IRS Extends Tax Deadlines for Businesses in Disaster Areas

The Internal Revenue Service has announced additional tax relief to businesses and individuals in parts of the Northeast that were affected by Hurricane Sandy.  The program postpones tax filing and payment deadlines from late October to February 1, 2013. The IRS will abate any interest or penalties that would normally apply to those late payments.

For businesses that are currently working on rebuilding damaged property or recovering lost inventory, they won't need to worry about paying taxes and filing forms on strict deadlines.  Businesses and individuals don't need to contact the IRS to receive this tax relief. It will automatically apply to those impacted in the disaster areas.

Currently, the tax relief is available to affected taxpayers and organizations in certain parts of Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. But the IRS said that taxpayers in more locations might become eligible soon, depending on damage assessments by FEMA.

Taxpayers that live outside the areas listed, but who feel they should qualify for tax relief, can contact the IRS at 866-562-5227. Those outside the disaster areas who might also qualify for tax relief include those whose accountant or tax professional is located in a disaster area and workers assisting in disaster relief activities with a recognized government or philanthropic organization.

Additionally, failure-to-deposit penalties for federal payroll and excise tax deposits that were due between the disaster area start date and November 26, 2012, will be waived, as long as all deposits are made by November 26, 2012.

Hurricane Sandy made landfall in the U.S. on October 29, 2012, and left at least 4.7 million people in 15 states without electricity at some point throughout the storm.

This relief is in addition to disaster loans and other federal assistance programs for businesses and individuals that have been impacted by natural disasters. The SBA has a site dedicated to resources for businesses needing disaster assistance.

Hurrican Sandy, Brooklyn, NY, November 2012 Photo via Shutterstock

Chris Barton: Price of copper, up or down?

As everyone knows, the underlying purpose of our Telecommunications Act is to have a properly competitive market that benefits us, the consumers, for generations to come. To which, as a hapless telecommunications consumer, it's tempting to respond: Fat chance of that ever happening.

The puzzling aspect of this goal is that in the process of enacting the legislation, the consumer's voice is never even sought, let alone heard. The latest example of this absence is in the current discussion called by newly appointed telecommunications commissioner Stephen Gale, with assorted telecommunications industry folk, over whether to reduce the wholesale price of copper.

While there is plenty of huffing and puffing from industry - Chorus, TelstraClear, Vodafone Telecom, CallPlus and others including Chorus shareholders' representative Harbour Asset Management - there's no independent representation for consumers. The absence reflects the lack of a consumer body to speak on telecommunications matters - a role that normally falls on the industry organisation TUANZ - but it's also an indictment on our Commerce Commission.

Why is it that in legislation designed to benefit consumers, are those consumers so invisible?

In the current debate Chorus is calling long and loud for the commissioner not to reduce copper pricing, as signalled in the Commission's preliminary decision on the matter. "Investors cannot understand the rationale for reducing copper pricing at the same time that taxpayers are supporting a Government backed programme of investment in fibre," says of Chorus chairman Sue Sheldon. To which consumers, if they were present, might respond: "Investors might not see the rationale Sue, but we certainly do. It means cheaper prices for us, which we think is fair given the cost of copper services has been reducing for some time."

Consumers might also point out that the argument that reducing the price of copper will make fibre less attractive is nuts. Bizarrely, what Chorus and others are really saying is that even though copper is less expensive it should be increased in price - that consumers should pay more for copper for the next six years to prod them to take up fibre when it arrives. What happened to consumer choice? What happened to the free market? As others in the discussion pointed out, such logic is blatantly self-serving.

"The government has contracted with Chorus and Local Fibre Companies to bring forward investment in fibre," said Vodafone's Chris Abbott. "It has not changed the Act to artificially depress copper investment in favour of fibre, or artificially support Chorus over the other Local Fibre Companies."

Which gets to the nub of the problem. Chorus's copper network is a competitive pressure on Chorus's new fibre network. It's a situation which puts the company in something of a pickle. On the one hand it wants consumers to move to the brave new world of fibre, but on the other it wants to milk as much as it can from its existing copper network. And therein lies the problem. For most people what the copper network provides in broadband services at present is generally good enough. If it got a little bit cheaper, it would be even better.

