Chalk one up to the good guys!

A team including CrowdStrike, Dell SecureWorks, the Honeynet Project and Kaspersky Lab used a hackers own network structure to disable over 118,000 bot-infected computers.

Using a technique called “sinkholing”, they gave the infected computers bogus instructions and pointed them to servers that the good guys controlled thereby removing them from control of the bad guys.

That has to be such a satisfying feeling, almost as nice as never having to look at the Spam folder that used to be called your inbox.

 See the full story at “ComputerWorld”

AVG has released a new proactive feature that allows user to set security for what websites can and cannot track from your visits.

There is a passive “Do not track” rule that was introduced by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) but this is voluntary for websites and they can just ignore it if they want.

With the amount of data we leave all over the internet having more personal control is an excellent way of protecting yourself and not getting bombarded by ads after you look at a certain product on line.

 You can download a free copy here:                                              See the full story at “PC World”

The research firm, Gartner, believes that the cloud will replace the PC as the storage and focal point of our data by 2014.

That is right around the bend.

Many people are still confused about the cloud, think of the cloud computing just as you would a utility like electricity or water.  It’s out there and available whenever you need it.

Cloud storage is no different, in concept, than using an external hard drive on your computer.  The only difference is that the “hard drive”, or cloud storage location, is not in your home, rather it is a server being managed by a third party that only charges you for your fractional use of their storage capacity.

These cloud resources are orders of magnitude larger, faster and more secure than nearly any one company can possibly muster locally so they provide a huge opportunity of efficiencies.  Only pay for what you use, if you have a huge surge in demand, the cloud can flex with you and meet that demand.  There is no more need to continually spend money on local hardware, that is all done by the cloud provider.

Just think if all your data and applications were in the cloud all you would ever need is Internet access and you would have everything at your fingertips whether you are at the office, on a business trip or on vacation (not necessarily a huge advantage in my book).

I am a firm believer in letting experts do what they do best so I can remain focused on what I do best.

See the full story at “Wired Magazine”:

http://www.wired.com/cloudline/2012/03/personal-cloud-2014/

Joshua Johnson has not only found a unique way to pay for his college education but he endeared himself to others who have stepped in to help him out.

Tap dancing on NY subways on weekends to help pay for an education at Penn State helped Joshua with some expenses but could not cover all costs.  His story was heard by Ellen DeGeneres and he was invited on the show to talk about his efforts and then was given a wonderful check to help with his tuition underwritten by Chegg.

Listen to his story, he is truly an inspiration about overcoming challenges.

See the full story at “The Huffington Post”:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/15/joshua-johnson-subway-dancer-tap-dancing-penn-state-tuition_n_1349649.html

In loving memory of Emily Johnson

A new site is up that houses copies of email accounts and passwords that have been compromised by hackers.

These guys are legit and you can enter your email address and see if there is a match in their database.  They have over 12 million compromised email addresses from various sites on the web.

https://pwnedlist.com/

If you have been compromised, at a minimum you should change your password.  Even if you have not, changing your password every few months is a very good idea and make sure it is reasonably strong – not “123456” or “password” please!

A good site to help with testing your password is;

https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm

See the full story at “Forbes”:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/03/19/with-12-million-hacked-accounts-data-pwned-list-launches-as-a-breach-monitoring-service/?ss=cio-network

Search results from Google will become more “relevant” to users by delivering semantic results rather than just a listing of websites that match the keyword criteria.

As an example, using semantic results for a search on Lake Tahoe could return information about its size, locations salinity and other features rather than simply links to local resources like the visitor center and tourist attractions.

This could have major impact on page rankings as we know them and new SEO strategies may be needed to retain top billing.

See the full story at “The Wall Street Journal”:

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052702304459804577281842851136290-lMyQjAxMTAyMDEwNDExNDQyWj.html

James Henry is 98 years old and he has only been reading for 7 years!

A lifelong fisherman from Mystic Connecticut, Mr. Henry said “life kind of got in the way of learning how to read”.

Then with the help of his family and a retired school teacher, he not only learned to read but he wrote a book called “A Fisherman’s Language”.  One can only be inspired by the accomplishment, as well as the struggles, he must have faced not being able to read nearly his entire life.

We all need to take a lesson from Mr. Henry and not put off that one thing you have always wanted to do – it can be done no matter how old you are or how big a challenge it may seem.  Learn to knit, ski, navigate by the stars, master sign language, walk on your hands – anything is possible.

Get started today!

Oh yes, and please buy a copy of Mr. Henry’s book with this link to his website!

See the full story at NBC:

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Author-Learned-to-Read-at-92-140640973.html

In memory of Emily Johnson

Angel Franco photo

After 244 years as a mainstay of homes and schools around the country, the reality of the internet, Wikipedia, and all the information resources now available on line it just does not make sense to print.

The president acknowledged that they need to change with the time and he said their online version is updated more frequently and contains more multimedia.

That makes sense, I keep wondering why we still see phone books stacked up everywhere, I guess people are still willing to buy advertising in a book that is rarely opened.

See the full story at “The New York Times”:

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/after-244-years-encyclopaedia-britannica-stops-the-presses/

Adding video to your website or blog is a great way to improve SEO results and further engage customers.

They do not have to be Spielberg quality productions, just reasonable quality and informative about your products, services or industry trends.

Some key things to keep in mind include;

-           Keep it short – No one wants to sit through 27 minutes of dialog

-           Combine video and still images – This add variety

-           Make it personal – Add a personal message so you can connect with the audience

-           Add some humor – Keep it light so it is enjoyable

-           Have a call to action – Informative videos are great, but have the viewer take action like sign up for your newsletter

-           Distribute widely – Upload to YouTube and all the major video sites to gain additional exposure

There are plenty of free resources that you can use to add zing to your production, here is a link to 10 tools you can use now.

http://www.openforum.com/articles/10-tools-to-make-your-marketing-videos-wow

A great deal of planning and fund raising has been going on to help get the Loop trolley back on track and running in St. Louis.

St. Louis ran Peter Witt-type streetcars from 1927 to 1951. The Delmar Loop originally got its name from the streetcar turnaround which occupied two oblong blocks on the north side of Delmar east from Kingsland Avenue.

The loop was used by the Olive-Delmar line. The Creve Coeur line coming south up Kingsland also terminated at the Loop, with the cars backing into it from Kingsland.

Restoring the trolley will be a wonderful addition to the vibrant Loop district.

Take a look at the Loop trolley website for full details.

 http://www.looptrolley.org/index.html

See the full story at “CBSlocal”:

 http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/02/17/update-loop-trolley-funding-falling-into-place/