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Monthly Archives: August 2010

Why Can’t Older Workers Find Jobs? Econ 101: They Cost More.

Posted on August 31, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Economics 101: Pricing Matters.

So if older workers are smarter than younger workers, does that mean that we don’t care about their extra experience or that we don’t care enough to pay for it?

Speaking as an “old guy”, I have a personal stake in the answer to this question. There are things about technology that I know which my younger brethren don’t. And while my dated programming skills and understanding of what happens at a command line prompt may not matter any more the decades I’ve spent watching how the choices we make in technology effect the business impact of those choices matter very much. Facebook is a prime example; It does everything, but it’s a nightmare to “get”. ... READ MORE of this article, Why Can’t Older Workers Find Jobs? Econ 101: They Cost More. from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (446 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

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Paul Allen Is A Patent Troll: Why That’s OK

Posted on August 30, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

I’m Old. Sometimes that gets in the way, but mostly it affords me insight and the ability to be pragmatic about some of what happens in front of me while younger eyes might lose track of reality.

Last week, Microsoft founder and gazillionaire Paul Allen filed a lawsuit against . . . well, yikes, against almost everybody. And the lawsuit goes way too far, as do most lawsuits over software patents. But the reaction to that suit has been off the mark. Almost universally, that reaction has been not to the merit of the lawsuit but to Paul Allen’s new career as a patent troll . . . and to how evil a place patent trolls occupy in the business world. ... READ MORE of this article, Paul Allen Is A Patent Troll: Why That’s OK from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (370 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

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FTC Regulation? $11,000 Fine? Never Mind; Real Fine is ZERO

Posted on August 27, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Thank you, Federal Trade Commission. Just when I thought the FTC was doing something potentially useful, they’ve decided that their own regulation providing for fines of $11,000 each time someone tweets or otherwise blogs for payment without disclosing that payment isn’t worth enforcing.

Last year, The FTC created a regulation that was designed to make knowing what was trustworthy amongst all the stuff you read on the Internet easier. If you blog, tweet, or basically say anything and are paid for doing it you have to disclose the payment. Failure to do so carries an $11,000 fine.

Soon after the regulation was enacted I mentioned that one Kim Kardashian was shilling for Carl’s Jr. over Twitter and that her tweets weren’t marked. I presume Ms. Kardashian hasn’t been fined. ... READ MORE of this article, FTC Regulation? $11,000 Fine? Never Mind; Real Fine is ZERO from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (302 words, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

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“What IS Privacy?”, Part 2: Germany May Have The Answer

Posted on August 26, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

I’ve written about privacy a few times, and while my opinions are pretty well formed, the question rages on. What IS Privacy? What privacy do you have a “right” to, or what level of privacy can you “expect”?

With so much information finding its way onto the Internet, I’ve taken a pragmatic approach: nothing is private. Don’t expect privacy. Period. Laws are nearly meaningless. And court rulings mean even less.

Germany is considering a law that I don’t believe can be enforced, but at least sounds good. If passed, the new German law will make it illegal to use “private” data when looking for information about prospective employees.

Start with the “can’t be enforced” part: the distinction between what’s private and what’s public under this proposed law is unclearly  based on a broad understanding of “intent”. So Facebook information would be off limits to prospective employers, while LinkedIn data is fair game. ... READ MORE of this article, “What IS Privacy?”, Part 2: Germany May Have The Answer from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (334 words, estimated 1:20 mins reading time)

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Apple’s New Approach to Beating Laws: Software Patents

Posted on August 25, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Remember when the Library of Congress issued policy that effectively created law surrounding (and making explicitly legal) “jailbreaking” your smartphone? Of course you do; it was only about a month ago.

It took Apple just a few weeks to respond. Their method? A new software patent filing. Apple has already filed for a patent on software that would examine your Smartphone for bad stuff, and if they found anything they didn’t approve of could cripple your device.

I could go all indignant here and rant about how Apple has no right to mess with your phone, smart or otherwise. I could cite examples of software companies that won’t cripple your software if they believe it to be pirated even if they can, and tell you how smart I believe that decision to be. But the real story here is the software patent Apple has filed for. ... READ MORE of this article, Apple’s New Approach to Beating Laws: Software Patents from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (472 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

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Are Bloggers “In Business”? Only in Philadelphia

Posted on August 24, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

The city of Philadelphia, starved for new sources of revenue like everyone else, has become aggressive about collecting business license fees. So much so that Philadelphia is going after bloggers with revenue, no matter how little that revenue may be.

