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AP-AM Prep-Cyber Corner(Canadian Press Broadcast Wire (Canada) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) MORNINGPREP-MORNINGPREP-MORNINGPREP-MORNINGPREP ! CYBER CORNER ! IN THE NEWS: ONLINE SALES LAG AT END NEW YORK (AP) _ Ho, ho ... ho-hum. That's the story for online sales this holiday season. Just as their brick-and-mortar counterparts, online merchants found that the Christmas season didn't live up to their high expectations. Online spending from home and work desktop computers in the U.S. from November 1 through December 15 was up 9 per cent from the same period last year. The most recent available data from comScore pegs the value of online sales at $37.8 billion. That's below the 14-per cent growth the Internet research firm forecast for the holiday season. Online holiday sales account for only 11 per cent of the year's total for Internet-based purchases. IN THE NEWS: TARGET SAYS DOJ PROBING SECURITY BREACH NEW YORK (AP) _ The massive security breach at Target is now a federal case. The department store says the Department of Justice is now investigating the swiping of data connected to about 40 million credit and debit cards. The information was stolen between November 27 and December 15. Security experts say it's the second largest theft of debit card accounts in U.S. history. The only one larger was the scam that began in 2005 that involved TJX _ a theft that affected close to 46 million card users. ON THE WEB: SUGARWISH CYBERSPACE (AP) _ Wanna send a sweet gift to someone _ but don't think you can pull it off in time? In the time it takes to send someone an email, you can send a friend or relative on their way to satisfying their sweet tooth. The site SugarWish lets you send a package of candy to a favourite. And in the process, it lets the receiver decide which of their favourites they will get. Just go to the site, pick the size of the candy gift and hit ``send.'' The recipient gets an email with a link to the candy store and they get to pick out a selection of their favourites. Then, the candy is sent to the recipient. The immediate email helps you meet the Christmas deadline _ and allowing the receiver to pick their own treats makes sure they will get their favourites. In a word, sweet! Online: SugarWish site: http://www.sugarwish.com IN STORES: POWERBIDNER BY POWERSTICK OGDENSBURG N.Y. (AP) _ It's the star that lights and warms our planet. But not many of us use it to power our electronic stuff. That can change if you give yourself _ or someone else _ a PowerBinder. It's a protective case for the Apple iPad _ or many similar-sized tablet computers _ with a plus. It includes solar technology in the form of a large sun-soaking panel on the front. It nabs power from the sun to let you charge your tablet _ and an external device like a smartphone or other USB-powered thingy. There's a front meter that lets you know the solar panel is running. Another plus is that the PowerBinder is large enough to let you store paper, handouts, brochures along with your tablet. Online: PowerBinder site: http://www.powerstick.com/microsite/powerbinder by Oscar Wells Gabriel II Oscar Gabriel can be reached at ogabriel(at)ap.org. (The Associated Press) (c) 2013 The Canadian Press |