Friday, January 26, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Buy software safely on eBay
Before you snap up that $12.50 copy of Photoshop on eBay, read tech-blog Digital Inspiration's tips on buying software safely. The auction site is rife with scammers and too-good-to-be-true deals. For example:
If the software is old or not sealed inside a box, always ask the seller to send you real photographs of the installation CDs and software manuals that came along with his purchase. This is to confirm that the seller owns the authentic version of the software.
This is required reading for anyone looking to score a deal on software. You can find unbeatable bargains on eBay, but you can also get ripped off easily. Pay special attention to tip #8: verify with the seller that the software hasn't already been activated. If it has, you may have just bought yourself a coaster.
Want more eBay advice? Check out the eBay wiki, which has articles for buyers and sellers alike. — Rick Broida
Hawking: Climate Change Worse Than Terror
Jan 17, 2007 9:57 AM (1 day ago)
Current rank: # 2 of 12,810 articles LONDON - Scientist Stephen Hawking described climate change Wednesday as a greater threat to the planet than terrorism.
Hawking made the remarks as other prominent scientists prepared to push the giant hand of its Doomsday Clock - a symbol of the risk of atomic cataclysm - closer to midnight. The move will mark the fourth time since the end of the Cold War that the clock has ticked forward and Hawking warned that "as citizens of the world, we have a duty to alert the public to the unnecessary risks that we live with every day."
Sprint Refuses To Cancel Dead Brother's Cellphone
This is despicable.
M, if you're reading, check your email or write back. We'd like to follow this one up further. Also, check out this post, "HOWTO: Handle Closing Dead People's Accounts."
Lastly, can't faxing over a death certificate and a letter testamentary do the trick? (A letter testamentary is a court document saying whom is the appointed estate executor).
Read M's really really sad letter, inside...
- "Dear Consumerist,
I love reading your stories and must admit I never thought I might be one. My brother passed away suddenly in December. I have been dealing with his estate since. Most creditors have been easy to deal with and have even offered their condolences. Sprint is an exception.
I contacted Sprint to cancel his cell phone service. I spent over forty minutes on the phone. First I went through fifteen minutes of being on hold. Then I spoke with Alex. He was a bit gruff with me and didn't understand why I did not have the account phone number memorized. I told him I called him from 611 and he should have the number. I also explained I had not received a bill from Sprint since his passing in mid-December. I had to look his number up on my own cell phone.
Eventually Alex passed me off to another department, staffed by the lovely Marie. Marie would not cancel the account either and when I started explaining how an $80 bill was not worth Sprint's time going after my brother's estate in probate court she claimed she could not hear me, repeatedly. I told her it must the the Sprint network quality service. I live in a major city and had full bars.
Marie's claims of hearing impediment led me to ask for her manager. I spoke with Kevin. He eventually asked to call me back on a land line. I told him to call me back on my brother's phone. In the end, all he would do was put the account on "vacation", still charging $5.95 per month. I still do not understand why he would not cancel it since I had all the passwords they wanted. Sprint will not get a payment from the estate unless they pursue it in probate. They will spend more money on the paperwork.
Thanks Consumerist. I do not care if you print this or not. I am happy to have vented."
M, our sincere condolences for your loss. It's very hard to lose a loved one. It's even harder when a company is behaving callously and duplicitously to take advantage of your situation.
Based on what we know, your brother's estate is responsible for the final bill and any charges up until your brother's death. However, they cannot hit you with an early termination fee. Nor should your brother's estate continue to be charged $5.95 for a dead man's cellphone.
As we said in the intro, this matter can be resolved by faxing Sprint a copy of your brother's death certificate, and by Sprint canceling the contract without being disgusting pinheads.
Although, it's not like they don't have a history of this behavior. See this post from October, "Sprint Harasses Grieving Mother For Two Years." — BEN POPKEN
Related: HOWTO: Handle Closing Dead People's Accounts
UPDATE:
- "Dear Consumerist I am amazed you have already posted the story about my ordeal with Sprint last night. To clarify, my brother passed away in mid-December but the City of St. Louis Medical Examiner's Office will not issue a death certificate for 8-10 weeks, meaning late February because he passed in his sleep and there was no apparent cause. In the absence of a will I have affidavits from our remaining family members nominating me to be the executor (we were the closest siblings). I will not be able to begin proceedings in probate court until the death certificate has been issued. All other creditors have been understanding of the situation. I know the estate (read "I") will have to pay the Sprint bill in the end. First, the estate will notify all creditors and it is their responsibility to reply. After my experience last night I am happy to create a bit more work for them. Incidentally, this reminded me to call Cingular about an issue with my service. I was on hold for a few minutes but then Latoya was very nice and handled my request promptly. At least one person at the end of a customer service phone number understands her job title."
