Google And Apple Finally Working To Solve Differences

It seems that Apple has been attacking Google indirectly by suing companies which are using the Android OS. The most recent case was the Apple v Samsung in which the verdict last week sided with Apple. It looks as if the Android OS is the intended target for Apple, but they have not gone after Google yet. And that may be the reason for reports (or rumors) of the 2 companies actually talking right now.

Much of the information is speculation and rumors with a little facts thrown it. But with all the lawsuits going on, these two need to figure out a way to resolve their differences and come to some sort of an agreement. The reports have Tim Cook and Larry Page talking about the patent disputes which relate to Apple and Google. This is based on an unnamed source about a phone conversation that the two had. While Apple has not directly sued Google, Google has gone after Apple based on patents they now own from the Motorola Mobility purchase. Apple is appealing a recent loss to Motorola Mobility in Washington.

All of this seems a little strange since Steve Jobs issued his willingness to have a thermonuclear war against Google. It seems that things are a little different at Apple now. The continuing lawsuits have to be costing the company a lot of money. And with Google now owning Motorola Mobility, they have a lot more leverage to protect themselves against Apple. And their recent suit against Apple is posing issues for Apple to defend. Though you never know where those things will end up. Just ask Samsung.

On the Motorola Mobility suit, it seems that Google was forced to file because of Apple's unwillingness to discuss licensing agreements. And that is more than likely an accurate statement. In the Apple v Samsung case, it came out that Samsung was trying to negotiate a licensing agreement and it never got very far. Seems that Apple may not be willing to sign licensing agreements. But that may now be changing and would help the entire industry if things could get resolved between Apple and Google.

While a possible settlement or agreement may be a long ways off, it does seem like a long shot. The current attitudes at Apple seem to indicate they are happy with the pot of money that they currently have and do not care about licensing agreements right now. That has been the trend there for a number of years. The only thing that will change that is a string of losses by Apple in various court cases here in the US and around the world. That might soften their attitudes and willingness to settle cases and obtain license agreements.

Given the growing smart phone markets, there is a lot of money involved. And there is a lot at stake with all the patents that each company has. In some respects this seems to look a little like a game of chicken to see who will be the first one to blink. Thus far, Apple has blinked the least. But, a threat by Samsung to sue Apple when the next iPhone comes out over LTE patents may start to change that. Thus far Apple's team of lawyers have been fairly successful. But if Samsung prevails in an LTE suit against Apple and possibly gets the iPhone 5 banned from sale, that could be huge. And it will force Apple to start taking licensing deals.

It seems that only mounting losses from lawsuits may be the only way to get these large companies to sit down and talk. What do you think?

Mobile Wallet Field Getting Very Crowded

More players being added as the year progresses.

We have seen how things were expected to be in full swing in the 4th quarter last year for the Mobile Wallet, but that never ended up happening. Some of that is more than likely due to a decision by Apple to not include the Near Field Communications (NFC) chip in the iPhone 4S. Apple moves markets and without that, things slowed down. And in reality. there is not enough smart phones here in the US equipped with NFC chips. You add to that the competition in the 4th quarter between Google’s Mobile Wallet and that of Isis. We all remember the basic refusal of Verizon to allow for Google Wallet to be installed on the Galaxy Nexus.

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Intuit GoPayment Generates Big Competition For Square

Mobile credit card processing competition is getting interesting.

Square has pretty much had the market to themselves in providing credit card handling and processing with their tiny devices which can be plugged into Apple iOS products or Android smart phones. And they have seen some big growth this year. But it appears that things are going to change now that Intuit has introduced their GoPayment unit along with credit card handling and processing. While this is not completely new, the fact that they are integrating it with QuickBooks is news. These two are much different than the expected NFC smart phone chips which use Point of Sale (POS) devices to process payments. Not of too much value if you are mobile in your business. The value Square and GoPayment provide is the ability for your business to be mobile and not be tied down by phone lines or large credit card readers. And this is the future for accepting credit card transactions for small business.

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Mobile Wallet Field Getting Very Crowded

More players being added as the year progresses.

We have seen how things were expected to be in full swing in the 4th quarter last year for the Mobile Wallet, but that never ended up happening. Some of that is more than likely due to a decision by Apple to not include the Near Field Communications (NFC) chip in the iPhone 4S. Apple moves markets and without that, things slowed down. And in reality. there is not enough smart phones here in the US equipped with NFC chips. You add to that the competition in the 4th quarter between Google's Mobile Wallet and that of Isis. We all remember the basic refusal of Verizon to allow for Google Wallet to be installed on the Galaxy Nexus.

I had talked about how the Mobile Wallet space was being fragmented and in the past few months, it appears to have gotten worse. We heard last week about retailers here in the US in what they are calling the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX). This is a series of retailers, including WalMart and Target, who are joining forces to create their own system for accepting payments and clearing them. Another new player in a growing market, long before the idea of the Mobile Wallet has taken hold.

I had thought that things would take longer to be adopted here in the US, but it looks like it is going to take even longer than expected. Much if this is because there is still a struggle for the dominate players in the market. There are rumors floating around that Apple is getting into the Mobile Wallet business through their Passbook app which just came out. That would create an even more crowded field.

Another recent addition is PayPal and Discover who are teaming up to provide Mobile Wallet services to retailers. Visa has been testing their POS devices for close to a year and is another player in this field which is getting more crowded. And there are others involved in trying to get their Mobile Wallet to be the one that leads the field, such as Isis. There are a lot of big names here and a lot of money being put behind all these various methods.

If the Mobile Wallet is going to take hold for this coming holiday season, there is going to have to be some standards established and agreements for what can be run on all the various smart phones. Each POS device can be handled by a different company to potentially handle the payments. The big issue is what is being run on the smart phones with the enabled NFC chips. If all these players cannot figure out a way to cooperate or a way to run multiple pieces of software to allow for having multiple Mobile Wallets so to speak, it is not going to happen this year.

Many are interested in seeing the Mobile Wallet come to be this year. Do you think it is going to happen in 2012?

Google Simplicity Gets Lost In Need To Sell Nexus 7

Google search page was clean and blank attracting millions until today.

Years back, the simplicity of the Google search screen is what moved so many from other search engines to Google. That is an obvious over simplification, but the openness of the screen was one of the great things about Google search. That is until today. You can clearly see that Google is now into sales promotion for their Galaxy Nexus 7 tablet and if you click on the tablet, it will take you to Google Play where you can purchase one for $199. Gone are the days of a clean interface promoting absolutely nothing. I moved from Yahoo search a long time ago because of the constant advertising and cluttered screens.

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Intuit GoPayment Generates Big Competition For Square

Mobile credit card processing competition is getting interesting.

Square has pretty much had the market to themselves in providing credit card handling and processing with their tiny devices which can be plugged into Apple iOS products or Android smart phones. And they have seen some big growth this year. But it appears that things are going to change now that Intuit has introduced their GoPayment unit along with credit card handling and processing. While this is not completely new, the fact that they are integrating it with QuickBooks is news. These two are much different than the expected NFC smart phone chips which use Point of Sale (POS) devices to process payments. Not of too much value if you are mobile in your business. The value Square and GoPayment provide is the ability for your business to be mobile and not be tied down by phone lines or large credit card readers. And this is the future for accepting credit card transactions for small business.

