samsung S850 camera is not recognized by iphoto 6

Using a brand new USB cord from radio shack, the camera was not recognized in iphoto, image capture, finder or on the desktop (tiger). Does anyone think that the cord could be bad? The cord that came with the camera was not available, so the next step would be a card reader.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

I always use a card reader. They are not expensive and they use power from the computer without depleting the camera batteries. Perhaps you should try that route.