The Technology blog and podcast

Time zone update

Just went in and changed the time so that posts post on time. I scheduled some stuff, but they may be off for the first day but should be OK now. I’ll be posting something shortly, and have stuff scheduled for tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for taking a look and having an interest. Whether you say something or not, sharing is what this is about. See you all soon!

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Text Reminders, where did it go?

I didn’t formally post anything about this service, but talked about it on a diverse podcast 310 which was released March 26, 2019. I was attracted to this service, although it did have a paying component. The site was accessible, and while checking it out, reported some things.

I even found issues with it during the time change and tried to reach out to the people behind it. The problem was that I didn’t get a response.

I’m unclear when I noticed that the service was gone, and I decided to give it another look. The domain is registered, but it is no longer active.

If you go back to podcast 310 on our RSS feed you’ll see the notations linking to the site. Its not going to hurt you to go there now, but I’d be caucious because now its a parked page and someone could change that and make it a problem.

I’m saddened that this service is no longer, and I was hopeful for it because it did things that other services didn’t and still don’t do.

Did you use the service when we talked about it? What did you think of it?

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we have trapped the error subsystem

Hi all.
Well today the following tasks are completed.
1. site faq.
There is a link near the end of the site after the blogs and links section that is site faq.
In there I explain a bit about the security system and such.
As things continue to be upgraded this may or may not grow.
2. Privacy policy.
The site disclaimer is also the privacy policy such as it is pertaining to this site.
I am no lawyer so its quite simple, ie information will not be shared or sold.
Protection of email is encoded and we have ssl, captcha and 0spam and that will work fine.
We have a standard error page which covers all errors though the only error this works for is the 404 error.
We accomplish this with a plugin called 404 page.
This allows us to link a page with the stuff in it we need.
There is an advanced section which is totally visual full of unlabeled links but we don’t need it.
The other thing we have is wordpress error pages customiser or at least something along those lines.
If anyone wants the actual plugin let me know in the comments.
This allows us to customise the 403 and(hidden or forbidden access)
and, 401, login error when you have entered to many times the information for login though this shouldn’t be a problem.
Now if you have a cognitive issue there may be a slight possibility that you may not be able to solve the simple captcha but you will need to be really bad for that to happen.
If you do have that issue, or if you don’t want to put your information on here you can still login with wordpress with 2 step which may be more comfortable for you.
We also have a contact us page to now I don’t have the knowledge to make the email addresses say the various names but good job trying to copy them with a bot.
Now granted if you really want to you can copy them with your keyboard but its harder.
If you do try, you will see the word javascript and a ; character.
This should be all for the moment unless I can think about anything more.
I have held off customising login screens because these are fine as they are.
Anyway we will start conflicting with stuff as it is.
What I’d like to do is add things like an audio logo to the site maybe, and maybe sounds when you click about in standard and admin consoles but its not really needed as such.
A reminder to all that today is patch tuesday.
If you have any issues with the last update and some aparently have you should get the latest update.
Flash and adobe reader dc have updates, reader having the first update for this year.
A reminder that flash is supposed to be approaching end of life this year.
Shockwave is allready at end of life.
I plan to clear flash and shockwave off my systems once that reaches end of life.
If you need to use flash, it is recommended to use html5 or adobe air.
Google chrome has another update as does office.
Outage notes.
The following times I will not be available for any immediate support or duties.
20th feburary I will be away all that week starting on that day for a music festival.
24 april.
I will be away till the start of may on vacation but it may be a bit longer.
During this time there will be no support or updates at least from me.
Thanks for reading.