I could make this complicated, but let’s go the other way:

While it might be technically correct that when you manage to scrape together a few dollars in revenue you are “operating a business”, and while many people wish to make a living as bloggers (and some make very nice livings, indeed), this isn’t the same as being “in business” or being a business.

In fact, I commented on this once before. Want a simple test of who is in business? If you ARE a business, then you are IN business. ... READ MORE of this article, Are Bloggers “In Business”? Only in Philadelphia from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (221 words, estimated 53 secs reading time)

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Business Change: It’s All About Negotiation, Even in Baseball

Posted on August 23, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Although I make this point only occasionally, business change is all about negotiation. I opined that Barack Obama is perhaps the best negotiator of all time when he got British Petroleum to volunteer $20 Billion toward a fund that gets them off no hooks legally, and I was more than a little impressed when Pink Floyd told their record company they’d see them on the dark side of the moon.

And now I love The New York Mets.

OK, I already loved the New York Mets. I’m a fan, and have been since I was a kid. But last week they did something that has no precedent in their business and if they get away with it this will be a business change that will reverberate through professional sports and maybe even other businesses. ... READ MORE of this article, Business Change: It’s All About Negotiation, Even in Baseball from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (655 words, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

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An Actual Positive Side to Facebook: Peer Pressure!

Posted on August 20, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Am I done with social networking yet? Almost. Next week I’ll be talking about BASEBALL for the first time ever (don’t worry; there’s a huge business change lesson in there), but for now . . . I have one more social networking point to make.

And it’s positive. And I’ll even say something nice about Facebook!

From Wired Magazine:

A study led by Abilene Christian University followed the Facebook profiles of 375 first-semester freshman students for nine months to examine how Facebook activity can be used as a predictor for a student’s likelihood to stay in school. The research found that students who returned to school after freshman year had significantly more Facebook friends and wall posts than those who didn’t return.

In other words, peer pressure works. ... READ MORE of this article, An Actual Positive Side to Facebook: Peer Pressure! from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (341 words, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)

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Facebook, FourSquare, Social Networking, and . . . GetGlue?

Posted on August 19, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

I threatened more on Social Networking yesterday. Would I lie?

To nobody’s surprise, Facebook has unveiled their newest toy; Facebook Places lets you “check in” from wherever you are. It’s an obvious attempt to eat Foursquare‘s lunch, and the fact that it plays nice with the heretofore leader in geolocation-based social networking doesn’t change anything. (By the way, so far Facebook Places only works if you use an iPhone)

I’d like to place some emphasis on that “doesn’t change anything” clause.

The problem with most social networking sites is that they don’t actually bring people together; instead, there’s a cacophony of voices screaming “look at me!” and it’s hard to know where to look/listen/pay attention. ... READ MORE of this article, Facebook, FourSquare, Social Networking, and . . . GetGlue? from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (426 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

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Feed Me, Seymour! (The Guy Sure Looks Like Plant Food To Me)

Posted on August 18, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Social Networking: The topic that just won’t go away.

No, really: social networking really isn’t going away any time soon and you need to figure out your plan for social media, social networking, and how they impact your business change. Yes, I’ve said that before. I’ll be saying it again, too.

A few days ago, one of the writers at TechCrunch wrote a piece that made me think about social networking in a whole new way: all the tweeting, all the Facebook updates, and whatever else you do to scream “look at me!” is a matter of something a bit . . . scary: all we’re doing is trying to eat everyone around us.

I’M more important than YOU are. MY words are worth hearing. GET OVER HERE AND LISTEN TO ME.

And then I’ll eat you. Or at least own you. ... READ MORE of this article, Feed Me, Seymour! (The Guy Sure Looks Like Plant Food To Me) from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (289 words, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)

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More On Video Rental: Blockbuster, Redbox, Netflix…All Bad

Posted on August 17, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

MOVIES! FUN! BLOCKBUSTER (s)!

