New Site Helps Businesses Create Professional Marketing Videos on a Budget

Online videos can be a great way for businesses to reach out to consumers by showing them how to use their product or service and letting them see the benefits first-hand. But for small businesses that don't have a huge marketing budget, professional video equipment and expertise might seem out of reach.

Video software company trakAx has just released the new version of its editing software, trakAxPC 4, along with a new website, trakAxBusiness, which includes video tutorials that demonstrate how companies can create and improve their online marketing videos. The tutorials go hand-in-hand with the software, which costs $54.95.

Catriona Gallagher, General Manager of HighAndes, which produces trakAx, says:

“In these tough economic times, small businesses with limited marketing budgets are looking at inexpensive alternative ways of promoting their products and services.  With online marketing videos becoming more prevalent and quality HD camcorders available at affordable prices, trakAxBusiness.com represents an essential resource for business owners looking to develop a sophisticated media presence within a small-business budget.”

The multimedia editing software is aimed at users with very basic audio and video editing skills. So users without specialized training can use the software and learn enough skills and techniques from the site to create a professional looking video.

Senior Product Manager, Colm Barry, says:

Video School which provides users with a step-by-step guide to capturing, editing and producing a promotional video with a limited budget and affordable equipment.”

In addition to the new version of trakAx, HighAndes has released a multimedia editing suite for mobile devices called trakAx MovieExpress. A 15-day free trial of trakAxPC 4 is also available.

Embattled Hewlett-Packard takes big hit

Hewlett-Packard absorbed the largest quarterly loss in its history as the Silicon Valley pioneer owned up to past mistakes that have left it scrambling to adapt to a shifting technology market.

The loss of US$8.9 billion ($10.8 billion) announced yesterday did not come as a surprise.

HP telegraphed the news this month when it disclosed plans to take a US$8 billion charge to reflect the shrinking value of Electronic Data Systems, a technology consulting service it bought for US$13 billion in 2008.

It also had to absorb charges to cover severance payments for the first wave of the 27,000 workers it is jettisoning to slash its expenses as its revenue shrivels.

The company, based in Palo Alto, California, now expects to drop 11,500 employees from its payroll by the end of October.

This adds 2500 jobs to its previous target of 9000.

Another 15,500 employees will lose their jobs by October 2014.

The cutbacks are driven by the rising popularity of mobile phones and tablet computer devices, which is reducing demand for personal computers.

That has been bad news for HP, which is the world's largest maker of PCs and printers.

To cope with the upheaval, it has been expanding into technology consulting, computer software, data storage and high-end servers for companies and government agencies.

All are more profitable than the fiercely competitive PC market, but HP hasn't been evolving rapidly enough to avoid a downturn in its financial performance.

The downturn has battered its stock, which has lost more than half its value in the past two years.

Like several other large technology companies, HP has also been hurt by the recent economic turmoil in Europe.

The uncertainty caused by unwieldy government debt in Europe has curbed spending on the continent.

"Make no mistake about it, we are still in the early stages of a turnaround," HP chief executive Meg Whitman told analyst during a conference call.

That has become Whitman's mantra since HP hired her as chief executive 11 months ago.

She has been shaking things up at HP by reorganising divisions, installing new managers and slashing costs through the job cuts.

As Whitman's commentary on a conference call made it clear that HP's struggles are far from over, more investors bailed out of the company's stock.

HP shares fell US34c, or nearly 2 per cent, to US$18.86 in extended trading, reversing earlier gains after the results were released.

The fiscal third-quarter loss translates to $4.49 a share. The company made US$1.9 billion, or US93c per share, at the same time last year.

HP's revenue sank 5 per cent from last year to US$29.7 billion. That was about US$500 million below the projections of analysts polled by FactSet.

It marked HP's fourth consecutive year-over-year quarterly decrease in revenue.

Whitman's clampdown on expenses also appeared to be delivering savings more quickly than Wall Street anticipated.

If not for the company's various charges, HP said it would have earned US$1 per share.

That figure was US2c per share above analyst estimates.

- AP

Budgeting From The Ground Up: This Budget Actually Means Something

Most small business seem to have a strong dislike for budgeting.  The feeling is that budgets are just a time wasting distraction from the things that really need to get done. You probably have similar feelings toward budgeting.  And you're right.

