tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18226259190455798092024-02-02T04:37:50.526-03:00H8 Usernames, Love Other StuffA blog of my views and opinions forced upon the world!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-36516541414967556782013-02-14T14:30:00.000-02:002013-02-14T14:30:03.840-02:00All businesses should have a blog?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kpM1t6Bq7io/URUu-EptlaI/AAAAAAAAAlc/3kFz4cG7p-g/s1600/blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kpM1t6Bq7io/URUu-EptlaI/AAAAAAAAAlc/3kFz4cG7p-g/s1600/blog.jpg" height="160" width="320" /></a></div> Blogs are great business tools and over the past few years I have regularly heard people telling me that "all businesses should have a blog". Now from a marketing point of view, yes all businesses should have a blog IF the blog owner/administrator can update it regularly.<br /> <br /> Blogs have a number of roles in marketing from SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to making the author a subject matter expert but for any of this to work the blog must be updated regularly.<br /> <br /> I have used the word regularly twice and as it is a key concept I had better define not only the word but what I mean by <i>"</i>regular".<br /> <br /> <i>Regular, adverb: </i>occurring at fixed or prearranged intervals: <i>to make a regular call on a customer - Collins Dictionary</i><br /> <br /> Now that we have an appropriate definition lets elaborate on what regular should be in the world of blogging.<br /> <br /> For SEO purposes you want the blog to be updated every week or so, this ensures that the search engines see new content regularly.<br /> <br /> To make yourself an expert in your area the content is more important than the frequency, an update every 2 weeks or so is acceptable as long as it is regular and high quality content.<br /> <br /> So what do I recommend? 1 or 2 articles per week<i> </i><span id="hotword">covers all of the basis.</span><br /> <br /> <span id="hotword">As I said, it is easier said than done so what are some effective ways to execute this?&nbsp;</span><br /> <ol> <li><span id="hotword">Set time aside and put it in your calendar</span></li> <li><span id="hotword">Write a number of generic posts (around 10-15 normally covers most people) that are not time sensitive and keep them up your sleeve for when you don't have the time, for when you're travelling or for when you're on holiday - <i>do not use these because you cannot be bothered</i></span><span id="hotword"><i>&nbsp;</i></span></li> </ol> <span id="hotword">There are enough abandoned blogs out there as it is so if you cannot post regularly</span><span id="hotword"> then don't bother, if you can then a blog can be a highly valuable marketing tool.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-88284873526100569872013-02-11T11:30:00.000-02:002013-02-11T11:30:02.420-02:00Trust & contracts for start-ups<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QcoP9Fl_UdM/URUqFcj-JsI/AAAAAAAAAlM/PkQnvZY0r9g/s1600/contract.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QcoP9Fl_UdM/URUqFcj-JsI/AAAAAAAAAlM/PkQnvZY0r9g/s320/contract.jpg" height="232" width="320" /></a></div> From time to time I consult to some small start-ups about various aspects to business, greatly this is quite general.<br /> <br /> A start-up that I have been doing some consultancy with recently has run into a pretty big problem with dealing the always difficult subject of trust &amp; contracts.<br /> <br /> This particular start-up is now only 6-months old, it is a free local magazine in São Paulo. It has done most of it's deals for the first issue on a trust basis and many of the advertisers have signed on with a deal that gives the first ad for free if they commit to 3 paid ads. The cost of the ads then step up over the next 3-month period.<br /> <br /> One piece of advise that I gave is to get some form of written agreement before delivering anything. Unfortunately due to the&nbsp;bureaucratic&nbsp;aspects of setting up a legal company in Brazil this company has jumped the gun slightly releasing the first issue under the founders personal name so all agreements are with her and there are no original signatures or documents showing full terms and agreements, just the basic offer and acceptance.<br /> <br /> One established company run by a local TV chef who does food related events, as part of the deal arranged an event at the owners home to get photos and stage a mini-event using children that goes to school with her son for use in the magazines next issue. All legal aspects for this were covered including the releases for using the photos in the magazine. What was not specified however, basically as there was no contract in place, was the scope of use of the images.<br /> <br /> Everything was arranged by and paid for by the owner of the magazine, including the photographer who is under contract by the owner of the magazine. The chef being aware of this and also being aware that this is part of the deal for that specific magazine then asked the photographer to send some of the images to him directly, the photographer made the mistake of not clearing this with the owner and then doing what was requested of her.<br /> The chef then tried striking a deal to use the image at no charge for other marketing material including a competitive publication. To this the photographer responded it was fine by her but she needed approval from my client as the photos were taken and paid for by her. It was a good for the photographer to consider this however it also caused a big problem, who do the images actually belong to and how can they be used?<br /> <br /> A contract would have addressed all of these aspects however as there was no actual contract in place between the magazine and the chef, it became a war that the magazine&nbsp;eventually&nbsp;lost as there were no limitations to the use of the images.<br /> <br /> This lack of contractual agreement has seen the magazine go through some tough times, when the magazine tried to put a contract in place with all clients none agreed to sign it and just ignored the requests. This is because the clients never had one and didn't see the importance in the same way as the magazine.<br /> <br /> So what you should learn from this is simple, if you are delivering a service never ever do it without something signed that goes over the basic aspects of the agreement. Get it checked by a lawyer. Finally, no matter how much you want to trust a client at their word - don't. It pains me to say that but ask yourself 1 thing, "if these things are not in writing, how badly can I get burned and how difficult will it be to get back up?" - especially if you're a start-up.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-25545325790878307762013-02-08T22:47:00.002-02:002013-02-08T22:47:49.286-02:00Why I hate usernames<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGIN4rBhc5o9h3Xl1osAuYX-mLi-zQniQ6vBJOtlTq0k45eMV_Ff_v4HFip9hVkljRxoc4aZOCZlhefrDN301b1ttnpuv8Xx-jO6Yp08qJSlSwjnyKYVKVLS6daCiUiE_aWr0lIIx3F8k/s1600/ratboy2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGIN4rBhc5o9h3Xl1osAuYX-mLi-zQniQ6vBJOtlTq0k45eMV_Ff_v4HFip9hVkljRxoc4aZOCZlhefrDN301b1ttnpuv8Xx-jO6Yp08qJSlSwjnyKYVKVLS6daCiUiE_aWr0lIIx3F8k/s320/ratboy2.png" width="320" /></a></div> I just received an email from a new reader of this blog who asked a very obvious question that I never talked about, "why do you h8 usernames?", well I will tell you why now!<br /> <br /> There aren't many things in the world that I dislike to the degree that I will tell you that I hate it but usernames on websites are one of them and I have 2 points of view, one from a website user and one as a developer.<br /> <h4> Website user</h4> <div> As a website user I find it difficult to get a username that I actually like, lets face it, the usernames that I want are all gone years ago. I got online in the late 1990's and even then most usernames were gone leaving me at the time with "YodaTheGoat". I recall my preference at that time clearly, "ratboy" as first I liked rats and secondly there was an episode of "The Simpsons" where Homer calls Bart "ratboy" as he gnaws on the door frame.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Then there are the generators, if I have no inspiration and choose something like "ryanp" it is likely gone so the generator suggests something like "ryanp1982", now how early 2000's is that?!&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Finally there is having a different username with each website you use, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, the list goes on! The problem being most people get them mixed up from time-to-time leading me to the scream out "why on earth did you not simply use email addresses for a login?!".&nbsp;</div> <h4> Website developer</h4> <div> When I develop websites I look at things differently. There is an argument for usernames but I just don't buy them. The predominant one that I hear is "if someone like a spammer or hacker knows your email address then they are just 1 step closer to knowing your login".&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> As most large online companies, like Facebook and Microsoft to name 2, think closer to myself than the username fanatics they developed simple methods for managing the risks like comparing what country/state you are normally logging in from to where you actually are then if the check fails enough then the site temporarily stops you from logging in until you can confirm some personal information to satisfy the site you are who you say you are.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> In addition there is the simple yet annoying development of adding the username to the database and website processing. Then the generators and other hassles that come with usernames that simply don't exist with email address logins.&nbsp;</div> <h4> Summary</h4> <div> Yes plenty of people will disagree with me but this isn't about why they like usernames, more so why I h8usernames&nbsp;</div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-56050923382834612652013-02-08T14:27:00.002-02:002013-02-08T14:28:11.495-02:00Social Marketing, not just for the "kool kids"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yYlxqaKMUIM/URUnVgkHkzI/AAAAAAAAAlE/2bRAN21lo0s/s1600/word-of-mouth-marketing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yYlxqaKMUIM/URUnVgkHkzI/AAAAAAAAAlE/2bRAN21lo0s/s320/word-of-mouth-marketing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> With the growing popularity of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and now Google+ (Google Plus) companies for some time now have jumped on the social band-waggon to promote and peddle, but how much actually goes into social marketing?<br /> <br /> Almost every website I can think of now has a share or like button for the various social networks with business owners expecting their visitors to glibly click these buttons marketing the company, service and/or product for them however any good social marketing professional will tell you this is not the case.<br /> <br /> Recently I was speaking to a Sales Executive and his boss the business owner who mentioned they didn't think that their product was right for social marketing due to the demographic they target, decision makers in the international security sector. One of their US based Sales Representatives did set up a Facebook page for the company expecting the masses to find it just with it's creation, however this was not the case.