Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Facebook and Craigslist scams

I have noticed that a few people have created new Facebook accounts because they said that their old account was hacked or there is a problem with it. In some cases, people say that they can no longer access their old accounts.

This can get confusing because there are also fake accounts that look like the original accounts. All of this is part of scams, for example, I had a 'friend' ask to borrow money. It is always strange when you get friend requests from people who are already friends, meaning that these new friend requests are likely from fake accounts. And if they are not fake accounts then you need to verify that these people are who they say they are.

So today I encountered a scam. One of the hacked accounts had been talking to me briefly for a few days making small talk. At first, I was fooled thinking that I was talking to my friend in Salt Lake City. Then today the account tried to pull a scam that went like this:

He said that he was trying to install Facebook on his phone, but he needed a code number to finish the installation. He said that Facebook required that the code be sent to a second phone number, which makes no sense, and asked if he could use my phone number. I had already inadvertently given this person my phone number because I had asked him to give me a call so that we could chat.

I was immediately suspicious. I have seen many scams as a seller on Craigslist that will claim that they want to verify your identity with a code number and that you have to message the code number back to them. What they are actually trying to accomplish is to do a password reset on your account, which requires a code verification, so if you give them the code then they will be able to change your Craiglist password and take over your account. Then they can use your account to scam other people.

So I realized this Facebook scammer was doing the same thing trying to take over my Facebook account. I contacted my friend on his new account and he verified that this other account was not him. However, I took this one step further. I told him that I didn't know which account was the real one, the old or the new, so I asked for his phone number so that I could call him and verify his identity. As soon as he answered the phone, I knew that I was talking to the real person.
I blocked the bad account and reported it to Facebook as someone impersonating a friend.

Never give a code number (or password) to a person in a message or email. It is a scam.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Monday, September 19, 2022

New iPhone

My new iPhone came with a USB-C type lighting cable, but no charger.  Those bastards.

All my old lightning cables and chargers are USB-A.  I almost ordered a USB-C charger, but why bother just to be able to use the cable that came in the box?

I'm having trouble setting up the new iPhone, so I will have to finish tonight.  However, FACE-ID works and I think that this is awesome.  The fingerprint system never worked for me.

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Sunday, September 18, 2022

New iPhone and screen resolution

Recently, I cracked my iPhone 6s+ screen for the third time. I should be getting a new iPhone in the mail tomorrow.

The 10R is an ultra cheap version of the iPhone 10. I'm going from a 5.5 inch 1080P screen to a 6.1 inch 828P screen. Apple claims that this is a Retina Display, but it is only barely so. I was a bit annoyed when they came out with this phone four years ago, because it was inconceivable to me that Apple would go less than 1080P.

I've been arguing for a while that screen resolution is overrated. This will put my claim to the test.

For example, I tried playing videos and video games at various resolutions from 720P to a whopping 4K and 5K. Anything above 1080P is really hard for me to tell the difference. I like 1080P video the best, although 720P video is not terrible, but for a computer monitor I prefer 1440P. My 2017 iMac has a fantastic 5K display, but for a 27-inch screen this seems like overkill.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

Saturday, September 17, 2022

VP9 vs h264 & other Codecs » How it Fares Against Competition | Bitmovin

https://bitmovin.com/vp9-codec-status-quo/

I am using an extension to Chrome that forces Youtube to use the h264 video format (codec) instead of VP8/VP9.  (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/h264ify/aleakchihdccplidncghkekgioiakgal)

Why is this an issue?   

Some newer graphics cards support the decoding of VP8/VP9, which is a more efficient standard.  However, it is not supported in hardware on older computers like my 2017 iMac nor all the iPhone Models.  These devices have hardware support for H264, meaning that H264 is easier to decode, and won't slow your device, won't make it as hot, nor use as much power.

Your web browser can decode VP8/VP9, but your device may not have hardware support for it.  If speed and battery life aren't an issue then it doesn't matter, and VP8/VP9 will likely use less Internet bandwidth.    If I were using a laptop, I would probably want this extension.

It is possible that most people won't notice a difference either way.  I do a lot of stuff on my computer so it might take a difference.

Sunday, September 4, 2022

The things AMD DIDN’T tell us…

I've been waiting for this next generation of AMD chips.  I would prefer a new APU that would allow graphics on the same chip, but reportedly this is coming out next year.  The 7950x is 8 times more powerful than my desktop computer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnAna6TTTQc&t=111s