Google to acquire Motorola

Tonight I read that Google is to acquire Motorola.

Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility ... Read More

I find this to be interesting news and I’d be guessing, but I suspect it might have a very interesting effect on Samsung and LG. Up until now Motorola was just another Android player and now it is “THE” Android player. If you were Samsung or LG what would you be doing. Wouldn’t you want to hedge your bets. If they do the only card left to be put on the table is Microsoft’s operating system.

Samsung and LG need some form of leverage to keep the playing field level and running a dual Android/Microsoft strategy might give them that leverage, or at least give them a backup plan. Personally I think a Samsung device with a Microsoft tablet operating system (Windows 8) would be interesting to review.

If you’re considering an Android device will Google’s acquisition enter into your thoughts. Perhaps, but then again, perhaps not. I expect mobile phones and tablets to largely have a life expectancy of around two years. You could buy what you want today and as long as you don’t over invest, you’ll still end up getting two years of use out of your device.

This has certainly changed the goal posts as they say, and it will be interesting to look back in two years to see what the players are up to.

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Office 365 and Google's cloud services could be reducing the security of an organisations information.

A number of years ago I was asked to quote on a some work for a company offering security services to a major company. Through our discussions I was quite surprised the email address was the same address used by the user to remotely access their computer services. In fact they were very proud of their systems and the ability to log in from anywhere in the world. To me I felt this was a significant exposure. With the email address known publicly the only piece of information required to access their systems was a password. To me that was too big an exposure.

Fast forward about ten years and in my review of Office 365 I’ve been struggling to set up a user and use what is known as an alias as the public email address. From what I can see the user’s email address is their username. Once again the only piece of information required to access a user’s information is a password. I can’t find a way where the users email address is not shared.

Once I realised this I started to realise this is true for the majority of the online services and how people use them in general. Google’s services use the email address as the username. Again all that is required is the password and you have access to all the material stored online.

To me this simply isn’t good enough. The username to sign on and administer or use an account should in my opinion not be a public email address.

There is little wonder so many peoples’ online accounts are getting hacked. If hackers need to determine both the username and password this reduces the chance of being hacked considerably. Giving hackers half the information is significantly increasing your exposure.  Recently quite a few hacked password databases have been made public and it is surprising how many people use similar or easily determined passwords.

With email my actual account username is not made public and all the public ever see is an alias. This is a much safer way to work. With cloud services now offering your spreadsheets, your documents and your systems as well as your email, the amount of information you are now starting to share online has increased significantly and you should make sure you are fully aware of the exposure.

If all that stands between your information and a hacker is a password, then I’d be worried.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

 

Flakey Jake's Doncaster East

We ordered fish and chips from Flakey Jake’s tonight and as usual the food was quite good. One of the things I find missing from local businesses is the ability to access their menu online. A while ago I sponsored a couple of sites for local businesses (as an example www.BoltonFishShop.com) to measure the interest by locals looking for their site or service. The response has been very positive and it shows there is good interest by locals.

Unfortunately locals don’t let the businesses know how handy having access to an online menu is, so they don’t see it as a good investment. The problem for the businesses is it becomes easier for consumers to buy from large businesses because they have their menus available online.

All it takes is to keep one customer happy and a low cost web site can pay for itself. An online menu can be up-to-date whereas a printed menu often has old prices. I’ve seen a number of customers complain about unexpected pricing and that’s not good for business.

My measurements show the amount of traffic a local business receives would easily pay for a site, particularly sites such as the sites I’ve built for the local businesses. On the other hand losing a customer because it is easier to buy elsewhere costs the business valuable income.

I would have liked to have been able to check Flakey Jake’s menu online, place the order from home and then pick the order up saving 10-15 minutes waiting time. If others feel the same way please let the owners know.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

PS. If you have a local business and would like a low cost presence on the internet, please feel free to contact me. Not only am I able to produce a low cost site but each time have achieved a great presence in Google for the business.

Computer repair Melbourne (Doncaster, Templestowe, Eltham area)

If you're having a computer related problem and need someone to come out and fix your issue you can contact  Kelvin (that's me) at Online Connections. Based in Templestowe (for those not sure when that is think of Doncaster Shoppingtown) I service the local area. I prefer providing a personalised service to clients rather than remote support.

I've found the problem with remote support is it often takes longer to walk the client through setting up the remote support than it does to drive out and fix the problem and that costs clients more money. Many problems are easier to fix where you can see the problem and work with the client.

