Archives
December 2008
Dec. 27, 2008 - Decatur Georgia: Virtual World?
“the City of Decatur, Georgia is evaluating the use of a virtual world interface to "encourage community networking, improve civic engagement, and promote economic development””
You can read the entire article here.
I don't want to be the one saying this wont work but this wont work. People don't just go online and spend their free time walking a virtual world for no reason. The reason WoW and games like that work is because not only are they interactive, they are competitive as well. You have to have a reason for people to get into these places and usually it has to be fun. Not to mention many of these virtual world's are actually falling to pieces recently as funding is diminishing as well as a lack of people playing them, although not in the case of WoW which is actually seeing a huge increase in the number of players.
Anyways, sorry but this is not going to work.
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Dec. 27, 2008 - Is Your Financial Information All Over the Net? Yes
Some security researchers have been examining just how big of a deal hacking financial information has become. You can check out this article for more information. It might be too technical for most people to understand because of the terminology involved. I will sum up some of the more important aspects here.
“stolen identities, bank accounts and credit card numbers are sold in bulk every day in shadowy online forums, often for pennies on the dollar. In its analysis, Symantec found in 2007 that the going rate for the keys to assuming someone else's identity was between $14 and $18 per victim.”
This is big business.
“33 gigabytes worth of purloined data from more than 170,000 victims. Included in those troves were more than 10,700 online bank account credentials, 149,000 stolen e-mail credentials, 5,682 credit card numbers, and 5,712 sets of eBay credentials.”
This was just a small sample of what was available using only two different points of access. What this means is that the actual numbers would be staggering and probably includes information about almost everyone. Maybe I am jumping to conclusions but I think I have a pretty good idea of how many different ways there are to get information like this. What is even more disappointing is that large companies are required by law to disclose if they have had a security break but they rarely do and hardly ever specifically identify who had what stolen. I really suggest reading the entire article, not to scare but to make aware.
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Dec. 27, 2008 - Is Your Phone System Secure?
That question is probably something that you don't normally ask yourself when you own a business. But in the age of technology and computers this is something to seriously consider. According to this story a man in Winnipeg had $52,000 added to his bill after a hacker(s) gained control of his voice mail. While this seems out of the norm it actually seems very easy to do and it doesn't look like most phone systems have any sort of prevention for this sort of thing. With only a 4 digit code protecting you how safe can you be?
I would definitely read the article and if you or your business has a similar phone system I would check into this. The ironic part is this guy's business is networking and security. This may or may not be something new but it is definitely something to keep an eye on.
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Dec. 27, 2008 - Refrigerated Beach? You Gotta Be Freakin' Kidding Me!
Yes you heard me right. Some ass in Dubai decided to further wreak havoc on the planet and install pipes under the sand that contain a refrigerant. Frankly the story makes me so angry that it was difficult to even read it.
One thing to note is that if you can actually get through the article there are some good quotes by someone who apparently thinks this is ridiculous as well.
Here:
““Dubai is like a bubble world where the things that are worrying the rest of the world, like climate change, are simply ignored so that people can continue their destructive lifestyles,” she said.
Aided by cheap oil and gas, Middle Eastern nations have poured enormous resources into controlling temperature. About 60% of Dubai’s huge power bill is for air-conditioning; each person living there has a carbon footprint of more than 44 tons of CO2 a year.”
To me this is one of those articles that doesn't “make me think” it just makes me sick.
If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comment on your blog as well.
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Dec. 27, 2008 - Big Science: Baby to be Born Without Gene for Breast Cancer
I know everyone gets freaked out when it comes to genetics. I frankly don't see why. Yes we can manipulate genes and it works great. There are ethical issues involved such as creating monsters, super human soldiers, and countless other scenarios that people have been dreaming up since work first began in this field. But I think most people can see the practical applications that are involved.
In the case of this story it is rather urgent that something be done about breast cancer. “Women in three generations of her husband's family have been diagnosed with the disease in their 20s.”
Anyways the story is a pretty good read and I for one look forward to eliminating these sorts of diseases if we can.
If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comment on your blog as well.
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Dec. 27, 2008 - Big Changes Hopefully Coming Soon to Battery Life of I-Phone, Blackberries and Others
A Canadian student at Carleton University in Canada has developed a very revolutionary prototype that significantly increases battery life in popular phones and I would think could see its way into other devices as well. The problem with these devices is a significant portion of energy is wasted transferring through wires. So what did he do different? Got rid of the wires! By putting a wireless transmitter in the device it seems to save a tremendous amount of energy and works great so far.
