Welcome to Tra-La Thai Restaurant, Rustico Pizza, both from Bulleen and Bolton Fish Shop from Eltham, the newest advertisers on JustLocal.
You can find Tra-La Thai Restaurant and Rustico Pizza on the Bulleen page www.JustLocal.com.au/3105 and you can find Bolton Fish Shop on the Eltham page www.JustLocal.com.au/3095. Each restaurant includes their menu which means now when you have family and friends over, it is so much easier to select takeaway everyone is happy with.
Because of the way Justlocal helps people find businesses in their local area there is no longer any need to search. You simply go to your postcode page and click on the business you wish to use their service. But if you want to search Google go right ahead. Both Tra-La Thai Restaurant and Rustico Pizza have now been live for around a week and because of what we do behind the scenes, you can find both businesses by name on the first page of the Google search results. Whilst we can't guarantee placement in Google we often find those we promote end up in or near the first position in the search results. Bolton Fish Shop has just gone live and we hope they'll also get a high position in Google. The fastest way however to go to the page for each restaurant is to go to the postcode page and then a single click and you'll be at their site. Couldn't be easier.
Bon appetit.
Kelvin Eldridge
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
NBN (National Broadband Network) concerns me. Are we creating Telstra 2?
I can't help but be concerned with the National Broadband Network. On the one hand I'd like the option that a fast optical fibre network will bring, but on the other hand because it is being built by the government and the government can legislate against all other players, it destroys competition.
The government sold off Telstra to mum and dad investors and then progressively eroded the value of the investment knowing it wanted to build its own fibre network. Of course it wasn't just the government but the worldwide trends towards reduced telecommunications costs working against Telstra, but I can't help feeling Telstra shares would be worth more if the government wasn't building its own network (Disclosure: I am one of the mum and dad Telstra shareholders but that isn't what concerns me.)
What concerns me is because the government is making the rules and playing the game, it is very hard for others to play the game. If you've ever played Monopoly as a kid you'll recall the person who was the banker somehow ended up doing pretty well.
Based on the experience in Tasmania the cost per connection (not retail) is $3,500. ($700 million over 200,000 connections)
So every Australian household is now to contribute $3,500 in some way.
I've read one ACT broadband supplier sold out early on. As I read other articles I get the feeling if broadband infrastructure suppliers aren't made an offer, they could go the way of the dinosaur.
Optus may close network for NBN: Conroy
Buy or beware - competitors gear up to do battle with NBN
Now I read since the copper network will be closed down if people want a fixed line and aren't connected to the NBN they'll have to pay $300.
Connect to NBN now or pay up to $300 for phone line
I keep reading articles about costs which people won't expect. When you get the NBN to you home what then? What wiring will you need done to take full advantage of the fast service?
The real concern is what happens in 30 years when the government wants to privatise the NBN. This feels to me like Telstra 2 in the making.
What about the billions of dollars invested in Optus and Telstra cable networks? What a potential waste if those networks are closed down before their time. Perhaps it is more efficient to close them down. I don't really know.
But my concern is it appears we won't have any choice and when that happens there is no competition and thus we can be charged whatever the government wants to charge. This reminds me of what is happening to electricity prices and once the government sells off NBN as it will in the future, I can't help feeling we'll all be having a feeling of deja vu.
What is wrong with the government making the rules by which multiple commercial players then operate? What is wrong with the government getting involved for areas where it is not economical for commercial players such as rural areas to make it commercially viable so all Australians get a fair go?
NBN isn't just about the internet and telephones. From what I see it is about the future of all forms of electronic media consumption households consume and soon I feel that could include the future equivalent of today's TV. Going one step further I suspect the NBN could become the backbone of all forms communication including mobiles and other forms of wireless communication giving the government and potentially a future privatised NBN owner single point control over a vital part of our countries infrastructure.
Right now bringing in an internet filter requires all ISPs to participate. With control at this level the government in theory could introduce whatever controls it wants without the involvement of any other party.
To me the government should be making the rules, not playing the game. Do we really want to end up with another government run monopoly? If government run monopolies were run at zero profit to world's best practices, I'd be in favour of them, but government run monopolies are run for profit at our expense.
The NBN concerns me. We can have a national broadband network without the government owning it. No one can compete against a government because it also makes the rules.
Kelvin Eldridge
The government sold off Telstra to mum and dad investors and then progressively eroded the value of the investment knowing it wanted to build its own fibre network. Of course it wasn't just the government but the worldwide trends towards reduced telecommunications costs working against Telstra, but I can't help feeling Telstra shares would be worth more if the government wasn't building its own network (Disclosure: I am one of the mum and dad Telstra shareholders but that isn't what concerns me.)
What concerns me is because the government is making the rules and playing the game, it is very hard for others to play the game. If you've ever played Monopoly as a kid you'll recall the person who was the banker somehow ended up doing pretty well.
Based on the experience in Tasmania the cost per connection (not retail) is $3,500. ($700 million over 200,000 connections)
So every Australian household is now to contribute $3,500 in some way.
I've read one ACT broadband supplier sold out early on. As I read other articles I get the feeling if broadband infrastructure suppliers aren't made an offer, they could go the way of the dinosaur.
Optus may close network for NBN: Conroy
Buy or beware - competitors gear up to do battle with NBN
Now I read since the copper network will be closed down if people want a fixed line and aren't connected to the NBN they'll have to pay $300.
Connect to NBN now or pay up to $300 for phone line
I keep reading articles about costs which people won't expect. When you get the NBN to you home what then? What wiring will you need done to take full advantage of the fast service?
The real concern is what happens in 30 years when the government wants to privatise the NBN. This feels to me like Telstra 2 in the making.
What about the billions of dollars invested in Optus and Telstra cable networks? What a potential waste if those networks are closed down before their time. Perhaps it is more efficient to close them down. I don't really know.
