Posted on: May 7th, 2012 by Famous Phil
If you’re like me, you hate using a cell phone in the first place because they have crappy reception just about everywhere when you compare it to the old fashioned land line (admit it, land lines don’t cut out and have more consistent clarity). Perhaps you aren’t like me and don’t mind cellular technologies, but I bet that you’ll agree that it isn’t worth your time to pick up the phone to hear “we want you to buy this product”, or “we want you to vote for this person”. Unfortunately, I am one of the millions of cell phone users who suffer from having to deal with these campaigns, and I’m willing to bet that you are also a victim of these worthless calls.
Hopefully, you’ve heard about the Do Not Call registry (located at https://donotcall.gov/) and already have registered your phone number on this site. This site is a great tool to block telemarketers who follow the laws, but medical organizations, political campaigns; not-for-profits are exempt from this list and can call you regardless!
So what can we do about the rest of these telemarketers? Back when the telephone system was invented, several special tones were conceived to send information over the line for remote telephone routers, callers, and other purposes. Just as a very brief side note, telephone hacking was popular back in the 1970’s and had a term called Phreaking, and Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple was actually a hobby based phone phreak (hacker). Anyways, back to topic, today I learned that the TeleZapper ™ is a $50 device that simply plays the special tone for “this line has been disconnected”, which is 3 beeps that progressively get higher in frequency. This works because it costs telemarketers money to call your phone and they share similar phone number databases. When the telemarketers come across a disconnected line, they will update that database accordingly to save them money (there is no sense in calling a disconnected number, right?).
Since 99% of telemarketing calls are automated by computers, the computers are typically programmed to be efficient and save the telemarketer money, meaning the computer will disconnect / update the number if they come across certain special codes. If they don’t, they’ll redirect your call to a human that is being paid to market a product to you. The human costs the most, so the idea is to keep this cost as minimal and as profitable as possible.
So now the basic idea, what happens if we play the special tone on our voice mail message? Our voice mail is the very first thing that plays if we don’t answer the phone ourselves, and furthermore, we can turn off the automated “the number you have reached…” message to simply allow our own recorded message to play immediately after the 4th ring. Telemarketing computers typically ignore the ring, so if the special disconnect code is the first thing that plays upon connection, the computer will usually assume that the line is disconnected.
Today, I added this tone to the very beginning of my voicemail, and then I proceed to give my normal message. I know that if anyone important really wants to talk to me, they’ll leave a message past the 3 tones because my voice explains why it’s there in the first place. So if you’re willing to take an easy chance at stopping the telemarketing calls, try this, you never know what might happen!
If you’d like the tone to download, you may grab it at this link: http://famousphil.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/disconnected.wav
Finally, one last thought: since I’m on the topic of phones, I got a great graphic about the dangers of Cell Phones a while back from a Mr. Tony Shin, you may view his graphic at http://www.onlinemastersdegree.com/cell-phones-kill/
Tags: cell phone, disconnected, do not call, telemarketer, tone
Posted in Mobile Technology, Student Life, Technology
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Posted on: April 1st, 2012 by Famous Phil
About a month ago, I was asked to write a review of UCertify’s services (their website is located at www.ucertify.com). UCertify is a certification test preparation service for taking various information technology related certification tests.
The IT industry in past years has become highly standardized and this means that many certification tests have evolved to enable people to prove that their skills are at par. Certifications tend to provide a higher probability that the person who passed will obtain a better job and will be able to perform at the job’s expectations. Certifications tend to require renewal every 5-10 years as well to ensure that the person who is certified remains knowledgeable in the ever evolving technology that surrounds them.
I might as well add in that I am not certified in anything at this point in time, but I have a computer science degree (BS and MS) from an accredited university. I tend to do IT work solely as a hobby, since my true abilities are in programming, and the theory around programming and how computers work. The difference between IT and CS is simply the amount of math and theory that you have to learn about. IT is basically really simplified practical computer science if you ask me.
