Latest posts

How IBM got on my bad side, the quick and dirty way

scaredpoet

recovery

So, some time ago, some yutz at IBM decided that it would be a GREAT idea not to give any of its users actual, bona-fide copies of the operating system software on removable physical media. Just about every OTHER company has managed to provide some sort of “rescue CD” of sorts, just in case something really, really goes south on a person’s computer, requiring them to just wipe it all away and start clean again. This is especially important with laptops, as most of them have specialized equipment. IBM ThinkPads are worst of all, with their encryption hardware, fingerprint readers, and other proprietary goodies built into them.

But no. Instead of spending the 20 cents a disc to press some CDs for end users, IBM chose instead to throw all the recovery software onto a hidden partition on the hard drive of the machine itself. Continue reading →

Don’t you just hate it when “the terrorists win?”

scaredpoet

So Donald Trump has decided that he knows what’s best for New York City. And what’s best for the city, he has determined, is that we should rebuild the twin towers, exactly as they looked before, only with one additional floor. Take that, you terrorists!

He is also decrying the design for the new Freedom Tower, originally intended to replace the fallen World Trade Center. In a nutshell, he thinks the new design sucks:

Trump calls Liebeskind’s design “a monstrous skeleton” and adds that if it’s built, “the terrorists win.”

UPDATE: Trump’s plan has been rejected. Awww, too bad.

Amber Alerts on your cell phone

scaredpoet

cellphone

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children wants to appeal to those who are interested in being their eyes and ears, and just happen to have an SMS-capable cell phone on their person.

The NCMEC is launching Wireless Amber Alerts, a new medium to spread the word when an Amber Alert is issued. The service is free and entirely opt-in, and is currently limited in scope to within 50 miles of the zip code that a person specifies when they sign up.

At least one wireless carrier has agreed to carry these text messages for free, meaning it will not count against a subscribers message “bucket” or incur a charge (in North America, most wireless carriers charge for the sending AND receiving of text messages). But how much actual SMS traffic will be generated remains to be seen, not to mention the number of resulting tips, both useful and misleading.

Dialing for Christians

scaredpoet

A telephone company has managed to bring moral politics to your telephone in ways never before imagined. United American Technologies is billing itself as a “Christian-based phone carrier,” taking the lead in saving America from its bad immoral self, being “the only carrier that is taking an active stand against same sex marriages and hardcore child pornography.” Because we all know that same sex marriages and kiddie porn go hand in hand, right?

The sale pitches ultimately border on hate speech. A fellow blogger reportedly has a tape of telephone conversations in which a UAT employee touts their services in a sales pitch:

Here, we pick up a taped telemarketing call after one potential customer asks if AT&T sponsors child pornography:

United American Technologies: No. No, that’s MCI.

Mr. Mirman: MCI has hardcore child pornography?

United American Technologies: Yes, they are. They have a pedophile Web site for men who love boys. It’s a Montréal based Web site….

Mr. Mirman: And so MCI basically has a child pornography ring?

United American Technologies: That’s correct.

Mr. Mirman: What about the others? What does Verizon do?

United American Technologies: Okay. Verizon, what they do is they train their employees to accept the gay and lesbian lifestyle.

United American Technologies does more than just spout the hate as a sales pitch; some of their profits are donated to ultra conservative hate groups as well.

So, don’t reach out and touch anyone. That’s just… you know, gay.

Also, the original New York Sun article.

Oh! and feel free to listen to an actual UAT sales pitch call.

And this call too. 🙂