There Is No Free Candy From The Apple Parade...

This is a continuation of a post I did on Facebook.  I felt this needed a bit more than I normally put on these things, so I reopened my blog to yell from the rooftops.  Now, this is not meant to be mean to FB Friends who have already 'shared' the link... actually, I should say thanks.  You alerted me to something to warn everyone about.  Apple is not giving away iPads in memory of Steve Jobs.

I'm sorry folks.  I think Steve Jobs was a great innovator, and re-creator.  He was able, with the help of his team at Apple Inc., to take things that were 'ok' like MP3 players and computers and make user-friendly devices that now we cannot seem to live without (AKA iPhone, and MacBooks).  He will be missed, and I for one wish I had the chance to meet him.  Hopefully, I would have had the boldness to ask about his eternal soul...

Now, to the soap-box du jour.  There are no free iPads, iPhones, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, etc. given away on Facebook, or by emailing everyone on your list.  Apple has a VERY strict policy governing giving away items like that.  They have to follow their own policies in this regard, too.  Even Rush Limbaugh (who I've personally heard give away about 50 iPads) has to PURCHASE the ones he gives away.

Okay, I did a quick Google Search of the site that was shared recently, and I'll break this down as simply as possible to explain what I found.

First, a little technology education: An IP address is a set of numbers you would type in if we didn't have these cool 'domain names' like "Google.com" or "Facebook.com".  They look like this:

209.85.255.255

That number is an actual IP address for Google.  Now, Google is so MASSIVE, they have 1,785 IP addresses, and when you type 'Google.com' you get sent to one of them.  Apple also has between 1500-2000 IP addresses pointing people to the right place when they type in 'apple.com' or 'iCloud.com', etc.
It would seem that major corporations have large groups of IP's, right?

So what did my Google Search tell me? Well, this 'my.ipadgiving.***' is at the same IP as: whoiskimkardashian.***, advocaredistributors.***, wheretofindjobsonline.***, emergencydentalnetwork.***,  Ipadlimit.***, hookingupsite.***, mycampingsupplies.***, and at least 17 other hosts! (None of which are owned by Apple Inc., BTW)
(oh, the *** is there because Blogger blocks the post when the URL is there because the site contains MALWARE!)



Sorry, folks.  There is an Apple Parade going on right now - The co-founder and former CEO is gone, and they're getting TONS of publicity.  The iPhone 4S sold 1 million units in about 4 hours.  But they are not throwing out any candy from this parade.  Now, if you happen to be close to where a new Apple Store is opening, get in line on opening day, and you'll get a t-shirt.  Get one for me too, okay?