On April 17th Sony shut down the Playstation network due to a massive security breech. Nearly a week later Sony finally “came clean” on what was taken from their databases. Among the information taken is your name, address, zip code, country, birth date, password, gamer tag, and even your security question. First of all, all of this information should have been encrypted, secondly the passwords should have been hashed… Sony said that the credit card information was encrypted but they don’t believe that it was taken. I was among the more than 70 million users to have this information taken, and encrypted or not I am canceling my credit card… It would only be a matter of time before the encryption is broken.

All of this bothers me deeply; however, I think it is the pure lack of communication from Sony, and the uncaring disposition they have towards their customers currently. Not to mention that it is the 7th of May and they still are not being completely forthcoming about this event… Nor is the Playstation network back up. So for all of those gamers out there who thought that they were going to get their Portal 2 or Mortal Combat fixes, they instead got the best gift of all, identity theft straight from Sony. Thanks!

As many of you may have already heard from the multiple emails you may have received; Epsilon, one of the world’s largest email marketing services company, had an emailing list hacked last week. 50 of their 2,500 affected clients include 1-800-Flowers, AbeBooks, Air Miles, Ameriprise Financial, Barclays Bank, Beachbody, bebe stores, Best Buy, Brookstone, Capitol One, City Market, Citi, Dillons, Disney, Destinations, Eileen Fisher, Ethan Allen, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Hilton Honors Program, Home Shopping Network, Jay C, JPMorgan Chase, King Soopers, Kroger, Lacoste, LL Bean Visa Card, Marriott Rewards, McKinsey & Company, MoneyGram, New York & Company, QFC, Ralphs, Red Roof Inn, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, Robert Half, Target, The College Board, TD Ameritrade, TiVo, US Bank, and Walgreens. So what does this mean for you? The information obtained includes email addresses and full names… NOT credit card numbers or other personal information. Never the less, this is a huge problem and you should take warning… We will likely see a sharp rise in spear phishing, that is to say, targeted email attacks. The easiest way to protect your self is NEVER to click on links in emails, even if it looks authentic. If you receive a email from any of the above companies asking for any personal information, delete it immediately! If there is a link to update information, don’t click it… instead, go to the companies website directly. Links in these emails will likely lead to fake sites that are designed to look real. We need to remember to be vigilant against email attracts and NEVER click on links in email!

UPDATE: Shortly after I started working on this post it was discovered that Epsilon knew about the vulnerability that led to this hack for four months… Good job getting right on this Epsilon, now we the consumers are the ones to pay for your laziness!

This is a story that was sent to me on Facebook and wanted to share it with everyone.

As a Company, Southwest Airlines is going to support ‘Red Fridays.’ Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed One of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen. Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camos. As they began heading to their gate, everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering. When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and Cheered for, it hit me. I’m not alone. I’m not the only red-blooded American who still loves this country and supports our troops and their families.

Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal.

Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our Service men and women, a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old ran up to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said ‘hi…’

The little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her…

The young soldier, who didn’t look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.

The mother of the little girl, who said her daughter’s name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her daughter Courtney missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up.

When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second… Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military-looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it..

After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, ‘I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you.’ He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying ‘your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon.’

The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet, he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event.

As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last act of selflessness turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.

We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it’s good to be an American.

Red Fridays
Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the ‘silent majority’. We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers.

Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday – and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that.. Every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar will wear something red.

By word of mouth, press, TV — let’s make the United States on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers.

If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family. It will not be long before the USA is covered in RED. The first thing a soldier says when asked ‘What can we do to make things better for you?’ is…We need your support and your prayers.

Let’s get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example.

Many people have switched to texting as there standard form of communication of the cell networks. All of the major cell phone carriers over charge grossly for there texting plans. For example lets say the average person sends 400 text messages a month and the average size is 140 bytes, 400 x 140 is 56,000 bytes, or about 5.5 Kilobyte. The average price for data is about 20 cents per kilobyte which would bring our monthly total for 400 messages to $1.10. Now take the same 400 messages and multiply that by the cost per text massage and you come to about $60.

What have we learned? By the carriers math it costs about $1.10 for 400 messages but they charge us $60. Now you may ask where the free part comes in… If we switch to a data plan while not free, we could still send text massages as data (which is what they are in the first place). To achieve this, simply send these messages as email.

For AT&T users sms is phonenumber@txt.att.net and mms is phonenumber@mms.att.net
For Verizon users sms is phonenumber@vtext.com and mms is phonenumber@vzwpix.com
For Sprint users sms and mms is phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
For T-Mobile users sms and mms is phonenumber@tmomail.net

I’m a little boy with glasses, the one they call a geek; a little girl who never smiles cause I’ve got braces on my teeth. I’m that kid on every playground who is always chosen last; you don’t have to be my friend, but is it too much to ask: don’t laugh at me, don’t call me names, don’t get your pleasure from my pain! In the eyes of God we’re all the same.