Beware the Black Friday scammers, avoid Star Wars spoilers, listen to Adele on Pandora, watch movies on Tubi TV, and Samsung encourages us to break our old television sets.
It’s Thanksgiving Day, when Americans eat far too much food for no apparent reason. And after all the giving of thanks comes a visit to the local big-box retailer to buy things most people neither need or want, purely because they’re cheap. While this consumerism may be great for the economy and bargain hunters, it’s also great for cyber-criminals keen to catch people out with scams.
Black Friday isn’t just the start of the holiday season, it’s also the start of the primetime for scammers to set their traps. As BBC News reports, there has been an increase in spam and phishing emails designed to play on people’s desires to nab a bargain. Which has led to this time of year being dubbed the start of the “2015 Hacking Season.”
While retailers are particularly at risk thanks to modular malware called ModPOS, individual buyers can also be caught out. So, whether you’re buying online or in a store over the weekend and beyond, our advice is to be vigilant and use common sense at all times. And never buy anything from an unsolicited email, because you’re likely being scammed.
The theatrical release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens edges closer every day, with the new Star Wars movie due to be released on December 18th. The closer we get to release day, the more chance there is of spoilers leaking online. Which have the capacity to ruin this movie for millions of people.
However, there is a solution at hand in the form of the Star Wars Spoiler Blocker. This Google Chrome extension blurs pages containing potential spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Unfortunately, it cannot distinguish between a spoiler and a mere mention of Star Wars, so this story about the Star Wars Spoiler Blocker will itself probably be blurred.
Still, where spoilers are concerned, it’s better to safe than sorry. Because reading just one status update, tweet, or blog post containing a spoiler can seriously mess with your enjoyment of a movie, television show, or video game. We already have Game of Thrones fans covered, but it’s nice to know someone is looking out for Star Wars fans as well.
Adele made the decision not to let the likes of Spotify and Apple Music stream her new album, 25. We think Adele is wrong to punish people who prefer to stream music rather than buy it. Because it also hurts her in the longterm. However, Adele can’t stop Pandora from streaming 25.
The whole album is actually available on Pandora, which recently acquired Rdio. Unfortunately, due to the way Pandora and other non-interactive online streaming services work, you would have to be extremely patient (and listen to a lot of crap songs) in order to hear 25 in its entirety.
As Adele’s PR man Benny Tarantini told The Verge, “This is a unique situation to the US market. As it turns out, Pandora is licensed through government statute in the US, and as a result record companies cannot withhold from webmaster radio services.” Bad luck, Adele, your powers to stop progress can only stretch so far.
There are already plenty of websites showing old movies for free, and Tubi TV is another option for those seeking a free alternative to the likes of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Instant Video. The key difference being that Tubi TV actually has the rights to show some decent movies. Or at least it will do in December.
Right now, the line-up is sketchy at best, unless you’re a fan of Fortune 500 Man, Carpool Guy, and The Celibate. However, deals with Lionsgate and MGM mean the likes of Rain Man, Amistad, Paranormal Activity, and The Terminator will all be arriving on Tubi TV next month.
OK, so you’ll have to sit through some ads before watching any of these movies, but that’s surely a small price to pay to see Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fantastic acting.
And finally, just in time for the start of the holidays, Samsung is encouraging us all to buy new television sets. However, you’ll need to justify such a lavish purchase, whether to yourself or your significant other. Which means allowing something bad to happen to your current TV.
Samsung isn’t saying you should purposely damage your television set. Instead, it’s subtly urging you to let something bad happen to it, should an opportunity present itself. That doesn’t guarantee you’ll buy a Samsung though, of course. Still, it is Black Friday tomorrow. [H/T Campaign]
Will you be partaking in Black Friday this year? Are you sick of hearing about Star Wars yet? Are you pleased Adele is on Pandora? What do you think of Tubi TV? Would you ever purposely break an old TV in order to buy a new TV?
Let us know your thoughts on the Tech News of the day by posting to the comments section below. Because a healthy discussion is always welcome.
Image Credits: Mike Mozart via Flickr
