The following email was forwarded to me by an IT colleague a week or so ago, and I thought I'd share it.
--------------------------------------------
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
Dear IT Professional:
It has come to our attention that you are still using the default signature of "Sent from my iPhone" for outgoing mail on your mobile device.
Please be advised that most of the rest of us IT types consider the use of this default signature as ostentatious, self-aggrandizing, and just fucking annoying. Why not rent a billboard over your head and say, "Hey, lookit me! I'm a hep cat!"
A very brief and professional signature -- or 'sig,' as we terribly cool IT people call it -- takes up less space in an environment of limited screen real estate. It also works organically in giving people the impression that you're a Jedi master of the IT Arts.
If you go to 'Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > YourEmailAccount > Signature', you can change your signature. We suggest you do so. Now.
We'd like to suggest just a tasteful little Name and Phone Number on two lines. Short and sweet -- just the thing for a little quick, off-the-cuff, hand-held mail.
Frankly, we find your behavior doubly embarassing: the majority of us geeks work real hard at being low-key cool...the brilliance of Q, combined with the ice-cold determination of a 007. We like to preserve an air of quiet mystery. We'd much prefer people coming to us to say, "Hey, how'd you get that cool stuff like your name and stuff at the end of your email thingies??"
So please, if you'd be so kind, please remedy this situation as soon as you are able, and stop embarrassing us.
Sincerely,
The Society for the Preservation of IT Cool
--------------------------------------------
(OK, this was a joke. Unless your name is Ed).
Meanwhile, since I (may or may not) still have your attention -- Mac users, Apple has released a software update for Leopard (10.5.x), and a point upgrade to 10.6.8 for Snow Leopard users. Open System Preferences and run Software Update to get the appropriate update/upgrade.
return to Quinn-Pulver.com
All content copyright ©2011, Bill Pulver, and may not be reproduced without permission.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Your email addy has been compromised. Honest.
If you haven't already gotten a couple of email alerts from people you do business with or seen it on the news, you should be aware that a company named Epsilon suffered a security breach recently which has possibly resulted in your email address being collected by persons unknown.
Epsilon manages e-mail campaigns and sends offers to consumers who sign up for a company's website or who share their e-mail addresses while shopping. They send more than 40 billion e-mails annually. Epsilon's clients include Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays PLC, US Bancorp, Capital One, TD Ameritrade, Walgreen, Kroger, Brookstone, J. Crew, Best Buy, Marriott International, Ritz-Carlton, Disney Destinations, Verizon, Target, Ethan Allen, TiVo and more.
Click on this link to see a full list of companies involved at Threatpost.com.
If you've shared your email address one of the companies affected, there's a chance it may have been exposed.
Thus far, reports say that only email addresses were compromised, and not more personal info or financial/credit card data. This seems likely, since Epsilon is a marketing firm that supplies email services to the companies mentioned above. They are a contractor who performs email services.
Moreover, it's not certain who was behind the intrusion or what the motive was. It might have been script kiddies (people who hack systems just because they can, and for bragging rights), or it may have been serious phishers (people who want to con you into giving up the real data, like your credit card or password).
So what'll happen? Maybe nothing. Or maybe you'll see a slight uptick in junk mail. But possibly, some serious phishing will start popping up in mailboxes worldwide.
The bottom line? As always, be on guard against not only the obviously fraudulent emails, like the ones from the Minister of Finance of Nigeria, but be aware of emails that come from sources that look legitimate.
Your bank or financial institution will NEVER enclose a link to get to their web site; they'll tell you to go there yourself and log in with your User ID and password.
Be wary of opening emails from people you don't know -- the simple act of just opening an email can put you on a spam mailing list. Never click a link to a site that might put your Social Security number or other financial info at risk, and never download an attachment unless you know the sender personally.
(You might also take a look at your Facebook profile and restrict the amount of info you share, and reduce the potential audience to 'Friends Only.' Just a thought...)
Only time will tell if anything more than what's been publicized already has been put at risk, and you're never going to completely insulate yourself unless you unplug your computer altogether...but use your head when visiting web sites and opening emails, OK?
return to Quinn-Pulver.com
All content copyright ©2011, Bill Pulver, and may not be reproduced without permission.
Epsilon manages e-mail campaigns and sends offers to consumers who sign up for a company's website or who share their e-mail addresses while shopping. They send more than 40 billion e-mails annually. Epsilon's clients include Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays PLC, US Bancorp, Capital One, TD Ameritrade, Walgreen, Kroger, Brookstone, J. Crew, Best Buy, Marriott International, Ritz-Carlton, Disney Destinations, Verizon, Target, Ethan Allen, TiVo and more.
Click on this link to see a full list of companies involved at Threatpost.com.
If you've shared your email address one of the companies affected, there's a chance it may have been exposed.
Thus far, reports say that only email addresses were compromised, and not more personal info or financial/credit card data. This seems likely, since Epsilon is a marketing firm that supplies email services to the companies mentioned above. They are a contractor who performs email services.
