UAC Microsoft recently announced some big changes to the UAC (User Account Control.) Some big critics of Vista said this was too cumbersome while most security experts found this to be crucial for security. Microsoft tried to listen to both and find a good mix. Read this article for more info.   Features Some have been wondering about whether there would be different versions of Windows 7 and unfortunately there are. Some are rather shocking. See this article for details about the versions.   Upgrading? If you are thinking about upgrading to the new OS and I think it will be a good move, you might want to read this article to learn more about what you need to know. Also it was announced that Microsoft might offer a free upgrade to Windows 7 from certain Vista packages but there is a h... 02/12/2009

The FAA recently announced that some of their data bases have been breached, hacked, compromised, whatever you want to call it. Let’s just say that security was brushed aside and all the data released to the general public or rather a den of thieves. Oh but don’t worry, they didn’t get into flight control…or did they? (Would they tell us?) Which leads to the next story…   Kaspersky, yes the same Kaspersky as your AV (Antivirus) was also breached. If you have an account with them I would immediately change all your passwords because your password there was exposed to the entire internet and the same den of thieves as the first story. Will they go after little ole you? Maybe. Depends who it is and how easy you are to get access to. By the way this story was particularly scary considering... 02/12/2009

I just came across this article the other day and found it rather startling. I know many people have been worried about vaccinating their children and much of this was based on this guy’s so called data linking the MMR vaccine with Autism. It turns out that he might have had good reason to falsify the data; apparently he was involved in a lawsuit with a vaccine maker prior to his so called report. As a direct result of his own self serving needs at least 2 children have died because of not receiving the vaccine. It is also reported that the number of parents who vaccinate their children decreased. I only hope that as many people who read or heard of his fictitious link learn the real truth. This guy made millions while children all over suffered from not being vaccinated. Make sure to ... 02/12/2009

There has been a lot of talk lately about Smart Grids and what they can do for us and the planet. Never heard of it? Just click on the link to learn more. The goal is to reduce the consumption of electricity which is good for everyone and at the same time try to move higher consumption times to off-peak hours which is also good for everyone. That sounds like a tough order and that’s why technology can help and a smarter grid can do it. Your appliances will start talking to the grid and hopefully we can start this whole thing sooner rather than later. Now Google has gone and done it again by introducing some new tools for the fight. You can learn more here or you can skip right to the official Google announcement.   If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comm... 02/11/2009

There have been a lot of stories lately about where Twitter is headed and with good reason. Many are questioning its very existence in a time when other companies are folding or barely holding on. Why? Well for one thing Twitter has no monetization, that is it doesn’t make any money currently and that certainly seems like a problem for any business let alone one with what might arguably be some substantial overhead. So what’s the plan? Well that seems to be the question lately and Twitter has announced that it will try to monetize commercial usage. Wait does that mean little ole me? That’s sort of what I was wondering too. I guess technically I am a commercial business but I don’t know that I will ever make any money from using Twitter. But then someone has to pay for this. Twitter did... 02/11/2009

While everyone is probably aware of the incredible growth that Twitter has enjoyed this past year, you might not be aware of its smaller company FriendFeed. You can read this article here for more information about the growth, or as argued in the update, possible lack of growth. One thing is for sure, that any social networking app that comes out that has such steady growth, means you probably want to catch that train and catch it early. Because if you are not on board now then you might be missing the boat... well train… *stick to train analogy* You can see FriendFeed here. You can see me on FriendFeed here. Make sure to check out my Eau Claire Real Estate Agent website! If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comment on your blog as well. If you really like... 02/06/2009

I originally was going to write this article earlier in the week because Charter just rolled out 60mbps broadband in St. Louis with plans to hit other markets shortly. Eau Claire Wisconsin actually stands out for Charter because we were part of another test market last year when they unveiled a 16mbps plan then. As you all may know I like progress and I was happy and excited to see this. I have complained for many years about the slow speeds available in our country and this was really shaping up to be some better service. I was actually going to praise a corporation for their innovativeness! Shocking indeed. That was until they announced this week that they, like many other service providers across the country, are going to also be capping these services. What’s a cap? Well for many y... 02/06/2009