Add to that even faster services using VDSL technology that are gradually entering the market and it's clear from a consumer point of view that copper will continue to have a bright future. Many forget these benefits for consumers are relatively recent and have come about through the unbundling of the copper network, which has allowed for competing services.

"Quite clearly the competition that we have seen to date under the Act has been highly beneficial in both the short and the long-term for end users," says commissioner Anita Mazzoleni "End users now have much better prices. Data caps are there but they're notional rather than real, and we have much better quality of service... So, it's those benefits from competition that we must have regard to."

As she points out, the new fibre network is a much longer term proposition - one that if everything goes according to plan will still only have 20 to 25 per cent uptake by 2019. "Only a limited percentage of consumers need or want the benefits that fibre offers," says Vodafone's David Diprose. "Copper will be the predominant access technology for a number of years to come."

Andrew Bascand from Harbour Asset Management, which manages "a significant chunk" of capital for investors in Telecom, Chorus and other telcos, is one of the louder voices calling for an increase in copper prices to drive the migration to fibre. "A failure to provide, in our view, appropriate price signals for copper will have second round effects on investment broadly in the sector."

What he's really saying is that a reduced copper price will result in reduced revenue and a reduced share price for his investors - a wealth transfer to consumers for a change. It's also a bit rich to argue that Chorus investors shouldn't have to take the effects of a more competitive market on the chin when they're enjoying the benefit $929 million in taxpayer financing for company's new fibre network currently being rolled out.

The Telecommunications Act does say "consideration must be given" to the risks faced by investors in new telecommunications services that involve significant capital investment, and that those services must offer capabilities not available from established services. But it's hard to see those considerations can have much effect when the new fibre investment, hugely subsidised by government, is predicated on just 20 per cent uptake after six years. From a consumer's point of view the real question for many is where exactly are the services that require the faster fibre bandwidth?

It's worth noting too that the other local fibre companies like Northpower Fibre and Ultrafast Fibre aren't bleating like Chorus. They're happy enough with the contracted prices set for fibre services and seem confident in their ability to compete with Chorus's copper. From a consumer's point of view, competition between fibre and copper can only be a good thing - delivering better pricing and more choice. Let's hope the Commission, when it delivers its decision on copper pricing later this month, holds its nerve and continues to drive competition in a market that is, at last, beginning to deliver long term benefit for consumers.

By Chris Barton Email Chris

Sophos multiple critical flaws flagged by researcher

Multiple vulnerabilities in Sophos security software, plus an exploit for a flaw, have been disclosed by security researcher Tavis Ormandy.

The Google researcher said that security professionals should "exclude Sophos products from consideration for high value networks and assets" in a paper released on Monday.

"Installing Sophos anti-virus exposes machines to considerable risk. If Sophos do not urgently improve their security posture, their continued deployment causes significant risk to global networks and infrastructure," said Ormandy on the Full Disclosure mailing list. "A sophisticated state-sponsored or highly motivated attacker could devastate the entire Sophos user base with ease."

Ormandy told SC Magazine via Twitter on Monday that mitigation details for the outlined flaws were in the paper, but that people should still discontinue use of Sophos software for critical networks.

"I don't know what else to suggest sorry," said Ormandy.

Ormandy described a number of vulnerabilities in the paper, all of which apply to Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. The flaws affect third party routers, VPN gateways and corporate proxies licensed to use Sophos core software.

Ormandy gave examples of design problems in Sophos software which "require urgent attention from affected administrators", with deployment best practices.

In addition, the researcher outlined a working exploit for the Sophos on-access scanner using a PDF stack buffer overflow. Sophos started rolling out a fix for this flaw on Monday.

The researcher criticised Sophos on the grounds that the company "were clearly ill-equipped to handle the output of one co-operative, non-adversarial security researcher."

"Sophos cannot react quickly to reports of vulnerabilities in their products, even when presented with working exploits," said Ormandy. "Should an attacker attempt to use Sophos as a conduit into your network, Sophos will not be able to react or help resolve the problem for some time."