One problem I fixed recently for a client was causing their internet connection to fail many times a day. They'd had assistance from the ISP and new equipment sent out which didn't solve the problem. No one had been able to fix their problem. When I attended I could see they had set up their equipment in a number of areas which was causing multiple problems. A visual inspection made it easier to identify and fix the issue which had plagued them for some time.

My own experience with many of the companies telephone based support services is they haven't been very good. I won't name names, but I've had one telco support person give advice that was simply not related to the problem and a leading hardware company's support person had senior management on their knees under the desk trying to identify a problem I'd already identified and isolated and all that was required was to log a fault. More often than not you'll spend the first twenty minutes waiting on hold for the call to be answered. 

More and more I'm finding customers who've tried everything with their ISP contact me because the ISP has simply not been able to help and I've been able to walk into the client's premises or home and fix their issue.

If you prefer personalised cost effective service then you're welcome to give me a call.

Kelvin Eldridge

http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/

Robots put a million people out of work

Whilst I don’t think anyone is happy with the transfer of local jobs going overseas, if there is one gain in all the pain it may be the lost jobs being taken up overseas and help to move many millions of people out of poverty. It doesn’t help the person who loses the job locally, but on a global scale there is at least some gain for people worse off.

When I read the following article it makes me think is it really worth it.

iPad maker to replace 1 million staff with robots... Read More

We seem to be doing more and more using less and less people. This may be great for large companies to maximise their profits but it makes wonder in the long term how good this is for our society.

Already I’ve seen from my youth, where 20% of people went on to tertiary education, has now become close to 100% percentage going on to tertiary education because there are no jobs for younger people. Even then many of those who come out of tertiary education end up for a couple of years doing jobs we would have done in our teens.

I don’t know the answer but unless we recognise something is happening around us, we’ll never even know the question.

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Alert: Competitive Printer from China

I received an email with the subject Competitive Printer from China and thought I’d advise people to take care. There are a number of things which flag this email as suspicious.

The From field is picasawebalbums-noreply@google.com and this email appears to have nothing to do with Google.

The email is unsolicited referencing a business directory I’ve never heard of which if legitimate, has most likely scraped my email address from my site as I’ve never listed in any business directory. I don’t have to. JustLocal is better than any business directory I know and that is where I promote my business.

I’d highly recommend if you’re contacted out of the blue by any service provider that is a generalised mail out, to discard the offer. Had the company been in Australia it may be in breach of the anti-spam Act. Any business that does not take into account the laws of the country they are marketing too is a company to be wary of.

I’d highly recommend that you delete this type of email and contact a local supplier or make your own enquiries using reputable online information that you can verify.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Doncaster Shoppingtown. Local computer support for local residents and businesses.

If you live near Doncaster Shoppingtown and need your computer fixed or have a computer related problem call Online Connections. We’re local (based in Templestowe). Being local means we don’t have to charge travel time or charge a minimum fee. You only pay for the time required to fix your problem which saves you money.

Call Online Connections on 0415 910 703 or via email at sales@onlineconnections.com.au.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

 

Aquarena Doncaster or is it Aquarena Templestowe Lower?

As a local to the area I am fascinated by some of the quirky addresses that I find in the area. Aquarena is located at 139-153 Williamsons Road Doncaster according to the YMCA site who manage the centre. But if we do a bit of searching we find Manningham Council who owns the centre has a page which refers to it as being located in Lower Templestowe.

Now if you were looking for Aquarena in Doncaster and didn’t know the area you probably wouldn’t find it easily because physically it takes up a very large area in Templestowe Lower.

I have no idea why YMCA and Manningham Council list the Aquarena in different suburbs. I don’t know about you, but I find that very quirky.

No matter whether you think Aquarena is located in Doncaster or Templestowe Lower, there is one thing you can count on. If you need computer support in either of the suburbs, Online Connections can help, is local and doesn’t charge a call out fee cutting the cost of computer support. If you need assistance with your computers contact us via email at sales@onlineconnections.com.au or call 0415 910 703.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/

Templestowe Primary School, residents and business. Local computer support now available from Online Connections.

I’ve found over time a lot of people think their Windows XP computer has become too slow and end up purchasing or thinking about buying a new computer. After I clean up the computer for the person the decision to buy a new computer because of performance is often no longer an issue and the family can decide in their own time whether or not they want a new computer.

