Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Reality of The Uno - Ben Gulak's Innovative Electric Motorbike

Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Summary:

Email forward describes the Uno, an innovative electric motorcycle invented by Canadian Ben Gulak that moves on two wheels positioned side by side and is controlled by body movement. This email is supposed to be fake but actually its true and the pictures are real.

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Subject: world first

Read First

A young inventor has created a motorbike with a twist - it uses two wheels but they are positioned right next to each other, giving it the illusion of being a powered unicycle. And even better, it might help save the planet.

Ben Gulak has spent several years building the electric Uno that uses gyroscopic technology - like the infamous Segway commuter device - to stay upright.

The bizarre-looking contraption has only one switch - on or off - and is controlled entirely by body movement.

The rider leans forwards to accelerate to speeds of 25mph and back to slow down. It has two wheels side-by-side and has been turning heads wherever it has been ridden.

The green machine is so small and light it can be taken indoors and carried into lifts - and is recharged by being plugged into the mains. The wheels are completely independent, allowing the bike to turn on a sixpence and the technology takes the balance and guesswork out of riding a unicycle.




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Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Explanation:

This message discusses the Uno, an innovative type of motor cycle developed by young Canadian inventor Ben Gulak. In contrast to a traditional motorbike design, the Uno has its two wheels side-by-side and is entirely controlled by movements of the rider's body.

Although some commentators have postulated that the message is a hoax and the attached photographs are clever fakes, the Uno is in fact real. A December 2008 New York Times article notes:

Many students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology look forward to the day they’ll make headlines with an extraordinary invention. But Ben Gulak, a 19-year-old freshman, looks back. He’s the inventor of the Uno, an electric motorcycle that has its two wheels side by side instead of fore and aft, balances using a computer and gyroscope, and maneuvers with a shift of the rider’s body forward, back or sideways.

And the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has also published information about Ben Gulak and the Uno, noting:

The inspiration for the cycle came when Gulak visited China in 2006 and was amazed at the overwhelming pollution that completely blocked the view of the surrounding country as his airplane came in for landing. He realized that much of that smog was coming from the thousands of motor scooters whizzing through the streets and figured that there had to be a better way.

The design he came up with has two wheels mounted side by side, very close together, and powered by electric motors. A computerized control system keeps the vehicle balanced, in a system similar to the Segway personal transporter. But unlike that vehicle, which is ridden in a standing position and is not considered a street vehicle, Gulak's "Uno" is ridden like a motorcycle and designed for ordinary roads.

In 2007, the Uno won a second place Grand Award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. The machine also received a place in the Popular Science 2008 Invention Awards.

Gulag's project received a lot of publicity around the world and he was therefore able to raise capital to fund further development of the Uno and create BPG Motors. Gulag and his team at BPG Motors continue to work towards the goal of offering the UNO for sale to the public. More information about the Uno can be found on the BPG Motors website.

Reality of Email Spread All Over The World Showing Huge Banana Bunch Photograph

Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Summary:

Email forward includes a photograph apparently showing a massive bunch of bananas hanging from a very tall banana tree.

Actually, this is a genuine photograph og huge bunch of bananas.

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Subject: Fw: What a Bananaaaa..............

IF ONLY I HAVE FIVE HECTARES OF THIS LIKE I THINK I CAN BE A MILLIONAIRE IN A MATTER OF 2 YEARS



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Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - -Explanation:

This photograph depicting an exceptionally large bunch of bananas is circulating via email and has also been posted to numerous blogs and forums. Some commentators have suggested that the image has been manipulated.

However, there is no reason to suspect that the photograph is not genuine. The photograph almost certainly depicts a type of banana that has the binomial Musa chiliocarpa and can be found in various parts of South East Asia. The plant goes by a variety of common names including Pisang Seribu and Thousand Fingers. The banana inflorescence (flowering stalk) of Musa chiliocarpa often continues to grow until it reaches the ground, producing large numbers of small bananas. Although small, these bananas are reportedly sweet and pleasantly flavoured.

