Online Privacy: Tips on How to REALLY Make Your Online Identity Secure

Using social media, email and other online platforms triggers you to leave a lot of your personal information online. Keeping things private seems to be difficult nowadays with all the technology being laid available to us. However, not being private opens you to a lot of risks that can be a burden, more of a burden rather than doing things that will keep you safe and your identity secure, online.

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Much of our lives has become so modern that we spent a lot of it online and in the cloud. We share almost every piece of information about ourselves online. We blog about our vacations, we post whenever we go to the gym, we order things online and leave information about our credit cards on Amazon. Doing these things is the reason why our information – professional and personal becomes easily available even for people who we haven’t met.

This information can be used in different ways, some in dangerous ways as well. Thus, keeping our information secure and backing up your vital data to prevent anyone from abusing you via the internet is important. Here are some tips you can follow to be able to save you the troubles that comes with losing your privacy online.

Two-factor authentication

Most of the big names in the internet industry has it. You will be asked for your password and another code that is in real-time sent to your phone or e-mail just to be able to identify if the person accessing your email or bank accounts is indeed you. Do not be annoyed by these seemingly redundant practices because these practices keep your information safe.

Delete your browsing history

You can delete your browsing history not only in your computer but also in websites like Amazon as well. Check out the net for details on how you can delete your searches in Amazon to be able to prevent other people from looking back to your past transactions.

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Consider using self-destructing Gmail messages

Did you have to share a personal information or a password to a friend via an e-mail. Be careful than rather being sorry by sending self-destructing Gmail messages. This Chrome extension lets you revoke access to the emails that you have sent, thus preventing others from possibly gathering important details you have included in an email you have sent in the past.

Choosing what to post

Another important habit to remember to keep details about yourself private and secure is choosing what to post. If you have the option of talking directly to a person or having a phone conversation to share an important detail or to be able to complete a transaction, pick this option rather than doing it online. Doing things online has it conveniences and inconveniences. Staying safe by doing your transactions securely keeps you protected online and even offline at all times.

A Recap on Hongkong’s RISE Conference 2016

The Rise Conference finally hits Asia and was a complete success. The event held last May 30 to June 2, 2016 hosted by Web Summit. However, the Rise Conference in Asia showed an impressive number of participants and response to the public. With over 5000 attendees from over 75 countries, it was indeed a hit this time around in Asia.

Machines, Enterprises, Marketing and the Builders Stage were filled with hundreds of pitch competitions and startups. Some of the notable names that graced the event include Neil Shen of the Sequioa, Dave McClure, Founder of 500 Startups, John Collison of Stripe, Takeshi Idezawa of Line and the 9Gag Founder Ray Chan.

Here are some of the interesting startups that have been included in the exhibits in the said event.

Penchat

PEN is the revolutionized pen used for expressing our thoughts. This Instant Social Messaging application claims to combine Instant Messaging while reaching out to Social Media at the same time. It comes with free voice and video services and allows sharing of information like any other social media applications together with your social circles even offline. Yes, even offline, which is something that makes it unique from what communication applications offers at present.

Kello

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Kello on the other hand is a smart alarm clock that one would want to have, especially if you are not a morning person. It aims to make your bedroom a happy place and improve your sleeping habits. It can be connected to various devices through IFTTT.

Notey

Notey defines itself as your window through the Blogosphere. Download the app and be able to bookmark your favorite blogs with a click. You can also neatly categorize your blogs according to niche with the app. It has over 500,000 apps under its belt. Users can also create their own Notebooks and jot down notes of articles that inspire you.

The development in technology, software and applications is indeed fast and truly amazing. Next year’s Rise Conference in Hongkong is definitely another event to look forward to, geek or not.

Facebook and its Expanding Role in Journalism

Facebook has indeed become one of the social media platforms that evolved into so many things today. A year ago, the social media giant introduced Instant Articles- a quick-loading news format that is hosted in Facebook’s servers. Compared to other mobile applications, it runs faster and has already opened its doors to publishers for use.

