How to Avoid Malware on Facebook and Twitter: 8 Best Practices

Written by Sarah Perez / October 30, 2009 5:00 PM 

Thanks to the popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, it’s a given that malicious hackers will devise ways to exploit the sites’ numerous users in order to infect their computers with malware. This unwanted software is designed to do a number of terrible things ranging from identity theft to turning computer into remote-controllable “zombie” machines.

Without sufficient anti-virus and malware protection programs installed, social networking users can easily become victims to these ever-evolving attacks. However, the best way to avoid becoming a victim yourself is to be aware of what’s out there and what sorts of things you should avoid. Below are the best practices which you should use on Facebook and Twitter in order to keep yourself safe.

The Problem with Malicious Links

One of the most common vectors for attacks are malicious links posted either to Twitter or to your Facebook wall. In the past, such as with the malware known as Kooface, the troublesome links could be easily identified because they would often use a consistent phrase followed by a URL. For example, in August, Koobface was posting links that read “my home video ” which was followed by a URL and then a random component on the end such as “HA-HA-HA!!”, “W.O.W.”, “WOW”, “L.O.L.”, “LOL”, “;)” or “OMFG!!!”

Although the end piece changed from tweet to tweet, the message itself remained the same. However, security researcher Costin Raiu of Kaspersky Lab tells us that easy-to-identify messages are not as common anymore. Today, it’s much harder to identify malicious links thanks to two newer techniques being used by hackers. Below those two newer methods are described in more detail as is the tried-and-true method of spreading malware via email.
Method 1: Hijacking Twitter’s Trending Topics

The first technique, which really became popular in August of this year, involves hackers creating Twitter new accounts and then posting messages related to whatever trending, or “hot,” topic was being heavily discussed on Twitter at that time. This would allow the post to be aggregated in Twitter search results where unsuspecting users would click on the included link. The text accompanying the link would be intriguing to those interested in the subject, enticing them to click through.
Method 2: Hijacking Legitimate Accounts

The second technique involves infiltrating legitimate accounts through phishing attempts and other methods so that the hacker essentially has control over a “real” account. After control has been established, if on Twitter, the hacker will then tweet out links that redirect users to malware-infected sites. Because the tweets come from an account that already has an established set of followers, those reading the tweets assume it’s safe and don’t hesitate to click the links.

After infecting the account of a Facebook user, malware often uses that particular person’s account to spread, too. As with the malicious links on Twitter, because it appears that the links posted are from a trusted friend, other users don’t realize that the posted link is harmful.

On Facebook, one of the most problematic malware programs is Koobface, a particular type of malicious software that sees 20 to 30 new variations per day. Despite the number of variants out there, Koobface’s M.O. is relatively consistent: it tricks people into clicking links. These links appear on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but also on MySpace, hi5, Bebo, Friendster, and others.
Method 3: Dangerous Email

A third method to encourage social networking users to click on infected links is the old but still effective technique of sending out spoofed email. Hackers can create email messages that appear to be sent from a social networking site. The messages prompt you to “update your account” or open an attachment containing your new password among other things.

Image Credit: Last Watchdog

Although many users are now wary of email, these techniques are still being seen in the wild, so it’s clear that to some extent they still work.
How To Stay Safe

There are a number of best practices that you should follow in order to stay safe and avoid infection. They are as follows:
Don’t assume a link is “safe” because it’s from a friend: As noted above, your friend’s account may be infected. You should never assume that a link is safe just because a friend tweeted it or posted it to your wall. Use your common sense. If it doesn’t sound like something they would say, be wary, don’t click. If you’re unsure, try to contact them through another channel and see if the link is legit.

Don’t assume Twitter links are safe because Twitter is now scanning for malware: In August, Twitter partnered with Google to use Google’s Safe Browsing API, a technology that checks URLs against Google’s blacklist. This prevents spammers from posting malicious URLs to Twitter, but it does NOT prevent them from posting shortened URLs which direct users to those same malicious sites. It’s better than no protection at all, but it’s not going to keep you entirely safe.

Don’t Assume Bit.ly Links are Safe: Earlier this year, Twitter’s default URL-shortening service Bit.ly, began warning users of malware. Bit.ly also uses Google’s Safe Browsing API along with two other blacklists to identify malicious links. Although the service doesn’t prevent users from posting these links, it will warn upon clicking that the site being linked to is infected. However, as Raiu tells us, this is not 100% effective either. Kaspersky has identified a number of malicious links which Bit.ly did not block. However, you can assume that Bit.ly is generally safer than the other URL-shortening services because it uses this technology and because the hackers are generally avoiding this service at the moment because of its built-in protection. But it is not completely safe – nothing ever is.

Use an up-to-date web browser: Kaspersky recommends using the latest version of your web browser and keeping it up-to-date with the necessary patches. That means Internet Explorer users should be on IE8 – and since this browser is attacked the most, it’s critical that you make sure it stays updated as needed. Firefox is the second most attacked browser, but fortunately, it has a self-updating feature built in. Google Chrome is also good because it has a self-updating feature as well as another security feature that runs plugins in “sandboxes,” or restricted environments. If an attacker was able to exploit the browser and run malicious code, it would be isolated to this sandbox and would not able to effect the entire machine. Opera and Safari are also good browsers and should be kept current, too.

Keep Windows up-to-date: As always, Windows users should make sure their systems are current with the latest patches from Microsoft. Automatic updates should be turned on.

Keep Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash up-to-date: At the moment, Adobe Reader and Flash are the two most targeted programs by hackers. A lot of malware specifically goes after known vulnerabilities within Adobe’s software. In addition, a common method of attack, such as that used by Koobface, is to redirect a victim to a malware-infested site where the user is prompted to update their Flash player or Adobe Reader in order to see the website content. NEVER do this. Always go to Adobe’s site on your own to download the latest version or update the software on your computer using its own built-in update mechanisms.

