Travel: Secure Flight being Implemented by TSA (This may affect you)

Anyone that travels on planes on a regular basis is familiar with the “You have been selected for additional screening”* that happens at times. A few people have also had to deal with what is known as “Denied Boarding” because they have a name that is similar to a name on the Government No Fly list*.

There are confirmed reports that everyone from Kids (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/business/30road.html?_r=2&oref=slogin (http://www NULL.nytimes NULL.com/2008/09/30/business/30road NULL.html?_r=2&oref=slogin)) to US Marines returning from Iraq (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12284855/ (http://www NULL.msnbc NULL.msn NULL.com/id/12284855/)) to members of Congress (http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/20/lewis.watchlist/index.html (http://www NULL.cnn NULL.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/20/lewis NULL.watchlist/index NULL.html)) to just regular people like you and me who have been stopped or denied boarding because of the No Fly list (*For full disclosure – I have had both situations occur during my road warrior travel more than once).

Now the TSA working with the transportation industry is working on implementing “Secure Flight” (http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/secureflight/index.shtm (http://www NULL.tsa NULL.gov/what_we_do/layers/secureflight/index NULL.shtm))

Q. What is Secure Flight and what does it do?

A. Secure Flight is a behind the scenes program that streamlines the watch list matching process. It will improve the travel experience for all passengers, including those who have been misidentified in the past.

Q. What happens if my airline didn’t ask for any of that information?

A. Secure Flight will be phased-in and each airline will be incorporating the necessary changes into their systems over the coming months. Passengers shouldn’t be concerned if particular airlines don’t ask them to provide the additional information right away; it should not impact their travel. Each airline will request this information as their capability to capture it is integrated into their individual systems.

Spirit Airlines has sent out a notice that they are now implementing Secure Flight

Some of the things to keep in mind is that they are now asking for your ID name (if your Bobby and your ID/License says Robert, I would suggest you get your tickets using Robert).

The notice from Spirit Airlines also talks about the Redress number (many people don’t know what this means), so for your information this is what the Redress number means (http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/customer/redress/index.shtm (http://www NULL.tsa NULL.gov/travelers/customer/redress/index NULL.shtm))

The Redress Process

The Department of Homeland Security’s Travel Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP) is a single point of contact for individuals who have inquiries or seek resolution regarding difficulties they experienced during their travel screening at transportation hubs–like airports and train stations–or while crossing U.S. borders. These could include:

denied or delayed airline boarding

denied or delayed entry into and exit from the U.S. at a port of entry or border checkpoint

continuously referred to additional (secondary) screening

Who is DHS TRIP for?

People who have been repeatedly identified for additional screening can file an inquiry to have erroneous information corrected in DHS systems.

How does DHS TRIP work?

For those who encounter misidentification, Secure Flight will help prevent watch list name confusion by using DHS TRIP, the central processing point for redress inquiries. Requests received online will be routed for redress to the appropriate DHS components. Components will review the request and reach a determination about a traveler’s status. Secure Flight will use the results of the redress process in its watch list matching process to help prevent future delays for misidentified passengers.

Hopefully, those legitimate travelers who have a hard time because they just happen to be unlucky enough to have a name similar to someone that the government has on a “Watch List” will find some relief with Secure Flight.

For additional information

TSA Secure Flight (http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/secureflight/index.shtm (http://www NULL.tsa NULL.gov/what_we_do/layers/secureflight/index NULL.shtm))
TSA Redress Program (http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/customer/redress/index.shtm (http://www NULL.tsa NULL.gov/travelers/customer/redress/index NULL.shtm))
How to file for the Redress Program (http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1169673653081.shtm (http://www NULL.dhs NULL.gov/files/programs/gc_1169673653081 NULL.shtm))
Wiki about the No Fly List with interesting information (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-fly_list#cite_note-24 (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/No-fly_list#cite_note-24))
Washington Post Story (Airlines to begin asking more from customers) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081203000.html (http://www NULL.washingtonpost NULL.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081203000 NULL.html))

NUEVA funcionalidad: Para TechGeekandMore

Estoy orgulloso de anunciar una nueva característica para TechGeekandMore, traducción de sitios. Ahora el sitio estará disponible en los siguientes idiomas

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Chino simplificado

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Todo lo que necesita hacer es hacer clic en world flags icono y le llevará a la página de traducción en la que puede seleccionar el idioma que desee

y TechGeekandMore se va a traducir automáticamente para usted. Como siempre usted esta invitado enviar preguntas o comentarios, incluso en su idioma nativo, y Haré todo lo posible para ayudar a mostrarle más acerca de la tecnología.

