Walt-O-Matic

So, I’m driving down Waxpool in Ashburn, VA on my way to work, and there’s a truck in front of me with a huge spool of wire on the back.

What’s more curious to me is the way the tools were being transported. Someone had tied a bucket to a rope and put their tools in it hanging off the back of the truck.

This can’t be safe. Well, I guess if there’s no room on the passenger side…

While visiting Ted’s in Sterling, VA, I noticed that their bathroom was either missing a very vital component, or that the place was very accommodating for drunks used to using an alley.

I keep trying to explain there are differences between men and women’s bathrooms. Women have it better. In this case, men just have a wall.

Not retouched.

While hanging out at Potbelly in Ashburn, VA, I found they have a little used book area in the back. I love going through used books, primarily because you find interesting hand written notes.

Here’s one from a dad to his daughter. Not only does the title of the book convey the dad’s impression and confidence, but we also get a peek at his spelling. One fears that it may be possible to piece together a little bit more about this family than we wanted to know.

So, I’m standing in Wendy’s waiting in line. At the cashier in front on me is a mom who has her attention divided between trying to pay and watching her daughter back at the table.

All of the sudden she startles me with a yell, “No Ma’am! I do not want to drink from a straw that’s been up your nose.”

While the mental image was amusing unto itself, I can only guess what other recent activities had escaped her attention in the past.

This morning I received an email from “Bank of America” asking me to click on the link included to verify some information that’s been changed with my banking details.

Well, given that I was addressed as “Dear Reliable Customer,” and that I don’t have an account with Bank of America, I was pretty sure this was a phishing attack. Viewing the raw form of the message, which exposes the HTML, further confirmed that the email was not from Bank of America, nor was the link for verification destined for Bank of America’s servers.

Normally, I put such stuff in my spam folders, but this one impressed me. It was good. Very good. The email actually used what look like an old banner from Bank of America’s site to produce quite an authentic branded email. It did so by making an image tag to a real Bank of America server.

As such, I felt it was worth the time to gather all the server information I could and pass it along to Bank of America, with the hopes that either their technicians or lawyers would be able to have a field day with the sender.

Not only did I get a nice reply back from Bank of America, but I have to say they really have their act together!

Check out this simple 7-point list they passed on that concisely helps customers identify when they might be defrauded by a scammer.

Source: Bank of America’s email

The main goal of a phishing email is to get you to a site where you will provide your personal information. With these basic, but powerful, clues, you can easily recognize the threat and ensure the safety of your identity and finances.

1. Does the email ask you to go to a website and verify personal information? We won’t ask you to verify your personal information in response to an email.
2. What is the tone of the mail? Most phish emails convey a sense of urgency by threatening discontinued service or information loss if you don’t take immediate action.
3. What is the quality of the email? Many phish emails have misspellings, bad grammar, or poor punctuation.
4. Are the links in the email valid? Deceptive links in phishing emails look like they are to a valid site, but deliver you to a fraudulent one. Many times you can see if the link is legitimate by just moving your mouse over the link.
5. Is the email personalized with your name and applicable account information? Many phish emails use generic salutations and generic information (e.g. “Dear Customer” or “Dear Account Holder”) instead of your name.
6. What is the sender’s email address? Many phish emails come from an email address not from the company represented in the email.
7. When in doubt, type it out. If you suspect an email to be phishing, don’t click on any links in the email. Type the valid address directly into your web browser.

Wonderful advice. And it applies to more than just banking emails.

Thank you, Bank of America. It’s something simple I can pass along to friends and family.

In Bruce Schneier’s CRYPTO-GRAM, he includes a reprint of a fantastic article entitled The War on Photography.

Excerpt:

Since 9/11, there has been an increasing war on photography. Photographers have been harassed, questioned, detained, arrested or worse, and declared to be unwelcome. We’ve been repeatedly told to watch out for photographers, especially suspicious ones. Clearly any terrorist is going to first photograph his target, so vigilance is required.

Except that it’s nonsense. The 9/11 terrorists didn’t photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid subway bombers, or the liquid bombers arrested in 2006. Timothy McVeigh didn’t photograph the Oklahoma City Federal Building. The Unabomber didn’t photograph anything; neither did shoe-bomber…

As a photographer, I have been stopped by security guards, questioned why I was photographing a building, and probed who I was working for. Bruce explains while not only is this nonsense, but a waste of resources and money.

The article’s short. Take a moment to read it. It brings common sense back to the equation.

I’m a photographer, and if I take a picture of something, it’s because I like it and want to preserve it for others to enjoy too.

This morning I woke up to an email, it basically read this:

You received this email because you have created an account on Beyond.com. This is a one-time mailer. If you have any questions, please contact us.

I’m thinking to myself, “what?!?” Actually, I’m thinking something quite a bit more colorful.

