TECHNOLOGY and Global News » internet

Online Banking Security Issues

geek mom — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:27:49 +0000

According to the result of the study presented by zonealarm.com, most adults today engage in online banking. Business people and private individuals conduct business and personal banking transactions as a common practice today. People send and receive money through online banking facilities and online selling and shopping are fast growing internet activities.

The convenience of online banking transactions is now a preferred alternative to face-face banking or purchasing/selling deals. This is despite the fact that there is a high-risk for cyber crimes related to online banking such as identity theft, hacking and phishing.

According to the study, consumers say banking is one of the most regularly performed activities on the internet. Shopping rank first, banking as, social network as third, and making online payments as fourth. The figure shows that even with the threats, banking facilities and security firms were successful in assuring consumers that online banking is a safe activity.

However, extra cautions should be taken to ensure that our online banking transactions are safe and not prone to privacy and security threats. The website also offers great tips on how to safely transact online:

Be aware of the risks online and understand the ways your bank keeps your information safe.
Don’t be tricked into clicking on an embedded link in an email from a bank. There is a good chance it is a distinguished phishing attempt wanting access to your personal information.
When banking, verify the site is security enabled. Look for web address with https:// (this means the site takes extra measures to help secure your information)
Create strong and unique passwords for all your bank accounts and avoid using the same password you use for everyday activity like email.
Take advantage of additional ways financial instructions now provide to verify who the account owner is before conducting business on the site.
It is a good idea to frequently clear your browser history.
At a minimum, secure your computer with a two-way firewall and antivirus software.

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SOPA and PIPA Legislations Shaking Online Community

geek mom — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:14:40 +0000

Online piracy and copyrights law are hot issues all over the world but more so in the United States.

In fact, there are already two proposed bills in Congress aiming to strengthen copyright laws with internet buzz words SOPA and PIPA. SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA means Protect Intellectual Property Act. These two laws are lobbied by powerful supporters of the present administration composing of lawmakers and known personalities from business and movie and music industries.

Since passage of SOPA and PIPA may alter how netizens access and utilize the internet, many social media network users expressed their sentiments, frustration in the site. Powerful and known website, Wikipedia, urged its supporters and users to boycott SOPA and PIPA and manifested its protest by blocking out their site for one whole day or twenty four (24) hours last Wednesday. About 7,000 websites also joined the protest against the anti-piracy and copyright bills.

One of the fears for the passage of SOPA and PIPA is the jail time of three (3) to four (4) years for any infringement of piracy. The biggest fear however is censorship of online contents which is at present, self-regulated.

According to Google, about 4.5 million internet users signed the online petition to Congress against the hated legislation.

As an online fanatic, what is your stand on this issue?

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PlayStation Network Gets Back with Applications and Freebies

geek mom — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:18:53 +0000

After some setbacks with Sony, the awaiting PlayStation users may now rejoice as PlayStation Network (PSN) is slowly making its way back to the competition. The company decided to cajole frustrated customers with free PSN items such as free PS3 games.

PSN is out with their customer appreciation program that will provide those from North America access to free PS3 games such as LittleBigPlanet, Wipeout HD + Fury, and inFAMOUS and PSP games such as LittleBigPlanet (PSP), and ModNation Racers. Those from the European Union will also have access to the free games.

Others perks such as discounts and free trials shall be offered by PSN so if you own that game console or portable gaming gadget, drop by the PSN site and check out the offers from Sony.

Search for Continuing Education

geek mom — Wed, 18 May 2011 14:33:08 +0000

Henry ford said “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” I completely agree with the great man.

A persevering man recognize the importance of learning, may it be acquired through formal, non-formal, or informal method of education. The important lesson is we have to continuously improve ourselves — our way of thinking and level of intelligence, our attitude and behavior, and our skills and competencies. We should never be content with what we have as there is always room for improvement, for “better us.”

In this era, the search for continuing education is made easier by technology. Busy people may now get their online business degree or other degree programs by enrolling online with accredited and credible online universities and schools. Even post-graduate degree programs are now accessible through internet.

At times, elearning or distance learning programs from online schools are even cheaper in cost as the tuition fee is lower and transportation costs is not anymore factored in.

(photo from watblog.com)

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Google Provides Easier Way to Transfer Videos

geek mom — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 02:10:49 +0000

Google Video users need not worry about the previously announced April 29 deadline to migrate their videos to Youtube. Google has announced that they are eliminating the April 29 deadline and has also provided an easier option to transfer Google Videos to Youtube.

