Back To Ribbon Interface ...

Last week my office system was in the midst of upgrading. So we migrated from Lotus Notes to a web-based email system, which was making everyone's lives difficult, because the web-based email somehow does not work as well as a normal email program.

Today my laptop got "confiscated", to be upgraded. From the web-based email system, it was upgraded to the Microsoft Office 2013, which includes Outlook, Lync, Word and the other Office programs. Hence, I am back to using Microsoft Outlook for my office emails, which is the program I am most familiar with.

Having a system upgrade also means the Office programs like Word, Excel, Powerpoint, et al, will show the ribbon interface, instead of the tabs. I am never used to the ribbon interface. I always find it a chore trying to look for the correct icon. At least with the tabs everything is displayed out properly.

I think I am really getting old, because now I find it so difficult to learn new programs! Not like when during my school days when computers were a luxury instead of a necessity, and each time a program was being updated, I would be the first to read the manual and learn how to use the program excitedly! I remember I installed the whole internet system, upgraded my software, installed the printers, and even separated my harddiscs into two in my home computer!

Not only that, I even helped my friends who could not be bothered to learn how to use the computer, install their softwares and whatnot! So I used to be the "go-to" person for a quick computer fix. Yet now, I cannot even be receptive enough to new softwares and upgrades anymore! I guess age is really catching up. Sooner or later, I have to find a teenager to help me out for a quick computer fix!

Should The Telco Compensate Us?

Finally, all those customers affected due to the mobile service downtime for one of our major mobile service providers, is finally over! What an ordeal! Three whole days of downtime, causing massive inconveniences to everyone else!

 

I am always for the underdog, so when this mobile service provider decided to break our main telco's monopoly way back in 1997 or thereabouts, I chose to go under their plans when I got my first mobile phone, instead of the main service provider. Since then, I have never defected, except once when I almost wanted to defect, but they lured me to stay with them by giving me huge rewards.

 

The telco has served me pretty well all these years, until the past few days when the network was down. As a result, texts sent were cranky, calls could not be sent or received, and even data plans were down.

 

How can this happen, especially to such an established company? I have always been pretty happy with this service provider, because the bills are reasonable, customer service is good, there are discounts and rewards as and when, and most importantly, I get to call three people for free (provided they are also of the same provider), so with these few people, I can talk all I want without any extra charge!

 

Even the data plan is reasonable, as when I got my smartphone last year, I could get the phone for free and upgraded my plan for just a little bit more to get the data plan. Hence, my bills never went above a certain amount, except when I was overseas and had to make some long distance calls and texts. 

 

The first time my bill went up was when I was on a business trip to the United States and there was some trouble brewing back home, and I had to make lots of massive long-distance calls and incurred a humongous bill. Another time was when I was in Australia last year and had to make some long distance calls, and I did not realise the charges were so much. So at least a note that there would be no more long distance calls unless absolutely necessary!

 

Anyway back to the telco's problem. I wonder if the telco will give a good explanation for the service downtime? Shall they compensate customers for their inconvenience? I am not trying to push the blame here as things like that do happen, but being a service provider, especially since now everyone is super reliant on their mobile phones, should they not at least give a reasonable explanation or not charge us for those few days?

 

Afterall, it will be unfair if we are to pay for this mess when it is definitely not the customer's faults in the first place!

Function Of A Dual-Card Phone ...

After all the gripe about the missing data plan down under, one good thing about my phone is that it has dual-card facilities, which means I can use two lines and numbers simultaneously. When I bought my phone, I already know it has dual-card facilities, but I always thought that means we only need to put in two SIM cards in one phone instead of taking out and replacing the SIM card as per a normal phone.

 

I did not realise just how useful a dual-card phone is until I bought a local Australian number and put it into the second slot. I switched the default number to the Australian number and the default card to use as the second one, so I could call and text my brother and my relatives and not incur a heavy charge.

 

However, when I realised that people back home could call me even though my default number was the Australian number, I was pleasantly amazed! When I received calls back home, it was reflected under my original number, and when I receive calls from my brother and relatives, it was reflected under the Australian number!

 

Same goes for text messaging. I was able to receive text messages back home, and the original number would be reflected, ie the text was sent to my original number, and I was able to receive it on my phone. Similarly, when my brother and relatives sent me a text, I was able to receive their text messages and the Australian number would be reflected.

 

Am I confusing anyone? It took a while for me to register as well, but all I can say is this is really useful, as from this, one need not tell people if they are using an overseas number as people can just call and send a text with the original number and those can still be received even if one is using an overseas number! How good is that?

 

The only disadvantage is that, if I want to reply a text back home, I would have to switch back to the first SIM card and the original number in order to send the text, because the text was sent to my original number, so I could not send out the overseas text in my Australian number. Same goes for calling. If I needed to call people back home, I would need to switch back to the original SIM card and number as my Australian number does not allow me to call overseas.

