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10 Ways To Legally Get Free Internet At Home (And In Public)

On the 12th of November, someone emailed me about this particular article. 10 Ways To Legally Get Free Internet At Home (And In Public) which I’ve finally gotten a chance to read. Since it has been awhile, I thought I’d finally take a look.

While Net Zero has been around for quite a number of years, I’m honestly surprised they’re in this list.

This is only a resource. I’m not saying you should go totally free, read the entire article and decide how you want to proceed.

I enjoyed reading this article, and maybe someone can find the information of value as we look to proceed in todays digital age.

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FTC Warns of Ongoing Scam Spreading Scary Terrorism Allegations

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned consumers today of an active scam campaign targeting potential victims with letters designed to scare them with fake money laundering and terrorism allegations.

Source: FTC Warns of Ongoing Scam Spreading Scary Terrorism Allegations

This is only a portion of an article I think people should see, especially during this time of year in shopping online and in store. Please be as careful as you can.

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Braille2000 2.274 update 2274 120-5-19

For Immediate Release:

Braille2000 LLC
web site

We’ve just released 2.274 which has support for a percent directive dealing with numeric page numbering I.E. 17-10 which is written #17#10 in braille according to the instruction manual. Also, it supports telling ctrl+qt options for verbal feedback of setting. the options such as line, paragraph, and the tell as sections.

Run the updater as follows:

• Pannel, file management
• Once there select software update

It will be dated 2.274 for 12/5/19.

Please get in touch if you have questions or concerns!

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Assignment 16: I passed!

Hello everyone,

A full report will be available when i get to this on jaredrimer.info and the transcribers section. There wereissues in regards to the header. Since there were four pages, thats 4 errors and I understand. I could’ve done that.

Next is a groupsign error for a contraction. This is the ST contraction. I found it, but am not clear on it.

It was accepted and I’m happy about that. It took a long time to do.

We got exact because of this assignment.

Questions? Get in touch!

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Phil Raistrick, Founder of En-Vision America, Dies at 78

Blind Bargains is reporting the sad news of the founder of En-Vision America passing away on November 20, 2019. I knew of the ID Mate and I also knew of the Script Talk programs they run. I don’t think my pharmacy that I use has Script Talk available, but I hope to use it one day.

I just wanted to take this opportunity of passing this news along.

To read more about the company or any links, please go to the article directly.

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Bard express throws errors, fixes in the works

Hello all,

I just saw the following from BARD support today. For those who use the BARD express and have it installed currently, you aren’t effected. Any new users may receive a waring about it being from an unknown publisher.

This is because the certificate expired on December 2nd. NLS is going to precure a new cert and will release an update soon.

Here is the official email notice from NLS directly.

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Hello List Subscribers,

The software that certifies BARD Express as “safe to install” expired on Monday, December 2, 2019. The expiration of this certificate does not affect current
users. It does, however, impact patrons who install BARD Express 1.2.4.72 on or after December 2, as they will be warned that the software is from an unknown
publisher. The software is safe to install.

NLS expects to procure a new software certificate in the coming weeks, at which point an update to BARD Express will be released, and users will no longer
receive this warning.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

The BARD Support Team

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NLS should be ashamed of themselves letting the cert expire and not replacing it on a timely manner. It is too dangerous today to have software that is not signed as required now. I hope the fix comes sooner than later.

While this is specialized, we have to hold all companies that provide software responsible to fix their software whether its an expiring cert, or if it is a bug that effects functionality.

This can’t be good practice, and NLS is run by the government so I don’t expect any better.

If I hear any news, I’ll be sure to pass it along.

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Braille2000 and non-maximized windows

Hi,

The bug I talked about in the latest update that got fixed was in regards to non-maximized windows. As a blind user, the window should be maximized so that you get the best possible outcome, regardless of screen reader. In the release today, Bob fixed logic that would not remember window positions when the system was not maximized.

We’ll be implementing telling cues for changing settings as speak as as well, more on that soon.

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New 2.274 now available

For Immediate Release:

New! 2.274 with telling of what you’re changing to i.e. reading as explicit, as cells, or words. I’m realizing we can do more, and I’m sure it can be implemented if requested as telling goes. Set the option, get confirmation like tell the line, ctrl+qtl reading line numbers. Its a work in progress, and I’m sure we can get this to work the way we want over time.

What do you all think? The release was posted today.

To update: go to the panel menu with alt+p, hit m for file management, then tab to get software update, and press space. 2.274 is the only thing on the list, so tab to OK and say OK to the dialog telling you that you need to close B2K to install the update. If you’re working, close it at your convnience, and it’ll update when you’re ready.

A very interesting window resizing bug cropped up especially when two monitors were involved. This is mainly for the sighted, i’m currently looking for more details on that one.

I’ll post more about that later on.

Have suggestions? Please let us know. Without you, we can’t do it alone.

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How easy is it to get a domain? Very easy in fact

Before I talk about the article which I’ve been thinking about lately, I want to mention getting a domain in general is easy. In fact, I’ll mention a phraise from the article “too easy.” Thats it.

For most domains, you just pay the money requested, turn on the option for identity protection, and away you go. For other domains, there may be more steps like having an SSL certificate installed, or even proof of address or phone number.

One of the things they do say is that you should have “accurate records” for the directory, or you could be terminated but I don’t know how true that really is. I know someone who may have put a false address in place, but I don’t want to outright confirm or deny anything, especially since things have changed.

Now, lets talk about this article entitled It’s Way Too Easy to Get a .gov Domain Name and why I think there should be a change. According to research for this article, someone reported that government domains do require some form of letterhead from the governmental agency. I suppose the letterhead will have a letter telling the registering company what the use will be, but I am unclear about that. Now, the guy who did the research baught the domain, sent in the forms, and had the domain and he didn’t work for the government.

I think that if we need to prove who we are, by supplying our contact info, we should also supply valid documentation to prove who we are if we’re buying domains that require that. I have a .com,, .net, and .info and all I’m using for different purposes. I also have a .org yet I’m only running the site, I’m not employed by the company who is now paying me to run it. I wasn’t asked for documentation for the organization, and I would have provided it upon request. Is this the same type of thing that may be utalized for the .gov domain discussion in the article?

I would suggest everyone take a look at this governmental thing, and lets discuss what you think we can improve the security of our domains. This is why miscreants are able to buy large swaths of domains because there’s no validation and questioning of what will be done with it. Even if you ask for identification by calling to verify who you say you are, that would be a start. Even clicking a link to verify they’ve got the proper email address for registration would be a start.

I’d be interested in your thoughts. I’ve been thinking about this article after a long days worth of work, and now its time to put it to paper or in this case, virtual paper. Thoughts?

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Coming soon, a ctrl+q+a fix which I think I’ll love

Hello folks,

As I continue to work on my website for jaredrimer.info for braille2000, I found something I think will help us once its implemented. Its in regards to the ctrl+q+a (speak as) settings.

If you’ve tried braille2000, and/or listened to my demos, than you’ll know that something doesn’t seem right. When you use ctrl+q+a plus a letter, it sets the option of speaking. Thats great, until I realized for the final time today that when I set it, there wasn’t speech feedback confirming what I selected. It works, it selects it, but then I forgot that you can’t turn it off. You have to set another option.

What I’ve proposed is feedback to tell us what the setting was changed to. This way, we can have confirmation that it did take, instead of hearing silence. I’m confident that people will like this change. Of course, if you find that you don’t, I’m sure we can have a toggle somewhere, but I think I want to start by default to tell us when a change like this is made.

Have thoughts? Download 2.274 from braille2000’s web site and evaluate it yourself! I’d love to hear from you.

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Braille2000 and NVDA don’t mix

Hello all,

This morning, I decided to run NVDA to get it updated. When I ran it as part of the demonstration aspect I’m doing for jaredrimer.info it threw up some dialogs and decided not to deal with them during taping. I showed in this demo how NVDA in the main window is pretty much silent.

NVDA does not open its mouth unless you’re typing or in the menus or dialogs of B2K’s interface.

Braille2000 has a solution for this shortcoming, and thats the talking edition. The Braille2000 category on this blog talks about the production of this addition, and this means that NVDA users can also take advantage.

Jaws does read the window, but when proofing braille in full grade 2, this program as well as others will not read it correctly.

I’m not going to toot my own horn on how proud I am on a product I’ve actually used to help me with my assignments. I want each and every person to read up on the talking edition and make their own decision on what they want to use.

You can learn more by going to the link to my web site, or visit braille2000 directly. I just released podcast 330, but in future programs, we’ll talk more about how this came to be, we’ll talk about what the talking edition is, play the tutorial in sections, and allow you to hear for yourself how powerful this is.

On this thanksgiving day, I’m thankful for the numerous hours Bob spent understanding what we should have, the bug reports, and a whole lot more.

I’m very proud of my work, but you should evaluate the product yourself. B2K staff will assist in all stages of the learning process.

NVDA, we started a dialogue with you, sent you some logs, but haven’t seen anything to help assist your customers. Now, we’ve got something that will assist them regardless of reader, so please give this product a look.

Let me know how I can be of assistance.

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Tech podcast 330

Our RSS feed has the podcast, here are the show notes.

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On this podcast, B2k news, domain buying, and news on hospital mortality rates when ransomware and other attacks happen.Hospital breaches leading to more heart attacks? You bet! from blog The Technology blog and podcast Thats the name of the article and its linked from me. Very facinating read.

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Braille2000 gets update, gets some fixes

Hi all,

There are some fixes to 2274 which was posted on the 26th. The most notable came after doing one of the demos for the web site for the talking edition. The ctrl+qh should not stop giving help when requested, and thats fixed.

Other diagnosis tools have been added to try and fix an early bug when I downloaded and installed B2K 2274.

Also, if you do Portugal Spanish, there may have been some adjustments as well.

Go to panel, file management, check for updates and get the update. Its dated 11-26.

Questions? Please contact Braille2000 and the team will assist.

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Braille2000 and its companion web site

Hello all,

Braille2000 has a companion web site hosted at jaredrimer.info and it has quite a lot already with more to be added.

• A full tutorial based on the documentation ith demos
• demonstrations separate from the tutorial set on setup, specific dialog boxes, and more
• The beginnings of the transcriber section with demos on how I used Braille2000 without speech mechanism assistance
• documentation on the voice assistant and percent codes

I would like everyone to check out the web site and of course contact the Braille2000 team with questions and concerns. The price list is linked there as well. Please feel free to ask any questions, and I look forward in your feedback!

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Its time to post some good news

I know I’ve read at least one of the two articles from Krebs in regards to some good news in the arrest department.

• Orcus RAT Author Charged in Malware Scheme
• DDoS-for-Hire Boss Gets 13 Months Jail Time
• 20-year-old Chicago man charged with writing code to spread ISIS propaganda from Cyberscoop

I don’t remember if I read that, but thats some of the good news that I’ve found in the arrest department. This aught to be fun if I didn’t read two of the three articles. Maybe its time that I start catching up on some of this stuff.

If you’ve seen these in passing, what did you think?

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Braille 2000 V2.274 is released!

Hello folks,

As discussed in this blog post posted within the past week, we’ve now released B2K 2.274. If you would like to learn about the talking edition, please go to my jaredrimer.info web site. I’ve updated it with the audio tutorial and I’ve also got demos as well.

These demos are files 100-104 of the file series and I’ve got a full tutorial zip file which includes these there on that site.

My goal of the upcoming podcasts is to demo and talk about the work. I’ll play the tutorial in sections and allow you, the listener, to ask questions. If you decide to download or listen to the tutorials through the site, the contact page there gives contact information directly to me. It is a totally different address than the one presented in the blog.

Please let me know how I can be of assistance, and enjoy the new release!

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Hospital breaches leading to more heart attacks? You bet!

While I’m getting my day started, I’ve been wanting to try and play some catch up. I’ve been thinking this morning about an article that Krebs On Security penned on his blog entitled Study: Ransomware, Data Breaches at Hospitals tied to Uptick in Fatal Heart Attacks as it has some very serious repercussions. It seems as though the people who send these types of things don’t really care if people die.

Every day, people die for one reason or another. Every day, people are living another day. Why does it have to happen where ransomware is the cause of someone dying because they can’t get the care they need?

How will it feel to them if they died because they sent this to some hospital, then something happens and they can’t get treated? Lets imagine that they survive, get treated, and live to tell the story? What type of story will they be telling? If they die, there is no story, but the family who grieves has no answers and doesn’t really understand what the hell they did. To me, this is just another step lower in the problem of what ransonmware can do.

I’ll be talking about this one on the podcast, this is just sad. Lots of numbers here.

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APT 33 is back, continues to get better it seems

It seems as though APT 33 is getting more sophistocated, according to a Cyber Scoop article APT33 has used botnets to infect targets in the U.S. and Middle East, researchers say and so far, they have not target the United States. This can’t be good, because a group like this will eventually have something for us to eat. I’m not looking forward to the time where we’re targeted next.

Have you seen this, and what do you think?

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Patch Tuesday last tuesday, are you patched?

Last Week, my favorite bloggers Trend Micro and Krebs on Security blogged about patch tuesday. Because of my ongoing work as of late, I’m now trying to play ome catchup of some of the things that I’ve read. I always try to cover Patch Tuesday’s articles if nothing more than to pass along the ones I see.

Have you patched?

• Patch Tuesday, November 2019 Edition
• Microsoft November 2019 Patch Tuesday Reveals 74 Patches Before Major Windows Update

Lets stay safe and keep ticking. Thanks for reading!

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Braille 2000 2.274 soon to be released, new features and functionality

EHello all,

Any day now, the Braille2000 staff will be releasing version 2.274 which I’ve been beta testing for the last several months.

• The Speaking edition is done. We’ve added the ability for speaking exact, which is used to check work. It tells you font attributes, capitalization, and punctuation.
• Numerous UEB fixes will be in this release.
• Porterican Spanish will be added to B2K for those who use it.

When the release becomes available, Braille2000 will pop up an announcement letting you know that it is out.

• Click on menu
• Select Pannel
• Select file management
• Select fetch software update

You must have an internet connection for this to work. When 2.274 is released, you’ll see it in the list. Once highlighted, click OK and B2K will prompt you to save your work when you’re ready and exit. Once done, B2K will install the new version.

Under the hood changes include a new patch for installation from one path to another. It should not effect the usage of the software at all.

B2K will be adding the accessibility department, which I’m responsible. I’m in the process of building a web site under the jaredrimer.info domain. You’re welcome to check this domain for audio demos, and the like.

Don’t worry! This tech podcast will be getting the tutorial material and demos as part of this process.

I’ll start releasing them once the official release is out, and I’m excited for this to happen.

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact me through the about the blog page on here, or through my social media profiles found on on my web site.

Thanks so much for your support, and sorry for the lack of posts as of late! The preparation of this work and the sudden news of a release has gotten me to concentrate on this project, but I still plan to be here.

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