DJ Drama Arrested In Mixtape Raid
DJ Drama -- who recently took home four trophies at the Justo's 10th Annual Mixtape Awards -- is largely considered the top mixtape DJ and has catapulted and revitalized the careers Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne, respectively. His arrest now calls into question whether major labels will continue to utilize mixtapes as promotional tools.
Mixtapes have long inhabited a grey area for both record labels and artists. While the CDs are consistently integrated into marketing campaigns for hip-hop projects, labels do not formally condone the use of non-copyrighted music.
Both DJ Drama (Tyree Simmons) and DJ Don Cannon (Donald Cannon) were arrested on felony charges stemming from a Magistrate's warrant under the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act. The pair is currently in Fulton County Court for a bail hearing, which will determine their bond.
"We have a partnership with a joint vice task force working pirated tapes in the country," says Chief James Baker of the Morrow Police Department. "We found an outlet in Morrow for the criminal sale of recorded material, breaking the OCGA, Official Code of Georgia Annotated, no. 16-8-60, which specifies that CDs must list the true name and address of their office, which these CDs didn't, nor did they [list] copyright permission. People were able to make purchases over the Internet and these guys sold the pirated discs for profit."
Baker said this is the second raid in an effort to stop pirated CD sales.
"Our first raid also happened in Atlanta on Metropolitan Parkway on Oct. 11, 2006," says Baker. "It was run by a bunch of immigrants, the majority here illegally, from West Africa. We seized over $14 million of counterfeit CDs, five vehicles, cocaine and marijuana." Several individuals remain in jail due to that raid.
Aphilliate Music Group inked a distribution and marketing deal last year with Asylum Records. Nobody from the company was available for comment at deadline.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Monday, January 15, 2007
Download of the Day: Fedora 6 Zod Live CD (i386)
i386 platforms only: Boot Linux from a CD with the new Fedora 6 Zod live distro from Red Hat.
The Fedora 6 live CD includes Linux 2.6.18, the GNOME 2.16 desktop environment and a wealth of tools and applications. The advantage of a live CD, of course, is that it lets you fully experience the OS without actually installing anything on your hard drive. It also makes for an awesome system-recovery tool.
The free Fedora 6 live CD is distributed as an ISO file; you'll need a program like Nero or ISO Recorder to burn it to a blank CD. For now the program requires an i386-based PC (i.e., a Windows or Linux box).
Relieve back pain by drinking more water
We know that water can help cure a hangover, give you more energy, and aid in kicking caffeine; however, according to formerly dehydrated blogger David Seah, it can also cure back pain:
Apparently I had been turning my muscles into beef jerky by not drinking enough water. The numbness and spasms in my arms and hands have also started to fade away. It might be too early to call, but I can say that drinking that water has seemed to make a palpable difference in the way I'm feeling.
It's amazing what water can do. Anyone else personally experienced their own miracle water story? Thoughts in the comments.
USB Chiller and Warmer
Why settle for just USB chilling or USB warming when you can have two for the price of one? The cooling keeps your drinks down to 11 degrees Celsius (51.8 F) and warms them up to 53 degrees Celcius (127.4 F). Pretty impressive when you compare it to the standalone units.
Not a bad bargain for $24. Just don't accidentally rest your elbow on it.
Product Page [Brando]
Tip N' Sip Cools, Warms, Tears a Hole in Universe
A device cooling and warming at the same time? This can't be safe for the universe, but the Tip N' Sip does it. Unlike the USB cooler and warmer we saw earlier today this device keeps the coffee/tea/whatever piping hot below and cool on top for safer drinking. The "tip" comes into play because you have to tip the mug to fill the top chamber with liquid for quick cooling.
Just don't use a large straw with this device, because then it will eliminate the entire purpose of the Tip N' Sip mug and make you look like a moron. $20.
Product Page [Via OhGizmo!]
Send voicemail fast-like-text with Pinger
Free web service Pinger lets you send instant, straight-to-voicemail messages to anyone in your contact list.