You can read the article here.
If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comment on your blog as well.
If you like what I say subscribe to my blog. If you really like what I just said flag this story for a feature!
If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.
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Dec. 27, 2008 - New York's Lights Getting Even Brighter and Cheaper and Greener!
I came across this article and thought it was pretty interesting. I think changing out city lights for LED lights makes perfect sense. Not only will it pay for itself it will save the environment by using less energy. The bulbs also last longer. Now if we could only swap them out for solar lights maybe I would be even more enthusiastic. Maybe they can be converted later once the technology gets better?
If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comment on your blog as well.
If you like what I say subscribe to my blog. If you really like what I just said flag this story for a feature!
If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.
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Dec. 27, 2008 - Mozilla (Firefox) Having Issues With Google Chrome
The problem Mozilla is having with Google specifically is competition with it's new browser, Chrome. You see, “Mozilla is dependent on Google for the vast majority of its revenue and has previously worked closely with the search king's engineers on the development of Firefox.” With Firefox taking 1/5 of the world's browser users things could really heat up. With no financial backing the company would seem doomed. It will be interesting to see what happens but I really wouldn't want to see anything happen to Firefox.
You can read the rest of the article here.
If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comment on your blog as well.
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If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.
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Dec. 27, 2008 - Students Prank Teachers Big Time
I came across this article the other day. Apparently high school students in Maryland are faking out traffic cameras using their teachers' license plate information on the cars and purposely speeding past the cameras. What this does is automatically send a ticket to the offending plate owner and the cameras cant seem to tell the difference between a real plate and the faked ones. All it takes is some glossy paper.
To me this not only shows traffic cameras do little or nothing to actually enforce laws, they seem more harm than good. Personally I don't want us to be moving towards a surveillance society like the UK seems headed.
If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comment on your blog as well.
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Dec. 27, 2008 - Police Catch a Criminal by Using DNA Found in a Mosquito
I came across this article the other day and found it interesting. I realize this has little to do with real estate other than to say the usual, times are changing. As often as people say that I wonder how different things really are than they were not so long ago. Sure technology has evolved but are we really any different than a generation ago? What's funny is how people get nostalgic about times past and often insist that somehow people were nicer and that things were better. Often people refer to the 50's as a time of innocence and yet this was the same period in history that saw the largest heroin epidemic ever in this country. An interesting read is Wisconsin Death Trip, an actual chronicle of life in Black River Falls Wisconsin during the late 1800's. After the first dozen or so pages you realize life was definitely not better during this time and most certainly much worse. The book is rampant with crime and murder at a much higher rate than we see today. Why then do we forget history so easily and always try to remember it differently?
If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comment on your blog as well.
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If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.
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Dec. 19, 2008 - If You Ain't Youtubin' You Might be Out of Luck!
In case you haven't heard, video is not just the next big thing, its here and its huge! According to this story, “Video search on YouTube accounts for a quarter of all Google search queries in the U.S., according to the latest search engine numbers from comScore.” This is simply staggering news. What started as a rather strange phenomena has grown into a very powerful business tool, that is if you are using it! To put this into perspective, “If it were a standalone site, YouTube would be the second largest search engine after Google. More searches are done through YouTube than through Yahoo, which has been the case for the past few months.”
But wait, that's not all! Not only is Youtube impossibly popular in general, when it comes to video, it is blowing the competition out of the water! According to this article, “In terms of videos watched, Google accounts for a staggering 38 percent; the next most popular service has less than 4 percent.”
How you can make Youtube work for you and your business is up to you. I have been using it for several months and I like what it does. What I can tell you is that if you aren't using it you might be missing the boat...
If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comment on your blog as well.
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If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.
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Dec. 19, 2008 - A Must for Your Website: Issuu Smart Look
No more downloaded .pdf files or any other readable document. Issuu Smart Look eliminates the download and simply lets you look at the document directly. Not only is this feature simply better, it looks really dang cool too!
You can check it out here.
Adding the code to an existing site is really easy. Its pretty much a cut and paste job that anyone could do. I would love to demonstrate this on my site but I dont have any .pdf files or any other documents to download like that :(
I really think this is a must for any website with downloadable, readable content. It's flashy, cool, and useful.
You can read the full story here.
The story also includes some other sites that are working on similar lines.
If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comment on your blog as well.
If you like what I say subscribe to my blog. If you really like what I just said flag this story for a feature!
If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.
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Dec. 19, 2008 - Drop Everything you are Doing and get Drop.io
Well maybe not everything you are doing but you might want to check this service out. What does it do?
