rueger - Slashdot User

Submission + - Massive Canadian E-mail Crash (theprovince.com)

Submitted by rueger on Sunday March 10, 2013 @09:58PM

rueger writes: One of Canada's biggest cable/Internet providers has their customers in an outrage. "...after an interruption of Shaw’s email services Thursday led to millions of emails being deleted. ... About 70 per cent of Shaw’s email customers were affected when the company was troubleshooting an unrelated email delay problem and an attempted solution caused incoming emails to be deleted ... Emails were deleted for a 10-hour period between 7:45 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. Thursday, although customers did not learn about the problem until Friday, and only then by calling customer service or accessing an online forum for Shaw Internet subscribers."

To top it off, when Shaw did send out notices about this, they looked so much like every day phishing spam that many people deleted them unread. Read more:

Submission + - Why is Facebook So Broken? (venturebeat.com)

Submitted by rueger on Saturday March 09, 2013 @05:51PM

rueger writes: Facebook is about to foist another redesign on its users, and like most I expect that it will be annoying and unwelcome. The problem of course is that everyone (more or less*) is on Facebook, and that makes it a must have tool.

My question is: Why is that Facebook seems to suck so badly, and manages to consistently make things worse with every change, while other companies (like Google) manage to get incrementally better, and manage to not irritate every user they have? Or, why is that most people will trust Google, but not Facebook, and why hasn't Facebook managed to fix this?

It's not a question of resources — both companies have enough money and expertise to do things right. So what is it about Facebook's corporate culture that seems destined to cripple it?

(*Yes, I know that you aren't on Facebook, and hate it, and will never darken its door, but you are still in the very small minority.)

Submission + - Shooting Yourself In The Foot: 21st Century Style (facebook.com)

Submitted by rueger on Monday March 04, 2013 @10:46PM

rueger writes: Right now there's an election happening in British Columbia. A desperate government is flooding Facebook with "Sponsored Post" spam extolling the wonderful things that they plan to do if re-elected. There's one problem though. Every one of these posts is followed by hundreds of extremely negative comments added by people who either dislike the party in question, or Facebook spam in general. Desperate moderators are trying to control the "discussion," but seem to have no hope of doing so. What was thought to be a cool marketing tool has turned into a public relations disaster. Is this the worst use of social media in an election?

Submission + - Really Short Time Wasters

Submitted by rueger on Monday February 11, 2013 @10:10PM

rueger writes: At various times during the day I need a quick break from serious work. Browsing the 'net is not a good choice because it invariably winds up consuming an hour on places like Slashdot, so right now that means that my break is a game of Solitaire. Loads in seconds, takes maybe a minute to play, then back to stuff that matters. I'm wondering what other goodies could fill that role — maybe games, maybe something that actually leads to knowledge, skills, or a measurable output? Think of it as on on-screen micro-hobby. Ideas?

Submission + - Best Distro For Holiday Fun?

Submitted by rueger on Wednesday December 19, 2012 @08:37PM

rueger writes: With a few free days coming up over the holidays, I'm ready to play with a new distro. By way of history, I've tried at least a dozen over the years, but Ubuntu was the one that stayed on my PC, and Mint Cinnamon is what I use today.

I'm looking for suggestions for a less mainstream, but still painless distro to try out. I'll take Gnome over Unity any day, and I do need to run VirtualBox for Windows. If it'll make a nice media server to feed our Sony BluRay, all the better.

I don't mind mucking about in the guts of things, but any problem that eats up more than two hours without a solution will likely not be fixed — I'll try a different software rather than spend that much time.

Submission + - Forcing Google to Fix Bugs (google.com)

Submitted by rueger on Thursday October 11, 2012 @07:31PM

rueger writes: Does anyone in the Slashdot community know how to get Google to actually respond to problems with their products? As much as I like Android, it frightens me that there seems to be no avenue to get support for it from Google. In my case there's one specific bug that is causing me grief, but bug reports (in ICS and JB); forum posts, and even sneaky attempts to find a living support person at Google have led to no response.

What is a reasonable standard of cxustomer support from a company this size? Do we need to resort to legislation to force companies to offer accessible user support for widely used products like Android?

Submission + - Statistic: More Children Can Use Mice Than Can Tie Their Shoes. (learnstuff.com)

Submitted by rueger on Tuesday September 04, 2012 @05:57PM

rueger writes: An infographic at learnstuff.com claims that "Today 70% of children between the ages of 2-5 can operate a computer mouse, but only 11% of them can tie their own shoes."

There's no surprise that they don't offer a source for these "statistics, or a reference to how many children could tie their shoes twenty years ago, before computers. And surely they don't bother saying that there's likely no causal link between the two things.

What should we do about "statistics" like this?

Submission + - Staying Safe and Free on the 'Net (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by rueger on Wednesday February 29, 2012 @11:22PM

rueger writes: The US government just shut down a website registered, owned, and operated in a foreign country, demonstrating that "anything hosted in the US, registered in the US, or using a domain whose root is controlled by a US corporation is subject to American law.". In Canada the government is likely bringing in legislation that allows warrantless police access to your Internet activity. And of course many countries filter or otherwise block access to various parts of the 'net. Given this increasingly hostile environment, what are the best tools for staying safe, keeping sites and services on-line, and keeping government noses out of your business? Tor is an obvious starting point, but what's the hosting equivalent?

