jon-david schlough

Puerta/Nuevo Vallarta Pics

 

Link to the whole album…

Credit Card Swipe Snooping - Sourceforge and ATMs in Paradise

Saw this on geek news central a while back. Here is a link to a sourceforge project about building your own credit card reader. very cool, if only as a curiosity, to see what info you give up every time you swipe.

Also got a message from some friends whose wedding I just attended in Mexico, and evidently 3 people on the trip had other people make ATM withdrawls from their accounts after they got back to the US. Kilgour thinks that since ATMs in most parts of Mexico don’t have cameras, perhaps people are stripe snooping down there as well.

Moving Overseas - Media influence- Vonage

I just got done chatting with a friend of mine that I met many years ago when we were both studying in Amsterdam. We lived on different floors of the same building, on the Prinsengraht, about a block from Anne Frank. We've stayed in touch for the most part since, he lives out East and is moving to Tel Aviv next week. I'll refer to him as reggaeJunkieJew, even though I don't think he's a big ween fan.

reggaeJunkieJew has been to Israel before, and has family there, so he knows what he's getting into for the most part. However, all the friends and family who have not been to Israel, or the Middle East in general, develop different perspectives about that area fueled by the media. I always think of Israel as inherently unsafe, but when I think about for a second, I know that's not really trrue. People live there, have relatively normal lives, business and government are conducted, although with much dispute [see USA], but because of what I see in the news, my initial reaction is 'violent place'.

I know he'll have a great time - and he's getting vonage as well, so we can talk a lot, as he'll have a US phone number. He did say that vonage is a big reason why he's comfortable moving overseas long-term, because it's easy and inexpensive to stay in close touch with friends and family in both the red and blue states. It's wonderful and interesting to see innovation like VOIP really changing the way people think about the world. And you thought it would end with the internet, silly.

Maybe the reggaeJunkieJew will be interested in blogging here for a bit and providing some insight about his experiences abroad - who knows.