"Drop.io, a service that offers hosted file sharing, conference calling, fax receiving, blogging, collaboration, and media presentation features, has released a major new version of its Firefox add-on."
It also features Facebook connectivity.
"Upload new files to share, write a blog post, share a link via the aforementioned shortcut, or do something else clever with your own API app, and it can quickly be published to your Facebook news feed."
There is definitely some use for this app. It could also be a great way to integrate filesharing with your website. For instance you could create a drop that contains files or guides on how to buy a home and then share these for potential customers.
You can read the full story here.
If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.
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Dec. 18, 2008 - Want to Save the Environment? How About a New Font?
I came across this article and at first I didn't really think much about it. The company Spranq has developed a new font dubbed Ecofont that uses less ink by basically punching holes in the font. You can read more about it here. How much of a difference can a simple font make? I guess I was just thinking of this in the simplest of terms, yes a font could save ink, but is 20% less ink really going to save the environment? But you see this is much more than that. According to Spranq “With the Ecofont SPRANQ hopes to increase environmental awareness too. Increasing customer awareness about printing behavior: is printing really necessary or (partly) a waste of ink and paper? We also hope to inspire software giants and printer manufacturers to innovate in an environmentally conscious manner.”
It really is all about the big picture. Everyone needs to take part in saving our environment. It has to be a global effort. I think one of the biggest obstacles to environmentalism has been that if its not easy to do then it just wont happen. The inconvenience of saving the planet. Well this isn't hard to do and the message you send is a good one when you use this font. You don't have to save this font for printed materials either. Anywhere you want to send the subtle message of saving the earth you can use this font. (If you haven't noticed this article is written with the new font.)
Here is what it looks like in larger format.
Now here is a bold statement!
What will you do to get the word out?
You can download the font here. Once you have downloaded the font you can read instructions on how to install it here as well. This literally takes 30 seconds or less so please take part in this effort. Make sure you check out the website and feel free to donate to the cause. I encourage everyone to switch. Again, this doesn't have to be restricted to printed materials. The message is about stopping the waste of paper and inks.
Remember think before you print !
If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.
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Dec. 17, 2008 - You or Your Browser is Insecure... Chrome and Conclusion: Is Anyone Safe? Part 4
In case you missed Part 1 check it out here.
In part 3 I was pointing out insecurities?? in the Safari Browser and showed how the password manager is most likely inadequate and a potential issue. In the same article I cited they also pointed out that Chrome didnt fair too well either. You can read that article here. To be fair Opera did the best but still failed 14 of the tests! So maybe the question is this:
Is anyone safe?
Well the thing about security and the difference between good and bad security is being able to fix holes as soon as they become apparent. There is absolutely nothing that is 100% secure. If enough time, energy and money were to be poured into a project, somewhere and in some place a hole is to be found. Some are easier than others and there are things you can do to help stem the tide of bad things happening to you.
The biggest thing in browser security is simply to be up to date. When a new patch comes out please install it immediately. Yes the minor inconvenience of a reboot might be necessary but this is a small price to pay for the added security.
Above all remember there is nothing that is 100% secure. Some are more secure than others. Just pay attention and update.
...and please if you own a Mac don't think you are immune.
I hope you enjoyed the series.
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Dec. 17, 2008 - You or Your Browser is Insecure... Mac Myth #61843: Yes You Too! Part 3
In case you missed Part 1 check it out here.
Safari
I love the Mac myths. For some reason when you approach Mac users about security they seem to get this sneaky smile on their face and say, “Not me! Thats why I bought a Mac!”
Well the truth is that its not necessarily any more secure than a Windows machine. Yes, thats the truth.
Safari might be giving away your passwords to untrusted sites. This could mean a very big vulnerability for you and your computer, especially if you use the same password in more than one place.
You can read the article here.
But wait thats not all!
Not to bring up old news but as recently as March of this year at a hacking convention there was a very interesting battle. First of all it was found “that the Safari browser was surprisingly insecure, allowing successful attacks on Mac computers.”
The mac was pitted against a Vista machine and a Ubuntu machine. You know from the commercials that Vista is not secure while the Mac is right? Well “The Mac fell within minutes, hijacked by security researcher Charlie Miller” In fact during this entire round no one was able to compromise the Vista machine. I will also point out that is a conference where all the leading security experts in the world are invited, and yes hackers, and no one could take out the Vista machine that day.
You can read the full story here.
