Chatbots Are At It Again

This post was deleted because Google flagged it for containing adult content (I had included the actual AI Chat transcript that occurred). So I deleted it and will give you a brief summary of what it contained without the inappropriate language the Chatbot was using. Basically, there was an AI Chatbot that randomly tried to contact a user to entice them to visit their webcam page or some other link where they can solicit the user for a subscription or payment for adult content. I am surprised that these AI Chatbots were allowed to roam freely on Google's chat platform in the first place. Anyways, it seems to have gone away over the past few years but I'm worried now that new AI Chat programs are becoming popular. I suspect that's why this blog post was just recently "flagged" because it must have become more highly searched. Note that the post was originally posted in 2014! (My edit is from March 2023). I will try to try to get Google to unflag this page now that I've erased the chatbot content (which was somewhat explicit as I wanted to show you what these AI chatbots are about). Let's see what happens!

Beware of Google Chatbots

You are checking your email on Google when suddenly a chat request from some unknown email address appears in your Google Chat listing. Curious, you accept the invitation, wondering if it is perhaps someone you know. The user's profile pic shows a somewhat provocative female, but unrevealing, and has no face to allow easy identification. The chat starts off with "What's Up" or "How Ya Doing". You reply "Do I know you?" and she quickly replies about how "lonely" she is and is looking to have some "fun". You decline with a "Sorry I'm not interested" and get bombarded with more replies and requests, increasingly of a sexually explicit nature, and inviting you to visit a webcam for more interaction.

As you ask her about how she got your email and repeatedly explain that you are not interested, you are met with more and more of what seem to be "canned" answers. You start to suspect something odd about the interaction. It soon becomes apparent that the other person is not interacting or understanding you at all. You, my friend, are another victim of a "Chatbot", a clever artificial-intelligence program designed to simulate human chat and which is spamming unsuspected Gmail user accounts.

In our increasingly interconnected social-network-based world, sites such as Google (which integrate chat functionality and other features into email) can be targeted by clever "bots" or computer programs which spam other random Gmail users to start chats. The chats appear to be designed to entice users to cam sites which then ask for money. Fortunately, it is easy to block and disable each individual bots. Once you realize what is happening, it is easy to recognize the signature profile information before even opening the chat (which typically has no personal detail, and shows a faceless but provocative female figure). However, there is currently no way to block all external chat requests (as far as I know) so if you get asked to add an unknown email address to your chat listing, simply ignore it.

On the other hand, you can also have some fun with these chatbots. Next time you get a chat request on Gmail from an unknown person, enter into a conversation and see how long it takes you to realize that you are speaking to a computer. Try to outwit the computer or discuss something that you believe only another human should know. Be polite, don't offend (just in case it is a real person - which is unlikely), but do get a first-hand experience of how sophisticated these newer chatbot algorithms can be. And maybe if you are really lonely, you may actually enjoy the interaction. But don't blame me if you end up getting spammed more and more!

Easy iPhone 5 File & Music Transfer

I'm a long-time BlackBerry and Windows PC user and wanted to simulate the experience of managing all kinds of files easily on my newly received iPhone 5c, without the need for using iTunes at all and without any physical connection to my computer. I found an easy way to do what I needed without any Jailbreak, just trying out various apps.... I narrowed it down to 2 free apps that handle what I need (MyMedia and Remote Files Free). I wanted to share it with others who need some of this extra functionality in an easy way. See the video above, and read on below to see how it works!

HOW IT WORKS:

I want to be able to copy music, documents, photos, PDF files and everything else I can imagine from my Windows PC to the iPhone, and back. The Remote Files Free app connects to a Windows Network share drive. As long as both devices are on the same WiFi connection, you can link... The addresses are all local 192.168.x.x format. The iPhone sees your PC folder and you can move files around. When you copy them to your iPhone, they end up in the "local" app's file store. If you have music, you can upload entire folders and organize tracks. When you play a song, it will play the entire folder if you want so the folder structure becomes your playlist. If you want to copy stuff from your iPhone to the PC, you can do the same thing to transfer files the other way.

The other feature I needed was the ability to download and save practically any file format on the web to the iPhone, either to review later, share or email, or transfer to my computer. I found a free app called MyMedia which has a browser modification allowing download. In the video I used an MP3 download site as an example, but you can do the same with PDF files, documents, photos, videos, or anything you want. When it downloads the file, it saves it to the MyMedia app's file store. 

So here is the kicker... In MyMedia you can "Open in Other Apps", and you pick "Remote Files Free" (RFF)... when that happens, the file gets copied to the root file store of RFF as well. I usually delete it from the MyMedia app, and use the RFF app to organize my files, and also copy if needed to my Windows PC. This is good because I can also email or share the files. I was used to being able to do all this on my BlackBerry effortlessly and one of the things that frustrated me on iPhone was the lack of a central file-store with all of these options. Hopefully people will find this combination of free apps useful for this.... I am sure there are paid apps which do everything (both functions) and jailbreaking options which do even more. However, for someone who just wants an easy way to add this basic feature, this seemed a good way.

