When the year winds down, looking back or looking forward is usually the done thing. I clearly prefer the latter. I stick my neck out for five technology things that I believe are likely to storm the world in 2010.
Smartbooks/tablets: A laptop/netbook loaded with SIM card seems like a godsend mixing the twin conveniences of powerful applications on the go and sheer mobility. Apple’s much-rumoured tablet sent its stock surging last week and right here in India, Olive launched a netbook (Internet-friendly cheap laptop) loaded with a 3G facility. I see a future in which people will have two SIM cards, one in a handset and one in a laptop.
E-books: Amazon’s Kindle has only just hit India, while Google has come out with Fast Flip, a technology that enables a real book-like experience on the Web to help us read magazines and books with the old look and feel. I expect e-books and e-readers to catch on and get cheaper.
Android on steroids: Google’s Android platform to make really-loaded smartphones cheap has taken off with brands like Motorola’s Cliq. Google’s own Nexus One is on the way. I expect smartphones at prices as low as Rs. 5,000 to flood the market. Very smart but really cheap.
Branded Cloud: We are already doing cloud computing, thank you. From the free add-on to Salesforce.com that offers companies fairly advanced software platforms on the Web, the business of using the Net as a “cloud” to offer software service is hot. But it is still a vague business, especially for larger, smarter applications. I expect IBM and/or Cisco to leap ahead with a one-stop-shop brand to match.
MS Office 2010: I expect the next Microsoft Office — which is ramping up collaborative features and Net publishing in a big way — to be really cool, with an affordable Web-based “cloud” service.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
TOUCH AND GO (WINDOWS 7)
Raise your hand if you are a keyboard junkie — I know I am. Whether it’s working on a document, putting together spreadsheets, playing computer games or checking email, few things beat the keyboard-mouse combo.
Companies such as Microsoft have tried — and failed spectacularly — to get users to interact with their computers in newer ways. First Microsoft put Windows XP on Tablet PCs in 2001. The screen folded back flat against the keyboard — and you had a giant backlit slate on which you could scribble with a stylus. Of course, no one from Microsoft pointed out how nerdy you looked writing notes on a glowing screen. Then the software company built voice recognition capabilities in Windows Vista. Theoretically, you could bark a command at your computer — but that’s strictly theoretical.
When Apple pulled the rug from under everyone’s feet by releasing a phone with a touch screen that was slick, user-friendly, and for once, did not require users to tap at minuscule icons with a stylus, everyone else scrambled to get their act together. Today, most companies — from laptop to camera makers — offer functionalities on their screens that feel like ripoffs of what’s on the Apple iPhone.
Laptop maker Acer is the latest player to jump aboard the touch bandwagon by releasing India’s first multi-touch notebook, named the Acer Aspire 5738PzG —doesn’t that just roll off the tongue, nice and smooth? It runs Windows 7, Microsoft’s newest operating system. Here’s how it stacks up.
Budget Build
It is a budget laptop with the touch screen gimmick thrown in. In fact, the touch screen seems like a last-minute addition on a new laptop they were about to roll out. Its cheap and plastic-looking build leaves a lot to be desired. Weighing about 2.8 kg, it’s not exactly light.
With an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz processor, a 2 GB RAM and a 512 MB Radeon HD graphics processor purring under the hood, this Acer machine comes with more than enough power to satisfy a large number of users. It comes loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium. A 320 GB hard disk provides plenty of space to store photos and videos.
The glossy, 15.6-inch, high-definition screen capable of a resolution of 1366 -by-768 pixels makes watching movies a
delight. It’s sharp and the colours look gorgeous. Most laptop speakers are infamous for being lousy and this one does nothing to improve that image.
There is a full-sized keyboard with a numeric keypad on the right for the hardcore number-cruncher and typing on it feels good.
Nothing on this laptop, however, gets my goat more than that 2-inch piece of smooth space below the keyboard that passes off as a ‘multi-gesture touchpad’. The idea is simple — just like the multi-touch screen, you can flick your fingers across the touchpad and quickly move between browser pages and manipulate files by pinching and pulling with two fingers.
It all sounds good except that when you actually try it, you find that the touchpad itself is so small that it has just enough space to place your fingers — not move around with them.
Also, the annoying left and right-click buttons take a big effort to press. To make it worse, Acer decided to put the fingerprint sensor right in the middle of the two click buttons — it’s fun to see all work grind to a halt when your finger accidentally brushes against the sensor and launches the fingerprint software on the screen.
