Do-It-Yourself Kits Leading to More Cyber Crime?

Cyber criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated or are they? With increasingly targeted attacks, protecting yourself against emails, ads and even search engine results, it is difficult to decipher what’s really coming from known contacts and legitimate sources. It’s well known that educating consumers and enterprise end-users has to be stepped up but the hacker’s ability to leverage Do-It-Yourself Kits are bad news for innocent victims. Read what Ed Dickson has to say here.

Could U.S. be target of Cyber-Terrorism?

The Christian Science Monitor (picked up by USA Today) had an interesting story today about a recent cyber attack on Estonia. The impact cyber-terrorism could have on the United States could create a meltdown for Americans but the U.S. government has not made this a priority. If you think about one big e-commerce site and think about the millions of dollars they could lose for being down an hour, this about the financial impact this could have if we received a nationwide attack. Not even Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) could save the day.

Lunch 2.0 in the Valley

It was better when stealing lunch was sneaky. Now that the valley's companies have turned it into a networking session, it kind of loses it's luster. Read the story here.

Ban on Styrofoam in SF

Starting today, San Francisco require city "food vendors who sell prepared food to use compostable or recyclable to-go containers." It's a good idea but how well will this be enforced? I imagine compliance to be similar to SOX compliance. Yes, I know. It's a low blow. Deal with it.

Armando Sucks and the Fans Let it Be Known

I actually didn't mind the signing of Armando Benitez but like most of Brian Sabean's moves, it sucked. I'm not saying this because I'm an A's fan. I use to work for the Giants. I'll admit it. When I first got out of college, I was a freelance sports writer but I also needed some extra money since I was making more money expensing my miles than the articles I was writing. Getting back to Benitez, the Giants should have traded him in spring training instead of waiting until now. Or else a guy like Sabean can only get a middle reliever and be forced to pay more than 93% of Benitez' remaining salary for year...about $4.7 million of the $5 million owed to the finger pointer. But the fans are happy, they basically booed Benitez out of town.

Okay, I'll be honest. I wasn't too happy that the A's got stuck with Jason Kendall and his salary for Arther Rhodes...but Billy's still got a much better track record than Sabean.

Not Foleo, It's Foolio

Now I'm one for technology advancement but the Foleo is stretching the boundaries. From the time we started calling blackberries "crackberries" and the time I heard a man doing business on his cell phone while going #2, we need more time away from our computers, gadgets and phones. Forget desktop at our fingers. I want a remote control locater, a wireless phone charger or a one-touch delivery of cheesesteak, fries and milkshake at my door. But I'll settle for filling up my car for less than $30. Now that would be technology advancement!

Google Gears is Good Idea...

Google Gears will enable offline access to Web applications. The idea is good but I won't make a verdict until I see the end product. Plus, do we really need it now? If someone could create a zero-latency Web application for let's say MediaMap type application, I'd be a happy camper. That said, Google may be casting the net to far at this point. Give me applications at speeds I need so I don't have to yell profanities at my computer and now we're talking. Or how about Gmail not saying server error, please try again in 30 seconds! Not the exact words but you get the point.

Free Buzz in Rome?

A report from Italy's National Research Council found that there are traces of cocaine and cannabis in the air, mostly concentrated in the center of Rome. Read more here. I wonder what it would be like if the same results were found in the entire city of San Francisco...