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Important announcement for 10th february 2020

Hi all.
Well as you know every time there is a podcast and in the last 2 casts jared peaks my interest on things.
Not everything is successfull but here are the things done this week and not done due to issues.
Things which are not done probably won’t be done unless there is a way about doing so.
1. security.
In addition to spam and 2 factor with jetpack, we have logic captcha with captcha booster.
This is another layer on top of the stuff we have.
This allows the site to just work without stupidness on behalf of well recaptcha and its weirdness.
We have an email obfiscation encoder which should keep email addresses secure and generate links if they don’t exist.
There is a faq, contact page and an error page created.
Oh and there is a plugin for admins to get errors.
right now my address]
mailto://
and
mailto://
Are the admin stuff.
Jared is in

america and I am in new zealand.
I can handle content messages, like errors in posts, simple plugins and configurations.
Jared can handle anything else which is not point and click.
The following ideas are trashed for now and may or may not be revisited in the future.
1. a question and answer system.
A lot of sites have one, so decided to put one in.
Visual elements in plugins I tried made me reconcidder, anyway with our captcha and other methods it should work.
2. a login pin.
This could still be a thing, I just can’t find any plugins to use.
3. a social network login.
Again due to visual nature I can not configure some of this stuff properly so its gone.
4. a contact form for admins and the like.
Visual elements and probably not worth it.
5. a message system for admins and users.
Visual again.
So will there be any more.
Probably not, I don’t see myself installing any more plugins right now for custom logins or plugins for web page errors, things should just work.
I am fully aware about the peskey healthcheck if anyone cares about php.
Technically we should really be on 7.4 however the previder doesn’t seem to either want or to move that fast so I am leaving it.
The site works and we are not a shopping network so I am focusing on passive protections where stuff just does its thing.
Thats it for now.
More announcements when we get more casts.

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security note

Hi all.

As you may have been aware of on the latest podcast I mentioned 2 factor
authentication.

So why is there a captcha?

For the record I hate captcha in all its forms.

Here’s the deal.

From an admin point of view, captcha is easier to put in than 2 factor.

For 1 thing, each user needs to make 2factor just work for them, so they
need to turn it on.

I can’t tell them to turn it on which defeats the purpose.

2.  subscription.

Many of these plugins add you to services which may need subscription.

Now thats fine but it says licenced per user for a lot of them.

What is a user?

Is a user someone that has access to those plugins configuration, 2
users, thats fine enough.

However does it mean users as in all users using it on their profile?

If its all users, then how many are writing.

is it more than 10.

Suddenly, if you went to say write something or comment, you’d get a
message from the site that I’d have to put up somehow telling you to pay
us 3 dollars a month so we can pay for the authentication!

How about, no!

Firstly I don’t know what some of these things mean about a user, and
suddenly its just a bit complex.

As a former software pirate, this sort of thing made me want to go crack it.

Now I can’t forget my morrals and make the user pay me so I can give
them access its just not in my nature to be that much of an evil bastard.

Pluss you should know by now, I absolutely loath the subscription system
a lot of things have unless its meaningfull and unless I use it.

I’m not made of cash myself and neither are the majority of the blind
either and people in general.

After going through several articals I tried wpsms and a few other things.

However you need a mobile number for reporting to and a gateway which
means somewhere along the line I would have to pay or someone would and
that would eventually have to go back to the user because I am certainly
not made of cash.

My next point was to try captchas.

After not being able to understand google captcha v3 I tried v2 invisible.

This worked but oh dear, the login just never accepted.

So try v2.

This did work but I know some have issues with v2 and the audio and I
eventually got totally annoyed and scrapped it.

I then tried math captcha.

This is out of date and while it did work it displayed weirdly and I
killed it.

So we now use captcha booster in logic math number mode.

No multiply or devide because it put out things like 27 times39 or59
devided by 24.

I had to use a calculator to log in and again we don’t want to turn off
users just keep out bad guys.

So we have plus and minus.

Plus works minus does not show minus but if you see a couple numbers =
whatever with 2 spaces in the middle then its a minus and it just works.

There is a 5 attempt login on this which hmmm if you fail it will do
something, not sure exactly what because I have the basic version which
just gives the captcha and not much else.

As an asside, I strongly reccomend all users that write here and admins
to get a wordpress account if not for your own blog but as a backup.

You may login with google and facebook and other things if you want.

I have a wordpress account, but if you suddenly screw things you will
need a backup.

If to many screw things I may just get rid of the plugin alltogether but
this is at least workable.

Its just setup and go and it just does.