Easy browse
Windows 7 lends itself superbly to the touch experience. It’s much faster to scroll through long documents and webpages by simply flicking a finger than using a regular mouse.
The laptop comes bundled with the Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7, a series of programs designed exclusively to take advantage of touch screens.
Watch in amazement as running your fingers on a virtual pond on your screen sets off ripples in the ‘water’. Virtual fish scuttle away the moment you try to ‘touch’ them.
Make a collage of your favourite photos by dragging them across the screen with your fingers and resizing them on the fly.
When the novelty wears off, sit back with a cup of coffee, invite the neighbourhood kids over, and indulge in some high-
definition, new age fingerpainting.
Companies such as Microsoft have tried — and failed spectacularly — to get users to interact with their computers in newer ways. First Microsoft put Windows XP on Tablet PCs in 2001. The screen folded back flat against the keyboard — and you had a giant backlit slate on which you could scribble with a stylus. Of course, no one from Microsoft pointed out how nerdy you looked writing notes on a glowing screen. Then the software company built voice recognition capabilities in Windows Vista. Theoretically, you could bark a command at your computer — but that’s strictly theoretical.
When Apple pulled the rug from under everyone’s feet by releasing a phone with a touch screen that was slick, user-friendly, and for once, did not require users to tap at minuscule icons with a stylus, everyone else scrambled to get their act together. Today, most companies — from laptop to camera makers — offer functionalities on their screens that feel like ripoffs of what’s on the Apple iPhone.
Laptop maker Acer is the latest player to jump aboard the touch bandwagon by releasing India’s first multi-touch notebook, named the Acer Aspire 5738PzG —doesn’t that just roll off the tongue, nice and smooth? It runs Windows 7, Microsoft’s newest operating system. Here’s how it stacks up.
Budget Build
It is a budget laptop with the touch screen gimmick thrown in. In fact, the touch screen seems like a last-minute addition on a new laptop they were about to roll out. Its cheap and plastic-looking build leaves a lot to be desired. Weighing about 2.8 kg, it’s not exactly light.
With an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz processor, a 2 GB RAM and a 512 MB Radeon HD graphics processor purring under the hood, this Acer machine comes with more than enough power to satisfy a large number of users. It comes loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium. A 320 GB hard disk provides plenty of space to store photos and videos.
The glossy, 15.6-inch, high-definition screen capable of a resolution of 1366 -by-768 pixels makes watching movies a
delight. It’s sharp and the colours look gorgeous. Most laptop speakers are infamous for being lousy and this one does nothing to improve that image.
There is a full-sized keyboard with a numeric keypad on the right for the hardcore number-cruncher and typing on it feels good.
Nothing on this laptop, however, gets my goat more than that 2-inch piece of smooth space below the keyboard that passes off as a ‘multi-gesture touchpad’. The idea is simple — just like the multi-touch screen, you can flick your fingers across the touchpad and quickly move between browser pages and manipulate files by pinching and pulling with two fingers.
It all sounds good except that when you actually try it, you find that the touchpad itself is so small that it has just enough space to place your fingers — not move around with them.
Also, the annoying left and right-click buttons take a big effort to press. To make it worse, Acer decided to put the fingerprint sensor right in the middle of the two click buttons — it’s fun to see all work grind to a halt when your finger accidentally brushes against the sensor and launches the fingerprint software on the screen.
Easy browse
Windows 7 lends itself superbly to the touch experience. It’s much faster to scroll through long documents and webpages by simply flicking a finger than using a regular mouse.
The laptop comes bundled with the Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7, a series of programs designed exclusively to take advantage of touch screens.
Watch in amazement as running your fingers on a virtual pond on your screen sets off ripples in the ‘water’. Virtual fish scuttle away the moment you try to ‘touch’ them.
Make a collage of your favourite photos by dragging them across the screen with your fingers and resizing them on the fly.
When the novelty wears off, sit back with a cup of coffee, invite the neighbourhood kids over, and indulge in some high-
definition, new age fingerpainting.
SUMMARY BOX: FACEBOOK'S NEW PRIVACY CONTROLS
: Facebook is altering its privacy settings to make it easier for its 350 million users to decide who can see the posts, photos and other information they share on the site.
WHY NOW: Facebook users have complained that the site's old privacy controls were cumbersome. The site hopes that a simpler process for managing information will encourage people to share more.