In case you missed the news the other day, Wells Fargo was planning their annual Vegas retreat which apparently includes free helicopter rides. Gee that sounds great and all but since I am paying for it I think I want a ticket to the all you can eat shrimp buffet too! Well now today apparently they have decided to cancel the trip even though it will still cost them. I got an idea though. Since it’s already paid for and we paid for it how about we get some free tickets to Vegas to see some shows? It’s our money after all don’t forget! Make sure to check out my Eau Claire Real Estate Agent website! If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comment on your blog as well. If you really like this story flag it for a feature! If you would like to work with an agent wh... 02/04/2009

I don’t know if you heard about this but Fannie Mae almost ceased to exist after an employee was fired and fired back. Apparently he tried inserting a logic bomb into the servers which would have shut down the entire thing for almost a week. I think that’s probably a conservative estimate and I would think this would have probably caused a lot more damage than they are letting on. This thing was brilliantly designed if that counts for anything. Apparently it was set to destroy all the data, all the backups and even shut the power off. Also this guy must have known he was going to be fired because he inserted the code right after he was fired. You can’t just write a program like this on the fly. Maybe it was like that guy in Office Space always threatening to burn down the building, or ... 02/04/2009

In my last post I was warning you about a company that apparently has no problem bragging about click frauding you and trying to get you to use their services. If you aren’t sure what click fraud is check out this article but anyone who uses PPC has something else to worry about as well.   First ask yourself how much you pay per click? Now imagine if someone was artificially clicking on your ads in an effort to manipulate results. Now quit imagining because it’s already happening and it’s getting worse. In a recent study it seems this type of fraud is gaining a foothold and growing. If you want to understand why please read the article. It might give you something to think about if this type of advertising is even worth it when almost 20% of what you are paying for is completely fake. ... 02/04/2009

If you are currently using PPC advertising you might want to read this article. Apparently this company is admitting to click fraud and purposely charging companies. It really seems like a strong arm tactic to me and personally I am sick and tired of companies trying to take advantage of people who either don’t know any better or just fall for the sales pitches. You probably get calls all the time from companies claiming they can get you to the top of a Google search. Well they can’t and they are lying. There are a million other claims I have seen and there are a million companies out there trying to fraud you. I won’t mention this companies name in this blog post because I know they might be using Google alerts, so just read the article and be warned.   Part 2 coming next.   Make sure... 02/04/2009

There has been a lot of talk lately about foreclosures and what to do to stem the tide. I have read thousands of proposals and one argument I keep hearing is that nothing should be done, that it isn’t fair to unfairly reward those who “shouldn’t have been given a loan to begin with.” Personally I think arguments like this are ridiculous and I don’t feel like arguing endlessly about Capitalism and all its “glory” but at the same time I can’t help but say something about the unfounded fear of Socialism and how Obama is apparently the end of the world. Well it’s not the end of the world and people who are facing foreclosures need real help, just as the middle class needs real help. There are a lot of people in trouble right now and although I don’t have a solution, I will offer something ... 02/04/2009

Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate If you have a mobile phone, Google Maps, and GPS now you can use a neato new feature called Google Latitude. Basically what it does is lets other people know your location and puts a point on the map. This might be useful in a variety of ways if you put your thinking cap on for a moment. I saw another story saying this would be a great way to spy on your kids but I don’t think anyone needs to be spying on anyone. Either way this could be a rather useful tool. You can check out the full story here. Make sure to check out my Eau Claire Real Estate Agent website! If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to comment on your blog as well. If you really like this story flag it for a feature! If you would like to work with an agent who is... 02/04/2009