Don’t assume you’re safe because you use a Mac: While it’s true that Mac users are less targeted than Windows users, they are not immune to malware, despite what those commercials may say. Although Apple did include some malware protection in their latest operating system, it only protects users from two trojans; you cannot count on it alone to protect you. There are a couple of hundred of trojans currently in the wild that specifically target Mac machines, according to Kaspersky. In fact, there may even be as many as a thousand, but researchers are unable to identify all of them because Mac users don’t typically run anti-virus software which is how much of the data is collected. These days, when a user clicks an infected link, the malicious web page will now sometimes identify whether that user is coming from a Windows or Mac machine and then display the appropriate version of the trojan accordingly. A particular family of trojans known as “DNS Changer” trojans are the most common ones used to attack Mac machines. The only way to really be sure that you’re protected against these malicious programs is to run anti-malware software on your Mac, but most Mac users won’t do so, preferring to take their chances since their risk is lower.

Be wary of email messages from social networks: Because email addresses can be “spoofed” by hackers, you can’t assume that an email from Facebook or Twitter is really from those the site it claims to be from. As always, you should never open attachments you were not expecting to receive and you should be wary of clicking on links – especially if you’re being told to “update your account.” If you do click on a link and are taken to a web page that asks you to log into the site, DON’T DO IT. It would be handing over your password to the hackers. Instead, you should always access the sites directly by typing in their URL in your browser or clicking a saved link in your Favorites.

It’s Not Just a Matter of Common Sense Anymore

As the above best practices show, a lot of the things you can do to protect yourself from malware are the same as they have been in the past – keep your computer and browser up-to-date, don’t open attachments, etc. However, malware is trickier to identify these days thanks to social networking sites. It now uses the trusted identities of your friends in order to lull its victims into a false sense of safety. You can no longer simply assume that because someone you know posted a link, it’s automatically safe. You can’t even assume that the networks themselves are safe, either. They’re not always scanned for malware-laden links, and when they are, such as is the case with Twitter, it’s not a 100% effective method.

Security researchers are actively working on better ways to fight this problem – for example, Kaspersky just announced their “Krab Krawler” project which will help keep their blacklists current by scanning for malicious links on Twitter, but it’s not a tool that end-users can download to protect themselves; it’s only one of many methods that security firms use to collect data about the malware on the internet. The best way to stay safe is to follow through with all the best practices – not just one or two. Malware isn’t ever going away, so everyone must do their own part in order to stay safe on the web.

via readwrite.com

Facebook Reveals Its Next Six Months of Platform Features

 

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October 28th, 2009 | by Adam Ostrow

Facebook has just published a detailed roadmap of the features it expects to add to its Platform over the next six months, along with projected launch dates.

While the roadmap is intended largely for developers of applications – both on FacebookFacebook and on third-party sites and mobile apps using Facebook Connect – it gives users an idea of how we might interact with these apps in the future.

Some pieces that sound intriguing:

The Open Graph API will allow any page on the web to have all the features of a Facebook Page – users will be able to become a Fan of the page, it will show up on that user’s profile and in search results, and that page will be able to publish stories to the stream of its fans.

Email: Developers will be able to ask users to share their primary email addresses (for example, firstname.lastname@domain.com).

Notifications: Application-to-user and user-to-user notifications will be removed, and instead developers will use stream, Inbox, and Email.

We’re still digesting the roadmap and will update with details, but in the meantime, you can check it out for yourself on Facebook’s developer wiki.

via mashable

How I Diversify My Site and Income

Written on October 29th, 2009 at 01:10 am by Darren Rowse

 

In this post I want to present some visuals on how I’ve expanded one of my blogs and diversified its income streams

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• How do I expand my blog?
• How do I move beyond the basics of making money with AdSense on my blog?

I’m asked these two questions a lot and in this post I want to share, with some visuals, how I do it on one of my own sites.

While at Blog World Expo last week I was asked to present to a small private group on how I make money blogging. As part of the presentation I put together some basic graphics that attempted to visualize how Digital Photography School works. With the permission of the clients I presented to I’d like to share them here.

Lets start with a basic rundown of what the site is made up of – or at least where I’m interacting with readers both on and off the site:

The site started as a simple blog. In time I added a forum and a newsletter. The forum added a more communal element to the site while the newsletter both gave a secondary connecting point with readers, drives significant traffic across to both the blog and forum but also opens up other ways to market to readers. In more recent times I’ve started using social media by creating a Twitter account and Facebook page.

In this next visual I highlight four of the main tasks that I focus my energies on with DPS. While there are other things that one must do to keep a site going, these are the main things I focus my time upon at present.

1. Creating Compelling Content – this is the foundation of the site and particularly in the early days of DPS was what I spent most time doing. Ultimately it is about creating useful content that solves problems and meets needs for people.
2. Build Community – getting a reader to your blog is hard so it makes a lot of sense to work hard on keeping the readers you have and doing whatever you can to keep them visiting again and again. One of the main ways to do this is to give them a sense of ‘belonging’.
3. Monetize – a site with great content and community is fantastic – but unless you can monetize it in some way it isn’t sustainable. As a result a percentage of my time and resources goes towards making money from the site.
4. Marketing – to make money from a website you need people to read it and to have people reading it you need to step outside of your own site and market yourself in some way. Great content and community is not enough. I’d include SEO in this category as it’s largely about driving traffic.

There are obviously other tasks that a blogger needs to work on (such as design, maintenance etc) but broadly speaking these are the four things I’m working on each day in some way or another.

Lets see how the two graphics above interact with one another. Below is a visual of the four areas of the site and the four ‘tasks’ that I do – it shows WHERE I’m doing each of the ‘tasks’ on the site.

OK – so I’m doing everything everywhere.

The reason I include this graphic is that I hear people talking about how certain types of media are only suited to some goals.