NEW FEATURE: For TechGeekandMore

I’m proud to announce a new feature for TechGeekandMore, site translation. Now the site will be available in the following languages

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All you will need to do is click on icon and that will take you to the translation page where you can select the language that you want

and TechGeekandMore will be automatically translated for you. As always you are more then welcome to post questions or comments, even in your native language, and I will do my best to help show you more about technology.

And More!: Burglar Caught by Facebook

This is a story that I just had to comment on. From The Journal of West Virginia (http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/525232.html (http://www NULL.journal-news NULL.net/page/content NULL.detail/id/525232 NULL.html)), just when it seems you have heard it all, A guy breaks in to a home, and figures that during the middle of a break in that its a good time to check his facebook page. Yep, let me steal a little of this and a little of that and also update my status on facebook all at the same time.

To paraphrase a famous commercial from the US:

Stealing from a home – About $3500 dollars (and possibly 10 yrs in jail)

Checking Facebook while committing the crime – Stupid

Getting caught because you were stupid enough to use the computer in the house you broke into to check Facebook and then even more stupid to not log out of your account on Facebook on the pc of the home you broke into – PRICELESS!

Here is the story from the Journal of West Virginia:

MARTINSBURG – The popular online social networking site Facebook helped lead to an alleged burglar’s arrest after he stopped check his account on the victim’s computer, but forgot to log out before leaving the home with two diamond rings.

Jonathan G. Parker, 19, of Fort Loudoun, Pa., was arraigned Tuesday one count of felony daytime burglary.

According to court records, Deputy P.D. Ware of the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department responded on Aug. 28 to the victim’s home after she reported the burglary.

She told police that someone had broken into her home through a bedroom window.

There were open cabinets in her garage, and other signs of a burglar.

The victim later noticed that the intruder also used her computer to check his Facebook status, and his account was still open when she checked the computer.

The victim later noticed that she was missing two diamond rings from her dresser in the same room as her computer.

The two rings were worth more than $3,500, reports indicate.

During the investigation, a friend of the victim told her that he knew where Parker was staying, in the same area as the victim’s house.

Police then went to the home and spoke with a friend of Parker’s.

The man said Parker had stopped by his home occasionally, but he said the man didn’t live there.

He also said that the night before the burglary, Parker asked him if he wanted to help break into the victim’s home but he refused.

As of Tuesday evening, Parker remained in custody at the Eastern Regional Jail on $10,000 bail.

If convicted he faces one to 10 years in prison.

Tech: Don’t Copy that floppy makes a come back (Did it really have to!)

Since the early days of computers, the software industry has had a campaign against software copying. In the early days (before CD’s) there was an “educational” video produced that was supposed to teach people of that era about why they should “Copy that Floppy”. The video, which was aimed at young computer users of the time, has 1 major flaw in it. It has the feel of someone in a suit in an office somewhere tried really badly to fit in with a younger crowd that they probably knew nothing about.

For the sake of review here is the Original “Don’t Copy that Floppy”

Now fast Forward to 2009, and someone in the software industry figured it was a good time to try this again with the release this week of “Don’t Copy that 2”. Again, another video that looks like someone who has no clue about its target audience wrote it. In this latest version, we get everything from great looking 90’s effects to klingons (Yes the same ones from Star Trek. Also note, for any Trekkies out there that they have on the 60’s Star Trek look, or is it just me), and also great references to the latest and greatest video game of all time “Doom” (I’m being sarcastic as Doom was released in the early 90’s).

So Here is “Don’t Copy That 2”

(Soapbox) I’m not here to say if piracy is good or bad or if it is stealing or not. Everyone has to make their own choices as to if they want to “Copy that Floppy” or not. However, efforts like these will not do anything but give those who chose to copy, download, share a good laugh. Instead of just telling people Don’t do it, maybe if the industries like the RIAA, MPAA, Software Industry looked at why “Good People” would chose to do it and look at addressing those issues, maybe then they could actually make a dent in the problem. (End Soapbox)

Newsweek has an article on the new “Don’t copy that 2” ( http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/techtonicshifts/archive/2009/09/10/need-to-appeal-to-teens-here-s-a-hint.aspx (http://blog NULL.newsweek NULL.com/blogs/techtonicshifts/archive/2009/09/10/need-to-appeal-to-teens-here-s-a-hint NULL.aspx) ) where they interview interview Keith Kupferschmid, the Software & Information Industry Association’s policy director and one of the most telling reason as to why “the adults just don’t get it” comes from a question concerning the latest video

“Keith Kupferschmid, the Software & Information Industry Association’s policy director, was magnanimous enough to answer my sputtering questions about some of the video’s inexplicable choices. Like: why rap, in 2009? (That’s like sending a disco star to lecture a ’90s classroom to get its “groove thang on” by respecting copyrights.) If you’re referencing a videogame, why choose Doom, which dates to 1993? Why Klingons, instead of teenage vampires or wizards? ”

“We just didn’t think about the vampire thing, I suppose,” says Kupferschmid”

With that being said……I hope you enjoyed the Don’t video’s.

