It "seems" like a good thing, but there are three major reasons why it isn't:
A) It does so without you being aware. B) It illegally installs software that you do not have a license for. C) Most modern viruses and trojans are so complex that the only way to remove them is by disabling system restore and running thorough scans in safe mode and/or boot time scans.
So not only do you have no control over it and become an "unexpected software pirate", but you likely don't even get rid of the other trojans/viruses on your computer.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe they already have a PM type system in place, but I think it is used for advertisement messages of some sort. I'm sure it could easily be modified into an actual PM system that users could use between themselves, and if a user decided to use it to "spam" other users, EBay could see this very easily and remove that user and the spam in question, etc. I just think that it would be better for the average joe user if EBay made it VERY clear to them that EBay will *not* e-mail them asking them questions, but will only e-mail them to notify them when they have a message from EBay waiting for them.
It's the same flexibility though. EBay could set it so that ALL messages that actually come from EBay sends and e-mail to the user letting them know they have a message. Not only is it an "invitation to return" it actually forces the user to login to EBay.
If they really want to prevent fraud...
on
eBay Begins A Change
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
...how about they eliminate e-mail from the "ebay process" all together. I mean seriously, create a "Private Message System" that will allow both buyers and sellers to communicate, and allow ebay to communicate with its customers at the same time. Set it up so that you can choose to receive e-mail notification when you recieve a message so that you can still check your e-mail for new stuff, but keep the messages ON ebay itself. This way you can know when ebay messages are official or not. Obviously the primary exception to this would be password loss.
From what I understood (and I may be totally off here), it wasn't actually the powerlines the data travelled, but the lines used for readings/metering usage/etc, which is probably copper, and basically makes it a DSL-like tech?
I've been doing it for over 3 years and have the largest tech-centric ISP Support website on the net. I edit customer registries on a regular basis. Have I come to regret any of it?
Nope. If you are too much of a, oh what was it you said? I-D-I-O-T? to not give disclaimers for things that you do not "officially" support, then that's your issue.
But if your customer screws up their e-mail because they installed Norton 2002 and their hosts file got corrupted, or if someone couldn't figure out how to get callwave or Calypso, or Pegasus setup on their computer.. You betcha if they came to me I'd convert them to one of ours.
Sorry, allow me to clarify. We would be happy to support a Solaris machine getting connected, and configuring any software that you might like to use with it. However if you seriously think that I would support Oracle for you...well you are almost correct. I would be happy to help you find resources such as UCDavis, Kennesaw, and Oracle-Tutorial to help you out. However if you think that supporting Internet Software and doing full out support for Programming/Database Management can be confused, then you're never going to have an Internet connection because there is no ISP that will be right for you. I have helped customers figure out faults in their webpages, etc before, and I am sure I will do it again, however I think you may have taken my posting a little too far out of context:)
Distribution is really up to the ISPs themselves. Ideally an ISP's CD will contain DUN updates, generic modem drivers, etc, so that the techs can get users only faster without having to send out disks or send the customer to the OEM. Then again, this can cause liability concerns.
Honestly support is the biggest question and really where most ISPs need to focus. My personal feeling is that ISPs should officially support only the software that they feel their department can easily get proficient in and is widely used (IE, Netscape, Eudora, OE, etc..), but "off the records" I believe they should support everything and anything. I work as a senior tech for an ISP ( and run one of the largest helpsites on the Internet, http://www.modemhelp.net ), and our opinion is to "do whatever it takes" for the customer. If we don't know how to setup a Palm, well too bad, we'll support it anyhow. I mean, we have Google, what more do we really need? You say you don't support Callwave, but why not support Callwave, when you can jump to their page and look at their help documents, reading them with a better understanding than the average user then translating for the customer? Unfortunately many ISPs have very strict policies that do not allow techs to attempt support outside of certains boundaries. The thing is, there many are ISPs like us that will go outside of those boundries and this is what sets most support departments apart. Though in the end (in theory) we *shouldn't* do support for those software packages that we do not know much about, it ends up not mattering because the client will go to those who *will try* to support those software packages that they are unfamiliar with.
-Bradford Liedel
Webmaster, ModemHelp.Net
Getting 28.8, 26,400, very high pings? If you do enough research and put enough work into it you can fix most of it. There are plenty of tweaks and ways to deal with US phone companies to get these items resolved. I will be introducing a new section to ModemHelp.Net within the next few weeks that goes into detail on detecting line noise using the different 56k modem chipsets, how to deal with your phone company, and other topics. I will also be introducing a section on speed tweaks and one on determining your modem chipset. Cable and DSL stuff on the page are a ways off, but things have been going pretty well on the progress of the page. I hope to have the noise section up in 1-2 weeks and the tweak section up another 2 weeks after that. Those of you on 56k, keep yer eyes peeled!
Actually I have led the blind through configuring certain things in windows via phone before. Usually what happens is that when a screen comes up a voice quickly says everything in the window. It even says stuff like "ok button", "cancel button", etc. The people I dealt with used just the keyboard to navigate, and when something highlighted it would say what it was ie: "radio button Enable so...etc". So if you had a force feedback mouse, along with a voice that said what the mouse moved over.... See what I am getting at?
