Greg's Corner

Recent Updates Page 244 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• 

  Geebo 8:49 am on May 6, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Facebook ( 182 ), hacking ( 32 ), Instagram ( 17 )   

  Off topic Friday: 10-year-old gets $10K from Facebook for hacking Instagram 

  

  Apparently this kid knows his code.

  A 10-year-old boy from Finland has become the youngest person to receive payment from Facebook’s bug bounty program. The program rewards individuals who can find vulnerabilities in Facebook without causing malice. The young man, known only as Jani, was able to find a flaw in the Facebook-owned Instagram where he was able to delete anyone’s comments without having an Instagram account. Facebook set up a test account for him to alter and he was able to do so with ease. In turn Facebook rewarded the boy with $19,000 for ethically showing them the flaw in Instagram. They say this particular reward was higher than normal since the flaw could have affected everyone on the photo sharing network.

  What were you doing when you were 10? Were you this advanced? When this blogger was ten the closest he got to a computer was his Atari game console. Or were you more of a 90’s kid obsessed with Pokemon? Or were you already on your way, like Jani, to being a computer whiz?

   

  Leave a ReplyCancel reply
• 

  Geebo 9:56 am on May 5, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: movers ( 10 )   

  Why you shouldn’t hire the first mover you see 

  

  Recently a family from the Atlanta area in Georgia lost most of their possessions after hiring some movers they found online. The movers showed up in a rental van and they never made it to the family’s new house. Instead they made off with the family’s possessions and it turned out the truck was stolen as well.

  In order to avoid a situation like this you should always use a licensed mover. Ask around to your family and friends for recommendations or use review websites like Yelp to see what experience others have had with local movers. Lastly, if you fins a mover you like check with the Better Business Bureau to see if they have had any complaints against them.

  This may seem like a laborious procedure but in the long run it’s worth it.

   
• 

  Geebo 8:17 am on May 4, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: customer support ( 25 ), Facebook ( 182 ), Gmail ( 3 ), Scams ( 1,613 )   

  Don’t fall for fake customer support numbers 

  

  Having problems with your Facebook account? How about your GMail or Office 365? Surely giant corporations like Facebook, Google and Microsoft have customer service numbers that you can call. Actually, they don’t. Gone are the days when you could call just about any company up on the phone to try to get them to resolve your problem, especially tech companies. Behemoths like Facebook and Google have become such large global corporations offering free services that it is financially unfeasible for them to offer phone assistance. That hasn’t stopped some from trying to take advantage of that situation.

  If you were to go to your search engine of choice looking for these numbers you would definitely find some. However in many instances they are not legitimate numbers. Instead they are scam artists posing as these companies in order to take something valuable from you. They could be trying to access your GMail or Facebook accounts in order to steal personal information or they could be falsely charging you money to ‘fix’ whatever issue it is that you have.

  For the record, Geebo is very approachable and you can even Tweet at our CEO.

   
• 

  Geebo 7:26 am on May 3, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: email ( 7 ), Scams ( 1,613 )   

  How to spot a scammer by their email address 

  

  While no tip is guaranteed to be 100% accurate all the time here is a tip on how to spot a scammer by their email address.

  While scammers can use free email services like GMail or Yahoo a recent trend by overseas scammers is to use ‘off brand’ email addresses. A number of the addresses seem to have some kind of connection with the United Kingdom (UK) including proclaiming to be fans of a number of football teams (soccer) from the English Premier League. Another set of email addresses have various names of occupations or that they belong to some kind of car club.

  This is not to say that scammers won’t use free email services commonly used in the US. A good tip in that instance is to be wary addresses that seem to be a random string of characters rather than something that reflects a name. Also be wary of email addresses that have suffixes that indicate they’re from overseas such as .uk or .in for example.

  Again, no tip is guaranteed to be effective at all times but with a little bit of knowledge your online buying and selling experience can be a better one.
   
• 

  Geebo 7:59 am on May 2, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: compass, find of the week ( 4 ), lightsaber, star wars ( 2 ), world war 1   

  Finds of the Week: WW I compass and Force FX Lightsabers 

  

  If you’re into history and a fan of a long time ago, a seller in Greenacres, Washington, is offering a World War I era compass said to be in great condition.

  

  Now if you’re a fan of a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away a seller in Sandy, Utah is offering not one but three Force Fx Lightsabers from Star Wars including the Kylo Ren model. Channel your inner Jedi or Sith with these awesome collectibles.