LOOK FOR IT: Facebook will be asking users to review and alter their settings through a tool that explains the changes.
WHY NOW: Facebook users have complained that the site's old privacy controls were cumbersome. The site hopes that a simpler process for managing information will encourage people to share more.
LOOK FOR IT: Facebook will be asking users to review and alter their settings through a tool that explains the changes.
GROUP: FACEBOOK MILK PROMOTIONS BAN AN 'OVERREACH'
Gambling, guns, tobacco and ... milk? Facebook bans the promotion of all four, but a food industry group says it should ease up on the one that comes out of cows and gives you healthy bones.
The Center for Consumer Freedom, a Washington-based group supported by restaurants and food companies, said Friday dairy shouldn't be lumped together with cigarettes and prescription painkillers when it comes to banning their promotions on the site.
Facebook says it's not lactose intolerant, but there are laws prohibiting giving dairy away as a prize. Its guidelines, which are periodically updated and will be again to clarify the milk issue, seek to reflect "state laws that impose penalties for distributing dairy at a discounted rate," said Andrew Noyes, manager of public policy communications at Facebook.
"We're all big fans of strong bones at Facebook and we will soon revise our promotions guidelines to lift the complete ban on dairy and simply prohibit giving dairy away as a prize," he said in an e-mail statement.
When it comes down to it, Facebook can ban whatever they want, but in the dairy case they are simply trying to contend with varying state laws, said Andy Lustigman, a New York attorney specializing in advertising and promotional marketing.
Gasoline giveaways are banned for the same reason.
The Center for Consumer Freedom, a Washington-based group supported by restaurants and food companies, said Friday dairy shouldn't be lumped together with cigarettes and prescription painkillers when it comes to banning their promotions on the site.
Facebook says it's not lactose intolerant, but there are laws prohibiting giving dairy away as a prize. Its guidelines, which are periodically updated and will be again to clarify the milk issue, seek to reflect "state laws that impose penalties for distributing dairy at a discounted rate," said Andrew Noyes, manager of public policy communications at Facebook.
"We're all big fans of strong bones at Facebook and we will soon revise our promotions guidelines to lift the complete ban on dairy and simply prohibit giving dairy away as a prize," he said in an e-mail statement.
When it comes down to it, Facebook can ban whatever they want, but in the dairy case they are simply trying to contend with varying state laws, said Andy Lustigman, a New York attorney specializing in advertising and promotional marketing.
Gasoline giveaways are banned for the same reason.
PRIVACY WATCHDOG FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST FACEBOOK
A Washington-based privacy advocacy group and nine other organizations have filed a complaint against Facebook over the social network's latest privacy changes.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center said Thursday it has asked the Federal Trade Commission to look into the changes Facebook has made to its users' privacy settings and to force Facebook to restore its old privacy safeguards.
The changes, unveiled last week, include treating users' names, profile photo, friends list, gender and other data as publicly available information.
The complaint says the changes diminish user privacy by disclosing personal information to the public that was previously restricted.
Among the groups joining EPIC in its complaint are the American Library Association, the Consumer Federation of America and the Center for Digital Democracy.
Facebook said it discussed the changes with regulators, including the FTC, before making them and that it is disappointed "that EPIC has chosen to share their concerns with the FTC while refusing to talk to us about them."
This is not the first time, and likely not the last, that Facebook is challenged over how it treats the vast amounts of information it gets from its 350 million users.
This year, Canada's privacy commissioner accused the social network of disclosing personal information about users to the hundreds of thousands of outside developers worldwide who create Facebook applications. In August, Facebook agreed to give users more control over such sharing.
In September, the company finally shut down its much-maligned Beacon marketing program, which launched two years ago amid fanfare only to generate a storm of privacy complaints over the tracking of user activities at partner Web sites.
Facebook had agreed to create a foundation to promote online privacy, safety and security as part of a $9.5 million settlement in a lawsuit over the program.
The FTC confirmed it has received the complaint but had no other comment.
WANT PRIVACY ON FACEBOOK? HERE IS HOW TO GET SOME
Over the past week, Facebook has been nudging its users - first gently, then firmly - to review and update their privacy settings.
You may have procrastinated by hitting "skip for now," but Facebook eventually took away that button and forced you to update your settings before continuing to use the site.
After finally accepting Facebook's recommendations or tweaking the privacy settings yourself, though, you might have made more information about you public than what you had intended.
