Category Archives: Tech Talk

Avoid Being a Victim of Electronic Pickpocketing

Last night’s news about a man whose ATM card was just with him but had a big amount withdrawn from said account was something that looks like it was a clip from a movie.

But it wasn’t, it was real.

He was a victim of electronic pickpocketing.

Highly unlikely that people with ATM cards and credit cards can be victims of such high-tech crime but it can happen. There are a few precautions one can do to avoid being a victim:

  • cover the ATM’s keypad with your hand when you withdraw money
  • in establishments where you give your card to the staff for payment like in restaurants, do go to the cashier so that you can see how they handle your credit/debit card. You don’t want the staff to jot down your card details. They may not be the one doing the electronic theft, but they may give these information to others.
  • use RIFD blocking products for contactless cards to avoid having your card details read by the gadgets that are made to do just that

In every way, always be careful with your things.

Online Safety

Has it ever felt to you that doing things in the past seems better than having the high-tech gadgets we have now?

Take for example doing book reports for high school students.When I was in high school, I have read a lot of books which I borrowed from the school library. I wrote the book reports myself, using my version of a PC or a netbook: my crickety typewriter. I graduated to using a electric typewriter in college, hah, I was high tech then.

Anyway, we were not only “studious” then, but we were resourceful, motivated and we worked hard. In other words, we didn’t copy and pasted works written by others but we wrote original thoughts and did original written works. And we had  that sort of security that our works were not digitally copied though being copied by classmates was highly likely to happen, lol.

Nowadays though, it is so easy for others to just get information that are not their in the first place. I have been doing a lot of reading about these things like electronic pickpocketing, the use of ESET Smart Security, and the use of parental controls among others to better protect our family from being victims of electronic theft.

A few ways to protect online safety:

  • do not divulge personal information like home address, work address, schools of children online
  • if you feel you need to be a part of the social media, be discreet and have your online accounts accessible only by friends you personally know
  • change your passwords every now and then and use a combination of alphanumeric characters that are unreadable

Intel DST Asia-Pacific Challenge 2012

The link to the INTEL DST with Online Application is found here – http://www.inteldstchallenge.com/

Intel DST Asia-Pacific Challenge 2012

Are You Sharing Too Much?

My parents probably warned me about sharing too much, back in the day when the digital tools and gadgets were still seen by many through movies that feature space travel, James Bond or other spy movies.I know because I don’t always give my home address to anyone wanting to write me a letter.

These days, it is my turn to warn my children about protecting their privacy especially what they share online. What I tell them:

  • don’t give the name of your school
  • don’t give the name of your parents
  • don’t give out our telephone number
  • don’t give your email address
  • don’t give our home address nor post photos with a home sign

I also tweaked the privacy settings in their FB accounts so that no one can write on their walls, see photos they were tagged with and hid all other pertinent information. There are FB contacts who can’t see photos and status updates they are not supposed to see. I did this with my FB account too.

So, I think we’re safe. Apparently we are NOT SAFE.

According to this article, The Dangers of Sharing, author Lori Andrews said “Your right to control is currently being diluted by the sheer number of things you have to do to exercise it,”

Do we put out our email addresses in the open to be able to qualify to win a bottle of lotion being raffled off in a Facebook product page?

Do we open up our Facebook private walls to make a status update for “EVERYONE” just so we can win a shirt?

Nick Bilton, a New York Times San Francisco-based columnist and blogger wrote:

“As users of these sites and apps, we have no idea the type of information we are trading for ‘free’ access.”

“It’s one thing for a service to tell me that it plans to read my e-mails, sift through my address book, or look in my underwear drawer — then it is my responsibility to decide if I want to use the service — but it’s entirely different for these company’s to do so at will.

“Sure, I want LinkedIn, Facebook and other services to offer a better experience, but I want to know what they are doing with my personal information, this way, I can choose to enter with caution, knowing the potential consequences, or try to find an alternative service that is more transparent.”

How often have you read what a free app takes away from you as you download this on your phone? If an app says it will remove or delete data in my SD card, read my sms and email, then I won’t have it in my phone, even if I really like the app.

Facebook New Timeline

Last week, FB friends were all raving (and maybe some were ranting) about the mandatory thing of having Facebook Timeline.

I didn’t complain because I had my Facebook Timeline back in September.

Here is an interesting article to know more about what you need to know about the Facebook timeline.I just wish people would take time to know about the privacy setting so their photos are not seen by people who don’t know them.

And yes,  we were born in the year ____ and Facebook happened. Isn’t that fun? 😛