Smartphones and Privacy Issues

We have all heard about checking and our privacy settings on various social media sites and outlets – but even if you do these things, do you realize that the metadata (embedded) data in the pictures that your phone takes could put you at risk for disclosing personal locations, such as home address, daycares/schools and favorite places to hang out?

Many applications that we use daily are based on upon geotagging, or embedded location information – it tells our devices how close or far we are to the things we are looking for. However, as with most information-based services, if it gets into the wrong hands, it can put your privacy at risk. What most people don’t realize is that this information is automatically added to the pictures that our smartphone cameras take. When you upload that picture to a social media site, hackers can easily click on the pictures and almost instantaneously find a GPS location embedded within the information on the picture data.

The safest way to stop this flow of information is to shut off the location-based services on your phone – however, this can break legitimate uses of the GPS – such as maps and navigation services. The good news is that now with some phones, you can disable the geotagging for the camera only. The internet site, I Can Stalk U, has provided a great list of how-tos, so you can disable the geotagging for just about any phone.

If you’re not interested in disabling features on your phone, there are also software applications that can help you by stripping out the metadata before you post online. If you do a search for “metadata remover software” you will find a host of free and paid software options for removing metadata from your phone, laptop or desktop. Same for any of the application stores available for phones.

For more information on how geotagging has gotten out of control, check out this NBC ActionNews Broadcast that put an iPhone’s geotagging capabilities to the test with one of their reporters. See also this New York Times article about Mythbusters’ host, Adam Savage’s unfortunate run-in with geotagging.

Smart phones are great, but it’s important to realize privacy concerns can get rapidly out of control if users are unaware of how their flow of information is being directed. MySherpa takes your privacy very seriously – and we’re always here to help. If your company has concerns about smartphones and privacy issues, do yourself a favor and get in touch with us today. We’ll help you protect your data and give you peace of mind.

Best,
Greg

As Fall approaches, we here at MySherpa are getting ready for projects and technology refreshes, particularly for clients who are preparing 2012 budgets. This is one of our busiest times – clients are back at work, evaluating budget concerns and making lists of their “must have” technology and software updates for the next year. We also find a lot of folks getting ready to make the switch from a “break-fix” model to a proactive IT model – they’ve had it with paying for emergencies and are ready to move to a more predictable, less expensive method to manage their IT services.

If your business doesn’t have an established technology review period, this should be the time that you start getting it together. A technology review can indicate success or failure of implement technologies, and help you understand if your workflows are really benefitting your business. It also allows you to view your technology map as a whole, and plan for replacing or investing in new physical equipment.

It’s one the key benefits to working with MySherpa – as your Business Technology Guide we help navigate all the trouble spots to keep your technology working in tandem with your business operations. If you’re interested in learning more about our technology roadmap, please feel free to call or email us any time. We’re here to help.

Best,
Greg.

It’s that time of year again; when the best of businesses are recognized through the Marvin S. Gilman Superstars in Business Award. The Superstars in Business Award is named for one of Delaware’s leading small business entrepreneurs, and it honors businesses and non-profit corporations for their incredible achievements and fearless approaches to business and management. Let the nominations begin!

Each year, the Small Business Alliance, through the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, recognizes the best in Small Business in three categories: Up to 25 employees, 26 to 150 employees and Non-profit Organizations. Applications are being taken now, and winners will be announced in early fall.

Each company is judged by the outstanding measures business leaders and management incorporate into their environment. It could be an outstanding employee reward program, an unusual corporate culture, or any aspect of business that benefits both employees and staff – if you’ve got something great about your business, you should be applying to win!

Click here to see more great info about becoming a Superstar! Ready to fill out your application? Go here to submit online and get more information.

Click here to read more about last year’s winners. We look forward to seeing the nominees and good luck!

Best,
Greg

During this time of economic uncertainty, MySherpa has remained by our clients’ side in the truest sense.  We have maintained our flexibility and have used latest technology to prolong usability and of aging equipment.  We have maintained older servers protected by our Beacon™ technology with standby server capability.

And now that the economy is turning we are seeing increased client confidence return for projects.  When we help people get what they need in the short term, then everyone wins in the long term.

Other ways we have supported our clients:

• No price increases.
• Additional services at no additional cost.
• Cloud-based solutions to maximize cost-effectiveness
• New equipment “Value Engineered” to provide for maximum expansion and longevity on equipment.

Flexibility and trust are the key factors to outsourcing IT needs – and MySherpa has earned that over and over again for our clients – because we are your guide – listening to your ideas, getting them on paper and delivering them as a solution that fits your business perfectly.

So if you had a project you were thinking about doing but you’re not sure, just call us or email – we’d love to help you! We offer full-service consulting, from as little as one hour of talk time, to planning and execution of complex projects.

Best,
Greg

Moving at the speed of summer!

The first part of this year has already flown by so fast – now we’re entering prime sun time and the Sherpas are busier than ever! I know you’re already out the door to somewhere fun, so I’ll keep this short and sweet. We’re out and about ourselves, and we look forward to seeing each and every one of you.

• Our return as two-time sponsor to Ignite Newark, June 16th at the Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware, supporting our friends and tweeps for the fast-paced, often hilarious, networking night of 5 minute presentations.

• Coming up on June 23rd, you can find us at the ABC Crab Feast, a great local tradition, where we get catch up with the finest in local builders and contractors while we enjoy the best of Maryland Blue Crabs. If you’re attending, feel free to stop by our table to beat Jess’s Crab Cracker record.

• I will be participating in the Governor’s Entrepreneurial Business Conference on Friday, June 10th, at the Chase Center on the Riverfront. Guest speaker Marc Ecko will be leading the discussion on entrepreneurial activity and how to make an impact in business in today’s economy.

