Pinterest: Why You Need These 6 Add-on Tools

Pinterest can be a valuable social tool to help brands build their network and increase traffic to their websites. That's especially true for businesses that have something visual to share such as ecommerce businesses, design businesses or businesses that use photos, videos and infographics.

But just using the site itself might not garner the best possible results.  It has an elegantly simple interface â€" but it is barebones when it comes to features. It doesn't notify you with alerts.  It doesn't have analytics.  It doesn't let you schedule your activity.

That is why you need add-on tools.  We've chosen 6 “pinteresting” tools you may not be aware of that can make your business more successful on Pinterest, and help you understand its impact on your brand.

Here are our picks of six online tools have sprouted up recently that can help businesses get the most out of Pinterest:

PinGraphy â€" This tool allows users to schedule pins so they go up on the site at specific times. Businesses that use Pinterest to drive traffic to their sites might find that their customers are more likely to click over at certain times. Particularly for business owners that might reserve pinning for the late night hours, this type of tool could definitely help your pins be seen by more pinners or prospective customers.

PinAlerts â€" This Web service sends alerts via email when someone pins something from your website. Businesses can add their sites to the PinAlerts list and then see which users are visiting their site and when, along with what type of content they find interesting enough to pin.  Here are 5 ways to use PinAlerts.

Octopin â€" This analytics tool gives insights into the effectiveness of Pinterest marketing campaigns. Users can measure clicks from particular pins, re-pins, popular pins, and even demographics data about their followers, as well as manage campaigns, contests, comment conversations and more.

Lexity â€" This tool can give online retailers an idea about what products are reaching the most people on Pinterest. The report contains information about a site's most pinned products, along with the competitive landscape and pinners who most influence your network and those who share the content from your site.

Pinerly â€" This is an all-inclusive Pinterest dashboard that allows users to manage their posts, optimize content through posting times and descriptions, and measure how Pinterest content is received by your followers. Pinerly aims to maximize the effectiveness a brand's pins while minimizing the number of sites and accounts needed.

ViralHeat â€" This social media monitoring and analytics tool recently announced integration with Pinterest. Though the service is paid, it can monitor pins by keyword, find influencers, and and provide relevant statistics and analytics information that brands might find useful.

How To Mentally Recover From Professional Disasters

Have you ever made plans, just to have the weather, or some other situation, turn your best ideas inside out? While spending the day with my aunt, we had plans - including the farmers market and a nice long walk in the park, after all the sun had been shining for hours. But things change.

The sunshine gave way to a heavy rain and we chose to spend those 60 minutes sitting outside the farmer's market under their cover - Read More

From Small Business Trends

How To Mentally Recover From Professional Disasters

Working On Your Klout Score? Check Out These Changes That Measures More Media Milestones

If you're a social media junkie you might have heard of a company called Klout. If not, Klout measures an individual's footprint within different online circles. For example, it will track how many people ‘Like' their posts on Facebook, or how many followers they have on Twitter, or how many recommendations they have from LinkedIn…you get the idea. From all of this, Klout gives them a rating from 1 to 100; the higher it is, the more ‘influential' they're supposed to be in social media. Besides bragging rights and a few incentive programs, it didn't leave as much of an impact as it could have. That's understandable, because all of this is a rather significant challenge to execute.

A couple of weeks ago, though, Klout announced widespread changes to their model that might have more of an impact among business owners or anyone interested in these dynamics. These include:

• Increased ‘Score Signals.' Klout now measures upwards of over 400 ‘signals' (up from under 100), to better measure a person's impact throughout different social media programs. For example, on Facebook they track mentions of a name, Likes, comments, subscribers, wall posts, and others. Other programs, including Google+, LinkedIn, foursquare, and even Wikipedia (among others) have expanded categories to better measure a person's social imprint.
• Social Media ‘Moments.' A new feature, ‘Moments' showcases some of the more influential moments in someone's social media activities, times when that person's ideas generated the most interest.
• Increased Data Tracking. Besides increasing ‘signals' to over 400, Klout announced they've increased the number of data points they analyze “daily” from 1 billion to 12 billion. I have no idea what that is, but it sounds impressive enough. Anything sounds more impressive with “billion with a ‘B'” attached to it.
• Measuring Real-World Influence. Klout has integrated Wikipedia into their tracking, stating that “[w]e see a Wikipedia entry as a significant indicator of one's ability to drive action in the real world.” I'm not sure how Wikipedia influences the real world, unless you consider that anybody with a computer and the Internet can change it, so to me at least having a Wiki page doesn't necessarily equate greatness.