 

Still, this is a good breakthrough in technology. Perhaps in time to come, there can be several numbers stored in one phone, then one need not keep changing phones and numbers as the phone can truly become all-in-one!

Be Careful What You Say Online

Recently, it seems to be the time of "sensational" news. After all the sex and corruption scandals going around, the "biggest" news in the past week is on a certain lady holding a prominent post, making an "innocent" racial-related remark on a social media site and triggering a big hoo-ha over the web.

 

Her remark really sparked controversy. I am not saying what she said is right, it is really downright insensitive, and she should not even state that in the first place. And it is this little "innocent" remark that got her terminated from her employment instantly and triggering some war of the words via the online portals.

 

However, to be really objective, because we are living here, which is why this little remark can spark such uproar. Just imagine if you are living in another country in the West, say United States, United Kingdom, or even Australia. This kind of remark would not even spark off any controversy because freedom of speech and expression is so prevalent there that no one would bat an eyelid if things like that were said.

 

Again, I am not saying what she said was right. Even for other countries, remarks and actions like these would be frowned upon by certain people. But it would not trigger such big controversy and get them terminated from their jobs because honestly, to be really objective, it is not a crime to speak your mind.

 

Having said that, one really has to be careful what one says online. I am also on social media platforms, and I am outspoken and speak my mind too. But there are certain things that I will not say, simply because I know it is not right. Certain things you just do not say online, unless you are willing to face the consequences of your actions, especially in this age where everyone is connected to everyone else somehow. You may say something and the next thing you know, you get into so much trouble.

 

Just look at this poor lady. Because of an "innocent" remark to vent how she felt, within a day, she lost her job, got slammed by thousands, with her photos being floated everywhere, and lost her reputation and integrity just like that. Last I heard, she went back to Australia where she orignated, which would be better for her to start over, as she definitely would not be able to start over here.

 

Hence, in this age of technology and where everyone is living an open life, we really have to be more discerning what we express or say, as one never knows who is scrutinising who. It will be a big surprise if we get called for investigation by the police because of something we said whom we thought no one else would give a deal about. But there will always be people who give a big deal, and no one should go through this kind of trouble in the first place.

You've Got M@il! - Redux

In my insomniac state, I started watching all the movies which I loved. Then I came to this movie - You've Got M@il!, starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. I first came across this when I was a university freshman. That point in time, emails were still new and schools were still experimenting with them. There were not any web-based email accounts and the account my dad applied for was by a service provider which was then shared amongst everyone in the family.

So the thought of finding love through email was a novelty. I grew up during the time where writing letters is a form of getting to know people. Actually, I still believe in the old-fashioned way of writing letters, I just find that so much more personal than writing a mere email.

But nowadays it is very common to use email since you get instant reply and need not wait days or weeks for others to reply you, you save money on postage, paper and stationery, and so many people have met through online portals, chatlines, emails and even social networking sites. In fact, if you tell people now that you write and exchange letters, people will only stare and jeer you in the face.

But somehow, posting on a Wall, sending an email and connecting through pokes and messages does not feel the same as actually writing a letter. It is just so much more personal. If someone actually bothers to source for beautiful stationery, put pen to paper, think about what to write and mail it out or hand me personally, this kind of effort is commendable.

Unfortunately, most people nowadays take the easy way out and just sit behind their computers and send out a mail. Granted that one needs to think when typing out an email too, but then these are just type-written words. Nothing beats the sincerity of a hand-written word.

Of course emails are convenient. You can send photos, attachments, even jokes and messages at just the click of a mouse, all without needing to pay extra postage and using an extra envelope. But when the person receives your email, what then? How would you know whether the person is smiling, laughing, angry, sad or touched? I would want to see the person's face when I send him or her a touching email, a personalised message or just a normal joke or something that can cheer someone up.

Nevertheless, emails are an important tool in today's communication. Without emails, businesses can never be as efficient nor do things as quickly. Emails has got to be one of the greatest invention ever, but to me, still nothing beats writing letters because that is just so much more personalised, especially writing to a loved one and expressing very private and intimate thoughts which can only be shared with a special someone.

Is There No Privacy Anymore?

Due to the influx of social media, many people's lives are now being "broadcasted". We can have videos uploaded about people sleeping on trains and someone else recording every twitch, itch, scratch and drool. The next moment, one sees himself / herself being the main star of a movie on the world wide web.

Today my dear showed me a video which someone just uploaded on You Tube. This girl was drawing cash from an automated machine at a certain train station. She was about to leave when she bumped into her boyfriend ... with another girl ... on Valentine's Day (yesterday).

Can just imagine what happened after that. The unfortunate girl confronted her boyfriend, saying that he told her he had to work late and so could not celebrate Valentine's Day with her, yet he is now out with another girl! The other girl (who is prettier and better-dressed) then said, the guy is her boyfriend, they have been together for six months! To which the first girl said they have been together for a year!