Now for an actual review of UCertify. They were kind enough to provide me with a full access license to their Windows Exam (MCTS) Preparation Kit. I had to download a 15MB program that installed itself to my computer and then provided me with a nice user interface to begin learning the components of the exam. The interface was very simple and easy to understand, it was broken into a learning mode (which starts at the basics and advances) and a test mode. In learning mode, you’re simply learning about what general windows administrators need to know, there are also several quiz questions to verify that you understand what you read. In test mode, you can answer several questions and attempt to meet a goal (like a passing score for example).
I only went through a very small subset of both sections, but I was surprised to see some material that I wasn’t entirely familiar with (although I’ve heard of it), with this said, I’d strongly recommend the service as a whole for someone who needs to get certified. Certification exams assume that you will need to know everything at some point, so they test for just about everything. Unfortunately, many uncertified professionals are only exposed to what they need to know, so sometimes it can take a few minutes for someone such as me to arrive at the same conclusion that a certified person might already know. In any event, certification in the relevant field almost always guarantees that a candidate can get a specified job before someone who is uncertified for the same position.
I’d like to thank Manjari from UCertify for contacting me about this service, if you have any questions about their service, I’d suggest you email him directly at manjari [at/@] ucertify [./dot] com. I learned a little from what I have done with the service and who knows, it might even help me in the future. Hopefully this can be useful for some of my readers out there. Finally, for all of the skeptics out there, I wasn’t paid to write this review although I did get temporary free access to the windows certification prepkit to review it.
Tags: certification, prepkit, ucertify
Posted in Hosting / Server Administration, Technology
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Posted on: March 11th, 2012 by Famous Phil
When was the last time that you mindlessly clicked the allow access button on your facebook for an application to gain access to its features? Go ahead and admit it, chances are that you have at least once in your life, I know that I’ve done it several times (just like I usually do with privacy policies and terms of service policies). With privacy concerns growing, I thought this would be a great blog to write at this point in time.
Unfortunate for all of us, the internet was built on an openness model and NOTHING that is placed onto the internet should be considered private! However, many people usually ignore this fact and give information to a “protected” service which they then believe inside will never become exposed. This is generally true if you carefully read all the privacy statements and verify that there are no loopholes, since most providers won’t release information without a court order, and they do take a lot of precautions to store the data that you openly give them. But all too often, those users will use a weak password or volunteer the information to a third party without thinking (remember the allow access button above?).
Being in the software development field now for the past 5 years, I can safely say that the old saying “there is no such thing as a free lunch” holds, if something is free, you should scrutinize it and figure out why it is “free” to use! Often times, these applications will collect and store your data, and at a later time, sell it off to third parties (hence the product was never entirely free). I’m sure that there are a few truly free products out there (e.g. open source, not-for-profit organization applications, etc), but you the consumer, need to be very careful about who you allow to get to your seemingly private data. If you ever are concerned about what data is being collected and stored, a good first step is to contact who is offering the service and ask them about what they exactly collect and store / how they make money, then proceed from there.
So now for an example that I’m skeptical of. Below is a screenshot of a calendar facebook application that I was invited to use for adding myself to a virtual yearbook at my old high school. If you notice, it is requesting access to a lot of legitimate data, but this is also scary. I will admit that there is information in my profile that others have added that I hide (since I cannot modify it if it is harmful to my online presence), and this data would be available to a third party application. Ultimately, I declined the access to the application and removed other applications that I don’t use.
I guess the bottom line is be careful about who you give access to, it could unintentionally harm your image in the future. Google has recently put together a site about being safe online, I’d highly recommend visiting it: http://www.google.com/goodtoknow/
Posted in Personal, Technology
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Posted on: February 20th, 2012 by Famous Phil
About a month ago, I covered using MySQL in both PHP and Python briefly by posting two simple classes (code samples), you may view that post here. Typically, I’m a more advanced user that has a lot of skills in systems administration, and unfortunately, I kind of overlooked how to get the functionality that my code exploits working correctly, so I’m going to take a step back (after a few private emailed questions) to explain how to get MySQL working with both PHP and Python in CentOS 6, which is my operating system of choice for serving PHP and Python applications.