It was only a few months back, where we talked about the growth of Square. Square devices are something every small business should consider. And now there is Intuit's GoPayment device with Quickbooks integration which gives small business owners more choices on how to handle credit card payments. Especially if your business is mobile.

Reviews comparing Square and GoPayment are showing up and the decisions between the 2 services is not that simple. Obviously, your specific business needs will help you make a decision as to which one to go with. Pricing varies between the two competitors, but the big differences is all the other services you may already be using with Intuit. And with the integration with QuickBooks, it may make it more enticing for you to consider.

For a small business, it is all about choices and with these two solutions, you have just that. Whether it is Square's card reader or GoPayment's card reader, you have the ability to process credit card transactions in a very easy way. These devices are small and compact, unlike some other solutions which are much larger. And it is so easy to sign up and get started. You get the card reader free based on what the sites are showing today and there is no reason to believe that is going to be changing in the future. These two are competing against each. And competition like this is good for your small business.

If you have not taken advantage of these small credit card readers and payment processing for your small business, you should take some time and see how it could be a benefit to you.

Living In McAfee Hell – Continuing Auto Reinstall

Trials and tribulation of dealing with McAfee software problems.

One would have thought that the issues I was experiencing with McAfee’s Internet Security software would have been resolved after all the problems I found on Saturday. I ended up wasting an entire day trying to figure out why I was not able to access the Internet. That experience was one which I would have preferred to have avoided. And I would have, if McAfee had taken the time to inform their customers about the problems with their software. It seems that I continue to remain in McAfee hell. Must have been for something I did to wrong McAfee. Not sure what it is, but my problems continue.

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McAfee Web Connection Issues With No Communication

Wasted time in trying to figure out computer connection problems

In what one might consider an exercise in futility, I experienced problems connecting to the Internet on Saturday. Up until Saturday morning, I was having no problems with doing my usual routine of browsing the Internet and checking things at work first thing in the morning. The problems were very strange given that I had changed nothing. So, I started looking around and found that Ping was working just fine, but NSLOOKUP was not. I was not able to find web sites at all and that was strange. It sure seemed like my ISP was having some problems. And dealing with Comcast is not for the faint of heart. But in the end, the problem ended up being McAfee, who I use for Anti-virus protection which was causing me the problems I was experiencing. All of this cost me a full day of trying to figure out exactly what was happening.

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Living In McAfee Hell - Continuing Auto Reinstall

Trials and tribulation of dealing with McAfee software problems.

One would have thought that the issues I was experiencing with McAfee's Internet Security software would have been resolved after all the problems I found on Saturday. I ended up wasting an entire day trying to figure out why I was not able to access the Internet. That experience was one which I would have preferred to have avoided. And I would have, if McAfee had taken the time to inform their customers about the problems with their software. It seems that I continue to remain in McAfee hell. Must have been for something I did to wrong McAfee. Not sure what it is, but my problems continue.

It was in my earlier post where I found McAfee uninstalling itself automatically and then reinstall itself on Sunday morning, I was left with an uneasy feeling. I was really hoping that things would get resolved and I would see no more problems. When I returned to my XP machine in the evening, I was in for another wild ride of dealing with McAfee. It seems that after I started my computer, McAfee kept turning off my protection. I would turn it back on, but then a few seconds later, it would turn it self off. Now I am starting to wonder exactly who I pissed off to have this be happening to me after all that I had already done.

So, I went through the process of uninstalling McAfee Internet Security and then rebooting. I then ran the recommended tool to clean the XP box and rebooted. I then downloaded a fresh copy of Internet Security and installed it. I then rebooted the server. I verified my DAT file version which was at 6816.0 which was greater than the 6809 version they were talking about. I started digging around on the McAfee site and found an interesting page. McAfee has provided information to correct your problems, but I have only been able to see this screen after I logged into their site. Did not do me any good when I had no Internet connection.

At this point, I had some confidence that I was looking pretty good and my problems were behind me. But no, I was not going to be so lucky. This morning, I fired up my XP computer expecting things to come up as expected so that I could begin to clean things up from everything that was going on. And then it struck. The automatic uninstall of McAfee Internet Security was running and soon was asking me to reboot my computer. I was no longer wondering if my computer was infected with a virus. It must be haunted as this is turning into a nightmare. How could this continue to be happening after I followed all of the instructions from McAfee and cleaned things up? This was becoming crazy.

So I prepared to call them, but saw that the wait to talk to someone was 1 hour. They really must be getting hit with these problems. So, I opted for the next best method, "The Chat" window. Only had to wait 10 minutes for someone to become available. Went through all of the questions you normally get. Then they took over my machine and basically duplicated everything that I had done on Sunday evening. I was on the phone for about an hour, with only a single reboot. Far different than what I had done in rebooting after every item. We ended the "Chat" because there was nothing left to do at this point. I was back to where I should have been when I fired up the computer.

Do I have any confidence that my machine is now fixed? Not really. I am starting to believe that my machine may be haunted and fully expect to see an automatic uninstall happen again in the morning when I start my XP box. McAfee continues to fail to provide any information as a register customer about what is going on. That is a big failing for them. Will I continue living in McAfee hell? Who knows.

How do you feel about McAfee considering all these problems?

McAfee Web Connection Issues With No Communication

Wasted time in trying to figure out computer connection problems

In what one might consider an exercise in futility, I experienced problems connecting to the Internet on Saturday. Up until Saturday morning, I was having no problems with doing my usual routine of browsing the Internet and checking things at work first thing in the morning. The problems were very strange given that I had changed nothing. So, I started looking around and found that Ping was working just fine, but NSLOOKUP was not. I was not able to find web sites at all and that was strange. It sure seemed like my ISP was having some problems. And dealing with Comcast is not for the faint of heart. But in the end, the problem ended up being McAfee, who I use for Anti-virus protection which was causing me the problems I was experiencing. All of this cost me a full day of trying to figure out exactly what was happening.

McAfee could have saved me all the time involved in researching the issue with attempts to fix the problem based on my research. It seems that they knew about the problems earlier in the week. But they neglected to inform any customers which would be the expected thing to do. But they have not, creating unnecessary frustration for many. All of this started back with a release on August 17th which left Enterprise and home customers exposed because of errors and problems created by McAfee. Unfortunately, with the complete lack of information being provided by McAfee, it meant that I was on my own when trying to figure out why I could not access the Internet.

For me, that meant checking my router and making sure that I had a valid connection. Then checking to see if I could ping and then moving on to doing the nslookup command which was failing. Each one of the activities would be the normal action when you find that your computer could not get to the Internet. I started running scans of the computer with every tool I had and then a few more to try and find out if my computer was infected with a virus. Each one that I ran did not find anything on the computer, which was a relief and a frustration.

I then added my laptop to my home network and found that it was working correctly. So that now meant that the problems being experienced where limited to my computer. After expending too many hours tracking down nslookup resolutions, I noticed that the nslookup commands were not going to the Internet and were being blocked. I checked McAfee and could not find anything obvious which was blocking port 53. At this point, that meant that I had some piece of software which was blocking things. My choice was to start to uninstall things to find what it was.

