Comments to this post would work as well, Yahoo!That’s great for all of the people who forget their credentials. What about those who have their accounts hacked and stolen from them. Does this prevent the hackers from changing that verification data, such that only the “real” owner knows the information? Seems like once someone has access to the account, they can view / change all of that information, which Yahoo then will no longer be able to verify against.
This situation happened to my wife several years ago, and after going several rounds with Yahoo! support we finally just gave up on Yahoo.
Hers was a rare but not isolated case - here is a (non exhaustive) list of people who have had their accounts hacked and apparently never re-acquired: http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aprofiles.yahoo.com+%22Hack+AZ%22
So how would one of those people go about recovering their account, or can you paradoxically only get your account back if you already have access to your account? In my opinion Yahoo! has a very poor track record in this regard (Sarah Palin, etc) and I cannot see how these changes provide any improvement.
Maybe someone reading should send me an email to help get my wife’s account back.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Responding to "A 24-hour locksmith for your Yahoo! account"
I responded to this post on the 'Yodel' blog, but since I have little faith that it will get through their comment moderation, figured I would post it here where I'm pretty sure it's safe and might get some trackback ...
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Searching for a Telephony Solution
Recently I've noted a vast discrepancy with my home phone service. I am not getting nearly the value per dollar that I expect from other services. I hardly ever use the landline to place or receive calls, deferring most traffic to my cell phone. Even though I'm subscribed to the Do-Not-Call registry, increasingly more of the incoming phone calls are 'legitimate' telemarketing calls, since they fall under the "pre-existing relationship" exemption for the DNC list.
I want more control over my telephone, and I want to pay less for it; these are the goals as I seek to find a new solution for my home telephone.
The goal of having more control has been achieved by using GrandCentral, a service still in Beta that was recently acquired by Google. By using GrandCentral I can select who is allowed to call my phones, with all unwanted callers being forwarded to a spam voicemail box. From my computer I can listen to voicemail, arrange callers by group, and even make outbound calls. I can also connect all of my phones to a single number, so that calling my GrandCentral number rings both my home and cell phones. The service is still lacking some significant functionality, but it works for me. The service is currently free while in the beta period, hopefully the costs do not increase significantly when they release.
The second goal, paying less for phone service, is to be achieved by switching to VoIP. I am looking to leverage my speedy fiber-optic Internet access to provide a home phone solution. I don't want to sign up for Vonage or any other provider which has a monthly fee, since my usage does not justify paying a fixed amount every month. Thus, I decided to give Skype a try since it appeared at the time to be the only provider of a per-use service. We did not want to be tied to a computer to make calls so I purchased a D-Link DPH-50U telephone adapter.
I really should have known that going with Skype was a bad idea. Their proprietary protocol limits the kind of hardware you can buy: it's either buy an entirely new phone or buy an adapter, but all of the adapters require being connected to a computer running Windows. The setup works, but is not optimal. The Caller-ID from the adapter fails to show names, even though I have the names listed in my Skype contacts, and you have to dial a really long sequence of digits to dial out using VoIP. Also, it takes so long to connect using Skype that it only rings once before being routed to voicemail.
Shortly after I committed to the Skype setup, I found Gizmo, which provides the same style of service as Skype but over the standard SIP protocol. This means that the selection of compatible hardware is greater, and I should be able to find a device that works stand-alone. It's also nice that GrandCentral interfaces directly with Gizmo, hopefully I can get two or three rings before it drops to voicemail. I plan on purchasing a Grandstream HandyTone286 which is a minimalist ATA (analog telephone adapter), but seems to work behind NAT and without a computer.
As a side note, friends and family have had a difficult time with the GrandCentral transition. It seems that it's not intuitive to ask for a caller's name prior to being connected through. Of course my opinion is that if one cannot understand the given instructions, then I probably don't want to talk with them anyway.
I want more control over my telephone, and I want to pay less for it; these are the goals as I seek to find a new solution for my home telephone.
The goal of having more control has been achieved by using GrandCentral, a service still in Beta that was recently acquired by Google. By using GrandCentral I can select who is allowed to call my phones, with all unwanted callers being forwarded to a spam voicemail box. From my computer I can listen to voicemail, arrange callers by group, and even make outbound calls. I can also connect all of my phones to a single number, so that calling my GrandCentral number rings both my home and cell phones. The service is still lacking some significant functionality, but it works for me. The service is currently free while in the beta period, hopefully the costs do not increase significantly when they release.
The second goal, paying less for phone service, is to be achieved by switching to VoIP. I am looking to leverage my speedy fiber-optic Internet access to provide a home phone solution. I don't want to sign up for Vonage or any other provider which has a monthly fee, since my usage does not justify paying a fixed amount every month. Thus, I decided to give Skype a try since it appeared at the time to be the only provider of a per-use service. We did not want to be tied to a computer to make calls so I purchased a D-Link DPH-50U telephone adapter.
I really should have known that going with Skype was a bad idea. Their proprietary protocol limits the kind of hardware you can buy: it's either buy an entirely new phone or buy an adapter, but all of the adapters require being connected to a computer running Windows. The setup works, but is not optimal. The Caller-ID from the adapter fails to show names, even though I have the names listed in my Skype contacts, and you have to dial a really long sequence of digits to dial out using VoIP. Also, it takes so long to connect using Skype that it only rings once before being routed to voicemail.
