December 1, 2009

Tech News: Windows BSOD, Office 2010, YouTube Pay TV & LCD Lawsuits
Looks like we all survived Cyber-Monday. Here's what got my attention this morning: Microsoft looking into Windows 'black screen of death' problem "Microsoft says it's looking into reports that its latest security updates are causing some Windows machines to stop working and display a mostly black screen with no desktop icons, taskbar, sidebar or other elements -- seizing up and…
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August 12, 2009

WebCam Monitoring & Streaming Via a $5 iPhone Application – iCam
If you travel frequently, have small kids, or just like to keep an eye on things, I have a great solution for you. A few weeks ago, I came across a nice iPhone app called iCam by SKJM which allows you to set up video monitoring of up to 4 sources at a time. Sure, there are lots of webcams…
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May 20, 2009

Phishing Scam Alert: “Information from Comerica Bank customer service team”
I just got the following email with the subject line: "Information from Comerica Bank customer service team [message id: 0715063392]" from "Comerica Bank" which, for me, was obviously a phishing scam. I wanted to quickly document what I found to alert others. While the English of this email message is not as bad as other phishing scams that I have…
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February 9, 2009

How to Easily Check your Blog for Security Breaches & Hacker Code
A few months ago, I got an email from a family member that told me that when they visited my blog, they received a "malicious software" warning. I found this very odd, since I visit my own blog fairly regularly and hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. I found out that the issue only appeared with Safari for the…
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June 12, 2008

Review: Safe Internet for your Kids with Intego Content Barrier x4
Being a good dad means protecting your kids. That can be by physically keeping them from danger, or, by preventing their young innocent eyes and minds from being corrupted by seeing content that they are too young for. With technology, connectivity and communications pervading all aspects of our lives, it has become increasingly difficult to control what our children see,…
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April 8, 2008

Warning: Watch out for "Evacuation process…San Clemente Nucklear Power Station" email
Just a quick note. Watch out for an email coming in from various news sources (mine came from "foxnews" and a buddy's from "google news" that claims there was an issue at the "San Clemente Nucklear Power Station." This is most obviously a fake, especially if you are not signed up to receive email notifications from news sources. (If you…
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September 18, 2007

WordPress: People can view your Plugin Folder unless you fix!
As I was working on the update to my blog theme, I found a security hole that I think has existed for a long time in WordPress. While not incredibly devastating, nor directly tied to "code" within WordPress, it is a hole that is very easy to fix. The concern is more with KNOWING the types of plugins that a…
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September 10, 2007

WordPress update: Version 2.2.3 released with Security Fix
Just updated my blog with WordPress version 2.2.3 (haven't taken the plunge with the beta version 2.3 yet but I am working on a new theme). The 2.2.3 version is just a security release that they recommend people upgrade to, especially regarding two high-priority bugs. The following bugs were closed: 3002 - On Windows machines register_activation_hook() does not work if…
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June 19, 2007

Family Tech: Easily manage what sites your kids see with Glubble
Finally I have come across something to write about that truly talks to my site motto "where technology and fatherhood collide." It is not very often that I can write about a new service or piece of software that can help a family. Computers are now as common as TVs and now kids have computers in their rooms, at schools,…
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May 30, 2007

Scam/Virus Alert – emails from IRS with Subject “Complaint Case Number…”
Scam, Virus, Phishing alert! Looks like there is a variant of the Better Business Bureau scam is circulating now but seemingly from the Internal Revenue Service, and I was a recipient of one of the emails. It came in with a title of: "Complaint Case Number ###### against User Name" from, supposedly "[email protected]". The body itself looked somewhat legit and…
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October 24, 2006

How to combat Phishing Scams
So, I previously posted about Phishing scams and what they look like (with screen shots). I figured that I would continue my Public Service Announcement with some tools that you can use to be sure that you don't get "caught." Option #1 - There is a new site that you can go and report Phishing scams on called PhishTank. On…
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September 29, 2006

Understanding Phishing Scams…first hand!
This is my PSA (Public Service Announcement) for the week and it is about something pretty scary...Phishing Scams. Several years ago, I was a victim of identity theft. It was not a pleasant experience but it left me wiser and more cautious. It was done the old fashioned way of swiping some receipts and looking up some account information (local…
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