Warning to all on Facebook who share their phone number to friends and friends of friends.
There is a current scam on Facebook where guys are adding hundreds of thousands of people a day and collecting their phone numbers and what ever personal information they can about them. Real names, date of birth, city they reside in. They then read their wall for who they interact with the most that lives with in the same general area. They then call one of the two or both and say the other got a loan and used them as a reference. They then force the person to pay them what ever total is owed, or a reduced amount. They next wipe out that person’s credit card with a series of $1 $10 $100 $1000 charges until the victim is busted.
Some people have so much as give up bank account information and or used a debit card for the transaction. One lady who’s daughter got her on Facebook was wiped clean, because she thought her daughter was in trouble. The scammer went on to try the scam with the rest of her family. By the end of the day, the scammer called everyone on her friends list. If you get the “payday loan” phone call or “Bureau of law enforcement” phone call to collect some money from you that your friend owes, do not confirm knowing anyone they talk about. In fact, claim that person is deceased if you have to. But avoid knowing them at all. Contact your local authorities and explain the situation. Next call all listed friends and family on your Facebook account and tell them all to not share their phone number to “friends of friends”. Also warn them the call should be coming to them next.
It’s not Facebooks responsibility to make you think about safety. Although it is their location that you are at risk, but you could never prove it was because of Facebook that you got scammed.
By all means, DO NOT LIST THE PLACE YOU WORK. If you have that only visible to the people you know……. Um…. they already know this.
Tag: phone
Playstation Phone
Let’s say “educated” rumor of the Playstation phone, will have android on it. And from the picture it looks as if the Playstation phone will use GSM.
from Mashable
I hope they modified the Android o/s to look more like playstation’s o/s. Because well, the ps o/s looks cool.
Looks like the Sony Playstation phone will be using the Ericsson manufacturing (owned by Sony).
pic of Playstation phone
I would have preferred qwerty keyboard with w-a-s-d Steering and i-j-k-l throttling and damper.
If this is the path for the Playstation Portable PSP, then it’s pretty much over for all competitors, phone wise, hand held gaming systems, Media players and anything in between or remotely close.
Only possible competitor would be Nintendo Ds from iphone or rim.
1 gig processor
512 mb ram
1gig of storage.
Should play GTAIII well and all of the GTA stories.
Maybe vice city. surely vice city stories, since the psp played liberty city and vice city stories on a much wimpier processor.
The psp phone (yeah I called it a PSP phone…) will easily play movies in pretty high resolution. Considering my G1 does pretty good and my PSP does pretty well.
Android Apps I Love
Quick punch of applications on my android phone that I love and enjoy. And a couple android apps that frustrate me.
WordPress – using the latest full install not an update but a full install of the wordpress app, it write now to write this post. Allows you to check statistics now. Excellent application for
MY phone
.
Facebook – some abilities are limited. Like notifications will minimize fb app and opens browser. Invites crash my fb app.
Twitter – nothing ever seems to work anymore.
Pandora radio – won’t let me sign in anymore via phone. Love the app, can’t use it.
Last.fm – works like a charm, perfect lil music app.
Advanced task killer- let’s you shut off running background programs. Battery saving app.
Opera browser – has very few limitations compared to basic default browser, but many more abilities than default. Looks sharp also.
All barcode scanners with 4+ rating, get em, all usefull.
I hate android alarm clocks. I can never make them go away.
Tmobile G2 Pre-Order
T-mobile users got the text message today to pre-order the G2 today before anyone else gets a chance.
Click to Enlarge picture of G2
Looks great. Nice thin Strong sturdy looking with full keyboard
Exactly what we needed. This is the G2. Htc you and T-mobile have really done well this time.
Back of G2
I am going to have to order myself a G2 and chunk my G1 in a drawer for a few months. Unless I really like the G2.
HTC G2 Keyboard
Side of G2
My only complaint or wish is I hope they aren’t all that brushed steel look. I hope there is a black brushed steel looking version of these phones.
The MUST HAVE App for Android
I personally have a G1. The G1 phones have probably the sorriest battery life. In less than 4 hours, my battery is usually at 1/4 capacity. This means when I go to lunch at work, G1 is on the charger in the car while I eat lunch. This means 0% of my work day involves using facebook. :-(.
I have done everything I could to reduce battery usage. but this story isn’t all about my phone.
I found (from a lady at my job) Advanced Task Killer. You can find the actual app in the Android Market. It’s free and very useful.
