Develop Bugs

Theft of Donations ???

Hi,
I've come across individuals who are selling the xda-unlock software on eBay, for personal profit I assume.
I think this is ethically wrong.
Is anyone on the xda-developers forum aware of this?
I am posting this message in the hope that those who agree that this activity of stealing from those developing the software, will e-mail the person (see below) to tell him that what he is doing is wrong and should stop immediately.
Noteyou may have to copy and paste the following hyper-links into your browser's address field for them to work)
See;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=69929&item=5206235467
I tracked the perpetuator down and confronted him with this breach. His response was pretty much "Go away! I can do what I want" The sad thing is, the person has no idea about the software he's selling and is misleading people by telling them that one version (which he has) is suitable for all PDA's.
Here's his e-mail address.
[email protected] , with which he accpets Paypal payments on-line.
And this is his profile on eBay:
http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=mrtrader888&iid=5206235467&frm=284
The odd, brave, eBay traders are complaining about this in the Feedback facility but the feedback system isn't perfect.
See:-
http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayI...val=&page=2&frompage=-1&iid=5206235467&de=off
I hope everyone who appreciates xda-developers.com 's efforts will help stop this person from making money out of their efforts by telling them by e-mail how they feel about it.
technologyfusion.

The only way to deal with this kind of issue is to post an ad every day offering the software for free and directing the people to this site, that way nobody buys from the seller and there is a chance that those directed to the site may donate once they unlock and or upgrade their phone.
The other option is to email every bidder with the details.

I am not a vindictive person, generally, but that email is just begging for about 10,000 newsletters per day. I always believed that educating people is far more effective than punishing them. I think Daily Dumb Question will be a good start for him to explore.

I don't mind people reselling free tools. at the moment they take advantage of poor advertising of our tool.
I now created a wiki page for it, so it will become easier to find for people.
when it rises in google's index, it should become easier to find.
willem

If you're an eBay user, you can send private email to the bidders, warning them that what they are bidding on is available for free. They might not like finding it out after they've already bid, but they will probably appreciate knowing that they shouldn't pay any more for it, and that they can get it right away off the internet. (And if they don't mind a stain on their eBay record for 6 months, they can cancel their bid if it's not too late.)
But surely before bidding on eBay, they should have done their homework. A simple Google search would have found it.
Technically eBay could get you for "bid interference" or some such thing if you emailed users like that, but that won't happen unless they turn around and report you. Be careful, though: in several cases before, when I've given advice to bidders about a bad or misleading piece of merchandise, they've mistaken me for the seller and chewed me out!!! So I don't generally do this unless I'm prepared for an angry response. And I won't go out of my way to do it -- I'll just do it if, say, I was searching for something similar on eBay, and I stumbled across someone's unfortunate bid. ("Think I should warn them? Nah. No good deed goes unpunished.")

Speaking of theft of donations.... Has anyone noticed [deleted]

BizSpark FAQ for Phone 7 Developers: MS Products, Azure, etc.

I've been seeing a lot more interest lately from the XDA community regarding Azure and figure it is worth starting a thread to try to answer some basic questions.
First, I'll be up front with everyone...BizSpark is my day job, I work for Microsoft and technology evangelism is my passion. I can think of few things more exciting than what the Cloud is going to bring to the market through mobile device in the next few years. We know who's going to be on the front lines of driving this innovation: you are. So let's answer those questions:
How does someone get Azure for free through BizSpark?
Sign up for a BizSpark account here​This is the updated site that offers information: BizSpark Azure.
Deal is, you sign up for the introductory offer (free), set your subscription to (not “Auto Renew”), and then after 16 months sign up for the BizSpark Azure (Again, free) for the end of your agreement. ​
Who qualifies?
Yes, there are qualifications, but pretty much anyone who cares enough about software development to be reading this sub-forumon XDA will qualify. If you are actively developing software, you aren't developing this project for a publicly traded company, your project/startup is less than three years old and is making less than US $1M annually, you qualify. That simple.​
What other products can I get?
BizSpark pretty much gives you a premier MSDN account for three years, so if it is on MSDN, you can use it. Dfinitly everything you car about: Visual Studio, all of the Expressions products, etc.
Many products have stipulations that they be used for development purposes only, but Azure, Server, SQL, etc can be used in production, meaning you can go live, host your product and try to make some money with it. ​
Can I get a free AppHub developer account, too?
No, but there's always hope...
​
Why is Microsoft giving their stuff away for free?
Because there should be no excuses for startup developers to not have access to the best software development tools on the planet. ​
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or send me an email through the board.

