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A cool phone discovery

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by daniel, Sep 10, 2013.

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  1. massparanoia

    massparanoia Active Member

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    It seems like most of that nonsense comes from the Ukraine. Must be where the computer science majors go when they can't find work and the student loan bills show up.
     
    #21 massparanoia, Sep 10, 2013
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  2. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Blocking just 5 numbers would hardly touch the issue here. How about capacity for 100?

    Blocking anonymous calls also doesn't go very far anymore, now that most illegal calls spoof the Caller ID.
     
    #22 fuzzy1, Sep 10, 2013
  3. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    What is funny is I get sales solicitations at work for IT or Sales outsourcing. The calls show up on Caller ID from Virginia. However the guy has a Indian accent. Now I know we are a Multicultural society and it is very well that Hoji lives in Arlington VA but I just for the heck ask a few questions for example how are the Redskins doing and Hoji is dumbfounded.

    I said where are you calling from? He says Virginia. I quickly said what street and have yahoo maps open but he cannot remember.

    With VOIP being cheap to free calls can originate from anywhere and the criminals have a low cost weapon
     
    #23 JMD, Sep 10, 2013
  4. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    Perhaps the saddest I have noticed is my good friends daughter gets on the computer and searches Barbie Dolls. Now grant it my friend has a MS in Computer Science. His daughter opens a URL about Barbie which launches multiple URL all with porno. She screens and calls the dad. He uses check IP and the sites are Botnets Originating from Russia. Evidently they search the computer and capture passwords etc and call home back to Russia. He had to erase and re image the computer. He now upgraded the anti virus and parental controls from the ISP. He came to work so upset. He now protected that computer
     
    #24 JMD, Sep 10, 2013
  5. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    I don't have a landline phone. The spammers and political creeps call my cell phone. When I dumped the landline, I had my landline number moved to my cell phone so I would not have to tell all my friends and family my new number, so my number might look like a landline number to "legitimate" solicitors. Of course the crooks and the political creeps don't care.

    My mother for a long time had her caller ID blocked, probably in a misguided attempt to protect her privacy. I had a hard time convincing her to quit blocking it, so that I'd know it was her and not a spammer. But now that the spammers can spoof caller ID, there are very few calls that don't show a number.

    For a long time my step-sister never answered her phone. She figured if it was someone she knew, they'd leave a message. The problem is that if two people are both doing this they'll play phone tag forever. We need a system that makes it impossible to spoof the number. I suppose all this phone spam is an inevitable result of globalization. When overseas calls cost ten bucks a minute it wasn't worth it. As for email, I'm a strong advocate of charging a penny to send an email. If you have a company that sends out a thousand emails you can afford ten bucks. But if you're sending out a million, it won't be worth it. And if I want to receive a mass-mailing e-newsletter I'd be happy to spend the penny. Fortunately, Yahoo spamguard is pretty good. I still have to scan the list for false positives, but there are not many of those, and not many spams that get through. It's good enough to make a big difference.
     
    #25 daniel, Sep 10, 2013
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  6. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    At the risk of opening a whole can of worms, an operating system that cannot function safely without an anti-virus program and a firewall program, both purchased separately from separate companies and properly kept up to date, is, in my opinion, just unacceptable in this age of computer crime. It's like buying a car without steering wheel or brakes, both of which you have to buy separately, from different manufacturers, and bring in to the shop every week to be updated or they'll quit working.
     
    #26 daniel, Sep 10, 2013
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  7. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    My landline cost $23 a month. I never use it. My wife wants the phone on in case of emergency the 911 operator can see the address. Everyone in the home is young and healthy. Go figure.

    More and more I use text messaging and email to communcate with friends and relatives.
     
    #27 JMD, Sep 10, 2013
  8. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    Cyber crime is prevalent. Just a few days ago the NY Times web site was hacked.

    My companies network was attached 15,000 times in one day all attacks averted. The LA Airports network was hit over a Million times from Iran, Iraq and North Korea alone last year.
     