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It is not a surprise to see that consumers are indeed responding actively with the publishing platform. According to its analytics, 20% of users will likely read Instant Articles and 30% would most likely share that article to a friend. The format that offers fast loading information to readers was really embraced by its users. However, there were also worries that came when Instant Articles were introduced to publishers.  They might be losing audiences from their website as they start to read news that they post on Instant Articles and the giving up the control on how and what ads would run inside these posts.

Facebook, being the customer service oriented company that they are easily took away the anxiety that the initial launch made to publishers. Facebook was very generous in giving in to the needs of its publishers, as they see it fit. They allowed publishers to add more ads per article. A latest addition introduced this March included video advertising and they even allowed publishers to share sponsored posts on Instant Articles. Instant Articles is starting to create a new model for the article publishing industry, making Apple and Google stepping in to offer something similar. Being a game changer and an innovator in the web is what Facebook is really all about

A year after its launch, Instant Articles introduced the Trending Topics feature that dominated the feeds in the platform. Facebook is indeed trying to create a reliable and useful website where users can go and read news. Journalism is now available, fast and easy to readers around the world.

Businesses can also use this avenue to introduce, build their brand and provide insights about their company and relevant information to its target market. Another positive point about Instant Articles is that it lives up to their goal to give people what they want, just like what Facebook does, making it unique and giving it an edge against its contemporaries. With this in mind, it is not a surprise to see Facebook go this far and get even farther in the future.

 

Mobile Phones and Life: How Phones Ruin our Attentiveness

Mobile phones have really managed to become an essential tool in our daily lives. It is a tool for work, for connecting with family and colleagues and for exploring the world as a whole. We have been too connected with our devices for quite so long that we sleep beside them, and they are practically the first and last objects we use when waking up and when we go to sleep. People has become too wired and connected with these devices that make us less attentive, not only to people but even to essential activities and necessities in life.

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Studies and recent surveys claims that people are already admitting that they are still using their mobile phones even in while making love. We use it while eating, at home or in a restaurant. People even take pictures of their food before actually devouring it. There are an increasing amount of activities that people seems to be having a hard time doing without their mobile phones.

Do not get me wrong, the notifications that I get from my phone are useful I always get an update whenever a new email comes in, a Tweet about my brand is posted or a new clients asks about my services. But I to can admit that even while I am attending my child’s performance at school, I would constantly lose focus and attention and would attend to a text, call, pin or notification that I receive from my phone. We can even receive notification from our smart watches nowadays.

How far did our mobile devices managed to interfere with important things in our lives? According to a research from the University of British Columbia, one out of 10 respondents admits that they use their mobile devices even during sex. Imagine how many other people are still ashamed or denies doing so?

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The study included a total of 221 students and were asked to keep their notifications alert on to ensure that they will be getting the most number of alerts during the experiment. Result shows that the more notifications they receive, the more their lose focus and attention and the more hyperactive they become. This are a few short to the symptoms of ADHD in people.

The damage that phones have already inflicted in our lives is already significant but can still be resolved. We can still catch up with or well-being and focus our attention to other significant and really important activities and moments in our lives. We can still leave our mobile gadgets at home during a morning run. Put every mobile device in mute during our children’s activities. Stash away all devices in a locked drawer during the weekend and catch up with life, the life far from the mobile life that we all used to have.

Google Updates: AI writing to speak naturally; To block Flash in Chrome this 2016

After the recent and much felt Google Core Algorithm Update, changes in Adwords and after the Google Page Rank becomes obsolete, more changes and updates are about to come as Google continues to improve its system and its user’s general experience. A couple of updates and improvement to look forward to include training AI to speak more naturally and completely blocking Flash in Google Chrome this year.