I guess that I’ll start with PHP since it’s by far easier to get working. Assuming that you’re using Yum (the default CentOS package manager), installing the package php-mysql (yum install php-mysql) should be sufficient in making all of the MySQL functionality work in PHP. The Ubuntu package manager, apt-get, should have a similar installation package. Any LAMP installation should install this package automatically (including Debian, Ubuntu, Suse, etc). If you’re installing by source, you’ll need to install MySQL first (by source I’d assume), then compile PHP and Apache (or your web server of choice). When compiling PHP from source, you’ll need the argument “—with-mysql” passed in as a parameter to the configure script. I’ve linked the PHP Source Code for your convenience if you wish to go the source route (which I wouldn’t recommend personally).
Next up is Python’s MySQL connectivity. Once again, you’re going to need at least the MySQL client installed on your local machine along with Python. In CentOS (6, probably 5 and 4 also), you can do a “yum install mysql-client” to get MySQL’s client on the system. I use the library called mysql-python. MySQL for Python is linked for your convenience. To install this library, visit the site (linked previously) and download the tar.gz file (currently MySQL-python-1.2.3.tar.gz), once you have that on the server, extract it using (tar xzf MySQL-python-1.2.3.tar.gz). Inside the extracted archive, you’ll find several files, including a setup.py. As root, simply run this executable with the install parameter: “python setup.py install”. This will install the Python-MySQL library and my sample singleton class should now work. As a tip, many Python related libraries use the setup.py executable in the same format.
I’m sure that I missed a lot of details, but this was merely to answer a few questions that I received through email, mostly about the Python-MySQL library. Hopefully this post helps resolve these questions.
Tags: CentOS, mysql-python, php-mysql
Posted in Hosting / Server Administration, Programming
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Posted on: February 16th, 2012 by Famous Phil
I decided to post this from George Martin because I was discussing credit card debt with a friend because it is a problem that affects a lot of people very negatively (thankfully, I’m not one of them). From what I know, the “I want it now” thinking of society has been the primary cause of this problem. Hopefully this problem will reverse itself before its too late. Anyways, back on topic, I’m considering getting a personal credit card for ordinary expenses that I’d usually just pay for in cash to maintain a good credit score and I thought these tips would be an excellent read for anyone who already has a credit card.
The media spends a lot of air time talking about identity theft, but many of the suggestions you see on the news may not be the best ways to protect your identity. While it is still true that identity thieves often try to acquire your physical credit cards and charge purchases to them until they are maxed out before you notice that they are missing; the number of those who need only your credit card number to steal your whole identity is rapidly rising.
No one is completely immune to the possibility of having their identity stolen, but with a bit of knowledge in identity theft tactics; you can work to stay one step ahead of potential thieves, and keep your identity safe.
1. Identity thieves can steal your identity without your credit card number.
There are many other personal documents that can allow a thief to steal your identity. Keep documents such as social security cards, birth certificates, passports and other identification, and credit cards not in use under lock and key at home or in a safe deposit box at the bank. Do not carry these documents with you on a regular basis; only take them out if you actually need them
2. Seemingly innocent nonfinancial information online can be plenty for a thief to steal your identity.
It may not seem like much to work with, but a smart thief can steal your identity with nonfinancial personal facts about you, such as your home address, phone number, or full birthdate. Never list this type of information on social-networking sites, job-search sites, or any other website that you use for business or personal reasons and have used your card with.
3. Keep a close eye on your physical mail.
Know when to expect incoming credit card and other bills to arrive. If they don’t show up, it could be an indicator that an identity thief has accessed your account and changed the billing address. If you need to order checks, pick them up at the bank personally; if you have them delivered, they could be stolen from your mailbox, altered, and cashed by a thief.
4. Review your financial statements regularly. Check statements for your bank accounts and credit cards at the very least monthly. More often is better. Look specifically for very small charges, less than a dollar that you can’t remember making as that could be a credit card authorizing a charge. Finding one could be an indicator that someone is looking to buy your credit information in a block of stolen card numbers. If you find such a charge, inform your bank or credit company that they should be on the lookout for fraudulent activity on your account.
5. If anything about an ATM or credit terminal doesn’t look quite right, don’t use it. Skimmers are electronic devices that can be placed on ATMs or in-store credit terminals by identity thieves to collect your data when you swipe your card. If you don’t notice until after you have already swiped your card, alert your credit company or bank as soon as possible so that they can keep a close watch on your account for any suspicious activity.