Just install it and open your menu bar. Once you click on Advanced Task killer the first time, it should for ever be in your bar at the top of your screen (if you have a g1 like ) do still running the 1.6 firmware). As soon as the program opens the first time, you will see a list of apps that are currently running. Un-check the ones you do not want to disable (may I recommend you do not kill ATK?). If you must disable Advanced Task Killer, I would like to take the time to suggest that you go back to your main screen, press down in an empty space and just wait there with your finger on the screen. After a few (2-5) seconds you should get a pop up. This pop up will ask you what you want to add to home screen. Select “shortcuts”. There will be a second of things to select from, chose applications. This next menu will be in alphabetic order, Select Advanced Task Killer. This will place ATK on your Home Screen.
I myself create folders and separate my apps by placing them into specified folders. You can rename your folders by opening them and pressing in the folder with your finger and hold there for about 5 seconds or less. You will then be prompted to rename the folder.
Only downside, is the programs keep re-opening and you have to keep closing them. and every time you turn on the light to use the app, you run the battery down a bit more.
So for the battery saving Android application that you MUST HAVE, Get Advanced Task killer.
advanced task killerAdvanced Task Killer
T-mobile and Me
After three and a half years with T-Mobile. I am done, again. Yeah I was with T-Mobile a few years back. I left them for sprint. That in it’s self was a nightmare. I later moved to Cricket who really had good service, but the phones looked like garbage and had nearly no features. After a few years I left Cricket and went back to T-mobile. I guess it was long enough that I forgot what I hated so much about T-mobile. T-mobile had a really nice looking phone they were offering for free with a $39 a month contract. That was a great a deal, considering I was sick of the cheap plastic barely functioning phone I had.
As soon as my new Motorola Rizr showed up in the mail, Google released the G1. I had just signed a two year contract and couldn’t change to the G1. Two years later I finally got my G1.
I was happy with all of the features the phone had, The cool aps that let me log into facebook from anywhere, the myspace ap the twitter ap and all of the little games. All of the additional software you add to the Google G1, neat stuff. but now I was paying 92.40 a month. That’s $100 a month for 300 minutes, unlimited internet, unlimited text. My cricket account I had everything unlimited for $59 a month, but a crappy phone.
I got fed up with the T-Mobile bills so I logged into their website and changed my settings. I ditched the G1 and changed to a blackberry I had in a drawer. Knocked everything down to reflect $59 a month. This was on the 18th of august. My bill was due on the 21st. The next day I got text message from T-Mobile showing my bill will reflect the changes starting on the 19th of August. Here it is, today is the 1st of September, my bill shows I will be paying $91 on my next bill. This of course is before tax. So, something is wrong with my account.
Today I make a call to T-mobile by just pressing 611 on my Blackberry. I go through the whole automated voice thing. I get a second voice that comes on and says all of the representatives are busy and they could call me back in 8 minutes if I opt in. So I did. 8 or 9 minutes later I get a call. There was tons of noise. I could hear dishes, lots of laughter. It sounded like either a bar or a very popular crowded restaurant. i was not sure the guy could hear me at all. There is no telling what was going on up there. Probably someone’s birthday. I am not in anyway mad about celebrating at the office. I am cool with that. just bothered by the fact I didn’t get my issue resolved. The guy really sounded like he did not want to take that call. but he was nice. Just not very involved. The guy tells me that it’s just me paying for last month. No I paid for last month and the text message confirmed this. I told him I was considering changing to another plan they have and he brought to my attention that I would not get the phone deals. I laughed and told him they sold me a G1 that was two years old for $100 off of the $400 price they showed on their website while at the same time the same phone was all over the internet for sell for $150 and less. He plaid “oh your cheap, cheap people aren’t cool” bit with me by saying ” Oh yeah if you go to ebay you can get all sorts of used stuff for almost free”. I popped off with ” Well compusa-tiger direct, and fry’s have ebay accounts and well they were not selling used phones” Before he could go off on what ever he was about to get into, I asked if it would just be cheaper if I dropped my T-mobile account all together. He offered some other plan that would have lowered my bill by like $2. I had to end that call. It was getting goofy, so I said “I have to shop around for a new phone and carrier I will be calling later to pay off the contract”. That phone call had to end.
I have to call back tomorrow. I will keep calling back each day until I get this resolved. if they refuse then at the end of this billing period, I will drop their service. I would do pretty well if I drop off the grid again. i have been getting alot of wrong numbers lately and it has been getting worse. So it would be nice to get a whole new number. Seems some moron out there knows nothing but dyslexic people, or he is himself.
so let’s see what T-mobile does. I think it has run it’s course.
Oh, here s picture of my billing.
T-Mobile, unexplainable bill
I added a post on T-mobile’s website
Gmail Phone
Well I logged in today to my gmail account while on my Xubuntu partition and saw something new (to me).
It seems that Google has released and internet based phone that we all can use locally for free.
There is a page that describes the rates. but there was also a pop up ( I did not screenshot) that says calls within the country I am in are free, but calls outside of the country have extremely low rates.