At the same time, Facebook has given users many granular controls over their privacy, more than what's available on other major social networks.
So if you want to stay out of people's view, but still want to be on Facebook, here are some things to look out for as you take another look at your settings.
1. Some of your information is viewable by everyone.
Everyone can see your name, your profile photo and the names of work and school networks you're part of. Ditto for pages you are a fan of. If you are worried about a potential employer finding out about a quirky fetish or unorthodox political leaning, avoid becoming a Facebook fan of such groups. You can't tell Facebook you don't want those publicly listed. Your gender and current city are also available, if you choose to specify them.you can uncheck "Show my sex in my profile" when you edit your profile if you don't want it listed, and you can leave "Current City" blank.
2. Your list of friends may also be public.
Facebook also considers your friends list publicly available information. Privacy advocates worry that much can be gleaned from a person's list of friends - even sexual orientation, according to one MIT study. But there is a way to hide the list. Go to your profile page and click on the little blue pencil icon on the top right of your box of friends. Uncheck "Show Friend List to everyone." Either way, those you are already friends with can always see your full list.
3. You can hide yourself from Web searches.
There is a section for "Search" under Facebook's privacy settings page, which is accessible from the top right corner of the Web site under "Settings." If you click the "Allow" box next to "Public Search Results," the information that Facebook deems publicly available (such as photo, fan pages and list of friends), along with anything else you have made available to everyone, will show up when someone looks up your name on a search engine such as Google. The stuff you've limited access to in your profile will not show up.
This is useful if you want people you've lost touch with, or potential work contacts, to be able to find your Facebook page. If you'd rather not be found, uncheck this box.
A second setting, controlling searches within Facebook, lets you refine who can find you once that person has logged on. Limit searches to friends only if you think you have all the friends you need and don't want anyone to find you when they type in your name to Facebook.
4. Beware of third-party applications.
Quizzes and games are fun, but each time you take one, you first authorize it to access your profile information, even if you have made that available only to your friends. You're also letting the app access some information on your friends.
Under "Application Settings," Facebook lists all the apps you have opened your profile up to. If you no longer want to authorize access to "Which Golden Girl Are You?" you can always remove it by clicking on the "X'' next to its name. Apps you use regularly, such as Facebook for Android if you update your status from your mobile phone, should stay.
Next, by clicking on "Applications and Websites" on the privacy settings page, you can edit whether your friends can share your birthday, photos and other specific information. Remember that applications can access your "publicly available information" no matter what.
The security firm Sophos recommends users set their privacy settings for two of Facebook's own popular applications, notes and photos, to friends only.
5. Go over your list of friends.
The average Facebook user has 130 friends. But many people interact with a much smaller group when commenting on status updates, photos and links. So it doesn't hurt to occasionally review your list of your friends to get an idea of just who can view your status posts, vacation photos and funny links you've shared over the years. Don't feel obligated to add anyone as a friend, even if that person adds you first. For professional acquaintance you don't want to snub, send them to a LinkedIn profile you can set up. Some workplaces and schools have rules about Facebook interactions between bosses and employees or students and teachers.
6. Create custom friends groups.
If you have friended a lot of people, sort them. Think of the groups you interact with in real life - co-workers, college buddies, girlfriends, grandma and grandpa - and organize your Facebook friends in these groups, too. Go to "All Friends" under the "Friends" button up top, click on "Create New List" and fire away. Then decide what aspects of your profile, and which status posts and photos, these people will have access to. Or, simply create a "limited" list for acquaintances or distant relatives and limit their access.
7. Customize your status posts.
Type "I'm hungry" into your status update box. Click on the little lock icon. You'll see a range of privacy controls pop up, letting you either allow or limit access to the post. If you want, you can even hide it from everyone by clicking "Only Me" under the custom settings. Click on "Save Setting." Repeat with each post, or create a default setting for most updates and increase or decrease privacy as you see fit.
8. Let your friends know you have boundaries - in person.
Many of us have woken up on a Sunday morning to find that an overzealous friend has posted dozens of photos from that wild party we barely remembered - the good, the bad and the hideous. Chances are, they didn't do this to embarrass you, though if they did you have bigger problems. Rather, they probably don't know that you don't want these photos posted. Sure, tweak your photo privacy settings on Facebook. But if someone starts snapping pictures of you at a party, ask them to check with you before posting it anywhere.