Submission + - Vintage Toronto Computer Rooms (blogto.com)

Submitted by

rueger

on Friday September 23, 2011 @03:12PM

rueger writes: "Over at BlogTO they've found some spectacular, Kubrick-esque shots of "an unidentified computer room that got me wondering if there were any more like them in the City's digitized collection."
Not being much of an expert on old computers, the little collection below is organized by aesthetics more than anything else. The technology used by the TTC, CBC and chartered accountants featured below is obviously quite different, but its size and design (not to mention the way that it's been photographed) places it within a particular historical context that's been all the rage since Mad Men took off a few years ago."

Well worth the time to look!"

Submission + - Earthquake-proof Telecoms

Submitted by

rueger

on Thursday August 18, 2011 @06:15PM

rueger writes: "Our local emergency preparedness outfit just tweeted "You should have at least 1 traditionally wired landline phone, as cordless or cellular phones may not work in an emergency"

That got me thinking about a number of things. Is this reasonable advice when probably a third of the people I know get telephone service in some way that doesn't involve a copper pair? (Such as via cel or the TV cable company)

Is there real experience that shows that copper wires hanging from wooden poles will survive a good sized quake? (Apparently not)

And — I suggested this to them — wouldn't it be cheaper to suggest that people buy a small generator to charge their phones instead of paying a telco $30 or $40 a month forever to maintain a landline?"

Submission + - A Modern Majordomo?

Submitted by

rueger

on Wednesday August 17, 2011 @06:35PM

rueger writes: "Today I wanted to set up a quick e-mail list for a group of people. In the past I've used Topica.com, majordomo, and list-serv, as well as Yahoo groups and even some PHP packages.

I thought that it would be easy to find a free web based alternative that would let thirty or forty people e-mail each other, and which would be VERY easy to subscribe to and unsubscribe from.

I don't want to get into hosting list software for this group, and figured there must be good solution out there. So far everything that I've found via Google is either very one-way (advertising oriented) or charges more than is reasonable.

What is a fast and easy way to set up a small e-mail list for a small, non-techy group?"

Submission + - Best Off-Road Smart Phone? 5

Submitted by

rueger

on Friday July 29, 2011 @05:21PM

rueger writes: "I walk dogs for a living on the mountain trails above the North Shore of Vancouver. I rely on my smart phone for emergency contact, and use the GPS pretty constantly if I'm on unfamiliar trails. In general terms I like my Android smart-phone, and have fell in love with the platform. Problem is the cheapy Motorola Charm is a lousy phone with mediocre 3G reception, and GPS that can't always be relied upon unless you reboot regularly. That hasn't been an issue since the battery usually dies after five or six hours of use.

I'm opening a can of worms, but what's a good 3G Android phone with good reception in fringe areas, reliable GPS, and really good battery life? In other words, if you're heading for the woods, what's the tool that you rely on?

PS — don't like Apple products — 3 years with a Powerbook didn't convert me. And a good camera is a big plus."

Submission + - Osama the Gun (blogspot.com)

Submitted by rueger on Thursday July 07, 2011 @06:24PM

rueger writes: After having the book rejected by every American publisher, but accepted by the French, noted author Norman Spinrad is releasing his presumed to be controversial book "Osama the Gun" as an e-publication in the US.

OSAMA THE GUN, set in a not-so-far future when the “Sons of Osama” have re-established a powerful Islamic Caliphate with Pakistani nuclear weapons and Arabian oil money, is the story of one of those sons of the martyr, a naive and sincere young man named after him, who becomes a Caliphate secret agent just to escape its closed confines to see the world, and stepwise finds himself becoming the reluctant hero of the title, as told to the reader by Osama the Gun himself.

Previously Spinrad circulated a portion of the book in an e-format to build interest, and I found it more than a good read.

Submission + - Capital One Security Breach

Submitted by rueger on Sunday April 10, 2011 @02:24AM

rueger writes: Capital One in Canada has e-mailed all customers telling them that their e-mail information has been compromised via a marketing company that they employ. They say: Epsilon "a marketing vendor that sends e-mails on our behalf—notified us about unauthorized outside access to files that included Capital One® customer e-mail addresses ... We’re working with Epsilon and law enforcement, and we’re thoroughly investigating this incident to help prevent future ones like it. "

Submission + - String Quartets on the Web

Submitted by rueger on Monday August 02, 2010 @05:56PM

rueger writes: Lots of people love iTunes. I'm partial to emusic.com. Ubuntu comes pre-equipped for Jamendo and Magnatune. These are great for those of us hunting popular music, but where do lovers of "classical" music go to find new artists and albums, download music, and generally keep informed, up to date, and satisfied? Or as my girlfriend put it "I used to go the the big classical record store downtown, but they're gone. Where do people go to find the newest Ligeti String Quartet recording?

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