Author: Paul Wallbank

Paul Wallbank is a speaker and writer charting how technology is changing society and business. Paul has four regular technology advice radio programs on ABC, a weekly column on the smartcompany.com.au website and has published seven books.

Avoiding industrial nightmares

How we can harden our computer networks from hacking attacks

The Iranian nuclear program is crippled by a virus that infects their control systems while a hacker claims a Texas waterworks can be accessed with a three word password.

Any technology can be vulnerable to the bad guys – obscure systems like office CCTV networks and home automation services can be as vulnerable as the big, high profile infrastructure targets.

While there’s good reasons to connect our systems to the web, we need to ensure our networks are secure and there’s a range of things we can do to protect ourselves.

Does this need to be connected?

Not everything needs a Internet or network connection, if there’s no reason for a device or network to be connected then simply don’t plug it in.

Keep in mind though that threats don’t just come through the web, both the Iranian malware attack and the Wikileaks data breach weren’t due to hackers or Internet attacks.

Get a firewall

No server or industrial system should be connected directly to the public Internet, an additional layer of security will protect systems from unwanted visitors.

All Internet traffic should go through a firewall that is configured to only allow certain traffic through, if the router or firewall can be configured to support a Virtual Private Network (VPN), then that’s an added layer of security.

Disable unnecessary features

The less things you have running, the fewer opportunities there are for clever or determined hackers to find weaknesses.

Shut down unnecessary services running on systems – Windows servers are notorious for running superfluous features – and close Internet ports that aren’t required for normal running of your network.

Patch your systems

Computer systems are constantly being updated as new security problems and flaws are found.

Unpatched computers are a gift to malicious hackers and all systems should be current with the latest security and feature updates.

This is a lesson the Iranians learned with the Stuxnet worm that was almost certainly introduced through an unpatched system – probably one running an early version of Windows XP or even 98 – which was vulnerable to known security problems.

Have strong passwords

Passwords are a key part of a security policy, they have to be strong and robust while being different to those you use for social media and cloud computing services.

It’s also important not to share passwords and restrict key log in details and administrator privileges to those who require them for their work.

With online services like social media, cloud computing and other web tools becoming a part of business and home life, we have to take the security of our systems seriously. Hardening them against threats is a good place to start.

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Facebook timelines and the long tail

Can the Internet’s long tail work for small business?

The Financial Times’ Tech Hub blog reports how Facebook’s Timeline function is driving views to old newspaper articles to unexpected stories.

On one level, this is a vindication of Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson’s Long Tail theory of the value of older inventory; that older assets and data become more valuable in an age of unlimited choice.

The question remains though just have valuable old news really is, does the digital equivalent of fish and chip wrapping really have any intrinsic value.

It will probably turn out that information consumers will pay for unique, timely content while leaving the lolcats and funny videos to ad supported content farms.

The long tail model is the digital equivalent of the Fast Moving Consumer Goods business model, just as a big supermarket only makes pennies from each can of baked beans or milk they sell, they make big profits due to the volume they move.

As business writer Seth Godin has put it, the long tail is good for organisations that own big warehouses, and newspapers have the news equivalent of that.

For small businesses, the long tail is not where we need to be, our economics mean margin, not volume.

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The evolving business

Sometimes we have to disappoint old customers and fans

“Maybe people are less interested in what you do now,” said a listener after November’s Weekend computer spot, “I’d like to hear more about buying new computers.”

The listener was commenting that he didn’t find what I speak about interesting any more and that I don’t spend time updating the PC Rescue website.

What the well intentioned commenter didn’t understand is that businesses, and their owners, evolve in order to survive and stay sane.

In my case, I have the idiot savant’s ability to retain miscellaneous facts and see patterns. This works well in IT support and comes in handy when answering technical questions on radio talkback programs.

Those skills were so useful that the success of the programs and online columns distracted me from my own five year business plan. When I belatedly realised the business wasn’t meeting my personal objectives I moved on from the day to day operations of the organisation.

Another problem for being an on-air tech guru is that while there’s a demand for experts to answer computer questions, not many people want to pay for that advice meaning there isn’t really a market.

