watchamakalit: Hackers Access Past Presidents’ Emails? Outrageous...

watchamakalit: Hackers Access Past Presidents’ Emails? Outrageous...: When reached by email about his father and brother getting hacked, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush called the hacking “outrageous....

Hackers Access Past Presidents’ Emails? Outrageous!

When reached by email about his father and brother getting hacked, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush called the hacking “outrageous.”

It looks like what website security companies have been telling us is true: even past presidents, without adequate protection, could potentially know what it feels like when hackers pry into our private lives and take whatever they want. A mysterious email hacker who goes by the online alias of “Guccifer” apparently accessed private photos and messages sent between members of the Bush family – including emails from both retired commanders in chief. 

The Smoking Gun website displayed photos it said came from the hacker, including one that purported to show the elder Bush during his recent stay in a Houston hospital where the 88 year-old spent almost two months undergoing treatment for complications from a bronchial infection.  Supposedly, the hacker gained access to the stolen material through the Bush’ family members and friends. 

The breach, which is being investigated by the Secret Service, illustrates how easily hackers can get into the private lives of even some of the most prominent and closely guarded political families. So if past presidents of the USA can have online information stolen from them, what does that say about our potential for getting hacked?

It says that we need to be safe. We need to have a quality computer security system and ensure that we visit sites that are safe. One way to tell is to look on websites for trust seals. These small images, created by a third-party verification company like Trust Guard, can inform consumers as to the legitimacy of the company that owns the website. 

The security seals can show whether or not the website is vulnerable to hackers or not based on the passing or failing of online scans that seek for holes that hackers use to access websites. If the site you’re on displays a security trust seal and its accompanying verification certificate, you can rest assured that the site you’re visiting is safe.

Thanks go out to Michael Graczyk from the Associated Press for much of the information found in this article.

               

watchamakalit: Five Proven Ways to Protect Yourself Online

watchamakalit: Five Proven Ways to Protect Yourself Online: You’ve got a couple of choices: Be like my 80 year-old mom and never go online or make sure you are safe when you are cruising arou...

Five Proven Ways to Protect Yourself Online

You’ve got a couple of choices: Be like my 80 year-old mom and never go online or make sure you are safe when you are cruising around on the World Wide Web. 

Should you choose the later, here are some suggestions to keep you safe online.

Use different passwords for every account. 
Of course it's easier just to remember one password, but when has taking the easy route ever gotten you anywhere? If the password and email address that you use for one account gets in the hands of the wrong person, they can start trying it on other sites and services. There are services out there that can securely save your passwords for you like Roboform. These programs allow you to use hundreds of extremely difficult-to-hack passwords through a simple one-click process.

Don't reveal too much on social networks. 
Often we provide enough information via social media profiles for hackers to figure out our passwords or answer those questions in the password reset tools. We recommend you be very careful about what information you share in your public profiles. Lock down your settings and don't friend everyone who connects with you – especially if you don’t know them.

                            

Protect your computer and browser. 
This one used to be the most obvious and probably still is. Make sure if you are using a Windows PC you are using an up-to-date anti-virus or spyware program. Whether you are a Mac or a PC user, make sure your operating system is up-to-date with the latest security patches. Which ever browser you choose, make sure that you are using the latest version.

Secure your wireless connection. 
Just as important as protecting your computer is protecting the way you get onto the Internet. Make sure you have protected your home or business wireless network with a password and you have changed the default network's name to something else. When connecting to public Wi-Fi networks, be safe about what information you are sending over it.

7. Shop only at safe sites. 
Make sure the site has a little padlock icon next to the address and it has an HTTPS address before putting in your credit card number. Then keep a close eye on your credit card bills for suspicious charges. In addition, make sure to look at the site and make an educated decision about its legitimacy. Respected companies like Trust Guard can provide consumers with business identification seals to find out more about each company. They also offer security scans to only businesses to keep their websites safe from hackers. Look for the Trust Guard seal to determine whether the website is safe to browse.

There are many more ways to stay safe online, like never opening links that you are not 100% sure where they came from. The key is to learn as much as you can about online safety – then be careful for nuances you might not have previously encountered. When in doubt, play it safe.

watchamakalit: Using Social Media to Market Your Book

watchamakalit: Using Social Media to Market Your Book: There are at least five things you can do to promote your book after you have written it and self published it. This article goes t...

Using Social Media to Market Your Book

There are at least five things you can do to promote your book after you have written it and self published it. This article goes through some of the ways to market your book in an efficient, profitable and productive manner.

Social Sites

There are the old standbys like Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and Pinterest that you can use to help friends and family learn about the fact that you have conquered the task of becoming a published author. But there is also business networking sites like LinkedIn and Manta that could help as well. These sites allow you to contact people in ways that regular emailing cannot. 