Moreover, it's not certain who was behind the intrusion or what the motive was. It might have been script kiddies (people who hack systems just because they can, and for bragging rights), or it may have been serious phishers (people who want to con you into giving up the real data, like your credit card or password).
So what'll happen? Maybe nothing. Or maybe you'll see a slight uptick in junk mail. But possibly, some serious phishing will start popping up in mailboxes worldwide.
The bottom line? As always, be on guard against not only the obviously fraudulent emails, like the ones from the Minister of Finance of Nigeria, but be aware of emails that come from sources that look legitimate.
Your bank or financial institution will NEVER enclose a link to get to their web site; they'll tell you to go there yourself and log in with your User ID and password.
Be wary of opening emails from people you don't know -- the simple act of just opening an email can put you on a spam mailing list. Never click a link to a site that might put your Social Security number or other financial info at risk, and never download an attachment unless you know the sender personally.
(You might also take a look at your Facebook profile and restrict the amount of info you share, and reduce the potential audience to 'Friends Only.' Just a thought...)
Only time will tell if anything more than what's been publicized already has been put at risk, and you're never going to completely insulate yourself unless you unplug your computer altogether...but use your head when visiting web sites and opening emails, OK?
return to Quinn-Pulver.com
All content copyright ©2011, Bill Pulver, and may not be reproduced without permission.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Verizon's iPhone: What's The Fuss?
"Man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion."
--William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, 5.4
It's been a couple days now since Verizon Wireless announced that they will be carrying Apple's iPhone. In that time I've grown increasingly perplexed: what the hell is all the fuss about?
Oh, it's a good thing for Apple; the technology firm sold 15.8 million iPhones to AT&T customers in 2010, and estimates put Apple's 2011 US sales (AT&T plus Verizon) somewhere around 20 million units. At USD$600 a pop (the $200 you pay initially, plus the $400 subsidy the carrier fronts for you), the additional 4.2 million phones Apple will potentially sell this year represents an extra $2.5 billion in Apple's coffers. And that's just for the hardware -- it doesn't include the monthly revenue-sharing agreement between the carriers and Apple, which some estimates put at $18 per month per customer.
(Ever notice how casually we throw the term 'billion' around these days? Damn you, AIG.)
The iPhone introduction is a good thing for existing Verizon customers -- they can finally get iPhones (duh). If Verizon had offered the iPhone 18 months ago when our contract with them expired, we'd have probably opted to remain a VZW customer. But they didn't, so we went to AT&T.
It's kind of a 'meh' thing for AT&T; some analysts suggest that as many as 2.5 million AT&T users will defect to Verizon this year. I suspect, though, that when the catfighting and name-calling is done, both wireless carriers will enter 2012 in pretty much the same positions they greeted 2011 -- neck and neck.
But for the rest of us? I don't know about you, but I don't expect Ed McMahon to show up at my door with a check for any of this moolah. (Or at all. Ever.) Short of that, I just can't get excited.
Don't get me wrong -- I think the iPhone is a fabulous device, and it's well on it's way to becoming my most-used computer. But let's face it -- iPhone 4 has been around for seven months now. The iPhone Verizon introduced yesterday isn't anything new. Yeah, it offers an ability to act as a mobile WiFi hotspot, but that plus is negated by the slightly slower speed of Verizon's data network. And it can't transact voice and data simultaneously, a feature I use with some regularity.
Numerous reports have panned AT&T's reliability and customer service, but honestly, I haven't found that to be the case (nor have a number of other iPhone users I've spoken with informally). Yes, there were problems in New York and San Francisco for a while, but the tech media is concentrated in those two cities and my feeling is that the issue may have been reported a little more loudly than was actually the case. Whatever antenna issues exist with AT&T's version of the iPhone are fairly easily corrected by slapping a case on the device, which the majority of people do anyway.
Verizon's pricing has yet to be announced, but their current voice, data and messaging plans are roughly equivalent to AT&T's and I see no reason to expect that to change (though it'd be nice if they got into a pricing war). Customer service? If VZW's customer service is on a par with their landline cousins, don't look for any over-the-top rave reviews.
The marketing from here on out will be mildly interesting, as the competitors try to bitch-slap each other in primetime. I'd expect Apple to step back a bit on iPhone marketing, preferring to let the carriers handle it (and to avoid showing favoritism). Possibly they'll throw their excess advertising dollars at iPad 2, Apple TV and even the Mac.
But to me, it all appears to be a wash. No new technology, no deep discounts. Big companies make money. We all wait for iPhone 5. Meanwhile (I'm talking to you, mainstream news outlets), aren't there important things going on in the world?
As my friend and colleague Bob Rabner says (channeling his inner Bard), "It's much ado about nothing."
--William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, 5.4
It's been a couple days now since Verizon Wireless announced that they will be carrying Apple's iPhone. In that time I've grown increasingly perplexed: what the hell is all the fuss about?