Never the less I am due to talk to a blogger who uses logic captcha and
other things on their sites and has offered to help with various things,
obviously its not going to be free but we will see what we see.

I can manage up to 20 us dollars maximum for a 1 off buy in but thats
probably it.

No subscriptions, so we will see what we see.

Right now, its going to work, its local, it will work with speech, and
at least its not recaptcha.

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What have you gotten for the holidays

Hi all,

Hello all, hope the holidays went well for everyone. What did you get for the holidays as far as tech is concerned? For me, getting my new phone was much needed, and I’m happy that I got it.

I got some other non-tech related items this month, but I also know that I enjoyed a couple of other devices like the sonos speaker and the Google Home which I got when I moved where I am now residing.

If you’d like to show off what you got for your holidays, please do so. Use Wetransfer or any other file sharing service and send me an email with the audio. I’ll be sure to check it out and consider it for future inclusion to upcoming podcasts.

Of course, during the holidays, i’ll be working on my B2K and braille transcription web site and assignment, and hopefully will be submitting 17 before the new year.

This assignment has been a lot of fun. Always learning new things.

Thanks for reading and participating this year on the podcast, and see you soon!

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Donald Trump gets impeached, what does this mean for tech?

OK folks, I don’t mean to turn this in to a political debate here, but we all have heard that Donalt Trump, president of the United States, just got impeached. While this blog doesn’t touch politics as a whole, politics and technology have mixed where court cases have been involved or something like Russia or some metaling or lack there of have been talked about.

The point of this blog is not to turn this in to a political debate, I’ll let other blogs do that. I’m wondering what the potential impeachment process will have on the technology field and whether we’ll see more or less trouble with hacking, breaches, and the like because of it?

I’m not ready to think about that right now, I do have other pressing things that are more important to me than worrying about that indirectly, but it is crossing my mind as I hear discussion in regards to this whole ordeal of whether something like this would have an effect on hacking and other tech related activities.

Donald Trump is the third president in U.S. history to be impeached. We do not think he’ll be removed, and that has been stated. When President Clinton was impeached, there was none of this hacking business going on as much as it has been for the past several years. This is why I’m bringing it up now, because of the events of the last several years since this president was braught in to office by election.

Thoughts on whether this will have an effect on the hacking scene is welcome. Thanks for reading.

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Iphone Its going to get interesting

Between last podcast and the release of this one which should be within a day, its been busy. Part of this journey was getting a new iphone which was desperately needed. My Iphone 5S has outlived its usefulness finally dying a horrible death because it couldn’t keep itself from shutting off wen unpluged. The phone is 100 percent, but I knew the battery was a issue.

I’d say as I said at the end of the podcast that I’ve gotten my money’s worth. I really don’t want to buy phones every year or two, and while we didn’tget money for mine, I’m OK with it. Should it be needed in an emergency where I need to have something, it may be able to do the trick,or maybe not. Whatever the case is, on upcoming podcasts, I’ll talk about my use of my new phone, the 11.

I hope that everyone has a good one, and I’ll be releasing the podcast soon.

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Time change

Its that time of year, the time changes and we have adjusted the blog to minus 8 from GMT to compensate for the change of time. Its too bad that the blog can’t do this itself.

We’ll continue to post and do our regular activity here, and hopefully you all are enjoying what you’re reading and hearing along this network.

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site optimisation

Hi.
Well before I plunge into the load of comments, I have started extra site optimisation.
Once a year or maybe twice, or every so often, I will be sweeping the site of all unused things like spam, database comments, etc.
This is to reduce clutter and increase performance.
A note to users on the site.
For those like me that use wordpress as a direct login to the site 2step authentication is enabled on this site and on the wordpress system.
If you login via normal userid and password method you will still be able to get in.
But if you use wordpress to login, you will need to setup 2step.
Please backup the 10 backup codes you are given incase something happens.
If you end up using all or half or well whatever, just remember to regenerate your code list and keep it on a cloud storage device.
Another note, for admins, Site info is placed with the wordpress version, php, sql, etc.
Also note, that while it gripes on, healthcheck seems to want us to have php 7.3 and according to performance tips you don’t need this.
As well as this, jetpack now handles image and page caches via wordpress cloud services.
I have noticed immediate speeding up of the system.
Later on, I may concidder extra services like cloudflare and maxcdn but as I need to get more iinvolved lets try the easy solutions.
Oh, also, jetpack should in theory update plugins when they update, so no more me having to login all the time and update plugins.

