Work-at-home ploys explode

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Good-looking references on scam sites are bogus

Jerald Marshall was searching for jobs online when he came across an ad for a Google work-at-home business. It featured a "Chicago Tribune News" story about Mike Steadman, a North Carolina college dropout who was earning buckets of money placing links on Google.

"I get paid about $25 for every link I post on Google, and I get paid every week," the story said. "I make around $10,500 a month right now."

Marshall checked with the real Chicago Tribune and learned the story was bogus.

Imitation Google, YouTube sites emerge in China

Imitation Web sites of both Google and YouTube have emerged in China as the country faces off against the real Google over its local operations.

YouTubecn.com offers videos from the real YouTube, which is blocked in China. The Google imitation is called Goojje and includes a plea for the U.S.-based Web giant not to leave China, after it threatened this month to do so in a dispute over Web censorship and cyberattacks.

The separate projects went up within a day of each other in mid-January, just after Google's threat to leave.

Typo is Web page's windfall

To most people, a typo is an annoyance. To Aly Khalifa, it's a (key)stroke of luck.

Since online juggernaut Google launched its popular Gmail e-mail service two years ago, millions of sloppy typists have accidentally ended up at the Web site for his Raleigh firm, Gamil Design.

This fall, the industrial designer figured out how to turn the mistake into an opportunity.

You may already be a loser: Text message scams spread

Text this message: Your cell phone could be sending you the latest identity theft scam.

At least two Sacramento-area residents have recently been targeted by text messages that promised $200 gift cards or alerted them to bank account problems.

In both cases, the texts were nothing more than tech-savvy attempts to steal financial information, say consumer experts.

Gaga for Google calendars

Q: Just in the past few weeks, I have noticed a plethora of people using Google calendars. First I encountered one for several people who own the same piece of beach property. They live in far-flung places, so this was a perfect way for everyone to take part without thousands of e-mail messages and mixed messages.

Then my wife and I set one up because we can get into it both at work and at home and put all our myriad personal, professional, familial and other obligations in a central place. So it seemed to me that Google has once again hit a sweet spot.

However, I wondered how new this was. Does Microsoft have something like this -- a shareable calendar? Are there cool features to Google calendar that we have yet to discover?