Pono Music – A Week Later
It’s been a week and the response to Neil Young’s Pono Kickstarter project has been incredible.
They have now surpassed US$4 Million when their original goal was US$800,000. And many of their first Pono players have already sold out.
The official Pono Music site has been updated with a special video from Neil Young along with additional information on the player and music service.
By the way, a second VIP Dinner and Listening Party with Neil Young has been added to the project. This event will again happen in New York.
Pono Music Player Update
Neil Young is planning on starting a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for his new high fidelity music device on March 15th, according to his March 10th, 2014 press release.
The PonoPlayer, which was developed by engineers at Ayre Acoustics (of Boulder, Colorado), will feature a 128 gigabyte hard drive and will convert digital music files to analog.
It will retail for $399 and will be coupled with software and a music service that will sell 192 kHz, 24-bit recordings.
Neil Young is scheduled to speak about Pono at the SXSW 2014 Music Conference in Austin, Texas today from 5 pm to 6 pm, Central Time.
Update – The Kickstarter campaign was moved forward is is currently active. The device is currently available to people who donate $300 or more. Click here for details.
Important Message For PC Users
Microsoft will be ending their support for XP on April 8th, 2014.
This means that you have a month to upgrade to retain support for your PC.
Their will be no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates for this operating system so upgrading to Windows 7 or Windows 8
is recommended.
Please note that an upgrade to Windows 8.1 is provided free to those upgrading from XP or Vista to Windows 8
and that file backups are recommended prior to upgrading.
Suspended Membership Phishing/Hacking Scam
There appears to be a new Netflix scareware scam going around and I thought I’d inform you as to how it works.
Basically victims are sent a fake email directing victims to a fake Netflix site where members are asked to enter their email address and password.
Once entered this information is captured by the criminals and victims are then forwarded to another fake page claiming their account had been suspended.
This fake page then urges victims to call an 800 number to reinstate their membership which actually directs individuals to a call center in India, where fake Netflix technicians are waiting to continue their con.
When victims call this 800 number they are told that their computers have been taken over by hackers and are asked to download software to remove the hackers and/or clear their computers of viruses.
This software enables the fake Netflix technicians to access your computer and all the sensitive information found on this computer’s hard drive. But access to Netflix and your sensitive information is not the only objectives of this scam.
Victims who have gone through this process are also asked to pay for the privilege of being violated.
They are asked to pay for the clean-up, a five year membership for an anti-virus program and a five year membership for a firewall.
In exchange for payment by credit card the fake technicians offer a coupon code for a discount on Netflix membership. But not only do they request credit card information for payment but also ask their victims to send photo identification to them.
This information of course enables them to steal identities, as well as to defraud their victims through their credit card. And Netflix members will not likely be the only target because it can be adapted to target any online membership.
The best defense against this scam is to ignore the links and phone numbers provided in these emails and contact a company directly via their web site.
If there are real issues with your account at a particular company their customer service department should be able to help you.
I bookmark the sites I access the most in my internet browser and use those links instead. And using spam filters on your email also helps because some filters will keep these phishing attempts out of your inbox if enough people label it as spam.
Most webmail sites have spam filters and you can install free spam filters for your PC by clicking on the following logo :
Budget Day Goodies ?
Today is Budget Day in Ottawa. And the current government has been promising to address some issues related to the higher prices Canadians pay for certain products.
Canadians pay significantly more for certain products than the Americans and although some of the price differences can be attributed to tariffs, labour and transportation costs, much of the purchase price is pre-determined by the manufacturer.
“Country Pricing” has become the standard and unfortunately Canada’s prices have not been adjusted to match our dollar’s strength.
Some online retailers have done their best to match prices but Canadians were still forced to either import products from the states or pay higher prices at their local retailers.
I suspect that tariffs will be reduced or eliminated on certain products in this budget, perhaps on books, clothing, electronics and home appliances.
Those are the most imported products, especially on Black Friday. But I’m also hoping they will follow the recommendations in the February 2013 Senate Committee report of the US/Canada Price Gap and raise the de minimis threshold for postal shipments from $20.
When you import most products by mail you are exempt from duties, fees and taxes if the product or products shipped are valued at less than $20 Canadian.
I’ve managed to save some money using they exemption. But many countries like the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore had raised this minimum to US$100 in November 2011, enabling their citizens to avoid paying the hefty brokerage fees some couriers charge on parcels.
Brokerage fees have recently gone up in Canada so I’m hoping they will at least consider a CAN$50 threshold.
The other probabilities in the budget are reductions in credit card/banking fees, funding for an expansion of high speed internet into rural areas, and the unbundling of cable channels so I guess lots of Canadians will be watching this afternoon.
The budget broadcast will air on television and online on CPAC at 4PM Eastern. Details on the budget will also be made available on the Government’s Official Site after 4 PM Eastern.
Gift Card Offers
Until February 7th, 2014 you will be able to obtain a 15% discount off $50 iTunes Cards at participating Shoppers Drug Mart stores. Please consult your local Shoppers Drug Mart flyer for details.