All posts by Martin Sansom

If you’ve been on Google today, you’ve surely noticed the futuristic train sketch replacing the usual logo, as Google honors Raymond Loewy on his 120th birthday anniversary.

You may not be familiar with the name, but you are certainly familiar with the results of Loewy’s lifetime of work in the design field, whether you know it or not.  Each time you pass a Shell station, or visit the Post Office, or drink Coke from a bottle, you are interacting with one of Loewy’s creations.

Throughout his lifetime of work, spanning 70 years in the field of industrial design — emphasis on “design” — Loewy championed the notion that manufacturing could produce items that were beautiful as well as functional.  From cars, trains, planes, boats, and buses, to appliances, flatware, dinnerware, furniture, product logos and packaging, Loewy could “claim to have made the daily life of the 20th Century more beautiful”, as he himself once said.

Want more proof? Click on the Google logo, then click on the “Images” tab of results for a broad overview of the many items that Loewy designed.  Here’s a screenshot of just a small portion of one page:

Loewy’s work with corporate logos alone resulted in many icons that are still in use today, including Shell, Exxon, Nabisco, and the US Post Office. Several graphic designers of my acquaintance would give their eyeteeth to have legacies as lasting! 🙂

It seems when the holiday season arrives every year, the usual trickle of spam email starts rising until it reaches a flood stage around Christmas.  Perhaps the spammers are playing on the “do good” feelings that come with the season, perhaps they’re just trying to earn a little extra illicit cash to buy things for their own little spammer boys and girls.  Whatever the reason, it’s always wise to be extra suspicious of any phishing-type emails you might start to receive.

Not that this one is all that tricky, but I though I’d share an email that I just received a few minutes ago, to show you an example (if a rather obvious one) of a phishing attempt.  And one that gives us web-folk a bad name, as well, as you’ll see:

Subject line:  RE:  (Wow, that’s imaginative.)

From name:  web upgrading  (Umm, who?)

From email:  web@parliament.gov.bd  (That darn parliament of ours, always spamming!)

Return path email:  webmailupgradingservice@mail.com  (In other words, could be anybody.)

Message text:

We are pleased to inform you that Our web admin Center is closing all
unused accounts because of the congestion in our mail server. To confirm
your account active, you are required to complete your details below and
send it to us. This information would be required to verify your account
to avoid being closed.

First Name: ________________________
Last Name: __________________________
E-mail Username: _____________________
E-mail Password: ____________________

>>> Warning!!!

E-mail owner that refuses to comply with this mail his or her Email ID
within 26 days of receiving this warning will lose his or her E-mail
permanently.

Thank you for your understanding.
Copyright ©web Admin 2013 All Rights

Okay, not even particularly well-thought out, and full of the usual phishing give-aways: bad grammar, bad capitalization, etc.  Just a straightforward scare tactic.  Hopefully all of our usual readers are spam-savvy enough to recognize this for what it is, but it’s a good idea to remind others (the young and the elderly, particularly) to never send personal information (of any kind!) to someone over the Internet, unless you’re absolutely sure you know where you’re sending it.  As a good rule of thumb, banks and other financial institutions NEVER ask for personal information via email.

This concludes our good samaritan post for today!

A little spooky wake-up call on Halloween morning…

In case you were not aware of it, Adobe has confirmed the user account data of 2.9 million Adobe users has been breached. You can read the full story in the Washington Post, here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/adobe-confirms-security-breach

What does this mean for you?  Well, first the good news:  if you use Adobe products (like nearly every other single person in the entire known world), you may not be affected. (More on this later.)

The bad news:  the attackers may have had access to its users’ financial information.  Which means if you purchased something from Adobe within the last few years, you will need to keep a close eye on your credit card or bank statement for illegal activity.

Adobe has issued an official statement covering with details about the incident, and what you should do.  You can find the official Adobe statement here:

http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/customer-alert

Things to keep in mind:

1) Even though Adobe states it has already reset the passwords of the affected users, it would be wise, if you have any type of Adobe account, to immediately log in and change your password.

2) If you are in the (bad) habit of using the same password across multiple sites, and have used your Adobe password elsewhere, go to those sites and change your password there, as well.

The further bad news: Adobe has also said that parts of its source code were accessed, but that it was not aware of any exploits being used to target Adobe products. Yet.  To be on the safe side, you should verify that all of your Adobe software is up-to-date, and keep it up to date over the coming weeks, as it seems very likely (to me, at least) that Adobe will be releasing further updates as advance protection against the access of its code.

We hope you have found this information useful. If so, please share our blog and/or Facebook page with your friends and suggest that they subscribe to stay updated on the latest news from the World of the Web!

