Does an online newspaper really want to know readers' favs?

Check out the NYT article on newspapers using advanced technology to see what people are reading online. This is not new, but evidently the Times thought it was good to review this practice.

It says, "Editors at The Journal, like those at other large newspapers, follow the Web traffic metrics closely. The paper’s top editors begin their morning news meetings with a rundown of data points, including the most popular search terms on WSJ.com, which articles are generating the most traffic and what posts are generating buzz on Twitter. At The Washington Post, a television screen with an array of data — the number of unique visitors to washingtonpost.com, how many articles those visitors view and where on the Web those visitors came from — is on display for the entire newsroom."

My question is: What happens when you find out your readers are not interested in the serious matters you were covering - they would rather see what the local celeb is up to than see how the November elections are stacking up. The NYT has the luxury of readers interested in everything, so this helps a broad approach. However, a smaller newspaper, such as the AJC in Atlanta, will focus on what the readers are looking for - and it appears to be unusual local stories, the crime scene and celebs. This is why I need an online newspaper now, so I can read the NYT to get some important news of the day that affects the country - like top notch financial news. If I want celebs, I will go to Huff Post for that.

Use LinkedIn to find business, experts say

A column in The Augusta Chronicle gives a good, simple summary of the use of social media in business. I think author Jeffrey Gitomer's ideas about LinkedIn for business make sense, especially for the small business owner.

Gitomer says, "LinkedIn allows you to find people who possibly can do business with you, and, more importantly, it allows people to find you. Most of the salespeople who use LinkedIn are trying to find leads and/or beg for some kind of connection. This strategy is the least useful, but it's better than a cold call. LinkedIn has a wealth of CEOs and other C-level people in its network, and millions of entrepreneurs (yes, millions) who own their own business and can make a final decision. LinkedIn is the new cold call. Instead of calling a gatekeeper and fishing for information on one possible decision-maker, you can now advance search on LinkedIn and determine exactly whom you need to contact before you make the call. You can discover who is connected to your connections and find people by job descriptions and job titles." Read more by the author of The Sales Bible by visiting the Chronicle.

Check out ways to use LinkedIn from the horses mouth.

Keep in mind latest tech problems that may affect you

No doubt that as a consumer it is hard to stay aware of bugs and problems of technology you use and understand whether or not it is a problem to manage.

Wired's Epicenter blog used reporting from IDG News Service, PC World, Infoworld and Computerworld to piece together this interesting summary of 2010's tech problems that may affect or have affected you. It is titled "Biggest Tech Industry Apologies of 2010(So Far)".

For example read the following excerpts:

McAfee in April apologized for its anti-virus update that took down Windows XP computers around the world, although the company said the problem affected a small percentage of its customers.

The carrier in June apologized for a hack that exposed thousands of iPad customers’ e-mail addresses and vowed to work with law enforcement to prosecute those responsible.

Adobe in February issued a mea culpa for allowing a 16-month-old bug in its Flash Player to fester without a patch despite the fact that the plug-in itself was updated four times since the flaw was revealed.

Visit Wired for the full story and links to more information.

Expanding ways to reach audiences with ads

Ready, set, go for a new kind of advertising option - on license plates while a car is standing still more than 4 seconds!

The San Jose Mercury News reports, "The California Legislature is considering a bill that would allow the state to begin researching the use of electronic license plates for vehicles. The move is intended as a moneymaker for a state facing a $19 billion deficit. The device would mimic a standard license plate when the vehicle is in motion but would switch to digital ads or other messages when it is stopped for more than four seconds, whether in traffic or at a red light. The license plate number would remain visible at all times in some section of the screen. In emergencies, the plates could be used to broadcast Amber Alerts or traffic information."

Read more.

A new car to love: Saab Aero X

I am attracted to stories about auto styling - good design always pulls you in.

Check out Wired magazine's story on the new Saab styling.

Jason Castriota, the designer, says the new Saab 9-3 will emphasize aerodynamic efficiency.

Spyker Cars NV [owner of Saab] CEO Victor Muller says, “It is truly aircraft-inspired and Swedish-clean." Read about his plans for the company.

Evidently Saab pulled in a 36-year-old American to accomplish this. Read more.

While I scouted for a photo, I found the Saab Areo X, and I have already changed my affection to this auto! Images.

Getting to the bottom of AT&T/iPad email exposure

The best way to look for answers on the AT&T/Apple iPad snafu this week is to look for analyses from the experts who cover this technology. Here are some excerpts and links to help figure out what went wrong.

Gregg Keizer at Computer World says: "The hackers who harvested an estimated 114,000 Apple iPad 3G owner e-mail addresses defended their actions Friday as "ethical" and said they did nothing illegal. The hacking group Goatse Security obtained the e-mail addresses using an automated PHP script that collected iPad 3G owners' ICC-ID numbers and associated addresses from AT&T's servers using a publicly-available feature of the carrier's Web site. AT&T disabled the feature last Tuesday, a day before the Valleywag Web site [that was given the info from the hackers] first reported the story.

Gawker Media LLC is the focus of a Wall Street Journal article that is tied into the controversy this week of iPad owners' email addresses. Even thought the FBI, say the WSJ, is looking into Gawker records, it not a focus of the investigation. "Gawker's Valleywag section wrote Wednesday about a glitch in AT&T Inc.'s website that exposed the email addresses of iPad owners, including politicians, military officials and media executives," notes the article.

Information Week's blogger George Hulme through in cut to the chase message on Friday: "Essentially, all that happened is that a security firm managed to brute force a process that returned the correct unique identifier for the iPad and associated e-mail address. Based upon published lists, there were plenty of .gov, .mil, as well as high-level politicians, journalists, and CEOs affected. Our Paul McDougall has an in-depth write-up here. Jim Rapoza blogged earlier today that Cloud Is Real Culprit in iPad/AT&T Security Hole... The "cloud" isn't the culprit at all: AT&T's security and development processes are.

No doubt we will hear more about this in coming days, as well as other security issues for mobile technology.

Social tools making headway, enhancing work in organizations

I am following the new concepts underway for social networking within an enterprise -Facebook-like features that allow workers to more effectively. I came across the article by Mike Swift at San Jose Mercury News that does a good job explaining it - excerpted here:

"... Social media — complete with Facebook-like status updates, profile pages and networks of social connections — is coming to your office cubicle. Palo Alto-based Socialtext and other smaller companies already supply workplaces with the same sort of online social tools that Facebook, Wikipedia and Twitter brought into the mainstream in recent years — features such as networks of personal connections, internal wikis that allow groups of employees to collaborate, and Twitter-like microblogs that co-workers can follow. But with Microsoft, the 800-pound gorilla of office software, set to push deeper into the market with its SharePoint 2010 release May 12, analysts say online social networking is crossing over from something you do for fun with friends and family to something you increasingly will do with co-workers as part of your job."

Obviously this concept will spill over as a tool to interface with customers along with current use of Facebook etc. to engage our targeted audiences.