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Over the years we have seen a lot of computers that we can tell are from smokers. It’s not the smell, but the residue of the tar and nicotine left inside the computer, to the point that it can even discolor some cables. I would venture to say that smoking is not good for your computer, but than again neither is dust. But Apple has taken things to a whole new, possibly extreme, level.
Heads up, smokers: Lighting up near your computer is heresy enough that Apple says it voids your warranty should you need to bring a smoke-exposed computer in for repair.
Specifically, in at least two instances in different parts of the country, Apple has voided the warranty and refused to provide repair service on Macintosh computers exposed to environments where cigarette smoke has been present. Calling cigarette smoke residue (tar and whatnot) inside a computer a health risk and a “biohazard,” in both cases Apple customers have been denied service despite having time left on a valid warranty.
Apple is standing by the decisions, saying that repair centers have the authority to make decisions like this on their own, citing OSHA rules that include nicotine in a list of hazardous substances that could damage the health of someone exposed to it. (Consumerist, which digests the issue with its typical aplomb, adds that sucrose, talc, and calcium carbonate are all also on the OSHA hazardous materials list.)
Apple isn’t formally commenting on the issue or responding to media requests for comment, namely regarding whether there’s a threshold for cigarette smoke exposure beyond which a computer won’t be serviced. Is one cigarette too much? 200? The answer is probably far less scientific than that: If a technician doesn’t like cigarette smoke and your computer smells a bit smoky, it probably won’t get serviced.
I can understand the policy here, but Apple’s failure to mention this issue in its warranty materials is out of line. To leave consumers on the hook for repairing their multi-thousand dollar machine by themselves, without notifying them in advance that cigarette smoke exposure could void their warranty, well… sounds a lot like typical Apple behavior, to be honest.
I know that some if us have already begun our holiday, but I wanted everyone to be aware that there are 4 Windows XP updates this week. So though we will all be busy, just remember the hackers will be busy reverse engineering these security updates. Unfortunately, crime doesn’t seem to take a holiday.
There are going to be a lot of great computer deals out there. Please, a word of caution, you often get what you pay for.
Enjoy Thanksgiving.
We will open Friday at 8:00 a.m. just like usual.
From PC Magazine
Facebook Worm Sells Itself with a Booty Call
Gadi Evron noted a new Facebook worm over the weekend. The hook to it appears in a friend’s profile as the racy image at left.
Click the image, and you are brought to a Web page with the same image.
Analysis by famous malware analyst Nick Fitzgerald calls this a CSRF
(Cross-Site Request Forgery) attack, a cousin to cross-site scripting:
A sequence of iframes on the exploit page call
a sequence of other pages and scripts, eventually resulting in a form submission to Facebook “as if” the victim had submitted a URL for a wall post and clicked on the “Share” button to confirm the post.
Afterward, you are redirected to a porn site.