More information here: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=312525#post312525

—Original Post—

If you are running DialCentral on your Nokia N810, you need to be aware of this:

The latest version of DialCentral has some bugs that cause the program to not work properly.  The developer is working on a fix.

For now, if your N810 asks you to install updates for DialCentral, don’t allow it or it will break the program.

© 2009, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.

Also, this past weekend, I got an email from my hosting company telling me that a process they didn’t like was running on one of my FTP accounts, and that if I didn’t do something about it they would. I looked up the one site I had in that account, and found that it had been hacked and defaced by “Turkish hacker Iskorpitx.” A Google search revealed that Iskorpitx is thought to be responsible for hacking and defacing over 117,000 sites in the past four or five years. He doesn’t do much with them- just puts up his own front page to show that you’ve been owned. Fortunately, the hacked site is one I’m not actively using anymore. I just deleted the site folder from my FTP account, which made my hosting service happy. Then I changed all my passwords and opted for “extra web security” in my hosting account.

I’m not sure whether to be annoyed that it happened, relieved that the compromised site wasn’t critical, or honored that I got owned by such a prolific hacker.

Here’s a little more on Iskorpitx in case you are curious – if you follow the link, you can see what my front page looked like when he got through with it. http://www.pinoymoneytalk.com/2007/11/21/lto-website-hacked/

© 2008, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.

I just recently applied to be a secret shopper on the same
website you did and I am debating whether it’s worth the while.  You
said that you only received $23 from the company, if they made you buy
something from the store did they pay for it? Also I am concerned
about the fact that i gave them my SSN, probably not a good idea.  If
you could email me back at your convenience I would really appreciate
it.  Thank you!

T.

Here’s my reply:

T,

I only received $23 from the SecretShopper.com, because I only completed one job for them.  When you sign up as a mystery shopper, you decide what jobs you will take – there is no minimum workload.

I did have to buy a minimum of $11 worth of merchandise.  This job did not reimburse me for the purchase – it came out of the $23 they paid me.  Every job is different – some reimburse you for merchandise, others pay you a flat fee.  Some do both.  The terms of each job should be available to read before you agree to it.

I think your SSN is safe with Secret Shopper.  I checked them out thorougly before giving them mine.  They ask for it in case you make more than $600 with them, so they can file the appropriate tax documents.  Some companies ask for it up front, others wait until you earn a certain amount.

It’s generally not a good idea to give your Social Security Number out over the internet, but it is sometimes necessary when you are getting paid for something.  The key is to make sure a company is legitimate before giving them any personal information.  Here’s a post I wrote about avoiding online scams.

J.

I haven’t spent much time on mystery shopping since that first job.  I’ve earned some money from both mystery shopping and surveys, but neither one pays enough for me to make it a priority.  For that reason, I probably won’t write any more posts about mystery shopping or paid surveys.  I will report on anything else I find that proves profitable.

If you enjoyed this content, consider subscribing to my RSS feed.

© 2008, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.

Welcome to From the Fencepost! If you are curious as to what it’s all about, click here to read my About page.

As you can see, I haven’t written anything yet besides the About page. That will change this week. I just joined several online paid survey sites (yes, they are reputable, and they don’t charge a membership fee) as well as a mystery shopping network, and I have a list of additional unorthodox ways to make money on the side that I’ll be exploring and reporting on as time permits. Lest you think I’m all work and no play, I’ll occasionally post on things that make my life more fun. After all, what’s the point of earning money if you don’t enjoy it?

This site is going to be awesome. It will be so good, in fact, that you should save time by subscribing to my RSS feed right now. It’s really easy; just click here. If you don’t do it now, you’ll just end up doing it later.

While you are sitting by your computer waiting for me to post more content, perhaps I could interest you in my other site: Jon’s Book Reviews.

Have you subscribed to RSS yet? Why not? Here’s the link.

Best regards,

Jon

© 2008, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.