Archive for the 'Networking' Category

Can Google Change China?

China_censorship Have you been to China?  It’s an amazing country with smart very productive people.  Many predict that China will be the leading economic nation soon … or are they now?

The Google machine (no that’s not a slam) thinks that they can muscle China.  In our last Shanghai trip, we found that when you went to an blocked web site or said a word in your email that was against government policy … your computer screen would go black and display a warning for a period of time.  I was told that if you get too many warnings then Chinese security would be on the way. We heeded the warnings and complied.  The NSA thinks they monitor the net?

Now Google wants to offer an uncensored search engine in China? China is changing but not fast enough for Google. Read more …. 

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Share Documents in the Clouds

 

Almost everyone I know uses Office or Office for Mac.  Bur sharing documents can be a bother. Even email is not dependible because of Spamfiltering, mail policies and AntiVirus programs that block your attempts to share.

Clouds Have you seen what is going on with all of the servers and services available today?

Sharing is fundamental to cloud computing. This type of sharing uses your Web browser as the window to the cloud experience. With OfficeLive Workspaces, you can view and share Word documents, Excel –spreadsheets, PowerPoint, or many other documents – from anywhere to anywhere. Whether you are at home, at work, at the library, or in a hotel room with Internet. Forget sending e-mail attachments back and forth, or using a thumb-sized flash drive that too often gets misplaced.

Clouds are Everywhere

Computing in the clouds gets even more fun when you see your desktop computer in the clouds. No, nothing has been abducted from your home. Welcome to Mesh, your personal network of your own computers in the sky, viewed in your favorite Web browser. Once your computers are adding to Mesh, you can view any of your computers from all the other computers—and all for free. I use Mesh to connect to my desktop computer at work when I must have a file or need to run a program remotely.

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Send SMS to a Phone by Email

phone-sms-message-small Ever want to send an email to a phone? Some people NEVER respond to email, just text. While trying to find a text messaging by email solution this morning I found that each phone company has a email portal.  So, you can message per phonecompany or reach all phone companies through teleflip.com (see below.)

I had a specific need for a server alert system to send me a text should the server burp. But this is a great way to text someone from your desktop too. 

* Be sure of the recipients messaging plan because some people have to pay per text or have just so many messages in their plan.

(Note: For each carrier, I have included a link to a page with more detailed information on how SMS works with that carrier, how much it costs, and where you can find more information. In the list below, just click any carrier’s highlighted name to find out more. This info is subject to change.)

Alltel
[10-digit phone number]@message.alltel.com
Example: 2125551212@message.alltel.com

AT&T (formerly Cingular)
[10-digit phone number]@txt.att.net
Example: 2125551212@txt.att.net

Boost Mobile
[10-digit phone number]@myboostmobile.com
Example: 2125551212@myboostmobile.com

Nextel (now Sprint Nextel)
[10-digit telephone number]@messaging.nextel.com
Example: 7035551234@messaging.nextel.com

Sprint PCS (now Sprint Nextel)
[10-digit phone number]@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Example: 2125551234@messaging.sprintpcs.com

T-Mobile
[10-digit phone number]@tmomail.net
Example: 4251234567@tmomail.net

Verizon
[10-digit phone number]@vtext.com
Example: 5552223333@vtext.com

Virgin Mobile USA
[10-digit phone number]@vmobl.com
Example: 5551234567@vmobl.com

Teleflip If all this seems complicated, there’s an easier way to send email to any phone, no matter what its carrier. Just address it to [10-digit phone number]@teleflip.com
Example: 2125551212@teleflip.com
More information on Teleflip

Your Image in 2010

Perhaps we need to refer to the new year as twenty ten, it is more concise and simple. I ran across an article that inspired me and thought I would write about this on January first, twenty ten.

creative_image Many of us have learned that good looks add to success in the workplace but too many fail to realize that cultivating the perception of youth and a hip attitude is also very important. It’s no secret that we live in an age-obsessed society.  Don’t follow these rules to impress a young person. Your goal is to  create a more youthful perception about yourself. So how do you do it? Here are some of the concepts form the new book, “Bulletproof Your Job”:

Rule #1: Crest Whitestrips. This is a surface and shallow cosmetic-based tip. But people just don’t understand that having coffee-stained teeth doesn’t do you any favors. Then smile. Smiling makes you look and feel younger.

Rule #2: You need to be on Facebook. No friends? You already have one: just facebook me (dwightcook.) I will be your first friend.

Rule #3: Know how to use Google and Wikipedia and use them. Bookmark these sites on your computer, and set one as your homepage.

Rule #4: Watch an episode of “Big Bang Theory.” Discuss and Repeat.