6. If you are a tourist or traveler, you are at greater risk of having your identity stolen. Travelers are often more focused on getting where they are going on enjoying the sights than the people around them. Keep an eye out for strangers lurking around if you are using a public phone, or paying with your credit card. It is also recommended that you don’t use unsecured public wifi connections, unless your computer has advanced security features.
7. Learn to be sneakier than those who may want to steal your identity. A few sneaky little tricks can help protect your credit and bank cards from being stolen at all. Most thieves won’t bother with cards that still have the “please activate” sticker still on them, because they know you need the phone number on file with the credit company to activate it, and thus it is basically worthless. Also sign your cards with permanent marker instead of pen, so that it is harder to remove and write over.
8. Stay alert while checking out. Normally a cashier has no reason to take your card, as most stores have a terminal where you swipe your card personally, but if a cashier takes your card, and turns their back to you, or takes longer than is normal for such transaction, they may be collecting your information. This can be done with a handheld skimming terminal, by taking photos of both sides of your card with a cellphone, or even replacing your card with a similar looking one that isn’t yours. Always check that the card you were given back actually belongs to you.
9. Take advantage of the option to go paperless. By viewing all of your credit and bank statements online, you lessen the chance of someone stealing snail mail with valuable information on it from your box. If you do have credit slips, or paper bills, shred them before throwing them away. If it has your card number, name, phone number, or address on it, shred it first to prevent a potential thief from gaining this personal information.
10. Read the fine print before you sign up for identity theft insurance. While having identity theft insurance can pay off, most companies that offer it only cover the money you spend to repair your lost identity, not the money lost due to the theft. Check your homeowner’s policy as it may currently include identity theft in your insurance, before signing up with another company incurring extra expense.
Author Box
The article is shared by George Martin. George Martin understands nitty gritties of credit cards. Apart from that if you need any answer on credit card, debt or other money then you can contact him.
Tags: Credit Card, Dangers, George Martin, Identity
Posted in My Site, Technology
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Posted on: January 22nd, 2012 by Famous Phil
Its now time to become serious with my blog again after such a long lapse in real content.
When building new applications, it always seems like I start with the grand picture requiring no massive data storage and shortly after I begin, I find myself needing a database connection. I’ve made the mistake several times now of not starting with a dedicated database class that connects to MySQL, and I always find myself googling for pre-made classes that don’t do exactly what I need, so I’ve decided to post my own for future reference. As a result, I’m going to make sure that when I Google, I find my own reference before someone else’s 
Hopefully this is useful to someone else.
PHP’s MySQL singleton class:
<?php
// Copyright (c) 2012 Philip Matuskiewicz www.famousphil.com
// To use:
// require_once("Mysql.php");
// $db = new Mysql();
class Mysql{
private $server = "localhost";
private $username = "";
private $password = "";
private $database_table = "";
private static $instance;
private function __construct(){
$this->connect();
}
public function connect(){
mysql_connect($this->server, $this->username, $this->password);
mysql_select_db($this->database_table);
$this->q("set names 'utf8'");
}
//query the database
public function q($query){
$r = mysql_query($query);
return $r;
}
//returns an array containing all the rows that were returned
public function qr($query){
$r = $this->q($query);
if (mysql_num_rows($r) > 0) {
$res = array();
while ($arr = mysql_fetch_array($r)) {
array_push($res, $arr);
}
return $res;
} else {
return null;
}
}
//number of rows returned
public function nr($query){
return mysql_num_rows($this->q($query));
}
//last inserted row id is returned
public function lid(){
return mysql_insert_id();
}
//close the database connection
public function c(){
mysql_close();
}
public static function singleton(){
if (!isset(self::$instance)) {
$c = __class__;
self::$instance = new $c;
}
return self::$instance;
}
public function __clone(){
trigger_error('no clone', E_USER_ERROR);
}
}
?>
The Python MySQL singleton implementation is similar, but includes an external file named config.py in this example
