iPod Dominated Holiday Shopping Season
In This Issue:
1. Editor's Note: The Return of Spam
2. Today's Top Story
- iPod Dominated Holiday Shopping Season, Web Researcher Says
Related Story:
- Netflix, Amazon Take Top Honors In Holiday Season Shopping Experience Survey
3. Breaking News
- Chinese Hackers Launch New Office Attack
- Asian Net Access Improves Slightly After Quake
- Samsung's 1-Gbyte DRAM Chip To Appear In Portable Devices Next Year
- Phishers' Latest Platforms: VoIP, SMS
- Apple Falls 6% On Concerns About Options Probe
- 2006 Declared Year Of The Zombies
- Poll Shows Strong Job Market In 2007
- Chess Player Banned 10 Years For Cheating With Bluetooth, Computer
- U.S. Judges Approve $2.45 Billion Nortel Settlement In Accounting Scandals
4. In Depth
- Apple Quietly Fixes iPod Shuffle No-Play Problem
- Microsoft Zune Fails To Reach Top Seller Lists On Amazon.com
- Planned Home PC Purchases Surge, Apple Closes On HP
5. Voice Of Authority
- Christmas Is A Time For...Virtual Machines?
6. White Papers
- Customers As Assets
7. Get More Out Of InformationWeek
8. Manage Your Newsletter Subscription
Quote of the day:
"An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit." -- Pliny the Younger
1. Editor's Note: The Return Of Spam
In recent weeks, you've probably noticed the return of an old pest: spam. For almost two years, it seemed as if spam might finally be on the decline. Remember when Bill Gates said that by 2006, "spam will be solved"? Well, that was all going well until a few months ago when spam struck back.
According to e-mail filtering vendor Postini, spam volumes have grown 73% in the last two months. There are several recent developments that have triggered the new growth of spam:
- Spammers are now embedding their messages in images to slip past spam filters that search for keywords and phrases. The number of e-mails with images has grown from nearly zero to almost 25%.
- Spammers are experimenting with the text in their messages, especially in the subject lines. All it takes is a few minor tweaks and a spammer can successfully go from the spam filter to the in-box.
There are others as well. What does this all mean for you? Please weigh in at my blog entry.
Stephen Wellman
[email protected]
www.informationweek.com
2. Today's Top Story
iPod Dominated Holiday Shopping Season, Web Researcher Says
New iPod owners flocked to Apple's site Christmas Day, increasing traffic by 413% over the same day last year.
Related Stories:
Netflix, Amazon Take Top Honors In Holiday Season Shopping Experience Survey
L.L. Bean, QVC, and Apple also scored high, while the top 10 worst sites for customer satisfaction included Costco, CompUSA, Toys "R" Us, Macy's, and Wal-Mart.
3. Breaking News
Chinese Hackers Launch New Office Attack
Popular Christmas PowerPoint slide show circulating by e-mail contains a security threat developed by paid-for-hire hackers.
Asian Net Access Improves Slightly After Quake
According to the Internet Traffic Report Web site, Asia's average connectivity index climbed to 51 by midday Wednesday, up from 43 earlier.
Samsung's 1-Gbyte DRAM Chip To Appear In Portable Devices Next Year
The memory utilizes 80-nanometer process technology and is aimed at handset applications, digital cameras, portable media players, and portable gaming products.
Phishers' Latest Platforms: VoIP, SMS
Symantec also has accumulated evidence that shows some phishers are collecting user names and passwords fast enough to defeat two-factor authentication number generators and are using one-time, quickly disposed URLs to avoid site blacklisting, a common anti-phishing technique.
Apple Falls 6% On Concerns About Options Probe
The report, from legal trade publication The Recorder on the Web site Law.com, also said chief executive Steve Jobs has hired his own attorney to deal with inquiries by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice into Apple's stock option grants.
2006 Declared Year Of The Zombies
On average, spam accounted for 87% of e-mail traffic this year, a 30% increase over a year ago.
Poll Shows Strong Job Market In 2007
Workers should cheer companies' intentions to boost both hiring and salaries in the new year.
Chess Player Banned 10 Years For Cheating With Bluetooth, Computer
The All India Chess Federation slapped the 10-year sanction on a player who had been using a Bluetooth device stitched into a cap he typically pulled down over his ears.
U.S. Judges Approve $2.45 Billion Nortel Settlement In Accounting Scandals
The settlement, announced Tuesday, calls for Nortel to pay $575 million in cash and the remainder in Nortel shares currently valued at about $1.65 billion.
All Our Latest News
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Managing Security
Learn how your peers are protecting customer data and managing privacy issues in the InformationWeek/Accenture Global Information Security Survey of more than 2,000 technology and security professionals.
Satisfaction With Outsourcers
How does your outsourcer stack up? Learn how more than 400 business technology professionals rated six of the leading outsourcers in InformationWeek Research's Analyzing The Outsourcers: Global Services report.
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4. In Depth: Personal Tech
Apple Quietly Fixes iPod Shuffle No-Play Problem
The new utility corrects a flaw that prevented recent iTunes purchases from playing on first-generation iPod shuffles.
Microsoft Zune Fails To Reach Top Seller Lists On Amazon.com
Various models of Apple's iPod, on the other hand, were among the top sellers.
Planned Home PC Purchases Surge, Apple Closes On HP
Although Dell (at 43%) and Hewlett-Packard (13%) were voted the top two brands among likely buyers in December, Apple's 12% was the highest since IBD began tracking it in mid-2003.
5. Voice Of Authority: Christmas Is A Time For...Virtual Machines?
And A New VM For Mom
Christmas is the time for giving, and for many people this means technology. It's certainly no different in my family—Dad got a new Gigabit Ethernet rig, my little brother got some games, and my niece got a portable DVD player. Mom? She got a new VM.
6. White Papers: Customers As Assets
The Customer As A Strategic Asset
In this white paper, we discuss some of the initiatives that Fortune 1,000 companies are undertaking, discuss some of the gains—and losses—that can result from each, and analyze the emerging trend toward considering the customer as the ultimate strategic asset—the final watershed that will divide the winners and losers in global business.
7. Get More Out Of InformationWeek
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