And the guy in question? He just kept quiet, enjoying (?) the exchange between the two girls. Finally the first girl got so upset that she went to hit out at the guy, and then he pushed her. She was crying, but the guy did not wish to make a scene, so he just left with the other girl, and the first girl then composed herself and went off.

Whoever who was taking the video recorded down everything - every word, action, the whole drama. Now, if I am the people in question, I think I would not appreciate the whole world knowing what happened to me. Telling stories is one thing, but showing and broadcasting images to everyone else is another thing.

I guess in this era where all the information can be found so readily at your fingertips, there is no real privacy anymore. Anyone can just whip out a camera and take photos and videos and upload them so readily. No prior permission needs to be sought anymore.

Still, that does not mean one has the right to broadcast another person's "dirty laundry". What others do is none of anyone's business. What I say about my own life and actions, what I say about others who allowed me to share, and what I complain and whine about things that frustrate me, is still myself and my own actions to account for, not others.

Even when I present in CHOICE, I do not mind sharing my experiences and things I have gone through to those around me. But it is another thing altogether if they record my sharing and then broadcast to the whole world. Which is why we always tell the participants that what went on in the room stay in the room, and keep all sharings private and confidential to only those of that particular weekend.

To me, I much prefer to leave others to their own privacies. There is no necessity for anyone to go broadcasting others' lives. Even in this age of advanced technology, people should still be entitled to their own privacy and not go around being recognised or pointed at simply because someone has uploaded some video of them without their knowledge.

SharePoint Training

For the past three days, I have been having a three full day training on Sharepoint. This is the portal for my company's intranet, where all the information, documents, policies and templates from the various departments are found.

Apparently, Sharepoint evolved from FrontPage. I remember when I was still in school, we had to go through a series of computer lessons. So I took FrontPage, Flash, Photoshop, even Dreamweaver, yet I have not had the chance to use a single one of those programs as yet.

Hence when I was trying out the Sharepoint program during the training, it was quite hard to maneuvre. When the instructor taught us how to upload files and documents, there were many steps involved.

Initially the steps got rather confusing. But as I continued playing around with the portal, I find that it is quite easy to use. One only needs to get used to playing around with the site.

This Sharepoint training is for me to familiarize with the portal so as to start uploading documents and templates for my department.

Hopefully after this training I can start clearing all the backlog that was accumulated before I came on board!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Minor Hacking Incident

I thought after all the security measures, my account would be safe from getting hacked. A few months back, my dear's accounts (Facebook, email and instant messenging) got hacked. His email started sending out weird things and "he" was chatting via Facebook making advances to some of the girls in his Friends list.

One of them happened to be my schoolmate so I got to know about it, but the time which he was allegedly making advances online was when he was away serving the country and had no access to the Internet at all.

The thing was that the hacker knew all his personal information, changed his email name to mine (and made our friends so confused), and even went so far to disclose information about us (like our anniversary) to the people he chatted with, which was why they thought it was really him (Mr DC).

In any case I told him it was because his account was so public, so anyone could just access his information so easily and readily. I am not sure if he changed his account privacy as yet.

My account, on the other hand, is private, as in only those whom I have added or who have added me as Friends will be able to have access to all my information like photos, messages and biodata. I do not see the reason why I need to disclose all my whatever specifics to every Tom, Dick and Harry, or every Jane, Pam and Mary.

So I got a big shock when Facebook sent me a message when I was going into my account, saying there had been a recent access to my account at an unrecognized location! The system even mapped out where in the world my account had been accessed, which was near Chicago!

I wad told to log out and change my password. But when I tried logging in again, suddenly I realise I could not access it anymore! My account got suspended! I was told to log in from a proper computer and follow the instructions there.

So that was what I did when I reached home. The instructions were to change my password (again!) and then log in again. This time round I managed to access.

Luckily my account was not messed up in any way! I really do not wish to be blamed for any unsolicited and uncalled-for messages by anyone!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Letters To Juliet

When I first came across this show, I thought I must watch it because it has a Shakespearean theme. For those not in the know, Shakespeare is my favorite writer of all time! Whenever I need some inspiration, I always look through his works and I will perk up.

"Romeo and Juliet" is my utmost favorite and I always wish I can go to Verona. Imagine how romantic it will be if someone proposes to me while I am at Juliet's balcony in Verona under the moonlight! That would be the perfect proposal!

By the way, I will be taking a Shakespeare module this coming semester. Hooray! Finally, a long-awaited for subject that I will truly love!

In any case, Letters To Juliet is set in Italy (where else?). It is based on a true event in Verona where many broken hearted, confused and lost women from all over the world go to Juliet's house and write heartfelt letters, pouring out their souls and asking for advise.

The writing letters part is true but whether the letters actually get answered in reality, I am not sure. In the show, at the end of everyday, someone will collect the letters and there will be a team who call themselves "Secretaries of Juliet" who sits down for a few hours daily answering and replying the letters and actually sending them out.