A Google Image search reveals that there are many other photographs of this banana variety available online.

Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Microsoft Email Beta Test Hoax Continues

Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Summary:

Revamped version of the Microsoft email beta test hoax includes "testimonies" and a bank account screenshot of supposed money received. The message claims that Microsoft will send money to anybody who forwards it to others.

In fact, this is totally a false email.

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Subject: Fwd: Fw: Please do it - Microsoft Paying u - Not Fake

Guys It's working

I have got $10000 .
Deepak ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I got 450 $ credited in my HDFC account today only. Yahooooooooooooooooooo!!! hurreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Regards,
Apurv

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Hai this is not joke i got 4672$ credited in my ICICI account last week

Frnds I got $2163 today only..
So I am forwading to u frnds
Don't miss this chance
Regards,
Sathish This is really amazing I also got 5000 dollars via DD from HDFC, thot it was fake but it really worked..........the amount has been created to my account, what did you get. Thanks for forwarding this mail

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Hey guys !!!
this is cool
really really cooollllll
I forwarded this mail to three chaps just half an hour back and i just forgot about it.. then i saw my salary slip, checked my account in the net. i was wonder stuck to see $30000/- added to my account !! transferred from ms office thru western money transfer !!! its amazing guys !!! Go for it. Act fast. at least before this stupid bill gates gets bankrupt........... and in case this is true, there is not much time left...... so congratulations in advance..... for becoming a millionair so easily... like me.......



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Subject: FW: Cant lose, try it .... read testimonies below!

U won't believe it ...I just had a look at my bank statement & there was an extra .wait for it .......50 000.00 in my account ..this really works .........just do it ...I love u Douglas ....thank u some much for thinking of me & this GREAT gift !!!

------ HI GUYS

THIS IS NOT A SCAM - TRY IT!!

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Hey Ben
I've already done this a few months ago, I received R9 569.00.
Regards,

I've just received 678$,my gosh there's nothing better than trying,you'll probably think it's a scam,,,it's not,,,you'll see.

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Hey Guys,
Just Thought i could make you all rich I just recieved 458$

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Hi,
I got $9386. Was shocked!!! This is cool. Please forward.

PLEASE NOTE MESSAGE:

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I thought this was a scam myself, but two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on, Microsoft contacted me for my address and within days, I received a cheque for US$24, 800.00. You need to respond before the beta testing is over. If anyone can afford this Bill Gates is the man.

It's all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many people as possible. You are bound to get at least US$10, 000.00. We' re not going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without getting a little something for our time. My brother's girlfriend got in on this a few months ago. When I went to visit him for the Baylor/UT game.

She showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4,324.44 and was stamped "Paid In Full".

Like I said before, I know the law, and this is for real

Intel and AOL are now discussing a merger which would make them the largest Internet company and in an effort make sure that AOL remains the most widely used program, Intel and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.

When you forward this e-mail to friends, Intel can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period.

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $203.15.
For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $156.29
And for every third person that receives it , you will be paid $17.65.

Within two weeks, Intel will contact you for your address and then send you a check. I thought this was a scam myself, but a friend of my good friend's Aunt Patricia, who works at Intel, actually got a check of $4,54323 by forwarding this e-mail.

Try it; what have you got to lose????

Suresh ,
Windows XP Support - Research Team



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Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Explanation:

Multiple versions of this tired old hoax have been circulating since at least 1999. The messages claim that Intel and AOL are running an email beta test and that Microsoft will pay you a quite substantial sum of money each and every time you forward the email to others during a two week time period.

These claims are, of course, totally absurd. No such "beta test" is being conducted. Nor has one been conducted at any time in the past. And Microsoft certainly will not give you money just for forwarding an email.

