Paul McNamara

Fooling Google News is as easy as s-p-o-o-f

Paul McNamara — 2008-08-14T00:00:00Z

Google News cannot tell the difference between real news stories and spoofs, especially when both the real news and the spoof are ostensibly about the same topic. Google News cannot tell the difference because it employs no human editors to pick stories for its front page and because the software it relies upon instead has no sense of humor.

Circuit City, Mad magazine and Streisand

Paul McNamara — 2008-08-07T00:00:00Z

About 10 days ago, someone at Circuit City spots a Mad magazine parody of his beleaguered company and dashes off an e-mail demanding that all copies of the periodical be purged from the electronics chain's shelves. I already know that you're thinking two things: Mad magazine still publishes? And it's sold at Circuit City?

About that Verizon/pit-bull blog post

Paul McNamara — 2008-07-31T00:00:00Z

I need to apologize to Buzzblog readers for writing recently that Verizon deserved praise for standing up to animal rights activists who found offensive the company's new commercial for its LG Dare cell phone. That spot featured a pair of chained, snarling junkyard dogs, pit bulls to be exact.

Aiming to make data-breach research easier

Paul McNamara — 2008-07-23T00:00:00Z

The monstrous data breaches involving millions of records make all the headlines — TJX, AOL, the Veterans Administration. However, it's those whoppers combined with the rat-a-tat-tat of seemingly daily divulgences involving lesser-known entities and fewer victims that add up to a costly and so-far-uncontrolled societal headache.

Doing the Laptop Drive of Shame

Paul McNamara — 2008-07-17T00:00:00Z

If you bring your work computer home with any regularity -- or especially any irregularity -- chances are good that you’ve done the Laptop Drive of Shame

Bank of America to support Firefox, finally

Paul McNamara — 2008-07-10T00:00:00Z

Bank of America, the nation's second-largest bank, will support Firefox, the world's second-most-popular Web browser, in the very near future.

'I have a lost laptop horror story for you'

Paul McNamara — 2008-07-01T00:00:00Z

The devil of identity theft is in the details: Russ Jones tells a tale of woe that isn't particularly dramatic -- or rare -- and yet it's exactly the kind of story that worries me enough to ignore my better judgment and buy identity-theft protection from my insurance provider.

Is Google News scapegoating technology?

Paul McNamara — 2008-06-26T00:00:00Z

Well, the company did cite a technical problem as the reason that the Google News front page was an hour later than other online media outlets in reporting the recent death of NBC journalist Tim Russert.

Data leaks out . . . and lawyers rake it in

Paul McNamara — 2008-06-19T00:00:00Z

What made the Ameritrade data breach particularly memorable was not that 6.3 million customers had their personal info compromised and inboxes stuff with spam as a result. No, what made it memorable was that the company had received multiple warnings from IT professionals over more than a year that its database had been compromised -- yet took no action before the bits hit the fan last fall.

AT&T manager on laptop loss: 'It is pathetic'

Paul McNamara — 2008-06-16T00:00:00Z

It's just another in a long line of stolen laptops . . . unless you work in management at AT&T and you're worried about your Social Security number falling into the hands of identity thieves. Or, you're worried that your co-workers might find out how much -- or how little -- you actually earn.