Articles by Den Den Boy
Yesterday, we brought you news of the ridiculous new programme by ISP Charter Communications to track their customer's every move on the Internet in order to serve them with targeted advertising via advertising company NebuAd.
Charter tried to temper the negative reaction to the programme by saying customers have an option to opt-out of the tracking system, but a reader who goes by the name Fenn, who has the bad luck of being a Charter Communications customer, wrote to us regarding his experiences on trying to use the opt-out feature:
I followed the link to "Opt-Out" and was blown away by the audacity of the warning text:
"If you would like to opt-out of this process, please fill out the form below and click "submit". The third-party opt-out process requires you to permit a cookie to be downloaded onto your computer so that the ad network can read your opt-out status in your cookie folder. Therefore, if you delete your cookies or cache files, use a different computer, buy a new computer, or use a different web browser from the one you are using at this time, you will have to opt-out again."
I mean, come on...if we are paranoid already, we will be clearing our cookies often and this thing tells me I will have to return to Charter's website each time to "Re-Opt-Out."
TOO MUCH!
So, to add insult to injury, they make the opt-out process equally stupid and onerous?
I urge any of our readers that may be Charter customers to call and complain to the company and threated to switch ISPs so that they can get an idea that this is not the way to conduct business.
I would also recommend sending your experiences over to the EFF, so that they can help defend your privacy concerns against Charter Communications.
It's this kind of thing that really gets me angry. I'm going to go fume in a corner after I place a call to an EFF buddy of mine.
Now this really grinds my gears: Charter Communications, a cable ISP, has sent letters to a few hundred thousand subscribers telling subscribers that Charter will now begin tracking every single site that customers visit, and then selling that information to NebuAd, an advertising company, in order to increase its revenues.
Are you kidding me? At least to Charter Communication's credit, they've got the balls to actually come out and tell their customers what scummy tactics they're going to employ, unlike Comcast who does everything to hide their sleazy practices.
However, their outright honesty doesn't improve the ridiculous intrusion into their subscriber's privacy, and Charter Communication's senior vice president of product management, Ted Schremp, gives an almost point by point regurgitation of the typical PR BS that accompanies wanton destruction of customer's privacy rights:
Charter is taking "for the most part, a high road approach," according to Mr. Schremp. "We have told customers exactly what we are doing," he said. The letter to customers, he added, was "very forthcoming" and "not buried in mouse type and legal disclosures."
The five-paragraph letter positioned the monitoring program as an "an enhanced online experience that is more customized to your interests and activities."
"As a result,'' the letter said, "the advertising you typically see online will better reflect the interests you express through your web-surfing activity. You will not see more ads -- just ads that are more relevant to you."
Yeah, great, because what we all want is even more advertising that is the result of you tracking my every move. W00T! </sarcasm>
Don't get me wrong, I know advertising is the lifeblood of the Internet. Hell, if it wasn't for the advertisers we have Homotron wouldn't exist and I wouldn't be communicating this to you.
BUT, there's a big difference between content makers like us putting advertising on our own website and an ISP tracking your every move and using that to add extra advertising content on top of sites in order to "increase revenue."
Ted Shcremp did tell the NYT that customers would be able to opt-out of the system, but that's hardly a solution. A default of opt-in with an option of opt-out is never a consumer friendly option, and it's a lesson that Facebook learned the hard way when it debuted its Beacon ad service a few months ago and incurred the wrath of privacy advocates everywhere.
For now, the programme is in a trial phase in Fort Worth, Tex.; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Oxford, Mass.; and Newtown, Conn. If the trial goes well, Charter Communications will then roll out the programme to the rest of its 2.8 million subscribers.
If you're a Charter Communications customer, watch your mailbox for their letter and make sure to opt-out of this ridiculous programme.
Charter Will Monitor Customers' Web Surfing to Target Ads [NYT]
The Homotron Downlink Episode #4 is OUT and ready for download!
Join Den Den Boy and Jesse James (Tiny's passed out due to Anniversary celebrations) as we discuss what we're doing with our packages (the economic stimulus kind!), the end of the Microhoo! telenovela, MySpace and social networks, NIN, crazy copyright bills, Den Den's dating life and much, much more!