For example I heard one presenter at BWE talk about how social media is just for marketing or community building – however I think it can be used for monetization also. An example of this was when I launched the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook. I did launches for the ebook both here on the ProBlogger blog and also on Twitter – Twitter generated over twice as many sales as the blog.

While social media may not be as effective for everyone when it comes to monetization there are certainly ways to do it. The same goes with other mediums.

I won’t go through how each of the four areas achieve each of the four goals or tasks but the take home lesson here is that if you have a variety of goals for your site that there can be multiple ways to meet them.

Lets move onto monetization. The next visual highlights the four main ways that I make money off DPS (or at least the four ways it will make money shortly).

1. Ad Networks – in some circles these are looked down on as an inferior way to make money but on DPS they work. Running AdSense and Chitika in particular have been very profitable for me on DPS. Sure you share the revenue with the network but when you’re unable to fill your inventory with directly sold ads they can still work out for you. You should be looking to expand your focus and diversify but don’t write it off altogether – keep testing the options to see what converts on your site.
2. Direct Ad Sales – the obvious advantage of selling your own ads to an advertiser is that you’re not splitting profits with Google or some other ad network. The downside is that it can take time to find advertiser and negotiate with them to really get the return that you could get. This can get a little easier when you’ve got significant traffic but depending upon your niche and where the economy is at it can also be difficult – particularly to attract the bigger brand advertisers unless you have relationships with them or are well positioned in the advertising sales game.
3. Affiliate Marketing – this is something that I didn’t focus upon a whole lot on DPS except for using Amazon’s Associate program. However lately there have been a few quality photography products launched that have opened up opportunities on this front.
4. Products – this is the ’soon to be’ element of the monetization mix on DPS as I have two ebooks in development – one to be released in the coming weeks. I’m still yet to see how well products will work on the site but there’s significant potential if we can convince readers that paying for some content is worth doing (I’m sure I’ll write more about this in the coming weeks).

You’ll notice that there are other monetization streams that are not mentioned and that I don’t do at DPS – such as text link advertising, paid reviews etc.

Here’s one last graphic that overlays the monetization streams with the areas of the site.

Once again you’ll see that each of the areas of the site are involved in at least two of the monetization streams – although not all. Some of the exceptions are simply that I’ve not had time to try them but some I’m not sure will ever happen (either because I doubt that they’ll work or because they can’t – such as Ad Networks in Social media).

Again – the reason I include this graphic is that opportunities do exist to diversify income streams between mediums. For example newsletters are a great place to monetize. While you can’t run AdSense in a newsletter you can sell an ad to an advertiser. You can also use a newsletter to do affiliate marketing (in fact I find it works better in newsletters than anywhere else on my site).

I hope the visuals above are a little food for thought and make sense without the context of the rest of the presentation.

A few Take Home Lessons:

Let me try to pull together a few of the main take home lessons that I’ve been learning:

• Know your goals – having identified that main tasks that I want to be involved in has given me a structure and helped me develop strategies to take my site forward.
• Expand and Diversify – Adding different areas/mediums to your blog can help to make your site multi-dimensional and opens up new ways to achieve your goals. It is also good in turbulent economic times to have a site with a variety of different areas but also income streams.
• Don’t Ignore AdSense – ad networks have their pros and cons. If you write them off completely you could be leaving money on the table. The key is to have an open mind, test what works best and revisit your decisions over time as different monetization streams will suit your site differently at different stages of its life cycle.
• Don’t get lazy and rely upon AdSense – many bloggers get lazy and rely upon the same old way that their site has always made money to continue to do so. Keep testing, hustle to find new advertisers, test different affiliate products to promote, watch what your competitors are monetizing with and consider launching your own product.

via problogger

Toying Around With The Christmas Dream Dozen

11:22pm UK, Wednesday October 28, 2009

 

Jo Couzens, Sky News Online reporter

Shopping for toys this Christmas looks set to be a wallet-friendly experience if the industry’s annual list of must-have items is anything to go by.

Monopoly City is just one “nostalgic” character back with a modern twist

The Toy Retailers Association’s (TRA) has predicted what will be the 12 best-sellers this festive season – and none of them is over £50.

And after two years of recession, the country’s top toy picks reflect a leaning towards nostalgic characters updated with a modern twist.

And the “Dream Dozen were all being put through their paces by youngsters from the Sylvia Young Theatre School at a TRA fair in central London.

But TRA chairman Gary Grant insists pricing was not a factor in selecting the list.

“Last year the most expensive present was £150, this year it’s £50, so prices are definitely lower this year but not because we have chosen cheaper toys,” he explained.

“The toys in the list are chosen on the basis of prediction on the things we think will sell well in the market. It’s a retailers’ prediction, not manufacturers.”

Mr Grant believes consumers are going back to “heritage brands which will last longer than the Christmas season.”

“I think people are going back to trusted brands, that’s what we’re seeing in the stores.

“Sylvanian, LEGO, Playmobil are all selling well, which contradicts the view that people are buying cheaper toys, because these are all high quality, premium brands.

“I think people are looking for value in a different way. The value comes from the fact the toys are going to be played with over and over again.”

The Dream Dozen includes Monopoly City, a modern-take on the traditional boardgame, cute interactive hamsters from Go Go Pets and a multimedia digital camera.

Lightning Fast Rubik’s Cube Skills

 

George Sampson was on hand to demonstrate the Battle Strikers and told Sky News: “I’m not really into toys but I just love these, they’re great.”

And the Go Go Pets Hamsters proved a hit with the girls and are expected to dominate their wish-lists along with Pony in My Pocket Arena, FurReal Friends Lulu my Cuddlin’ Kitty and Fluffy goes Walkies.

Just missing out on a place in the Dream Dozen is Hasbro’s Bop It games unit, calls out instructions and you have to bop, twist and pull your way to victory.

