Watch out Mac Users - Hackers Have You In Their Sights

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If you haven’t heard the Black Hat security conference is going on in Las Vegas. This conference attracts many hackers along with 4000 security professionals.

We’ve all heard that Macs are immune from attacks or viruses. But let’s face it .. nothing that is written in code completely locks hackers out. To error is human and humans are programmers. Meaning there are always holes in software code if you take the time to really look for them. Also, Macs operating systems have far more code than Windows, which leads to more vulnerabilities and bugs that hackers can exploit.

This year security experts have identified at least three viruses affecting Macs over the past year:

The most sophisticated of them is spread via pirated versions of Apple iWorks software, which allows cybercriminals to take complete control of an infected Mac.

Another virus, OSXPuper a, is spread when a user enters an infected website and downloads what they believe is a video player. In reality they’re downloading malicious software that can subsequently download other types of viruses.

On Wednesday a technique that works on previously victimized machines, called “Machiavelli”, steals encrypted data from a user’s bank accounts.

Expect the number of viruses, worms, and exploits to increase as hackers start to focus more on Macs.

Wi-Fi Basics You Should Know

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If your PC or Laptop has a wireless WI-FI network you need to make sure your wireless router is secure. An easy way to access your router setting page is by entering its IP address into a browser.

1. Change the router's name
   Using the default name leaves you open for hackers
2. Change the admin password
   The default admin passwords for every router is easily available to anyone with the desire to know it
3. Activate the router's encryption
   Be sure to use WPA encryption instead of WFP because its more secure
   

If you want to use someone elses Wi-Fi here's a couple tricks:

1. Check the list of listed routers for those still using the factory-default router name, like 'linksys' or 'belkin' since these are most likely not to be encrypted or poorly protected.
2. If they are encrypted, try common default passwords such as 'admin' 'password' or the name of the router.

See why it's so important to make those simple changes on your router settings? It's so easy to tap into someone elses wireless connection.

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CATS: Who's in Control?

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I came across this study that wondered if cats trained their owners to respond to various meows.

The study gave microphones to cat owners to record the sounds their cat made when they were seeking food and when they were not. Then compared the sounds. These cats all made the same distinct manipulative 'purr-cry' sound when they wanted their owners to respond.

Previous studies have found similarities between a domestic cat's cry and the cry of a human baby - a sound that humans are highly sensitive to.

Cats learn to dramatically exaggerate this purr-embeded high-pitched cry when it proves effective in generating a response from humans. Now this doesn't work on all humans. But often develop in cats that have a one-on-one relationship with their owners rather than those living in large households.

So the next time your tend to your kitty when he starts to purr & cry.. remember.. he's got you trained.

The results were published in the July 14 issue of the journal Current Biology.

WARNING: New Microsoft Video ActiveX computer security hole

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Is your PC running XP or Windows Server 2003? If you are your vulnerable to hackers that via hacked websites are allowed to remotely take control of your computer. You don't have to do a thing except visit one of the thousand sites!

The vulnerability stems from the way the IE software allows videos to be played. From what I understand, this has been going on for over a week now.

Microsoft urged vulnerable users to disable the problematic part of its software, which can be done from Microsoft's Web site, while the company works on a "patch" — or software fix — for the problem.

Microsoft rarely departs from its practice of issuing security updates the second Tuesday of each month. When the Redmond, Wash.-based company does issue security reminders at other times, it's because the vulnerabilities are very serious.

To implement the workaround that disables the Microsoft Video ActiveX Control automatically on a computer that is running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972890#FixItForMe and click on the Microsoft FIX IT button.

Or, To fix this problem yourself, follow the instructions under Workarounds in the Suggested Actions section of http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/972890.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/972890.mspx) .

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Men Care About Their Belly More Than We Think

In the past men have been comfortable with their beer bellies. But not any more. Now, men and boys are under huge pressures to look good. Men have become subject to the same unhealthy unrealistic physical expectations that woman have been for decades. It's often actors, models and celebrities who are blamed for putting pressure on the rest of us to look slim and muscular.

Seven in 10 men were worried about baring their body, with 47% most concerned about revealing their stomachs.

Nearly half of men are worried about baring their stomachs on the beach, and one in three has considered avoiding a beach holiday altogether because of how they look in their swimming trunks.

Three-quarters of men get just as nervous as women do when it comes to slipping on the swimwear. The men deploy a number of tactics to cover up in the heat, with nearly a quarter wearing shorts or a T-shirt even in the sea, 40% dieting and around a third stripping off only when in the water.

More than three-quarters of men were jealous of toned, athletic men they spotted on the beach. A third said they were most worried about how they look to the opposite sex, compared with just 13% who worried about what other men would think.

Considering us women do notice your bodies, almost as much as you men notice ours, it's good that you guys finally want to do something about it. Not to mention the fact that four out of five men with beer bellies could die prematurely from heart attack, cancer, or high blood pressure. Makes me want to visit the beach ;)

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Video Calls on Your Cell Phone

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I keep waiting for iPhone to add video chat to phone calls. Video chat has been available for many years on applications like Windows Yahoo & AOL IM, Skype, and Netmeeting. Beemer also created a device you attached to your landline that enables video chat calls. So the technology is not impossible. So I ask.. Why hasn't it been done on the single most logical platform for video chat.. the mobile phone?!

Techradar.com in their "12 high technologies that failed- and why" article tries their best to provide an answer:

• Mobile video chat
  
  In the UK and US, video chat over a smartphone is still a distant dream. Part of the problem is bandwidth – there just isn't enough of it for two-way video. Part of the issue is ease of use: it should be as quick to place a video call as one where you only use your voice.
  "Vendors didn't realise that the problems were more behavioural than technical and didn't approach the market properly," says tech analysts Enderle. Maybe Apple can turn this one around?

So they say it's a bandwith problem. ok, this I can understand. Also, AT&T is already chinzy with airtime. Lots of apps for the iPhone are denied access to their 3G service, leaving WiFi access limited to availability around each user. But the ease of use issue is BS to me. Users have no problem easily using video chat in other platforms. It's extremely easy to use once set up.

I think if enough people demand video chat on their cell phones providers will break down and provide the service.

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Older technology not so easy for today's youth

I read a blog about a 13 yr old boy who traded his iPod in for a Sony Walkman to commemorate the device's 30th anniversary. It took the boy three days to figure out there was music on the other side of the cassette tape and couldn't believe people actually used a device that held such a limited amount of low quality sounding music compared to what people use today.

Technology has changed drastically over the years. I still remember when 8-track players were common place in cars and quadrophonic was the latest & greatest in home stereo systems.. and yes.. home stereo systems had turntables. Now I can't think of life without DVD's, computers, iPhones. OMG! Nobody had cell phones when I was a teen. We had to rely on PayPhones (something you rarely see today..but you can find them in old movies).

But back to that 13 yr old boy's experience with older technology and a similar experience in my family. I have a clunky portable cassette player near my bird cage that I use to play "teach your bird to talk" cassettes tapes. One day I asked my youngest son (18 yr old) to start it for me. He had no clue how to turn the cassette tape over and make it play. I had to go over and explain how the player worked.. which really surprised me! Wonder how he would react to an 8-track player.

How can a generation in such a technical age be so perplexed when it comes to older, less advanced technology, while computers and other high tech devices come naturally?

The blog "Walkman, at 30, a mystery to teen" can be found at http://www.sfgate.com

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