Category Archives: News

Tuesday Is Password Day

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May 7 Password Day

I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve had a new client come to me that has handed over their logins (user names and passwords) for their social sites and website and the passwords are super generic or even guessable based on some basic info I can either Google about the company or the owner.

90% of passwords are hackable

image source: Intel.com

Tuesday, May 7 – is Password Day. lntel has provided a tool that can help you find out if your password is hackable or uncrackable. After I took the tool for a spin looks like I’m guilty of having a hackable password and would take someone roughly 2 hours to crack my password.

I think one of the biggest pieces of advice that Intel provides about picking a password that is going to take some time to adapt to, is moving away from just one password.

Take a peek at the, How Strong is Your Password? tool page – and let us know in the comments below – are you hackable or uncrackable?

Star Padilla

You could say I'm a chatter box with an eye for design. I'm what you’d call a digital strategist. Helping companies and individuals focus on making their businesses money while managing their social media platforms, content and audit their overall design/brand.

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CareerBuilder Survey Reveals Most Wanted Office Perk

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If you could have one perk at your workplace, what would it be?

A recent CareerBuilder survey revealed that half-day Fridays, an on-site fitness center and the ability to wear jeans scored highest on their results. More than 3,900 full-time workers nationwide took part in the survey.

job satisfaction

We currently posed the same question, on our Eminent Social Media Facebook page, so feel free to go contribute your input and answers as well! We’d love to hear what perk you’re leaning towards.

In addition to that same survey with CareerBuilder- two more questions were asked.  ”How important is a title?” and “What ultimately entices workers to stay with a company?”

When it came down to the results of a title, 55 percent of the workers polled reflected that title wasn’t the most important factor. The top three to outrank job title were:

1. Flexible Schedule

2. Being Able to make a difference

3. Challenging Work

employee recognition

As far as, “What ultimately entices workers to stay with a company?”, the results weren’t too surprising. Here were the top three:

1. Provide Flexible Schedules

2. Increase Employee Recognition (awards, cash prizes, company trips)

3. Ask employees what they want and put feedback into action

We also decide to share this question on our Eminent SEO Facebook page – so stop by and place your input!

So I suppose, our ultimate question to you is, What determines YOUR overall job satisfaction? 

 

You can see the full list of the results from the CareerBuilder Survey on PR Newswire

Star Padilla

You could say I'm a chatter box with an eye for design. I'm what you’d call a digital strategist. Helping companies and individuals focus on making their businesses money while managing their social media platforms, content and audit their overall design/brand.

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How The World Searched Google in 2012

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Google Search

Curious what were the hot topic of the inter-web?  Google has officially revealed the top 10 key search trends of 2012.

The search engine’s Google Zeitgeist 2012 site is now live, marking its 12th annual look at the 142 trillion search results made up of events, celebs, photos, songs, and trends that got our attention of over the course of 12 months.

One of the top trending search terms in 2012 was Whitney Houston, who passed away this year. And a close second, which was no surprise, Gangnam Style.

Check out the top ten search terms for Google this year in 2012:

1. Whitney Houston

2. Gangnam Style

3. Hurricane Sandy

4. iPad3

5. Diablo 3

6. Kate Middleton

7. Olympics 2012

8. Amanda Todd

9. Michael Clarke Duncan

10. BBB12

Are you surprised by the results? Leave your comment below and let us know what you think of the year in review via search queries from Google.

Star Padilla

You could say I'm a chatter box with an eye for design. I'm what you’d call a digital strategist. Helping companies and individuals focus on making their businesses money while managing their social media platforms, content and audit their overall design/brand.

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How Mobile Augmented Reality Will Change the Lives of Everyone on the Planet

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Blippar future technology

A new movie trailer came out yesterday for the Will Ferrell movie “The Campaign.” If you want to watch the trailer, all you have to do is pull a dollar bill out of your pocket, aim your ipad, iphone, or android phone at the currency – using the app “Blippar” – and the dollar bill comes to life. Will Ferrell replaces George Washington on the bill and the various words and engravings turn into fighter jets and eagles soaring and many other “American things.”

This impressive technology comes from Blippar, a tech company in the United Kingdom, which has been hinting all over the web at the newest things they intend to become “Blippable.” The company considers it’s technology “highly advanced,” and promises that it will take us into a futuristic new world.

“Blippar™ is a revolution for traditional print and marketing offering the power to turn every single piece of print or physical branding in the real world into an instantaneous digital, interactive experience,” Blippar proudly states.

