EduNotes (January 2002 edition)

Season's greetings and Happy New Year from EduCyber. We hope you enjoy this month's edition of EduNotes. Read on to learn about a free upcoming seminar, the latest security hole in Windows, protecting your identity, a neat web site, tips for making your own web site, and changes in broadband Internet access.
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News Flash: Mark February 7 on your calendars. That's the date of the FREE computer presentation. The Applewood Business Association is sponsoring a seminar (to be presented by Brian DeLaet of EduCyber, Inc.) from 7 PM. The seminar will be at the Arbor House, situated in Maple Grove Park. The address is 14600 W 32nd Ave. but just look for the beautiful wood building on the south side of the road. The seminar will provide practical tips and ideas as we discuss "Computers: Time Wasters or Money Makers?" Hope to see you there.
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Windows Security Hole
Attention all users of Windows XP, Windows ME and Windows 98 or 98 SE: Visit www.windowsupdate.com today and update your computer to fix the just discovered security hole in something called Universal PlugNPlay. Need help? Call EduCyber at (303) 268-2245.
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Identity Crisis
The age-old question of "Who am I?" is taking on a whole new twist in the 21st Century. The new take on an old theme is sadly becoming, "Who else is me?" Identity theft in a cyber age is remarkably easy. The same tools that put very useful information at our fingertips also put valuable information about who we are at the fingertips of identity thieves.
Genealogy sites, while great tools for digging into one's past, also are a gold mine for identity-bandits. You might be able to discover where your great great grandfather lived or how he spelled his name, but the wily bandit can quickly discover the answer to a common "security" question, "Mother's maiden name?" Or city of birth?
Online phone books can help a thief find your address. "So what?", you ask, that information is also available in the paper phone book. That is certainly true but once a determined thief knows your name, your address, and perhaps even your family history, he can already begin to do some damage. If that thief also learns what day you put your trash out, you can be open to greater risk than you ever imagined.
So should we turn off our computers, get our phone numbers unlisted, and bury our heads in the sand? Absolutely not. There are several simple steps you can take to help prevent identity theft.
1. Check your credit record with each of the major credit bureaus at least once a year to make sure the information is correct. Equifax http://www.equifax.com/, Experian http://www.experian.com/, Trans Union http://www.tuc.com/.
2. Buy and use a shredder. Make sure that all those pre-approved credit card applications go through the shredder as well as any other document containing personal or sensitive information.
3. Don't give out your social security number if you don't have to. Make sure you don't have it on your checks and don't put it on your driver's license if you aren't required to.
4. Protect your credit cards. If you pay with a credit card at a restaurant, pay at the counter instead of letting the waiter or waitress take your card. Sound paranoid? Instances of identity theft through restaurant personnel swiping your card through a scanner to counterfeit the card are on the increase.
5. Be wary of giving out information on the Internet. When making online purchases, always make sure the page where you enter your credit card information is on a secure site (look for the gold lock at the bottom of your browser). Or simply choose to speak to a sales rep to complete the deal.
6. Visit these sites to learn more: www.privacyrights.org, www.idtheftcenter.org, www.identitytheft.org, www.consumer.gov/idtheft
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Words Words Words
Well, it's too late for Christmas but how about starting the year off with a resolution to improve your vocabulary and learn some fun words? A Word A Day (AWAD) http://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html is one of my personal daily favorites.
What is AWAD? Each day you get an email with a word in it. The word is defined and pronunciation information is given. The word is also used in context. This may sound dull but it is anything but. Words are organized around a theme each week and sometimes a guest wordsmith provides the words for a week. My December favorite was guest wordsmith Richard Lederer, whose first word of that week was retronymn. At the risk of making this newsletter too long, the text of that message follows:
"retronym (RE-truh-nim) noun
An adjective-noun pairing generated by a change in the meaning of the noun, usually because of advances in technology.
When I grew up, there were only Coke, turf and mail. Nowadays, Diet Coke, new Coke, artificial turf, and email (electronic mail) have spawned the retronyms real Coke, Classic Coke, natural turf, and snailmail or hard mail. Once there were simply movies. Then movies began to talk, necessitating the retronym silent movies. Then came color movies and the contrasting term black-and-white movies. Once there was television. Along came color television and the retronym black-and-white television. Then came cable television and the retronym on-air television.
And here are some other retronyms I pray will never come to pass -- graffitiless wall, nonelectronic book, teacher-staffed school, monogamous couple, and double-parent family.
This week's sequence will examine some of the more outré words in this nym-ble family. -Richard Lederer (richard.lederer@pobox.com)"
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Web Tips
Do you have a web site? When was the last time you updated it? Nothing turns customers away quicker than outdated information. If your site is still advertising Thanksgiving specials or sharing Christmas news, take time today to update it.
If you don't have any timely news on your site, consider adding it.
Years ago I found a wonderful site for budding web designers and just recently "rediscovered" it. Yale has a web site (also in book form) titled Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites at http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/contents.html that I find to still be quite useful in understanding how to build a web site. If other site designers followed such a guide, the Internet would likely not be as confusing of a place and would certainly be more visually pleasing to look at.
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Broadband Blues
Well, it was bound to happen. With all the changes in cyberspace the last few years and the fallout of a crashing economy, my beloved cable connection was off for four days. Yes, it's back now (but a friend lost her connection for two and a half weeks!) but my confidence is shaken and the division of AT&T that is responsible for my connection is in the process of being bought by Cox cable leading to more changes and uncertainty.
If you're looking to switch from cable but aren't looking forward to doing business with the phone company, there are alternatives. While the line will still be provided by them, there is a local provider that can handle the Internet Service Provider end of the deal. Aim High! (www.aimhigh.net) provides DSL service at prices competitive with Qwest and the service provided is much more timely and friendly. Some pricing information is available at http://www.aimhigh.net/dsl.html, there is even a place to enter your information so they can make a line check to see if you qualify for DSL. A technical discussion about what DSL is and some of the potential "gotchas" is available at http://www.aimhigh.net/WhatIsDSL.html
In brief, the monthly costs are about $60 for 256k of bandwidth, about double what AT&T was offering for $10 a month more. The one time set up cost varies from around $200 to $400 depending on the types of offers Qwest is making at the time for their installation and equipment.
The downside is that Qwest recently decided that, if you don't have DSL capability, you won't be getting it any time soon as they scale back plans to extend their network. Such a short time ago broadband internet connections seemed like they would quickly become the de facto connection. Now the vision of broadband for the masses seems to be a fading dream.
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© 2002 EduCyber, Inc. This newsletter is brought to you by EduCyber, Inc. Permission is hereby granted to redistribute all or part of this newsletter as long as this copyright message is included. http://www.educyber.com
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