deafbiz.com

A few years ago, I was getting so much junk mail, especially credit card offers, that I was getting concerned about being an identity theft victim.

When I followed the advice given out by Direct Marketing Association, the volume of junk mail trickled to almost less than one junk mail a day.

So for those concerned about identity theft or wanting to safeguard your credit history so you can buy that Sidekick II for cheap, here’s what to do (and trust me, they really work!):

Stopping Junk Mail - Register with the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Mail Preference Service.

Stopping Pre-Approved Credit Card offers - The advice on stopping junk mail works but take this additional step by going to optoutprescreen.com
.
Stopping Telemarketing phone calls - Of course TTY users can play games with telemarketers, but go ahead and sign up at the National Do Not Call Registry

Always, always safeguard your personal information!

Kokonut Pundits is a Hard of Hearing Blogger that you should bookmark. I always read him as soon as he submits a new article via RSS reader.

He’s attracted attention from major bloggers such as Michelle Malkin with his scoop on Washington Post handling of comments and how ot subvert China’s Google firewall.

I’m rooting for him to be part of the Pajamas Media.

Microlending is not a new concept. I do recall reading an article about it over 10 years ago about a small group of Korean women gathering together once a month and they would put in some money in the pot. If someone needs a small loan, she would “bid” for it with interest and have the loan. This loan is backed by personal trust, not to mention that there’s really a heavy emphasis on “saving face” in their culture. So there’s almost zero risk in making microloans.

Wikipedia has an expanded explaination of Microloan, sometimes called Microlending. I’m happy to read that it’s becoming a reality in the U.S. because most banks prefer to make bigger loans because of all the paperwork and staff involved.

Prosper is also a new concept on Microloan but this time organizations or a group of people with similar interest and find a worthy candidate to lend money to. It’s too new and I wouldn’t recommend jumping in right away but definitely something to keep an eye on.

The reason why I’m writing this is that sometimes it takes a small amount of money to move a person out of the vicious cycle of poverty. Let’s say a deaf person has zero or bad credit and is thus prevented from purchasing a Sidekick II on a prepaid plan. Maybe that Sidekick II is all the difference between being employed or being unemployed? What if this individual doesn’t have a permanent place to live but needs something so that a prospective employer may contact them? I don’t think is very far- fetched and it’s not a new concept at all. Just a creative solution to a vexing problem of being available for THE PHONE CALL.

Or what if having a car is the difference between driving to better paying job that’s not accessible by public transportation vs. a lower paying job that’s accessible by public transportation? What if the person was turned down for a car loan? A microloan can help.

Or let’s say someone is trying to make a living marketing on the Internet. Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard them all. But I know it’s a fact that all it takes is a small amount of capital to become successful on the Internet! All that person needs is a small capital and access to a computer, say at a public library and they’re in business. Thousands of people are doing this every day! One example is to scour eBay for products that have misspelling names on their ads and just buy it cheaply and then turn around and sell it for a higher price. Doesn’t take that much capital to do that, if done properly.

Bottom line: It doesn’t take thousands of dollars to help someone off their feet and get out of poverty. It can be a matter of a few hundred dollars.

It’s time to explore the concept of microlending as a valid alternative to spending thousands of dollars for welfare.

Given that the intense competition between relay services (online, video, IM, etc), I don’t think this comes at a surprise.

There are all kinds of plausible “whodunit”. Maybe the Nigerian scammers were blocked so it’s payback time? Maybe ex-Sorenson customers that felt justified to take action in their hands to really, and I mean REALLY, express their displeasure at Sorenson? Maybe someone doing “dirty tricks” on behalf of another Relay services? Or maybe someone really angry at the Muslim cartoons and just want to lash back, never mind who is the victim in their path? Or the usual culprits - bored hackers with too much time on their hands?

Whoever did it for any reason, really hit Sorenson hard in their wallet. Not to mention depriving deaf customers of their rights to make phone calls!

I have a Videophone that I use for VCO with CSD/Sprint (and love it!)

Since my cable company changes my IP address once in a while, it gets to be tedious to tell everyone my new IP address. That’s the curse of having a dynamic IP address, not a static IP address.

And then there’s an additional problem using Videophone - incompatibility. Depending on the Videphone equipment, you will have to dial either an IP or phone number, or IP name.

What is “IP name”? It can be like “somebody.no-ip.biz” or “somebody.kicks-ass.net”. Instead of typing phone numbers or IP numbers, just type in the IP name instead.

To get started, all it takes is to open a free account with No-IP.com or DynDNS (which I use).
If you don’t know your IP address, go to www.whatismyip.com. Have
someone test your new IP name to make sure it was set up properly.
Lastly, download the Update Client so that it’ll keep track of your IP
changes.

Someone sent me an email with the technical summary:

Sorenson VP to Sorenson VP —can either use phone numbers or IP

Sorenson VP to Dlink (i2eye) VP —must use IP or IP name

Dlink VP to Dlink VP —can use phone numbers or IP or IP name

Dlink call to Sorenson—must use IP or IP name

IP Name helps keep things simpler so you can focus on keeping in touch with your friends and family and not miss VP calls.