--> config.py (configuration information for the MySQL class)
dbhost = "localhost";
dblogin = "";
dbpassword = "";
dbname = "";
--> MySQL.py (The MySQL class)
#!/usr/bin/env python
# Copyright (c) 2012 Philip Matuskiewicz www.famousphil.com
#to include / use, insert the following lines in the code
#import imp;
#mysql = imp.load_source("MySQLConnector", "PATH_TO_PYTHON_FILE/mysql.py").MySQLConnector();
#result = mysql.tryquery("Mysql Query Here");
import sys;
import os;
import string;
import base64;
import MySQLdb;#mysql library (you will need to install this on the system)
#MySQL Singleton Class
class MySQLConnector(object):
_connection = None;
_instance = None;
def __init__(self):
try:
if MySQLConnector._instance == None:
MySQLConnector._instance = self;
MySQLConnector._instance.connect();
except Exception, e:
print "MySQL Error "+str(e);
def instance(self):
return MySQLConnector._instance;
def get_connection(self):
return MySQLConnector._connection;
def connect(self, debug=False):
try:
for line in open('includes/config.py'):
#this can be dangerous, but sources / executes lines in config.py, which contains the db info
#alternatively, you can just set the variables here manually
exec('%s = %s' % tuple(line.split('=', 1)));
MySQLConnector._connection = MySQLdb.connect(dbhost, dblogin, dbpassword, dbname);
if debug:
print "INFO: Database connection successfully established";
except Exception, e:
print "ERROR: MySQL Connection Couldn't be created... Fatal Error! "+str(e);
sys.exit();
def disconnect(self):
try:
MySQLConnector._connection.close();
except:
pass;#connection not open
#returns escaped data for insertion into mysql
def esc(self, esc):
return MySQLdb.escape_string(str(esc));
#query with no result returned
def query(self, sql):
cur = MySQLConnector._connection.cursor();
return cur.execute(sql);
def tryquery(self, sql):
try:
cur = MySQLConnector._connection.cursor();
return cur.execute(sql);
except:
return False;
#inserts and returns the inserted row id (last row id in PHP version)
def insert(self, sql):
cur = MySQLConnector._connection.cursor();
cur.execute(sql);
return self._connection.insert_id();
def tryinsert(self, sql):
try:
cur = MySQLConnector._connection.cursor();
cur.execute(sql);
return self._connection.insert_id();
except:
return -1;
#returns the first item of data
def queryrow(self, sql):
cur = MySQLConnector._connection.cursor();
cur.execute(sql);
return cur.fetchone();
#returns a list of data (array)
def queryrows(self, sql):
cur = MySQLConnector._connection.cursor();
cur.execute(sql);
return cur.fetchmany();
#end class MySQLConnector
Tags: mysql, php, Python, Singleton, Source Code
Posted in Programming, Technology
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Posted on: January 21st, 2012 by Famous Phil
Phil’s Introduction to the post: This will be the last guest post that I accept indefinitely that doesn’t deal with a difficult problem that the poster hasn’t directly solved (basically, the same things I blog about). I feel that these posts are deteriorating the quality of my site, and guest posters are simply looking for high page rank back links to their sites, instead of writing unique, original content that creates better rankings. In a few days, I’ll be releasing some python source code for MySQL connectivity, Nginx for high traffic sites, and other tricky problems that I’m currently dealing with in attempt to re-rail my site back onto topic. Anyways, Rebecca Jones has written about Listening to Spotify on Linux (without WINE which is a Windows Execution Emulator for Linux), I hope that you enjoy her guest post.
Listen To Your Music In Spotify For Free Without Wine
Music aficionados who delight in listening to millions of tracks through Spotify’s free version but feel petered out of needing Wine at the same time have just got some good news to enjoy. The DRM-based music streaming service now announces a new free version specifically for Linux users. Spotify for free will now enable listeners to indulge in gripping tunes without calling out for Wine.
Integrated with a host of great user –friendly features, the music streaming application allows users to listen to millions of songs, any time they like. One can simply rifle through Spotify for a particular song and start playing in unprecedented clarity. For those unaware, Spotify is music based software which provides users with an intuitive medium to search download and play their favorite songs.
Almost like a new music collection, Spotify brings forth convenient access to unlimited tracks and features compatibility with home audio systems and smartphones. The app also lends support to users’ desktop and Mac for tunes that should follow everywhere. At the same time, the app allows users to discover and share music with their closed ones. In fact, users can even hear what their friends are listening to – just by hitting ‘play’ on any music post.