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Google recently released a paper vividly describing how it is training AI to speak more natural. AI is being deviated into being able to fill in gaps between sentences as well as unrelated sentences. To practice in a more neutral network, AI is being trained by analyzing 12,000 E-books, most of which are fictional and romance in nature. The results according to the paper are quite impressive and entertaining as well. However, keeping a less dramatic tone would be another factor that Google should consider adjusting according to the report.

So what’s the catch for Google’s users upon AI’s successful text to speech upgrade? It can help in several aspects like automated customer service for businesses, chat support and other business related functions. Siri, Cortana and Google Now will most likely be customized to for a more personalized experience for its users.

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Flash’s goodbye seems to be a gruesome and a long overdue fact. However, Google seems to be eager to put a definite end to this by providing a detailed plan on how it plans to block Flash content with Google Chrome by the end of 2016. In the current version of Chrome, every website with Flash content will be blocked by default according to news. Flash content would be accessible if a user would specifically choose to do so and would have to enable it site-by-site basis.

Flash has been a culprit for so many pop ups that has become a nuisance for most internet users. However, 10 domains using Flash will be enabled by default in Google Chrome. These include the following, YouTube, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitch and Amazon. However, the exemption would last for a year and these websites would have to make a move about since they will be treated like everyone else in a year’s time.

The change, for me is very helpful since it helps protect users from malicious content online. It also encourages developers to switch to HTML5 which is quite more adaptable and up-to-date with the current needs of the generation when it comes to user experience. Not to mention, Flash really already gave its toll in a device’s battery life.

With the way major domains and search engines are pushing themselves for a better experience for their user, I expect more changes to see in the future.

How to Develop a Feasible Internet Marketing Plan for Your Business

A successful online business is not measured by profits or revenues. It is measured by how long and how stable a company can be. If a company fails to grow, it is not considered as successful anymore.

You have a nice product for your business but it seems that you are not getting enough profit. Well, you might not be using the internet to promote your business. In case you want to know how, then you have come to the right post. We’ll provide you some of the most practical yet effective tips on how you can develop a great internet marketing plan for your business.

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Position your Product

It is important that you know your product well and you know how to brand it. You need to make sure that you are aware of your target market so you can make marketing collaterals suited for them. It is also good that you squeeze out your creative juices. This is so you can already stand out from the rest of your competitors.

Check your Competitors

You also have to check once in awhile what your competitors are doing, or perhaps check the best one in the market. By doing so, you can get ideas what works for them and tweak it according to your needs. However, avoid being a copycat. You wouldn’t want to cross the legal boundaries. Would you?

Be Visible Online

And yes, you have to be very visible online. Make use of your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the likes. Don’t forget to update it with relevant news. However, you have to take note that it is also not good to oversell your product. If you do this, a lot of people will unfollow your accounts. What we suggest is that you post different news even gossips, as long as you can relate it to your products. Conduct surveys and have polls. Invite your potential clients to make more engagement on your social networking accounts. Make some noise, but again – be subtle.

Of course, a detailed research is necessary. But once done, you can follow the above tips and you’d be selling like hotcakes.

UBER and Grab: The New Face of Transportation Technology

For a city with run-down trains, horrendous traffic, and “picky” taxi drivers, the app-based Uber and Grab services give commuters a state-of-the-art choice.

With just a few taps, anyone could order a private car and get past the usual troubles hailing a taxi or driving one’s own car. The rates are reasonably lower than the old metered-taxis or are fixed. Payments are done either through auto-debit or in cash.

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This level of deftness and abundance is what many love about Uber and Grab. It allows the use iiNet mobile plans and of the Internet, our phones, and electronic transactions, to obtain something well-done. They are also safer because Uber and Grab provides the drivers’ information such as name, photo, contact number, location, plate number, and even the car model. Yet another app would suggest the best route possible.

Uber and Grab seems unstoppable. Fuelled by a huge round of funding, the company is strengthening its grip on transportation sectors. It started out as a regular taxi-hailing app then turned into an on-demand transportation service that includes private cars and motorcycle taxis for those needing to get across the traffic.