Even if you buy a new computer a Windows XP computer makes a great second computer. Connect it to your home network either via a wired or wireless connection and families tend to have less arguments as to who gets to use the computer.

If you don’t have a wireless network this can be a great investment. Often children want to use the computer to stay in contact with friends. With a wireless network they’re often able to stay in contact using an Apple iPod Touch or their mobile phone. This has quite a few benefits. The computer doesn’t get used as much which saves power, it frees up the computer for the heavy duty work such as assignments. Because the family has more ways to access the internet there tends to be less contention and arguments.

If your computer needs a cleanup, isn’t working as it should, or you’d like to have a wireless network set up, then give me a call. Online Connections is local. We have a policy of not charging travel time or a call out fee for locals since there is very little travel time involved. Our approach means easy problems (for us) can be fixed quickly at a lower cost.

Call us now on 0415 910 703 if you have a computer problem.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

 

Doncaster East Secondary College, residents and business. Local computer support now available from Online Connections.

To make it easier for those in Doncaster East to find computer support I’ve set up the site www.DoncasterEast.com. If you’re looking for businesses in the Doncaster East area you can find those advertising on the Doncaster East page www.JustLocal.com.au/3109.

To make it easier to find a local business for those in Doncaster East, I also include over six hundred businesses with web sites in Doncaster East and the adjoining areas of Doncaster, Templestowe and Warrandyte in the search engine for Doncaster East. By using the search engine you can now search only those businesses with a local presence. Google provides the technology behind the search engine but with advantage of only local businesses and their sites being searched. Click here to search for products and services from businesses near you. You can also use the Search menu option from the JustLocal page www.JustLocal.com.au/3109 to access the search engine.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

 

Hacked WordPress blogs distributing malware

I have an approach to news which I’ve found works well for me over the years. If I read something in the news that doesn’t affect me or anyone I know then it is often hype designed to market a product or service. But when I know someone, or someone I know knows someone that it’s affected, then I consider the threat real and action needs to be taken.

This year a number of people I know have had their sites hacked. In one instance I assisted a client with their WordPress sites which had been hacked (I had nothing to do with the site as I generally don’t recommend the use of WordPress for a number of reasons). Whilst it was possible to remove the offending code the sites would be reinfected and the hosting company was required to remove the offending code as it was outside of the client’s control.

Today I read the following article.

Hackers are abusing thousands of independent WordPress sites to litter Google Image search results with code that redirects users to servers that attempt to infect them with malware... Read More

What I found interesting about this article was the hackers are using Google Images to distribute malware. Those using Google Images to find images, will from what I see in many instances have almost no warning they are going to a site which may be distributing malware. This approach makes sense for hackers. Google scans sites to present images. It costs Google nothing for the content and the content links to the sites it was obtained from, which could have been hijacked.

The problem I find with people using WordPress is often they install the software on their own site and then think that is the end of it. Most will probably never upgrade their installation and as holes are found that means an ever increasing number WordPress based sites and left open for hacking.

Another client of mine recently had a site set up by a graphic designer using WordPress. I have to admit I did raise an eyebrow. This client is now either going to have to maintain their own site which they won’t as they don’t have the knowledge or skills to do it, or the graphic designer will need to do it and generally they aren’t interested in regular IT admin work which doesn’t generate an income.

If you’re considering a blog for your site do get some professional IT advice. Anyone can get a site for $5 a month, add WordPress for free and think they’ve done all they need to, but the reality is the work is just beginning. The client who required support incurred a bill of hundreds of dollars for support, exposed their customers to malware and had their site listed on Google as containing malware for a period of time which would not have happened had they used a different blogging approach.

The lessons here are:

- If you’re using images from the internet then perhaps think about how those images were obtained and potentially the sites they link to.

- Think about using images from sites that have been designed to distribute and share images as their core business.

- Think about the blogging software you’re thinking about using and the work you need to do to maintain it. If you install it on your own site are you skilled to maintain it.

- Think about your customers who visit your site. The decisions you make also affect them.

- If something is free on the internet there is a reason it is free and the site is making money somewhere else which may not always be in your best interest.

- Always be vigilant on the internet.

- If in doubt when searching on the internet think about a more secure approach which reduces the risk to you.

The internet is one of the wonders of the modern age, but do take care when using it.


- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Doncaster East Secondary College computer repair and support

If you go to Doncaster East Secondary College, live in Doncaster East and require computer support you can now obtain local computer support from Online Connections. Because Online Connections is local (based in Templestowe) there is no call out fee or travel time. You only pay for the time it takes to fix your problem.

This great offer is not only available to students, but also to local residents and businesses.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

 

Who else has been tricked by the McDonald's $4 lunchtime meal deal

I saw the ads on TV so decided to get a $4 lunchtime meal deal yesterday from McDonalds. They show a range and mention a $3 saving so I thought why not. Now as with ads you have to be a bit suspicious. In this case the suspicion was justified. There are a range of meals and the $3 saving if you read the fine print is off their individual prices and not their regular meal deal prices. I certainly didn’t see that on the TV ad and I think that is misleading.

Of the meals listed one meal saved just 20 cents of the regular meal price. The medium sized cheeseburger meal saved about 80 cents and the Angus burger meal saved about the same. Certainly nowhere near the $3 expected.

Had I know this in advance I’d have given the lunchtime meal deal a miss and picked up a KFC meal for $5.95 and saved some money. There are some good deals around for lunchtime meals and I don’t consider the McDonald’s offer particularly good. Comparing the offer to individual prices to make the offer seem better I don’t think is a particularly good way for them to promote their products. Certainly disappoints me and makes me think twice about trusting their promotions.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

Is the issue of buying from overseas without paying GST a red herring?

We all know the economy is soft but I can’t help feel the supposed concern by retailers may or may not be real. Perhaps it is real or perhaps it is media beat up.

Productivity Commission recommends removal of online tax-free threshold... Read More

In my business I take the attitude if I’m not competitive (including the extra value I bring to a sale) then my clients should look to buy elsewhere. I don’t expect them to pay more just because I’m a nice guy. But buying something from overseas isn’t as clear cut as just adding GST.

First if you buy from overseas you usually pay in another currency and there’s a cost to convert the money. You do see an exchange rate fee from the bank but there is also a cost that is never shown which can be up to 6%. Next time you buy something from overseas use the current exchange rate and check it for yourself what you thought you’d pay and what you actually ended up paying. You aren’t getting the current exchange rate we see promoted on TV. Add the hidden charge plus the bank fees and you’ll find the GST advantage is nearly gone.

If Australian retailers made people aware of the real cost and the risks of buying from overseas they’d have educated consumers and I find by sharing knowledge with my customers they are able to make better decisions. Try taking a product back that doesn’t work that you bought from overseas. Good luck with that.

The GST I think is a red herring. Perhaps Australian retailers should look at negotiating better terms with the overseas based companies they currently buy from. Perhaps it is the margins Australian retailers like to maintain. But given exchange rate charges alone nearly wipes out the GST saving the GST isn’t making much difference. One thing consumers often don’t factor in is the delivery charge. This is standard practice to separate out the delivery and packing charge. Often a company can make good money on their delivery and packing charge. I know one well know computer company that charged more for delivery of a computer in Australia than many retailers would get from selling a computer. Educate customers on the total cost and the risks. I find educated customers are the best customers.

I don’t know about you, but I think changing the situation with GST on purchases from overseas is a red herring. What do you think?

I can’t help but think buying local makes sense in many cases. You can generally see and touch the product. You get the product immediately. If there is a problem you can return the product or get assistance. If the saving by buying from overseas including the added cost of converting money and delivery far exceeds the risk, then it makes sense to buy from overseas. As to the GST difference that wouldn’t make much difference as to whether or not I bought from overseas.

I suspect what will be happening is many people who never considered buying from overseas will now be thinking about it because the GST issue is now in the media. This will make people think it is cheaper because they won’t consider the total cost. That certainly isn’t going to help the plight of retailers.

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

Templestowe Medical Centre for sick computers now live

The other day I went to the doctors in Templestowe and thought if I had a sick computer where would I take it or who would I call. I provide computer support to people in Templestowe and the surrounding area and I thought for many people I am their computer doctor. If the computer gets a virus infection I fix it. If the computer is running sluggish I fix it. If their network is not working I fix it. Now calling myself a doctor is a bit over the top, but to some I am their computer doctor.

As part of running JustLocal I also want to show local businesses how easy it is to set up a web presence. My approach is to lead by example so I decided to promote the computer doctor aspect of my business with a single page site to show others how easy it is. The site is http://www.templestowemedicalcentre.com/. All that is required is a single page promoting your business and you have a web presence allowing people to find you.

