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Sept. 19, 2008

Five years ago, the hottest rip-offs were phishing scams, where you received a bogus e-mail that looked legit and claimed to be from your bank or a busines. The hope was that you'd click on a link in the e-mail to access your account online and reveal sensitive financial info.

As consumers got wise to the threat, criminals ratcheted things up by getting toll-free numbers to make their ploys seem legit. Eventually, people got wise to that too.

Now the latest wrinkle is that there's a new wave of e-mails that are so secure and legit looking that even people who work in the financial industry are falling prey.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that 95% of these e-mails are aimed at the customers of banks and credit unions. This is surprising to Clark because the big bucks are in brokerage houses, so you think criminals would target those customer bases.

The takeaway here is that you shouldn't click on any links in that e-mail! Instead, open a new browser and go to your bank's website where you can manually access your account. Likewise, take care to ignore any telephone numbers they want you to call.

Of course, there's danger in just opening a phishing e-mail. You may inadvertently download a keylogger. To avoid that danger, some bank websites allow you to enter your password using your mouse -- a move that defeats most current keylogger technology.

Be aware of what to do if you get a call from somebody claiming to be from your bank. They may talk a good game and have tons of info on you -- but it's probably the kind that's all obtainable on the web. So hang up and call your bank back at the number on your statement that you know is legit.

Clark is not trying to scare you; he just wants to make you cautious.

Sept. 18, 2008

Clark has yet another way for you to get all the music you want for free -- legally. The music business has been through a radical transformation thanks to technology. So many people think it's OK to steal music online because the major labels were arrogant Luddites who didn't initially embrace the MP3 movement. For the longest time, they preferred that you buy an overpriced CD.

Now the labels are wising up and are prepared to make unlimited free streaming songs available via MySpace Music. You'll also be able to access the tunes on a web-enabled phone and take them with you on the go for free.

MySpace Music will be monetized through advertising; through people actually buying downloads of songs they like; and eventually through sales of T-shirts, promotional items and concert tickets.

Clark's still waiting for Christa to tell him if he can access MySpace Music from his Kinoma-enabled cell phone! And do you remember Clark's discussion of SpiralFrog last year? Free legal music is no longer just an idea; it's the real deal.

Sept. 18, 2008

Looking for a silver lining in the slowing economy? Airlines may be parking planes in the desert and raising ticket prices, but hotels and resorts are really hurting. That's great news if you want to stay at a hotel! ... More

Sept. 16, 2008

This is now the third year in a row that Clark is crowing about great deals on HDTV flat-screens for the holiday season. But the deals this year will be so good that he wants to venture an outrageous prediction. ... More

August 20, 2008

One of Clark's beloved free online music sites -- Pandora.com -- might be getting ready to go the way of the dodo. They're going broke because of some obscure rulings concerning compensation for artists and labels. In essence, they're being hit with "tariffs" on every song that are prohibitively high. ... More