Attention EULA Watchdogs: PaperPort Notes for iPad has an interesting clause

Screenshot of Paperport for iPad's EULA

After all the fervor over Apple iBooks Author’s end user license agreement (EULA) prohibiting users from selling their finished product on any marketplace other than the iTunes Bookstore, I’ve been keeping paying closer attention to the EULA on apps and software before I click “accept”. 

While preparing to do a review for PaperPort for iPad on Tech That Clicks, I came across this doozy in the EULA:

“(0 use the Service for purposes of comparison with or benchmarking against products or services made by third parties.”

The typos make it look like it was hastily added in to the EULA before it was sent out to the App Store.

So what does this mean? As a consumer isn’t that the way we make up or minds as to which app we like to use, by comparison? Seems pretty silly to prevent someone the right to compare one app against another, even if it free. Or is this a shot against tech bloggers who like to write “which app is better” articles? 

I wonder what Nuance so worried about that it would force them to hastily add in such a restriction in PaperPort’s EULA. What do you think?

How long does GameFly take to process your return? 27 1/2 hours.

IMG_1289

Thinking about signing up for the Netflix-like game rental service GameFly? Here’s something you should know: When you return a game, it could take GameFly over a day to process your game return. That lost time reduces the amount of rentals you could receive per month.

I conducted a test and sent a game back to GameFly using USPS tracking. (Click here for the proof of delivery.) The receipt shows that my Skyrim game was delivered yesterday, January 23, 2012, at 4:17am. Based on the clock starting at 9:00am, my game was not checked in as being received until today at 12:29pm. That’s nearly 27 1/2 hours

When you sell a service that offers unlimited game rentals, 27 1/2 hours adds up to some serious lost game time over the course of a monthly subscription. 

Why does it take that long to check in returned games? 

Photo: Ray Dehler / Flickr

Update: Received a phone call from GameFly and stated that while the game was delivered to the PO Box yesterday, it was not brought to the physical GameFly location until today. I asked whether it was a GameFly representative that brings items from the PO Box to the location or a USPS employee, and that “varies by day.” I suggested that perhaps they could cut out the “middle man” and have games mailed directly to the facility.

It was a cordial phone call and nice to see a company out there looking for feedback and responding to it.

Apple’s iBooks Author and the End of the World: Cut the Sensationalist Crap

dirty rotten apple 2

Please make it stop. Apple is not the Big Bad Wolf that everyone is making them out to be over their iBooks Author app. I’m so tired of seeing article after article about Apple trying to rip off authors. I know bagging on Apple makes for some great link juice, but let’s cut the sensationalist crap for a second.


Some of the “best” arguments I’ve seen:

“Apple takes 30% of your sale!” - Apple was taking 30% of iTunes Bookstore sales before iBooks Author came along.

“What if Adobe took 30% of every image you edited in Photoshop?” -Photoshop, Microsoft Office, or any other “what if” examples weren’t created with the intention of getting you to create and sell product for their online stores. I’ll play the “what if” game on you: What if Getty Images partnered with Adobe to create a top notch free version of Photoshop that could only export images for sale on Getty’s website? Is that evil too? No, because you have a choice not to use it. Besides, most PROFESSIONAL photographers already have the full version of Photoshop. These kind of moves aren’t about the professionals or experts. iBooks Author gives “the little guy” a chance to get in the game with little to no know how.

Come on, guys. Open your eyes. Apple is not strong-arming anybody into using iBooks Author. Apple’s new app is not the only way to get your book into ePub format and onto the iTunes store if you truly want to put it there.

“Apple owns your book if you use iBooks Author!” - No. Nooooo. NO! It’s still your book. The only limits placed on your rights for using iBooks Author is you can only sell the ePub file you created with the app on the iTunes Bookstore. Your original work: You know, the file you created in Microsoft Word, or Google Docs, or heck… Aldus Pagemaker on your old Mac in the basement… it’s still YOURS. Use different software and export it into another format and sell it somewhere else.

Look. All you doomsayers and gloom-and-doom prognosticators out there who are donning your “THE END IS NIGH” sandwich boards and shaking your fist at Apple: This app is not for you. You are too smart for it and most likely have all the tools and knowledge at your fingertips for publishing your eBooks when you’re ready to get around to it. 

Who is iBooks Author for, then? It’s for anyone who wants to participate in the iTunes Bookstore and wants a quick and easy tool to do it. It’s for educators who want to create coursework for iTunes U. It’s for that person out there that has a novel they’ve been toying with for years and would love for anyone to download and read it so they can say they’ve been published.