However, Spotify distinguishes from Last FM and Pandora in a couple of significant ways. To state, the app lets music buffs listen to entire albums on demand. But, be careful as there are certain obnoxiously genre-defying advertisements contained. Irrespective of the pros and cons that it comes with, the app still emerges to be an ideal pick. With this one around, people can seamlessly search up and down for songs and share them with amigos.
Although Spotify was extended to several platforms, the software did arch shoulders for those who would always need Wine just to listen to the music. Previously, the Linux version for Spotify used to function merely with paid accounts. Nevertheless, the free version of Spotify for Linux is now anticipated to make things simpler for enthusiasts by large.
The native Linux adaptation starts up pretty quickly and does not gulp down much of a listener’s time while delivering a better experience than Wine. As far as the enrollment is concerned, users will be required to register for an account at Spotify’s official website before kicking off their musical journey. But, a bit to dismay, registering feels a dearth of a Facebook account since the company has made it mandatory to have an account on the stated social networking site.
Besides Spotify for free without Wine, the music streaming service can be downloaded either in Premium which makes users shell our £9.99 per month or in Unlimited which costs just about £4.99 per month. Those who do not wish to fork their pennies out can simply download the free version. However, irrespective of which subscription has been settled upon, the software ensures a thorough, rich music experience. So, what are you waiting for? Just head towards Spotify and we believe the rest you know!
About the author: Rebecca is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on environment and technology. Beside this she is fond of books. She recently bought a AGP Graphics Card. These days she is busy in writing an article on Magnetic Earrings.
Tags: Linux, Spotify, Wine
Posted in Technology
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Posted on: January 6th, 2012 by Famous Phil
Its amazing what a major boost in PR can do for a website in terms of guest posters. This will be the last guest post that I accept for a while so that I can post about more technical topics that I want my website to be focused around, and guest posters have a lot of difficulty providing the type of content that I strive to offer. Anyways, here is a guest post from Kristin Mullen that discusses credit cards for younger (college) students that kind of co-insides with the amount of college debt that I’m repaying.
There are hundreds of suggestions online telling students just how to manage their money. While most of these suggestions are valid, tips on how to handle your credit are potentially the most important. You may think that a credit card will help solve all of your problems, but the truth is that many young adults get into financial trouble fast when they don’t know how to manage their money productively.
Avoid Aggressive Credit Card Companies
Some colleges and universities allow credit card companies to set up booths and promote their low introductory interest rates to students on campus. They try to draw in these unsuspecting students with free gear like shirts and backpacks when they apply for a credit card. Many students fall into this trap and end up with a bunch of credit cards that they simply don’t need. Using all of these credit cards could result in the student drowning in debt that will take years to pay off.
Manage Your Credit Card Wisely
If you have thought through all of your options, and you decide you will need a credit card, make sure you manage it wisely. Get only one, and make sure you will be able to pay off the balance at the end of each month. Keeping a zero balance on your account from month to month will improve your credit rating, which could help you in the future with your financial aspirations.
Research different credit card companies and try to find a card with no annual fees, the lowest interest rate, and a grace period of 20 to 30 days before the company will charge you interest on your balance. Cards with one-time processing fees and low introductory interest rates that will rise after a few months are probably not the best for you. Also, look into credit cards that are secured by a bank deposit. With this type of card, you will use money from a savings account instead of using money you don’t have now, and the use of this card will still help you improve your credit score.
Once you have your credit card, don’t use it to buy anything you won’t be able to pay for right away. If you have an emergency, make sure you will still be able to make your monthly payments before using your credit card to solve the problem. Try to make payments larger than the minimum amount whenever possible so your interest rate will stay low. Finally, make your payments online or mail payments to the company several days before they are due to avoid late fees.
Build good credit
In order to build good credit, you will have to pay your bills on time and repay all of your debts as promised. As I have said, a good credit record will help you achieve your financial goals in the future, like buying a car or starting a business. Your future employer could also check your credit report before hiring you, so a bad credit score could keep you from getting a job.
To avoid financial trouble and improve your credit, you should follow these steps.
1) Pay all of your expenses on time.
2) Make all of your credit card payments on time.
3) Pay off your loans before you make other large purchases.
