Ironpaper Current: Web design, online marketing, internet news, security and business online
Ironpaper on LinkedIn



RSS: Ironpaper, Current
  • Ironpaper: Current

    Internet strategy, web design, web security, cross-platform and website technology, online business development and web campaigns, SEO, SEM and online marketing topics.
  • Featured Service

    Web design for business success.
  • Tags

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Other Ironpaper blogs:
    Design & Development Tips
    Ironpaper updates

    Archive for May, 2010

    Google To Abandon Use Of Windows For Sake Of Security

    Monday, May 31st, 2010

    Google is abandoning the use of Windows following the China attacks. Windows and Internet Explorer have been implicated as fundamental problem areas in security for the company.

    The Financial Times originally posted a story that the search giant is phasing out the use of Windows internally to beef up security to prevent future attacks. New hires are no longer offered Windows PCs–only Mac OS or Linux is now offered. If a particular employee needs to keep using Windows for a certain reason, they need to get permission from “quite senior levels.”

    Insurance Carriers Moving 84 Million Distribution Dollars On-Average To Mobile And Web Marketing

    Monday, May 31st, 2010

    Many insurance carriers consider their distribution capabilities uncompetitive today. According to Accenture, a global management consulting company, insurers will on-average invest about 84 million (distribution) dollars in mobile and web marketing, including social networking over the next three years.  Their goal will be to improve their multi-channel distribution strategies that focus on mobile technologies, digital marketing and social websites such as Facebook.

    Based on the survey by Accenture, nearly two-thirds (or 63 percent of 125) of respondents stated that they did not consider their current distribution model competitive . More specifically, insurance carriers will try to match customer segments with the right products at the right price using these new digital distribution models.

    Source: Accenture: Insurance Systems Forum in Las Vegas, based on a survey of 125 insurers globally

    With Two Million iPads Sold, A New Device Forces Designers To Consider Touch

    Monday, May 31st, 2010

    Outrageous Growth For A New Device – Selling Two Million iPads Per Month
    Apple has sold two million iPads in a two month period, according to the company. Twenty eight days after the iPad’s release, Apple sold the first million iPads. One month later, the company again sold another one million of the devices.Recently, Apple began to sell the devices internationally. This July the iPad will be for sale in and additional nine more countries.

    Affect On The Design Industry
    The iPad has already had an impact on the web design and graphic design industries. More companies, both large and small, have had to shift the way they approach mobile and portable devices, screens and the use of such web-focused technology. Many have stated opinions that the iPad failed to transform the news and media world in the way that Apple purported it would. However, it is very earlier in the game, technologies can often take hold in a more evolutionary way–creeping into the fabric of society with an initial sense of extravagance but later taking on more practical and profound applications with time.

    Vocabulary Of Touch
    The iPad is a tactile device that uses visual cues to instruct on the meaning of actions. The iPad and iPhone certainly changes our relationship to the screen.  For instance, the application Keynote has implemented a fairly sophisticated vocabulary of touch responses. From single touch, to long pauses, to double finger movements that can reshape objects or zoom in and out, to double tap interactions for deleting and copying. The iPad and iPhone will begin to form a new language of human/computer interactions and commands. Visual designers (from flat graphics to web) will have to guide users through this non-verbal and more tactile vocabulary of interactions. This will force designers to pay much more attention to the object / stylus (or finger as is the case) point of contact as a informative guide to how the user can interact with objects.

    Pakistan Ends Ban On Facebook Following Apology

    Monday, May 31st, 2010

    Facebook apologized for and removed offensive content from it’s site, which prompted Pakistan to end a ban against the website. The offensive content was a contest on Facebook for a contest that requested for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Facebook promised that the content would not be seen again in Pakistan on the social networking website. It was a lawyer group called Islamic Lawyers Forum that initially called for the ban. Bangladesh also recently banned Facebook for offensive content as well.