When you finish listening in, be sure to let us know any feedback you have, and of course any questions you'd like us to discuss on the next episode by shooting me an e-mail with the subject "Podcast Question"!
The Homotron Downlink comes to you every two weeks right here at Homotron.net!
Go on! Get to downloading!
Feeling down?
Love drag queens?
Need a little shot of love in the morning?
Daily Drag Queen Affirmations is the site for you! The site features a subscription service that for $20 will provide you a short video every day for a year of a drag queen saying something inspirational and funny to you to lift your spirits.
Taking a look at the samples, the clips are wonderfully funny and cute, and I'm already thinking about gifting a subscription to a few friends of mine.
I'm not really sure where they got such mellow drag queens (Miami drag queens tend to serve up a cold dish of biting tongue and sarcastic wit to whip one into shape instead of inspirational sayings) but the results are great, and the FAQ is a hoot to read as well:
Refunds?
Hell no.
Will they make me feel better guaranteed?
We can't legally guarantee anything. In fact legally we have to say these are for entertainment purposes only. BUT it sure as heck makes us feel better. And we have loads of folks who thank us every day for making their world a bit brighter!
Why $20?
Why indeed? Please feel free to give us more.
If you're interested, head on over to their page and give the samples a look.
Daily Draq Queen Affirmations [DDQA]
[via: Coolest-Gadgets]
The IRS is now sending out the economic stimulus payments, with many folks getting anywhere from $300 - $600 deposited to their bank accounts, so the question to all you Homotrons out there is this:
What are you doing with your economic stimulus money?
Now, if you're the type that carries around a good bit of debt, I'd side with Steven Gray of PC World and use it to pay down your debt so that you're in a better position during these trying economic times:
[I decided] to do what the government should have done with my windfall (and yours and everybody else's): Pay down debt. I hope that, four years from now, when the next presidential election and the next rebate bonanza coincide, my rediscovered sense of fiscal responsibility will have translated into a manageable financial situation in which reckless deficit spending is only an unpleasant memory.
Indeed, Steven Gray.
However, if you're a member, like me, of the debt-free club, then we'd love to hear what kinds of awesome gadgets you might be getting with your check.
Me? The answer is obvious: My money's going to buy the new 3G iPhone next month. Beautiful, touchable broadband in my pocket... yummy.
I have an admission to make: I may love gadgets, and the forest of LEDs that tinkle in my room is certainly a testament to that fact, but being the hippie nerd that I am I harbour a deep seated guilt about just how much electricity my gadgets are using.
This has led me to adopt a variety of methods to lower my electricity consumption as much as possible, and Michelle Kaufmann brings us a great idea on lowering our AC bills by using water as a thermal wall on those hot windows:
It may not be as flashy as a new iPhone, but saving some dough on electricity could let you save money for even more gadgety goodness, and help the planet to boot!
[via: MAKE Blog]
In the great white north?
Buy a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Generation iPod?
Did your battery crap out on you just like it did for the rest of us? (*grumble* *grumble* *grumble*)
You're in luck! Apple just settled a class action lawsuit in Canada with all 1st, 2nd and 3rd Generation iPod owners who feel they've been burned by the whole battery issue. Apple is providing a CAN $45 Apple store credit to all affected owners. A similar lawsuit provided US $50 to the same iPod owners a couple of years ago.
Why the discrepancy on the amount (seeing as the Canadian Dollar has parity with the US Dollar as of this writing, thanks Bush!)? Just another example of Canadians getting screwed by exchange rates and some short-changing. Better than nothing, eh?
Go on, get your store credit.
And Apple? Stop using crappy batteries. You're on notice.
iPod Battery Settlement Program [Apple]
[via: MacRumors]
Another week, another step closer to the 3G iPhone. I'm all set and my economic "stimulus" package money is already earmarked towards the new precious.
...Don't look at me like that! It's my patriotic duty!
...Yeah, it makes me feel a little dirty using it as Bush intended, I know.
Enough about my guilt, let's get on to the linkage:
So you have a shiny new phone (let's say for the sake of argument, an iPhone) that's unfortunately locked to another carrier (AT&T) and you don't want to mess around with hacks that might turn that shiny piece of telecommunications technology into a paperweight - what do you do?
