Gizmodo: reward

AT&T Fiber Optic Cable Vandalism: Reward Bumped to $250k

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:10:00 EDT

Fiber optic cables in northern California belonging to AT&T were sliced recently. AT&T originally offered $100,000, but they've raised the reward to $250,000 after seeing the severity of the vandalism. [Yahoo]

AT&T Putting Up $100,000 Reward For Cable Cutting Vandals

Sean Fallon — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:58:00 EDT

AT&T has announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the saboteurs that recently cut fiber optic cable in the San Jose region.

This incident even knocked out 911, so it's safe to say that everyone involved is pretty pissed right now.

AT&T OFFERING $100,000 REWARD IN BAY AREA NETWORK VANDALISM
Fiber Cables Cut at Locations in San Jose and San Carlos, Calif.

AT&T* today announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for incidents of vandalism to the AT&T network near San Jose and San Carlos, Calif.

Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, AT&T's networks were declared National Critical Infrastructures in recognition of their importance to the nation's security. Anyone who tampers with, destroys or disrupts the company's network or its components is in violation of federal and state laws and AT&T will assist with any prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.

The early-morning vandalism incidents today involved cuts of fiber cables in manholes at two locations:

· The intersection of Monterey Highway and Blossom Hill Road overpass in San Jose.
· The intersection of Old County Road and Varian Road in San Carlos.

Restoration efforts were under way immediately.

Tips can be given to the San Jose Police Department at 408-277-4161 (ask for Detective Carlos Melo or Detective Dan Phelan);
Tips can be given to the San Carlos Police Department at 650-802-4423; and
Anonymous tip for either incident can be made to CrimeStoppers at 408-947-STOP.

[Photo Paul Chinn, The Chronicle]

Microsoft and Cybersecurity Superfriends Offer $250k for Conficker Worm Maker

Brian Lam — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:59:01 EST

Microsoft is offering a $250,000 bounty for the Conficker worm's designer. Microsoft isn't alone in this hunt for the writer of the biggest PC worm in recent history.

They've got a team of superfriends involved with the hunt:

Symantec, F-Secure, VeriSign, Afilias, Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), and the Shadowserver Foundation.

The worm itself is dangerous, although it hasn't done any real damage yet. It has infected 15m PCs so far, setting them up for a yet-to-come malicious payload.

Two hard questions come to mind. Why can't the FBI handle this? And wouldn't that money be better spent on PSAs informing users to install the available patch for the vulnerability? Then again, I suppose that they're sending a message to all hackers. Microsoft will buy off your friends, and at least one of them will sell you out. That, and Microsoft is scared of you. [Yahoo via BBG]

Microsoft Doubles Reward For Teen That Ran Away After His Parents Pilfered His 360

Sean Fallon — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EDT

A word of caution to parents: taking away you child's beloved gadget as a form of punishment may seem like tough love, but it can backfire in a big way. Consider the case of a 15-year old Canadian teenager that ran away from home after his parents took away his Call of Duty 4 gaming privileges. The child has been missing since October 13th and Microsoft has decided to double the current reward of C$25,000 ($19,400) for any information that leads to his return.

Microsoft may also be handing over information about who he might have been playing with online before the incident. I know we are talking about a 15-year old kid here, but I'm sure this will spark some debate about whether or not gaming addiction is a problem that should be taken seriously. [Reuters]

TiVo Rewards Program Ending May 28th

Haroon Malik — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:00:00 EST

TiVo is officially saying bye-bye to their rewards scheme, and any unused points must be spent by May 28, this year. To get the reward points blowout well underway, TiVo has added a few extra choices to the scheme, including a My DVR Expander drive, (28500 points); TiVo Rewards Entertainment Package (120,00 points) and a TiVo Rewards Ultimate Entertainment Package (150,000 points.) The entertainment packages will both offer TiVo HD with lifetime service and a TiVo Wireless Adapter, whilst the Ultimate package will come with a My DVR Expander drive, too. UPDATE: Looks like Dave at Zats Not Funny broke this story initially. Hit the link for his post.

TiVo Lovers, the blog responsible for breaking this story, has said a replacement rewards network is in the pipelines. It sure makes sense, and we would be totally bummed if there wasn't something in the works to commend our undying loyalty. We want rewards, dammit. [Zats Not Funny;TiVo Lovers via TiVoBlog]

Confirmed: Microsoft To Reward Zune Song Sharing

Jason Chen — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 18:01:26 EST

When we last left off, the consensus was that Microsoft was still planning on rewarding song sharing with the Zune. Now we've got pretty much confirmation—unofficial, that is—that Microsoft is planning this feature.

At a conference in Seattle this past Saturday, both J Allard and Christina Calio, both from the Zune team, talked about implementing such a system. The Zune team plans to reward people with Microsoft Marketplace Points, the same points you use on both Zune Marketplace and Xbox 360 Marketplace.

A reader commented last time that this looks very similar to Weedshare, and it seems like Microsoft seems intent on cloning Weedshare for their own song sharing and rewarding functionality. – Jason Chen

Thanks to the tipster!

Weedshare