Category: Miscellaneous

Yet another virus alert from the ST Early Warning System. The SoBig.F worm, which is the latest iteration of a worm that has been circulating for some time in forms .A through .E to this point, has hit pretty hard. In particular, Yahoo seems to be getting the brunt of it, since I’ve gotten nearly two dozen messages through that service today.

The virus is easily identifyable from the re: line, which usually reads “wicked Screensaver” “your details” “your application” or “that movie” with a .pif attachement of varying size between 99k and 101k. It’s a malicious worm, so don’t open any attachement of these sorts. It should be noted that the virus sender may not be the person in the “from” line — this virus alters that information before propagating itslef. So whoever it was at the Dept. of Treasury that got some email with the virus attached… It wasn’t ME!

I couldn’t help but think this is kinda cute, especially if you’ve got a med-student or doctor in your life: Giant Microbes sells stuffed toys inspired by such maladies as Helicobacter, Streptococcus, and the lovable Rhinovirus (pictured, right). They even have a new addition to the family based on some speculation on what a Martian bacteria might look like according to fair and balanced scientific findings (pictured, left). All of these cute little diseases can be had for around $6 apiece. I’ve just ordered a set of microbes (4 for $20) because what’s better than having your special someone say “oh yeah, he got me Shigella for my birthday….”

The only upside to having an email address that gets 200 spam emails a week is that I usually get advance warning of email scams;

“Hello there,

I would like to inform you about important information regarding your email address. This email address will be expiring. Please read attachment for details.
—
Best regards, Administrator”

It should go without saying that one should always ignore email messages like this, but one always need to be reminded, I guess. I don’t know what this one does, and I don’t want to know. Never, ever open an attachment from someone you don’t know. Even if it claims to be an admin.

Update: Turns out it’s called MiMail, and if you open the email your computer gets a bad file loaded that’ll totally crash your system (can’t virus writers think of anything original?). Apparently it’s spreading like wildfire — it was profiled on NPR today. Aren’t you glad you read StreetTech? 🙂

“Enron. WorldCom. Tyco. Those CEO dudes is scary. Now I’ll walk by a gang-banger and not even blink, but if I see a white guy with a Wall Street Journal, I’m gonna haul ass in the other direction. If I have to walk by the Arthur Andersen building, I’d rather cut through the damn projects. I mean, you might end up having what you have on today stolen, but at least you won’t be mugged of your future.” -Comedienne Wanda Sykes

I’ve been noticing a growing trend in email scams that I wanted to point out to those who may not have seen it yet, or who may not to be savvy enough to spot spoofed messages.

I’ve recently gotten “Billing/Account Problem” emails from Amazon, eBay, PayPal, and Earthlink (to name just the few I can think of at the moment). The email addresses and website links look legit, and if you click on the links, you’re taken to a site page that looks legit. They’re not. It’s a credit card/password trap.

The emails usually say things like: There’s a problem with your billing information, or You have to update your billing information, or We changed servers and we lost your account info. They say that if you don’t log on right away and fix the problem, your account will be terminated.

Don’s fall for this. Don’t even take the link. If you think a message like this even MIGHT be legit, it’s easy to find out. Just go directly to the site and check your account info. If it’s not a scam, they’ll likely be a notice about any real account problems on the site itself. And if you go to the site’s message boards, you’ll see plenty of info about the scams, along with the hard luck stories of those who’ve fallen for them.

It’s really sad to think of all of the people who must be falling for this. Email all of your non-geek relatives (those friends and family members who are still falling for those Internet chain mailings and who are still circulating the “Save NPR!” petition)

Long ago, I used to visit GadgetSquad.com in my regular round of tech websites – it was one of the ways sites that inspired me to get into tech writing. Unfortunately, GadgetSquad withered, and updates were few and far between. Now the Squad is back, with an updated website and a new style; the one-paragraph review. While it doesn’t seem to be up to speed or got that much traffic just yet, I’m glad to see the Squad and Gadgeto (pictured left) are back and hope they bring all their enthusiasm back to the blogosphere.

Palm has announced a new round of price cuts and incentives for its new handhelds;all Tungsten models (T, W and C) plus the new Zire 71 (with built-in camera) all qualify for a $50 rebate with trade-in of old Palm or PPC. Plus with the Tungsten|T price drop ($50 off) Palm Tungsten T can be had for as little as $200, the Tungsten W for $430, and the brand-new Tungsten C for just $380.

I’ve been saving up for months for one of those Corbin Merlins, so fellow StreetTechers hopefully understand my disappointment and forgive these posts about vehicles rather than the usual latest iPod knock-off. Anywho, with Corbin Motors out of the picture, I’ve got to find a new object of desire, and have come up with two alternatives; one high-budget, the other low.

The first is the canadian-made Campagna T-Rex. This two-seat three-wheeler claims 0-60 times of around 4 seconds and a top speed of 140 mph using a 1200 cc DOHC in-line four pushing 6 gears (plus reverse), with stopping power supplied by three disc brakes. It’s got double wishbone suspension in the front and motorcycle-like swingarm in the back. The sleek fiberglass shell can be modified to hold a windshield, which may not be shipped to the United States because of the way the US defines “car.” But before you get your hopes up, this is no $19,000 funmobile like the Merlin — this one will cost you upwards of $42,000 before adding luggage options. I’d rather have a Boxster or a ‘busa.

The second option is much cheaper — in fact, it comes in the form of a DIY called the IndyCycle. This trike is one of the most beautiful home-built projects I’ve ever seen, and the website shows you just how to do it. If that project is too much for your limited fiberglassing skills, check out IndyCycleOnline which is a company that had the nerve to steal the name from original IndyCycle designer DuRette, and now offers kits from $3000 to $7000 to convert your old (or new) motorcycle into an Indy machine. Check out the review of that cycle at Car and Driver.

If there’s a company that puts the Street in StreetTech, it’s Corbin with their motor company’s Merlin Roadster a favorite of ST gear-heads. But it looks like the Merlin Roadster and Coupes (pictured) may never put rubber to road. The Corbin Motor Company has been forced to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy because of investor trouble. Given the amount of $3.8 mill in debt and investigations into the fund-raising done by Corbin Motors, it looks like your only chance to own a Merlin is to look for the possible liquidation sale. I know I’ll have my eyes open for a rolling chasis…