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As I continue to get emails from companies stating my information may have been compromised, I think to myself, “Are people really comprehending the magnitude of the data breaches in today’s world?” Sure, it was “just emails” (they think), but the point is that my information–and maybe yours–was released without permission.

What’s the risk?  Well, more SPAM of course.  Being the technology field, I am very cautious about what I open and don’t, but there are a lot of people out there that do fall for these scams (Nigeria…., make $5,000 just to…, etc.).  My mother-in-law was one of those people.  She lost $3,000 to a scam.  A life lesson, I hope, she learned the hard way.  If she would have only asked me, I would have saved her a lot of heartburn.

As a software architect, it’s my job to ensure that every possible measure is in place to prevent data from being compromised.  Sure, there’s not a 100% hacker proof system (and if someone tells you that, they are lying), but you can put up many doors and locks to frustrate them, making them move on.

The Epsilon attack appears to be done from an outsider and those attacks are the ones most IT professionals (developers and network engineers) seem to focus on.  The other side to this is an attack from within the company (someone who works for you).  The rules for known or internal users seem to be less stringent.  I consult development and network teams to understand that internal and external threats have the same magnitude.

So, what should you do about it?

• Don’t open email from someone you don’t know.
• Don’t open attachments you were not expecting, this includes from people you do know
• Companies will never ask you to give sensitive information, such as usernames, password, social security number, date of birth, etc.) over the phone or email.  If you do get a request and are not sure, just call the company directly using the contact information from the company’s website.
• Don’t click on any links within an email.  Tip: You can also hover over the link and a tool-tip will appear with the details of the link.  If you don’t recognize the URL or in doubt, don’t click it.
• Don’t download the pictures within the email until you verify it is from a trusted source
• Look at the email address the email was sent from (this isn’t 100% accurate, but something to check)

Be careful out there!

Wonder what was going through General Motors execs’ brains when they issued the memo directing employees to stop using “Chevy” as a nickname for Chevrolet?

Perhaps their branding advisors were trying to focus attention on the intended moniker, Chevrolet.  Good so far.  It’s difficult to manage two brands that mean essentially the same thing, so any company should attempt to use just one.  Branding 101 tells us this.

Problem is when the two terms are deeply embedded in the American psyche, there’s not much a company can do even when they want to.  You’d have to be coming up on your 100th birthday to say you were born before the introduction of the Chevrolet automobile in 1911.  Wikipedia states in its entry on Chevrolet that “”Chevrolet” or “Chevy” are at times synonymous with GM”.

Synonymous.  As in “synonym”.  Again according to Wikipedia:

“Some lexicographers claim that no synonyms have exactly the same meaning (in all contexts or social levels of language) because etymology, orthography, phonic qualities, ambiguous meanings, usage, etc. make them unique. Different words that are similar in meaning usually differ for a reason: feline is more formal than cat; long and extended are only synonyms in one usage and not in others (for example, a long arm is not the same as an extended arm). “

In this case, “Chevy” is seen as the working class nickname for Chevrolet. This is essentially an extension of Chevrolet equity into a second name.  Not a bad thing.  A good thing, and not something to “fix”, because the working class is a significant part of GM’s customer base.

GM has already backtracked on this memo, issuing a press release that attempted to explain the memo as “a rough draft” or something intended for the non-US market.  They have re-embraced the term “Chevy” by saying “We love it when people call us Chevy”.

And they’d better.  As the world watches to see if the reconstituted GM can lift out of bankruptcy and become a major automotive force again, the last thing they should want is for their user base to be told they can’t use the nickname everyone knows and seems to love.

Straighten out the pointy-headed strategist behind this memo. Branding 101 sometimes needs to be thrown out the window, and this is one of those cases.

After moving to a new house this past week, we decided to forgo the hassles and expense of cable television (see ya Comcast). Instead, we plan to begin streaming online video, combined with Netflix.

Meantime, we’re still unpacking, buried in the multitude of things to do accompanying a move.  So we’re reliant on the newfangled digital broadcasting world that was rolled in 2009.  Argh.

Reception is awful, and we’re close to most of the signals, living on the near east side of Indianapolis.  Admittedly, we don’t have a fancy multi-directional antenna or a rooftop antenna.  But we do have two setups, one with the digital converter box and one digital television, and both with antennas.

Naturally I assumed that digital TV would be NO WORSE than the old fashioned analog signals that have been around since the 1950′s.  I could not have been more wrong.  Very few stations are received consistently.  Most signals break up and are so unstable as to be unwatchable.  Some don’t come in at all, unless the antenna is repositioned.  There is no antenna position in either setup that brings in all of the major local stations in an acceptable manner.

I wonder if our experience is common to others, but I don’t doubt that it is.  In the old days, people bought fancy antennas if they were in fringe areas (50+ miles from the station transmitters) but we are probably only ten miles from most of the transmitters.  Currently about 10% of US residents do not subscribe to cable or satellite TV.  I’m not sure how they stand it, though.

