API

Paid ReviewMe Post: Phone Spam Filter

These days a controversial company RevieMe.com became downright unethical - they make it abundantly clear that they became a link purchasing company. On the other hand Phone Spam Filter is a site I don't mind sharing Google juice with, so it's a quick and fun way to add a 50 bucks to my Kindle fund. Here's my review:

The goal of this site is pretty simple: Phone Spam Filter is asking you to snitch on telemarketers. You search for a phone number that you received a marketing call from and then complain about it. Besides getting a little relief from venting at the phone spammers, you get a bit of satisfaction from knowing that you added them to a blacklist. Nothing good can come out of this for the dinner-interrupting bastards. Meanwhile it's a good place to find out if mysterious phone numbers that show up on your phone are from run of the mill telemarketers or not.

The even cooler thing is that they have an API that can help you block calls from this blacklist if you have an Asterisk PBX or are willing to install some Windows software and have a modem connected to a phone line. While Asterisk is pretty awesome, running Windows and having a modem connected to a phone line is a horrible idea these days - there are dozens of viruses that want nothing more than make a few 1-900 phonecalls. In the future Phone Spam Filter guys are hoping to add integration with VOIP providers.

The Phonespamfilter technology is not as cool as JWZ-endorsed audio-cock technology ("their computer's speakers should create some sort of cock-shaped soundwave and plunge it repeatedly through their skulls"), but I guess it's a start.

They also have sites in Australia, New Zealand, France, and UK

Link Love 1

Stack Overflow: What do programmers listen to when they write code?

The best note taking tool in the world, Evernote, finally released an API. I really, really love Evernote.

Jesse Reklaw has a new Slow Wave book, The Night of Your Life, out. You can get signed copies from Slow Wave website or buy them at Amazon. Slow Wave is in the top 5 of my favorite comics, and Jesse drew the cat and programmer graphic used in the masthead of my site.

For some reason, my former co-worker Sean posts more New York City photos than I do these days.


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Unpaid ads:

Learn about business at FastCompany and Inc magazines.

Stackoverflow is the most addictive developer's resource. Go check it out now! I use it myself, and I got to tell ya, they don't call it "crack overflow" for nothing.

Joel helped me find my current job. Check out the Joel on Software job board if you are not happy with yours.

WestNIC provides reliable reseller hosting services across the globe.

Evernote is the best code, memo, photo, todo, wishlist application I've ever used. Mad props for making Memex real.

A group of excellent web developers

More Unpaid Ads:

Jesse Reklaw's Slow Wave comics absolutely rock!. Jesse designed Deadprogrammer.com corner graphic, the one with the programmer and the cat. And now you can buy his new book - The Night of Your life:

Dust and Rust - a pretty good New York photoblog.



What's All this Then?

My name is Michael Krakovskiy, and this is my blog.

Here's what you might find interesting:
100 Views of the Empire State Building project: I try to take 100 interesting photos of Manhattan's (sadly) tallest building.

My Gastronomic Adventures: I eat weird food - from 13 year old New Coke to Durian and parasitic fungi.

My attempts to grow exotic plants: pineapples, coconuts, etc.

My photos, mostly of New York City.

My musings about architecture mostly illustrated with my own photos. Would you like to learn about a mental patient who died at 103 who served as a model for some very famous sculptures? How about Brooklyn's ugliest building? How about a wooden skyscraper?

I find myself frequently writing about logos. The most popular article I ever wrote is about the redesigns of the Starbucks logo.

I wrote a series of "Best Sci-Fi You Haven't Read" posts:

Psywarrior
Yes, Virginia There Is Synergy
Call Time Police - We've Got a Time Traveler

Other topics that interest me include NYPD, New York City subway system, Japan, and things made out of titanium. On top of all of that, I seem to be interested in pigeions and Rupert Murdoch.

Dear reader, please browse around. You are sure to find something interesting. I could really use some help in bringing in readership: subscribe to the rss feed, digg the stories (there's a convenient button at the bottom of every article), link to my blog from yours, write some comments. I put in a lot of effort into writing, and I really appreciate your attention.

If you don't want all this pseudo-intellectual bullshit and want some lolcats? Please don't go away. Here, I have that stuff too. Here, here's another. And another. And another. I lied about not posting cat pictures.

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