“But what if their book gets really popular and they want to sell it elsewhere? They’ll have to reformat their book using other software to escape Apple’s grasp!” - That’s a problem I’d love to have.

If there was anything to discuss and criticize out of Apple’s “blockbuster” iBooks announcement, it’s Apple’s vision of bringing digital text books to high schools. How in the heck does Apple intend on cash-strapped school districts across the country to buy in to this? That’s worth talking about.

A couple of days ago I noticed Google was adding an “ask on Google+ about…” link to the bottom of my search results. So I thought I’d make a joke about it and post it on my Google+ stream with a screenshot that showed it saying “Ask in Google+ about how awesome Michael Beck is.”  That’s it, no more, no less. Well I look on my Zite “Social Media” page and it’s crowded with every Tom, Dick, and Harry writing about this feature like its breaking news.   I laughed to myself.
First of all I already scooped 94.68% of these guys by posting it to my Google+ page before their blog posts. Second: really? A full blog post about this from every guru in the land over one line of text we all saw coming from a mile away? 
It seems every glaringly obvious change or addition to Google.com gets tons of e-press. Take Google doodles for example. When Google first started changing their logo in honor of certain events, it was a novel thing. Then bloggers began to write about these doodles as if their readers had never been to Google.com in their lives.  Now I wonder if Google does so many of these doodles just to keep the tech bloggers writing about them.   These kind of blog posts are the equivalent to walking outside to get your newspaper and the main headline is “It’s Sunny Outside.”
Now if you’ll excuse me I have an article to write about how people can find webpages about anything at Google.com.

A couple of days ago I noticed Google was adding an “ask on Google+ about…” link to the bottom of my search results. So I thought I’d make a joke about it and post it on my Google+ stream with a screenshot that showed it saying “Ask in Google+ about how awesome Michael Beck is.” That’s it, no more, no less. Well I look on my Zite “Social Media” page and it’s crowded with every Tom, Dick, and Harry writing about this feature like its breaking news. I laughed to myself.

First of all I already scooped 94.68% of these guys by posting it to my Google+ page before their blog posts. Second: really? A full blog post about this from every guru in the land over one line of text we all saw coming from a mile away? 

It seems every glaringly obvious change or addition to Google.com gets tons of e-press. Take Google doodles for example. When Google first started changing their logo in honor of certain events, it was a novel thing. Then bloggers began to write about these doodles as if their readers had never been to Google.com in their lives. Now I wonder if Google does so many of these doodles just to keep the tech bloggers writing about them. These kind of blog posts are the equivalent to walking outside to get your newspaper and the main headline is “It’s Sunny Outside.”

Now if you’ll excuse me I have an article to write about how people can find webpages about anything at Google.com.

Hey just read your shoot out between OnLive and CloudOn. Well you fell into the OnLive camp hit it out of the park. I got to tell you that having the Windows 7 capability on the iPad is a hoot - and potentially a game changer for enterprise folks. However I have to disagree with your outcome. If they choose to integrate easily with drop box I'm in. Otherwise not. Having to load documents through their site is a pain in the butt.
Anonymous

Without a doubt OnLive Desktop should have included Dropbox support. It’s a feature they sorely need to add.   

That being said, I don’t mind taking the few extra minutes to move files back and forth through their website in order to have a more comfortable user experience overall. 

CloudOn is not a bad product. When it had the spotlight on its own for a few days I was impressed and thought it was a step in the right direction. But when I got my hands on OnLive, it felt like a better experience overall.

Again, I couldn’t agree more on the lack of Dropbox support. Maybe instead of knocking it out of the park it’s more like the ball hit the top of the wall and rolled over. 

Google Search Plus Your World: Using Google+ To Manipulate It To Your Advantage

Excited about Google Plus Your World search? So am I! I responded to a post that Vic Gundotra (one of the top guys over at Google+) had shared that demonstrated how quickly Google+ posts appeared in Google’s main search index. 

In this post Paul Allen has demonstrated he could get the phrase “human car wash” to appear in the main Google search results for non-Google+ users in 20 minutes.

I posted a simple comment on Vic Gundotra’s post that said it was only a matter of time before posts that included phrases such as “discount prescription drugs”, “male enhancement”, and “diet supplements” would also appear in the Google search index at the top of the pile courtesy of the new Google Plus Your World search mechanic. 

