I do not get scared in Halloween. This one does scare me. Yikes!

If you’re not familiar with SIM swap fraud, prepare to be terrified.

This scam, also known as port-out or SIM splitting fraud, allows criminals to hijack your cell phone number. Once they have your number, the bad guys can clean out your financial accounts, confiscate your email, delete your data and take over your social media profiles.

In ‘SIM Swap,’ Criminals Really Have Your Number https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/sim-swap-criminals-really-number

Photo of the Day

The Huntington Gardens
Los Angeles

BBC: The automated Japanese restaurant without waiters

Senator Franken on Net Neutrality

Senator Franken on Net Neutrality and the problems with the way it’s proposed

He’s right. We should defend real net neutrality, the concept where everybody, big or small, independent blogger or big corporation has the same rights of publishing in the internet and reaching you, the consumer. Big money shouldn’t pay for better access to your browser.

The Future of NASA

Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer  wrote a very good piece, on the future of NASA in these troubled times. The shuttle is scheduled to fly her last mission in September 2010, a year from now. The replacement, with Ares rockets are not scheduled to come online until 2015 and that’s optimistic.

A presidential commission just released a study of the issues. In a word, the future looks bleak. But I’ll let Phil explain it in more detail.

Microsoft Retiring Support for WinXP SP2 in a Year

Microsoft will retire support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 one year from today. This does not mean Microsoft will stop supporting XP! What it means  is that it will not longer support SP2. After Patch Tuesday, July 13, 2010 you will have to have SP3 installed in order to get updates for Windows XP. If a vulnerability is found in SP2 that is not in SP3, it will not be patched.

We have also reached the end of the line for Windows XP service packs: After SP3 no new service packs are planned. Microsoft will not end support for Windows XP itself for almost 4 more years as Extended Support is scheduled to end on April 8, 2014.

Via PCMag

Firefox released v3.5

Mozilla has released the next major version of Firefox, v3.5 It has support for HTML 5 video, security and speed enhancements. Privacy improvements include a private browsing mode that allows you to surf the web without leaving a trail in the browser's history, cache and cookies. This puts it inline with the latest enhancements to IE 8, Safari and Chrome.

Not all existing plugins have been updated so some of the programs you may currently use with Firefox 3.0.x may not work until their next release.

There are a few glitches reported. Some user said their bookmarks did not import properly. Many users reported no problems.

If some photos viewed in FF3.5 suddenly seem really dark and/or contrasty after the upgrade, there's a known bug in 3.5 that causes it to mis-display photos with embedded ICC v4 profiles on certain wide-gamut monitors. The only workaround is to disable FF's nice color profiling system until they release a fix, likely in a near future update.

Ars technica review of FF 3.5

You can download Firefox 3.5 from here

Bait and switch: Online electronics stores caught in fraud

It's about time governments do something about these crooks and scammers. There are lots of marginally legal, and outright scammer businesses that advertise on the web.

This was a case in New York state of online electronics stores that offer ridiculously low prices and scam consumers.

Seven online merchants operating more than 40 Web sites have agreed to pay a $765,000 settlement following an investigation by the New York State Attorney General's office, the AG's office said.

The fine is too low, a wrap on the wrist, for some 40 websites which is actually about seven companies doing business through different fronts. They should have charged that amount per website, but at least we are doing something about it.

Remember, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. That's why I buy my photo equipment online only from reputable dealers like B&H and Adorama, and sometimes from places that sell through Amazon. Period.

Magnetic Levitation Toy Train

YouTube Video

(Via Cynical-C)

My last day at work

Today is my last day at Visa.

May of you know I worked as a software developer for Visa for 11+ years (since late 1997).

Due to company reorganization, after the IPO last year, and the joining of separate regions into one global company, positions were eliminated. We (my team and I) knew this was bound to happen for some time. In late January we were informed we would start a process of transitioning of information to the teams that would support our apps in the future, and that we would stay only for the few months this process would take. Finally, today is my last day. Many of us are leaving, with no regrets, for it is a great company to work for, and we were given an adequate exit package.