Both applications although free upon download, would require an internet connection and location tracking to be enabled. It chooses the ride that is near to you so that the estimated time of arrival would usually be in less than minutes only.

Uber and Grab has a feedback rating system where in passengers are allowed to rate and comment on the driver’s service. Those rating system is kind of business for the drivers in view of the fact that this is how they keep their jobs. This also ensures commuters that who they hire are safe and reputable individuals.

You can now keep away from the stinky smelling taxi if you book rides with Uber and Grab. You can bid taxi meters that fall too fast. Also, Uber and Grab uses unmarked cars and it would function like your own private driver.

These are all by now standard uses of off-the-shelf mobile technology.  There’s nothing especially novel, or proprietary, about the platform Uber and Grab has built.  Nothing, in any case, that couldn’t or shouldn’t have already been put into effect by existing taxi and limo services.

The future for mobile transportation technology such as the services offered by Uber and Grab are expected to grow bigger in the future. Convenient transportation that offers timely, safe and reliable service will continue adding up to the success of these two on-demand transportation services.

 

India Rejects Facebook’s Free Internet Offering: Online Start-ups Seizes Opportunities

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Internet costs in most developing countries like India are very high. This is one of the many struggles that Internet companies like Facebook, Google and Alibaba would want to address to be able to reach out to their users and potential subscribers. However, the Indian government is not making it easy for them.

Facebook offered Free Basics for their social media users in the country to be able to encourage more people to be on Facebook and its services even with the high cost of internet in the country. However, India has already banned the Facebook Basic just a week ago and is making it harder, not only for Facebook but other social media platforms in finding ways to reduce mobile data costs for their users. Google even has put its plans in India on hold to observe how far Facebook’s efforts will go, but with the recent rule out, it is clearly obvious that their marketing efforts will definitely be difficult.

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Several high-tech efforts like planes, trains and balloons were already adapted by Facebook and Google to be able to surpass the higher regulatory hurdles that these internet companies are facing in India. What they can do for the mean time is to continue hacking routes to be able to ensure that their millions of users in India are still coming online and trying out their services. Hopefully, their efforts would make their users stay.

With these hurdles, the possibilities of using mobile start-ups as an indirect boost to reach out to the Indian market might be feasible. Here are some of the mobile start-up companies in India that might be targeted by these mobile giants to be able to continue penetrating the country.

Jana was initially a research firm in 2009 that is now known for its core product, the mCent that allows prepaid smartphone owners to test applications. With a 30 million user claim and 56 megabytes per month, Jana claims that it is the second with the most ad revenues in India from Google, surpassing Facebook in the processs. It’s unrestricted free internet service can be the best seller of the company making it target for acquisition from internet giants like Facebook and Google.

Mavin also works like how Jana does, offering free access to internet apps using their platform Gigato. However, they get their venues from application developers instead of advertisers. It claims to have over 270 thousand users and consumes 75 to 100 gigabytes per day.

Although there are still no confirmations that a possible acquisition might be Facebook or Google’s way to go around India’s restriction, this seems to be a feasible and possible solution one can take advantage of in the future.

Identifying Fixes to Common Broadband Problems

Having internet connection problems is a common experience for most of us. But solving them is not as hard as you think it is. Solving internet connection problems can be done by simply understanding how it works. It like knowing how to fix a car problem by knowing which part is dysfunctional.

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Whether you have unlimited broadband plans or regular fixed plans at home, fixing your broadband connection problem and getting back online, without having to call your customer service hotline is possible.

There are three parts to a home broadband connection you can look into when having problems with your internet connection – the line, the router and your computer. Some providers may charge you a lot id they send someone to do the fixing for you, so it would be better to look into the problem with an initial diagnosis before phoning in a professional.

There are several types of internet connection available. It ranges from 3G and 4G USB connections as well as cable or fibre-optic package and ADSL connections.

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Go through basic troubleshooting steps 1-3 for 3G and 4G connections, 1-5 for cable and fibre-optic connections and all the way to the bottom for ADSL internet connection.

