'Cyber Monday' alert!

Apparently today is the biggest online shopping day of the year, but everybody needs to be extra alert for spam and phishing scams right through the holidays (not to mention every day). The Monday after the US's Thanksgiving "consumers are expected to spend $821 million this year, up 12% from 2007," USATODAY reports. "But a wobbly economy, combined with a consumer thirst for too-good-to-be-true bargains, has motivated cybercrooks to unleash a torrent of spam, phishing scams and malicious software." USATODAY adds that last year, phishing attacks rose 300% on Thanksgiving, and worse is expected this year. It's an excellent opportunity to teach critical thinking. Help your kids understand that, online too, too good to be true is usually exactly that: not true, not a "deal." USATODAY cites security experts as urging users "to be wary of cut-rate deals from unfamiliar online merchants. They also suggest using multiple passwords when shopping and using the most up-to-date Web browsers and anti-virus software."

'Puters top holiday wish lists

I thought it was the iPod. Nope, cancel that. It was clothes that topped Americans' wish lists last year, "followed by peace and happiness, money and then computers," the Associated Press reports, citing the annual Consumer Electronics Association survey. This year it's computers. "The machines that feed us infinite and instant information, store our digital memories, give us hours of fun with games, videos or music — and help us do our taxes — outrank peace, happiness and clothes this year as the most wished-for gifts, according to an annual US survey by the consumer electronics industry's largest trade organization." But gosh I wish peace was still a top priority; I imagine it is in other parts of the world! I was right, however, about MP3 players (tho' not the iPod specifically, apparently). In the "specific gizmos" category, portable music players will top the list in 2007 for the third year in a row.