"A meek endeavor to the triumph" by Sampath Jayarathna

Friday, August 24, 2012

Amex extended warranty - Amex the best credit card ever!

My first experience with any of the extended warranties from credit cards. I brought a Canon printer from Walmart (online) with their site-to-store option which cost me about $32. I guess after 1 year, the printer started breaking, there was something wrong with the head unit and my printouts are slightly slanted with some fade marks on the corners of the printout. Still the photocopy/scan options work though.

I'm using my Amex card for most of my online purchases, because of its outstanding reward options. I normally get 5% cash back from money spend on grocery, gas and medicines and 1% in anywhere else. And also I know they have an extended warranty program which normally covers upto 1 year of manufacturers warranty if your purchase suddenly malfunction or the manufactures doesn't take the returns. Normally Walmart is pretty good with return policy and you can always return your product within 3 months for a full refund, even without a receipt.

So, I had a chance to test out the extended warranty of Amex when my printer starts bad last week. I thought its going to be a lengthy process with calling to an amex agent and submitting my receipts etc. I was pleasingly suprised how easy it was, I had to submit a single online form which asked about the device, the problem, buy date, amount and manufacturer's warranty.  So, I did that and thought I'm gonna get a call later with all sort of questions why/how/when and probably need to submit some sort of paper work before it is processed and most probably its gonna be a declined claim.

I just checked my Amex account, surprise, surprise..there is a $32 benefits payment in my account from the approved Amex extended warranty.

I'm definitely gonna recommend the Amex credit card to everyone!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Quotes:

friEND
girlfriEND
boyfriEND
bestfriEND

Everything has an ...END.....except,

famILY....which has ILY = I Love You!


Thursday, August 09, 2012

Been There

This is a running list of places I have been to in the United States and around the world. No particular order or date.

North America
  • Texas
    Austin, Bryan/College Station, Corpus Christi, Houston, Laredo, San Antonio, San Marcos 
  • Mexico
    Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo  
  • Washington
    Seattle, Redmond
Europe
  • Italy
    Catania, Milan, Verona, Venice
  • France
    Paris
  • UK
    London, Becontree
Asia
  • Sri Lanka (most places except northern part) 

Suddenlink Monthly Usage Allowance (Data Cap) - FAQ

How can someone monitor usage or change my future notification options?

Most Suddenlink customers already have access to an online usage summary that is updated daily. If that summary is available in your area, it can be found by logging in to your online account at Suddenlink.net, choosing "My Account," and then choosing "My Internet Usage Summary." If you do not yet have an online account with suddenlink, visit Suddenlink.net; follow the registration instructions provided there; and then, when complete, choose "My Internet Usage Summary."  You need the pin and account number to create your online account. To view, click on My Suddenlink > My Account > My Internet Usage Summary. If you do not see a link to "My Internet Usage Summary," it means it is not yet introduced this resource in your area. Importantly, Suddenlink will not apply allowances to any Internet account until the online usage summary is available. Finally, where the usage summary is available and a monthly allowance has been established for residential Internet accounts, those customers can – after receiving their first overage notification – change their future notification options by visiting their Internet usage summary page.

Will un-used gigabytes roll over to the next month, like un-used cell phone minutes? 
Not at this time. Usage allowances are reset each month, for each billing period.

What happens if I'm one of the few who exceeds the monthly allowance?
After you are notified that a monthly allowance has been applied to your account, the following steps will be taken for the very few who go over their allowance:
After the first overage, the customer's Web browser will be directed to a Suddenlink notification page. The customer will be required to read that page, select how he or she wants to receive future notifications (by Web browser or email), enter the account number, and then save the information.
From that point forward, future notifications on this subject will be sent each time an account reaches 80% of its monthly allowance and again when it exceeds 100%. Those notifications will be delivered through the means selected on the first overage, unless customers change their notification preference by visiting their Internet usage summary page at Suddenlink.net.
Customer accounts will not be billed for exceeding their monthly allowance until the third overage. On the third and subsequent overages, the monthly allowance will be increased in installments of 50 GB at a cost of $10 per installment.

