Posts Tagged ‘Email’
Introducing the BitterPeek [Peek]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 18th, 2009
Yesterday, BlackBerry users across the country lost BIS email service, forcing them to switch to webmail, texts, calls, VoIP, instant messages or Tweets—for hours! But the real news is what didn't go down, rite guys?
For reference, here's some Peek PR from 2008, right after their first product launched:
Peek, the first elegantly simple, email-only device, launched today. Created for people who don't need or want an expensive smartphone full of functions and software, the Peek device delivers unlimited email to and from existing accounts, anywhere in the U.S. Extraordinarily simple to set up and use, Peek has eliminated multi-year contracts, bewildering rate plans and hidden fees. The mobile device is super-thin, stylish and easy to use. There are no scary buttons; no confusing bells and whistles.
So they've basically gone from "hey, check out our new product! It's not quite as capable as a smartphone, but we're happy to make a reasoned case that the tradeoffs are worth it!" all the way to "Ha! Look! One of many overlapping BlackBerry features went down for a few hours, so fuck them! And fuck you! Buy a Peek or you'll eat dinner alone forever, like a loser."
You feeling ok, Peek?
BlackBerry email down / delayed in North America
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 17th, 2009
nna be a long day for BlackBerry users: RIM's confirmed to multiple outlets that its BIS servers are acting up and that email services are being delayed -- and we've actually hearing that they're just down, period. BlackBerry Messenger still works, though, so you can still BBM your BFF or whatever the kids do nowadays. No word on service restoration, but we'll update you when we find out.P.S.- That's two months in a row with significant BIS problems -- what's up with that, RIM?
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
BlackBerry email down / delayed in North America originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
Yahoo, CrackBerry | Email this | Comments “Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Iraq”: 22 Million Lost Bush White House Emails Recovered [Email]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 14th, 2009
According to the AP, soon-to-be-heroic technicians have uncovered 22 million email messages from the George W. Bush administration—far more than the Bush White House said they'd lost in the first place.
That's a lot of emails—but not as much data as you might first think. Berkeley estimated in 2003 the average email size to be around 18,500 bytes. That's about 379 gigabytes of lost email, give or take a few Powerpoints attachments with slides missing in the "Find a reason to invade Iraq" section.
Mother Jones had details of the recovery process:
Restoration of missing emails promises to be the trickiest part of the settlement agreement. The White House first ran into archiving problems in 2003, but didn't begin to address the problem until October 2005. Only in the final days of the Bush administration did the White House begin working with contractors-including software giant Microsoft-to find missing messages.
Don't expect to see these for a while. The National Archives have to sift through the emails before they'll be released to the public. But expect a thousand Freedom of Information Act requests to let fly towards Washington in the meantime. [Telegram/AP]
PayPal Misinterprets Own Email as Phishing Attack [PayPal]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on December 4th, 2009
Even PayPal can’t tell its own emails from spam! A cranky ex-Microsoft employee complained to PayPal about a “suspicious looking” link in an email from them, which they then treated as a phishing attack. [Eset via The Reg]
Cyber Wednesday brings half price Peek service, discounted Wii
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on December 2nd, 2009
Ever heard of Cyber Wednesday? Yeah, same here. But seriously — when’s the last time you heard us kvetch over a deal? Effective today only, Peek’s email-only handhelds are being offered up with lifetime service for half of the normal price. Buy any Peek handheld and you’ll get service for just $9.99 per month for as long as you keep the device, which is certainly a bargain compared to the $19.99 that’s typically charged. In other news, Wally World has announced that from December 5th through the 12th (while supplies last, obviously), a $50 gift card will be handed over when you purchase a Wii console in-store. Just think — Walmart is actually incenting you to buy a Wii. Man, how the times have changed.
Cyber Wednesday brings half price Peek service, discounted Wii originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
How to Deal With Email Misfires [Etiquette]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on December 1st, 2009
Email misfire sounds like a traumatic bedroom incident, but it's something that's happened to most of us at some point. The important part is to minimize embarrassment. Just look at how something on our mailing list was handled.
Once upon a time, one of our own accidentally sent a silly note to the entire mailing list:
You're wearing the bikni [sic] briefs tonight right?
Yikes. Precisely one minute later, another email came to everyone:
Sorry guys that was just for [REDACTED]
See how simple that was? That short follow up left barely any room for jokes or teasing and the entire issue was played down. The important bit to remember is that you can choose to pretend that you never sent an email like that to the wrong person, but by owning up to the error you'll minimize the fallout. It's basically saying "So what? I like my men in frilly pink briefs. You got a problem with that?"
Anyway, if you're more concerned about being the recipient of misaddressed notes than sending them, then Gadgetwise's Jenna Wortham can explain when you should bother replying and when you should just let it slide. (Hint: You can ignore the emails coming from Nigerian princes.)
Now, please make us all feel better by sharing stories of your own awkward email exchanges. [Gadgetwise]
Photo by sunshinecity
Hacked Email Archive Fuels Climate Skeptics’ Conspiracy Theories [Weather]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on November 25th, 2009
The Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia keeps some of the most accurate climate records which are key to many climate change debates. Its email archives were hacked, and now it's the center of another conspiracy claim.
As soon as the email archives' contents were made publicly available, arguments broke out. Was there proof of data manipulation that could flip the entire climate debate topsy-turvy? Were scientists at the university working to keep works by climate skeptics out of journals? Answers to either question are unclear. According to New Scientist, there was no evidence of actual data manipulation, but some of the email exchanges could be construed as attempts to suppress some research.
No matter how those questions wind up being resolved, in the end the trouble doesn't seem to be in the contents of the emails or in the data, but in the fact that the Climate Research Unit restricted access to the climate data to those it deemed "bona fide researchers." Maybe some of the accusations the unit faced could've been avoided had the data been more freely shared in the first place. [New Scientist]
Photo by coda
Nigeria Clamping Down On Scammers with Project Eagle Claw [Scams]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on October 23rd, 2009
The awesomely named Project Eagle Claw is an effort to shut down Nigerian email scams and improve the nation's image. Apparently the initiative is well underway—already officials have made 18 arrests and shut down 800 sites.
The project's name reflects how much faster Nigeria is able to deal with the problem now. Previously, officials would use cyber raids and petitions (seriously? Like a "Sign here if you want to see this guy busted for identity theft" petition?) to deal with the problem. Now they're implementing a drop-kick shut down procedure that, according to officials, could take up to 5,000 fraudulent emails offline per month.
The Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been working closely with Microsoft to develop a solution that should be fully operational by 2010. [Ars Technica, image of Nigerian scammer via Fox News]
Let’s Look At Credit Score Rankings by Email Domains [Image Cache]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on October 20th, 2009
Ranking the highest according to a sample of 20,000 credit scores and their corresponding email addresses are BellSouth and Comcast, with Gmail trailing right behind. Reasonable enough, but what's AOL doing anywhere but at the bottom? [Mashable]
Gmail Integrates Handy Google Docs Previews [Gmail]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on October 16th, 2009
Now, if you're using Gmail and a friend emails you a Google Doc, you can display the document right in the email—no need to switch tabs. Just be sure to activate "Google Docs previews" in Labs. [GmailBlog via InformationWeek]