<br /> <br /> What I found with a couple of simple questions was simple, they created a new promotional product, being the Facebook page but they failed to understand that it is a product so it was not promoted, e.g. nobody within the company talked about it or "liked" the page, this meant that it is virtually impossible for anyone else to find the page. This made the 2 executives believe that social marketing is wrong for the company.<br /> <br /> The reality can be found in my Facebook friends list where there are business owners, CEOs, CTOs, consultants, property developers and architects. All of these people are potential decision makers in what security solutions to use and guess what, they are all friends (actually mostly family) of mine, people I actually know and know quite well, on Facebook to the&nbsp;surprise&nbsp;of these 2 executives.<br /> <br /> Where I acknowledge my friends list is unique in the variety of people from around the world I know, someone has to know them and this is where the social "network" part comes in. Lets think about how a social network actually works for a minute. I know you and add you as a friend, you in turn do the same with people you know. Many of your friends will look to you as an expert in your field, even if you don't see yourself this way. Then when I "like" or "share" something and you see me as an expert in my area you are more likely to look at the content and either "like" the item yourself or "share" it within your social network, those people that look at you as an expert are then more likely to look at what you "like" or "share" and do the same, this becomes a never ending cycle and the message gets out at time making the item "viral".<br /> <br /> The concept comes back to the traditional word-of-mouth and recommendation business model. For example,you speak to an insurance agent who provides you the cover you want and represents value to you, he then says "hey Bill, you heard of me from Joe and I have helped you right?", you say "yes you have helped me James", the insurance agent then says "well Bill, who do you know that may also need help?", because you see value in what James the insurance agent has done for you, you then give him the names of 5 or so people you know, plus you may even help James by making contact with those 5 friends first telling them James will give them a call. Because your friends respect you they are then going to listen to James - an INSURANCE SALES PERSON.<br /> <br /> <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=h8uselovothst-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=bpl&amp;asins=1412956471&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;m=amazon&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;bc1=000000&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>So before you discount social marketing for your business make sure you speak to someone that may know better, that may be another business owner, a marketing person, a social marketing specialist or someone like me that understands a little more about business and marketing than expected.<br /> <br /> Use your networks, that may be social, professional or even spiritual but don't let them go to waste.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-30322596613881256882012-08-22T03:02:00.001-03:002013-02-08T22:13:35.409-02:00Getting business results from Facebook<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UvaLXGGr-EY/URWUoFyi36I/AAAAAAAAAls/EGxEuU4fKrw/s1600/Facebook-Business.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UvaLXGGr-EY/URWUoFyi36I/AAAAAAAAAls/EGxEuU4fKrw/s1600/Facebook-Business.png" /></a></div> A while ago I wrote a blog post called "<a href="http://h8usernames.blogspot.com/2011/07/invasion-of-social-networks.html" target="_blank">Invasion of the Social Networks</a>" that briefly describes the most popular social networks on the internet currently. In that post I mentioned companies using Facebook by creating pages or user profiles for the company, today I want to give a few tips on using Facebook effectively as a company.<br /> <br /> Below you will find a few basic tips on using Facebook successfully for a business, these are not by any means complete but they give a good foundation to growing your business with Facebook.<br /> <h2> Pages or Profiles?</h2> First you need to understand the difference between a Facebook page and a Facebook profile.<br /> <br /> <b>A Facebook profile</b> is for a real person, someone that has friends in the real world that can be interacted with.<br /> <br /> <b>A Facebook page</b>&nbsp;is for an entity that is not a real person, for example a company, band or brand. This entity doesn't have friends.<br /> <br /> I know of many companies who&nbsp;consciously&nbsp;choose to use a Facebook profile for their entity and they run the real risk of having the profile deleted as it is not correct usage of a Facebook profile. Others set up a dedicated "administration" profile not really owned by a real person but only used to administer pages, again this is not correct usage of a Facebook profile so it runs the risk of being deleted.<br /> <br /> The correct way to set up Facebook for your entity is to have an account as a real person then create the page, you can then add other administrators who can update the page. The world cannot identify who the real person is who is updating the Facebook profile as when an administrator posts they can post as the page rather than their real identity.<br /> <h2> Expectations</h2> <div> There are "do's" and "don'ts" when it comes to expectations with a Facebook page, a few of the main ones are below:&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <ol> <li>Don't expect your page to get people "Liking" it and making you lots of money because you put up a page</li> <li>Don't expect that your existing customers will automatically "Like" your page</li> <li>Don't expect to instantly get all the statistics you want from having a page</li> <li>Don't expect to get a direct revenue stream from your page</li> <li>Don't expect things to automatically or magically happen</li> <li>Do expect to need to include your social marketing (including a Facebook page) in your marketing plan</li> <li>Do expect to have to work to get "Likes"&nbsp;</li> <li>Do expect to dedicate time and effort in your page</li> <li>Do expect people to hide your posts on their news feeds</li> <li>Do expect (eventually) for people to post negative feedback on your page</li> </ol> </div> <h2> Likes</h2> <div> Time after time people who set up Facebook pages first get employees of the company and their friends to "Like" their page but what does this really do?&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> First we need to understand what liking a page actually is. The term "Like" is not really the most appropriate as the function it plays isn't just displaying to the world that you "Like" the page, the function in reality is a subscription to receive updates from that page on your news feed. Users often hide information from pages, especially when it holds little value to the user.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> So when you ask employees, friends and families to "Like" a page you're asking them to subscribe to the content the page pushes out to the world. These people more often than not do not hold high values on the content from your page unless they are really invested in it. What this does do quickly is get enough people "Liking" the page to get insights, it also means that when you publish content you have an instant audience to share and "Like" the items to promote your business to their friends.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> What you really want to do however is encourage people that will value your content to "Like" your page, you do this by inviting them to "Like" your page as often as possible and publishing valuable content.&nbsp;</div> <h2> Updates</h2> <div> The number 1 problem I see with Facebook pages (or profiles created for a company) is that they simply are not updated.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Many people expect creating a page for their business will get automatic traffic and this is not the case. Just like with any other marketing activity it needs to be managed, you don't put an ad on the radio then when it gets no results do nothing, you change the ad so it gets your desired results.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> You can update your Facebook page with a variety of information, posts can be pictures, videos, polls, links, events or milestones. In addition to all of this you can also add notes that are like a blog post.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Doing at least 1 update per working day will quickly see the pages timeline filled, this will in turn be pushed out to the news feeds of people who have "Liked" your page, hopefully they will appreciate your content and either "Like" or "share" the content that will then promote your business on their friends news feeds, their friends will hopefully do the same and this is when content has the potential to become viral.&nbsp;</div> <h2> Good practices</h2> <div> Add your Facebook page to all of your visual marketing, tell people that you're there, you do it with your website (or you should) so why not with Facebook too?&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Mix up the types of posts you put up, do some pictures, some text and once you have a strong following chuck in a poll each month too!&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Liven up your posts, humor gets the best results even when what you want to say may be boring.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Respond to people who post on your page ASAP, they expect it the same way they expect it with email.&nbsp;</div> <h2> Bad practices&nbsp;</h2> <div> Recently, well actually it has been going on for years but it has become more popular recently, is to have a competition on Facebook that requires the entrant to "Like" and/or "share" your page and/or competition post. This will get more "Likes", in fact some companies get hundreds and even thousands of people clicking that "Like" button but they aren't clicking it because they really "Like" your page, they are doing it for free stuff. This becomes the&nbsp;equivalent&nbsp;of "spam" in the social networking world and it gets REALLY annoying. You will likely loose many of your new people who have "Liked" the page soon after the competition ends.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Posting uninteresting content. Even if you're page focuses on business-to-business interactions there are people reading your updates, don't post things that are boring. Sure, send&nbsp;relevant&nbsp;updates but it is important to make them interesting or they will land on "deaf ears" so to speak. Spice up your posts a little, send out the updates as if you are telling people. An example is your terms and conditions have changed, there isn't much more boring than this, so instead of posting "Our T&amp;Cs have changed, to view the new ones go to www.some-site.com/terms" say something like "Our blood sucking lawyers have warn us down and we need to change our terms, you can check them out at www.my-site.com/terms and please do it before the lawyers suck out all of our blood!". You can also find an image to post with the information to get even more attention.