RICA is forced upon us in South Africa (it's some act where you have to register your sim card so they can track you in case your number/sim is used in crime). I registered today, because I upgrade my cellphone contract tomorrow (or it's due anyway).
But if you, like me, are a bit of a techno guy, then you don't get snail mail anymore. So how do you prove where you stay? My edgars accounts, my vodacom acccount, my bank statements, all goes to my email now (I started that just before RICA came, and now what?!). So I went to the police station to fill in an affidavit to state I stay where I stay. It worked fine... but what bothered me about it all is that my address is on my ID, and my ID is required for RICA. So yeah, stupid if you ask me. :-/
Showing posts with label tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tech. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Real Life Spammers...
I got a SPAM email today from Glenrand M-I-B... Except that it wasn't from them...
from: By Design
reply-to: postman@housemail.co.za
to: xxxxx@gmail.com (I removed my email here to reduce my possibility of SPAM in future)
date: Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 9:51 AM
subject: Policyholders reminder: get building cover at a premium rate
mailed-by: kscope.mcentre.co.za
I have a policy at Glenrand (my car is insured there), and I haven't had any problems with them. So they are reputable... more so than AIG I guess. :-)
Anyway, so I send them an email saying that these people are emailing from no-where, and it's the first time I've received such a SPAM email from them... and the fact that it's not sent by an email address at "glenrandmib.co.za" really reduces the authenticity of the email.
Also, the spammers has added a lot of their own detail to the mail (which makes it better I guess?) Colleen@kscope.co.za... but also a telephone number! So I phoned Colleen at 021-462-2291. Asked her how she got hold of my email addy... She asked if it was the first time I've received any emails from them, and I replied yes, and wanted to know where she got my email addy.
Well, she said they either got it from their "client" or from a website... My email is available in the world... but that still doesn't give you the right to just SPAM me...
What worries me though is the fact that I have a policy with glenrand, so they have a bit more information about me than they legally should have... and that's not cool.
www.kscope.co.za believes they give a special service... but in my honest opinion, it's just spam...
A quote from their website:
"Step 1: We find new clients for you by creating an email database of 10 000 prospects specifically for your products and services using international search engines. We have specific software that selects the prospects in your market. Your database of 10 000 new prospective clients could be local, national or international."
from: By Design
reply-to: postman@housemail.co.za
to: xxxxx@gmail.com (I removed my email here to reduce my possibility of SPAM in future)
date: Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 9:51 AM
subject: Policyholders reminder: get building cover at a premium rate
mailed-by: kscope.mcentre.co.za
I have a policy at Glenrand (my car is insured there), and I haven't had any problems with them. So they are reputable... more so than AIG I guess. :-)
Anyway, so I send them an email saying that these people are emailing from no-where, and it's the first time I've received such a SPAM email from them... and the fact that it's not sent by an email address at "glenrandmib.co.za" really reduces the authenticity of the email.
Also, the spammers has added a lot of their own detail to the mail (which makes it better I guess?) Colleen@kscope.co.za... but also a telephone number! So I phoned Colleen at 021-462-2291. Asked her how she got hold of my email addy... She asked if it was the first time I've received any emails from them, and I replied yes, and wanted to know where she got my email addy.
Well, she said they either got it from their "client" or from a website... My email is available in the world... but that still doesn't give you the right to just SPAM me...
What worries me though is the fact that I have a policy with glenrand, so they have a bit more information about me than they legally should have... and that's not cool.
www.kscope.co.za believes they give a special service... but in my honest opinion, it's just spam...
A quote from their website:
"Step 1: We find new clients for you by creating an email database of 10 000 prospects specifically for your products and services using international search engines. We have specific software that selects the prospects in your market. Your database of 10 000 new prospective clients could be local, national or international."
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Linux vs Windows (the old days, and now)
In the old days, (lets say 8 years ago)... most hardware didn't work on linux except with a LOT of work. In those days, stuff used to "just work" on windows. However, these days, things don't "just work" on windows... You need to install drivers (back then windows had about a list of 100 vendors per device, and had a something that should work with your hardware)... These days, you need to download a driver from the internet (which you may had to do then too - but then it was 1mb), and they come pricy when it comes to bandwidth. 45mb for a driver? You must be f#%king kidding me... Wait... you have a hardware abstraction layer you have to connect to... how hard can it be? 45mb?!!! The *whole* linux kernel is less than that (I believe... I think it's 27mb).
I'll be just naming the product I have in mind here... HP OfficeJet 4255 all-in-one. I think it's a shame that driver sizes has increased as much as they did. I don't know whether to blame windows or the companies, but the bottom line is: linux does it with much less bandwitdh, and probably much less effort.
The fact is just that linux is getting with the hardware curve, and windows is almost falling behind it. (And the vendors creates the drivers themselves!)
A vista driver 163mb (same product)... That's 3/8 of my cap of a month.
I'll be just naming the product I have in mind here... HP OfficeJet 4255 all-in-one. I think it's a shame that driver sizes has increased as much as they did. I don't know whether to blame windows or the companies, but the bottom line is: linux does it with much less bandwitdh, and probably much less effort.
The fact is just that linux is getting with the hardware curve, and windows is almost falling behind it. (And the vendors creates the drivers themselves!)
A vista driver 163mb (same product)... That's 3/8 of my cap of a month.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Wordpress vs Blogger
I was recently invited to co-post at the tenletter games blog, which is hosted on Wordpress.
For me, the way blogger lays things out's user interface is cleaner than Wordpress's.
In the above screenshot, you *might* notice the publish button to the right of the editor. In user interfaces... that should really be at the bottom of it.
However, the features at wordpress is really cool, from pingbacks to statistics and other cool things make it really good.
So, my recommendation (if you don't already have a gazillion blogs) - blogger is "simpler, better, faster". Wordpress is more features, more complex.
For me, the way blogger lays things out's user interface is cleaner than Wordpress's.
In the above screenshot, you *might* notice the publish button to the right of the editor. In user interfaces... that should really be at the bottom of it.
However, the features at wordpress is really cool, from pingbacks to statistics and other cool things make it really good.
So, my recommendation (if you don't already have a gazillion blogs) - blogger is "simpler, better, faster". Wordpress is more features, more complex.
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