Outlook notifications

By default Outlook will notify you via a variety of means that a new email has arrived. This can be very distracting and greatly reduce your productivity as I have eluded to many time here before. As such I have created a new You Tube video that shows you how to disable these notifications.

 

Death of dreams

I’ve just read “Shop owners shut doors on their dreams” which details how a small business of 21 years in the US shut up shop. It also highlights how this story is becoming more and more common. With every closure more pressure is placed on other business around that depend on that business for trade.

 

Now, we may all feel pretty smug that the same won’t happen here in Australia but are you will to take that risk if you have your own business? Most small businesses are establish as dreams and run as hobbies rather than as a business. When times get tough many do not have the structure or the resources to cope. This can put extreme pressure on those running the business that could mean they end up losing more than just the business.

 

No matter where you are the current economic issues are going to have an effect. You need to ensure that you are suitably prepared if you want to hang onto your dream. This means planning and discipline and perhaps facing up to tough decisions. That’s why in many circumstances it helps to tap an outsider to give you help, one who is not directly connected with the business, one who can give you an honest and objective opinion.

 

So if you need an objective and honest opinion about your business or assistance in any way please do not hesitate to contact me (director@ciaops.com) for further information on how I maybe able to help. Even if you just want someone to chat with about your situation please do not hesitate to drop me a line.

Serios

What’s a Serio? It’s an imaginary email currency that helps you prioritize the value of emails you send and receive. It is available from a company called Seriosity who provide a plug for Outlook that allocates you so many Serios which you apply to outbound emails. As the system learns about your contacts and they start using Serios as well you can establish costs for sending each other emails about certain topics. So, to prevent lots of trivial replies or CC’s you simply hike up the cost for people to send you email on that topic.

 

There’s a neat little video on the site that takes you through all the major aspects. The product is in beta so you can download it and try it out.

 

Personally, I’m a little sceptical because it really requires for your major contacts to opt in. I can see how it would work in a large corporate but on the general Internet, ummmmm, I kinda don’t think so because it seems to require extra effort and people aren’t into that are they? I also think that in some ways it really doesn’t change people’s bad email habits but it would certainly make them think more about sending emails if they only had a limited supply of Serio currency.

 

I applaud Serioisty for the idea and their development which has a very sound base. If every email you sent cost you 1 cent (like a postage stamp) then we’d certainly have a lot less spam for starters and perhaps less frivolous emails as well. Such an idea has always fallen down because it is firstly too hard to get all the software people to agree on how to implement it and second who collects all the money you pay for sending emails? Great concept, tough implementation.

 

Maybe Seriosity, their software and imaginary Serio currency can solve these issues. I wish them every luck because it would certainly help reduce the overload most people face.

The good

What most people conveniently overlook about the Internet (or any technology in general) for all the good there is also bad. However, here’s an example of where the good makes an impact.

 

I recently highlight the changes Facebook were planning to their Terms Of Service. It now seems that after a ‘backlash’ those terms have been rolled back as this story highlights. The global Internet is a very powerful thing and as a business you need to realize you can potentially have millions (if not billions in the case of Facebook) examining your every move online. Once the word gets out it moves at the speed of light so there isn’t too  much change of slipping one past all those people these days.

 

Would I still trust Facebook? No. Would I put all my personal stuff up there? No way. My privacy is worth far more than that I’m sorry. I realise that most people still don’t appreciate that but, hey that’s going to be their problem going forward isn’t it? Why? Because, simply, information wants to be free – once you realise it, chances are it’ll never come back!

Mobile security

Almost everyone these days has a mobile phone. A significant number know what a problem it is if you lose your mobile. Some of these people only now understand how expensive it can also be if someone gets hold of your mobile and starts placing calls to Tibet and Greenland. But consider this, with more and more of our personal information on our mobile devices what security do we have in place to protect that?

 

Do your emails get delivered to your mobile? Do you have other sensitive information on there (i.e. PIN numbers, passwords)? What about customer information? Stop and have a think about what information your mobile would divulge if it fell into someone else’s hands. Now think about how much damage that information could do both personally and commercially.

 

Worried? Well you should be. Even the bosses at Telstra get their mobiles stolen and like this story highlights it can represent a huge commercial risk. Not only to you personally but also your customers. If you have a mobile device that holds data that you want to remain private then make sure you secure it. Make sure you know how to prevent it falling into the wrong hands. Many devices these days have the ability to be remotely wiped if needed but also look at things like encryption to protect sensitive data.

 

As more and more data ends up on mobile devices that get smaller and smaller (read easier to steal), then they become just like the PC on your desk. Now, you wouldn’t want that to fall into the wrong hands would you? So maybe it’s time to look at how secure that little computer you carry around with you everywhere is!

Live push

Interestingly, I’ve just come across this Live@edu site from Microsoft. IT appears to basically be the application of the Microsoft Live Services to the education market. Basically it is out sourcing a lot of the common IT components of education (emails, storage, etc) directly to Microsoft.

 

Can anyone else see where Microsoft is going with this? What’s to stop them offering Live for small business, medium business and even enterprise business? Nothing. I must say that I do use a lot of Live services and find they work really, really well so they get the thumbs up from me and I say bring on more Live services.

Facebook worries

It seems that Facebook have changed their Terms of Agreement according to this report:

 

Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later. Want to close your account? Good for you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want.

Now, most existing Facebook members probably won’t care but I believe it does illustrate the extent to which we have sold out our privacy. People blindly join Facebook and then upload every aspect of their lives not understanding that it is all going into one great database that Facebook is going to sell to make money.

 

People, companies like Facebook are commercial entities. They survive only by making money. Your information has value, otherwise why would they be selling it? Please think long and hard about the information (text, pictures, etc) you divulge on the Internet because once you do it becomes public domain and can never be made private again. Worse still, in this case, it actually ends up being owned by Facebook.

 

Remember that information about you has VALUE and should treated as such. We are giving away our privacy for effectively nothing in return. Don’t do it.