Rule #5: Peruse your local Apple store. Learn the difference between an iPod Classic, iPod Touch and iPod Nano. You also need to what itunes and  podcasts are all about and then you are on your way.

Rule #6: Do not disclose your past. Keep it to yourself. These are the “good old days!”

Rule #7: Don’t talk about how you’re addicted to Starbucks.  Nobody cares and it won’t make you seem younger.

Rule #8: Keep up to date with Entertainment news and Sports. Set them as a favorite or add it to your custom home page on Google, Yahoo or Bing. This can help you with current relevant conversation.

office_image Rule #9: Learn how to text message and do it.

Rule #10: Lose the newspaper. Young people get their news online.

Rule #12: Make eye contact. Eye contact is so critical to being perceived as young; don’t be afraid to use it.

Rule #13: Never refer to your grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Rarely mention your children – these topics make you sound old.

Rule #14: Go to the gym. 

Rule #15: Never use ancient words like “groovy, dy-no-mite, or tubular.” Use current vocabulary.

Rule #16: Get a TiVo or DVR. Know how they work.

Rule #17: Record yourself to see how how old you sound. You will probably be your own worst critic. Note that youthful people talk much snappier.

Rule #18: Dress is very important: always dress age-appropriate with no frump factor.

Rule #19: Give your hairstyle a hard look. Get a young stylist to help with your look or ask a young family member that will be honest with you to help.

Rule #20: Skip cologne and wear deodorant. Young people don’t wear scented oils or strong cologne. You don’t want BO, so don’t skip that deodorant.

Rule #21: Make younger friends and hang out with them.

Two Secrets to a Successful Web Site

It’s really pretty simple:

1) Get people to your site

Most people get this one. People spend good money to promote a web site to search engines, trade links and advertise.  All of these are important.  With millions of web sites on the internet you can’t expect people to find your site by accident.

There are still hundreds of web sites published daily and they will never receive a spec of promotion.  Promote, promote, promote!

 

2) Give them a reason to come back

This is the real kicker.  The days are long gone when you can build a site and forget it for years.  Yet there are static sites out on the Net that have not changed since they were built.  If you have already read a book, it better be captivating and compel you to pick it back up to reread it.  The same holds true with a web site.  Make the web site connect with the visitor.  Better yet, Untitled-2 change your content and keep it fresh.  So why would someone never visit your web site again?  Here are my top reasons:

  1. There is nothing of interest
  2. Nothing has changed since my last visit
  3. Misspellings bad content, broken links, poor design or a bad impression

Please follow these two rules to avoid failure.

Help a Genius Who Paints Sound

 mm_logo_300_v2As many of you may know, the DREAM Fund was developed to assist people in advertising, public relations and media industries whose lives have hit unexpected difficulties.  Today, we have a special need in the Houston Area; a need that requires immediate assistance.

Mark Meyer works as an audio engineer at SoundWorks.  He has been diagnosed with lung cancer and unfortunately the chemo treatments have not helped; thus, the current prognosis isn’t favorable.  For the past 6 months, he has worked on a reduced salary and is the primary provider for his family.  Mark has been labeled as a genius at painting sound; however, he is also a master of not making a sound when needing help.  To fight this battle, Mark needs not only encouragement but monetary support for his mounting medical bills and for the care of his family (wife, two daughters and grandson).

Should you wish to make a tax-deductible donation to assist this family in their time of need, please logon to: http://www.dreamfund.org/

click on: DONATIONS

select: Donate online

Fill-in all required areas (*) on the form, uncheck any pre-checked selections and under DIRECTED DONATIONS type: MARK MEYER

clip_image001

 

Once the donation transaction is complete, you will be able to print your donation confirmation and receipt.

Again, please spread the word and help a colleague in need.  Thank you for your support.

To send a note of encouragement to Mark – visit The Mark Meyer Fund on Facebook or Mark Meyer on Twitter.

Carefully Build Your Social Network

Think … interesting communities

tweetdeck We all know that some people think social networks are a waste of time.  Sometimes they are! If you don’t use them properly as part of a marketing plan they can be just a fun conversation. But wait – social networks can be so much more. It’s not just about numbers of people connections – it’s about numbers of targeted connections. 

I love Twitter – first of all it’s limited to 140 characters.  I like to follow people who talk about things I am interested in and that relate to my work.  There are so many twitter tools that let you do just that.  These tools can search the Twitter public stream and look for posts containing key words typed by people you may want to follow.  You can manually add these people after a review of the post or automatically follow them.  I have used this method to connect with over 10,000 people in just a few months. Once I follow people, they usually follow back. Ultimately, I don’t follow people who don’t follow me back, because to me, it’s all about connections.  My favorite Twitter application is Tweetdeck – it allows me to filter tweets of others by subject and helps me with Facebook posts too. Just do a search for Twitter applications – the number of these grow daily!