The site design for Klout is clean and appealing, and apparently is one of the other major changes they've introduced. Since I've not heard of them before writing this article I can't say how much of an improvement it is, but it's easy enough to navigate and check out.

Klout states that their ‘ongoing vision' is to help people discover their influence and be recognized for it. I can visualize how this could be not just another cool little toy for people to play with and then suddenly get bored and forget all about; it could be useful to identify certain individuals that leave greater impacts across the social media spectrum. People that might prove useful to extended or creative marketing campaigns.

VMware unveils vCloud Networking and Security

SAN FRANCISCO -- VMware Inc. Monday introduced a new package of capabilities designed to ease implementation of security features as companies move IT workloads to virtualized and cloud environments.

It's not clear to me that this is more than a packaging exercise of technologies they had last year.

Paula Musich,
principal analyst, Current Analysis

The new vCloud Networking and Security offering is part of VMware's vCloud Suite, a management platform unveiled at VMworld 2012. VMware executives touted vCloud Suite, which includes new versions of VMware's vSphere virtualization platform and vCloud Director provisioning services, as the first holistic, integrated suite for building private or public clouds.

vCloud Networking and Security includes the existing vShield Edge (firewall and other secure gateway services) and the vShield App (application-level firewall) in addition to VXLAN, an encapsulation protocol for enabling movement of workloads in the data center, said Jonathan Gohstand, director of product marketing for networking and security at Palo Alto, Calif.-based VMware, in an interview with SearchCloudSecurity.com.

Gohstand said the new package does not include vShield Endpoint, which enables agentless security such as antivirus; that function has moved into the hypervisor and is no longer sold under a separate SKU.

Improvements with vShield Edge include a rule table that's easier to use and a high-availability firewall option, Gohstand said. vCloud Networking and Security, which also includes support for integration of third-party security technologies, is available as a standalone product or as part of the vCloudSuite.

"We're trying to grease the skids," Gohstand said. "We don't want security and compliance to inhibit people's move to virtualization and cloud computing."

Security and compliance requirements have become more pressing as organizations look to move mission-critical applications to virtualized and cloud environments, he said.

In a keynote Monday, incoming VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger said networking and security are two aspects of the data center that require manual processes; VMware's goal is to automate them via vCloud Suite and the creation of the "software-defined data center."

Paula Musich, principal analyst with Washington D.C.-based research firm Current Analysis Inc., said VMware on Monday was short on details with vCloud Networking and Security.

"What they've said about it so far is all very vague," she said in an email. "It's not clear to me that this is more than a packaging exercise of technologies (vShield Edge virtual appliance and VXLAN) they had last year that they've bundled together and added integration with vCenter and vCloud Director."

Gohstand said the framework for third-party integration in vCloud Networking and Security involves the new VMware Ready for Networking and Security program, which the vendor announced last week. The program, which provides partners with APIs and best practices, replaces the old VMware VMsafe partner program, he said. The program supports integration via in-guest introspection to eliminate agents and via new APIs, network-level flow integration.

Partner products that pass formal testing criteria will receive a VMware Ready certification and logo. Final certification for partners is scheduled for mid-2013.

12 Ways to Test Non Technical Ideas With Existing Clients

When entrepreneurs come up with a new product idea, they sometimes become like parents: their baby is the most beautiful and talented baby in the world, no matter what that child looks like or what he/she can actually do. That new product idea is absolutely golden, and no one can say otherwise.

But before you start negotiating payment terms with manufacturers or purchasing long-term ad spots nationwide, get a second opinion. Get a third, get a thousand. In fact, ask those who have validated your successful business plans already once before - your existing clients.

We asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invitation only nonprofit organization comprised of the country's most promising young entrepreneurs, the following question to find out their advice for collecting feedback on offline business ideas:

“What's one strategy to test a new (non-technical) idea for a product on your existing clients?”

Here's what YEC community members had to say:

1. Be Open About It

“We treat our clients as partners throughout the process - whenever we try new strategies to help our internal operations or try to build something for them that we haven't done before, we are always upfront. It seemed like we always defaulted to good, old-fashioned whiteboard sessions. However, when we tried a new program, we would tell our clients that it was new and needed feedback on it.” ~ Abby Ross, Blueye Creative

2. Throw a Shopping Party

“We're always considering new releases, including both expansions of our current line and possibly introducing new product categories. The beauty of “existing clients” is that if you have done well, they are your advocates. We have tried surveys, phone calls and Facebook voting contests, but without fail, the best and most immediate feedback we get is from a real-life shopping party.” ~ Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches

3. Find and Mobilize Superfans

“We've found that simply asking our audience/subscribers if they're interested in trying out something new can yield a killer group of passionate brand ambassadors. They'll understand if things are broken, unfinished, and imperfect - and care even more, because they've had a deeper opportunity to make a difference.” ~ Derek Flanzraich, Greatist

4. Slap It on Craigslist

“If you have a product that can be enjoyed by many - as opposed to a targeted audience - try putting it on Craigslist. It's free, and if your immediate community shows an interest in it, then that gives you a great gauge of how the rest of the world may like it.” ~ Angela Pan, Angela B. Pan Photography

5. Use the Crowdfunding Test

“We meet entrepreneurs looking to test out their product every day at Fundable. Crowdfunding gives them a fantastic gauge for interest in their product by allowing them to pre-sell a product and get to know their audience. It's the perfect first ecosystem for a startup, helping them decide to change their strategies or move full-speed ahead into production.” ~ Eric Corl, Fundable LLC

6. Test Ideas on Google AdWords

“Google AdWords can get product and service ideas in front of your target demographic quickly and inexpensively. You can test one idea or set up different pages to measure the performance of various concepts or marketing schemes. Once up and running, Google Analytics provides accurate data for you to observe and share with potential investors, if you need to make a very convincing pitch.” ~ Christopher Kelly, NYC Conference Centers

7. Pool Feedback via Social Media

“One way we solicit ideas is to simply ask our readers what they would like to see on our website. We're active on social media, and we often ask for suggestions during our weekly TweetChats.” ~ Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

8. Camp Out in the Coffee Shop

“When I've got a new product idea, I'll build a minimal demo (think wireframes for a website) and then head to the coffee shop. I'll offer to buy a cup for a few people who don't seem to be in a hurry, provided they spend a few mintes looking at my demo. It's a fast way to get some external perspectives from people with no obligation to be nice to me.” ~ Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting

9. Put On Proactive Sales

“Advertise your potential product in advance to your current customer base and ask for presales. If the customers don't bite, then it may not be a fit. Remember, even if they say they like the product, ask them to buy it. If they have their credit card in hand and are ready to buy, then you may have a winner on your hands. “ ~ Nick Reese, Elite Health Blends

10. Create a Partial Product

“If I have a new product or idea, I only create the first five percent of it. If it's a course on leveraging YouTube in your business, I create two chapters, and include some of the most useful tips for getting set up. Give that away to a current customer base, along with an outline for the full product. Follow up a week later and ask if they'd be interested in seeing the full version.” ~ Sean Ogle, Location 180, LLC

11. Mock Up a Customized Demo

“We love to mock up a prototype-like demo to create a realistic and custom experience. Keynote can be a great tool for creating an interactive-like product demo, and you can easily change out the template design to customize for multiple clients with the same functionality.” ~ Lauren Perkins, Perks Consulting

12. Just Ask Mom

“Ask your mother, or someone else's mother. If it is simple enough for your mother to understand and enjoy, chances are that is is simple enough for most people to understand. Or try asking a child. Can this child understand it? Can they explain it to someone? If your idea is simple enough that a child can explain it, chances are that your clients will understand it also.” ~ Louis Lautman, Supreme Outsourcing

Feedback Photo via Shutterstock

Attack code surfaces targeting Java zero-day flaw

Security researchers at FireEye Inc. are warning of a new zero-day vulnerability affecting the latest version of Java, which is being actively exploited by cybercriminals.

