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Monthly Archives: October 2010

Hacking WiFi at Starbucks With FireSheep. We’ll Help, Free

This week, it became way easier to steal other people’s log-in information at Starbucks and in other public W-Fi locations.

Firesheep, an add-on for the Firefox web browser, lets you see the cookies in the computers that other people logged into the same WiFi Network you’re using are accessing. Translation: if someone logs into Facebook from the table across from you at Starbucks, you can get their user name and password, really easily. And <poof> . . . they’re hacked.

And oh yes: that means if they use Firesheep they can do it to you, too.

Education is Broken

I’d offer up a pithy commentary on the broken education model in this country, but this video does it better than I could ever hope to:

Where’s the business change takeaway? I’d like you to take a look at this post from about a year back, about the six-year-old Cub Scout thrown out of school for proudly showing off his pocket knife. Or this one, about the cost of textbooks, why they’re so expensive, and a very simple solution.

You can’t make business change happen without change. And you won’t want to undertake change until you believe change is necessary.

TV Used To Be Free? A Reminder: It Still Is. Greedy?

If you live in a city, near enough to the broadcast towers that send out television signals, and are OK receiving only the broadcasts that are available “over the air”, TV is free. Always has been, at least here in the United States.

Television stations pay the federal government a lot of money for the right to the radio frequencies on which they send out their broadcasts. And as part of the right to those frequencies, broadcasters are obligated to send out a signal that anyone with the right reception equipment can view, free of charge. Remember the whole analog-to-digital tuner uproar that took years to play out and finally resulted in a complete switchover just last year? It didn’t matter except to people who receive this over-the-air signal.

Why SMART and CORRECT Aren’t The Same Thing

Articles like this one are published thousands of times each day, millions of people read them, and they’re . . . wrong. And now you know why you need to hire The Answer Guy to help guide your business change.

The author of that article has the right credentials. If you read it you’ll see that he’s clearly a very smart guy, too. And if you’re interested in a scientific explanation of how the brightness settings on SmartPhones could have been designed better, well, the research presented there might be a great place to start your research.

Great Customer Service? NYC Orthodox Jews at B&H

I’m not big on being politically correct “just because”. In fact, while there are places where PC behavior is important (no sexual harassment, please!), shaking things up every now and then is a good thing. It’s how business change gets started.

That said, I’ll point out the life preserver here: I’m a New York Jew, so I get something of a pass both for using the phrase and for discussing the stereotypes that both New York City people in general and Jews from this city get thrown at them. I’m not Orthodox, though, so if I’ve offended you by adding that one to this discussion, well, you know where to find me.

Self-Editing, Transparency, and Social Networking Context

This morning I came across a post by Fred Wilson. Fred’s a venture capitalist in New York City, and while we sometimes see things exactly the same way, this morning was not one of those times.

Fred was bemoaning a problem he’s been having lately: like me, he writes his thoughts out in public (to a much larger audience, by the way), and he’s noticed that he needs to edit those thoughts somewhere between his head and his fingers.

His problem is that it feels to him as though that self-editing gets in the way of his belief in transparency.

The Facelift of Social Networking

Do you know how I keep you up on business change? I read a lot. And when I saw this piece in The Huffington Post, I got to thinking:

Social Networking is broken.

OK, so it wasn’t the first time I though that about social networking. But it was enough to get me to comment on the issue, and to decide it’s time to invite you to participate in The Facelift of Social Networking.

Social Networks ultimately fail their users for one simple reason; Artificial Intelligence simply can’t make up for human curation under the circumstances that apply.

When You’re a DJ Don’t Say “Stop Making Music”

Today I had the pleasure of speaking on Search Engine Optimization at a business show in New York City. SEO is one of the things we’re pretty darned good at here at Answer Guy Central, and while I was waiting to go on I wandered into a session being conducted by Gary Vaynerchuk and Robert Scoble.

Robert is one of those guys who has amassed a huge following on Twitter, mostly by making people angry and talking way too much. Gary, on the other hand, has built a very successful business, written a New York Times Bestseller, and while his act is getting old is clearly bright. Very bright.

Want To Change Your Business? Be an Angry Bird

Who says SmartPhones are just for working? In three days, over two million Android users downloaded a game called Angry Birds.

Of course, the fact that Angry Birds on Android is free helped goose that amazing number, but after SELLING seven million copies of Angry Birds for the iPhone, the developer went in a whole different direction with their Android release. This is the very definition of business change.

The Solution to Music Piracy. Finally. From … France?

We need a savior. It might be the government of France.

In this post, I mentioned the experience a friend who spend years as head of A&R for Atlantic Records had watching the music business try—and mostly fail—to cope with the digital age. That was in July 2009.

It’s fifteen months later. The world has changed, business change has become the mantra both at Answer Guy Central (and for our clients) and throughout the digital world. But the music business is still struggling. Pink Floyd has slapped their record label around over who owns digital rights.

By Patent, iPhone users options for Sex are Narrowing

As you know, I have plenty to say about Patents. Software Patents in particular bother me, and this week Apple was issued a patent that scares me for an almost-new reason.

Apple has a history of uneven actions on nudity, pornography and censorship. Steve Jobs has gone so far as to state that he know what iTunes Store customers want, and that it’s to be protected from those things. I’m dismayed that Steve thinks he should be the world’s censor, but it’s his party. So if you buy an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch and want naughty apps you’ll just have to find another way to get them. And hope Apple doesn’t scrub them from your device without your permission.

The iPad Is at Verizon! (Real) Whoopee! (Fake)

Verizon is selling the iPad. No kidding, it’s not a rumor. Go to Verizon’s web site and you can see the offer:

iPad at Verizon

See the prices? They’re exactly the same prices you pay to get a phone-enabled iPad from AT&T. But Verizon’s iPad isn’t a phone. It comes instead with a MiFi Mobile HotSpot device, meaning that you can have Internet on your iPad anywhere. Which make a lot more sense than having your iPad be a phone. And if you’re technically adept you can make it be a phone by playing with the Internet connection that the MiFi device gives you.

Customer Service: Once Your Customer is Stuck, Just Lie!

Answer Guy’s Customer Service Wall of Shame Inductee

I’m happy to report: Wi-Fi in Panera Bread of Roxbury NJ has been fixed. Why does this matter? Because A&E Factory Service Appliance Repair can own “the worst customer service in the history of time” crown, unfettered.

The truth is, they were never really in danger of holding that crown, despite Panera’s atrocious handling of this customer service issue with their Wi-Fi at that location. But it feels right to point out that as of last week Panera seems to have resolved the issue, and even acknowledged that there had been one.

Patents, Football, Software, and Business Process

A few weeks ago I came across an article in The New York Times that struck me. It was about Football, Software, and Patents and Copyrights, which might seem like subjects that shouldn’t be able to be discussed all together.

Guess Again.

To the disinterested, American football might look like a bunch of large men running around haphazardly, but it’s really a highly-choreographed exercise, at which success is determined not merely through physical prowess but by adaptability and excellence in change management.

Just like business.

Apple TV: the iPad Control Monster at a Whole New Level

What’s the size, weight, and color of a hockey puck, is evil, and wants to control you, your computer, and much, much more?

This weekend I spend a few hours playing with an Apple TV. It was a gift. A really thoughtful gift that someone with a geek in their lives could do well to choose for them. And it looks great, works exactly as advertised, and like so many of Apple’s creations does what it does in a way that you can’t help but be impressed by.





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