Here is a list of the rates for the google phone and the page the rates are listed on.
Now you can make phone calls from Gmail at extremely low rates — so you can share your two cents with France
(or Argentina, or Iceland, or Guam…) for $0.02. Check out some sample per-minute rates below or see the complete list.
| Leading internet telephony provider | ||
| United States | free | 2.1 ¢/min + connection fee |
| Canada | free | 2.1 ¢/min + connection fee |
| India | 6 ¢/min | 9.2 ¢/min + connection fee |
| UK landline | 2 ¢/min | 2.1 ¢/min + connection fee |
| UK mobile | 18 ¢/min | 25.3 ¢/min + connection fee |
| Mexico landline | 10 ¢/min | 9.9 ¢/min + connection fee |
| Mexico mobile | 19 ¢/min | 33.6 ¢/min + connection fee |
| France landline | 2 ¢/min | 2.1 ¢/min + connection fee |
| France mobile | 15 ¢/min | 20.3 ¢/min + connection fee |
Wooo hoo… It’s like the G1.1 for all of us lol… I wonder if they will slip in some ads in there.
Google Phone picture
The reason I mentioned Xubuntu is that I had just installed the latest version and then tested the Ethernet driver adapter support by heading straight to gmail and I got the notice. Since I was on Linux, and all of the android phones are owned by Google, and well since Android is based on Linux , My assumption was that Google gave all of the Linux users a cool little secret treat.
But then I booted to my winseven partition and :-(
There it is, the google phone for gmail.
I remember when msn and yahoo did this years ago. As soon as they stopped, Skype took it over.
**updated**
My question is, if you have the official Gmail ap on your droid. Does this mean you can now make calls and bypass your phone billing service since you are paying for unlimited internet ?
T-Mobile G2 is Coming
As a user of the G1 Cell phone I am an enthusiast in the sense I have never hack cracked or modded my original android phone. And by my excitement in posting this you should clearly see I am excited and ready for the G2 cell phone to come my way. We all wanted the G2 when the second android phone was announced, even though we knew that was far to early to make a sequel to the G1 phone.
Then came the 2.1 Firmware for all of the droids. G1 was not on the list of phones that would not automatically get the update. Then came 2.2 firmware. When the top android firmware cracker (lol) released an update on his progress, he was sent a cease notice from google themselves. Really? open source cease? It turns out there was bundled software that Google owns the copyright to, in that firmware. So the guy had to start over. It was looking pretty gloomy for the G1 users by that time.
Until we got this message.
T-Mobile surprised their remaining G-1 users this morning with a text message that simply said
”
456: FREE T-MOBILE MSG: You heard it first: G2 is coming, and it’s fast. Finally, the best of Google at speeds you crave. Get exclusive access at G2.t-mobile.com
”
And well as a G1 enthusiast, I jumped on the chance to look.
At the same time, a lady from the office I work in, she was looking at the page at the same time. About 50 feet from my office. I closed my browser to tweet it, no one was tweeting it. So I did. Then I went back to that page. Sure enough, the page was gone.
But the lady from my office still had her browser open to the page. I nabbed a screen shot :-)
T-Mobile G2 Phone Picture
G1 was a great phone, We loved the Android system as it was given to us. Now we have G2 and it’s on it’s way to T-Mobile
T-Mobile G2 is coming
The Revolution Continues
The T-Mobile® G1® was the world’s first Android™ -powered phone. Launched nearly two years ago, it created an entirely new class of mobile phones and apps. Its successor, the T-Mobile G2™ with Google™, will continue the revolution.
The T-Mobile G2 will deliver tight integration with Google services and break new ground as the first smartphone designed to run at 4G speeds on our new HSPA+ network. In the coming weeks, we’ll share more details about the G2 and offer exclusive first access to current T-Mobile customers.
I want my G2 droid. But if it does not have a full functioning keyboard, they can keep it.
So far I have not seen any pictures other than the back of the g2
T-Mobile G2 Phone Picture
Seems their site went down
This site is temporarily unavailable while we work to improve the site. We’ll be back soon, better than ever—so please check back later. Thanks for your patience.
This clearly is a big launch. There obviously is a high number of those who at least want to see this dang G2 phone.
From that picture of the G2 page I have there, you can easily see that that specific model of a G2 is not a slide and does not have a full functional keyboard. Making the Android pilot ship rerun, just another droid. I am assuming it is so the G1 users feel they are not left out due to the inability to run droid 2.2
All incidences of the tmobile or Google or g1 or g2 logo, are not my property. They belong to their individual owners. I claim no ownership or responsibility for their greatness or lack of. Please locate their owner for any questions ideas solution or issues. :-)
Leave a comment, If you have more pictures, feel free to link to them.