How wonderful it is! Maybe the reason so many people believe in writing letters to Juliet is because the letters actually get answered? If I am to pour out my soul and stick a letter on the wall of Juliet's house in Verona, I would think it is just that. But if the letter gets answered, I will be totally ecstatic and over the moon!

That is the power of writing letters. Nowadays with the advanced technology, no one bothers writing letters anymore. They rather send an email, text message or instant chat.

Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought writing letters beat everything else. It adds the personal touch, which the impersonal email, texts or instant chats simply do not cut it.

Gone are those days where we write letters to our friends living overseas and waited expectantly for their replies and we were so excited whenever we received a reply. I used to be the one checking the mailbox everyday, wondering if any of my pen pals wrote me a letter.

Now with emails, instant chats and social network portals, keeping in touch with each other is just a click away. It conveniences everyone, but as a result, we have become impersonal. We rely too much on technology that we have forgotten how to actually socialise - calling someone to talk, writing letters with a personal touch to share your happenings.

How I wish my guy is the type to write letters! I do not mean emailing a love letter or poem, or putting up on his blog as a dedication. I mean a real letter written by ink on sheets of paper sealed with a kiss in an envelope. That would mean so much more to me!

So instead of emailing, why not pick up a pen and some paper and actually write a letter to someone we know?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A New Digicam At Last!

I am so happy! As a four-month cum early Valentine's Day celebration, my dear gave me a new digital camera, not just any digicam, but a Sony Cybershot DSC-TX1, complete in pink!

It is the camera I have been eyeing! My Olympus is finally due for retirement after four and half years. The memory card does not seem to be working well anymore and the batteries run out very fast nowadays.

Hence I have thought of upgrading a digicam. I need one that can take good night shots, as well as food, sunrise / sunset, beach, snow and underwater, especially if I go travelling.

I was initially eyeing the Canon IXUS 200 IS, but it did not have all the shooting modes I wanted. I thought of Olympus again but decided against it when I saw that the new Olympus cameras are not as aesthetically-pleasing as the one I have.

So I decided on Sony Cybershot. I have heard reviews that it is a pretty reliable camera and it takes pretty good night shots too. Plus it is aesthetically-pleasing, slim and lightweight and fits snugly on my palm.

The next thing I knew, my dear had bought it for me! I cannot believe how wonderful he is! Thank you so much dear! Love you so much too!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Finally A Smartphone!

I have resisted a smartphone or blackberry for ages, simply because firstly, I have no patience to learn how to utilise a smartphone. Secondly, if I use a smartphone or blackberry, I will be expected to tie it up with my company's network system and I will then have no peace as anyone can get me anytime of the day be it via emails or messages. Thirdly, a smartphone or blackberry is too bulky for me, and I always like small and handy things!

However, when my mobile service provider finally started selling the iPhone at such an incredible rate, I simply cannot resist it anymore. I caved in. I pre-ordered the iPhone, hoping to collect it when it launched.

Unfortunately, within days of launching, I was told the 32S was out of stock island wide. What a letdown! To add insult to my injury, my dear has a cousin working in the company, so he got a iPhone for free! Talk about connections!

Last Friday, the company sent me a message saying the iPhone I ordered can be collected. So I quickly rushed down to get the iPhone. It was quite a long wait, so we went shopping for a while before going back. Just as well, because when we went back, our number was called.

In short, I changed my plan to a iPhone plan. For less than a hundred a month, I can get seven hundred minutes of talk time, five hundred text or multimedia messages, free calls to three numbers under the same network (luckily he is also using the same mobile service provider so we can call each other as many times and talk as long as we like for free!), auto-roaming, caller number display, and best of all, unlimited data bundle, which means I can surf internet, check emails and maybe even blog as long as I like without any extra charge! It is really an amazing deal! And all for just the price of less than a hundred for the phone!

So I thought better to grab the opportunity while it last. Hence after so long, I finally have a smartphone! I am still trying to learn how to use the phone, so it may be a while before I finally start using, but I am so excited about my new gadget!

Finally I can have a phone that not only calls, texts, take pictures, take videos, surf net, check emails, has an in-built GPS to check directions, acts like an iPod, and all by just touching the screen. I have always been behind technology, so this is considered another notch up for me!

Tag Cloud!

I have fallen in love with the animated tag clouds which I have seen in some websites, and have been trying to tweak my labels into the same cloud. But for some reason, my blog can take a normal tag cloud, but not the animated one. You know, the one where the labels are all moving? That is the one I am looking for.

I have gone through a few websites and tried to copy and paste the code according to the instructions, but for some reason, the labels disappeared and no moveable cloud can be seen! So until I trial and error further and get it exactly right, looks like I have to settle for a normal tag cloud for now. :-(

If anyone knows how to get that exactly right in blogger, I do appreciate your help!