Right now, I’m thinking that federally mandated digital television is a fraud.

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If you’re a regular seller on eBay, you may already know that eBay has discontinued its popular “Store” format, effective April 1, 2010.

Communication on this topic from eBay has been confusing at best, as they’ve tried to position it as a rate decrease for its “Buy-it –Now” listings rather than a rate increase for those who used the old store format.

The difference between the “Buy it Now” format and the store format is that the former was available in full search, while the store listings are just that—store listings that resided in a less visible environment.

In eliminating stores, eBay has effectively raised the price of a monthly listing for a typical store owner from 3 cents to 20 cents.  This applies to basic store owners who pay $15.95 per

month for the storefront.  A store owner now has the option of paying $299.95 per month for what is called an “anchor” store, which gets them the 3 cent monthly listing fee.  An in-between price point is the “premium” store at $49.95 per month and 5 cent monthly listings.

The  benefit offered with these price increases is that all fixed price listings will be fully searchable.  Whether this is a good trade-off or a bad one is best evaluated on an individual seller basis.  Certainly the net effect of this sweeping change will be easier to evaluate once the price changes go into effect.

As one of those long-time store owners, I can tell you how it affects me.  I’m closing my two stores on 3/31/2010.

I primarily sell collectible vinyl records.  While there is much ballyhoo in the media about the comeback of vinyl, it’s still a fact that most vinyl records–like a very large % of collectibles– are not fast sellers.  Only those with unusually high demand relative to supply will sell quickly on eBay, despite the massive traffic eBay delivers.  So the store format has provided a great solution for items that—while valuable—are not going to sell in a week, a month or maybe even a year even in a high traffic environment.  Much like items in a brick and mortar store, they wait until the right buyer comes along.

Based on the howls of protest on eBay forums and other sites, clearly I am in good company.  eBay will be eliminating a large number of listings with this change and a lot of revenue with those listings.  That may well have been their intent—to rid the site of slower selling merchandise.  If that is the case, we’ll see what the “laws of unintended consequences” have in store for eBay.

If your business needs e-commerce, eBay is less of a solution today than it was before this change.   Unless you are a high-volume seller, eBay has taken a large price increase and priced many of you out of the market.  Is eBay an April Fool?

We’ll be watching closely to see if any of the alternatives to eBay, like Etsy, Bonanzle, eCrater and others are able to take advantage.  More importantly, we’ll be focused on what to recommend for our e-commerce clients in this post-April Fools world.

It’s fun for users and the potential benefits for location-based businesses are considerable.  What business wouldn’t want folks to push their location to the social media world?  Great opportunities for specials, incentives and other promotional ventures are definitely there.  Foursquare is cutting some big deals with national companies because of this potential.

I’m going to disclose my bias right now.  I absolutely can’t stand Foursquare.

It’s the pollution factor.  Foursquare users generate gazillions of meaningless tweets for those of us who follow them, especially on Twitter.  It’s a parade of  “I’m at Starbucks” , followed by the even more exciting “I just became mayor of Starbucks” or “I just unlocked the explorer badge at Starbucks.”

When we talk to potential new Twitter users, the preconception is this: that Twitter exists so people can tell each other where they’re hanging out and what they are having for lunch.  Narcissistic junk.

Generally, our answer has been, well, you wouldn’t want to follow people who do that.  Those people,we say, are not using social media to advantage.  Twitter’s not narcisstic if used properly.  Use social media to provide information, help solve problems, inspire, connect.  Rather quickly, most Twitter users learn to provide value and not add “noise”.

So now we have Foursquare, bringing the noise, bigtime.   Uncomfortably, many people we follow on Twitter who otherwise provide a lot of value are also messing with Foursquare.  The social media gods are pushing it.  There is a lot of trial right now.

We’re not unfollowing people who tweet their Foursquare locations, at least not yet.  But still, it’s annoying.  We hate to see Twitter undermined by a game.

There’s actually a much bigger problem with Foursquare, since by checking in and broadcasting your location, you’re also telling the world where you’re NOT.  As in, not at home.  Hello, burglars.

To graphically illustrate this issue comes a site called Please Rob Me, which picks up Foursquare tweets and offers the information to the web-o-sphere.   As if the bad guys need help.

This is a serious issue, compared to the annoyance factor of useless tweets.  It conjures up visions of “CSI-Virtual World”, a hot new show where villains hack to death hapless social media freaks each week to the sounds of mournful indie rock.  PleaseRobMe.com obviously has hit on a real caution here.

I admit it, though.  “I’m at Starbucks” is what bugs me.  And it really bugs me.