These versions of the hoax sport a series of "testimonies" supposedly added by various recipients who claim to have actually been sent money for forwarding the message. In one newer version, the hoax has been converted into a graphical format, complete with official looking Microsoft logos and even a picture of Bill Gates himself. Another version includes a bank statement screenshot showing an account with over $40,000 credit. The testimonies and screenshot are just rather lame attempts to add a measure of credibility to this foolish hoax. I dare say the testimonies were simply made up by one prankster or perhaps several working together. Since the bank statement does not include information about where the funds originated, it is virtually meaningless.

All versions of this hoax can be traced back to an even earlier hoax that began circulating way back in 1997:

Hello everybody, My name is Bill Gates. I have just written up an e-mail tracing program that traces everyone to whom this message is forwarded to. I am experimenting with this and I need your help. Forward this to everyone you know and if it reaches 1000 people everyone on the list will receive $1000 at my expense. Enjoy.

Your friend,
Bill Gates

Considering how long this "beta test" has now been running, even Bill Gates would be bankrupt by now if he was really paying out money for every forwarded email. It is simply ridiculous to suggest that any sane company would even consider participating in such a haphazard and uncontrollable exercise.

Furthermore, in spite of the claims in these messages, there is no reliable or ethical method of tracking who sends a particular email to whom when the message could be expected to be forwarded many thousands of times. Accurately calculating how much money should be sent to how many people would be impossible.

The message claims that recipients have nothing to lose by participating ("Try it, what have you got to lose?"). Well one thing you risk losing is your credibility. Being gullible enough to fall for this one is sure to earn you a degree of ridicule from at least a few of those you forward it to, even if they keep their ridicule to themselves. By sending it onward, you also help to clutter inboxes around the world with one more piece of unwanted email nonsense.

Be Ware! Its a Cybe World - - Sachin Tendulkar And The Shell Shaped House

Be Ware! Its a Cybe World - - Summary:

Email claims that an unusual and beautiful shell-shaped house depicted in a series of attached photographs is the home of Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and is located in Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai, India.

Actually, the house is real but the description is inaccurate.

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Subject: The Shell Shaped House

The Shell Shaped House.......

Do you know whose house is this?.........

Wait till the last photo........

Architect: Javier Senosiain

Location: Bandra - Mumbai-India



This is the new house of none other than SACHIN TENDULKAR- the famous Indian cricket player

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Be Ware! Its a Cybe World - - Explanation:

This message claims that a fascinating and beautiful dwelling featured in a series of accompanying photographs belongs to famous Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. According to the message, Tendulkar's unique house, built to resemble a shell, is located in Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai, India. Bandra is known as the location of choice for many rich and famous Indians.

The photographs themselves are genuine and do depict a real house. However, the dwelling does not belong to Sachin Tendulkar. Moreover, it is not located in Bandra or anywhere else in India. In fact, the building is located half a world away in Naucalpan a large urban center in the north of Mexico City, Mexico. The house dubbed "The Nautilus" in homage to its shell-like appearance, was created by Mexican architect Javier Senosian.

And far from housing an Indian cricketer - famous or otherwise - the shell house is actually home to a Mexican family of four. An article about the house published on Guardian.co.uk notes:

Every morning and evening, 10 lines of traffic inch through Naucalpan to the north of the Mexico City, along one of its busiest sections of ring road. Low concrete blocks stretch for miles, punctuated by picturesque, if precarious, shacks hugging hillsides and dotted with gated communities for the well-heeled that seem to hover above the general grit and grind.

Magalli Mayorga lives in one such neighbourhood, filled with large, conventional houses that evoke many an affluent US suburb. Except the home where she lives - with her husband, Fernando, 11-year-old Alan and six-year-old Joshua - doesn't exactly fit the mould. It is an extraordinary giant snail.

"The idea is that, just as a snail lives inside its shell, so our world is inside our house," Mayorga says of the ferroconcrete structure sprayed with polyurethane plastic foam, built for her family by Mexican architect Javier Senosiain. An admirer of Antoni Gaudí and Frank Lloyd Wright, he specialises in undulating, organic structures: "The concept of an organic habitat," he has written, "is the creation of spaces adapted to man that are also similar to a mother's bosom or an animal's lair."