We have seen this unpatched exploit being used in limited targeted attacks.

Atif Mushtaq, senior researcher, FireEye Inc.

The Java vulnerability affects users of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Safari. Exploit code targeting it was tested on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 as well as Ubuntu Linux 10.04 and Mac OSX 10.7.4.

"We have seen this unpatched exploit being used in limited targeted attacks," wrote Atif Mushtaq, a senior researcher at Milpitas, Calif.-based FireEye.

A successful attack enables cybercriminals to install a dropper onto infected systems, which attempts to talk to a remote server to download additional malware. Oracle has not yet acknowledged the vulnerability. The next round of Java patches are scheduled for Oct. 16.

Java has been increasingly targeted by attackers using automated toolkits such as the Black Hole exploit kit. Danish vulnerability clearinghouse Secunia gave the zero-day flaw an "extremely critical" rating, noting that it is being actively exploited in the wild.

Attack code added to Metasploit
A reliable code module that targets the flaw was added to the Metasploit penetration testing framework and the researchers are recommending that firms should completely disable Java until a fix is available from Oracle.

"As a user, you should take this problem seriously, because there is currently no patch from Oracle," Boston-based Rapid7 researchers noted in a blog post on Monday.

Enterprise IT security teams should limit the use of Java across the organization, said Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Redwood City, Calif.-based vulnerability management vendor Qualys Inc. in a blog post Monday. Internet Explorer could be set to forbid the use of Java, allowing only whitelisted websites, Kandek wrote.

"For once, users of the older Java v6 do seem to be better off as the vulnerability does not affect that version of Java," Kandek wrote.

Poison Ivy Trojan
San Mateo, Calif.-based AlienVault Inc. said its research team identified at least one of the Java zero-day flaw payloads delivered in the attack as a variant of the PoisonIvy Trojan.  

The notorious PoisonIvy malware was used in the attacks against RSA the security division of EMC Corp.  Last year nearly 30 firms in the chemical industry were targeted using a variant of PoisonIvy.

PoisonIvy is typically delivered via a remote administration toolkit (RAT).  The toolkit enables a relatively unsophisticated attacker a way to get details of the targeted computer networks and steal or modify computer files.

Global Directory Enables Small Businesses to Form Worldwide Partnerships

Small businesses are often challenged to make an international impression, with limited resources and staff making frequent international travel impossible. These small businesses need a way to reach out to overseas customers and business partners in order to form new relationships and grow business.

LinkedIn provides a global directory, but the site doesn't encourage overseas partnershiphs. Alibaba creates a global marketplace, allowing businesses to collect with overseas suppliers. But what small businesses continuously request is a method to directly connect with global businesses in order to network and form valuable long-term partnerships.

WebPort Global (WPG) created its online directory in response to a repeated stated need from small businesses. Small businesses, the company found, wanted a way to easily learn about export opportunities, identify and contact potential business partners, share knowledge, host forums and communities, and network globally. While there are many online resources for businesses, this, WPG says, was one need that remained unfulfilled.

As WPG's Ellen Wise points out, they provide the platform and SMBs provide the content. “WPG includes and leverages World Trade Centers, Chambers of Commerce and other business associations as part of the model,” Wise says. “These organizations maintain their identity through a branded landing page for their own constituents.”

One of the great things about WPG is that many of its participants will join through a Chamber of Commerce or Trade Center, adding to the validity of the site. This will create a safe forum where SMBs can feel comfortable with any contact made there. SMBs require this feeling of security, Wise points out, preferring a smaller, more personal environment to a larger retail-based forum.

While WPG is just starting out, its goal is to have 10,000 members by the end of this year. Currently, the company is working diligently with World Trade Centers, Chambers of Commerce, and other agencies to make connections with leaders in each country. This will foster a global network that will help WPG grow its membership over the coming months.

