That Computer Guy

The Australian Government’s plans to introduce an internet filter have taken a bit of a blow lately, with the admission by a spokesperson that it is unlikely the bill will be tabled until much later in the year. Given the levels of negative attention the proposal has received, and that we have a federal election due, it’s a fair bet that the filter will be shelved for the forseeable future.

Which, frankly, is bloody fantastic.

Now you might think that a technology professional such as myself might support the idea -  sorry, no dice. The technical implementation of the filter has more holes than a block of swiss cheese, here’s just a couple of the key points that have me wondering:

1. Trials of the filter were conducted by just 9 ISP’s, none of them majors, and no information as to the numbers of users each of those ISP’s had signed up to the trial. (Although it’s rumoured that one ISP had just 15 users!
2. If a site is added to the blacklist, who does the adding? And against what criteria? Is there a going to be an unfiltered internet to be monitored for potential inclusions? (Stories of MP’s caught “researching” pornographic websites are sure to abound!) And given that it’s supposed to be a secret list, how do you get your website off of it, if you don’t know you’re on it?

As said technology professional, I won’t be supporting the filter, regardless of its noble aims. The reasons for this are best explained in this excellent analogy left as a comment on a news article that appeared earlier today:

“Unbelievable. Imagine if this was happening in a different portfolio, say one to do with transport.

Say a new, but old fashion toll booth style system was being setup on the Sydney Harbour Bridge to check that children in cars were wearing seatbelts because parents weren’t trusted to buckle up their kids.

The new system can handle only 1,000 cars per hour. If any more cars try to use the bridge they cannot be processed fast enough and the traffic backs up and eventually grinds to a halt.

That’s ok at the moment because currently less than 1,000 cars will pass though the bridge per hour.

However, with the expected growth of the city it is forecast that many 1000′s more cars will be using the bridge every hour very soon after the system will be put in place.

The Government have decided to build and put in place the system anyway to protect the children because something must be done and will only undertake a review of the system should more than 1000 cars try to use the bridge per hour.

Would the people of Sydney allow the Government to spend millions of dollars setting this up knowing that it will fail once more than 1000 cars start using the bridge, which has been forecast and then allow the Government to spend even more money trying to fix it?

Of course not, in fact I doubt everyone else around Australia, not just those in Sydney (who would be affected by this hypothetical situation) would approve of this massive waste of money.

I find it very, very sad that just because the ISP Filtering and the NBN are in a communications portfolio the majority of Australia’s think they’ll not be able to understand the issue and just agree with or eat up what ever Conroy spoon feeds them.

As I was trying to say with the example above, implementing an Internet filter would never be accepted and there would be a huge backlash if the people actually understood what is going on because just as the seatbelt checking stations above would wreck the transportation system in Sydney, ISP Filtering will cause massive problems to the Australian Internet.”

Australia – 55th in the world

Now you can hardly say Australia has a stellar reputation for speedy internet links anyway (a measely 55th in the world, according to the latest Akamai State of the Internet report), and yet this filter could potentially slow them down even more? Madness!

Oh, and if the technical reasons weren’t enough, even the communications minister putting the proposal forward has indicated that the filter can be bypassed and those doing so wouldn’t be prosecuted. Eh?

So, quick recap then:

The Australian Government wants to spend $24million on an internet filter that secretly monitors a (relative) handful of sites, potentially slows down internet access and can be legally circumvented.

Yep, that sounds like a great plan to me… (forgive me for sounding jaded, I do have to disclose that I have little faith in politicians from the outset, but when one of them comes up with a plan like this, can you wonder at it?)

What do you think? Is the internet filter a good idea or a bad one? All comments are welcome.

photo credit: eleanor.black

As any marketing strategy used by a small business must provide a decent return; social media with its low entry cost, has quickly become a must-have tool for marketing small businesses.

Of course, as with everything new and shiny, there is always a level of uncertainty, distrust and maybe even fear. Even though the entry cost is low to none, this uncertainty can cause the biggest barrier to its widespread use: that of putting a dollar figure on its returns. Indeed, to some it is akin to finding ‘The Holy Grail’.

Last week, my good friend Rick posted up an interview with Scott Williams, one of Australia’s top personal trainers. In it, Scott talks about how he used Facebook to generate a $40,000+ boost to his bottom line, costing him little more than an hour of his time. You can read the interview here, and once you’re done, please feel free to let me know if you still think Facebook is “just a waste of time”!

Quick update: I caught up with Rick for a chat about this and other things last night; he told me that in the 10 days since he launched his own Facebook Fan Page, the increase in his site traffic has exceeded all his expectations and he now believes it will be a cornerstone strategy in the growth of his business.

Ouch.

Much like going to the dentist, backing up your data is something you know you should do regularly, yet regularly gets forgotten.

A wiser man than I once said:

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

In today’s day and age, Ben Franklin’s statement could also include “…and losing your data”, because believe me, at some point in your computer life, be it through hardware failure, theft or “Oh shit, I hit the wrong key!” it will happen.

