The Skimming Crisis

Sep 18, 2014 | News, Security

The cyber criminals never stop, do they? From hacking to sextortion, it seems like everywhere you turn, some boogeyman is trying to disrupt our lives with a keyboard’s button and/or mouse’s click, or in this case, one swipe of the card.

The case I’m talking about is skimming. Skimming is a scam in which thieves can steal your information with one credit/debit card swipe using a device that can’t be read or detected. The devices these scam artists use today can easily fit in palm of a hand. They can even put in ATM’s and gas pumps. I saw footage this morning on ABC’s Good Morning America of a McDonald’s clerk using skimming to rip off a drive-thru customer. He ran a customer’s card twice: once through the fast food system and then through his own system. But thankfully, law enforcement is fighting back. In one case, a couple panicked because their rip-off device wasn’t in the gas pump. Yes, Instead, it was sting surveillance camera, and the couple were arrested. There has been thousands of arrest of these skimmers in recent years.

Yes, there are some things you can do. Check your debit/credit card statements and check them often. When in public, watch your clerk like a hawk! If the clerk is using two devices to process one payment, that should be a red flag. Plus, it never hurts to use good old fashioned cash. It was good enough for our ancestors. I’m not trying to scare anybody by reporting this. I just feel we have a responsibility to warn people when a dangerous trend is brought to my attention. It’s better to talk about it and never have it happened than ignore it and come home to an unpleasant surprise. So I want to hear your suggestions? What can we do to protest ourselves from skimming?

Fines For Negative Reviews?

Sep 17, 2014 | General

So you have a bad experience at a business anywhere in the US. So you talk about your bad experience online, such as Yelp. Then you get served with a lawsuit. Sounds farfetched? Why is Congress fighting about it?

Congressmen Eric Swalwell and Brad Sherman, both Democrats out of California, introduce the Consumer Review Freedom Act. This would ban ‘non-disagreement’ contracts and fine print certain businesses make their customers sign. So if this act pass, businesses can no longer stop consumers from giving bad reviews about them. This bill says that if businesses legally bind consumers from saying anything bad about them, particularly while reviewing them, businesses won’t be able to enforce it. This doesn’t include medical information, stock trading, or law enforcement issues, nor does it apply to business-employee relationships. For example, if two colleagues or if a boss and colleague are slandering each other, there’s no way Consumer Review Freedom Act. Then there’s the slander/libel question. If a business believes a disgruntle customer is outright lying, instead of just writing a negative review, they can take legal action.

This is where it can get murky. When I look at reviews before I make a purchase on something, the difference between a lie and a negative review is something I scrutinize very carefully. That’s because I’ve been on the other side. I’ve seen people write really nasty reviews and it’s brought to light that it’s a competitor trying to sabotage the business. I’ve heard many a case of disgruntle ex-employees, even family members doing this. But overall, I would totally support Consumer Review Freedom Act. If it’s not passed, this would give businesses the right to censor every negative review coming their way. And that would lead to all kinds of deception and false advertising. For businesses to sue every consumer saying something bad about them reminds me of the school bully who threatens another student for reporting them. Plus, to censor consumers is to infringe on their constitutional rights. Do you think the Consumer Review Freedom Act bill will become law?

Microsoft and Minecraft

Sep 16, 2014 | Computer technology, Entertainment

The video game Minecraft is now a cult obsession. No wonder while Microsoft wants it, and got it. Microsoft acquired Mojang, the Swedish company that gave us Minecraft, for around two billion dollars. Now I can see why.

Minecraft is more than just a video game in which you play. You use Lego blocks to create your own fantasy world. In 2013 alone, Mojang made over$100 million, only using 100 employees. This game sells about $7-$27 a pop. Not that’s what I call profit. Microsoft wants to use Minecraft to give a struggling Windows Phone a shot of success that franchise needs. This would help Windows Phone get a younger audience, as Minecraft is extremely popular with that age group. This deal has literally been years in the making. In 2011, when Minecraft was limited to a PC game, Microsoft officials and Mojang founders met at a video game conference to discuss the matter. And now, here we are.

If you’re familiar with my blogs, you know I’m not a big fan of mergers or corporate acquisitions. But this is very smart on Microsoft’s part. Not only will this open Microsoft to a lot of new consumers, this will open them up to a popular culture technological revolution. Teachers are using Minecraft as school tools to educate children. For years, parents have often scorned their children for video games. But Minecraft is actually bringing families together, as generations are playing together. Some community leaders are using Minecraft to build libraries and other public facilities. I’ve grown up in the video game era. I’ve seen Pong, Pac-Man, Super Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Madden Football, Halo, and all in between. I’ve never seen a game be honored the way Minecraft has. And we all know how dependent we all are of Microsoft. So is this a good merger or am I making too much of this?

Comcast vs Tor

Sep 15, 2014 | General, Software

Comcast, with it’s recent acquisitions, is now the biggest and most powerful cable company in the country. Now they’re implementing threats against a certain browser.

