Showing posts with label warning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label warning. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

It's not the Instagram Envy Effect, it's YOU!

I read an article here about the envy effect of Instagram. Honestly, I never even knew that this Instagram envy existed, but I'm not surprised to find out it does.

I agree with the article for the most part, but there are some things that I feel needs to be said. Hence, this post.

It's okay to be envious. Envy is a basic, natural emotion. And it's good that you experience envy because (1) it shows that you are still in touch with this far-from-ideal reality, and (2) it shows you what you need/want in your life. It means that you are not living in your own perfect world but grounded in reality that there are things that you need/want that still don't have until now.

Typically, you don't just get envious randomly. You get envious of some thing because that thing is one of your wants and/or needs. So in a way, your envy is your compass to what you want/need. This realization is always the first step to get yourself out of the gutters that is envy.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Heads up: Risk for postpaid subscribers

Just a heads up.

For Singapore postpaid subscribers, there maybe a few things that you're provider did not mention to you. One of which is that your number is publicly distributed in the yellowpages. To test it out, go to the Internet Yellow Pages - Singapore (http://www.yellowpages.com.sg/), click on "Find A Person", and search for the name. Chances are, you will see the contact number as well as the home address with map.

This can -- and probably will -- be used by agents or whatever you want to call them who will contact you for whatever reason. Just last week, my colleague was contacted by a "Windows support agent" saying that his windows laptop/PC has downloaded a virus. (Yeah right. As if Microsoft would spend time and manpower to track down each and every Windows user.) The agent was doing everything he can to convince him of the importance and urgency of this "issue". Just one problem: my colleague does not have Windows; he's all MAC. When he mentioned that, the agent immediately dropped the call.

My other colleague had a similar problem. He went along with the agent just to see what kind of info the agent was looking for. He confirmed later that the agent was asking for some financial stuff -- credit card numbers etc. Just for the heck of it, he shouted back at the agent and threatened to sue him. Agent abruptly hanged up. :))

They have since then contacted their providers, got new phone numbers and specifically asked for their numbers to remain private. Both of them are postpaid Starhub subscribers. So far, I haven't seen or heard of any SingTel postpaid subscribers who have experienced this.

This is a bit of a security risk so regardless of your country, location, or service provider, you may want to check with your provider to confirm. Or at least make it slightly more difficult for scammers to find you.