But my concern is it appears we won't have any choice and when that happens there is no competition and thus we can be charged whatever the government wants to charge. This reminds me of what is happening to electricity prices and once the government sells off NBN as it will in the future, I can't help feeling we'll all be having a feeling of deja vu.
What is wrong with the government making the rules by which multiple commercial players then operate? What is wrong with the government getting involved for areas where it is not economical for commercial players such as rural areas to make it commercially viable so all Australians get a fair go?
NBN isn't just about the internet and telephones. From what I see it is about the future of all forms of electronic media consumption households consume and soon I feel that could include the future equivalent of today's TV. Going one step further I suspect the NBN could become the backbone of all forms communication including mobiles and other forms of wireless communication giving the government and potentially a future privatised NBN owner single point control over a vital part of our countries infrastructure.
Right now bringing in an internet filter requires all ISPs to participate. With control at this level the government in theory could introduce whatever controls it wants without the involvement of any other party.
To me the government should be making the rules, not playing the game. Do we really want to end up with another government run monopoly? If government run monopolies were run at zero profit to world's best practices, I'd be in favour of them, but government run monopolies are run for profit at our expense.
The NBN concerns me. We can have a national broadband network without the government owning it. No one can compete against a government because it also makes the rules.
Kelvin Eldridge
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Gary Hipworth, a modern day Socrates
If you've reached the stage in your life where you are now starting to say, "there has to be more to life", Gary has produced a tool called Superlife to help you focus your thoughts and to take action.
Do you feel there's things in our society that need to be reviewed, then check out Gary's site http://www.garyhipworth.com/ and join in. Help make our society a better society for future generations.
Gary you have my support because I know you'll be there to support others.
Kelvin Eldridge
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Thai Restaurant Bulleen
The aim of JustLocal is to encourage local businesses to promote themselves online so locals can more easily find and use their services. It is my belief every restaurant, tradesperson and in fact any small local business can help their potential customers by having a basic web presence.
When we have friends over and we’re thinking about grabbing some local takeaway, often the only menu we can find online is one of the big well known companies. There’s nothing wrong with that but I also like to also help the smaller businesses when I can.
I’ve recently sponsored and completed a menu for a new Thai restaurant in Bulleen, Tra-La Thai Restaurant, so now you can check out their menu online and enjoy some delicious Thai food. I’ve eaten there a number of times. Recently my daughter and a friend went there and we’ve all had a lovely experience.
Please feel free to check out the Tra-La Thai Restaurant’s menu at http://www.tra-lathairestaurant.com/. You can also find Tra-La Thai Restaurant on the JustLocal 3105 page (www.JustLocal.com.au/3105).
Kelvin Eldridge
When we have friends over and we’re thinking about grabbing some local takeaway, often the only menu we can find online is one of the big well known companies. There’s nothing wrong with that but I also like to also help the smaller businesses when I can.
I’ve recently sponsored and completed a menu for a new Thai restaurant in Bulleen, Tra-La Thai Restaurant, so now you can check out their menu online and enjoy some delicious Thai food. I’ve eaten there a number of times. Recently my daughter and a friend went there and we’ve all had a lovely experience.
Please feel free to check out the Tra-La Thai Restaurant’s menu at http://www.tra-lathairestaurant.com/. You can also find Tra-La Thai Restaurant on the JustLocal 3105 page (www.JustLocal.com.au/3105).
Kelvin Eldridge
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Windows Phone 7 launch announcement
Last night Microsoft launched their new Windows Phone 7 product which certainly looks very interesting. We now have Apple's iPhone, Google's Android, Windows Phone 7 and I suspect early next year we'll see HP enter the market with the WebOS, which is the Palm operating system they acquired. I should also mention Blackberry, but I find in Australia the presence of Blackberry tends to be very low, even though in the States it has massive market share. Nokia may still be the leader in mobile phones by volume, but from what I see it hasn't captured the mindset of people in the Smartphone era.
I recently read that more than 50% of people are now using Smartphones. That is a massive uptake of what really is quite an expensive device that for most people will have a useful life of around two years.
The Apple iPhone based on my logs is showing considerable penetration in the market place (now being the third most popular operating system after Windows and Mac) with the other players hardly appearing as a blip in my logs. It will be interesting to watch how Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 performs in the market and whether it gains traction.
This is certainly going to be an interesting time in the Smartphone market. The pressure on all players to keep ahead is going to be immense. Microsoft will certainly gain a presence simply by the number of businesses bringing out product. There is LG, Samsung, HTC and Dell. Now consumers will be presented with a very large range of options and a lot of the options will be running Windows Phone 7. Apple has the market advantage due to its considerable time lead in the market. Android hasn't really taken off in Australia (based on my logs) but with Android tablets about to appear the broader range of devices may help Google's presence. Until of course Apple bring out their new models and perhaps Microsoft finally get a decent tablet product to market.
For the consumer the choice just became a little harder, but perhaps a little more exciting.
Check out Microsoft's Steve Balmer's announcement Windows Phone Newsroom: Press Event Video to keep updated on the state of play with the new entrant. Interesting to think of Microsoft as being the new entrant.
Kelvin Eldridge
I recently read that more than 50% of people are now using Smartphones. That is a massive uptake of what really is quite an expensive device that for most people will have a useful life of around two years.
The Apple iPhone based on my logs is showing considerable penetration in the market place (now being the third most popular operating system after Windows and Mac) with the other players hardly appearing as a blip in my logs. It will be interesting to watch how Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 performs in the market and whether it gains traction.
This is certainly going to be an interesting time in the Smartphone market. The pressure on all players to keep ahead is going to be immense. Microsoft will certainly gain a presence simply by the number of businesses bringing out product. There is LG, Samsung, HTC and Dell. Now consumers will be presented with a very large range of options and a lot of the options will be running Windows Phone 7. Apple has the market advantage due to its considerable time lead in the market. Android hasn't really taken off in Australia (based on my logs) but with Android tablets about to appear the broader range of devices may help Google's presence. Until of course Apple bring out their new models and perhaps Microsoft finally get a decent tablet product to market.
