While it’s nothing new for organized crime to focus on phishing and identity theft, Windows-based computers have traditionally taken the brunt of most attacks. So much so, in fact, that plenty of my Apple friends claimed it as yet another reason to switch to the below-the-radar Mac. Too bad, then, that a report out last week shows that the end of 2007 was the beginning of “financially-motivated” organized crime targeting Apple computers.

Is this good news or bad? After all, it could be taken as a sign of Apple’s success. Macs finally appear to be popular enough that cybercriminals care. However you frame it, check out this call to arms of sorts from Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos (the firm responsible for this report):

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My top issues with eBay: Prices aren’t that competitive, service is inconsistent, time is wasted, and the shipping is a wild card. It’s no wonder then that, due to lackluster growth, eBay recently announced changes including “holding sellers to higher customer-service standards.” But I gave up on eBay years ago when I discovered Amazon has all the same stuff at around the same price but with real customer service.

Just for fun, I thought I’d revisit eBay and see what kind of deals I skipped out on by searching for the last few items I ordered on Amazon. Here’s how the process works: you search for your item and get excited when you see an amazing deal! Oh wait, that auction still has 12 hours before it’s over. So you save it to your watch list and waste more time searching for other deals.

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Paul’s Soapbox is going to be a new regular feature of TechConsumer where I sound off on various tech topics/products that I’m interested in (or hate). This is just my $.02, so consider yourself warned. This week’s subjects? Two of my favorite companies to hate: Apple and Sony.

What the hell is up with Apple and their fetish for making products that don’t have user-replaceable batteries? It was bad enough with the iPod, (even if it isn’t quite the only MP3 player in that category) but then they added the iPhone to the list, and now the MacBook Air (my vote for the worst product name since Microsoft Bob). I really can’t understand how it is acceptable to have to send in your cell phone or laptop every year or two (according to Apple) just to have a battery replaced. Did I mention that they’ll rent an iPhone to you while yours is in the shop?

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Even if plenty of news is out already assuming HD DVD is dead, other sources are pointing us to facts that show the battle isn’t over yet. After all, you can now get HD DVD players with 7 movies for $126 whereas Blu-ray’s alternatives are, at best, nearly three times as expensive with players starting in the $300’s.

Most all coverage, positive or negative, is relying on data from the NPD Group. Interesting, then, that the NPD Group had to issue a statement addressing how its numbers were being used:

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Amazon today has announced plans to take its DRM-free MP3 music store to countries beyond the United States. In the U.S., at least, Amazon MP3 is already the online music store of choice.

It’s hard to compete with the largest library (3.3 million songs from 270,000 artists) of restriction free music, much of which is priced lower than the going rate of $0.99/track. And it integrates seamlessly with iTunes (or other desktop music applications) plus works with pretty much any digital music player available.

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This past week a national cable and high-speed Internet provider by the name of Charter Communications accidentally deleted all the contents of 14,000 active email accounts. A spokeswoman for the company explained that there is no way for them to retrieve anything that was erased. The spokeswoman offered this explanation and apology:

“We really are sincerely sorry for having had this happen and do apologize to all those folks who were affected by the error… During this maintenance we erroneously deleted active accounts along with the others. It’s never happened before. They are taking steps to make sure it never happens again.”

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Hot on the heels of the Last.Fm announcement that you can stream any song up to three times for free, Yahoo rumors are brewing again. According to two record company executives wishing to remain anonymous, Yahoo is in talks with major record labels about offering DRM-free (unprotected) MP3s either for sale or for free supported by ads. Either way, Yahoo wants to launch the new service this year sometime.

This news could be even more interesting when juxtaposed with what Yahoo Music’s VP of Product Development Ian Rogers hinted at a couple weeks ago. Namely, big news revolving around dramatic changes in Yahoo’s music model. He said, “We’re in the process of redefining what Yahoo! Music is, and making it the Music destination in Yahoo!’s successful image.”

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The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) commissioned a study in 2005, which resulted in a claim that 44% of industry losses (domestically) came from college students illegally downloading movies across U.S. campuses. Well, it turns out the real number is 15%.

This study and, more specifically, this particular statistic have been the basis for the MPAA pushing legislation to force universities to monitor and shut down certain online activities. Officially, the error is being called a “human error” and the MPAA still thinks that the new figure is significant even if one third the original number.

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Once upon a time, earlier in the battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray, supporters of each side loved to point out the major tech company backing each format to strengthen their positions. It made sense, after all, how could HD DVD fail if Microsoft was behind it? And, of course, Blu-ray would win if Apple was there beside it.

But then, neither company will be affected much if both formats eventually fail. And that’s because, in the end, both Microsoft and Apple minimized their involvement with either format. more…

I’m not usually one to go for the top 10 list method of discussing limitations of a product. But then again, products don’t usually have 10 weaknesses I care enough about to compile a list. Apple TV, on the other hand, falls into this category. And it’s not even a first generation product!

But to be fair, I should point out that this is a product I sincerely want to work. After all, I already use iTunes to manage my music, and the iPod is my music player of choice. Too bad, then, that Apple TV simply isn’t ready for prime time. Here are the top 10 reasons you should wait:

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