Surrogates

What if one day, we wake up and realise we do not even need to get out of bed, get out of the house, because we can control a surrogate to go about our daily activities on our behalf? Would that not be wonderful? Imagine we can just lie in bed the whole day while our surrogates go about the daily operations on what we need to do.

We can even make the surrogates tall, elegant, cute, good-looking, flawlessly immaculate, perfectly stylish and fashionable, well-coiffed hair and manicured nails. The surrogates can enjoy whatever we enjoy, and more. So if I want to find out how it is like to be a man, I can just operate a tall, dark and handsome bronzed Greek God and see how women swoon over him.

That will be perfect, will it not? This is just cyber world and simulation at a very advanced level. But the thing is, no man is an island. By staying in bed the whole time without going out into the world and actually interacting with real people instead of sending a surrogate and interacting with other surrogates, we may end up losing touch with society, and that will be a disaster indeed.

Already, more and more people are so engrossed in computer games and the cyber world that they end up not knowing how to interact with real people. Interacting with people online and in a virtual reality world is simply not the same as actual interaction with people. Perhaps this is why there are so many oddballs around lately, since many people nowadays interact with machines more than actual human interaction.

When you are online, you can chat, play games, and have a war of the worlds with each other, you can even start conferencing with a group of people, but nothing beats the actual meeting up face to face with someone. The chatting over a meal or drink, the observation of actual human behaviour of another person or group of people - something you can never get just by interacting online.

So if humans are replaced by robots, what do you think will happen? People will lose their abilities to interact with others because they are so self-reliant on the machines. They will not be able to breathe outside, nor be as fit as before, nor go about their daily tasks like before. They will then become lazy, laid-back and totally inadequate.

Yes, surrogacy is a good idea since human abilities are limited. But however limited human abilities are, we still came up with high tech machines, virtual reality, cyber worlds, artificial intelligence. We invented the machines and robots. We are capable of all these without any help from any machines in the first place!

So who is to say we will not come up with better things? Now with the age of advanced technology, we are all dependent on machines. I will be lying if I say I do not depend on technology too. Shorn of the internet and laptop for a week and I will start going into cold turkey.

But we should not become so dependent on machines that we lost our natural ability to socialise and interact with others, that we allow machines to replace the way we live our lives. I do not know about others, but nothing gives me greater pleasure to go out and spend time with my friends and loved ones, to have my own children, to raise my kids, to go travelling. I want to be able to do all these personally and no machine or robot can ever replace that!

Hacked! - Conclusion

The conclusion to my hacker episode. For the first part, please refer here. For the sequel, please refer here. A continuation after I emailed to Rapid Share, informing them someone accessed my account and signed up for their product using my name. And this is their reply :

from : RapidShare AG - Support Team
to : (me)
date : Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 2:52 PM
subject : Re: [Ticket#2009090310004931] RapidShare - Your access data
mailed-by : rapidshare.com

Hello (my name),

we are sorry someone abused your PayPal account to pay for our service.

If you have not already done so, we urgently recommend you to change your PayPal account's password. The payment has been refunded. You will also receive an e-mail from PayPal containing the details.

The RapidShare account that was ordered has been locked.

Best regards, Support Team
RapidShare AG
Gewerbestrasse 6 6330 Cham Switzerland

Tel: +41 41 748 78 80
Fax: +41 41 748 78 99
Web: http://www.rapidshare.com
Email: support@rapidshare.com

Dies ist eine vertrauliche Nachricht und nur für den Adressaten bestimmt. Es ist nicht erlaubt, diese Nachricht zu kopieren oder Dritten zugänglich zu machen. Sollten Sie irrtümlich diese Nachricht erhalten haben, bitte ich um Ihre Mitteilung per E-Mail oder unter der oben angegebenen Telefonnummer.

This message is confidential and intended for the recipient only. It is not allowed to copy this message, or to make it accessible for third parties. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender by email, or by the above telephone number.

And as proof of their good word, I received this from PayPal :

from : service@paypal.com.sg
to : (me)
date : Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 3:03 PM
subject : Payment refund from RapidShare AG
signed-by : paypal.com.sg

04 Sep. 2009 15:03 SGT
Transaction ID: 82X25282VU7955328

Hello (my name),

You received a full or partial refund of €16.99 EUR from RapidShare AG. To see all the transaction details, please log in to your PayPal account. It may take a few moments for this transaction to appear in your account.

Merchant information
RapidShare AG
paypal@rapidshare.com
http://rapidshare.com
+41 417487880

Note from merchant
Wrong payment.

Original transaction details
Description Unit price Qty Amount
RapidShare.com - PREMIUM (90 days)
Item no: 16 €16.99 EUR 1 €16.99 EUR
Compensation: ----

Total: €16.99 EUR

Questions? Visit the Help Centre at: https://www.paypal.com/sg/help.

