This has been one of the stranger weeks in the tech world, and it promises to get both better and worse by fall. Let’s recount some of the wins and losses:
Apple released the new iPhone 4 to amazingly strong sales, which (coupled with the growing use of the iPad among corporations) gives the Apple franchises a much stronger life. Microsoft should be paying attention…
Which they apparently are, as the leaked previews of Windows 8 hit the wires and (gasp! awe!) look remarkably like and Apple interface. I, for one, and very happy with Windows 7 and will hold judgment on the new version until we see actual working screen shots.
The US Supreme Court either tore apart Sarbannes Oxley (on the one hand), or mostly upheld that law (on the other). What appears to have most happened was that they made a minor tweak, acknowledging that the way the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is organized is unconstitutional, but then allowing it to continue to operate and made no major changes to the law itself.
Verizon kicked off a new logo and ad campaign for its wireless services, built around the Droid smartphone as a hedge against the iPhone.
Economists are warning of a third, deeper recession on the way for the US, which if it occurs will make this winter a very difficult time for all of us. Or not.
But the most interesting news of the week came out of the Federal Trade Commission, which has managed to track down the insidious credit card penny scams. It’s a mega-million dollar industry in which your stolen credit card number is hit for…well, a few pennies here and a few pennies there, maybe even a dollar or two. You see the monthly charge, but it is such a small amount you can’t be bothered to track it down…but against millions of stolen credit card numbers, it adds up. The FTC is now chasing the master-mind behind the scheme.
I’m betting it is the same people who hit your smartphone with spurious text messages that cost $9 or so each…insidious, and originating in Eastern Europe.
There is a lesson here: pursue and cancel any recurring credit card charge you do not authorize specifically, and refuse to accept downloads via text messages from anyone not known to you.
Meanwhile, I’m off to pursue Windows 8, and will report back when I have some more concrete information.
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