Indeed, giving complimentary advice had the perverse effect of damaging my own personal brand with the market, such as it is, believing I’d do everything for free, something my long suffering call centre had to battle with constantly (sorry Yvonne and Ash).

When it becomes apparent things aren’t working like we intended, it’s time to look at what we’re doing and figure out another course. Einstein said “insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”

When we decide to change some of our old customers, fans and followers might be upset; but sometimes what’s best for us and our business in this changing world means we have to leave some behind.

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Cloud Computing Explained: 702 Sydney Weekends

This month’s 702 Sydney Weekend spot looks at cloud computing.

What on earth is cloud computing? Is it just another IT buzzword or something that you can use in your home and business?

On the November 20 ABC Weekends show, Paul and Lex Marinos discussed what cloud computing is and how it can help you.

We also helped out listeners with various computer and tech questions, including the following;

Malware

Sue was caught out by the DNS Changer Trojan that was recently busted by the FBI. Probably the best fix for this is downloading and running the free Malwarebytes software.

Our IT Queries site has instructions on the somewhat convoluted process for removing this Trojan and other viruses from your computer.

Synchronising an iPhone with iCloud and Google Calendars

One advantage we have with the cloud is that it means you can use devices anywhere, however there is a bug where iPhone calendar functions aren’t synchronising with Google Calendar.

Unfortunately the problem is the iCloud and Google services aren’t compatible on the iphone so one has to be turned off.

If your preference is to use the Google services, then you will have to turn off the iCloud services through the iPhone’s settings app and turning off all of the calendar and contact settings.

You may then want to check your Google services are being synchronised through the iTunes settings.

Sharing data between laptops.

One of the advantages with networking is that you can share data between computers. Sonya wanted to know how she can setup her windows 7 laptops to share data to an external drive.

The best option is to use a Windows 7 compatible Network Area Storage device that sits on the network.

For the setup to work, the network name has to be the same on all three devices, Microsoft has instructions for setting Windows7 network name and the hard drive will have the instructions included for setting it up correctly.

It’s also worthwhile using Microsoft’s Active Sync software to synchronise machines as well so you have files stored on your computer.

If you missed Sunday’s ABC program, there’s more details at Netsmarts’ Cloud Computing explained and The Networked Business, we’ll also be running a Demystifying the Cloud webinar on the Australian Businesswomen’s Network at the end of November.

That will probably be the last ABC 702 Weekends spot for 2011 unless there’s something else that comes up.

Subscribers to our newsletter get early notice of any upcoming programs and other useful information on getting more value online. Don’t miss the next program.

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Reaching connected communites

How do associations and clubs make sure they are visible on the web.

As our homes and communities become more connected, people are expecting to find all their information online. How do associations and clubs make sure they are visible on the web.

This is the transcript of the opening keynote to the Australian Seniors Computer Clubs Association’s 2011 conference. The accompanying slideshow is available on Slideshare.

Reaching Connected Communities

Thank you very much for the kind introduction and the opportunity to open Australian Seniors Computer Clubs Association’s 2011 conference.

We’re in a time of history where all of us have the planet’s information at our fingertips and the ability to broadcast our own views and beliefs to the world.

Increasingly our roles as productive members of society are determined by our access to that information and our ability to use it.

Seniors computer clubs have a critical role in ensuring older generations have the opportunity to contribute to the connected society of the 21st Century.

The problem for clubs is that all of us struggle to be heard through the noise of the online world. This morning we’ll have a look at what tools computer clubs can use to stake their claim on the Internet and be found on the web.

It isn’t just clubs affected by this, many of the traditional models of media and business are struggling with these changes and this presents opportunities for computer clubs and community organisations.

Underlying the use of these tools there are the principles that I call the four C’s –community, collaboration, conversations and communications.

Communications

Of the four, communications is the most traditional area. We need to be talking to those who need our assistance.

We have to be telling people how we can help them, what our services are and of course when and where the clubs meet.

In a traditional way, we advertised, or had articles put into the local papers and other publications. These channels are evolving in the digital era and are important to clubs as the people you want to reach out to are those who aren’t using the web effectively.

We also have newer communications platforms in local search, mobile apps and social media.