Then there’s another message from Customer Service.

Then there’s another message with my username and password.

…right.

After deciding it isn’t some email spammer trying to get me to some foreign national site, I login. And what do I find? Someone had screen scraped an old copy of my resume and contact information and made an account for me.

At this point, I figure that anyone with any common sense should completely discount beyond.com’s credibility completely. Here’s why.

First, if any arbitrary user is able to make up accounts for someone else, then clearly the database of provided by beyond.com can’t be trusted. I know my information was wrong, so clearly any potential employer looking for candidates would actually be wasting their time — it isn’t an accurate representation out there. But more over, this represents bad business and security practice if someone other than the actual person can create an account.

Second, let’s assume that such a thing isn’t possible. The alternate conclusion is that beyond.com is scraping the web, making accounts, in an attempt to build a database to give the appearance they are more than they really are. Will some suckers sign on and “correct” the information? Perhaps. But I suspect many others will ignore it. Again, this is really not helpful for anyone trying to use beyond.com for candidates.

Bottom line, either side of the coin — something is wrong. Very wrong.

And, of course, removing that profile is painful and obscure. The help files toss around words like ‘deactivate’ rather than ‘delete’. Such things should make users of beyond.com question the marketing metrics of beyond.com as well.

To me, and in my personal opinion, beyond.com isn’t worth the pixels its printed on. In fact, it sucks.

REVIEW: Walt gives Beyond.com two thumbs down.

I love my Canon Powershot A570. Apparently, so does my wife. I know, because I don’t get to play with it very much anymore. That’s why I got the SD890 IS.

So, why would a photographer with a Canon EOS 5D that can produce images that look like these need with a point-and-shoot camera, you may wonder?

Turns out it isn’t always convenient to pull out a full sized digital SLR. Especially if you’re driving down the road, sitting at work, or floating down a river. What’s ideal is a camera that takes good enough pictures, and if it gets destroyed you won’t be mad at yourself. Well, not for long, that is.

As such, I found my self eyeing the Canon Powershot SD890 IS. It’s a small, 10 megapixel camera, with reasonable 5x optical zoom, image stabilizer, and face detection. The feature list is pretty neat, in that it an do sound recordings, movies, stop motion, high ISOs, macros, panoramic stitching, spot color, color substitution, and has all the manual goodies you’d expect from a real camera. USB connectivity, and even weirder, video out that looks like a USB connector.

However, what I’m not thrilled with is the physical interface to the camera. In an effort to be stream lined, it “feels cheaper” than my other power shots. And I’m not just talking the small 32MB SD card that comes with it.

To start with, the on/off button is plastic and needs to be pressed in a considerable way in order to turn the camera on and off. Not only does it need to be pressed in, but it has to be at a particular angle or nothing happens.

Originally I thought I had received a defective model and actually ended up returning it to the store, which incidentally was not BestBuy for good reason. The returns person was unable to turn on the camera. When it was turned on for her, she was unable to turn it off.

While I appreciate the need to not have the camera activate while in one’s pocket, it’s still imperative that the camera can be activated upon demand.

The zoom in/out ring on top feels rugged enough to hold up to use, but the mode selector for automatic/manual/scene/movie is so sleek in design, it’s uncomfortable to change modes. Instead of turning the side of a wheel, with most Powershot models, it requires more thumb torque than you’d initially expect.

I’m not thrilled with the review mode being a button instead of a setting on that dial, but I also have to admit that it makes the review process very easy. That, I assume will just take some getting used to.

The only other real complaint is the lower wheel-like interface for changing sub-modes and selecting menu items. It’s a rotating shuttle, that’s also a N/S/E/W rocker switch, that also has a button in the middle; all slightly smaller than the size of a dime. Navigation is difficult, and not for the reasons you’d think.

While the ring-wheel for selection is a nice way to change modes, you have to exaggerate the amount you turn it to change to the next selection. Thus the perceived required turn amount in the GUI is far less than what is actually required, making you think it isn’t working, when if fact it is. It’s not overly sensitive, but the exact opposite. I’ve yet to be able to find a way to adjust the spin sensitivity on the control dial.

There is tactile feedback which feels like little stops as the wheel turns, but it’s clear the GUI is not looking for how many of those pass by (distance), but rather speed. Slowly turning the wheel does nothing, no matter how many increments it literally feels like you’ve passed.

Luckily, since it also acts as a rocker switch, the GUI responds to this, so it’s not as big of a deal as one might think. It just feels awkward, though the GUI is totally usable.

Aside from that, the LCD is large and bright. The display shows all the settings you’d need for information, and it’s easy to find settings. In particular, I’m impressed that it’s possible to overlay a grid and 2:3 shading, which makes composition all the easier, especially with face recognition properly focusing.

The camera doesn’t have as many models as it’s smaller predecessor, but then again, it’s got better optical resources and a slightly smaller footprint, which scores high in the portability scale.

