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Great technology links - Great learning at zero cost - May 2024

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In this edition of GTL, we explore some resources that you can use in your own creations. The links we look at include fonts, videos, graphics and music. You can use them to enrich your business, school or personal projects with a unique touch. Two of the links offer similar services, but more options are always better when it comes to resources. We avoided any "free" resources that turn out to be not-so-free. This means no credit card requirements, weird download hoops, or watermarks. We also steered clear of sites with restrictive use licenses. On the other hand, we supported sites that asked for attribution to the artist or a voluntary donation. This is a fantastic way to build a creative community! Giving credit shows respect for the artists' work and helps them gain recognition. After all, your creations are built upon the efforts of others, just like "standing on the shoulders of others" (if you want to know where this phrase comes from, visit Well-Known

Call to Action: Amazon must review its Customer Support Systems

The page relates to the article that explains how Amazon is organised to make it impossible for customers to receive the customer support they deserve. The article describes the tools made available to customer support agents to " get rid " of customers. Read the article How Amazon's Customer Support is rigged against consumers . Share on Social Amazon will only improve its customer support operation if it's forced to change. Share this article on social media. Here is a sample you can use:  " Amazon's customer support cheats consumers. Read about their tools and tricks. Amazon must change! https://tinyurl.com/AmazonBadCS #DemandBetterAmazon " The more this story trends, the more likely it is that Amazon will review and correct its behaviour. Tell your Regulators / Consumer groups Regulators can do a deep dive into these practices and force Amazon to change. At the end of this page is a list of entities you should write to. If you prefer, you can c

How Amazon's Customer Support is unfairly rigged against consumers

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When an Amazon purchase goes well, no one notices. Upset and uncertainty is replaced by contentment when minor hiccups are resolved. A five-star rating may be downgraded to four- or three-star if the resolution is not as efficient as one would have expected. This article describes those instances when things go horribly wrong with Amazon and explains how Amazon is organised so that customers are not able to exercise their right to fair consumer remedies. The information is based on exchanges with Amazon UK customer service, although this will apply to any country that does not prohibit Amazon from this type of behaviour. Not every negative decision taken by Amazon is wrong, but customers have the right to a decision is based on in a timely manner.  When someone needs to communicate with Amazon, they can do so using a combination of chat, phone, and email. Chat Consumers communicating with customer support agents in a chat are not able to download the chat. After the agent shuts do

Connecting a Unifi AP into a Mikrotik router (VLAN)

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Introduction This article describes the setup necessary for a Mikrotik router ( hAP ac 2 ) and a UniFi AP ( UAP-AC-LITE ) to operate correctly and allow clients to connect to the correct VLAN. Both the Mikrotik and the UniFi have their radios enabled, allowing clients to initiate a Wi-Fi connection with either device. Connected Wi-Fi clients can transit from one device to the other. Before the UniFi AP, a Cisco Aironet 1600e AP was plugged into ether2. The Cisco's firmware was  Autonomous AP IOS Software- 15.3.3-JF14i(ED) . This article doesn't go into setting up the Mikrotik. If you would like an explanation, ask, and I will try to create it. The following VLANS were defined: VLAN10      | Internal traffic                | HOMENET-AP SSID VLAN20      | Guest traffic                   | HOMENET-GUEST SSID The Mikrotik ports were setup as below: ether1              |      WAN (all traffic, tagged) ether2              |      Unifi AP (all traffic, tagged) ethe

Voice Cloning and the FTC competition to detect and prevent them

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There have been many stories of how fake voice clones are being used to scam or mislead victims. Fake audio purporting to be of President Joe Biden, artists, TV personalities, and famous athletes has been reported in the news. They aim to convince people to perform an action, such as not vote or get a product or service.  Targeted phishing attacks against a person using fake voice clones of loved ones pretending to be in trouble are also used. The message asks the victim to transfer money to help out the relative who is in trouble. Imagine a phone call from your daughter, son, or partner asking you to transfer a few thousand dollars because they are in hospital, jail or have been kidnapped.  Even through this article focuses on audio fakes, the technology is evolving. In February, CNN reported that a finance worker a multinational firm was duped to pay out $25 million after video call with deepfake of the CFO. He attended a video call with other members of staff all of whom were ge

Great technology links - Great learning at zero cost - March 2024

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In this edition of GTL, where we share resources to help you stay safe and secure online. We focus on two common threats that can compromise your online identity: credential stuffing and social engineering. Credential stuffing is a type of cyberattack where hackers use stolen or leaked usernames and passwords to access multiple online accounts while social engineering is a type of psychological manipulation where hackers trick you into giving up your credentials, personal information, or access to your devices. Make Gandalf Reveal the secret password Type: Social Engineering Game https://gandalf.lakera.ai/ Your goal is to convince Gandalf to give you his password. As you progress through the seven levels, he becomes older and wiser and will not relinquish the password with the same ease and willingness as prior levels. Your interaction with the character is through text prompts. Your prompts will either lead the way towards your ultimate goal or result in a dead end. As you

In The Distance

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The air, crisp and cool, hung heavy with silence. A particularly heavy mist softened the landscape. Although it had already dawned, the sun was just starting to contribute the yellows and reds to the scene in front of me. The landscape looked like an ethereal dreamscape, the type one sees in dreams after they’ve consumed a heavy meal the evening before. And in the distance, I could see the outline of a church, standing alone in the distance. Its spire appeared insignificant yet, at the same time, noticeable, like a weathered finger pointing heavenward. As I continued my walk, the mist slowly dissipated, but the moment had been recorded. Follow This, That and (Maybe) , the Other :