Month: April 2012

Walmart Text Spam and How to fight it!

Paul

Interesting text messages!

I’ve had a long weekend doing some stuff and I happen to get two different text from two different numbers, with the same text.   Now you if you’ve been an avid reader of this blog, you know I REALLY HATE SPAM!  I even talked about blog referrer spam and how it just looks bad on companies.  

Text Numbers So far:

310-435-9136

214-600-2674

You have been selected for a $1,000 Walmart GiftCard, Enter code “FREE” at http://www.walmart.com.xxx.biz/wm/ to claim your prize: 161 left!

Why spammers are using text messages now?

Most of the time, the reason spammers are going to text spamming now is that it is far easier to spam you on your text message then to use email.   Hey let’s face it who is going to report the spam and who do you report it them too?  These are the reasons why spammers are going to go this route, it is much harder to block or report these spam messages and they know it.  So I figured if they are going to send messages my way, I’d send messages to the right provider and thus I went back to my old post about reporting text message spam.

I’m looking for Android Apps that do this!

I’ve been searching around for an app that does this, but most of them just block it and don’t really report it! I’d really want to make it hard for the spammers to want to send text messages.   Right now the cost of sending text spam is low but if it starts to make it less profitable they will go somewhere else to spam.

Some of the Apps that I will try are:

 

  • Handcent SMS — Handcent SMS is a powerful free sms/mms tools for your android phone.  The most popular messaging app on the Android Market, Handcent SMS is a powerful, customizable, and free SMS/MMS app that fully unleashes the messaging potential of Android devices.
  • Mr. Number Text, Call & Block — Text and call the people you love. Block everyone else.  Mr. Number is a messenger, dialer, and contact manager with built-in call and text blocking (free application) and automatic reverse lookup for numbers you don’t know (Caller ID).
  • Phone Spam Blocker —  NUMBERCOP blocks spam calls and text from 50.000 telemarketers & scam artists Getting SPAM CALLS or TEXT SMS SPAM ? NUMBERCOP is the easiest way to block them. NUMBERCOP knows 50.000 spamming phone numbers: Phone scams, phishing calls and annoying telemarketers.  NUMBERCOP blocks spam calls and text from 50.000 telemarketers & scam artistsGetting SPAM CALLS or TEXT SMS SPAM ? NUMBERCOP is the easiest way to block them. NUMBERCOP knows 50.000 spamming phone numbers: Phone scams, phishing calls and annoying telemarketers.

As you can tell some of these that I’ve found do check caller ID but I am hoping that it will be easier to find the carrier that is being used to spam but at least these do have some ways to block text spam SMS.   My only hope is that someone app developer will come up with a way to report text spam messages to the right company and thus making it extremely hard to send text messages and the cost would out way spamming people.

Paul Sylvester

 

 

 

 

Sprinkle a little Bit of Love and water! (Game Review)

Paul1 Reply

 

Sprinkle Over View: 

Using a water cannon mounted on a crane, players must adjust the height and angle of the cannon to fight fires, move obstacles, spin wheels and activate traps in this challenging water-physics based puzzler! But squirt carefully as you will run out of water and the less water you use, the more drops you earn! Sprinkle is available for devices running Android 2.3 or greater! Using some of the most realistic water physics seen on an Android device yet, Sprinkle is a brain-teasing game that will have players straining to figure out each puzzle and obstacle.

Using a water cannon mounted on a crane, players must adjust the height and angle of the cannon to fight fires, move obstacles, spin wheels and activate traps in this challenging water-physics based puzzler! But squirt carefully as you will run out of water and the less water you use, the more drops you earn!Sprinkle is available for devices running Android 2.3 or greater!  Using some of the most realistic water physics seen on an Android device yet, Sprinkle is a brain-teasing game that will have players straining to figure out each puzzle and obstacle.

See Video for examples!

My thoughts:

Nothing in this game is anything but dull, you are constantly trying to fight a ever increasing amount of difficulty in solving these puzzles.   I am using my HTC Inspire to play this game and I must say that it works really well when it comes to playing the game.  I’m really happy with it myself, but the only downsize is the smaller the screen the hard it is to adjust the cannon and the possibility to hit the home key or the something like that.  I’ve had a really good time playing this over the past few hours and I thought I would just have a good time posting about it. It’s definately a challenging game where you have to think out your plan to solve a puzzle, and save the lives of those little android guys.   I really don’t know what they are called but this is a really interesting game and I would recommend it to those who want to people who like to solve puzzles. If you want to play this game it will cost you a little money but the price is really reasonable to play this game! On Android and IOS, it’s $1.99.

If you want to play it, you can play it on Your Iphone, Ipad, Ipod touch and Android Devices Version 2.3 or higher.

 

 

 

 

I hope you have as much fun with this game as I do, I am loving it!

Paul Sylvester

 


Is Straight Talk Unlimited Plan really Unlimited or just FALSE Advertising!

Paul3 Replies

Unlimited Minutes, text, and Mobile Web Access Nationwide Anytime +Unlimited calls to 411!Data Usage and the Straight Talk!

I’ve been using my new HTC Inspire phone for the past month maybe less and all of the sudden, I get a phone call from 1-800-989-1506.  What gets me is they say they can cancel my service.   I am sorry but if it says unlimited, then is that really false advertising?  It really sounds that way with me.   Some people have complained about this.   I am just really confused about if they would really risk having people make a negative reaction to cutting people’s phone access off because they want to control just how much is UNLIMITED.  

So are they willing to Risk a Public Relations extravaganza?

I really don’t know what they are thinking but I do not know if this is a SCAM or just trying to scare me into stopping use of what they call a excessive amount of data usage.   If it is truely to be unlimited then they shouldn’t even worry about me.   I’m paying the money each month to have the unlimited usage and thus, it seems to be a really troubling about this idea!