Information about "The Nautilus" is also available on the architect's website along with more photographs of the house. Senosian has created a number of other "organic" dwellings that reflect natural creatures or environments, including a whale shaped house, a shark shaped house and buildings reminiscent of peanut shells, snakes, birds and flowers.

This message claims that a fascinating and beautiful dwelling featured in a series of accompanying photographs belongs to famous Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. According to the message, Tendulkar's unique house, built to resemble a shell, is located in Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai, India. Bandra is known as the location of choice for many rich and famous Indians.

The photographs themselves are genuine and do depict a real house. However, the dwelling does not belong to Sachin Tendulkar. Moreover, it is not located in Bandra or anywhere else in India. In fact, the building is located half a world away in Naucalpan a large urban center in the north of Mexico City, Mexico. The house dubbed "The Nautilus" in homage to its shell-like appearance, was created by Mexican architect Javier Senosian.

And far from housing an Indian cricketer - famous or otherwise - the shell house is actually home to a Mexican family of four. An article about the house published on Guardian.co.uk notes:

Every morning and evening, 10 lines of traffic inch through Naucalpan to the north of the Mexico City, along one of its busiest sections of ring road. Low concrete blocks stretch for miles, punctuated by picturesque, if precarious, shacks hugging hillsides and dotted with gated communities for the well-heeled that seem to hover above the general grit and grind.

Magalli Mayorga lives in one such neighbourhood, filled with large, conventional houses that evoke many an affluent US suburb. Except the home where she lives - with her husband, Fernando, 11-year-old Alan and six-year-old Joshua - doesn't exactly fit the mould. It is an extraordinary giant snail.

"The idea is that, just as a snail lives inside its shell, so our world is inside our house," Mayorga says of the ferroconcrete structure sprayed with polyurethane plastic foam, built for her family by Mexican architect Javier Senosiain. An admirer of Antoni Gaudí and Frank Lloyd Wright, he specialises in undulating, organic structures: "The concept of an organic habitat," he has written, "is the creation of spaces adapted to man that are also similar to a mother's bosom or an animal's lair."

Information about "The Nautilus" is also available on the architect's website along with more photographs of the house. Senosian has created a number of other "organic" dwellings that reflect natural creatures or environments, including a whale shaped house, a shark shaped house and buildings reminiscent of peanut shells, snakes, birds and flowers.

Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Facebook Password Reset Confirmation Trojan Email

Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Summary:

Email, purporting to be from Facebook, claims that the user's Facebook password has been changed and informs him or her that the new password can be found in an attached document.


In fact, Email is not from Facebook. Message is designed to trick recipients into installing a malicious trojan.

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Subject: Facebook Password Reset Confirmation

Hey [name removed],

Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients, your password has been changed. You can find your new password in attached document.

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

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Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Explanation:

This email, which appears to be an automated message from popular social networking website Facebook, informs the recipient that his or her Facebook password has been reset, supposedly as a security measure. It claims that the user's new password can be accessed by opening a file attached to the email.

However, the message is not from Facebook and the claim that the user's Facebook password has been changed is untrue. In fact, the message is a trick designed to fool recipients into installing a trojan on their computer. Those who open the attached file, ostensibly to view their new password, will in fact be launching a copy of the Bredolab Trojan. Once installed, the trojan is able to download and install other malware components such as keyloggers and password stealers and allow Internet criminals to control the compromised computer from afar.

Facebook users should be wary of any emails claiming to be from Facebook that contain attachments or ask them to click a link to access a new password or provide login information. Note that, even if a password is reset, Facebook will never send a user a new password via an email attachment. If you receive such an email, do not open an attachments that come with the message. Nor should you click on any links in the email. Malware distributors sometimes trick users into clicking a link in an email that downloads a trojan from a malicious website. And, phishing scammers have also used bogus Facebook messages to trick users into supplying their login credentials and other sensitive personal information.

It is also important to note the Bredolab Trojan is also distributed via emails not related to Facebook, including bogus shipping confirmation messages and messages supposedly confirming the order of goods bought online.

Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Paypal Primary Email Address Change Phishing Scam

Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Summary:

Email, purporting to be from PayPal, claims that the recipient's primary email address has changed and urges him or her to click a link in the message if the address change was unauthorized.

Actually, Email is a scam designed to steal financial information.

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The primary email for your PayPal account was changed

Dear Client,

The primary email for your PayPal account was changed on Oct. 22, 2009.

If you did not authorize this change, please contact us using the link below and undo the changes:

[Link to bogus website removed]

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
For more information on protecting yourself from fraud, please review the Security Tips in our Security Center.

PayPal Email ID PP234

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Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Explanation:

This email, which purports to be from online payment and transaction service PayPal, informs the recipient that his or her primary PayPal address has been changed. It instructs the recipient to follow a link in the message to contact PayPal in the event that the recipient did not authorize the email address change.

However, the message is not from PayPal. In fact, the email is just one more in a long line of scams that have targeted PayPal users. The claim that the PayPal user's primary email address has been changed is a lie designed solely to trick him or her into clicking the link in the message and supplying personal information. Those who do click the link will be taken to a bogus website that looks very similar to the legitimate PayPal login page. If the user then logs on to the bogus page with his or her Paypal address and password, scammers will be able to collect this information and subsequently access the user's real PayPal account. Other pages on the bogus site might request the victim to supply even more personal and financial information such as contact and employment details, bank account details and credit card numbers.

Any and all information submitted on the bogus website can be collected by Internet criminals and used for financial fraud and identity theft.

Because it conducts most of its business online, and normally communicates with customers via email, PayPal has become a favourite target of phishing scammers. PayPal will never use generic greetings such as "Dear Client" in its emails to customers nor will it ask customers to provide personal information such as bank or credit card numbers via email. PayPal has published information about phishing scams on its website.

If you receive a suspect email, do not click on any links in the message or open any attachments that it may contain. If you do get an email that claims to be from PayPal, the safest course of action is to open your web browser and type in the legitimate PayPal web address to ensure that you are not inadvertently logging on to a bogus, look-a-like website designed to steal your information.

Hoax Emails Named As "MicroSoft Magic" - - Procedures Claimed To Be Unknown to Microsoft

Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Summary:

Message outlines three seemingly strange procedures in Microsoft Windows operating systems and claims that not even Microsoft knows why these procedures work as they do.

In fact, the procedures are real; but the reasons they occur are well documented.

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Subject: Microsoft Magic

MAGIC #1
An Indian discovered that nobody can create a FOLDER anywhere on the computer which can be named as "CON". This is something pretty cool…and unbelievable… At Microsoft the whole Team, couldn't answer why this happened!

TRY IT NOW ,IT WILL NOT CREATE "CON" FOLDER

MAGIC #2
For those of you using Windows, do the following:
1) Open an empty notepad file
2) Type "Bush hid the facts" (without the quotes)
3) Save it as whatever you want..
4) Close it, and re-open it.
Is it just a really weird bug? At Microsoft they say they don't know why this happens.

MAGIC #3
Microsoft's crazy facts

This is something pretty cool and neat…and unbelievable… At Microsoft the whole Team, including Bill Gates, couldn't answer why this happened!

It was discovered by a Brazilian.. Try it out yourself….

Open Microsoft Word and type

=rand (200, 99)

And then press ENTER then see the magic…….

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Be Ware! Its a Cyber World - - Explanation:

This message combines three Microsoft Windows "magic tricks" that also circulate individually. The message is often posted to online message boards and blogs and also circulates via email. According to the message, not even Microsoft can explain why these procedures invoke such strange and unexpected outcomes.

The procedures outlined are real and do work as described. However, there is no mystery whatsoever. I discuss each "magic" item in turn below:

MAGIC #1
It is in fact perfectly true that you cannot create a folder named "CON", nor can you rename an existing folder to "CON". However, the "team" at Microsoft, and a great many others besides, know perfectly well why you cannot name a folder "CON".

