Happy Halloween

Folks,

I understand that Mother Nature is going to dampen the festivities for some of you, but I would like to wish you all the best possible Halloween, well, um.. possible!

I do hope you all have a fun (and safe) time Trick Or Treating tonight, and your costume wins First Prize.

And please allow me to remind you not to eat too much of your loot at once, or you might feel like this guy..

Happy Halloween!

Today’s reading reco: Zero Day Weekly: CurrentC hacked, White House breached, APT28 exposed, Verizon shamed

“A collection of notable security news items for the week ending October 31, 2014. Covers enterprise, controversies, reports and more.” Read more..

Today’s Fun Video (Reader submitted): The fine folks at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory demonstrate why they are the best ever by showcasing their mad pumpkin carving skills.

Today’s quote: “Fortune favours the bold.” ~ Virgil

Copyright 2007-2014 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Another Blow to ‘Net Nuetrality’

(AKA Hey! Thanks, Verizon!)

Landmark Ruling worth knowing about.. (and once again, who gets screwed? The little guy.)

Tech news:

* ‘Net neutrality’ ruling could be costly for consumers, advocates say

“An appeals court throws out the FCC’s ‘net neutrality’ rules on Internet traffic. The ruling could raise Internet service fees and stifle innovation, some say.” Read more..

Other ‘news’: I finally decided to do something about my long term  interest in radio-controlled (“R/C”) airplanes. I’ve always been interested in flying, and one of the things I loved about computers – early on – was that various ‘flight simulators’ (games, really) allowed me to ‘fly’ fighter jets (iF-16, Jane’s, falcon 4.0), and ‘dogfight’ Zeros over the Pacific (Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator).

For years, I watched fellas fly these RC planes, and always thought it looked pretty.. well, fun.

So I did some research, and decided that the best plane for me to learn to fly RC would be a Hobbyzone Champ; a ‘RTF’ plane (ready-to-fly). Everything you need, in one box. So .. I got one. (They run about $100.) It proved a good choice.

I am pleased to say that, after about an hour’s piloting time, I can actually keep it in the air longer than I spend walking over to where it’s crashed (I did prove the Rule: a beginner’s first flight lasts somewhere between 4, and 6, seconds…) and can take off and land (but have yet to successfully do a ‘touch and go’). It is fun; and it’s challenging.

Here’s a video someone made about their first experience with a Champ. And I don’t at all believe it was his first flight ever, as I still cannot fly that well!

These aircraft are made from styrofoam, and are very, very light (my Champ is a little over an ounce) and reasonably resilient. When I was a kid.. models that could fly were either balsa wood and tissue paper (aka ‘beyond fragile’) or plastic and gas-powered (anyone remember the plane-on-a-string ‘go ’rounds’?).. things have come a long way!

Are there any R/C pilots out there in my audience? If so, any tips for me?

Today’s quote: “Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” ~ Ashley Smith

Hey folks, let’s be excellent today.

Copyright 2007-2014 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

This week’s items of interest.

Howdy folks. Here are a few items I found interesting this past week.

* What’s right (and wrong) with the new Kindle Fire HDX and Kindle Fire HD

“Amazon has unveiled a new lineup of tablets to take it into the holiday season. These tablets being superb hardware at a price that will make you do a double-take, but as with all things, not everything is perfect. ” Read more..

* Apple Gets Failing Grades on New iPhone Security

“In the fanfare of publicity for the iPhones 5s and 5c, and for iOS 7, a persistent and unusual motif was heard: security, security. ” Read more..

* Norton, Kaspersky, and Bitdefender Rule New Antivirus Test

“Researchers at German lab AV-Test keep twenty-odd antivirus products under observation constantly, collating and reporting their results every couple months. They cycle between testing under Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows 8, sometimes using 64-bit editions. The latest results relate to testing under 64-bit Windows 7. Some products scored much better than when tested under the 32-bit operating system; others lost points galore.” Read more..

* Tech companies have highest turnover rate

“According to PayScale’s most recent survey, employee turnover rate among Fortune 500 companies is greatest in the IT industry.” Read more..

[ Doesn’t surprise me.. ]

* What if Verizon succeeds in killing the Internet?

“Verizon is making a big push to begin actively blocking content and competition from its network. This is a bald-faced attack on the Internet in general. It’s abhorrent. But what happens if Verizon wins?” Read more..

* Design lab finalists reveal gadgets of the future

“From breathing walls to holograms and intelligent kitchen appliances, Electrolux Design Lab’s eight finalists reveal how we might be cooking, cleaning and improving our home environment in the future.” Read/see more..

*    *    *

.. if you only read one.. read the Verizon one ..

