3D Videos On YouTube
Written by Zealus on August 3, 2008 – 8:17 pm -Finally got around to post some 3D videos we’ve created for one of our clients. This 40-second excerpt is from a full 3 minute installation video. That’s coming as well, just a little later.
AquaShield 3D Animation - by Zealus.com
Popularity: 7%
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Job Offer Spam
Written by Zealus on August 1, 2008 – 1:23 pm -
While working on my new web site, RateMyRecruiter.net, I started paying more attention to job offers I keep getting in my jobs-related mailbox. Interesting enough, the level of sophistication that spam achieves there is a little higher then on the average among my other mailboxes.
For example, in my regular inbox’s Junk folder I see same stuff where the subject line is torn off some news site where the body contains some spam, phishing or plain old scam content; I get Viagra e-mails where letters replaced with symbols and more symbols interjected; I see debt consolidation offers, offers to make my private parts large enough to stop fitting my pants and so on.
But just take a look at my jobs inbox - and the picture changes drastically. Almost no Viagra spam (or any sex-related spam whatsoever), a lot less “Your bank has suspended your account, visit this page to revalidate your account” sent from russian domains, not even a famous Nigerian or Russian Scam letter. What I see, however, is carefully crafted job offers that either lead you to some web page that dutyfully collects all your information, including Social Security number, address (maybe even previous two or three) and so on or require you to reply with your resume, salary requirements and filled out questionaire (with your demographic data, including SSN). For job application purposes, of course.
Actually, it never ceased to amaze me how much data is collected through a job application process. And while medical processing companies require full-blown training for ANY employee on securing PHI (Personal Health Information, that includes demographic, geographic and health info as well as history), head hunters are going as they please. At least I haven’t seen any disclosure that says “we promise we won’t use your data for anything bad”.
Since the whole process almost always takes place over the e-mail, you may never be able to figure out where your data went. Is it sitting in some poor chap’s Excel spreadsheet? Is it sitting in some data warehouse? Is it being sold with information of thousands people like you to the highest bidder on the “gray market”? Can you find out?
It would be interesting to set up an experiment like that. Close to October, when (I hope) job market will freshen up a bit, I am thinking on setting up something. Will keep you posted.
Popularity: 11%
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Starbucks Experience - coffee, cakes and Wi-Fi
Written by Zealus on July 21, 2008 – 11:12 am -
Due to some personal commitments (read: being engaged to a wonderful beautiful woman) I spend quite some time in a Starbucks near 7th Ave South and East 11th Street, New York, NY, waiting to pick her up after work. Regular visitors and staff already know me well enough to stop making passes on me, as well as learning that whatever I order is “to stay” and not “to go”. So, this post isn’t about them.
Before the ill-known Wi-Fi take-over by AT&T this Starbucks’s connection never had an issue. I come here with either one of my three laptops (my personal favorite T60p, smaller X61s or horrible company issued HP Compaq 6710b). None of them had any troubles connecting to T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi. Not until some time after AT&T took over.
Now, I am not trying to bash AT&T altogether. I am happily using their 3G with either BlackJack or Tilt (sometimes with my laptop tethered) while my fiancee’s second most loved thing on Earth is her iPhone (I hope I still hold the first place). What I was expecting to see from this clash of providers is that at the converted locations customers would experience intermittent outages while on T-Mobile hookup. You know - login process times out on you couple of times. Then some of your web sites are so slow that you can’t really so anything. Then the connection is dropped for no apparent reason. And that is just what I have been fed up with for previous two weeks. So much so that I had changed my weekly routine that I only have to spend one day of the week at that location.
A ticket submitted to T-Mobile customer support two weeks ago finally got answered today. In brief it says: “Yes, it’s a converted location, if you have any problems - call this number or that number”. Surely, just a template, with some name attached to it. Two weeks to send a canned reply - something tells me it isn’t a company that cares about me being their client. After all, if I decide to go with AT&T for Starbucks’ Wi-Fi, it’s going to cost me two times less money. Once the takeover by AT&T is complete, there would be not much incentive to keep T-Mobile, right?
Popularity: 17%
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