Using image-recognition technology, Blippar is able to recognize quite quickly what is on your mobile device’s screen and then enhances the reality by making the environment interactive, allowing 3d images and videos to swirl around you.

After only a single hour of Blipping nearly everything I could find, I am as confident as Blippar staff is, that this technology will definitely change the world.

While there is not a wealth of information on the company or the product yet — the start-up is still in its infancy as they are perfecting the technology — there are many videos of what this app can do, and what they plan to do.

video blipper

 

Watch a video of “what exactly Blippar is,” and how it works.

 

 

 

 

blipper video

 

Watch a video of how Blippar turned Virgin Media Magazine completely interactive. Billionaire Richard Branson is excited to be using this technology and is devoted to pushing Blippar’s possibilities to its limits.

 

 

Blipper Video

 

 

Amazing video ad for Nissan/The Dark Night Rises.

 

 

 

Visit Blippar’s Official Website for more details, images, and demos.

Zachary Ankeny

After attaining my Associates Degree in Visual communications in 2000, I set off on a long career as a freelance writer and graphic designer. I have designed and headed many marketing campaigns for companies big and small all around the country. It is my belief that graphic design and writing go hand-in-hand, as they are both forms of communication. My non-fiction works have been published in dozens of magazines and publications. I have written for – and worked with – organizations such as: Banner Hospitals, The Jerome Historical Society, The Arizona Historical Society, City of Tempe, City of Bakersfield, Town of Gilbert, Wildhorse Ranch Rescue, Cynic Magazine, e|Fiction Magazine, and many more. Writing and designing is my passion and I look forward to continuing on with it for many years to come.

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Android Phones: Your Phone May be a Zombie

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Zombie PhoneZombie talk is all over the web and in the news these days. From reported “zombie” attacks to the latest titles at Netflix and Redbox, zombies have become a common word on the lips of the world. Now we are getting news of a new type of zombie, and the terrifying thing is: it is right next to you… You don’t have too much to worry about though; these zombies can’t attack you, because they are your cell phones.

In an independent report from researchers at Microsoft and Sophos Labs, evidence has been found that a group of criminals has secretly composed an android-based botnet, linking cell phones on the android platform to work together as drones – or zombies – in order to send out spam in the form of emails.

The spam being sent out is not new, it consists of advertisements for Viagra, Cialis, and the usual spam you might find in your inbox. Who is this person that transforms your cell phone into a zombie? Well, it turns out that it is likely the owner of the phone that has allowed the botnet/malware onto the afflicted device. Let’s say you are searching for a game or app to download on your phone. There are two types of the same app, one costs $3.99, the other is $.99. The 99 cent version is likely a pirated copy of the same app that also contains programming that can hijack the functions of your phone.

While Microsoft and at England’s Sophos Labs are confident that their study proves the existence of smartphone bots, Google, Kaspersky and various other internet companies are quick to refute this claim. An unnamed spokesperson for Google stated, “The evidence does not support the Android botnet claim. Our analysis suggests that spammers are actually using infected computers and a fake mobile signature to try and bypass anti-spam mechanisms in the email platform they are using.

If the claim of zombie phones is actually true, this would be the first instance of a botnet running completely on a smartphone platform. Spammers have attempted for many years now to develop and implement a botnet on cellphones because they are highly powerful machines, they are on at all times, and there are over 1 billion of the devices that can possibly act as mindless slaves to the botnet’s creators.

Zachary Ankeny

After attaining my Associates Degree in Visual communications in 2000, I set off on a long career as a freelance writer and graphic designer. I have designed and headed many marketing campaigns for companies big and small all around the country. It is my belief that graphic design and writing go hand-in-hand, as they are both forms of communication. My non-fiction works have been published in dozens of magazines and publications. I have written for – and worked with – organizations such as: Banner Hospitals, The Jerome Historical Society, The Arizona Historical Society, City of Tempe, City of Bakersfield, Town of Gilbert, Wildhorse Ranch Rescue, Cynic Magazine, e|Fiction Magazine, and many more. Writing and designing is my passion and I look forward to continuing on with it for many years to come.

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Google vs. Yahoo: Choose Your Side

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Search engine giants have had quite a summer thus far. While Yahoo has been busy unveiling its mobile-specific web browser Yahoo Axis, and publicly announcing that it was moving back to its original roots in ad-based strategies, Google – it seems – has taken the approach of: ‘let’s buy everything we can and make it ours.’

There is no denying that Google’s approach is a legal and lucrative way to expand your business, but many lately are asking: ‘is it ethical?’

There is a growing sense of distrust and loathing for Google amidst all of its purchases, updates, product unveilings, and day to day workings. Without a doubt, Google is the leader of search engines and is quickly becoming a leader of both the gadget and software fields as well.

