If you haven't checked your Kickstarter account lately, Do So Now. Kickstarter has been Hacked!

If you haven’t checked your Kickstarter account lately, do so now. They’ve been hacked recently. 

Kickstarter states that no credit card data was compromised. Just to be safe, though, Change Your Password.

 

Tom Briant

Editor, MacValley Blog

 

Weekend Roundup from Senior Correspondent Arnold Woodworth

Apple Has Simple But Brilliant Cure For Spam Email

People have often used disposable accounts as a means of fighting spam, but Apple's system would enable you to continue checking a single inbox for all your communication.

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-spam-email-patent-2014-2




7 Little-Known Tricks To Get More Out Of Your iPad

http://www.businessinsider.com/ipad-multitasking-finger-tricks-2014-2




Greenpeace Praises Apple for Improving Supplier Working Conditions

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/greenpeace-praises-apple-for-improving-supplier-working-conditions




A look at Apple's R&D expenditures from 1995-2013

http://www.tuaw.com/2014/02/12/a-look-at-apples-randd-expenditures-from-1995-2013/




Apple delays Mac Pro shipping date again, this time to April

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/apple-pushes-mac-pro-shipping-date-april-abroad/




Here's What To Do If Your iPhone Gets Stolen

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-do-if-iphone-gets-stolen-2014-2




Will iPads in the Classroom Make the Grade for Students and Teachers?
Santa Barbara Unified School District is rolling out 1,200 iPads to three elementary schools and an alternative high school.

http://www.cio.com/article/748212/Will_iPads_in_the_Classroom_Make_the_Grade_for_Students_and_Teachers_




Senate Introduces "Kill-Switch" Bill For Mobile Phones

This is something that iPhones and iPads have had for years.

Four Democratic senators have proposed a bill that would mandate mobile device manufacturers to build in a way to remotely wipe and disable stolen phones. Though the Senate bill proposes giving all consumers a kill-switch option, they are not required to enable it.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3026517/fast-feed/on-the-heels-of-california-senate-introduces-kill-switch-bill-for-mobile-phones




14 Apps Every Entrepreneur Needs

http://www.businessinsider.com/14-best-apps-for-entrepreneurs-2014-2




This is how in-app purchases should be handled

http://www.tuaw.com/2014/02/12/this-is-how-in-app-purchases-should-be-handled/




Our Love Affair With the Tablet Is Over

I wasn't the only one swooning in the presence of the iPad and its imitators.

Now - three years and 225 million tablets later - I'm starting to see how misplaced that passion was.

What I realize now is that it has been the phone all along. What we are witnessing today is a merger of phones and tablets.

It comes down to size. The vast majority of the hundreds of millions of people who use tech every day are just fine with having two primary computing devices: One for your pocket and one for your desk.

http://recode.net/2014/02/06/our-love-affair-with-the-tablet-is-over/




Essential Tips To Make Google Search Better And Faster

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-search-tips-2014-2




Why Traffic To These Google Alternatives Is Soaring

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2014/02/10/why-traffic-to-these-google-alternatives-is-soaring/




Don't Post an "Over the Top Snark" on Social Media
You WILL pay the price

The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life
A young man's violent threat on Facebook lands him in jail, and limbo.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/2014-02-13/news/the-facebook-comment-that-ruined-a-life/




7 ways to protect your credit card number

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/7-ways-to-protect-your-credit-card-number-2014-02-11




in one of the biggest breaches of bank secrecy, Barclays had stolen and sold the confidential personal and financial data of up to 27,000 clients to the highest market bidder, in most cases rogue traders who had seen Glengarry Glen Ross one too many times, and who would then use Jordan Belfort-inspired tactics to sell money losing investment products to those unlucky thousands who had entrusted their data to the bank.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-09/barclays-busted-stealing-selling-confidential-financial-data-thousands-clients




Why You MUST NOT CONSENT To Electronic Medical Records

The data accessible to attackers included a combination of names, social security numbers, dates of birth, and possibly addresses, the organization said. For the affected patients, medical information was also accessible, and for some employees, bank account information was exposed.