Phishing Goes Phone
It seems there is a group that calls people and just says random names to them. usually the name is a first name that is audible and last name that is inaudible. The first name is a typical in relation to your location. Like people in the United States the name would be Brian or John, Dave, Tracy (names everyone knows). The last name you will never understand. Typically two syllables. You can mistake the last name because you are sure he has a bad accent so you think he is trying to say a word you know. ” I am calling on for Brian *mumble* ” . Of course you trying to be helpful you offer a last name of the most recent “Brian” you know. This person on the other end of the line will either ask you for their contact information and ask you for your name, or ask you for your name first and then tell you that they used you for a reference on a loan and you are now liable for the cost of the loan. If they go the other way, they call Brian and tell them that you got the loan and they are liable for the value of the loan. This scammer could be so bold as to try and sell you illegal medication or tell you that you got a loan (because everyone who is not in their country is a big fat pill taking loan getting sleeping on a waterbed driving flying cars fool) and they are from “Legal Officers” or “Law Firm” and that the police are in route to pick you up.
The phone call comes from a phone number that ends in 0000. When you call it back it says the number has been disconnected. This is a clear sign it is a scam. If you are one of the few who get a voicemail, they always leave a call back number that is different from initiating call. Save that phone number, save that voicemail.
Some people get scared by this and give up their credit card information over the phone (as far as they know this person knew to much to be a scam). They victim gets their bank account wiped out in it’s entirety. Credit ran into the dirt leaving the person stripped of everything they have earned. Simply because they doubt this could ever be a scam.
Some say your best action is to not take action. some say it is best to tell them they have the wrong number and have been mislead. I myself found it funnier to say ” Wow what are the odds? I am a federal agent who has been investigating your group for the past 4 months and you guys actually called me on the company line making this completely and entirely traceable. In fact I have just now (waited 3 seconds) pinpointed your exact location, the trucks should be rolling in within the next 30 minutes” . The voice on the line said something in a language I have no understanding of, to someone who was in the room with him as he hung up the phone. He never called back.
It is probably the best legal idea to call your local authorities and give them what ever call back number they may have left on your voicemail or any information that shows them as claiming to be a debt collector, or some collector of any sort. This is a phishing scam and is illegal in every country. If you can give this voicemail to the local authorities and let them handle any legal issues of this type of rip off, you would probably have better response just for them hearing this. It is illegal to threaten you in any way shape or manor. You can not threaten a person of arrest unless your legal proof is present, such as badge or twenty cops standing around you at the time. Passing on a call back number would be very helpful.
Never threaten the guy on the line, never tell him or her (usually a guy) that what he/she is doing is phishing or a scam. Bring the phone call to an end. If you can tell them you are at work and will call them at lunch time and need a call back number. That phone number will be the end of them. It is hard to bust phone scammers and they are well practiced. so tell them you are in an important meeting at work and will have to call them back after work or at lunch time. If they call back do not answer the phone. There may just be to much in your voice that let’s them know their phone phishing scam is at risk.
Report all phone phishing scam phone numbers you receive to this full list.
United States Federal Trade commission
Australia Numbers to report scams to
United Kingdom numbers to report Phone scams
Report phone Phishing scams in Canada
Happy hunting.
Opera Mini 5
Installed on blackberry 8100 rim and on G1 android.
I was using opera mini on my lg flip phone and Motorola rizr and blackberry for years before I got my android. Seems my rizr didn’t quite measure up so I had to install version 4.
I’m not too keen on opera on my computer. Feels kinda netscape navigator-ish.
The blackberry install was fast. Use was very smooth. Impressive appearance. Small pop ups look druple like. Could not find settings to change browser color. Navigation and page change smoother and softer than previous versions. Bookmarking has been made easier refreshing and closing ap happens fast with no lock ups.
Blackberry install I give a 10/10
Install for android, was 5 beta.
I’m beyond impressed. This is one sharp looking application. I have yet to see another app look this great. Downside is the menu bar at the bottom uses some of the screen realestate. I’m scared to turn it off, it might not come back. Menu button does nothing. Maybe if I close the bottom navigation bar it will show up in menu area. ( if anyone tested this, let me know results). Navigation bar has a forward and back button with refresh button. You no longer have to hit back button a million times to exit 10 minutes of surfing. This feature needs to be in all programs.
After you install this, do not change your home page. Look at the home page that is provided. You can have basically a bookmarks with thumbnails as your home page. Touch screen is now functional, in my honest opinion better than the default android browser. very fluid with your finger movements.
Again I could not change color or theme.
I give opera mini beta 5 for android a 10/10
Opera 4 for motorolla rizr 9/10