No other comments needed!

Actually, I wanted to title this post: “Why You Should Never, Never, Never, Never, Never, Never, NEVER Use ‘admin’ As Your WordPress Username”…  but that might have been a bit long for SEO reasons. 🙂  However, it’s certainly not overkill when it comes to getting the message across.  So, why is this such a bad thing?

Let’s start with the fact that, in most cases, a new WordPress installation will set the default site administrator username to ‘admin’, and all that is required is to choose a password.  Now, it might be said that humans are inherently lazy, but it’s true that many folks will just leave that default name as is.  (We’ll leave the discussion of using ‘password’ as your password for another day!)  With so many administrator names set to ‘admin’, it’s an obvious place for a hacker to start… 50% of the equation has already been solved for him!  Now he only has to determine your password to have access to your entire site.

What’s more, most hack attempts are made by automated ‘bots’ set to try as many combinations of ‘admin’ + (a password) as possible, often hundreds per minute, in what’s known as a brute-force attempt to gain access.  Other hack attempts are made in person, by someone who has studied you and your site, looking for clues to help guess your password.  (Pet name, anyone?)  And make no mistake, these attempts are numerous and ongoing, 24/7/365.  As a random example, one of our WordPress sites received well over 3,000 ‘admin’ hack attempts in the last 30 days, with an average across our sites being at least in the hundreds.  So why give hackers that head start?

So, what to do if you ARE using ‘admin’ and need to change it to something else?  Follow these steps, EXACTLY, and oh by the way you should probably back your site up first, just in case.

1. Sign in as ‘admin’.
2. Head straight to the Users tab, and “Add New”.
3. Choose a hard-to-guess username, but don’t make it so difficult that you’ll forget it.
4. IMPORTANT: Set the new user’s role to “Administrator”.
5. You will need to use a different email address, as no two users can have the same one.  (Can be changed later.)
6. Choose a password that has upper and lower-case letters and numbers in it. Symbols are OK too. NEVER use the word ‘password’ in your password, even if it has a different case and includes numbers.  10 characters minimum!
7. Click “Add New User”.
8. Sign out as ‘admin’.
9. Sign in as the new user.
10. Delete your old ‘admin’ user, MAKING SURE you assign all posts/pages/comments to your new user.
11. Congratulations, you now have a more secure WordPress system!

What else can you do?  Ban your users from any variation of ‘admin/Admin/adm1n’ as username, enforce strong passwords, and always keep your WordPress software/themes/plugins up to date.  Install a quality security plugin (such as Wordfence) to help you enact all of these items. And make routine backups, as no software is ever 100% hacker-proof.

Bam!  Two in one…

Many of you may know (and just as many may not) that Facebook is once again updating its privacy policies. This time it’s the Data Use Policy, and the changes are scheduled to go into effect sometime around the end of this week. (What’s that, you say? You didn’t vote on any changes? Well, thanks to the apathetic response by users during the last update, Facebook has now successfully eliminated the need to put changes to a public vote, and thus eliminated the need to care about what the public thinks, as well.) The majority of the updates this time around focus on photo tagging and relevant ad placements. We’ll focus today on tagging, and save the ads for a later column.

Facebook’s Photo Tagging Example

So, what’s the story with this new update? Essentially, Facebook is advancing its “facial recognition” feature beyond where it currently stands, and plans to start adding your profile photo(s) to its facial recognition database, in order to make it easier for your friends to tag you whenever, and wherever, a photo of you might be uploaded to FB. That ability for friends to tag you has been in play for quite a while, as has the suggestion by Facebook of whom to tag in a photo. Where the big change is occurring is that previously, FB only scanned photos of you that were already tagged to add to its database. Now, FB says it “may” start scanning your profile photos, by which it means, of course, that it will.

Reading between the lines, what Facebook is really doing is adding another source of identification of you, yes you, to their database, which in turn will help them more easily identify who your friends are, where you go, what you do… and the end result of all of that identification helps them figure out what ads to show you (and therefore gives them additional selling power to the providers of those ads). Ultimately, it’s just the next logical step in Facebook’s facial recognition agenda, and not that shocking of a step at that, but it does bring to light once again the necessity for all FB users to learn, know, and control their privacy settings.

Facebook’s Tag Suggestion Example

In this case, there are two that are essential to visit, both found within the Account Settings / Timeline and Tagging header. (By the way, the information I’m dishing out here pertains specifically to accessing Facebook via your desktop computer. Things can, and almost certainly will, be slightly different when going through a smartphone or tablet app.) Look for the third section here, entitled “How can I manage tags people add and tagging suggestions?” Check, and change, the following two items to the settings you are comfortable with:

1) Who sees tag suggestions when photos that look like you are uploaded?