Budgeting is a waste of time if you do it the way most small business owners do it.  You know the way â€" where you do a “mathematical” budget by increasing revenues and expenses and come up with a “magical” net earnings figure that you don't really believe, or even know how to actually achieve.

But the truth is that you CAN create a budget that is useful for you.  One that actually helps you create the financial results you want and helps you identify what actions you need to take in order to keep driving toward your targeted financial results.

What is the path to an effective budget?  Here are seven quick steps.  Follow along and it won't even feel like you're creating a budget:

Step One

The first step is to create your revenue budget.  The way to do this in a meaningful way is to start with the number of customers you have historically served in your budget period.  For example, if you serve 75 customers in a month, this would form the starting point if you were budgeting for an upcoming month.

Step Two

Determine your average transaction size in the past for the period you are trying to budget for.  For example, if your average transaction size has been $250 in similar recent periods.

Step Three

Based on your historical number of customers for the period and average transaction size and given your planned marketing and sales efforts, decide what you feel is an appropriate target for number of customers and average transaction size.  For example, if you have an upcoming marketing campaign scheduled that will generate a number of new leads compared to the number you would normally expect you should adjust your target number of customers upward to reflect this.

Step Four

Multiply your target number of customers, and average transaction size together.

You have just created a revenue budget for your business by actually looking at the elements that create revenue.  Even more important, you have created granular targets (number of customers and transaction size) that will guide you every day in your budget period to knowing if you are on track to create that revenue or not.  If not, where you are falling behind.  For example, not enough customers, average transaction size smaller than planned, etc.

Step Five

Use the targets you just set for the number of customers and average transaction size and your anticipated direct costs to determine your budgeted direct costs.   For example, if you are expecting an increase of $2 per additional transaction, make sure you account for this in your budgeted direct costs.

Based on the budgeted revenue and direct costs you have now created, you have determined your budgeted gross profit (revenue minus direct costs) which you will have available to cover your budgeted overhead.

Step Six

Examine your historical overhead costs for the budget period.  For each major overhead item, adjust it up or down as appropriate based on actual changes you know are coming, or that you anticipate.

You have now created your budget for overhead expenses.

Step Seven

Subtract your budgeted overhead from the gross profit budget you created in step five and there you have it.

You have just created a useful, relevant budget in seven quick steps.

How Do You Use It To Create The Financial Result You Want?

So now that you've created your budget from the ground up, it's time to use it â€" daily.

The biggest element of driving toward achieving your budgeted financial results is to ensure you meet your budgeted revenue targets.  This requires you to monitor the actual number of customers you have served and the actual average transaction size you have generated.  Then you need to compare both these amounts to your target number of customers and average transaction size.

By monitoring and comparing in this way, you will know daily, weekly, monthly â€" as often as you care to look â€" how closely on track you are toward creating your target financial results.

Then you can take quick (almost instantaneous) action to bring your actual results back on track to match your targets.

Budget Photo via Shutterstock

Tech Thursday (8/23): American Express and Buy Local; Vertical Response Releases Two New Tools; Acer America Introduces TravelMate P243

American Express and Buy Local

 

Vertical Response Launches Two New Tools

 

Acer America Introduces the TravelMate P243

 

 

 

 

American Express and Buy Local

American Express joins forces with AMIBA to enable more small businesses to launch ‘Buy Local' campaigns

 

New York, NY â€" American Express (AXP), the founding partner of Small Business Saturday, today announced the company has joined forces with the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) to enable more small businesses and community groups to successfully launch “buy local” campaigns throughout the United States in order to inspire people to “shop small” all year around. AMIBA is a non-profit organization that helps communities launch and successfully operate buy local campaigns and broader Independent Business Alliances® (IBAs) â€" coalitions of locally-owned independent businesses, citizens and community organizations that work to build vital local economies and support local entrepreneurs.
As part of the partnership, AMIBA and American Express will host as many as 20 training events beginning in September through May 2013 to help communities and merchant coalitions develop an effective “buy local” infrastructure with the goal of cata lyzing local action and enabling successful long-term organizing on behalf of local small businesses.

