June 17, 2005
Bedraggled Bobster discovers blind dates and bad diets
Bank data takes flight, Adobe is contrite
Recommend ThisSo I had lunch with the social-networking diva last week. She’s on a diet where she only eats foods beginning with the letter Q. Looks like I may be eating a lot of quiche, quesadillas, and Quaker Oats -- she’s darned qute.
Citi Ain’t Pretty: Citibank’s CitiFinancial division dropped backup tapes containing nearly 4 million customer records in UPS six weeks ago and hasn’t seen them since. Oops. Naturally, the bank’s IT staff didn’t bother to encrypt the backup data before shipping it off. I think the technical term for that maneuver is "nincompoopery." But heck, they’re just the world’s largest bank. Why should they know anything about security?
Adobe Says It’s Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry: It seems somebody at Adobe got his finger stuck on the Send button. After sending out duplicate e-mail confirmations to its customers, Adobe emailed an apology for sending the dupes -- and then another, and another, and another. Cringe fan Sean H. says he received a total of 68 before Adobe pulled the plug. The company says the problem was caused by an e-mail server glitch and apologized (but only once, this time) for the inconvenience.
Amateur Hour: When Arthur H. tried to fill out a Microsoft survey for "IT professionals and software developers," he was asked if he worked for a company that designs or develops software. When Arthur answered Yes, he was politely booted from the survey. Apparently Microsoft is only interested in the opinions of amateur developers. That certainly explains a lot.
Getting the Last Word: Maybe it’s my deadly wit, or maybe this column is starting to emit a corporeal aroma, but I just got spammed for a book on how to write a memorable eulogy. For just $6 you can learn how to send off your friends and loved ones in style (me, I always like to start with a joke). There’s even room for funeral homes to place their logo on the cover. This lugubrious little tome was written by motivational speaker Cathy Weber-Zunker. I understand people are dying to hear her speak.
Got hot tips or recipes for quail? Send them to cringe@infoworld.com and you may receive a snazzy tote bag in return.
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