Technology

Technology Information, Gadgets, and Experiences

Spam, Spam and More Spam

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

No not the luncheon meat, but hackers. People wanting to get a hold of your data to cause you harm.

Occasionally, I looked through my junk mail and report the spammer. Today, there was one spammer that announced from the very first word they were a spammer. Here is the heading of the email.

Do you see the problem with it? Okay, I did highlight it. Amazon never ever refers to anyone as “Dear”. They are always blunt and to the point. Also, that red exclamation mark is another indicator. I did open the email (shame on me) to see how many times the spammer announced they were a spammer.

  1. My name is not SARAHCATH.
  2. What is “Command n & deg”? – probably something they forgot to program.
  3. Appears they can not type in Mixed Case.
  4. Oh, what is up with that date “Today , 2023.04.02 -“
  5. “Your commands” – missed something else in the program.

This was my giggle for the day. Giggle, giggle, giggle.

Seriously, the majority of my junk mail is from spammers. A small percent is actually from businesses I have contacted in the past. Below are just a few of the emails I have received from spammers.

How do I know they are spam without even opening the emails?

  1. Most of the companies listed I have never done business with.
  2. Again, my name is not SarahCath
  3. If is highlighted it is spam.
  4. If it has a cute little character or text, treat it like spam.
  5. Ad Partner – spam – someone pretending to be someone else.

You may wonder why I consider the apparent email from Paypal and Microsoft Account Team to be spam. Simple explanation; Paypal is not affiliated with this account. Now, the Microsoft look legit, however…

I have two-factor identification setup on my Microsoft account. But, I wanted more security on this account, so I set up the Microsoft Authenticator. It will notify me anytime someone tries to log onto my account, and I can deny their access. I can approve my access, if I am trying to log into the account from a different device. I no longer receive these emails from Microsoft, and if I did it would go directly to my inbox.

During the last week, there has been 14 attempts, from all over the world, to sign into my Microsoft account. They were all stopped from the start because they were attempting to use a very, very old password.

Broken – Outlook – Needs Emergency Fix

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

I have multiple email accounts. I use one, Outlook, for shopping. Why, because I can use the safe sender list to block most emails from getting to my inbox. Currently, in my Outlook Junk Mailbox, I had over 3200 emails in the Junk folder. Approximately, every 98 out of 100 emails in this box are from spammers.

This morning I woke up to numerous notifications on my phone. I did not see these notifications over night because I have “Do Not Disturb” active on my phone. But once the Do Not Disturb expired the beeping started. My Junk Mail was being routed to my Inbox.

This is a Microsoft Outlook problem. An update broke the Junk Mail routing. I don’t know what they were trying to fix, but now everyone who uses Outlook should be on guard, because Spammers and Hackers are rejoicing this morning. Their email is no longer being routed to Junk Mail and they are reaching more potential victims.

Now it is time to take precautions:

First, if you are sick of the notifications – Turn them off. On most devices you can find Notification under Settings.

Second, don’t open any email that are not from a friend, colleague, or a business where you signed up to receive emails. My security system blocked an URL this morning, because I opened an email that attempted cause havoc. Here are a few examples of Spam emails:

  • If it has Affiliate in the title.
  • If it has Associate in the title
  • If it has Gift Card in the title
  • Renewable by Anderson
  • Back Pain
  • AARP
  • ADT
  • You Won

Third, if you really want the special offer in an Email. Do not click on any links in the email (ever), go directly to company’s site and get the offer directly from their site. If the offer is not on their site, it is probably not a legit offer. Community Coffee is really good about sending emails about their offers. When I go to their site, the same exact offer is published on the top of their page.

Fourth, report the offending emails as phishing. I really hope the technology companies or working on stopping Spammers. I tracked a spammer down to a mailbox in Las Vegas. If I can do that, why can’t the tech companies?

Tinkercad Contest and more…

/ Sarah Collins / 2 Comments

To support all the tinkers that hosted contests during this holiday season and Tinkercad’s TinkerTogether, I created the following designs:

TinkerTogether Design Challenge #25: Winter

Snowcones for Sell

Snow Cones for Sell: In this design we have two snowman selling snow cones to a few reindeer. If you look closely at the ground, it appears that Santa Sled has been through. The hats, the reindeer and the candy cane are available in Tinkercad’s Shape Menu.

Take a close look at the trees, what do you see?

Create an Ugly Christmas Sweater: I used the template provided.

Contest: Design an Ornament – I could have created a typical ball ornament, but I wanted something that looked fragile. Do you see the snowflake inside?

Contest: Create a Gingerbread House – I created a Gingerbread Fairy House. The roof of the house is a candy strawberry, and the path is lined with candy canes and gum drops.

Contest: Create a Log Cabin using the TinkerLogs created by HLModTech – I created a TinkerLog Church. The building and most of the items, including the trees, were created using the TinkerLogs that HLModTech created. I kept the width and height of the TinkerLogs, and only change the length.

TinkerTogether Design Challenge #26 – Party: For this challenge, I created a Bouncy Castle and Balloon Animals. Can there be a party without these items?

Contest: Create a Christmas Plushie – my contest entry was me. For years, I had a certain way of creating a stick figure of me. I decided for this contest I would create a Plushie of Me. Notice the Santa Hat, it came out looking pretty awesome.

You can see all these items in 3D view from my profile or clicking the links above: SarahCath

Merry Christmas 2022

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

Merry Christmas from Sarah, or Sarahcath, as I use it a lot for my handle. Link: Merry Christmas 2022. For all the Tinkercad users; both past, present, and future; I created a Christmas 2022 scene with a tree, a train, and presents. Each present under the tree contain a gift. It is not just a pretty box. To open the gifts, you will need a Tinkercad account. Copy the design and ungroup the box from around the present. If the gift is too small, you are using Tinkercad, you can make the gift larger.