Thanks for using PayPal – the safer, easier way to pay and get paid online. Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response.

Copyright ©1999-2009 PayPal.

All rights reserved. Consumer advisory- PayPal Pte. Ltd., the holder of PayPal’s stored value facility, does not require the approval of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Users are advised to read the terms and conditions carefully.

PayPal Email ID

At least online companies do have enough integrity and goodwill! I sure hope nothing like this ever happen again!

Hacked! - Continued

More about my hacker saga. Rapid Share actually replied after that person sent an email, using my name, asking why was the account blocked.

From “me”: why my account is blocked ??? (Exact reproduction, I only copied and pasted without amending anything).

The reply :

from : RapidShare AG - Support Team
to : (me)
date : Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 2:19 PM
subject : Re: [Ticket#2009090310004931] RapidShare - Your access data
mailed-by : rapidshare.com

Hello,

Your message has been forwarded to the according department to clarify the situation.

Best regards,

Jeremy
RapidShare Support

RapidShare AG
Gewerbestrasse 6
6330 Cham
Switzerland

Tel: +41 41 748 78 80
Fax: +41 41 748 78 99

Web: http://www.rapidshare.com
Email: support@rapidshare.com

Dies ist eine vertrauliche Nachricht und nur für den Adressaten bestimmt. Es ist nicht erlaubt, diese Nachricht zu kopieren oder Dritten zugänglich zu machen. Sollten Sie irrtümlich diese Nachricht erhalten haben, bitte ich um Ihre Mitteilung per E-Mail oder unter der oben angegebenen Telefonnummer.

This message is confidential and intended for the recipient only. It is not allowed to copy this message, or to make it accessible for third parties. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender by email, or by the above telephone number.

A few hours later, Rapid Share sent “me” another email :

from : RapidShare AG - Support Team
to : (me)
date : Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 8:21 PM
subject : Re: [Ticket#2009090310004931] RapidShare - Your access data
mailed-by : rapidshare.com

Hello,

PayPal has temporarily put your payment on hold. Maybe there is a problem with your PayPal account, but unfortunately we do not know the exact reason. We recommend you to contact PayPal to ask what caused the problem. Please refer to the payment from the 3rd of September 2009 so they can identify the payment.

Best regards,

Support Team

RapidShare AG
Gewerbestrasse 6
6330 Cham
Switzerland

Tel: +41 41 748 78 80
Fax: +41 41 748 78 99

Web: http://www.rapidshare.com
Email: support@rapidshare.com

Dies ist eine vertrauliche Nachricht und nur für den Adressaten bestimmt. Es ist nicht erlaubt, diese Nachricht zu kopieren oder Dritten zugänglich zu machen. Sollten Sie irrtümlich diese Nachricht erhalten haben, bitte ich um Ihre Mitteilung per E-Mail oder unter der oben angegebenen Telefonnummer.

This message is confidential and intended for the recipient only. It is not allowed to copy this message, or to make it accessible for third parties. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender by email, or by the above telephone number.

I was pretty amused when I read that. Perhaps it is not their fault since it came from PayPal, but sometimes I wonder, do organizations not check whether the account was valid from the exact person rather than just accepting payment from just anyone? Do they not do more stringent security measures? Anyway, this was my reply :

from : (me)
to : RapidShare AG - Support Team
date : Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 10:49 PM
subject : Re: [Ticket#2009090310004931] RapidShare - Your access data
mailed-by : (my email server)

Hi,

Please note that my email account was hacked today, so whoever sent the payment and email to you, it wasn't me. Paypal has sent me an email stating that a third party accessed my account and they have temporarily suspended that account as a security measure. I have stopped the payment. Thank you for taking note and sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Best Regards,
(sign off)

Now I am waiting to see what reply they will give me, if any!

Hacked!

I got hacked today! That stupid bugger accessed my email at the same time I did and tried to shift my items around, right in front of my eyes! I have known since a long time ago that no information is safe in a web portal. However, the reputable companies do try to have as stringent security measures as possible. Hence I never had a problem doing online purchasing.

So today when I received a notification from PayPal saying my transaction was approved, I got a big shock! SOMEONE had used MY account and signed up somewhere, costing 16.99 Euros! I got the entire transaction and email slip!

03 Sep. 2009 11:23 SGT
Transaction ID: 5G152852K5919015S

Hello [my name],

You sent a payment of €16.99 EUR to RapidShare AG (webmaster@rapidshare.com)

It may take a few moments for this transaction to appear in your account.

Merchant
RapidShare AG
webmaster@rapidshare.com

Instructions to merchant
You haven't entered any instructions. Description Unit price Qty Amount RapidShare.com - PREMIUM (90 days)
Item Number 16 16.99 EUR 1 €16.99 EUR Subtotal €16.99 EUR

Total €16.99 EUR

Payment €16.99 EUR Charge will appear on your credit card statement as 'PAYPAL *RAPIDSHARE'

Payment sent to webmaster@rapidshare.com

From amount $35.90 SGD To amount €16.99 EUR Exchange rate: 1 SGD = 0.473259 EUR

Issues with this transaction?
You have 45 days from the date of the transaction to open a dispute in the Resolution Centre.