The attackers appeared to be operating from IP addresses in “China and elsewhere”, the organization said.

approximately 405,000 former and current patients', employees' and some employees' beneficiaries' information was accessible to the unauthorized parties.

http://www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=228490

https://www.securityweek.com/hackers-break-server-st-joseph-health-system-putting-405000-risk




Bitcoin core developer to Mt. Gox: 'Bitcoin is not broken'

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2014/02/10/bitcoin-core-developer-to-mt-gox-bitcoin-is-not-broken/




Bitcoin Flash Crashes, Drops By 80% In Seconds

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-10/bitcoin-flash-crashes-drops-80-seconds




There's a lack of understanding at major exchanges about how bitcoins are sent

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2014/02/11/theres-a-lack-of-understanding-at-major-exchanges-about-how-bitcoins-are-sent/




Bitcoin hit by denial of service attacks as regulators prepare clampdown

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/12/us-usa-bitcoin-idUSBREA1A20X20140212




Major Online Marketplace Silk Road Hacked — Someone Stole All Its Bitcoins
The anonymous marketplace for illegal drugs has been hacked.

http://www.businessinsider.com/silk-road-hack-2014-2




A dangerous mistake lies at Bitcoin's intellectual core

Calibrating monetary policy to the needs of the economy is an enormous undertaking.
Bitcoin is designed to take this job away from central bankers and give it to a simple algorithm instead.

putting money creation beyond the reach of meddling central bankers ...... ignores the ebbs and flow of economic cycles

we need central bankers who can adjust monetary policy to promote prosperity when people behave in unexpected ways.

The software behind Bitcoin is a remarkable technical achievement but those who tout such systems as a way of saving capitalism are profoundly wrong. Governments should be wary of allowing any virtual currency, unless they first find a way of putting central bankers back in charge.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e9db5fda-9242-11e3-8018-00144feab7de.html




FINANCE PROFESSOR: Bitcoin Could Harm Nations

with currency and the ability to create it, control it, dispense it, and regulate it being at the very core of sovereign power – Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, if unchecked, could be an existential threat.

the vital role of currency management-- needed to spur economic growth -- is reserved for central bankers.

If not controlled and tightly regulated, Bitcoin -- a decentralized, untraceable, highly volatile and nationless currency -- has the potential to undermine this longstanding bond between sovereign and its currency.

Compared to fiat currency, virtual currency has several distinct weaknesses.

Up until recently, Bitcoiners pointed to open-source code and five years of existence as proof that software was failsafe. However, in recent days cyber hackers proved otherwise by cracking the code, exploiting a software flaw, triggering a chain reaction, forcing three of the largest exchanges -- representing over seventy percent of all trading volume -- to halt investor withdrawals.

In reality, Bitcoiners are not central bankers but high-risk commodity traders.  To suggest they can do the equivalent work of dedicated and experienced central bankers is farcical.

Bitcoin fixed-supply formula has one major fatal flaw; it fails to acknowledge that human behavior, not mathematical formulas, drives markets.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-sovereign-attack-2014-2

Warning! The Spammers are getting way too good!

Good Morning All:

 

Senior Correspondent Arnold Woodworth received  a piece of spam asking him to change his Apple ID. This spam looks very, very authentic. 

 

If you have the slightest doubt about a message, DON’T OPEN IT! Instead, 

 

 

Tom:

 

I received a spam that looks like it's an authentic Apple E-mail.  I think a warning on the MacValley Blog is in order.

 

The "From" field was "itcustomid@apple.com".

 

The subject line was "ID: 123456789"  (not the real number).

I think the intent was to deceive me into thinking the E-mail was about a new Apple ID.

 

It said "You have a new message!"

