Tech Talk

The FBI sent an email warning Friday evening to officials across America warning them of a potential attack on financial and law enforcement entities by the hacking group Anonymous.

The email, which Tech Talk has obtained a copy of, reports that Anonymous announced a nationwide “Day of Vengence” in dozens of cities across the U.S. beginning at “High Noon” on Sept. 24, stating:

In coordination with these protests across the USA on September 24th, Anonymous and other cyber liberation groups will launch a series of cyber attacks against various targets including Wall Street, Corrupt Banking Institutions – and the NYC Police Department. We encourage the media to follow the Twitter feed @PLF2012 for ongoing reports throughout the day.

The FBI warns that public and private entities associated with the recent execution of Troy Davis in the state of Georgia may also be targed, as well as additional law enforcement agencies.

The federal agency did not release any additional information about the threat, including to the specific nature or means.

However, the FBI did cite history as a potential guide:

[I]n the past, Anonymous has engaged in distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, utilized SQL injection to gain unauthorized access to computer systems, conducted social engineering to gather personal identifying information, and released both personal information (i.e. “doxing”) and the contents of compromised systems (e.g. e-mail message content, passwords, etc.).

The FBI encouraged agencies to use strong, unique passwords, to update software to protect against known vulnerabilities and ensure that Web-based applications are not at risk to attacks, such as SQL injection.

Tech Talk spotted an offer worth sharing with Mac and Windows users this afternoon:A Seagate 1TB external USB 2.0 hard drive.

This is a great deal for anyone seeking to secure additional space. While similar offers sometimes pop up across the Internet, the vast majority come with the caveat of completing rebate forms. This one from Best Buy is $50 (plus tax) without any rebate.

More than three-quarters (or 88 people) of the folks who commented on Best Buy’s page about the drive indicated that they would recommend the device.

But hurry: The offer expires Nov. 29.

Great news: The complete Beatles collection is now available for download.

The Fab Four’s 13 legendary remastered studio albums, the two-volume “Past Masters” compilation and the classic “Red” and “Blue” collections are available for purchase and download on Apple’s iTunes.

Single albums are available for purchase and download for $12.99 each, double albums for $19.99 each and individual songs for $1.29 each. The “Beatles Box Set,” available for $149, contains the 13 remastered studio albums with iTunes LPs and all mini-documentaries, “Past Masters,” and the “Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964” concert film, a worldwide iTunes exclusive which captures the Beatles’ very first U.S. concert in its entirety

“We’re really excited to bring the Beatles’ music to iTunes,” said Sir Paul McCartney in an Apple press release. “It’s fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around.”

“I am particularly glad to no longer be asked when the Beatles are coming to iTunes,” added Ringo Starr. “At last, if you want it — you can get it now — The Beatles from Liverpool to now! Peace and Love, Ringo.”

“We love the Beatles and are honored and thrilled to welcome them to iTunes,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “It has been a long and winding road to get here. Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now realizing a dream we’ve had since we launched iTunes ten years ago.”

Beatles fans wishing not to spend any money right now could enjoy an early holiday gift from Apple. The technology company is allowing iTunes users to watch the “Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964” concert film for free for the remainder of the year.

This decision is a smart one for both the Beatles and Apple.

For the technology giant, it fills the one big hole it had in its music collection.

For the legendary rock band, it ensures their epic sound continues to resonate long into the future.

It will also undoubtedly lead to yet another spike in their popularity — and lead to even more record sales.

Have you ever wondered what Google knows about you — and makes available to others? Now you can develop a better idea.

The technology giant has made it easier than ever to understand what information is collected, who it is available to and enables users to change many of the corresponding settings.

“One of our goals at Google is to give users meaningful choices to protect your privacy,” Google states in its new privacy center, where links to some of the company’s most popular privacy settings are posted.

The search engine giant has been under fire for collecting personal information from insecure wireless networks, as Tech Talk has extensively reported.

Perhaps the most powerful tool is the Google Dashboard, which displays information stored for services like Alerts, Analytics, Blogger, Books, Buzz, Calendar, Checkout, Contacts, Docs, Gmail, iGoogle, Latitude, Maps, Picasa, Profiles, Talk, Voice, Web History and YouTube.