I would HIGHLY suggest you set this to “No One”. (This may say “Only Me” on a phone/tablet.) This won’t stop your friends from tagging you if/when they upload photos with you in them, but it will keep FB from suggesting to friends (or anyone else) that it might be you in a photo. To control tagging, go on to the next step.

2) Review tags people add to your own posts before the tags appear on Facebook?

If this isn’t already, you should strongly consider setting this to “On”, to allow you to review any and all photos that are tagged with your name, before they appear on Facebook. Unfortunately, this does not mean the photo can’t be added or seen by others, it just means that it can’t be tagged with your name, or added to your Timeline. You can always request your friend to take the photo down if you really don’t want it to be seen.

One final caveat: While these two settings will help you limit potentially unwanted photo-exposure on Facebook, they will NOT keep Facebook from scanning your profile photos to add to their facial recognition database. Profile photos (and cover photos) are always set to “public” viewability by default, and this cannot be changed. So, for the more paranoid of you out there, that leaves you with one option — not using a picture of yourself as your profile photo. (Keep in mind that by signing up for Facebook, you are voluntarily agreeing to allow all of your personal information to be seen and/or used; you always have the option to delete your account.)

I certainly hope that this information has proved useful to you! If you think it has, why not share this post with your friends, whether they are on Facebook or not. You might also suggest that they sign up on our blog for future updates, and Like our Facebook page, as well. Thank you!

Web design is one of those professions where being both creative and detail-oriented are integral to success.  How fortunate, then, that I came across an article extolling the virtues of coffee and/or beer when applied to those two traits!  We all know that coffee (that is, caffiene) can energize you, and help you focus on quickly and efficiently completing the tasks at hand.  Beer (i.e. alcohol), on the other hand, loosens the reins on focused activity, and actually helps enhance your creativity.

This well-written article breaks down the results of drinking each beverage in an easily digestible (pun intended) yet scientific matter, then gives reasons why you might consider imbibing each.  Moderation with both beverages is the key, of course, as drinking both too much caffeine and too much alcohol make getting any quality work done impossible. Of course, water should always be your drink of choice for optimum health, but sometimes you just gotta hit that deadline! 🙂

Read the full article here:
Drink Beer for Big Ideas, Coffee to Get Them Done

As educational as this article is meant to be, my favorite line is still: “There are lots of famous drunk artists, but no famous drunk accountants.” So true!

Those of you who have been through my LinkedIn training sessions know how much I can harp about not having a photo of yourself as part of your LinkedIn profile.  🙂  Here’s a great article from The Undercover Recruiter about all the OTHER things you shouldn’t do when it comes to your profile pic:

Top 7 LinkedIn Profile Pictures You Should NEVER Use

And yes, “not having a picture” makes the list as a bonus no-no, and I quote:

“The ultimate no-no is not uploading any kind of image to represent yourself! Any viewer to your page will most likely move along without a picture. Don’t you? So, if you don’t have a photo you like yet, use an image of anything, as long as it’s appropriate and follows the guidelines above.”

If your profile pic is lacking, what are you waiting for?  Get to it!

EVERY website has the ability to track certain basic data about you when you visit, such as time and date, your IP address (and therefore general location), and third-party referrer data (meaning how you got there from here). For the majority of websites, this information is merely passively collected and rarely, if ever, used.

If you’ve ever had experience with Google Analytics, you know that this data-tracking can be expanded much further, to include your computer’s operating system, type of browser, what you looked at on the site, where you went when you left the site, and so on. Many businesses (ostensibly) use this expanded information set to improve your user experience when you visit their site.

But you might be surprised to learn exactly how MUCH data is collected about you when you go to the 5 biggest (and most-visited) technology company sites on the ‘Net: Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Yahoo. Check out the infographic below to see what’s collected, and what that information is actually being used for. And remember, in most cases you provide, or allow, this information to be collected…

Article source: VentureBeat Infographic source: Baynet

Okay, so this is more for fun than actually funny. Everyone knows that branding is vital for your business, right? Right? (If not, give these guys a call — they’ll fill you in, for sure.)

Here’s a map purporting to represent the most well-known and/or important brands for each state of this mighty (corporate) Union. What do you think? Agree with these choices? Disagree? Have something better? Post it in the comments!

Seriously, go do it! You might be surprised about what you find, especially if you are someone concerned with your privacy. Or with your online reputation, which these days equates to your reputation, period. Remember to put your name in quotes for more accurate results, and log out of any Google account prior to searching.

