Dilithium Crystalworks

Spamproofing Your Email Address Just Got Harder

If you're like me then probably for a long time you've used javascript to munge email addresses that you put on your websites in order to keep the spambots from being able to use them while keeping them readable and usually clickable for visitors.

All of that is changing however, thanks in large part to the fact that Google is now doing a lot more to parse javascript it finds on pages. While the javascript remains intact in cached copies of your site, When that javascript encoded email shows up in Google's results pages, it's been parsed back into the email address that the script was supposed to conceal. This means that it sheds it's cloaking faster than an obese person sheds pounds when they're taking the best fat burners they can find and exercising like mad. Thus your carefully protected email address is once again harvestable by spambots. All they need do is scour google search results for patterns that look like email addresses.

The answer is of course that it's time to change how you cloak the address. I've read that, for the time being anyway, email cloaking scripts that are contained in external .js files and used as an include have not been broken yet, although I can't help thinking that it's only a matter of time before Google & co. start processing those bits as well.

When that happens, about the only way I can think of to be able to display an email address will be to make a graphic image of it and use that instead of any code that contains the address. The problem with this is that while visitors will be able to read it, it won't be clickable or available by copy & paste. Besides that I have to wonder how long it's going to be before some enterprising young spammer decides to apply OCR to those images.

I guess time will tell.

In the meantime, I'd like to hear from readers what methods you are using to keep email addresses spam-proof and how effective you believe they are.

Technorati Tags: address munging, google, javascript, email, spam proofing methods, parsing scripts, spam proofing, decoding email addresses

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Posted in Blogging, Blogs, Business, Internet, Programming, opinion | No Comments »

Phone Spam

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If you're at all like me and most of the English speaking world, you hate telemarketer calls. They're annoying in the extreme and almost always seem to be timed for when you REALLY don't want to hear from some idiot selling something you don't want in the first place.

Well, over the last six months or so I've seen a marked increase in the number of these calls in spite of the fact that I'm on the "do not call" list. Then there's the latest craze.. robot callers that as soon as you answer the phone start up with an automated sales pitch. And of course, since it's automated, there's no way for you to talk back to them and tell 'em to stop calling you.

Another variation on this is automated calling systems being used by debt collection agencies. Many of them even have a bit in their automated spiel that says "If you are not {victim name}, please hang up. {pauses for a second} By staying on the line you are confirming that you are {victim name} ... " blah, blah, blah. What's really cute is that it'll do this even when it's obviously talking to an answering machine.

Recently I heard about a neat little tech gadget that helps with this problem called the Telezaper. I did some looking around and managed to find it on sale for $8.97 which is a great deal compared to it's normal $39.95 price tag.

This little gem plugs into the phone line between the wall jack and the phone, is battery powered so doesn't need external power. on all incoming calls it emits tones that signal to the computerized dialer that the number they called doesn't work. This causes the computer to hang up and drop your number from it's list for that calling run.

The long and short of it is that I'm seriously wanting to lay hands on one of these while the sale price is still good. Ending, or even just cutting down on the number, of these calls is something I'd really like to see happen.

Technorati Tags: telemarketers, debt collectors, unsolicited sales calls, unwanted calls

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Posted in Business, Electronics, Financial, Hardware, Misc, Phones, Tech, opinion | No Comments »

Visual Effects Done Cheaply

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After over a year of learning a lot of the ins and outs of video editing and visual effects I've decided that it's time to put this hard won knowledge to work. Therefore I am now offering visual effects editing services.

From several variations on teleporter and transporter effects to gunshot muzzle flashes, light saber sequences, chroma key and / or masking to replace existing backgrounds, CrazyTalk 5 standard facial animations and more.

For further details check out this blog post "Pimp Your Pic Or Video - Have Quality Special Visual Effects Added Cheaply"

Technorati Tags: lightsaber, alter background, transporter, special effects, video editing, muzzle flash, phaser, filmmaking, photo editing, video editing, explosion, home video, beaming

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Posted in Business, Video | No Comments »

Checking Out CrazyTalk 6

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Not long ago I got a copy of CrazyTalk 5 standard from Reallusion. It's a facial animation package that allows you to animate the face in any picture. So far I've found CrazyTalk 5 very useful in several videos I've made and I'll be using it more in the future. It was absolutely worth every cent and then some. I do wish that I could have gotten the PRO version but that was beyond my budget, perhaps someday ...

Recently I got the notification that CrazyTalk 6 had been released so naturally I had to check it out. Once I got it downloaded and installed I saw one problem. I should have looked at the system requirements before doing so. It's calling for much more powerful (as in dual core 2.6ghz or better) CPU, 2gb of memory and soon. I will say that it does run on my single core 1.6ghz Sempron but that poor CPU will need to spend a couple years with the Kettlebells if it's ever going to be able to run CrazyTalk 6 very smoothly.

Setting aside the hardware requirements issue, CrazyTalk 6 is definitely a serious step up. It's now able to handle multiple actors at once (up to four I believe) and there are a lot more control options both in the model setup and in creating and executing the script.

If you've got the hardware capable of it, CrazyTalk 6 is definitely the "go to" solution for doing any kind of facial animation. I know that as soon as I can manage to upgrade my hardware I'm absolutely going to be using the daylights out of it.

Technorati Tags: animation software, review, animate pictures, facial animation, crazytalk

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Posted in Computers, Hardware, Movies, Software, Video, opinion | No Comments »

Louisiana House Leads The Way Down Slippery Slope Of Internet Surcharge Tax

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The Louisiana House has proven that it's majority is composed of fatheads. I say this because the fifteen cents per month surcharge that they want to apply to Internet access in Louisiana is without doubt, a completely fatheaded idea. I think that what needs to be done is lay in a supply of nuphedra and get the fat burned out of their heads. Maybe then they'll admit what this really is, just another excuse to tax something and use the money foolishly.

In their efforts to bull this thing through they're waving that much overused flag of "protecting the children". Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of evil people doing some very evil things to children and they need to be stopped. However I also believe that this "problem" is being blown way out of proportion. Because it's such an emotional issue it's a banner that entirely too many have used to distract attention from things that would never have been allowed to pass if they'd been aired as separate issues of their own.

This "save the children" banner is being used to distract us from a lot of things that in the end add up to severing our basic rights like freedom of speech and privacy.

Fortunately it has not yet become law and there's at least a decent chance that it won't. WWLTV.com has an AP article that quotes Rep. Austin Badon, D-New Orleans who opposes the surcharge:

While White called it a usage fee, opponents called the charge a tax on Internet access. They also have questioned whether it would violate a federal law that prohibits states from taxing Internet services and would be challenged in court.

"Today it's Internet access. Tomorrow, what's it going to be? A subscription to DirecTV?" said Rep. Austin Badon, D-New Orleans.

All I can say is that I hope and pray that saner minds prevail and this tax is defeated. If not on the Louisiana Senate floor, then in the courts when it's struck down by the courts as violating federal law.

Technorati Tags: internet tax, internet surcharge, federal law, louisiana house, slippery slope

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Posted in Financial, Internet, Misc, News, opinion | No Comments »