 

It had a link that said "View Message".

 

I carefully examined the link to find out the URL -- WITHOUT clicking the link.

The URL was romeltea.com.

I don't know what sort of web site it is, other than it is from outside the U.S.

 

I don't remember ever seeing spam of such good quality before.

At first glance, it looks like the aesthetic yet minimalist look that Apple always strives for.

I was tempted to click the link right away but, being somewhat paranoid of spam,

I examined it more closely first.  I'm glad I did.

 

Here's what the E-mail looked like.
I carefully replaced the link with words "View Message" that don't have the link.

 

 

If you have doubts about the authenticity of a URL, just hover your mouse on the URL in the message. You’ll see a little yellow rectangle pop up with the real URL!

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Briant

Editor, MacValley Blog

Senior Correspondent Arnold Woodworth's Weekend Roundup

Has Apple's Innovation Engine Run Out of Steam?

I think that the time is right for the Cupertino giant to unveil a new product, and prove to the world that innovation is alive and well at Apple HQ.

http://www.datamation.com/commentary/has-apples-innovation-engine-run-out-of-steam.html



Apple Preps Sapphire Plant for Tougher iPhone Screens

http://techland.time.com/2014/02/07/report-apple-preps-sapphire-plant-for-tougher-iphone-screens/



Apple quietly builds out networks for content delivery

Apple has in a short time bought enough bandwidth from Web carriers to move hundreds of gigabits of data each second.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-quietly-builds-out-networks-for-content-delivery-2014-02-04




Growing discontent among bitcoin enthusiasts with Apple Inc. could finally result in a shift away from the company's signature iPhones and iPads.

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2014/02/07/bitcoin-entrepreneurs-warn-of-shift-away-from-apple-products/




Why Apple Just Removed A Popular Bitcoin App From The App Store

Bitcoin remains a murky proposition from a legal perspective
Apple is waiting for legal clarity with Bitcoin before it starts approving apps that do Bitcoin transactions

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-apple-is-anti-bitcoin-apps-right-now-2014-2




Bitcoin - Revolution Or Trap?

In 2008, a mysterious person or group using the apparent pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto unveiled a new digital currency called Bitcoin.

Nakamoto, whoever he (or she, they) was, disappeared in 2010. But by then the Bitcoin community had taken on a life of its own. Hundreds of users began to mine Bitcoins with increasingly sophisticated computers, and the number of merchants and individuals willing to accept, store, and transact in the currency rose steadily.

Bitcoin’s Achilles heel is that it has to be stored somewhere, and no place is 100 percent secure.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-02/guest-post-bitcoin-revolution-or-trap




Bitcoin drops sharply as Mt. Gox halts withdrawals

The company said an increase in flow of withdrawals requests "has hindered our efforts on a technical level. To understand the issue thoroughly, the system needs to be in a static state".

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-drops-sharply-as-mt-gox-halts-withdrawals-2014-02-07




Bitcoin Is Becoming Serious; And Serious Means Accountability -- as of November 2013, when the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held its first hearings on bitcoin.

Mt.Gox has been the dominant Bitcoin exchange pretty much since the beginning. In its brief history, it has suffered several bad setbacks. Gox made some changes, came back up and a great deal was forgiven. Not this time.

It's too late for Mt. Gox to get its act together.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-08/marginalizing-mt-gox-bitcoin-becoming-serious-and-serious-means-accountability




What Facebook knows about you

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/04/technology/facebook-data/




Here's How You Can Hide From Anyone On Facebook

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-change-facebook-privacy-settings-2014-2




people are better at protecting their privacy than companies would like

Every time social networks force openness on their users, people become much more guarded in what they share, leading internet giants to push for yet more openness.

