Technology Tip Number 57 So what's Vishing & Smishing?
Today's technology tip is a quick follow-up to Technology Tip No. 56 about phishing.  You probably remember that phishing involves using email to direct you to a fake website where you unwittingly type in your personal information.  In one version of phishing you receive an email that seems to be from your bank or another financial institution.  In the email, they inform you that you have to go to a specific website and re-confirm your account information.  Of course the link they provide is for a fake website and if you type into it you're just going to give them (the scam artists) the information they need to empty your accounts. Most banks and financial institutions have gotten wise to this scam and they have policies to never contact you via email to ask you to "re-confirm" your account information.  Con artists know this so they started doing what's called "vishing." Here's how a vishing scam works:  You receive an email that appears to be from your bank and it informs you that you need to call a specific phone number to re-confirm your account information.  The number they provide is of course bogus and when you call them and give them your account information they simply use it to access your accounts illegally and take your money.  So instead of using a fake website to "fish for information" they are using a fake phone number to fish for your voice.  Thus: vishing. Here is a video on the topic from Fox News in Los Angeles: Then there's "Smishing" scams in which con artists once again try to contact you and try to trick you into giving them your personal information - but this time they initiate the contact using a text message on your phone. Originally text messages were know as "Short Message Service" or SMS and it's from that that we get the sm in smishing. Just one more scam to look out for.
PRACTICE ACTIVITY:  No practice activity, just be aware that scams like these are out there and that they are evolving and changing. TO KEEP ON LEARNING:  To learn more try searching the internet for: vishing scams smishing scams email scams Identity theft Fake phone numbers

Technology Tip Number 56 Gone Phishing?
Phishing is the slang term for using email to get people to divulge their personal information so it can be used to steal their idenitity.  Con artists use phishing emails to literally "fish" for information that they can use to illegally access bank accounts and open credit card accounts.  In the past this scam was condicted over the phone - that's where the "ph" in phishing comes from. Here are two obvious phishing emails in my mailbox that I thought I’d share with you as examples of Phishing. For some reason Best Buy decided to offer me not just a $500 gift card but also a $1000 gift card this morning.  Here are the emails I found: Look a little familiar?  You’ve probably seen similar emails before.  If you haven’t you’ll see them sooner or later.  These emails were sent out by a scam artist who wants to get some of my personal information.  Here’s what the email says: It says I’m eligible for a “FREE $1000 Best Buy gift card” so I better hurry up and click on the link to find out how to get it right? If you click the link here’s what happens:  You get redirected from the original link listed above to another site that looks like this: In case you were wondering here’s what the real Best Buy Gift Card website looks like: The first thing you should notice about the links in the email and the website is that the addresses are obviously not “Best Buy” websites. The link in the email:  http://cangetoffer.info:8080/track?m=2181132&l=0&.e=1duZ6mYb0JZzh94rzV The link I was redirected to:  http://www.myeliterewards.com/index.php?cmd=rotator&crid=109&iid=38&caid=443&subid1=3810 The actual Best Buy address:  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat16188&type=category&DCMP=KNC-TLC&ref=25&loc=GIF The first hint that this is a scam was the fact that “It is too good to be true”  The second hint is the web addresses are bizarre compared to the actual Best Buy address. The fake Best Buy website can be convincing.  For example, at the bottom of the page they have some pretty convincing links to a “Privacy Policy” and “Terms” but on these pages you can find a third hint that this is an illegitimate offer.  At the bottom of the official looking “Privacy Policy” is this address: A quick Google search for that address led me to a link to a website calledhttp://www.flimflam.com, specifically:  http://www.flimflam.com/scam9.htm You’ll find that according to http://www.flimflam.com/ the address for “MyEliteRewards” has been used in email scams since 1997.  So, just out of curiosity, what happens if I do type in my email address and “Click Here to Submit and Continue” Then you'll be redirected to this site: Looks legitimate but its not.  The whole goal of email phishing is to get your personal information.  This webpage is what everything else was about.  If they can get you to share your address and phone number and other personal information they can start to collect the elements they need to steal your identity.  Please note that this is not a Best Buy website and that their logo as well as the logo for FedEx were stolen to make this webpage.  Everything you're seeing in the image above is fake. (For a more detailed definition of phishing and even some history here is a link to a Wikipedia entry:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing) By the way, students and teenagers are prime targets for this kind of stuff.  Many of them can be easily tricked into revealing lots of personal information online with the promise of a free video game or a chance to win something.  It was estimated that ½ a million children had their identities stolen last year. Here is more information aboutChild Identity Theft from OnGuardOnline.gov. And, of course, there is a government website that you can go to for more information about online scams:  OnGuardOnline.gov Below is a video about Phishing Scams in case you'd like some more information:
PRACTICE ACTIVITY:  Try deleting all the phishing offers from your email inbox today.  Don't even bother opening them.  If you're in a school or business network you might want to ask your network administrator if they have a special address they'd like you to forward phishing emails to so they can block them.   TO KEEP ON LEARNING:  To learn more try searching the internet for: Try this Online Phishing and Spam Quiz phishing scams email scams Identity theft