Oh, it's a good thing for Apple; the technology firm sold 15.8 million iPhones to AT&T customers in 2010, and estimates put Apple's 2011 US sales (AT&T plus Verizon) somewhere around 20 million units. At USD$600 a pop (the $200 you pay initially, plus the $400 subsidy the carrier fronts for you), the additional 4.2 million phones Apple will potentially sell this year represents an extra $2.5 billion in Apple's coffers. And that's just for the hardware -- it doesn't include the monthly revenue-sharing agreement between the carriers and Apple, which some estimates put at $18 per month per customer.
(Ever notice how casually we throw the term 'billion' around these days? Damn you, AIG.)
The iPhone introduction is a good thing for existing Verizon customers -- they can finally get iPhones (duh). If Verizon had offered the iPhone 18 months ago when our contract with them expired, we'd have probably opted to remain a VZW customer. But they didn't, so we went to AT&T.
It's kind of a 'meh' thing for AT&T; some analysts suggest that as many as 2.5 million AT&T users will defect to Verizon this year. I suspect, though, that when the catfighting and name-calling is done, both wireless carriers will enter 2012 in pretty much the same positions they greeted 2011 -- neck and neck.
But for the rest of us? I don't know about you, but I don't expect Ed McMahon to show up at my door with a check for any of this moolah. (Or at all. Ever.) Short of that, I just can't get excited.
Don't get me wrong -- I think the iPhone is a fabulous device, and it's well on it's way to becoming my most-used computer. But let's face it -- iPhone 4 has been around for seven months now. The iPhone Verizon introduced yesterday isn't anything new. Yeah, it offers an ability to act as a mobile WiFi hotspot, but that plus is negated by the slightly slower speed of Verizon's data network. And it can't transact voice and data simultaneously, a feature I use with some regularity.
Numerous reports have panned AT&T's reliability and customer service, but honestly, I haven't found that to be the case (nor have a number of other iPhone users I've spoken with informally). Yes, there were problems in New York and San Francisco for a while, but the tech media is concentrated in those two cities and my feeling is that the issue may have been reported a little more loudly than was actually the case. Whatever antenna issues exist with AT&T's version of the iPhone are fairly easily corrected by slapping a case on the device, which the majority of people do anyway.
Verizon's pricing has yet to be announced, but their current voice, data and messaging plans are roughly equivalent to AT&T's and I see no reason to expect that to change (though it'd be nice if they got into a pricing war). Customer service? If VZW's customer service is on a par with their landline cousins, don't look for any over-the-top rave reviews.
The marketing from here on out will be mildly interesting, as the competitors try to bitch-slap each other in primetime. I'd expect Apple to step back a bit on iPhone marketing, preferring to let the carriers handle it (and to avoid showing favoritism). Possibly they'll throw their excess advertising dollars at iPad 2, Apple TV and even the Mac.
But to me, it all appears to be a wash. No new technology, no deep discounts. Big companies make money. We all wait for iPhone 5. Meanwhile (I'm talking to you, mainstream news outlets), aren't there important things going on in the world?
As my friend and colleague Bob Rabner says (channeling his inner Bard), "It's much ado about nothing."
return to Quinn-Pulver.com
All content copyright ©2010-2011, Bill Pulver, and may not be reproduced without permission.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Verizon To Carry iPhone. Quelle surprise!
Verizon Wireless, at an event held today at Lincoln Center in New York, announced that it will begin selling Apple's iPhone 4. It will be priced at $199 for the 16gb version and $299 for the 32 gig flavor with a two-year contract, same as AT&T. Pre-orders will start on February 3rd for existing VZW customers, and February 10th for everyone else.
The Verizon iPhone will be a CDMA device. If that means nothing to you (and there's no reason it should), suffice it to say that it's slightly slower with data transfer than AT&T's GSM network, but completely compatible with Verizon's current network. Also, it's not capable of handling data and voice simultaneously, so you won't be able to look up that Thai restaurant while you're talking to that babe you want to impress.
Of interest, however, is the fact that it will include a mobile hotspot (aka data tethering, or MiFi), meaning it will support over-the-air wireless data access for up to five devices. That means you can put your Verizon iPhone on the table at Starbucks and invite five friends to connect with their laptops, and probably run up your cell phone bill.
Representatives from Apple and Verizon sort of implied that the iPhone 4's antenna had been tweaked, but deftly avoided answering questions from the press regarding plan pricing, data limits, tethering charges, future 4G/LTE compatibility, or the price of fish.
The Verizon iPhone will be a CDMA device. If that means nothing to you (and there's no reason it should), suffice it to say that it's slightly slower with data transfer than AT&T's GSM network, but completely compatible with Verizon's current network. Also, it's not capable of handling data and voice simultaneously, so you won't be able to look up that Thai restaurant while you're talking to that babe you want to impress.
Of interest, however, is the fact that it will include a mobile hotspot (aka data tethering, or MiFi), meaning it will support over-the-air wireless data access for up to five devices. That means you can put your Verizon iPhone on the table at Starbucks and invite five friends to connect with their laptops, and probably run up your cell phone bill.
Representatives from Apple and Verizon sort of implied that the iPhone 4's antenna had been tweaked, but deftly avoided answering questions from the press regarding plan pricing, data limits, tethering charges, future 4G/LTE compatibility, or the price of fish.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)