It contains fascinating details like how many contacts you have, stored credit card numbers, recent status messages, most commonly e-mailed individuals, most recent piece of spam received, most recent alerts, newest e-mails, number of conversations logged, number of docs trashed, number of gadgets installed and more.

It will also indicate most recent Web search, image search, news search, product search, video search, map search, blog and book search with the corresponding date and time. It also indicates how quickly information becomes irrelevant. For example, the most e-mailed person in your Tech Talk editor’s primary Gmail account is an ex — and has not been e-mailed in some time.

Users may change their account password and privacy, sharing and subscription settings from the Google Dashboard.

The Ads Preferences Manager allows users to view and edit the information Google uses to show users interest-based advertisements within Google’s advertising network. Folks can add or remove interest categories associated with one’s Web browser or opt out of viewing relevant advertising entirely. It’s fascinating to learn what categories the Internet search giant has associated with you. As for your humble editor, the search engine’s analysis of which advertisements would be most relevant was dead-on.

Additionally, Google’s privacy center allows users to:

• Learn how to move data in and out of Google products;
• Encrypt the search traffic between one’s computer and Google;
• Learn how to partake in incognito browsing and downloading;
• Get information how to request the removal of images with inappropriate content, or to remove a photo of yourself your family, your car, or your home;
• Learn how to share videos with a specific group of individuals;
• Learn how to manage the site’s Web History;
• Learn how to chat off the record in Talk;
• Learn how to opt out of Google Analytics and Search Personalization; and
• Control Google Latitude.

It’s a powerful dashboard that Tech Talk implores you to explore. Chances are you will even learn more about yourself in the process.

There’s no reason for Tech Talk to go on — at least, if you listen to one musician.

Prince told a British newspaper that the end of the Internet is upon us.

“The Internet’s completely over,” he told the Mirror. “I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.”

Instead, he will release his next album only in CD format — and only in the Mirror.

No downloads will be permitted anywhere in the world. He has gone so far as banning YouTube and iTunes from using any of his music — and has even shut down his official site, the newspaper reported.

“The Internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good,” he told the Mirror. “They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”

However, he’s not taking everything offline. Fans could still download previously released songs from iTunes.

To contend that the Internet is “completely over” demonstrates how out of touch Prince is with reality — and may offer some insight into why his popularity and music sales are slumping.

Shutting down his website and prohibiting fans from accessing his music the way they want will further deteriorate his brand.

It’s been nice knowing you, Prince.

How great would it be if you were connected to someone who could offer you some really neat perks — like free travel, for I don’t know, a year?

JetBlue Airways is doing just that.

Presumably to increase the number of fans it has on its Facebook page, the airline has offered really generous perks that will increase as the number of its “friends” do.  Currently, JetBlue only has 63,863 fans, which isn’t very many for a corporation with the exposure it has.

Among the prizes offered:

• A pair of roundtrip flights given away to any JetBlue destination from Dec. 9 through Jan. 31.
• A team prize of a 5-day/4-night getaway package for four
• A one year “All-You-Can-Jet” pass valid for travel in 2010

Of course, in order to enter these amazing deals, you must give the airline access to your profile information, become a fan and share your phone number, e-mail address and postal code.

Now talk about buying your friends.  But with that said, JetBlue, if you’re listening, I think I could be friends with you for unlimited travel for a year.

Are you looking for some good technological deals?  Well do I have some good news for you then — there is a Woot Off in progress!

Woot, one of my favorite technology e-commerce site, normally sells one item a day that is generally technology-related.  The prices are generally good, and the product descriptions are almost always hilarious — like something you would find in the J. Peterman Catalog.

Every once in a while, however, the site holds an unannounced Woot Off, at which time products purchased in very limited qualities are offered until they are sold out and then replaced a minute or two later with something else. 

Generally this means at least a half dozen or so products are featured every hour.  It is never certain how long a Woot Off will last, the most recent one, which occurred about a month ago, lasted three days.

Now go before it’s over.