Day: December 31, 2005

Certain people I know snicker whenever I say the word ‘wiki’ but they really are helpful. Lifehacker has recently named the GTD Tiddly Wiki one of the best software apps of 2005. It’s a self contained 134k HTML file that you can put on your desktop or on a web sites. You can use it to store all your phone numbers, to do lists, shopping items, etc., etc. I just started using mine.

 Filed by Michael at 1:24 pm under Uncategorized
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[update 02.15.06] So this 360 Share / Musicmembersarea is a big scam. If you gave them any money then you got ripped off. If you want to know how people who know get thier music/movies/games/etc, then head over to Slyck.com and read up on Bitorrent. Grab yerself a client like Azureus or uTorrent then go do your searches at TorrentSpy, the Pirate Bay, or ISO Hunt.

Sure torrents may take longer in some cases and be a bit more difficult to perform but keep in mind that clients like Limewire or Kazaa are more likely to have bogus or virus laden files, and because of thier popularity and ease of use are many time more likely to be targeted by the RIAA.

Keep in mind that downloading music via any of these sites is not exactly legal, and that if you are willing to pay for music and don’t want to face the possiblilty of lawsuits head over to Napster or Yahoo Music or iTunes.

[update 02.04.06] This 360 post has become the most popular post I have made since I wrote about the scams off of Yahoo Personals. If you are one of the many that have been scammed by 360 and are trying to get your money back I would recommend that you start with your credit card company first. You will not get your money back from 360. Please post your experiences in the comments for others to see.

[original post]

One of my duties at work is to deal with download requests. None of the associates at any of the branches are allowed to download any files, and all of the ones that contain applications are filtered by me. I have the pleasure of being the Soup Nazi of Downloads. ‘No iTunes for YOU!! No Google Earth for YOU!!’

Today I got one for http://www.themusicsmembersarea.com with the description of ‘MOTIVATIONAL TECHNIQUE’. Now I knew this was something that wasn’t going to get approved, but I couldn’t just send an email back to the user saying ‘Nice try, buddy,’ so I actually had to check the file out.

As I was installing it on a VM box that I have setup, I noticed the installer copied over a file named Limewire20.dll. Seems like TheMusicMembersArea was packaging a program from 360Share that was a renamed copy of Limewire. Further research turned up this Wikipedia page on eTomi, which seems to be the company pushing 360Share.

eTomi advertisments generally consist of deceptive search engine ads and typosquatting. The websites promise “legal” downloads for a certain fee. What they really offer are modified and renamed open source P2P programs. eTomi legally exists to offer “support” for these applications (This is usually hidden in the fine print). The support they offer is often just a copy of the wiki or other documentation from the original program’s website. In the members’ area, you can usually download several modified peer-to-peer applications.

I sent an email to the requester warning him that he had been scammed and that he should uninstall the software and get his money back from his credit card company.

I also submitted a change request that both sites be blocked by the company firewall. No P2P for YOU!!.

If you are thinking about downloading this 360Share software save yourself the $$ just go get Limewire.

 Filed by Michael at 1:12 pm under Uncategorized
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So I’ve finally came back after a nice hiatus. I realized several months ago that this blog is over a year old and I made no commemeration of it, which is much the same way I celebrate most of my holidays. I believe that it is one of the stages of blogging that one becomes bored and escapes for a few months, in my case I let myself becomed so engrossed in work and playing Eve that I let my domain registration expire and stopped making any posts to the Googlewatch blog. I have given up on the Hot Coffee site altogether.

Anyways I have given a bit of thought to what I would like to give to you dear readers and will making some changes to ensure that content is regular and noteworthy.

First thing up will be reviews of the end of the year ‘best of’ lists. I spent a good majority of last Dec/Jan listening to all the great albums that I was introduced to thru last years lists. This year it seems like there’s 3 times as many, and I’ve got between 30 and 40 albums in the past few weeks to listen to. I’ll also be posting my reviews of all the books and video games that I come across, as well as the technical trends that have been too long absent from this site.

I hope you have enjoyed your Festivus so far and hope you have a great New Year.

Until then! 

 Filed by Michael at 8:12 pm under Uncategorized
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