Email Scam

WASHINGTON — The US Department of Homeland Security warned Friday that scammers were sending out bogus emails offering economic stimulus payments in an attempt to retrieve personal information.

US-CERT, the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team, said it had received reports of a "phishing" scam involving "fraudulent US Internal Revenue Service emails offering users stimulus package payments."

"These emails include text that attempts to convince users to follow a link to a website or to complete an attached document," US-CERT said. "The website and document request the user to provide personal information."

In a statement on its website, us-cert.gov, US-CERT urged anyone who received one of the fraudulent emails to alert the authorities.

US-CERT was created in 2003 to defend the Internet infrastructure against cyberattack. It is a partnership between the Department of Homeland Security and the public and private sectors.

Phishing is a common Internet fraud in which perpetrators attempt to steal IDs, passwords and other personal information in an attempt to swindle money.

The fraudsters behind the latest scam would appear to be a bit premature.

The US House of Representatives passed a giant economic stimulus package last week but it has yet to clear the Senate.

Hatton bout on; Pacman settles for 50-50

MANILA, Philippines—The Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton showdown will push through after all.

A day after the fight looked doomed, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum Thursday said the duel between boxing’s top pound-for-pound fighter and its 140 lb king is back “under control” because Pacquiao has agreed to a 50-50 split with Hatton.

The Los Angeles Times Thursday reported that Pacquiao is expected to sign the fight contract “sometime Thursday.”

“There was a lot of confusion about why we did 50-50, but everyone now understands why this is a good deal,” Arum told the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire. “This thing is going to happen. Thursday (Tuesday) was disarray. Today, everything’s back in order.”

Pacquiao’s lawyer, Franklin Gacal, on Monday said the Filipino superstar was demanding a 60-40 revenue sharing for the fight and hinted that they would look for another opponent if their terms were not met for the fight that is expected to gross $58.4 million.

The demand prompted Hatton’s handlers to threaten the Filipino champion with a lawsuit and Arum to call off the fight since the American promoter and the British Hitman’s handlers had verbally agreed to equal sharing late last month.

Pacquiao apparently backed out on his demand due to the expected windfall from the pay-per-view revenue in Britain, which Arum said is “attributable to Hatton.” The Filipino would get half of the PPV revenue.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. did not receive any share from the PPV income in Britain when he knocked out Hatton in 2007, Arum said.

Arum said that when he explained the Mayweather Jr. case to Pacquiao’s advisers, “everybody ... calmed down.”

The super fight, which will be held at a still undetermined venue in Las Vegas, is expected to be announced officially next week.

Source : http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/sports/view/20090116-183646/Hatton-bout-on-Pacman-settles-for-50-50

AMD cuts 1,100 jobs, reduce salaries

SAN FRANCISCO – US chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices said Friday it will lop 1,100 jobs and trim salaries to "navigate the turbulent economic conditions."

In February, California-based AMD will begin reducing its global workforce by nine percent, cut the pay of remaining workers and eliminate some benefits.

AMD board chairman Hector Ruiz and chief executive Dirk Meyer will have their base pay shrink 20 percent each, according to the firm.

"As a result of the continuing global economic downturn, we have determined that we need to take difficult, but prudent, actions designed to reduce our costs," AMD said in a written release.

"These actions, while difficult, will allow AMD to better navigate the turbulent economic conditions while protecting our core capability to execute our technology roadmaps and position AMD for long-term success."

Pay cuts for AMD employees in the United States and Canada will range from five percent for "overtime eligible" workers to 15 percent for vice presidents.

At AMD operations outside of North America, there will be "voluntary pay reduction measures consistent with local policies and regulations."

AMD will also suspend matching contributions it typically makes to worker retirement plans in the United States and Canada.

AMD's disheartening news comes a day after computer-chip king Intel reported that its net profit in the recently-ended quarter plummeted 90 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The Santa Clara, California-based company said net profit in the last three months of the year plunged to 234 million dollars on revenue of 8.2 billion dollars.

