Some time ago, I posted a review on Intelius and commented on how their purchasing page could confuse someone (like it did my wife). I believe others have made the same mistake and recommend to Intelius to make the change on their site. They never did. Now I have hope that it will be updated.

Here is a screen shot that shows the current UI with the purchasing discrepancy.

Intelius Original UI

Here is my recommended fix to clear up the confusion
(or some other change would be fine).

Intelius Suggested UI

REASON: It does not make since to have radio buttons that “do nothing”, especially if the buttons get changed once you click on the “Buy it” link. If the code relies on the buttons, and it will be a pain to remove, then just set the radio buttons visibility to false or hidden.

I appreciate Michael contacting me and for having an open mind. You can do what you want, this is just my suggestion, but I feel it may keep a few support calls from happening. I hope I have been able to help you guys out. Thanks for contacting me. If you have further questions, please let me know.

From: GOOGLE

Premium Messaging to this mobile number has been blocked. Only the account owner may request a change to this setting with his/her wireless service provider

Jun 12, 5:28 pm

I asked my wife if she was able to receive SMS messages from GOOGLE, and she could. We have the same phone (enV2) and same service provider (Verizon). We were on different plans, and I thought that would have be the thing that made the difference. My wife has unlimited minutes on her mobile phone and I have 900. We both have unlimited text messaging and that should not be different between the two plans.

When I called Verizon, they informed me that I had not signed up for the Premium Messaging, and that my wife had it set up for her account. The only explanation on why this changed is that Google must be sending their SMS messages out a different way. I don’t know how this works, so if anyone has any know how on this, then please let us know. So you may ask, how does Premium Messaging work? Here is a post from a forum that helps explain it. For the full post go here.

premium text messaging is billing, usually from 3rd party companies, applied to the bill. these charges can range from $.50 – $19.99+ and are for services provided. some examples:

-on tv you see an ad for a “joke of the day sent directly to your cell phone, just text the work ‘joke’ to 22332″

-you watch american idol and want to vote, they will charge you $.99 for every vote.

-you’re on the internet and see an banner for “FREE RINGTONES!” you link to the page and it says “Just enter your mobile number to get 8 free ringtones*” well if you look up the “*” way down the page it says “by entering your mobile number you agree to a $19.99 month subscription to “Ringtastic Tone Service.” etc.

these are just a few examples. call customer service and ask for detail on the charges.

NOTE … GOOGLE SMS messages do not cost money*. GOOGLE is the 3rd party here, and they work through advertisements. They just are not serving AD’s at this time. This is very similar to 1-800-GOOG-411. Both services offer different features, which are very nice. I recommend trying them out, you may find that it save can really save you time and pull you out of a mess when you are on the road.

To try out GOOGLE messages via SMS, go to: http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/mobile/default/sms/index.html

To try out GOOG-411, call 1-800-644-6411. This is a free service also.

* Free GOOGLE SMS may change in the future, but I find that to be highly unlikely. If it does change without me knowing then I will have a heafty cell phone bill I am not responsible for any charges if any apply. Use Premium Messaging with caution.

EBSCO is big into performance. They receive millions of hits each month. Here is a chart I created showing only Alabama Search Statistics for Colleges & Universities, K-12 School Systems, Postsecondary Institutions, and Public Libraries.

Do you have any relocation tips you can share?

• selling a home / buying a home
• places to live-in / or avoid living-in surrounding birmingham, al
• moving companies that are good
• anything else that will help…

So you can pay register for this service (using Google Earth from other websites), or you can follow the instructions and do it for FREE. Alright, to get this to work you need to follow these steps:

1. Download and install Google Earth
2. Go to the following website http://www.aeroseek.com/webtrax/fboweb.html
3. Select your Airline and Flight Number and click GO
4. Click the button
5. Save the file (preferably to the desktop)
6. Find the file and rename it to flightnumber.KML
7. Open Google Earth and select File > Open…
   OR, double click on the KML file
8. Now in your Places area you can toggle between specific items to display
9. Double click on the new item in the Places box, and TRACK YOUR FLIGHT

NOTE: The update interval for pinging the flight location is defaulted to 1 minute. To change this preference, right click on the item in the Places explorer and select Properties. Go to the Refresh tab and change the View-Based Refresh value.

