Category Archives: Software

ProxMate – Work Around Regional Internet Blocks … Or Not?

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

ProxMate says it is a free plugin for Firefox and Chrome that will allow your to see more of the internet by going around regional content blocks:

– unblocks Youtube Videos!
– unblocks Youtube Channels!
– unblocks Youtube Search!
– unblocks Grooveshark!
– unblocks Hulu (beta!)
– Add your own server!
– No History Tracking!
– On github!
– 100% FREE to use!

I ran into one of those myself not so long ago, but as far as I can tell, adding ProxMate to my browser didn’t fix the problem.

Could it be that the plugin makes it look like you are FROM the US when you are not, but fails to make like like you are not from the US when you are?

Posted in Internet, Software | 5 Comments

GIMP 2.8 Released

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

GIMP ReleasedThe latest from Gimp.org looks like a significant upgrade — better aesthetically, bigger feature set, it also feels snappier so far.

Versions seem available for just about every platform.

(GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a free and open source solution that rivals Photoshop. And did I mention free?)

Posted in Software | Comments Off on GIMP 2.8 Released

Grrrr

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

Firefox has a new version out (again, already), FF 10.

But Scrapbook Plus hasn’t been updated for it (yet, once again).

It’s especially annoying that the new version boasts that “Most add-ons are now compatible with new versions of Firefox by default”. Yah, except one of the ones I depend on the most.

OK, I shouldn’t complain. It’s free, excellent, and a great gift to us all from its creator, ” haselnuss”. Thank you sir. Thank you enormously for all your hard work. Now hurry up already.

Posted in Software | Comments Off on Grrrr

Another Reason I Hate My Bank

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

I have been having a problem with the web site for my bank, which after many years of working OK suddenly decided a few weeks ago that it really didn’t feel like downloading my transaction information into Quicken any more.

Yesterday I finally broke down and called the bank to see if they could sort it out. I hate calling the bank because every time I want something it takes over an hour and I have to speak to three or more people. Indeed, I spent five minutes with the first tech, then got escalated to Trish, a nice tech from Level 2 tech support. Eventually I was able to convince her that it actually wasn’t working. But her attempt to actually solve anything was frustrated by the fact that the bank, having just rolled out a redesigned of their entire web site yesterday, wasn’t actually serving many downloads because something had crashed.

So we made an appointment to talk on Thursday. Seemed like a positive experience on balance. But not so fast! Today I get a call from a different tech, informing me that Level 2 is not making appointments to talk to people, so the first tech would not be calling on Thursday. Yes, he called me when I wasn’t free to talk to say they wouldn’t be calling me when I was free to talk. And, oh yes, systems are still down, so no point doing anything today either.

On the positive side, the more-than-one-hour-and-three-or-more-people rule seems intact.

Posted in Shopping, Software | 2 Comments

Conditioning Game-Players for Nofun and Profit

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

who killed videogames? (a ghost story) is getting a whole lot of bloggish attention, and justly so.

It tells the tale of how “social” game makers, especially for handheld devices, are scientifically manipulating the user to get them to spend real money in the games.

I personally don’t play any of those things, and have never spent any money in them, but even so it’s pretty creepy and convincing. The end of the article (don’t skip), suggests that the results can be generalized. Ouch.

Posted in Software, Virtual Worlds | 1 Comment

Priv3 for Firefox — Block Social Networking Trackers

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

I think anyone who uses social software wants Priv3: Practical Third-Party Privacy, especially as tracking by these outfits seems on the rise:

How Priv3 Works

Blocking simple "web bugs" or "trackers" is fairly straightforward, because doing so does not harm your web surfing experience. By contrast, completely blocking social networking features is counterproductive, because doing prevents you from actually using these features—say to leave a comment, or to "like" something—when you would like to do so.

Therefore, Priv3 does not block third-party interactions completely. Instead, it selectively suppresses the inclusion of third-party web cookies when your browser pulls in content from the social networks, but does provide them if you decide to interact with the social networking features. You still see the number of "likes" the page has accumulated on Facebook or the comments other people left using Facebook’s discussion mechanism. Facebook however only learns the IP address of the computer you are using.

Should you decide to interact with the social feature, Priv3 detects any mouseclick or keystroke directed at the feature. It then reloads it with your session cookies and passes on the click or keystroke, thus revealing your identity to the social network and informing it of your desired action.

Priv3’s Currently Supported Social Networking Sites

Priv3 currently understands the interactive features of the following social networks:

Facebook
Twitter
Google +1
LinkedIn

We will expand the list in the future, as needed.

Posted in Software | 7 Comments