9. Never assume complete privacy.
Even for the most tech-savvy person, unflattering photos, incriminating text messages or angry status posts about work have a way of worming their way out in the open. Just saying.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
TOP 10 E-MAIL BLUNDERS OF 2009
It is no surprise that the biggest email horror stories this year capitalised on consumer and business fears during the height of the recession, according to Proofpoint, Inc., the leading provider of unified email security, archiving and data loss prevention solutions. With Halloween creeping around the corner, Proofpoint has identified some of the scarier email incidents of 2009 that not only haunted individuals, but businesses as well.
These blunders, attacks and mishaps have wreaked havoc on email systems and caused financial stress for consumers, corporate executives, politicians, and, of course, email administrators.
In no particular order, Proofpoint highlights some of this year's email mishaps below:
1.) Trojan Horse empties bank accounts
In September, it was reported that a banking Trojan horse, dubbed URLZone, had thwarted fraud detection systems, to enable software to actually steal money while users are logged in to their accounts and display a fake balance. Victims' computers were infected either by clicking on a malicious link in an email or visiting a Website that has been compromised with hidden malware.
The Trojan also kept a log of the victim's bank account login credentials, took screenshots, and snooped on the user's other Web accounts, such as PayPal, Facebook, and Gmail.
2.) FBI forgery
The wife of FBI Director Robert Mueller banned him from online banking after he nearly fell for a phishing scam. Mueller received a seemingly legitimate email from what he thought was his bank, which prompted him to verify some information. He even went as far as filling out some of his personal information before realizing it might not be a great idea.
He said he barely caught himself in time before falling victim to the scam. As a result, he changed his passwords and tried to pass the incident off to his wife as a 'teachable moment.' However, that did not stop Mrs. Mueller from sanctioning Mr. Mueller's online activities.
3.) White House adopts spammer tactics
In August, the White House emailed thousands of messages to Americans detailing its stance on the contentious issue of healthcare reform from an email account created to gather and dispel rumors, but some recipients claimed the messages were unsolicited. The White House acknowledged the unsolicited email and blamed third-party groups for the mass email.
Unfortunately, the damage was already done. Critics questioned whether the White House used address-gathering tactics similar to those employed by spammers.
4.) Hotmail phishing
Most recently, more than 10,000 Hotmail accounts were compromised in October and passwords were posted on several Websites where developers typically share programming code. News site Neowin reported it had seen part of the list, which has since been removed, and notified Microsoft of the issue. In this phishing scam, hackers sent out legitimate-looking emails under the letterhead of banks, eBay and other institutions, telling consumers they needed to reset online passwords to their Web sites for security purposes.
It seems that many of the affected account holders could have used a password reset. Security researchers with copies of the exposed passwords reported that '123456' was the most commonly used among them.
5.) Start-up suicide
Back in September, social media advertising and applications start-up RockYou, sent out a mass email to their customers and associates announcing their new site redesign, but instead of using BCC:, they displayed the entire mailing list of over 200 email addresses in the CC: field. Not surprisingly, many of those addresses ended up on a spammer's list.
Two months later, the start-up sent out another mass email using a mailing list. Unfortunately, the email asked contractors to provide information for their W9 tax forms. This resulted in people inadvertently sending personal information to the entire mailing list.
Email may not be as trendy as social networks, but companies still need to use both properly.
6.) Judge orders Gmail account deactivated
In August, Wyoming-based Rocky Mountain Bank mistakenly sent names, addresses, social security numbers and loan information of more than 1,300 customers to a Gmail address. When the bank realized the problem, it sent a message to that same address asking the recipient to contact the bank and destroy the file without opening it.
No one responded, so the bank contacted Google to ask for information about the account holder. U.S. District Court Judge James Ware in the northern district of California ordered Google to deactivate the email account and also disclose the Gmail account holder's identity and contact information.
The Gmail user hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing, but someone at the Bank should be a little more careful when typing in the TO: field in an email.
7.) Payroll panic
Payroll processor PayChoice was the victim of a Website breach in which customers received targeted emails purporting to be from the company, but were designed to trick people into downloading malware. Workers received emails that directed them to download a browser plug-in or visit a Website to continue accessing the Onlineemployer.com PayChoice portal.
Clients were notified within hours and the site was shut down. It was later learned that the emails were sent from a Yahoo! email account and the links were hosted from servers in Poland.
8.) UK tax terror
Britain's tax authority, HM Revenue & Customs, issued a warning about a rash of scam emails that used convincing (but fake) government email address in an attempt to lure recipients into divulging their personal information to receive a tax refund. The scam messages claimed that recipients were entitled to a tax refund and asked for bank or credit card details, so that the fictitious refund could be paid out.