Now for me this is fairly easy stuff but I wanted to run through the entire process to show clients the steps involved and how easy it is. One person I trained a while ago to set up their own site is now going out showing others how to set up their sites. The person has basic office computer skills like most people so really they only needed two things. Software to help them create their web page and the knowledge to set it up. I provided the knowledge and they purchased some software and learnt the software themselves. For them the best part is they rarely need to call anyone about their site and they can modify whenever they want. That saves them hundreds in supports costs every year. I get the occasional support call when they want to do something don't know how to do it..

If you have a sick computer and live in Templestowe, Templestowe Lower, Doncaster, Doncaster East, Eltham, Montmorency or Lower Plenty call me. I don't charge a call out fee. I offer a money back guarantee and because I'm local I can usually get to your place the same or next day.

If you have a business or a venture you'd like to promote on the internet I'm available to help. My presence on the internet is exceptional and I can help you obtain a better presence. Most others will sell you services which are based on hype and pretty average knowledge. I can show you how to check their presence and you'll see if they can't do it for themselves then what hope have they to do it for you. My presence is proof that what I do works and I'm prepared to back it with a money back guarantee.

I believe every small business or even individuals wanting to sell a product or service could benefit from an internet presence. It really doesn't have to cost much and for most people all they need is the knowledge and they can do it themselves.

Kelvin Eldridge

http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/

http://www.justlocal.com.au/

CleanEnergyFuture booklet received in the mail

I received the CleanEnergyFuture booklet in the mail and thought I’d read it. What concerned me was it really felt like the government is really pushing too hard the idea of what people are going to get back financially. Over 70% of the pages contained a message about what we were getting. Somehow I think the government is trying a bit too hard.

There are a couple of interesting things I noted. First they say there won’t be any profiteering as they’ll be doing what they did for GST. The difference was GST was easy to monitor as it was added at the end of the calculation and was very transparent. Price increases with the carbon tax won’t be transparent at all. Many businesses work out their prices by taking their costs and multiplying by a percentage markup. Since the carbon price increase isn’t separated businesses have no option but to use the percentage markup approach and that means markup is applied to the carbon tax. This doesn’t happen once, but at each level in the distribution channel. It could easily happen 3-4 times.

We now find the GST added 2.5%. Now we get hit with another supposed 0.7%. The base cost for living in our society as a result of government charges continues to increase. Interesting how the average annual inflation rate between 2001-2002 and 2009-2010 is 2.9 per cent and my latest water rates have increased probably in the order of 10-15% and other utilities aren’t much better. This base cost of living is going to be a cost on our society that never goes away. Those hardest hit will be those trying not to depend on the government welfare system and I don’t think that is fair.

A good way to get a feeling for how much the carbon tax will add to your direct utility bills is to check the bill. We use about 40% of the average electricity usage for a household (yes we’ve reduced our usage) and we’re producing approximately 1 tonne of carbon a quarter or 4 tonne a year. An average family would thus use about 2.5 times this which is 10 tonne a year. For the electricity bill alone that would be $230. Using the figure that gas is about half electricity the amount the average household for gas and electricity should be paying around $300. Gas and electricity as just part of our costs and probably amount to 10-15% of our household spending. So what about all the other things we buy which will go up due to the carbon tax. The government calculations start to look a bit shaky.

I really don’t see why the government needs to give back money that they’re effectively taking away in the first place. Surely they could work directly with the 500 companies to put into place limits and have the companies put into place carbon offset plans. Why is it we are being compensated? Shouldn’t we be looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint and if higher prices is what is required to change our behaviour then why does the government not want that behaviour to change.

The government has sent out a well produced brochure on What a carbon price means for you, surely there is more to it than what we get back in our pocket after they’ve taken more away from us in the first place.

JustLocal is all about helping to build a stronger local community. To encourage people to buy and work locally. A carbon tax simply raises the burden on all of us. The minimum we need to earn to live in our society. This burden needs to be kept in check. Once in place these taxes are never removed. Once this carbon tax becomes part of a larger trading scheme how much will the price of carbon then be and will the compensation keep pace with the increased prices and inflation. The government hasn’t in the past so I don’t see why the future will be any different.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

Photo book album, the easy way

I don’t know about others who create photo book albums, but what I found was organising all the photos from a trip takes a lot of time and often photos I wanted included don’t get included because as the pages increase so does the cost.