&nbsp;</div> <h2> My conclusion&nbsp;</h2> <div> Facebook can be a valuable marketing tool but if you expect overnight results you need to come down to earth first. You may have the coolest start-up since Facebook itself but it doesn't mean you will get instant success on Facebook.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Just like saving a little each day adds up to a lot in a year, doing a little each day also adds up to a lot in a year.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> At first it is discouraging to see slow growth but it is rewarding when you start getting new "Likes" on a regular basis, anyone can do it but persistence is key here.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Finally, you don't need a "Social Media Manager" for a small business and "Search Engine Gurus" aren't gurus on search engines let alone social networks, just do the basics, get a few admins to share the&nbsp;responsibilities&nbsp;and go for it.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Good luck out there!&nbsp;</div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-46806327339879128882012-08-08T20:45:00.000-03:002013-02-08T22:16:05.996-02:00TechCrunch: the business, like it or loath it<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SwI_ROgqcKM/URWVNSIOJRI/AAAAAAAAAl0/kQ-rv_pgYxw/s1600/techcrunch.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SwI_ROgqcKM/URWVNSIOJRI/AAAAAAAAAl0/kQ-rv_pgYxw/s1600/techcrunch.png" /></a></div> I have been reading <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/">TechCrunch </a>for a little over a year now and have noticed a significant change in the popular tech blogging site lately as many others have noticed. What I'm starting to get annoyed at are the comments coming through on the articles that are not only harsh but often abusive.<br /> <br /> Yes, TechCrunch has changed significantly, I have gone from visiting 2-3 times per day to visiting 2-3 time per week when an interesting article pops up on my Facebook wall or Twitter feed, this shows the decline in quality of the items on the site.<br /> <br /> What I believe many who frequent the site don't understand is many of the articles and items are put up for promotional purposes, to get people talking more to get more visitors that will lead to more page views. This post is a product of this as designed by the folks who now run TechCrunch and I am sure they are expecting a number of posts.<br /> <br /> First a little background to fill in some blanks. TechCrunch is known as one of the primary tech news and start-up news blogs on the internet, they grew from a small blogging site to now being part of the AOL family. Between then and now they moved into event organisation with events such as "TechCrunch Disrupt".<br /> <br /> So think about it, you post how "this is a useless article" or how you "have never wasted so much time on TC before" that you post to Facebook because you don't uncheck the checkbox for posting to Facebook and you have just promoted their site to all of your "friends". Your friends want to see what it is about so they click on the comment and guess what, another TechCrunch user appears.<br /> <br /> An herein lies the power of social even when the content you're specifically talking about may not be good, the user starts looking at another post and before you know it they find some value in the site.<br /> <br /> So when you're going to knock something publicly think about what effect you want, as long as you promote them for free they won't stop publishing content that has little value.<br /> <br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-72908856849758516482012-07-27T21:47:00.000-03:002013-02-08T22:17:52.318-02:00Is the internet ready for innovative simplicity?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--O0C8ABQQtQ/URWVqUcCp0I/AAAAAAAAAl8/IDvVnmOTv40/s1600/simplicity_innovation-scaled1000.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--O0C8ABQQtQ/URWVqUcCp0I/AAAAAAAAAl8/IDvVnmOTv40/s320/simplicity_innovation-scaled1000.png" width="316" /></a></div> Recently I have been building a platform to simplify all sorts of internal functions focusing on communications, lets call it "project X" for the purpose of this blog entry. In the last few days while finishing another unrelated project, I have found I'm liking that design more and more. Then when I looked at my project X interface last night I felt extremely underwhelmed. The project X interface is nice but was missing something and this got me to thinking again about design as a whole, from a place where my ideas of simplicity don't exist.<br /> <br /> Most people that know me already know that I have been on a crusade for the last 12-years to simplify websites and the way we work by taking away as much crap as possible while still allowing the application do what it is designed to do - without losing information at the same time. This is a lot of work to do with all sorts of techniques required to work out what exactly a tool has and what more a tool needs.<br /> <br /> Lets take for example a sign up form. So many websites ask for a huge amount of information from you so you can use a "free" service.&nbsp;<span style="background-color: white;">This easily turns people away from the service and this is where open ID style login's come into play, for example you see the Facebook Connect and Google login buttons everywhere. These allow people to give the information without having to type it all in but often people don't read what they are giving and why it's being asked for.</span><br /> <br /> This brings me back to the crap. In this day, why do you need to provide so much information when signing up for web services? Just look at what is needed to create your Google account:<br /> <ol> <li>First name</li> <li>Last name</li> <li>Chose username</li> <li>Password</li> <li>Confirm password</li> <li>Birthday month</li> <li>Birthday day</li> <li>Birthday year</li> <li>Gender</li> <li>Mobile phone number</li> <li>Existing email address</li> <li>CAPTCHA code</li> <li>Country</li> <li>Agree to terms</li> <li>Permission to use info for +1's and make Google more money</li> </ol> <div> <b>15 separate fields.</b> This could be massively simplified in the initial step:</div> <div> <ol> <li><span style="background-color: white;">Name</span></li> <li><span style="background-color: white;">Email address</span></li> <li><span style="background-color: white;">Password</span></li> <li><span style="background-color: white;">Confirm password</span></li> <li><span style="background-color: white;">Agree to terms</span></li> <li><span style="background-color: white;">Maybe CAPTCHA</span></li> </ol> <div> Don't have an email address? Instead provide a username and get a free GMail account.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Of course other Google services do need more information, for example Google Wallet, AdWords, etc but for a standard free Google account? Additional information can be collected on an as-needed basis. Now I am actually a fan of Google in general, I know I rag on them a bit but this is due to a very high bar they set for themselves and with their position online they need to be kept in check from time to time.<br /> <br /> So last night, I started looking at other tools online that I use, GMail, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Dropbox to name just a few and realized, by taking away all the crap I don't have as much to display. A version I did have around 6-months ago had a fair amount more crap but was visually stimulating, you felt excited.<br /> <br /> Now I found this interesting, is it the interface design itself? Partly. The itself is in-line with competative products on the market, it is nice and in my opinion, innovative but I deliberately left it lacking color. The lack of color takes away from the emotion but as this is an enterprise tool I'm working on, we want people to focus on what they are doing rather than how the tool looks and their emotions. But if nobody feels excited and engaged, regardless of how good the tool is it who will use it? So I added some color, made it a little more lively.<br /> <br /> Then I looked at it again, better but it's still underwhelming. I think about the features that is held in this tool and it's exciting what you can do but... when looking at it, even with color, I am not excited about it.<br /> <br /> I looked at a few competitive products, they look engaging, fun, innovative and exciting but there is the crap I got rid of that results in the tool working better, faster and easier however, it's underwhelming.<br /> <br /> <span style="background-color: white;">So I started asking if it is the tool itself? Is it that I have spent so much time my perception is now that of feeling underwhelmed? I gave a quick sales brief to some friends, each of them seemed excited to see the new product but when I showed the design around and the&nbsp;consensus&nbsp;was the same, it sounds like a great tool we would love to use but it's kinda boring to look at, along with this I had an onslaught of "but it doesn't do this!" to which I responded every time "actually it does", or, "does it have this feature?" and again every time I responded with "yep". After letting a few people lose on it they commented how easy it is, how much time it saves, how feature rich it is but it is at the same time boring.&nbsp;</span><br /> <span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white;">This brings me back to the question I have today, is the internet ready for simplicity or to stay alive do we need this crap that seems to engage us? Do we feel that we get more value when we have to provide more information?&nbsp;</span><br /> <span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white;">For me right, I'm going back to the drawing board to try and innovate more, design better and make it feel more alive.&nbsp;</span><br /> <span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white;">This experience has given me the opinion that we are so used to so much stuff on a page, we are so used to giving out sensitive information in a sign-up that when something comes along and challenges this we feel uncomfortable, it doesn't do everything that it actually does do, we don't feel we get the full value because it looks "really basic" regardless of saving lots of time and even though the amount of work that has gone into creating it is easily 3-4 times what would go into a "normal"&nbsp;application&nbsp;that is in market already.&nbsp;</span><br /> <span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white;">So what do you think? Are we ready? Is the internet ready for innovative simplicity?&nbsp;</span></div> </div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-78275598151006584202012-07-09T20:23:00.001-03:002013-02-08T22:19:15.889-02:00Those annoying terms and conditions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XimdDwMk4ZE/URWV-bH-KLI/AAAAAAAAAmE/EAm1mC9RAbA/s1600/tac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XimdDwMk4ZE/URWV-bH-KLI/AAAAAAAAAmE/EAm1mC9RAbA/s320/tac.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> Over the past few days we have found ourselves in an argument over a service that we decided to start using but we made a big mistake, we did not read the services terms and conditions before agreeing to them.