Like most legitimate businesses and government organizations, the HMRC stressed that it would not inform citizens of a tax rebate via email, nor would it invite them to complete an online form to receive a tax rebate.
9.) Death, taxes and phish
In September, a fake email notice that purports to come from the Internal Revenue Service continued to make the rounds, widely ramping up attacks against businesses and individuals.
The attacks were concealed in a bogus email containing a subject line of 'Notice of Underreported Income,' according to US-CERT.
The emails contained a link or an attachment that, if opened, will infect users with the Zbot/Zeus Trojan, a nasty credentials-stealing program that seeks to compromise banking login information.
Proofpoint reports that these phishing emails continued to be widely circulated as the October 15th deadline for filing extended tax returns approached.
10.) UCSD fake-out
28,000 students were turned away from UC San Diego in one of the toughest college entrance seasons on record after a particularly cruel twist in the perils of instant communications. All 46,000 students in the entire freshman applicant pool received the same misfired message of acceptance, which could have led to the largest freshman class at any university globally.
The 18,000 students who were actually accepted breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, the rest of the applicant pool had to march on in the grueling college application process.
To view the pictures of TOP E-MAIL BLUNDERS OF 2009
These blunders, attacks and mishaps have wreaked havoc on email systems and caused financial stress for consumers, corporate executives, politicians, and, of course, email administrators.
In no particular order, Proofpoint highlights some of this year's email mishaps below:
1.) Trojan Horse empties bank accounts
In September, it was reported that a banking Trojan horse, dubbed URLZone, had thwarted fraud detection systems, to enable software to actually steal money while users are logged in to their accounts and display a fake balance. Victims' computers were infected either by clicking on a malicious link in an email or visiting a Website that has been compromised with hidden malware.
The Trojan also kept a log of the victim's bank account login credentials, took screenshots, and snooped on the user's other Web accounts, such as PayPal, Facebook, and Gmail.
2.) FBI forgery
The wife of FBI Director Robert Mueller banned him from online banking after he nearly fell for a phishing scam. Mueller received a seemingly legitimate email from what he thought was his bank, which prompted him to verify some information. He even went as far as filling out some of his personal information before realizing it might not be a great idea.
He said he barely caught himself in time before falling victim to the scam. As a result, he changed his passwords and tried to pass the incident off to his wife as a 'teachable moment.' However, that did not stop Mrs. Mueller from sanctioning Mr. Mueller's online activities.
3.) White House adopts spammer tactics
In August, the White House emailed thousands of messages to Americans detailing its stance on the contentious issue of healthcare reform from an email account created to gather and dispel rumors, but some recipients claimed the messages were unsolicited. The White House acknowledged the unsolicited email and blamed third-party groups for the mass email.
Unfortunately, the damage was already done. Critics questioned whether the White House used address-gathering tactics similar to those employed by spammers.
4.) Hotmail phishing
Most recently, more than 10,000 Hotmail accounts were compromised in October and passwords were posted on several Websites where developers typically share programming code. News site Neowin reported it had seen part of the list, which has since been removed, and notified Microsoft of the issue. In this phishing scam, hackers sent out legitimate-looking emails under the letterhead of banks, eBay and other institutions, telling consumers they needed to reset online passwords to their Web sites for security purposes.
It seems that many of the affected account holders could have used a password reset. Security researchers with copies of the exposed passwords reported that '123456' was the most commonly used among them.
5.) Start-up suicide
Back in September, social media advertising and applications start-up RockYou, sent out a mass email to their customers and associates announcing their new site redesign, but instead of using BCC:, they displayed the entire mailing list of over 200 email addresses in the CC: field. Not surprisingly, many of those addresses ended up on a spammer's list.
Two months later, the start-up sent out another mass email using a mailing list. Unfortunately, the email asked contractors to provide information for their W9 tax forms. This resulted in people inadvertently sending personal information to the entire mailing list.
Email may not be as trendy as social networks, but companies still need to use both properly.
6.) Judge orders Gmail account deactivated
In August, Wyoming-based Rocky Mountain Bank mistakenly sent names, addresses, social security numbers and loan information of more than 1,300 customers to a Gmail address. When the bank realized the problem, it sent a message to that same address asking the recipient to contact the bank and destroy the file without opening it.