Shortly after I committed to the Skype setup, I found Gizmo, which provides the same style of service as Skype but over the standard SIP protocol. This means that the selection of compatible hardware is greater, and I should be able to find a device that works stand-alone. It's also nice that GrandCentral interfaces directly with Gizmo, hopefully I can get two or three rings before it drops to voicemail. I plan on purchasing a Grandstream HandyTone286 which is a minimalist ATA (analog telephone adapter), but seems to work behind NAT and without a computer.
As a side note, friends and family have had a difficult time with the GrandCentral transition. It seems that it's not intuitive to ask for a caller's name prior to being connected through. Of course my opinion is that if one cannot understand the given instructions, then I probably don't want to talk with them anyway.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
A Gutsy Post
Today Ubuntu released version 7.10, "Gutsy Gibbon", a much anticipated upgrade to the widely popular GNU/Linux OS distribution. Right now I am using my 2mb/s upload bandwidth to seed the Ubuntu Desktop CD, Ubuntu Desktop DVD , and the highly underrated Xubuntu distribution.
Last night I performed the upgrade on my laptop, so that I wouldn't be bogged down by the mass of users upgrading today. Things went relatively smoothly and took a lot less time than a Windows install / upgrade.
The desktop CDs/DVDs are 'live' distributions, meaning that they can boot and be fully functional without installing to the hard drive. I always keep a few of these in my 'fix other people's computers' toolbox, because it's a dependable OS you can use on an otherwise dead PC. The downside to running straight from the CD/DVD ROM drive is that it's much slower than a hard drive install.
Speaking of hard drive installs, there's a few ways to accomplish this, depending on your level of commitment. If you are entirely sick of your Microsoft OS, you can choose the traditional install, partition and format your hard drive(s), and install Ubuntu. If you have a vested interest in keeping your Windows install (or the data on your hard drive), you're not going to go with that option.
A second option is to obtain a free license for VMWare Server and install Ubuntu as a virtual machine. You will essentially be running Linux inside Windows, and you will have decreased resources (RAM, CPU) because you are running multiple OS installs simultaneously. I actually prefer to do the opposite and run Windows inside Linux.
Yet another option is Wubi, an Ubuntu installer for Windows. The concept seems pretty silly at first; why use a Windows installer for a Linux OS that should be a replacement for Windows? The answer is that Wubi allows for an install that sits 'beside' rather than 'on top of' (VMWare) or 'separate from' (partitioned dual-boot) your existing Windows install. The install is managed through the Windows Installer ( i.e. Add/Remove Programs) and adds an option to your Windows boot screen to start Ubuntu.
Of course dual boot is always an option, but probably the most difficult of any of these to properly install / configure.
If you've never tried Ubuntu, you should give the Desktop CD a try. If you like it you might consider a Wubi install. If you like it and want to run both Windows and Linux simultaneously on a gaming rig, try VMWare. If you really like it and are ready to ditch Windows, you can either transition your Wubi install into a regular install or install from scratch.
Last night I performed the upgrade on my laptop, so that I wouldn't be bogged down by the mass of users upgrading today. Things went relatively smoothly and took a lot less time than a Windows install / upgrade.
The desktop CDs/DVDs are 'live' distributions, meaning that they can boot and be fully functional without installing to the hard drive. I always keep a few of these in my 'fix other people's computers' toolbox, because it's a dependable OS you can use on an otherwise dead PC. The downside to running straight from the CD/DVD ROM drive is that it's much slower than a hard drive install.
Speaking of hard drive installs, there's a few ways to accomplish this, depending on your level of commitment. If you are entirely sick of your Microsoft OS, you can choose the traditional install, partition and format your hard drive(s), and install Ubuntu. If you have a vested interest in keeping your Windows install (or the data on your hard drive), you're not going to go with that option.
A second option is to obtain a free license for VMWare Server and install Ubuntu as a virtual machine. You will essentially be running Linux inside Windows, and you will have decreased resources (RAM, CPU) because you are running multiple OS installs simultaneously. I actually prefer to do the opposite and run Windows inside Linux.
Yet another option is Wubi, an Ubuntu installer for Windows. The concept seems pretty silly at first; why use a Windows installer for a Linux OS that should be a replacement for Windows? The answer is that Wubi allows for an install that sits 'beside' rather than 'on top of' (VMWare) or 'separate from' (partitioned dual-boot) your existing Windows install. The install is managed through the Windows Installer ( i.e. Add/Remove Programs) and adds an option to your Windows boot screen to start Ubuntu.
Of course dual boot is always an option, but probably the most difficult of any of these to properly install / configure.
If you've never tried Ubuntu, you should give the Desktop CD a try. If you like it you might consider a Wubi install. If you like it and want to run both Windows and Linux simultaneously on a gaming rig, try VMWare. If you really like it and are ready to ditch Windows, you can either transition your Wubi install into a regular install or install from scratch.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Introduction
Jeremy Bensley is a software developer and researcher in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP). On this blog will be discussed topics relating to NLP, search, software design, programming languages, and other hot topics in technology news.
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