If you still want to track a flight, but don’t care if it is 3D, then you can use www.fboweb.com. This is the same place where the data feed is coming from for our KML file that we created above.

Sources:
www.fboweb.com
www.aeroseek.com
www.wikipedia.org

Updated (January 23, 2008)
If you would like to use fboweb.com’s service and do not want to flood your inbox, then may I recommend you read my previous post on how to Register on Websites Using a Temporary Inbox.

Another handy tool is www.bugmenot.com.

Also fboweb.com’s KML file adds some neat enhancements like what other aircraft are active near the aircraft being tracked. It also keeps a running track of the flight. Both features can make it worth the registration. Your choice. Enjoy!

Hardware: Dell XPS M140 Laptop and another Dell Desktop

Operation Systems: Windows XP Professional, Ubuntu 7.10

Internet Browsers: Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2.0

Internet Service Provider: Charter Communications

Steps to use OpenDNS (I choose the wireless router path)

1. http://www.opendns.com/start
2. I used a D-Link DI-524 router at home and followed the DI-624 instructions (these are the same instructions)
3. I then used the following OpenDNS IP addresses: 208.67.222.222 (primary) and 208.67.220.220 (optional)
4. You should now be set to use OpenDNS (check here) –> http://welcome.opendns.com

If you have made it this far, then you are almost setup for your adult content filtering. To get this working do the remaining steps;

1. Create an OpenDNS account.
2. Add your network IP address (top right corner of webpage)
3. Set the Adult Content to block

Here is a list of the categories you can block:

Block lingerie/bikini sites
Sites displaying or dedicated to lingerie/bikini that could be considered adult-only.

Block nudity sites
Sites that provide images or representations of nudity.

Block pornography sites
Anything relating to pornography, including mild depiction, soft pornography or hard-core pornography.

Block sexuality sites
Sites that provide information, images or implications of bondage, sadism, masochism, fetish, beating, body piercing or self-mutilation.

Block tasteless sites
Sites that contain information on such subjects as mutilation, torture, horror, or the grotesque.

Block adult-themed sites
Sites that are adult in nature and are not defined in other rating categories. Note: This category should only be turned on if you want to be very restrictive on your network.

Block proxy/anonymizer sites
Sites providing proxy bypass information or services. Also, sites that allow the user to surf the net anonymously, including sites that allow the user to send anonymous emails.

There is even a feature that allows you to make exceptions for unblocking specified websites. All you need to do is add the website URL to your dashboard Whitelist. The best part of all this is that it will help keep you more secure from phishing and keep a good portion of the sleazy parts of the internet from our children and yourself. All changes to the OpenDNS dashboard can be applied to all content going through the network. You can even use the same account to monitor multiple network IP’s at a time. I like that this is not software based, and can be accessed through the internet. OpenDNS also gives the administrator the ability to pull reports on what blocked websites are being requested and from what IP address. It also lists the time and day that the activity happened so you can track down who is attempting to access the site.

This service is exactly what I have been looking for. I think this is a great FREE TOOL and I highly recommend it. Thanks OpenDNS for a great service!

Microsoft sends you a nice Welcome Kit for the MCPD and MCTS certifications. You also have rights to create your own Logo’s and post your transcript (I have done that for my blog). The transcript page is to prove to your employer or other companies that you truly have the certifications you claim. Way to many people lie in resumes, and this would be an easy thing for an employer to verify.