<br /> <br /> We have appeared to have come out on top in this instance but this was only because the terms and conditions are unfair and I have some background in contracts law but more about this soon.<br /> <br /> We found a great service, we looked at some of their samples, tried with dummy content and really like the service so of course we decided to proceed. We uploaded a real sample of our content that was to be published and were so happy we decided to "like" the companies Facebook page where we made a startling discovery, they assume all ownership over all IP rights, content, images, etc that is uploaded to the service.<br /> <br /> We weighed in on the post and emailed the company regarding this matter as we do not have ownership over much content we are uploading, we have non-exclusive and non-transferable rights over much of the content. We requested that should they not be able to waive this term or alter it by private agreement that they give us 5-days to remove the content and find an alternative solution, we also requested in this case in good faith (a legal term meaning they are doing it with good intentions and not bad) they do not enforce this term as we provided notice we must withdraw our agreement to those terms and void the contract.<br /> <br /> Within an hour or so after the email was sent, we logged into the account and the content was gone, this &nbsp;sent us into a bit of a spin as I'm sure you can imagine - especially as we had already integrated the content to a live website! What I then found was they had not actually removed the content, it appears it was just un-linked from the account or something of this nature as the integration was still delivering the content. We went to their Facebook page with a warning, no name calling, just the facts Jack.<br /> <br /> Today we had a reply going over a number of aspects. They advised us there is a misunderstanding and they do not in fact own the content so I responded with the specific clause and definitions required to understand it correctly asking them to explain how that doesn't mean they assume full ownership over the content. The next email said that it was not their intention to own the content but only to protect themselves, it is&nbsp;indisputable&nbsp;what the term meant and this was&nbsp;conceded advising us that they will be updating their terms and conditions to reflect this.<br /> They also told us they did not remove any content, I logged back into the account and the content re-appeared, the company has claimed that I probably logged in with a different login method, e.g. a Facebook account that has the same email address as they are not connected, pretty stupid really if they cannot connect an email address with a Facebook account.<br /> <br /> Personally I believe the intention was not to take content and then use it in a less than ethical way, but another part of the section says they can use it offline in anyway they wish including cups and t-shirts. Now this is really pushing it don't you think? As I said, I personally believe them and I believe they have not updated their terms in a number of years to reflect the current state of business.<br /> <br /> In addition, they have advised us that these terms are not unknown in the delivery of such a service siting YouTube terms and conditions that I then reviewed with no mention of any such clause, the current YouTube terms were updated in 2010.<br /> <br /> So where it appears a we have won this battle against legal IP theft by business the war is still on.<br /> <br /> My advise to all is no matter how horrible the task may be, check those terms and conditions, make sure you can agree to them and if not talk to the company, explain the situation and what you would like to do. Create a private agreement because after all, because it is a web service it does not mean the terms and conditions are the be all and end all, plenty of businesses have different terms for different customers and online services are no different. Terms and conditions are only in place when a private agreement is not reached and a service is being used.<br /> <br /> You are going to be a lot more bored but a lot better off by doing this 1 simple task. Good luck!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-3099933540396202412012-07-09T01:26:00.001-03:002013-02-08T22:27:16.491-02:00What is good enough in business?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VXKww5tp0b8/URWX2aXjcNI/AAAAAAAAAmM/WWqSslB8_n4/s1600/To-Do-List.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VXKww5tp0b8/URWX2aXjcNI/AAAAAAAAAmM/WWqSslB8_n4/s320/To-Do-List.png" width="320" /></a></div> How is it that business get found? How is it that money flows from one country to another? We would feel pretty silly if we said anything other than "the internet" in this day of age.<br /> <br /> The fact is now days it is how most business is done regardless if by email, online store or even the good old traditional telephone, the internet is likely in there somewhere allowing us to all communicate, negotiate and pay.<br /> <br /> But how is it we get found these days? In the sea of websites, Twitter mentions, Facebook pages and search results how is it we actually get found?<br /> <br /> It isn't good enough to have a great website. It isn't good enough to have a vision. It isn't enough to have a world class product. It isn't good enough to have the best people. It isn't good enough to be loyal. It isn't good enough to be dedicated. It isn't good enough to be hard working. It isn't good enough to have reasonable pricing. It isn't good enough to be innovative. It isn't good enough to have great friends &amp; family. It isn't even good enough to be a great person running a great business.<br /> <br /> The truth is there is no sure fire answer, nothing magical will just allow something to happen. You just need to get out there and do what you do everyday to get ahead.&nbsp;<span style="background-color: white;">On a regular basis I have to remind myself of a quote I have heard periodically since I was around 18 to stop myself going insane, "overnight success takes 10 years".&nbsp;</span><br /> <br /> But I find myself asking a simple question, if all of that isn't good enough any longer then what is? I wish I had the answer to this question or I would be sitting in one of my mansions in a tropical paradise writing a very different article right now, but I do like to think a combination of everything that isn't good enough together in a single entity is what is good enough.<br /> <br /> Having a great website, a total vision, a world class product, the best people, being loyal, dedicated, hardworking, have reasonable pricing, be innovative, have great friends &amp; family and to be a great person running a great business.<br /> <br /> Of all of the personal characters I listed I like to think I possess them, after 12 years now I am still pushing along trying to make things work. Trying to re-design the internet so to speak.<br /> <br /> The moral of this story is to not stop, day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, year-to-year and decade-to-decade keep going, business people are referred to as sharks and we all know or should know what happens to a shark when it stops, it sinks to the bottom of the ocean dying never to be seen again. So take the title of shark to heart, take it as a sign of honor from those who have stopped and sunk, from those who are envious and jealous, be a shark, keep going and gobble up what you can on the way.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-90320746839885502312012-04-05T11:02:00.001-03:002012-04-05T11:02:48.533-03:00Google Glasses, the reality<a href="http://www.google.com/">Google </a>has announced a new project called "<a href="http://g.co/projectglass">Glass</a>", basically a smart phone built into a pair of&nbsp;eye wear&nbsp;is how I see it.<br /> <br /> There are many great aspects to this as <a href="http://youtu.be/9c6W4CCU9M4">Google shows in their video</a>, but as I see it there are also many down sides after watching a YouTube video about just a couple of the minor mistakes a person can make while wearing the glasses.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/t3TAOYXT840?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div> <br /> <br /> Let's start with the lens aspect, you need to wear corrective lenses for day-to-day life, or you just cannot see so you get a pair of prescription Google glasses, I assume they will be&nbsp;available. This means you are always wearing your cellphone.<br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Driving</b></span><br /> Now wearing your new prescription smart phone you get into the car to go to work when a call comes in obscuring your vision of the road just as you come to a bend in the road. You don't see the bend so you go across the on-coming lanes and if you make it past all the cars coming towards you there is a tree.<br /> <br /> In many countries it is illegal to have an LCD monitor in the front part of the car, if the driver can see it, well it is illegal - so will legislature change to ban smart phone glasses? But I have a prescription for them! A big no-win situation here.<br /> <br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>The new girl at work</b></span><br /> <div> A new girl starts working with you, you tell the wife/girlfriend that she's not that pretty. You're discussing a matter with the girl when the wife/girlfriend makes a video call and sees the new girl - oh boy! Now you're in trouble!&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Taking out clients</b></span><br /> <div> You call your wife to tell her that you will be home late as some VIP clients from out of town have come in and it's part of your job to entertain them.</div> <div> After dinner the filthy old men want to see the local nightlife, they ask to go to a strip bar that is out of character for you but they are VIPs. An hour later at midnight the wife makes a video call to say good night just as you're staring at a pair of perky early 20-something year old knockers - now this cannot be good!&nbsp;</div> <br /> <span style="font-size: large;">Mistaken identity&nbsp;</span><br /> <div> You're travelling for work and decided to show your wife the beautiful sunset, as you're both admiring the view on a video call a voice says "hey baby! I missed you soooo much!", of course the wife hears that too and in a fury demands a divorce and hangs up in a hurry to pack and go to her mothers before you can turn around to show her that it is a girl talking to the guy on the other end of the park bench who was waiting for his girlfriend.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>The other person</b></span><br /> <div> The wife is updating you with the latest art your child created at school, along with your child proudly presenting it to you. Out of nowhere, the hot new girl at work that your wife thinks isn't hot darts in-front of you and gives you a kiss telling you how much she missed you - bloody hell!&nbsp;</div> </div> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Planning a job</b></span><br /> <div> With your prescription glasses on the table, you're working with a group of "seedy" people to get something that doesn't belong to you, someone says "so the first step is to make sure there is no way they <b>record video </b>of what we're doing" activating the camera that records every word and image of the plan.