Articles by Jesse James
Who knew that nerds were so anti-gay? Eastern European hackers took down Bilerico this week, the popular LGBTQ blog that hosts all sort of content (one of my personal favorites). So what exactly happened? I'll let Bilerico's Michael Crawford tell you:
We've been fighting off these Eastern European hackers for over a year now; they're the same crowd that took down popular feminist political blog Shakespeare's Sister a year and a half ago. They're professionals and they're nasty.
Earlier this week, they managed to take us down for about 9 hours overnight but we were able to regain control. They severely compromised the server though, so we had to get a new server up and running quickly. Yesterday, we got the new server racked up and were planning on making all of the switch overs (we also host quite a few Indiana LGBT organizations' websites), but the hackers managed to crack through our defenses again yesterday afternoon.
This time they firebombed the place; our old server is toast. Unfortunately, none of the data was transferred before they regained control. We have backups and are trying to get the site back up ASAP, but we're still suffering from the lag required to set up a new server from scratch, retrieve as much data as possible from the old server, install all of our attendant software like Movable Type, and then port over the Bilerico database and double check to make sure it all works again since our site was so customized.
Yep. More homophobic nerd attacks. We've never seen that around these parts, have we? This is all the more reason for sites like ours to exist: if they could, these anti-gay fanatics would just wipe us all away.
Hey there kittens! I though I'd throw out a reminder that tomorrow is the Chicago Gay Gamer meet up hosted by Mikey and Fruit Brute, two of the co-conspirators behind the Gay Gamer Nation's plan to take over all media... or at least all gay media!
The event kicks off at 8 pm at Purgatory Pizza (Gay Gamer article on the event) at 3545 N Clark in the heart of Wrigleyville and only a few short blocks to the Gay Mecca that is Boystown. If you're in the Greater Chicagoland area, be sure to come out and enjoy the shenanigans, as well as free pizza and door prizes. I'll also be on hand at the meet up, so be sure to come on over and say hi!
Oh, and don't forget your tech toys, including you DS or PSP!
I've been participating in the GrandCentral Beta for a little while now, and I've been mostly impressed by the service. The amount of customization is spectacular, with the ability to set up various voice mail messages for different groups and people, and setting who can call what phone and when, are just a few of the options that you get to play around with in GrandCentral, and are just a few of the reasons I really like the service.
Recently, Google moved GrandCentral over to the mother ship and officially made the property they acquired a while back part of the big Google family. Now, putting aside that at this point Google really does know way too much about me, I'm mostly happy about this. The interface for the "new" Google Voice is drastically different than what GrandCentral offered, but I'm adjusting pretty well to the new Interface. I'm slightly disappointed though that my contacts list and voicemails did not make the transition from GrandCentral to Google Voice, but I suppose that's what I get for Beta testing a product like this.
One of the things I've noticed is that, unlike most Google products that reduce the amount of clicks it takes to do something, Google Voice actually increase the amount of clicks it takes to do many actions. For example, creating a group in GrandCentral involved hitting a Create button and setting everything up on the next screen, including selecting contacts to be in that group and what phones ring when those contacts call. Now I have to scroll to settings to create a group, then back to the group page to add contacts, then back to settings to select which phones get the message and click the advanced tab to do further customization. Same end result, just a bit more involved than previously.
I also enjoy that they are doing their best to pimp all their products, and it saddened me to realize how deep I am into Google's fold. Take this screen grab for example. This is their screen to demonstrate the changed Call Me Button (a widget you can add to any website that allows people to call you right from the site). If you'll notice, in one screen Google is pimping their Blogger Service, their Chrome Browser and their Google Voice service. That's pretty impressive all-in-all. The sad part? I use all of those. All I need now is a Android phone and I'll be completely entrenched in Google.
The move to Google Voice means a few good things though. First, if it's a "Google" labeled product, it will most likely stay free. The big G will subsidize the cost through advertising most likely, which is fine by me... I think. I was afraid of what GrandCentral would cost when it went Release, so I did not go all in on it, but now that it's looking to remain the same I'm leaning more toward relying on my Google Voice number. Also, the move means that there should be another round of beta invites soon, or maybe even a soft launch. If you're interested in the service, you can sign up to get notified for the next round of invites or check out all it can do.
