Your Digital Data: Is it Backed Up?

Sadly, I attended a funeral for a friend and business associate last week. She and her 2 daughters died tragically when the Bed and Breakfast she owned and operated caught fire and burned. Her living space was on the 3rd floor and they were unable to escape. A truly sad day.

I worked with her several years ago enhancing the user experience of her Web site and looking to the future of blogs, social media, etc. deciding where she needed and wanted her business to be. That made me think of the many accounts she held - Web site, blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Who will be able to get into these and remove them? Or post a notice of the recent events?

courtesy of blog.forbes.com

I was reminded of a post I wrote some time ago about including all your digital data information, passwords, URLs and so on in your end-of-life documents. Include them with your will, or at the very least, put them in a safe place away from your business so they can be obtained by another should anything incapacitate you, or in the event of death. 

It's not something we like to think about, but it is more important today than ever with all the technology we use to operate our businesses. Personally, I have PAGES of protected documents that contain all my digital data!

Please, make plans to put all your digital data into secure hands today!

Ciao for now, Paula

Private Social Networks

This is intriguing. Private ways to keep in touch with small groups you establish - family or business - using a mobile app.

Most of us participate in some form of social network whether it's for personal use or for business. And the mobile world has allowed us to do so on the fly from our portable devices. This new way of using social networks will allow us to do more of what we're doing already, but faster and in a more private manner, from our mobile devices.

Group texting apps like GroupMe and Beluga allow you to have a private chat (group messaging), conduct a conference call or share photos with any groups you create using the app.

I can see how these private social networks can be valuable in my own business and family. How about you?

I'd use it to chat with my kids (who both live in different states), conference call with the immediate family or share photos family-wide. I'd also utilize it to communicate with some of my client groups that have more than one decision-maker or multiple team members. This app could be a great time-saver!

I read about this at DuctTapeMarketing.com (John Jantsch). Read his full blog post here.

Death of the Magnetic Stripe Credit Card?

Did you know the magnetic stripe technology was developed back in the 60's? That's 50 years ago! My, how times have changed.

In a recent article, Bob Sullivan at MSNBC says Europe has been slowly eliminating this technology since 2005; what's taking the U.S. so long? The price tag. It's mega dollars for card companies to adopt the newer "chip and PIN" technology. The chip and PIN technology embeds a microchip into the card and is more secure and thus less vulnerable to fraud attempts.

In an attempt to eliminate all magnetic strip cards in the wake of the 2009 breach at Heartland Payment Systems (where millions of credit card numbers were stolen), the European banks are considering the option to refuse to accept magnetic stripe cards for payment transactions. U.S. travelers to Europe may find difficulty in the future if they do not possess the new chip and PIN cards. Some European vending machines and train ticket kiosks already require these "smartcards".

With our fraud rates on a rapid rise, predictions are that our magnetic stripe cards will be a thing of the past. Start planning now.

Read Bob's full article here: The Death of Magnetic Stripe Card

Ciao for now, Paula