For the consumer the choice just became a little harder, but perhaps a little more exciting.
Check out Microsoft's Steve Balmer's announcement Windows Phone Newsroom: Press Event Video to keep updated on the state of play with the new entrant. Interesting to think of Microsoft as being the new entrant.
Kelvin Eldridge
Monday, October 11, 2010
Friday, October 08, 2010
A person shared this link with me so I thought I'd share it with others.
Smiffy's Place I Killed My FaceBook Account. Or So I Thought.
I have nothing against Facebook. I simply believe they should make all data private by default and people should take action to make it available. Facebook in my opinion should provide a series of open articles explaining to people potential risks and exposures associated with participating in an open way on the internet. People don’t know what they don’t know.
- Kelvin Eldridge
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Alert: Your address has been changed. - PayPal
I've found over the years most threats on the internet require people to take action when they shouldn't. The psychological tricks these dubious people use are quite interesting. Imagine you're not quite thinking and you get an email which tricks you into believing your bank account address details have been changed and you think you are being notified by the bank. A small lapse in concentration and the phishing attempt has worked.
In this case the attack is targeted at Australians with an Australian address provided. As attacks become more sophisticated and more directed, the greater the chance of someone being tricked. As you can see by the text tip provided by Outlook when you move the mouse over the link, the site you'd go to is obviously not PayPal.
We can all be tricked. The recent iTunes gift voucher phishing attack saw the number of Mac users reaching my site go from 6-8% of the traffic to 25-30% of the traffic. It was truly amazing to not only saw the enormous number of people who were tricked, but also the significant increase in the proportion of Mac users hitting this blog.
To show how easy is it to be tricked I'll share this story.
I heard a person was waiting for a parking spot at a shopping centre and another driver rudely pulled in quickly, in front of them. As expected the person was irate. A short while later they saw the driver of the car in the shopping centre so they tapped them on the shoulder and said "excuse me. Do you own (the type of car) such and such a car". The answer was "yes, why". The person then said "someone has smashed into your car", to which the person rushed off in panic to check their car. The person was satisfied they'd inconvenienced the other driver as they'd been inconvenienced. All that is needed is a little information we can related to and we can all be tricked very easily.
Do take care on the internet. Whilst I do make money fixing people's computers and removing virus infections, it really is work I'd prefer wasn't required.
Kelvin Eldridge
PS. OzEfilter is the product I wrote and use which helps me avoid being tricked by phishing and malware attacks. For free anti-virus software read earlier blog posts where I ran parallel tests against various packages over a week.
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Alert: Online Transaction Error! - ANZ
I've received a couple of emails this morning with the subject Online Transaction Error! and thought I'd warn others and provide a couple of tips.
First this email is a fake email and more than likely, is designed to trick people into revealing their access details to their bank account. So delete the email.
The following are suggestions which may assist you in protecting yourself against phishing attempts.
Please don't go to the web site shown in the above image. It is only included here as an example and is in all probability a malicious site.
I hope this information helps you to avoid future malicious emails.
Kelvin Eldridge
First this email is a fake email and more than likely, is designed to trick people into revealing their access details to their bank account. So delete the email.
The following are suggestions which may assist you in protecting yourself against phishing attempts.
- I use a product I wrote called OzEfilter. OzEfilter enables me to view what is on my mail server before I collect the emails. These email would have been deleted at the mail server and never reached my computer, but in this case I accepted the emails so I could review them and share the information with others.
- I don't provide an email address to my bank, so I will never receive a legitimate email from my bank. All banking emails can thus simply be deleted. I'd recommend you ask your bank to delete your email address. If they need to contact you they can always send a letter.
- I use Outlook as my main email client. If I were to receive a suspicious email, I can move my mouse over the link and see the underlying web site address. Most free web mail products such as Gmail don't show you this very important information. If you need a copy of Outlook visit the Microsoft store using the link on the front page of JustLocal (http://www.justlocal.com.au/). The following is what I see when I move my mouse over the link in Outlook. Outlook Express is also quite good in that it shows the link in the status area.
Please don't go to the web site shown in the above image. It is only included here as an example and is in all probability a malicious site.
I hope this information helps you to avoid future malicious emails.
Kelvin Eldridge
Monday, October 04, 2010
Site to cancel Sensis Yellow Pages and White Pages directory delivery
Times are a changing. At one stage when you wanted to advertise your business you'd think about the Yellow Pages. For some it may still be the case. For me however every time I receive the Yellow or White pages I simply toss it in the recycle bin. I really don't want to receive either the Yellow or White pages and notice many people feel the same way.
The good thing is Sensis now provide a site so you ask them not to deliver the directories to your home or business. I guess they figure the savings on printing is worth it. For businesses advertising they won't notice any difference because people like me don't keep a copy anyway, so those businesses advertising know Sensis directories are more likely to be in the hands of consumers who want them.
If you're no longer interested in receiving the Sensis directories you receive, visit the following site.
https://www.directoryselect.com.au/ds/
Cancellation is for a period of three years and I believe you'll receive a reminder. I just hope Sensis don't use this as a way of building a mailing list and pestering us using email instead of the printed directory that never gets used. Tossing a directory once a year can be easier than trying to get people to stop sending your emails. You never know who Sensis is going to provide your details to. It is up to you to decide whether tossing the unwanted directory is better or worse than the potential risk of unwanted emails. I'll risk it in the hope it saves a few trees.
To be fair, Sensis is a large organisation and they state the email won't be used for other purposes except for confirmation and notification. I believe we can take them at their word.
