Google’s New Privacy Settings…

WHY YOU MIGHT WANT TO DELETE YOUR GOOGLE BROWSER HISTORY BEFORE NEXT WEEK:

FROM THE DAIL MAIL:

As of March 1, Google’s new, “shorter and easier to read” privacy policy will go into effect. At that time, the search giant that also includes products such as YouTube, Gmail and Calendar will begin “[treating] you as a single user across all [of its] products.” An example provided by the company is letting you know you’re late for a meeting based on your location and calendar schedule.

So, what is there to do if you want Google to hold a little less personal information about you? The Daily Mail suggests a good starting step is to delete your browser history. It even offers the steps on how to do so:

1. Go to the Google homepage and sign into your account. Use the dropdown menu under your name in the upper right-hand corner to access your settings. Click on “account settings”.
2. Next, find the section called “Services” and you’ll see a link to “View, enable, or disable web history”, shown in the red box below. Click on it.
3. Finally, you can remove all of your search details by clicking on “Remove Web History”, shown in the red box below. Once you have done this your history will remain disabled until you turn it back on.

The Daily Mail notes that while clearing your browsing history won’t prevent Google from storing this info for its own purposes, it will at least become anonymous.

Google announced in January that it would be reducing its more than 60 privacy policies into one cohesive message. With this new policy, if you are logged into Google, the company may be able to collect your information from one service to another, recognizing preferences and making connections across its platforms. If you think not logging into Google will prevent tracking, the Daily Mail points out that the company will just track you by IP address. While Google says that this updated policy doesn’t deviate from its core principals.

visit www.sundialstudios.com for info.

 

Censoring the Web or Stopping Piracy…

There’s a lot of information across the web recently about SOPA and PIPA, two pieces of legislation that will give the government an ability to take away more of our civil rights and privacy.

The following was taken from Google.com

More about SOPA and PIPA

Members of Congress are trying to do the right thing by going after pirates and counterfeiters but SOPA and PIPA are the wrong way to do it.

1. SOPA and PIPA would censor the Web

The U.S. government could order the blocking of sites using methods similar to those employed by China. Among other things, search engines could be forced to delete entire websites from their search results. That’s why 41 human rights organizations and 110 prominent law professorshave expressed grave concerns about the bills.

2. SOPA and PIPA would be job-killers because they would create a new era of uncertainty for American business

Law-abiding U.S. internet companies would have to monitor everything users link to or upload or face the risk of time-consuming litigation. That’s why AOL, EBay, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo and Zynga wrote a letter to Congress saying these bills “pose a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job-creation.” It’s also why 55 of America’s most successful venture capitalists expressed concern that PIPA “would stifle investment in Internet services, throttle innovation, and hurt American competitiveness”. More than 204 entrepreneurs told Congress that PIPA and SOPA would “hurt economic growth and chill innovation”.

3. SOPA and PIPA wouldn’t stop piracy

To make matters worse, SOPA and PIPA won’t even work. The censorship regulations written into these bills won’t shut down pirate sites. These sites will just change their addresses and continue their criminal activities, while law-abiding companies will suffer high penalties for breaches they can’t possibly control.

There are effective ways to combat foreign “rogue” websites dedicated to copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting, while preserving the innovation and dynamism that have made the Internet such an important driver of American economic growth and job creation. Congress should consider alternatives like the OPEN Act, which takes targeted and focused steps to cut off the money supply from foreign pirate sites without making US companies censor the Web.

 

It’s 2012 – Have You Created A New Marketing Plan?

Well, have you?  A new year means it’s time for a new marketing plan and new marketing budget.

Does your website need updating?
Does the copyright at the bottom indicate 2012 or is it still showing 2009??
Have you added new products or services?

Visit our website and request a proposal to update your site: www.sundialstudios.com

 

For those of you who are still using Internet Explorer 6

For those of you who are still using Internet Explorer 6, it’s finally time to upgrade… OR ELSE! http://ow.ly/80JSK

 

The new Sundial Studios blog will have more updates soon!

The new Sundial Studios blog will have more updates soon. Make sure you visit http://www.sundialstudios.com to learn more about our services http://ow.ly/7vZ4f

 

Do you have multiple social media accounts?

Do you have multiple social media accounts for your business; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress & more? Try using Hootsuite to make your posts and updates from one place! http://ow.ly/7vOTf

 

We have a new questionnaire for new clients!

So you might be thinking of hiring Sundial Studios to design/redesign your website or creating a new Internet advertising campaign, but aren’t sure where to start…

We typically ask a lot of questions before we get started, but sometimes it’s difficult for potential clients to answer on the spot. Because of this we created a new secure online questionnaire. This will probably take 15 – 30 minutes to complete and will help us create an accurate and detailed proposal for your project.

Please visit the “What we’ll need” page on www.sundialstudios.com and click the questionnaire link at the bottom of the page.

 

Can an iPad Replace a PC?

I recently found a great article from PC World. One of their writers used an iPad (along with his computer) for 30 days to test what it could do on a day-to-day basis. Here’s a link to the article: http://goo.gl/A55Lw

I won’t spoil the results, but I was a little surprised by his findings.

 

Be Simple – Be Successful

Way back in the days when working in retail there was a saying - KISS… Keep It Simple Stupid. This was a saying nearly every manager said when a newbie was hired. I don’t know about the wisdom of calling someone stupid on their first day of work, but when a High School kid gets hired to sell electronics, it’s only natural to try and show every customer that he is “all-knowing” when it comes to the products that he is trying to sell. This is a bad habit and usually did not result in a sale – overloading someone with specs and details was just that; overload. The more seasoned salespeople just kept it simple, gave the customers the basic information they need to make a decision and they were always more successful.

The same KISS concept is just as important today when you are creating your web presence. You can’t be all things to all people, and sometimes the more detail you give out the more people you alienate and turn away. It’s along the same idea not to TYPE IN ALL CAPS – it’s a form of yelling. Instead of explaining in gory-detail every product or service you offer, be factual but be general at the same time. Give an overview of your services that will provide the potential customer enough information to be intrigued enough to contact you. Once you have qualified that potential customer over the phone and determined their needs, then it’s time to give them the right information they need to make a decision.

BE SIMPLE, BE SUCCESSFUL.