The one thing I wish it did have was the ability to use standard AA batteries. Normally, I use rechargeable AAs, but it’s nice to know in a pinch you can use a standard household battery. Nope, for this camera you need a special Canon NB-5L 3.7V 1120mAh(Li-ion) battery. Small, light, compact, charges quickly, lasts a while, but still — if it goes dead, you’re out of commission.

All in all, though, if I have to judge it based on the quality of pictures, I’d have to say it’s a very capable camera. Handy to carry, easy to use.

REVIEW: Walt gives the Canon Powershot SD890 IS a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

A while ago, I thought it might be fun to conduct an experiment and rank anything and everything that Amazon showed me. In fact, the rank wasn’t necessarily even important, I just wanted to see what would happen as recommendation after recommendation was ticked off. Would Amazon’s suggestions get better? Would it run out of suggestions? Would it result in an overflow message?

Well, I ranked over 10,000 items over the course of several months, ranging from computer books to perfume. What I found was that in the short term you could get Amazon to run out of things to recommend you. In the longer term, it got a little better recommending things, though the categories get broader, and if you stumble into a new kind of category, it leaps at the chance to have options again to show you. And, finally, nothing spectacular happened numerically when I crossed five digits.

That said, every so often, Amazon makes some amusing recommendations choices. However, this time it was the presentation that was amusing unto itself that I took a snapshot.

Know those split-books you had as a kid, where the page was divided? You’d get half an animal on top, and half an animal on the bottom. Allowing you to make a giraf-o-potamous, an elepha-gator, or a kanga-mander.

Amazon selected two products and presented them split-book fashion. Order, it turned out, was important:

It’s the top of a woman from 2002, and the bottom of another from 2007, put together it looks like one woman standing behind two cut outs on the product recommendation page. I couldn’t help but give each half five stars for creativity.

Today I learned that there’s a nifty little utility called Maintenance 3.8 out on Apple’s site. You can find it by going to Apple / Mac OS X Software…, and when the web page pops up, type Maintenance in the search box.

It’s an automator script to repair permissions, verify preferences, updating prebindings, do cleanup, update databased, rebuild indexes, empty Trash, and so forth. My guess is it’s much like Onyx.

Deciding to give it a try, I downloaded it, opened the .DMG file, and double clicked the automator icon, selecting Restart when done. And while I got a very little in the confirmation department that things were working, I saw a lot of CPU activity running utilities I was familiar with.

So, with the laptop plugged in, I left to to chug away. I heard the restart sound several minutes later. And, I ignored it.

Later, I picked up my laptop and went to login.

Nothing.

The “breathing LED” on the front was off, and nothing was responding keyboard or mouse wise. The screen was black.

So, I decided to check the battery. Full power.

But then I noticed something. At the steep angle, in the near pitch black of my LCD screen, I saw the login window. What was happening: the backlight wasn’t coming on. Fiddling with the brightness control didn’t help either.

Sure enough, I could make out the cursor once I located where it was.

I tried opening and closing the lid. Nope. Backlight still off.

So, I restarted (as I mentioned, it was operational, I could barely make out the GUI).

The machine sprang to life, showed me the blue background, and right before it went to the login screen, the backlight cut out again, leaving me in pitch black.

Titling the screen back again (with the keyboard sticking up in the air and the screen flat on the table), again I could make out the login box and mouse. I did a restart again.

This time I held down Command-V as it booted. And I watched as it came up, lots of normal diagnostic messages, and then the blue background, and right as the login screen appeared, back to pitch black.

Annoying. But now I’m wondering if all the times I’ve ever woken my laptop after a case where the lid didn’t quite clasp perfectly, was this what was happening — could the machine be up, but the backlight off?

So, one last time, I restarted. Only I held down Command-Option-P-R (four fingers) to reset the power management settings. Several chimes later, I let go, and the machine booted perfectly, and the login box appeared, backlight and all.

I’m hoping that my experience may lead to an additional piece of the puzzle about the Mac waking up funny. I would have never have noticed anything on the screen if I looked at it dead on, as I always do.

It’s fairly well known that if you close the Mac’s lid, but down engage it fully, the lid will pop back up, but not after putting the machine to sleep. At that point, it becomes a little dance with the lid, trying to get the lid back down, so that the machine can see it re-open, and that usually wakes it. But sometimes the screen is still dark, and you have to play with the power button (and if frustrated, hold it down to restart).

Sometimes this same problem manifests when you wake the machine, enter your password, and suddenly everything goes dark. You wiggle the cursor and hit the keys and nothing happens. Caps Lock toggles, but it feels like it’s gone back to sleep.

Well no more. From now on, I’m going to tilt my screen back and see if I’m operational. That way I won’t lose data from an unnecessary restart.