TIP: For the cancellation service I used Gmail. The activation email ended up in the spam folder and was not seen for a while. Normally I use OzEfilter which is for me a better way to get rid of spam without having emails go astray into a spam folder when you don't think they should.
Kelvin Eldridge
The good thing is Sensis now provide a site so you ask them not to deliver the directories to your home or business. I guess they figure the savings on printing is worth it. For businesses advertising they won't notice any difference because people like me don't keep a copy anyway, so those businesses advertising know Sensis directories are more likely to be in the hands of consumers who want them.
If you're no longer interested in receiving the Sensis directories you receive, visit the following site.
https://www.directoryselect.com.au/ds/
Cancellation is for a period of three years and I believe you'll receive a reminder. I just hope Sensis don't use this as a way of building a mailing list and pestering us using email instead of the printed directory that never gets used. Tossing a directory once a year can be easier than trying to get people to stop sending your emails. You never know who Sensis is going to provide your details to. It is up to you to decide whether tossing the unwanted directory is better or worse than the potential risk of unwanted emails. I'll risk it in the hope it saves a few trees.
To be fair, Sensis is a large organisation and they state the email won't be used for other purposes except for confirmation and notification. I believe we can take them at their word.
TIP: For the cancellation service I used Gmail. The activation email ended up in the spam folder and was not seen for a while. Normally I use OzEfilter which is for me a better way to get rid of spam without having emails go astray into a spam folder when you don't think they should.
Kelvin Eldridge
Gmail removes one of the most important reasons I don't recommend Gmail to many
I recently read the threaded view in Gmail was to become optional. I had to investigate and it's true.
First what is threaded view. Threaded view is where emails with the same subject are group together. Let's say for example you email someone, they reply back, you reply back them etc. Google groups all these emails as a thread and you see the latest email and a number in brackets in your inbox.
The problem I've found is most people I've met don't have a clue what is going on. They see the latest email but don't realise there are other emails there as well. For example they may be waiting for a response from one of the people they sent out invitations to, but not realise it has already been received.
Threaded emails appear to be a feature which came across from newsgroups where many people participate and so grouping the conversation together made sense. In emails often it doesn't make sense.
For example I often send out an email and during a course of time there are a number of emails going back and forth. I want to keep some of the emails, but some I don't, so I just delete them. The problem is I didn't realise but when I deleted one of the emails I deleted all of the emails in the thread. So the emails I thought I was saving were deleted. I found this by accident. I didn't understand why the email I remembered keeping wasn't to be found. Luckily it was still in my trash so I could recover it.
Google Gmail has now made the threaded view optional. Yes you can turn threaded view off and to me this improves the usability of Gmail for my user base significantly. To me it is a major step forward. There are still limitations in Gmail that exist which stops me from recommending it for everyone, but this is a major step forward.
In MyAnswers solution 2024 I provide the steps to turn threaded view off. This solution will be available soon.
Kelvin Eldridge
First what is threaded view. Threaded view is where emails with the same subject are group together. Let's say for example you email someone, they reply back, you reply back them etc. Google groups all these emails as a thread and you see the latest email and a number in brackets in your inbox.
The problem I've found is most people I've met don't have a clue what is going on. They see the latest email but don't realise there are other emails there as well. For example they may be waiting for a response from one of the people they sent out invitations to, but not realise it has already been received.
Threaded emails appear to be a feature which came across from newsgroups where many people participate and so grouping the conversation together made sense. In emails often it doesn't make sense.
For example I often send out an email and during a course of time there are a number of emails going back and forth. I want to keep some of the emails, but some I don't, so I just delete them. The problem is I didn't realise but when I deleted one of the emails I deleted all of the emails in the thread. So the emails I thought I was saving were deleted. I found this by accident. I didn't understand why the email I remembered keeping wasn't to be found. Luckily it was still in my trash so I could recover it.
Google Gmail has now made the threaded view optional. Yes you can turn threaded view off and to me this improves the usability of Gmail for my user base significantly. To me it is a major step forward. There are still limitations in Gmail that exist which stops me from recommending it for everyone, but this is a major step forward.
In MyAnswers solution 2024 I provide the steps to turn threaded view off. This solution will be available soon.
Kelvin Eldridge
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Alert: Internet domain name & keyword
My clients have received emails purporting to originate from China advising a company is registering domains in the .cn, .asia using their domain name. Today I received one as well. This was good as I was able to check where the email came from.
The email had the subject: Internet domain name & keyword
The body starts with the following:
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On September.29th,2010, We received HAITONG company's application that they are registering the name " onlineconnections " as their Internet Keyword and " onlineconnections .cn "、" onlineconnections .com.cn " 、" onlineconnections .asia "domain names etc..,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.
I checked this email and it does appear to come from China. It is not possible for me to tell whether it is legitimate, spam or fraudulent. My suggestion to clients is to decided whether or not those domains are of important to them and then use a registrar they know and trust to register the domains.
I personally would not respond to these emails and thus delete them. There is no way for me to easily tell if this email is legitimate but it isn't worth the risk of responding.
Kelvin Eldridge
The email had the subject: Internet domain name & keyword
The body starts with the following:
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On September.29th,2010, We received HAITONG company's application that they are registering the name " onlineconnections " as their Internet Keyword and " onlineconnections .cn "、" onlineconnections .com.cn " 、" onlineconnections .asia "domain names etc..,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.
I checked this email and it does appear to come from China. It is not possible for me to tell whether it is legitimate, spam or fraudulent. My suggestion to clients is to decided whether or not those domains are of important to them and then use a registrar they know and trust to register the domains.
I personally would not respond to these emails and thus delete them. There is no way for me to easily tell if this email is legitimate but it isn't worth the risk of responding.
Kelvin Eldridge
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
AFP pressuring govt on data retention
The following article indicates the increasing information police wish to record. I believe people should be aware of the level of information others are recording on their online activities.