Currently, businesses have a variety of sources in which to make these connections, but smaller businesses have limited time and staff to spend hours researching these connections. WPG seeks to provide one portal through which these connections can be made. WPG will be leveraging social media and direct partnerships to make the initial connections necessary, saving small businesses a few steps in the process.

Additionally, WPG will allow small businesses to narrow connections down to those within the same industry. By using the directory, SMBs can avoid wasting time with global industries that do not share the same interests and goals.

Currently, WPG is offering a 30-day free trial for small businesses to try it out. After the trial, businesses can either pay a monthly rate of $29 or an annual rate of $348. This gives the business fourteen months of membership, providing two extra months free.

The global partnerships that can be formed through WPG can give dividends for many years to come. Small businesses can form these partnerships on their own, but directories like WPG make it easier to cut straight to forming partnerships, removing hours of research from the equation.

Email Marketing Utilities That Help You Make The Most of Your Marketing Campaign

The Web still revolves around email and it seems like it's here to stay. Businesses that market via email must be able to track how their campaigns are working out in order to understand what steps need to be taken to ensure a better run in the future.

With this in mind, to ensure that operations run as efficiently as possible, you must adopt solutions that would help you streamline your marketing operations as much as possible. For this reason, products have emerged into the market that provide full email analytics, showing you how many of your emails were actually opened, how many people clicked a link on one of your emails, and how many people decided to unsubscribe to your service.

We're talking about tools like these, of course:

• VerticalResponse Email Marketing Services â€" This email marketing service lets you easily create and send emails from one comfortable interface for a rock-bottom price of $8.50 per month (for unlimited access) and $0.01 or less per email on a pay-per-mail basis. The interface is very usable and lets you choose from 700 different email templates.
• Yesware â€" This service allows you to connect your email marketing campaigns to your CRM solution. This allows you to import data from the CRM to the email platform in a cinch and saves you the time of having to somehow import contacts from one place to another. Yesware is compatible with Salesforce, Batchbook, Pipedrive, Capsule, Highrise, SugarCRM, and other leading solutions. The service is free, but it upsells premium features to you.
• Benchmark Email â€" This service gives you the option of scaling into higher-volume packages with a guaranteed capability for sending a certain amount of emails every month. Like all the other services, Benchmark Email reports metrics on your campaigns. Their most basic plan lets you send 600 emails per month at a price of $9.95 per month.

To get the most out of the email marketing services that you use, you must have a very acute understanding of who is opening the emails and actually is interested in what you have to say by clicking links within the content's body. This quickly helps you determine how well you're doing and whether you have to re-assess your marketing strategy or not.

How to Use Google+ Hangouts For Business

When Google+ launched last summer one of its most interesting features was Google+ Hangouts, especially if you were a business owner. By utilizing Google+ Hangouts SMBs could stream live broadcasts directly from their Web site, YouTube channel or Google+ profile with just a few clicks and no additional software. Even better, they could save their Hangouts and post them on their site. If you were someone who wanted to experiment with webinars or live video, this was a great, no-cost way to do it.

But now that a year has gone by, how have businesses used these Hangouts? How can we all use them to increase engagement with our customers and to build our brands?

Below are a few suggestions.

1. Office Meetings

Meetings are the bane of many people's existence. They're often mindless, unproductive, and, if you're not careful, can eat up an entire afternoon's productivity. And that's why at least one company has decided to use Google+ to change that.

In an article for Entrepreneur.com, Lisa Girard tells how InQuicker, a health-care IT company, began using Google Hangouts to revamp their in-office meetings. By allowing their 10-person team to use Google+ to share the screen, InQuicker found that the less formal meeting were both more productive and happier. It helped them to stop looking at meetings as a “speed bump” and let everyone stay focused on the task at hand â€" doing the actual work.

2. Brainstorming Sessions

We all have those moments when two (or three or four) heads would be better than one. In your company's lifecycle this may include when it's time to think up your next product, to decide what conferences you want to attend, to create your content marketing calendar for the month, or to dream up local events for your community.