Tech: Happy 40th Birthday to the Internet

On this day (Sep. 2nd 1969) in a lab at the University of California, Los Angeles, two computers passed test data through a 15-foot gray cable. Bringing with it the 1st steps to the internet being born. Later in 1969 computers from Stanford, UCSB, and the University of Utah joined the 1st computer connection at UCLA and the internet was born.

National Geographic has an interesting 5-min video on the birth of the internet. You can find it at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090831-internet-40th-video-ap.html (http://news NULL.nationalgeographic NULL.com/news/2009/08/090831-internet-40th-video-ap NULL.html) .

The web (or inter-tubes) as we know it came to life at the hands of Tim Berners-Lee in 1989.

So Happy Birthday

Internet

Just imagine what life would be like without social networking sites, EBay, Twitter…….

Soapbox: Thank You to all the Visitors of TechGeekandMore

On this late evening of Aug 31, 2009 I just wanted to say Thank you to everyone who has been visiting my blog for the past 7 months. When I started this, it was because a lot of people (Family, Co-Workers, and Clients I support as part of my “real” job) all kept asking basically the same Tech and Geek questions, in March it was Conflickr, last couple of months it was virus removal, now its all about Windows 7. So I figured if enough people kept asking me about the same thing, maybe I could post answers online and make it easy for the people with questions to get answers and more importantly to get informed.

The 1st month I did this, I had 87 people visit TechGeekandMore, and honestly, I wasn’t ever expecting much more than that. I haven’t done much of any advertising for TGM(other than whatever links are either posted directly by WordPress or by Bing or by Google), and when I write my posts, I try to write them in as much simple English as I can as opposed to Tech speak or Geek Speak. I’m no formal writer, and had no idea where this whole blog thing was going to go when it started.

However, a couple of minutes before September 1, and I’m happy to say (and a little shocked too in a good way) that every month TechGeekandMore has been around it has received more views than the month before and as of this writing for the month of Aug 2008, TechGeekandMore has received 1513 visits. I know to some of you, those who also write blogs or those who like to read a lot of blogs, that 1500 visitors may not be a lot, but to me it is an incredible feeling.

So with that to those of you who have visited, I say Hello and Thank you……I didn’t start with any formal written plans for this blog, just an idea, and the rest I have learned along the way. I now see more interesting posibilities in the near future of TGM. So please come back and visit TGM often, I may not post every single minute (as it was never my idea to post just for posting sake), but I do plan to post as often as I can, things that I hope will help those who do not understand the foreign languages of Tech and Geek, how to communicate and survive in a Tech and Geek world.

Sincerely

Alex (In charge of this crazy thing called TechGeekandMore)

And More!: Ice-T shows how to destroy a Mac

In this video post, Ice-T shows what he does with his Mac once the Mac has reached the end of its life.

WARNING: This is Ice-T, so the language is not appropriate for all viewers or at all locations. As they say, Viewer discretion advised.

And More: (Soapbox) There isn’t always truth in advertising and Dell customer service/support has “NO CLUE”

(Notice: This post is entirely based on what just happened to me while attempting to discuss an order I placed Online with Dell, all the information posted is based on my experience)

My son has been wanting an XBox360 for a while now because it has a number of games that are Xbox only games that he wants to play. He has worked very hard in school and at home (doing everything asked of him), to show me that he deserves to get his Xbox. So for his birthday (after seeing how hard he has tried) I started looking around the net to order him an Xbox, and found the best deal from the Dell Website. (I have screenshot of the page from Dell’s site, I also found the discount coupon code 65G7RQ11J?M2LH from the dealnews site ( http://dealnews.com/Xbox-360-Arcade-Console-for-170-free-shipping/309111.html (http://dealnews NULL.com/Xbox-360-Arcade-Console-for-170-free-shipping/309111 NULL.html) ) which brought the price to $169 dollars).

The Dell page for the 360 Arcade bundle seemed to me to be a little lacking in formation, but this is Dell, this isn’t some person I’ve never met on an e-Bay auction, this is Dell one of the biggest players in the computer and technology markets so I didn’t make much of it. Additionally, prior to making my order, I saw the posting on Microsoft’s own 360 website concerning the XBox360 arcade edition ( http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360arcadesystem/ ) which told me that the 360 arcade bundle came with a 5 game CD (Pac-Man, Uno, etc……). Even though the information was lacking on the website, Dell posted a picture that shows the console, cable, controller, memory card, and arcade CD and its Dell so that what I should get, or so I figured. WRONG!!!!!!!

