Facebook Is Circling The Wagons

It's no secret I am a Google fan. No surprise, Google is my default search engine and Google maps has long replaced Mapquest on my desktop. Google is what I prefer as my personal mail and calendar system, and I use all of the productivity (documents, spreadsheets, presentation) tools, blogger and Google voice. I'm an early adopter of Google Plus and carry an Android phone. I will use their new flight planning service, too.

But I regularly use Facebook, Foursquare, Tripit, Yelp, Tweetdeck, and Groupon. I maintain two active Twitter accounts and frequently explore other social networks. I use Microsoft cloud based tools for business and have worked with IBM in the development of LotusLive, their cloud based offering.

I understand the cloud and social networks.

So I find the heated competition between Facebook and Google Plus interesting and somewhat amusing. The proponents of each would have you believe their system is the best and will crush and eradicate the other. Nothing could be further from the truth. These two behemoths and all of the cloud based services have unique qualities that appeal to their respective constituents. People gravitate towards them because each of them provides a simple means to achieve some goal and people understand how they work.

In recent months, the Z Team at Facebook have introduced a number of "enhancements" which are designed to improve the service. Mail was added and a partnership with Skype allowed for the introduction of video chats. Smart friend lists now let you group your friends into categories and will add new ways of filtering the news stream. This week we saw the introduction of subscriptions which essentially turns your "wall" into a public fan page. These moves are clearly reactions to the success and growth of Google Plus and Twitter.

Why mess with recipe? Facebook appeals to people who want to share their everyday life experiences with a set of clearly identified friends. The ease and simplicity of doing this is what made Facebook what it is today. Introducing new complex features may appeal to a few but is much more likely to be ignored or potentially irritate current subscribers. As a result of these changes, Facebook might actually lose more people than it will gain.

The Z-Team should forget about copying Google Plus features and concentrate on adding more simple capabilities to socialize. Help students and parents organize back to school activities or provide vacation planning tools. Integration with the real world such as the kiosks at a hotel that allow you to post your activities while at the pool increase both the opportunity and desire to use this network.

I have no demographics or statistical trends to support it but my prediction is the younger high school and college crowd will continue to dominate the Facebook airwaves with highly social interactions. The over 50 crowd is likely to stay where they are as well. They typically have a low propensity for switching.

When Google Plus is finally open to the public it will attract the 20+ working professional and, while it will certainly include a social component, professional and commercial interactions will dominate. The integration with all of the other Google tools will attract and retain these people.

So stop debating who is king of the hill and instead, focus on determining who you are and what you want to accomplish. It will be obvious which of these services will suit you best. If you can't figure it out, write me or give me a call and I'll be happy to help you out.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Google Introduces Travel Service

You may recall several months ago Google acquired ITA software, positioning the company to introduce more advanced travel services. Yesterday Google posted an insider blog entry providing an early look at their new flight service.

You can watch this brief YouTube video and it will demonstrate exactly how it works. Using the standard Google search page, just enter your travel plans. For example, flights from Newark to St. Louis. Click on the new link flights on the left and you will be presented with a schedule of possible flights. The page has several places where you can qualify your search to more specific. Using drop down menus, select another airport for departure, adjust the travel dates or enter a price range. As you make these adjustments the flight options displayed in the table will automatically update.

Selecting any one of the flights will immediately show all the return flight options and their associated costs.

A truly unique feature is one that allows you to plan without knowing where you want to go. You can use your mouse on the map above the table and by clicking around see how much it costs to travel to different cities. Or you can put in your budget and time allowed for travel and the service will show you optional destinations that meet these criteria.

Once your flights are determined you can book the travel by clicking one button. The service is currently limited to US domestic flights.

Google have once again taken a service to a new height. Leveraging the ITA resources, maps and advanced search technology they have constructed a simple, fast and convenient way to find and book flights.

I have a feeling this service is going to take off.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

KOMU Makes Broadcast Television History

Yesterday's column recounted my experience on a very dark day in US history. Today I reflect on a much more positive and exciting experience. Sarah Hill, anchorwoman for KOMU TV an NBC affiliate in Columbus Missouri, made history by introducing the world to interactive participation in a live news broadcast.

