This and That

Robert Half Technology, a California-based staffing company that provides information technology professionals, asked 1,400 CIOs nationwide for the most unusual queries their help desks/technical support team had received.

Their responses included:

* “Why isn’t my wireless mouse connected to the computer?”
* “My laptop was run over by a truck. What should I do?”
* “Can you rearrange the keyboard alphabetically?”
* “How do I read my e-mail?”
* “My computer is telling me to press any key to continue. Where is the ‘any’ key?”
* “Can you reset the Internet for me?”
* “There are animal crackers in my CD-ROM drive.”
* “Can you build me a robot?”

Some end users called to report problems with mice — not the electronic kind — and other pests. To wit:

* “Can you get the mice out of the ceiling?”
* “A server went down, and I found a lizard had crawled into it and died.”
* “A skunk ate my cable.”

Other requests signal more trouble than just a technical glitch. Here are some examples:

* “How can I block e-mail from my manager?”
* “Can I open the bank safe using my computer?”
* “Can you install cable TV on my PC?”
* “Can you order joysticks so that we can play video games?”
* “I’d like to stop receiving e-mail on Fridays.”

Help desk professionals are known for lending a hand, but these end users took the concept too far:

* “Can you come and install my car stereo?”
* “Where can I locate dry ice?”
* “I’d like wireless computer access in my motor home.”
* “Can you fix my typewriter?”
* “How long does it take to bake a potato in a microwave?”
* “My daughter is locked in the bathroom, can you pick the lock?”
* “Can you tell me the weather forecast for next year?”
* “The elevator is broken.”
* “How do I wire a robotic turkey?”
* “Where can I get software to track UFOs?”
* “Can you repair my motorbike?”

Katherine Spencer Lee, the executive director of Robert Half Technology, said in the Press Release,
“These unusual requests highlight the need for technical support personnel to also demonstrate patience, empathy and a sense of humor,”

Be honest now, how many of you think that slot that pops out of the computer, (otherwise known as a CD Drive), is a nice convenience to hold your coffee cup.

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Lots of unhappy campers.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1701063&tstart=0

Update.
Apple reissued iTunes to fix the BSOD issue on Windows Vista due to iTunes buggy drivers. Article: TS2280

However there are now two different versions of software and drivers named version 8, the buggy one and the ‘update’ using older editions from July.

If you were one of those affected, you will need to uninstall iTunes and Apple Mobile Device Support, and reboot (restart the computer). Then re-download (75MB) and install the updated iTunes 8 installer.

Be sure to get the fresh download and don’t reinstall the iTunes8Setup or iTunes864Setup file, which caused the problem in the first place.

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Blog comment:

Please, do not delete the given message. Money obtained from spam will go to the help hungry to children

Uh huh.

Link tested in a VM (virtual machine).

Spam in the mailbox was always an annoyance, look what it can do to you now.

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Maybe not the one people have fought for over the centuries…

A council yesterday admitted using laws designed to track serious criminals to spy on a family for nearly three weeks to find out if they were lying about living in a school catchment area.

The council used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to draw up a list of the mother’s movements from February 13 to March 3, showing the times and exact routes of school runs with her children. She told the Bournemouth Echo that the record, shown to her by a school admissions manager, included detailed notes such as “female and three children enter target vehicle and drive off” and “curtains open and all lights on in premises”.

Council uses criminal law to spy on school place applicants

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Kenneth Doroshow, former executive at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA ), will join The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) as General Counsel in September 2008.

The ESA continues to attract and recruit the brightest individuals. Ken has remarkable expertise in the protection of intellectual property and an excellent understanding of the increasingly connected, dynamic, and innovative entertainment environment we live in,” said Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, which represents U.S. computer and video game publishers. “The computer and video game industry will be well-protected with Ken’s guidance and I know he will help facilitate our growth to even greater heights.

http://www.theesa.com/newsroom/release_detail.asp?releaseID=29

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VMware’s CEO, Paul Maritz, released a letter yesterday, apologizing to customers and explaining the problem.

Last night, we became aware of a code issue with the recently released update to ESX 3.5 and ESXi 3.5 (Update 2).

When the time clock in a server running ESX 3.5 or ESXi 3.5 Update 2 hits 12:00AM on August 12th, 2008, the released code causes the product license to expire. The problem has also occurred with a recent patch to ESX 3.5 or ESXi 3.5 Update 2. When an ESX or ESXi 3.5 server thinks its license has expired, the following can happen:

• Virtual machines that are powered off cannot be turned on;

• Virtual machines that have been suspended fail to leave suspend mode; and,

• Virtual machines cannot be migrated using VMotion.

The issue was caused by a piece of code that was mistakenly left enabled for the final release of Update 2. This piece of code was left over from the pre-release versions of Update 2 and was designed to ensure that customers are running on the supported generally available version of Update 2.

In remedying the situation, we’ve already released an express patch for those customers that have installed/upgraded to ESX or ESXi 3.5 Update 2. Within the next 24 hours, we also expect to issue a full replacement for Update 2, which should be used by customers who want to perform fresh installs of ESX or ESXi.

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Thesis 

One of my all time favorites by Chris Pearson was/is CopyBlogger. His themes are always a joy to work with.

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Three French reporters attending the Black Hat Security Conference in Las Vegas for Global Security Magazine, were booted and banned for life after they allegedly sniffed the private network set up for the press.

At Black Hat and Defcon, you are almost guaranteed to be sniffed, hacked
and owned by attendees, but the private press network is a different
story.

http://www.infosecnews.org/pipermail/isn/2008-August/016698.html

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And I thought the MVP Global Summit was huge.

Annual Microsoft Global Exchange (MGX)

This year it was in Atlanta, where 13,000 Microsoft employees, sales and marketing types, and evangelists gathered…

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