I think that Facebook is the more personal social network. I prefer to connect with people I know and their direct friends.  I make an exception by joining targeted groups on Facebook. You may also find the groups and fan clubs are helpful for making focused connections. I also repurpose my Twitter feed as my Facebook status.

I like to think of Linked-in as a way of connecting with groups of special interests.  I find that may people think of it as more “business”.  Actually all of these social networks are good for business. But Linked-in does have more of a business orientation.  I search for connections by using the search on Linked-in and look for groups of people with the interest I want to target. But you must add to the group “think” and talk with members in order to be accepted.

ilikesocialnetwork All the social networks have unspoken manners you must adhere to to be successful.  For example it’s a real turnoff to sell a product directly – but it’s cool to post a link to an article on your blog.

Where will social networking go in the future? I think that the big networks will definitely be around and continue to be useful but there will be large growth in niche networking as people become more discerning about with whom they connect. For example I recently heard about a bartenders network with an invitation only tier for the elite in this craft.  I think we will see more tiny focused social networks like this in the near future.

So, connect and grow your network but be targeted!  Feel free to post a comment or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook or Linked-in. You will find my profile at www.dwightcook.com.

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Widgets are coming to your TV

Standby … we control the horizontal and the content. TV is about to really embrace the Internet.

widget

This is not web TV – widgets enhance your TV viewing with web content.  Already Yahoo and other information   providers are getting their widgets ready for a new breed of TV from manufacturers like Samsung, Sony, LG, Vizio and Intel. Widgets w

ill do more than bring you information they can bring you movies, sports events, coupons and more.

Intel is developing a widget module to fit to TV’s that don’t ship with the technology. It’s the Intel Widget Channel … they will provide a development environment for all of this widget Internet-based content and services. Widget Channel supports this new platform and will allow growth. The channel will adapt to new software and TV hardware .

widgets2 The good news is that consumers will be able to find and select content and services they prefer. Widget service providers can provide continuous updates and recommendations about content of special interest to them based on location and viewing patterns. Tapping into the power of the Internet allows consumers to share content and connect with their existing social networks and communities right on the TV in their living room.

Privacy … what privacy? Your Internet viewing choices are already public information. This idea may start with widgets but future TV distribution will go to the Internet. Companies are bracing for the future.  Information providers like Google and Yahoo and distribution suppliers like AT&T, Comcast and the mobile providers will duke it out for their share. Widgets are just the beginning of TV landscape changes.

As you can imagine marketing people will love it, there will be a widget explosion.  Ratings services like Nielson already track viewing patterns but with Internet TV results will be more accurate and advertisers will love those stats! So when you ask will this be here? The technology is here now.  We are waiting on bandwidth, lots of bandwidth. We must have cost effective big bandwidth to make this work the way we all expect!

What a great gimmick! Groupon hits Houston

Once in a while you find a great concept and think “I wish I had thought of that”! That’s how I felt when I found Groupon.com – what a great gimmick!  They started in Chicago and added new cities as they got advertisers. Now they are rolling out Houston, today was the first Houston Groupon offering. Groupon uses social networking to funnel people and use it to get the customer to drive more biz…great concept.

How Groupon Works

Groupon is a combination of the words group and coupon. Each day, they offer an unbeatable deal on the best of Houston: restaurants, spas, sporting events, theater, and more. By promising businesses a minimum number of grouponcustomers, they offer great discounts. For the consumer it is “collective buying power”!

If you want to get the deal, just click BUY before the offer ends at midnight. If the minimum number of people (20 for today’s deal) sign up by the end of the day, you’ll get a printable gift certificate in your inbox the next morning that you can use whenever you want (well, at least until the deal expires-today’s expires in six months). If not enough people join, no one gets the deal (and you won’t be charged), so invite your friends to make sure you get the discount!

It’s nice to wake up to something new every day. Some people get their daily fix from desk calendars with a cute puppy and a funny caption every morning. Groupon is like a desk calendar, except the puppy is an unbeatable discount and the funny caption is a profound reflection on the flowers and needles growing from life’s cactus. Like some of the other local search sites they allow people to review food, entertainment and more.

Details

organic I just got today’s Groupon (Houston’s first Groupon) and it offers $35 worth of organic and all-natural food for 57% off at Ruggles Green, Houston’s first certified green restaurant. Ruggles Green, a casual bistro in the Upper Kirby area, serves organic and all-natural food made from quality ingredients. The menu is a collection of comfort food that keeps omnivores and carnivores content; try spicy fish tacos, warm goat cheese salad, 98% lean buffalo burger, tomato basil soup, or wood-fired pizzas (organic margherita pizza and more).