Upcoming presentation and training events include:
Sept 25 â€" 28, 2012 for Oregon and Washington
Oct 8 â€" 13, 2012 for New England area and New York
Oct 15 â€" 18, 2012 for Mid-Atlantic States
Nov 5 â€" 9, 2012 for California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah

More events will be added throughout the year.

“These community events greatly increase the likelihood of local success in the critical start-up phase for local campaigns and alliances,” said Jennifer Rockne, AMIBA's co-founder. “Through our partnership with American Express, more communities now will be able to access these trainings. American Express is playing a key role in helping ‘buy local' initiatives succeed.”

AMIBA will also develop “Train the Trainer” programs in 2012 to expand the ranks of qualified facilitators. These facilitators ultimately will lead training events for hundreds of small business owners and advocates to spur more pro-local business initiatives.

This year, AMIBA is a proud supporter of Small Business Saturday and will distribute tools to help local retailers more effectively market themselves to encourage consumers to shop at small businesses on November 24, 2012.  American Express initiated the national program in 2010 in response to small business owners' most pressing need: more demand for their products and services. Supported by President Obama and elected officials in all 50 states, Small Business Saturday spurred an estimated 103 million Americans to shop at independently-owned small businesses in 2011.

 

Vertical Response Two New Tools

Vertical Response releases ‘Coupons and Clipper' for their social platform

 

SAN FRANCISCO /PRNewswire/ â€" VerticalResponse, a leading provider of self-service marketing solutions for small businesses including email marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, postcard marketing and online surveys, today announced two new features within its recently launched VerticalResponse Social platform: Coupons and Clipper.

Coupons is a coupon creator that lets businesses generate custom coupons which can be published as a Facebook tab on their Facebook page and/or as a standalone Web page. With Clipper, a simple click of the Clipper browser button lets users save interesting Web pages to their VerticalResponse Social account whenever they're browsing online; the “clipped” URLs will appear in their VerticalResponse Social content library for easy sharing when they're ready to create a social media post or campaign.

“Small businesses know they need to be more active on social media, but finding time to share content that's engaging and drives sales is still a huge challenge,” said Janine Popick, VerticalResponse CEO. “Our new Coupons and Clipper tools help solve this problem by making it as easy as possible for small businesses to promote incentives and content, giving new and existing customers a reason to connect with them on social media.”

According to a December 2011 survey of 2,000 consumers, 80 percent of Web users prefer to get coupons and discounts from companies via social media. The new VerticalResponse Social Coupons feature gives small businesses an easy way to take advantage of this huge opportunity to attract first-time buyers and repeat customers.

The new VerticalResponse Social Clipper tool streamlines the process of finding and sharing content with social networks. This feature is in addition to the more than 300 industry-specific source feeds already available in the VerticalResponse Social content library.

Both Coupons and Clipper are free with a VerticalResponse Social subscription. Businesses can try out the VerticalResponse Social platform free for 30 days. After that, it costs $18 per month. Special pricing discounts are available for existing VerticalResponse customers and non-profit organizations.

 

Acer America Introduces the TravelMate P243

 

Professional Business Class Notebook Boosts Efficiency and Productivity While Supported With a Two-Year Warranty

 

SAN JOSE, CA - Designed for professionals seeking a solid business notebook that delivers robust productivity, manageability, security and reliability features, Acer America today introduced the new TravelMate P243 notebook PC for U.S. customers.

Summary of Features

• Full-featured TravelMate notebooks outfitted with latest “Ivy Bridge” 3rd Generation Intel® Coreâ„¢ i5 processors with Intel Turbo Boost Technology.
• TravelMate P243 packs 4GB of DDR3 memory and is upgradeable to 8GB
• TravelMate P243 delivers superb business presentations with rich color and crisp images via the notebook's 14-inch Acer ComfyView LCD LED backlit display with HD (1366×768) resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio
• Perfect notebook for business users needing impressive performance, built-in security features and cost-effective manageability.
• TravelMate P243 features a spill-resistant keyboard to protect internal components.

“Today's mobile business executive needs a PC that is robust enough to run intensive business applications while still fitting into strict budget guidelines,” said Gregg Prendergast, vice president of commercial sales for Acer America. “The TravelMate P243 notebook is an important addition to our professional notebook portfolio as it combines everything today's road warrior requires, including exceptional performance, enterprise-level security, durability and manageability for a best-in-class mobile experience.”