For some time I’ve wanted to put together a photo book album of our trip to Europe and last night I submitted our European trip photo book album for printing. Actually it is more like a magazine rather than a hard cover photo book. I wanted a soft cover and I wanted to open the book like a magazine. The book has a total of 410 pictures, a massive 134 pages and I’m quite excited to see how the final product looks.

Oh, did I mention that unlike the enormous amount of time it takes to create a photo book album I decided to write a program to lay out the photos for me. The bulk of the photo album book is now automated and all that is required is to spend a little time on the front and rear covers. Perhaps the most interesting fact is the price. The photo book in comparison will cost less than a 24 page photo book album and even less than the cost of printing off the pictures at a low cost self photo printing service. This approach means I’ll end up with a photo book with all the pictures I wanted to include for a very reasonable price.

If photo books interest you let me know. I’m not yet sure if I’ll release this product for others but if there is enough interest from clients I’ll seriously consider making the photo books available to others either as a product or service.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

 

Electricity Power Usage now available on MyAnswers

I’ve now added a new section to the MyAnswers site where I’ll list the devices I measure and their power usage figures. The following is a link to the page.

Electricity Power Usage... Read More

By using the power usage figures and the Electricity Usage Calculator you can determine the cost of each device on a daily and yearly basis. By identifying devices which use a lot of power over a period of time you can make significant savings in your electricity bills. I think many people will be surprised when they find out which devices are costing them the most. It isn’t always the most obvious. Better decisions can be made when you have better information.

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Computer repair Doncaster, Templestowe, Templestowe Lower Doncaster East, Eltham, Lower Plenty, Montmorency - Beware of telephone scammers

I read this article where people are receiving calls from people offering unsolicited computer support over the telephone and another article where one in twenty New Zealanders are falling for the same scam at around a cost of $200 each.

The scam involves a cold telephone call from a computer company who claim to be offering to clean up one’s computer. The name of the company was so complicated that I didn’t catch who they were.... Read More

When I read this it amazes me. There is really no reason for anyone to deal with any computer support person over the telephone. We offer businesses and residents of Templestowe, Templestowe Lower, Doncaster, Doncaster East, Lower Plenty, Montmorency and Eltham onsite computer support with no call out fee and a money back guarantee. There is no need for remote support and for people to provide others access to their computer. You meet the person who will fix your computer.

Dealing with a person unknown is always a bit of a concern, but to deal with someone who rings out of the blue, who you’ve never met, have no idea of the business or even if they’re from the business they say they are is simply a disaster waiting to happen. I feel really sorry for the people who fall for these scam artists when all they really need to do is to find someone local they can trust.

If someone rings you from out of the blue your scam radar should be working overtime. The only reason someone will ring you is to profit from you. So look after your own interests. They are certainly looking after theirs.

Please take care when receiving any unsolicited telephone call or unsolicited email offering your computer support services.

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

LinkedIn - Reminder about your invitation from

I received reminders from LinkedIn from a business I know. I let them know that I don’t use LinkedIn but more than happy to keep in contact. What was interesting is the person is skilled with computers but they’d ended up sending invitations to their entire contact list without meaning to. The person said they’d select just the six people they wanted invitations to be sent to and LinkedIn ended up sending invitations to everyone in their mailing list. If this can happen to this person then it can happen to a lot of people.

LinkedIn was a bit annoying because after the first email on the 14^th of July it then sent a reminder on the 18^th at 7:39pm and another on the 18^th at 10:41pm. A few days later on the 25^th of July at 5:30pm and at 6:39pm reminders were sent. To me this is a bit over the top. I have to say a bit annoying. I did let the person know and they felt LinkedIn and high jacked their account so they weren’t happy. A few days later they felt LinkedIn tried to do it again to one of their colleagues. I don’t know if this was a design fault of LinkedIn or a user issue.

I really don’t think this is good enough. If people are sending out invitations inadvertently then it may be an issue with the user interface. On the reminder front a single reminder should be sufficient. This is simply over the top marketing by LinkedIn. I don’t use LinkedIn. I gave it a go for over a year but felt it offered no value to me so I made to effort to cancel the account. I certainly don’t want to be nagged into opening another account.

My suggestion is if you are going to use one of the social networking sites avoid giving the site access to your contact list. Invite your contacts yourself. That way you stay in control of who you invite and your complete contact list doesn’t end up in the hands of the social networking site.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au