All of these channels complement each other and allow us to post relevant and timely messages that keep members and the public up to date with key issues.

With search engines and social media now the main ways that people research and find information, it is more important than ever that clubs have a legitimate online presence.

Communications isn’t just about getting the message across, it’s also about working together and many of the cloud and social media tools like Google+, GoToWebinar and Webex allow us to have conversations with the housebound and dispersed groups.

Conversations

Traditional broadcast methods of communicating do not encourage conversations. If you want to have your voice heard in the local paper you have to write a letter to the editor which may take weeks to be published, if at all.

In reality there was no conversation. The owner of the printing press or broadcasting licence controlled the message and who was allowed in the discussion.

Today’s online tools today allow us to talk to our audience. This is a great advantage for community and volunteer groups.

This is something that big companies and governments, with respect to the minister, struggle with and it is where computer clubs and other community organisations will increasingly carry out an important role.

Collaboration

One of the traditional problems with volunteer groups is that much of the work fell on one or two individuals. The cloud computing tools of today mean groups can collaborate far better and take the load off key members.

Tools like Google Docs, Dropbox and WordPress mean that the load can be shared among a group and no longer has to rely on one person to update the website or complete meeting minutes.

These cloud computing tools allow clubs to work together better internally, improve efficiency and engage more effectively with their communities.

Community

The most important part of clubs is communities.

One of the problems we’ve seen in the 20th Century is that the rise of the motor car and broadcast media fragmented our communities.

Online tools, particularly social media, will work to bring communities back together, a process that’s going to accelerate as the era of cheap credit ends and the limitations of government are going to become apparent.

The tools

So what are the tools we can use for our clubs. I’m going to run through some basic ones. This is by no means a definitive list and you may find alternative tools that suit your organisation’s needs better.

These are listed on my website and at the end of my presentation I’ll give the web addresses to this presentation online so you don’t have to write down the scripts.

We’ll look at social media platforms, web publishing services and local search. First let’s look at the collaboration tools that help clubs deliver a better message to the community.

Google Apps

Google Apps, which is free for organisations with less than ten users, is a really handy service that offers basic word processing, spreadsheets and presentation software.

Its great strength is the ability to share those documents, spreadsheets and presentation with other users who can all work on them at the same time.

Google Docs also has a form feature which allows you to setup quick and ready surveys, feedback and booking forms.

Other similar tools are Zoho and Office365 which both offer collaboration and sharing features.

Dropbox

Dropbox, and its competitors Box.net and Microsoft’s SkyDrive, are great tools for sharing files between computers and collaborative teams.

These services allow you to create folders on an Internet service that you can then securely share with other people. It makes working on projects very easy and eliminates the shuffle of email attachments around groups.

If you are using these tools you don’t need to be converted about them.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is the sanity saviour of small businesses and community organisations wanting to get newsletters out.

Managing a mailing list is hard work and these services take the hard work out of them as well as make sure your organisation complies with the spam act.

The service offers templates and sophisticated management tools so you can see who is opening your newsletters and what links they are clicking.

Survey Monkey

Survey monkey helps organisations keep in touch with their members and understand their needs. It’s a great tool for measuring customer satisfaction and feedback.

Google Apps has a more basic survey function built into it as well.

Both are excellent ways of keeping your membership in the loop when it comes to agreeing on new ideas.

Local Search

Local search is changing the way we do business.

Consumers using local as they abandon phone directories and classified ads as the net is a quicker more effective way of searching.

These local search results not only appear at the top of the page but they also feed into the popular social media services.

All organisations, local or otherwise should be listing on these not just to improve their search results but to also appear on other services and on devices like GPS systems.

If you have a relative or friend running a business I’d urge them to list on all of these services as this is an area that is seriously changing the business landscape.

Google Places

It is essential to be listed on Google Places as this will appear at the top of a local search and feeds into other social media and services like street directories and GPS navigators.

Ensure you fill in as many fields as possible, especially the times and days you are open and contact details.

Use the custom fields to improve your keywords and give a richer description of who you are.

You can also upload photos and videos which will improve your search results along with give visitors more information about what you do.