Instagram v4.1.2 with Video running on BlackBerry 10.2

Instagram runs fairly well as an Android port, and thanks to many resourceful people in the hacking community, it is possibly to fairly easily bring this app to your device. However, I do not wish to promote piracy. Instagram has reasons for not releasing the app for BlackBerry, and nobody seems to know why. However, for testing purposes only you can do the same thing as you see in the video above. The usual disclaimer applies - not responsible for bricking your device. Having said that, many people have done this without problems.

Get the Unlocked Android Runtime from this thread here:

Berryleaks Presents Unlocked Android Runtime

Get Instagram here:

Instagram Android BAR

Get the Sideloading tool here:

Sideloading Tool

Learn how to do it by reading the guide here:

Sideloading Guide

Amazon Gift Cards... Argh!

I recently received a $25 gift card for Amazon. I managed to spend it already, but I think it is important to share my experience for those of you who may be thinking of buying gift cards this holiday season, especially for friends and relatives in other countries.

I don't want to complain too much, considering I got the $25 gift card rather easily (for filling out a survey online). And also, thank you to the company who conducted the survey for the nice gift (they were seeking information from app developers on their experience with certain platforms and SDK's).

So what's the scoop?

Well I found out rather surprisingly that Amazon gift cards can only be used on the originating site to which they were purchased. This completely screws anyone who lives in a different country. I live in Canada (which has Amazon.ca), but my gift card was bought from Amazon.com (USA).

For example, in my case the gift card was purchased by the company on Amazon.com (USA). When I tried to type in the code on Amazon.ca (Canada), it would not accept it. Ok, so I logged into Amazon.com using my Canadian (Amazon.ca) account username and password and was able to add the funds to my account. Great. However, it was NOT added to my Amazon.ca account. It was added to Amazon.com. Yet I was able to log in to both accounts using the same username and password. Huh?

Independent Entities? B.S.!

I contacted Amazon support to try and understand. Apparently, each Amazon is a different entity. I was under the assumption that $25 US would just be CONVERTED to whatever currency you are paying with, and could use ANY Amazon site around the world.... US, Canada, UK, and others... what is the difference? Why can the gift card not just be redeemed at the current exchange rate on any of the Amazon sites around the world?

The reason this becomes an issue is mostly with people who have relatives and friends around the world and want to gift them some Amazon goodness. You may be giving them a gift card which is prohibitively expensive to actually redeem. I will give you an example from my case.

I searched for items on Amazon.ca and found books for approximately the same price as the Amazon.com counterpart. Great. So what is the big deal? Well remember, Amazon also has independent sellers from which you can buy new or used items. They set approximate shipping costs based on location. It turns out that standard shipping costs are calculated very differently once they go across the border. Canadian shipping from a Canadian seller is much less expensive than buying the item from a US seller.

When you are on Amazon.com, anything that is intended to cross the border over to Canada is going to fall under "international shipping" rates, rather than "domestic".... and Amazon.com will show US sellers for the most part. To get Canadian sellers who consider shipping to Canada as "domestic" shipping and save yourself a bundle, you will need to search on Amazon.ca. But you then can't use your gift card because it is only showing up on the Amazon.com site! Argh!

Here is an example:

Amazon.COM

Search for "Raspberry Pi User Guide" on Amazon.com to find sellers who are giving new copies of the book for about $11. It will then cost about $3.99 to ship domestically within the US (4-14 days). If you are in Canada, you will be forced to pay "International Standard" rates with the shipping fee that more than quadruples to $16.95 and can take 3-6 weeks ("International Expedited" 3-7 days is $44.95)!

Amazon.CA

Search for "Raspberry Pi User Guide" on Amazon.ca to find it for about $10 new from some sellers. The shipping of $6.49 domestically within Canada (4-14 days) is much less than the Amazon.com international shipping rates.

So the choices are...if I buy the book from Amazon.COM but have it sent to me in Canada, it costs me around $11+17 = $28 (and wait 3-6 weeks) versus Amazon.CA where it costs me $10+6.50 = $16.50 (1-2 weeks). Alternatively, buying from Amazon.COM and sending to USA would be $11+4=$15. The choices are $28 (US to Canada and use Gift Card), $16.50 (Canada to Canada but can't use the Gift Card) or $15 (US to US and use Gift Card).

 

So what did I do?

At the end of the day, the last choice made the most sense. Pay $15, get to use my gift card, and have it shipped to family in the USA who will be coming soon to visit me anyways and bring me the book. If that was not an option, I would have just paid $16.50 and saved the gift card for another occasion. But there is no way I would pay almost double....$28... simply to cash out my gift card. 

