Free Shipping This Weekend
Thought you’d like to know that Sears.ca is offering free shipping this weekend.
They offer DVDs/Blu-rays, electronics, beginner’s music instruments, musical accessories and costumes. This offer ends Oct 28th, 2012.
Real Canadian Superstore Coupon
My local Real Canadian Superstore flyer includes a coupon for $10 off a $50 iTunes gift card, valid up to October 24th, 2012 and music and app cards. Check your local flyer.
Urgent Security Warning
Skype users be warned : Do not open any message whose subject line is “lol is this your new profile pic?” !
This message directs individuals to a malware infected file, using an URL shortener services like goo.gl, that in turn infects an individual’s computers.
This malware collects user names and passwords for numerous sites and services including Facebook, Twitter, Godaddy, Paypal, eBay, Netflix and Yahoo. It may also lock your system and send unsolicited messages to individuals in your contact lists, asking your contacts to download the infected file(s) to their computers.
Skype advises their users to refrain from clicking “on suspicious or unusual files and links, even if it’s coming from people you know”. They also suggest their users update their software, including their anti-virus software.
Trade In Or Upgrade Your DVDs
Best Buy Canada and Future Shop are again accepting your old DVDs in exchange for $5 discounts on select Blu-Ray titles.
Future Shop is also accepting old DVDs and Blu-Rays in exchange for $10 off select 3D Blu-Ray titles.
This offer starts today and ends on November 1st, 2012.
More Free Content Promised
iTunes has announced that they will be adding more free content to their catalog, including full length albums and television episodes, which can be streamed to computers and devices using their software and apps.
Full length album previews and television episodes had been available from legal sources for years but I am hoping this will fill in some of the gaps.
For example, we still don’t have services like Hulu here in Canada and some television episodes are inaccessible to us because of distribution rights issues.
The availability of full length album previews may also reduce previewing on peer to peer networks and questionable foreign web sites. And Walmart’s Vudu service will soon be introduced into Canada so consumers should soon be able to access more content.
Update to “Scammers On The Prowl”
In June 2011 I had posted a somewhat off-topic warning about a security issue I had been encountering for months.
I had been receiving unsolicited calls from individuals with thick Indian accents claiming to be “Software Maintenance Department of Online PC Care” asking me to give them access to my computer because of some alleged virus infection.
This was of course a common con by that time, which also involved individuals claiming to represent Microsoft calling random numbers in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Basically they gained access, altered settings without the user’s knowledge and then proceeded to extort $49 to $450 from the user to “repair” the damage they had caused.
The Federal Trade Commission in the United States have taken legal actions against these fraudsters yesterday, freezing their assets and demanding a halt to this activity.
The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission have also penalized the companies involved in this tech support scam in respect to Canada’s no call list legislation.
If you have received a call of this nature, please file a complaint with the CRTC via this form.