Netflix Hacking Countermeasures

So one day, I noticed that my language setting was changed to Italian suddenly on my Netflix account. Very confused, I changed it back to English. Vulcan wasn’t an option. Soon, it changed back again to Italian. Upon going to “Account” –> “Recent Device Streaming Activity”, I noticed lots of activities from Italy! It could be from yet another country since VPN could hide it but then since language settings was changed to Italian, I think it is from there. I quickly changed my password and forced all devices to be logged out. Problem fixed, right?
 
That’s what I thought. That was a month or two ago. My son told me that he saw the Italian language option again on his profile. Erg. So evidently, just changing your password and forcing all devices to be logged out doesn’t really work. (FIX IT NETFLIX!) So this time, I changed email address and made the password stronger. So far so good. So here are my lessons learned:
 
  1. Check your “Recent Device Streaming Activity” at least once a month to see if your account is hacked or compromised
  2. If your account is compromised, change BOTH email and password since you can’t rely on Netflix’ own “Sign out of all devices” to work. After I had done that, both of my kids were still able to access their accounts without having to reenter information!

Grunting of a Smalltime Seller

Erg…

That’s how I feel right now… I sell stuff from time to time.  After I upgraded from my Note 4, I sold it off on eBay.  Other gadgets and stuff that’s sitting around, I try to recoop some cost.  I expect to not make profit.  But it’s been anti-small seller sentiment recently.

I have accounts on both eBay and Amazon to sell.  But I have gripes about both.  And if you are a small seller like me who doesn’t sell more than few items a month, if a year, you will likely understand my frustration.

eBay

I’ve been a long-time member and it was relatively friendly to sellers like me.  Now, that’s not the case.  I get (winning) bids from people who win it only to not pay.  It takes several days to get it resolved and eventually get refunded on the listing fees.  But it doesn’t end there, as a seller, I can’t leave negative feedback to a deadbeat bidder!!  What the hell is this?!  I’m gonna rant on saying that eBay protects its bidders too much.  I already lose fees double time (eBay & PayPal) so it’s already frustrating but seriously…  I’m done.

Amazon

Amazon gets some serious exposure so the headphones that I had to re-list 3 times on eBay sold on Amazon!  But again, Amazon isn’t friendly to small sellers like me.  Why?  For an item that I listed for $45 (Amazon gives $4 credit for shipping), Amazon took more than $10 for the selling fee!  Again… what the hell?!!  That’s almost 25%!!  Not to mention that measly $4 credit for shipping makes me lose another $6 due to actual cost being bit over $10!  So in all, I sold $45 item and only recovered less than $30!  I’m done with Amazon as well (as a seller)!

So then where can I sell?!

So where does that leave me?  I don’t enjoy taking random time out to meet random strangers through Craigslist either.  So I list them locally.  Nextdoor.com anyone?  Or for the tech stuff, I also list (for free) on Anandtech Forums.

eBay and Amazon, please make things bit more REASONABLE!!  Otherwise, we, the small time sellers, are done!  So done!!  Thanks for reading this ranting!

From News: Russia, China Veto Syria Resolution at U.N.

What the hell, Russia?  China, you too?!  You’d rather see people being massacred… North Korea anyone?  Sheesh…

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Russia and China again vetoed a Western-backed U.N. resolution Thursday threatening sanctions against President Bashar Assad’s government if it didn’t stop using heavy weapons in the escalating 16-month conflict.

 

from News

From Morning Edition: Beijing Bling: Wealth On Display In China’s Congress

Wow… that’s messed up…

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Delegates to the National People’s Congress have turned up carrying Chanel handbags and wearing Pucci suits. Photos of this display of wealth have gone viral, prompting outrage among Chinese. It’s estimated the richest 70 Chinese legislators have more wealth than the entire U.S. Congress.

 

from Morning Edition

From Lifehacker: How to Give Your Million Dollar Idea Away So It Actually Gets Made

In this day and age of patents and tech advancements, I’m glad that there’s someone thinking of this… and I’m for promoting this kind of thinking all the way!!! (Are you reading this, Google, Apple, Samsung, and everybody else?!!)

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Traditionally, we tend to protect our ideas with our lives. It’s the exact reason we have patents, trademarks, and copyrights. But most of us don’t have the willpower or drive to take every idea through to execution. Here’s how to give your ideas away to people who actually know how to make them happen. More »


 

from Lifehacker

From Business and financial news – CNNMoney.com: Citi fined $158 million for gaming federal housing

It’s about time we started prosecuting these money-hungry corporations (I mean “people”, NOT!) to do better practices!

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Citigroup will pay $158 million to settle charges that its mortgage unit defrauded the Federal Housing Administration by inaccurately claiming that certain mortgages were eligible for government insurance, government officials announced Wednesday.

from Business and financial news – CNNMoney.com

From Morning Edition: You Too Can Stash Cash In An Offshore Account

WTH?!  Really?!  Mitt has a Swiss bank account?!  I thought we had basics like “if you own an off-shore bank account, you cannot be a president of the USA”.. ?!

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Presidential candidate Mitt Romney made news when he disclosed he had a Swiss bank account. Many affluent Americans do. Now an AP writer has assembled a step-by-step guide on how you can do it. The hardest part may be step one, which is get a million dollars.

 

from Morning Edition