Bradford L.
I wonder how this mouse would work for the blind? Or rather, I bet you could add some sound along with the feedback technology to make a great mouse for the blind. Could be tres cool. Bradford L.
The ISP is responsible to maintain a log simply by the fact that they want to service their customers well (assuming that is the case). There is currently no legislation or laws of any kind (that I am aware of) that FORCE an ISP to keep logs of it's users. With this in mind, the logs needed to maintain one's own network, and making logs of abuse issues, as they arise, is probably the best way to go. Now, if you are a large ISP, you should seriously get your bigwigs to consider this little puppy (pdf file): InverseIP Insight It is not exactly "cheap" from what I hear, but this is the best ISP utility I have ever seen and there are many large ISPs deploying/using it. Not only for technical (testing the network and KNOWING when there is an issue), but for technical *support* as well, as this program tells every last detail down to what initialization string their modem is using. You can know what a customer's issue is and how to fix it before they even call. Perhaps ISPs will start calling their customers before they call the ISP? Bradford L.
ick. Now that would definately be a bad thing. Getting all those bills from calling some remote island off the coast of Africa at 3 in the morning everyday. Bradford L.
Wow...think about the bandwidth... With an OC-256 transferring data at 13ish Gbps... An OCC-256 (Optical Cesium Carrier) would be running at about 3.9 Tbps? Oooooooooo.... -*drool*- Just think..we could pull up a webpage before we type in the address;) Bradford L.
30 users max on their FTP. tough. Have you seen http://www.burnomatic.com ? Good stuff. Not only does it rock if you have a slow conn, but it has most of the major linux distributions:) Bradford L.
Slashdot Mirror
It "seems" like a good thing, but there are three major reasons why it isn't:
A) It does so without you being aware.
B) It illegally installs software that you do not have a license for.
C) Most modern viruses and trojans are so complex that the only way to remove them is by disabling system restore and running thorough scans in safe mode and/or boot time scans.
So not only do you have no control over it and become an "unexpected software pirate", but you likely don't even get rid of the other trojans/viruses on your computer.
Plug: I have a step-by-step process writeup intended for the average joe on removing viruses at http://www.modemhelp.net/antivirus/
--
Bradford Liedel
ModemHelp.Net
This is a great idea so I've gone pink too.
Agreed. Avant Browser is GREAT for those who enjoy IE, but want more out of it. I would not doubt that much of IE7 will be based on Avant.
Nevermind, I'm an idiot.
These guys are writing the SCRIPT, while Harris and Dougherty are writing the SCREENPLAY.
Not that I entirely understand the difference, but...
The following sites say that Harris and Dougherty (they wrote X-Men 2) were signed on a while back to write the screenplay...
a rt icle&articleID=VR1117899849&cs=1
e m_ id=3357902
e m_ id=3557285
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_
http://www.countingdown.com/movies/1500/news?it
http://www.countingdown.com/movies/1500/news?it
I wonder if that was all just rumor put into news or if they decided not to do it because they felt superman was more important...
Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe they already have a PM type system in place, but I think it is used for advertisement messages of some sort. I'm sure it could easily be modified into an actual PM system that users could use between themselves, and if a user decided to use it to "spam" other users, EBay could see this very easily and remove that user and the spam in question, etc. I just think that it would be better for the average joe user if EBay made it VERY clear to them that EBay will *not* e-mail them asking them questions, but will only e-mail them to notify them when they have a message from EBay waiting for them.
It's the same flexibility though. EBay could set it so that ALL messages that actually come from EBay sends and e-mail to the user letting them know they have a message. Not only is it an "invitation to return" it actually forces the user to login to EBay.
...how about they eliminate e-mail from the "ebay process" all together. I mean seriously, create a "Private Message System" that will allow both buyers and sellers to communicate, and allow ebay to communicate with its customers at the same time. Set it up so that you can choose to receive e-mail notification when you recieve a message so that you can still check your e-mail for new stuff, but keep the messages ON ebay itself. This way you can know when ebay messages are official or not. Obviously the primary exception to this would be password loss.
Nice, very nice. I think I might even throw that excuse up on my site for the half a million techs that visit my site to use :)
From what I understood (and I may be totally off here), it wasn't actually the powerlines the data travelled, but the lines used for readings/metering usage/etc, which is probably copper, and basically makes it a DSL-like tech?
I've been doing it for over 3 years and have the largest tech-centric ISP Support website on the net. I edit customer registries on a regular basis. Have I come to regret any of it?
Nope. If you are too much of a, oh what was it you said? I-D-I-O-T? to not give disclaimers for things that you do not "officially" support, then that's your issue.
But if your customer screws up their e-mail because they installed Norton 2002 and their hosts file got corrupted, or if someone couldn't figure out how to get callwave or Calypso, or Pegasus setup on their computer.. You betcha if they came to me I'd convert them to one of ours.
