Inside the Little Plastic Castle

I want to believe that I can outwit scammers, but even true cybersecurity experts like Troy Hunt have been fooled. I'm tech support for some of my age-mates, so I needed to write this anyway, so I'm sharing it.

Just got an SMS/text in Messages on my iPhone

( screenshot )

which claimed

1-727-241-1788
Text Message • SMS Apple Notice: A charge of $157.89 was deducted from your Apple ID via Apple Pay. If this was not done by you, Call support now 1-833-869-3310.

This failed the “smell test” five ways

1. SMS not iMessage. Apple invented the iMessage protocol to provide Apple-specific features, including fun visuals. All other platforms now have fun visuals, and Messages can send via other protocols, but when Apple contacts me, iMessage appears above the text.
2. Lacked official Apple info. When Apple contacts me via Messages, I see an official Apple Badge such as the white and gray items with Apple logos in the image.
3. Message via wrong channel. Apple emails me receipts; I didn't find the dollar amount in my email. I have my Credit Union push a notification whenever my Apple Pay–credit card gets charged, and I didn’t receive any notice from them.
4. No Apple Pay charges at official site https://support.apple.com/en-us/118212 explains how to check all Apple Pay charges from the web with any device, as well as specific instructions from an Apple device. No charge appears there.
5. Wrong terminology. Apple changed the branding on usernames. It used to be "Apple ID," but it changed to "Apple Account" in June 2024.

How do you recognize scams?

erinptah collates amusing and horrifying examples of large language models ("AI") spewing nonsense after they steal the hard work of artists like herself:

https://erinptah.dreamwidth.org/tag/artificial+unintelligence

ysabetwordsmith posted eighteen subtle and beautiful eclipse shots at the "share your photos" community common_nature https://common-nature.dreamwidth.org/253608.html

jenroses’s Fork Theory is a most excellent complement to spoon theory

http://jenrose.com/fork-theory/

You know the phrase, “Stick a fork in me, I’m done,” right?

Well, Fork Theory is that one has a Fork Limit, that is, you can probably cope okay with one fork stuck in you, maybe two or three, but at some point you will lose your shit if one more fork happens.

A fork could range from being hungry or having to pee to getting a new bill or a new diagnosis of illness. There are lots of different sizes of forks, and volume vs. quantity means that the fork limit is not absolute. I might be able to deal with 20 tiny little escargot fork annoyances, such as a hangnail or slightly suboptimal pants, but not even one “you poked my trigger on purpose because you think it’s fun to see me melt down” pitchfork.

Finally, this pro-captioned video summarizes the findings from an Hungarian research paper published last month in Cell. It supports that dogs make mental representations of human words.

stream on YouTube or … ( stream here )

Boros, Magyari et al. (2024) Neural evidence for referential understanding of object words in dogs https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.029

I want to help sasha_feather enjoy podfics on her newish Samsung phone.

Barriers: - I know macOS and iOS but nothing about Android. - Since sasha_feather is still recovering from her concussion and my cognition is fuzzy thanks to life-saving psych meds, we need a foolproof workflow. I'm sure there are better, more open-source, less-privacy-depriving paths, but right now we're looking for something that works.

No need to reinvent the wheel -- if you can point me to a site that explains how to do this, SUPER!

Right now I have two questions -- feel free to tell me about others I should be considering.

Q1: What's a basic audio player for Android?

We don't need a music player -- no equalizers, no cross fades, no podcasts. It's just for voice. Automatically saving a bookmark when you pause and a sleep timer are the crucial features. No flashy graphics. Happy to pay once.

Q2: What's the most foolproof way to get these fics into the player?

Right now, the podfics are stored all over: various clouds (DropBox, Google Drive), on clouds linked at AO3, on her MacBook.

Does Android offer a file system?

Could I connect an Android phone via Bluetooth or WiFi and use that system to copy files from the MacBook on the network?

Could we just plug the Samsung phone into the macbook's USB port and read/write its data like an external drive? Do I need a particular cable for that?

My circles has so many technical whizzes -- I'm looking forward to your answers!

• Biographical 20th Century Period Pieces about Fame
• Absurd Cult Comedies from the 1980s
• Heartfelt Hindi-Language Movies

Life in Code—Ellen Ullman( 5 of 5 )

Real American—Julie Lythcott-Haims( 5 of 5 )

Why You Want It

Paywalls, subscriptions, link rot and deliberate deletions mean content disappears from the web. The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine keeps copies of the web you can refer to next week or next decade. This tool shows you any archived versions of the current page with a single tap/click.

Two Ways To Add the Tool

Drag this link

WBMvu

into your bookmark/favorites toolbar

If that doesn't work:

1. Select and copy all the characters in this box:

javascript:(function()%7Bif(location.href.indexOf('http')!=0)%7Binput=prompt('URL:','http://');if(input!=null)%7Blocation.href='http://web.archive.org/web/*/'+input%7D%7Delse%7Blocation.href='http://web.archive.org/web/*/'+location.href;%7D%7D)();

1. Bookmark this page and name it "WBMvu"
2. Open your browser's bookmark editor
3. Select "WBMvu" and move it to your toolbar
4. Replace the URL https://www.dreamwidth.org/entry/jesse_the_k/396572/
5. With all the characters you copied in 1
6. Save your changes

How To Use It

When you encounter a paywall or moved/abandoned page, click/tap WBMvu. You see the desired page as saved in the Wayback Machine. The WBM may tell you it hasn't been saved yet and offer you a chance to add it to the archive. After you do so, you'll be able to view the saved result on that page.