I thought this could be a cool idea so I applied, and got denied about 6 hours later. The email told me I do not qualify and to look into Dreamspark or a MSDN account.

williammel said:
I thought this could be a cool idea so I applied, and got denied about 6 hours later. The email told me I do not qualify and to look into Dreamspark or a MSDN account.
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let me try and see...

I applied, but...my company is older than three years, but has only done software dev for one year. Hopefully I'll be allowed in, but not holding my breath. Might actually still be cheaper to create a new company and apply via that

Anyone having problems, contact me directly:
kenikh at microsoft dot com

Cheers! Will do

For those weary about bizspark, it is a great thing for start ups. There are other things that come with it... not just free software. I am glad someone from MSFT is here to talk about it. You do need to be less than 3 years old and make less than a million dollars in revenue in a year -- which is always the case for most startups.
- L
BizSpark Business

kenikh said:
Sign up for a BizSpark account here​This is the updated site that offers information: BizSpark Azure.
Deal is, you sign up for the introductory offer (free), set your subscription to (not “Auto Renew”), and then after 16 months sign up for the BizSpark Azure (Again, free) for the end of your agreement. ​
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Click to collapse
BizSpark Azure link is broken

BizSpark site is temporarily down
will try whe it goes live again

I thought it was the project OR company
"your project/startup is less than three years old "
I'll give it a try anyway.
Thanks for the info.
*** Edit ***
Didn't qualify. They didn't say why, but my company is older than 3 years.
Too bad, so sad, back to work!
Oh yea, Shout out to the XDA community. I've enjoyed lurking her for years now. Lots of beautiful things and creative ideas. Thanks so very much!!!

Site is up: http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/
I've been slow to reply to PMs, but will try to get through the backlog today.

Giving it a try now. I'm hardly a "company" or "start-up", but I write software and have a couple of projects that I would like to begin working with .Net for. Also, the idea of a premier MSDN account is a nice idea. It's like high school all over again, just trying to get some acceptance .

giving it a try now, this would be sweet considering I am developing a word search game.

Signed up yesterday, and PM sent. This would be fantastic.

kenikh said:
Anyone having problems, contact me directly:
kenikh at microsoft dot com
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Hope you can help.

All emails replied to

dougthug said:
Giving it a try now. I'm hardly a "company" or "start-up", but I write software and have a couple of projects that I would like to begin working with .Net for. Also, the idea of a premier MSDN account is a nice idea. It's like high school all over again, just trying to get some acceptance .
Click to expand...
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It's better than high school, I just got my acceptance email this morning. I'm all signed up and rocking. Good lookin' out. I appreciate the heads up. Now to code something .

Thank you for sharing this with the community. I applied for an account and recieved a reply back saying that I did not meet all the eligibility requirments at this time.

I am 4ever gratefull! This will help ALOT!

Got accepted just finishing configuring my push notifications server in the cloud!
Really amazing offer thanks for pointing me to it and the help via email very very very much appreciated

Isn't asking for donations for an app the same thing as a commercial app?

Sometimes a church will have a car free car wash and accept donations, but whith some of these apps on the market , the "donation" is required before you can download the app.
Why do they use these misleading terms. Is it because they don't have a biz tax id? Just curious.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

potna said:
Sometimes a church will have a car free car wash and accept donations, but whith some of these apps on the market , the "donation" is required before you can download the app.
Why do they use these misleading terms. Is it because they don't have a biz tax id? Just curious.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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You work for the IRS?

I know with a few apps you can get them free either in the forums or from the person's webside. They usually just ask if you like their app you can make a donation by going to the market
Sent from my Evo while i should be working

Most of them have a free version and a donate version. Usually the free versions have ads and the donate versions don't, or the donate versions have some additional features. I don't see anything wrong with this at all.
Most ROM developers ask for donations, but you can still get their ROMs for free. I don't see anything wrong with this either.
tgruendler said:
You work for the IRS?
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I doubt he works for the IRS, but I think that does bring up an important issue. Anyone that is taking donations would be wise to keep track of how much money they are making from donations, and should be reporting it as income when they file their taxes. They could find themselves in trouble with the IRS if they don't report it. It would be pretty easy for the IRS to find this income since it's all done with Paypal or other electronic payment methods. Not to mention it's just the right thing to do. As a fellow taxpayer, I wouldn't be too happy if developers weren't paying their fair share of taxes on this income.