Has this Happened to you as well??

I’m really curious as to what Straight Talk has done or said to get you to understand just what is going on.   I would love to hear what happened to you and what you did to get to this call from them.   Just leave a comment and let me know what you did and how you resolved the problem.

Paul Sylvester

 

 

How to figure out which Straight Talk Sim to buy!

Paul

So you have an Unlocked Phone!

Just because you have an unlocked phone and can use a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) doesn’t mean it will work with Straight Talk.   Let’s face it, not all phones are going to be compatible with Straight Talk service.  I talked about How I did it with  my HTC inspire 4G phone, but I am sure some of you have tried and failed at this because of the phone in question.   So what phones work with Straight Talk?   I’m here to help, I might not know all the answers but I will at least give you the important details and point you in the right direction.

It is about the Cell Carriers!

Knowing how some carriers only will work in certain areas can help you determine which SIM card to buy.  It however isn’t always going to help.   There may be more than 4 to 5 Cell Carriers in your area and thus you might not know which phones will work with any particular Cell phone.  So I’ve decided to break this down into small parts and thus maybe then you can figure out if it will work with your phone!

The Data Speed of the Phone!

It isn’t really the amount of data that we are worried about but which version of antenna your phone is using. Some phones use Code division multiple access (CDMA) and others use Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and thus if your try to use a CDMA on a GSM network which really are incompatible with each other.   So I will tell you which ones the major providers use:

 

This is just a short list of providers but these are at least the major players in the USA, so you can see it is a split between CDMA and GSM!  

Now that you figured that out!

You’ve figured it out now, you’ve can know if your cell phone will work with Straight Talk.   If you have a CDMA phone you will not be able to use it with Straight Talk, but if your have a GSM.  You now have to ask find out which Frequency your phone uses!  Many GSM phones will use different frequency, some use 800 mhz and others use 1900 mhz spectrum.   You have to choice the right SIM card from Straight Talk but you also have to have the right Phone.   I suggest buying an Unlocked GSM phone [Affiliate Link]and then picking the SIM card.  

This should help you determine if your phone will work with Straight Talk but you can always go buy a GSM Unlocked Phone [Affiliate Link]to be sure!  Nothing is a guarantee when it comes to phones though!

Paul Sylvester

Buy an Unlocked GSM PHONE [Affiliate Link]

 

 

Android Antivirus is that a Scare or Real?

Paul


I’m not saying it isn’t real!

I just think that there are a lot of security firms, who are making more fluff then there is really any actually need of an antivirus for Android devices.  On a Popular Android forum, they discuss this in length and I tend to agree, with all they are saying.   Some researchers are saying Android don’t need antivirus, but that artcle was done in 2008.  Yes I am the type of guy who believes in Antivirus but I have to question what the Security firms are doing to try to get money.   Some of the well know firms are charging 10 dollars for the app, others are doing the try before you buy.   

Do I need one for my HTC inspire?

Someone emailed me that question and I really didn’t have an answer because being so new to the Android devices.   I however will tell you what I believe and hopefully this will help others with their questions as well.   I know that malware writers will start looking to the those who use it like a small computer and thus.   We will sooner or later end up like Windows, or even Apple with having worms, viruses, and malware.   Thus, we should start being on the lookout.   I think having an antivirus on an Android device is rather pointless because most of security firms are in their infantacy with Android.   Most of them have only had to deal with Windows machines and thus they will take some time into figuring out how to find those nasty viruses, malware, or worms that may be on your device.

Don’t use 3rd party Appilications!

use Coupon Code Savenow15 and Save 15% off the lifetime of your account! Works with Android, IOS, and Windows!If your are realitively new to Android, it is something that loading appilications that isn’t supporting by Google.  These are applications that you get from the internet and thus you will have to allow 3rd party installation.  It is best to not enable 3rd party and just keep it 1st party installation.  That is what I’ve done to make my device more secure,  I don’t allow 3rd party installation and you should to!

If you need an Antivirus!

I’d always recommend going with the ones that you know.   At least you are far safer than picking Antivirus software or applications that are realitively unknown.   The ones who I recommend are:

 

  • Antivirus Free (AVG) — AVG Antivirus for Smartphones & Tablets automatically detects harmful Apps & SMS AVG Mobilation™ Antivirus Free is a free mobile security solution that helps protects your phone from viruses, malware, spyware & online exploitation in real-time.
  • Avast! Mobile Security – Full-featured Antivirus and Anti-Theft security for your Android phone.  Protect personal data with automatic virus scans and infected-URL alerts. Stop hackers by adding a firewall (rooted phones).
  • Norton Antivirus & Security —  Security, antivirus, antitheft protection that won’t slow your Android down.  Norton™ Mobile Security Lite protects your mobile device against loss, theft and malware. Norton lends its anti-malware, anti virus, and security expertise to mobile.
  • Antivirus Free (Commodo) —  Antivirus, privacy protector, call-blocker and anti-theft in a single app. COMODO Mobile Security provides real-time protection against known and emerging threats on your mobile device while helping to protect your privacy and keep your system optimized.
  • Mobile Security Personal Ed. (Trend Micro) —  Named by PCWorld USA as one of the Top 100 products of 2011.  Protect your Android™ device with one of PCWorld USA’s Top 100 products of 2011. It protects your Android from loss, malicious apps, and dangerous websites.

 

These are only a few good brand names that you can trust because they have been doing Antivirus business for quiet some time on the Windows machine.   Give them time and their app’s will develop as the Operating System develops.   If you feel you need an Antivirus these are just a few that I suggest, you can find more at the Android Marketplace and decide which one is best for you.

Paul Sylvester