Users of an anonymous web browser called Tor say Comcast threatened to cut off their services it they continue to use Tor. Comcast’s reps are warning customers that Tor goes against Comcast’s policies. That’s pretty strong. I did some looking in on Tor. It turns out Tor is a browsing service that helps makes your Internet private. It makes it difficult for governments, private corporations and advertisers to track what you’re doing online. Now I will admit, at first, Tor was popular with some of the less pleasing members of society, like drug traffickers, ID hackers, human traffickers, sextortionists,? and cyber bullies. But since the Edward Snowden revelations came out in summer 2013, more and more law abiding citizens with privacy concerns have been using Tor. In fact, over 1.2 million use it. Comcast customers have been asked which sites are they using Tor for. Comcast defends it’s decisions by saying they need to monitor customer traffic in cast of court orders and other legal actions.

That response from Comcast alone makes me suspicious. Now I understand some people abuse a web browser like Tor just to fulfill a criminal lifestyle or other criminal or mean-spirited desires. And that part does deserves some regulation. But the cynic in me tells me something deeper is going on. Something tells me Comcast is threatening Tor because of the privacy issue. Not only that, I’m wondering if the NSA or other government agencies isn’t behind this as well. It almost strikes me as the reason Comcast hates this browser so much is because they can’t keep track of the consumers’ habits. But I could be wrong. What’s the real reason Comcast is coming down or Tor? Is it because of protection or surveillance?

ISIS Threatens Twitter

Sep 14, 2014 | internet, News, Security

It’s probably the biggest hot-buttoned news story of 2014: the rise of terrorist group ISIS, or Islamic State. Hardly a day goes by when we don’t hear about an evil deed done by these extremist thugs. It seems that no one is immune, not even technology or social media.

On one of ISIS’s Twitter accounts, they’re calling for the assassinations of Twitter employees in the United States and Europe. Their tweets have called for sleeper cells and ‘lone wolves’ to kill employees and bring war to them. These same vile, vicious tweets told San Fransisco Twitter employees to watch their back. There is a suspect in question: Twitter account @Dawlamoon, an account operated to be loyal to ISIS, is at the center of this story. It isn’t confirmed if Dawlamoon is a true social media mouthpiece of ISIS, just one of their cheerleaders, or if it’s just blowing smoke to make headlines. But it is rumored, just that, rumored, to be an ISIS forum. But after the threatening Tweets were posted on back on Monday Sept 8th, the account was suspended. Lately, Twitter has been working around the clock to shut down all pro ISIS based accounts. Unfortunately, the terrorist organization is using techniques to counter such suspensions.

We’re living in a time that was unthinkable just 10 years ago. ISIS and other terrorist groups are using social media to push the propaganda offensive and the charm/charisma offensive to win people over to their twisted, sadistic cause. They even have You Tube videos of themselves giving ice cream to children. We in the technology community must do all we can to counter these lies before more people get duped. Twitter trying to suspend their accounts is a great start. Now I believe in free speech as much as anybody, but not when you’re threatening people’s lives. Let’s use our voices, vlogs, blogs, social media pages, smartphones, desktops, laptops and other devices to expose these thugs for who they really are. What else can we do to combat this threat?

Apple and U2

Sep 13, 2014 | Entertainment

There was a special surprise at Apple’s long awaited conference back on September 9, 2014. That surprise was legendary rock group U2, the collaboration between Apple and U2,? and they had a surprise for the public.

Apple is giving away U2’s next album, exclusively on iTunes and coming out sometime in October 2014. In the days since that conference, the U2 album “Songs of Innocence” has been downloaded approximately two million times. That’s the equivalent of an album going double platinum in a few days. This doesn’t include the people who are sampling the songs by streaming them through iTunes or iTunes radio. And if that isn’t enough, their 1987 historic album Joshua Tree ranks #12 on the iTunes top 100 charts.

This is interesting to me, and it goes to show the music business is changing. But I thought it would have been better if they had given away only one or two million and then stop the giveaway. My concern is that by October, people won’t get this album because they already downloaded it. And U2 is one of the most respected bands of our generation, if not all time. I’m almost certain other musicians will follow their example. It’s just a question of when. Who will be the next musician to partner with Apple in this way?

Gmail vs. Russia

Sep 12, 2014 | internet, Security

Wow Russia, you’ve been in the news a lot lately. And I’m not talking about the Sochi Olympics. I’m talking about news events like conflict with Ukraine and the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash. It’s no surprise they’re in the midst of a potential hacking story.

Gmail, one of the world’s most popular email services, has been severely hacked. Almost five million email usernames and passwords have found themselves in a Russian bitcoin forum.? Word got out about this when a suspicious link was posted to a website popular with hackers. The hacked accounts, which count up to 4.93 million, are in English, Russian and Spanish. Over half the tainted accounts can still easily be accessed. One thing Gmail? users can do is avoid any ‘security’ websites that claim to check and see if your username and passwords have been compromised. Cyber criminals love those sites and probably even created some of those sites. It’s been confirmed many of the hacked passwords weren’t even taken from Google. Before I throw Russia under the bus, we don’t know who is behind this hacking, though it’s coincidental the hack was first revealed on a Russian language forum.