Sophos said it had mitigated three of the issues in Ormandy's paper in October, and had started rolling out fixes for three of the flaws, in a blog post on Monday.

"As a security company, keeping customers safe is Sophos's primary responsibility," Sophos said in the blog. "As a result, Sophos experts investigate all vulnerability reports and implement the best course of action in the tightest time period possible."

Sandy put business continuity planning in spotlight

At 1,000 miles wide and with sustained winds up to 90mph, hurricane Sandy was a storm for the record-books. Millions were left without power, and early cost estimates of the storm have been pegged at about $50 billion.

4 Ways To Encourage Users To “Check In” To Your Business This Holiday (from Foursquare)

Foursquare's a neat, free service, that let's people check in to your business for all the world to see. Leverage this free services for your business with these tips from Fourssquare:

1.       Create a special that provides a discount or freebie. According to the National Retail Federation, the most important factor in 2012 in deciding where to shop is offers for sales and discounts. Create a special that rewards a check-in with money off select items or buy-one-get-one-free. Why? When a consumer checks-in, they are telling their entire friend network where they are. And when those friends use Explore on Foursquare (built for searching local businesses and points of interest), your store will index higher in search results.

 

2.       Reward tips too. Surprise and delight loyal customers that leave tips at your business. It could be a free cup of coffee or something as simple as a “thank you” for giving you a shout-out on Foursquare. Little things often go a long way towards engendering loyalty.

 

3.       Reward the mayor. The Foursquare mayor of your business is one of your most loyal customers.  Be sure to offer your mayor special perks or rewards to encourage others to stop by regularly and compete for the title. Throw a party for the person that's checked-in to your establishment more than any other customer or just recognize them with a special sign or a reserved table. It's an awesome way to reward loyalty while drawing in new prospects that will be inclined to enjoy your products and services, too.

 

4.       Push out a local update to draw-in and reward nearby regulars and prospects. The 80/20 rule of marketing is that 80% of profits come from 20% of your customers. Give nearby regulars and prospects a heads-up that you just pulled freshly baked muffins out of the oven with a local update. It will geo-target customers that have previously interacted with your store on Foursquare. Not a baker? No problem. Any timely information serves as good content for local updates.

3 Tech Projects Business Owners Should Never Do

Freelancer.com released a report of the fastest growing jobs this quarter and 3 of the top ones were â€" application developers, web site developers and social media gurus.

This correlates to jobs you should definitely consider NOT doing, but hiring a professional to do. YEAH, I know there are many DIY services out there â€" but don't be tempted to do these things on your own. Yo'll waste time and your results won't look as good as that of a professional.

• As Apple developers waited for the release of iOS6 in September, growth of iPhone jobs dwindled to a mere 8%, a far cry from the 30% increase seen in Q2. Meanwhile, Android saw a massive 16% growth in jobs, bolstered by the success of the Samsung Galaxy S III and the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean release.

• The interactive web continued to soar, with HTML5, jQuery, and PHP jobs all seeing double-digit growth as businesses looked to boost their mobile offerings.

• Facebook jobs saw an 11% growth, a welcome recovery as marketers gradually returned following a traumatic 14% drop in Q2 amidst the company's disastrous IPO. Social Networking jobs as a whole grew 15% after stagnating at a 1% growth in Q2.

5 Content Management WordPress Plugins

2. Guest Blogging Plugin

While guest contributors can become your constant source of free content (which also gets promoted by its contributors, for free), it takes an incredible amount of time to find guest bloggers (especially if you are not an A-Lister).

I used to use forums, Twitter contacts and Google search as my resource for guest blogging matters â€" which would mean that (at least) once a week I would have to dedicate an entire day to the process, just to invite, reply, follow up, format and upload posts and lastly update my guest authors of the status.

This guest blogging plugin aims at making that process much easier. The WordPress plugin lets you search for, read and make offers on blog posts directly through your WP dashboard.

4. Faster Image Insert

Nowadays, we use lots of images in our blog posts because images make our content more attractive and eye-catching. Images are also essential for post marketing because readers feel much more willing to share a visual than a text. Pinterest is great for attracting traffic to image-heavy blogs posts as well.