I don’t need to sell you on organic … it reduces the amount of pesticides and chemicals in the environment (and in your food), and it tastes better because organic fruits and vegetables have higher levels of antioxidants, lower average crop yields, and flavor crystals. If enough of us demand organic I think the premium price in the grocery will come down,

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Can Music Copyright Exist on the Web? Part IV

Battle Lines

“There’s battle lines being drawn… Nobody’s right, if everybody’s wrong.”
For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield

image Now a rational person would surmise that REALLY – You can’t win. Copyright law was written FOR the content creators and copyright holders. But this hasn’t stopped an atmosphere of sheer insanity from developing. In the matter of Lenz v. Universal Music, a California mother posted a short video on YouTube of her toddler dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Get Crazy” for around 20 seconds. Universal, following guidelines from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, sent a takedown notice to YouTube and YouTube complied. Case closed, right? – Oh No! Lenz sent a counter-notification to YouTube claiming “fair use” (see Part II of this series) of the copyright and demanded the video be re-posted. YouTube reposted the video and Lenz filed suit against Universal seeking monetary damages from them, claiming they had no copyright infringement claim! This case is certainly going to be one to watch…

To avoid copyright infringement when playing/streaming music on the internet, music licensing is the normal path to follow. But when it involves rate negotiations, normal gets thrown out the door. After becoming frustrated in negotiations with Google, Warner Music Group pulled its music videos off YouTube in the U.S. in December 2008. Then, in March 2009, frustrated with the U.K.’s Performing Rights Society for Music (PRS), Google took an equal & opposite approach and began random removal of major label videos first in the U.K., then in Germany. This prompted the ire of U.K. artists and music publishers to side with PRS and internet interests like last.fm to publicly side with YouTube. And in the midst of both actions, YouTube instituted a system that automatically removed unlicensed music tracks from posted videos before even receiving DMCA takedown notices. So add YouTube content posters and, no doubt, multitudes of YouTube fans to the unhappy fray. And it’s only a matter of time before MySpace, Pandora, and others enter into the fray. The whole affair begins to resemble the remark, “If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!”

imageIf you’re thinking that progress is being made by either side, nothing could be further from the truth. The album release date, once sacred among major labels marketers and their artists, is now just gone. Album “leaks” have so saturated the internet, they have become “de rigueur” for any major music release. Indeed, tech-guru and Wired magazine editor, Chris Anderson, has introduced us to the “freeconomics” concept. But to rationalize that simply because your album is leaked (and based on that factor alone) that your sales will be greater, requires a great leap of marketing faith (and many other commodities and merchandise for-sale to the public). Anderson does make one primary point to ponder, “The moment a company’s primary expenses become things based in silicon, free becomes not just an option but the inevitable destination.”
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free

So where does all this leave us? My little dissertation here is not going to solve any problems where all the parties involved are behaving like out-of-control children. So what are reasonable solutions to this modern mess? For a moment, let’s review “the truths we know to be self-evident”:

From the moment a compact disc was able to be ripped into an mp3 and digitally transported to someone either via P2P networks or email, copyright and control of distribution could no longer be contained and controlled by traditional standards.

Taking property from creators, be they artistic, financial or both, without payment is theft. This is not really an arguable point from either a legal or social point of view.

The current and prevailing penalties for digital copyright theft on an individual basis, are unreasonable by any stretch of the imagination unless accessed at, or near, the lowest values statutorily allowed ($750 per infringement).

Laws are NOT going to be changed through the court system! Attorneys listen up and please quit wasting the taxpayers’ money!

ISP’s and file sharing networks can no longer turn a blind eye to thieves of intellectual property within their digital borders anymore than foreign trading partners can ignore the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) within their geographic borders. Get over it!

Now can we consider some reasonable compromises?

imageUltimately, software can be written to not only monitor P2P file sharing infringements, but to remove/block them when they occur. You do not have to disconnect the violator from the ISP after 3 strikes, but if they become a constant pain in your backsides, maybe you’ll consider that!

Reasonable penalties will command reasonable respect for the law! After all, laws are the glue that we all agree to abide by to prevent chaos as a society.

The “rockstar” image cultivated by major labels has done irreparable harm to music and art. Musicians and performers need to be portrayed as the hard-working individuals they are. Major labels need to return to their roots, hire people who understand music and turn out quality product. And not just for young people – Boomers will, and always have, paid for the music they love! (Note to major labels – don’t forget who “brung you”).

Educate yourself! You do not have a god-given right to use anyone’s music for your home videos, especially when posted to the web! It is not Fair Use! In turn, copyright owners should consider making reasonable allowances for situational uses – It just might help them sell more product!

Now, can we all just get along? Nothing else seems to be working!

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