   
• 

  Geebo 9:29 am on April 29, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: politics ( 16 ), selfies, voting ( 5 )   

  Off Topic Friday: Ballot Box Selfies 

  

  Love’ em or hate ‘em selfies are here to stay. They are a way of expression that almost an entire generation of young adults uses. A lot of these young adults are now registered voters and want to show their civic pride by taking a selfie in the voting booth or by the ballot box. While a number of states do allow these selfies many still do not. For example New York does allow the practice while neighboring New Jersey does not.  Many laws enacted to prevent photography in the polling place were made in order to discourage voter fraud but those were written decades ago. Do they still apply in today’s ‘photograph everything’ society?

  Mobile video sharing app Snapchat says no. Recently they filed a 28-page friend of the court brief in New Hampshire asking the Granite State to repeal their photography ban claiming it is a First Amendment right.

  What do you think? Are ballot box or voting booth selfies a protected form of expression or is it trivializing the voting process? Please leave your response.

   
• 

  Geebo 9:27 am on April 28, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: employment ( 43 ), Resume ( 6 )   

  Why you need a good resume 

  

  At Geebo we see a number of resumes submitted every day by people looking for employment. Unfortunately we also see a lot of resumes that would discourage an employer from looking at them. Too many times we see resumes that are severely lacking information or don’t have any information at all so we’d like to help our users in crafting a good resume.

  Google docs has a number of resume templates that are free to use. If you’re fortunate enough to own a copy of Microsoft Word there are resume templates there as well. If Word is out of your price range there are also a number of free alternatives to Word that are just as good. Or if you can afford it there are resume services that you can enlist. However, if you’d prefer to write one from scratch this article can help you get started.

  Lastly the best tip that can be given for writing a resume is to a use a professional sounding e-mail address in your contact information. It’s best to use some combination of your first and last name, After all you don’t want a potential employer to discard your resume after just seeing the e-mail address. Now go get that job.

  Tips you need for a first time resume | Greg's Corner is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
• 

  Geebo 9:51 am on April 27, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: gift cards ( 107 ), itunes ( 2 ), Safety ( 46 ), Scams ( 1,613 )   

  New online scam uses iTunes gift cards 

  

  Police in Upstate New York are telling people to be aware of a new scam taking place on some online classifieds sites. According to authorities scam artists posing as online sellers of a vehicle are asking people to pay with iTunes gift cards. The ‘sellers’ instruct the buyers to call a toll-free number where they are then told to read off the serial numbers from the backs of the cards. The buyer is then out of their money and no vehicle is ever delivered.

  While this scam may only be localized to Upstate New York presently, it could certainly occur in any municipality. Scams like this also tend to ‘go on the road’ so to speak. When a scam is discovered by police in one area it could then easily move on to another. That is unfortunately the way in the digital world of today. The scam artists don’t even have to be in this country.  In too many cases people who have been swindled are often times left with no recourse. In the majority of instances in online commerce it’s often best to deal locally and with cash.

  Backpage now takes gift cards as payment for trafficking ads | Greg's Corner is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
• 

  Geebo 10:35 am on April 26, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: mirror, reflection., Safety ( 46 )   

  Why you should be aware of your reflection when selling online 

  

  There’s a very infamous piece of early internet lore where a man was trying to sell a tea kettle online. As the legend goes the man took a picture of the kettle but its well polished surface showed a reflection of the man who appeared to be in a state of undress.

  If you’re selling items online a reflection that results in some embarrassment could be the least of your concerns. Sometimes it only takes one piece of personal information for a skilled criminal to use it to their advantage for such crimes as identity theft or burglary.

  In order to avoid showing a reflection try using natural light instead of a flash or shooting the object from an angle instead of straight on. Not only will that keep you safer but it will also make the item look more appealing for sale.

  Just hang up | Greg's Corner is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
• 

  Geebo 8:56 am on April 25, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: e.t., find of the week ( 4 ), Illinois ( 4 ), Lisle   

  Find of the Week: Full size E.T. replica 

  

  Whether you’re a fan of science fiction or just movies in general you can now own a great piece of movie memorabilia. A Geebo seller out of Lisle, Illinois is offering a full size limited edition replica casting of E.T. from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial that was cast for the 10th Anniversary celebration. According to the seller it’s the last cast to directly come from Steven Spielberg’s warehouse and it’s said to be in excellent condition.

  No word on if it can be retrofitted with a walkie-talkie.