After installing browsers and various pieces of software, I got down to uninstalling McAfee. Not that I would think it was causing the problem, I had to continuing down the path that I was going. I retested after each software uninstall to see if that would resolve my problem. This was taking a lot of time. After uninstalling McAfee, my Internet connection returned. This was disturbing to me, but is was a solution. I then went to McAfee’s site and download a new version of their Internet Security software. After that was installed, I retested again to make sure that everything was working correctly. I was now back in business, though it was after 10:00 PM at night. This was on Saturday.

And it is not the end of the story and failure of McAfee to provide notification to their customers. For on Sunday morning, I logged on to my computer and checked to make sure that things were working correctly, which they were. But, suddenly, my McAfee software started uninstalling itself from my machine. Was I infected with a virus? Looks like I was not, for as soon as the install was finished, new software was downloaded and installed for Internet Security. I had to assume that McAfee had a bigger problem and was rolling out updates to all its users. Unannounced of course and hoping they would not generate publicity on what they were trying to correct. Once the software was done, I checked things out and I could still connect to the Internet and the software appeared to be from McAfee.

It is very discouraging to see a major anti-virus software company trying to hide what they are doing and then uninstall software without letting people know what is going on. Is this what a software company is supposed to be doing? After this episode with McAfee, should I consider someone else?

What do you think?

Battery Life Continues Top Of List For Smart Phone Owners

With growing power of smart phones, having enough power is a big deal.

Smart phones have become part of our everyday life. For various age segments of the population, it has become an important part. For others, it has become a critical part of their life and one they could not conceive of not having. We have all heard about the questions asked of college students if they could do without their smart phone for a day. Other variations of that question have come out and the answers are sometimes funny. But what are the areas of desire that people want to see in the smart phones of today?

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Passwords Are Becoming Our Own Worst Enemy

Recent report shows we are not as secure as we think we are.

It seems that this year has been one of hackers gaining access to people’s accounts because they have hacked into a server or some other activity like that. But, the reality may be much simpler than that and be tied to security and just how accounts we have and how many of those accounts have the same or very similar passwords. If you do not have some software which holds all your passwords for web accounts, you have a herculean task to remember all the passwords for each and every online account you have.

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Android Apps Downloaded Are Generally The Free Ones

iOS downloads are more frequently for paid apps.

In doing development for smart phones, those creating the apps want to make money. But it is quite often that those apps downloaded for Android devices are the free ones more often than not. In the chart here, provided by Statista.com, you can see the disparity between the Android OS and Apple’s iOS. The numbers are startling, especially if you are trying to make a living selling apps for the Android OS. From the chart, 66% of the downloaded Android apps are the free ones. That is not a good number to see. For Apple’s iOS, the number is down at 30%, more than 50% less.
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Passwords Are Becoming Our Own Worst Enemy

Recent report shows we are not as secure as we think we are.

It seems that this year has been one of hackers gaining access to people's accounts because they have hacked into a server or some other activity like that. But, the reality may be much simpler than that and be tied to security and just how accounts we have and how many of those accounts have the same or very similar passwords. If you do not have some software which holds all your passwords for web accounts, you have a herculean task to remember all the passwords for each and every online account you have.

We have talked in the past about rethinking your password strategies because of all the hacking that is going on. Reusing passwords is something you should never do. If they get your password, they can try that on other online accounts they can figure out. Longer passwords are harder to crack and the complexity of the password is very important. But with all the online accounts we have, it makes it difficult to follow through on all of this.

According to a research study done back in 2007, they looked at users, online accounts and passwords. Back then, the study information determined that the average number of online accounts per user was about 25. Of those 25 online accounts, they determined that of those 25 accounts, a user had 6.5 passwords to access them. That means that passwords are being reused and that is very startling news to hear. And you have to remember that this is from back in 2007. I know that I have probably double or triple that number from 2007. And it continues to increase.

As the number of online accounts increase, the number of reused passwords is probably going to increase as well.

If you are not using complex passwords, you are probably in trouble already and do not know it. Hackers are getting far more sophisticated and can crack simple passwords like the ones shown above. Just how quickly can be debated, but will not be weeks, probably not days and be done to hours. In some cases, using dictionary lists for common passwords is will be less than a minute every time. That should scare all of us to change our password habits.

On the web, we keep hearing to not reuse passwords. That is the first thing to do. But human nature and just the sheer volume of accounts makes that pretty much impossible. The next thing to do is make sure that your passwords are complex. Do not using English words that dictionaries can look up and match. Even changing some characters to special characters or numbers is becoming easier to hack.

The best thing that you can do for yourself is to make your password long. Most people thought that a password of 6 characters would keep you safe. Not any more. Once you get to 8 characters, you have increased the amount of time for a hacker to brute force guess your password by at least 10 days, if not longer. Each character that you add after that increases the time significantly as long as it is not a recognizable word.

Given where things are at with hackers and everything that we are hearing in the news, your password should be longer than 8 characters. You should really try to not repeat passwords across online accounts or even variations of the same password across sites. You are asking for trouble if you are. If a hacker gets your password and you are doing that, odds are they are going to figure out how to access other online accounts you have.

We have to try and stay a few steps ahead of those trying to get access to our online accounts and what was consider safe a few years ago is no longer the case. Time to rethink how you are going to create complex passwords and not reuse them across online accounts.

Android Apps Downloaded Are Generally The Free Ones

iOS downloads are more frequently for paid apps.

In doing development for smart phones, those creating the apps want to make money. But it is quite often that those apps downloaded for Android devices are the free ones more often than not. In the chart here, provided by Statista.com, you can see the disparity between the Android OS and Apple's iOS. The numbers are startling, especially if you are trying to make a living selling apps for the Android OS. From the chart, 66% of the downloaded Android apps are the free ones. That is not a good number to see. For Apple's iOS, the number is down at 30%, more than 50% less.

Given that trend, it is interesting that smart phone users are willing to pay for getting content on their smart phones. This information is based on an OPA survey reported in a Folio article. Smart phone owners show that 24% of them are willing to pay for the content they receive on their smart phones. And while that number may translate to apps as well, it is not a balanced view between Android and iOS apps.

We have been hearing from some as to just how hard it is to create and sell an app. Many do not make much money, especially in the Android world. Given the chart, it would appear to be the case and one wonders how this will impact the future for quality Android apps. If some of those are on Amazon's Android Store, they also have to contend with being selected as the free Android app of the day.

iOS developers are more likely to make more money and we have been hearing that for a few years now. Some of that came up as Microsoft worked to attract developers to the Windows Phone 7 OS. This looks to be a clear dividing line between the type of people who purchase Apple products versus those who purchase Android OS products. Does that mean that iOS apps have a higher quality? It could. Or it could be the willingness of that group to spend money.

Either way, it spells trouble in getting Android app developers to produce quality apps when the percentage of paid downloads is so low. Given the total number of Android phones out in the world, there is hope for the future for paid Android apps.

Some Of Klout's Changes Seem To Make No Sense

Recent changes for Klout in some cases look to be inaccurate at best.

For those who look at Klout, the recent changes they made have adjusted some scores to make them more reliable. And for those who participate with Klout this may well be the case. I have chosen to not participate in Klout and prefer to use Klouchebag as an indicator of social involvement. While the parody site is fun, it is probably going away because of coming changes at Twitter. Guess I will have to move to Klout. But in looking around at Klout, I find some strange things on the site which do not seem to add up. While they are not going to reveal how they calculate scores, how can they calculate someone who is not even participating with Klout?

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Top 5 Features to Consider When Choosing the Best Online Backup Service

So here you are, being responsible, thinking that you’ve got to start backing up the data on your computer before you lose it.
That’s more than so many people do. There are so many people who take the chance, thinking that losing all of their data will never happen to them.
Eventually however, they do lose their data, and wish that they had been as proactive as you’re being now.
Or some people… and this might be you as well… will lose their data and learn their lesson the hard way. They lose precious pictures, videos, music, and important documents.
Once that happens they begin the hunt for the best online backup system.
In the next article, I’m going to show you the top five features that you should consider when choosing the best online backup service.

Read

Some Of Klout's Changes Seem To Make No Sense

Recent changes for Klout in some cases look to be inaccurate at best.

For those who look at Klout, the recent changes they made have adjusted some scores to make them more reliable. And for those who participate with Klout this may well be the case. I have chosen to not participate in Klout and prefer to use Klouchebag as an indicator of social involvement. While the parody site is fun, it is probably going away because of coming changes at Twitter. Guess I will have to move to Klout. But in looking around at Klout, I find some strange things on the site which do not seem to add up. While they are not going to reveal how they calculate scores, how can they calculate someone who is not even participating with Klout?



I was looking around and ran across someone showing on Klout who is obviously not participating in the Klout process. That is indicated by the picture below where you are being asked to invite the person to Klout. As you can see here, their overall score jumped up when Klout made their recent changes. While I am not on Klout, these were sent to me and they do not make sense. So, I used my Twitter handle and connected with Klout and looked this up and sure enough these pictures are what I actually saw. My Twitter account does not get much usage, so my score was at 19, but my Twitter activity is showing on the Klout screen. So, how can I have 19 and this individual have 34? Somethings does not add up here.



This person is showing no entries for Twitter at all. There is no Facebook or Google+ activity because the person has not connected to the online service. And yet, they have a score almost twice my value. Not that mine should be higher, but the question is how can this person have a value this high, not be participating and have no values showing on the screen? I took a look for this person on Twitter and found that the Twitter account has been suspended. Maybe Klout gives you a much higher score if your account is suspended. I kinda doubt that to be true.

While the recent changes are meant to make things more accurate, it would appear that individual listings such as this show that there work to correct problems is not done. Hopefully Klout can fix the numbers for some people who are not participating to really reflect what they are doing.

Top 5 Features to Consider When Choosing the Best Online Backup Service

So here you are, being responsible, thinking that you’ve got to start backing up the data on your computer before you lose it.

That’s more than so many people do. There are so many people who take the chance, thinking that losing all of their data will never happen to them.

Eventually however, they do lose their data, and wish that they had been as proactive as you’re being now.

Or some people... and this might be you as well... will lose their data and learn their lesson the hard way. They lose precious pictures, videos, music, and important documents.

Once that happens they begin the hunt for the best online backup system.

In the next article, I’m going to show you the top five features that you should consider when choosing the best online backup service.

So let’s get started with...

Feature #1: Ease of Use

There’s really nothing more aggravating than making a purchase, and the darn thing that you purchased is too hard to figure out.

Many online applications are like that, because the developers of the application forget that not everyone online is tech savvy.

With an online backup system it’s important that it’s easy, because if it’s not, you’re not going to use all of the features available. That could lead to you cutting corners, or not backing up files that you should have, which could then lead to headache and lots of heartache when you lose the files that might be precious to you.

So it’s vital that when comparing two different online back up services, that you’re comfortable with the user interface.

What Is the Interface?

Basically when you join with an online backup service, you’re going to have to download an application to your computer.

This application will run in the background most of the time but there will be times that you’ll need it. These would be during the initial set-up, and when there are certain things that you want to do like ensure a file (or files) is being backed up, restore a file, check for activity of uploads, etc. The list goes on.

So when you click the icon in your desktop, that’s when the interface will appear.

Some of these can be quite confusing to where you almost have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. While others can be brain dead simple. If the simple one is powerful in other ways, then that should be the one you go with.

Take Advantage of the Free Trials!

Almost every online computer backup service I’ve seen will give you a free trial. The numbers of days in the trials vary, but the fact is that even 1 day is enough to know if you’ll be able to use the system.

Take advantage of the opportunity and get to know the interface.

So there you go. Now you should understand how important it is to go with an online backup service that’s easy to use. And you also know how to find out for free.

Feature #2: Security

When you’re backing up your files online, this means that you’re backing them up onto another server. Someone else’s server!

This also means that these files are going to have to move from your computer to that server. Whenever a file is transferred, there’s always a chance for them to get intercepted en route.

You certainly don’t want this when it comes to important documents. Well any documents really, because getting intercepted could mean getting damaged, or a major privacy leak, such as pictures or videos on your computer.

So therefore you have to make sure that the company you choose for online backup service secures your files.

What Does Secure Mean?

These files must be kept secure with an SSL connection. This stands for “Secure Sockets Layer", which is basically just a fancy term that says that the data will be encrypted so that no prying eyes can see the information within.

However there’s one more element to this equation that you’ve got to be mindful of, and that’s the security of your files while they’re sitting on the servers of the online backup service’s company.

In other words, you have to make sure that your files won’t get hacked both en route as well as while they’re there at their destination.

Of course if you ever have to restore your data back to your computer, then that’s another opening that the bad guys could use to get at your data. You don’t want that either, so you’ve also got to make certain that your data is tightly secured and encrypted on the way back too.

So the file encryption must take place in 3 different ways.

Your files need to be protected while they’re on their way to the server of the company you choose, while they’re sitting there on those servers, and while they’re being brought back for restoration.

Let’s not forget also that with the application running in the background to automatically backup revised files, and constantly updating files, that this adds a security risk as well. So you’ve got to make sure that security is extremely tight or you could easily open up a whole new can of worms for yourself.

One More Thing to Consider...

It’s important that you remember also that hackers are good at what they do. This means that if they can get into your home computer, they can also get into the servers where you’re storing your data.

Also, just as you’re storing your data online in case of natural disaster, natural disaster can also strike the servers that are housing your data. So it helps if you can find a service that has redundant backup…which means that they store your data on two separate servers in case something happens to one, you’ve still got the other.

While this isn’t mandatory, it’s always something to think about.

Alright, that just about does it for security, and I think you can now see how vital of an element having the proper security measures in place is when it comes to backing up your data online.

Feature #3: Storage Amount and Price!

As you begin to look at some of the various services online, you’ll notice that most will give you a free membership for 2GB or less of storage. Some, such as SugarSync even raise the bar and give you 5GB of free storage.

However, the fact is that if you’re backing up your entire computer, or even a bunch of pictures and videos, you’ll use well beyond that.

But it’s wise to take note of how much storage you’ll need.

When it comes to paying for the storage, most will start their packages with the cheapest allowing around 30GB of storage. This is probably sufficient for one computer, maybe even two.

You can expect to pay around $50 a year, give or take for that starter package. Some will let you pay on a monthly basis which is good for most of us.

Others won’t and will make you pay for the entire year up front, giving discounts only when you lock in for extra years with a contract.

How Many Computers You Can Backup Is Also Important...

The chance that you’ve only got just one computer in your home these days is slim. Most people have more than one, while many have tons. But there are also your work computers to consider (or at least files from work). The point is that your 30GB, if you’re not careful, can add up fast.