AFP assistant commissioner and national manager of high tech crime operations, Neil Gaughan, said that the police is pushing for data retention through the Attorney-General's office and Commonwealth Government agencies.
Other statements in the article reinforces that Google is recording information on search histories. What you search for is known and recorded and identifiable directly to you. Given that my logs show over 90% of searches in Australia are performed using Google, most Australians are having their online activities recorded in some form already. I once read Google retains around three per cent of information pertaining to searches.
I'm not concerned what the police wish to record, but it does mean the same data is potentially available to many others.
I also read that Yahoo has retained the details of all people who have signed up to use their services since the late 90's. Whilst we may feel if the police want our information they'd need some type of warrant, from what I've read in America, once you pass your details on to a third party such as the search companies, no warrant may be required.
I find this information interesting and thought it may be of interest to others.
Kelvin Eldridge
AFP assistant commissioner and national manager of high tech crime operations, Neil Gaughan, said that the police is pushing for data retention through the Attorney-General's office and Commonwealth Government agencies.
Other statements in the article reinforces that Google is recording information on search histories. What you search for is known and recorded and identifiable directly to you. Given that my logs show over 90% of searches in Australia are performed using Google, most Australians are having their online activities recorded in some form already. I once read Google retains around three per cent of information pertaining to searches.
I'm not concerned what the police wish to record, but it does mean the same data is potentially available to many others.
I also read that Yahoo has retained the details of all people who have signed up to use their services since the late 90's. Whilst we may feel if the police want our information they'd need some type of warrant, from what I've read in America, once you pass your details on to a third party such as the search companies, no warrant may be required.
I find this information interesting and thought it may be of interest to others.
Kelvin Eldridge
Alert: Blog spam. What it is and how to avoid it. Don't be a victim.
As part of what I do with JustLocal, I often informally share my IT skills and knowledge with JustLocal advertisers to further assist them. I'd like to share the following comment which was posted to on my blog yesterday in case it helps others with their blogs.
Thank you for sharing this detailed walkthroughs. Its a big help for me. Keep posting. By IT Companies Melbourne
This is what I call blog spam. Companies are looking for ways to get links to their sites using your blog or site. There is no link in the actual blog. The link is in who the comment was written by and is a link to the company posting it. In this case it was a company in Melbourne.
I check all comments and have noticed a number of businesses using this practice. These business should stop their actions. They have no obvious interest in the blog and they are just using other people's resources in a way that isn't appropriate.
I don't mind companies contributing to my blog and am happy to give some link love back, but don't just use other people's resources as your latest marketing approach. Whomever is advising you is damaging your business reputation. This company is an IT support company and if they resort to such practices, then it raises questions as to their ethics. Remember the end does not justify the means (Gandhi)
You can avoid blog spam on your blog by checking each comment. Unfortunately some blogging packages don't show you the links in obvious locations. If in doubt after you post the comment, check the comment as others would see it. If you can't remove the comment then be very selective about the comments you accept. Treat the information as though you had written it, as it represents your business. Your blog is your business and comments, even written by others on the blog, reflect you.
In this case it was a thinly veiled marketing attempt, but it could be worse. You could end up sending your readers to a malicious site and end up damaging their computer.
If you value your readers then take a moment to review the information others may be posting via your site. Your readers may not thank you, but at least you'll know you are looking after them.
Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.justlocal.com.au/
Thank you for sharing this detailed walkthroughs. Its a big help for me. Keep posting. By IT Companies Melbourne
This is what I call blog spam. Companies are looking for ways to get links to their sites using your blog or site. There is no link in the actual blog. The link is in who the comment was written by and is a link to the company posting it. In this case it was a company in Melbourne.
I check all comments and have noticed a number of businesses using this practice. These business should stop their actions. They have no obvious interest in the blog and they are just using other people's resources in a way that isn't appropriate.
I don't mind companies contributing to my blog and am happy to give some link love back, but don't just use other people's resources as your latest marketing approach. Whomever is advising you is damaging your business reputation. This company is an IT support company and if they resort to such practices, then it raises questions as to their ethics. Remember the end does not justify the means (Gandhi)
You can avoid blog spam on your blog by checking each comment. Unfortunately some blogging packages don't show you the links in obvious locations. If in doubt after you post the comment, check the comment as others would see it. If you can't remove the comment then be very selective about the comments you accept. Treat the information as though you had written it, as it represents your business. Your blog is your business and comments, even written by others on the blog, reflect you.
In this case it was a thinly veiled marketing attempt, but it could be worse. You could end up sending your readers to a malicious site and end up damaging their computer.
If you value your readers then take a moment to review the information others may be posting via your site. Your readers may not thank you, but at least you'll know you are looking after them.
Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.justlocal.com.au/
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Ultrafeedback - Research Analyst (Eltham)
I thought I'd share some of my activities today so that others will know what I'm about and what I am doing with JustLocal.
Today I went through the local news items that come across radar via the internet. To me the news I want to know about is the news that affects me locally. On a daily basis you don't hear much on local news. I thought if the local news interests me, and I'm already obtaining a feed of the news, why not share the links so that others can benefit. It takes a bit of effort and time and perhaps I should be doing other things, but really if it helps others find out what's going on locally, why not.
Today I noticed a local position in Eltham for a research analyst. A quick email to the company to see the position was current. I received confirmation back within minutes. I then blogged about the position and within minutes those following my blog in Eltham and the surrounding area know about the position.
In addition I then added Ultrafeedback which is located in Eltham to the Eltham search engine so now those looking for products and services in Eltham can use the JustLocal search engine for a total of 217 businesses.