By reaching its hundreds of arms into every corner of the tech industry, Google has the money, science, tech knowledge, and power to change the face of any market it is holding – for better or for worse.

With news of Google acquisitions, products, services and gadgets coming out daily, sometimes hourly, Yahoo’s Interim CEO Ross Levinsohn has guided his company to act quickly on its future endeavors.

Only a day ago, news broke that Yahoo had announced a global deal with Spotify, an online music program that has seen breakout success this past year. This is where the differences in strategies between Yahoo and Google become very apparent. While Google takes the stance of simply buying smaller companies outright. Yahoo has been busy brokering deals and partnerships with the companies it sees promise in. In fact, today Yahoo also announced it had struck partnership deals with both Clear Channel and I Heart Radio

Another aspect to Yahoo’s newly adopted business model is that they seem to be striving for more executive expertise. Yahoo recently hired John Buchanan (Former VP of Marketing for Electronic Arts) and Rich Cusick (Formerly of Chemistry.com) as the new VP of Entertainment and Women’s Lifestyles.

As the race heats up between these two companies, we are sure to get more updates and press releases throughout the remainder of the summer. Whether you are a die-hard fan of Google or a Yahoo-loyal holdout, every web user will win from this. As the rival search engine companies continue to out-create, out-develop, and one-up each other, we will get a steady stream of new toys.

Zachary Ankeny

After attaining my Associates Degree in Visual communications in 2000, I set off on a long career as a freelance writer and graphic designer. I have designed and headed many marketing campaigns for companies big and small all around the country. It is my belief that graphic design and writing go hand-in-hand, as they are both forms of communication. My non-fiction works have been published in dozens of magazines and publications. I have written for – and worked with – organizations such as: Banner Hospitals, The Jerome Historical Society, The Arizona Historical Society, City of Tempe, City of Bakersfield, Town of Gilbert, Wildhorse Ranch Rescue, Cynic Magazine, e|Fiction Magazine, and many more. Writing and designing is my passion and I look forward to continuing on with it for many years to come.

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Monetizing Pinterest

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Interesting topics were discussed over the weekend at the “AngelHack – Hackathon” in Palo Alto, CA. Part convention – part trade expo, AngelHack  brings developers from all around the country into one arena, allowing developers to showcase their products and ideas, while hoping for seed capital from prospective investors.

While some of the ideas were hits, and some were misses, the future of one idea wasn’t up for debate. Francisco Guerrero, CEO of Pintics (an analytics tool built specifically to track trends and statistics related to the social media site “Pinterest”), unveiled Shopinterest.co – described as a “Shopify” for Pinterest.

Shopinterest will allow users to utilize their “boards” and “pins” as product thumbnails for a salable product. “Our Pinterest analytics service targets large e-commerce companies,” said Guerrero, “but after we saw the large volume of sales generated via Pinterest, we decided to help regular users join in the fun and profits.”While Guerrero was very excited about this project, he was also careful to not divulge all of the details of it. The public only has a snapshot of what Shopinterest will eventually be, at this point, but it promises to be ground-breaking.

However, it remains to be seen how users will react to the monetization of Pinterest. As the majority of social networking sites are making the move into the “profit” sector, these sites also must carefully balance the relationship between e-commerce and free entertainment; otherwise their viewers/users could easily turn on them and make the site obsolete. (cough) Myspace.

Shopinterest is expected to continue its initial development for the next few months and begin linking shopping carts to Pinterest within the year. While no one can foresee if this project will be a success or a failure, it IS an interesting concept and – if done right – could draw even more users to Pinterest.com

Zachary Ankeny

After attaining my Associates Degree in Visual communications in 2000, I set off on a long career as a freelance writer and graphic designer. I have designed and headed many marketing campaigns for companies big and small all around the country. It is my belief that graphic design and writing go hand-in-hand, as they are both forms of communication. My non-fiction works have been published in dozens of magazines and publications. I have written for – and worked with – organizations such as: Banner Hospitals, The Jerome Historical Society, The Arizona Historical Society, City of Tempe, City of Bakersfield, Town of Gilbert, Wildhorse Ranch Rescue, Cynic Magazine, e|Fiction Magazine, and many more. Writing and designing is my passion and I look forward to continuing on with it for many years to come.

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Web Traffic on Mobile Devices Changing-up The Cell Phone Industry

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It is no secret that – these days – the majority of cellular phone owners browse the internet and text more than making actual calls. With the growing number of apps and games that hit the Droid and iPhone Markets every day, it is no surprise.