Eventually you realize you’ve been giving away too much so you pull the plug and start over-protecting your privacy.

exposure and subsequent public debate over data collection from western spy agencies’ only boosts users’ caution. And they are increasingly demanding tools that allow them to protect themselves better.

http://qz.com/174988/it-turns-out-people-are-better-at-protecting-their-privacy-than-companies-would-like/




Dems Introduce Bills to Bring Back Net Neutrality

With Net neutrality struck down by an appeals court, legislators have taken up the fight.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/79915.html




You can now shop on Amazon by taking photos

Amazon's app for iPhone added "Flow," an image recognition tool designed to allow consumers to add a product to their shopping cart by merely pointing their phone's camera at it. 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-turns-cameras-into-credit-cards-2014-02-07




Google agrees landmark search deal in EU antitrust case

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/google-agrees-landmark-search-deal-in-eu-antitrust-case-2014-02-05




Programmers in Belarus, a former Soviet republic closely allied with Russia, were suspected of inserting malicious code that could be used for cyber attacks

a potential target of cyber attacks for identity theft and privacy violations” of Americans

The software currently is used in all medical facilities and insurance companies in the United States.

Belarus, for those who are unaware, is one of the hotbeds of cyber theft and scam.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02/04/obamacare-network-vulnerable-to-cyber-attack/




Fraud hits one in three data-breach victims
Number of identity fraud victims increased by half a million in 2013

This article has five tips for reducing risk.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fraud-hits-one-in-three-data-breach-victims-2014-02-05




Mandatory "Vehicle-to-Vehicle" Communications Coming To U.S. Cars

The U.S. Transportation Department said Monday it plans to propose requiring all new cars and trucks to eventually communicate with one another

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-04/mandatory-vehicle-vehicle-communications-coming-us-cars

North Korea's home-grown OS looks a lot like Apple's OS X | PCWorld

I’m not sure whether Apple should regard this as a compliment or cringe at being chosen by the worst regime on Earth.

In any case, now the North Koreans have joined in to copy Apple. 

 

North Korea's home-grown OS looks a lot like Apple's OS X | PCWorld: ""

(Via.)

Microsoft names Nadella CEO, Gates out as chairman - Feb. 4, 2014

It’s for real this time. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates are out at Microsoft, and a new guy takes over as CEO.

 

Tom Briant

Editor, MacValley Blog

 

 

 

Microsoft names Nadella CEO, Gates out as chairman - Feb. 4, 2014: ""

(Via.)

Senior Correspondent Arnold Woodworth Sunday contribution to your reading

Steve Jobs’ First Demonstration of the Mac, Unseen Since 1984, Is The 'Stuff Of Tech-History Legend'

http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-mac-video-1984-2014-1




Ex-Apple Manager Explains Why Macs May Be Harder To Repair Than Ever

http://www.businessinsider.com/ex-apple-manager-explains-why-macs-may-be-harder-to-repair-than-ever-2014-1




Apple iPhone Sets 13-Year-Old Student's Pants On Fire

the iPhone’s battery “shorted out” when the student sat on it. People should obviously use caution when placing their phones in their back pockets so as not to crush them and cause an electrical short.

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-fire-2014-2




Apple is going to start mass producing sapphire, but it’s anyone’s guess why

http://qz.com/172514/apple-is-going-to-start-mass-producing-sapphire-but-its-anyones-guess-why/




Why Duolingo Is Hands Down The Easiest Way To Learn A New Language

In mid-December, Apple named Duolingo—a piece of language-learning software—its 2013 iPhone app of the year.

the most remarkable thing about Duolingo: It doesn’t cost a cent. It’s free to download.

http://www.businessinsider.com/duolingo-learn-a-new-language-2014-1




How To Keep Your iPhone From 'Ducking Up' Your Texts
Apple's auto-correct feature in action

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-fix-iphone-autocorrect-2014-1




Tablets Are The Undersung Device Powering A Huge Rise In Mobile Shopping And Buying

http://www.businessinsider.com/tablet-shoppers-in-mobile-commerce-2-2014-1




2014: The Year America Broke The Internet

A recent decision by a US Appeals court ended the regulation of the internet as we know it.

