Happy Birthday Google. I give thanks for…

To celebrate Google’s eighth birthday, let’s count the ways Google has affected my life and productivity.

• Thanks for being first to provide free 2GB email account.
• Thank you for Google Desktop. It’s the only utility I can use to find my Outlook emails on my Windows PC. Outlook search and even the Lookout plugin don’t do a decent job.
• Thanks for Picasa. (Loved it, but I switched to Mac and now enjoy iPhoto.)
• Thanks for the free Blogger tool, which I used to kick off my blogging hobby.
• Thanks for collecting unimaginable terabytes of data about my private surfing habits.
• Thanks for more free tools than I’d ever need. (Writely, Spreadsheet, Maps, Google Talk, Google Trends, Google Base, Google Page Creator)
• Thanks for Google Earth, so geeks can debate endlessly whether they found a topless sunbather in the satellite images.
• Thanks for Google News, especially the news alert tool.
• Thanks for providing a fertile ground for click fraud and spam blogs (splogs).
• Thanks for scanning books and getting copyright holders all riled up.
• Thanks for introducing names like “Orkut” into popular vocabulary.
• Thanks for making it easy for everyone to put annoying ads on their Web sites.
• Thanks for the Google Store, which makes it easy to buy useless stuff, such as a Pet T-shirt, Google License Plate Frame, Google Blinky Pin, Google Bike Shorts and Google Gum.
• No thanks for Fruggle. I don’t get any value out of it.
• Thanks for inciting the rumor mongers to whisper about a possible Google operating system.
• And thanks for free wi-fi in a part of the country I don’t live anywhere close to.

Wow, that probably only scratches the surface. So, here’s what I expect to see before Google’s ninth birthday:

• Church of Google. (Churgle?)
• A Google credit card. (And not a silly affinity card for a major lendor, Like “Star Trek” or “Battlestar Galactica” or “Elvis”)
• Google gas stations. (Petroogle?, Gasoogle?)
• Google mobile phones. (Moboogle?)
• Google dog walking service. (Doogle?)
• Google satellite radio.
• Google Death Ray.
• Google generic brand food to replace America’s Choice, Shopper’s Choice, Kirkland, etc.
• Google notebook batteries (Noogle?) to replace all the low quality, recalled ones that Sony sold via Apple, Dell and others.
• Google lawn seed. My grass looks horrible year after year, no matter what I do. I hope the folks in Google HQ get on that one. I want thick, green and weed-free.

Have a great year!
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who embraces Google in his daily life. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Monitoring in the workplace, university and gov’t.

Cnet News.com reports: Survey: Electronic monitoring OK, says IT security

A survey released Wednesday from enterprise security company Palisade Systems and led by Iowa State University professor Doug Jacobson, asked IT security professionals from 171 American-based corporations, universities and government agencies what they thought about keeping employees’ sensitive data safe from internal threats.

The results showed that almost 100 percent of corporate respondents believe they need to monitor electronic communications like e-mail, IMs, peer-to-peer data transfers, and file transfer protocol (FTP) in order to make sure no potentially volatile information is being nabbed and misused.

But when IT security professionals at universities and government agencies were asked the same question, their answers were vastly different. Only 31 percent of university-employed respondents thought it was necessary to monitor electronic communications, and an even smaller 11 percent of those at government agencies did.

Don’t open email greeting cards

Cnet News.com reports E-cards used in data-thieving scam.

The attacks involve e-mail messages that at first glance appear to be greeting cards from services like Yahoo or Blue Mountain. … Clicking on the link to view the card, however, first sends the target to a malicious Web site that tries to silently install software that logs the user’s keystrokes. … After that the card is displayed.

“It is really quick, nobody notices it.” … “Unless you actually look at the source of the e-mail and say, ‘Hang on, this is a redirect,’ you wouldn’t actually see it.”

Here are some ways to protect yourself:

• Change your behavior and use common sense. Resist the temptation to open such emails, especially if you can’t tell who the sender is.
• Hover your mouse over hyperlinks (without clicking) to reveal the click-thru url so you can examine if the domain at the beginning of the url seems authentic.
• Make sure your operating system is up to date and that you have the latest security patches installed.

Use caution. Stay safe.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Instant Messaging in the office

A few months ago I wrote an article “Instant Messaging when you can’t install software” that has come in handy for me several times since.

About two years ago, our company invested in having a business version of AOL Instant Messenger available to the staff. (Very forward thinking.) The IT department installed AIM on PC for anyone that requested it.

Probably 40% of our staff use IM regularly to communicate internally and with vendors, clients and other agencies we work with. Certainly some people chat with family or friends, but I don’t believe that’s abused. Certainly better than having that employee chatting on the phone.

We were suprised to get a notice last week that the corporate policy on IM was being changed. Employees are no longer allowed to chat with non-employees. Reasons cited:

• Many other companies do it
• IM presents increased security risks
• Client contracts and/or security assessments prohibiting use of IM due to security threats and privacy policies
• Increased costs of supporting this technology

What’s particularly suprising is that Instant Messaging took years to gain respect as a new, useful tool for collaboration and communication. Now it’s becoming too risky for companies to manage.

-Roland

Coworker humor

I did a random search using the keyword “coworkers”. I was suprised by the variety of links that appear in the top results:

• Stories about stupid coworkers
• Advice how to get along with bad coworkers
• Spreading faith to coworkers
• Using astrology to determine your compatibility with coworkers
• Articles about coworker murders

Here are a few links you may enjoy:
StupidCoworkers.com — Stories
iWorkWithFools.com — Stories
AnnoyingCoworker.com — Send anonymous emails

Manage your news feeds

Here’s a tip you may find useful.

Like most of you, I tend to quickly check specific Web sites first thing daily to find out the latest industry and client news.

I’ve tried out a variety of methods and sites and customized start pages, and settled on a specific one you might want to check out: www.bloglines.com

Simply create a free account, then subscribe to the feed for the site you want.

You can organize the links in categories that make sense to you. For example, I separate mine into Business, Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Technology

When you go to Bloglines.com in your Web browser, any new articles you subscribed to appear in bold. Simply skim thru the list of article titles and summaries. I find this method to be a huge timesaver. I can skim all the news sources I like in a matter of minutes, instead of clicking through bookmarks.

Another benefit is more and more sites start to include feed buttons on the page that make subscribing easy.

In summary:

• It’s free
• Accessible via Web browser
• Simple to use
• Easy to subscribe to feeds
• A huge time saver

I hope you find this tip useful.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Your right to privacy in the work place

So what are your privacy rights at work? To be safe, always assume you have none.

That means you should expect at minimum that:

• Your phone calls are logged.
• Your keystrokes are recorded.
• The Web sites you visit are logged.
• Snap shots of your computer desktop are randomly taken.
• A background check will be conducted on you.
• Someone to keep track of time when you come arrive, leave and spend out of the office for lunch.

You may also have to be on guard for other schenanigans, such as:

• Any inventions you conceive (even privately at home) while employed at your company will become the intellectual property of your employer.
• Executives may hire consultants to impersonate your identity to access your confidential records (e.g. HP’s board).
• Competitive co-workers who are care too much about office politics will scheme against you.
• Unmonitored/unlocked access points that allow unauthorized people on the premises expose you to unnecessary risk.

So assume you have no rights. You are hired at will. Nothing belongs to you. Welcome to the office of the future.

What are your thoughts? Please post your comments. Thanks.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who is concerned about how companies handle personally identifiable information. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

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