So there I was and I placed the order online with dell. Received the order and waited for my son’s Birthday which is today. He was so happy when he unwrapped his gift and saw it had gotten his wish. Then we started opening the box and in that’s when the fun began.

In the box was the Xbox console, a wireless controller, the power supply, and the cable to the TV. That it. So where was the memory card and the game (Check out what they show on the Dell picture)

So I called Dell, and that’s where the “fun” part of my story comes in. My calls started at 9:30a (EST) and as of 1:30p (EST), I have now been so frustrated and given up to the point where I will just go to my local store (probably GameStop) and buy a used edition of each. That’s not where my problem is, because if it was just about the $10 or $15 that the 2 missing pieces would cost, I guess this post would have never even occurred. Its about principle and the fact that I called Dell (Using both the 800-999-3355 and the 800-624-9897 numbers) and started with customer support (after a 20 min hold time) who said they couldn’t help me because this was not their issue (using those words) and sent me to customer care who told me that …………….ding ding ding. Wait they could have told me something after I explained what was up but suddenly I was disconnected and all i got was a loud tone. (**I’m not saying I was hung up on but lets see if someone sees a pattern). So I called back (again 15 min waiting) until I got to customer support and they sent me to customer care who then said that the Xbox comes with only what they sent. I explained that what I received isn’t on what is showing on the ding ding ding ding ding…wait again I didn’t get to finish what I was explaining because the same loud tone, and again I’m disconnected). So I called again, this time, I called customer care directly because I was able to find that number (the 3355 one) on-line. This time (30 min wait) I was told that they have no one of knowing what was supposed to be in the package and that I need to speak to the sales department, they transferred me to sales to confirm what’s on the order. Sales gets on the line and starts asking me if i want to start a new order, of which I explained the story to them and they said they could tell me what was in the package and was told that yes a game and memory card comes with the package…..when I then asked to get back to customer ding ding ding ding (lets see is there a pattern here or what……) , again I’m disconnected with the same loud tone as before. So I now call customer care back and get back to the same person as before (at least she gave me her extension) and told her that sales said that yes I should have gotten a game, I am now told that what they need to do is order me a new system, for $199 dollars I may add because they had no way of adding the discount code I used online. Then I would go back to a different department that would then arrange a return of the system I just got and that I would then get a refund from Dell in a few weeks, The refund of course would be for what I paid on the 1st one, which was less than $199 dollars. When I questioned as to why I would have to pay 2x’s (in my opinion at least) and if this was just a game issue why they couldn’t just send me the missing pieces, ding ding ding ding…..I again get that loud tone and I’m disconnected. I was going to ask her if I would actually get that I expected if I bothered to jump thru that many hoops since sales said I should but customer care wasn’t sure, but with it “disconnecting” again, I was never even able to ask.

So with that, my son has been able to enjoy his xbox360, due to the fact that a friend from work was nice enough to let me have some of his 360 games this week (after I told him we were getting the Xbox for my son), so that my son would be able to enjoy a few games while we built his collection. So to Andrew I say thanks, and to Dell I say, (well I can’t say what I really want) NO THANKS!.

And to you, who read my posts, I just have this caution, even if the site your on is as big a Dell, pay very close attention to orders online, you may not always get what you are expecting. A good thing to do is look at the customer rating comment which I didn’t do, as I now see from Dell’s own site that I am not the only one who was expecting something that he didn’t get.

(End of the soapbox for now)

And More: General Common Sense – Password Security

In the past few days much has come out about how Twitter got hacked. The biggest issue it seems is that one of the passwords used by Twitter systems administrators was “Password”, according to a story by Tech Crunch ( http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/15/another-security-tip-for-twitter-dont-use-password-as-your-password/ (http://www NULL.techcrunch NULL.com/2009/07/15/another-security-tip-for-twitter-dont-use-password-as-your-password/) ).

A friend and fellow Tech wrote a couple of posts recently concerning a password issue he faced with a buddy he was helping out (If you’re a tech your always helping out someone).

From his posting:

“Have you ever had one of those moments when you slap your palm to your head and say to yourself, “I should’ve see that coming?”
My buddy called me on a Wednesday to say he didn’t have the password to his e-mail. Here’s where the slap to the head comes: I had just been at his office the Saturday before to help him crack his Quickbooks because he didn’t know his password. (His Secretary did all that for him. When she left she neglected to leave him a list of passwords.)

I recommend reading his posts as I feel he explains the issue better than I ever could. You can find his posts (both parts) at http://10w40.blogspot.com/2009/03/password-documentation-part-1.html (http://10w40 NULL.blogspot NULL.com/2009/03/password-documentation-part-1 NULL.html) and http://10w40.blogspot.com/2009/07/password-documentation-part-2.html (http://10w40 NULL.blogspot NULL.com/2009/07/password-documentation-part-2 NULL.html).

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