The ruling overturns the 20 years of treating the internet as a 'dumb' network that processed packets of information without prioritising them.

publicly traded corporations can reconfigure their traffic-shaping programs to their benefit – not yours. The packets of information travel across the network in a "non-neutral" way. The consequence of the non-neutral treatment of information packets is that ISPs like Verizon and Comcast would be empowered to pick and choose what internet services become successful and which internet services flop.

This affects your rights to receive content.

http://www.businessinsider.com/2014-the-year-america-ruined-the-internet-2014-2




Why Bitcoin Loses And Will Continue To Lose To Credit Cards

Credit card companies do ALL of these things for customers that Bitcoin does NOT :

1. Allow your customer to pay businesses with debt. Note: This is extremely beneficial to businesses as well, as it makes goods a multiple more affordable without each business becoming a creditor to every customer. Think about that.

2. Provide customers with an INSANE level of highly sophisticated fraud prevention and recovery that makes your customer more likely to purchase from little old unknown YOU.

3. Rewards your customer for using their payment method. Bitcoin bonus points that let me go to Paris next year might be in the future, but they won’t come free.

Credit cards make customers happy. THAT is why they win, and businesses pay them to participate.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-loses-to-credit-cards-2014-1




Marc Andreesson explain why Bitcoin has so many Silicon Valley programmers and entrepreneurs all lathered up, and what Bitcoin's future potential is.

Bitcoin ...... is a breakthrough in computer science that builds on 20 years of research into cryptographic currency, and 40 years of research in cryptography.

how to establish trust between unrelated parties over an untrusted network like the Internet.

The practical consequence of solving this problem is that Bitcoin gives us, for the first time, a way for one Internet user to transfer a unique piece of digital property to another Internet user, such that the transfer is guaranteed to be safe and secure, everyone knows that the transfer has taken place, and nobody can challenge the legitimacy of the transfer. The consequences of this breakthrough are hard to overstate.

Bitcoin is an Internet-wide distributed ledger.

The Bitcoin ledger is a new kind of payment system. Anyone in the world can pay anyone else in the world any amount of value of Bitcoin by simply transferring ownership of the corresponding slot in the ledger.

if you have the money or the asset, you can pay with it; if you don't, you can't. This is brand new. This has never existed in digital form before.

people can trade with Bitcoin (anywhere, everywhere, with no fraud and no or very low fees) and as a result it has value.

merchants are highly attracted to Bitcoin because it eliminates the risk of credit card fraud.

with Bitcoin, the huge hack that recently stole 70 million consumers' credit card information from the Target department store chain would not have been possible.

Bitcoin is pseudonymous, not anonymous.  Bitcoin is considerably easier for law enforcement to trace than cash, gold or diamonds.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/why-bitcoin-matters/




Technology Knows You Better Than You Think

http://www.businessinsider.com/technology-knows-you-better-than-you-think-2014-1




Self-Driving Cars Will Be Huge Targets For Hackers

http://www.businessinsider.com/self-driving-cars-will-be-huge-targets-for-hackers-2014-1




Extortion Over $50,000 Twitter Handle Sets A Chilling Precedent

http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-handle-sets-extortion-2014-1




I Just Unfriended Everyone On Facebook, And Nobody Noticed Or Cared

http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-unfriending-2014-1




How LinkedIn could hurt your job search

This person made a small change to his linked-in profile --- and Linkedin.com automatically created a big problem with his job search

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-linkedin-could-hurt-your-job-search-2014-01-27




Business Sues Customer For $750,000 Over Negative Yelp Review

http://www.businessinsider.com/lawsuit-negative-yelp-review-2014-1




Online Education Is Trying Very Hard To Make Itself More Respectable

http://readwrite.com/2014/01/28/open-online-education-and-the-trend-towards-legitimacy