Its been a while

Been really busy lately for some reason...

Anyhoo, a few things that have caught my eye from various sites.

Lulz at the r2d2 BBQ, but shit that's a great looking BBQ, I better get a patent on this shit!



mulletjunky.com provided this via whaleoil.co.nz - Mullped of course.























Where is WHAT volcano?

NZ Herald and their awesome editors

Double shooting leaves two people "Dad"

Thats the first I have heard of a shooting making someone a Dad, Nice one Herald

Another great trademe auction

A Carrot with extras!

Trademe item

So you are not actually good at backflips then?

OMFG Somali pirates hacking NZ Pabx's

This is a far out one, My Wife was recently contacted at work by their provider saying they had stacked up 5k worth of toll calls to Somalia in a few days, In the end they were traced to Italy. The way they do this is to exploit default passwords which lazy admins haven't bothered to change. They can tell the model of pabx by the way it deals with the calls, different tones, prompts etc, they press the combination of keys to access voicemail of a DDI number, normally not the main number so it doesn't tie up a line and arouse suspicion. They get in with the default often "1234" password then setup call forwarding from that extension to Somalia, I suspect they do much the same thing to route the calls out of Italy. Then they simply dial in their call would then route directly to the number it has been call forwarded to. Pretty classic stuff really.

Fricken wicked stuff, looks like they are not alone, Here is a story where an Ausi firm got stung 9k

Garmin epic Fail!!

I thought when I had the issue with the iTunes gift card a few weeks ago that it would be the most retarded customer service experience of the year hands down... But no, we have a new winner Ladies and Gents, Garmin. Do not buy ANYTHING from this company if you live in New Zealand. They recently moved their support to ausi, which is cool, but the ability to buy Maps from the garmin website does not exist!

In I.T. you get to work on a wide range of different stuff, sometimes stuff you would not normally work on such as a Garmin GPS for one of my bosses. He is going to the states next week and wants the North American maps installed on the device, Easy job I thought. I left it for the last job of the day and headed up there registered the device, downloaded the browser plugin, updated software on device etc, went into the garmin mapstore and proceeded to find the Map that was needed and added it to cart. Went to the checkout and punched in the Amex details... Checkout fails, problem with the address or something, of course there is no specific error just failed, please check your details. After spelling the address 14 different ways and getting no where we tried a Mastercard, still no luck. 40 mins or so had gone buy so I decided to call Garmin, which transfers to Ausi... phone was answered after about 2 mins, and I explained I was having issues, the CSR on the other end promptly told me you cannot buy maps online for download in NZ, To be clear I explained we wanted North American maps... and she confirmed you cannot buy them in NZ, Even though the website lets you enter NZ as a country and proceed on through to checkout, I said to the CSR are you serious? So if I flew to Ausi, I could buy a map, and she confirmed, that yes with an Ausi credit card I could indeed buy a map and there was basically no other solution other than to buy a navman or tomtom.. What a Failure I told her, I also added they might want to clearly advertise the fact on their site you cannot buy Maps online.. They did direct me to the Auckland map center, who have heard hundreds of the same story's re Garmin and they can order the map from Garmin, but it takes 1.5 weeks, the Boss leaves to the USA next thurs..

Of course there is the option of a hacked map, but not really something I like putting on my customers devices.

Garmin, you Fail at Customer Support!

using an iPad for "Real Work" windows 7 on iPad

Citrix Aims to bring windows 7 to the iPad, so you can multitask and do actual work!!!!Theres actually already a citrix app for the iPhone/iPod touch, it works pretty well at presenting a published desktop, but as you can guess its pointless on such a tiny screen.

To Quote Citrix "If your company has XenDesktop or XenApp you will be happy to know you will be able to use your iPad for real work as well" Haha Not something you hear often "Apple" and "real work" in the same context. Lets face it, iPhones and iPod touches are really just a mildy useful toy. The Antenna on the 3g iPhone is crap, which in turn makes the coverage crap. Thus why im not talking myself into an iPhone, I run a Blackberry Bold 9000 for work and have an iPod touch for play and music.

Time will tell if the iPad does find its way into the enterprise environment.