The TravelMate P243 comes with Acer Office Manager (AOM), a manageability solution which allows small businesses to deploy security policies, monitor IT assets, and schedule maintenance tasks in one simple application.

The Acer TravelMate P243 notebooks are available in the U.S. in early August at authorized Acer resellers. Prices for the TravelMate P243 begin at $699.99. Additional TravelMate P243 series notebooks with 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i3 processors will be available with prices beginning at $599.99.

The new Acer TravelMate P243 Series comes with a standard two-year parts and labor warranty, which can be extended to three years with the Acer Advantage service.

Taking tax into digital age

Replacing computer system a major task for new IRD chief

The new Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Naomi Ferguson, has her work cut out. Taking over from Bob Russell, Ferguson is now at the helm of an organisation which, like many others, is contending with the digital revolution, changing the ways people interact and transact.

So in a lilting accent - Belfast by way of Glasgow - Ferguson talks, like any chief executive, about "business transformation" so that it "delivers services to customers" in "ways that suit them".

Inland Revenue, after all, is not just a tax collector.

Over the years, Parliament has added to its functions with the student loans scheme, child support, Working for Families and, most recently, KiwiSaver.

"In the six years I've been away [she was deputy commissioner, service delivery, from 2003 to 2006], KiwiSaver has been introduced," Ferguson said. "Completely different from anything we've done before. The only commonality is that it involves money."

A major task will be replacing a computer system built for Inland Revenue 20 years ago.

A ballpark cost estimate is $1 billion to $1.5 billion over the next 10 years.

"When it was built, Microsoft was a start-up firm and there was no internet," the department said in last year's briefing to the incoming minister. "It does not, therefore, cope well with demands for online access."

Nevertheless, every day the system, which quite simply must not fail, is delivering, Ferguson says.

Difficult as it may be, it's been possible to add new technology, like a mobile phone app launched in April, and new services such as payments by credit and debit cards.

"The work we have under way is about saying, okay, given what modern technology allows you to do, given what customers expect and want to do, how do we put all that together to create a very different type of tax department."

Ferguson is impressed by the cutting-edge voice biometrics Inland Revenue is using. "You register your voice, which is as unique as your fingerprint.

"We have 400,000 people using it. It means that when they phone up to do something they can go straight through to a system without having to go through the 'what's your mother's maiden name?' business."

The number of people who have registered to deal with Inland Revenue on line has grown exponentially, Ferguson says, to more than a million. But is the flipside of last year's 15 million "self-serve digital contacts" longer delays to get through to a person on the phone and fewer branch offices?

The department has reduced staff number by 800 since 2008.

Asked if she expects to be presiding over fewer people in five years, Ferguson is noncommittal. "I don't know. I can't tell the future on that one."

In its core role, gathering tax revenue, Inland Revenue depends on voluntary compliance. It needs to strike a balance, she says, between making it as easy as possible for those who are willing to do the right thing by their fellow citizens and coming down hard on those who choose not to.

"If people want to get it right, but there's something going on with their life that means it's going to be hard ... we'll try to find ways to make is easier."

But beneath the velvet glove is an iron fist. "We've had over 50 successful prosecutions in the past year; last week we saw the longest sentences (about eight years) ever handed down for tax fraud."

Fair warning from the IRD
Inland Revenue has issued its annual Compliance Focus, outlining areas it intends to concentrate on.

They include:
* The misuse of charitable status, which confers various tax advantages. "We are working with the Charities Commission to identify charities and individuals whose activities warrant investigation."

* The diversion of personal income into trusts or companies to avoid paying full tax. The Supreme Court's Penny and Hooper ruling last year clarified the law.

* Property transactions. "Our focus remains on property speculators and dealers who have not declared income from property transactions or treated it as capital gain."

* Non-resident contractors, who have come to the fore with the Christchurch rebuild. New Zealand outfits which engage them have tax obligations.

By Brian Fallow | Email Brian

Rieva Lesonsky: Small Businesses and Big Corporations Need Each Other

Having covered entrepreneurs from a media perspective for 30 years, Rieva Lesonsky (@rieva), President and Founder of GrowBiz Media, knows small business.

When she served as Editorial Director at Entrepreneur Magazine, though, she began to see the connection between small businesses and corporations.

