A lot of news developments are flying by and this week Benjamin covered identity theft and its constant rise in occurrences. Unfortunately, fingerprinting is becoming more and more common, and therefore more and more easily accessible. Benjamin shared that he has been fingerprinted numerous times, as a bank teller, a security professional, and other high-security data center background checks. Now the entire populace may be fingerprinted for use in… Credit cards??

Also in the news, airlines are looking for money wherever they can get it, and now they are even proving WiFi – for a fee. However, with internet access, comes the question of shady sites. Unfortunately, many users would want to use this internet for viewing pornography or violence. Many people say that this should be perfectly fine, but others, such as the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, want filtered internet like that in libraries so that nobody has to sit next to someone with inappropriate images on their monitor and be unable to move to another seat. Additionally, the flight attendants do not want to have to play “moral officers” and enforce rules of viewing.

Following along the vein of potentially inappropriate internet interactions, Benjamin also talked about addictions to computers and how they can ruin lives. Many people substitute computers for real relationships with real people, which is not enough to sustain them. In a few weeks he will have a friend of his on the show who has gone through this himself.

Benjamin also talked about eBay this week and rumors that they may change their payment options due to legal issues in Australia… People are accusing eBay of using anti-competitive practices to further their business, meaning that eBay is now planning on stopping their acceptance of cash and money orders. They will also be removing third-party payment plans like PAIDpal and other paypal knock-offs in an effort to secure transactions more.

Benjamin also talked about rumors of a coming HP operating system. This would be a logical decision for Hewlett-Packard, considering all of the frustration with Vista. It would give PC users a new OS without having to deal with all of Vista’s problems. The HP OS would likely be based on  Linux and be similar to HP Unix, the last HP Operating System, which has gone through a large number of iterations through the years, the most recent of which is Version 11.31, released in 2007. Dell and Intel are already putting Linux options on their computers, which we may see a lot more of in the coming months. Microsoft should be releasing Windows 7 in the next year or so, so only time will tell if the next Windows is better.

Also in the money area, it appears that online music purchases like those on Rhapsody and iTunes may soon be taxed. Movies from Netflix, software on the internet, and just about everything bought online would be included. Interestingly, many state laws were written before the existence of the internet that may immunize online transactions from taxation. Only time will tell how this works out, though Benjamin made a joke about taxation of breathing air.

In the e-mail department, Allie asked about determining her router’s e-mail address and Jimmy asked about antivirus on Windows Millennium Edition (which Benjamin told him to leave and upgrade to a new version of Windows). Trevor inquired about problems with AVG 8 getting bloated, and Katie wanted to know if she could load Office 200 on to Vista.

Don’t forget to listen to the show’s audio via the link below!!