They’re other things Gmail users can do. First and foremost, don’t panic. All you have to do is change your password and turn on two-factor authenticity. But I want to get back to where these hacks could come from. Do you understand why so many are suspicious that this originated from Russia or surrounding nations? There’s been a recent history of hackers from Eastern European nations causing a ruckus. Think about the social/political pushing and shoving between the US and Russia in the last couple of years. Is this just another criminal hack attack? Or does this have a deeper, more geopolitical meaning as things heat up internationally?

The Ultimate Hard Drive

Sep 11, 2014 | Backup, Computer technology

Gone are the days of floppy disk; thank goodness! Today, the hard drive is what’s holding and transporting our precious and often critical information. But the hard drive I’m about to talk about is unlike any other.

Submitted for your approval is the first ever 10TB hard drive. It’s official name is the Western Digital Ultrastar He10. It’s still in the sampling phase, but this is only a part of Western Digital’s production push. Not only is there this 10TB helium-filled hard drive, there is the 8TB helium-filled hard drive and a 6TB air-filled hard drive. The Western Digital 10TB has helium that is sealed in the drive. It provides less resistance than regular air and requires less power, consuming nearly a fourth less energy than other hard drives. This 10TB drive uses SMR, or shingled magnetic recording. This increases areal density, which is especially good for cloud and cold storage. The Western Digital 6TB air-filled hard drive is being shipped. The Western Digital Ultrastar He10 is very much in testing phase. I have no information on a debut date, so don’t go rushing to your computer store just yet.

But when this comes out, it shouldn’t be as expensive as one may think. The 6TB goes for around $400-$500. The 10TB is suspected to go around $1,000 when the shipping, selling and buying starts. Western Digital claims this drive will have the lowest cost per gigabyte. I guess we’ll see. Keep in mind this will be a novelty item, the first of it’s kind. I wonder if that will factor into the pricing, and even the release date of the Ultrastar He10. I’m no scientist or environmentalist expert, but this sounds energy friendly. But more to the point, you can get lots and lots of data on this thing, maybe even too much (yes, I do believe there is a such thing). So is the ultimate hard drive going to be a hit or flop?

Apple Pay

Sep 10, 2014 | Computer technology, News, Wireless

A lot was revealed at Apple’s press conference yesterday. We learned about their new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch. These goodies will be available September 19, 2014. Even U2 made a surprise appearance, giving us ‘Songs of Innocence’ for free, so long as you get it through iTunes. But there’s something else that caught my eye.

From here on out, when a purchase is made through an iPhone via debit or credit card, they get a cut from the banks and credit card makers. That way, they get their cut for the ever increasing market of smartphone purchasing. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will feature Apple Pay. That mean iPhone 6 users can pay with the swipe of their fingers. This can be done because major banks like Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan are merging their cards into their system. I should note these terms aren’t official or public yet, but but this deal alone can give Apple a huge chunk? of the $40 billion a year made in mobile phone purchases. By 2017, that number is expected to balloon to $90 million. Apple Pay insists shoppers or merchants won’t be charged for this service. Although I do find it ironic neither Apple, Citigroup, Bank of America or JP Morgan refuse to talk about Apple Pay.

Why does this Apple Pay strike me so much? The way this industry is going today, paying with a smartphone is going be a more common aspect of daily life. I witnessed this myself when paying for cab fare, the driver hooked up his credit card reader to his iPhone and emailed the receipt to my phone. I could go on and on about the Apple Watch and the minimum $349 price, but stay tuned for that one. Do you think this potential Apple Pay system will make the new iPhones more or less attractive?

Applelive Stream the Press Conference on apple.com

Sep 9, 2014 | Computer technology, Entertainment, News

I will be giving a live updated play by play of the keynote address by Apple. Since you cannot stream it live unless you have an apple device with Safari I will be here for you guys! Applelive will be broadcasting from the Flint Center in Cupertino, CA, and Geek Choice will bring it all to you as it happens. Refresh our technology blog real time for updates!

1:07 iPhone Kicks it off!! 98% customer satisfaction, #1 phone in the world. Tim Cook Doesn’t want to go through the new updates, just says EVERYTHING IS GREAT. He starts talking about how great the phone has been. From the original iPhone setting the standard for touch screen phones, to the latest iPhone 5S technology we see today.

1:14 And now for the reveal!! The Thinnest iPhone ever made. There are 2 versions iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus! The Sleep wake button is now on the right side, making it easier for you to do things with just one hand.

1:19 Landscape mode for homescreen looks very nice

1:24 Faster processor!

1:26 ?Faster Graphics able to give you AMAZING PICTURES

1:27 ?Some of the top game developers like EA Games, Epic Games, SquareEnix and more have committed to having new games out for the iPhone6 before the year is out!

1:30 The new iPhone6 will be able to play games in higher definition that NextGen Game consoles like XboxOne

1:31 Stephan Sherman of Super Evil Megacorp gives a demo of Vainglory on iPhone6

1:32?iPhone?6 has a resolution of 1334 by 750 with 326 pixels per inch. For a more than 720p Retina?HD?display. ?iPhone?6?Plus has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 with 401 pixels per inch. That?s full 1080p HD?resolution. And now for the Screen size!