All of these services of course will let you upgrade your storage capacity, so the fact of going over isn’t a catastrophe. But it’s important for you to take note that it may very well turn into more than you had hoped for.

The number of computers allowed to be backed up with a service varies from one company to the next.

Some companies let you back up three computers max. Some will only allow two computers. While some will allow five! It’s across the board... You’ll just have to figure out what your needs are going to be, how many computers you’ll want to back up, and how much storage that’s going to use up.

In essence there are as many online computer backup services as there are needs of customers. Of course some are better than others, but it’s important to always think about YOUR needs.

This will help you make a more educated guess, and not get sucked into a service that you don’t really need.

Storage amounts are a big element, and of course price is as well. But it’s easier to get a fair price for yourself if you consider your storage needs ahead of time.

Feature #4: Customer Support!

Unfortunately we all get stuck sometimes. It’s inevitable that at some point we’re going to need help with something, especially when it comes to the technical aspects of things.

Sure, most of the companies that I recommend make backing up your computer fairly easy and self explanatory, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy for everyone. Some people may have more experience with computers than others.

You may have a hard time just figuring out how to download the darned software application that allows you to control your online backup, while someone else may have downloaded this type of software, or similar ones dozens of times. They’ll think nothing of it, while you may be left sitting there scratching your head trying to figure out how to do even the most simple things.

This is why it’s important that you choose an online backup service that’s going to give you as much support as you’ll need.

As with storage allowance and price, the world of online backup service varies quite a bit with its customer support as well.

In my view, you should always be able to get in touch with a human being that can help you out after you’ve paid for a service. After all... that’s part of what you’re paying for isn’t it?

However, not all of these services seem to agree. Some do, but not all.

Many times with these services, you get the choice of email support only. However some do go above and beyond and offer phone support as well as chat support. This is my favorite simply because in my eyes, it’s easier to hop on a chat session that’s right there at your fingertips, ask your question, and get an answer extremely fast.

Some people hate chat however, and would much rather get phone support and talk to an actual person who can walk them through things step by step.

It all depends on your level of experience using computer systems, downloading software, transferring files, or if you’re using certain types of online backup storage services…syncing files from one computer to another.

Only you really know how much support that you’ll likely need.

However there is one thing to keep in mind and that’s speed of customer service.

Many of the services out there that offer only email support will take up to 48 hours to answer an email. They usually have a pretty extensive knowledgebase or FAQ section, but that’s not always the case.

Backing up your computer is often times a very time-sensitive activity.

You’ve got files on your computer that you don’t want to lose. Every time you log onto the internet you’re opening yourself up to various threats. If something happens, you want those crucial files such as pictures, videos, documents, etc. to be backed up.

The 48 hours it might take a service to answer your question could mean disaster, so it’s best to find a service that you can get in touch with and receive help right away in some form or another.

The level of customer support could very well mean the difference of saving or losing all of your precious data. Don’t take that chance with yours.

Feature #5: Sharing and Syncing Files

So one of the things that you may want to consider when choosing your online backup service is whether or not you’re going to want to share your files online.

Just as well, you’ll want to consider if you’ll want to be able to sync the files with another computer or not.

What the Heck Does All This Mean?

Okay, so the easiest way to explain is with a hypothetical story. Let’s say for instance that you and your family have just visited Walt Disney World in Florida on vacation.

While there of course you took a ton of pictures of your kids having the time of their lives! Unfortunately though (or maybe fortunately) your parents or your in-laws couldn’t come along.

However they know you took a ton of pictures and they’ve been hounding you forever to send them, but it’s just been a pain in the butt to send the pictures out.

Well with a sharing feature on an online backup service, you can simply create a link that contains the files that you want to share with your family. This link will be password protected and safe, and only the files that you allow to be shared will be visible.

That’s what sharing is all about. Of course I’m sure you can think of plenty of other uses for the sharing feature, but that would be one example.

How About Syncing? What Is That?

Syncing is different from sharing.

Basically syncing means that you interconnect all of your computers (or a designated number) to be able to control, open, and edit certain files seamlessly.

In other words, using another hypothetical... let’s say you’re at work and it’s getting close to quitting time. You know you’re not going to be able to finish that report you’re working on and you’d like to finish it at home.

Well, before you would have to save it, send it to yourself in an email attachment, and then open that attachment when you got home.

Then you would work on it and then have to email it to yourself again so you have the updated version at work the next day.

With syncing you could simply save that file to a designated syncing folder, where each time you updated the file it would be saved across your separate computers automatically so that you would only have to open the file when you got home, worked on it, hit save... and then open the same file from the sync folder again at work.

It makes things incredibly easy to deal with.

Sharing and syncing are very valuable tools in our busy lives, and if you can find a backup service that allows this in an efficient way, then I’d suggest you jump at the chance if everything else is in line such as...

• Ease of Use...


• Security...


• Sufficient Storage at a Fair Price...


• And Customer Support...

If you’ve got those things in line, plus easy syncing and sharing capacity, then it seems that you’ve done a great job in choosing the best online backup service.

For more information, you may want to read our review of MyPC Backup.

Klout +K's Broken - No Limit To +K's You Can Give

Klout limit to maximum of 10 per day is unlimited now.

This morning, I went out to Klout and looked around because it is the weekend. Not that it is not a work day, it is just a day when there are fewer people and things to be dealt with. And in looking at the new changes for Klout, I gave away some +K’s to people in an effort to help my lowly score of 39. And to improve the score of the people that I am giving the points to. But a strange thing happened as I was giving the +K’s away. My number of +K’s available to give away did not change.

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Klout +K's Broken - No Limit To +K's You Can Give

Klout's limit to maximum of 10 per day is unlimited now.

This morning, I went out to Klout and looked around because it is the weekend. Not that it is not a work day, it is just a day when there are fewer people and things to be dealt with. And in looking at the new changes for Klout, I gave away some +K's to people in an effort to help my lowly score of 39. And to improve the score of the people that I am giving the points to. But a strange thing happened as I was giving the +K's away. My number of +K's available to give away did not change.

New Features? Unlimited +K's at Klout?

That would be a fantastic idea if Klout were to be giving away as many +K's as you could give out, but I doubt that is their intent. More than likely they are having some serious problems with the system and it appears few are saying much about this. So, I reached out to someone else I know and had them go on to Klout and start giving away +K's to myself and others. At about 30 +K's given away, they let me know the result. They never went lower than 9 +K's available to be given away. In my testing, I am at 8 and it has not gotten any lower than that value. I have probably given away 50 +K's at this point and will be giving away more as time permits.

Some are saying this is a spam job done on the site or even a hack. More than likely, it is the result of some change which has been made which is not reducing your counter as to the number of +K's you have available to give away. Twitter is just now starting to show Tweets about the unlimited +K's.

So, if you want to give away a large number of +K's, better hurry up and do it before they fix the problem.

Reuters' Blog Hacked Again This Week

WordPress Blog hacked again because it is not current WordPress version.

Reuters Blog has been hacked again this week, mainly because they are running an out of date version of WordPress. And with the hacking of their blog, false news reports have been added to the blog site at Reuters. This is not exactly something that you want to see for your business and to have it happen in two separate weeks is not exactly the best of news. Others are reporting on this and at the moment, their Blog Site is experiencing difficulties. You see the picture above and then you are taken to the main news site at that point. Guess they finally decided to take the site down until they can fix it.