I told this to Amazon but I doubt they care or would listen. However, be warned... DO NOT PURCHASE Gift Cards, especially if you are gifting to people in other countries! Amazon Gift Cards do not currently transfer or convert to other countries/currencies.

Hydrim L110W CF14 Flow Switch Error

I have a Hydrim instrument washer (Hydrim L110W from SciCan) which has been experiencing a CF14 flow switch error. For those of you unfamiliar with this equipment, it is a professional washer that uses a special liquid soap and heated water to cleanse operatory equipment. It is essentially a "super dishwasher".

The washer pumps special liquid detergent at certain times of the wash cycle into the machine. There are some sensors that check whether or not this process is successful, just in case you run out of soap or if there is a fault in the pump (which is a peristaltic type). The main sensor involved with the "CF14 flow switch error" is a flow switch made by Gentech, model FCS-X008A. Some examples can be found on this Gentech Sensors page.

The most disappointing part of all this is the machine is relatively new, only 4 years old. For the cost of this machine, I would have expected at least a 5 year warranty, but it only comes with a 1 year. This is a disgrace for the industry, in my opinion. In any case, SciCan itself will not directly sell end-users parts and everything in Canada must be done through a few oligopolistic dental supply companies. Fortunately, suppliers in the USA or other countries will be happy to provide servicing information and parts. A great deal of information can be found in this Service Manual as well as on this SciCan Parts Document (pages 98-112).

To complicate matters, a flow switch error may also indicate the actual flow is weak due to the pump or tubing. Use of a peristaltic pump means wear and tear on the tubing inside the pump, which may need to be replaced periodically. The above Parts Document PDF shows a preventative maintenance kit which comes with most of the parts that need periodic replacement. However, sometimes the flow switch is simply "stuck" and when the microprocessor is listening to the sensor during the dose pumping period, it may get a faulty reading. The way the sensor works is when there is no flow, it reads infinite resistance (open switch). When fluid flows, it slides a small plastic segment containing a magnet to another position, resulting in the switch closing (resistance becomes close to zero).

So why does a 4 year old flow switch stick already? Turns out there is a small rubber stopper covering over the end of the magnet inside the plastic segment. The flow switch is mounted vertically, with fluid flowing up against gravity. When there is no flow, the inner plastic segment with magnet and rubber stopper is resting in the down position (gravity pulls it down over an opening). The rubber gets "sticky" as it deteriorates, perhaps accelerated due to the detergent. It causes the switch to stick in the down position. Normally when the pump starts, the flow should raise the plastic segment with the magnet up against gravity, "closing" the switch (resistance becomes zero) which notifies the microprocessor that flow is indeed occurring. If this does not happen, a CF14 error occurs.

I think this is a design flaw, especially for this application. The use of a rubber stopper over the magnet to "seal" against back-flow in the flow switch is not needed. The peristaltic pump itself should provide enough resistance to resist back-flow. At least a better, more-resistant material should have been used to cover the magnet that would not deteriorate and crumble over time. I also believe this flow switch is not designed to be used with detergent, only clean water. I will find out shortly as I have contacted Gentech to see if this is the appropriate sensor for this application. In my experience with other equipment, both electronic and mechanical, it is often these "little things" which are over-looked that cause most failures.

For example, take a look at this Brother Printer Unable 32 error, which happened to my Brother 4040CDN printer. The linked document shows how a bit of foam material over a shutter used to cover a sensor can cause it to stick after a few years, messing up a sensor that is used to read toner density and distribution. That piece of foam sticking, which costs a fraction of a cent, will completely shut down your printer. Unless you "dive in" to try to fix it yourself (assuming you find the problem and solution), you would probably spend tons of money trying to fix it. Searching Brother's website for this error provides nothing useful. In fact, the above document is the ONLY one I ever found that actually gets to the heart of the problem and which fixes it, and it was NOT created by Brother (who would prefer to have you throw out your printer and buy a new one). Unfortunately it requires dismantling most of the back end of your printer, just to put a bit of tape over the foam so it is not as sticky. But this is a perfect example of how a silly "less than a penny" material can completely bring an expensive piece of equipment to it's knees (like the tiny rubber stopper on the Hydrim flow switch).

Hitachi V-1565 Goodness

After watching EEVBlog's Dave Jones "Drive Time Rant" regarding buying a real analog oscilloscope, and then his follow-up video on how easy it is to find a good one on eBay for about $50, I took up his words of advice and landed myself a Hitachi V-1565 100Mhz scope and a JDR 2000 20Mhz scope. Both were a bargain, but the Hitachi really made my heart sing. I've started playing with it and have posted a few videos below showing some basic functions that I'm figuring out as I learn how to use it. Enjoy!

Hitachi V-1565 Cursor Usage with Gabotronics AWG

 

 

Using A/B Timebase options on Hitachi V-1565