Archive | June 3, 2009

A Week Without Apple – Day Two, A Lesson in Understanding

Now there are many things Mac OS X does better than Windows 7 and vice-versa. I’m not taking advantage of either OS and it’s features. I’m sure Windows 7 has lots more up it’s sleeve than I know about. Ditto Mac OS X – I know I don’t use all the things in Mac OS X like I should because I’m too lazy to seek it out. The aim of this experiment isn’t to choose a winner, or declare Mac OS X THE BEST OS EVAR SCREW YOU MICRO$OFT! It’s to see what Windows is, how it works, what it does and what it does differently. Everyone’s computer use is different, so you need to make up your own mind as to whether Windows 7 or Mac OS X is for you. It’s great to have competition and choice. Windows 7 is way better than I expected and very competent.

[…]

So while the HP is much cheaper, has better specs, a built in card reader, HDMI and digital TV, loads more ports and a snazzy webcam, it has some real livability faults. The LCD is rubbish and even a layman can tell it looks awful, it’s that poor. The trackpad is virtually useless with it’s total lack of glide. If the screen was slightly higher quality and the trackpad not so crappy, it would be a vastly better experience. I’m actually confused as to why HP sent me this laptop to replace the MBP. The MBP retails for $3,199 – you’d think they’d send something a bit more upmarket.

via A Week Without Apple – Day Two, A Lesson in Understanding | MacTalk Australia.

I concur wholeheartedly.

This is why I use a Mac – even though I’m more than proficient at using both either/all OSs well.

Left 4 Dead 2 hands-on 4 you

Significant improvements have been made to level design, utilizing the expertise of Portal designer Kim Swift. Some levels will have sections that have changing layouts. Faliszek mentioned a graveyard that would be different for every playthrough, for example. The AI Director can make the path through the graveyard longer or shorter depending on how well the Survivors are doing. Another level begins in total daylight, but darkens as a storm rolls in. The storm reduces visibility to nearly nothing, making it hard to spot zombies and, worse, teammates (their outlines won’t appear in the fog). Faliszek compared it to the cornfield in L4D’s “Blood Harvest.”

via Left 4 Dead 2 hands-on 4 you.

WANT. NOW.

November can’t come fast enough – that being said, I wanted iPhone OS 3.0 back whenever it was announced, and that’s almost here… 🙂

Going phishing? No thanks.

PHISHING. It’s something that, invariably, will happen to all of us.

Phishing is the act of basically taking your details through social engineering – complete a survey to get cash, update your details, log in “for security purposes”, view “important bank messages”, etc. For the people doing the phishing, it’s all about getting your personal details in order to steal your money.

Traditionally, phishing attacks are more “click on a link, complete survey/update details”, but lately they’ve been getting more sophisticated, telling potential targets to “call a number and confirm their details.

From The Age (hat tip to @ashermoses):

But in a new variation on the traditional “phishing” attack, which usually asks victims to click on a malicious link, one Commonwealth Bank scam email asks customers to call a Queensland phone number in order to redeem a $500 “cashback bonus”.

[…]

“It’s an automated system with an American accent that welcomes you to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and then requests an account number or says something’s expired and asks for your credit card number,” he said.

The voice recording then requested Howard’s expiry date and pin number, but he just entered in random digits.

“It actually told me the information was incorrect, which suggests that it’s hooked up to a payment gateway and it’s actually trying to do an authorisation on the credit card right then and there,” he said.

I’ve been hit three times now – the first time was easy to spot, the second easy as well, and the third time wasn’t so easy (but still contained enough tell-tale signs).

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