If you aren’t already clued in to Google Buzz, it’s an expanded function of Google’s popular Gmail.  Click the Buzz icon and see your friends’ posts on Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and other social sites.  But so far, I don’t see how to connect Facebook.  Nor do I see how to add the social network of your choice.  So at this point, it’s limited.

However, because Gmail has so many users (38 million unique users as of 2009, according to Mashable)  Google Buzz debuts as a huge thing, with already more users than Twitter.

The key question for me is this:  how you use Gmail.  I use it primarily as a “personal” address for things not directly related to business and I don’t think I’m alone here.  It’s an accepted best practice to use an email address from your business domain rather than a Gmail address for your business.

So my Gmail address book does not include most of my key business contacts, and since I use social media primarily for business, there’s a disconnect.  In fact, when Buzz launched, it connected me with only about a dozen people  So far, only one of these people is showing up on my Buzz stream.  Not too interesting, eh?  So for me, the net impact of Google Buzz  is not very big.

I know there are many folks using Gmail (especially Gmail for business)  as their primary business email.  Google Buzz will work well for them.   It will also work well for those who do not want to fool with the setup and ramp-up necessary to make Twitter a good experience.   Further, Google will eventually make Buzz more functional and thereby more central to users’ daily lives.

If we’ve learned one thing in the past decade, it’s to never underestimate Google.

What do you think?  What’s Google Buzz doing for you?

Huh, I said to myself, while also pondering the grammatical error in the group title.  Didn’t know that had happened.  How did I miss it?

I went right to Indy Star and the Indianapolis Business Journal to read more about it, but there was nothing.  Nothing at all.

Back at the Facebook page, there were dozens of comments of support for Jimmy, and even comments from Jimmy himself  (Be nice to Q95, he said.  He still has lots of friends there).  The page had been started way back on Saturday, January 9, at 11:52 am.  But there was no news anywhere else that I could find via Google.  So I blogged about it on Tuesday afternoon, and then, as I often do,  used Twitter to promote the blog post and the news.  Meanwhile, good old RSS immediately fed my blog post to LinkedIn, Smaller Indiana and Facebook.

It took until Wednesday morning (January 13) for the news to hit IBJ, and until that afternoon for Indy Star to cover it.  FOUR DAYS after the Facebook page was started, the mainstream media was finally on it.

My blogging about Jimmy’ s departure is an inconsequential piece to the story, because I don’t have a large readership.  Every bit of communication sends out its own ripples, though, and that is exactly why I auto-feed my blog to social networking sites, to extend the reach as much as possible.

What is huge is that the news got out on Facebook and people were jumping in to publicly support Jimmy Matis long before the news media was able to catch up and publish something.

That’s not a knock on our local journalists who do a heroic job in the face of great challenges.  It’s a reflection on the contemporary news cycle, as well as the increasingly limited resources at these media companies, as they struggle with their disappearing bottom lines.

It’s certainly true that Twitter and Facebook are proving to be the first–and sometimes only–means of communication when tragedy strikes, such as in Haiti. What’s just as significant to me is that it is no longer possible for big media to consistently deliver the news to the rest of us fast than we can deliver it to each other, even though our grammar may not always be up to par.

PS:  My best wishes to Jimmy “Mad Dog” Matis, a quality guy who I”m confident will land on his feet.

Jimmy “Mad Dog” Matis, mid-day voice of WFBQ Q-95, has been let go after a mere 25 years at the station. This follows sports talker JMV’s abrupt departure from sister station WNDE and his subsequent replacement by old Q hand Mark Patrick. Matis had filled in for JMV during the part of the transition.  Hard to believe there is not a relationship between these changes and Matis’ being shown the door.

Supporters have started a Facebook page in protest.

So for practical purposes 35% (and growing) are cell phone only in the US.

Lots of implications for marketers here, yes?

No.  Not really.

But we think our news is significant.  Three seasoned professionals have joined forces to form the nucleus of Keywerx, a company which focuses on online marketing solutions.

Pam Weaver and Rick Wilkerson are veteran Indianapolis marketing consultants.  Each began their careers at storied Top 10 advertising agencies:  Weaver at Foot Cone & Belding in New York City, and Wilkerson at Leo Burnett in Chicago.

Additionally, each has significant experience in Central Indiana.  Pam Weaver has directed the marketing efforts of the Indiana Convention Bureau and Visitor’s Association, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Indiana University Auditorium.  Wilkerson has managed the McDonald’s Restaurants advertising cooperative for Central Indiana.  Both Weaver and Wilkerson have managed their own marketing and advertising businesses for several years.  Pam has operated Weavers Total Media, while Rick has owned Wilkerson Strategic Marketing.

They are joined in Keywerx by Chris Straw of Outer Limits Tech.  Chris specializes in software and database solutions, especially related to web applications and websites.  Outer Limits Tech has lengthy experience with Indiana FSSA (Family and Social Services Administration) and the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.