Casey Cheshire

I received an email from Charles Schwab (the bank, not the guy) today.

It started off with “We’re making some exciting changes that will make your online banking experience even better, We therefore request your to verify your location.”

Later it goes on to describe a “verification” that is needed, and has a link that says “Go To Verification Process” with a destination of: http://www.schwab-verification.com/public/schwab/home/welcomep.html

Here’s a screenshot of the email:

Looks relatively legit right?  A few red flags go off right away when anyone, especially a bank, asks you to “verify” something.  You’ve probably guessed already, that this email wasn’t from the bank.

What did the destination (www.schwab-verification.com) look like?  It was an exact copy of what schwab.com looked like.  How scary is THAT!?

Go Phish?

It’s called a phishing scam and it involves bad guys asking hundreds of people for their login information to online accounts such as banks.

The concept of phishing can be thought of by a big fishing net cast out to the sea.  The hope is that while most fish will escape, a few might get caught.

That fake Schwab message was sent to hundreds of thousands of email addresses.  The villain sending it realizes that a small percentage of people opening it will actually *have* an account with Schwab, and then a much smaller percent of account holders will actually fall for it.  But that’s okay because 1 big account may be all he needs to pimp out his evildoer lair for the upcoming year.

5 Phishing Scam Red Flags

1. Ask Not… This first one is key: No financial companies will ever ask you to do or confirm anything requiring login details online.  Verify, confirm, and words like these are instant flags because they’re requesting you tell the bank’s site what it already knows!
2. No Site Key.  Lots of banks (Bank of America for example) are now instituting Site Key images.  Before you log into your account, the bank will show you an image that you previously picked out.  If you go to log in and see the wrong image- or no image at all (when you know your account has one), stop!  This one helps stop phishers in their place.
3. Fake Urgency! OH NO. Our mainframe had a 409XB error at the same time your Debit card was used in Boca Raton, Florida- quickly confirm your details so we know your account hasn’t been compromised.  How about no?  If the issue at hand was *that* serious, they would call you.
   I’ve gotten calls before from a fraud team asking if I’ve been to Connecticut lately as fraudulent behavior was identified there.  Even these departments won’t ask you for vital information- if they do, ask for a number to call them back.  And remember, sending an email for something serious is like emailing all workers in a building that there is a fire and to get out.
4. Funky Destinations. Just like in the example above, the website I went to from clicking the link was not the actual website of the company that emailed me:  www.schwab-verification.com is not www.schwab.com.  This one is pretty clever, but you have to ask yourself why there would be a separate address just to verify- there won’t be!  Some URLs are a lot more blatant like: bankofamerica.verify.systemconfirm.ru   This is an example of a Russian website (.ru) with plenty of garbage thrown into the web address to confuse you- it’s definitely not a bank!
5. “English! Do you speak it?!” Samuel L Jackson says this famous movie line- of course, his version is littered with more colorful language…  If you actually take the extra 5 seconds to read a suspicious email you’ll be surprised at how often they’re poorly written.  Real companies, banks, and firms often have teams of employees who come up with multiple drafts of the same email in order to make it clear and professional.
   Here’s an example from the above email: “We’re making some exciting changes that will make your online banking experience even better, We therefore request your to verify your location.“  Seriously? You used a comma instead of a period and you THEREFORE request YOUR to verify?  Oh please!  If something like this ever left Schwab, whole departments would be getting fired as droves of investors ran for the hills.  “If you can’t write an email, how are you going to manage my money?”

Phishing scams are not new and sadly they are not going away soon.  Our best bet is to share what we know about them with friends and family.  As our world’s digital experience matures and fewer people fall prey to online scams, phishers may have to pick up real fishing nets and try a new career.