The Bop IT Beatbox Dance Troupe from Manchester, made up of Chad Taylor, 20, Olivia Flannigan, 13, Tyler Bolton, nine, and Nicole Evans, 23, performed a routine they have created with the unit.

Proving the theory that the oldies are the goodies, Monopoly City, Jenga and Rubiks 360 are all touted as potential best-sellers in the games category.

Star Wars dominates the construction category with its Echo Base and Darth Vader’s Tie Fighter.

The Dream Dozen Christmas toys for 2009, in alphabetical order:
:: Bakugan Battle Pack, Spin Master (RRP £19.99)
:: Battle Strikers starter set, Mega Brands (RRP £9.99)
:: Ben 10 Alien Force Kevins DX Action Cruiser, Bandai (RRP £29.99)
:: Bendaroos Mega Pack, Spin Master (RRP £19.99)
:: Go Go Pets Hamsters, Character Options (RRP £9.99)
:: GX Racers Tightrope Terror, Flair (RRP £22.99)
:: Kidizoom Multimedia Digital Camera, V-Tech (RRP £49.99)
:: LEGO Games Minotaurus, Lego (RRP £17.99)
:: Monopoly City, Hasbro (RRP £24.99)
:: Princess Peppa’s Palace, Character Options (RRP £39.99)
:: Sylvanian Families Caravan, Flair (RRP £44.99)
:: Transformers Movie 2 Voyagers Figures, Hasbro (RRP £22.99)

via skynews

 

Mobile Firm Admits ‘Meteor’ Was A PR Stunt

5:40pm UK, Tuesday October 27, 2009

Andy Jack, Sky News Online

A mobile phone company has admitted being behind an elaborate meteorite hoax in Latvia.

And the firm has promised to reimburse the country for all costs incurred by emergency and military workers involved in the incident.

The stunt was co-ordinated with a PR firm “to draw attention away from Latvia’s economic crisis and toward something else more interesting”, said Vita Sirica, of the Latvian branch of Swedish-owned Tele2.

She said nine people dug the hole and burned chemicals at the bottom to create the illusion of a meteorite crash.

Their video of a smoking hole later appeared on news sites and the incident made headlines around the world, as rescue authorities said a fiery object had created a large crater in a meadow near the Estonian border.

Experts examine the crater which had actually been dug by hand

Scientists rushed to investigate the 27ft (9m) wide and 9ft (3m) deep hole, while military units cordoned off the area and tested for radioactivity.

But after closer analysis, experts said the hole was too tidy and had to have been made by humans.

At the phone company’s HQ in Stockholm, Tele2′s Pernilla Oldmark said the hoax was “part of a marketing campaign that will start shortly”, but would not elaborate.

But as a result of the hoax, Latvia is cancelling its contracts with the company.

Interior Minister Linda Murniece said: “We don’t want to do business with a firm that promotes itself at our expense.

via skynews

 

14 Practical Ways to Use Evernote

Guy Kawasaki (Alltop)

Sep 18, 2009 -

I use a service called Evernote to fulfill my pack-rat and archiving needs. Evernote is a service “in the cloud” that you can dump notes, documents, photos, and tweets into for future access from any computer with Internet access. (Jennifer Van Grove also talks about it in her article.) Here are fourteen uses of Evernote that can help you organize, archive, and share information.

1. Take notes. Taking notes in Evernote is way better than searching for that pad of paper that’s lost or at home. It’s also better than a text document on your computer because either you won’t remember the name of the document, you won’t have that computer, or you will have deleted the document inadvertently.
2. Take pictures. Got into a fender bender? Take a picture of both cars, the other car’s license plates, and the other driver’s license. Drink a great bottle of wine? Take a picture of the label. See a book that you must read? Take a picture of the cover. Evernote has a great iPhone app that enables you to upload these pictures directly to your account.
3. Save documents. When I receive a document (PowerPoint, Word, Excel, or PDF) that I’ll need again, I forward it to Evernote for safekeeping. This is easy because Evernote provides a unique email address to enter documents in your account. I do the same for pictures that people send me. This is very useful when you use more than one computer to create documents or send/receive email.
4. Photograph business cards. Rather than collecting a pile of business cards that you’ll never go through, photograph them with your iPhone and send their images to Evernote. Evernote recognizes text on the card, so you can search for names such as “Apple” or “John” when that’s the only thing you can remember about the person. If you’re using Evernote on a mobile phone, it can also geotag the photo so that if you can only remember that you met the person in Cupertino, you can still find it. And you can save trees: When someone hands you her card, take a picture of it and hand it back.
5. Track expenses. When you get a business receipt, photograph it, and send it to Evernote. Then you or your secretary can grab it later for expense reports and tracking. I lose many of my receipts, but if I stick them in Evernote, there’s a backup when I need them. If you’re really anal, you can configure your scanner to send your receipts to Evernote so you have great looking scanned receipts.
6. Track checks. My bank enables me to see the scanned image of checks one by one, organized by check number. If I knew the check number, I would probably know the payee and amount. Photographed images of checks in Evernote are much faster to find because Evernote recognizes the text so that you can search for it across all your checks. This is very useful when you have a spouse who writes a lot of checks.
7. Track deposits. My bank shows me scanned images of checks, but unless I used an ATM that prints a scan of the deposit, I’m hosed. Even then the scanned image is so small, I sometimes cannot read who the check is from. Photographing and storing a deposit in Evernote is a good system even if you only use it as a backup. This is very useful when you have a spouse who makes a lot of money.
8. Archive your prescriptions. When I get a prescription, I photograph the receipt of the pharmacy. This enables me to remember who prescribed it, when the prescription ends, and which pharmacy filled the prescription. This information is very useful when I want to get a refill.
9. Store your online passwords and receipts. Whenever I buy something online or create an online account, I forward the confirmation or receipt to Evernote. Now when I forget my password, registration number, or date of purchase, I don’t have to go through all sorts of gyrations to recover them. (This happens approximately once per week.) You can, by the way, encrypt portions of documents at Evernote for greater security.
10. Retain news and content from websites. As you come across interesting article, use the Evernote web clipper to review and use later. It’s much more likely you’ll read these articles than if you bookmarked it unless you’re a fanatic about processes such as organizing, synching, and reviewing bookmarks. Even if you are, bookmarks often break when URLs change. It’s much better to have captured the article once and for all.
11. Record the wisdom of whiteboards. Think of Evernote as a poor man’s Smartboard to convert text on a whiteboard to a digital format. This means that after the enjoyable day at the company offsite, just take a picture of the whiteboard and send it to Evernote. Evernote will scan the text so that you can search for the word “mission” to find the fifty-word mission statement that you promptly forgot. This works for projected slides, too.
12. Archive voicemail messages. I use a service called SpinVox that transcribes my voicemail to text and emails me the message. I can then forward the email to Evernote to have a record of the call if I ever need to recall the content of the voicemail or call the person again.
13. Dictate your thoughts. The Evernote iPhone application enables you to record your thoughts and then upload it to your account. This is perfect for when you have a brilliant thought and want to ensure that it’s not lost among the detritus in your brain. If you give your secretary access to your account, you could make a dictation on the fly, and he can listen to it back at the office.
14. Preserve your tweets. You can archive your tweets by linking your Evernote and Twitter accounts. Then if you include the text “@myEN, Evernote will grab it for you” (not that most tweets are worth archiving). To learn how to do this, click here.