No one responded, so the bank contacted Google to ask for information about the account holder. U.S. District Court Judge James Ware in the northern district of California ordered Google to deactivate the email account and also disclose the Gmail account holder's identity and contact information.
The Gmail user hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing, but someone at the Bank should be a little more careful when typing in the TO: field in an email.
7.) Payroll panic
Payroll processor PayChoice was the victim of a Website breach in which customers received targeted emails purporting to be from the company, but were designed to trick people into downloading malware. Workers received emails that directed them to download a browser plug-in or visit a Website to continue accessing the Onlineemployer.com PayChoice portal.
Clients were notified within hours and the site was shut down. It was later learned that the emails were sent from a Yahoo! email account and the links were hosted from servers in Poland.
8.) UK tax terror
Britain's tax authority, HM Revenue & Customs, issued a warning about a rash of scam emails that used convincing (but fake) government email address in an attempt to lure recipients into divulging their personal information to receive a tax refund. The scam messages claimed that recipients were entitled to a tax refund and asked for bank or credit card details, so that the fictitious refund could be paid out.
Like most legitimate businesses and government organizations, the HMRC stressed that it would not inform citizens of a tax rebate via email, nor would it invite them to complete an online form to receive a tax rebate.
9.) Death, taxes and phish
In September, a fake email notice that purports to come from the Internal Revenue Service continued to make the rounds, widely ramping up attacks against businesses and individuals.
The attacks were concealed in a bogus email containing a subject line of 'Notice of Underreported Income,' according to US-CERT.
The emails contained a link or an attachment that, if opened, will infect users with the Zbot/Zeus Trojan, a nasty credentials-stealing program that seeks to compromise banking login information.
Proofpoint reports that these phishing emails continued to be widely circulated as the October 15th deadline for filing extended tax returns approached.
10.) UCSD fake-out
28,000 students were turned away from UC San Diego in one of the toughest college entrance seasons on record after a particularly cruel twist in the perils of instant communications. All 46,000 students in the entire freshman applicant pool received the same misfired message of acceptance, which could have led to the largest freshman class at any university globally.
The 18,000 students who were actually accepted breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, the rest of the applicant pool had to march on in the grueling college application process.
To view the pictures of TOP E-MAIL BLUNDERS OF 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
HOW TO EXTRACT TEXT FROM IMAGES ONLINE & PDF FILES....$
Recently I had received a report from a company which had stats on the best laptops which was sent by a media company and while reading the report i thought to share a part of the stats with all my blog reader, but well it was not possible because it was a JPEG Image which the report was saved as and there was no option to copy any part of this. Now in order to extract all the text content from the Image i had to use a Online Tool called as Free OCR also means Optical Character Recognition which is a technology used to mechanically or electronically translate images into machine editable text which means into a kind of text which you can use it easily.
FREE OCR
To make you understand this technology in easy format, lets take a example. Whenever you scan some important document, you will find that its available to you to be saved as a Image file and you cannot select any other format in this case, because the scanner would take a photographic screenshot of document and present it to you. Now the OCR Readers would perform the reverse job and offer you a text format of the Image files. In order to get this task done you need to visit the website and browse the Image file on your local computer and click on the send file button, which would upload the file to the free-ocr.com website server where its being converted and then the results are shown on the same window at the end.
There are many chances that the text format is lost, because in the Image you would find the information stored in perfect tables and good layouts, but at the end you can find garbled text, which you need to format manually and still this is a good service because atleast you don’t have to manually type down all the text content from the Image. You just have to take the pieces of text which was downloaded and format it correctly for your usage.
Visit this online Page:- Click here
FREE OCR
To make you understand this technology in easy format, lets take a example. Whenever you scan some important document, you will find that its available to you to be saved as a Image file and you cannot select any other format in this case, because the scanner would take a photographic screenshot of document and present it to you. Now the OCR Readers would perform the reverse job and offer you a text format of the Image files. In order to get this task done you need to visit the website and browse the Image file on your local computer and click on the send file button, which would upload the file to the free-ocr.com website server where its being converted and then the results are shown on the same window at the end.
There are many chances that the text format is lost, because in the Image you would find the information stored in perfect tables and good layouts, but at the end you can find garbled text, which you need to format manually and still this is a good service because atleast you don’t have to manually type down all the text content from the Image. You just have to take the pieces of text which was downloaded and format it correctly for your usage.
Visit this online Page:- Click here
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