My focus with JustLocal is to provide a way for people in a postcode area to more easily find products and services in their local area. With each JustLocal postcode page I provide advertising with a money back guarantee to help local businesses promote themselves. When I find out something I feel may interest those in a local area I send out emails to either people in the postcode area, or at other times to those within a certain distance from the postcode area. I've had to create some neat tools to make all of this happen as it can be quite time consuming.
Finding the position today was a treat for me as one of my goals by helping to strengthen local business, we get more local employment. Whilst currently people travel all over Melbourne to get to their jobs, I really see no reason why more people can't work locally. Local work for local people means the dependence on cars and our heavily subsidised public transport system is reduced. I look forward to the day where our main use of our cars is for pleasure and not work.
Right now, for most of us, we have to go where the work is. We simply don't know about or see the opportunities which are around us because it is far too costly using current media. With JustLocal my aim is to find cost effective ways using my knowledge of technology to help build a stronger local community by making local information more accessible.
You can find the Research Assistant position on the JustLocal blog for Eltham which can be accessed via www.JustLocal.com.au/3095.
All blogs have RSS feeds which means as I post information you can automatically receive the posts. I received the posts and read them whilst out and about using the Gmail RSS Reader in conjunction with my iPhone. I've written MyAnswers solution 2018 on how to add Google's products such as their RSS Reader to the Apple iPhone Home Screen for those who are interested.
The final task I now have is to send of an email to people in the local area (most likely based on distance) about the research position.
I hope that by sharing what I do my aspirations with JustLocal become a little clearer to others.
Kelvin Eldridge
Today I went through the local news items that come across radar via the internet. To me the news I want to know about is the news that affects me locally. On a daily basis you don't hear much on local news. I thought if the local news interests me, and I'm already obtaining a feed of the news, why not share the links so that others can benefit. It takes a bit of effort and time and perhaps I should be doing other things, but really if it helps others find out what's going on locally, why not.
Today I noticed a local position in Eltham for a research analyst. A quick email to the company to see the position was current. I received confirmation back within minutes. I then blogged about the position and within minutes those following my blog in Eltham and the surrounding area know about the position.
In addition I then added Ultrafeedback which is located in Eltham to the Eltham search engine so now those looking for products and services in Eltham can use the JustLocal search engine for a total of 217 businesses.
My focus with JustLocal is to provide a way for people in a postcode area to more easily find products and services in their local area. With each JustLocal postcode page I provide advertising with a money back guarantee to help local businesses promote themselves. When I find out something I feel may interest those in a local area I send out emails to either people in the postcode area, or at other times to those within a certain distance from the postcode area. I've had to create some neat tools to make all of this happen as it can be quite time consuming.
Finding the position today was a treat for me as one of my goals by helping to strengthen local business, we get more local employment. Whilst currently people travel all over Melbourne to get to their jobs, I really see no reason why more people can't work locally. Local work for local people means the dependence on cars and our heavily subsidised public transport system is reduced. I look forward to the day where our main use of our cars is for pleasure and not work.
Right now, for most of us, we have to go where the work is. We simply don't know about or see the opportunities which are around us because it is far too costly using current media. With JustLocal my aim is to find cost effective ways using my knowledge of technology to help build a stronger local community by making local information more accessible.
You can find the Research Assistant position on the JustLocal blog for Eltham which can be accessed via www.JustLocal.com.au/3095.
All blogs have RSS feeds which means as I post information you can automatically receive the posts. I received the posts and read them whilst out and about using the Gmail RSS Reader in conjunction with my iPhone. I've written MyAnswers solution 2018 on how to add Google's products such as their RSS Reader to the Apple iPhone Home Screen for those who are interested.
The final task I now have is to send of an email to people in the local area (most likely based on distance) about the research position.
I hope that by sharing what I do my aspirations with JustLocal become a little clearer to others.
Kelvin Eldridge
Monday, September 27, 2010
Possible alert: Download Skype VoIP Addons - More Free Talks
I received an email tonight which looked like it may be from Skype, written in a way that I am lead to believe it is from Skype, but I am very suspicious of it.
The subject in the email is: Download Skype VoIP Addons - More Free Talks
The body of the email contains:
Dear Skype Users,
This is to notify that new updates have been released for Skype. Following are major new features:
The links in the email aren't to the Skype site.
The email is signed by :
Anthony Norman
Skype Support
The word copyright is written as Copy rights and an error like this is unlikely to come from Skype.
The email address receiving this communication was not the email I use with Skype, but a public email address.
The email originated out of Northern America, but Skype headquarters is based in Luxembourg.
I would certainly be very suspicious of this email and not go to the links. My educated guess is this is a marketing attempt designed to make people feel they email is from Skype and thus get them to purchase a product. It may or may not be malicious.
If it was me I'd delete this email immediately.
Kelvin Eldridge
The subject in the email is: Download Skype VoIP Addons - More Free Talks
The body of the email contains:
Dear Skype Users,
This is to notify that new updates have been released for Skype. Following are major new features:
The links in the email aren't to the Skype site.
The email is signed by :
Anthony Norman
Skype Support
The word copyright is written as Copy rights and an error like this is unlikely to come from Skype.
The email address receiving this communication was not the email I use with Skype, but a public email address.
The email originated out of Northern America, but Skype headquarters is based in Luxembourg.
I would certainly be very suspicious of this email and not go to the links. My educated guess is this is a marketing attempt designed to make people feel they email is from Skype and thus get them to purchase a product. It may or may not be malicious.
If it was me I'd delete this email immediately.
Kelvin Eldridge
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Sunday, September 26, 2010
Why I don't use Facebook
When I let people know why I don't use Facebook they start to see things differently.
My initial reasons were simple. I wanted to create Facebook groups and share my information with customers. For example I've created the Australian English spellcheck dictionary now used by Google, Firefox and most other major open source projects. For those few that actually contributed back (most including the projects take and give nothing back) I wanted to use Facebook to keep these people informed.