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HP launches Spectre x360 13 pre-installed with ExpressVPN

Just like an antivirus/anti-malware solution, having a VPN installed on your PC is very important. Are you ever concerned about the privacy of your online activity? Or worried about advertising trackers? Or maybe you are trying to access content that is prohibited by your government or Internet Service Provider (ISP)? Do you ever want to watch certain movies on Netflix only to find that they are not available in your country? A VPN will help you solve all the above problems. What’s more, a VPN is affordable and easy to use, especially in the case of the recent HP and ExpressVPN partnership where the VPN comes pre-installed on the latest HP performance laptop.

 

The HP and ExpressVPN partnership

Consumer VPN expert ExpressVPN recently announced its partnership with the giant tech company HP Inc. As part of the agreement, a selected number of PC’s will come pre-installed with ExpressVPN’s Windows app to help protect users’ privacy and security online. 

HP’s recently unveiled Spectre x360 13 laptop model will be the first one to enjoy this arrangement that includes a 30-day trial period to see if the VPN is a good fit for them. The product will, however, get incorporated on more HP models in the coming months.  After the trial period has elapsed, users will get an opportunity to either buy a longer plan or opt-out of the subscription. 

 

About ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is the market leader in consumer VPNs. Its popularity stems from its speed, security, reliability, and ease-of-use. ExpressVPN helps users to secure their data traffic and guard their online presence against prying eyes. This VPN gives users peace of mind when they connect to untrusted or unsecured networks, such as public Wi-Fis at the coffee shops, hotels, and airports. You will be able to encrypt your network data and secure your internet browsing experience with one simple click!

 

ExpressVPN TrustedServer Technology

ExpressVPN’s TrustedServer technology presents a major surge in protecting consumer privacy and security by addressing key risks common with how VPN servers are conventionally run. 

Traditionally, server owners install the software and operating system during the initial set up of the server and then add amendments over time. Take note that every change made gives rise to the possible changes among servers, decreasing the trust that each one of them is using the same exact code. 

ExpressVPN’s TrustedServer technology ensures each of its 3,000+ VPN servers uses the most recent software. Every time the server reboots, it loads the most up-to-date read-only picture containing the whole software stack, OS, and others. This is to say that ExpressVPN is aware of everything that is running on all their servers, which minimizes the possibility of exposure or misconfiguration and greatly enhance VPN security.

 

HP Spectre x360 13 Features

HP’s newest Spectre x360 13 laptop model combines the cultivation of impressive design and mobility, with heightened security and performance features that allow users to enjoy their passions without limitations.

With 6 out of 10 PC users concerned about their privacy being compromised, the new Spectre model features a dedicated mute mic key, HP Webcam Kill Switch, and an extra HP Sure View display. It also features twice the performance of its predecessors with an extended battery life of up to 22 hours, enough to take you through the day. 

 

About HP

HP is a global IT corporation specializing in the sale of software, hardware, and other similar services. The company was founded in 1939 by engineers David Packard and William R. Hewlett. HP’s product line includes PCs and other computing devices, software, storage tools, scanners, printers, plotters, and enterprise and industry-standard servers among other imaging devices. In 2014, HP decided to split the company into two– HP, Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise.

People who use PC’s/laptops are mostly on the go, and this often results in the use of unsecured Wi-Fi networks. With a speedy and trustworthy VPN like ExpressVPN, users of the new Spectre x360 13 will walk with their head high knowing that their privacy and security remain unaffected regardless of whichever Wi-Fi network they are on. 

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Philmore Update: does Phil need training?

I just got an update on the Philmore Productions saga over in Chicago.

I want to ask a very important question. How many webmasters and developers do you know that do not back up their web site code, development processes, and other aspects of business?

Philmore admitted that he lost the email forwarding capability, and the code that powers his web site.

As its discussed on a telephone line, Philmore continues to display such stupidity. I don’t understand what type of brain is in his Head. This doesn’t make any type of sense. I just can’t wait to see what else he’ll admit that we probably have called in the last few months. What a tragedy!

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Scott Schober writes new book, will be out October 1

You can preorder a new book by Scott and Craig Schober
called “Cybersecurity Is Everybody’s Business: Solve the Security Puzzle for Your Small Business and Home Paperback – October 1, 2019” which looks to be a good one. Its on Amazon preorder right now, and I’m sure that bookshare may have it soon after release. The print version is running for approximately $30 while Kindle can be had for $10 right now. Here is the Amazon link to this book, and I hope we can all read it and learn something.

Did you read the book Hacked Again by Scott? I believe that this picks up where the other left off.

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About the book

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Since publication of his first book, Hacked Again, Scott Schober has dedicated himself to educating anyone who would listen by telling his own story of
being hacked in the hope that others can learn from his own mistakes. Now joined by his brother Craig, the two have set their sights on the biggest target
of all, small businesses.

There are 30 million small businesses currently operating in the United States. Some of them are single owner/operated while others collectively employ
hundreds of millions. This book is for all of them and anyone who makes it their business to stay safe from phishing attacks, malware spying, ransomware,
identity theft, major breaches and hackers who would compromise their security. We are all in this together which is why cybersecurity is everybody’s business.

Scott and Craig Schober examine a multitude of cybersecurity issues affecting all of us including:

list of 11 items
• Cyber Insurance
• Internet of Things
• State Sponsored Hacking and Spying
• Card Skimmers & Identity Theft
• Social Engineering
• Ransomware
• Phishing Attacks
• Vital Password Creation
• Robocalls
• Cryptocurrency
• Virtual Private Networks
list end

Scott and Craig Schober delve into the details of the latest cyber breaches that made headlines and continue to affect your small business and all consumers
such as:

list of 6 items
• Ashley Madison Hack
• Yahoo Hack
• Marriott Hotel Hack
• Anthem Hack
• Equifax Hack
• Uber Hack
list end

Throughout Cybersecurity Is Everybody’s Business, Scott and Craig not only contextualize the impact of these cyberattacks on your small business and daily
lives, but also provide expert insight and a plan of attack for fending off future security breaches. Through tips and advice gained since his last book,
Scott offers hope in the ever-changing world of cybersecurity.

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Lets see if we can get this book, and learn together!

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Philmore Admits … confirmation of what the network has said for months?

Hello folks,

It looks like Philmore Productions has finally admitted to what we’ve been saying for the past several months. We’ve already known that the data was shot, but in messages sent to this network indicated that the company has been running out of date software and hardware for at least 15 years. Here’s what we know.

• Philmore Productions admits to data loss, including portions of the software and web services.
• We’ve never covered the multiple dialogic cards through this process, whereby Philmore Productions has went through multiple different cards.
• Philmore Productions did not honor their word when saying they would give refunds, and reffered later to standard business practice of only refunding upon request.
• Multiple months of downtime, and admitting to a long standing bug which he admitted to actually liking.
• Finally, Philmore Productions has admitted to running out of date software and hardware, which caused performance issues, (see item above) and how the system is running faster now.

What really bothers me besides the multiple months of downtime to his customers, is still the lack of transparency. In the next upcoming podcast, podcast listeners will hear two messages in his own words about how things went wrong, what he’s been running, and what he is running now. He admits that the system runs faster, and how Microsoft went in to his computer and turned off the dialogic system as part of fixing his computer. When turning that back on, he admits to turning something on which caused the system to pause during prompts such as log in, message counts, and the like. I personally remember reporting that bug within the first months of the system, and it was never fixed. He admits within the messages the podcasters will here that he actually enjoyed this “bug” in the system and he wishes that it was back that way..

The good news, is there is now Windows 2016, an upgraded SQL database, and a new dialogic card. It took the IT department and him another day after getting the card to get the system operating now.