kd0axs said:
Most of them have a free version and a donate version. Usually the free versions have ads and the donate versions don't, or the donate versions have some additional features. I don't see anything wrong with this at all.
Most ROM developers ask for donations, but you can still get their ROMs for free. I don't see anything wrong with this either.
I doubt he works for the IRS, but I think that does bring up an important issue. Anyone that is taking donations would be wise to keep track of how much money they are making from donations, and should be reporting it as income when they file their taxes. They could find themselves in trouble with the IRS if they don't report it. It would be pretty easy for the IRS to find this income since it's all done with Paypal or other electronic payment methods. Not to mention it's just the right thing to do. As a fellow taxpayer, I wouldn't be too happy if developers weren't paying their fair share of taxes on this income.
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I doubt the vast majority of people who receive donations actually report them lol

I was just curious. I am a small business owner and I have learned the hard way that when you put something together and present it to the public you need to be very precise with your wording.
The word donation to me means: when our local vfw has a donations based .....say ...breakfast, you can pay nothing, or as much as you want.
But if they require a donation, is it really a donation? Or has it become commercialized when the donation is required. It sounds more like a trade, your money for my stuff and this is taxable.
I really don't care, but I guess my mind just picks things apart until everyone wants to kick my ass, lol. But I bet this terminology doesn't last long, atleast not in the given context.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

It's all about terminology, and while to some extent it doesn't matter, to another extent it still does. I think if a donation is required to unlock any functionality, then it's not really a donation. *Asking* for a donation doesn't make it a commercial app though. It's a question of whether it's required to use it. Basically if you're giving it away for free, and saying "hey, if you want to support what I do, throw me a few bucks," that's a donation.
There's nothing wrong with asking to be paid for your work. There's also nothing wrong with demanding to be paid for your work. No dev needs to apologize for choosing to make their app -- or some functionality within it -- available at a price, and they shouldn't try to make it sound better by calling it a donation.
I don't think calling it a donation affects IRS rules at all. No matter what you call it, you're supposed to report it. I'm not judging you if you don't. But developers are no charity, and calling it a donation doesn't make it exempt. Hell, even drug dealers are supposed to report their income on Form 1040, line 21, or schedule C. (I am not making that up.)

The presumption is those that are asking for donations are doing so simply to bring a ROM and/or app to market. Those app and ROM developers can incur significant costs in doing so, but typically the primary focus is the development process and open source community-not financial gain.
The developers that are asking for donations spend a significant amount of effort on products that we use here within XDA and the Market.
I do not see our appreciation in the various forums here as commensurate to their efforts: In my opinion, donations from time to time are a more proper gesture.

I have a little bit of legal experience in this area. For a donation to be, legally, a donation, it must be made with no material benefit expected in return.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

[BOUNTY] For Supercurio to fix SGH-T989 Screen Issues + more!!

Donations is completed and supercurio has successfully received the phone and he is currently working on the kernel drivers for the fixes so stay tuned and make sure to fallow his twitter account for more updates. Thanks to everyone that donated and supported the thread. I'm pretty sure supercurio is also thankfull to you guys.
Use this thread to discuss about the fix and also to chit chat about anything related the screen problems on our SGH-T989.

i think you missed the point
Supercurio said Samsung should send him one, not us
he didn't ask us to pitch in for a device
he asked us to contact Samsung and have Samsung send him a device.
found it http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=19142874&postcount=220
supercurio said:
Note: I received a donation but when I tell "I don't have a device" the goal is not really to ask you to pay for it − especially since I have no idea if I'll get results eventually.
I firmly believe it's manufacturer's role to fix it. And the manufacturer here is Sam.. err no; it doesn't really works like that in the US. Manufacturer is T-Mobile.
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AllGamer said:
i think you missed the point
Supercurio said Samsung should send him one, not us
he didn't ask us to pitch in for a device
he asked us to contact Samsung and have Samsung send him a device.
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I didn't not know about this sorry. I guess there is nothing wrong with the community to pitch in for a device....Samsung might not send him one. This is a heck of great community so I'm pretty sure we can all get him the device faster than Samsung.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App

there fixed your tittle

How do we go about asking Samsung to do this? I can't just say "hey give supercurio a T989" they wouldn't even know who I'm talking about.
Someone wants to organize this?

i vote for Surfacet to lead this, since he started this topic

The thing is I never done a thread like this before. This is my first thread ever on xda. This thread got sticked? I thought it got removed or something lol.
Lets see supercurio's response. I cant send him a message since he got it disabled
-Algamer
Contacting Samsung was kinda your idea...My idea was to make it a bounty and donate to him for the cause

Social media is a great medium.