    Third Facebook Phishing Attack May 2010

    Saturday, May 29th, 2010

    Another phishing attack is propagating on Facebook. This attack is the third widespread attack on Facebook in the past three weeks. The attack has three noticeable goals: 1. obtain the user’s login credentials 2. install malware on the user’s computer 3. attempt to obtain the user’s even get your home address.

    The method of propagation is a posted wall message baring the title “hilarious video.” After clicking the messaging, the user is directed to a login page which asks the user to login to the Facebook website. Following the login, the user is requested to install plugins: “Media Player HD” and “FLV player,” which are malware devices. The process for attempting to obtain the user’s home address is through a contest prompt to win a free iPad.

    Third-Party Ads Closed Off From Twitter’s Web Development API

    Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

    Twitter announced on it’s blog that it will not allow third-party advertisers to inject ads between tweets with the Twitter web development API. The company will be updating it’s terms and conditions to reflect this restriction, which the company says is to produce the best user experience possible.

    Part of this decision was to preserve the simplicity of the service. They want to keep the timeline attractive and not overload the timeline with clutter caused by ads. Another area of concern was that Twitter would ultimately be responsible for the maintenance and security of the content pushed by third-party advertisers.

    AdSense Revenue Share Revealed

    Monday, May 24th, 2010

    Google revealed the share of revenue awarded to publishers for the first time ever. The amount paid to publishers who run “Ads by Google” ads is 68%. AdSense for search publishers get 51 percent of that revenue. Google says that their higher take on Search ads is due to the ”research and development involved in building and enhancing our core search and AdWords technologies.”

    Normally publishers have a fairly clear idea of how much they will be paid for running ads. Until now, Google has never disclosed that percentage, which has caused frustration with publishers.

    Google also commented that it cannot say at this time how much profit the company makes from this service–as it is still trying to calculate the costs of the service to deliver those types of ads.

    Apple announced a 60-40 revenue split with web developers and publishers on its iAds program during the iPhoneOS event in April 2010.  Google is obviously trying to show that they give publishers a larger cut of the pie.

    Native PDF Reading App For Android Phones

    Monday, May 24th, 2010

    Adobe released a native PDF reading application for phones running Android OS. The app was released on Friday in the Android Marketplace. The tool will let users quickly open up PDFs they download from a browser or as an email attachment.

    The app comes with some very handy features that include multi-touch gestures for zooming, landscape orientation, and functionality that will resize the text on wide documents.

    Google Facing Class Action Suite in Oregon and Washington State Over Data Collection For Online Maps

    Friday, May 21st, 2010

    Google is facing class action lawsuits in Oregon and Washington states over privacy concerns relating “street view” data collection for it’s online mapping program.

    The plaintiffs, Vicki Van Valin and Neil Mertz, say that their privacy was violated by the camera strapped cars that Google uses to photograph for the street view of it’s online maps, and they request a preliminary and permanent injunction for such data collected. Google has pledged to destroy the data, as it had done in Ireland. This would be an obstruction of justice, however. The concern extends allow to the employee access to that data. At least hundreds if not thousands of Google employees may have access to that data.

    With Daily Views At 2 Billion, Youtube Unveils New Plans

    Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

    Youtube, the web video site, is celebrating it’s 5th birthday. The website has seen tremendous success, which includes being purchased by Google for $1.65 billion in November 2006.

    The website sees over 2 billion page view per day. It’s content is viewed by over 200 countries.

    Youtube has unveiled new plans that will help to make the site even more of a success. For one, it plans on improving it’s search functionality to make it easier for web users to find videos based on text searches and filters. The goal is to lengthen the average time a user spends on it’s website, which is currently 15 minutes. They want to steal the show from traditional television. For it’s five year birthday, the website is launching a game-type format campaign YouTube Five Year Channel, which will offer a large audience to users who submit their “My YouTube Story.”

    Tablet devices and web-connected televisions are expected to give Youtube a big boost is viewership.