Time Magazine Online

The 25 Most Popular (and Worst) Passwords of 2011

December 7, 2011

Below is a list of just the first ten. "Password" is the the leading term and I must admit it holds a certain simplicity that can't be beat. Looking over the entire list of 25, though, at this list, there seems to be no particular challenge for hackers. Here's the top ten:

1. password
2. 123456
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon

A point that needs to be made here is that a password that will stand up to hacking for even a brief amount of time is going to have to be a non-word that contains either numbers or special characters (or better still, both.)

For tips on making a safer password, here's help from Microsoft, Google, Symantec, Yahoo, and The United States Government Cyber Security Team.

Read the entire 25 most popular passwords article at time.com

Another 'Digital Revolution'

eReadership doubles in six months

August 15, 2011

A brief article on the phenomenal growth in 'eReadership,' that is, the number of users who have tablets and other devices for consuming written materials through digital (versus paper) means:

"The share of adults in the United States who own an e-book reader doubled to 12% in May 2011 from 6% in November 2010. E-readers, such as a Kindle or Nook, are portable devices designed to allow readers to download and read books and periodicals. This is the first time since the Pew Internet Project began measuring e-reader use in April 2009 that ownership of this device has reached double digits among U.S. adults."

Full article at the Pewresearch website.

One encouraging aspect of this not lost on publishing companies: readership has gained (as have profits) for the first time since a year-to-year erosion has been mapped for decades in the world of publishing. So, either there is a recapturing of lost readers occurring, or new readership is being cultivated through these technologicval devices (or, of course, a mix of the two).

Online but not found?

Why your online marketing doesn't work

August 3, 2011

A good (and brief) article by Jane Friedman about online marketing, separating the wheat and chaffe at her web site here.

Online but not found?

Becoming Visible on the Internet

July 21, 2011

There are 180 million web sites (and counting) in the United States area of the World Wide Web (255 estimated for the world). Of that, 152 million are blogs. For a web site owner trying to reach a larger audience (or any audience at all), the challenge of standing out against that avalanche of competition is the big question. Just putting a site online doesn't mean anyone will see it, in fact the odds are no one will. Without a connection from some starting point, a site is essentially invisable, and will stay that way. How to change that?

Tips:

1. Link with other people who have some commonality with your site. If you are a regional business, link with other local businesses. If you're offering a product, link with other sites that are not in direct competition but serve the same customer base.


2. Use Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to converse with people just like you would in any business/social environment. Just because the person you are talking with isn't a potential customer doesn't mean they're not connected with other people who could be.


3. Content on your site matters: freshen it up, add to it, think about what a reader wants to see and find on your site.


4. Give something away for free.

There are many, many internet sources for free help on improving your web site. These tips are just a bare minimum of ideas: there are hundreds of 'free' ideas on the internet, just a search engine away.