Technology: August 2006 Archives
I joined the Google Adsense program before I started using GMail. As a result of this, I have to logins for Google's services: the old e-mail for AdSense and my Gmail account for using all other Google service.
I was fed-up with this situation, so I decided to look at the AdSense help pages for instruction on how to combine my two accounts. I found the following:
Right now, it isn't possible for AdSense publishers to update their email address directly from within their account. If you require an update of the email address associated with your AdSense account, please follow the instructions below to help us assist you.
- Draft a new email. If possible, please use the email address currently associated with your AdSense account
- Write 'Login change request' as the subject of your message
- Please include all of the following in the body of your message:
- The email address currently associated with your account
- The email address you'd like to use as your new account email address
- The date of the first day your account registered AdSense impressions
- The number of page impressions registered on your first day of impressions
- Send this email to adsense-support@google.com
I collected all the necessary information, and requested a change to my Gmail account. This was their reply:
Unfortunately, I'm not able to update your AdSense login to a Google Account or a Gmail address because our system doesn't support this type of change at the moment. I sincerely apologize for the trouble this causes you, and I thank you for bearing with us as we work hard to extend this option to AdSense publishers in the future.
I can, however, update your AdSense login to a non-Gmail address if you prefer. You can simply reply to this email, providing the desired email address in the body of your response, and I'll take care of your request as soon as I'm able.
WTF?! Google does not have the possibility to merge accounts???? If I sign up with Yahoo! I can use that e-mail account for AdWords, but I can't use a GMail account? Great way to send customers to the competition! They've got some work to do then, since all those acquisitions they make will only bring more people like me with double accounts. It cannot be that hard, right?
Yes, the 43 Folders podcast is my favourite podcast. There are a few reasons why I consider it my favourite. Besides the obvious reasons such as "Merlin Mann is a geek like me", and "I am obsessed with productivity tools" there is another difference between the 43 Folders podcast and 99% of all the other podcasts out there.
I am happy to say that I rarely receive spam. But today a message slipped though my defence lines using a tactic I did not see before: they sent me a simple, innocent message with a Word file attached.
In my curiosity I opened the invoice.doc attachment, and was greeted with "Back2School Software":
Apparently the current generation of spam filters has gotten to the level where the only spam getting through are unreadable V1^Gr^ messages, and they are desperately looking for new ways to get their message across. Though probably many people that otherwise would read the e-mail won't open the Word document, the possibilities to create a readable message makes this a viable spam method. As far as I know, few spam filters look at the contents of attachments, but that is about to change.
At the moment the spammers are once again one step beyond the filters...
[Update 2006.08.14]: More and more bloggers report the same problem, and several experts discuss on how to scan Office attachments for spammy messages.
After reading the lifehacker desktop blog editor comparison I decided to give performancing for Firefox a try. I am a happy user of Ecto (number three in the comparison), but the performancing editor has WYSIWYG functionality, as well as Technorati and del.icio.us integration.
So I installed the plugin, and am now writing the first post in my new editor. So far I like it. It is easy to use, and it has more than enough functionality.