Sorry, allow me to clarify. We would be happy to support a Solaris machine getting connected, and configuring any software that you might like to use with it. However if you seriously think that I would support Oracle for you...well you are almost correct. I would be happy to help you find resources such as UCDavis, Kennesaw, and Oracle-Tutorial to help you out. However if you think that supporting Internet Software and doing full out support for Programming/Database Management can be confused, then you're never going to have an Internet connection because there is no ISP that will be right for you. I have helped customers figure out faults in their webpages, etc before, and I am sure I will do it again, however I think you may have taken my posting a little too far out of context :)
Distribution is really up to the ISPs themselves. Ideally an ISP's CD will contain DUN updates, generic modem drivers, etc, so that the techs can get users only faster without having to send out disks or send the customer to the OEM. Then again, this can cause liability concerns. Honestly support is the biggest question and really where most ISPs need to focus. My personal feeling is that ISPs should officially support only the software that they feel their department can easily get proficient in and is widely used (IE, Netscape, Eudora, OE, etc..), but "off the records" I believe they should support everything and anything. I work as a senior tech for an ISP ( and run one of the largest helpsites on the Internet, http://www.modemhelp.net ), and our opinion is to "do whatever it takes" for the customer. If we don't know how to setup a Palm, well too bad, we'll support it anyhow. I mean, we have Google, what more do we really need? You say you don't support Callwave, but why not support Callwave, when you can jump to their page and look at their help documents, reading them with a better understanding than the average user then translating for the customer? Unfortunately many ISPs have very strict policies that do not allow techs to attempt support outside of certains boundaries. The thing is, there many are ISPs like us that will go outside of those boundries and this is what sets most support departments apart. Though in the end (in theory) we *shouldn't* do support for those software packages that we do not know much about, it ends up not mattering because the client will go to those who *will try* to support those software packages that they are unfamiliar with. -Bradford Liedel Webmaster, ModemHelp.Net
http://imgfarm.com/ex/ex.html
;) At least...not for me. =)
I am writing this from @home and the statement on this website (from excite) is definately not true in the least
Getting 28.8, 26,400, very high pings? If you do enough research and put enough work into it you can fix most of it. There are plenty of tweaks and ways to deal with US phone companies to get these items resolved. I will be introducing a new section to ModemHelp.Net within the next few weeks that goes into detail on detecting line noise using the different 56k modem chipsets, how to deal with your phone company, and other topics. I will also be introducing a section on speed tweaks and one on determining your modem chipset. Cable and DSL stuff on the page are a ways off, but things have been going pretty well on the progress of the page. I hope to have the noise section up in 1-2 weeks and the tweak section up another 2 weeks after that. Those of you on 56k, keep yer eyes peeled!
Bradford L.
I was typing it inbetween work. Sorry, should have used something other than trés. Man, people are so dang critical sometimes. =P
Bradford L.
Actually I have led the blind through configuring certain things in windows via phone before. Usually what happens is that when a screen comes up a voice quickly says everything in the window. It even says stuff like "ok button", "cancel button", etc. The people I dealt with used just the keyboard to navigate, and when something highlighted it would say what it was ie: "radio button Enable so...etc". So if you had a force feedback mouse, along with a voice that said what the mouse moved over.... See what I am getting at?
Bradford L.
I wonder how this mouse would work for the blind? Or rather, I bet you could add some sound along with the feedback technology to make a great mouse for the blind. Could be tres cool.
Bradford L.
The ISP is responsible to maintain a log simply by the fact that they want to service their customers well (assuming that is the case). There is currently no legislation or laws of any kind (that I am aware of) that FORCE an ISP to keep logs of it's users. With this in mind, the logs needed to maintain one's own network, and making logs of abuse issues, as they arise, is probably the best way to go. Now, if you are a large ISP, you should seriously get your bigwigs to consider this little puppy (pdf file): InverseIP Insight It is not exactly "cheap" from what I hear, but this is the best ISP utility I have ever seen and there are many large ISPs deploying/using it. Not only for technical (testing the network and KNOWING when there is an issue), but for technical *support* as well, as this program tells every last detail down to what initialization string their modem is using. You can know what a customer's issue is and how to fix it before they even call. Perhaps ISPs will start calling their customers before they call the ISP?
Bradford L.
www.thebarbies.god is sounding pretty good right about now eh? Time to see how .god's stand up? =)
Bradford L.
ick. Now that would definately be a bad thing. Getting all those bills from calling some remote island off the coast of Africa at 3 in the morning everyday.
Bradford L.
Wow...think about the bandwidth... With an OC-256 transferring data at 13ish Gbps... An OCC-256 (Optical Cesium Carrier) would be running at about 3.9 Tbps? Oooooooooo.... -*drool*- Just think..we could pull up a webpage before we type in the address ;)
Bradford L.
30 users max on their FTP. tough. Have you seen http://www.burnomatic.com ? Good stuff. Not only does it rock if you have a slow conn, but it has most of the major linux distributions :)
Bradford L.