Barnes and Noble just posted a notice informing customers that PIN pads 63 stores across the country have been tampered with. The compromised PIN pads could have recorded your PIN number. Not good. If you’ve shopped at a brick and mortar Barnes and Noble over the last couple of months, keep a closer watch on your credit card statement and maybe even change your PIN. More »
Robocalling is considered a plague in the modern phone world, especially during an election year — and while you likely won’t get rid of all the pitches from political candidates anytime soon, most of the commercial calls are outright illegal. The Federal Trade Commission has devised a unique contest to help cut back on those law-breakers without having to chase down every shady debt relief offer. It’s offering a $50,000 reward for the cleverest solution to blocking the banned variety of robocalls. The only requirement is that you be an adult US resident: if you can invent a surefire remedy in your basement, the FTC wants to hear from you. Entries will be open between October 25th and January 17th, with word of a winner around April 1st. We’re hoping that the champion has a truly effective cure in use before long, because we’ll undoubtedly have reached our breaking point on robocalls by… oh, around November 6th.
[Image credit: SarahNW, Flickr]
Filed under: Misc
FTC offers $50,000 prize for stopping illegal robocalls, we could have used this a few months ago originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 13:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Most Android malware lives in the margins, away from Google Play and the more reliable app shops. It’s nonetheless a good idea to be on the lookout for rogue code, and McAfee has stepped in with thorough explanations of how one of the most common scamware strains, Android.FakeInstaller, works its sinister ways. The bait is typically a search-optimized fake app market or website; the apps themselves not only present a legitimate-looking front but include dynamic code to stymie any reverse engineering. Woe be to anyone who’s tricked long enough to finish the installation, as the malware often sends text messages to expensive premium phone numbers or links target devices to botnets. The safeguard? McAfee would like you to sign up for its antivirus suite, but you can also keep a good head on your shoulders — stick to trustworthy shops and look for dodgy behavior before anything reaches your device.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google
McAfee shows how major Android scamware ticks, prevents us from learning first-hand originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You know how every other day a new science report comes out saying this and that gives you cancer? But then a day after it’s revealed that the same this and that actually prevents cancer? Yeah. What the hell should we believe in? Who knows because scientists have just found that scientists lie all the time in their scientific findings. More »
Three executives from troubled imaging giant Olympus have pleaded guilty to artificially boosting the company’s true value in 2007 and 2008 by concealing losses in financial statements. Former chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, ex-auditor Hideo Yamada and former VP Hisashi Mori were charged with fraud in the scandal, which was brought to light last year by ex-CEO Michael Woodford. He was fired by the Olympus board for blowing the whistle, but reportedly received a large settlement for his troubles. The company has since confessed to cooking the books as far back as the ’90s to hide investment losses, and revealed in 2011 that it had a billion dollars less in value than previously stated. That, along with the poor performance of its camera division, has forced Olympus to seek a partner or raise capital to survive.
Filed under: Cameras
Former Olympus executives plead guilty in accounting fraud trial originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 01:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Your wallet is packed tight with the essentials of your daily life. Your money. Your credit cards. All the points accrued from so many sandwiches at SUBWAY®. You can’t lose all that! More »
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