(I feel qualified to say this as I used to run a data backup service)

And to bring us back to the dentist analogy, when it does go wrong, you know it’s likely to cost you a small fortune (think circa $2K for a dead hard drive).

Why you shouldn’t be using a USB drive

You’ve probably discovered the idea of using a removable USB drive by now. I like them because they’re simple, and they do solve the immediate issue of duplicating your data. For my mind though, they offer a false sense of security.

Sure, you’ve got a copy of your data, but unless you are super vigilant and doing your backups every night, and then taking that USB drive somewhere away from your home or office, a fire or theft is still going to leave you back at square one.

Look Out, Here Comes A Time Saving Tip!

Here’s a much simpler idea: Online Backup. Download the client software, tell it what you want to backup and when, and you’re done. No really – that’s it; your data is automatically backed up at whatever interval you set, whilst also being offsite and far away from any localised threats you may experience.

As far as choices of online backup services go, there are many. I currently use a free service from Mozy; ideal for a single PC, it allows up to 2GB of data to be backed up (rising to US$4.95/month for unlimited data). A business oriented version called MozyPro is also available, priced from US$3.95/month; it allows you to back up multiple PC’s and servers.

If you’re looking closer to home, there is also a company called Carbonite, offering an unlimited plan for AUD$71.99/ year. If you have more than approx 3.5GB of data, Carbonite is the better value offering; they also have an offer running until the end of January: sign up for a year and get two extra months for free.

Yes, there’s a catch…

Just a quick heads-up when using an online backup service for the first time – you will need a decent internet usage plan, plus a bit of time, depending on how much data you wish to upload, for the first backup to complete.

Got a data backup service you use that you’d like to recommend? Have a data loss horror story you’d like to pass on? Tell us all about it in the comments box below.

Photo: Topato

The picture? That’s my TV remote.

What’s that got to do with anything you say? See the worn away patch? That’s the mute button. And it’s telling you that traditional methods of marketing, such as TV ads, are failing.

When I Was A Lad…

Back in the old days (y’know, like the 80’s or something), with no mobile phones and only a handful of TV channels, the way to win the race of getting to the customer was to shout the loudest. Known as “interruption marketing”, TV was the champion.

These days of course, we are bombarded with information everywhere we care to look, wander or listen.

This also means there’s been a shift in who holds the power over what we choose to pay attention to. And guess what – it’s us that are holding the power (or the mute button!).

While there are certain outlets for which the interruption method still works (yes, I’m looking at you Harvey), falling revenues, tougher competition and shorter attention spans mean that they are not as effective as they once were. The good news is that its evolution leaves us with something called “permission marketing”.

Permission Marketing? Wassat?

Based on the idea of creating a relationship with those interested in your service, via ‘opting-in’ to information you produce; it’s a boon for small business owners as it turns the ‘one-to-many’ of interruption marketing on its head, giving us a much more budget friendly ‘many-to-one’ relationship instead.

Thankfully, building that relationship is not as hard, or better still, as expensive, as it may sound. For example, email-marketing is hands down the most cost effective form of permission marketing there is, and can be had for free. Yes, FREE.

Calling All Control Freaks!

Another reason to use permission marketing is control. With many methods of permission marketing being internet based, you have the ability to change something you don’t like at your very fingertips. Try doing that with the copy you supplied Yellow Pages three months ago that has the wrong phone number on it…

And building on this, is your ability to test and measure – vital to knowing if your marketing is working. Running an ad on Google AdWords and its not working as well as you’d hoped? Well then, start tweaking! You may see results in as little as 10 minutes.

The Wrap

Permission marketing comes in many flavours, and while I am (obviously) an advocate of its methods, unless you have the type of business that can support it I wouldn’t recommend sealing the coffin on your traditional advertising just yet. Instead, for now look upon it as a secondary channel of marketing; it won’t break the bank, but you will find it earns its keep a lot quicker than other methods.

If you have any comments or questions about this topic, feel free to let me know in the box below. Alternatively, send me an email via the contact form.

Recently, Google made some hints that page load speed may start becoming a factor in search results next year – their thinking being that the quicker a site loads, the quicker the searcher finds the information they are after. And given this is what Google does, better results reflect better on them.

So following a quick review of this site in the newly released Site Performance section of Webmaster Tools and not liking what I saw:

Ouch!

So I’ve decided that it’s about time for TCG to get a bit of a site refresh. In the coming weeks, I’ll be making some changes to the site – and re-launching it on the awesome Thesis Theme from DIYThemes.

The iNove theme I have been using has served me well this past 9 months or so, but I’ve been building a few sites on Thesis of late, and all I can say is that if you are wondering whether there is a difference between free and paid WordPress themes – the answer, when it comes to Thesis, is definitely YES!

One of Thesis’ major strengths is its impeccable coding; and having the right code in the right place in the infrastructure of your site, well, it’s like the concrete in the foundations of your new apartment building – you want it there!

(Oh, and before I crack another bad metaphor, good coding can also make your website load quicker.)

I also be launching some new services, so look out for the new site in the new year, and have a great festive season!