Posts by Will Safer at Switched

Man Uses YouTube to Search for Package Bandit

by Will Safer, posted Dec 30th 2008 at 1:01PM

A San Jose, California man who keeps having his mail and packages swiped from his doorstep has resorted to some remote sleuthing technology to help him solve the mystery of his disappearing deliveries.

Romeo Roque, who lives in the Northwood neighborhood in the middle of Silicon Valley, set up a video camera to capture the postal bandit in the act – and the resulting clip seems to do just that. Now, it's up to the San Jose police – and you – to help identify the culprit.

Roque posted the video clip to YouTube, showing a strawberry-blonde-haired woman rifling through a bait package he left on his doorstep. The police say this takes away the element of surprise they may have in pursuing the thief since she herself may see the clip and either cease her evil ways or at least move on to a less technically inclined homeowner. However, Roque is hoping that with all the eyeballs trained on YouTube, someone out there will recognize her and report her to the local precinct.

Continue reading Man Uses YouTube to Search for Package Bandit

America Still Hosts the Most Computer Viruses, Study Finds

by Will Safer, posted Dec 27th 2008 at 11:30AM

A new report released by anti-virus and security firm Sophos put 2008's online threats into perspective and give a hint of what 2009 may bring for all of us connected folks out there.

Here are some of the reports biggest finds: The United States is still the source of most malware; current events like the election or financial crisis are the topics of most scam e-mail messages; and Apple Macintosh users' overconfidence in their computers' ability to ward off viruses could cost them in the long run.

According to Sophos the "U.S. hosts 37 percent of all malware sites followed by China (27.7 percent) and Russia (9.1 percent)." And the United States' share is increasing, despite some high-profile shut downs of major malware purveyors, going up 37 percent in 2008. By contrast, though, what are the benefits of living in a totalitarian society like China? China's share of malware dropped by nearly 50 percent during that time. (Proving once again that freedom isn't free.)

Plenty of spam e-mail took advantage of interest in the political process and the financial mess we're in. Promises of secrets about the presidential candidates or ways to make and save money led the way, and more than a few people clicked links they shouldn't have and provided personal information to the ne'er-do-wells out there in cyberspace.

The curious point among all these expected security highlights? That Apple Macintosh users, who so far haven't had to suffer much from computer viruses, may see the growing popularity of their computer platform lead to a growing interest by those who write computer viruses. And since the Mac users are so confident in their platform's insulation from attack, they may in fact be more likely to leave their computers open to risk. But on that risk front only time will tell. [Source: ARS Technica.]

The End Of The End Of An Era? No More VHS Distribution.

by Will Safer, posted Dec 23rd 2008 at 9:32AM

A trivia point for you: What was the last big studio movie to be released on VHS tape? The answer is 'A History of Violence,' released in 2006.

People in the consumer electronics industry have been announcing the end of the VHS era for years now – but this time they really, really mean it. Ever since the introduction of the DVD back in the late '90s, the VHS tape has been only the second-best solution to watching movies at home. The VCR is something only your parents or grandparents have attached to their second TV down in the basement or back guest room with a stack of old tapes sitting nearby, maybe your old copy of Eddie Murphy's 'Coming to America' or your mom's complete collection of 1981's 'Brideshead Revisited.' (Well, some mothers we know.)

Camcorders stopped using VHS tapes once other, smaller format tapes came out, like Super 8 or MiniDV so that source for a tape collection has also dried up. (And now video cameras that take recordable discs, memory cards or have hard drives are the common choice.)

During the last two years, movies on VHS tape have pretty much been available only in dollar stores, as the big box retailers have converted their floor space to carry DVDs and movies on Blu-ray Disc.

While watching a movie on disc is a much better experience than watching on VHS (no more "be kind, rewind" signs at the rental store is certainly a good thing), people can't deny the effect this technology had on American movie-watching patterns.

"I think in some ways it even pulled families together, if that doesn't sound too corny, because renting movies became such a part of the weekend," Jim Henderson tells the Los Angeles Times. He's one of the owners of a Hollywood store that sells pop culture in just about every format imaginable, including VHS. But even he no longer buys new VHS tapes. His inventory comes in by way of customers who want to want to buy and trade hard-to-find items.

JVC, the first company to make VHS players for consumers, announced before Halloween that it would no longer make stand-alone players – although it will continue to make DVD-VHS combo units for the time being.

And one of the major distributors of those cheap VHS movies you see in the dollar stores has announced he's bought his last new VHS tape. Ryan J. Kugler, who runs a family business that specializes in the cheap tapes says he was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it. "And I'm done," he says. "Anything left in warehouse we'll just give away or throw away." [From Los Angeles Times, via Engadget]