The Google message is as follows:

Last week we sent an email to Google Video users letting them know we would be ending playbacks of Google Videos on April 29 and providing instructions on how to download videos currently hosted on the platform. Since then we’ve received feedback from you about making the migration off of Google Video easier. We work every day to make sure you have a great user experience and should have done better. Based on your feedback, here’s what we’re doing to fix things.

Google Video users can rest assured that they won’t be losing any of their content and we are eliminating the April 29 deadline. We will be working to automatically migrate your Google Videos to YouTube. In the meantime, your videos hosted on Google Video will remain accessible on the web and existing links to Google Videos will remain accessible. If you want to migrate to YouTube now, here’s how you do it:
We’ve created an “Upload Videos to YouTube” option on the Google Video status page. To do this, you’ll need to have a YouTube account associated with your Google Video account (you can create one here). Before doing this you should read YouTube’s Terms of Use and Copyright Policies. If you choose this option, we’ll do our best to ensure your existing Google Video links continue to function.

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Yahoo Messenger 11 Now Available

geek mom — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:51:01 +0000

The latest version of Yahoo! Messenger 11.0 is now available on beta stage. And because most people are now using Facebook and Twitter, the Yahoo Messenger 11 has a feature that allows users to change their Facebook and Twitter status within the Yahoo Messenger.

Aside from the status, users of Yahoo Messenger 11 can also play their favorite games like Mafia Wars and Fishville with their friends. This messenger is also available in your iPhone, Android and other mobile devices. Users can also send text messages to their friends’ mobile phones for free. Other features include the video chat with full screen mode.

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How to Disable Hyperpromote.com Pop Ads in Your Blog Site?

geek mom — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 07:19:59 +0000

For a while now, I have noticed that at times, a “Hyperpromote.com” pop-under ad would suddenly come to life. This is really annoying as first, I do not know the source of the ad which I thought at first to be a virus, and second, because it may discourage my visitors from going over my sites.

So, I did my research over the net and realized that my hyperpromote ad issue is not an isolated case. Bloggers have been researching and writing about the unwanted pop ads. The culprit? Bidvertiser.

Bidvertiser is a lot like Google Adsense which offers revenue sharing through placement of pay-per-click ads. Through other blogs, I learned that once you join Bidvertiser and place their ads, by default, you have allowed the website to put in your sites hyperpromote pop-under ads which would appear in your site once a day. I decided I don’t want the “higher conversion rate and pay” promise by the ad company by using pop ads so I’ve disabled it instantly.

For those who wanted to do it, here’s how to remove that annoying hyperpromote pop-under ads:

Log in to your Bidvertiser account.
Go to Publishers Center.
Way below, you will see your ads, select one ad first, then click Preferences button.
A new window will open, look for the question “Display Pop-Under Ads?” Select No.
Do the same for other ads in your account.

Now, we can both be pop ads free! Finally.

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Developing Your Own Website

geek mom — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 07:49:03 +0000

Websites are now a must to businesses. Through the website, people from different parts of the world can see the products and services that a company offers.

These people can be possible clients in the future and can make a business successful. But developing a website is not simple. You need to have a vision of what you wanted to showcase in your website and what are the things that would make your site visitors trust the products and services that you are offering. You also need a lot of time to conduct a dry run before actually launching your website.

And the most important of all is that you need to have a web master that is very capable and someone that you can trust.

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Zynga’s Latest Game: Cityville

geek mom — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 02:19:31 +0000

The most popular social networking site Facebook and Zynga have once again given its clients a new game to amuse themselves and relieve boredom.

Zynga’s Latest Game Cityville is a game where you can build your own City, put up different types of houses, put up businesses like bakery, coffee shops, flower shops, cosmetics, shoe shops and a lot more. The player can also put up community buildings like City Hall, Post Office, Police Station, Hospitals and the like.

The creative team of Zynga has once again given gaming fans another game to put their attention to.

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Google vs. Facebook

geek mom — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 15:57:54 +0000

The two (2) technology industry rivals will each be presenting their visions for a new generation of web services during a three-day Web 2.0 conference which will kick off on Monday.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Google Chief Eric Schmidt will each take the center stage, along with other internet industry heavyweights. Yahoo Inc CEO Carol Bartz is likewise expected to present their interesting programs. Twitter, Zynga and LinkedIn executives are also expected to be joining the conference.

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