I'm really excited to see where Google goes with this service, as I think it has a lot of potential. If you get in, let us know what you think. If you've been involved with GrandCentral and recently switched to Google Voice, make sure to drop us a line with your impressions.
Dear Apple,
You and I haven't always gotten along very well. The root of the problem is that I don't see an inherent value in your product over competitors. Almost across the board with your product line, I feel I can get something as good or better for a better value somewhere else. This is probably a subjective assessment though, as there are others that feel the exact opposite. However, in spite of all our differences, I need to level some real and honest criticism that I hope helps and doesn't come off as spiteful: please fix your Genius Bars.
What I mean is that your Genius Bars are appearing to be less and less adept at their job every time we visit. I'm not a Mac person, but my boyfriend is. He is actually a dedicated fan boy, spending time pouring over Mac forums and only buying Pro line products from you, even going so far as to remain subscribed to your crappy Mobile Me service. He lives and dies Apple. So when we go to your stores to visit your Genius Bar because your MacBook Pro has crapped out on us in three unique ways since we purchased it a few months ago and he is genuinely concerned and trying to work with your staff, there is absolutely no reason he should have to deal with snarky, ignorant and plain out rude staff.
I won't divulge the details of the encounter here, because it's not this encounter that is the issue. It's the multiple other encounters we've collectively faced in the last year. You know, within the same time frame that your store count has grown drastically. For the premium we pay for your "sexy" looking computers and the corresponding Apple Care Protection, there is a modicum of respect and intelligence expected from your staff. There is also the assumption that if you open a store with a Genius Bar, a station whose purpose is to help troubleshoot and fix issues with your Apple products, that the store is a valid location to seek help for issues with your products. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case any longer.
We've come to your stores four times now with different issues, all of which pertain to your MacBook Pro. On each occasion, we have been greeted with such disrespect and dismissiveness from your Genius Bar staff as to indicate that we are not worthy of their time. In each case, the blame for the issue has laid squarely on the shoulders of Apple, not anything we have done. A bent aluminum unibody casing, poorly packaged shipping leading to damage, faulty drives, and completely erratic operations. None of these can be attributed to us, they are faults with your product. But your staff wants to treat us with contempt for presenting them an issue they cannot resolve and cannot be attributed to us. Each time, we've had to resort to calling the generic Apple tech support center and received more efficient and more pleasant service.
If you cannot staff your stores with appropriately qualified and trained individuals, I would suggest that it would be wise to not open said stores. You charge a premium for your product, you should treat your consumers premium-ly. I would not expect a used car salesman to sell me a new Mercedes, and I do not expect my corporate Tech Support guy to help me with my home MacBook. If I so choose to go to your store for support, I should be able to receive top quality service, just as if I choose to call your centralized support line. Perhaps I don't want to wait for my shipping coffin in the mail, or perhaps I feel the problem needs to be shown to someone to fully explain the issue rather than just described over the phone. Whatever the case may be, if you offer me the ability to interact with your company in some way, it is your responsibility to ensure that I enjoy the same experience across the board.
I have been let down by you for the last time Apple. I have stopped using iTunes all together. My iPhone has turned into a cracked paper weight. And, if it were my choice, my husband would not use your computers any more. He manages to find value in your products still, which I can't say the same for myself. I'm not such an absolutist as to say "never again," but I am being very pragmatic when I say that it will take same hard work on your end before I can see myself using your products again. I sincerely hope that day comes again. The world deserves quality computer products, and I thought you could have been on your way, but at the end of the day, your representatives speak more for you as a corporation than anything you sell, and I can't support what I'm hearing.
Sincerely,
JJ
Oh, well hi there kittens! Tiny and Den Den have had me tied up in the Dungeon for some time for some... experiments. Yeah, we'll go with that. They've decided that they'll allow me to write a few things from time to time, but only if I'm a good little gimp I'm a good boy!
