Friday, February 27, 2009
Kindles, Notes and Robots oh my

Prime View International, maker of electrophoretic displays AKA epaper makes the screens for Amazon's Kindle 2. That much we know. However, rumors that they are working on a larger-sized touchscreen makes us think they are now ramping up production of the "student's Kindle" we heard about last year.

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Identity theft cases surged in 2008, according to the Federal Trade Commission's annual data.

In 2008, ID theft was by far the biggest complaint to the FTC, representing 26 percent of complaints. The next biggest one--third party and creditor debt collection scams--represented only 9 percent of complaints.

The FTC's annual Consumer Sentinel Network report (PDF), released Thursday, details that ID theft complaints totaled nearly 314,000 in 2008, up from about 259,00 in 2007 and up substantially from about 31,000 in 2000.

The Consumer Sentinel Network is a secure online database that harvests complaints from law enforcement authorities, as well as other groups such as the Internet Crime Complaint Center and Better Business Bureau.

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Small robots the size of riding mowers could prepare a safe landing site for NASAs Moon outpost, according to a NASA-sponsored study prepared by Astrobotic Technology Inc. with technical assistance from Carnegie Mellon Universitys Robotics Institute.

Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon researchers analyzed mission requirements and developed the design for an innovative new type of small lunar robot under contract from NASAs Lunar Surface Systems group.

The results will be presented Friday in Washington, D.C., at a NASA Lunar Surface Systems conference co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its Space Enterprise Council.

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On Friday, Microsoft is releasing a free add-on, dubbed Canvas for OneNote, that takes that same approach to viewing one's notebooks in OneNote.

Because it is an adjunct to OneNote, Canvas requires one really be a heavy user of that program to get the benefit. (It also requires Windows Vista and uses Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation graphics technology).

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While CDs have not yet gone the way of the LP, more and more users are starting to carry their entire music libraries on iPods and MP3 players. When it comes time to drive, these users don't want to take a quantum leap backwards to carrying dozens of CDs in their glove compartment. No, these days, any car stereo receiver worth its salt will either play digital audio from an external storage device or seamlessly interface with a portable digital-audio player.

The Alpine iDA-X100 takes a bold step forward by completely eschewing the CD legacy format, moving to a completely USB-based input scheme with full-speed iPod connection, and an exceptional control scheme for navigating large digital-audio libraries.

Those who haven't jumped on the iPod bandwagon will appreciate the Sony XPLOD CDX-GT920U, which natively supports USB devices, but not the iPod. Users who have chosen to carry their digital audio on a Bluetooth-compatible device, such as a mobile phone, will appreciate the Sony MEX-BT2600, which features A2DP stereo audio streaming over Bluetooth.

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  • Written by: Christy"
    • | 12:05 PM | 0 comment(s)! |

    Saturday, May 31, 2008
    We Will NOT Stand Down

    Experian has picked a fight with a company called Lifelock, alleging "credit laws do not provide for a third party to place fraud alerts on behalf of a consumer."

    Funny they should say that because Lifelock only does it when another consumer has requested their services. If someone is in danger of some sort of identity theft why would any credit company want to thwart the efforts of keeping them safe?

    CNN posted a video recently which discusses this top.

    Lifelock is dealing with many different law suits right now because they are unable to secure their customers as promised because of the road blocks they are hitting fro other financial institutions.

    Companies like LifeLock can help guard against only certain types of financial fraud by helping consumers set up alerts with credit bureaus, which inform them when someone tries to open a new line of credit or boost their credit limit.

    I suppose it is only fair to tell both sides of the story which is what I am attempting to do. It is completely up to the consumer whether or not they wish to have a small amount of protection or none at all.

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  • Written by: Christy"
    • | 11:16 AM | 0 comment(s)! |

    Monday, February 4, 2008
    Lifelock, your defense against identity theft

    Over the past few months, Brian and I have both had trouble with our debit cards. We have both needed to have new cards sent out to us due to fraudulent activity. Let's face it, this is happening more and more frequently and across all types of people because we're living in a digital age.

    Which is why companies have been developing ways to keep your identity safe. Which leads me to discussing lifelock.

    Think you don't need it? Well, spend three minutes taking the National Utility Services' (N.U.S.) 22-question quiz at their site, users' habits are analyzed to determine the likelihood you will become a victim of identity theft. I think you'll be surprised at the results. N.U.S. promotes the LifeLock fraud alert service, the industry leader in identity theft protection and prevention.

    Founded in 2005, Lifelock is the leading company for the safe keeping of your name. "If anything happens while you're a LifeLock client, we're going to fix the problem using our experts and cover all losses and all expenses up to a million dollars," promises Todd Davis, LifeLock's CEO.

    For only $10/month, they will protect your identity and personal information, guaranteeing protection of up to $1,000,000. To learn more, visit their website and browse their FAQ section.

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  • Written by: Christy"
    • | 1:05 PM | 0 comment(s)! |