Category Archives: PROJECTS

Cyber Security Data Breaches Smartphone

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Since when did we have to worry about having our identity stolen, hacked, – or worse – our banking information stolen or funds removed.

[ https://www.identityguard.com/news/risks-of-using-mobile-banking-apps ]

Tell you a little insightful story: Not long ago I talked to a security specialist at one of the largest Banks in Canada. I mentioned that I would never have a so-called banking app on my smartphone or perform any financial transactions on a smart phone. He congratulated me and told me I get a special medal from this Bank. Enough said.

For the past almost 30 years I do my banking online using my PC which also has a pretty safe security system installed. Never had any money stolen or bank accounts hacked into. (‘Knock wood.’)

Fact is, that since the Internet became the most widely accepted method of communication and getting things done (or getting things undone), security breaches have skyrocketed, so have the companies who provide and sell data security systems. Now including AI controlled secondary software, which is even more easily hacked into by those who actually write those AI programs, using a simple code.

When I got my last – very sophisticated – mobile smartphone, of course the provider’s bank app was preinstalled. First thing for me was to remove all preinstalled apps not needed including the banking app. [I do my banking on a secure PC.] And go through all the settings that are automatically installing or re-installing apps.

I agree, it seems easy to do things on the mobile phone while about and not at a desk, but much more difficult to undo mistakes and recover from (sensitive) data breaches.

[NOTE. The Internet is listing and advertising thousands of tech companies who are selling and installing cybersecurity systems. No need to mention the best here. Important is to know which devices are best suited to install an enhanced data security program.  I suspect, not a mobile phone.].

Talking about cybersecurity software: WARNING [ https://www.security.org/antivirus/totalav/ ] – the website selling this Total##  antivirus software is attacking users by email, telling them “bla, bla, bla … received hundreds of complaints, bla, bla, bla – about you”  (obviously SPAM). This is meant for anybody who is not smart enough and hooks up with their link. I personally never had anything to do with this antivirus product !

Word Press on Apple iPad

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I mostly write my posts on my Windows PC, no problems. However, when traveling I need to construct a post using my iPad Air 2.  It’s nice, convenient, mobile, but not as easy. Firstly, I could not get any access to Word Press, because – haven’t been using it for some time –  to access my Word Press sites was impossible, as the last update has been 14.7.1. That was 2021. After trying multiple approaches, I found out that Word Press needed at least update version 15.

The real reason has been that in 2021 I had temporarily lost my Wifi on my iPad and therefore needed to reset the entire IOS system to factory settings, dating back to 2015. (Of course first unloading all my stored photos and uploading to my PC.) Which even resulted in a much nicer system.

To make it short. The other day I downloaded all missing versions, if there were more than one, to my iPad. Took a long time, but “the bugger did it.”. Was I lucky to have bought the latest and 64GB version of it in 2015.

And now, finally get into my Word Press posts again. Only difference is, that they changed my login ID, and my former password also does not work anymore. Plus, on iPad after starting a new post, and switching to Classic Editor, the post may not publish. Also, sharing your post on Facebook and LinkedIn may be more difficult with using the Classic Editor, because of the permanent link needed to share posts.

Canada – selling online and banking systems

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CANADA’S banking system is in many ways different than their American counterparts, but definitely more reliable and solid and capitalized, and not prone to banking failures. Banks are highly regulated (under the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions – Government of Canada).

American Bank failures can have a number of reasons: the business models of the banks concerned; failures of regulation; the large number of small and mid-sized banks in the US; and the rapid increase in interest rates from the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve.

https://www.fdic.gov/resources/resolutions/bank-failures/failed-bank-list/

Every time that another US Bank fails, it inevitably leaves a trail of very nasty and negative economic implications that can affect us all, in Canada. We have seen it all.

And why are there so many Banks in the US of A ? Imagine a country as large as Canada, admittedly with much fewer populations, but only really six major Banks, of which three of the largest are my own.

In those many years in Canada that I myself have relied and trusted my money (online) to three of Canada’s (6) biggest Banks, I know that it is safe. Never a problem.

https://thefinancialbrand.com/news/bank-culture/comparing-united-states-canadian-banking-systems-54467/

https://www.cpacanada.ca/en/news/canada/canadian-banking-system

I work on a different project now, listing items for sale on eBay, that is eBay Canada website. My understanding is that funds can be held by eBay, if [and I quote: “It is important for each seller to receive the money as quickly as possible after the sale of an item. However, eBay may sometimes need to put a hold on your funds due to your selling history or performance or to address disputes. This helps it keep eBay a safe marketplace for buyers and sellers.”, end quote by eBay.]

The Headquarters of eBay.com, and eBay.ca are:

USA: eBay Inc., 2025 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125, USA. Canada: eBay Canada Limited, 240 Richmond Street West, 2nd Floor Suite 02-100 Toronto, Ontario, M5V 1V6, Canada.

Now, being in Canada I like to deal with eBay Canada as a seller who likes to get paid without any problems. Then, how come that there are so many eBay customers who are having problems getting paid via the online banking transfer system: which is, as soon a buyer has received the item, funds are released by eBay, and payouts will be done by automatic money transfer into the seller’s (mostly) checking account.

Some customers/sellers claimed that they never received the funds due to them.