    #28 JMD, Sep 10, 2013
  9. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    If that was the attack I heard about, it wasn't crime. It was international warfare.
     
    #29 fuzzy1, Sep 10, 2013
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  10. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    #30 JMD, Sep 10, 2013
  11. Silver bullit

    Silver bullit Right Lane Cruiser

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    I have a dumb phone. The only time it is powered on is when I use it for long distance or emergencies. I don't think I have ever had a spam call.
     
    #31 Silver bullit, Sep 11, 2013
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  12. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    I spend hours on my iPhone every day mostly browsing, texting, twitter, email etc for work and enjoyment
     
    #32 JMD, Sep 11, 2013
  13. Silver bullit

    Silver bullit Right Lane Cruiser

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    To each their own. I like to workout 2-3 hrs a day, 6 days a week
     
    #33 Silver bullit, Sep 11, 2013
  14. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    It is possible to do more than one thing every day. Living near the beach and working out is a given
     
    #34 JMD, Sep 11, 2013
  15. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    You're in better shape than I am. At my peak I jogged 3 miles 5 days a week and 6 miles once a week, with one day off. Generally between 9 and 9 1/2 minutes per mile. I was a lot younger then. Now I manage 45 minutes to an hour on the exercise bike, or (before my knee injury) 40 minutes jogging at about 12:45 per mile. Getting old is a bitch. OTOH, during the hiking season I was out most days for 5 to 7 hours, and occasionally 9 hours, with no more than a couple short lunch stops (plus brief stops for layering and drinking water or filling the water bottle, since where I go the surface water is all drinkable). Most days I covered between ten and 18 km, always on mostly very steep terrain, sometimes off trail.

    My cell phone (a stupid phone) is always on, as it is my only phone, but when napping and at night the ringer is off. When driving I do not answer it. And when exercising it's not even in the room with me. Speaking of which, it's time for exercise now.
     
    #35 daniel, Sep 11, 2013
  16. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Gmail also has a pretty good spam filter. I'm not what you would call a strong advocate of an email tax for the obvious reasons that (a) it wouldn't remain a penny per email, (b) it's unenforceable until you get to a one world government, and (c) it won't solve the problem.

    ^
    Switch to Linux. ;)


    Car crimes happen all of the time, despite recalls, options, and crushing federal regulation, and all manner of fees and taxes that are levied on them from the car lot to the crusher.
    Even Prius owners regularly whine and cry about tint and light laws, and we won't even talk about photo traffic enforcement, GPS transponders, roadblocks, etc... :D
     
    #36 ETC(SS), Sep 11, 2013
  17. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    I tried Linux a few years ago. It was not ready for a non-tech user. I could not find the codexes for streaming media, I could not get a program that would manage my iPod (several claimed to; none did), and other stuff I wanted was not available. I visited the local Linux club, but nobody was willing to set it up for me, even though I offered to pay commercial rates. I'm a big advocate of Linux for those who have the tech know-how to set it up. I switched instead to OS X, which is Unix, which Linux is basically a knock-off of. I've never been disappointed. My computer is a Bill-free zone.

    When it came time to get a mini tablet, I considered the Nexus 7, and I have no quarrels with Android, but the iPad Mini has 30% more screen area in the same footprint and weighs one ounce less. A tablet with Bill on it was never under consideration.
     
    #37 daniel, Sep 11, 2013
  18. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    Example of a scam email

    image.jpg
     
    #38 JMD, Sep 11, 2013
  19. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    I answer my telephone in English, which puts off most of the cold sales calls that I receive in this here country. Won't work nearly as well for most reading here :)

    HKMB, @17 you said "The vulgar and suggestive Hindi slang that I picked up from friends in Britain in my youth ..."
    Would it be entirely inappropriate to ask you to provide some examples here? Could be useful for call receivers across the globe :whistle:
     
    #39 tochatihu, Sep 13, 2013
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