The entire world is abuzz with videos and commentary about the new Apple iPad.  There was quite a bit of speculation before it came out, much of it surrounding the name.  I’m not usually one for following the crowd, but I’ve decided that not writing about it just because the entire world just doesn’t work.  So I’ve decided to allow myself 5 minutes to inspect, think, and ponder about the Apple iPad.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The Name

A lot of people are disappointed with the name.  iPad? Lots of jokes go towards that.  And there’s a hilarious video of Hitler Responding to the iPad Release.  Long story short, he didn’t like the name either.  I think a lot of the let down with the name is that most people, myself

included, expected the name to reveal the future of computing.  Like watching monkies use bones to fight in the movie 2001 Space Odyssey, we all wanted the (iPad) to land on Earth like a gigantic monolith of futurism.

iPad makes too much sense and was probably way too obvious looking back on the situation.  Everyone called it ‘the tablet‘ during the speculation phase.  A part of me wants Apple to respond to that and call it the Apple Tablet.  Some thought “slate” but that’s too stark/dark.

iPad is a big iPod. Okay I get it.

The $499 iPad

I don’t think I need one.  It’s that simple at face value.  My iPhone totally rocks, and I’ll take AT&T’s weirdo network if that’s what I have to do to use it.  My home laptop is a PC I got a few years ago from Circuit City (Best Buy had bait & switched me.)  I haven’t transitioned to any larger Apple products (yet?).

So it can be an e-reader/book/magazine.  I can’t see it saving the print industry, but it’s still early.

A clever friend of mine in Boston brought up the point that releasing the technology will allow users to come up with new ways of using the iPad.  Cool way of looking at it- time will tell!

5 Minute Conclusion

In short, I don’t need an iPad right now.  Either that or Apple/My Influencers haven’t convinced me of this need.  I won’t be buying it today, but I don’t think I’d be opposed to receiving a free one.

It’s a large iPod and won’t fit in my pocket.  It’s also bringing us one step closer to the 3 screen idea: small, medium and big screen.  I’ll write about that next.

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On Saturday night I did everything right.  I bought 2 tickets to the new movie Avatar online and assumed there would be a sizable crowd for the IMAX 3D showing, so I arrived 30 minutes early.  Close but no cigar!

When walking into the theater, I was greeted by a FULL HOUSE.  Oh there was room, in the first 3 rows- which you know were never meant to be used because there’s an aisle separating them from the rest of the seats.  I wonder why they do this and don’t put more seats there?

It’s like “Hey we know the first 3 rows are going to be horrible so let’s just push them down even more so there’s room for a walk-way.”

And it’s even worse if you’re at the IMAX version.  You can SEE the pixels on the screen! They are the size of coconuts!

Long story short we left. AMC was clever and got us into the non-IMAX (but still 3D) showing 10 minutes later.  They even gave me a cash refund of the differences in ticket prices. (Good job guys!)

So the movie was awesome. I could write for eons about it, but the topic of this post is not the movie itself but the technology: 3D.

The emerging trend was slapping me in the face, literally. A preview for Alice in Wonderland was our appetizer prior to the movie.  From the way text floated at different levels to the depth observed in even the simplest of scenes, 3D added a quality my eyes enjoyed.

But 3D is not new.  It’s been around since 1890, but the high production costs and lack of standardization kept it a fun niche.

Times are changing- and to be quite honest, with Avatar already out, the trend is well on it’s way.  I’m not one of the first to smell the smoke, rather, I just happened to wake up to the trend fire alarm.  From Google Goggles to super gaming environments, projects are underway.  Technology has caught up.

My (future) grandchildren will be shocked that I actually watched movies in 2D.

So knowing where we are with 3D development gives us a firm foundation to look into the future.  The first consumer 3D camcorder will be out soon and at $22,000.  This is the modern equivalent of the first desktop computer.  For a while, those with surplus will own it and rapidly soon there after, it will be a VCR.

Why stop/start with camcorder, there’s also:

• Digital Cameras
• Picture frames
• Company logo signs
• Maps / Museum guide spheres
• TV
• iphones / mobile
• Pop-up digital books.
• More more more more!

I predict a stage of infancy- much like the Palm Pilot. A clever idea with usability and fundamental flaws.  There will be skepticism, resistance, acceptance, financial analysis, and bubbles.

The end result will be a cultural change brought about by a technical revolution.