To summarize, here are all the ways you can get notes and photos into Evernote:

• Forward email to your unique Evernote email address.
• Upload text, photo, or voice recordings via an iPhone, Palm Pre, or Windows Mobile phone.
• Drag-and-drop audio, images, PDFs, and files into Evernote on the desktop.
• Attach Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF documents to an email and send them to your Evernote email address.
• “Save PDF to Evernote” from the printing dialog box.
• Clip websites and blogs.
• Send documents directly from a scanner.
• Tweet text with the string “@myEN”.
• Upload from cameras directly to Evernote using the wireless EyeFi card.

I’d be surprised if you can’t use Evernote in one or more of these ways.

via openforum.com

Now Use Google Voice With Your Existing Phone Number

 

October 26th, 2009 | by Barb Dybwad

One of the sticking points with the otherwise highly convenient Google Voice service has been that you had a choose a new number to use with the service. If you had an existing number that everyone already knew and wanted to switch over, you were pretty much out of luck.

Luckily that changes today, with tonight’s Google announcement that you can now use Google VoiceGoogle Voice with an existing phone number. Also notably, you can now add GoogleGoogle voicemail service to any of the mobile numbers linked to your account. Think of it a bit like Gmail for voicemail.

Now when you first sign up for Google Voice you can choose between using your own number or choosing a new Google number. You still get many of Google Voice’s features when using your own number, including the Google voicemail feature you can now add to linked phones.

Unfortunately it’s not a full number port, and you won’t get all of the Google Voice features when using your own number — at least not yet. But especially if you have an older phone that doesn’t already have a nice visual voicemail interface, the Google voicemail feature alone might be reason enough to switch. The company also says it plans to roll out a full service compatible with your existing number, including other great features of Voice like conference calling, call screening, and listening into calls before deciding to pick up.

Check out the video about how Google voicemail works below. And if you’re still hunting for an invite to Google Voice, you can ask a friend for one.

Do you use Google Voice? If not, will you consider using the service now that you can keep your existing number? Let us know in the comments.

via Mashable.com

Canon PowerShot G11 Hands-On and Compared

http://su.pr/1rtX7g

First – Where It Fits In

Designing cameras entails a series of compromises, as of course does buying cameras. When a company such as Canon sets out to make a new camera they need to balance a series of variables, including the intended customer and his requirements and expectations, price point, feature set, and performance needs.

Canon’s G series of cameras have long been a favourite among photographers who also own DSLRs. The recent models in particular, because they offer a combination of features, price and performance that appeals to a broad audience. Coat-pocket ability, a decent zoom range, some manual controls, and an optical viewfinder.

The Powershot G11, which started to ship in October, 2009, continues that trend, but it does so in a new environment. So, before looking at the G11 itself and how it compares to its predecessor the G10, let’s see where it fits into the current taxonomy of cameras.

This is now rapidly becoming the era of the small camera / large sensor, as exemplified by cameras such as Sigma DP1, Leica X1 (coming in December), Olympus EP-1 and Panasonic GF1. Samsung has announced its intentions in the area, and Ricoh is also rumoured to have a camera system like this coming soon.

Some of these offerings have fixed lenses, while some have interchangeable lenses. But all have sensors that range from 1.6X to 2X, as compared to full-frame 35mm, vs. the 4X to 6X multipliers of cameras like the G11.

The advantage of these larger sensor equipped cameras are: higher overall image quality, better high ISO performance, better dynamic range, and the use of very high quality (also fast) fixed focal length or interchangeable lenses. On the other hand, the advantage goes to the G11 and its ilk by offering small-built-in zooms, though at the cost of smaller maximum apertures.

Tent Raising. Toronto, October, 2009

Canon PowerShot G11 @ ISO 200

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Ergonomics and the Articulated LCD Screen

One of the major changes from the G10 to the G11 is the addition of an articulated LCD screen. This is a really solid design, and will be appreciated by many photographers, but with a few caveats.

The first of these is that the LCD doesn’t hinge outwards at a full 180 degrees. This means that if you are an old-time twin lens reflex shooter and like looking down onto a screen, the G11 won’t quite please, because it only rotates out about 175 degrees. This means that when you face head on to the subject you’ll be looking at the screen at a bit of an angle. This won’t be a big deal for some, but it really frustrated me, and I found myself always getting my horizons off kilter. Of course turning on grid lines helps, but as always, I have to ask – didn’t anyone at Canon field test this?

