10 million reasons to protect your web passwords – Simple security tips anyone can use

Password management and computer securityFive hundred bucks. That’s roughly what the username and password you use to log in to your bank website are worth on the open market, according to a new study from Panda Labs. The exact amount will depend on your actual bank balance, but even security credentials for someone with the embarrassingly low balance of my account would be worth about $80.

But you keep your bank username and password safe, right? So you don’t have to worry, right? Well, maybe you do after all.

The odds of your bank website being hacked are extraordinarily low. But most people reuse the same login info on other sites they visit – and the odds of one of those sites getting hacked is much higher. As an example, the website for mobile app maker Trapster.com was hacked recently and now the security information of over 10 million users may be at risk.

So you might have heard that the solution is to use a different username and password for every site you sign up for, and to use passwords that include numbers and symbols. The problem with that advice is that while it is effective, it’s not terribly practical. With more and more sites offering content and features only for members, who can remember a different username and password for every site? So some people write their info down – but what if you want to log in from a different computer, or even a mobile device like an iPhone and you don’t have your note handy?

That’s where password management services like LastPass come in. These services integrate into your browser and manage all your passwords for you, so you don’t have to remember a thing.

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Head First WordPress (Jeff Siarto) – A great fit for a specific audience

Summary: Very practical, in-depth guide to setting up, customizing and using WordPress blogs – but does require a fair bit of background knowledge.

Head First WordPress Book ReviewHead First WordPress” by Jeff Siarto does a great job providing helpful and often very in-depth information about how to use the WordPress blogging software. To really get the most out of the book, though, you do need a fair bit of prior knowledge to go with it.

The book is presented in the light-hearted style consistent to the “Head First” series, and I’ve always enjoyed that style, especially for quite technical – and often quite boring – information. It starts by outlining the steps required to set up a blog, then gives detailed customization information and concludes with some creative suggestions on how to use your new site.

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Mac app store opens – and this time, it really might change everything.

Apple's new Mac App StoreWindows PC users have long bemoaned the difficulty they have finding safe, virus-free software on the internet. And while Apple’s new app store may have at least partially solved that problem for Mac users, developers have to be more than a little concerned about potential difficulties the store may cause them.

Today’s launch of the Mac App Store comes as part of an OS update patch, and once downloaded reveals a screen that iPhone/iPod/IPad users will be very familiar with.  It looks and functions almost identically to the existing app stores, right down to the simple purchase and install procedure, even for expensive and more elaborate software. Read more »

Is social media right for marketing your small or medium sized business?

Social Media for small business
Image by Matt Hamm.

Tips for social media marketing, and the many different ways social media can be used to promote small / midsized businesses (SMBs), can be found in almost endless numbers on an incredibly wide variety of websites. But there’s one crucial tip most small businesses won’t see – and that they should consider before any of the others; namely, is social media right for you at all?

Marketing budgets for SMBs have always been tight, and human resources to manage these dollars are becoming even more scarce. So while there are clearly great opportunities for small and medium businesses to use social media to market themselves, it’s equally clear that social media isn’t for everyone. Read more »

Good, bad and ugly photo use on web pages.


What could this cute puppy possibly have to do with this? Read on...

Is this photo relevant to the page? No - but it might serve a purpose anyway. (Plus, how can you go wrong with a picture of a puppy?)


There are only a handful of organizations left that don’t understand the necessity of having a solid web presence and the tremendous value one can offer. Which is part of the reason it so surprising that usability gets so very little attention.

Usability experts work with web designers and programmers to ensure that sites are easy to use, intuitive, and help the user to achieve whatever they are trying to do with their site. A relatively obscure man named Jacob Nielsen is the Wayne Gretzky of usability, and his useit.com website is one of the best resources available for learning more about usability.

So I was more than a little surprised when I found myself disagreeing with his latest article on the effective photo use. Read more »

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