&nbsp;</div> <h2> <br /></h2> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Doing the job</b></span><br /> <div> At the job someone says before you go in someone says, "Bob, make sure they don't <b>record video</b>&nbsp;by spraying the lenses first", well again you're not wearing the glasses because you're all getting dressed so you don't know they camera started recording and doesn't stop until the job is over.&nbsp;</div> <h2> <br /></h2> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>After the fact</b></span><br /> <div> The cops get a lead and start asking some questions about the job. They talk to you and ask to have a look at the glasses, "yeah no problem, take them!" you say thinking there is nothing incriminating.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The cops download the data with your permission and get the faces of everyone while the job is being planned and carried out! 14 years later when you get out of jail.&nbsp;</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Ok, they are all a little out there but gives you something to think about!&nbsp;</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-89648728863296988592011-12-16T19:16:00.000-02:002011-12-16T19:16:29.207-02:00Windows Azure pricing fail!<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/s2vdn5iuU74?fs=1" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" width="459"></iframe><br />Microsoft has been known for some pretty unscrupulous behavior in the past but this is taking the cake! I don't believe the tech giant really could be this silly but it is Microsoft after all.<br /><br />Windows Azure allows companies to build applications on a high-availability platform using technologies such as Apache Hadoop, unusual that it isn't built purely on Microsofts Windows Server platform.<br /><br />With "cloud" networks becoming more popular with developers it is a step that to stay as a major player in the tech game Microsoft had to take to compete with companies like Amazon who's web services are seen as many to be the "cream of the crop".<br /><br />Only time will tell how successful they will be but for now this is an epic failure on Microsofts part. I apologize for the bad audio!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-28847431483607767412011-11-03T11:21:00.002-02:002011-11-03T11:27:52.085-02:00Google, where's the love?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tjjtbEia6iQ/TrKTh0xWxkI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/B2RadGpK57A/s1600/google-is-evil1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tjjtbEia6iQ/TrKTh0xWxkI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/B2RadGpK57A/s200/google-is-evil1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> I always thought Googles motto is "don't be evil", I didn't realize it changed recently to "show no love". <a href="http://www.google.com/">Google </a>yet again broke my heart today when I logged into <a href="http://www.gmail.com/">GMail </a>after 24 hours of hearing about <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/gmails-new-look.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMKuf+%28Official+Google+Blog%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher">the new interface</a> on <a href="http://plus.google.com/">Google+</a>, how friends and other have it,&nbsp;just to not have it myself.<br /> <br /> As many of you who know me are aware, I'm an early adopter of technology. For years I have been the first to try things out, talk about them and give my opinion.<br /> <br /> You will also realize that I don't just complain to friends and family like most people in this world, I take the time to complain and comment to the company. The reason I do this is to give the company the opportunity to respond before I turn people off the product or service.<br /> <br /> For years I have used <a href="http://www.google.com/about/">Google services</a>, I remember when I moved from Hotmail to GMail people would ask me for my email address, so I would give them my_address@gmail.com only to get the response "G what?", yes, that is how long I have had my GMail account for.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BTKd3jH2Oy0/TrKU6gldwiI/AAAAAAAAAhA/ltG6kqEJLQ8/s1600/appslogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BTKd3jH2Oy0/TrKU6gldwiI/AAAAAAAAAhA/ltG6kqEJLQ8/s200/appslogo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> Then the second I found out <a href="http://www.google.com/apps">Google Apps</a> was out, guess what my business started using Google Apps, in fact I requested Google Apps (business GMail more or less) for years.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K53yGIWFzRE/TrKU5R6oAhI/AAAAAAAAAgo/OsF5cd0npmg/s1600/adwords+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="83" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K53yGIWFzRE/TrKU5R6oAhI/AAAAAAAAAgo/OsF5cd0npmg/s200/adwords+logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> <a href="http://adwords.google.com/">AdWords</a> I used for years, I even used it when I was getting no return.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T_FSdcGle_8/TrKU5JgmllI/AAAAAAAAAgg/-Hox8avjNJY/s1600/adsense+logo" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="73" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T_FSdcGle_8/TrKU5JgmllI/AAAAAAAAAgg/-Hox8avjNJY/s200/adsense+logo" width="200" /></a></div> I even used <a href="http://www.google.com/adsense">AdSense</a>, even with no return at all, maybe US$0.01 in 2 years it still runs on some of my sites today where I could be making a profit but no I have been supporting Google.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LlUt97f9OpY/TrKU5sLvSrI/AAAAAAAAAgw/qLtv9G8TuM4/s1600/analytics+logo" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="76" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LlUt97f9OpY/TrKU5sLvSrI/AAAAAAAAAgw/qLtv9G8TuM4/s200/analytics+logo" width="200" /></a></div> <a href="http://analytics.google.com/">Google Analytics</a> has been used with all of my websites for years and years and years, even when I could see the data wasn't right I didn't discard Google, I just put in place other tools to verify.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lzDVaeRU2so/TrKU7EVClBI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/jGonbooRz58/s1600/google+plus+logo" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lzDVaeRU2so/TrKU7EVClBI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/jGonbooRz58/s200/google+plus+logo" width="200" /></a></div> Recently Google+ opened and guess what... I have a Google+ account.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KWHFmhZOM8A/TrKU6wleL-I/AAAAAAAAAhI/TuyPnhOQQpI/s1600/chrome+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KWHFmhZOM8A/TrKU6wleL-I/AAAAAAAAAhI/TuyPnhOQQpI/s200/chrome+logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> What is my main web browser? <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome">Google Chrome</a> (that I'm writing this blog with now).<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k1T1FFuS9h0/TrKWzO3C6LI/AAAAAAAAAhY/4v7TpngiBHA/s1600/blogger+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k1T1FFuS9h0/TrKWzO3C6LI/AAAAAAAAAhY/4v7TpngiBHA/s200/blogger+logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> Have I written this blog on WordPress? No, <a href="http://h8usernames.blogspot.com/">Google Blogspot</a> with <a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Google Blogger</a>.<br /> <br /> What really annoys me, I mean REALLY annoys me is I am stable in the tech world, I have written under a range of pen names that contractually I cannot disclose, I have run IT companies, I have preformed a range of trust based roles, I consult to multi-national organizations from time to time on business and technology, but I seem to be the last to get any updates from Google.<br /> <br /> I had 50 invitations to Google+ in private beta but did I get them? No, because they were at capacity and they didn't even allow those with invitations to join.<br /> <br /> The GMail interface is updated as of yesterday but I cannot see it.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qiHQ4xod3vw/TrKTiyh828I/AAAAAAAAAgY/qi3eNf8tCzA/s1600/tina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qiHQ4xod3vw/TrKTiyh828I/AAAAAAAAAgY/qi3eNf8tCzA/s200/tina.jpg" width="149" /></a></div> I'm really getting tired of being the last in the known universe to get the latest from Google after supporting them in excess of 10 years. Seriously, the amount of crap I have taken from Google just to ask for more, why? Because I generally like the products, they have free versions of some things and I like the idea of Google. But would you continue to love a partner who abuses you? Tina didn't, so why should I?<br /> <br /> Google, I ask you, where is the love???<br /> <br /> After all that... I feel stoooooopid for putting up with Google for so long, supporting a company that doesn't want to just give me a taste of being special.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-16649205538534910022011-10-05T19:29:00.001-03:002013-02-08T22:31:41.506-02:00Facebook, oh boy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hOr0mH0ufpA/URWY4RcTZPI/AAAAAAAAAmU/P3KomKocZ_g/s1600/10366543-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hOr0mH0ufpA/URWY4RcTZPI/AAAAAAAAAmU/P3KomKocZ_g/s320/10366543-large.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> With the latest update of the Facebook UI problems have been created for all sorts of people and now I'm affected by it.<br /> <br /> My biggest problem is I didn't see an important update in my wall from a friend because Facebook decided it wasn't important or of interest to me. You know what, everything Facebook thinks will interest me doesn't! &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <br /> <br /> Well, can't complain much now, will come back and rant a little more about it tomorrow!<br /> <br /> OK, tomorrow came and went, now it is the day after.<br /> <br /> So most of us are upset with Facebook over the most recent changes, the "timeline" and other such things.<br /> <br /> What is the point in these changes? Control, Facebook are trying to control the content so they can maximize their advertising revenue. They are already a powerhouse in personal data a privacy violation, something we have all accepted but now this latest update is starting to push me over the edge.<br /> <br /> I won't be cancelling my account but I use Facebook around half of what I used to - each day I use it less and less, I am now more engaged in Twitter and LinkedIn not to mention with Google+ opening up to the world I have started to have a play with that.<br /> <br /> The truth is Facebook with it's US$2-billion annual revenue and massive commercial value won't go away, even if their active user base halves, it also likely won't impact their revenues that much either, in fact they may become more profitable with half the users and 20% lower revenues.<br /> <br /> Oh yeah, that real-time ticker sucks the big one too... with 500 or so friends it goes to fast to really pay attention 24/7 - what a useless gadget that is huh!<br /> <br /> What are your thoughts? Leave your comments below.