4) Only apply for the credit cards you need. Applying often could tip off lenders that you are in financial trouble, even if you are not.
5) Don’t let your checks bounce.
If You Get Into Financial Trouble, Seek Help
If you don’t know how much money you owe, use credit cards to pay other bills, or will have to miss payments or pay your bills late, then look for someone who can help. Dorm resident advisors, financial aid officers, or even a psychologist can help you figure out your financial dilemma. Your parents or guardians will most likely be your biggest supporters when trying to get out of debt, but you should also try to show them your determination to not make this mistake again.
Kristin Mullen is an author who writes guest posts on the topics of business, marketing, credit cards, and personal finance. Additionally, she works for a website that focuses on educating readers about online debt consolidation.
Posted in Student Life
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Posted on: December 31st, 2011 by Famous Phil
It’s now time for the third(?) annual best/worst moments that I’ve made note of over the past year of my life. Unlike previous years where I threw things together at the last minute, this year, some (limited) advanced planning was made for this blog. Hopefully in future years, additional planning will make this traditional post actually worth reading. For this year, nonetheless, you’re going to have to suffer with the traditional thrown together at the last minute effect… 
This year started like many others that I’ve had, a new season of learning (at college) and a bunch of side projects that never seemed to take off the ground where they were conceived. As the year progressed, I started looking into my future and applied to several top technology companies, got several callbacks, and turned down several offers. I finally found an offer that I could live with in New York City in July and I quickly relocated, but not before I got my two college degrees in Computer Science (both an MS, and a BS). If there is one major thing I learned about the job market, Computer Science is a very valuable degree to have, but you still have to be persistent to land the job that you want!
Over the past year in my current job, I’ve been working on two major projects, one which is a social clothing site, www.wearingsocial.com which was finished back in August with about 2 weeks of effort. The other more potent project is www.unroll.me, which is currently in a limited beta testing stage, it has gotten press on life hacker among other sites. Unroll.me is an email scanning engine that finds subscriptions in your email inbox and automatically clicks the unsubscribe link (or numerous other methods that can be used to unsubscribe). At this point in time, as its primary algorithm developer, I’d say that it is very accurate(90%+) in detecting unsubscribe emails and links, and it is fairly good (70%+) at actually unsubscribing from those emails. For the abilities of computers, and how many exceptions that I’ve written into the application, I’m personally very impressed at its abilities to find and unsubscribe from those nasty subscription emails! Of course, this application is constantly being improved by myself and others to ensure that it becomes much better than it currently is!
Now for something that I’ve been very quiet about over the past 6 months: On my own, I’ve been working on a new application that basically wakes me up in the morning. I find that my view of the outside world isn’t very good in the morning, and I always end up forgetting my umbrella, etc when leaving for work. So I’ve been developing an application in my spare time that can call my phone (landline, cellphone, etc) and tell me what time it is and give me a quick overview of today’s weather so that I can realize I need to bring an umbrella, dress up, etc. Once the initial version is released, I will consider adding abilities to connect to an email todo list, calendar, etc and read appointments off, similar to Apple’s Siri for iPhone. Of course, other ideas will also be welcome to those who want to use this application. The application is complete functionally, but is still waiting on its design which should be done within the next month, once it’s done; I will be releasing it here on FamousPhil.com and Matthouse.us. Of course, you can always check the project’s website to see if it is released: http://www.personalwakeup.com.
Finally, unless it is raining after 8pm EST, I will be attending the NYC Times Square New Years celebration with friends.
So with not much more to say, now for my traditional videos highlighting the best/worst YouTube videos of the year 2011! As always, thanks for reading, and here is to a very good new year! Welcome to 2012!