"CON" and a number of other character strings are in fact reserved names that go back to the days of DOS and cannot be used to name folders or files. Other reserved names are:

* PRN
* AUX
* NUL
* LPT1
* COM1
* Potential drive letter - A: to Z:
* A number of others


If you try to name a folder using one of these reserved names, the name will automatically revert to the default, generally "New Folder". Moreover, if you try to use a reserved name to name a file such as a Notepad or Microsoft Word document you will generally receive an error message similar to the following:


Depending on exactly how you save the file, you may instead receive a warning message advising that a file with that name already exists. However, even if you choose "Yes" to overwrite the existing file, you will still not be allowed* to save the file.

While there is no mystery about this issue, it might have saved user confusion if Windows displayed an explanatory error message when attempting to create a folder with a reserved name as well.

For more detailed information see:
MS-DOS Device Driver Names Cannot be Used as File Names

*Note: It may be possible to create a folder using a reserved name via the command prompt. However, this may cause other problems and is not advisable.


MAGIC #2
It is true that, when the phrase "Bush hid the facts" is typed into the Windows XP or Windows NT/2000 versions of Notepad as instructed above, the re-opened file displays an unreadable line of squares or Chinese style characters.

The first image below shows the text before closing the Notepad file. The second image shows the text as it is displayed after the file is re-opened:



Some of the more wide-eyed conspiracy theorists postulate that this result is a form of political commentary directed against US President Bush.

Alas, the truth is far less compelling. It appears that a lot of other character strings in the pattern 4 letters, 3 letters, 3 letters and 5 letters will give the same result. For example, the phrase "Bill fed the goats" also displays the garbled text as shown below:




In fact, even a line of text such as "hhhh hhh hhh hhhhh" will elicit the same results.

However, some character strings that fit the "4,3,3,5" pattern do not generate the error. For example, the phrase "Bush hid the truth" is displayed normally. However, conspiracy theorists should not take this as aiding their argument. "Fred led the brats", "brad ate the trees" and other strings also escape the error.

Thus, any hint of political conspiracy fades into oblivion and is replaced by a rather mundane programming bug. It seems that a certain combination and/or frequency of letters in the character string cause Notepad to misinterpret the encoding of the file when it is re-opened. If the file is originally saved as "Unicode" rather than "ANSI" the text displays correctly. Older versions of Notepad such as those that came with Windows 95, 98 or ME do not include Unicode support so the error does not occur.

MAGIC #3
Using the rand() function in the way described automatically adds sample text to a word document. In Word 2003 and earlier versions, the rand() function adds several sentences and paragraphs that repeat the words, The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. These words are often used for testing because, together, they contain all the letters in the English alphabet in one concise and coherent sentence. Such a sentence is known as a pangram.

In Word 2007, the rand() function adds information about using specific Word features in order to create a more realistic document for testing. However, if you wish to use the "Quick Brown Fox" pangram in Word 2007, you can still do so by inputting the function =rand.old(). Another Word 2007 option is to use =lorem(), This function automatically adds the familiar Lorem ipsum dummy text that has been used by the printing and typesetting industry since the 1500's. Nowadays, Lorem ipsum text is also used extensively by web developers and publishers to add random text to such things as templates and website prototypes.

You can alter the results of the rand() function by adding numbers in the round brackets. The first number controls the number of paragraphs while the second number controls the number of sentences in each paragraph. For example, using "rand(3,5)" will add three paragraphs of five sentences each. Leaving the brackets empty will add the default number of paragraphs and sentences, which is set at three sentences and three paragraphs.

Far from being a mystery, this is a well-documented feature of Microsoft Word that simply allows sample text to be quickly added to a document for testing purposes. Microsoft can in fact "explain the result" and does so in an article on the MS Support website.

Thus, although these little computer tricks are interesting, there is no mystery or magic involved and Microsoft certainly does know about them.