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-6130589833399191102011-07-29T11:03:00.000-03:002011-07-29T11:03:59.331-03:00Invasion of the Social Networks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dCi3SbhaOGQ/TjK6Ji1gL8I/AAAAAAAAAfE/l-LaRo2KKWE/s1600/social-media-mix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dCi3SbhaOGQ/TjK6Ji1gL8I/AAAAAAAAAfE/l-LaRo2KKWE/s200/social-media-mix.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>By now we should all be familiar with the term "Social Network", we have all heard about Twitter and Facebook with their massive successes but what is a Social Network and what else is out there and why use it? <br /> <br /> Recently I came across a few companies that offer to register your business identity on a huge range of social networking websites in order to protect your brand and its value on that network, I was stunned when I read that they support up to 500 social networks, then I looked at their list and most I noticed were some form of social network.<br /> <br /> So the options...<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rnXtCRPFmz0/TjK6j4YKaiI/AAAAAAAAAfI/YY9vMS-oKDo/s1600/Facebook-email.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rnXtCRPFmz0/TjK6j4YKaiI/AAAAAAAAAfI/YY9vMS-oKDo/s200/Facebook-email.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b>FaceBook</b><br /> Facebook I would say is the worlds largest and most used social network with over 750-million users. It is targeted to personal users primarily however many companies do create users and identities on Facebook using Facebook Pages and standard profiles.<br /> <br /> <br /> As of the past few years companies have been jumping on the Facebook bandwagon with Facebook Pages and social marketing. Where some companies have had some success most find their Facebook social marketing results are pretty appalling, similar to the results companies see from advertising on Facebook.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5KZP_OEfJ6E/TjK7Xt0UXII/AAAAAAAAAfM/p1-lP1OuVvE/s1600/twitter-traffic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5KZP_OEfJ6E/TjK7Xt0UXII/AAAAAAAAAfM/p1-lP1OuVvE/s200/twitter-traffic.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b>Twitter</b><br /> Twitter is an unusual animal as people either tend to love or hate it.<br /> Twitter started in companies, team members sharing information with the world. It is seen as a 'mini-blog' more than anything however officially categorised as a social network.<br /> <br /> Twitter has an abismal retention rate of around 40% of users, this means that 60% of you who signed up a Twitter account has used it momentarily and then abandoned the account either by not logging in again or by deleting it.<br /> <br /> Twitter is seen as one of the easier social marketing platforms in getting people to follow you, in saying that Twitter is focused now on news updates via its network and commercialisation of the content.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7UjE6u6M-ME/TjK7o-Gt7sI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/2N6hruyGHZo/s1600/linkedin-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7UjE6u6M-ME/TjK7o-Gt7sI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/2N6hruyGHZo/s200/linkedin-logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b>LinkedIn</b><br /> LinkedIn is a social network for professionals. Many people will sign up account but not know how to take advantage of LinkedIn as many people appear to be scared to post and for good reason.<br /> <b> </b>As LinkedIn is a professional network people tend to link with others that have the potential to make or break your professional career or business.<br /> <br /> LinkedIn has a definite job focus and tries to focus results on the profile of the user, however after quickly looking at my results I only found 3 jobs out of about 200 that were actually suitable.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-twHXTqI5zXk/TjK8KU-ACOI/AAAAAAAAAfU/oDqFaMixbcA/s1600/123700-1-google.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-twHXTqI5zXk/TjK8KU-ACOI/AAAAAAAAAfU/oDqFaMixbcA/s200/123700-1-google.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b>Google+ (Google Plus)</b><br /> The latest social networking attempt of Google after Orkut and Google Buzz is currently being tested by a small group (around 20-million) of IT professionals, reporters and other influencers.&nbsp;<b>&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> Google+ looks to be the closest direct competitor to Facebook with a number of very valuable additional tools that Google are leveraging via it's search engine that other companies will not be able to compete with.<br /> <br /> For now if you're interested there isn't much you can do to get your own Google+ account, just register your email address and when Google feel like letting more people in they will let users know. Even people who are invited to Google+ currently cannot sign-up for the service. <br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AOzGIQRMU-k/TjK8_eHt_HI/AAAAAAAAAfY/AO76ePeQZn8/s1600/8317823-businessman-drawing-social-network-business-concept.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AOzGIQRMU-k/TjK8_eHt_HI/AAAAAAAAAfY/AO76ePeQZn8/s1600/8317823-businessman-drawing-social-network-business-concept.jpg" /></a></div><b>The Others</b><br /> There are a mass of other social networks like MySpace, FourSquare, Hi5 and Friendster that have their own place but either are dying or never really took off to the extent of the big players above.<br /> <br /> <br /> <b><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=h8uselovothst-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=bpl&amp;asins=1430225963&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;m=amazon&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;bc1=000000&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>What one to choose?&nbsp;</b><br /> My advice is to see where your friends are and think about what you want from your social network then chose 1 or 2.<br /> <br /> Multiple social networks are a pain in the butt and keeping them up to date can be next to impossible. There are social networking update services however I'm to find 1 that really works well and allows you to really interact with your networks.<br /> <br /> So until someone creates the ultimate social network update and interaction tool my advice is to stick to 1 or 2, unlike me!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-12779569549308988512011-06-28T22:40:00.000-03:002011-06-28T22:40:57.007-03:00Software as a What?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vy__yvTkypk/TgCkaJnZvdI/AAAAAAAAAec/MnZF9RAI7_U/s1600/saas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vy__yvTkypk/TgCkaJnZvdI/AAAAAAAAAec/MnZF9RAI7_U/s200/saas.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I just talked about the Cloud in my last post and thought I would dive into the Software as a Service side of things as it was a big part of the article but with little explanation. <br /> <br /> Software as a Service (or SaaS) is not so much of a "buzz" word as "Cloud" but still there is some confusion around it. <br /> <br /> <b>So to start with what is SaaS?</b><br /> Simply put, it is software supplied to you on a service basis (duh), so this means no downloading software, no system updates, no upgrading to the next version, no worrying about does the application have permissions to get through your internet security suite.<br /> <br /> One huge benefit for many users of the software is instead of paying a large upfront amount to purchase the software you will pay a smaller amount each month or year for the license to use it, in return you (should) get full support and the software or application for use without the hassles associated with software distributed via download or CD.<br /> Plus, many SaaS providers give free versions of their software, just like Google does with Google Apps. <br /> <br /> A question I have heard asked a bit is "is SaaS the same as the Cloud?", it is commonly seen that it is the Cloud, but the fact is SaaS utilises the Cloud technologies to distribute the software providing a high availability service. <br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k75Lpaum0gY/TgClrHrnKsI/AAAAAAAAAek/0_NW-3oZVi0/s1600/erp-saasbenefits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="88" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k75Lpaum0gY/TgClrHrnKsI/AAAAAAAAAek/0_NW-3oZVi0/s320/erp-saasbenefits.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b>So now we know what SaaS is, what are the benefits?</b><br /> Generally speaking, you get support when you need it and unrestricted usage of the software while you're paying for it. Many people and companies however do not see this as the main benefit, one of the big benefits is that you don't need to give the whole purchase price up-front, just the first month in advance, so instead of say US$500 today, you may only need US$30 today. This can help a company improve immediate cash flow when talking about 100's of licenses at hundreds of dollars each to purchase or maybe US$50 per user per year.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fc0N0SSa374/TgCl9rszAMI/AAAAAAAAAeo/CL3v_Ns-46A/s1600/saasmoney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fc0N0SSa374/TgCl9rszAMI/AAAAAAAAAeo/CL3v_Ns-46A/s1600/saasmoney.jpg" /></a></div><b>But won't you pay more in the long run?</b><br /> If you continue to use a SaaS software application ongoing then yes, you <u>could</u> spend more at the end of the day. But think about your office suite, when you need to upgrade from say 2007 to 2010 versions you need to pay for a new license as the software has changed, so that could have been US$300 in 2007 and then another US$280 today meaning you have spent US$580 in 4 years, that is US$145 per year.<br /> If you're the only person using it and you only need basic functionality, Google Docs or Microsoft Windows Live SkyDrive could save you this entire amount as they are both free. But if you want the full Google Apps paid for version (no difference in the Docs application), for the single user you will spend US$200 over the 3 years saving you US$380.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-slonc2JdE-g/TgCmS193I6I/AAAAAAAAAes/dPvLsifn8j8/s1600/computer-lock2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-slonc2JdE-g/TgCmS193I6I/AAAAAAAAAes/dPvLsifn8j8/s200/computer-lock2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b>Now I know some great benefits, what are the risks?</b><br /> Well the first one is the risk your SaaS provider goes out of business. It is a highly&nbsp;competitive&nbsp;market out there and it is not only hard but expensive to attract new customers. For&nbsp;example, some companies, most&nbsp;publicly, Telstra in Australia, invest greatly in customer retention as it is dramatically cheaper than customer acquisition.<br /> <i>And what if my SaaS provider goes out of business? </i>If they haven't made plans for another company to take over the service the application and your data could be gone over night without warning. This is the biggest risk.<br /> <br /> Another risk is as many of these applications use a lot of internet traffic you may not have enough from your internet provider, not very likely these days but if you have an old plan, generally you should look at upgrading before using SaaS seriously.