custom

Recently, I experienced a birthday. Thank you, you shouldn't have. Oh, wait, you didn't.

Birthdays mean bracing yourself for cards and e-mails from your family, ex-lovers, and people who want something from you. Companies who want you to buy things, for example.

Starbucks always anticipates my birthday early. The company sends me a postcard two weeks before, so that I can be sure to claim my exciting free birthday drink.

Virgin Atlantic, on the other hand, believes it should send me an e-mail. It is all part of Virgin's "we're nicer and cooler than the … Read more

The folks at Macworld have reported on a new feature in OS X Lion that is quite useful, especially if you regularly access the system preferences.

Apple's system preferences in OS X are organized into several categories such as Personal for managing the look and feel of your OS X session, Hardware for adjusting input devices and displays, Internet & Wireless for adjusting online services and connectivity, System for user accounts and backup options, and Other for third-party add-ons you may have installed.

While this organization of the system preferences can be useful, if you access preferences a lot … Read more

British wireless carrier O2 has fixed the issue that causes customers' mobile numbers to be shared with Web sites they visit from their phones.

In a post on its own site, the network admitted that between January 10 and 2 p.m. today, customers' phone numbers could have been accessed by sites that don't belong to the network's roster of "trusted partners."

The problem was sparked by technical changes during routine maintenance that "had the unintended effect" of letting website owners see the digits of people accessing their site.

Read more of "O2 fixes phone number leak, explains muck-up&… Read more

Swapping out your SIM card on your iPhone 4S when you travel abroad is a good way to avoid expensive roaming charges. But whether you can do it, and on which carrier it's allowed, can be confusing.

In this edition of Ask Maggie I answer what should be a simple and straight-forward question about whether a Verizon Wireless iPhone 4S can be used overseas on a foreign carrier's network. I also offer some advice to another reader looking for voice-only service with a smartphone on T-Mobile's prepaid plans.

Confusion around unlocked iPhones

Hi Maggie, I love your … Read more

Zappos is urging its customers to change their passwords after an intruder gained unauthorized access to the online shoe retailer's servers.

Customers' names, e-mail addresses, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers, the last four digits of their credit card numbers, and their scrambled passwords may have been illegally accessed, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh said in a letter sent to the company's 24 million customers today. However, he said that "critical credit card data and other payment data was not affected or accessed."

The company has voided and reset customer passwords so that new ones can be … Read more

Internal Homeland Security documents describing specifications for border-crossing scanners, which emit gamma or X-ray radiation to probe vehicles and their occupants, are raising new health and privacy concerns, CNET has learned.

Even though a public outcry has prompted Homeland Security to move away from adding X-ray machines to airports--it purchased 300 body scanners last year that used alternative technology instead--it appears to be embracing them at U.S.-Mexico land border crossings as an efficient way to detect drugs, currency, and explosives.

A 63-page set of specifications (PDF), heavily redacted, obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center through the Freedom … Read more

LAS VEGAS--We've had positive dealings with custom PC maker Digital Storm over the last couple of years. Its first custom case design should help raise its profile in the high-priced world of boutique PC vendors.

Too many "custom" PC vendors simply grab off-the-shelf parts and sell them as their own computers. You can still get a decent desktop from those sellers, but I take a brighter view of companies that design a chassis to their own specifications. It's a sign that a vendor is truly committed to selling custom desktops. It also suggests an investment in mastering the thermal, material, and compositional specifics of the end product.

A custom chassis brings no guarantees, of course.… Read more

A bizarre attempt by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to seize the domain name of a hip-hop blog accused of copyright infringement ended today with the government abruptly abandoning the lawsuit.

Government officials initially trumpeted the seizure of the music blog, DaJaz1.com, and 81 others as an example of the law prevailing over pirates. Attorney General Eric Holder warned at the time that "intellectual property crimes are not victimless," and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director John Morton proclaimed that "today, we turn the tables on these Internet thieves."

The only problem? It … Read more

Those brought up in communism (in the Soviet or Cuban sense)--as well as those who have dealt with any nation's civil service--will tell you that logic is infinitely malleable.

So I was slightly less impressed by PayPal's apology for freezing an account that tried to raise money for needy children, than by its beautiful logic in first freezing the account.

Should you have missed this tale, PayPal shut down the account of a site called Regretsy because it tried to use PayPal's "donate" button to accept, well, donations.

Regretsy, knowing that if David had … Read more