Particularly, how they can help one another.

Rieva explains how she came to recognize the synergistic needs of business owners and corporations:

“I spent a lot of time when I was at the magazine talking to corporations, explaining the small business market to them. So it became natural for me to recognize how synergistic the needs of business owners and corporations were, and how they can help one another.”

So Why the Rift Between Corporations and Startups?

Corporations often don't “get” small businesses and startups. They tend to see startups as “somehow not serious, and that they're cheap,” says Rieva. She continues:

“In fact, it's at startup that many entrepreneurs do their research (they have more time) and pick the brands they're going to use in their business. If those products and services work well for them, chances are they're going to stick with them as they grow their businesses. They become too busy to research new products and services as they concentrate their time and energies on their businesses.”

Rieva says corporations benefit from working with small businesses, as they employ more than half of all American workers. And because small businesses are in constant states of acquisition, they need “stuff” from corporations.

Through her company, Rieva helps entrepreneurs start and grow businesses, and she also introduces business owners to the products and services available to help them grow smarter and faster.

Tasting Her Own Cooking

Rieva is now a small business owner herself: she founded GrowBiz Media, a content and consulting company specializing in covering small businesses and entrepreneurship. She also runs Small Biz Daily, a site dedicated to providing content to entrepreneurs. She recognizes that there are large differences between working for larger companies and running a small business:

“…the major difference is I have to be more reliant on myself and my friends to solve problems and conquer challenges. I don't have an IT department, or an HR person. Small business owners have to be more creative problem-solvers.”

She acted as a judge for the 2012 Small Business Influencer Awards (and last year, she was honored as one of the top 100 Influencers). What she's enjoyed most about the Awards is the not-so-obvious nominees:

“There's a lot of support out there for small businesses, but not all business owners know about them. Hopefully those people and companies will emerge with a higher profile thru the judging process.”

Editor's Note: This article is one of a series of interviews of key players in the Small Business Influencer Awards.

CSA partners with BSI on cloud security certification program

The Cloud Security Alliance has announced it is teaming up with the British Standards Institution, a U.K.-based private-sector standards group, on its effort to provide a cloud security certification for cloud providers, including a third-party independent assessment program.

The CSA Open Certification Framework is designed to provide a global

cloud security certification that ensures cloud providers implement security controls in line with the CSA's security guidance.

It has three levels, the first of which is the CSA STAR program, where cloud providers can file documentation detailing their security controls. The second level is a CSA STAR Certification, which will be based on the ISO 27001:2005 standard and the CSA Cloud Controls Matrix, and involves a third-party independent assessment. The third level will add continuous monitoring to the certification.

The CSA STAR Certification process will be managed by BSI, which will certify the independent auditors, said Daniele Catteddu, managing director of CSA EMEA, in a phone interview. The goal is to finalize the certification program by March of next year, implement a process for approved assessors by June, and have the first cloud provider certified by September 2013, he said.

The CSA decided to create a certification program with third-party independent assessors based on what it has heard from cloud users and government policy makers, especially those in Europe, Catteddu said. Many policymakers support a formal certification process, and some companies that would like to use cloud services have strict data protection requirements.

"They want to make sure they're not taking unnecessary risks," he said. A formal certification program, in which cloud providers' security claims are verified, Catteddu added, is "the best way to clear up the uncertainty undermining the full development of the cloud market."

The CSA plans to announce additional details about the Open Certification Framework on Sept. 25 at the CSA Congress Europe.

Still Using Loyalty Cards? 3 Ways to Update your Customer Loyalty Program

“Buy nine pretzels, get the tenth free.” This was the way customers were first introduced to customer loyalty programs. As time went on, some businesses chose to issue an electronic card for earning points. The card was tied to a website, where customers could login and check balances at any time.

The problem with loyalty cards, in general, is that over time those cards add up. As much as a small business would like to assume customers only ever dine, shop, or use the services of their location, that simply isn't the case. So a customer must carry around loyalty cards for restaurants, grocery stores, ice cream shops, and even car washes. Chances are, by the time the customer comes back to your place of business, points have expired or they've lost the card altogether.