<br /> <br /> The final risk is the scammers, they are always looking for a quick buck and the SaaS market is looking a little vulnerable so take care when selecting a provider, check references when you can and get an online demo to make sure the application works before you give your information.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> <b>So what should you do to make sure you will be safe? </b><br /> Use a company with some history, get recommendations, get a demo (either with a person or online) and ask questions like what is the companies financial status? Some companies won't like this question, when they refuse to answer it is often best to find an alternative.<br /> Recommendations from friends, family, colleagues and other people you know, as well as searching the companies online can often give you much more information for you to make an informed decision. If the company has a forum check to see how many customers have complaints and what the company is doing to keep the customer.<br /> Once you have a feel for the company, you will need to use your best judgement.<br /> <br /> <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=h8uselovothst-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=bpl&amp;asins=1921573139&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;m=amazon&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;bc1=000000&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>So at the end of the day, the SaaS model means greatly you will save money and providers will have a regular cash flow making their business more viable. It also means more&nbsp;convenient&nbsp;computing giving you and your business more money in your pocket today.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-48166677132042760242011-06-21T10:23:00.001-03:002011-06-28T22:25:54.456-03:00The Cloud: Explained<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iJGLVRF2l7g/TgCZ1KitEII/AAAAAAAAAeM/RBYxxOUzHKo/s1600/Cloud-Computing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iJGLVRF2l7g/TgCZ1KitEII/AAAAAAAAAeM/RBYxxOUzHKo/s200/Cloud-Computing.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The internet has been part of most peoples every day life since the late 1990's, it was a revolution in communication with email and IRC (chat rooms)/Instant Messaging and email. Then a few years ago a new word was being passed around "Cloud" and has become a massive buzz word with a lot of hype around it, but what is the cloud really?<br /> <br /> "The Cloud" as it is commonly referred to is simply information and applications that are housed on internet based servers. Nothing too special when you think about the basic concept right? After all, one way or another we have been using "the Cloud" for almost 15 years now, so what is different?<br /> <br /> The real difference is the way the networks are being operated, giving a very reliable and stable infrastructure to house almost anything you can think of.&nbsp; The Cloud is being used to store applications that we wouldn't have dreamed of 15 years ago also, with online technology now being more or less as functional as desktop technology there is no longer any real limits to what can be achieved. <br /> <br /> <br /> Companies whose core activities are online have started to realize the real value of the internet with rich applications such as Google Apps or Apple's MobileMe (soon they have iCloud coming). Companies like Cisco are also targeting the Cloud solution providers with improved hardware to make it more viable to give you a reliable service.&nbsp;Delivery of Cloud applications are also becoming much more viable than distributed software that you would install on your computer, no need to provide CDs or work out how to run licensing systems to make sure users have actually paid for their software, just the account is active or not.<br /> <br /> With Cloud based applications, consumer and business users alike are also starting to see benefits with not having to install a lot of software on their systems and maintain multiple applications with updates and other such things. In most cases all you need is the web browser that comes with your operating system like Internet Explorer on Windows, Safari on Mac or FireFox with most Linux distributions.<br /> <br /> Now we have a basic and very high level view of what the cloud looks like, lets see what some companies behind "Cloud" applications are doing.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K0O1hRV6ThM/TgCaI_1od5I/AAAAAAAAAeQ/H6wGgBWX1UA/s1600/Google-cloud-computing-centre-india.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K0O1hRV6ThM/TgCaI_1od5I/AAAAAAAAAeQ/H6wGgBWX1UA/s200/Google-cloud-computing-centre-india.jpg" width="195" /></a></div>First we have Google with their Google Apps suite. The Google philosophy is to house the application and data online, this gives a complete service but the downside is you cannot really do much if your internet connection goes down or if it is bad in the first place.<br /> Google apps basically takes your office and communication suite then puts it online. When you include your favourite Google services like Blogger/BlogSpot for example and you have a huge range of cloud applications to service a very wide variety of people. The way Google distribute their applications is referred to as Software as a Service. <br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n4v04r-20So/TgCaX_u2Q4I/AAAAAAAAAeU/S_3_xAgpOUg/s1600/apple-icloud-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n4v04r-20So/TgCaX_u2Q4I/AAAAAAAAAeU/S_3_xAgpOUg/s200/apple-icloud-logo.png" width="200" /></a></div>Apple are about to release their iCloud solution. The Apple philosophy is not to provide the application and data online but just to help you store and synchronise&nbsp; your data (more or less). This means you can have a remote back up online and if your internet connection is bad or goes down you still have a local copy to work with.<br /> Apples MobileMe application allows synchronisation of data between multiple Apple devices meaning you can easily have the same information on your iPhone, iPod Touch, MacBook and Mac desktop computers. The downside is if you have an iPhone, Windows notebook and Linux desktop, iCloud and MobileMe are not much use to you as a Cloud service.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s7dlXi8mZF4/TgCa-j403AI/AAAAAAAAAeY/WPl_AeIdNAw/s1600/windows-live.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s7dlXi8mZF4/TgCa-j403AI/AAAAAAAAAeY/WPl_AeIdNAw/s200/windows-live.jpg" width="199" /></a></div>Then there are other companies doing other things, for example Microsoft, they are taking much the same approach as Google, providing the application and data online, in saying that they also make the data more available for you to download and edit locally on your computer.<br /> Windows Live combined with Office Online (or SkyDrive - they cannot seem to decide what name to go with) gives you much the same as Google Apps, and before you purists out there say anything, yes you can use Windows Live for your business email providing it is already hosted somewhere else, for example with your web host or on Google Apps.<br /> <br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><b>So where are things going?</b></span><br /> Apple with iCloud are making your information more available to use on your Apple device, Google have announced a computer operating system for PC's that will house the entire application online in the Cloud (more or less) and Microsoft have a few cloud benefits coming in Windows 8 but I am inclined to say they haven't really decided where to go with it but in the meantime are creating online versions of much of their software. Just watch the Windows 8 space.<br /> <br /> As a set of technologies providing a solution, there is still a long way for the Cloud to grow but it is growing fast.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=h8uselovothst-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=bpl&amp;asins=0470484705&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;m=amazon&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;bc1=000000&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Then the small cloud computing companies are building their websites in a way for you to use them as you would use an application on your computer or through your internal network.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> So at the end of the day the cloud is open, it is a buzz word but the technology and solutions seem to be here to stay... for better or worse.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-30562609725672067992011-06-08T09:01:00.001-03:002011-06-08T09:05:50.699-03:00Internet Explorer 9: a new war<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v0-aprYE35E/Te9gCmqmlRI/AAAAAAAAAd8/fVFtlmLLvHA/s1600/browser-war.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v0-aprYE35E/Te9gCmqmlRI/AAAAAAAAAd8/fVFtlmLLvHA/s200/browser-war.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Over the past few years we have grown to not expect much from <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/ie">Microsoft's Internet Explorer</a>&nbsp;(here after referred to as IE) releases, they have greatly been pretty blah.<br /> <br /> Yesterday I was needing to test a new website in IE so went from my beloved <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu Linux</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome">Google Chrome</a> installation into the dreaded <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows">Windows</a>. Once in Windows a new series of upgrades were available so I did these and then entered IE to be shocked with the new IE9 browser that downloaded with the upgrade.<br /> So why was I shocked? I was looking at something that was just as (if not more) visually stunning as my beloved Google Chrome than what I grew to be disappointed with from Microsoft.<br /> <br /> I then went and had a look at the <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/products/ie-9/compare-browsers">Microsoft IE9 website&nbsp;browser comparison page</a>&nbsp;and thought, of course Microsoft will market their browser to look better at "point of sale" so didn't pay much attention to it, I still read it.<br /> <br /> The next thing I did is went to the website I had been building, I knew it wasn't going to work properly because I have grown to accept that it is ok for websites to look different in 1 browser to another - especially IE.<br /> <br /> My jaw dropped at what happened next, the page loaded about twice as fast as Google Chrome that by my experience is faster than Firefox 4. On top of that the website looked like I was viewing it in Chrome! It looked how it was intended to! MY GOD, Microsoft not only got it right but they have done it better than Google, a miracle. Looking again at the comparison page they were telling the truth and they were more than fair to their 2 major competitors. Is this a new Microsoft?<br /> <br /> This tells me that Microsoft has seen their market share in the browser world drop from the massive 98% just 5-6 years ago to about 48% today. They started listening to web developers and users and are now delivering a product for the people, not a product for the sake of being a product. I see this as Microsoft standing up and declaring war with IE9 vs Chrome &amp; Firefox looking to favor IE9!