Still, it is sad to let go, and to discontinue day-to-day friendships cultivated for over a decade. It is a sad day, but I look at it as an opportunity.

I will take a little time off to rest, then will start the search for a new job afresh.

If any of you out there knows of somebody in need for a seasoned Web and desktop developer, with experience in SQL-Server and Fox Databases, with C# and N-Tier web development knowledge, and of course a ton of past experience in VFP, please email me. My LinkedIn profile is here.

In the meantime, I'm still here, taking a well-deserved short vacation and honing my photography hobby skills.

See you out there.

Visual FoxPro 9 SP2 Hotfix Released

Great news! (about time!)

Post by Rick Schummer [MVP]:

Microsoft has released a hotfix to the most serious Report Designer bug in VFP 9 SP2. You can read about the fix in the Microsoft KnowledgeBase article #968409, titled "FIX: The group header of a data grouping is not printed at the top of each page as expected after you install Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 2". You can read about all the details on Cathy Pountney's and Rick Schummer's blog post on the topic.

Glad to hear it. Thanks Rick for the great news!

Ken Levy joins EPS-Software!

I received the news that Ken Levy joined EPS (read Press Release) to evangelize their line of brands and products. I was late to the news (work has a habit of interfering sometimes) as I see Craig and Andy have already covered it. Good move for the folks at EPS.

Firefox 3 releasing June 17

Firefox 3 is coming out this week, if all goes well. They are even preparing for a Guinness World Record on Download Day.

Field Guide to Firefox 3

Everything You Need To Know About Firefox 3

InfoWorld: Smartphones 'bigger security risk' than laptops

Inforworld reports on a survey saying that Smartphones carry company information such as emails and attachments and most of the management execs that use them do not have the contents encrypted and many don't even bother to enter a password to access the device.

Nowadays many IT execs have access to company networks with their own smartphones. These devices are easily lost or stolen and are a great risk to enterprise data security

See the article at InfoWorld.

NASA's Phoenix lands on Mars!

After almost a year traveling, and "7 minutes of terror" breaking atmo, NASA-JPL's Phoenix has landed. You can see the first pictures of a sunny day in Mars here. Well done!

FoxTalk is dead. FoxRockX is alive!

Maybe a little late to the info but important nonetheless. The German Foxpro Group (DFPUG), a dedicated group of FoxPro professionals, including several VFP conference speakers and MVPs, have started a new magazine, taking over from FoxTalk and FoxPro Advisor. They offer a bimonthly edition online for subscribers, (with optional print subscription also available). All subscribers get access to FoxTalk's archives too.

This is great news for FoxPro developers world-wide. FoxPro is still a vibrant and powerful programming language, with new additions like Microsoft's SEDNA project and the comunnity-developed additions of VFPx.

Well done, and congratulations to Rainer Becker and his dedicated team.

Sedna released!

Microsoft has released the Sedna components for Visual FoxPro. Sedna is a collection of libraries, samples and add-ons to Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP2.

More details in the postings from Craig and Rick.

You can download the add-on components directly from Microsoft.

Virgin unveils spaceship designs

Virgin Galactic has released the final design of the launch system that will take fare-paying passengers into space.

It is based on the X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne concept - a rocket ship that is lifted initially by a carrier plane before blasting skywards.

The Virgin system is essentially a refinement, but has been increased in size to take eight people at a time on a sub-orbital trip, starting in 2010.

Link

FSX SP2 released

Microsoft has released Flight Simulator X SP2

Here's the download link in English:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/6/9/d69519cc-b2bb-44c1-84d3-b9f77507f813/fsx_sp2_ENU.msi

For other languages (many are offered), here's a complete list.

Note that SP2 has the same functionality as Acceleration, without the additional aircraft and missions.

Jon has a list of fixes included.

(Via Jon Patch)

CompUSA goes out of business

End of the line for CompUSA

The irony of a big-box store, after pushing mom&pop stores out of business for many years, has now been pushed out of business by bigger-box stores...