Well in less than 5 minutes I proved myself right. I opened up my Safari browser (I generally use Chrome) to simulate a non-Google+ user doing a search, and sure enough when I searched for “male enhancement google+” the image below is what I received.

I posted my findings on Google+ and Mr. Gundotra graciously replied to it (see below). Since that time he removed my comment (I would have done the same) from his post and you can no longer see the search result I’ve posted the screenshot for. 

So what does this mean?

It is possible to manipulate the system. To what end remains to be seen.

No average user is going to be adding the phrase “google+” to every search they make. Nor is the average user going to take the time to adjust the results to only show the past week. So this makes my little stunt look very elementary.  

But people out there will figure out way to use Google+ in sneaky ways to get ahead in the search game. I do believe that for every “advancement” made in black hat marketing on Google+, Google will be there to cut them off shortly thereafter. 

Hi Michael my name is Hieu and I just read your blog about the Sophia Wade scam and I am so thankful that you revealed their sick little scam because I was one of their targets. They reached me through a job search website called career builder. I noticed that they tailor their company's name to match the recipients interests in my case healthcare. They prey on those looking for a honest job to make a honest earning but I feel that its time to fight back! The question is how do we fightback?
Anonymous

Two ways to fight back come immediately to mind:

  1. Any and all victims must report the fraud to law enforcement.
  2. Help educate people by spreading the word both online and off. The more people who check these fraudsters claims with an Internet search the more likely they’ll find evidence that it is a scam.
What Does “Not Provided” on my Google Analytics Mean?

you have me running in circles

When a user does a Google search while logged into their Google account, Google protects that data and does not pass that along to Analytics. 

Now with the new Google “Plus Your World” feature, you’re going to see even more of these (not provided) results. Users will be logged into their Google accounts and will be seeing personalized results from their Google+ network right along side traditional organic results.

What does this mean for you? It means if you haven’t created a Google+ Page for your business yet, you have been get cracking. Create your page and start sharing quality content that is connected to your niche. 

You can find out more about this “not provided” Analytics issue by visiting this link.

I am a 2006 Hargrave Graduate currently studying to get my CEH certification. I was wondering which external hard-drive did you use to make the reader you posted a picture of?
Anonymous

It was a Western Digital 120 GB Dual Option USB External Drive. Model Number WD1200B015

You can get the specs here:
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/search/1/a_id/1274# 

How would you like to launder money for Emergency Care Center PLC or whoever these scammers are?

Your search probably matched some text in this e-mail I’ve been given. So let me start by saying this:

This is a scam. DO NOT DO IT.

These crooks are hoping you’ll cash their checks in record time and wire them their money off-shore. When the check bounces guess who’s stuck holding the bag? You. 

As exciting as the prospect is of being a glorified money launderer, I beg you, do not do this! This is a rip-off, a scam, and illegal.

Now, on to the original e-mail thread:

From: ”Sophia Wade” <em.center@aol.com>
Date: January 15, 2012 11:46:08 AM EST
To: <POTENTIAL CRIME VICTIM>
Subject: RE: [1] Career Builder: Your Application

Hello <POTENTIAL SUCKER>,

Having seen your resume I would like to offer you a position with our
company. My name is Sophia Wade and I am the International Human Resource
Manager of Emergency Care Center PLC. I am pleased to inform you that we
have an open position for you within our company.  

Before we start I want to point out that you can work for us part time also
even if you had a prior job before talking to us. All you have to do is
check your e-mail a couple of times per day, a trip to your bank and a trip
to a Western Union office or agent. You can use the “Find Agent Location”
search function on the Western Union website to find an office close to you.
With every check that you process you instantly earn 10% from its total
value cash in hand and also a consistent bonus. How does it work: you will
receive the first check as soon as you send back the filled contract with
your actual name and address which we need to be able to send the check to
you. Depending on how fast you will send the funds from the check back to us
you will receive the next two checks and so on, each fast processed check
yields two new checks to process. This is the dream job for many people that
have joined us. There is no trick to it. You help us clear our funds from
orders we receive from our customers in the US and we will repay you
handsomely. You have our monies with you all the time while processing a
check so you will keep your commission plus bonus instantly and at the end
of the month you will receive the $1,000 salary as a fixed income at the
address you specified in the contract (which can be changed afterwards if
you relocate). Ask for the contract today and we can start in a few days as
soon as we finish processing your information and a few verifications for
safety. If you sign today you will receive your first check within one week.
Don’t miss out on this great chance to increase your income, ask for the
contract and further details right now!

Our company was founded in 1972 and it has quickly grown to be one of the
largest resellers in United Kingdom of medical equipment and apparatus as we
as in the rest of Europe. We have contracts exclusively with hospitals and
other medical companies and groups supplying several hundred types of
products ranging from surgical needles and syringes to MRI and EKG machines
and everything in between. Our partners include top manufacturers around the
world such as GE Healthcare, Medtronic, Baxter International, Tyco
Healthcare, Philips Medical Systems, Cardinal Health, Siemens Medical
Solutions, Zimmer Holdings, et cetera. Our company has grown very fast
during the last few years and now we have expanded our market and business
to the United States. As such we have a high demand in terms of job openings
in almost every state and we are looking for dedicated and hardworking
individuals to work for us and help us expand.

Our success is due to the fact that we are able to meet our customer’s
demands in every shape or form and at any time. We are very flexible and we
can honor our orders when others cannot. Very fast delivery system combined
with the fact that we accept almost any type of payment and great customer
support are the reasons why we have been able to grow so fast and took us to
where we are today. We take great pride in what we do because it is not
always easy to satisfy all customer demands while still processing the
orders very fast and receiving payments for the products in a timely manner.
We need you to work for us and bellow you will find the job description and
what will be asked of you should you decide to accept our proposal.

Job description:

-    NO SALES INVOLVED! Very limited contact: you will not be involved in
any kind of sales or contact with our customers;
-    Zero fees policy: while performing this job you will encounter no
fees to be paid in advance whatsoever;
-    Respect privacy: no employee from our company will ever ask you for
any sensitive information;
-    Total transparency: everything you will do is legal under the
European Union/United States and International laws as they are currently
applied.

Your duties are:

-    To receive payments from our customers which are mainly in form of
checks (only U.S. emitted checks, no international checks will be sent to
you; All check will be written in your name);
-    Cashing the checks using your existing bank account; do not use
checks-cashing stores, they charge too much, sometimes even 10% of the total
value of the checks
-    Forwarding as” money in minutes” by Western Union, we will pay all
money transfer fees after you will deduct your 10% commission from each
order you process.

Your benefits are:

-    Commissions: 10% from each check your will process in the first
month.
-    Salary: within one month after receiving the first check you will
receive $1,000 as fixed salary.

This is a commission based job, the faster you process orders the more your
income will increase. This bonus is given to also cover internet, phone or
gas bills. Please note that this salary will be sent after 30 days have
passed since you received your first payment to process.

-    Rewards for good performance: after two months of working for us an
increase to 15% commission from all payments might be applied to your
contract if you process and send all the transfers to us in a timely manner.
In this case you will be earning around $1,200-1,300 per week as well as the
$1,000 salary at the end of the month.

-    Education reimburse
-    Vacation (2 weeks for Exempt employees)
-    4 paid Company Holidays / 2 paid floating holidays
-    Large and stable corporation


There are also bonuses for cashing the checks and sending the payment to us
very fast:

-    Cash the check same day: $150 for each check;
-    Cash the check within 24 hours: $100 for each check;
-    Cash the check within 48 hours: $ 50 for each check.

The $1,000 salary will be sent to you in form of a cashier check.

The job opening is that of a Representative within the US. The today’s
situation on the financial market requires us to open and fill several of
these job positions within our company. This opening will help our company
to reduce the time it takes to receive funding from orders that we receive
each month and we offer you one of the highest incomes on the market today
and the minimal expenditures of time. 

With the number of orders we have we cannot put them on hold for fear of
losing our customers, secondly we cannot cash these payments from the US
soon enough, as international checks take about 28 working days to cash
anywhere in Europe. We lose a lot of time and money each month because we
have money transfer delays. Our clients could pay us where we want by
sending checks to an US address. What we need you to do is to provide us an
address where you can receive our customer checks. We need someone who can
receive the money through this method of payment. Regarding the check
process all you have to do is to receive the checks our customers will send
to your address, take them to your bank, cash them and send the remainder
amount to us after deducting all fees incurred and your commission. You will
always take your commission upfront. All fees for transferring the funds
will be supported from our share. Bonuses will apply for cashing checks
within 24 hours upon receiving a check. 

