IPhone: Sizzle or fizzle? Let's all argue
Posted: Friday, June 29 at 05:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan
This is the day we'll see one of the most successful product launches in history. It will be studied in classrooms for years -- by public relations students.
The launch of the iPhone is a phenomenon. Not a technology phenomenon -- a marketing phenomenon. For weeks, we've been pounded with incremental stories about this new little phone -- it will play YouTube videos! Its battery is new and improved (already?)! In 13 years of covering technology, I can't recall another product launch with more hype that the Apple's iPhone, unless you reach all the way back to the Rolling Stones and Windows 95. Well, maybe Dean Kamen's roller/scooter, going-to-change-commuting-forever thingy. What was that called, anyway?
Sorry, Apple faithful: It's not worth the hype.
Before you all start bickering with me, I've invited other MSNBC.com technology writers and editors, as well as NBC News correspondent George Lewis, to bicker with me. In the spirit of this overhyped day, we're calling this new feature Red Tape Wrestlemania! After my colleagues call me stupid, you can do the same below.
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Cyberbullying bad, but not that bad
Posted: Wednesday, June 27 at 05:00 pm CT by Bob Sullivan
Cyberbullying may not be as widespread as feared, as most teenagers are more worried about old-fashioned pushing and shoving than online tormenters, according to a new study.
Still, about one-third of all teenagers say they've been bullied through the Internet, complaining about a range of attacks that range from annoying to dangerous, according to research released Wednesday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
While focus groups with teenagers conducted for the study unearthed plenty of horror stories, the research suggests that computer-based taunting among children may not be as widespread as some feared. Only 6 percent of participants said someone had posted an embarrassing picture of them online without permission, for example. And 13 percent said someone has spread rumors about them online.
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Cell phone hacking has unlikely ring
Posted: Friday, June 22 at 03:40 pm CT by Bob Sullivan
Just how easy is it to hack into a cell phone?
The strange story of Heather Kuykendall and her neighbors in Tacoma, Wash., begs that question. Kuykendall says someone has managed to hijack her phone and use it to spy on her. Whoever it is apparently is able to turn her phone on and off, order the unit's camera to take pictures and even enable the speakerphone function so the device can be used as a bug. You can see the icky details in a Michael Okwu report that aired Friday on the Today Show.
Cell phone hacking to read someone’s contact list is one thing; but cell phone spying is a far more disturbing possibility. Could whatever happened to Kuykendall and her neighbors happen to you?
The short answer: Yes, but it's very, very unlikely.
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Finally, warnings about shared SSNs
Posted: Friday, June 22 at 06:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan
Every year, millions of Social Security numbers are "shared" by more than one taxpayer. Government agencies that collect taxes, like the Social Security Administration, spot this immediately. Sometimes it's an innocent mistake; sometimes, it's identity theft. But no one ever tells the victims.
That is, not until now.
A pilot project in Utah aims to warn consumers that someone else is paying state taxes using their Social Security number. Two years in the making, it is believed to be the first such project in the nation. The first “Dear Victim” letters, about 100, started arriving this week.
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Worker dearth, Citi blamed in passport mess
Posted: Tuesday, June 19 at 05:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan
What stands between a terrorist and a new U.S. passport? About two and a half minutes. That's how much time passport inspectors have to make sure applications are authentic.
Workplace quotas require passport inspectors, known as adjudicators, to process 24 applications every hour, according to Colin Walle, president of the federal employees union chapter that represents passport workers.
That's too fast a pace to catch would-be ID thieves, crooks or terrorists, the union has warned repeatedly. And internal memos obtained by MSNBC.com show that the State Department’s Office of Passport Services has for two years in a row waived requirements to keep error rates on new passports under 1 percent. In some cases, high error rates have been blamed on Citigroup, which now performs initial processing of all passport applications, according to a State Department memo viewed by MSNBC.com.
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Military spouses targeted by ID thieves
Posted: Monday, June 18 at 02:08 pm CT by Bob Sullivan
Military spouses are frequent targets for charlatans, so they’re frequently warned to maintain a healthy skepticism. But the latest identity theft scam targeting soldiers' families is enough to make even a veteran crime fighter's skin crawl.
Creeps are calling up military spouses, posing as representatives of the American Red Cross. The caller tells the spouse that his or her husband or wife has been injured in Iraq and taken to Germany for life-saving treatment. But the treatment cannot begin, the caller says, until the spouse provides the soldier's Social Security Number and birth date.