Here is a list of memorable videos (unfortunately, embedding is disabled on most videos now so I’ve provided links):
Oh the places you’ll (Actually) go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIP8lFWa_mg
Rescue Japan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk7fBLuLj5I&NR=1&feature=fvwp
High School Sucks – The Musical: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWy_uauR-6k&hd=1
Homecoming Rally: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GiaEs8Myfc&hd=1
The Stereotypes Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCgx8zM3woQ&feature=relmfu
Gabriel Iglaeseas- Krispy Kreme Doughnuts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a77Dw3tNv8o
Adele – Someone Like You – Piano By Ear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8b4_kGuj7k&feature=related
I can’t remember if I posted this last year, but I really like it: Stand by Me | Playing for Change – Song around the world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM&feature=relmfu
And who can forget the worst video of the year, it originally had millions of dislikes until it was taken down and moved to another account to soften the dislikes:
Rebecca Black – Friday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfVsfOSbJY0
Jibjab’s video this year was mediocre, but I’ll post the link anyways: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zls4Ao3GyM
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Posted on: December 28th, 2011 by Famous Phil
Sarah James was kind enough to provide a second guest post! I’d like to remind my readers that none of the content below has been thoroughly reviewed by myself and may contain inaccuracies. As an overall comment, although you can torrent over mobile broadband, be very careful about how much bandwidth (traffic / transfer usage) you use, most mobile carriers limit you to 5GB of data/month, and the ones that claim that it is unlimited data, they typically will kick you off their network if you consistently go above 5GB of usage per month (read the fine print of your contract if you don’t believe me). Torrents are like leaches on networks and they will use all the available transfer capabilities of your connection, so on the typical 3G/EVDO connection at a typical 60KB/s (512kbps), you can easily eat through your entire monthly allotment (5GB) in approximately 24 hours (or much less if your connection is better than the average) if you forget to turn your download off at night. Anyways, here is Sarah’s post.
Mobile broadband is a technical freedom that is right there at your fingertips. When you are using bit torrent with mobile broadband card, the download speed not only depends on your bandwidth but also on the number of seeders you are getting. You need to make sure that you very well know your broadband card and its bandwidth status in detail. Running below 54Mbps will not to be able to help you download with the speed you always wanted. One benefit with them is that it works very much like a DSL connection for around $60 a month. Cheaper plans are available with carriers.
What is Bit torrent?
Bit Torrent is a popular and useful way of downloading large files on the internet. In case you are planning to use Bit torrent on a regular basis, you must have a reliable broadband plan. This will encourage you to get the best from the file sharing platform. After downloading software, users are allowed to directly send and receive files. It’s the resource that shows the route to the file being searched.
Bit Torrent is an extensive peer to peer (P2P) file sharing communications protocol that distributes large amount of data to several users who are targeting to download same file at one point of time. Pieces of data are supplied to the new recipients by the original user that supplies downloading the file. This further reduces the cost as well as the burden on the uploader who uploads the original file and encourages the reduction of dependence on the original user who first uploaded the file. It is important to carefully select the broadband card plans so that you can use bit torrent with mobile broadband flawlessly.
Know the Risks – Minimize the Risks
There are several risks involved with the access of this technology. Here are some of the possible risks that you should be aware of –
- Avoid downloading files into your “My Documents” folder. This should be done in order to avoid people from establishing a connection with your computer and peeping into the files and folders of your system.
- Users should only be having access to your “Shared documents” where no sensitive and confidential content should be shared.
- Have a decent firewall installed on your system in order to avoid Viruses that can damage your system.
Mobile Broadband Cards for Bit Torrent: Why?
Here are the reasons -
- Mobile broadband cards provide 3G soon going to be 4G and this is reliable and faster technology at your service.
- This technology is getting cooler and amazing year by year giving you easy and comfortable access to the internet.
- It is now possible to have uploads and downloads simultaneously. Cards have a decent access to GPRS, GSM and Edge networking upto 7.2 Mbps download and 2.0 Mbps upload speeds.
With the help of EV-DO and HSPA you can get on the net at 3G speed. You will get 50MB (basic plans) or 5GB (Average plans) or unlimited mobile broadband plans. If you are a typical user you will download over 20MB of data for web surfing. BT usually works fine on 3s 3G for users! Clients like Torrent have an inbuilt anti-leech feature which will easily cap your download speed in case you have a slow upload speed.
For using Bit torrent, a 5GB plan would suffice most of your needs. For power users that go through and through, nothing less than an unlimited plan should work conveniently. Even if the plan is unlimited, ‘prohibited’ uses can easily get you banned by providers like Bit torrent. This is done so that you don’t eat up the entire internet for yourself!
Tags: bit torrent, mobile broadband, torrent
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