker been present during and throughout the arrest, we had all the documentation present at the Police Station and were not able to present our case and achieve a speedy solution and either have my brother out on bail or that his case be heard outside the detention centre.
Could you please email Diane Abbot MP, Ernesto Leal’s local MP at and ask her to ask questions to the Home Office regarding our concerns.
Ask why he has been arrested and why he is being deported?
Diane Abbot MP – 0207 219 3000 or 07947 598 225
Diane Abbot pa – Carol Glenn 0207 219 4426 or 07947 598 225
Diane Abbot press enquiries – Camilla Drejer 0207 219 4426Or call :-
The Home Office Immigration and Nationality Directorate
UK Immigration Service
Criminal Casework Team
14th Floor, Lunar House
Croydon
CR9 2BYTel: 0208 196 0942
Fax: 0208 196 0930Clearly stating it is regarding Ernesto Leal reference L306526
5 Comments:
This is absurd.All the Labour councilors that attended Ernesto,s Solidarity charity nights in Edinburgh in the 80s should stand up .Im,e sure that if Gordon Brown would listen to some of his older constituents in Fife,especially Cowdenbeath, he could bring an end to this potentially embarrising farce.Tony should look closer at home for human flawes.Ernesto to my amazement and shock committed a crime for which he served his punishment.As for Jamaica,The closest Ernesto ever got to Jamaica was Jamaica St in Edinburgh. Have a word,Mike Mcginn
I have known Ernesto since he was a child and I am appalled the way he is being treated for an alleged crime he committed for being at the wrong place at the wrong time which can happens to anyone in a Pub in a busy night! He is not more a criminal than millions of people in a pub tonight who may get in a brawl!
Ernesto now has a support site. Click on my name to take you there.You can visit it, register, leave a blog, make a donation, catch up with the news, email an MP and soon purchase some of Ernesto's artwork to support the campaign.
I am so sorry to read your trouble's We have an ongoing situation here in Shetland,using google search for "shetlink" there are many good people in the same position as you will see from this forum, perhaps sharing ideas and experience might help all affected by this government,s draconian measures.
We have simular problems. My husband has held ILR for 25years, now he deportation to Jamaica. The home office say that our four children are of age to adjust to life abroad. and that I can leave my three elder children behind, one which was left with brain injury following a road traffic accident seven years ago. I find this too stressful. My husband was unlawfully moved to Dungavel, Scotland from Manchester, one Saturday morning just an hour before we was due to visit, and I have had to fight his corner every step of the way, as I found immigration solicitors don,t care about the client or case. -
2006.03.18
Please...
Batch video compression software don't crop the filenames of the 100 files I've asked you to compress and append them with your own naming scheme without giving me the option to override it.
I hate software which tries to be clever for stupid people, but can't be stupid for clever people. I know they are different files, just change the file extension. That's all I want. Hell, it's all I need.
Now I have to rename 100 files which have had the major identifying part of the filename over written, and that I can't identify the contents of because they are compressed in a video codec that doesn't have a native player.
1 Comment:
you could use a batch file to rename the files. I am now using a mac and have no idea how to do that anymore ;)btw added you to my blogroll
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2005.02.26
Nice Question
Mai Pham asks: I was just wondering what are some of the things you do as a digital media technologist?
My response, which is trying to be concise but also explain the breadth of things I do:
Digital Media Technologist literally means that I am a technical specialist in digital media. I do many things, but mostly the are orientated around digital media:
* I design & build Web sites.
* I design & program Content Management Systems, Media Management Systems, Media Delivery Systems and E-commerce systems.
* I understand, use, manage, and sometimes develop digital media, in it's many forms: text, images, video, sound and at it's lowest level data.
* I move digital media around and understand how it is published in many places, from the Web to Radio and Television, to Mobile Phones, CD and DVD, and how it is used, consumed and remixed by people.
* I advise people on the best use of technology in the creative industries, primarily Music, Art and Fashion, as well as other places.
* I try to explain digital media and technology in a way that isn't scary to people who already work in one of those mediums.
* I train and tutor people.
* I have an active part in the development of various company strategies at a technical, and business, level.
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2005.02.25
Free SSL Certificates A Bad Idea?
Partially missing the point
I just found this site http://cert.startcom.org/ which is offering free SSL server certificates. Initially this seems like a great idea... but I think they miss the point slightly.
Wilst I'd agree with them that Verisign, Thawte (owned by Verisign) etc. are expensive for the service they provide, a large part of which can be automated, what they are doing isn't as simple as this page makes out.
As well as providing a certificate which provides encryption (which it's pretty trivial to do yourself without the sites need) they are also providing a trusted third party service (though, again, how far we want to trust Verisign is another matter).
This trusted third party makes a number of check on the applicant for a secure certificate, trying to legitimise the ir presence in the real world, and then sign the certificate. The signing means that you can be a bit more confident that the site you are engaging with is (relatively) legitimate.
I've just managed to set up a certificate through this site for one of my domains. The details aren't checked by them, and so I could have easily forged what I've entered. If they become a trusted Certificate Authority this certificate could now be used for phishing attacks.
One scenario is that users start to authorise all certificates issued by this Authority, without them being accepted by browser producers as a trusted Authority, and then being transmitted to a site which looks authentic, because the SSL certificate is there, and so seems secure. Most people don't look at SSL Certs - and indeed most, in my experience, are confused when they get prompts saying there is a problem with a cert, and take the path of least resistance not realising the implications.
In principal I like the idea of this kind of stuff, but it only works in a fully trustworthy world. And whilst it would be nice to be able to trust everyone it only take one 'bad apple' to spoil the fun for everything.
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2005.01.08
That was close
Back safely from Thailand
For all of those who haven't asked we are safely back from Thailand and weren't in the area affected by the Tsunami. We felt the earthquake in Bangkok where we were on Boxing Day morning as we were about to head north to Chang Mai. As news filtered through to us, mostly via SMS, we realised how fortunate we were as we had planned to visit the Andamon sea a few days later.
Rather than panicing and returning immediately we changed our destinations around and headed to Koh Samui (instead of Krabi) for New Year. Those not directly affected in Thailand had to carry on with their lives, heavily supported by tourism. And not clogging up airports so that they could be used by those who needed them seemed the right thing to do, even if it felt a bit weird.
My thoughts are still with the family and friends of all those who were not as fortunate as Angie and I.
0 Comments:
Genius!
By Anonymous, on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 on 12:32 GMT