A Short Course on Avoiding Holiday Fraudsters

Robert Siciliano is a McAfee security expert who is particularly interested in preventing identity theft. For more than 20 years, he's been researching security issues in an effort to stay ahead of the crooks. Thieves particularly like the holidays because we're all in a hurry and we're looking for a bargain. On Black Friday, I spent about half an hour talking with Robert and this week's program largely consists of that interview.

If you're looking for the real war on Christmas, this is it. Siciliano recently prepared a list called "12 Scams of the Holidays". From the looks of it, the crooks haven't left anyone out. They have something for you no matter what kind of computing device you have. I may be entirely wrong about this, but it seems to me that a lot of people think portable devices aren't as vulnerable as desktop and notebook computers. As it turns out, that's right, but it's also dangerous.

If Flash isn't enabled, download the interview as an MP3.

Coincidentally, about half an hour after talking with Siciliano, my phone rang. "This is Joe from the shipping department of Emergency Medical Supplies," the caller said. "I'm calling to arrange shipping for your ...."

"Buzz off," I commented, hanging up the phone.

I may be old, but I'm not stupid.

Included, with permission, here is Siciliano's 12 Scams of the holidays.

Short Circuits

Jeff Bezos and the Incredible Amazon Drone

Unless you've been hiding out from the NSA, you've probably heard about Amazon's plan to deliver goods by drone. Jeff Bezos is a really smart guy and he knows how to launch a trial balloon in a way that will gain the greatest publicity for Amazon at the beginning on the annual Christmas feeding frenzy.

In other words, the Amazon drone is filled primarily with hot air.

Amazon CEO Bezos says that a drone helicopter with 8 propellors will deliver a (small) basket of goodies to grandma's house, or yours, if she lives (or you live) within 10 miles of an Amazon warehouse.

A small basket? A few pounds at most. And at what cost? You buy a $15 book and the delivery fee is $200?

Or consider the logistics: How would this work in a place like New York City, where people don't have front door steps or lawns. Instead, they live in high-rise buildings. Will the Bezos Basket fly into a the building, decapitate a few people in an elivator, and then deliver the book to an apartment on the 73rd floor?

What was Bezos smoking when he came up with this goofy idea?

But wait. It's not about delivering a book in 30 minutes. It's all about getting publicity for Amazon at the beginning of the shopping season.

The announcement was made on Cyber Monday, and that timing should tell you all that you need to know about this fake story.

Microsoft's NokiaPhone is Closer

Microsoft's $7 billion bid to acquire Nokia is moving along a nd should be completed in the first quarter of 2014.

The Justice Department has approved the deal. Other hurdles remain, such as approval by the European Union. Watchdog agencies in India, Israel, Russia, and Turkey have have already approved the acquisition.

Microsoft says that the approval from the DOJ was "unconditional" and that the company is planning for Nokia and its employees to become part of Microsoft.

Yet Another Music Service

Just what the world needs: Yet another online music service. This one is called "Beats" and it will commence operations in January.

Beats Electronics is the manufacturer of Dr. Dre headphones and the owner of Beats Music. CEO Ian Rogers says preparations are complete and the service will launch in the US during January 2014.

It appears that the new service's primary target is Spotify, which is currently the leading provider of streaming music. Beats is taking a different approach to advertising. Most competing services have relied of word of mouth (and word of mouse) marketing, but Beats has enough money to run full-page ads in major publications.

The market space is becoming a bit crowded. Competitors, in addition to Spotify, include Rdio, Rhapsody, and a some additional smaller operations. The market isn't particularly healthy, either. Rdio layed off employees in November and hired a new CEO. Spotify raised $250 million from investors and then announced that it will try to play better with artists. YouTube is expected to start a music streaming service sometime early in 2014, too.

For users of Windows Phones, there's MixRadio, a service by Nokia. MixRadio comes without ads.