Despite my Bank, for example, which is the largest Bank in Canada, that a customer can even have US dollar accounts and that there should be no problem for any funds transfer from eBay into a checking account, still customers using eBay reporting problems, such as :

Never received my sales proceeds funds or my Bank will not process them.

eBay is managing all payments, by buyers and payouts to sellers.

https://pages.ebay.com/ebay-is-managing-payments/, partnering with Payoneer.

Payoneer is a money transfer service that extends across borders worldwide. Your Payoneer account operates just like a traditional bank account. Once you provide customers with your Payoneer account information, money can be received and then deposited into your local bank account.

This is what eBay says:

“eBay makes the funds from your sale available within 2 business days after confirming the buyer’s payment. You may choose to receive payouts of available funds daily, weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. Learn more. If a hold is placed on your payment, there may be a delay in your payout.”

I believe this may be a problem with the differences in the dollar currencies. Not only conversion from US dollar to C$, but also potential buyers like to get merchandise cheaper on eBay Canada, making offers in C$ at their end (using email to the seller, as has been in my case), while our own Canadian Banks have problems with processing these funds, or simply blocking them. The new eBay system of MP (managed payments) should gradually turn into a safer and more reliable system.

This is still such an unreliable mess, that I decided to cancel all my listings for now, because this may have resulted in a loss at my end, using other web portals for selling.

Frankly, this entire selling and buying business model is so convoluted with many parties, including not only US sellers needing to deal with Canadian buyers, or vice versa, but also in between money managing entities, such as Payoneer, PayPal and the likes.

[ https://tipalti.com/payoneer-vs-paypal/ ]

Search Engines Then and Now

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The Internet started to develop around 1983. I started using the Internet by the 90s. Since that time I have used it. As a professional and specializing in information retrieval systems since the early 60s.

Since the 1960s we started developing online information retrieval networks in Europe. The indexing not only based on relevant search terms contained within a document but also out-of-context terms. In those early days an information technician had to read and understand scientific and technical documents to arrive at relevant search terms usable for indexing. My studies at Syracuse University attempting the inclusion of AI principles into prototype online information retrieval systems. [That was by the beginning of the 1970s.]

One can notice marked changes to the quality of content from then and now. One just needs to look at the “so called quality of content” of YouTube videos. What was then perceived as technologically relevant can in most cases not be compared to what it is now.

It is almost impossible to actually accomplish receiving precisely that information or information link to documents which is searched (using the most complicated Boolean language operators AND/OR/NOT including all sorts of nesting for constructing a search). Over and above, today’s searches deliver unwanted ballast – advertisements, and therefore irrelevant to a search.

[ https://library.albany.edu/subject/tutorials/education/boolean.html ].

According to Google, search results are returned in form of : “Search Engine Results Pages (SERP). These are the pages displayed by search engines in response to a query by a searcher. The main component of the SERP is the listing of results that are returned by the search engine in response to a keyword query, although the pages may also contain other results such as advertisements.” {Quoted by Google.}

PageRank was named after Larry Page,[1] one of the founders of Google. PageRank is a way of measuring the importance of website pages.

[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank ]

The biggest difference seems to lie in today’s technology which more or less emphasizes the importance of retrieved information based on its commercial value.

Meaning that a successful information retrieval activity delivers results based on “measuring the importance of website pages.” The importance being counting the number and quality of links to a page to determine a rough estimate of how important the website is. The underlying assumption is that more important websites are likely to receive more links from other websites.[2] According to Google. [Which reminds me of various other social networks where importance of information is determined by how many LIKEs occur.].

Unfortunately today’s information stores are controlled by several tech mega giants and corporations, who infiltrate each online search with commercial data. Not necessarily relevant to a user’s search.

Then, what are the most important elements of a search for meaningful information, and what are they based on. INDEXING. Indexing establishes the basis for retrieval of information. Real data is not obtained, but only a path to documents/pages.

In other words, how can a user retrieve meaningful information or links to relevant websites or documents if the indexing has been faulty. No matter how complex AI algorithms are developed, they are still not good enough to master the complexities of human languages, which over and above are continually evolving.

Condominium Ownership – (revisited)

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It always amazes me how few property owners (either already owning a condo or contemplating buying into one, exchanging their home) know the consequences of being a condo unit holder. A condo is not just an apartment, far from it, or a living space, in fact condo ownership is equivalent to any share ownership in any corporation. A condo corporation is the overriding corporate entity responsible for jointly owning, managing and controlling a condominium building, whereby each owner has the right to vote (usually during an annually occuring General Meeting) jointly with all co-owners. As it is impossible and not practical that all owners in a condo building also manage the day to day operation, there will usually be a property management company – who are non-owners – responsible for this, paid for by all condo owners. Mostly – also for practical purposes – represented by a Council, all of whom should be owners.
In other words, condo owners cannot easily control what changes or improvements they may want to make to their units, nor can they control (except by special vote) what expenses are required for the building and grounds. If expenditures are mismanaged, it can blow a big hole into the (jointly owned) contingency fund.
The only advice I can give to prospective purchasers of a condo: look closely at who manages a condo building, even more closely check out the finances, how much is the remaining contingency fund.
It is well known that buildings depreciate at an alarming rate, the only appreciation comes from the land base and/or is market driven. And older buildings in the absence of sufficient funds require regular special levies over and above the monthly condo fees. In the long run this can cost a unit holder a fortune.
Alternatives to condo ownership are: Either remain in your house and stay in control. Or, sell out and rent, use the money for paying a portion of the rental costs. This way, you can travel whenever you want.