Camcorder Genius: BEWARE

According to a comment posted on this blog, it appears that closeoutgenius/camcordergenius is no longer accepting credit cards.  Here’s the post:

 

We would like to thank you for your recent order with our company. As we strive for customer service excellence, we have created a better and easier way for you (the customer) to complete this order via PayPal or bank wire transfer. At this time we are not accepting Visa/Mastercard/discover/Amex. Should you have any further information, please kindly contact our customer service department during regular business hours. Mon-fri 11am-5pm Est. 888-654-3648.
Please log into PayPal with your account, click on the "Send Money", provide our companies e-mail address ( AbesRus86@aol.com ) then the amount, please check goods option and then provide your order confirmation # in the notes text box.

 

Perhaps the major credit card companies have finally pulled the plug, based on the number of cardholders reporting fraudulent transactions.  I feel bad for the people that send a wire transfer, since they’ll never get their money back, and they’ll also have a tough time with Paypal.  On the bright side, it looks like the end is near for the “genius” family of rip off websites, but they’ll just open up under another name.

Worst Application...Ever

I heard on the news yesterday that Apple approved an iPhone application called "baby shaker" for sale on their application store. After public outcry, they pulled the plug. I didn't see the specifics of the application until today on the Apple Blog:
it basically allowed users to simulate shaking a baby to death on their iPhone or iPod touch. On screen, you saw a pencil-drawn animation of a baby that would progressively move less and less as you shook your phone, until big red X’s would appear over its eyes and it would stop moving altogether, at which point the baby is presumably dead.
Apparently someone thought this application was humorous. It isn't. I'm hoping that Steve Jobs is well enough to personally shitcan everyone involved in approving this application.

Quick Way to Find Real Deals on the Internet

If you think you can just put the name of the item you want into Google to find the best price, think again.  As is evident by the comments on this blog, Google Adwords has been hijacked by bait and switch websites.

 

To find valid deals, check out the forums section of slickdeals.net:  LINK and fatwallet: LINK.  For Fatwallet, you need to register and then sort by date.  People post deals they find and then the community rates whether the deal is good or bad.  Also bookmark www.bensbargains.net. 

Fraud Free Week on the Internet

All of the top fraudulent bait and switch websites (Camera Giants, Need4Digital, Sonic Cameras, Stop & Shop Digital, etc) are currently closed for the “holiday.”  (They’ve got a lot of praying to do, because there is a special place in hell for these bastards).

It takes a religious event to do what the State of New York Attorney General’s office can’t…stop these criminals from ripping off Americans.  I’m sure they’ll be back in full force after atoning for their many, many sins.

How to Find the Cheapest Airfare

1. http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/
2. http://farecast.live.com/
3. http://www.yapta.com/
4. http://www.kayak.com
5. http://www.mobissimo.com
6. http://www.skyscanner.net for Europe
7. http://www.cfares.com
8. http://matrix.itasoftware.com

 

(Thanks to slickdeals.net)

DANGER: TOPCHOICEDIGITAL IS A SCAM

Topchoicedigital (Top Choice Digital) is now appearing on fake price comparison sites once again. They are an alias for Broadway Camera, which is getting sued by the State of Texas for bait and switch tactics. Check out their headquarters here. Read the reviews on resellerratings here. (They routinely post fake positive reviews, so ignore the most recent ones.)

Do not even to attempt to purchase anything from these criminals.

Federal law defines “Bait Advertising” as follows: Bait advertising is an alluring but insincere offer to sell a product or service which the advertiser in truth does not intend or want to sell. Its purpose is to switch consumers from buying the advertised merchandise, in order to sell something else, usually at a higher price or on a basis more advantageous to the advertiser. The primary aim of a bait advertisement is to obtain leads as to persons interested in buying merchandise of the type so advertised (16 CFR 238).

238.2: (a) No statement or illustration should be used in any advertisement which creates a false impression of the grade, quality, make, value, currency of model, size, color, usability, or origin of the product offered, or which may otherwise misrepresent the product in such a manner that later, on disclosure of the true facts, the purchaser may be switched from the advertised product to another.

(b) Even though the true facts are subsequently made known to the buyer, the law is violated if the first contact or interview is secured by deception.

If you are in California, TopChoiceDigital is violating Civil Code Section 1770, as well as Business and Professions Code Sections 17500-17509. Call the California Department of Consumer Affairs to file a complaint at (800) 952-5210.

Google's Blogger Service Has Mysterious Bug

Today I received email confirmation of a post to this blog that I did not make. It simply said “eeyore is cute!”. I googled it, and it looks as though there was a problem with Blogger today, as there are numerous blogs that have this very post. I searched the Blogger discussion group, and it looks as this was happened on a massive scale to blogger accounts today. Nothing in the news about it, so I’m sure Google will just keep quiet about it, but it’s unsettling.

Here's someone else discussing it.

Here’s some excerpts:

Today I received in my inbox, 2 post published in my blog

(trucosfacebook.com) with this text:

[Trucos Facebook] 1238803225627

eeyore is cute!

and

[Trucos Facebook] 1238803227479

eeyore is cute!

I NEVER write this posts, and I look in my blog but nothing appears. I

search in Google about "eeyore is cute!" and... bingo! in others blog,

the same post appears. So, my question is: is this a bug? is a hack

intent? is my blog security vulnered? I don't have problems with my

account or password, and only me have access to publish, etc.

Happened to me, as well and I can't even figure out how to reach
Blogger to get them to fix it. I changed my password just to be safe.
I hate that it isn't even on my posts to edit it out.

We have a blog that has suddenly displayed a post that says "eeyore is

cute!" We did not make this post and it is not listed in the list of

posts for any of our users, so we cannot remove it.

I am concerned that the links to the post may have some malicious

code, but don't know what I'm looking for and it seems that Google

doesn't have any way to contact anyone regarding this.

First, we want to delete the post.

Second, what could this problem be? Since the post is not showing up

for us to "edit", I assume that it may have been inserted fro outside

of our account. I have changed the password, but am very concerned

that someone may have access to this account despite the fact that

I've changed it..

Please advise!

Got an email that the "eyore" post was published--we made no posting
and the post is not showing up. I hovered over the name of our blog in
the bottom of the email (but did not click it). It does point to
blogspot so I hope Blogger figures this out and tells us what to do. I
also checked our gmail account attached to the same account as the
blog and checked to make sure no one else logged in from a different
IP address. No IP address but ours.

I'm stumped.

Update: Here's what Google says:

Some blogs are seeing a new post that says "eeyore is cute!"We are identifying the cause of the problem and are working on a fix.Update: During routine testing, a bug caused a small number of FTP blogs to publish a test post. No systems or accounts were hacked. We have corrected the original bug, and are working to remove the test data from the blogs. In the meantime, republishing your FTP blog will also correct the problem. We apologize to those bloggers who were affected - we are looking at mechanisms to prevent similar occurrences in the future.Note: Some users with non-FTP blogs who have opted to receive post confirmation emails may have seen a spurious email about a test "eeyore is cute!" post. This email can safely be ignored.

A "small number"? I don't think so. It appears it was much more widespread than they are admitting.