True Local

News Limited’s answer to Google Local ties into News’ local newspaper network.

True Local charges for some functions that are free in Google Places and offers additional free services like the ability to upload Word and PDF documents.

Sensis

Sensis is digital roadkill, the most common complaint with the print edition now is that it’s too small to read and the phone book doesn’t make a good monitor stand anymore.

However, Sensis’ free listing is important as it feeds into NineMSN’s search which is the default on Windows computers.

You’ll also receive a free listing in the printed Yellow Pages for what it’s worth, which to be fair is probably where the most digitally challenged folk will find you.

Social Media

In recent years we’ve been lead to believe that social media is something bigger than the industrial revolution that will cure various tropical diseases, rescue broken business models and make a cup of tea for you in the morning.

The reality is social media is changing the way communities and markets communicate. It’s the 21st Century’s town square or village tavern.

Social media services are great for driving traffic to your site and excellent for listening to trends, monitoring news and talking to your community. They are also the greatest driver for people getting online.

Facebook

Contrary to stereotypes, the fastest growing group among Facebook’s 800 million users are seniors.

This is the biggest opportunity for clubs as the late adopters – the sceptics who’ve resisted going online are now doing so, if only to talk to their grandkids.

There’s a view that Facebook, and most other social media services, are for teenagers putting up pictures of cats and talking about what they did last weekend. That’s wrong on many levels as the service cuts across all demographics and groups.

Facebook Pages

Like a Google Places page, a Facebook Page is free and vital to clubs and businesses. If you have relatives running a business, they should also sign up for a free site.

Increasingly this is where the public goes to online and we have to be there. You can also add events and publicise them through these pages. Your community can contribute and share to your page.

Get 25 members to like your page and you can claim the full name as well.

Google+

Like Facebook, Google+ has a free pages function for community groups and pages. However it remains to be seen how much traction Google+ will get as the service develops.

Google itself seems to be confused about what Google+ actually is, Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman, calls it an identity service rather than a social media platform. This confusion of what Google Plus actually is doesn’t fill me with optimism on the service’s future.

Apart from the social aspect, Google+ has some interesting collaboration tools such as Hangouts, that allow ten people to work together. If you have a webcam installed, and most new systems come with one, you can set up a group for training or collaboration.

Along with Google+ there are other webinar programs such as GoToWebinar or Webex and Skype’s conferencing feature does a very job at this as well.

Twitter

As a conversational and listening tool Twitter is excellent, although it has been largely mis-sold by the social media business community as a marketing and PR tool.

Twitter allows you to be ahead of the news cycle as most journalists use it to find stories. My own use of Twitter is as a news source.

It’s a good way of keeping up to date on what is happening in communities and with connecting with individual journalists and opinion makers.

Own your platform

The website is your site and your property. Overlooked the dangers of not owning the space you are publishing on.

Websites have become easier to use and build. It you’re using a service like Blogger or WordPress you can get a site running for as little as seven dollars a year and you can be delegating access to various members of the group.

Your website is the centre of your online presence and your home base in the digital economy.

Blogger

Blogger – Google’s free blogging service – is a great tool for getting a website running.

Easy to use, with dozens of templates and plugins for services like e-commerce, newsletters, social media and events it’s an effective and quick way to get a website running.

You can also use your own business domain name for free. Which means you can get online for under $50 a year.

WordPress

WordPress is the most popular web content management system. Offering a vast number of templates and plug ins with the advantage of a big community of developers to support the product.

The software also allows an easy upgrade path to other services like Drupal.

Not business as usual

This is not business as usual.

Many of our business and political users are locked into 1980s ideologies and business models that are rapidly being challenged.

In the media we have a whole generation of journalists who are seeing their careers being twisted out of shape by forces they don’t recognise, something that has already happened to the record industry that thought it could use the old business model of developing new technologies that would extend their playlists in the way the LP had in the 1970s and CD in the 1980s.

We see this in the consumer goods industries where old business models are being challenged.

Earlier this year Bernie Brooks, the chief executive of Myer, signed a deal with one of China’s biggest contract manufacturers to make Myer’s homebrand clothes.

