The crowds, the traffic, the utter mayhem. You already know all about the day after Thanksgiving, appropriately dubbed Black Friday. And although I’d vowed never to set foot in a retail store on that day, I found myself accompanying Dawn last Friday as we shopped for a few early Christmas gifts. But guess what - there’s another day for you to deal with. It’s called Cyber Monday.

Feeling left out of all the hoopla, online marketers (they prefer being called e-retailers) conjured up an ad blitz for the first work day after the Thanksgiving shopping weekend and even created a special web site. I suppose It was only a matter of time. In fact, I have to wonder what took them so long. Well, word has spread and now online marketers (oops… e-retailers) offer some real deals on Cyber Monday, everything from free shipping to one-day sales specials.

Shop.org claims that, according to its online survey, 72 million folks will shop online from work (hmmm… I suppose there will be a corresponding drop in business productivity) for holiday gifts, up 11 million from last year. And yes, Dawn and I keystroked our way to a couple of good buys, too.

E-retail believes that, with everything going high-tech these days, they’re entitled to their own traditions, especially those that also happen to turn a profit. I suppose it’s only fair.

Shannon sends this warning about a new virus (actually, it’s a variant of the Storm Worm; see my September 2007 post) using emailed e-card notifications instructing you to click on an enclosed URL link to retrieve the card, supposedly from a family member:

“A wave of malicious messages […] sent out in June 2007 employed that very technique, arriving in inboxes bearing subject lines such as ‘You’ve received a postcard from a family member!’ The messages contain URLs that recipients are supposed to visit to retrieve their e-cards, but those URLs actually point to servers hosting a variety of malware (including a variant of the Storm Trojan, “an aggressive piece of malware that has been hijacking computers to serve as attacker bots” since early 2007) that is furtively installed onto victims’ PCs. (Generally, only unpatched Windows-based systems are vulnerable.) […]” (Link)

The Storm Worm is proving to be a most difficult critter to eradicate. There are ways to protect yourself, though. The most obvious, of course, is not to follow the email’s URL links. Instead, go to the actual card site and enter the supposed URL link to retrieve your card. At worst, they’ll tell you there isn’t one. Follow the suggestions and links in my September post. And there’s more info (technical) on the McAfee site.

A while back, the fun-loving folks at Google asked people to show a little imagination. They wanted creative videos showing how G-Mail (Google’s new e-mail service) travels from one point in the world to another. Google received about 1,100 videos from more than 65 countries. And what did they do with them you ask? Well, they edited them into this very entertaining collaborative video short…

Thanks Michael!

As explained in a recent article at TechShout, the Storm Worm email virus, which first attacked in January 2007, tries to trick recipients into opening an executable attachment file that can hijack their computers. Security companies have said that Storm Worm has managed to quickly drive global virus levels 60 times higher than their daily average.

Once installed on a personal computer, Storm Worm takes control of the machine by adding the infected Windows PC to a “bot army” of compromised computers that are connected to a custom peer-to-pear network where it can download new updates, upload personal information from the compromised computer, and scan e-mail addresses to send out spam to further the attacks.

According to Adam Swidler, senior manager of solutions marketing at security firm Postini, the virus can be detected by up-to-date antivirus software. Its spread can be controlled by most Internet providers using up-to-date virus filters. These filters should stop it before it reaches inboxes.

However, the best solution to avoid serious trouble, said Swidler, is to delete any e-mails with subject lines that refer to the worms or the word love. “Definitely don’t click the attachments,” he added.

A serious problem for Windows users. Here’s an update from Michael…

The Storm Worm is turning out to be one of the most resilient attacks in history. The creators use spam messages to entice users to a malicious Web site. The site uses JavaScript to launch exploits against your browser and programs. If this attack fails, you’re encouraged to download the virus manually. The virus turns your machine into a zombie.

Spam messages associated with the Storm Worm have taken many forms. [Recently], it was coming as confirmation messages from various sites. It has also taken the form of e-card spam. The messages originally warned of a European storm. Now, they entice you with a YouTube video.

Folks, the creators of the Storm Worm have planned the attack carefully and they’re staying ahead of security warnings. Make sure your security programs are updated and Windows is fully patched. And be careful where you click.

And one final note:

Infected computers generally show little sign of their infection; they just become unwilling members of the worm’s “bot army”. But emails you send to friends and business associates can be infected and their data compromised. Best to (1) trash suspicious emails, and (2) update and use your virus software often. More here.

Here’s an interesting tidbit. It seems that while David Watanabe was trying to report a potential problem via iTunes, selectable options for “Movie Rental” appeared in the list as shown on the above screenshot. Are rental movies coming to iTunes? I wouldn’t be at all surprised, would you?

David adds that “Engadget … confirmed the veracity of this screenshot, saying that at the time of writing, they ‘verified that these options are still viewable’. These options have subsequently been removed, since there presence was clearly a mistake. However, this third-party verification should remove any doubt as to the validity of this screenshot.”

Now, this could simply have been a few Apple guys testing theoretical functions and inserting humorous test data. Or not. Movie rentals via iTunes would certainly be nice, especially if they’ll stream via iMovie to your big screen…

This comes from Sara…

D (D5 - All things Digital, The WSJ Executive Conference) is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. And a highlight this year was Steve Jobs and Bill Gates interacting on the same stage for the first time in 20 years.

You can read about the entire event on the D5 website which includes video footage, photos and more.

YouTube also has most of the Gates-Jobs footage posted in several clips, one of which follows below:

Read the various speakers’ presentations and transcripts to get an idea of what’s coming in the world of technology inovation. Watch all the Gates-Jobs clips if you’re a fan with time on your hands.

Those of you with whom I exchange emails know that, before I forward email “stories” (if I forward them at all), I check them out at snopes, my favorite of several similar sites aimed at debunking urban legends. Many of you have received at least one myth “outing” from me and some of you have even ribbed me about them. So this Randall Munroe ‘toon seemed particularly apropos…