Lost in Translation

The New York Times released an article titled If Your Password Is 123456, Just Make It HackMe addressing the popularity of very weak passwords.

Vance (the author) says, “According to a new analysis, one out of five Web users still decides to leave the digital equivalent of a key under the doormat: they choose a simple, easily guessed password like “abc123,” “iloveyou” or even “password” to protect their data.”

This doesn’t surprise me at all. In the years I’ve spent in this industry, I’ve seen many very weak passwords. As a web designer, some clients will authorize me to set up their site and create email accounts for them. This means they’ll give me the password they want used. Often, I’ve had to go back to them with a new password since their chosen one was too weak for the system to accept. Even the client’s alternative password, though finally accepted by the server, are still often far too weak to be secure. (more…)

I, like many others in my field, see the term Web 2.0 and cringe. More so when used inappropriately. Then we hear and see people in our own field using it inappropriately, and groan and smack our foreheads.

This, like a lot of lingo, is often thrown around without a real understanding of what it is and what it means.

Let me put it like this: I’ve avoided jobs where I saw postings from people stating they want someone who understood Web 2.0. Or that they wanted a Web 2.0 website. Because I would have to ask them, “What do you mean by Web 2.0? What does Web 2.0 mean to you in this context?”. And they’ll decide that I’m the idiot here and clearly I don’t know anything. After all, EVERYONE knows what Web 2.0 is, right?

It is almost physically painful for me to hear someone to ask, “Do you know Web 2.0?”. (more…)

One of the purposes of this blog is to clear up technology myths. I ran across an interesting article that just screamed to be written about in this blog.

This piece of “news” was released a few days ago: EXCLUSIVE: W.H. collects Web users’ data without notice.

In a nutshell, the article says “The White House is collecting and storing comments and videos placed on its social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube without notifying or asking the consent of the site users, a failure that appears to run counter to President Obama’s promise of a transparent government and his pledge to protect privacy on the Internet.”

The article gives reactions from various groups who feel there is something sinister going on.

Bear with me. This post isn’t about politics. It’s actually about technology and business practices. And why this is actually not news.

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In his blog post, Paying Not To Be First, Jonathan Fields discusses why paying more for a service is better.

He makes a fair point: you’re paying more for a service because you are paying for the individual’s experience.

Reading this reminds me of a few things I should share about web designers and other freelancers. Remember, I base this on working in the field for 10 years; I’ve seen my colleagues do a lot of interesting things.

In his post, Jonathan has the “you get what you pay for” mentality. Bear in mind that this is often true. However, it can be equally false.

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A video was released just a few days ago by musician Dave Carroll about his frustrating encounters with United Airlines policies and customer service. Apparently, United broke an expensive guitar and the airline refused to replace it or reimburse him. In his final encounter with a United employee, Carroll told the airline representative that he would write 3 songs about his bad experience. So he did.

Mr. Carroll became a media sensation and has been overwhelmed with support, with even Oprah’s people calling him.

By the next day, the musician was contacted by United who made an offer to correct the situation.

And what does this have to do with you and your business? Everything.

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