Article Directory Sites

There are literally thousands of article directory sites and e-magazines like ezine.com that are more than willing to help you promote your new book with an article, testimonials from readers, as well as any research uncovered as a result of your book. This also includes bookmarking sites like Dropjack and Digg. Using companies like articlesandsubmissions.com to manually submit articles about your book to social media and article directory sites increases your chances for immediate recognition in the writing community.

Press Release Sites

There are hundreds of sites for which you can write keyword specific press releases. Outsourcing sites like Fiverr.com has vendors willing to send out the press release touting your new book to most of these sites for only $5.00 – and, although the submissions are automated, vendors usually provide a report as to which sites were profitable. 

Media Sites

 YouTube.com and Vimeo.com and dozens others are great ways to send your message out to the masses via video. You can record how you came up with the idea for the book, or you can release your findings from your research. You can give a quick ‘How to’ seminar based on information taught in your book or animate some of the scenes to promote it. Most everyone likes watching videos – so why not let them watch one about your book? 

Crowd funding Sites

Although relatively new, pledge portals otherwise known as crowd funding sites allow consumers to donate money to projects they believe in. After your book is finished, use sites like ThePledgePortal.com to invite your friends and family to donate so that you can adequately market your book offline to bookstores and online to publishers and retailers.

watchamakalit: How to Pre-Write Your Book

watchamakalit: How to Pre-Write Your Book: Before you begin writing you have to organize. Come up with a topic that people would be interested in reading. Then from the topic you ...

How to Pre-Write Your Book

Before you begin writing you have to organize. Come up with a topic that people would be interested in reading. Then from the topic you need to create a title, then, and this is the genius of Garrett Pierson, (even if he wasn’t the first to think of it) you create the cover of your book. You print it out and have it sitting right in front of you every time you sit down to write. The next step to take involves the printer yet again! Only this time you are making your back page. What happens after that is organization. Yes, you have to organize your book.

The following are different ways to start writing your book.

·         OUTLINE FORMAT (PLOT). Outlining the events of your story, or the plot, can be very beneficial to your writing experience because it will help you thin through your story from beginning to end. You may outline in chapters and then write what will occur, or you can write each major event and revolve the chapters around them. 

·         CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER (WORKS WELL WITH FLASHBACKS). If the book you are gearing up to write has flashbacks of any kind, writing in sequential order can be a great help. Many new authors, and even some who have been writing for a long time, find it difficult to organize their thoughts without writing down things that happen in the beginning and onward. This technique will reduce such confusion and keep the story in your head easily understandable on paper.

·         PLACE. Sometimes it works to pre-write everywhere the events of your story will take place. Take notice if one incident happens in a forest, or if something takes place in the ocean or house. Make the scenery memorable and make it work well with all other pieces of your work.

·         CHARACTERS.  Characters are the most important elements in writing. Write everything and everything that has to do with each character. Give your characters a background history and personality based on things of their past and their attitude toward each scenario they have and will face. Another important thing in character development involves giving your characters flaws. No one likes to hear a story where all the characters are perfect and have nothing that goes wrong. That’s boring! Give each character either a major, or minor, mistake in their behavior. If one of your characters is meant to be perfect make sure the rest of your people make up for it and make the story a fun thing to read.

These organization techniques can really make your writings excel beyond anything you can imagine.  Just remember, before you can begin writing your book you have to think, organize, and pre-write.

watchamakalit: How to Just Start Writing

watchamakalit: How to Just Start Writing: Honestly, a book is just a bunch of words. Anyone can write a book. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make any sense to anyone but yo...

How to Just Start Writing

Honestly, a book is just a bunch of words. Anyone can write a book. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make any sense to anyone but you, or if only your neighbor gets to read it. Go buy a notebook, a pen or pencil and JUST START WRITING! You can write a book! 

Many times when people ask famous authors, “How do I write a book?” they actually mean, “How do I write a good book that will get published and read?” The answer to that question is a bit more complex. But not to worry, anyone can do it! It takes work. I don’t mean twenty minutes during your lunch break once a month. I mean hard work – the kind that makes you think, write and re-write everything you create. Garrett Pierson, in his book How to Write a Book ASAP, shares some strategies that can teach how to just start writing your first book.

There is no secret writing club or underground technique, however, which eliminates the amount of time it takes to write a book. And you, as an author, must take that time constantly and consistently. Your time must be spent pre-writing, writing, editing, re-writing, and researching. As the author of three bestsellers, Scott Berkun, has stated, “It takes effort to learn the ropes, send out smart queries, and do the research required to both craft the idea for a book, and then to propose it effectively.”

A good tip to just start writing is to keep a notebook or recording device with you at all times. That way you can write down any inspiration that comes to you or anything you hear that sounds like it could be relevant to your book. Even if you don’t use all the words you write down, being constantly on the lookout for insight and promptings will take you that much closer to thinking like and eventually becoming a writer. 

When all is quiet, spend some time meditating. Picture yourself as a published author. Envision yourself in a year or less signing your book, doing radio and TV interviews, talking with movie producers. Then, when you believe you can do it, get busy and just start writing.