Link to techworld story

CIA, FBI, Twitter, and Paypal hit by Botnet.

Well what can I say but pwned!!!! The offending nasty or a variation of it is called Pushdo, Pandex or Cutwail. It used to just infect a pc and send out spam, but now it has been updated to also make SSL connections to various websites. At the moment it seems like the botnet attempts a SSL connection then drops it and repeats, this is similar to a DDOS attack, but not on a large enough scale to have a huge impact yet. SSL traffic places a much larger load than HTTP traffic and if the volume it stepped up the effected sites may be even more pwned

isn't it Ironic, Chinese company claims iPad is a copycat

isn't it ironic, from the land that doesn't have any respect for anyone elses intellectual property comes a claim the iPad is a copycat. Sorry China, haven't got any sympathy for you on this one.

The company is based in a southern Chinese city known for producing knock-off phones, which are called "shanzhai", or "bandit" phones, and sometimes take the form of counterfeit iPhones or other popular handsets.

Techworld story here

the iPad

Apple has put the iPhone on steroids and made it more than just a useful toy by creating the iPad.
At $499 usd its not stupidly priced like a Mac, and Best of all it runs a similar OS to that of a iPhone rather than the dirty old Mac OS. Im lovin it, and I think I will be pre-ordering one. The iPad looks to run a majority of iPhone/iPod touch apps which will not only expand its function as useful device, I would guess a lot of people will be trading in their Laptops for an iPad. So far there are three models, one with just Wi-Fi, and the other with Wi-Fi and 3g, available in 16,32 and 64gb versions. It looks like the GPS is gone, which is a really useful feature to me as I spend a bit of time at sea and the potential to use the iPad as a gps/chartplotter appeals to me. The Accelerometer is present, along with bluetooth. The cpu is 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip... it remains to be seen how this will perform, but all in all it looks good and im guessing will sell due to the pretty damn reasonable price.

FACEPALM! who gives a toss!

Who really gives a toss about the biblical inscriptions on the Trijion scopes... really. They still work good for killin!

Apple Fail, DSE = Win

continued from yesterday.....I awoke this morning and my iPod tells me I got an email from apple whilst I was snoring, Choice, I can finally get my redemption code, after all, I sent apple all of the serial numbers etc from my gift card failure, It was not to be. Naveen from apple sent the standard scripted reply asking for me to fax them a copy of the receipt, the card, send name, email, phone etc to a fax number (the contact details they already fricken have from the initial support request). I bluntly refused, I severely dislike to jump through hoops to get something to work that should work in the first place, I have a rule where if at all possible I will not let someone else's stupidity/lack of testing/poor product become my problem, I did however take a picture of the card, receipt etc with my blackberry and then sent it back to Naveen and told him he has til 3pm today to reply to me and then im just going back to Dick Smith Electronics and getting another card. 3pm came and went and still no word from Naveen, so off to Dse Pukekohe I go, I had already dealt with the manager on this topic a few times and have a work account there so he gladly swapped it. Whilst still in the store I asked the manager to scrape off the label and luckily the code stayed put and I have now credited my iTunes account. The mildly attractive sales girl stated a lot of people have had this issue, you'd think Apple would sort it out.

DSE WIN!! APPLE FAIL!!

Id suggest scratching the label off instore to avoid having to deal with Apple's retarded support.

Maori Party Opposes 3 strike rule for Violent offenders

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON ???? The Maori Party have their heads in the sand again. I really question the mentality of this party when I read shit like this. Its almost like they endorse violent behavior.

I fully agree with this bill. If it was up to me personally, persistent violent offenders would be shot. Plain and simple, costing the taxpayer $2.50 for the bullet. Cheap, Effective and a minimal financial burden on the taxpayer. Last year it cost $249.25 a day to keep a prisoner in New Zealand.

Quote from the Maori Party in the stuff story : "The Government's narrow focus on crime and punishment leaves justice right out of the picture. These proposals will create huge disparities in sentencing, and punishment that is completely out of proportion to the crime," they said."

So Maori Party, what is your Idea of justice?A repeat violent offender bashes his wife , gets 17 years, gets paroled in 9 and is free to do the same again, Awesome Maori party, Just Awesome :/

iTunes gift card = EPIC Fail

Im not a huge apple fan, and not through choice over the last 8 years I have worked on and supported macs on occasion, to me they still really have no appeal. The iPhone/iPod touch is growing on me andI thought it was about time I bought a few of the apps I have trialed for free on my ipod touch. Off I went to the local DSE to grab a gift card. Schweet..... full versions of useful apps or so I thought. On the back of the card there is a scratchy label similar to that of a instant kiwi, upon gently scratching this panel I was met with a bit of a shock, the code underneath has also scratched off!! FAIL. I sat in complete disbelief for at least 30 seconds and then I tried to decipher the code that had been scratched off by its shadow on the card, no luck.

First stop was trusty Google, Google's autocomplete assured me I wasn't alone by completing the exact phrase I was going to search for and showing some stupid number of results. The basic instruction was to bungle the code a few times in the itunes store to get prompted with a get help option, where I thought it would give me the redemption code after I put the serial numbers and other numbers that were on the card into a web form. It still didn't give me the code. I called DSE and spoke to a girl there who didn't really offer much help, So I tried calling the apple 0800 number which refered me to the web, awesome. In the end I ended up having to fill in a support request on the apple website which is normally my last option as the rabbit at the other end normally comes back with a whole stack of stupid questions that don't relate to the actual problem. A little boy waits. To me this is a complete and Epic failure by the manufacturer of these cards, I mean what sort of idiot design's a gift card with a scratch panel and doesn't make sure the numbers underneath stay put, Beta Testing 101. Now hurry up and reply to my support request you douchebags.

To be continued....

Who is Stella Port-Louis

Stella Port-Louis who will now be referred to as SPL is a mysterious character, she is a director for many companies in different countries, in New Zealand alone, she is the director for 338 companies registered to the same Auckland address. She has responded to the Story that the NZ Media have run saying she is angry how she has been portrayed and claims she has no knowledge of the SP and GT trading companies that are involved with a Plane that was seized in Thailand, laden with arms destined for ? Then there is this blog which claims CIA links to the weapons. SPL also searches pretty well and reveals this which looks to me like much of the same, Tax scams, 90 different companies with SPL as the director, then theres this which is quite funny really. Then to top it all off, SPL already has an Aircraft rental/Charter Business. The website is pretty crappy and it has no real detail as to what services it offers and from where.... suspicious ??? Yes I think so
Here is her facebook profile

UPDATE: Found this link which shows the company names SPL is listed as a director for.

Whaleoil in teh news again!

One of my fav blogs Whale oil beef hooked say it fast say it loud, Has done the community a service of breaking name suppression yet again. Mr Whaleoil posted a binary and hex encoded message on his blog revealing who the Ex MP charged with indecently assaulting a girl aged between 12 and 16 was.
Stuff has been quick to break the story giving Mr Whaleoil more good publicity for his upcoming court case to defend the charges against him.

Great pic's from round the interweb

This particular one is from Failblog.org

Toxic Sea Slug coverup theory

Seems Doc have remembered about the Toxic Sea Slug spin they created to mask the giant fuck up that we know as the Brodifacoum drop around Rangitoto, Remember when the dogs were dying from eating so called "toxic sea slugs" that have never seem to have posed a problem around the gulf until recent times. They have had stuff run another story saying the Sea Slugs are still there, yet at a time of the year when people are caught up in their holiday and let dogs roam free we haven't had a reported death of any more dogs. Very fishy if you ask me. Good Coverup though, its almost gone away, no doubt Doc will commence Brodifacoum drops again soon as they have already established the sea slugs as a point of blame for any future dog deaths that coincide with poison drops.

Real Estate Propaganda

Its become quite laughable how the Real Estate industry feeds false figures to reporters in order to try and inspire some confidence in the market. Every few months you see a story run by stuff or the herald about how the housing market is booming and everything is back as it was in the boom of a few years back. I call Bullshit. A person I work with recently bought a house and the Agent tried to make her sign an agreement for 25k more than the transacted purchase price just to boost their median house price.

Darwin Claims another.

People just don't get it. you don't mess with the Manukau Bar if unprepared, At minimum you should log a Trip Report with the Coastguard and do a Bar Crossing report. If no contact is made within 10 minutes after entering the Bar the Coastguard starts Search and Rescue procedures. A boat capsized yesterday on the bar as the skipper tried to turn the boat around halfway through the bar. I feel for the Family that has lost a Family member, but it frustrates the shit out of me at the lack of preparation of these guys take. I live close to the Manukau Bar and yesterday morning at 8am the current would have been ripping against the wind, very bad time to cross, specially with the wind due to pick up later in the day.

let the fuckers drown.

This really pisses me off, people who go to sea unprepared and then expect someone who is volunteering their time to come and rescue them and then not pay the coastguards costs. I once was an active Coastguard Volunteer and did a few rescues in some pretty shady conditions, 9/10 times it was rescuing morons who have no boat handling ability or the wrong equipment. I fish very regularly, from trailer boats, moored boats and my jetski. Even if only going a short distance I will lodge a Trip Report with the Coastguard so someone other than my wife knows where I am in case of emergency.

What pisses me off slightly more is the fact that the Government doesn't recognize the Coastguard as a required Emergency Service and there is only 15 employed members for the entire country. There are 1000's of Volunteers but only 15 paid for their work... I say Again 15!

From the Herald there are some interesting figures :

COASTGUARD CALLOUTS

Northern region: Christmas Eve to yesterday

Adrift - 9
Aground - 15
Capsize - 6
Anchor - 8
Diver - 2
Electrical - 30
Fire - 4
Flare - 8
Fuel - 8
Mechanical - 126
Medical - 15
Overdue13
Person in water - 7
Taking water - 6
Other - 13

TOTAL - 270

I can't see how an organization with a critical function like the Coastguard can be made up of mainly volunteers with such a high demand.

Bad form....very bad form

Name Supression Bonanza!

Seems to be very commonplace now, If you have had 15 mins of fame it seems you are entitled to Name Suppression. All this does is make people more Curious and the interweb hums with activity, people searching for the name of the suppressed.

Google is a very helpful tool, specifically its autocomplete function, type "Name Suppression" and look at all the wonderful things it sugests

Some National Figure has been Accused of touching a young girls Boobs and Bits. Im going to go and trawl teh net and find out who it is, Just like the hoards of other people who will do the same after reading it.

Video of the Ady Gil getting owned by the Japanese Whaling ship

What Douchebags.. What Did they think would happen ?

Give your wife Cancer with the Rio Laser

Ok this thing must be Dangerous, its got fucking KEYS lol. A hair removal laser, with KEYS.
Seriously I was shitting about it giving you cancer, there's no proof of that......Yet.

"Sun exposure or deep tanning should be avoided for at least a week. If the skin is exposed use a sunscreen. Also avoid using abrasive cleansers or skin peeling treatments. Avoid swimming in chlorinated water or using a hot tub for 48 hours."

I had the Misfortune of catching an informercial on this dodgy looking product called the Rio Laser and had to google it, and as I expected didn't live up to its claimed onscreen performance, here's a marginally funny read of some reviews of peopl who got conned by this seen on TV piece of shit.

Airplane Emergencies As I Imagine Them, From Collegehumor

ORLY Who's Getting this money.

So the Cops are giving away our money but are unable to give out how many arrest's came of the payment's to informant's, how many conviction's or what type of crimes they were. So basically what they are saying is that they are giving away taxpayers money to mostly criminals (as most people you would think would provide information to the police for free) and are not being held accountable for it.

Quote from the Herald Article

"But it is impossible to know whether taxpayers are receiving value for money in the payouts as police cannot reveal how many arrests or convictions resulted from the payouts or which crimes the payouts were for. "

Earthrace boat cut in half by fiesty Japanese Whalers

The Boat that previously was called Earthrace, renamed the Ady Gil has been cut in half by Japanese whaling fleet defense ships.
The story in Stuff doesn't mention the fact the boat is the old Earthrace Biodiesel boat. Here are pics after the renaming of the vessel, an old wives tale is that renaming a boat is bad luck, but meh, who knows.

The Japanese whalers who kill whales for food under the guise of research do piss me off though. I think we just found a job for the Somali Pirates ..