Over the last several weeks, I have been interacting with Sarah and others in a Google Hangout, a video chat with up to ten people who can see and hear each other as if they are all in the same room. You can read the background leading up to this historic event in an earlier column Hanging Out Can Make You A Star.

U_News @ 4 hosted by Sarah Hill premiered Monday September 12. Unlike any other news program on the air it included guests from around the world who interacted in real time and on air with Sarah using the Hangout technology. I was fortunate to have been scheduled as one of the guests on this inaugural broadcast.

Other guests have written about the show. Chad LaFarge posted a comprehensive story on his Google Plus account.  Kim Beasley had a story published in Technorati.com. The KOMU TV web site has a link which will allow you to replay the segments of show exactly as they went out over the air. Michael Mozart arranged streaming through YouTube and captured all the behind the scenes action. This video is long and begins before we were on air showing some of the preparation and rehearsals of various segments. You will see and hear everything just as we did and it seem   like you are in the studio hangout with us.

About 22 minutes into the video Sarah takes live reports from Laurent Ravalac in Paris France about a nuclear power plant incident and then a report on the day after 911 from me in New York and Kempton Lam in Calgary Canada.

KOMU has been using their own web site and social networks like Facebook and Twitter to encourage and collect local viewer comments. But using the interactive video chat and adding guests from other parts of the country and around the world has added a whole new dimension to television news.

One can only imagine where this will go next. Surely the other networks and major markets will begin to adopt this technology, slowly adding viewer participation in news, sports and financial reporting. It may  move beyond news into home participation in game shows or perhaps give rise to a new genre of reality show.

On Google Plus, Hangouts already being used for music concerts, karaoke shows and other game shows. This will no doubt be an important development in the continued evolution of social media and the convergence of internet and broadcast technology.

Sarah Hill is one of the first people to recognize the enormous potential in this technology and last night she revolutionized television news. I will be forever grateful that she allowed me to play a small role in the history of broadcast journalism.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC


NOTE: Many people were involved in this effort and deserve recognition, congratulations and thanks. They include Jen Reeves (Director), Nathan Higgins (Producer) and the entire staff at KOMU, and my fellow co-hosts Kim Beasley (MO), Pio Dal Cin (Italy), Aaron Fuhrman (MO) , Chad LaFarge (MO), Kempton Lam (Canada), Michael Mozart (CT), Laurent Ravalac (France).

9/11 - My Personal Story

Over the past few days many people have been reflecting on the tragic events of September 2001. Born and raised in New York, it had a large and lasting impact on me.

Tuesday September 11, 2001 was the second day of a three day technology conference on a cruise ship, the Aurora. It started out as usual with a sponsored breakfast before the presentations, workshops and vendor meetings which would fill the day. Mid morning there was a general announcement and all regularly scheduled sessions were suspended. The on-board television systems carried the BBC News live covering the tragic events as they unfolded throughout the day..

Initially there was shock and disbelief but it quickly turned to deep concern. Concern for the operations of the companies which was our responsibility. Concern for our colleagues as we had no idea of the extent of the attack. Concern for our families and for ourselves. And a plethora of other emotions including anger, sympathy, disgust and deep sorrow over the loss of the towers and the thousands of innocent victims.

I worked summer jobs on Wall Street during the time when these magnificent buildings first sprang out of the ground. I often stood watching the pile drivers during my lunch hour as they prepared the foundation. I watched the crane atop the structure as it went ever higher into the sky, pulling the huge steel frame into place below and around it. I watch the shiny silver exterior cladding added floor after floor.

Years later, while attending NYU graduate school downtown, the bar on the 102nd became a favorite place to hang out any time class was cancelled. I worked in the area, attended many business meetings in the towers and often shopped and ate lunch in the concourse. My wife and I enjoyed a dinner at Windows on the World, and, years later, we took our two children to the observation deck.

These towers were an integral part of the City and held a very special place in the hearts and minds of every New Yorker, including me. Losing them hurt, and the loss of so many lives, police, firefighters, emergency workers and ordinary people, was almost too much to bear.