I’m a little concerned about the SQL database. This database is run on servers for things like WordPress, and other CMS’s across the Internet. Philmore Productions must continue to keep this SQL software he’s running up to date, or miscreants will find a way in, and if he had data problems before, he’ll have more of them now. According to reports shared with this network, the system is running faster, but the network will not pay for a box to confirm this as the network here has left Philmore many years ago and has no plans to return at this time.

Philmore Productions must learn that he’s very lucky that a lot of customers have stayed, but many have confirmed to be gone now, including some of his longest customers since the beginning. I dialed a couple of boxes at random on the 18th, and both boxes I called have been cancelled.

We called the data loss issues from the very beginning during this whole ordeal. It was not practical to have us not call this, because when the system came back up, prompts were missing, and things ended up getting disconnected because the system didn’t know what to do. The web server being corrupted was inevitable, because it had gone between network computers and I’m positive now that Philmore does not do any type of backups. This was confirmed by Philmore Productions.

I can understand not doing backups many years ago, but ever since the breach reports starting with Target happened, Philmore Productions admitted to this network that he had taken new credit card info from his customers. This was the time to invest in a dedicated hard drive or two to back up the data. Cloud services were still in its infancy then, and that was the beginning.

The Jared Rimer network has never had a data loss of critical web sites and podcast material. We may have lost some data due to us deleting it because of space, or it not being in Dropbox or Google because it wasn’t considered that important and could be gotten again. The data Philmore Productions holds is very critical, and services are now out to give the company the space they need to back up this data. Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon backup, and many others are here to serve you. Its time Philmore get in to the 21st century and invest in some solution to survive. If they have not been hit too hard by the last couple of months, then lets do it.

Philmore Productions should’ve honored their word on automatic refunds as promised all these months ago. The Better Business Bureau would not like getting complaints now on how this was never done. We link to Philmore Productions listings on one of our other articles, and since I’m not a customer, I am powerless on doing anything because I could only talk about my experience. Iit wasn’t dealing with money and bad business practices.

Running out of date software is my next biggest problem for this company. Businesses who run software like SQL, and Windows must upgrade on a regular basis. While this may be a pain, I also understand that Philmore Productions also didn’t update Windows. This is the critical reason why the system crashed and burned. I can’t imagine running this network on an out of date, unpatched, vulnerable, and outdated software and hardware. This network always ran Windows Update, and taking the computer offline to do so is critical. When my software was out of date, it got updated. It fixes bugs and vulnerabilities that could be leveraged by miscreants without your knowledge. If Philmore Productions is to learn anything, they must update Windows, the software they’re using, and the backend hardware when necessary. Philmore Productions can’t continue to neglect the security of the system and more importantly, the data he so preciously must maintain for his customers.

Philmore Productions must learn to ask the appropriate questions. The company should’ve asked the venders what card to get for the new operating system, instead of blowing money on cards just for them not to work! This is what I would do, and I hope that the company will learn from this crucial costly mistake.

Is there anything I’ve missed? Please contact me, and sound off in the comments if you wish. I’m not going to be ashamed to publish this and let the comments flow where they may. The company must learn somehow, and I am not going to be held responsible for what happens next.

Other articles in this series

• Philmore up … Philmore down … are you done with the game? September 6, 2019
• Philmore up, is this the beginning of the end? August 28, 2019
• Philmore orders new server August 5, 2019
• Philmore still down, no end in site July 28, 2019
• Philmore: … Is Anyone Home? July 20, 2019
• Is Philmore up yet? July 14, 2019
• Philmore Productions not honoring cancellations? What the hell? July 10, 2019
• Philmore: Is It Down for Good? July 7, 2019

Some of the articles in this list are not able to be commented on but this article thats posted today is the most recent, and you can comment on anything you’d find of interest between all of these.

The Jared Rimer Network is now a third party. We get reports directly from customers and outsiders. The proceeding article is opinion and updates based on how I understand it, and nothing more. The comments in this post are those of the poster and not of the JRN, or its staff, clients, or management.