Another consequence of Canon adding the tilting and rotating LCD is that the rear control wheel has of necessity become smaller. So much so that I frequently find myself pressing the wrong control inadvertently. I have read other’s complaining online about this, so I don’t think that I’m being a klutz, and in any event I have fairly small hands. People with large hands, be aware of this potential issue.

Video

Finally, while an articulated LCD is a really nice thing for photographers to have with this type of camera, it’s particularly useful for anyone shooting video. Unfortunately Canon has decided not to play in the video game, at least not seriously with the G11, as its limited to 640 x 480 @ 30 fps. Not even 720P, let alone 1080i. Sorry Canon; that ship sailed long ago. Users now expect contemporary video specs and performance from their pocket stills cameras.

http://su.pr/1rtX7g
Construction Geometry. Toronto. October, 2009

Canon PowerShot G11 @ ISO 80

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G10 / G11 Noise Comparison

The rational for reducing the sensor on the G11 from 15 Megapixels to 10 Megapixels on the G11 is to produces cleaner, lower noise images, especially at higher ISOs. To see how well this was accomplished I set up both cameras side-by-side at my gallery, looking at a high contrast subject which contained highlights as well as deep shadows. Both cameras were set to f/4 in Aperture Priority mode, and the only adjustment made to any of these files in post processing was to synchronize the white balance. ISO was adjusted, allowing the camera to compensate for exposure by varying the shutter speed.

All image were raws, processed in Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta.

The cameras were set up on tripods, as close together as possible. But, because of their slightly different fields of view, and their differing resolutions, there are slight framing mismatches. The important thing though is that both cameras were set to show the same field of view (or at least as close as it could be matched, because of the very coarse zoom controls on these cameras). Exact framing is simply impossible with these cameras, one of my real complaints with any camera having power zoom.

Another way of doing this set-up would have been to match magnification rather than image coverage, but if you’re one of the folks that thinks that this would have been preferable, please feel free to do such a comparison yourself.

	ISO 80
G10
G11

	ISO 100
G10
G11

	ISO 200
G10
G11

	ISO 400
G10
G11

	ISO 800
G10
G11

	ISO 1600
G10
G11

	ISO 3200
G10	NA
G11

Obviously, you can draw your own conclusions as to what you see. What I see is that the G11 has about a one stop advantage over the G10, and both look quite good up to and including ISO 200. I never regarded ISO 400 is usable for anything except record shots on the G10, and my feeling is that while cleaner, the G11 is still too noisy at 400 for any sort of large prints. Above 400 the G11 keeps its edge over the G10, but it’s a Pyrrhic victory because neither meets my criteria for acceptability at these speeds.

This all then begs the question – is the reduction in resolution from 15MP in the G10 to 10MP in the G11 worthwhile? It seems to me that if you’re one of those photographers that primarily works at low ISOs the G10 may in fact be the preferable choice, while anyone that needs ISO 400 or higher will want the G11, though frankly anything over 400 starts to become iffy in my book. So, where’s the advantage?

As a consequence, because the G10 is discontinued, I think that we’re going to see quite a few G10s selling on Ebay at prices higher than one might expect with a new model on the scene.

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Compared to a Large Sensor Pocket Camera

As I mentioned at the head of this piece, the game has changed. We now have large sensor large-pocket cameras which challenge models such as the G10 and G11, especially in terms of size and portability. No matter how good a small sensor camera may be in terms of IQ, a camera with a sensor several times larger can’t help but produce superior image quality, at both low and high ISOs.

But, let’s put this in perspective. A G11 compared to a Panasonic GF1, the current leader of this new category, may look similar in size and intent, but is quite a different animal. Price is one major factor, with the G11 priced at US $500 while the GF1 with 14-45mm (28-90mm equiv) lens is $900. This lens, rather than the 20mm f/1.7, is a closer match to the G11′s 28-140mm equivalent zoom, but increases the size of the camera quite a bit. The G11 also has a very handy (though not very good) optical viewfinder, while the GF1′s optional electronic viewfinder (similarly not great) adds more bulk and cost.

It’s all about trade-offs, isn’t it? The G11 (or G10 for that matter) is appealing to serious photographers looking for a always-along camera because of its few manual controls, optical viewfinder, and decent image quality. But if one is willing to trade off the slow 5X zoom for a medium wide but fast prime lens the equation becomes more interesting. But, at a price – almost double to be precise.

Then there’s the issue of depth of field (DOF). Small sensor cameras such as the G11 have huge depth of field, which sometime is desired, and sometimes isn’t. APS-C and 2X sensor equipped small cameras have much less DOF, which is sometimes desirable, and sometime not. As the saying goes – you pay your money and you make your choice.

Which brings us to an IQ comparison. At ISO 100 the differences are visible, but it takes some pixel peeping to see them. The G11′s 10MP and the GF1′s 12MP are close, and so the degree of enlargibility is similar. It’s when the ISO gets to around 400 and up that one can really see the differences, even in web-sized reproduction sizes.

To try and show this I shot in a shopping mall under mixed fluorescent and daylight at high-ish but not extreme ISOs. The Canon found itself at ISO 640 and the Panasonic at ISO 500, both at the same aperture. Immediately below are the full frames, and below that 100% crops.

 

UPDATE: Please ignore the colours in the G11 file. I was using an early version of Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta and the colour profile used wasn’t the correct final one.

But that aside, the difference in both noise and resolution between the two cameras whacks you upside the head. The GF1 frame looks like it was taken with a DSLR, while the G11 images looks like, well, that it was taken with a pocket camera.