Technology Tip Number 55 Leveraging Discipline Based Articulation
Like any profession, education has developed a long list of terms and phrases that uniquely describe what teachers do and how they do it.  This collection of educational jargon is loosely referred to as “Eduspeak” and understanding it can be very difficult for the public at large.  Below I have listed some websites that purport to offer glossaries of "Eduspeak" terms to assist the public.   Educators deal with the public and specifically parents.  They need to remember that their language, like that of a lawyer or doctor, isn't always clear to outsiders.  Glossaries like these can be beneficial for education professionals as well as the general public.(Please note that these glossaries have been compiled from a parent/tax payer’s perspective) From School Wise Press in California: http://www.schoolwisepress.com/smart/dict/dict.html Texas Education Consumers Association:  http://www.nychold.com/hirsch-termin.html IllinoisLoop.org has a list of additional resources that can help parents "learn the lingo" of education: http://www.illinoisloop.org/lingo.html The practical teachers in the Bering Strait School District in Alaska offer thisEduspeak Jargon Generator on their wiki to help in the preparation of "reports, grant applications, program evaluations and other required documents." And in case you were wondering, education is not the only field that you can find "jargon generators" for.  Try out some of these: For Library Computer Networks: http://www.unc.edu/~macmw/jargon.html Buzz Word Generators: http://www.robietherobot.com/buzzword.htm http://www.1728.com/buzzword.htm A Custom Slogan Generators: http://thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi?word=School http://www.sloganizer.net/en/ And for politicians, make your own campaign signs here: http://www.frantic.org/makesign.html
PRACTICE ACTIVITY:  Try one of the online jargon generators listed above.  Could you find a practical application for any of these? TO KEEP ON LEARNING:  To learn more try searching the internet for: Jargon Generators Free Online Generators Office Jargon

Technology Tip Number 54 What did you call that?
Today's technology tip is about those little buttons and icons that you see every day but may not know the name of.  For example how many of these items can you point to on your desktop right now? Maximize        Minimize       Close The Start Menu         Title Bar       Menu Bar Tool Bar      Address Bar       A Drop Down Menu Were you able to locate all of them? Move down the page to see the answers.                         There is a whole vocabulary that goes with using a computer.  Many of us take knowing basic computer vocabulary for granted but it can be very intimidating for new computer users.  This goes for young children as well as adults.  Take a look at the images above.  How many of the names did you know?
PRACTICE ACTIVITY:  At the end of the day today come back to this website and try pointing to everything again.  Good Luck. TO KEEP ON LEARNING:  To learn more try searching the internet for: Windows vocabulary Computer vocabulary Computer Terms

Technology Tip Number 53 Why not Learn to Sign?
Are you really a life-long learner?  Have you learned anything new lately?  Would you like to? The internet is full of information and it's growing every day.  Today's technology tip is just one example of what the internet can help you do. Can't see YouTube at work?  Here are some websites where you can learn American Sign Language: American Sign Language Browser LifePrint.com ASL University If that's not enough for you, someone even created an online list of American Indian Sign Language: http://www.inquiry.net/outdoor/native/sign/ This is just one example of how you can use the internet to really be a life-long learner.  You really do have access to more knowledge than previous generations could have ever imagined thanks to the internet. Have you used it lately? PRACTICE ACTIVITY:  Try learning at least one simple phrase or word in American Sign Language sometime today.  Imagine what you could do if you learned just one thing like this every day. TO KEEP ON LEARNING:  If you'd like to keep using the internet to become a life-long learner try doing this.  Use a piece of scrap paper to make a list of 5-7 things you'd like to learn about this week.  When you have a chance and a high speed internet connection just try researching one thing a day.