WordPress allows you to upload multiple photos at one time, which is a great improvement on the old version of the platform. However, getting it all placed into a slideshow or gallery, editing in bulk and resizing can still be a bit of an issue.

I prefer the Faster Image Insert plugin that lets you take care of it all at once. I have used it on many blogs, and I am often disappointed when I work for one that doesn't have it.

Survey Says: Facebook\'s Great. Groupon\'s Not (Manta Survey)

Manta, small business online community, released a survey which shows that small businesses like Facebook while many don't like Etsy, Groupon or Amazon. This survey indicates that daily deal sites are NOT the winners for small businesses during this Holiday season. However, here's a few things you CAN do during the Holiday's to boost your sales.

Manta's advice:

1. Know Who You Want to Sell To: Effective sales begin with understanding who your most important customer group is. This year more than half (53 percent) of small business owners look at members of Generation X as their most desired customers, with one-third (33 percent) believing that Baby Boomers will be their biggest spenders. From merchandise to promotions, think about what will appeal to your key target audience.

2. Get Creative, but Keep Your Stress Level In-Check: The holidays are demanding enough as it is, and coming up with a new pie-in-the-sky mobile app or daily-deal promotion at the last minute might suck up hours of your time that could be better spent with your customers. Use your creative juices to build a cool and appealing window display, and put your smartphone to use by taking pictures of new merchandise to post online.

3. Stick with What Works: If you know that participating in your community's local Holiday Shopping Stroll, or that your “12 days of Christmas” promotion across your social sites are what will bring in great sales for you, make sure you are ready to roll with those programs again this year.

4. Network to Support Your Fellow Business Owners and Yourself at the Same Time: Pull together a group of three or four other stores in your community to run some cross-store coupon or discount campaigns. Work out a system so each shop is handing out a coupon for another shop in your group each week, and then switch it up.  This type of “progressive” couponing is a great way to drive new customers into your store.

 

Anonymous dumps VMware source code in hacking spree

Hackers affiliated with the Anonymous group have posted a number of pieces of hacked data, include VMware source code and purported OCSE documents, as part of protests linked to Guy Fawkes day.

VMware confirmed that source code posted on Sunday was genuine, and recommended that customers apply patches.

"Today, November 4, 2012, our security team became aware of the public posting of VMware ESX source code dating back to 2004," said VMware director of platform security Iain Mulholland in an advisory. "By applying the combination of the most current product updates and the relevant security patches, we believe our customer environments will be best protected."

The code-dump was publicised by a hacker called 'Stun' in a Tweet on Sunday, and uploaded to the 1337X torrent site.

"It is the VMkernel from between 1998 and 2004, but as we all know, kernels don't change that much in programs, they get extended or adapted but some core functionality still stays the same," said Stun in text accompanying the dump.

VMware said in its advisory that the code leak was linked source code that was publicly posted in April 2012.

"It is possible that more related files will be posted in the future," said Mulholland. "We take customer security seriously and have engaged our VMware Security Response Centre to thoroughly investigate.

The Anonymous 'hacktivist' group, which uses Guy Fawkes masks from the 'V for Vendetta' graphic novel and Warner Bros film as a symbol, publicised a number of alleged document leaks on Sunday and Monday around Guy Fawkes day.

The Anonymous Intelligence Agency (Par:AnoIA) claimed a dump of documents from the security, human rights and election observation group the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The dump was to draw attention to alleged falsifications in election results in the Ukraine last week, Par:AnoIA said.

AntiSec, a group of hackers affiliated with Anonymous, issued a 'teaser' document with claims of access to data from intelligence company Stratfor, credit card details from 'US officers', and a list of allegedly compromised emails from Colombian prisons.

As part of its alleged data disclosure, Anonymous released purported PayPal data to the PrivatePaste document site, it claimed in a Tweet on Sunday.

"PayPal hacked by Anonymous as part of our November 5th protest," said part of the Tweet.

The documents on PrivatePaste were unavailable to view on Monday. PayPal head of PR Anuj Nayar said the company was looking into the alleged breach in a Tweet on Monday.