One final note “Security experts point out that despite Apple's poor security, its machines remain less attacked than Windows machines. Many believe this is simply a matter of market share. With Mac sales on the rise, there may soon be a large increase in Apple-targeted malware and takeovers with the Safari browsing taking the brunt of the attacks.”
I hope thats enough to finally dispel the myth of the “secure” Mac.
Make sure you check out the rest of the series. I will be offering some new insight into virtually every browser in the market right now.
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Dec. 17, 2008 - You or Your Browser is Insecure... Internet Exploder Part 2
In case you missed Part 1 check it out here.
Earlier this week it was announced “News broke in the security world earlier this week that a critical vulnerability had been found in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7. The vulnerability could be used to take over computers and is known to be currently being used to steal passwords.” Now if you are a Internet Explorer user or 70%ish of the current market or you were a past IE user (99% likely) then you are familiar with these sorts of announcements. But if Microsoft had a defcon level and defcon 1 is all out nuclear war, this one is defcon 2.
You know that joke, this is so serious and then you the audience chime in “How serious is it?!” Well its serious for sure. “The seriousness of the flaw was evidenced by Microsoft's rather public announcement of the vulnerability and panicked rush to develop a patch. So-called "out-of-band" announcements from Microsoft are rare.”
It has also been reported that this exploit has been seen on thousands of sites so far. Some are saying to not even use IE for the time being until the patch is issued. I did see a critical update come through today and I immediately installed it but I cant say for sure whether this patch was supposed to fix this or some other critical flaw... thats just how security goes. There is nothing that is 100% safe.
You can read the article here.
Make sure you check out the rest of the series. I will be offering some new insight into virtually every browser in the market right now.
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Dec. 17, 2008 - You or Your Browser is Insecure... Firefox: Very Risky Part 1
Firefox has been gaining quite a reputation and quite a following. Recently it was reported that Firefox is taking a 20% market share for browsers. What this means in terms of security is that “This gives it a high profile and leaves it a desirable target to be exploited by hackers and malware writers. Worse yet, it has less money to fund security efforts that Microsoft, and according to some experts, less focus as well.”
This might mean a risk to your computer. But really how can you know? I guess the point is that you really don't know how safe you are until someone exploits a hole and voila, all your files disappear. Its hard to know you are truly safe before something happens. But a recent study suggests that Firefox might actually pose a very big potential risk to businesses.
You can read this article here that discusses more in depth some of the risks associated with Firefox.
One thing to note is that “The study's conclusions only marginally apply to the consumer market.”
Make sure you check out the rest of the series. I will be offering some new insight into virtually every browser in the market right now.
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Dec. 17, 2008 - Blogging World Turning Upside Down Overnight? This is BIG!
I recently reported that Facebook was adding a new feature called Facebook Connect and Google was adding Friend Connect. When I wrote those articles I didn't realize one very big feature staring me in the face. In addition to all of the other interconnectivity that “Connect” will offer they basically act to universally identify you wherever you are in the world.
Huh?
“People may have IDs for the various blogging platforms or commenting systems, but most don’t identify with them. It is a necessary inconvenience. They identify with Facebook or their email because that is where they manage their personal and professional lives.”
Well the point is to identify yourself no matter what site you are using and then report your activity back to Facebook so that your friends are updated too. Ok that may seem strange at first but when you apply this to the blogging world you can see the potential implications immediately. Connect will centralize your comments as well!
Whoa...
Basically no matter what blogging platform you are on as long as you are logged into Facebook Connect you have a universal identity.
The same holds true for Google's Friend Connect. They essentially work the same way and it will be a fight to the death to see who wins in the end.
Does this make sense yet?
So long story short, you create an account if you don't have one with one or both of these “connectors.” Now, depending on which one that particular site uses, whatever activity you do on that site will report back to either your Google account or your Facebook account or possibly both in the future?
I actually added the Facebook Connect feature in its Beta stage to my website but was unable to get it to work properly. I will play around and see if I can get it to work.
I think you can begin to see the poinhttp://activerain.com/blogsview/823471/Social-Networking-Updates-Google-Friend-Connectt of all this. I am pretty sure that everyone who uses the internet is sick and tired of having to create 1000's of logins and passwords. Not to mention I really like the idea of me being me on the Internet versus 1000 random names and logins. But this essentially does more by truly creating a universal presence beyond a simple login.
Take a look at this article for a good read or in case I didn't make any sense! :)
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The Real State of Real Estate in the Chippewa Valley. A blog created for the people of Eau Claire and the greater Chippewa Valley to extensively cover real estate matters as they pertain to the people who matter most to me. Local real estate issues for local people.
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