Today's small business is taking loyalty programs a step further. Thanks to social media, businesses are learning loyalty goes further than a customer returning again and again. By finding ways to encourage customers to “like” a business, all of the friends and family learn about that business. But just as customers found logging into a website to check points after leaving the restaurant inconvenient, customers aren't too likely to remember to like your business the next time they're at a computer.

A new app is offering a solution. SpotOn provides users with a card that they can then scan at any member merchant to log their visit. When merchants sign up for the service, SpotOn installs a tablet at each location. Customers can then check in while they're checking out, making it easy, fun, and convenient.

Whether you choose a service like SpotOn or choose to go it alone, here are five great ways you can bring your loyalty program into the 21st century:

• Reward check-ins. Facebook has a handy tool for rewarding users for checking in on Facebook. Offering 10% off or a free product for a check-in is a great way to show your customers you appreciate their business. It's also a great way to get your business name and location in front of thousands of potential customers.
• Foursquare. If you've claimed your business on Foursquare, specials are a great way to increase your visibility. Offer a buy one, get one free deal exclusive to Foursquare customers. This not only encourages customers to check you out on Foursquare, it will get your business a colorful “special” graphic, which draws even more attention to you.
• Give points for connecting social media. If your loyalty program is trackable via the web, consider encouraging customers to add information about their social media sites. Your developers can also set it up to automatically check in or post a Twitter update every time that customer swipes in at your locationâ€"with the customer's permission, of course.

As social media evolves, businesses will find even more creative ways to connect social media and loyalty reward programs. But today, implementing new social media strategies helps position you to stay ahead of the competition.

Former LulzSec leader \'Sabu\' given six-month reprieve from sentencing due to his \'cooperation with the government\'

Former LulzSec leader Hector Xavier Monsegur, who was known as Sabu, has won a six-month reprieve in sentencing due to his continued cooperation with law enforcement.

According to Wired, Monsegur is getting a six-month reprieve from being sentenced on 12 counts of violating federal law, due to his continued cooperation with the feds. It posted a letter from Preet Bharara, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, who requested a six-month adjournment of the sentencing control date in light of his ‘cooperation with the government', which Monsegur also consented to.

However it was not clear from the court filing whether Monsegur continues to be active online or is simply aiding the government in its prosecutions of those already arrested. If convicted, he could face a maximum 124-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to 12 federal offences, including conspiracy to commit computer hacking, and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

According to Bharara's letter, Monsegur's sentencing is now scheduled for 22nd February 2013.

A report by The Smoking Gun stated that Monsegur was scheduled to appear in court in Manhattan in April for criminal impersonation charges, but was a no-show for his arraignment due to worries about his physical safety.

It was revealed that Monsegur had pleaded guilty on 15th August in a US District Court to 12 counts of computer hacking conspiracies and other crimes. This information was withheld until March when five members of LulzSec were arrested.

Among the charges were the hacking of Fox Broadcasting Company, Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Charges have also been made over the attacks on Fine Gael, a political party in Ireland, and on security firms HBGary and its affiliate HBGary Federal, and Stratfor.

A report by Fox News claimed that the arrests were largely made based on evidence gathered by Monsegur, with sources saying he has been secretly working for the US government for months as a cooperating witness.

One Reason To Completely Disconnect

There's a long standing question about the validity multitasking. Is it real or is it a myth?

In “Think You're Multitasking? Think Again,” NPR correspondent Jon Hamilton highlights the work of Neuroscientist Earl Miller who says that you are NOT. You're simply switching focus between tasks very quickly. While Dr. Julio Martinez-Trujillo from McGill University says that you CAN multitask, but to what end, he doesn't yet know.

Of course, the real debate of merit, in my life, is the one that happens between my mother and I. She swears by multitasking and I think it's a villain. Regardless of who is right or wrong, there are moments when it pays to completely disconnect. If we can multi-task, then we can't multi-task all the time. And there is a real benefit to moments of complete focus. I call it “building a fire.”

When your ideas have a chance to grow in a protected setting and build on top of each other, you carry the potential for seeing things in a way that they have never been seen before. You start with a spark, and then you nurse it to a full flame until it's strong enough to warm the house.

Taking 30 minutes to brainstorm, but answering 10 unrelated phone calls throughout the session can weaken your strategy development.  I've tried it and it doesn't work. When you're interrupted you have to refocus yourself and that costs you time. On the other hand, I have watched the best ideas come to life at the end of a short but focused session.