You can verify transcripts by going to the following and entering a Transcript ID and Password. My transcript can be found with the below information:

https://mcp.microsoft.com/authenticate/validatemcp.aspx

Transcript ID: 777098
Password: you will need to ask me for that

I am glad that I have accomplished the task of becoming Microsoft Certified. Stats show that it makes a difference in an individuals net worth, and it will be interesting to see if this is true. As for my current employment … they have been nothing but great to me.

• How to load Ubuntu on an External Hard Drive without setting a Dual boot on your current Laptop.
• Tips for obtaining you MCP, MCTS and MCPD.
• Tips and tricks that I have learned.
• News that rocks!

I have been very busy lately, but have a lot that I want to share, so maybe I can share some insightful thoughts. Have a Merry Christmas everyone.

- scott

For a limited time, we’re expanding the beta of Windows Live Folders.

You can sign up by clicking the Get Started button here.
We’re not quite ready to expand to additional markets, but we’ll continue to grow in the future, so stay tuned!
Thanks!
Windows Live Folders Team

Let’s see if this works good or not.

• Store files for Yourself (Free place to make a backup of some of your important files)
• Share files with Friends
• Share files with the World

What could we do to get this man into the presidency. I’d even settle for vice president. Look at the other subjects that come up at the end of the video…

Subject: FW: Newt Gingrich on the world that works and the world that fails

[opinion] I think Mitt Romney and NewtGingrich would be a good ticket.

I realized that this service was one hundred times better than Orkut; the worst and slowest social networking site ever. I gave up on Facebook because I could not find friends on it. I was not able to connect to my school and just did not want to waste my time with people I don’t know or have not meet. So I deleted my account to find myself once again trying the service again tonight. So here is what I liked and disliked:

I found that creating an account was very easy. Joining networks like Dothan, AL or Newbury Park, CA was easy as well. Attempting to join a college (I attended) without a current college email address still returns nil (which disappoints me throughly). Facebook makes it super easy to find friends from your email accounts. It supported my GMAIL, Yahoo! and Hotmail accounts; and found all the people from my contact list that use Facebook and allowed me to add them to my new Facebook Friend List. Once you invite someone to be your friend, you need to wait for the person to confirm that you are their friend. This makes sure that the friendship is mutual. I had two people confirm that I was a friend within 20 minutes or so (that means that I must be popular – thanks Cary and Rebecca).

I found people from high school that I might want to contact and that’s about it. I seems as though there is not much market for this kind of thing for the married man that I am. Who knows I may just delete my account for a second time. If I stick with it, then I will let you in on the cool things I learn about or the neat things you can do with Facebook.

Below are some stats on Facebook vs. MySpace. My opinion is that the owners of MySpace should have sold long ago when it was worth something. MySpace seems to be trash to me, but don’t take my word for it (look at the spaces for yourself), I have never used it, and I never will. I bet others feel the same way as me.

GigaOM Posting

If you are friend of mine that is on Facebook, then let me know and I’ll try to add you to my friend list (that is if I like you). If you use Orkut I recommend you delete your account.

Oh, here are some fun Sale Rumors that were circulating (source: wikipedia)

Sale rumors

In 2006, with the sale of social networking site MySpace to NewsCorp, rumors surfaced about the possible sale of Facebook to a larger media company. Zuckerberg, the owner of Facebook, has said that he does not want to sell the company and denies rumors to the contrary. He has already rejected outright offers in the range of $975 million, and it is not clear who might be willing to pay a higher premium for the site. Steve Rosenbush, a technology business analyst, suspects Viacom.

In September 2006, serious talks between Facebook and Yahoo! took place for the acquisition of the social network, with prices reaching as high as $1 billion. In October, after Google purchased video-sharing site YouTube, rumors circulated that Google had offered $2.3 billion to outbid Yahoo!

Peter Theil, a board member of Facebook, indicated that Facebook’s internal valuation is around $8 billion based on their projected revenues of $1 billion by 2015, comparable to that of Viacom’s MTV brand and based on shared target demographic audience.