Last week, I told you that Netflix has expanded its movies-on-demand-over-the-internet offering by signing deals with three big Hollywood studios. It’s <ahem> a Blockbuster of a business change, but one that goes not nearly far enough. Presumably, time will improve this.

As I’ve mentioned before, my local Blockbuster Video Store recently shut down. I pointed out that the unavailability of movies made me understand why people would feel all the more justified downloading their “wanna see tonights” over the Internet. I’ve just re-discovered another business change in progress for movie rentals, and I started out really excited . . . but realized it’s a change that needs to be re-thought. ... READ MORE of this article, More On Video Rental: Blockbuster, Redbox, Netflix…All Bad from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (511 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

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Is Wi-Fi Sales, Business Development, or Social Networking?

Posted on August 16, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

When’s the last time you paid for Wi-Fi?

I’m astounded that there are still businesses trying to get you to pay for Wi-Fi. I mean, seriously: that connection costs them only a few dollars a month, and while it’s possible I’d hang out in or in front of my local Subway sandwich shop all day to get that signal, the truth for almost everyone is otherwise.

Guilt issues aside, even if you get a few hangers-on the extra money most people spend while sitting for hours at Starbucks makes giving that Wi-Fi away a great business change.

After trying to make money on the deal, Starbucks first made their Wi-Fi signal nearly free a couple of years back and totally free last month. Even McDonalds has figured this out.

But business change is a matter of always evolving and always finding and moving forward with the next business change. Or better yet, creating it. It’s called business development. ... READ MORE of this article, Is Wi-Fi Sales, Business Development, or Social Networking? from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (400 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

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Black-Hat SEO: Google WILL Find You, and It Will Hurt

Posted on August 13, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Search Engine Optimization is one of the most important business changes you can undertake.  Google is all but in control of who finds whom on the Internet, and since the Internet is how people find each other you need to give yourself the very real leg up that SEO provides.

I’ve told that story before. Now I’ll tell you about a big mistake. Yes, mine.

While we’re very good at SEO here at Answer Guy Central, and regularly get great results getting both our clients and ourselves right up to the top of search engine results, like anyone we want . . . more. So a few months ago I tried a little trick on The Computer Answer Guy page. On the page, hidden in the text, I embedded a small graphic about a dozen times. The image was six pixels across by nine pixels high (the exact size of one character of text), so by setting its color to “transparent” and putting it in place where a space character would normally be, the image was completely invisible. ... READ MORE of this article, Black-Hat SEO: Google WILL Find You, and It Will Hurt from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (469 words, 1 image, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

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Chris Brogan and the Social Crash Theory

Posted on August 12, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Chris Brogan has spoken: the social crash is upon us. And “Ambient Connectivity” is the solution.

I can’t argue the first half of that, and I don’t; I’ve been telling you for quite some time that even as we look for new ways to do social networking and engage our clients and potential clients and enact the business change that this new world calls for we need to scale back on the volume of social networking we do. Quantity simply doesn’t equal quality.

If the story Chris told in his post yesterday wasn’t such a train wreck I wouldn’t be thinking about it or passing it along to you. As smart as Chris is, he hasn’t said anything new in about a year now and has fallen into a pattern where he does little more than scream “rah rah!“. I’m bored with it, and while I’ve commented on Mr. Brogan’s activities a few times I had pretty much decided that until he said something new I wasn’t going to talk about Chris Brogan any more. ... READ MORE of this article, Chris Brogan and the Social Crash Theory from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (602 words, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

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Netflix Streams More Movies (A Blockbuster Business Change)

Posted on August 11, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

When the United States Library of Congress created a policy that amounted to law, I made a passing remark about downloading movies in the aftermath of my local video store shutting down.

While Blockbuster Video isn’t responsible for the way people watch movies, Netflix may be. Yesterday, the movies-through-the-mail-and-over-the-Internet company announced a deal with three major movie studios to stream their media to subscribers over the Internet.

Before you get too excited (as I did for a moment) read the fine print.

Netflix is getting the right to stream new-ish movies to its users. The delivery lags the period during which the movies will be available in the dwindling number of freestanding video rental stores, but I’m OK with that part; the movie studios had to keep their existing customers happy, and probably have contractual obligations to do so. ... READ MORE of this article, Netflix Streams More Movies (A Blockbuster Business Change) from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (283 words, estimated 1:08 mins reading time)

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