USPS voice mail hell: a way out

Wow. I've seen voice mail hell before, but the USPS has lowered the pit even further. Their web site claims there's customer service on their 'track and deliver', but I couldn't penetrate the hellwall there.

How to Bypass Most Phone Menus and Get to a Live Operator pointed me to a solution that works, though they close at 8pm ET: "USPS 800-275-8777 dial 7-3-2-0-0".

Amazon claims the USPS delivered a package, but we don't have it.

Update: Amazon took care of the matter.

Update 1/26/07: The "bypass phone menus" site has since now become a business. A great resource.

Wanted: A used Mac mini (twin cities metro area)

I’d like to buy a G4 Mac mini to replace my mother’s Win98 box. I’ve not seen many come up for sale on Craigslist, so I thought I’d try on my tech blog.

If you’ve got one for sale, let me know (jfaughnan@spamcop.net). I’ll need the DVDs (classic too) that came with it and the video adapter. I’d prefer 10.4 to 10.3, but if need be I can buy an upgrade DVD.

I don’t care about Bluetooth or WiFi for this project and disk capacity isn’t important either. I’ll need to test the machine with an OS X memory test utility and with Apple’s Hardware Test in loop mode prior to purchase (if you’re not a Mac geek, you might not know that non-Apple memory often fails in these machines). An Apple keyboard is nice, but I can buy one — they’re oddly inexpensive. I don’t need a mouse.

I can show how to do a secure disk wipe so there’s no fear of data escape.

These older machines have kept their value pretty well. I’d be looking to pay $300 to $400 depending on the package. I’ll pay cash but I don’t do anonymous transactions — so I would need name, number, etc.

Thanks!

And now we return to our regular tech blog.

Airport Wireless Internet Access Guide

I think I got to this one, oddly enough, via Slashdot.

Airport Wireless Internet Access Guide

... The definitive guide to US airport wireless connections and free airport wifi

… we provide the most complete listing of wireless Internet access, service providers, airport coverage areas and Internet subscription pricing plans available.

… If you are considering a subscription to a wireless Internet service plan through providers like T-Mobile, Verizon, Boingo and AT&T, use this guide to find the service provider that best meets your needs based on which airports you use and your pricing and access requirements…

I'll eventually add this to my business travel page.

PS. I think Blogger is particularly flaky today ...

MS06-040: The worm that can't be cured

The writing in this InfoWorld column is not to my tastes, but there's an interesting story here: Enterprise Mac | InfoWorld | Sequelae of that seldom-seen, irrelevant, could only happen on Windows worm | August 25, 2006 05:44 PM | By Tom Yager.

Yager is a Mac Enterprise software writer (surprisingly, one exists). He experimented with a Windows server and was infected by the "MS06-040" worm. Since then he's been writing about the sequelae. He quotes a SANS article:

You really cannot and
* Even if you delete the keys that start the malware,
* your settings will be mangled, e.g. a test infection with the wgareg.exe:
* created 17 new registry keys
* modified 77 other keys including keys used for firewalls, sharing of files, etc.
* That was just the infection itself, no follow up, no communications with the C & C
* Like any bot it is unpredictable in what the C & C caused the bot to do

I wonder how NAV handles this. I've been unimpressed by NAV, though my current XP solution, Windows OneCare (or whatever it's called) has it's own issues.

The bottom line is that in the new XP world backups are increasingly important -- because if you get infected you'll need to wipe everything, restore data only to some safe location, cleanse the data, then restore the data -- if that can be done. Hmm. Maybe the better solution is to restore the data to an OS X machine and forget XP.

I wish I knew how many NAV users who think they don't have a problem are infected, I have no idea how common that is.

Sharing iTunes Libraries ... err ... backing up

iTunes 7 includes a backup and restore feature that uses the iTunes directory structure …

How To: Back up your music using iTunes 7 - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

... This feature allows you to back up all your tracks to either CD or DVD.

Sounds great, right? But is it easy? Yes, yes it is. Read on for a detailed step by step tutorial. ...

Hmm. The obvious mis-application is backing up one’s non-DRMd tunes to transfer to another machine.

iTunes 7: control from remote speakers?

The iTunes advanced preferences options include "Allow iTunes control from remote speakers". Wow. That would be incredibly useful. This suggests the next version of the AirPort express will allow control of speakers from some kind of remote.

It's grayed out now of course, but what a nice surprise.

The other interesting feature is that the Windows installer now offers to install Apple software update for Windows - a new product. I wonder if that's part of how Apple is trying to sell the movie companies that their products will be secure. Forced updates will help.

iPhoto: command click to select white point and bring up levels tool

This is a very obscure tip. Undocumented but very useful:
macosxhints.com - OS X tips and tricks!
: "You can command click on the photo to immediately select the white point which also brings up the adjust panel".