<br /> <br /> Microsoft have introduced CSS3 support (not complete but a fantastic start) as well as support for HTML5 that they are adding more support for new features every 6-weeks or so. Right now HTML5 Video and Audio is supported meaning all major browsers now support this and CSS3 (generally).<br /> <br /> I have always been critical of Microsoft, with all the money they make but the often sub-standard products they produce with a few exceptions like their <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/office">Office Suite</a>.<br /> <br /> I have been using Chrome for about 2 years now, before that Firefox for about 6 years and then IE for 2 before it, if I was still a Windows user I would have been converted to IE9 as my browser of choice.<br /> <br /> <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=h8uselovothst-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=bpl&amp;asins=B002I0HJRM&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;m=amazon&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;bc1=000000&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>So I aplaude Microsoft for finally getting it right after so many years of poor development of the IE product, all they need to do now is get it onto Linux (Debian package first please!) and Mac, afterall they distribute other software for other platforms!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-75838073741678243722011-05-12T12:59:00.000-03:002011-05-13T17:26:47.747-03:00Social Networks and your photos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BgpFD5t-u2Y/TcwNQu9_yaI/AAAAAAAAAdM/xVvFp-59R_Y/s1600/network-security-risks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BgpFD5t-u2Y/TcwNQu9_yaI/AAAAAAAAAdM/xVvFp-59R_Y/s200/network-security-risks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>For some time now most people have been using social network services such as <a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://www.orkut.com/">Orkut</a> for sharing their photos and over the past few years 1 topic keeps coming up, how secure are your photos.<br /> <br /> <b><br /> </b><br /> <b>Why Worry?</b><br /> This concern is greatly limited to parents and people doing the wrong thing.<br /> <br /> Parental concerns are usually around people taking images for&nbsp;pedophilia&nbsp;material, I have a 2 year old and this is&nbsp;definitely&nbsp;a concern for me. I don't want my sons image in that type of material because it does reflect on me as a parent even though I didn't put the image there.<br /> <br /> There is 1 security concern that nobody tends to look at because it is remote but, you know the old saying that a picture is worth 1,000 words? How many words does it take to say "I go to blah bar every Friday night and get totally wasted"? There are still have 988 words left to tell you the best way to get to me.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o_Cy9LusTPY/TcwMjIkbMhI/AAAAAAAAAdI/t02X4-MIXSA/s1600/identity-theft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o_Cy9LusTPY/TcwMjIkbMhI/AAAAAAAAAdI/t02X4-MIXSA/s200/identity-theft.jpg" width="200" /></a><b>The Real Threat</b><br /> For the vast majority of people however there is no real threat providing you're doing the right thing and only giving access to your private pictures and information to people you trust.<br /> <br /> Yes pictures can be stolen and accounts can be "hacked" or "cracked" but it is unlikely and is usually a random act rather than targeted - this is not the real threat however.<br /> <br /> The real threat is identity theft, this can cause just as much if not at times more damage than photos getting&nbsp;stolen&nbsp;by the wrong person. For example, your credit record can be affected or your possessions can be "legally" taken by someone pretending to be you. Some countries such as New Zealand and Australia consider that a person is identified with just 3 pieces of commonly available information, name, date of birth and address.<br /> <br /> An additional real threat that I have experienced myself is people using your social network information that is open to contact friends and family threatening legal action and trying to break down relationships.<br /> The person was able to use information I had on Facebook to sound like she knows me and&nbsp;substantiate&nbsp;what she was saying. Luckily for me everyone contacted came to me and told them, this was then handled by a number of abuse reports to Facebook and changing my security options to "friends of friends" to access my profile and associated information.<br /> <br /> We live in a digital era and no system is perfect, with constant developments there will always be new ways to do bad things and new ways to fight against them.<br /> <br /> <b>Useful Tips</b><br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><ol><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DiaZ8xcRc4Y/TcwNgz4aoAI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/chUiB9mTxME/s1600/useful-tips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DiaZ8xcRc4Y/TcwNgz4aoAI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/chUiB9mTxME/s200/useful-tips.jpg" width="198" /></a> <li>Don't put identifiable information onto your social network(s) when not needed<br /> </li> <li>Look for security and encryption on the website in the address bar<br /> Note: this will only protect your data during the transmission of data as many social network sites make your information&nbsp;available&nbsp;over secure and insecure internet connections<br /> </li> <li>Use security applications such as SMS login approvals where available<br /> </li> <li>Restrict settings so only people you trust or friends of people you trust can access your profile information<br /> </li> <li>Only post images that you're happy to appear openly online, keep private images off the social networks<br /> </li> <li>Only accept people that you know as friends, there is nothing wrong with saying "sorry, I don't know you" or "sorry, I don't remember where we met?" even when they are a mutual friend<br /> </li> <li>Use a strong password, normally defined as longer than 8&nbsp;characters, at least 1 uppercase character, a mix of numbers and letters and that is not personal to you</li> </ol><br /> <b>At the end of the day</b><br /> <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=h8uselovothst-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=bpl&amp;asins=1587058863&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;m=amazon&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;bc1=000000&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>We can live in fear of what may happen or we can live for now, enjoy our families, take appropriate care and use a bit of common sense.<br /> <br /> There are plenty of social network and internet security tools out there to assist you in staying safe so use them combined with common senseUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822625919045579809.post-81945139770697501462011-05-10T13:03:00.000-03:002011-05-10T13:10:30.309-03:00Microsoft Acquires Skype<span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XAUqEvpM4FQ/Tclim8XEe9I/AAAAAAAAAcU/4LQIIzyQXIg/s1600/skype-dead.jpg" /></span><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/">Microsoft</a> today announced that they have purchased leading <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voip">VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)</a> provider <a href="http://www.skype.com/">Skype</a> for $8.5 billion.<br /> <br /> At a time like this there is a song that comes to mind, REM put it best when they sing "<i>it's the end of the world as we know it</i>".<br /> <br /> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Microsoft War on Everything</span></b><br /> Microsoft are fighting a number of battles currently,&nbsp;Skype has been a competitor against Microsoft in the Instant Messaging (IM) and real-time contact game for some time now. Microsoft's Live Messenger just has not been able to compete with the audio and video capabilities of Skype so naturally in typical Microsoft style they purchase Skype. Many Windows Live Messenger users will still use the <a href="http://www.live.com/">Windows Live platform</a> for IM only but have converted to Skype for audio and video calling hitting Microsoft hard.<br /> <br /> Then their is&nbsp;their fiercest competitor being <a href="http://www.apple.com/">Apple</a> with the iPhone, iPad, desktops and laptops. Specifically the iPhone and iPad is seeing Apple sell at record levels of mobile devices as well as notebooks and desktop computers as users prefer a unified computing and communications experience.<br /> <br /> Then there is the console war with <a href="http://www.sony.com/">Sony</a> being their biggest rival in this area. The PS3 is greatly seen as the best computing console in the world with Microsofts Xbox Kinect a close second.<br /> <br /> Then there is the war with <a href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a> over not only search engines but also advertising revenue, mobile device operating systems, desktop software and shortly desktop operating systems<br /> <br /> By offering Skype natively on these platforms Microsoft will win a large number of unified users and sell more products as VoIP communications become part of our everyday life.<br /> <br /> Microsoft insists that they will continue to provide services to cross-platform users such as Mac OS and Linux. Lets be fair, Microsoft does have a&nbsp;history&nbsp;of making their industry standard software available across the major&nbsp;competitive&nbsp;platform being the Mac OS, the example that comes to mind is Microsoft Office. At the same time, I fail to recall any Microsoft release on Linux leading me to conclude that this is a dark day for Linux users across the globe.<br /> <br /> The question I have is will Microsoft see this as a way to sell more Microsoft products and win customers over to the Windows, XBOX and Windows Mobile platforms by stopping cross-platform support in the short to mid terms? I think this is Microsoft's end plan.<br /> <br /> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">So what does the future hold for Skype?&nbsp;</span></b><br /> There are 3 things I can see happening next.<br /> <br /> 1) Skype ceases to be a cost effective alternative to traditional telecommunications as Microsoft increase the price for calling and subscriptions to end users or<br /> <br /> 2) Skype will be merged with Windows Live Messenger creating what is likely to be the worlds largest online community providing massive additional revenue in its own right via advertising and other revenue generation that will come out such as Skype paid services, or the most likely scenario is<br /> <br /> 3) A combination of 1 and 2 above, Skype is merged with Windows Live Messenger, prices go up and Microsoft's advertising revenue grows massively generating billions in added revenue<br /> <br /> I do think that Microsoft will continue free Skype to Skype calling because they have this model currently in the Windows Live Messenger platform.<br /> <br /> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">At the end of the day</span></b><br /> The deal is yet to be&nbsp;finalized&nbsp;with regulatory approvals to be given later in the year so watch this space.<br /> <br /> All I can really say at the end of the day is lets hope that Microsoft takes this acquisition and makes me wrong!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0