Do I really need to remind you to back up your website? Yes. Do it right now. Why? There are a million ways that everything you ever worked on with your site could completely disappear in about 5 seconds or less. In the past 3 weeks I have read about several major companies having this happen to them. This is no joke. Ever hear of Ma.gnolia? Well they might be completely wiped out according to this story.  Even their backup is wiped out! That’s not all either. This has happened to several other sites because of either human error in that they never made backups or their backups failed for whatever reasons. At first I patted myself on the back for making regular backups of my site but then I realized my own catastrophic error. My site backups are stored on the FTP of my site itself. Wel... 02/02/2009

  I just read a great article by Chris Anderson. If you don’t know who that is you should because he is the author of The Long Tail and editor of Wired Magazine. If you haven’t noticed the economy is doing some rather drastic things to internet businesses and businesses in general. Or is it something else wreaking all this havoc? I think Chris really hits home with this one because this is an environment that no one has ever experienced. We are seeing for the first time ever a climate of free. Everything is free today and in my mind rightfully so, at least when it comes to information. Then combine free with a down economy and it spells failure for many businesses. How are some managing to thrive while others are locking the doors? Amazon is thriving and Google is battening the hatches... 02/02/2009

Online storage is all the rave and rightfully so. For me it’s been a lifesaver and sometimes a headache causer that is I can work at my office office and drop the files using dropbox and come home to my other office and work on stuff there. (Is that a run-on?) And the headache comes when the file I dropped at work isn’t there when I come home and the time I thought I saved by not sending it in an email is quickly wasted when I have to race back to work to get the file. Now I don’t blame dropbox here because it is in Beta and it’s probably just me. But my problem is that Google has me hook, line and sinker when it comes to new products. They are generally free and since millions of people adopt them, they generally get some great beta testing. Now sure some of their products have their ... 02/02/2009

You probably aren’t a big Internet Explorer fan, but if you are like me and unfortunately stuck with it then, new releases are a good thing. Personally I find IE crashes on my about 3-4 times a day and I find that unacceptable. Since our MLS is tied to it I can’t switch either or I could but then going back and forth just gives me a headache. Well the new version offers plenty of new features and you can actually download it now to give it a test run. Word is that this release will be close to the final release. Also word on the street is that Vista SP2 is coming sooner but possibly not before Windows 7 and that Windows 7 is skipping some steps and might be out even sooner. If you are confused, don’t worry, you will be in so much shock when you see the sticker price you won’t really ca... 02/02/2009

You might wonder why I report on so many diverse issues. I see certain trends and wonder how I should be adapting for my own business model. Some trends directly affect real estate and others affect how I should be doing real estate. Others have nothing at all to do with real estate directly but indirectly I can still see a pattern. This article points out that in the last quarter of last year, sales in cell phones has slumped. Whaaaaaaaaat? I bet most people didn’t see that coming and more to the point, I bet the companies involved didn’t see it coming either. I am sure they noticed when month after month sales plummeted, but why? Well I think the economy is a factor and here’s why. If you bought a cell phone in the last year or so you probably have a rather functional phone. It might... 02/02/2009

Well I think this tool for Twitter might be something many people have been after. If you are forced to keep it under 140, characters that is but you like to write books, then look no further. 140it will take your long windedness and keep you under the limit. Some of these tools require that you go to separate sites but 140it lets you use the main Twitter site. I know it’s hard to keep up with all the new stuff but that’s why I always say that no matter how many tools come out or how many new sites are there, you are only going to use what works for you. If you can’t make it work, then you move on. You can check out this story here for more information. Make sure to check out my Eau Claire Real Estate Agent website! If you have something to say please leave a comment. I will try to com... 02/02/2009

If you have read anything recently that spoke of advertising of course you heard that print media is failing and it’s hard to not agree with that argument when so many newspapers across the country seem to be failing. Even the mightiest such as the NYT have been hard hit. But it’s not quite true to say they haven’t adapted. All of these newspapers are available online and they have had their hand in online advertising for many years. It’s easy to blame someone when they don’t adapt but what if they are doing everything right and still failing? So what’s wrong? Well if you check out this article here they present a few theories or at least try to explain the situation better for the NYT specifically but I think there is more to this. As internet usage grew, online advertising grew to ke... 02/02/2009