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Concerns & Suggestions

The optical viewfinder is both a plus and a minus . It’s great that Canon has produced a digital camera with a OVF, but let’s be frank; it’s really not that accurate. And speaking of accuracy, the G11′s zoom control is so coarse that it’s essentially impossible to do accurate framing.

I like the fact that ISO and exposure compensation are simple, easy to control mechanical dials. But, how about a dial for Aperture and Shutter Speed? So many photographers that I speak with want simple, straightforward controls rather than a screen-based interface. Canon has gone part of the way – why not give us what so many are asking for – physical controls?

___________________________________________________________________________________

The $500 Dollar Question

Is the Canon G11 a good buy? I believe so, considering that one gets a really solid camera with decent lens, articulated LCD, manual controls, and decent image quality at low ISO. But, while the higher ISO (anything above 200) are better than its predecessor the G10, on an absolute scale they are not really acceptable to my eyes for anything except record shots and snapshots. The extra resolution of the G10 seems to me to be a trade-off that many photographers might end up preferring.

And as for comparisons with the new generation of pocket-sized large-sensor cameras, these cost quite a bit more money (up there with entry level DSLRs) but they produce far superior image quality.

Having said all of that, for the money the G11 offers good value for many photographers, and its articulated LCD and optical viewfinder make it somewhat unique in this marketplace. That’s the primary reason for my “Recommended” stamp. But don’t expect the drop to 10MP from 15MP on the previous model to be a magic bullet. It isn’t. The game has changed, and for low noise, high quality images there are now new and interesting alternatives in the medium-sized pocket camera arena. There is also a new strong competitor to the G11, in the shirt-pocket sized camera segment, in the form of Canon’s own Powershot S90, which uses the same sensor and image processing chip as the G11, and which will be reviewed on these pages shortly.

via luminouslandscape.com

October, 2009

Steal This Trick: The #1 Secret of Confident Bloggers

by Sonia Simone

There are a million techniques to make your blog bigger, better, and more popular.

(Heck, after four years, there are probably a half-million just here on Copyblogger.)

Strong headlines, smart copywriting technique, celebrity gossip, telling stories, making readers laugh, stategic use of controversy, reviews of the latest technology, reveling in your love of Steve Jobs and all he creates.

They each have their advocates, and they can all work.

But there’s one insider’s trick that makes the rest of it easy.

It starts from the very beginning, when you’re figuring out what you want to blog about anyway.

Start by picking a crowded topic

Copywriter Gary Halbert famously advised copywriters to look for a “starving crowd.” In other words, if you want to open a restaurant, put it where there are already plenty of people who want exactly what you’re offering. If you’re a blogger, look for topic that lots and lots of people want to know more about.

Why are there so many blogs about technology, weight loss, marketing, making money online, and celebrities?

Because there are millions of people who want to read every day about those topics.

In the past few years, the traditional Internet marketing advice has been to find a little niche that you can own completely. But there are two problems with making yourself a big fish in a small pond.

The first is that you’ll always be looking over your shoulder for some punk kid to come along and beat you at your own game.

The second is that when you choose a tiny topic, you set a limit on how big you’ll ever be able to get.

This leads directly to a lot of what plagues a lot of traditional Internet marketing. Going after obscure niches means you’ve got to put lots of sites together to make the financial picture work. Which tends to make it hard to develop any kind of real relationship with the readers. Which leads to the sleaze-and-squeeze school of copywriting, where you shake your new prospect hard and hope he’s got a few pennies in his pocket.

Nobody goes there any more, it’s too crowded

If just picking a “Me-too” topic was enough, obviously everyone would have a successful blog.

But it’s hard to stand out. It’s relatively easy to rank in the search engines for “naked mole rats.” It’s damned hard to get a page-one ranking for “weight loss” or “learn forex trading.”

Instead of being a big fish in a small pond, allow me to suggest another approach.

Be a small, ridiculously evolved, very rare and weird fish in a great big pond.

A weight loss blog is going to be hard to pull off. A weight loss blog for polyamorous computer programmers of color is going to find its audience pretty efficiently. And that tribe is bigger than you might think it is.

Stock market education? Insanely overdone. Stock market education for stay-at-home parents? Now you’ve got some kind of chance.

Marketing blogs are as common as houseflies, and nearly as annoying. But a marketing blog for people who hate marketing can develop a very nice following.

(Although that, too, is getting crowded. When you find that even the sub-niches are crowded, move on to the next tip.)

If it’s not working, get weirder

“Weird” is grade-school shorthand for “you’re not like us, are you?”

This is a bummer in the third grade but it turns out to really pay off down the line.

All the stuff you had to hide to get that crummy day job? Start putting that in your blog.

Your weird hair. Your Tourette’s. Your bad attitude. Your nearly pathological need to put the other person first. Your religion. Your sexual orientation. Your morbid fascinations. The peculiar way you talk or walk or think. The jokes no one else thinks are funny. Your nerdy obsessions. The fact that you are a gigantic dork. Your tragic inability to say the appropriate thing at the appropriate time. Being calm when everyone else in your niche is hyper. Being hyper when everyone else in your niche is calm. The fact that you care more than anyone you know.

Because the Internet is really big, and because you chose a gigantic pond, there will be a fair number of people interested in your topic who also resonate with your particular brand of weirdness. And that weirdness will shine like a little beacon to attract them.

Tribes are, often as not, defined by who they aren’t. If you can get weird enough, you’ll find a nice little village of readers who are longing to be part of your thing.

It’s not about you. And it’s totally about you. If you can learn to keep both of these in your head at the same time, you’ll do brilliantly.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger and the founder of Remarkable Communication.

Twitter Cluelessness

Guy Kawasaki (Alltop)

Oct 26, 2009 -

A funny thing often happens to me: People tell me that they’re really into technology and ask what it was like to work for Steve Jobs. But they pronounce “Jobs” with a longo—that is, like it’s spelled “Jobes.” This is like saying, “What’s it like to live in ‘Frisco?” instead of “the City.” As a small business person, you can’t afford to look clueless anywhere on the Internet, but this is especially true on Twitter. Read on if you want to avoid this fate.

