Archive for the 'Security' Category

I don’t keep the “Security” catagory very straight laced sometimes, but I do have an interest in where security cameras make it into the news in interesting ways.

Man steals a maltese puppy by hiding it in his pants.

I am surprised the puppy didn’t fall out the bottom of his shorts. Unless he placed it in his underware. AAAGH! Maybe he had two pairs of underwear on to allow a space for the dog.

It only took 5 months to get our Zebra p330i back in and working (sort of).

They held it for a month this time. When I called in to check about its status I went through a different phone route and ended up at a different desk (it sure beat talking to the guy who kept messing up my phone messages in the past). When I asked how the printer was doing she indignantly responded “Well, we just received it yesterday.” . . . Pause . . . “Oh, wait, that was last month. Could you hold on?” . . . Pause . . . “Has tech support gotten in contact with you?” (My answer, “No, that is why I am calling.”) “Could you hold a minute?” . . . Pause . . . “This says there is nothing wrong with it, but we think you may need to use a different printer ribbon.”

They shipped it back overnight with a free roll of ribbon (and no defective replacement parts like last time). The new ribbon doesn’t offset its printing like we had been dealing with before, but it does a much lower quality image (with occasional coffee like stains). We still have several rolls of the other ribbon. I am waiting to see what their malarkey level is before I see about returning the ribbon to them or Identicard. At ~$100 each they aren’t cheap.

Tips on contacting Zebra:

• Just plan on dealing with them all day when you call.
• Give them a cell phone number so you can move away from your desk while waiting for them to return your call. They will gladly call you back immediately when you make it back to your office.
• Give them the amount of time they said it would take to deal with the other two support calls (it seemed as though it was always 2) and add 1 hour then call them back. The guy who took your message probably lost it (received that excuse 3 times I believe).
• When you mail in the printer be sure to call them to ask for an update withing a week of sending it. This will get them to have someone look at it. It took me a month since I was out of the office for a week doing training and the other weeks were full of making up for that one. I ran out of time to sit with them on the phone.
• They won’t call you. They may even forget you are still on the phone.
• Do not use their online support (unless they have changed it and improved it). The tech support contact form goes to Customer Service and they don’t send it on to tech support. Tech support does not reply to the email they receive at the address they say you can reach them at (they gave it to me over the phone).
• Remember their time zone in contrast to your own. They take their lunch break seriously and get really annoyed when you let the phone ring for 15-20 minutes waiting for an answer.
• Leave the protective packaging on your printer (unless it needs to be in public) and DEFINITELY save the box. Someone from zebra said it costs a couple hundred dollars for a new one. ?!?!?
• Oh, and remember to record each person’s name when you talk to them, the number you called to reach them, and the details about your equipment (model, serial number).

We can print cards, but I still eye the card printer with a bit of hostility. Perhaps I should seek counseling.

I came across some articles on church security from Technologies For Worship Magazine, and they are mildly informative. They are, however just like what most magazines end up doing with their articles on practical areas. They avoid real useful information.

It isn’t as bad as the security and procedures articles where they focus on trying to make you feel bad about yourself rather than actually help you accomplish anything, but it isn’t much better. They are a more cursory overview of things you really MUST look over, but in a vague sort of way.

This is why I do a security section in my blog and am looking for others who do as well. Nothing brings anybody into practicality than working in the trenches (so to speak).

I am looking through some of their other stuff, but you might as well steer of the Internet technology section unless you need an internet glossary from 1996. There is some good stuff around, but mainly in areas where I am not up for input.

While I am posting this I ought to add another link to my church security director bait post

I’m tired of passive security. I think we need to get a few of these installed.
The Room Defender

It just needs more Ammo.