"We're investigating this but to date we have been unable to find any evidence that validates this claim," said Nayar.

Health Care Costs: Big Problem For Small Business Owners

Are you skeptical that politicians listen when small business owners describe the biggest problems that they face?

If you aren't already dubious about our elected officials' willingness to respond to the problems faced by small business owners, then you will be if you read the August 2012 report Small Business Problems and Priorities put out by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).

Since 1986 â€" the year the 48-year-old author of this post graduated from college â€" small business owners have consistently reported that the cost of health care is their number one problem.

The NFIB report is based on a random sample of over 20,000 members of the NFIB surveyed by mail in the first quarter of 2012. Because the NFIB has run the same survey seven other times since 1982, they can examine the importance of small business owners' problems over time.

Health care costs have remained the number one problem throughout economic expansions and contractions. As Holly Wade, NFIB senior policy analyst and author of the report explains, when the economy is during poorly, small business owners generally report that sales and financing are bigger problems and employment is a lesser problem than when the economy is doing well. Yet the cost of health care has been the number one problem in surveys conducted in recessions and periods of high growth.

Owners of very different types of small businesses agree that the cost of health care is their biggest problem. Firms offering and not offering insurance both report it to be their top issue, the NFIB report explains. Employer businesses of all sizes report that health care cost is their biggest problem.

While the cost of health care only comes in second place among small business owners whose sales fell 10 percent or more over the previous three years, it tops the list for owners of businesses whose sales decreased by less, stayed the same, or grew. Moreover, it was the biggest issue faced by companies, regardless of their primary customer base, number of owners, number of years in business, and region.

The cost of health care was the most critical problem reported by small business owners in 2008, at the time of the last presidential election. Despite the passage of the massive Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law in March 2010, it remains the most critical problem reported by small business owners in 2012.

Finally, the cost of health care is the most critical problem faced by small business owners. Over 52 percent of those surveyed told interviewers that the problem was critical; uncertainty over economic conditions was a distant second at 38 percent.

Washington, wake up! Small business owners have a problem that they'd like you to address. Perhaps you have not heard them over the past 25 years, but health care costs are their number one problem. And the problem is critical.

Now that small business owners can email, tweet, text, Facebook, and blog the message (rather than just write letters and call as was the case when health care costs first became a big problem), do you think our elected officials will finally be able to hear them?

Health Care Photo via Shutterstock

Flaws patched in Apple\'s Safari browser and iOS 6

Apple has released updates to address flaws in its Safari 6 web browser and iOS 6 mobile operating system.

The fixes were made available on Thursday and address two vulnerabilities in Safari 6.0.2. The bugs, which lie in WebKit an open source web browser engine, could allow for “unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution” if users visited a malicious website, according to Apple's summary of the flaws.

The browser update affects the OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion operating systems.

Updates for iOS 6.0.1 affecting iPhone 3GS, iPad 2 and the fourth-generation iPod Touch also addressed the same vulnerabilities, but for mobile users.

Other patches in iOS addressed a data disclosure bug, which could allow “maliciously crafted or compromised iOS applications” to determine addresses in the kernel, and a passcode-lock security issue, which could potentially allow attackers to bypass password requirements for Passbook â€" an iOS app that can store users' airline boarding passes, coupons, movie tickets, retailer reward cards and other mobile payment information.

Wolfgang Kandek, CTO at Qualys, told SCMagazine.com on Friday that the WebKit bugs represented the most widespread threat to users.

“When you use Safari or Google Chrome, for instance, you are using WebKit as its underpinning,” Kandek said. “The attacks would be through a website that has something malicious on there that knows about the vulnerability, and it could run something on your machine that wants to take control of it. You probably wouldn't even notice [malware] that had been installed on your machine, which could feed information to an attacker.”

Chester Wisniewski, senior security advisor at Sophos, also told SCMagazine.com on Friday that the WebKit fix appeared most critical.

“From a critical standpoint, I'd rate the WebKit issues highest because they affect Safari, Google Chrome and mobile users â€" and allow attackers to launch a drive-by exploit, which are most likely to be used by an attacker.”  

