Twitter porn looks like ID theft scam
Twitter porn, an apparently harmless game, could trick users into revealing more than they realize, according to a PC World blurb. I’m usually fairly sensitive to scams, but this one flat eluded me.
The porn names game has a few variations, but the information that all of the versions elicit is the same. To find your “porn name” you are asked to take the name of your first pet, and combine it with the street you grew up on or your mother’s maiden name. Silly, sure. But look more closely: All of these are common security questions.
So look elsewhere for mindless Internet fun.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Why Americans don’t save
From Fail Blog, one of my kids’ favorite sites.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Greatest resignation letter of all time
It just is. (Use the arrow keys)
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Unclean hands
I attended a financial event at the United Way headquarters in Oklahoma City on Monday. It’s a nicely renovated building, but in the restroom I was flummoxed by the faucet at the sink. First I tried holding my hands over the sink, hoping that it would detect my presence and begin pouring forth. When that didn’t work, I began to twist the handle on the right. Meanwhile, at the next sink a man was pumping the handle up and down with the same result — no water.
Fortunately, United Way President Bob Spinks wandered in and told us we needed to push the handle toward the right. Too late he warned me not to push it too far — the water began to splash out of the bowl. While this sink and hardware looks great, I’m not sold that this is a good design. It certainly wasn’t intuitive for me or the other fellow at the basin.
But maybe it’s just me. Turns out I couldn’t open the mustard packet that came with my ham and cheese sandwich either.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
I bought some crap online
I recently bought a “bag o’ crap” from woot.com. Woot sells stuff, mostly overstocked or refurbished gadgets, and offers pretty good prices. However, the site’s most popular item is it’s “Random crap,” which always sells out within seconds. I paid $3, plus $5 for shipping to get a box of stuff that certainly random and fairly crappy. But it was fun for me and my kids to open the box. I would probably buy another one.
Here’s what we got:
A handheld gadget with four different video games.
Two “Brothers in Arms” action figures.
“Blades of Glory” DVD
“Team America” DVD
Unrated version of “Superbad” DVD
Pink craft carry case (which my daughter is using as a book bag).
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Buffett says economy can be saved by the ukulele
Warren Buffett tells you everything you want to know about his favorite instrument, the ukulele. He also answers a couple of serious questions about the economy and capitalism. He first appears at about the 1:00 mark. (via boingboing)
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Monty Python selling free content (no, they’re not…)
If you love Monty Python (and who doesn’t?), you can watch a number of the group’s classic skits for free on the Internet. But Monty Python wants to sell DVDs of the old material. So they’re giving it away. Confused? Here’s the explanation:
“We’re letting you see absolutely everything for free. So there! But we want something in return. None of your driveling, mindless comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies & TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years.”
And it’s working. Mashable.com notes that sales of Monty Python DVDs at Amazon.com jumped dramatically with the YouTube promotion.
Head over to the Monty Python channel at YouTube to see more high-quality versions of the clips.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Ageless ads
Here’s a little slice of nostalgia from my childhood: a Post Grape Nuts commercial featuring Andy Griffith and Don Knotts. I love the fact that Barney puts one over on Andy.
And Jed and Jethro talk about, well, just watch what they talk about over a bowl of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.
Several more bowls of cereal commercials here.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Printing money
Who couldn’t use a little more cash? Now there’s a convenient site on the Internet where you can print your own.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Goodbye Google catalogs
Google does a lot of cool things. But the company is pulling the plug on several ventures, including one that I used to really like. Google Catalogs allows you search through scores of catalogs that the company scanned and indexed. Type in “whoopie cushion” and do some comparison shopping without leaving your couch. I haven’t visited the site in a couple of years because the catalogs had gotten out of date. It also turns out that many companies that once published paper catalogs now deal exclusively over the Internet.
It was a great experiment. Nonetheless, in recent years, Catalog Search hasn’t been as popular as some of our other products. So tomorrow, we’re bidding it a fond farewell and focusing our efforts to bring more and more types of offline information such as magazines, newspapers and of course, books, online.
Google also is shutting down video uploads at Google Video (in favor of YouTube), ceasing development of Google Notebook and ending other services. Hopefully, it will mean the development of other cool things.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
