I'm reminded of the scene in Galaxy Quest where Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman) says "Never give up, never surrender!".  It's been a long time coming but I feel like the projects are finally wrapping up.

I don't know if you read this post that Chad posted last week but it's pretty important.  We are moving forward and we are finally going to use technology that we've written over the last few years.  More importantly we'll be able to push forward a new product since our last one that will be based upon new technology as well creating new software.  As Chad indicated, getting to use this technology and the display won't be soon but it is coming, there's only so much a small indie developer can do at any one time.

So...let's see what we can do.

So last Monday I was at work minding my own business, just hackin' away at some tasks that will not be named.  I received a phone call at 1900 asking if I was available to fly to the west coast.  I replied that I was indeed available and just like that I left for the west coast on Tuesday.  Wednesday and Thursday were filled with meetings as well as lots of problem solving (the type of solving I like).  Friday I had a brief lunch with Jon and then in the afternoon Vince and I played some mini-golf at GolfLand USA to burn some time.

The weather on each of the days was excellent.  It was slightly rainy on Thursday and Friday but it was warm rain that I'm not complaining about.  The folks at GolfLand USA were preplexed as to why we would play mini-golf in the rain but it didn't even drizzle and overall it was very good getting out.

I think I must seriously consider moving to the Bay area (but southern bay...none of this SF business).  Everytime somebody in Waterloo asks me what the Mountain View/Sunnyvale area is like I qualify it as being very much like Waterloo.  There's a huge tech presence in the area and it's just as laid back.  San Jose is also close by which is like Toronto except a bit smaller.  San Francisco I liken to an Ottawa/Toronto combination, a city with culture and history but without the government institutions like Ottawa and Toronto.  A very interesting place to visit and live.

When I left earlier in the week...don't worry, it was in offline mode.

YYZ to SFO from runway 23.

Found out just hours before I actually left that I was to head to California.  Been here for three days now working non-stop.  Many good meetings, much hecticness and much information gathered.  Will be back on Saturday (probably).  Should be on a plane heading to Toronto this time tomorrow and then back in Waterloo at around 9 am on Saturday.  Much code to write once I return, many problems to solve.

Weather is very good here but no time to enjoy it.  I get to work at about 0830 PT and head back at around 2300 PT so there's little time to do anything except work away.  Environment is very relaxing though. 

Perhaps a little late but Happy Groundhog Day!

Thanks to Chad for the continuing addiction. 

Take your pick.  Wars or Trek.  Both have drawn me back in. 

I received a piece of spam "from" Amazon indicating that I should update my credit card number or I would have my account deleted.  The email was quite interesting as it was professional looking but it was obviously a scam.  More interesting was the link (it's a phishing link, do not consider it to be the real deal):  http://www.amazon.com/gp/subs/primeclub/account/homepage.html/ref=ya_hp_sub_1/104-4436503-7329515?ie=UTF8&method=GET

You'll notice that the website it actually goes to is: http://www.cebessemans.be/.online/www.amazon.com/flex/sign-out.html/2Fhomepage=protocol=httpsaction=sign-out/exec.php?cmd=sign-in

Exploring further you run into:  http://www.cebessemans.be/.online/bilaama.tar.gz which has a file (exec.php) containing an email address:  bila_din_nou@yahoo.com to which the credit card numbers are emailed.  Fairly straightforward setup that should be easy to whip up.  What's interesting is the level the phisher has gone through in order to replicate the look and feel.  If you look at exec.php you'll notice that there is basic credit card validation (through the CCV) checking going on as well as other small checks in order to convince the user that it is actually the real deal.

I have contacted the website admin and he (Marc) should be deleting the folder shortly.

Totally.

Tee hee hee.

A noted feature after the PS3 upgrade to v1.5 a the credit card reader.  It requires a hardware add-on and connects via a USB port.  Normally I don't defend the PS3 but in this case I think there's a few potential uses that are being overlooked.  A credit card can be used for quick login.  Given that the PS3 runs Linux you could now create a POS system and perhaps expand the PS3 market by perhaps 10 or 20 people!  Such record gains are sure to give Sony Entertainment Marketing a reason to celebrate and PR will tout the astronomical growth of the product.

Shrewd move Sony, I'm onto you.