Step 1: Make sure that your internet is definitely broken

Try to open several web pages using different internet browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. Try sending an email using outlook and other e-mail software. If all of these work, your internet connection is okay. If none of them are working, then you have an internet connection problem to look into.

Step 2: Ping Google

A ping is a small form of data that your computer sends to a different computer to be able to check if there is a connection. If someone pings back, then it indicates that your internet access is working. If it doesn’t, you can try sending another one. You can dial up to 4 times to check via a ping.

When using a Windows PC, press the Windows Key+R. Type CMD on the box that will appear. Another black box will open up. Type ping www.google.com

For MAC computers, open your System Preferences>Utilities>Terminal. Type ping www.google.com on the box that will appear.

If it says “reply from” followed by a series of numbers like.74.125.230.114, then your internet connection is working. If you get a “request timed out” or “destination host unreachable” then your internet connections needs fixing.

Step 3: Make sure that all plugs are attached properly and turned on

Be sure that your phone line is properly plugged into your router. Your router should also be connected to you PC or laptop. If you use a dongle, try inserting it to a different USB port. If you have a 3G or 4G connection via a USB, these are the only things that you can do. You can now phone your provider to get their advice is things still doesn’t work. If you have cable internet service or ADSL, continue reading for more troubleshooting tips.

Step 4: Try connecting your PC to a router if you are wireless

If you are using wireless internet connection access, try directly attaching your PC or laptop to the router using a cable. If you get internet connection, your wireless settings is the one which needs to be diagnosed. If you still don’t have internet, it’s the router or the line that has a problem.

Your computer also needs to have an IP address to connect to the internet. A valid IP address starts with 192 plus a series of numbers. Non-valid IP’s start with 169

If you failed to connect to the internet with a cable internet service, it’s now time to call your customer service representative. Further troubleshooting tips are available for ADSL connections.

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Step 5: Test the Microfilter

The Microfilter is the white box that you plug into your BT pocket. One side has the phone cable while the other has the internet cable. Pull one out then pull the other ones. Check one by one to see which cable is at fault. If this does not help and your network is still okay, it’s probably the line that has the problem.

If you continuously fail to connect to the internet after doing these steps, then it is the line that has the problem and requires the attention of a professional. Immediately call your internet service provider to address the issue and to get back your internet connection on.

Internet Usage in Australia

For years, Australia has always been on top as for countries with a huge number of internet consumers around the world. About 81 percent of the population is connected at home.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics stated that internet users now download more content than before. Total average of data consumption had also spiked this year as premium video streaming services entered the Australian markets.

Most Australians are either checking their social media sites, offering SEO services, doing business on an online shop or either providing online services to fellow Australians and other companies overseas.

Internet users with three or more devices had multiplied in months. The volume of data downloads had increased in mix devices. Though 93 percent of the growth in data downloads still came from the fixed-line broadband users.

Internet usage has a great impact among Aussies in many ways. The five major activities Australians do over the internet is emailing, researching and surfing the World Wide Web as well as participating in social media and online shopping.

Australian shoppers buy products through online from retailers outside the country, whether to purchase books, music, videos and more.

Video and audio content had been adding up with the continued growth of internet usage in the country. Almost 6.4 million Aussies either stream video clips, movies, online TV shows or listen to music.

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However, the netizens’ online engagement is being matched by the danger of their exposure to online threats. Authorities are monitoring thousands of security threats per day.

A local research firm cited the majority of internet users who had been affected by threats are the millennials, which are people from 18 to 34 years of age. Almost 26 percent of them have been a victim of phishing scams and 16 percent with identity theft. Others have experience ransomware attacks, in which the user’s device has been affected by malware and was requested a fee to release the file.

Despite that, there were estimated 12.8 million subscribers of the internet in Australia as of this year, and it is continually growing. It seems that the broadband industry has a significant contribution to the wealth of the country.