Spam Samsung John and Carla anyone? Let's do it.

I'd be willing to donate. Just look how fast the other devs got their bounties, I bet we could get him one in two weeks or less.
Swyped from my iPhone eater
-BeastMOD

Quick note: Galaxy S II audio hardware is not Voodoo Sound capable.
I work only on Super AMOLED plus, awaiting better quality audio chip in the future generations of devices (Voodoo Sound is still in development for supported devices)
Allgamer: if people want to raise funds to send me a device why not. It will always be soon enough to cancel the process if Tmo/Samsung does, and will also demonstrate users determination.
Feel free to contact Samsung reps but please avoid spamming them, it would be severely counter-productive.

As long as you are okay with that, then by all means lets turn this topic into an official [BOUNTY] for Mr. curio

WHERE DO WE DONATE?
The link in Sir Curio's signature is for donating to his Voodoo project, do we need another link for T989 screen issue only, for easier financial consolidation?

There should be another donation link but not sure if super has it or not. I'm waiting for him to give us the link to where to donate so I can put it on the OP.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App

As written in the bounty guidelines, I would suggest counting first and then, later, sending the donations.
Its easier than refunding everyone if its canceled for some reason
As I cannot buy this device in France, it would be pretty nice to choose a trusty well known peer who would receive the donations, buy the phone and post it (shipping costs about $35, something like that) in my direction.
I'm listening.

I own Gigahertz Computers in Warner Robins, GA. IV never done any business in the marketplace here but I have an associate with a tmo sgs2 for $400 that is new (opened and played with but spotless and is in the box with receipt where he paid full retail from a walk-in tmo store 2 weeks ago. I have a PayPal account and would be more than happy to take on the responsibility of taking the donations and getting SC the device. I have an eBay account with 44 recent transactions (mostly phones) that is spotless everybody can checkout. Mountdenizen is the screen name. My business is a Mac / mobile device service and support shop and the eBay transactions have been done because of it. Allgamer, I'm not real sure how this all works but IV seen the thread for awhile now and have seen people talking about starting a pot for the device... just thought we may need to take the bull by the horns here. I in no way feel special or entitled to do this, just willing. I'm listening as well. My email is [email protected] and that's also my PayPal account. I'm on here on and off all day (kind of Android obsessed here) so you can contact me anytime. I do think we need to keep everything public and in the forums to keep all parties involved as transparent as possible. Off to bed, ill check back in the A.M.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

You guys won't regret getting this guy the device. He will unleash its power. He is one of respectful developers on xda. Check out his work.

I'd be happy to donate a few dollars. I love super's work on the vibrant. Voodoo and voodoo sound just made it top notch.

supercurio said:
As written in the bounty guidelines, I would suggest counting first and then, later, sending the donations.
Its easier than refunding everyone if its canceled for some reason
As I cannot buy this device in France, it would be pretty nice to choose a trusty well known peer who would receive the donations, buy the phone and post it (shipping costs about $35, something like that) in my direction.
I'm listening.
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I would be down to buy it (and throw in some dollars) for you supercurio. Just throwing that out there.

knotphunnie said:
I'd be happy to donate a few dollars. I love super's work on the vibrant. Voodoo and voodoo sound just made it top notch.
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+1
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

Mrs. Esther Richerd Nigerian Scammer on XDA

Dear Fellow XDAtans,
I do know that you can easily identify scammers but those with a weaker heart may still wish to donate.
Do not do that!
Also, report the Email address to Gmail so that they cannot communicate using the leads with this e-mail address. (Or why not have some fun?)
The scam Message could be similar to the PM quoted below from (banned) user @mrsest67.
Greetings!
My Dear.
How are you today? I am Mrs Esther Richerd, If you wouldn't mind I have something I will like to discuss with you. I have decided to make a pledge of donation to support the less privillege under your supervision.it was a Sister nurse working in this hospital that helped me to type this message, because I am loosing strenght every munites of the day. All I need from you is prayers,If you are interested Contact me for more details
Here is my email:my private email [email protected] )
Mrs Esther Richerd
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For shame!