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Watch out for leaky 'rebate cards'
Posted: Friday, June 15 at 05:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan
Consumers have a love-hate relationship with rebates. They're great when they arrive and maddening when they don't. And many consumers have been burned by a promised rebate that never arrived, leaving them with a healthy dose of skepticism about the process.
There are new reasons to be skeptical. Many firms have taken to issuing debit-card-like gift cards instead of rebate checks. Known in the industry as "prepaid rebate cards," the cards do offer some benefits. But they also come laden with gotchas that can leave you with worthless plastic.
Like some gift cards, rebate cards can lose their value over time. But unlike gift cards, the dollar drain on rebate cards can begin as soon as three months after they’re issued. Some rebate cards charge fees for activation or checking balances, too.
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Oglers of X-rated Paris Hilton exposed
Posted: Thursday, June 14 at 03:28 pm CT by Bob Sullivan
Those of you who can't resist rubbernecking at the car accident that is Paris Hilton should beware -- others may discover your guilty pleasure.
Everyone knows that nothing you do online is really anonymous, yet nearly everyone forgets that on a regular basis. Your boss, for example, can easily find out how many Paris Hilton news items you read every day (a total that just went up by one). And if you engage in less-than-appropriate Web browsing through pictures and videos of famous female celebrities, well, that's easy to spy, too.
Which brings me to something even more embarrassing: Being exposed as someone who paid for a glimpse at less-than-appropriate pictures of Paris Hilton.
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Passport problems trap citizens in U.S.
Posted: Tuesday, June 12 at 05:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan
With so much fighting going on about people who want to get into the country, we didn't realize how hard it is to get out. Chaos at the U.S. Passport office has left thousands of travelers stranded stateside, many of them holding useless airplane and cruise tickets -- a situation one critic calls "reverse Ellis Island."
The irony isn't lost on Tarina Oliver, who last week canceled a trip to the Dominican Republic when her passport didn’t arrive on time. Oliver, 43, had planned to visit her sister, Camille Tillinghast, who’s teaching English for a year to kindergarten students on the poor island. Oliver also was going to bring her 4-year-old daughter Josephine to give her a chance to experience life in a very different place.
"The opportunity to visit the Dominican Republic doesn't come around too often," Oliver said. Now, the opportunity appears to be gone, doomed by red tape.
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Credit score ruling supremely disappointing
Posted: Friday, June 8 at 05:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan
Your credit score might be costing you hundreds of dollars each year on your auto insurance, but you'll never know. It's a secret. And it looks like it's going to stay that way.
Consumers took a shot to the gut this week when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that insurers don't have to tell them when they are paying more for auto insurance because of their credit scores.
Many drivers don't even realize their credit scores are used in the complex mathematics used to calculate insurance rates. Ditto for most homeowners. But it’s true in most states; credit scores are used to raise rates for some consumers and lower them for others. There’s no way to know who is paying more and who is paying less or how much the credit score penalty is because, as I've said, it's a secret.
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Price of privacy depends on how you look at it
Posted: Tuesday, June 5 at 06:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan
While people always seem to want what they don’t have, they tend to inflate the value of the things they do have. Economists call this the “endowment effect” – once something becomes part of your endowment, you are naturally reluctant to part with it.
So you might demand that someone pay you $2,000 for that 1983 Mustang convertible in your garage, even though you’d never pay $2,000 for the car if you were the buyer.
The gap between the buy and sell price you’d set is one reason that house negotiations often go haywire. Homeowners nearly always overestimate what their property is worth – or more specifically, what someone else will pay for it. Often, people initially set a price for their home that they wouldn’t pay if they were the buyers.
When discussing cars or homes, the endowment effect is fairly easy to spot. But in the realm of abstract ideas like privacy, things get a bit more complicated.
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Bank overdraft fees: Help may be on the way
Posted: Friday, June 1 at 05:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan
A few weeks ago, we shared the story of Rachel Poor, who faced a double-barreled 21st century nightmare when an identity thief stole her money and her bank piled on with penalty fees. In addition to losing thousands of dollars to the thief, Poor faced a maddening set of overdraft charges -- 22 to be exact -- while she tried to dig out of the hole her imposter put her in.
The column resonated with Red Tape readers -- 1,300 comments were left on the blog, a record. Many writers expressed bitterness and frustration toward their banks and described their own overdraft fee nightmares.
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