By holding virtual brainstorming sessions it allows everyone to get together and pitch ideas in a rich, collaborative environment. You can invite staff members to participate, other business owners, customers, or prominent people in your neighborhood. By giving everyone the floor directly from where they're sitting, you bring in more opinions than you could if had to squeeze everyone into your meeting room.

3. Record Webinars/Tutorials

Webinars are hot right now. They're hot because they allow business owners to share expert-level information with their audience from wherever they are. No longer do we need to travel to meet with our audience; now we can do it from the comfort of our home office.

If you've ever thought about starting your own webinar series or providing video tutorials to go along with services/products on your Web site, Google+ Hangouts allow you to do this for free. There's no software to master and nothing to download. You simply start a Hangout+, name it, and you're on your way.

And because Google will record and upload your Hangout+ to YouTube for you, you don't even have to worry about recording software. Pretty awesome.

4. Subject-based Question & Answer

Webinars are great, but sometimes all customers really want to do is ask you a question. Why not hold a monthly Question & Answer Hangout where you invite your customers to sign on, chat, and bring their questions?

If you're a financial planner maybe you want to hold themed Hangouts to invite people to bring their questions on certain topics. One week your Hangout could be about the different kinds of IRAs available and the pros/cons of each. Next week you can answer questions about the best stocks to invest in based on age/risk tolerance.

Having themed Question & Answer Hangouts can also help you to segment and bucket your customers for targeting later.

5. Offer Consulting Hours

Remember when you were in college and your professor held Office Hours so students could get individual help? Why not offer the same feature as a consultant? Maybe that means customized coaching services or it replaces daily emails and calls with a weekly 20 minutes video chat between your team and your client's?

Set yourself apart from other vendors by offering virtual coaching through the help of Google+.

6. Behind the Scenes Interviews

As a consumer I love learning more about the people or businesses I'm already interacting with. And Google+ Hangouts gives us another way to invite people backstage into our business.

For example, maybe you're a neighborhood café that prides itself on supporting the local community. You sell artwork from local artists and you host an open mic night for neighborhood bands to come in and show off their talent. As a way of promoting those events and getting more people into your café, why not host a Hangout where you interview the artists or musician? Or maybe interview your employees or your customers to introduce them to your audience? Or have a weekly chat where you preview what's coming down the line for your business?

We like getting a more intimate look at that people we should to allow in our circles. Use Hangouts to do that.

7. Host a Class

Hangouts give you the ability to hold a live broadcast and invite as many people as you want to attend. You can hold your own online class without having to worry about fitting everyone into a single room or providing food for 50 people when only 10 people show up. Now that Google has removed the overhead involved with creating a class or workshop, why not start one?

Maybe it's a writing class where everyone shows up with a short piece to read and others critique it. Or it's a cooking class where you show off how to make your famous firehouse chili. Or it's a Web design workshop where people come and you do live site audits for them. The possibilities for ways to engage and provide value to your customers are endless.

8. Make Announcements

Taylor Swift recently hosted a Google+ Hangout to announce her new album. During the live chat, Taylor answered fan questions from around the world, let them know what they could expect from her album, and debuted its first single. When her single was released on iTunes later that night it went straight to number one, faster than any other song in history.

Have a big announcement â€" whether it's a new hire, a new product, an upcoming launch â€" now Google has given you the chance to host your own Town Hall event, free of charge.

There are tons of ways for small business owners to use Google+ Hangouts to connect with their audience and build excitement. If you haven't already, you may want to check out the Google Live Events calendar to help spur some of your own ideas. You can also add your own events to the calendar to increase your reach.

Have you considered using Google+ Hangouts in your marketing strategy?

Image credit: ivicans / 123RF Stock Photo

TrustPort launches mobile encryption app

TrustPort has launched a mobile application that encrypts users SMS and email messages.

According to the company, 'Skytale' prevents other people from reading sensitive messages and ensures private messages will always be secure during data transfer, both between phones and computers. Using 256-AES encryption in a single click option, Skytale offers the ability to encrypt up to six SMS messages at once (up to 960 characters) and an option to send an encrypted message to more recipients, TrustPort said.