Questions? Go to the Help Centre at: www.paypal.com/ch/help.

Get verified – Pay from your bank account and you're 100% protected against unauthorised payments sent from your PayPal account. Log in and click the Unverified link below your name.

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click Help in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

To receive email notifications in plain text instead of HTML, log in to your PayPal account, go to your Profile, and click Notifications.

Then another email was followed, this time by Rapid Share, the company which I supposedly paid to :

RapidShare AG
to [my email address]
date : Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 11:23 AM
subject : RapidShare - Your access data
mailed-by : rapidshare.com

Dear customer,

Thank you for your purchase. Your Premium account has been activated and you can now download data easily and without waiting. Please ensure that your browser accepts cookies.

==============================
Login: 10584284
Password: SsMMvVUZ
==============================

In the Premium Zone you can adjust settings to download in an even more convenient way.

How does the download function work for a Premium member?

For example, when you click on a link in a forum, a guestbook or in an e-mail message, you will get to the RapidShare page and a selection screen will appear. At the bottom of the list click on the "Premium" button. You may need to scroll down a bit. If you have already used your Premium Account, RapidShare recognizes a cookie and you can save the file immediately. If you are logging in for the first time, you get an error message. Under the message you can enter your access data, and then save the desired file. Your cookie will be automatically recognized when you visit RapidShare again.

As described in our FAQ, RapidShare offers no search function. Only the owner of the file has the download link and decides to whom to pass it. However, references appear on websites or in forums, which can often be found using a search engine.

Best regards,

Your RapidShare Support Team

RapidShare AG
Gewerbestrasse 6
6330 Cham
Switzerland

Web: http://www.rapidshare.com

This message is confidential and intended for the recipient only. It is not allowed to copy this message, or to make it accessible for third parties. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender by email.

Immediately after that, Paypal sent another email :

from : service@paypal.com.sg
to : [my email address]
date : Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 11:23 AM
subject : Notification of Limited Account Access RXI052
signed-by : paypal.com.sg

Dear [my name],

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system. During a recent screening, we noticed an issue regarding your account.

We have reason to believe that your account was accessed by a third party. Because protecting the security of your account is our primary concern, we have limited access to sensitive PayPal account features. We understand that this may be an inconvenience but please understand that this temporary limitation is for your protection.

Reference Number: PP-778-594-569

For your protection, we have limited access to your account until additional security measures can be completed. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

To review your account and some or all of the information that PayPal used to make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the Resolution Centre. If, after reviewing your account information, you seek further clarification regarding your account access, please contact PayPal by visiting the Help Centre and clicking "Contact Us".

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Yours sincerely,

PayPal Account Review Department

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click the Help link in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright ©1999-2009 PayPal. All rights reserved.

Consumer advisory- PayPal Pte. Ltd., the holder of PayPal’s stored value facility, does not require the approval of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Users are advised to read the terms and conditions carefully.

PayPal Email ID

Nevertheless, I called the bank immediately. The officer told me that S$35.90 was charged (equivalent amount to 16.99 Euro), so I told her it was a fraudulent transaction and to have it cancelled. Hence she blocked my card immediately and told me that a new card would be on its way over.

Then when I was accessing my email account, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, someone replied to Rapid Share, stating “Why my account is blocked???”. Then that person deleted all references to paypal and Rapid Share! I tried to resurrect it from the Trash, but he played with my items and even removed them for me! Hence, some items from my Inbox were removed too! Even my email chat could not work for that interim!

Luckily I copied and pasted the emails as evidence. At the bottom of my email account, the message stated there “Your account is being accessed at 1 other location”, with the IP address stated. So I checked my records and that particular person accessed my account for three minutes, created havoc in my Inbox, and refused to let me sign out! When I could finally sign out, I changed my password immediately.

My friend told me to stop using that email account and change to another one altogether, but if I am to change email address again, it is going to create trouble for others since they have to replace my email address all over again!

So I did a track and turned out that the person who accessed my account was using a server from Jakarta. This is what the report look like :

IP Address: 114.125.22.82
Source: whois.apnic.net
Prefix: 114/8
Designation: APNIC
Status: ALLOCATED % [whois.apnic.net node-1] % Whois data copyright terms http://www.apnic.net/db/dbcopyright.html

inetnum: 114.120.0.0 - 114.127.255.255
netname: TELKOMSEL-ID
descr: PT. Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) Indonesia
descr: Cellular Network Provider
descr: Jakarta Pusat
country: ID
admin-c: HT318-AP
tech-c: HT318-AP
remarks: Send Spam & Abuse Reports to:
remarks: [Email Removed]
status: ALLOCATED PORTABLE
mnt-by: MNT-APJII-ID
mnt-lower: MAINT-ID-TELKOMSEL
mnt-routes: MAINT-ID-TELKOMSEL
changed: [Email Removed] 20080522
changed: [Email Removed] 20090109
source: APNIC

person: Hostmaster Telkomsel
nic-hdl: HT318-AP
e-mail: [Email Removed]
address: PT. Telkomsel
address: Wisma Mulia, lt.8
address: Jl. Gatot Subroto 42
address: Jakarta
phone: +62-21-5240811
fax-no: +62-21-5272977
country: ID
changed: [Email Removed] 20090109
mnt-by: MAINT-ID-TELKOMSEL
source: APNIC

I cannot believe this can actually happen to me! Now short of stop using the internet and email altogether, what else can I do to prevent being hacked? How did those people even manage to get my personal information in the first place?? The most ironic thing is that I got hacked ON MY OFFICE LAPTOP, when it was supposed to be more secure than my home, yet I never once got hacked when I was using my own laptop at home! @%^#*(&(@(Y!!!

Thinking Of An Apple

I have not shopped for a long time now, so letting me loose in a shopping mall now is like letting a mouse loose in a cheese factory. There seem to be so many nice things lately! I am trying to control by not buying but sometimes the temptation really gets too great. Still, I have not bought any thing for the past few months, which is a good feat!

Speaking of that, the main thing I need to get at this point in time is a laptop. Actually it is not that urgent, considering I use my office laptop most of the time, but I rather use my own laptop at home and when I travel as my office one is a bit bulky. People know I am into small gadgets, so I rather have one that is portable.

After many recommendations, I have decided to get a MacBook. Yes, this seems a year of defecting. After I defected mobile service providers, now I am defecting from Microsoft to Apple. There have been many good reviews about Mac, some of my cousins are using a MacBook, I have friends who prefer Macs, and technology reviews all rave about Mac being better than Vista, which truth be told, it is precisely due to Vista that my laptop was giving me so many problems!

I cannot wait for the next IT Fair now!

Breaking Down Of Gadgets

It is official. My laptop has died. It has been standing on its last legs for ages, until it gave more problems this year. I reformatted and fixed it out twice, my friend did it for me, and still it would not function properly. Yesterday it conked out for the last time. After two years and more than six months, it has officially dug its own grave. R.I.P., Fujitsu.

So now I have to source for a new laptop. I am thinking of the new Sony Vaios TT25, in Gold / Beige. It is eleven inches, as small as it can get, that comes with a CD / DVD player, with Blue Ray at that! Of all the small laptops I have come across, this is the only one that comes with everything in tact, the rest of the smaller laptops do not have CD / DVD players anymore!

Think I will wait for the next IT Fair to see if there are any good promotions or deals. For that, I may as well get a new digicam too. Thinking of getting one that can take nice night shots, underwater, snow, beach, sunrise / sunset, gourmet, fireworks, etc. Just wondering which brand and model is the best?

PC Fair 2009

Yesterday was the opening of the PC Show. My supervisor wanted to go get a gaming laptop, so he asked me along. Since my laptop has been cranky for the past months and I do need to check up a better digicam, I went along with him.

First impression was that it is a stampede! I cannot imagine the crowd, on a Thursday night! Needless to say there were more guys than girls, most of the guys came in groups with their own buddies. Afterall, you do not really hear of girls buying all kinds of gadgets, if we are to buy we will go to the shops to buy and not squeeze with the crowd!

I checked out a few impressive laptops. I was so tempted to get one, since the deals are pretty worth it in terms of pricing for the quality. Unfortunately, I am not able to find a laptop that is just as small (ten inches or less), with everything inside - inbuilt microphone and webcam, wireless and bluetooth, and a CD / DVD player. All the small laptops I came across need an external CD player.

If I want a small laptop, it means I want it to be portable and easy to carry around, especially when I am overseas. My laptop is small enough to fit into a backpack. So if I am to carry an extra portable CD player, that defeats the entire purpose, is it not?

In any case, we did not stay there for long. The crowd was just too overwhelming, so we left when the place was about to close, and again it was a big crowd! Anyway, we only reached there around 7:30pm or thereabouts, so we could not really explore much too.

At least he got the laptop he wanted! A big bulky one, but good for gaming and heavy going software! Meanwhile, I am still sourcing for a better digicam and laptop, but that is in no hurry!

Twit Twit!

Finally, I have caved in and created a Twitter account. With technology being ever evolving, I will not be surprised if something else becomes even more popular in the next few months or years. In any case, it is good to keep up with technology as the world is always changing. Sooner or later, everyone is going to have a PDA or blackberry, or even an iPhone, which I have yet to cave in for that! But it will be no surprise if one day I ever get an iPhone, because of PDA, blackberries and iPhones, I find the third one the best, in terms of size and appearance!