[UPDATE 2 – Key File inside] – TL;DR – Accounting firm gets Cryptolocker Virus. Tech wipes the server to clean it because he has Carbonite backups. He can’t remember password to the privately managed encryption key file and can’t download the firms backup. Everything lost. : talesfromtechsupport.

Lessons learned.

1. Never trust a single point of failure.
2. Backups are only as good as the person maintaining them (see #1).
3. Never store critical information in only one spot (especially if it’s just your head).

Good grief.  This is the shittiest of the shitty situations.

Wow, so, long story short, when can we get rid of this jackass?  Clearly he’s in the pocket of some media company like TWC or Comcast.  Caps like what he’s proposing are so anti-consumer that it’s beyond ridiculous.

You don’t want cable data caps—but a former FCC chairman does | Ars Technica.

Just, seriously, go away dude.  You’re not welcome here.

Microsoft won’t make Office editing free on iOS/Android, so Google does | Ars Technica.

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In what I can only describe as the continuing downfall of Microsoft, we bring you more news from the mobile frontlines.  Microsoft has decided that in order to use the Office app on Android and iOS devices you must have an Office 365 subscription.  All I can say to this is: “Are you insane?”

People have been using Office since … well since it came out basically.  The idea that you’re going to force people to get Office 365 subscriptions (let’s not get started on the whole applications as subscriptions nonsense, because I can rave and rant about that for hours on end) is largely absurd.  That you’re requiring it to use the mobile app can only be described as moronic.

On the flip side of that coin, we now have Google and Apple, with what I will describe as a Nelson Muntz “Ha ha!”  (Image) attack on Microsoft.  QuickOffice is now a free application for iOS and Android devices.  Apple follows suit by making iWorks free with new iOS devices.  Great job guys!  This is what the open market is for.

Frankly, I am a little annoyed with how you add multiple accounts to QuickOffice on Android (tap the box where your picture would be, select  “Change Account”, sign in again, etc)and that lack of Dropbox/Box/Other File Host is very frustrating.  With those two gripes in mind, having access to any file on any of your Google Drive accounts is a great thing.  Having the ability to edit them on the fly (with minor loss of fidelity, as often happens with mobile editing of Office-created documents) is a great move.

Why Microsoft exec’s didn’t see this coming is beyond me.

Just another missed opportunity.  How unfortunate.

Confirmed: ChromeCast will be able to play local content, go ahead and order yours | Muktware.

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So…. Google changed the SDK either:

a) Knowing it would break Local Content Streaming

b) Not knowing it would break Local Content Streaming

I am not sure which is a scarier implication: Google knowing it’s code well enough to willingly break a key feature for a device or Google not knowing it’s code well enough to know it would break a key feature.  Let’s face it though: People don’t care about where they get the content, they just want the content.  If they can’t procure it legally due to a provider being an ass (seriously, I will gladly subscribe to Hulu or Netflix if I can get shows the day the come out and without ads) then people will pirate it and watch it locally.

Good grief, this is day 1 stuff people.

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Aside: “Yes, yes, we’ll let you watch content you have on your drives and networks, just give us money now and we’ll be sure to get that feature out for release.” Yeahuh, I’ve heard lines like that before.

Updated: GlassUp raised $100K on Indiegogo — but PayPal is refusing to pay up | VentureBeat.

New Info as of 9:00pm EST (Thanks Christopher Paine): TechCrunch Article

Original Post:

So yeah.  This is EXACTLY why I refuse to use Paypal for anything anymore.

They’re a backasswards company with no respect for customers.  Now, I’m not saying they’re in the wrong (as per their own policy, they’re following it to the letter, which is fine), but their policy is just fucking stupid.

And how about that as adding insult to injury, “Oh ok, here’s your account back, but it’s limited, so you can still get money given to you but you can’t withdraw it at all.  Fuck you.”.

Seriously people.  Fuck Paypal.  I know they’re practically the only game in town, but Amazon Payments and Google Wallet surely is preferable at this point.

I mean god damn.

Addendum:

Chris says I owe PayPal a little credit.  I don’t believe I do.  Their past record stands as a massive monument of how to fuck with the consumer.  It is apparent that had they not garnered any attention from the Internet as a whole, they’d probably still have this project’s money locked away in some coffer collecting interest for them.

I reiterate: Fuck PayPal.  They don’t care about you, your business, nor your brand.  They only want your money.