Free versions are available for Android, iPhone and Mac OS X and support is offered for the most used email clients. The software is also a part of TrustPort Internet Security, TrustPort Total Protection and TrustPort Tools.

Marcela Parolkova, sales director at TrustPort, said: “Not everyone is aware that it is possible that their own mobile phone can be tapped without even knowing it, and you do not even have to be connected to the internet.

“Sending sensitive information via SMS or email is often too risky. That is why we decided to offer a free security solution that will be available to anyone who does not want to have their SMS or emails tapped. Skytale can ensure confidentiality for every businessman, who is used to sending sensitive data via SMS or email.”

FBI claims that bringing down pirated versions of apps is a \'top priority\'

Cracking down on piracy of copyrighted works, including popular mobile apps, has been described as a 'top priority of the Criminal Division' of the FBI.

Following the seizure of three website domains involved in distributing pirated Android mobile phone apps, assistant attorney general Lanny A. Breuer said that software apps have become an increasingly essential part of America's economy and creative culture. He said that the Criminal Division of the FBI is committed to working with law enforcement partners to protect the creators of these apps and other forms of intellectual property from those who seek to steal it.

The three seized domain names â€" applanet.net, appbucket.net and snappzmarket.com â€" are now in the custody of the US federal government after the first seizure of website domains, involving mobile phone app marketplaces. This was the result of a coordinated effort with international law enforcement, including Dutch and French law enforcement officials, and was intended to prevent the infringement of copyrighted mobile device apps.

“The theft of intellectual property, particularly within the cyber arena, is a growing problem and one that cannot be ignored by the US government's law enforcement community. These thefts cost companies millions of dollars and can even inhibit the development and implementation of new ideas and applications,” said FBI special agent in charge, Brian D. Lamkin of the FBI's Atlanta field office.

“The FBI, in working with its various corporate and government partners, is not only committed to combating such thefts but is well poised to coordinate with the many jurisdictions that are impacted by such activities.”

During the operation, FBI agents downloaded thousands of copies of popular copyrighted mobile device apps from the alternative online markets suspected of distributing copies of apps without permission from the software developers, who would otherwise sell copies of the apps on legitimate online markets for a fee. 

It found that in most cases, the servers storing the apps sold by these alternative online markets were being hosted in other countries, and international law enforcement partners assisted in obtaining or seizing evidence stored on these servers. Nine search warrants were also executed in six different districts across the US as part of the operation.

Dropbox delivers on 2FA promise, with service rolled out early for forum users

Dropbox has added two-factor authentication (2FA) early for 'loyal forum viewers'.

According to a forum post, the promise to deliver 2FA for Dropbox users is due to arrive during the next few days to "add an extra layer of protection to your account by requiring an additional security code that is sent to your phone by text message or generated using a mobile authenticator app". This has been given to Dropbox forum users first, with users asked to have the latest build (1.5.12) installed.

“We'd appreciate it if you would unlink and relink your account after enabling two-step verification, and report your experiences in this thread,” the post said. Support has been added for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux x86_64 and Linux x86, however users have to opt into the 2FA process by enabling it in their account settings.

In a blog post, Dropbox engineer Dan Wheeler said: “On your desktop or mobile devices, you'll only need the code the first time you sign in to Dropbox. On the web, you can also select the option to 'trust this computer' and you won't need to re-enter a code again.”

Dropbox announced the additions of the options after admitting that its accounts were recently hacked, leading to spam being sent from/to user accounts. The company announced that it was introducing 2FA and automated mechanisms to help identify suspicious activity and a new page to allow users to examine all active logins to their account.

Paul Ducklin, head of technology for Asia Pacific at Sophos, said: “Two-factor authentication that forces you to enter a per-transaction or per-session code - loosely speaking, a password that is used once and never again - is slightly less convenient for you, but very much less convenient for cyber crooks.

“Two-factor authentication even protects you from yourself, in the event that you inadvertently use the same password on more than one site, or get infected by keylogging malware. If you're a Dropbox user, why not give it a go?”

Warnings of fresh Java exploit as commentator claims that Java in the browser is mostly useless

Researchers are tracking a zero-day Java exploit that is being used in active attacks and which may leave users with no choice but to disable the platform.

