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Google’s New Privacy Policy – How Does it Affect You?

By Beth Alexander · Comments (0)

Monday, February 27th, 2012

Eye through keyhole ©Beth Alexander Beginning this Thursday, March 1st, Google will consolidate the privacy policies across all 60 of the products, services and websites offered by Google Inc. or its subsidiaries or affiliated companies except Postini. At first glance it sounds like a reasonable move on Google’s part. The kicker is in the unified policy that will allow Google to share information across its entire growing online empire of programs and services. According to this Washington Post Article ; Google says that a primary goal of its approach is to simplify and enhance the Google experience, including by matching users with ads that should be of greater interest to them. In other words they will have more data to work with by combining users’ history across all Google products. Do you really want Google tracking your every move online and through your Android mobile devices so they can increase the value of the ads they sell thereby increasing their bottom line?

This is a mandatory policy you either take it or leave it. While individuals can’t currently opt out of the new policy, Google does offer a way to pause the online browser tracking used to expose you to targeted ads.

Log into your Google Dashboard to review and control the information stored in your Google Account
Click “settings” in the upper right corner
On the settings page locate the “Services” section,
Click on “Go to web history”, found next to “View, enable, or disable web history”
On the web history page you can click on Remove all web history” this will pause tracking your web searches

The new policy states: “We may use the name you provide for your Google Profile across all of the services we offer that require a Google Account. In addition, we may replace past names associated with your Google Account so that you are represented consistently across all our services”.

A Google+ account requires a real name from its users, while a YouTube account does not. As of March 1, your real name could appear across all Google’s products.

Attorneys General from 36 states and territories have come together to collectively express concern over Google’s planned changes to its privacy policies. In a letter drafted this week by the National Association of Attorneys General addressed to Google Chief Executive Officer Larry Page, Google’s privacy policy changes were strongly criticized. I urge you to read the full letter.

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Categories : Web/Tech

Tags : Google, privacy

Learn How Google Handles Paid Directories

By Beth Alexander · Comments (0)

Friday, February 24th, 2012

Paid Directories Seem Like a Good Idea to Help Generate Traffic for Your New Web Site but…

Not all paid directories are equal in the eyes of search engine giant, Google.

You have just launched your shiny new web site, now all you need is some traffic. Before you pay to have your website listed in as many directories as you can find, stop for a moment and consider how these paid listings could adversely effect your SEO results. In the video below Matt Cutts of Google explains how they handle paid directories

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Categories : SEO

Changes to Google’s Search Page Design

By Beth Alexander · Comments (0)

Monday, February 20th, 2012

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes…

Notice anything different today about Google’s patented search page design? A new Google+ Share button now appears in the top right corner. If you don’t yet see the button, have no fear it is being rolled out to all users this week. While this may seem like a minor update, it is the first time the Google homepage itself has included any functionality other than search.

Personally having the Google+ share button on the search homepage doesn’t make sense to me from a user perspective. Why would I go to the search homepage to share something with my Google+ network?

Google Plus Share Button Introduced

And that’s not the only design change in the works. In November of last year Google announced plans to roll out a complete makeover of the Google Bar as seen in the video below. But they quickly reverted back to the old design. Clearly they are still searching for ways to get more traction for Google+ and improve accessibility for users.

On February 09, 2012 Google posted the following on the official Google Blog:

Two months ago, we announced our plans to roll out a new design for the Google bar. Our goal was to create a beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google. Based on your feedback, we realized there were some elements of the new bar that we could improve, and with that in mind, we’re introducing an updated version that we believe will provide a better experience.

The new design retains many of the feature changes we made in November that proved popular, including a unified search box and Google+ sharing and notifications across Google. The biggest change is that we’ve replaced the drop-down Google menu with a consistent and expanded set of links running across the top of the page.

This redesign is slated to roll out “over the next few weeks”. You can read more about the new Google bar here on the Google Help site.

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Categories : Web/Tech

Will Google’s Pending Cloud Storage Service Be the End of Dropbox?

By Beth Alexander · Comments (0)

Friday, February 10th, 2012

photo credit: Håkan Dahlström

Rumors have been circulating since around 2006-2007 about a cloud storage offering from Google. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is very close to launching a service that will rival Dropbox. Google’s storage service, called Drive, will allow users to store and share documents, videos, and photos on Google’s servers and access them across mobile, tablet and desktop devices. The launch date is still vague, said to be in the coming weeks or months.

The service is expected to have native syncing, allowing users to drag and drop a file and then access it immediately from a variety of devices. As with many of its services, Google is expected to offer Drive for free with a fee for users and businesses choosing to store large amounts of data. While Google has not answered questions concerning the amount of free storage to be offered, many expect it to be significantly more than the 2GB of free storage offered by Dropbox.

Even arriving late to the table, Google is expected to be competitive with Apple’s icloud, Amazons Web Storage Service, and Dropbox, among others by out-pricing the competition and leveraging their extensive user base.

As a freelancer I find the prospect of more free storage space enticing. But I’ll wait to see if they can actually launch this time. What about you? Will you leave Dropbox for Google Drive?

Google has reportedly declined to comment.

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Categories : Web/Tech

Tags : google storage cloud

Mozilla Releases Firefox 10

By Beth Alexander · Comments (0)

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Mozilla Releases Firefox 10 Update

Today Mozilla released Firefox 10 Update of its open-source web browser, available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. Version 10 includes a handful of new features and improvements.

The most notable change for the average user is a minor adjustment to the browser navigation bar – an auto-hiding forward button. The forward button is now hidden until you navigate back.

Behind the scenes are several bug fixes, streamlined add-on support, and support for full screen APIs. allowing developers to build Web experiences that leverage the entire screen. Full-Screen API enables developers to create full screen games, immersive video experiences and rich presentation sharing

One of the notable vulnerabilities addressed in Firefox 10 could open users to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks because the browser did not properly run a security check when calling untrusted scripting objects, said Mozilla.

“The fix enables the Script Security Manager (SSM) to force security checks on all frame scripts,” noted in this advisory.

Mozilla also fixed several bugs that caused Firefox crashes, including one traced to a recent Java update that Apple shipped to users last year, that caused many Firefox fans to jump ship in frustration.

Of special note for web designers and developers, version 10 adds a scratchpad using the Eclipse Orion code editor and new Page and Style Inspectors that will provide detailed CSS information.

Anti-aliasing for WebGL content will smooth out rough edges, and CSS3D Transforms will bring 3D animation to 2D objects.

Firefox 10 also marks the debut of the “Extended Support Release,” intended for enterprises that don’t want to deal with the hassle of supporting a new browser update every six weeks. ESR releases receive no updates apart from necessary security fixes, and will change versions once every seven releases, making the next release due around November.

More about ESR can be found at this ESR proposal page. This Extended Support Release will be developed parallel to the regular release cycle of six weeks, which Firefox adopted as part of its rapid release strategy, last year.

If you are on the release channel already, your Firefox will be updated to version 10. Alternatively, you can download Firefox 10 here .

Read More About it:

Mozilla Blog

Firefox Features

Firefox Tour -Become a Firefox Expert in 8 Easy Steps

Features Desktop Add-on Hotfix

Firefox 10 Release Notes

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Categories : Web/Tech

Tags : browsers, Firefox

Open DNS Announces DNSCrypt

By Beth Alexander · Comments (0)

Friday, January 27th, 2012

DNSCrypt is a piece of lightweight software that everyone should use to boost online privacy and security. It works by encrypting all DNS traffic between the user and OpenDNS, preventing any spying, spoofing or man-in-the-middle attacks.

It should be of particular interest to you if you frequently surf the web on open Wifi networks at coffee shops, airports, hotel lobbies, and the like. These types of public networks are notoriously insecure, and make it easy for cyber criminals and ISPs alike to see what you’re doing online and spy, spoof and conduct Man in the Middle attacks.

DNSCrypt encrypts, or hides, the communication between your computer or tablet and Open DNS servers while you’re browsing the Web. What?! You are not using OpenDNS servers? OpenDNS can help speed up your Internet service, make it more reliable, and improve your security.

Building Authority for Your Website Takes Time

By Beth Alexander · Comments (0)

Saturday, November 19th, 2011

This Internet marketing infographic by Vertical Measures guides you through the key tactics that can be used to build authority for your website. These tactics fall into three major categories; link building, social media marketing and content marketing.

The Authority Building Machine also warns against using black hat practices that could land a website in search engine jail, a place that is not easy to escape. So stay on track and have fun!

Internet Marketing Infographic by Vertical Measures