Called the Knowledge Graph, Google will draw on the billions of data points captured based on search history to return more relevant results in a panel to the side of the search window.

These suggestions present options of data that others searched for when they were looking for material similar to your request.

This is a perfect use of related data and will make refining search solutions faster for the user.

Watch the video to see how it will be implemented.

See the full article at “The San Francisco Chronicle”

Data backup is a much maligned and overlooked process – until your system crashes.

Everyone has a story

- I lost all my pictures, I can never replace them!
- It took me months to recreate my music and I am still missing stuff!
- It was terrible, I did not have the application CD’s to reinstall or the license numbers

I hear this every month from clients and some stories are just heart breaking. One client had 7 children and ALL of her pictures were on one drive – guess what, it crashed and she lost EVERYTHING. She literally cried when I told her the data was just lost for good, it was terrible.

So I will make it as easy as we can, and its FREE!!!!

There is a great tool called “Crash Plan” that you can use for FREE to backup personal computers to each other. So say you have two home computers and your son has one at school.

You can set them up so they backup to each other and you have an extra copy of your data on another PC.

The likelihood of two computer failing simultaneously is VERY LOW.

The likelihood of one computer failing it VERY HIGH.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

http://www.crashplan.com/

See the full story at “The Wall Street Journal”

Here is how it works;

- You have a great idea
- You create a page on kickstarter.com
- Add video and descriptions of what you need funding for
- Define how much money you need
- Have some type of offer like discounts on the product or service
- If your funding level is reached then the supports cards are charged and off you go

Since 2009 they have helped raise $ 200 million from 1.8 million people and 20,000 project being successfully funded.

Look at the video for Pebble watch to see how incredible this can be for new ventures. They needed $ 100,000 start up for production of a new, very cool, watch and have received over $ 7 million in funding in just two weeks!

See the full article at “CNN Money”

People usually think of cheap DVD copies coming from China as the primary origins of bootlegging.

A World War II veteran, Mr. Hyman Strachman has been copying DVD’s for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for eight years

Known as “Big Hy’, Mr. Strachman has created around 400,000 copies of newly released films and shipped them all to our troops all at his own expense. It is estimated that he has spent $ 30,000 over the years providing relief and entertainment to our warriors overseas.

You can tell by the flags in his modest apartment where his heart lies.

Thank God for people like Mr. Strachman.

See the full story at “The New York Times”

Good News Friday is dedicated to Emily Johnson, someone who recognized and commended good deeds.

It has hardly been a stealth product release but the Google Drive offering is now chomping at the other cloud offerings for hosting your data.

It makes perfect sense as an offering to augment their Gmail, Docs and other products that are slowly scooping up your infrastructure and managing it all for you on their servers. This is not necessarily a bad thing and certainly the wave Of the future for most everyday storage need.

There will always be a need for local storage whether it is for speed, perceived security, custom application or just because “that is the way we do it”.

The cloud will just grow over time, it is such a logical extension of the huge and investments the big boys have made in storage and infrastructure.

Over time they will solve the issues that keep most data local and we will forget about all that hardware stuff and focus on what is really important – the data.

See the full story at “The Washington Post”

400,000 computers in the US remain infected with the Trojan known as DNSChanger.

What this malware does is redirect you to their servers where they collect fees for affiliate sales.  If you are infected and do not resolve the issue by July 9^th  the FBI servers that are resolving this problem will be taken down and you will not have Internet access.

Six of the seven people involved with this have been captured but thousands of computers remain infected.

There is an easy check to see if you are being redirected:

Go here to test your system

http://dns-ok.us/

The FBI website has additional details

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/november/malware_110911

See the full article at “PC Magazine”

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401227,00.asp

Wherever your website is hosted there is a good chance that the hosting package contains tools that can help improve the search results for your site.

Most hosting sites have invested time and money developing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) applications just for that purpose as an enticement to have you host with them.

The problem is that most companies just do not take advantage of these tools and they are already paying for them.  If you do not feel comfortable technically to use the tools ask your IT service provider to login to the account and look at the settings.  They will need your input to properly target your specific customer base so make sure you provide keywords and relevant search terms to maximize your exposure.

Go for it, you already paid for the service why not see if it could drive some new business for you?!

 See the full story at AMEX “Open Forum”

A Florida photographer, Eric Wilson, is an avid pet fan and has been helping local pet adoption agencies present their cute pets in beautiful photographs.

In addition to his regular business of pet photography he donates his time to shelters creating stunning images of pets that need a home.

Take a look at his work and see what you may find at a local adoption agency this weekend!

See more beautiful images at Square Dog Photography;

http://www.squaredogphoto.com

 See the full story at “The Huffington Post”

In loving memory of Emily Johnson

The recent Flashback Trojan has infected around 600,000 MAC’s just showing how success invites the hackers.  It was widely believed that since there were so few MAC’s out there as compared to PC’s there was much more to gain in the larger pool.

Not any longer.

Regardless of your operating system, having up to date anti-virus tools are a must today.  There are free tools that are excellent so there is no excuse in not installing something.

Expect more attacks in the future and prepare for them

See the full story at “PC Magazine”:

Steve Mahan has lost 95% of his eyesight, well past the threshold of being legally blind.

With the help of Google’s self driving car he was able to go to Taco Bell and run other errands while seated behind the wheel of the car.

Google has done a lot of development on these cars and just imagine the freedom that can be provided to people who are currently house bound fopr various reasons that stop them from driving.

 See the full story at “LA Times”