My Biggest Pet Peeve

Okay - really is stretching the limits of if this falls into my whole "TecHumanity" theme or not, but what the hell - it's my blog and I'll post what I want :)

Going for a walk at lunch today and within a two block radius, I spot two glaring spelling mistakes on signage. It doesn't matter if it's the owner that doesn't know how to spell, the printers obviously not only are spelling-challenged, but they've also not clicked into this REALLY neat function called a spell-checker.

The words in question: Chiken and privlage - how does someone look at that and not immediately know that there is something wrong with this picture? Totally burns my britches :) (reminder to self - do a spell check before posting this blog entry!)

And the Lines of Technology Blur Even More

In terms of entertainment, the television was always king (and movies as well, to make it a bit of a stretch).

One of the benefits of the Internet is that it also allowed access to many legal (and some not-so-legal) sites where entertainment material can be experienced. From the iTunes and the Napsters on music to all sorts of peer-to-peer network for pirated movies.

Now - it is not uncommon to be able to view archived episodes of your favourite episode online.

Although I haven't yet tried it, Rogers Cable has introduced an online Rogers on Demand service for viewing episodes and ordered movies via things other than the TV top decoder/converter.

This week, Playstation announced that one can purchase access to Major League Baseball games via the Playstation 3 and this has me thinking. With the PS3 we have a true entertainment device - not just a gaming machine. Not only can a wide range of games be played, but it also has a built-in BluRay drive and access to the Internet. Now with this MLB application, we now have streaming games. Let's not even get into how the PS3 can listen to music that exists on one of my three computers through the WiFi network.

I almost said that the introduction of the PS3 will almost make the television obsolete, but I guess that isn't going to happen until they have a build-in monitor!

Huh? Say What?

Story today is of a fellow who has bought and resold iPads for his friends and colleagues. Apparently, he goes to buy another one - sales clerk replies "Sorry sir, you've been cut-off". According to the sales clerk, the individual has reached the lifetime "maximum" of iPads that he's allowed to buy.

Huh? Really? Are there companies that DISCOURAGE sales? There must be something behind the story - I just don't get it.

Over the years, I've bought a ton of Dell Machines - for myself - and for friends and family. I can't imagine that Dell is anything but thrilled with my preference for Dell products.

This week, I received a gift certificate more Moore's Menswear as I had bought over $500 worth of clothes over the past few months. Can you imagine how odd it would have been to instead, having received a letter stating "I'm sorry, but you've bought 3 suits at Moore's - that's your lifetime maximum. Now go away!".

Too odd. I'm sure that there's probably a supply and demand sort of thing with the iPad (especially here in the Great White North), but to state that there is a limit? Truly a head-scratcher

New Age: The Vampyres vs The Werewolves

That battle-lines have been drawn, and for the most part, people have staked their claim in one camp or another. The Vampyres (the Blackberry users) are the insidous clan. The lure of the Crackberry is omni-present and it almost viral in nature. Certainly, having a Crackberry is one of the more elite status symbols. What's the demographic for the Blackberry? Well - to an extent, it crosses all lines in terms of race, age and gender, but the one demographic that strikes me as the one common denominator is that those with Blackberrys are either the business types or perhaps they live a life of priveledge to an extent.

The werewolves, they are the iPhone crew. Typically (but not always) the younger gen. They're the ones that probably have a love of music and want the convergency of an iPod and their music player.

Me, myself...I remain in my own camp - fully and totally uncommitted to either side. I have my iTouch - and I love it, but I'm not certain that I would have a need for an iPhone. As per some of my previous posts, convergency can be a good idea, but sometimes, not so much.

If I were to be lured, I'd have to see that I have an inclination to be a werewolf - don't think that I'd make a very good vampyre, there's no way that I could stay up that late :)

Spear-Phishing

One of the newer techniques employed by scammers is that of spear phishing. Phishing has been around for awhile and it’s defined as attempts by scammers to get email recipients to click on email links and redirecting them to their own web pages. These pages will mimic authentic sites and they will then try to entice the user to enter their account information. Amongst the more common types of phishing are these emails that appear to be from reputable banks threatening to cut off accounts if the account isn’t logged in. Most individuals are too sophisticated for these blatant attempts to steal credentials.

One of the newer attempts has been labeled as “spear-phishing”. Spear-phishing is where an individual specifically targets their victims – usually within a specific organization. With the proliferation of information on the Internet, it is very easy for a scammer to gather information particular to an organization such as: department names, manager names or perhaps even project names.

The scammers will then use methods to find individuals employed by a specific organization and target them for attack. The email itself has the same intent – it either has a malware “payload” (i.e. Trojan horse or other forms of mal-ware), or it attempts to convince the reader to click on a link. The premise behind spear-phishing is that by referencing projects, manager names or other organizational information, this form of social engineering will give the email a sense of credibility and increase the chance of the reader clicking on links.

The same ways of protecting yourself applies to phishing and spear-fishing. Never click on links – copy and paste the URL. If it’s a secure site, then look for the https: prefix or your browsers indicator that it’s a secured site and most of all, don’t trust an email just because of the subject or contents of the message

And Now for Something Completely Different...

Probably not something I would normally write about, but heck - I read a story today and thought to myself "meh - it kind of has technology in it - and it sure has the humanity angle in it, so what the heck"!

Woman in the UK allegedly fell off her Wii Fit Board. That in itself is certainly not newsworthy in the least. However, her claim is that with this accident, she damaged a nerve and has been diagnosed with...how did it go...."persistent arousal syndrome" or something like that? She claims that just her cellphone vibrating or the sound of the blender arouses her and she has up to 10 orgasms a day. What made my day - at the end of the article - it went on to say that this woman is single and...currently looking for a boyfriend lol.

Something tells me that a lot of men will read this and then go out and surprise their wife with a Wii Fit board :)

No...wait...upon reflection...I think that spontaneously giving your lovely wife a Wii Fit board is not necessarily the best thing to do if you want to "get some" :)

Technology and Warfare - a TOS Premonition?

Technology becomes an ever-increasing target as we become more and more reliant on it.

Although I can't state this as fact - yet - I am pretty sure that terrorist groups have recognized that cyber-attacks can be just as effective as "hard-attacks". The facility or capability to bring down a banking or law enforcement system must be an overwhelming temptation.

The other benefit is that these attacks can be conducted from anywhere. No longer do militants have to deal with the logistics of meeting/planning in person, technology is yet just another one tool in the kit of intimidation and nefarious criminal activity.

I'm reminded of this based on an article in PC World which states that the US Air Force is now training their recruits on basic cyber-warfare techniques and concepts.

As I read this article, I had a total flash-back to one particular Star Trek episode (THE Star Trek - TOS with Captain Kirk). This episode had the crew of the Enterprise (if memory serves!) beam down to the surface of a planet to mediate a war between two different groups of society. To his surprise, Kirk determines that HOW they conduct their war is that each side's computer randomly selects members of the opposing faction. If your number was "up", then you were required to calmly march to the extermination chamber.

I remember Kirk's soliloquy...the army heads of this faction justified this approach with something along the lines of "well - this is a more humane way to battle - less property damage, collateral damage, etc...". Kirk's response - in a very dramatic and extremely Kirk-ian way - was that this is why the war was lingering, because they weren't seeing the horrors of war, that they had lost the "humanity" of war.

I also recall after watching this episode how the general plot got the point across very eloquently and that it had the kind of logic that perhaps would make Spock proud.

I read this article today and instantly thought to myself - is there where war is headed?