You would be amazed to find out just how much personal information is collected every time you log on to your computer to use the Internet. Recently, I came across an article from Palaestra Training that talks about some ways that you can cover your online tracks. Below are five of the tips that they provide. To read the full article, click here.
5 Ways to Cover Your Tracks
- Remove Your Most Recently Used (MRU) List: Yes, it may be difficult to believe, but information can be had from your most recently used list. In order to remove or clear this list, click here.
- Make Your IP Address Private: Did you know that your IP address is recorded in things such as e-mail headers, discussion boards and mail servers? Your IP address is typically recorded whenever you visit a website and leave a comment and can also tell others what pages you’ve viewed and any transactions that you make (which is pretty scary considering the fact that we use our computers to conduct many personal transactions). That being said, you can actually install software that will hide your IP, such as MMIP or Anonymous IP.
- Delete Your Cookies! Most people nowadays are at least somewhat familiar with what ‘cookies’ are. Essentially, cookies allow websites or marketing people to create a profile on the type of person that you are based on information that you’ve unknowingly provided them regarding your Internet surfing patterns- all because your movements on the Net are tracked. Deleting your cookies occasionally will help to resolve this problem.
- Clearing the Cache: A cache is a place on your computer that stores temporary Internet files such as previously visited web pages, images, etc. It allows others to see where you’ve been. Clearing this periodically is always a good idea.
- Turn off AutoComplete: It may have seemed like a good idea at the time. However, other people can easily see where you’ve been if you’ve got the AutoComplete turned on. Why make it easier for them? Switch it off!
January 20 2010 | Internet Related and Marketing | 2 Comments »
In a recent article published by the LA Times, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is envisioning a future in which people can check their email and flip between their favorite cable television show all from the same electronic device: their television sets. According to the article:
Comcast Corp.’s chief executive, Brian Roberts, was gushing last week about his company’s impending takeover of NBC Universal, saying the deal would give consumers what they want, “which is access to all different types of content on different platforms and different times.”
That’s not the half of it — but it may not be Comcast in the driver’s seat.
If federal regulators have their way, the next big thing on the tech horizon will be a brave new world of Internet-ready, work-with-any-network set-top boxes, offering consumers unprecedented multimedia options through their TVs, not just their computers.
And if this plays out as the Federal Communications Commission envisions, the world as cable companies know it will radically change, making the potential synergies of the Comcast-NBC deal all but obsolete.
“The consumer will be king,” said Colin Crowell, senior counselor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. “You’ll be able to get your own set-top box that does all the whiz-bang things you want it to do, and you’ll be in control.” [source]
That’s not the half of it — but it may not be Comcast in the driver’s seat.
If federal regulators have their way, the next big thing on the tech horizon will be a brave new world of Internet-ready, work-with-any-network set-top boxes, offering consumers unprecedented multimedia options through their TVs, not just their computers.
And if this plays out as the Federal Communications Commission envisions, the world as cable companies know it will radically change, making the potential synergies of the Comcast-NBC deal all but obsolete.
“The consumer will be king,” said Colin Crowell, senior counselor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. “You’ll be able to get your own set-top box that does all the whiz-bang things you want it to do, and you’ll be in contro
But wait a minute…Can’t we already sort of do this?
For instance, in my boyfriend’s brother’s house, he took the CPU to one of his computers and hooked it up to his main television in the family room- this way he can check his email and/or do computer-related work. If he wants to watch television, all he has to do is press a button on his remote control for the TV to switch it back to cable. That being said, I am not really sure how the FCC is going to introduce something similar without making the prices extremely competitive.
With all the talk of maybe combining television with Internet access, there is a great deal of speculation that the official merge of the two will result in more people walking away from cable television- especially since many of us can catch our favorite shows on sites such as HULU and YouTube for free and sans commercial interruption (for the most part).
January 11 2010 | Communication and General Business Issues and Internet Related and Marketing and Media Interests | 1 Comment »
The world is your oyster, and nowhere else is this more true than on the Internet. Now, more than ever, business owners have more options available to them in the way of marketing and branding themselves; and the good news is that you don’t have to spend any money on it (if you don’t want to). That being said, the following are five fantastic ways to be found on the World Wide Web:
5 Ways to Be Found on the WWW:
- Facebook- At first it was just something that college kids did to keep in touch with each other and post ridiculous pictures from “last night’s party”. However, the “face” of FB has changed over time to now include people’s family member and business associates. Business owners can take advantage of what FB has to offer by the way of RSS feeds that automatically post in your profile as well as the creation of fan groups as well as fan pages, both of which can then be posted on your website or elsewhere.