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Reuters' Blog Hacked Again This Week

WordPress Blog hacked again because it is not current WordPress version.

Reuters Blog has been hacked again this week, mainly because they are running an out of date version of WordPress. And with the hacking of their blog, false news reports have been added to the blog site at Reuters. This is not exactly something that you want to see for your business and to have it happen in two separate weeks is not exactly the best of news. Others are reporting on this and at the moment, their Blog Site is experiencing difficulties. You see the picture above and then you are taken to the main news site at that point. Guess they finally decided to take the site down until they can fix it.

Reuters is even producing a news story about the hacking of their blog site and indicating they did not post the false story. In that story, it was reported that "Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal had died". That is obviously a false report and one that has created problems for Reuters.

"Reuters did not report the false story and the post was immediately deleted. We are working to address the problem," Barb Burg, director of global communications at Reuters News, said in a statement.

Others are saying this is serious as it is the Third time is two weeks that Reuters has been hacked and bogus information reported. That is not good news for the credibility of the blog site and the news agency. While Reuters is quick to blame others as the hackers of their WordPress site, they need to correct this situation.

As we reported last week, Reuters needs to update the WordPress software to correct this security hole that they have. We had indicated that they were vulnerable to be hacked again if they did not, and that is exactly what has happened. Exactly when they are going to address this has not been stated.

Given that the site is currently unavailable, one could guess they are working to upgrade the Wordpress software from version 3.1.1 to version 3.4.1. Reuters needs to fix this now. One more hacking like this and they will lose much of their credibility. I would hate to be working in the IT department over there and having to scramble to fix this problem.

Klout New Changes Show Strong Facebook Leanings

Klout begins roll out of new rating methods and it is being welcomed by many.

Today, Klout has started to roll out some of the new changes to their site along with new methods for calculating your influence. And that is exactly what Klout is all about. The changes are being done to better determine what your “real world influence” actually is and they are doing this by expanding the things they are looking at. That will initially result in some changes to your existing Klout score with many people seeing an increase in their number. And with anything like this, there will be those who see a decrease in their number. Those things just happen.

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Klout New Changes Show Strong Facebook Leanings

Klout begins roll out of new rating methods and it is being welcomed by many.

Today, Klout has started to roll out some of the new changes to their site along with new methods for calculating your influence. And that is exactly what Klout is all about. The changes are being done to better determine what your "real world influence" actually is and they are doing this by expanding the things they are looking at. That will initially result in some changes to your existing Klout score with many people seeing an increase in their number. And with anything like this, there will be those who see a decrease in their number. Those things just happen.

They have made changes which they are talking about on the Klout Blog with the most important changes of all being increased accuracy. With that change, they are providing more details about what they are collecting without really letting you know how they do any calculations to arrive at scores. Of note, Facebook is the first item in the blog describing the changes. If you have looked at your Klout score in the past, Twitter has been the first item being displayed on your score. More on that a little later.

Many prominent sources are giving positive reviews of the changes. Forbes is calling this a change we can believe in. This from Anthony Wing Kosner who has been critical of Klout's scoring system. In making the changes, they have expanded the number of variables they are looking at from 100 to 400. And with that, they are placing more emphasis on Facebook and LinkedIn items which were not part of the calculations. As an example, your LinkedIn job title will enter into the number they are assigning. That is to encourage you to link your LinkedIn account to Klout.

All of these changes should make everyone feel like they are looking at their social influence and not put you on the defensive. And with these changes, it is hoped that Klout can move further into the mainstream which they have been struggling to do. And part of that is the emphasis on Facebook and LinkedIn.


If you have looked at the site over the past few months, you will have noticed that they are pushing people to connect to Facebook and to "Invite" all your Facebook friends. They are adding to that by offering VIP access if you sign up 10 Facebook friends. In some respects it seems to show that they are trying to grow Facebook connections in advance of the complete roll out of the changes. With the emphasis on Facebook, it does appear to make sense, but at the same time appears to be putting a lot focus on that connection.

Given the huge growth of Facebook, it offers huge potential to Klout to add people to their rolls. Once they have your connection to Facebook, there is nothing to stop them from adding to your wall as so many others currently do. Some people are reporting multiple Klout requests on their Facebook page, but when they go to Klout they are not seeing anything. These are really requests from people for you to join Klout. Not exactly what you want to see in Facebook.

With any change comes controversy and it is starting because of the focus on Facebook. There are growing concerns about the information Klout is pulling from Facebook and putting into Klout. People who do not have a Klout account have found that some of their information from Facebook is showing up in Klout. This is starting to sound like earlier days with Facebook where there were privacy issues being reported. If Klout is not careful, they may get caught up in that as well.

With the changes, you can expect Klout to continue to encourage you to connect to all your accounts so that Klout can harvest information to determine Klout score. Just be aware that you will be exposing information you may not want out there.

7 Reasons You Need to Mobilize Your Business Today

There are a lot of new and exciting marketing strategies formulated every day in an attempt to penetrate into the public’s interests. One of the most effective, cutting-edge marketing methods being used today is mobile marketing. Thanks to the overwhelmingly popular cell phone, businesses can no longer ignore the importance of a mobile-friendly presence if they really want to reach their target audiences.
Mobile marketing encompasses many different types of marketing techniques and strategies that help businesses increase profits and ROI. The most popular forms of mobile marketing today are: mobile-friendly websites, SMS text message marketing, and QR (Quick Response) codes.

Apple Finishes Their Case, Samsung Begins Their Case

Almost like a changing of the guard, the battle shifts

Now that Apple has completed their presentation to the jury as to how Samsung infringed on their patents, they have rested the case. Samsung now will present to the jury how Apple infringed on their patents. Each parties role in the case now shifts. And it is in those shifts where Samsung now moves to the offensive in making their points to the jury in order to persuade them their position is correct. Today, they were able to start to make their case, but not before some procedural activities that seemed to help their case against Apple.

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Impact Of The Internet On Education

If you have been involved in technology for more than 10 or 15 years, you have seen the impact on society because of the Internet. The smart phones and tablets of today were but a dream back in the 1990's. And it was in the late 90's where things began to make an impact on how education would be proceeding. The idea of using technology to educate was beginning to take hold with desktop computers in just about every level of education. In the last 10 years, teachers have had to make adjustments to how they teach because of the Internet and Technology. And much of that is because their students are often much more knowledgeable than they are.

We ran across a Infographic showing the impact of technology, specifically the Internet, on education. The rise in online courses over the last 10 years shows where we are headed. MIT and Stanford are offering free online courses now. When students have to do research, the first place they go to get information is the web, using search engines such as Yahoo or Google. And as many of us know, this is accelerating as well and we will see even more of a shift over the next 5 years.

There are even some private high schools which are conducted over the Internet. Take a look at this Infographic to see the impact on Education.

Web Small Business Will Be Hurt By Do Not Track

Impact to advertising revenue with Do Not Track.

While Do Not Track sounds like a great idea by many who do not like the idea of being tracked, there is an impact. And that impact is advertising on small web sites which rely on advertising revenue. And in reality, it is even large web sites which base a large portion of their revenue on advertising who will be hurt as well. The way that advertising displayed on the web works today is by tracking the kind of things that you are doing on the web and displaying advertisements that relate to what you are looking at. Those targeted ads are more likely to result in someone clicking on them to look further at the advertised item.

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Web Small Business Will Be Hurt By Do Not Track

Impact to advertising revenue with Do Not Track.

While Do Not Track sounds like a great idea by many who do not like the idea of being tracked, there is an impact. And that impact is advertising on small web sites which rely on advertising revenue. And in reality, it is even large web sites which base a large portion of their revenue on advertising who will be hurt as well. The way that advertising displayed on the web works today is by tracking the kind of things that you are doing on the web and displaying advertisements that relate to what you are looking at. Those targeted ads are more likely to result in someone clicking on them to look further at the advertised item.

Do Not Track will allow for individuals to inform web sites to not track and collect their activities. While most would hope this would be a passive decision, Microsoft has decided to make it the default value in Internet Explorer 10. Yes, it will be turned on automatically to not track people's activities on the web. While there is no enforcement mechanism in place at the moment, it means a big impact to advertisers when everyone agrees to not be tracking those who have opted to not be tracked. Do Not Track could create some big problems for advertising dollars.

This all sounds good and for those who like privacy and do not want anyone knowing where they are on the web or what they are doing, this is great. But for those who rely on advertising revenue, this may turn into a nightmare for those businesses. And it is many businesses which are going to be impacted if large numbers of people are not tracked to display targeted advertising. That is because advertisers provide higher Pay Per Click (PPC) values for some of those targeted ads.

If advertisers are not able to target advertising, the incentive to pay higher PPC values to the people who are displaying the ads on the web pages will more than likely decline. Advertisers want to get traffic and without targeted advertising, they are definitely not going to be paying the same level of money which they currently are. That is just common business sense.

We have already seen the impact to web sites when traffic is diminished when Google changes their algorithm and a site takes a big hit. With reduced traffic there is reduced clicks on ads and thereby reduced revenue. It is the clicking on ads which provides ad revenue. So, if the traffic to a site stays the same, but the value of each advertising click is diminished, there is an impact.

The amount of that is unknown. Advertisers could pay one rate for targeted ads for those people who have not clicked on Do Not Track and another rate for those who have clicked on Do Not Track. With Microsoft making the value to be as though the person had clicked on Do Not Track, there will be a large audience not being tracked.

The impact of the non-targeted ads on revenue is not known, but lets assume it is a 25% discount. That is a huge amount to lose because of Do Not Track. The values could be larger or smaller, we just do not know what it will be. But we do know that it will be impacted once this is fully implemented.

Are you concerned about the impact to your advertising revenue because of Do Not Track?

Do Not Track Options For Browsers In Proposal Stage

The ability to tell sites not to track you exists, but may not be honored.

There has been a lot of discussion lately about anonymous browsing so that sites cannot track who you are and what you are doing. More specifically for our purposes, this is the ability to keep track of things you view for the purposes of serving up ads to people. This is labeled as Do Not Track. And that is the big discussion which is going on right now. The ability to set an option to tell sites to not track what you are doing sounds like a great idea and one just about everyone would support. But it is not without controversy. Here is a simple definition from DoNotTrack.us

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Do Not Track Options For Browsers In Proposal Stage

The ability to tell sites not to track you exists, but may not be honored.

There has been a lot of discussion lately about anonymous browsing so that sites cannot track who you are and what you are doing. More specifically for our purposes, this is the ability to keep track of things you view for the purposes of serving up ads to people. This is labeled as Do Not Track. And that is the big discussion which is going on right now. The ability to set an option to tell sites to not track what you are doing sounds like a great idea and one just about everyone would support. But it is not without controversy. Here is a simple definition from DoNotTrack.us

Do Not Track is a technology and policy proposal that enables users to opt out of tracking by websites they do not visit, including analytics services, advertising networks, and social platforms. At present few of these third parties offer a reliable tracking opt out, and tools for blocking them are neither user-friendly nor comprehensive. Much like the popular Do Not Call registry, Do Not Track provides users with a single, simple, persistent choice to opt out of third-party web tracking.

With that definition, it seems reasonable to provide options for users to not have their activities tracked as they browse the web. But of course, nothing is ever that simple. If it were, the current proposals going around for Do Not Track would have been accepted and adopted. At the moment, everything is on the honor system. The W3C is the body which has the responsibility of setting standards on the web which everyone is supposed to adhere to.

Given where things are headed, you would think that browser makers would have completed the process of adding the Do Not Track ability to their browsers. Most have, except for Google. They are providing an add in for their Chrome browser which requires you to add the extension to Chrome as shown above in order to have the ability. And Microsoft has recently decided to include the opt out options by default for their IE 10 browser. At the moment, there is no requirement for sites to honor the Do Not Track setting, so it can be ignored. We are not sure whether Microsoft is trying to set a standard or just attract attention.

Even the White House has jumped into the discussion wanting to see Do Not Track enacted. They want to see web sites add the do not track to their site instead of at the browser level. And that does cloud the situation from what it is currently being worked on by various groups. Doing it at the browser level is a much simpler method for achieving the desired goals than on a site by site basis. At the moment, there is no teeth to enforce sites to follow any of the Do Not Track proposals.

While the US Government can attempt to put regulations to enforce Do Not Track, all a company has to do is move outside the US and there they can continue to track and serve up ads related to the persons browsing history. You might wonder why they would do that. The primary reason is money. Advertising is a great source of revenue and if advertisers can put up ads that are specific to a persons browsing history, they are more likely to get that person to click on the ad. And that means money to the advertiser. And it means money to the site which is displaying the ads.

So much of this is about money and with that is controversy which is going to be tough to get resolved. Do Not Track is going to be in the news for the next year as proposals and regulations to put it into place move forward. Do Not Track has benefits and negatives which probably will not be able to be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

What are your feelings about Do Not Track?

Reuters' WordPress Site Hacked Because Of Old Version

Running old version of WordPress allowed hackers to gain entrance.

We hear it all that time. It is very important to keep your software up to date. We have employed Virus software on computers which is being updated daily and sometimes more than once a day. It seems that the threats that we face are continually growing. And if we do not maintain the software to its current version, we could get hacked. And it seems that is exactly what happened to Reuters and their WordPress site.

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Samsung-Apple Trial Continues In Northern California

Apple close to completing their side of the case.

The highly publicized trial between Apple and Samsung has been going on this week in a San Jose court room. The Federal District court is hearing this case with Judge Koh presiding. It has not been without its moments and many have been reporting on what could be considered blow by blow reporting on the activities in the court room. All of this is leading up to a decision between the two parties as to exactly who violated whose patents.

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5 Powerful Ways to use QR codes

Having a business is not easy especially if you are in a place where there a lot of competition and you have low budget for advertising. Typically, businesses do not succeed much without customers and customers will not be aware that your business exists without promotion and advertising.
In the field of business management, you will obviously hear the term “QR codes” in many strategic planning for service and product promotion. If you are new in the field, you might be wondering what is a “QR Code” and what good can it do for your business.

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Facebook Drops Off Top 25 Best Places To Work

From 7th in 2011 to no longer being in the top 25 is a surprise.

In the past few years, Facebook has been in the news almost nonstop from things such as privacy issues to their IPO. And since the IPO, they have been in the news because of the downward trending of their stock prices. It seems that because of the value going down, all those people in the company who were expecting big paydays are now not going to be getting them. Last year, Facebook was the place to work. This year, Facebook is not even showing up it the top 25 list of best places to work.

