How not to run a web site

Today I went to view my insurance bill online and when I went to view it or save it, I got the standard Apache Internal Server Error message. That's pretty bad for an insurance company that seems to be beefing up its online presence. If that wasn’t bad enough, they neglected to change the default administrator email address (you@your.address). Should I be afraid that if they didn't change that default value that they haven't properly secure their server?

(I'm sure that one of my sites does something stupid like that, but I don't have a staff that maintains my sites.)

Overly cautious customer?

The other day a potential ReceiptWallet user asked if we stored credit card numbers when people purchase ReceiptWallet. That is a completely legitimate question and I replied that we only keep the last 4 digits of the number (which is appropriate per credit card industry standards) and that our credit card processor (PayPal) keeps the number for 60 days (in case we need to issue a refund). I've never had that question before and never thought to ask it of a vendor probably because I know it really doesn't matter. Why do I say this? Look at the major losses of credit card numbers and they are big merchants like TJ Maxx. If I asked every vendor big and small about their storage policies, I'd never buy anything. Also, as a consumer, I'm protected against fraudulent purchases (identity theft is a different story). While it is a pain to have to get a new card and deal with a stolen number, I've had to do this 3 times in the last 7 years (once I have no idea how they got the number, the second time my wife's card was stolen and the third time, CitiBank told me that they had to close the account for security reasons).

I know that vendors do keep the entire credit card number (Home Depot must in order to process returns and all you have to do is present your credit card without the receipt). When I moved my office and cleaned out my files, I found merchant reconciliation statements from when I directly took credit cards for NotifyMail years ago. These statements had credit card numbers and expiration dates for several years worth of transactions. I even had a few credit card numbers belonging to NASA as they were a customer of mine! The credit card numbers were always in my possession and I shredded all the information (OK, years late, but I did it). How many other vendors have done the same thing? It's scary just thinking about it.

Maybe I should be more cautious about which vendors get my credit card number like this potential customer, but what will that do for me? Basically I'd never be able to purchase anything on the Internet!

Wacky Chinese Packaging

For Hanukkah this year, my wife decided to get me some little things that I could put on my desk. The things she got me were definitely not on my wish list (OK, I don't have a wish list as I just buy what I want within reason). One of the items she bought me was a flashing coaster. My son seems to enjoy it and it is kind of entertaining. What was even more entertaining for me was to read the package.

I thought that people only saw this stuff on The Tonight Show, but I can now say that I've seen bad Chinese translations myself!

Stumped by poor user interface

On and off I've had some difficulty with hearing people with iChat when I used a headset. I always attributed this to my PlayStation 2 USB headset which is a rebranded Logitech model (it cost $15, but it worked). I finally got a new Plantronics M214i headset as it had a USB adapter and let me use it with one of my cell phones (I have 3, one personal which doesn't have a 2.5 mm plug, an iPhone, and a Sanyo, the latter two being for work). I needed a wired headset as I have yet to have good luck with Bluetooth headsets. This option was excellent as I could use it with iChat and my cell phone.

I had an audio chat with someone today and had a little trouble hearing and attributed it to the headset even though it was brand new. I had a hard time believing this, so I poked around the system. First I checked out iChat's preferences.

Nothing there to change the output volume, just select the USB adapter (the DSP55 Adapter shown in the picture).

Then I poked around the System Preferences in the Sound section and saw the following:

Since I want the normal output to goto the headphone jack, I didn't change anything and played with the slider, but that didn't help. I happened to click on the DSP55 Adapter and saw the output volume slider change. Bingo! The Output volume at the bottom of the pane is tied to the output device selected above. However, if you select Headphones again, the volume for the USB adapter remains the same. I tested this against an iChat test account and low and behold I was able to jack up the volume in iChat without changing the system volume.

This interface really confused me as I had no reason to change the "device for sound output" and would logically wouldn't change it, set the volume and then change it back. iChat sound have the Output (and Input) settings right there in the iChat preferences. It isn't that weird for one part of the OS to change a setting in another; for instance hitting the volume keys on the keyboard changes the Output volume in this dialog or using the volume Menu item. This is really a simple thing for Apple to fix in iChat.

(I don't regret buying the headset even though my old one probably works fine as I needed one with a 2.5 mm plug on it; I'm on more conference calls these days than ever before and my Bluetooth headset didn't cut it.)