Businesses Shine in Sandy Aftermath; Celebrities Not So Much

Businesses and ordinary citizens have been notably in the lead in bringing aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy.  On the other hand, some celebrities, government agencies, and even the mayor of New York City are taking criticism for poor planning, slow response, and a lack of concern toward victims who are still suffering without food, clothing, shelter, fuel or drinkable water.  Sadly, the aftermath of Sandy is unfolding in an eerily similar way to another devastating hurricane, Katrina, where the damage proved to be worse than initially thought, the full extent of it coming to light day by terrible day.

Businesses Help the Community

The best and brightest. Some like to paint businesses as being greedy, driven only by profit.  Businesses, including small businesses, aren't always recognized for the good they do in their communities.  Yet they play a key role in natural disasters to help citizens keep  body and soul together - even when the business owners and their  businesses have been victims and are immersed in the same natural disaster. The Fiscal Times

A helping hand. University of Wisconsin law professor Ann Althouse refers to posts about the efforts of businesses versus those of government to aid those suffering with power outages and other problems following Sandy. The post and the commenters pose the reasonable question: Who is truly helping New Yorkers in need? Althouse

Collective effort. Help in the Hurricane's aftermath wasn't limited to businesses in New York City. Businesses from outside the city were quick to lend a helping hand, too. Take this report on businesses acting as collection points for donated supplies bound for victims of Hurricane Sandy. It's just one example of how small businesses are an integral part of the charitable fabric of our communities. The Saratogan

Setting Priorities

Let them eat cake. While ordinary citizens and some businesses are going above and beyond to assist people in need, some celebrities have been, well, tone deaf.  Take actress Debra Messing.  She was blasted by local New York media for donning a Marie Antoinette costume while attending a lavish event whose resources (such as refrigerators) many say could better have been used to assist storm victims.  Of course, those celebrities may have gotten the impression everything was fine through the overly-hasty high-fives being given by public officials last Tuesday and Wednesday. The New York Post

Marathon mess up. The New York Marathon was scheduled to take place this past weekend, and up until Friday Mayor Bloomberg had declared the show must go on.  New Yorkers were outraged.  In a city where hundreds of thousands are continuing to struggle without necessities and the dead and injured are still being discovered, the Marathon became a lightning rod of criticism.  On Friday the Mayor finally caved to pressure and cancelled the event.  Even then, his statement made it sound as if protests, rather than a desire to help storm victims, are what finally caused the cancellation.  Another example of tone deaf?  The Wall Street Journal

Going the distance. Naturally the marathoners were disappointed â€" some had traveled thousands of miles at considerable expense for the event.  A large number showed their grit and civic commitment by volunteering to help storm victims. This photo below from Runners World shows runners who had planned to participate in the now cancelled race, crowding the Staten Island Ferry headed to help Staten Island storm victims. Twitter via Runners World

Government Slow to Respond

Slow responders. Uh oh! While citizens and local businesses have been doing what they can, government on all levels appears to have been caught with their planning pants down. Take the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which despite its stated policy of preparedness, was soliciting bids from vendors for bottled water on  Friday, days after the storm and after rumors of running out of water started making the rounds. Breitbart

Here's a full text of the FEMA solicitation for 470 tractor trailer or truck loads of bottled water equaling 2.3M gallons, four days after the storm had subsided.  FedBizOpps.gov

The rumor mill. Under a section labeled “rumor control” on its Website, the Federal Emergency Management Agency insists stories about the organization running out of water are false. However, the site doesn't state how much water the federal agency is actually distributing or in how timely a manner.  FEMA

Left in the lurch. Other parts of government are feeling the heat from citizens, too.  Residents of hard-hit Staten Island, Rockaway Beach and other places in New York and New Jersey are complaining that government at various levels has been slow to respond. With their community in shambles, residents are caught on camera expressing their frustration, “Where is FEMA?  Where's the police?  Where are rescue crews? When are we going to get some help?”  CBS New York

Inadequate response. “Official help has arrived in the last couple of days, but many residents say it's not enough and poorly organized.” Huffington Post

Photo Credits: Deidre Duffy, Reuters; Debra Messing, The New York Post; Volunteers, runnersworldmag