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Three Benefits of Using QR Codes in Your Business

Big companies today are using the power of QR Codes as part of their marketing strategy. Quick response codes (QR codes) were first utilized in Japan used in tracking down parts of their automobile during manufacturing. Today, the QR codes are gaining popularity all over the world.
QR codes are patterned codes in arranged in squares generally with a white background. QR codes are embedded with data and information that can be immediately exposed with just one click of a mobile phone. Businesses can use QR codes to promote coupons, special offers, and discounts. They can also use them to build a mobile list of subscribers. They can also be used to direct people to your website, online video, or Facebook Fan page. The possibilities are unlimited.

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Reuters' WordPress Site Hacked Because Of Old Version

Running old version of WordPress allowed hackers to gain entrance.

We hear it all that time. It is very important to keep your software up to date. We have employed Virus software on computers which is being updated daily and sometimes more than once a day. It seems that the threats that we face are continually growing. And if we do not maintain the software to its current version, we could get hacked. And it seems that is exactly what happened to Reuters and their WordPress site.

As is being widely reported, they were running Wordpress 3.1.1 instead of the current 3.4.1 which is the most recent and security patched version. The 3.1.1 version does not represent the latest version of WordPress and was released in April 2011. Since that time, there have been 11 newer versions of the software released. And they are always working to improve and fix things. The next version is scheduled for release in December.

For anyone who has a WordPress site that you are responsible for and it is self hosted, you are reminded to upgrade to the latest version of WordPress each time that you log on to the dashboard. They make it so easy to apply a newer version of WordPress, it is a big surprise that they did not and commented on by ZDNet.

This is a textbook mistake. You should always be using the latest version of your software, especially if you're a major company that is often targeted by hackers. WordPress is, in particular, a popular attack vector for cyber criminals. While there is no guarantee that the hackers exploited an unpatched security hole in WordPress to access Reuters' blogging platform, it's more likely given this new information.

This could almost be considered a rookie mistake if it were not for the size of the company. Some are even speculating that they are still running an old version of WordPress on their site. And this is after being hacked. If this is correct, then it would indicate that Reuters has made heavy modifications to the Open Source software to meet their needs and create a unique side. That would require migration of all that code to the most current release which would be a time consuming activity for them. After this most recent hacking event, they do not have too many other options going forward.

I took some time and went out to blogs.reuters.com and in a matter of minutes was able to determine they are still running WordPress 3.1.1. All I had to do was to look at the page sources and then search for "WordPress" and there it was. The report about this is accurate and they are still on the version which was hacked and let someone gain entrance to the blog and post material. Leaving this situation is place is not a good idea as it encourages others to try and hack the site.

They have been hacked and because they are still running an older version, hackers know exactly what to target in an effort to gain access to their site. For everyone out there who has a WordPress site, make sure that you are running the most current version of WordPress and you have updated all your plugins. It is critical that you take these simple steps to protect yourself and your site from hackers.

Facebook Drops Off Top 25 Best Places To Work

From 7th in 2011 to no longer being in the top 25 is a surprise.

In the past few years, Facebook has been in the news almost nonstop from things such as privacy issues to their IPO. And since the IPO, they have been in the news because of the downward trending of their stock prices. It seems that because of the value going down, all those people in the company who were expecting big paydays are now not going to be getting them. Last year, Facebook was the place to work. This year, Facebook is not even showing up it the top 25 list of best places to work.

The list is created annually and being reported by CNet for 2012. It does contain a variety of companies in the list and only 12 of the top 25 are technology related companies. LinkedIn and Rackspace are in the top 25, but Facebook is no where to be found. And that is a radical turn around for them given their rapid rise in the past few years.

How quickly they fall from popularity. One of the reasons for the change may be departures of executives to move to other technology companies. That creates an uncertain work environment for employees. Since this survey is supposed to identify the best companies who balance work and personal life, it makes you ask where did Facebook go wrong? And how did they do it so quickly?

This is one of many lists which are put out showing the best places to work in the US and it will be interesting to see what some of the other Best Places to work lists come out with for ranking Facebook in the Best Places To Work.

How Can The Post Office Losing $57M Per Day Survive?

US Post Office losing billions each quarter and continuing losses.

Interesting question. And this is not something that is a short term situation. They have been losing billions every quarter. Their 3rd quarter, which is the April to June period, results in a loss of $5.2 billion. And the tax payers are going to be on the hook for that money. While the Post Office must be in business to deliver the mail across the country, this kind of a loss is rather significant and one which cannot continue to occur. In the previous quarter, they lost in the billions as well and there appears to be no end in sight.

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How Can The Post Office Losing $57M Per Day Survive?

US Post Office losing billions each quarter and continuing losses.

Interesting question. And this is not something that is a short term situation. They have been losing billions every quarter. Their 3rd quarter, which is the April to June period, results in a loss of $5.2 billion. And the tax payers are going to be on the hook for that money. While the Post Office must be in business to deliver the mail across the country, this kind of a loss is rather significant and one which cannot continue to occur. In the previous quarter, they lost in the billions as well and there appears to be no end in sight.

If this was a privately held company which continued to sustain these kinds of losses over many years, they would no longer be in business. But the US Government continues to prop up the USPS to continue providing services. And part of the problem is the US Government. The USPS wants to eliminate Saturday delivery services which is very costly for them in a cost cutting move. But, they cannot do that without the approval of Congress. And it does not look like they are going to get that approval any time soon while daily losses continue to climb.

Retirement costs are also plaguing them as well as health benefit cost rising. The biggest problem is that the Post Office has not responded to changing technology. With the growth of email in the 1990's, they knew what was coming, but did not make any changes to try and leverage the changing technology to their advantage. And that is mainly because of the US Government regulations.

In a famous episode of Jerry Sienfield, Kramer attempts to cancel his mail. All of it as he has other ways of getting his bills and communicating with other people. He wants to stop receiving mail period. And that is the reality of today society. The importance of getting mail from the Post Office is greatly diminished as we all use Bill Pay and do not receive paper copies of bills. Instead we get them by email.

The Post Office needs to branch into some other areas as a way to return to profitability.

Sprint Gearing Up For SF Bay Area 4G LTE Roll Out

Sprint looks to be preparing for iPhone roll out in September.

When Sprint rolled out the Galaxy S3, we wondered just how long it was going to be before 4G LTE was available in major markets. Since I am located near San Francisco, that is a major market which I am wondering about. With all the Apple rumors about the iPhone 5 coming out with 4G LTE, one has to wonder if Sprint would roll out their 4G LTE just before the release. And it appears that we have now gotten an answer to the question from Sprint customers who have the Galaxy S3 or Galaxy Nexus in San Francisco Bay Area.

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Four Mobile Website Tips

New and advanced technologies are paving the way in terms of businesses and commerce growth. New and improved digital platforms are being created every day to help businesses reach out to their target market and generate more sales.
If you think digital technologies have advanced at lightning speeds over the past decade, wait until you see what’s in store over the coming months and years. Recent research shows that digital media and technology is expected to grow at even faster rates in the next few years.
One of the main forms of digital growth being seen today is mobile device usage. Everyone uses their mobile phones every single day – several times per day. But mobile phones are no longer just for making phone calls. In fact, people are spending more time surfing the web via their mobile devices today than ever before.

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