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An e-mail purporting to be from the IRS offers an $80 cash award by filling out a customer satisfaction survey. The IRS urges taxpayers to ignore this solicitation and not provide any requested information, and reminds taxpayers they do not initiate contact with taxpayers through e-mail. [Link]

Phishers attempt to gain information such as usernames, passwords, or credit card information by pretending to be from a company you might already do business with, in this case, the IRS. Other common phishing e-mails pretend to be from eBay, PayPal, and many banks.

Wait six months after SP1 to tackle Vista, says support CEO
In the meantime, hang on to XP, says David Milman of Rescuecom

August 28, 2007  (Computerworld) — If there’s one word to describe Windows Vista users, that word is frustrated, said the head of a national chain of computer support centers today.

How frustrated?

“Wait for six months after Vista SP1 [Service Pack 1] appears before moving to Vista,” recommended David Milman, CEO of Rescuecom Corp., which operates a chain of IT support franchises. “Microsoft certainly does need to address Vista’s problems [with SP1], but we’re telling customers to stay with XP for at least the rest of 2007 and through much of 2008 if SP1 is delayed to the start of that year.”

Of course, some of us will not have a phone, some will have more than one…

Current estimates reportedly suggest that “nearly 84-percent of the US population will have mobile phones by the end of 2007,” and according to SNL Kagen, that figure should shoot to 100-percent in just six years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZb0avfQme8

Amazing the difference 14 years has brought - but definitely not all by AT&T.

*Way to go! Yahoo Mail lets users send free text messages to cell phones

The new version of Yahoo Mail comes out of beta on Monday, and it sports some spiffy new features, like the ability to send text messages to a cell phone–the first free Web-based mail provider to offer this function.

August 27, 2007  (Computerworld) — Yahoo Inc. has closed the beta testing of its new e-mail service and will roll it out to its 254 million users over the next six weeks, the company said today. The beta testing of the new Yahoo Mail had been going on for two years.

The beauty of network hard drives is in their simplicity; using a standard Ethernet cable, simply connect it to an available port on the home router.

For PC users, there is Discovery Tool Home utility for Windows included. Mac and Linux users get easy-to-follow instructions for manual setup.

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Iomega Corporation (NYSE:
IOM), a global leader in data protection and an established leader in network storage, today announced a new line of network hard drives that resets the benchmark for price-performance and easy-to-use network storage for the home.

The new line of Iomega(R) Home Network Hard Drives, available in 320GB*, 360GB and 500GB models, makes it possible for the first time to share network storage at home for little more than the cost of a standard desktop external hard drive.

Coffee Drinks Illustrated
Side-by-side diagrams of a few common espresso drinks.

If you’ve ever been intimidated by the difference between a macchiato and a cafe breve, these simple illustrations should do the trick! I wonder when we’ll start seeing them in coffeehouses?

from PCWorld: Acer to Acquire Gateway in $710 Million Deal

Acer plans to acquire Gateway in a deal worth $710 million that Acer says will make it the world’s third-largest PC vendor.

Under terms of the agreement announced Monday, Acer will purchase all of Gateway’s outstanding shares for $1.90 per share. The deal has already been approved by the boards of directors at both companies and should be completed by the end of this year, subject to government approval, Acer said in a statement. Gateway’s shares ended at $1.21 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

from BetaNews: Acer + Gateway + Packard Bell to Create Global PC Powerhouse

As officials from all three major companies involved confirmed to the press during the overnight hours in North America, global #3 PC manufacturer Acer has reached an agreement to acquire Gateway, America’s #3 manufacturer, for $710 million. And in a possibly contingent move, Gateway will use some of that immediate cash infusion to exercise its right to preclude Lenovo from acquiring Packard Bell from California investor Lap Shun Hui, who purchased it from NEC just last year.

..after they’ve unlocked the iPhone… twice in one day? Two different sources have announced an unlocked iPhone working with T-Mobile. [Link]

New internet term: bacn - “e-mail you want, but not right now” such as MySpace alerts, bill payment receipts, company newsletters, and so forth. You want them, but aren’t on the must-read-right-now list.