Technology Tip Number 52 Broadcasting to the World
Some technology tips are informational pieces that help you use existing software.  Others serve to highlight a specific feature on the internet.   Still others are just designed to help the reader keep track of the rapid pace of technology.  Today’s tip falls into that later category.  It is a glimpse at the possibilities and the pitfalls of currently available technology. Home video cameras have been around for decades and the internet has been around for almost two decades.  These two elements are coming together to distribute some of the most amazing, interesting, humorous, educational and sometimes disturbing images to anyone on the planet with a computer.  And as this online video explosion takes place there are companies like Google trying to organize it.  Here are some video search engines to check out: YouTube.com - The premier free video site which was bought by Google in 2006. Just one statistic to consider, while you take 5 minutes out of your day to read this technology tip YouTube estimates that 500 hours of video will be uploaded to their site. More amazing statistics here. Hulu.com - Watch TV shows on the internet (commercials and all) for free at this website. This is just one of several websites out there that want to replace your over the air, cable or FiOS TV service with much less expensive streaming internet TV. Another popular internet streaming video service is NetFlix. These services are getting popular and there are several easy to use devices out there that connect to your TV so you don't have to watch TV exclusively on your computer screen. You can read more about some of these devices here. Vineo.com - If you are interesting in some cool looking, cutting edge, artistic videography then you might want to check out this website. It was founded by filmmakers who wanted to share their creative work and they still want the website to inspire others. Check out the Staff Picks for some insight into what the next generation of filmmakers are up to. TeacherTube.com - For the educators out there there are specific websites like this one that were founded to meet the needs of teachers to have a safe place to post and share videos. It is well worth a visit. In the U.K. Teacher TV offered thousands of hours of free tutorials. Though the original project has ended many of the videos can still be found online. KhanAcademy.org - Probably the most famous recent development in educational videos was created by Salman Khan when he started posting tutorial videos on YouTube for his neice and soon found out that they were being watched by students all over the world who needed a little academic help. Eventually these videos developed into an entire non-profit operation that is being backed by none other than Bill Gates. You can browse the library of videos here and watch the video below to learn more about Salman Khan. Many people are comparing this time period and the information revolution that we are living through to the time in Europe after the Gutenburg printing press made knowledge affordable and portable.
PRACTICE ACTIVITY:  Check out at least one of these video sites today.  Try searching for a couple of things.  The results might surprise you. TO KEEP ON LEARNING:  If you'd like to learn more about online video try searching the internet for: Online Video MPEG files YouTube

Technology Tip Number 51 Getting Through Windows
Today’s Technology Tip will help you navigate your way through the various folders and windows on your Microsoft desktop. Some common terminology you should be familiar with: DESKTOP:  The opening screen when you turn on your computers.  It probably looks something like this:   ICONS:  The little pictures that represent files or programs.  Here are some sample icons: Shortcut to Word:     Shortcut to GradeQuick:    A Word Document:   MY COMPUTER:  The desktop icon from which you can navigate your way through the various drives, folders and files on your computer. The “My Computer” Icon:   FOLDERS:  The basic organizational structure in Microsoft Windows.  Like a giant filing cabinet your computer uses folders to organize everything in it.  Here are some sample folder Icons:          You might notice that your icons and folders might look different than the ones pictured above.  When ever you open a folder (by double clicking the left mouse button) a new window opens to show you what is in that folder.  You can change how the icons (files) are displayed.  Here’s how: 1)      Open a folder, any folder. 2)      Every window has the following “Bars” at the top: The Title Bar tells you the name of the folder you are in.  In this example the title bar tells you that you are in a network drive called "X:" Each word on the Menu Bar gives you a drop down menu of options. The Tool Bar offers you shortcuts for common tasks The Address Bar tells you which folder you are in and also offers you a way to access other folders.  If you click the triangle on the Address Bar you can see a drop down list of other folders and pathways to them:  3)      To change the view click on the word “View” on the menu bar and select a new view from that list.  Each view has its own advantages and disadvantages.  For example, if you are looking at a folder full of pictures you might want to use the “Thumbnail” view so you can see what each picture looks like.  If you are trying to clean out your C: drive you might want to use the “Details” view to find the largest files so you can delete them first.  Here are some sample views of the same folder: Thumbnail View Tile View Icon View List View Details View
PRACTICE ACTIVITY:  Open up a folder on your computer today and try changing the view.  Select a new one that you like. TO KEEP ON LEARNING:  If you'd like to learn some more about the desktop in Microsoft Windows try searching the internet for: Microsoft Windows History Using Windows Windows Basics