I've been noticing a disturbing trend lately. It's a trend that has the potential to ruin the social networking world as we know it. It's something so catastrophically wrong, but for some reason we can't get away from it. What is this horror of social media? I would say that it's the exodus of MySpace account holders to Facebook, but that's not the real issue. After all, I think many of us are those people. No, the real problem lies in one of the simplest trends of social networking, something so evil that it seeps in to your soul (aka your page) and tears you up from the inside out before you even realize it's happening: it's the Facebook MEME!!
*cue dramatic music*
That's right. We've all seen it, perhaps even fallen for it. Maybe you've posted the seemingly innocent 25 Random Things about me as a Note on Facebook. You might have tagged all of your friends on a picture of silly looking cartoon characters that personify static characteristics is an attempt to spark conversation. Or you could have committed the ultimate MEME crime, you posted the "If you don't repost this note, you're not really my friend." And you did all of these with glee, or at least out of passive peer pressure, not even understanding the rot you are pervading into the relatively young, virginal Facebook community.
Please don't do it! Just say no! Don't let this disease get out of control! We can stop it and turn the tide around, but we have to work together. When you receive that notice in your Feed that you've been tagged in a photo that doesn't actually have any real people in it, go remove your tag. Resist the urge to post the top 25 not-so-random-yet-carefully-selected-things-about-yourself-designed-to-make-you-look-insightful-and-deep-but-really-just-makes-you-look-really-patheitcally-emo! And when someone posts a sappy note about how their Facebook friends don't respond to them and they're going to remove everyone doesn't send the a new flower for their Green Patch immediately, do us all a favor and remove the douche bag from your list post haste. I know, it's tough love, but your little sister will never learn to be a responsible member of a social network if you don't change her ways now.
We've seen the devastating impact this type of behavior has had on MySpace, and we all know that MySpace is all but dead because of it. Please, join with me and the rest of your Homotrons in uniting against this egregious affront to Social Network Decency!
I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a Google fanboy. I love just about everything they offer. If and when an Android handset comes to AT&T, I will most likely drop my iPhone like a bad habbit and snatch up the G-Phone, that's how much of a Google fan I am. With that said, this post makes me a little giddy inside.
Google took a big step in the Gears project today: Gears has now come to GMail!
For a quick refresher, Gears is Google's offline solution for their online products. Google's Office products are available through Gears right now, meaning that documents you've saved online can be taken offline with you, for example on a plain ride or on the train, then uploaded with changes once you're back to an internet connection. What this means for Gmail is that now you can download your messages on to your machine and sort, label, star and respond all while offline! Once you reconnect, you're changes will be synced and responses sent.
There are a few limitations, including the inability to attach documents to responses and messages while offline. Also, this is a Labs product, so it's technically a Beta add-on for a "Beta" email client. Finally, this will only be available in the US and the UK for now, but we'll be sure to let you know as soon as we hear it's been opened up to other regions. If you don't see this available in your Labs tab today, give it a day or two. Google has promised to roll this out to all Gmail users by the end of the week.
Gmail Goes Offline With Google Gears [Tech Crunch]
[via: Download Squad]
We've got some good news for all you Mac fans out there: Macheads, the documentary that follows the lives of various Mac Fanatics that we told you about last January, is finally available to rent on iTunes or at Amazon.
It looks pretty interesting, to be honest. I'll probably be checking it out with the Boyfriend sometime this weekend. If you get, let us know what you think!
[via Gizmodo]
I can't wait for the day when all camera phones are required to have shutter sounds so that I know when some dude at the bar is snapping a pic of my junk in the bathroom. Cause I could totally hear that sound in the bathroom. And I can totally see him pointing his phone at my member. With the help of Rep. Peter King of NY, that day can be realized by the passing of his new law requiring just that: shutter sounds on all new camera phones.
Ostensibly, this bill is designed to "protect the children," because we all know that the children are in dire need of protection. At all times. From EVERYTHING!!! Personally, I haven't even heard of a case of an adult snapping pictures of little chil'rens in the locker room with their phones, so when I hear a Congressperson present a bill like this, I have to wonder where the idea came from. I've heard way more stories about Congresspeople and their underage aids and pages... just saying...