Sometimes it pays to completely disconnect, to focus on the one and let your mind reset.  Disconnecting can protect your sanity.

Maybe you need 30 minutes of working out, 30 minutes of eating or a private moment in the bathroom without a phone call, text message or email. The world will be there when you get back - ready for you to multitask or switch focus quickly (depending on who you believe).

If you disconnect and refresh, then you just may find yourself a little smarter, faster and more effective when you plug back in.

Unplugged Photo via Shutterstock

Data governance capabilities added to Quest One Identity Manager

Quest Software has announced the data governance edition of its Quest One Identity Manager solution.

The company said that it has been expanded to enable the security of unstructured data, while empowering business-driven data governance and this approach puts the appropriate people in control of who has, and should have, access to data, as well as the ways in which they access it. 

Research by Quest found that more than half of all people questioned believe that 50 to 100 per cent of their enterprise data is unstructured and organisations are not only drowning in information, but also have no effective way to determine what they possess, where it is stored, and who has access to it.

According to the company, Quest One Identity Manager Data Governance Edition features capabilities that enable automated, scalable, secure and efficient management of unstructured data by the information owners who should govern this data, rather than the IT employee who happens to know how to grant access.

It said that it enables the line manager to control who has access to the data and to protect their organisation through the power to analyse, approve and fulfil access requests and set best-practice policies that is based on the information discovered by the solution. Also historic and current data access activity can be viewed on specialist dashboards.

John Milburn, vice president and general manager of identity and access management at Quest Software, said: “We've seen countless organisations doing the best they can with what they have, and coming up short with regard to governance of unstructured data. With Quest One Identity Manager Data Governance Edition, we've moved data governance into an achievable, business-driven exercise.

“Now organisations of all sizes can confidently report that access to unstructured data is requested, approved, fulfilled and audited within a unified solution that places the control and visibility in the hands of people who are closest to daily business decisions.”

Tool that allows spoofed SMS message to be sent to the Apple iPhone is released

A tool for the Apple iPhone has been developed that enables an attacker to send SMS messages with spoofed sender details.

According to hacker pod2g, the ‘sendrawpdu' command-line interface tool allows users to customise the reply number on text messages. In a blog post, pod2g said: “Pirates could send a message that seems to come from the bank of the receiver asking for some private information, or inviting them to go to a dedicated [phishing] website.

“If the destination mobile is compatible with (user data header features), and if the receiver tries to answer the text, he will not respond to the original number, but to the specified one.

“Most carriers don't check this part of the message, which means one can write whatever he wants in this section. In a good implementation of this feature, the receiver would see the original phone number and the reply-to one. On iPhone, when you see the message, it seems to come from the reply-to number, and you lose track of the origin.”

The tool has been released and affects a vulnerability on other mobile devices and all versions of Apple's iOS platform, including the upcoming iOS 6. This discovery led Apple to urge customers to use its iMessage service, which is only available between iOS and OS X devices, as it verifies the address from which messages were sent, unlike its SMS app that displays the vulnerable reply-to address.

An Apple statement said: “When using iMessage instead of SMS, addresses are verified which protects against these kinds of spoofing attack.

“One of the limitations of SMS is that it allows messages to be sent with spoofed addresses to any phone, so we urge customers to be extremely careful if they're directed to an unknown website or address over SMS.”

Cathal McDaid, security consultant at AdaptiveMobile, said that it had tested the issue on Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Symbian phones, and found that most of them simply ignore the ‘reply address' field or display both the ‘real' originating address and the reply address as per the specification recommendations.

“The iPhone, so far, is the only device which does not comply with these security recommendations,” McDaid said.

“Historically, the ‘reply-address' field was introduced to allow users to reply to texts which were ‘broadcast' from information agencies or marketing firms, for example. These broadcast systems may not be capable of receiving messages, so this system allows for more interaction. However, whilst most handsets now ignore this quirk, with the remainder treating the field correctly, Apple has left a significant vulnerability in its handsets that could allow consumers to be fooled and hand over personal details to hackers and criminals.”

Chris Barton, senior director of security research and operations at Cloudmark, said that this demonstrates that the Apple operating system, which was previously considered to be relatively bulletproof, is coming under increasing attack.