First reported on Sunday by FireEye, the vulnerability affects most versions of Java Runtime Environment, including the most recent iteration. The proof of concept code has been published and with no patch available, researchers now are bracing for an uptick in incidents beyond the limited and targeted occurrences that so far have been seen.

FireEye claimed that exploits are being launched from IP addresses based in the Asia region. Developers at vulnerability management company Rapid7, owner of the Metasploit Project, have also added the exploit to their penetration testing framework.

Oracle, which releases Java patches on a quarterly basis, isn't scheduled to fix the software again until 16th October, though researchers believe this vulnerability may warrant an out-of-cycle update.

Michael Schierl, a German software developer and Java expert, told SC Magazine US that this particular exploit only affects instances where the Java sandbox is used, such as in browser applets. Other Java scenarios, such as when the software is used in back-end systems for applications or websites, are not impacted.

Schierl said: “My personal opinion is that Java in the browser is mostly useless these days and should not be used unless really needed. Most things that Java applets used to do can be done with HTML5 nowadays or, if needed, with SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) or Flash. While Flash has its security problems too, the attack surface of Flash is a lot smaller and it is a lot harder to build a reliable exploit for Flash vulnerabilities.

“Java on the server or on the desktop, however, is a nice way to generally build more secure applications than in native languages like C++. Just let its sandbox die."

"The number of these attacks has been relatively low, but it is likely to increase due to the fact that this is a fast and reliable exploit that can be used in drive-by attacks and all kinds of links in emails," researchers Andre' DiMino and Mila Parkour of DeepEnd Security said in a blog post.

New York Times Sells About.com for $300 Million

Buying or selling a business is a huge decision for those on either side of the transaction. Whether your company is the size of The New York Times or a small mom and pop, be sure you weigh the pros and cons carefully before moving forward. As the iconic About.com changes hands for a substantial sum, here are a few things to keep in mind when planning your next big acquisition or sale.

Big Deal

Sold to the highest bidder. IAC, a conglomerate owning a variety of online properties including Ask.com, bought About.com, with an Alexa rank of 37 in the US and 80 worldwide for traffic, from The New York Times Company for around $300 million this week, beating out an offer from Answers.com of $270 million in debt and equity. The sale was for less than the $410 million the newspaper company paid for the site back in 2005. TechCrunch

The biggest sale of your life. For most owners, the sale of a business will be the biggest of their lives. With so much riding on the outcome, it's critical to get the process right. So it's surprising that when the time finally comes, so many owners miss the opportunity to maximize the value they get from that business and the chances the sale will go successfully. The Guardian

Taking yourself out of the equation. If you want your business to be more valuable to an acquirer, the first step is to make sure it can operate and grow without you. For many entrepreneurs, this is a challenge not just because of the passion they have for their business. It's also because many business leaders have allowed themselves to become indispensable to their company's day to day operations. Inc.com

Virtual Value

Pleased to meet you, Alexa. When selling your Web business, one important factor to consider is your Alexa ranking. Though there are some issues with how Alexa calculates a Website's ranking, the value can be important for a variety of reasons. Here are some tips for raising your ranking as a strategy to increase the value of your site. The Frugal Entrepreneur

Flipping your site on Flippa. Flippa, the Website best known as a place to buy and sell other Websites, has developed a tool to help provide valuations based on earnings, search rankings, and other factors. But some aren't so sure the tool can be trusted. Here, Hesham Zebida gives his review of the new Flippa beta and a few more Website valuation tools out there. Famous Bloggers

Buyer Beware

Sizing up your opportunities. The greatest challenge in buying a business is determining whether it is worth the price you will pay. To figure this out, it's necessary to exercise due diligence and look beneath the surface. Here are some suggestions from an example in which a potential buyer is determining whether purchasing a fitness business is worth the investment. Chron.com

Going for broke. One step to consider when trying to buy a business is to hire a broker to give you a hand in your search. The right broker can find you a business in your particular niche, help you secure financing, and assist you in a number of other ways when it comes to acquiring the business that is right for you. Noobpreneur