Every weekend on Mario’s Top 3 I walk you through all the hottest tech news from the past week. Here’s what I talked about on the TODAY show this past weekend:
Beware of Malware
· A type of malware known as Zeus has infected millions of computers, most of them in the United States.
· Once Zeus has compromised a computer, it stays dormant until a victim logs into a bank site, and then it steals the victim’s passwords and drains the victim’s accounts. In some cases, it can even replace a bank’s Web site with its own page, in order to get even more information- such as a Social Security number- that can be sold on the black market.
· The Trojan, which was first detected in 2007, is only getting more active. According to researchers at the security firm Trend Micro, incidents of Zeus have risen steadily this year and peaked in May.
· Eric Feinberg, founder of the advocacy group Fans Against Kounterfeit Enterprise (FAKE), has noticed an uptick in Zeus-serving malicious links on popular N.F.L. Facebook fan pages such as one created by a group called “Bring the N.F.L. To Los Angeles.”
· Mr. Feinberg said he had noticed an increase in such pages and malicious links in recent weeks. He sent those links to Malloy Labs, a security lab, which confirmed that the links on these pages were serving up Zeus malware. The malware was being hosted from computers thought to be controlled by a Russian criminal gang known as the Russian Business Network, which has been linked to various online criminal activities, ranging from malware and identity theft to child pornography.
· Many of the corrupt FB links had “.tk” extensions on them signifying the websites countries code as Tokelau, a South Pacific territory and a domain used by these Russian criminals.
Tips:
· Install Malware protection on your computer like http://www.malwarebytes.org/
· Keep software up to date.
· Be careful of where you surf and what you download. Only download from sites you know and trust.
· Be aware of odd looking web addresses, or weird attachments that don’t seem quite right.
BigOven App (Free)
· For TONS of devices—Apple, Android, NOOK, Kindle Fire, Windows Phone and web.
· Over 250,000 recipes!
· Readers Choice, Best Recipe App for 2011 and 2012 on About.com.
· Super cool feature is the USE UP LEFTOVERS—where you plug in 3 things in your fridge or pantry and it will give you recipe options of what to make with them.
· Another great feature is the GROCERY LIST tab. This allows you to not only be able to create a sharable, printable, list, it organizes the items for you in terms of sections of the store and if you choose one of the recipes, you can add it to the list and it will automatically list out the ingredients you need in the categories of the store. For example, Milk is in the dairy aisle and flour is in the baking aisle.
· It has a great menu planner that also works with the grocery list feature to help you plot out everything you might need.
· You can use one of their recipes, or add your own to the list. You can also share recipes with family and friends.
· There are TONS of ideas and tools on this app for both the foodie and non-foodie to make their meal experience great.
iPad Commode Caddy – $99.95 (Hammacher Schlemmer)
· Some 75 percent of Americans admitted to using their mobile phones while on the toilet, according to a survey of 1,000 Americans done by a marketing company 11Mark (sited by cbsnews.com).
· In a Staples survey (of just 200 people, so it’s a bit shady) – 35% said they used their ipad in the bathroom.
· Great gift for Father’s Day!
· This is the modern day equivalent to the traditional basket full of magazines or the books piled on the back of the toilet.
· Gooseneck allows viewer to adjust the Caddy for their best viewing experience. Also had both portrait and landscape options depending on what you are viewing.
· Space saver as it is lean and also holds your roll of TP for you.
· Fits iPad 2 and above. DOES NOT FIT ORIGINAL iPAD.
· Weighs about 7 ¼ lbs.