AOL filed a lawsuit against two of its former employees for allegedly channeling money through real and fake accounts and eventually into their own pockets.One wonders how anyone could think they could get away with such shenanigans until one remembers that Time Warner is under investigation for the way AOL did its books.

In a recent news story, ZDNet reported that, after 20 years, there’s still no cure for computer viruses. In the light of academic and scientific failures and the millions of wasted dollars may I suggest the obvious: Stop opening the darn attachments to your e-mail! Oh, and maybe switch to Netscrape since all of the attacks seemed to be aimed at Internet Exploder. Just send the check to aliceandbill.com….

What’s so important about the BFG Technologies Sniper Boomslang 2100 mouse? Trying to say the name three times fast is one thing. The other is that it is a mechanical roller with a 2100 dpi resolution. Say what?? Yup. That makes it a SUPER mouse for gaming –but wait, there’s more… Hey you left- or right-handed accountants and analysts! Trying to navigate that super huge 1280×1024 Excel spreadsheet? The precision of the Boomslang may be just what you’ve been yearning for.

According to New Scientist, “Cash dispensing ATMs belonging to two US financial institutions were shut down when the computer worm Welchia invaded their embedded Windows XP operating systems in August. Diebold, the Ohio-based company that makes the machines, revealed the security breach.” Which can only mean that a gas pump worm is not far behind.

SBC Yahoo DSL subscribers will get a chance to download and rent movies thanks to a new agreement with Movielink. If you haven’t tried MovieLink, the premise is simple. You set up an account, and download a movie onto your hard drive. You have up to 30 days to view it and once you start viewing it, you can watch it as many times as you like during a 24 hour period. My only complaint with the service is a too-high price per rental (often almost $5.00) and a less than robust selection. Here’s hoping they can get the pricing and selection in gear, because the service and quality is fantastic.

Looks like the ability to keep your phone number and move it with you to another cell phone provider is appealing but did not cause the mad rush carriers felt would happen.
According to USA Today:

“Monday felt ‘like a typical retail day,” says Pamela Reeve, CEO of Lightbridge, which processes customer applications for cell phone carriers: “To the extent that anyone expected a volcano because of number … portability, we didn’t really … see that.”

Cult favorite but still misunderstood TiVo announced a new milestone - it has sold over one million units, a watershed event for a hardware company. Way to go TiVo!

RFID chips are getting even more coverage this week as Applied Digital Solutions annouced the plan to imbed RFID chips under human skin to allow for cash withdrawls. Seems like a pretty extreme thing to do in place of carrying a simple plastic card, espcially since RFID is raising howls of protest from privacy advocates.