I then found with Facebook it appeared that everything I wrote becomes the property of Facebook. Now I do the hard work and Facebook gets the rights to my work, I didn't think that's a good business decision so I closed down my use of Facebook in that way.
Over time more things happened. I began to see the Americans seem to have different ethics to us in Australia. Very young people were building massive worldwide companies and didn't in my mind have the years of experience that helps us to determine higher standards of ethics. If I were to set up a service, your information, your privacy is yours until you decide to share it. These new breed take the approach of "it's fair game".
For example my daughter said "dad do you mind not being my Facebook friend". I trust her and I respect her privacy.
However when she turned 18 Facebook flipped her information from private to totally public. She had no knowledge and I could see all her information as could the world. I then suggested she check her settings. I could still see some of her information but not most. Until I checked my other daughter's Facebook information and there was her information again, as my daughters were both Facebook friends. I again suggested she check her privacy settings.
Now with that fixed I then used Google and searched for my daughter's name. There she was and photos of eight of her friends. Press reload on the browser and I could get her next eight friends. In effect I could quickly obtain a list of quite a lot of her friends in a matter of minutes.
Now if my daughter wants to put her photo onto the internet that's her choice. But I don't think it is right that Facebook makes her friends photos available on the internet via her. Have her friends given her permission to display their photos. No. It is just assumed to be OK because of the underlying ethics built into Facebook.
Most people don't think making your information public on the internet matters. The usual argument is I'm not doing anything wrong so I have no concern from the authorities. However they seem to forget whilst big brother is watching, so too are the less reputable elements in our society.
After September 11 I read that 3% of people trying to board a plane would not be allowed to get onto an aeroplane due to security reasons and up to a total of 10% would be stopped. I also heard once that when the banks released bankcard in Australia and sent cards to everyone, there was a 3% risk which was acceptable. I went to a seminar with St George about businesses using credit cards and it was stated that business should budget for 3% loss through fraud.
So 3% is a good figure to use as a starting point. That means in any situation we can expect 3% of a group of people to be less reputable. Years ago I read there were 10,000 police in Victoria. That means 3% is 300. Whether we like it or not the less reputable live with us daily side-by-side.
An easy example of this is pirated DVDs. I was over in Thailand listening to conversations about DVDs (they are about $3 each for recent movies, but the quality I found was terrible) is it appeared almost everyone knew someone who could get them pirated DVDs from their work. That means you probably know someone who works in your company, or government organisation that is less reputable. How safe then is your information. So internally in every organisation there is a risk.
With Facebook I read of one person scraping (using programs to collect information) and building a massive database from the Facebook contacts. When they went to sell this information they were promptly stopped. Just think about it. Five hundred million people and who they are all connected to is an enormous resource. However the less reputable amongst us won't go public, they'll just trade the information and use it to their advantage.
The problem is we are now in a world where our information is being concentrated into the hands of a few. There is high internal risk when that happens and remember many of the largest companies outsource parts of their business to countries where the average person earns less than a few dollars a day, so a few thousand becomes very attractive. We all remember what happened to Google in China recently and if the biggest can't protect their systems then there is little hope for governments and businesses with less technical skill. Then we have the external risk where people can easily collect the information you make avaiable.
In the good old days there was less risk, although it was still there. With email from a local telephone company my sign up information with personal details is largely kept in their systems. Only the information I send has increased risk because of the nature of the internet. That means our private information was dispersed amongst many organisations. There are so many islands of information it wouldn't be worth the time for people to try to harvest this information. But with Facebook there are 500 million users. The meaning of six degrees of separation where all of us are supposedly connected to everyone else in this world (it was actually 12 degrees but Hollywood created the 6 degrees myth) is now much less.
I wanted to provide a real example which Australians can related to show what I mean.
Julia Gillard won't be running how own Facebook site so she will have a team of advisors guiding and protecting her. We don't have that luxury.
On the other hand her step daughter (Staci Child) just got into the press. A search of "Staci Child" and "Facebook" returns her Facebook page and eight of her friends. In theory if you wanted to get to know the Prime Minister of Australia you now have information on people who are only a few degrees of separation away. Whilst I use the example of our Prime Minister, the same applies to all the leaders of the world.
I have no doubt the government is collecting information on us, with the Federal Police reportedly pushing to have everyone's movements on the internet tracked, and whilst I don't think that is right, it won't be stopped. However that is a lower risk than the less reputable who could have access to the same information. That to me is a concern.
So next time you walk out the front door with your iPhone turned on just keep in mind it may be possible for someone, somewhere, to know, the date and time you leave your home, the direction you face, the door your took and then where you went during the day.
Take the time to learn about the technology you are using and realise there is a potential for increased exposure. There is no need to be paranoid because the 3% has always existed and always will. A small amount of care and caution will reduce grief, but in the end there will always be some. That is part of life.
I hope this article helps people to perhaps gain a little more understanding of what is happening. Just keep in mind if in the modern technological world when you get something for free, others have to make their money somehow, and the only thing they have is your information and what you do. And of course, it is entirely our own fault if something happens. It is our choice to use the services that are now available.
Kelvin Eldridge
My initial reasons were simple. I wanted to create Facebook groups and share my information with customers. For example I've created the Australian English spellcheck dictionary now used by Google, Firefox and most other major open source projects. For those few that actually contributed back (most including the projects take and give nothing back) I wanted to use Facebook to keep these people informed.
I then found with Facebook it appeared that everything I wrote becomes the property of Facebook. Now I do the hard work and Facebook gets the rights to my work, I didn't think that's a good business decision so I closed down my use of Facebook in that way.
Over time more things happened. I began to see the Americans seem to have different ethics to us in Australia. Very young people were building massive worldwide companies and didn't in my mind have the years of experience that helps us to determine higher standards of ethics. If I were to set up a service, your information, your privacy is yours until you decide to share it. These new breed take the approach of "it's fair game".