On board the Aurora we could do little more than watch and wait for more news. The port of New York, our point of origin, was now closed. The ship, being of British registry received a visit from the coast guard and, for security reasons, was asked to leave US waters. As we headed straight out towards the ocean, the captain assured us the ship had enough supplies to last three months. This did not make me feel better. We were just off the coast of Atlantic City. There was a mad scramble to the railing to get the last cell phone call made before we slipped out of range.

That evening I recall vividly heading to my cabin to dress for dinner. An announcement had been made in light of the circumstances formal dress would not be required. A friend passed me in the hallway and asked where I was headed. "To put on my tux," I replied, "I'm an American and no terrorist is going to change the way I live my life."

Of course, there have been many changes since then. We have to take our shoes off at the airport and walk pass National Guardsman in Grand Central Terminal every day. We're unsettled because we know our enemies, who we previously fought almost exclusively on foreign soil, can attack us right here at home.

I don't work in the City any more, haven't for many years, and yet I still miss it. I miss the people and the energy and the life that is New York. And I miss the towers that were an iconic part of the downtown skyline.

Ten years later, images of the towers burning and crumbling to the ground can still bring tears to my eyes.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Secure Your Smart Phone Too

Last month, I wrote a column with advice on how to strengthen computer passwords to better protect your company and personal information stored on the computers you use. The internet can be a wild and dangerous place. My advice was to improve your password making it more difficult for hackers and crooks to figure it out, enabling them to gain access to your computers and on-line services.

We face a new threat with the rapidly growing use of mobile devices. Ordinary cell phones having limited capabilities were never much of a target for malware. But smart phones, particularly those with the ability to support complex software applications, are increasingly at risk of being compromised.

Blackberries and iPhones are not so bad, but  Android has become a prime target for malware. Games and free applications in the Android Marketplace have been found to contain malware, hidden code designed to collect and report your personal information.

No matter how sophisticated you make your password, a keystroke logger on your phone recording everything you type can easily reveal it to the bad guys. If you allow this kind of malware to infect your phone user names, credit card numbers and anything else you type on your phone can be secretly captured, packaged up and shipped off to a web site. It will be retrieved, analyzed and used by criminals.

All smart phones are inherently unsecured. Typically your email, social networks and all of your applications are configured once when you install them on the device. Account names and passwords are stored. You launch programs by simply selecting them or touching an icon on the screen. This means anyone picking up your phone has the same access and ability to run these programs as you do. Physical protection is, therefore, very important. Never let your phone out of your sight.

What can you do when you realize you left your phone in the cab or on the table at a busy restaurant? On company issued equipment, the IT department will often load special software that allows them to remotely erase or completely disable devices. You report the loss of the device to them and they zap it. Some carriers offer similar services for personal use. But absent this capability any person who finds your phone will be able to see all of your information and use it.

First, I recommend you use a feature found on almost every smart phone that requires you enter a PIN or pass code every time you want to use the device. Those of you old enough might recall when personal computers introduced a feature like this. Buried deep in the bowels of the machine (BIOS) was a security measure that required a code be entered before the machine would boot up and load Windows. Locate and enable this feature on your smart phone and it will eliminate the possibility a stranger (or a friend) will gain access or use the device without your knowledge and permission.

Smart phones provide other means of access since they are on the cellular network, support WiFi network access and blue tooth communication. If your device has blue tooth keep it turned off when not in use and always configure it as not discoverable. Be aware there are techniques like "man in the middle" which allow the bad guys to insert themselves between your device and the WiFi network you think you are about to connect. Be especially wary when using WiFi in public locations.

Next, smart phones usually require you to actively approve permission for new applications to access your data. Pay close attention to the warnings when you load a new program. It will ask you to authorize the application to see things like your address book, passwords, location or other data. It might request permission to add or modify data, or act on your behalf. Unless you really need or trust the application you should be wary of allowing it to do these things. Check the user ratings and comments before loading any application. Stick to the reputable software authors.

Please keep in mind your smart phone is now more like a PC and will be susceptible to many threats from web sites with hidden malware just waiting for you to click on a link and unknowingly install it. Sadly, the antivirus software has not kept up so there is little in the way of software defense available for your smart phone. This means you must be extra cautious when browsing and super skeptical of any software you install.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC