More information here: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=312525#post312525

—Original Post—

If you are running DialCentral on your Nokia N810, you need to be aware of this:

The latest version of DialCentral has some bugs that cause the program to not work properly.  The developer is working on a fix.

For now, if your N810 asks you to install updates for DialCentral, don’t allow it or it will break the program.

You leave a book you no longer want on at a park bench or coffee shop for another reader to find.  You can then visit BookCrossing.com to find out where your book has been.  To do this, you register your book with BookCrossing, and receive a unique serial number to identify it.  You then label the book with the serial number and “release it into the wild” at a location of your choice.

The person who finds a BookCrossing book can visit the site to find out where it has been, and add their own journal entry if they choose.  You don’t have to be a member to leave a journal entry.  The site is anonymous, and no one will try to sell you anything.  Memberships are free.  You may, if you choose, purchase books and labels through the BookCrossing store- this is now the site is supported.

BookCrossing has been around since 2001, and now boasts over 680,000 member around the world.  Members can list books on their “virtual bookshelves” and trade them directly to other members instead of “releasing into the wild.”

My releases

Just a couple of hours ago I left a copy of The Sinister Pig by Tony Hillerman at a Starbucks in Downey, California.  You can track it at www.BookCrossing.com/086-6851142

Buying every book I read would be prohibitively expensive, so I mostly use the library.  Every now and then I’ll buy a book, especially if I’m traveling.  Whenever I release a book, I’ll announce it on this blog and provide a link to its journal.

Also, this past weekend, I got an email from my hosting company telling me that a process they didn’t like was running on one of my FTP accounts, and that if I didn’t do something about it they would. I looked up the one site I had in that account, and found that it had been hacked and defaced by “Turkish hacker Iskorpitx.” A Google search revealed that Iskorpitx is thought to be responsible for hacking and defacing over 117,000 sites in the past four or five years. He doesn’t do much with them- just puts up his own front page to show that you’ve been owned. Fortunately, the hacked site is one I’m not actively using anymore. I just deleted the site folder from my FTP account, which made my hosting service happy. Then I changed all my passwords and opted for “extra web security” in my hosting account.

I’m not sure whether to be annoyed that it happened, relieved that the compromised site wasn’t critical, or honored that I got owned by such a prolific hacker.

Here’s a little more on Iskorpitx in case you are curious – if you follow the link, you can see what my front page looked like when he got through with it. http://www.pinoymoneytalk.com/2007/11/21/lto-website-hacked/

I just recently applied to be a secret shopper on the same
website you did and I am debating whether it’s worth the while.  You
said that you only received $23 from the company, if they made you buy
something from the store did they pay for it? Also I am concerned
about the fact that i gave them my SSN, probably not a good idea.  If
you could email me back at your convenience I would really appreciate
it.  Thank you!

T.

Here’s my reply:

T,

I only received $23 from the SecretShopper.com, because I only completed one job for them.  When you sign up as a mystery shopper, you decide what jobs you will take – there is no minimum workload.

I did have to buy a minimum of $11 worth of merchandise.  This job did not reimburse me for the purchase – it came out of the $23 they paid me.  Every job is different – some reimburse you for merchandise, others pay you a flat fee.  Some do both.  The terms of each job should be available to read before you agree to it.

I think your SSN is safe with Secret Shopper.  I checked them out thorougly before giving them mine.  They ask for it in case you make more than $600 with them, so they can file the appropriate tax documents.  Some companies ask for it up front, others wait until you earn a certain amount.

It’s generally not a good idea to give your Social Security Number out over the internet, but it is sometimes necessary when you are getting paid for something.  The key is to make sure a company is legitimate before giving them any personal information.  Here’s a post I wrote about avoiding online scams.

J.

I haven’t spent much time on mystery shopping since that first job.  I’ve earned some money from both mystery shopping and surveys, but neither one pays enough for me to make it a priority.  For that reason, I probably won’t write any more posts about mystery shopping or paid surveys.  I will report on anything else I find that proves profitable.

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