1. Don’t tell other people how to tweet. There are two kinds of Twitter Fascists: first, the “social media guru” who believes that he is the conscience of Twitter and has the God-given right to regulate the use of Twitter. Arguably, there are three people who can do this: Biz Stone, Ev Wiliams, and Jack Dorsey. (I would even debate this at this point, but that’s another posting.)

   The second kind of Twitter Fascist is the “ninety-day wonder”—that is, someone who’s been on Twitter for less than ninety days, has less than ninety followers, follows less than ninety people, and has made less than ninety tweets but believes that he should be telling everyone else how to use Twitter. This is the Twitter version of the “Ugly American.”

   There is no right and wrong with Twitter. There’s only what works for you and what doesn’t, so telling people how to use Twitter is as laughable as telling people what kind of websites were acceptable in 1980. Twitter is a platform—do with it what you want, but don’t tell others what to do.

   Nota bene: I realize the irony—even hypocrisy—of me telling you that you shouldn’t tell others what to do on Twitter in a post that is doing just that. The difference is that I’m not doing it personally and publicly to “call you out” in order to make myself feel important; I’m not a social media guru; and I have more followers, followees, and tweets than ninety.

2. Don’t tell the world that you unfollowed someone.

   Just why do you think that anyone cares?

   What’s going through your brain: “I’m showing this orifice who’s boss. I’m telling my fifty followers that I’m not following her anymore. That will teach her not to tweet the kind of stuff that I don’t like.”

   What’s going through the brain of your fifty followers: first, technically, forty are porn spammers. The other ten are thinking: “If you don’t like how someone tweets, just unfollow her. Is this iCarly or Twitter?”

   Think of Twitter as television: if you don’t like what’s playing, change the channel. There’s no upside to making a grandiose play for attention because few people care why you did it and even fewer are willing to change if they did know. If anything, you may cause more people to follow the person you unfollowed—and that may piss you off even more.

3. Don’t ask people why they unfollowed you. When, not if, people unfollow you, don’t start feeling jilted. People have the right to use Twitter as they see fit, and the most likely reasons for unfollowing you is that your tweets suck or they got too busy too read so many tweets. So be it—tweet better stuff and get on with your life.

4. Don’t constantly tweet mundane updates and babble. Unfortunately, Twitter contributes this problem when it suggests that you answer the question, “What are you doing?” You should answer the question, “What interests you?” Think “inform” not “meform.”

   If you are an incredibly famous person, this rule doesn’t apply. For example, if @lancearmstrong tweeted that someone stole his bike in France or @therealshaqbought a Prius, that’s interesting. Just make sure you’re incredibly famous. If you’re reading my blog, you’re probably not incredibly famous, though.

5. Don’t use a small picture for an avatar. When people click on your avatar, do they get a nice, in-focus picture? Or is it an out-of-focus, pixelated, and red-eyed calamity? Your avatar is the window into your soul, so for crying out loud use a decent picture, minimum size: 400 x 300 pixels.

6. Don’t use an avatar that makes you look too hot. If you do, people will think you’re a porn account or a gigolo. If you have a deep psychological need to bare your body, migrate over to Hot or Not. An example of a very good avatar is @thebloggess. You can tell that she is one funny woman and is worth following just by looking at her avatar.

7. Don’t go crazy with hashtags. A hashtag looks like this: “SXSW09.” It’s a string of text that people add to their tweets so that others can readily find tweets about a subject such as the South By Southwest conference. Clueless people, however, invent silly hashtags that they think others will adopt or piss someone off—for example, “#guytweetstoomuch.” Get real. Save hashtags for important subjects that at least dozens of people will use.

8. Don’t use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. All-caps tweets are just like all-caps emails: it looks like you’re yelling. If you have something important to say, just say it—you don’t need to spray it.

9. Don’t use long links. Twitter has a 140-character limit. This doesn’t mean you should use it all up by not shortening your links. Like email and PowerPoint, less is more on Twitter, so shorten your links. It will mean more people will read your tweets and then retweet them to their followers. FYI, Tweetdeck is a Twitter client that automatically shortens your links if you’re looking for an easy way to do this.

   I digress, but have you ever wondered why websites make 500-character links but URL-shortening services can create unique links with only five to ten characters? Why don’t websites just make short links so that URL-shortening services aren’t necessary?

10. Don’t call yourself a “guru” or an “expert.” Let your tweets enable people to reach the conclusion that you know your stuff. A “clever” screen name like “Totally awesomeSEOguru” or a profile that states you’re a guru makes you look clueless. Allow me a hockey analogy: A name with terms like “guru” or “expert” is like wearing a jersey with the number 99 because you think that you’re the next Wayne Gretsky. You’re not.

11. Don’t send out automated “welcome” direct messages. People who follow you will resent this message, and it’s certainly a bad first contact. And while you’re at it, don’t add people who have followed you to your Mafia family; you may think this is cute, engaging, and social. It’s not. It’s clueless.

    By the way, if you are following people who send you such detritus, you can use SocialToo to automatically delete these messages and unfollow the person. (Disclosure: I am an advisor to SocialToo.)

Generally, if you’re wondering if you’re about to do something clueless, just don’t do it. This is because people might not know that you’re clueless, but if you do these things, you’ll remove all doubt. However, the last rule, and the most important, is this: Don’t be afraid to break these rules. Like I said, there is no right and wrong on Twitter. There’s only what works for you and what doesn’t.

Thanks to @neenz, @anniecolbert , and @jessestay for contributions to this piece. I’m not telling you which which ones they suggested because you might unfollow them and tell your fifty followers.

via American Express Open Forum