For example my daughter said "dad do you mind not being my Facebook friend". I trust her and I respect her privacy.
However when she turned 18 Facebook flipped her information from private to totally public. She had no knowledge and I could see all her information as could the world. I then suggested she check her settings. I could still see some of her information but not most. Until I checked my other daughter's Facebook information and there was her information again, as my daughters were both Facebook friends. I again suggested she check her privacy settings.
Now with that fixed I then used Google and searched for my daughter's name. There she was and photos of eight of her friends. Press reload on the browser and I could get her next eight friends. In effect I could quickly obtain a list of quite a lot of her friends in a matter of minutes.
Now if my daughter wants to put her photo onto the internet that's her choice. But I don't think it is right that Facebook makes her friends photos available on the internet via her. Have her friends given her permission to display their photos. No. It is just assumed to be OK because of the underlying ethics built into Facebook.
Most people don't think making your information public on the internet matters. The usual argument is I'm not doing anything wrong so I have no concern from the authorities. However they seem to forget whilst big brother is watching, so too are the less reputable elements in our society.
After September 11 I read that 3% of people trying to board a plane would not be allowed to get onto an aeroplane due to security reasons and up to a total of 10% would be stopped. I also heard once that when the banks released bankcard in Australia and sent cards to everyone, there was a 3% risk which was acceptable. I went to a seminar with St George about businesses using credit cards and it was stated that business should budget for 3% loss through fraud.
So 3% is a good figure to use as a starting point. That means in any situation we can expect 3% of a group of people to be less reputable. Years ago I read there were 10,000 police in Victoria. That means 3% is 300. Whether we like it or not the less reputable live with us daily side-by-side.
An easy example of this is pirated DVDs. I was over in Thailand listening to conversations about DVDs (they are about $3 each for recent movies, but the quality I found was terrible) is it appeared almost everyone knew someone who could get them pirated DVDs from their work. That means you probably know someone who works in your company, or government organisation that is less reputable. How safe then is your information. So internally in every organisation there is a risk.
With Facebook I read of one person scraping (using programs to collect information) and building a massive database from the Facebook contacts. When they went to sell this information they were promptly stopped. Just think about it. Five hundred million people and who they are all connected to is an enormous resource. However the less reputable amongst us won't go public, they'll just trade the information and use it to their advantage.
The problem is we are now in a world where our information is being concentrated into the hands of a few. There is high internal risk when that happens and remember many of the largest companies outsource parts of their business to countries where the average person earns less than a few dollars a day, so a few thousand becomes very attractive. We all remember what happened to Google in China recently and if the biggest can't protect their systems then there is little hope for governments and businesses with less technical skill. Then we have the external risk where people can easily collect the information you make avaiable.
In the good old days there was less risk, although it was still there. With email from a local telephone company my sign up information with personal details is largely kept in their systems. Only the information I send has increased risk because of the nature of the internet. That means our private information was dispersed amongst many organisations. There are so many islands of information it wouldn't be worth the time for people to try to harvest this information. But with Facebook there are 500 million users. The meaning of six degrees of separation where all of us are supposedly connected to everyone else in this world (it was actually 12 degrees but Hollywood created the 6 degrees myth) is now much less.
I wanted to provide a real example which Australians can related to show what I mean.
Julia Gillard won't be running how own Facebook site so she will have a team of advisors guiding and protecting her. We don't have that luxury.
On the other hand her step daughter (Staci Child) just got into the press. A search of "Staci Child" and "Facebook" returns her Facebook page and eight of her friends. In theory if you wanted to get to know the Prime Minister of Australia you now have information on people who are only a few degrees of separation away. Whilst I use the example of our Prime Minister, the same applies to all the leaders of the world.
I have no doubt the government is collecting information on us, with the Federal Police reportedly pushing to have everyone's movements on the internet tracked, and whilst I don't think that is right, it won't be stopped. However that is a lower risk than the less reputable who could have access to the same information. That to me is a concern.
So next time you walk out the front door with your iPhone turned on just keep in mind it may be possible for someone, somewhere, to know, the date and time you leave your home, the direction you face, the door your took and then where you went during the day.
Take the time to learn about the technology you are using and realise there is a potential for increased exposure. There is no need to be paranoid because the 3% has always existed and always will. A small amount of care and caution will reduce grief, but in the end there will always be some. That is part of life.
I hope this article helps people to perhaps gain a little more understanding of what is happening. Just keep in mind if in the modern technological world when you get something for free, others have to make their money somehow, and the only thing they have is your information and what you do. And of course, it is entirely our own fault if something happens. It is our choice to use the services that are now available.
Kelvin Eldridge
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Windows Phone 7 won't support tethering
I just read the Windows phone 7 won't support tethering which is a feature on the Apple iPhone I use all the time. I accept tethering is more for the techos like myself and not the general market.
The features so far identified as missing from the new Windows Phone 7 now are:
Should I end up purchasing and Windows Phone 7 I'll share information as usual via MyAnswers.
Kelvin Eldridge
- Multi-tasking (limited multi-tasking)
- Copy and Paste
- Tethering
- Development appears to be limited to Silverlight, but still need to confirm.
Should I end up purchasing and Windows Phone 7 I'll share information as usual via MyAnswers.
Kelvin Eldridge
Friday, September 24, 2010
Why many people shouldn't buy Microsoft Office 2010 PKC with their computer
Most of my clients purchase Microsoft Office 2010 with their computer but for many people, buying the licence with the computer may not be the best option.In MyAnswers solution 2020 I give examples of when some users will be better off by not buying the software with their computer.
I'm not saying don't buy Microsoft Office 2010, just to review the options and consider which is best for you
Kelvin Eldridge
Microsoft Store Links:
Download the new Office Home and Student 2010 now!
Download the new Office Home and Business 2010 now!
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