Keep in mind that most of the information you find about yourself online was originally put there by Y-O-U, particularly if it was through one of the social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn. There are plenty of sites out there, though, that gather all that information together in one place for the entire world to see — Pipl, for example.

In any case, you do have some control over what is out there. You can change the privacy settings on your own social media accounts (or remove information entirely), though that won’t get rid of it elsewhere once it’s been collated. You may have to visit each “aggregate” site individually to request removal of unwanted public information.

If that seems like too big a chore, you can always hire someone proficient in online profile management (such as your friendly neighborhood web designer) to attempt a clean-up for you. And all of this holds true for businesses as well as for individuals. Check out this infographic from PR-Daily for some online reputation specifics.

And here we always thought that “Men are from Mars, women are from Venus”! Not according to this infographic from InternetServiceProviders.org, which breaks down social media usage by sex.   Most of the stats fall into the “expected” category, i.e. females make up the lion’s (or lioness’) share of Pinterest users, and so on.

Among some of the more surprising conclusions:

1) Pinterest drives more business referral traffic than Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube combined.

2) Even though Google+ is dominated by male users (or maybe because of that), the average time spent PER MONTH on Google+ is only 3 minutes!

What stats from this graphic make you go hmmmm?

Feeling burned out at your job, whatever that might be?  Or just need a little inspiration to get over the mid-week hump?  Take a few moments and follow this link to check out “The Commencement Speeches You’d Wish You Heard“, written for the graduating Class of 2013 by business owners, CEOs, authors, and other luminaries, and published by LinkedIn.

With titles like “Four Things You Must Unlearn Immediately”, “Your Degree Doesn’t Mean Squat”, and “What Successful People Aren’t Telling You”, you’re sure to find some words of encouragement among these articles, no matter what stage your career is at right now.  And, if you have the time, reading the comments after each article will give you even more insight into each subject.  Highly recommended!

For some reason, this brings to mind Donnie Darko…

Think the life of a web designer is an easy one?  Check out this article from Creative Bloq on “10 Ways The Role Of Web Designer Is Changing”:

http://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/role-changing-3132193

One of the often pre-supposed tenets of web design (that I quickly learned was false) is that once you have mastered the skill set necessary to create a website, you can use those same exact skills to create the next website, and the next one, and so on. Sooooo not true!  Not only do the needs of each client differ so widely that almost no two websites are ever alike, the amount of time that passes between the start and completion of each project, even if only a few weeks, often means that something new has arrived in the world of web design, necessitating yet another skill set that needs to be learned.  It is a constant enhancing and refining process, but at least it keeps the job challenging — and yes, at times somewhat TOO challenging!

As the author of the article, Sush Kelly, states: “Things move so quickly now that the modern web designer needs to be able to spread their skills across several areas in order to achieve their client’s goals. It’s no longer enough to have an eye for design and a copy of Dreamweaver. Web designers, possibly more than any other design occupation, have to constantly update their skills. The web doesn’t stand still for one second.”  And the article doesn’t even mention social media, or SEO, or other similar tools of the trade that go beyond just the design aspect, yet also need to be learned by the web designer to craft a truly effective product.

Oh, and don’t get me started on Dreamweaver.  If you overhear ANYONE mention that their website was built with Dreamweaver, a) bash them over the head with the nearest hard object, and 2) give them our contact information once they recover consciousness!  There are so many things wrong with Dreamweaver-built sites that it is well worth the investment to have them redesigned and updated to the 21st century — EVEN if the visual design of the site isn’t changed one bit.  (Though I can pretty much guarantee that it ought to be updated as well!)  A former Dreamweaver client is a happy client, and we LOVE happy clients.  Remember, at Diamond Mind Web Design, our time is on your side!

If you’ve been on Google today, you’ve probably noticed that it is International Women’s Day.  In honor, we’re posting this infographic from Prestige Marketing on the use of Pinterest for business, as 79% of Pinterest users are female.  If  your business targets female consumers, you seriously need to consider a presence on Pinterest.

Even if that’s not the case, Pinterest is still worthy of consideration, as it’s almost totally a visual medium, and very few (if any!) businesses can’t be well-represented visually.  As this article from The Content Strategist states, “The value in Pinterest is that it’s beautiful, transforming ordinary content into a visually stunning format.”

Read through the infographic (warning: it’s big!) and if something strikes your interest (pun intended), give us a call at Diamond Mind Web Design to see how we can explore using Pinterest as part of your social media presence.

Topical, and hoping it’s true as well!