The tree came from my Instructable on Designing a Christmas Tree with Tinkercad. The train came from my 2016 Design We Wish You a Merry Christmas. The poinsettia I plucked off of last year Christmas Tree with Flowers. I created the Candy Cane, saved it as a shape, and uploaded into Tinkercad’s shape library. The big red, blue, and green ornaments are a work in progress.

I you would like to add a present to this tree. Either reach out to me and follow the directions in the design profile. Link: Merry Christmas 2022

Christmas with Tinkercad Codeblocks

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

My biggest adventure this year was moving. Not a move across town, but a move to a different State over 500 miles away. I cannot recommend moving. While I was sitting in front of the TV at night, during my breaks from unpacking boxes and organizing, I decided to relax with some coding in Tinkercad Codeblocks.

The first thing I coded was a Christmas Wreath:

First, I coded one holly leaf with all the details. Then I copied and rotated each leaf along the x, y and z axis.

The rotation around the x and y axis is random, so the wreath will look a little different every time the program in run.

You can copy and run the program on Tinkercad Codeblock: https://www.tinkercad.com/codeblocks/2ZZut9sL86G

The second Christmas design I created with code block, was Santa. https://www.tinkercad.com/codeblocks/hPyeQnEmdV5

He was coded from the feet up. The beard is randomly generated, so it will look different every time the program is run.

After you create a design using Codeblocks, you can export the design as a Shape and use it in Tinkercad 3D Design.

The Santa may have looked better if I used 3D Design, but he does have a level of cuteness to him.

Railroad Town – Mayor’s House

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

After I completed the Town Hall in Tinkercad, I knew I wanted a house for the Town’s Mayor. For months, I thought about what I wanted in the house. For example, I wanted a porch or balcony for the mayor to stand on the talk with the citizens of the town.

My inspirations come from looking at old buildings. All the pictures I saw for “Mayor House” was big opulent mansions that just did not fit my town. It wasn’t until I travel to Aurora, NE and visited their museum, that I found the style of the house I wanted for the town. Behind the museum was the Bate’s Houses. Its architecture and age was exactly what I wanted in my design. It was painted blue, but I wanted something special. I decided to color house pink with brown roofing to make it different from all other buildings in my town.

I placed the wooden path in front of the house, because the mayor’s house is located on Main Street in my Railroad Town. I placed a picket fence around the yard. I wanted the fence curved to add some character to the design.

The mayor’s house needed a flower garden. I create one rose and stem; then to create the bush I duplicated it, changed the angle, rotation and position.

One detail that everyone will probably overlook is the gate. On the gate it has a latch and hinges that would actually function if they were 3D printer

You can view this design in 3D on Tinkercad at this link: Mayor’s House

Railroad Town – Town Hall

/ Sarah Collins / 2 Comments

Using Tinkercad I have designs buildings to create a Railroad Town. It started in 2016 when I designed a Train Engine and related train cars. They were all based off the early train designs, when trains ran on coal and steam. Two of the building I designed for my town are, a Saloon and a Sheriff Office (a.k.a. a jail). If anyone was going to spend any time in the jail, and if the town kept growing, they would a Town Hall to provide administration.

The Town Hall often had a clock tower and consisted of numerous details. I incorporated these details by adding large columns and lots of windows.

The clock tower I frame in gold and set the time to after the start of the workday. I duplicated the clock and placed it on all four sides.

Clock Tower

Town Halls, in the Railroad Town days, had a bell to signal the town. The building appears to be only one story, and if I put the bell in a tower, it would look out of proportion. Therefore, I placed the bell on the stone platform.

Town Hall Bell

All of the buildings for the Railroad Town are based on the same scale. The doors and windows are approximately the same height. You can see and copy the 3D version at the Town Hall at this link: Town Hall. Sometimes, you learn more about how something is designed by deconstructing it.

Creating and Using Shapes in Tinkercad

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

The way I design in Tinkercad changed on July 20, 2022, when I learned that I could create shapes from my 3D Designs. For a lot of my designs such as the Cow Depot, Saloon, Mill, Barber Shop, Houmas House… anytime I wanted to reuse a shape I would save it out as an STL file and import a copy back into the design. Now, if the design is not to complicated, I can save it as a shape in Tinkercad and use it over, and over, and over again.

Since I am so excited about this feature, I wrote an instructable on Creating and Using Shapes in Tinkercad.

Here are some of the new shapes I have created:

The Chicken: This design answers the question of which came first, the Chicken or the Egg. The answer is the egg. Because only egg shapes were used to create the chicken, except when I used the cubic hole to cut the egg in half.

The Sheep: To create the sheep, first I made a fluff ball and saved it out as a shape and used the fluff ball to create the sheep. I also used the fluff ball to make a tail from my bunny.

The Mouse: There is nothing really special about the mouse, except a little cuteness.

I have created a Youtube video on Creating a Shape in Tinkercad.

As I was typing this, I realized some of my buildings are not covered in the blog. So, more posts about Tinkercad are coming.

Creating an Umbrella using Tinkercad

/ Sarah Collins / 2 Comments

I am currently working on two projects in Tinkercad. One of the projects is huge and needs lots of parts. During the planning for this big project, I decided to create an umbrella. Not only did I create the umbrella, I also wrote instructions on how create an umbrella in Tinkercad. The instructions are available at on Instructables: Creating a Colorful Umbrella

The process is simple:

Add a Cone Shape
Duplicate the Shape
Change the Colors
Create a Hole
Create a Handle
Align the shapes
Add a little flare. You have an umbrella.

Okay, maybe it is simple for me. The video on how I created the umbrella is available on my YouTube channel.