The problem with this is it’s the 1980s model. Today consumers can research these things and they will quickly figure out that Myer’s $200 branded shoes are made in the same factory and little different from those you can by for $50 at Target or Lowes.

This mindset illustrates the problems of established businesses and it’s no problem that Coles and Harvey Norman are campaiging to obstruct online shopping in an environment where the informed consumer is able to circumvent the old distribution and retail models.

In many ways these are modern equivalents of the stagecoach operators and it’s no co-incidence that a hundred years ago this year that Cobb & Co went broke. This is risk that any business runs when it is unfortunate to have managers who ignore trends.

Addressing the digital divide

Seniors computer clubs have an important part in today’s society.

The real digital divide is not across age, it is not between “digital natives” and “digital immigrants”, the real divide is between those who are prepared to understand and use these online tools and those who won’t.

Those who won’t are going to be increasingly isolated from a world that is going online. At a time where we’re seeing the NBN rolled out, the launch of 4G networks and increasing use of the web by business and government agencies it’s going to be essential to have some knowledge of the online world and the tools to use it.

Being on the wrong side of the divide will make it increasingly hard to access services and information.

The role of groups like the local seniors’ computer group is to help people remain valued and productive members of our community in today’s connected society.

Hopefully I’ve given you some ideas this morning on how to carry out the important role you have in this decade of great change.

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So you want a business grant?

The promise of free government money is seductive, but is it real?

“Funding Available from $1000 to $500,000! Get an advantage over your competitors or give your business the Government Funding boost it needs to be more successful!” Is the promise of a website offering to find grants for your business.

Free money from the government sounds good and, as we’ve seen in the various Quantative Erasings and bank bail outs around the world, it sometimes is free.

Rarely though is cash really “free”, usually there’s strings attached and government money is no different.

Why do governments give business grants?

First we should understand why governments make grants, subsidies and loans available to businesses.

Governments have various objectives with their programs; they could be to get unemployed workers back in the workforce, to improve skill levels or to encourage exports. Whatever the motives are, they have clear criteria for giving money away.

One area they don’t give funds for is to “Get an advantage over your competitors” as that website. That’s clearly not the role for governments and they’d be rightly criticised for doing so.

The paperwork storm

Contrary to what some media outlets portray, most public servants take their responsibilities seriously and don’t give out taxpayers’ money unless the application clearly meets their programs’ objectives.

Meeting the objectives is important, because the public servants – and their political masters – are held accountable so they will make sure the business receiving the grant or subsidy has actually done what they have promised to do.

This is where things get tricky for business owners and managers who have received government money. Completing the paperwork to prove you’ve met the objectives will be time consuming.

Drive a cab

Often it would have been more cost effective to drive a cab rather than spend hours filling in government paperwork.

There really is no such thing as free money, there’s always a cost. While sometimes there are good reasons for applying for a government program, free money should never be your objective.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that services offering to find government money for you will usually take a cut of the grant as commission. Also, they won’t help you do the follow up paperwork, that’s your expensive problem.

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Social media’s greatest enemy

Time is working against the social media platforms

Last week Google launched their business Pages function for Google+, which required a business owner to type in almost identical information to the parallel Google Places service.

In the same week Facebook turned off RSS feeds into their status updates, meaning that new pages added to a website now have to be manually entered into Facebook. Tumblr did the same some time ago.

Across the social media industry, the various services are asking users to manually enter updates and details into each platform under the belief that unique user generated content will increase the value of their sites.

That’s all very good for the sites but for those using several services it’s becoming a tiresome chore.

One of the biggest barriers to social media adoption – particularly among time pressed small business owners – is the time involved in maintaining these different services. With the exception of Twitter, most of the services are trying to increase people’s time on their platforms.

For social media services the key measures of how much time users spend on the site is becoming a game of diminishing returns, people have only so much time in the day or so much inclination to spend a large chunk of their free time online.

As the burden of maintaining a digital footprint increases and the value proposition becomes less compelling, particularly as the privacy costs becomes more apparent, more people are finding it all too hard.

Social media services are going to have to show some value for the investment in time and the privacy costs incurred by users, it may well be that many just don’t offer a good enough deal.

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