Intel also warned that it expects even worse results this quarter than the previous three months.

Source : http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20090117-183915/AMD-cuts-1100-jobs-reduce-salaries

LG KP500 Cookie

The LG KP500 "Cookie," which the company claims to be the cheapest touch-screen phone in the local market. At P11,900php, the LG Cookie plays Flash-based applications. But the sad thing is at that price at least you expect the features to be complete. There is no 3G and no WiFi Connection. So for me I will not recommend this phone if you expect to have this two features.

Basketball Bussiness

According to forbes last season was a rousing success for the National Basketball Association. The league's two marquee teams, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, met in the finals, and television ratings soared 51% over the prior year. The league's two biggest stars, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, were on winning teams and getting a lot of prime-time exposure, wowing fans and sponsors. I think televesion ratings will soar over 51% if the finals reach up to 7 games and it will be exciting if it is a close game. This 08-09 season will be another year of exciting games, because teams are start to catch up for each other, in the EAST the measuring stick of boston will be the CLEVELAND CAVALIERS and the uprising ORLANDO MAGIC. ATLANTA HAWKS are on the radar with their stellar perfomance last year bringing BOSTON to 7 games. DETROIT PISTONS are climbing the standings quietly with 7 straight wins despite the injuries to Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton. As for the WEST still LAKERS, SPURS, SUNS, DALLAS and UTAH and probably HOUSTON if healthy TMAC emerge, remains to be seen. Sorry there will be no upset in the WEST because there is no WARRIORS in this years playoffs. But i am looking forward for the DENVER NUGGETS can either upset the SUNS or HOUSTON in the playoffs, but still it remains to be seen, lets see how CHAUNCY BILLUPS carry to team to passing the first round of the playoffs.

Credit Card Fraud

I have five credit cards, i have two from HSBC, three from CITIBANK with two supplementary and one from BDO. It's so hard to track purchases especially if you are using different cards with different cut-off date, obviously thats the way it goes for me to manage my bills. But with the technology today you can purchase any items in the internet just use your credit card. So, with this you need to be aware and be careful of the sites that you are transacting with, because you are giving away informations that is very confidential. Here are some common cases of Frauds for you readers to be aware.

Common Cases

1. Lost/Stolen Cards - Credit Cards are taken from owners and used by unathorized third parties. This is very common why? because store, restaurants and botique sometimes don't check the signature on the back of the credit card.


2. Skimming - The magnetic stripe of the card, which contains all your personal data is copied then unscrupulous party can use this to replicate credit card.


3. Account Takeover - Unscrupulous person pretends to be a bank employee and calls client to get personal account information.


4. Promo Offers - This is same as account takeover, where an unkown third party pretends to be a bank employee that offers a certain product or credit card update and get to exchange some information from your account details.

You Must Do To Prevent this Frauds

1. Sign the signature panel at the back of the credit card as soon as you receive it. That helps the authentication of the transaction.


2. Do not give out important details like expiry date of the card, security numbers at the back of the card. The credit card issuer will not call you to ask for that informations.


3. Know the credit card company toll free 24/7 hotline numbers, it is important to report immediately for stolen or lost cards for instant diactivation.


4. Lastly, keep your PIN confidential, this should be memorized and not be shared or recorded anywhere.

source: Bubbles Salvador of Good Housekeeping Magazine

Hatton-Pacquiao fight close to finalization?

I've read the article about Hatton-Pacquiao anticipated match up next year in http://www.espn.com it says that it will take place in Las Vegas on May 02, 2009. This is a another partnership by Golden Boy and Bob Arum, where Hatton is on the Golden Boy Promotions while Pacman is on Bob Arum promotions. This is gonna be another fight of the year where the records of both boxers will be on the line. Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs), the junior welterweight world champion, would defend his 140-pound title against Pacquiao, while the reigning pound for pound king Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs), who holds a lightweight belt, jumped up two weight divisions to meet De La Hoya, but will drop down one division to challenge Hatton.