There are a lot of pros and cons to a service like Pinger. On the plus side, you don't have to wade through long voicemail prompts when you want to send someone a voicemail. Instead, you just call Pinger and say the name of the person you want to message (actually, you can say several names if you want to send the voicemail to more than one contact), record the message, and you're done. You can tell Pinger worked hard to streamline this procedure. Sending voicemail with Pinger is, potentially, very fast.
The downside to Pinger is that - for it to really be useful - your contacts need to be using Pinger as well. Before they've signed up, you have to add them as email contacts; new messages you create with Pinger will go to their email inbox rather than their phone. Once they've signed up with Pinger, they'll receive a text message alerting them to new Pinger voicemails.
In all, Pinger would make a great voicemail replacement for basically any carrier I've ever been with. Unfortunately, it's not backed by a carrier. If you want to use it as a 3rd party voicemail service, you've got to do the legwork to make it happen. If you're not ready to switch, you might want to familiarize yourself with a few shortcuts to skip right to the beep with your most oft-used carrier.
Make free conference calls with Foonz
Set up spur-of-the-moment conference calls with Foonz (pronounced "phones"), a new service that automatically invites friends, co-workers and others to join in.
After providing your e-mail address, cell number and IM screen name, you're given a personal Foonz phone number, which you dial when you want to invite others to a call. Those invitations are delivered instantly via text message, IM or e-mail. If the other parties aren't available, Foonz leaves a message so they can dial in later.
Nice! It's too bad Foonz can't import your contacts from, say, Outlook (though it can import screen names from your IM address book), but this definitely makes conferencing calling easier and, dare I say, a bit more fun. You may also want to check out FreeConference.com and LiveOffice, both of which offer free conference calling as well.
Target, Kohls Pull "Drinking Games"
Target and Kohls have stopped selling "drinking games", "less than a month after drug prevention groups launched letter-writing campaigns that accused the retailers of promoting binge drinking by selling "Drinko'' and similar games."
"The board games, which have been sold for several years, contain no alcohol, and they may be bought by people of any age. It's unclear whether such games have been linked to any deaths or serious injuries, but the controversy over them comes as anti-abuse groups are stepping up efforts to reduce binge drinking, particularly among teens and young adults."
No drinko for you! —MEGHANN MARCO
Download of the Day: USB PC Repair System (Windows)
Windows only: The Daily Cup of Tech computer help site put together a USB-drive based collection of software that'll help you resuscitate any ailing PC.
All wrapped up into one convenient, 14.2MB zip file, the USB PC Repair System contains 37 fix-it proggies, many of which we've recommended here on Lifehacker before, including: CCleaner, Eraser, ProcessExplorer and TweakUI. The PC Repair System is a free download, Windows only.
ZedFiles Project - Open Source Software Suite
The ZedFiles Project is an Open Source suite of ‘integrated desktop and content management applications’ for Windows. Basically it’s a package of a whole range of the coolest and most useful Open Source stuff – like Firefox, VLC Player, AbiWord etc – which can be downloaded in a single folder. Nice one!
The ZedFiles Project…has grown into a comprehensive Open Source Software Suite of fully integrated desktop and content management applications compatible with Microsoft Windows operating systems. It includes a complete framework for maintaining and upgrading the Open Source applications. The ZedFiles Open Source project was developed by the Ridgewood Foundation as an extension of its charitable objectives in community development.
CellSwapper Solves A Very Annoying Problem
New Jersey based CellSwapper is a cool service that came at just the right time. The site, which calls itself “the eBay of cell phone contracts” takes advantage of the fact that all U.S. cell phone carriers have clauses in their contracts that allow users to get out early, without the early termination fee that can range up to $250 per phone, just by transferring your account to someone else.
Of course, finding someone else to take over your cell phone contract isn’t easy, and that’s where CellSwapper comes in. The recipient avoids activation charges on a new account of $40 or so, and often the transferring party gives extra incentives. In going through the listings, there are many offers of giving away the phone with the contract, and/or a cash incentive as well.
CellSwapper charges $15 to the transferring user if a successful transfer takes place. There are no other fees.
I say this is coming at exactly the right time because a lot of people, myself included, are going to be looking for a way out of their cell phone contracts this June when the new iPhone is released with Cingular. I will happily give someone my Motorola Q (good riddance) plus $100 to avoid the Verizon termination fee.
Success for CellSwapper depends on their ability to build a network of buyers and sellers fast. We’ll check them out again in a couple of months and see how they’re doing.