- Twitter- I still get made fun of by my boyfriend for using Twitter, but it’s an excellent way to network with other people and make business connections. I’ve, personally, been offered really great advice from reputable people within my own niche via Twitter. Besides this, you can also include a link to your company’s website in your profile as well as work a little magic so that your blog posts automatically get “tweeted”. It’s a great resource.
- Guest Posts- Guest posting is something that people don’t take nearly enough advantage of. If you are buddies with someone on the Net who has a decent blog following, why not ask if you can guest post? In return, perhaps you could mention their site on your blog or do some sort of a link exchange, etc. This is a great way to introduce yourself to an audience that you may have not had the opportunity to interact with in the past.
- Create a Widget- Widgets are those cute little icons that you typically see on a person’s site in the top right corner, bottom right corner- or pretty much wherever they want to stick ‘em. They’re neat looking because they are less bulky than PPC or google ads, and they can provide readers with a quick link to other cool stuff that you’re doing.
- YouTube or Vimeo- Viral is definitely the way to pick up some steam and get noticed FAST. However, there is one catch. What you say during your video either has to be really great or pretty darn awful or just plain shocking in order to elicit the type of magnanimous response that you were hoping for. So, just keep this in mind..
December 22 2009 | Business Building | 4 Comments »
I recently moved into a new home and haven’t had cable television hooked up yet; and you know what I decided? I’m not going to get it because everything I need is right on the Internet. Case and point: One of my favorite shows comes on on Sunday nights. Thanks go the magic of YouTube, the episode is downloaded within mere minutes of being on the air. And what’s even better is that there aren’t any commercials in the version that I watch. I guess the only downside is the fact that you have to have patience to wait a little later to watch it, but its worth it. I compare it to bargain shopping. If you wait just long enough, there are fabulous deals to be had!
All of this being said, when it comes down to using the Internet and trying to obtain information, what is it that we look for? For instance, earlier today, I was trying to find information for research on a topic that I was writing about. However, when I clicked on the first website that came up, I quickly clicked right off because there was WAY TOO MUCH information being presented to me at one time, in one space.
Think about how big your computer screen is. Now think about how much information you would ideally like to see on that page. It’s no wonder people who use computers often have headaches. Web users use the Internet for a variety of everyday functions such as:
- Watching television shows
- Shopping
- News
- Information
That being said, what we want is very simple- so simple, in fact, that it is downright laughable: easy-to-find, clearly stated information that will help us make a judgment as to whether or not the website is credible or not. Additionally, most often, I find myself curious to know who the “brains” behind the operation is- you know, the person who is actually running the website. This simply helps to build trust between me knowing that there is an actual person running things- someone whom I can reach in case I have a question or complaint. What are some things that you look for on a website?
Who
October 27 2009 | Communication and General Business Issues and Internet Related | No Comments »
Plagiarism. The dictionary defines it as the use or close imitation of language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.. [source] But since the inception of the Internet, and more specifically, the emergence of weblogs, there has been an overly generous amount of wiggle room in how people choose (or don’t choose) to refer to things in their writing.
Knowing Better
It’s one thing to read someone else’s blog or to browse through the Internet and see something that you really find compelling and want to write about. Heck, you may be thinking to yourself, “They say it so much better than I could even begin to, so I’ll just copy exactly what they have and call it a day.”
Wrong.
It still amazes me to come across a piece of information on one site, think to myself that it seems really familiar, and then realize later that the reason for this familiarity was because it was copied verbatim from another site. It’s not that difficult to reference something. Even if you’re unsure about the proper way to reference something on the Internet, referencing where you obtained a certain tidbit of information is MUCH better than not mentioning where you received your sudden knowledge. It makes you look suspicious- like you’re hiding something.
Dealing with Plagiarism
Unfortunately, there are plenty of unscrupulous people out there waiting to bring you down simply because they’re too lazy to write content themselves. If this is the case, there are a couple of things you can do:
- Examine the content of what you have written and compare it word-by-word with the content in question.
- Send a non-threatening email, politely asking the blogger or other culprit to kindly remove the article in question from their web site.
- Conduct a “WhoIs” lookup based on the web domain name in order to find the registrar and/or name of the web hosting company so that a formal complaint about copied content can be wagered.
