* * * * * * *

THE ESSENTIAL DAUGHTER and NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO author Mary Collins’s AMERICAN IDLE: A Journey Through Our Sedentary Culture, explores the subtle and systemic issues behind the physical, social and moral consequences of our sedentary lives – and how to offset them. Capital Books.

Read the Smithsonian article, "Are Americans Stuck to Their Cubicles?"

Read the feature story in the Hartford Courant.

Listen to the NPR interview and call-in with Mary Collins on AMERICAN IDLE:"Are you sitting down?".

Watch the Fox video.

“Getting everyone to be more physically active is—in theory—one of the simplest ways to improve our nation’s health, but accomplishing that is a conundrum. Mary Collins has thought about this problem in ways that few have and offers insights that might help solve it.”
--Tom Farley, director of the Partnership for an Active Community Environment (PACE), Tulane University

* * * * * * *

ZERO DAY THREAT: The Shocking Truth of How Banks and Credit Bureaus Help Cyber Crooks Steal Your Money and Identity, by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Byron Acohido and USA Today tech reporter Jon Swartz. A nonfiction techno-thriller that examines the world of cyber crime and online identity theft as practiced by cells of elite hackers and organized crime groups. ZERO DAY THREAT reveals the risks faced by the average person, and the complex underlying forces that assure cyber crime will continue to expand. Published by Union Square Press/ Sterling.

Praise for ZERO DAY THREAT:

Read the USA Today review

"This is an important and major piece of investigative journalism that you ignore at your own peril."
-- James V. Grimaldi, 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner, Washington Post, and President of Investigative Reporters & Editors

"If you bank or manage your stocks online, you have to read this book. Cyberspace is making all sorts of things possible, unfortunately among them are fraud, theft, and espionage—all of which can directly impact you."
-- Richard A. Clarke, Counterterrorism Consultant and author, Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror;
Your Government Failed You: Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters

"Zero Day Threat tells the real stories behind computer crime headlines. Who really is behind these attacks? This book gives us a fascinating view into a world that you normally wouldn’t know anything about—and points us the way out."
-- Mikko Hypponen, Chief Research Officer, F-Secure Security Labs

"Rushing in to profit from online commerce and banking, financial institutions knowingly put our personal information and identities at risk. This is like the digital-age equivalent of tobacco companies making sure cigarettes have high enough addictive properties."
-- Mitchell Ashley, Security Consultant, The Converging Network

"Zero Day Threat reads like a juicy cyber thriller in the tradition of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. But it’s also An Inconvenient Truth for the digital age. Every great industry needs great reporters to hold leaders to higher standards, and that’s just what Acohido and Swartz are doing here."
-- Marc Benioff, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Salesforce.com

"Be afraid. Be very afraid of an accelerating wave of computer crime encouraged by lazy software and a blase attitude by the very institutions that should be guarding our electronic purses and profiles. That’s the message of Zero Day Threat."
-- Tom Abate, Tech Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

"When it comes to cyber crime, ignorance is not bliss. What you don’t know can hurt you. Zero Day Threat is an ambitious look at the breadth of the problem and the people who exploit the weaknesses of our financial systems."
-- Joe Simitian, California State Senator and author of California’s landmark data loss notification law

"A harrowing inside look at the brave new world of cybercrime and identity theft spawned by technology. Acohido and Swartz take us into the shadowy dens of the scammers and call their enablers to task."
-- Robert Weisman, Technology Writer, The Boston Globe

"If we’ve learned anything over the last few years, it’s that nothing about the breadth, complexity and pervasiveness of the cyber-crime world should surprise you, and that the problem is only getting worse. Acohido and Swartz bring to long form the same reporting and storytelling skills that have allowed them to boil-down such a massive issue into front-page news on a daily basis. Bravo!"
-- Matt Hines, Senior Writer, InfoWorld.com

"We madly rush our lives (and money!) on the Web, thoughtless to the ripoff artists and cyberthieves waiting for us there—or the financial bigshots who write them off as the cost of business. Kudos to Acohido and Swartz for a dazzling, essential expose."
-- Quentin Hardy, Silicon Valley Bureau Chief, Forbes

Read an excerpt in WIRED magazine from ZERO DAY THREAT