Sunday, May 21, 2006
pitch
It is interesting that one word could have multiple unrelated meanings.
For example the word Pitch.
But using the word as such:
Well as it turns out, there is another definition to pitch:
Tags: words & phrases/pitch
For example the word Pitch.
- pitch (n) - the act of throwing or tossing an object
- pitch (n) - the vibration frequency of a sound wave
- pitch (n) - the angel of the roof
- Pitcher (n) - the person who tosses an object
But using the word as such:
- a pitcher (n) - a container for liquids
Well as it turns out, there is another definition to pitch:
- pitch (n) - a sticky (gummy) type non flowing liquid that is concentrated and doesn't flow.
Tags: words & phrases/pitch
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Beware of Freeware
You hear or read about hackers taking over your PC and doing something illegal or just cruel, and you get angry. But when a legitamate company does it, it is much much worse. This really disturbs me and I had to write about it promptly. You shoud hit while the iron's hot.
Listen to this story that happened to a friend of mine.
A Korean company, who shall not remain nameless, http://netpas.net/, offers all types of maritime software to companies. They have one free product that calculates distances between ports, called Netpas Distance.
They publicize it as a "smart solution for fast business".
And SMART it is!
Today my friend recieved some strange phone calls from people asking him, why did you send me this link? Or can you help me install the software?
My friend answers naively "What are you talking about? what the do you want from me?"
As it turns out, this particular software had a back door!. They took over his machine, and literally went through his email's sent items (and not the address book, since his address book is almost empty) and sent a recommendation email about the software on his behalf.
This is the format it appeared as:
"Dear SO and SO.
Good Day.
I would like to recommend you a nice tool for ports distances.
Netpas Distance covers more than 10000 world ports and 50 million ports distances.
It shows port positions and routes in its world map.
Furthermore, it is free of charge.
Please try it.
Download : http://netpas.net/product/p2.php
Best Regards,
MY FRIEND"S NAME"
They used my friends name. All the emails that were sent to all the people were in the sent items as if he went one by one and sent them.
My friend sent email to their support guys in Korea and asked them, how dare they send emails on his behalf signed by him.
Their support person answers the most stupid answer I have ever heard:
"Dear SO and SO,
We are surprised with your mail.
In the recommendation screen, there is enough explanation and only with your clicking OK, it can send recommendation.
It took more than 5 years to build up this huge database and took almost 1 million USD until now.
We have provided this service for more than 1 and half year and this is very small reward we can expect from our free users.
Anyway, several users have made this kind of complain and we decided to commercialize Netpas distance.
If you purchase your license, you do not need to see this recommendation screen any more.
Best Regards,
Netpas Support"
This is definately a theft of identity. How dare they send email signed with his name.
The problem is also that the emails were sent to all the people around the world that he contacts for business purposes, including CEO's and General Managers that he corresponds with (even his own company's CEO).
Another thing, they were able to bypass all security, anti-viruses, firewalls and any protection you may the computer and in the network. They could have read all his emails and documents
Just be ware.
Can legal actions be taken against them?
How would a company go about doing something against them?
tags: memories & short stories/be ware of freeware
Listen to this story that happened to a friend of mine.
A Korean company, who shall not remain nameless, http://netpas.net/, offers all types of maritime software to companies. They have one free product that calculates distances between ports, called Netpas Distance.
They publicize it as a "smart solution for fast business".
And SMART it is!
Today my friend recieved some strange phone calls from people asking him, why did you send me this link? Or can you help me install the software?
My friend answers naively "What are you talking about? what the do you want from me?"
As it turns out, this particular software had a back door!. They took over his machine, and literally went through his email's sent items (and not the address book, since his address book is almost empty) and sent a recommendation email about the software on his behalf.
This is the format it appeared as:
"Dear SO and SO.
Good Day.
I would like to recommend you a nice tool for ports distances.
Netpas Distance covers more than 10000 world ports and 50 million ports distances.
It shows port positions and routes in its world map.
Furthermore, it is free of charge.
Please try it.
Download : http://netpas.net/product/p2.php
Best Regards,
MY FRIEND"S NAME"
They used my friends name. All the emails that were sent to all the people were in the sent items as if he went one by one and sent them.
My friend sent email to their support guys in Korea and asked them, how dare they send emails on his behalf signed by him.
Their support person answers the most stupid answer I have ever heard:
"Dear SO and SO,
We are surprised with your mail.
In the recommendation screen, there is enough explanation and only with your clicking OK, it can send recommendation.
It took more than 5 years to build up this huge database and took almost 1 million USD until now.
We have provided this service for more than 1 and half year and this is very small reward we can expect from our free users.
Anyway, several users have made this kind of complain and we decided to commercialize Netpas distance.
If you purchase your license, you do not need to see this recommendation screen any more.
Best Regards,
Netpas Support"
This is definately a theft of identity. How dare they send email signed with his name.
The problem is also that the emails were sent to all the people around the world that he contacts for business purposes, including CEO's and General Managers that he corresponds with (even his own company's CEO).
Another thing, they were able to bypass all security, anti-viruses, firewalls and any protection you may the computer and in the network. They could have read all his emails and documents
Just be ware.
Can legal actions be taken against them?
How would a company go about doing something against them?
tags: memories & short stories/be ware of freeware
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
An afternoon off
And my music saga continues.
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Friday afternoon, I met with shimon and it sure was a success. He is the colleague I was talking about in a night off.
As I said then, I had to get back to music. And I got the chance.
I brought some books with lyrics and chord and we just dived into them. It was amazing. For three consecutive hours, plus a recording. I still want to work on that recording.
The piano came out spotless, perfect, amazing. My singing start off bad, but ended up really good, so I want to redo the beginning.
It is amazing in today's technology, you can re-record just a line, or a word from the song (that came out bad in the original recording) no need to redo the whole thing.
If you are interested to hear shimon play the paino and the guitar, goto shimon golan
tags:memories & short stories/an afternoon off
Powered by Castpost
Friday afternoon, I met with shimon and it sure was a success. He is the colleague I was talking about in a night off.
As I said then, I had to get back to music. And I got the chance.
I brought some books with lyrics and chord and we just dived into them. It was amazing. For three consecutive hours, plus a recording. I still want to work on that recording.
The piano came out spotless, perfect, amazing. My singing start off bad, but ended up really good, so I want to redo the beginning.
It is amazing in today's technology, you can re-record just a line, or a word from the song (that came out bad in the original recording) no need to redo the whole thing.
If you are interested to hear shimon play the paino and the guitar, goto shimon golan
tags:memories & short stories/an afternoon off
