For thousands of organizations worldwide,
the Blackberry product line from Research In Motion (RIM) has become an indispensable
tool, providing wireless access to e-mail and other business-related
applications. But in an effort to keep pace with other handheld manufacturers,
the company recently ventured into the "smart" device realm,
designing and producing converged voice and data handhelds. The latest
addition is the Blackberry 6210 which combines voice and data functions
in a smaller, lighter device. Its most significant improvements are
increased memory, support for wireless e-mail synchronization and better
attachment viewing -- and it comes in blue! Although more compact,
the new model maintains the applications users have come to expect in
a Blackberry. It is "an all-in-one device that can be easily carried
in a pocket or purse, and at a more affordable price," according
to RIM. The handheld has RIM's "thumb-typing" keyboard, 16
MB flash memory plus 2 MB SRAM, a lithium battery, universal serial bus
connectivity, and an integrated speaker/microphone and headset jack.
RIM has enhanced the well-known Blackberry experience by adding cradle-free,
two-way wireless synchronization of e-mail messages and by integrating
attachment viewing with support for such file formats as Microsoft Word,
Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, Adobe PDF and ASCII text. The 6210 currently
is offered by AT&T Wireless for
$349. According to experts, creating converged devices is a key strategy
for the company as it transitions from a hardware-centric operation to
a business that licenses its technology to other device makers, such
as Palm, Handspring and Nokia.
You hit"delete" all you want,
but the spam keeps flooding in. Some industry estimates place the annual
cost of lost productivity due to spam glutting corporate in-boxes in
the billions of dollars. Is there any antidote to spam that will make
it go away? Companies can filter incoming e-mail and fight it on the
local level, but can anything be done to get rid of it once and for all?
Spammers used to depend on harvested e-mail addresses, which meant spam
was sent exclusively to people whose names were gleaned from a mailing
list or a Web site or via Usenet. Not so anymore. Spammers are utilizing
dictionary attacks to send spam to anyone at a given domain name. They
particularly like to target popular Web mail hosts like Yahoo and Hotmail. Using the dictionary method,
spammers simply try combinations of popular names. It is wise to have
an unpublished e-mail address, but it is no guarantee against spam. Creating
an unusual e-mail address that includes one or more numbers is helpful. "Bob7smith@company.com" is
less likely to get spammed than "bobsmith@company.com," for
example. However, such convoluted addresses are not popular with professionals.
Of course, if such naming conventions were to become common in the business
world, spammers likely would find ways to adapt. Another method that
is partially effective is to rotate e-mail addresses or even switch accounts
on a regular basis. However, that is not a practical plan for e-mail
addresses used primarily for business. Anti-spam packages may be the
way to go for now according to experts from the ActiveState Anti-Spam Task Force.
The long-term advantage of using anti-spam
products is that if enough businesses and consumers deploy them, there
will be a decline in spammers' response rates and it will eventually
not be economically viable for them. Needless to say, spammers are not
taking anti-spam software lying down. The low cost of sending spam messages
mean that spammers can send massive amounts of mail for pennies, and
they will no doubt attempt to reach some users by carpet-bombing e-mail
systems to hit the users without filters. Given that scenario, it will
be essential to pursue legislative and legal remedies along with technological
solutions. In some instances, the Federal Trade Commission has stepped in and pursued
spammers who promote pyramid schemes and other illegal moneymaking ventures.
But the FTC can only act against spam that is illegal in some way. When
users receive fraudulent spam, they should send a copy to the FTC at "uce@ftc.gov," – but
do not expect a reply since the FTC received more than 47,000 messages
per day in 2002 -- a dramatic increase from 10,000 messages per day in
2001. Spammers, perhaps the most hated denizens of the Internet, are
under siege as the U.S. Congress and courts step up the pressure to reduce
junk e-mail volume. Private companies are taking action, too: Recently, AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo forged
an alliance to fight spam. Moreover, AOL announced on April 15th that
it was filing lawsuits against five individuals, accusing them of sending
unsolicited e-mail pitches for products ranging from pornography to discounted
software. The company claimed its action was motivated mainly by "over
8 million individual spam complaints from members." As tools for
sending e-mail get better, filtering software will have to respond to
ensure that "good" marketers get through while spammers are
turned away. Recently, the FTC held a three-day workshop on spam featuring
consumer advocates, spammers, Internet service providers and lawmakers.
About 33% of the spam sampled contained false return addresses and nearly
half of those incorrectly suggested the sender had a personal relationship
with the recipient. Twenty-two percent of the messages analyzed had misleading
subject lines, including more than a third of the sexually oriented offers.
Again, 42% of those e-mails falsely suggested a personal relationship
with the receiver. And 40% of the spam had at least one false claim in
the text of the message -- 90% of the come-ons for investment and business
opportunities. Nearly half the health and vacation offers had misleading
information.
Partner relationship management (PRM) software
implementations are producing the best return on investment among CRM
modules deployed in sales environments, according to a recent Gartner survey.
Of the 343 North American sales organizations polled by Gartner, 66%
said they had reaped demonstrable ROI for their PRM implementations. PRM
is gaining recognition in an increasingly competitive business environment
as enterprises try to squeeze all sales possible out of each channel
PayPal E-mail Scam Warning
It
appears that there is another Spam scam going around with the subject: "PayPal
Security check". It is an E-mail stating that E-Bay has lost your
PayPal information.
Paypal is an online
payment system. You can link it to your checking, savings, or credit
card. This allows you to supply your Paypal information when buying something
online and it will automatically take your money out your bank account.
It also allows for money to be deposited in the same fashion.
The scam E-mail is
telling you to click on a link that will give you a form to fill out
your information. This form will ask for your credit card number, Paypal
ID, and various other items of information. Do not enter any information
into the form. Simply delete the E-mail.
The form that is displayed
is actually a site located in Korea. The site in Korea has nothing to
do with Paypal.