If the maximum advertised download speed is...
Less than 10 Mbps
150 GB  Cap

10 to 30 Mbps
250 GB  Cap

Greater than 30 Mbps
350 GB  Cap

Read mroe at : Frequently Asked Questions: Suddenlink Data Cap




Friday, August 03, 2012

How to stop email notification "You requested a new Facebook password"

Lately I was getting at least couple of these notifications "You requested a new Facebook password" and sometimes more than ten email notifications per day. Also I guess because I have couple of emails associated with my account, this each notification get forwarded to all of my email accounts.



I think this is another way of spamming these days, and you need to be cautious dealing with these and most probably these are some of newer ways to steal your account information or to take you to some phishing sites.

Facebook for Dummies By Abram, Carolyn/ Pearlman, Leah (Google Affiliate Ad)

I remember some of similar phishing attacks,
1. You get an email from (or similar to) your bank saying that you need to change your password for security  purposes. If you respond with your account details (most probably with the form given with email), somebody else is getting this or it will take you to a phishing site. Always remember to check the email address and the URL (whether the additional s like in https:\\ whether this is a secure transaction).
2. You get an email from someone who wants to transfer millions/billions of dollars worth of money or gold or some hidden treasure. If you initiate any discussion, they will ask you some money for initial processing or some paper work. Same thing with big lottery win notifications. Be cautious, no body going to give you a free money unless this is one of your own relatives :)

Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook By Hasday, Judy L. (Google Affiliate Ad)

OK, back to Facebook notification. What is this and should we do something about it? Again, be careful when you responding to even official emails from facebook. There may be a catch somewhere. This is just my opinion, but if you have some other information different from what I suspect here, please do reply.

The email notification is seems to originate from facebook and seems legit,

Hi Sampath,

You recently asked to reset your Facebook password. To complete your request, please follow this link:

https://www.facebook.com/recover.php?.........................

Alternately, you may go to https://www.facebook.com/recover.php and enter the following password reset code:

 xxxxxxx 
Please note: for your protection, this email has been sent to all the email addresses associated with your Facebook account.

*Didn't Request This Change?*
If you did not request a new password, let us know at:

https://www.facebook.com/login/recover/disavow_reset_email.php?........

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

OK, here's what I think what is this. Your facebook account associated emails and publicly visible, anybody can record one and try to modify your password. But for any password change to work, you need to click the given url or enter the password reset code at facebook. But what is the catch here, if you do one of above, you don't know the password but somebody else now knows both your user account login email and password. Now he owns your facebook account. Done deal!.

Facebook for Grown-Ups by Miller, Michael [Paperback] (Google Affiliate Ad)

If this is not what I'm suspecting, it may be a phishing email, and eventually take you to some bogus site. I don't want to click and check, so be my guest if you want to check and let me know :)

Now the real problem, you know that you didn't initiate the change of password or how to avoid getting these emails or avoid anybody trying to modify your password in the first place. Simple, just change your email visibility in facebook account. Here's how to do that.

If you have new facebook timeline, just click on your profile and then click "Update Info" right under your cover picture. Then goto Contact Details and click Edit. Now you can see all your email addresses and then the visibility options. Change each emails to "Only Me" or "Friends". I advice your to make it "Only Me", because even friends (you think) can trick you (may be your Ex-)  to take control your account.  Also remember to hid emails from your timeline. If your real friends want to contact you, then they should know how to find you, so no worries!

The Facebook Guide for People Over 50 By McFedries, Paul (Google Affiliate Ad)

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Large collection of Free Microsoft eBooks for you!



Large collection of Free Microsoft eBooks for you, including: SharePoint, Visual Studio, Windows Phone, Windows 8, Office 365, Office 2010, SQL Server 2012, Azure, and more,



Microsoft SMS&P Partner Community Blog - By Eric Ligman