Catherine Forsythe's Open Salon Blog

Super Bowl Commercials With Kids and Dogs [And One for Tink]

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 15:02:05 -0500

Continue to these Super Bowl commercials if you want to suspend all productivity for a while. There was a bit of a theme to the Super Bowl advertising - kids and dogs. Here are some examples:

Mr. Quiggly for Skechers:

a slim dog for Volkswagen:

man's best friend for Doritos:

Weego for Bud Light:

Baby and Doritos:

And now a commercial for Tink - Model Catrinel Menghia for Fiat:

Tink, remember - it's a car commercial.

Catherine

For Now, The Fifth Amendment Does Not Apply to Hard Drives

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:01:16 -0500

Part of the Fifth Amendment reads as follows:

"... nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself".

The question arises whether private, secured information on an encrypted laptop is self incriminating evidence. A defendant in an alleged mortgage scam case had a laptop encrypted with PGP Desktop, which is a Symantec security application.

Federal Judge Robert Blackburn ordered the defendant to disclose the encryption password:

"... "I find and conclude that the Fifth Amendment is not implicated by requiring production of the unencrypted contents of the Toshiba Satellite M305 laptop computer," the judge said in his ruling Tuesday..."

link: Judge orders woman to give up password to hard drive

Theoretically, with enough computer power and time, an encryption program can be broken. However, it may be argued on appeal and to a higher court, that a hard drive is a private and self incriminating. Disclosure of hard drive protected information may be more damaging criminally than contravening the order to reveal the encryption password.

It will be necessary for a court of law to determine what is the relationship between a computer owner and a hard drive. Is that information private and legally protected?

Catherine Forsythe

some additional links:

Judge orders defendant to decrypt laptop

Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops

Judge rules suspect must unlock her computer

Gung Hay Fat Choy - The Dragon

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:01:21 -0500

A healthy, prosperous and good year to you and your family, on this the Chinese New Year.

It is 4710 by the Chinese lunar calendar and the Year of the Dragon. Traditional Chinese homes will be cleaned meticulously to welcome the New Year. However, there will be no sweeping on this day. That is to avoid sweeping away the good luck from the home. Children will receive a small amount of money, in red paper satchels. It is symbolic of the luck and prosperity that will follow in the New Year.

The wearing of red is meaningful. White and black garments are to be avoided. Windows and doors are opened to allow Good Fortune to enter. The lights of the house are turned on and some candles are lit. This is to chase away misfortune which may lurk in the dark corners of a home.

And most of all, good health and prosperity to all - Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Catherine

A Sneak Peak at a Super Bowl Commercial [Spoiler Alert]

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:01:22 -0500

Last year, Volkswagen had a huge Super Bowl hit with young Max Page. He played a little Darth Vader and the commercial was a success for Volkswagen. Staying with the Star Wars theme, this year it seems the car company will turn to dogs:

link: The Bark Side: 2012 Volkswagen Game Day Commercial Teaser

[the link will not embed in Open Salon because the old code is not supplied]

Do you recognize the tune? It's the dogs barking out the Imperial March. Your dog might find the Super Bowl interesting this year.

Catherine

here is Max Page from 2011 - that video does have the old embed code...

additional link: Volkwagen, Feeling the Force

Data Breach at Zappos May Have Exposed 24 Million Customers

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:01:09 -0500

Zappos.com is a hugely successful online shoe retailer. The site also markets clothing and is a subsidiary of Amazon. Unfortunately, customers of Zappos will have a terrible Monday morning surprise. Zappos has been hacked and has suffered a massive data breach, involving approximately twenty four million (24,000,000) customers:

"... Cyber criminals may have accessed customers' names, e-mail addresses, billing and shipping addresses, phone number, and the last four digits of consumers' credit card numbers, the firm said in an announcement that was posted on Zappos' Web site late Sunday night. Full credit card numbers were not stolen, the firm said, because they were stored separately."

link: Zappos says hacker may have accessed info on 24 million customers

Customers are requested to create a new password. However, the danger is that some customers may use the same email address and password at other sites. For example, if that same email address and password combination is used at a site like PayPal, then there is an immediate threat with this data breach. It becomes imperative that such email address and password combinations be changed.

There is a way to have a different password for every site that requires such security. It is a very easy system that will not place excessive stress on one's memory. The unfortunate breach at Zappos illustrates why using the same password on different sites is a very dangerous practice.

If you think that there are some family members or friends who are Zappos customers, please let them know about this massive security breach. Zappos customers will be notified by email. Hopefully that notification will be read.

Catherine Forsythe

some additional links:

Zappos customer data accessed in security breach

Zappos Says Hackers May Have Accessed Customer Account Details

Zappos hit by massive data breach

further updates: Non-U.S. customers kept in the dark as Zappos cleans up after data breach

Zappos breach a lesson in password security