Today’s quote: “Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.” ~ Buddha

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Alert: Automated Verizon Call Is A Fake

Folks, I almost fell for a scam telephone “phishing” phone call reporting to be from one of my cellular service providers. I think hope you are going to want to read my ‘confession’, and forward this warning to all your friends and family.

See, truth is, I did fall for it, but fortunately the trap did not close on me, and I did not give away my personal information, which (probably) would have been used in an “Identity theft”. (Or, they might have just glommed my credit card.) Me! Mr. B. Paranoid.

Here’s how it worked (and why I thought it was real):
I have been very busy helping people un-Windows 8 their new Windows 8 PC’s (bypassing the “Metro” UI, mainly) and so I found the message on my answering machine. It was a ‘recording’ woman’s voice. What I mean by that is it was an “automated” call. Anyone who has navigated a telephone “menu tree” (“para Espanol, pulse dos“) has heard this voice. “She” was, in a way, familiar. And “spoke” perfect robot-English.

The automated message identified me by name, said it was an “Important message regarding changes to my account status”, said I needed to call today, and provided me a 1-800 number to call and told me I would be asked to enter my cell phone number.

It pronounced my names correctly, and identified my Verizon phone number correctly. It repeated itself appropriately, and was – to put it simply – professional and exactly how I would expect an ‘alert’ call to sound. It sounded to me exactly the same as other legitimate calls I have received — such as our County’s “emergency alert system”, and my bank’s “unusual activity detected” calls.

But what really made me “bite” was, I knew that I had been “meaning to get to” paying my latest Verizon bill, but had put it off, then forgotten, in my busy-ness.. Had I delayed too long? Was this a pay-or-get-cut-off call? Could be.

So.. I called the 1-800 number to see what was up. And it rang once and disconnected. Thankfully!

I am not beating myself up too much, as I was juggling a lot of activity (aka “multitasking”), but at that disconnect, I did what I should have done first, I went to my computer and logged in to my Verizon “My account” and looked for any alerts, notices, or big red letters saying “PAY NOW OR GET CUT OFF”.. or anything that might explain that message on my voicemail. I did see a very mild “past due”, but nothing else.

Now I was quite intrigued! So I called the Verizon customer service number posted on the website (1-800-922-0204) and spoke with a young man who asked me several questions.. then asked me to play the message to him.
And he told me, “that’s not us. That’s a scam.”

How did he know? “Our robot voice is different, and that’s not one of our telephone numbers.”

Like I would know those two things.

So.. “in conclusion”.. I am abashed and embarrassed. This call had the earmarks of a phish, but I let those things .. not raise red flags. But this was undoubtedly the most professionally done phishing scam I have witnessed. A truly “pro con” (job). And, I guess I learned that I am not quite as “paranoid” (alert and wary) on the telephone as I am when online, and surfing the web.
And maybe I ought to quit trying to do three things at once, and pay more attention to one thing at a time.. But I feel stupid none the less.

Today, it was Verizon. Who knows what company they’ll impersonate next. I’ll never ‘trust’ another robot voice again!

So be aware. And be wary. They are trying to get us.

Dang. I feel dumb. Go ahead and laugh at me if you want. But I feel darn lucky too. What would I have given away if the call had gone through? What does untangling one’s self from Identity Theft cost these days? Don’t find out.. and don’t let your friends and family find out. Tell them about me, this call, and my dumb move. Let them laugh at me too.. and maybe raise their ‘paranoia’ as a consequence, and avoid scams like this.

I cannot print how I would punish the perps behind this one, if I could get my hands on them, but I can tell you I’d do it on TV.

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Friday Fun Videos (of the High Flying Sort)

Folks, wanna have some fun?

Okay, then! Let’s start. This first one is quite short. First, click here. Then toggle the viewer to Full screen mode. Then click Play ” >”.

Insane, eh?

Now, ole Tech Paul loves airplanes. And loves fun. But I would want no part of that!

Here’s some more things that go fast..

Okay, so some of that was a little.. um.. not-so-fun.. let me try again..

Yeah. OK. So that stuff is not for everybody. So for the rest of you, here’s your FFV.

Yay! The weekend is almost here.

And how about some tech? AT&T buys Verizon Wireless spectrum for $1.9bn

“AT&T has agreed to acquire airwaves from Verizon Wireless, the U.S.’ largest cellular network by subscribers, for $1.9 billion, the company said today.” Read more..

Today’s quote: “I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places. He told me to quit going to those places.” ~ Henny Youngman

ATTN: Do you have the IP of 192.74.237.188 ? If you are not a spammer, you’re infected (actually, “botted“). And your machine is spamming blogs with bogus comments, and probably doing other nasty things as well.

(Don’t know what your IP address is? Click here.)

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.