We make direct contact for sales of products. Once orders are received and
processed we deliver the product to our customer (usually through USPS). The
customer receives and checks the product and proceeds to send the payment.
We accept all forms of payment but most of our customers pay using Bank
Checks and so to solve this problem and not lose any of our customers we
have decided to open this new job position. This job is legal according to
the U.S. legislation as it is today. Local money transfers take but a few
hours, so it will give us a possibility to get customer’s payment almost
immediately. 

PAYMENT AND SALARY:

For example you receive a check as payment for 3000.00 USD, you deduct your
commission (10%): 300.00 USD and then send to us the balance: 2700.00 USD.
In the first month you will receive around 15-20 orders under 3,000.00 USD
to process and after checking your performance records during that first
month the orders you will receive, may increase from 3,000.00 upwards to
6,000.00 USD. For example 20 transactions each around 3000.00 USD gives you
a total income of 6,000.00 USD per month and after establishing a close
co-operation with us you’ll be able to operate with larger orders and you’ll
be able to earn more. You will also deduct fees that are related to this job
(gasoline, western union fees, bank commissions, etc.) from our balance, not
from your commissions. At first the checks you will receive will vary from:
$500.00 to $3,000.00. We will also send you a 1099 Form for tax deduction on
your part. Our payments will be issued out in your name and you can have
them cashed in your existing bank account, we don’t accept newly created
bank accounts because it slows the cashing process. Deduct your percentage
and forward the balance to the company attorney manager via a western union
money transfer, the name will be given to you later after cashing a payment.
This job takes only 3-7 hours per week. You’ll have a lot of free time for
taking up another job; you’ll get good income and a regular job. This job is
very challenging and you should understand it. We are looking only for the
employee who satisfies our requirements and will be an earnest assistant.

We have health insurance and the 401K retirement savings plan as well as all
the other standard benefits that a major company usually provides.
Unfortunately we can only start talking about this after the first month has
passed since you’re working for us. We consider the first month as a trial
period. In any case you do not have to pay for anything in advance; there
are no hidden costs for performing this job. Any fee you might encounter
will be deducted from our share of the funds before you send it to us.

You will receive next instructions step by step.

Unfortunately we cannot setup any interviews now, as we do not have any
representatives in US. We will be able to come to meet within the next few
months when the new offices will be opened in your area!

Please let me know if you are still interested. Within 24 hours after we
will receive this information we will forward you a copy of the contract you
have to fill in, sign and e-mail back to us.

Sophia Wade
Emergency Care Center PLC
City Road
Islington, EC1V
London, United Kingdom
FAX 011-44-022-121-5656 

From: <CURIOUS JOB SEEKER>
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012 4:27 AM
To: <em.center@aol.com>
Subject: Re: Career Builder: Your Application

What does this involve?

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 14, 2012, at 9:32 PM, Sophia Wade
<candidateemail@site.careerbuilder.com
<mailto:candidateemail@site.careerbuilder.com> > wrote:
    

<image002.png>
<image002.png>
<image008.gif> <http://www.careerbuilder.com/
<image003.png>
<image005.jpg>

Thank you for your interest. After viewing your resume on
careerbuilder.com <http://careerbuilder.com> , we have decided to
contact you. 

We have an excellent opportunity for you.

We are looking for: 

Responsible and motivated individuals to assist in Company’s financial
business. We value the exceptional people and provide our employees with
an environment conductive for productive and long-term employment. 

We offer:

- New concept. Commissions without sales. 
- VERY competitive salary plus attractive bonuses plus  commissions with
each order
- No Fees
- You can start tomorrow
- Compensation: $85,000 - $95,000 per year
- Employee Type: Full-Time/Part-Time
- Vacation (2 weeks for Exempt employees)
- 4 paid Company Holidays / 2 paid floating holidays
Large and stable corporation

Requirements:

- MS Office (Word) - basic knowledge
- Internet access and e-mail 
- A sufficient level of work ethics
- Ability to learn fast and perform tasks in a timely fashion
- U.S. resident or green card holder 
- You are not required to quit your current job.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: 

- Assist in company’s financial business. 
- Perform financial tasks. 
- Make reports. 

We offer opportunities for internal advancement for the responsible
employees. During the initial stage of work you will receive precise
instructions and any possible help from the company’s Manager. Qualified
candidates will be offered flexible schedules of work, competitive
salary, bonuses and other benefits. Company covers all the reasonable
expenses. 

You will be able to plan your own working schedule (few hours weekly). 

Please reply to this email if you are interested.

Hiring Department


You are receiving this employment opportunity email because you uploaded
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