This being said, it is also no surprise that phone service carriers are beginning to tweak their marketing strategies toward this new style of phone use. AT&T were the first to announce to the business and consumer worlds that they were moving to unveil their first round of data-only plans. These plans were prompted by the growing number of people using their phones only for text and data, and making phone calls through many of the web call options that are out there these days.

Realizing that they simply couldn’t compete with the web services offering calls for cheaper – or sometimes even free, depending on the site – AT&T knew that a move toward Data-Only was sure necessary.

The plans, expected to be introduced within the next two years, are designed to target the declining number of minutes used per month in current plans. Under the new plans, the term “data” would not coincide with its traditional definition – that is, it would not refer to text and internet usage only. The idea is to systematically phase out the term “minutes,” or any use of time spent on calls, and replace the metered time with the amount of data used by the calls. In-short, calls will still be able to be made, but would use a portion of your allowed data instead.

While the announcement has been made, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told the public on Wednesday June 6th, that while it is not a definite plan yet, he expects that people will be using data-only plans within the next 24 months.

While this move is still in its initial planning stages, it is a very logical goal for phone service providers who have been struggling to adjust to the ever-changing mobile market.

Zachary Ankeny

After attaining my Associates Degree in Visual communications in 2000, I set off on a long career as a freelance writer and graphic designer. I have designed and headed many marketing campaigns for companies big and small all around the country. It is my belief that graphic design and writing go hand-in-hand, as they are both forms of communication. My non-fiction works have been published in dozens of magazines and publications. I have written for – and worked with – organizations such as: Banner Hospitals, The Jerome Historical Society, The Arizona Historical Society, City of Tempe, City of Bakersfield, Town of Gilbert, Wildhorse Ranch Rescue, Cynic Magazine, e|Fiction Magazine, and many more. Writing and designing is my passion and I look forward to continuing on with it for many years to come.

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Yahoo Axis: A Game-Changer

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On May 23rd of 2012 Yahoo unveiled its latest incarnation of search engines. Entitled “Axis,” this utility is the first-ever search engine to be designed specifically for mobile devices. While the search engine can also be accessed from any home PC or Mac, the website is specifically directed toward handheld devices.

Visually astounding, with its sleek black design, Axis not only produces highly refined search results, but also takes a new approach as to how the results are displayed. Framed in two separate windows, the actual content of the selected website is displayed in the lower third of the screen, while screen-shot previews of related material and websites are displayed in the top portion of the screen. With a simple flick of your finger, or drag of your mouse, the website is brought into an expanded view and the related search results are hidden.

Another useful feature of Axis is that all of the search results are loaded onto one screen, enabling the user to simply scroll through the page previews from left to right. Instead of having to navigate through multiple pages of search results, the user can stay on one single page and scroll through hundreds of target pages.

Navigation is also simplified in this application. If a user accesses Axis via Iphone or Ipad, the application works as a stand-alone browser, bypassing safari or any other browser choice. When used as a stand-alone browser, the built-in Yahoo search engine is the default, but it is still possible to navigate to Bing, Google, or your favorite search engine. The only down-side to using a search engine other than the yahoo Axis build is that the search results are not given as visual previews, but rather are displayed in a classic list format.

When it comes to search engine optimization, a side by side comparison of the search results from the Axis and traditional yahoo search will give two completely different sets of results. The Axis application is still in its infancy, and it is not yet known what algorithm is in-place to produce search results. What exact steps the program takes in analyzing the request, and sorting the results may take some time to perfect, but as of right now, the results produced tend to be more visually intensive pages.

While Axis still has some growing pains to work out, its creation was aimed to become both a rival of and champion over Apple’s Safari browser. In this respect, Axis has had a triumphant and positive opening. Axis has been climbing the “Most Popular” and Top 100” charts within the App Store, and offers a new and exciting browser with the potential to change mobile browsing forever.

Zachary Ankeny

After attaining my Associates Degree in Visual communications in 2000, I set off on a long career as a freelance writer and graphic designer. I have designed and headed many marketing campaigns for companies big and small all around the country. It is my belief that graphic design and writing go hand-in-hand, as they are both forms of communication. My non-fiction works have been published in dozens of magazines and publications. I have written for – and worked with – organizations such as: Banner Hospitals, The Jerome Historical Society, The Arizona Historical Society, City of Tempe, City of Bakersfield, Town of Gilbert, Wildhorse Ranch Rescue, Cynic Magazine, e|Fiction Magazine, and many more. Writing and designing is my passion and I look forward to continuing on with it for many years to come.

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