What version of Flash Player do I have?
Some sites will tell you that you need to upgrade your Flash player to see their content. Don’t always believe it. Check your Flash Player version, and compare it to the latest Flash Player version here: http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_15507. Sometimes, the developer makes an assumption about which browser or operating system you might be using. If you don’t match that assumption, they will toss you the “upgrade your Flash Player version” error. Don’t believe the hype!
Sync Creative Manager Pro events with iCal and Google Calendar
The advertising/creative agency I work with uses a web hosted version Creative Manager Pro, which will soon become Workamajig. Aside from being quite unattractive and difficult to use, one of the biggest disappointments I had when introduced to the CMP system was it’s calendar. Hopefully, the Workamajig transition will change all of this.
I’m a Google Calendar user. I made that decision a couple years back when I needed the ability to have multiple user access to edit calendar events from multiple machines. That criteria also knocked iCal off the list. Since the agency uses CMP, I needed a way to get CMP events into Google Calendar. After searching Google for an answer, I finally contacted CMP support, who pointed me to a help doc. It wasn’t the definitive answer, but some hacking got my CMP events synced with iCal, and eventually Google Calendar.
I should pretext this with a caution. This method only helps you view your events scheduled with CMP. It’s akin to subscribing to CMP’s event stream. If you’re looking to truly sync contacts, tasks, and events with iCal, you’ll want to search “Mac sync” in the CMP help files for an app called CMPSync. There are also extra parameters you can pass detailed in this document to customize your calendar as it enters iCal.
My plan was to get iCal syncing with CMP, then sync Google Calendar with iCal. In iCal, choose “Subscribe” from the top menu. In the “Subscribe To:” field, insert this URL: webcal://app(x).crmgr.com/calendar/ical.aspx?QS=(long code)&Calendars=all
I gleaned the info in the parentheses from the web login link I use for CMP. Check yours for similar info. iCal will ask you for your username and password, which should be the same as your CMP login. Great. That takes care of CMP to iCal.
For the sync between iCal and Google Calendar, I used Spanning Sync. For $25/yr or $65 one time, Spanning Sync makes sure anything that happens in your iCal also happens in your Google Calendar.
There you go. When a CMP event is scheduled, iCal picks it up. Google Calendar dutifully copies anything iCal does, so the event ends up in Google Calendar.
Why the Apple earbuds are better than Bluetooth headsets
Let’s start with the obvious answer. No matter how you slice it, having that blue blinking pen cap sticking out of your ear is goofy. Borg fan or no, that’s never going to be flattering.
Do you really need your hands free? Most of the folks I see wearing the Bluetooth headsets have a free hand, and aren’t typically on a call for that matter. Honestly, unless you’re on hold with God, you don’t need that thing on in church.
My favorite part about the Apple earbuds have nothing to do with sound quality or appendage liberation. Earbuds say, “don’t talk to me, I’m really into my music or podcast.” Anyone with a Bluetooth headset eventually is asked, “oh, are you on a call?” because “excuse the interruption, but are you a registered voter?”.
Where a headset leaves a tempting ear open to the public, thank God in this society, interrupting someone enjoying their music is still taboo.
Browser dependent, conditional CSS styles
I have a client who doesn’t like the way the font I chose for their headers looks across platforms. I am using Lucida Grande for all the Mac browsers out there and Verdana for the PC users, since Lucida Sans Unicode on PC IE6 doesn’t look great. Since PCs don’t typically have Lucida Grande, I took advantage of the fall back. The CSS looks like this {font-family: Lucida Grande, Verdana, sans-serif}.
My client wasn’t feeling Verdana for the headers, but for body text, it’s hard to beat. So, I needed a way to sniff out the user’s browser, and conditionally set the class for the just headers accordingly. JavaScript to the rescue.
First, I used the script at http://rafael.adm.br/css_browser_selector/ to set the header classes to be browser specific. If the browser is IE6, you can set styles for that browser by using the “.win.ie6″ class. For Firefox on the Mac, “.mac.gecko”. Using those classes, I set independent styles for each browser. PC users will see the headers in Helvetica and body text in Verdana, while Mac users will still see both headers and body text in Lucida Grande. Pretty cool.
Google AdWords “Update Your Billing Information” email phishing scam
Some folks are really ruining it for the rest of us. What if I really did need to tend to something in my AdWords account? After noticing this little gem of a phishing scam, I am ruined from ever trusting any email reporting to be Google AdWords related.
This one is super elaborate, as you’ll see. So you don’t get buned, here’s how I knew this was a scam. Most phishing emails will provide you a link to a login page. If the scammer is only half intelligent, it will look identical to the login page for the entity they are claiming to be. Oh, but it’s not. Check out the link in the email I received.
Don’t click that link. Right click it, copy the underlying URL, and paste it into a text editor. I’ll bet you it’s not the same as the URL for the actual site login. In this case, the link reads ” http://adwords.google.com/select/login”, but the actual link is to “http://adwords.google.com.fikde.cn/select/Login/”. Notice the “fikde.cn” in there? Guess what? Not Google. The IP address of the server at fikde.cn is 86.126.243.20.
In this Google AdWords phishing scam, it doesn’t even matter what you enter as login credentials. I entered nice.try@asshole.com and no password and was successfully “logged in”. The scammer wants you to get through to the account editing screen where you “update” all your info. Of course, none of that info is going to Google. It’s more likely going to a database of other stolen identities to be sold to the highest bidder.
–
Update: Got another one today. This one links to a scammer who’s using a misspelled subdomain. It’s close, but it’s still not Google - http://adwrods.google.select.IsMyBank.cn/select/Login/index.html