The Universal SIM Unlock Card from USBFever's your solution, which, through some weird technical voodoo, allows you to unlock your phone merely by placing it in between your phone and your GSM card.
There's a lengthy list of compatible phones on the product page that have been tested and work, including the iPhone itself. Even better, it claims to work for 3G SIM cards as well, so you're even covered when the new iPhone launches next month.
I haven't tested it myself, but word on the street is that it does function as advertised, and for $23, might just be worth the investment if you like to use your phone with any GSM carrier without having to mess with crazy hacks.
Universal SIM Unlock Card [USBFever]
Last week we brought the joyful news that AT&T had begun offering free WiFi access to iPhone users at its thousands of WiFi hotspots.
Today, we bring you the sad news that the party has been prematurely called off.
I myself started enjoying some free WiFi at my local Starbucks (mmmm java) last week, and have found that the sweet free nectar of the Internet Tubes has indeed been closed, leaving me parched and making do with EDGE while sipping my Grande Java Chip Frappuccino (with a shot of almond - oh how I miss you, Brownie Frappuccino...)
AT&T has declined to comment on why they pulled the service, but my conjecture is that the ease with which non-iPhone browsers were able to gain free WiFi access (through spoofing their browser's User Agent to look like an iPhone) may have something to do with the pullback.
No doubt we might see a stronger authentication method when the service comes back, probably by having AT&T iPhone users login using their AT&T online billing accounts.
Until then, I'll have to make do with sipping my Frapuccino in the library of the University where I work to sample the sweet nectar of the Tubes over WiFi.
The 3G iPhone rumours are so hot now that they're liable to create their own fusion reactor and launch humanity into a new era of clean and renewable energy in which a utopia will emerge...
OK, so maybe the 3G iPhone won't be solving all the world's problems, but we in the tech media certainly love to pretend it will. This time around comes near confirmation of a June product launch for the 3G iPhone from AT&T themselves.
A memo was sent out today to employees restricting vacation requests for the period between June 15 and July 12, 2008 "to ensure adequate store staffing and to give everyone an equal opportunity to benefit from an exciting product launch."
I don't know about you, but that smells quite strongly of 3G iPhone. This is especially prescient given that at around the same time last year, AT&T also sent a memo to the same effect ahead of the original iPhone's launch.
I know what I'm going to be doing with my piece of the Economic "Stimulus" Package...
AT&T Blocking Out June 15-July 12 for 3G iPhone Launch? [MacRumors]
Do you feel that? It's a disturbance in the force... like a million voices cried out and then were silenced...
... Or at least that's what I think it sounded like in Steve Ballmer's office as Microsoft reached the decision to withdraw its bid for Yahoo! and end our favourite tech telenovela of the year.
Ballmer said this in a letter to Jerry Yang (the CEO of Yahoo!) announcing the cessation of assimilation procedures:
Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft
You mean like doubling employee's severance packages in the event of a company take-over to encourage a mass exodus of talent, making the company worthless? You didn't think Yahoo! was going to play nice, did you Ballmer?
Somehow, the news seems disappointing to me. Almost anticlimactic. I expected more fireworks to accompany someone as outspoken as Ballmer backing down from hostile threats. His new nickname should be "all bark and no bite," in my opinion.
As for Yahoo!, the jury is still out on whether this is good news or not, but I can tell you this: Wall Street doesn't like it. As of this writing, Yahoo! stock had tumbled down 15%
to 24.41 on the news.
However, we all know how twitchy stock brokers can be, and I think in the end Yahoo! will come out the better for it. Their new partnership with Google for search ads as well as a rumoured merger with AOL to expand its content holdings, one of its core competencies, will most likely be much more beneficial to Yahoo! as a company than being assimilated into the Microsoft collective.
No matter what, Jerry Yang has his work cut out for him to prove to investors that fighting off Microsoft was the right thing to do.
Microsoft Withdraws Its Bid for Yahoo [NYT]
And girls who like girls who like fembots!
Gadget of the Week
Show-stopping "half-VGA" screen and HSDPA/UMTS support, gorgeous video playback: Bold, Bold, Bold!
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