He said: “Fraudsters need to ensure that their activity is going to be profitable and, as Apple's products continue to gain market share, targeted abuse of the platform will continue. This ‘bug' is nothing more than a gold plated implementation decision - it's clear that Apple intended to be elegantly helpful with this feature. 

“We would urge network operators to reassure their customers that they are taking steps to try and prevent SMS attacks, and that there are means of reporting such as malicious messaging. If users lose trust in SMS as a platform, they could start moving to over-the-top alternatives such as iMessage or the other cross-platform messaging alternatives, which would result in a drop in revenue for the networks.”

Former LulzSec leader \'Sabu\' given six-month reprieve from sentencing due to his \'cooperaton with the government\'

Former LulzSec leader Hector Xavier Monsegur, who was known as Sabu, has won a six-month reprieve in sentencing due to his continued cooperation with law enforcement.

According to Wired, Monsegur is getting a six-month reprieve from being sentenced on 12 counts of violating federal law, due to his continued cooperation with the feds. It posted a letter from Preet Bharara, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, who requested a six-month adjournment of the sentencing control date in light of his ‘cooperation with the government', which Monsegur also consented to.

However it was not clear from the court filing whether Monsegur continues to be active online or is simply aiding the government in its prosecutions of those already arrested. If convicted, he could face a maximum 124-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to 12 federal offences, including conspiracy to commit computer hacking, and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

According to Bharara's letter, Monsegur's sentencing is now scheduled for 22nd February 2013.

A report by The Smoking Gun stated that Monsegur was scheduled to appear in court in Manhattan in April for criminal impersonation charges, but was a no-show for his arraignment due to worries about his physical safety.

It was revealed that Monsegur had pleaded guilty on 15th August in a US District Court to 12 counts of computer hacking conspiracies and other crimes. This information was withheld until March when five members of LulzSec were arrested.

Among the charges were the hacking of Fox Broadcasting Company, Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Charges have also been made over the attacks on Fine Gael, a political party in Ireland, and on security firms HBGary and its affiliate HBGary Federal, and Stratfor.

A report by Fox News claimed that the arrests were largely made based on evidence gathered by Monsegur, with sources saying he has been secretly working for the US government for months as a cooperating witness.

Amazon Glacier Revolutionizes Cloud Storage

Your business can create tons and tons of data over its lifetime. At some point, you will need to think about storage, but the question whether to store your data  locally or in the cloud has become a major topic of debate. That storage can become expensive depending on the amount of information and the type of storage used. Along the way, however, storage options have been transformed with other cloud computing tools. But, Read on! Our posts below can help you decide whether the benefits of the cloud outweigh its risks.

The Coming Ice Age

The tip of the iceberg. Amazon is revolutionizing cloud storage again, with a new service called Glacier, offering an incredible one GB of storage per month for only one penny. Glacier is intended to be extremely affordable archive storage for data of all kinds, and uploading is free. Amazon Web Services Blog

Cold storage. Amazon hopes the new Glacier service will completely transform the way businesses large and small view data storage. Much of this data is today still kept on company hard drives or even tape. Soon, Amazon hopes it will convince companies to store all this data in the cloud. ZDNet

Slow thaw. However, there is at least one downside to the new Amazon storage. Since the service was designed as an archiving solution and not for active use, it may be much more costly to retrieve your data than it is to store it. The question is, whether businesses will consider this a good trade off. Wired

Expert cool on the cloud. At least one of the founding fathers of personal computing is worried about cloud storage. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak worries plenty about a day when all data may be in the cloud and taken out of the hands of those who created it. Google News

Business in the Cloud

Saving grace. The greatest benefit of moving data and applications into the cloud is in a business's bottom line. According to a 2011 poll, 84 percent of businesses reported a noticeable savings with cloud computing. On average, that savings was about 21 percent annually. Smallbiz Technology

Data detour. On the downside, when you share data in the cloud there are several points at which information could easily fall into the wrong hands, as this post and graphic clearly illustrate. No matter what you think of the cloud, the security of your data and your customer information should be a primary concern. Small Business Trends

Where has all the data gone? If you're uploading content or data from a point of sale or other application to the cloud, it might be a good idea to understand the risks involved. You will want to take precautions in case the data is lost. Here are some considerations. Michael Hartzell