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Latest outages

Hello folks,

We’ve been aware of outages across the network. The provider is aware of it, and it is out of their hands. I am unable to write any more at this time, as its an ongoing investigation. I’m hopeful we’re now stable. Please also welcome our newest contributer and check out the article on Phishing. Very valuable. Thanks again for your support.

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Philmore up … Philmore down … are you done with the game?

So its been awhile, and boy, it seems like Philmore can’t be stabilized. Going back on their word on refunds, they talk about the standard business practice of customers requesting refunds for all the downtime. While I can agree with this practice, the company made it very clear that they would do this once the system came up. They have not.

To add insult to injury, let me ask you a question. Would you use something that is not compatible with your system, or would you make sure that it is compatible? I think we have this type of problem now with Philmore productions, and it can’t be good. Turns out, that we still have a computer which continues to reboot randomly, and the cause is the dialogic card, one in which may not be compatible with the software or version of the operating system. I’m being caucious, because I do not know exactly what is going on, but we can confirm that it is not compatible.

What I’ve noticed with this company is something that I’ve seen too much with them. The programming and development of the system is comparible to others I’ve been on, but the transparency or lack thereof, has not been the greatest. Promises and no action, or promises and excuses on why it can’t be delivered.

Long time customers are choosing that this is enough, on their own. While I’ve written blogs, talked about the situations via podcasts in audio, or even in conferences or one on one, the fact is that customers are seeing what this company is really like. This can’t be a good thing for them, and we don’t know or can’t predict whats going to happen. Companies come and go all the time, whether its customer problems, or money or other issues. I’ve been predicting Philmore to be gone for several years now, and maybe this will put the nail in the coffin. I’m not sure, but its all in writing.

One of their customers posted on their bulletin board system talking about all of the past, and how they were tired of it. It was a very lengthy message which we aren’t able to get a copy of, but from what I hear, it was well thought out. The company did confirm that the data was corrupted and couldn’t be salvageable and the tech blog and podcast as well as others close to the network said the same thing.

How much worse can it get for this company? I’m not sure, but only time will tell what will really happen. Comment if you wish.

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Philmore up, is this the beginning of the end?

“Welcome to Philmore Productions, may I take your bug report?”

“Yes, I have a huge bug report, Phil. Your voice mail seems to be completely broken. I can’t send any messages out, so having you tell me to leave a voice mail in your box is going to be pointless.”

Yes folks, this is now what Philmore Productions Voicemail is like now, according to reports. It just came up in the afternoon of August 28, 2019. During my podcast break during my moving process, I’ve written several articles in regards to Philmore’s potential. It seems like now that the system, in parts, is completely broken.

Hey Phil, did you end up copying the data like you said you did? If you did, did you find out if it was corrupted? How is the corrupted data treating you?

I called it a long time ago that copying corrupted data is going to cause you a lot of problems. I even told AT&T when I ordered my service for this location, the short version of what has gone on through the years in this company. The girl I talked to said that it wasn’t good. Now, what do you plan to do? The voice mail lines that were forwarding are now back up and operating, although you were apparently supposed to have access to be able to do that when you were upgraded. Is that broken too, or are you too stupid and don’t know how anything works and you have to have companies tell you everything?

When I got in to the web hosting business, I made it a point to learn everything I can about the features I use, and where stuff is in my control panel. While I may not know a lot of stuff, and/or things move around, I’ll go look and try to figure it out before I try to bug my provider. If there is a pannel you can access, look at it, save the company some time. The fact your shit is broken isn’t doing you any good right now, and now will be the time for you to respond to this type of bug report which will certainly happen.

How many times have you said that your system is going to be up better than ever during the reports you provided your customers? I believe that your voices need to speak even louder, folks. If this is a tell tale sign that this isn’t what you expected, maybe you need to decide what is best. This can’t be good. I’m not telling people to leave, but while I’m writing this article, the voice mail bug that was mentioned in the first section of this article is fixed. I’m sure that the rest of the issues will be fixed over time, and the time is now! You said it was going to be better, but in my opinion, its now more crap.

You all will figure it out, and make your own decision. Make it the right one.

