(Image used under: Creative Commons 3.0 [SRC])

There's been a recent report about the Typo-squatting problem where they talk about mistyping a popular website name can get you served with a fake site full of ads, Malware - Viruses, Worms, and Trojans (Oh My!), or porn.

They mention the McAffee SiteAdvisor software that tries to alert you if you're on a site that probably isn't what you intended, but I offer this simple tool instead: Google. Set Google to your homepage and from now on, whenever you would normally type a site name into the address bar, hit the "home" button and type it into Google's search box instead.

If you misspelled it, Google will correct it and the first or second link will probably be the page you meant.

Substitute a different search engine if you must.

Gift Cards - Use with care

(Image is in the Public Domain)

Many gift cards (or parts of gift cards) go unused. Don't buy gift cards unless you consider the possible disadvantages first.

(Image copyright Jeremy Duffy)

Consumeraffairs.com has an article today about extended warranties. With the way they present it, I wonder why anyone would ever buy one.

It turns out that I mostly agree with them. I sold extended warranties for a long time and I can guarantee that you'll get your money's worth in some specific cases, but unless you know your rights very well and push for them in the face of opposition from the store and the company, you probably will never recoup your costs.

If you don't have the tenacity to fight for your warranty terms, you're better off avoiding the expense.

(Image is in the Public Domain)

In the wake of every tragedy come scammers looking to profit off the victims. It's sad, but true.

Fortunately, California (historically a very forward–thinking state), is prepared:

“Unlicensed contractors who offer their services during this state of emergency will face up to three years in state prison – and we will show no mercy, ? Dumanis said. “This is a felony crime, not a misdemeanor. ?

Brown issued a warning to those who might try to illegally raise prices for goods, services, or hotels. "Anyone who tries to wrongfully profit from the suffering of others will be investigated by the California Department of Justice, ? he warned.

(Image used under: Fair Use doctrine)

I already reported on Comcast blocking Peer-2-Peer filesharing traffic, but apparently they've extended the blocks to enterprise software (in this case, Lotus Notes).

When Lotus Notes users attempt to send e-mail with larger attachments over Comcast's network, Notes will drop its connection. Instead of a successfully sent e-mail, they're greeted with the error message, "Remote system no longer responding." Kanarski did some digging and has managed to verify that Comcast's reset packets are the culprit.

It should be noted that everything that has been reported as being blocked by Comcast are things that cause high traffic on Comcast's networks. Even though people pay for their high speed Internet, Comcast will be damned if they actually let you use it. I mean, I've never been dropped from Comcast service for using their Internet "too much" like some people, but I definitely can't get decent service to save my life.

For example, if I start one download at about 100kB/s, the rest of my Internet connection limps along like a two legged cat! So much for my 6 megabit connection speed.

Something is seriously wrong with Comcast and I hope some regulator comes down on them hard soon.

(Image used under: Fair Use doctrine)

Verizon has issued a notice stating that unless you opt-out now, they will have the right to sell your data to whoever they want (including all the data of who you're calling). It's bad enough if the major telcos worked with the government to spy on us, but now they want to sell it to anyone and everyone? Are there no honorable companies left?

Also covered at the Consumerist.

Apple Corp.

(Image used under: Creative Commons 2.0 [SRC])

Not surprisingly, a class-action lawsuit has begun against Apple and AT&T becuase of their firmware update that some claim was intentionally designed to break any iPhone that someone had unlocked.

The real problem here is that people really like the iPhone. As soon as it came out, busy hackers got to work unlocking it so it could be used with another cell provider's service and have 3rd party programs installed on it. Apple and AT&T didn't like that and soon issued a new update to the phone which caused many of the ones that had been "hacked" to break. There are some who think it was done intentionally.

While I can certainly imagine it, you would think that they would have anticipated the legal and customer backlash. You would think… but companies have made these kinds of mistakes before.

Says the only person to vote against the bill: "We are putting this industry out of business".

Well, yeah. You are. Kudos for all those who voted for it!

(Image used under: Creative Commons 2.0 [SRC])

The saddest part of this story is that Harvard's bookstore is so desperate to prevent students from shopping online that they kicked out a student who was writing down the prices to compare them online later. They claimed that the pricing is copyrighted, which, of course, it's not.

Face it: if you charge more for a book in your store than I can get it online, there's a really good chance I'll get it there. If these stores are so desperate for the business, they should have a terminal in their store and referral programs set up with all the major online retailers. That's about the only way it would work for them.

(Image source is unknown)

The Consumerist today has a surprising article about an instance where a rebate company has been caught with over 1300 rebate claims thrown, unopened, into the dumpster.

Rebates are a system that is easy to abuse. Avoid them if you can.