diff --git a/bob/example/faceverify/tests/__init__.py b/bob/example/faceverify/tests/__init__.py
index 90ab8e1d1f8d7464d378dd72adf9789be48bed02..7437dff2762464618b926aedff0c72946574e911 100644
--- a/bob/example/faceverify/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/bob/example/faceverify/tests/__init__.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ class FaceVerifyExampleTest(unittest.TestCase):
       self.m_database_dir = '/idiap/group/biometric/databases/orl'
     else:
       import tempfile
-      self.m_temp_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp('bob_atnt_db')
+      self.m_temp_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix='bob_atnt_db_')
       from bob.example.faceverify.utils import atnt_database_directory
       self.m_database_dir = atnt_database_directory(self.m_temp_dir)
 
diff --git a/bob/example/faceverify/utils.py b/bob/example/faceverify/utils.py
index 441b8eec9d88b609cd0371b6e3335eb62fab54af..ada3d5a90f0bc233b74e037c63d78fcd9618b118 100644
--- a/bob/example/faceverify/utils.py
+++ b/bob/example/faceverify/utils.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import os
 
 def atnt_database_directory(atnt_user_directory = None):
   """Checks, where the AT&T database is located and downloads it on need."""
-  if atnt_user_directory:
+  if atnt_user_directory is not None:
     # a user directory is specified
     atnt_default_directory = atnt_user_directory
   elif 'ATNT_DATABASE_DIRECTORY' in os.environ:
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ def atnt_database_directory(atnt_user_directory = None):
   # download
   url = urllib.urlopen(db_url)
   local_zip_file = tempfile.mkstemp(prefix='atnt_db_', suffix='.zip')[1]
-  dfile = open(local_zip_file, 'w')
+  dfile = open(local_zip_file, 'wb')
   dfile.write(url.read())
   dfile.close()