Who reads the fine print? Everybody, right? Sure. Like you read the EULA for every piece of software you install or the terms of service on every web site you visit.
But, others on the web are looking out for you by spending time actually reading those legal contracts which you are inadvertently agreeing to.
I just came across a post that compares the Terms of Service of 7 different cloud services. The blurb that got my attention is something like the following
a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services
That’s in Google’s version, the post (7 cloud services compared: How much control do you give up?) compare’s seven cloud services and in my humble opinion (I’m not a lawyer) Amazon Web Services (which I use) and SugarSynch (which I don’t) have the most favorable (to you) terms of service.
Most large companies have lawyers on staff who write this stuff and who, in the best interests of the company that pays their paycheck, try to make it as legally broad as possible.
Of course, in the U.S. with its Patriot Act, the government can demand access to all your files online, without a warrant, and the company storing your files not only can’t ask your permission, they can’t even tell you what the government is doing with your private property. But that’s a story for another day…
In the meantime, it’s still your responsibility to read the fine print..
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March 31st is World Backup Day. In celebration, here are some tips to get your backup system in place.
First, consider all of the data that is on your computer and what would happen to your business if all of it was suddenly gone. How long would it take to reconstruct the data? Would it be even possible to reconstruct the data? You can’t reconstruct email if it wasn’t backed up.
How about orders, invoices, customer data? Accounting data? If it’s not printed on paper the data is probably gone forever and in the case of fire or flood, the printed files may be gone also.
Here are your three main considerations when creating a backup plan:
- How often it needs to be backed up
- How much data needs to be backed up (in MB or GB)
- Where to back up your data
Backing up your data is the most important and most often neglected aspect of running a small business. How often you back up your data depends on how much data you can afford to lose. It can be done continuously, daily, weekly or monthly. Consider the nature of your business and how much new data is being entered to determine the frequency of your back-ups.
I back up my data daily.
Data can be lost due to a hard drive failure, data corruption due to a virus or worm, or theft or destruction of the computer. Because of the latter possibilities, your data also needs to be backed up “off site”. Backing up data from one hard drive to another in the same computer or on the same network will prevent data loss from a hard drive failure or virus, but not from theft, fire or flood. Continue reading .
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An interactive 3D look into human anatomy using the new Google Body Browser
http://bodybrowser.googlelabs.com/
[Update: October 13, 2011]
Google is shutting down bodybrowser. The link above takes you to Zygotebody.com, which says it’s “coming soon”. For more info go to Googlelabs.com
Comments?.
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Not ready to move your whole small business into the cloud? Well, neither am I.
But, I find myself starting to use little, cloud-based applications that make conducting business easier instead of harder.
For example, I’m testing out a new password manager called LastPass. Instead of keeping all my passwords in a desktop solution that requires me to copy and paste them into my browser, LastPass keeps an encrypted password manager in the cloud. You can access it from any browser on any computer for free and they have a premium service that includes smartphones.
Plus, they just recently acquired Xmarks which does the same thing for bookmarks, synchronizing them across browsers, computers and (again, for a small price) smartphones.
I’m already using Amazon S3 to stream video and I’m exploring Google Apps.
For those of you with limited personal or business data you should explore using the web for offsite backups.
For years I’ve had everything on one desktop computer that I control. Now, as things are starting to get spread out over different browsers and computers I am finding it easier to use the web to synchronize my data.
So, while you don’t have to dive right in, it’s worth sticking your to into the water and see what cloud can do for your business..
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How would you like to receive an email every time your company name is mentioned online? Actually, it’s easy.
The solution came to mind when I came across an article about a company in Orlando, FL that found out there was a global identity-theft scheme using its company name to build fake web sites and solicit job applicants’ personal and financial information. The only way they found out about it was from people calling their company to ask about a job application they had submitted.
It makes sense to monitor your business name or brand to see whether you are getting comments, both good and bad, online or if someone is misusing your company name.
The solution is called Google Alerts. While you don’t need a Google Account to use it, it’s better if you have one set up. That way you can also use their tools like Google Analytics, Website Optimizer or Webmaster Tools at a minimum. It’s also easier to manage (i.e. delete) Alerts. You can also see the results via RSS feed.
Try it yourself. Go to http://www.google.com/alerts and type in your search term. Add what you want searched, how often to be notified, how many search results and where to send the results email. But, I would just preview the results. I haven’t found any way to delete a Google Alert other than through a Google Account.
If your business name has common terms in it, like Joe’s Accounting or Sally’s Dry Cleaners, make sure to put the search phrase in quotes so you don’t get results from just the ‘accounting’ or ‘dry cleaners’ terms.
If you don’t see anything in the results, don’t be discouraged. It’s not a complete search of the web, just “new” items from that day, or that week if you opted for “once a week” under ‘How often’.
But, this way if you are mentioned in a blog or a forum you can go there directly and respond. It’s also a good way to keep track of your competition – to see if they are coming out with new products or services, for example.
With Google Search now showing results from social media and YouTube it’s also a great way to get your company involved online..
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Or call anywhere else, for that matter. What started as a Gmail to Gmail service (with both users at their computer) has expanded to allow Gmail users in the U.S. and Canada to call regular telephone numbers for free (to the U.S. and Canada, at least through January 2011) with low rates for International calls.
The posting on Google’s blog – Call phones from Gmail lays out the process. Essentially, you log into your Gmail account and under Chat choose Call phone.
If you have a Google Voice account that number will be listed as the caller ID. This feature has been slowly rolling out over the last week or so, but is now available to everyone with a Gmail account.
You can use Google Checkout to pay for International calls. Here is a list of phone rates. But calls to the U.K., France, Germany, China, Japan—and many more countries—are as little as $0.02 per minute
You use it just by entering a telephone number or, if your contact list has phone numbers in it, just enter the contact’s name. But first, you will be prompted to install Google’s Voice and Video Chat software.
This is another great added service from Google, one that may actually compete with Skype. Give it a try..
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