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We’re on feedburner

Hi.
This is crashmaster creator of the blindvms podcast.
We are on feedburner.
My podcast address is http://feeds.feedburner.com/blindvms
This cast is on feedburner at
http://feeds.feedburner.com/tech-jrn
There have been some articles from 2014 saying feed burner is shutting down, its a google service so I thought, why not.
Its another way.
Note, I am not intergrating any of this with the site, or anything, but this is another way because its free, and I was making a feed for myself anyway and I thought, oh well may as well for no reason what so ever except I can.
Goes to the rss, adds a few more subscription options and avenues, I mean its not like there are loads allready but just because it exists I put it up.
Articles say that its shutting down, and maybe it is, but its not yet.
A lot of stuff still is on it and its part of google so whatever.
All other feeds work.
Oh, to jared, I just put the feed up, its in my google but your address and name is on it since I previde only the feed linking, not the content.
I don’t care if these feeds actually get subscribers it was just put them up there because I can for no reason but I can.

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I want to install fibre, but how do you tell

Hi.
With all the scams, both phone and electronic, serveys and the ongoing list of nusance calls and door to door religious and other salespeople going about, there are many reasons not to trust what comes to the door.
For example I have been told by my parents that under no cercumstances should I open the door at all even to a curior because of safety concerns.
Yesterday I was at my aunt’s house, after a salesperson knocked on the door which I did open asking to install fibre.
Like this “hello sir, I have come to install fibre in your house”
Me, I never ordered any.
Man, “we are upgrading your ariea and I need to connect fibre to your house right now.”
I didn’t order it.
Do you live here alone was the next question.
At this point I was shocked, now my dad, a power enginier who has no fear of serveys, and men at the door even going so far as to engage and start a deal, a man coming offering the same thing, wanted to install fibre, and while dad watched it closely what he did, managed to get us a nice fibre connection of which I am using and am thankfull for.
I am not one such man.
I am blind and spam savi.
My responce was to get this guy to fuck off as quickly as I could, manners were out the window.
This guy was obviously a scam, I had no way of knowing if he was truth and with all the horror stories well who knows.
In hindsight, the instal I have been talking about as the connection we currently have there has been shocking.
In fact the way it started with u was that our connection broke and stopped working and the previder basically said I should order fibre.
In this reguard, the previder at my aunt’s address has allready set up a plan for us to confirm of which all I need to do is hit a button and it will just work.
My aunt and other family were quite rood back but that does bring up the situation.
An example can be found here

some guy in a construction vest just tried to get me to switch to Optik fibre, anyone else experience this? from vancouver

There are many horror stories, one of these happened to a friend.
One of my friends had a man come to the house, they botched it completely, the cables were not deep enough, the ceelings were smashed, and they came round at all hours of the night to confirm things worked and to sign off.
My friend complained to the previder and it went up the chain to their boss who got rid of them and handled everything himself and it was happy all round.
My friend got a good deal out of it to.
However, how would you tell.
There is precious material on the dark side of fibre installs even though I tried to search for it.
What I have clearly got from several sites is you need to order it yourself.
So if some random shows up and wants to install it, its probably a scam, but it could be also the company upgrading an ariea so how do you tell.

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Philmore orders new server

Hello folks,

Last update we got was at some point last week indicating that Philmore Productions would be ordering a new server for the voice mail system. On Sunday, after recording the first file for podcast 319, it was learned that the IT department will be proceeding with the ordering of the server. My hunch of the company shopping around and looking for a deal looks to be coming true.

Also, it is to be rumored that people are now asking for cancellations left and right.

Philmore Productions is now making it clear you need to ask for money back, going back on their word on automatic refunds for this downtime.

Still not satisfied? You can report your concerns to the BBB who’s link is in an earlier post, as my opinion still stands whereby automatic refunds, and/or no billing past the outage date if prolonged is the necessary step.

Please advise I’m not here to tell customers what they should or not do with their money. I enjoyed Philmore Voicemail when I was on it, but I’m no longer there as I wouldn’t call it very much now anyhow.

Please make the right choice for you.

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