Congressman Wants All Cameraphones To Make A Sound, Foil Covert Pervtography [Gizmodo]
After I got my ridiculously over-priced Hello Kitty laptop to appease my addiction to all things cute and mouthless, I thought I was done. But just when I thought I was out, they pulled my back in.... With a keyboard!
So what's so great about this keyboard? Well, it's cute, and it's pink, and it's got Hello Kitty herself on the front, and a cover that's twice as cute, and keys that you can type with... yeah, that's about it. Oh, and it's $106, so it must be one hell of a keyboard, right? Because price dictates quality, never forget that.
If you're like me and need to fill out your collection of Hello Kitty tech gear (in doing so, creeping out everyone around you), then make sure to order this big boy now! There are others out there for sure, most of them cheaper than this one, but remember what Uncle Jesse James taught you about price. If it's shiny and expensive, it's perfect!
Spy equipment can be really fun to play with, and in many places it can be really illegal. There are tons of different cameras and camcorders you could use if you really want to spy on people, but this one in particular should be taken into consideration just for it's novelty: It's an Obama Camcorder Belt Buckle. Here, I should probably let the Ajoka website explain it in its best English:
Obaba Buckle DVR a handsome black man face have a hidden camera and a micro DVR built in. you can take Hidden Video with Audio with our Obaba Buckle DVR for Spy or Investigation it gives you the ability to perform personal investigation, conduct secret video surveillance or for any ideal covert operation where gathering evidence is important. Ideal for hidden camera use where wireless camera can be detected easily with a wireless camera detector. This Buckle was originally carved in a WOOD but we changed this beautiful master piece of work in aluminium mould, now it looks even better and beautiful fashionable belt buckle. you can wear it as a normal belt on your Jeans yet it can record audio and video of your spy need.
The camera does not come with any on-board storage, but can support SD cards up to 2G. On a full charge, you should be able to get 3 hours of recording time with files compressed to 3G format. You'll only get 15 FPS, but it'll be in full color and sound. My only problem, scratch that, my biggest problem with this is that unless the camera angle is adjustable, you'd have to stand a ways back to get someone on camera, or do a weird pelvic thrust thing. I suppose this could be used for some less sultry things as well, but... just ew.
[via: The Raw Feed]
The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) finally decided that something can't be patented. Since they've been prone to approve patents over a million asinine things, it comes as a bit of a welcome shock that they would rule that concept of internet subdomains cannot be patented because it's too broad... after approving the patent originally, of course. A company name Hoshiko has been using the patent to try and drain money out of sites like LiveJournal and even Google, and was told last week that it needed to clarify it's patent to something "reasonable."
These are the kinds of things that our new government, and the newly created Federal Chief Technology Officer, need to tackle. The idea that someone could patent subdomains, and thus force me to pay royalties for making a page like forums.gaygamer.net is just ridiculous! If we are allowed to patent subdomains, than I would like to patent the blatant misuse of exclamation points on internet forums, blogging, text messages and in massively multiplayer online games (see previous sentence for prior art). I'll then use my patent to assault the millions of internet trolls out there and force an revolution toward correct punctuation.!
Patent office rejects subdomain patent claims [CNET]
Hey kids! Do you like HTC's G1 Android Phone? Does the idea of a Google OS Phone make you swell up with joy? Have you been thinking about grabbing one, maybe because you like the keyboard/touchscreen combo? Then we've got good news and bad news for you!
Leaked photos of HTC's G2 Phone, codenamed "Sapphire 2.0," have been springing up recently. Why is this good news? It means that the updated phone will be releasing soon, probably in May. So what's the bad news? It doesn't appear the full QWERTY keyboard is making the transition to 2.0.
We haven't heard too many other details on the phone. No keyboard, 3.2 Megapixel camera, HTC, Android... that's about what we know so far. If you're an Android fan, or if you've just been putting off making the commitment, you may want to hold off until there is more information about the G2. Of course, Homotron will gladly bring you the details as soon as we hear them.
[Engadget]
And girls who like girls who like fembots!
Gadget of the Week
3D iPhone glasses. Why?
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