Paul's Tech Talk

Doctor Who: Clara Oswin Oswald Character Arch Begins!

PaulApril 13, 2013

Clara Oswin Oswald

Who is the Clara Oswald (Jenna-Louise Coleman) is a character the doctor met in Asylum of the Daleks. If you know this series then you will remember the Doctor and River Song (A Good man Goes to war!). I think I did a pretty good prediction on the remaining season of Doctor Who for 2013 (Season 7). I know I missed some of this and really when I looked into this series during the interlude of season.

We see her die twice!

The first time we see her die is Asylum of the Daleks, and then the Snowmen (Christmas Special). Everything tells me this girl has a reason to have her keep on coming back to life and the doctor finding her in The Bells of Saint John. Which is also in Season 7 and you can see she has a major part of this season and I she will be on Season 8 and Season 9 from what I can tell.

I hope we don’t see something like River Song or Amy Pond’s Character arch’s but I am sure she will be an important part of the series. I can’t wait to see what else she does with the Doctor and what she has to bring into the Life of the Doctor.

Paul Sylvester

Scare advertising hitting android Devices!

PaulApril 12, 2013

androidantivirusfree.org

I Think NOT!

I was doing some stuff and this little advertisement appeared on my tablet:

Phone is Infected, Remove Virus Now! (Scare Tactic)

As you can see there is a lot to this that you can’t really, even though I know Androids aren’t immune. This seems to indicate the advertising of malware is on the rise. So I intend to help those who want to be helped. Let’s by chance think you have a virus on your tablet or phone. How do you get it off, there are a few ways. One you can do a hard reset and restore you phone or tablet to factory settings. Essentially wiping all information from the phone.

Don’t install any 3rd party applications!

Use coupon code “Savenow15” and Save 15% off the lifetime of your account!One of my common rules is not to install any third party applications unless I trust the source and just because they look legitimate doesn’t always mean they are. For example, the picture looks convincing enough but home site (androidantivirusfree.org) has nothing there which indicates to me that it is designed to install malicious software to make you buy there cure for their android virus or malware!

Although this is the beginning of this, I am just going to. I have already talked about this in a previous post so I will just say this. Don’t do anything without consulting a geek!

Paul Sylvester

Playing around with Google Authenticator and the 2 step process!

PaulApril 6, 2013

2 Factor Authentication and You!

When I started this experiment looking to enhance my security. I was thinking about Yubi Key but It isn’t like I have the 25 dollars for it. I do suggest it to anyone who might not have any other options available to you. It however works really well from what I have been told with Lastpass and I wanted something that would do just that.

It isn’t like I have a lot of money to throw around!

So I went to Lastpass security settings to see if there was something else. When I found the Google Authenticator Tab!

Google Authenticator?

Well it looks like Google came up with a way to have a two factor authentication available for you when you login to sites that you may want more than one way to protect your identity or privacy! So even though I could protect my privacy by having a One Time Password it isn’t going to be the easiest way to keep my security safe.

I installed Google Authenticator on my Kyocera Rise and it is working really well. I will have to do even more figuring out of this little app but I am wondering how hard it would be to change to another phone when the time comes and how hard it is to get it installed.

I’ve printed up a few One time Passwords and they are safely hidden away for those times I might need them because something happened.

My next step is to find out which if any social media sites are two factor compliant and which ones I would want to have this available to. I am hopeful that Facebook will have this to help keep my identity safe and people from gaining access to stuff they shouldn’t have.

Lastpass Plus Google Authenticator equals AWESOME. Even though this just the beginning of my journey into exploring this. I will do another blog post about this later on when I have explored this with greater detail and discuss the benefits and draw backs of this but for right now I am more secure then I was and I am happy!

Paul Sylvester

Why I suspect there is not really a 3G outage right now!

PaulApril 3, 20132 Replies

The Plausible deniability of the Virgin Mobile 3G Outage!

So it has been a week now and you’re probably asking the same questions. Here are a few questions that I have and would love to see an answer to:

What is taking so darn long?

Why haven’t you warned us before you did this UPDATE?

Why Haven’t you told anyone?

Why isn’t there more information on the problem?

Why haven’t you updated your websites and other stuff to warn people about the problem?

I could keep going on and on about this and probably even start some conspiracy theories about this. Here is what I know!

No UPDATES by Virgin Mobile!

No Media is covering this or talking about it!

Customers are extremely unhappy right now!

These are just a few that I have found. I went digging around the internet about this and found only a handful of stuff about this. I am no amatuer when it comes to searching Google, Bing, and yahoo for this type of information! I’ve found one story about the outage but it was a mear reference to it being down nothing more nothing less.

So what am I missing?

Probably nothing, I am sure this has to do with Virgin Mobile wanting to thin out the herd sort to speak. If they really wanted people to stay they would of put out press releases and text everyone in the Virgin Mobile Network and also posted it on their website and their technical support line. I honestly think they want everyone to go to the 4G network and this is a way to have people either leave or move to a phone that has 4G LTE capabilities. I’m not buying that this is something they didn’t plan and I hope you don’t either. Until Virgin Mobile speaks up and starts proving to me they want my business, then I have to assume they are trying to soar the milk of 3G users and get them to go somewhere else.

Do you think I am right or Wrong? Let start a Discuss and talk about this even more!

Paul Sylvester

What To Do before you Call Virgin Mobile Support!

PaulApril 2, 20131 Reply

1 hour with Technical Support!

Gee thanks for wasting an hour of my time for nothing! Couldn’t I of done this offline? This isn’t like it is rocket science or is it? When I started this trek to fixing my 3G signal, I never knew it was going to be such a big ordeal. I mean, lets face it it isn’t like I don’t know what I am doing with my Android Phone. I’ve been getting Error codes like 67, 3000, and 2048. So i called them and they had me do a bunch of stupid stuff. Here is what I suggest you do before you call Virgin Mobile. That way you can at least be ahead of the game:

Turn off Cell Phone and if Possible take out battery for at least 15 seconds.
Try doing an Activation and Seeing if that resolves your problem!
Dial ##virgin# (##847446#) and view or edit your MSID (Mobile Station ID) and MDN (Mobile Number). You’ll need to verify they are something other than 10 zeros!
Check for firmware updates. On my Kyocera Rise, you can do that by going to System > System Updates. This might help fix your problem before you even consider calling Virgin Mobile. No bets though.
Last ditch resort!! Do a hard reset on your Android Phone. Not recommended but if you do this and you still have problems then it isn’t your phone. You will need to reactivate the phone once it has been done and all photos, videos, and anything else on the phone is lost. So it is a last resort. Do this though, you will need to hold the down key and power button until you see the phone power up. Using your volume keys select factory reset or something like that.

Although It seems Virgin Mobile is having some major 3g service issues. I do hope they fix it. I have tried everything other than just going back to Straight Talk. This has been the lousiest experience in my life. Has anyone else had this problem with your 3G service from Virgin Mobile Lately?