Have any other advice, stories or tips about plagiarism? We’d love to hear them!
Who
October 09 2009 | Ethics | 1 Comment »
According to Google Blogoscoped, the following are 5 common web misunderstandings. To see the full article, click here.
Misunderstanding #1: We Need Separate Print Pages- This idea fails because bloggers link to print pages due to how much easier they are to read. The right way to go about doing this is to create a separate style sheet for medium print, and if the browser does it correctly, it will display a print preview.
Misunderstanding #2: We Need an Alternative Mobile Web.. WML, the WAP’s Wireless Markup Language, is dead today. The fact that the same document can be used in a variety of circumstances, and that the browser simply requests the stylesheet needed – or uses its own, by default – is not an intuitive one to grasp. Most real world objects don’t behave that way, changing their shape and behavior depending on what is needed. So today, you’ll see many companies creating an alternative mobile web when, in fact, it is really not necessary.
Misunderstanding #3: Accessibility Means to Always Use Alt Text- The meaning of alt text serves as a replacement when the HTML image cannot be seen. Some of the reasons that images may not be accessible include any one of the following: the user is blind, the medium doesn’t support images, the user disabled images on purpose so she can browse on low-bandwidth. However, if the image is only being used to illustrate a point that is later repeated in the text, then there really isn’t a need to use alt text to begin with.
To see more of this article in detail, visit: Blogoscoped.com.
Who
September 22 2009 | Marketing | No Comments »
What does a crappy website look like, and how can you tell? For starters, if you can’t figure out what the website is about within 2-3 seconds of being on the landing page, that alone should start sending up red flags.
We are all analysists
Believe it or not, we are all analysts in our own right. Every time we use a search engine to look up a web page where we are searching for a specific piece of information, we are constantly looking and evaluating the quality of what is present before us. According to Consumer Reports WebWatch Investigations,
…2,684 people evaluated the credibility of two live Web sites randomly assigned from one of 10 content categories (e-commerce, entertainment, finance, health, news, nonprofit, opinion or review, search engines, sports, and travel.) A total of 100 sites were assessed.
What the study found was that most people failed to pay attention to the credibility of the sources of information on websites. Rather, as the 2002 study indicated:
The data showed that the average consumer paid far more attention to the superficial aspects of a site, such as visual cues, than to its content. For example, nearly half of all consumers (or 46.1%) in the study assessed the credibility of sites based in part on the appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size and color schemes.[source]
So, should we be alarmed by this information? You bet. While reading through a person’s website may be interesting, to say the least, we really need to evaluate what we’re looking at. It’s one thing to sift through a site for aesthetic reasons, but when you’re actually referencing information from a particular website, wouldn’t you like to know where they got their information from?
Who
September 08 2009 | General Business Issues and Internet Marketing and Internet Related | No Comments »
I had been spending some time on Twitter recently when it struck me how many “Internet marketing experts” there were out there. I couldn’t help but wonder, “Since when did Internet marketing become the new college major?” With so many people all vying for each other’s attention and business, it is often difficult to tell one marketer from another. To further prove my thinking, I spent some time going around and visiting some Internet marketing blogs. The messages all seemed to be the same:
- Brand yourself
- Network with others via Social Media
- Study SEO and know your keywords to get better ratings in Google
What Sets Internet Marketers Apart?
Sometimes Internet marketing can feel like being pushed into a crowded room in which everyone is talking about the same thing in only very slightly different ways. At the end of the day, everyone’s trying to make a few bucks based on what they know and are able to successfully convey to whoever will buy it. So, what sets the great marketers apart from the rest of the crowd? I’ve been able to make a few observations on this subject:
- Quality; Not Quantity: There are some people that you will see on every single social networking site available. They’ll tend to have a fairly decent following, but at the end of the day what does their site look like? Is the quality of what they have to say really worth it?
- Quality Time: How often do you set aside time to actually read (not skim) other people’s blogs? What about the few readers or people that you have on your own blog who leave comments? Do you write back to them or respond on their blogs?
- Quality Site: You should think of your website or blog as you would your home. Would you want to invite people over if it was a mess? Keeping that in mind, the layout of your site should be friendly, clean and highly navigable. A lot of people will go crazy with banner ads, etc. and while that may be a source of revenue- you need to keep your readers in mind and know that that might turn some of them off to what you have to say.
What do you think? In your opinion, what sets Internet marketers apart?
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March 30 2009 | Business Building and General Business Issues and Internet Marketing | No Comments »