Don’t forget to check out our YouTube Channel, as well as our Facebook page! Have a terrific June, enjoy your time off and the weather.

Best,
Greg

Wilmington bank ING Direct has long been in the forefront in electronic banking and securities. And to add to their incredible line of products, they are now offering an extra layer of protection to online transactions – the TRUSTEER^TM software, Rapport. Trusteer’s revolutionary software sets the standard in controlling the security of your electronic transactions. It’s layering protection works with your security suite, not against it. And because Rapport’s high security filters are set by your bank, you know that it’s met the standards for protecting your transaction. And best of all? ING is making it available to you totally free.

How does it work? Simply put, Rapport adds extra security layers between your computer and ING – it gives you a layer of protection against online phishing scams and malware programs stealing your information. It’s easy to use and easy to install – what better way to get piece of mind about your online banking transactions, than that?

Curious about how that works? According to Trusteer, Rapport “is very different from other Internet Security suites. An Internet Security suite consists of databases of malicious software and hostile websites which it uses to detect and remove threats from your computer. Internet Security suites’ vendors constantly look for new malicious software and hostile websites in order to update their databases. Rapport uses a completely different technology. It can tell when you are accessing your bank’s website and can also tell when you are executing transactions, submitting login information, and reading sensitive bank statements. During that time Rapport applies access control layers around your sensitive information and prevents malicious software and hostile websites from accessing or tampering with your sensitive information and transactions. An unauthorized access attempt, such as an attempt to read your password, or alter your transactions, is immediately blocked. Rapport’s access control policies are set by your bank. Banks that work with Trusteer build and maintain policies that define which information is sensitive and which operations on this information should be restricted. Unlike Internet Security Suites, Rapport does not need to maintain a database of malicious software and websites and can therefore block new threats and “under the radar” threats which Internet Security suites are not yet aware of.”

A terrific and free way to add to peace of mind to your online financial transaction. For more information, or to make your online banking safer now, click here.

Will you #BeHere? Delaware Leads the Nation in Geo-Mapping Social Media Project

As small and medium businesses enter into electronic marketing arena, they face new challenges unlike any seen before in traditional marketing outlets. Applications, live maps, social media shout-outs all carry great weight to those users “in the know” – but how does a business get recognition and tap into this audience? How do they get people in the door?

Enter #BeHere Wilmington – an ambitious geo-locating project that aims for Wilmington to be the first city in the country to have 100% of the downtown street-level businesses added to mobile applications like Foursquare, Facebook Places, Gowalla, and Google Places. With the tremendous outpouring of support and growth that the social media revolution has seen in the First State, (search the #NetDE and #BeHere tags on Twitter to get the full connected experience), it seems only obvious that a project of this magnitude would develop here first!

Initially conceived by Will Minster, the Director of Economic Restructuring at Downtown Visions, the #BeHere project has grown into a mass collaboration, including many of our friends and colleagues who are at the forefront of social media integration here in the First State (Check them out here: CoINloft, Verge, Archer Group, Web Happy and 23^rd5th).

A determined group of folks set out over the weekend of April 30^th to cover over 70 city blocks and 280 street-level businesses in the heart of downtown Wilmington. Twenty-four hours to get every business on the map, complete with pictures, useful tags and even QR (Quick Response) codes. Did they make it?

To follow the progress of #BeHere Wilmington, please click here.

We hope that you are as excited as we are about this project and let us know if we can help you get involved with us and #BeHere now!

All the best,

Greg

MySherpa helps Light up the Queen

MySherpa® is pleased to be a part of the Light up the Queen efforts – we’ve pledged to offer our assistance not only in much-needed financial support to the Light Up the Queen Foundation, but by committing to help build a musician’s co-op designed to assist local artists in developing business acumen and marketing plans.

We believe the effort to revitalize downtown Wilmington is a worth-while and long-term project, one that will generate the zeal and fervor befitting the new generation of businesspeople, artists, and the good people who live, work in, and love this city like we do.

Approximately 150,000 guests are projected to visit the Queen each year, and they’re going to eat and shop when they are done (tourism revenue!)  Some additional facts:

• Creation of 125 permanent jobs, with the potential for hundreds more.
• Residents of Wilmington say
  • 58% think Wilmington closes at 5PM
  • 47% say Wilmington lacks great nightlife
  • 41% say Wilmington lacks many special events
  • 40% say Wilmington lacks hip, young entertainment options

(Economics Research Associates)

As 2011 unfolds before us, Wilmington Delaware can again lay claim to cultural and architectural renaissance – in the form of the newly renovated Queen Theatre, located downtown on Market Street. Originally built in 1917, the Queen was renowned for its vaudeville acts, movies and live shows throughout the first half of the 20^th century. The Queen weathered her share of wars and local strife, before finally shutting her doors after a final film screening of Vincent Price in “The House on Haunted Hill” in 1959. She lay dormant, slowly becoming an eyesore to the downtown populous. And then, the Queen found a “Friend”, in the form of Bill Taylor, the head of the new “Light up the Queen Foundation”.

The Queen will boast a fabulous 400-seat main stage area, 180-seat second stage, a full kitchen (serving lunch and dinner) and a complete radio studio, Even better, these facilities are part of a relationship that nationally renowned radio show World Café and Philadelphia radio giant WXPN pioneered at their first community venture, World Café Live.

Why wouldn’t you want to be part of this change?

We encourage you to visit the Queen for yourself – this fantastic venue opened on April 1^st, and it’s now ready for you to come experience new music, give your children arts and music opportunities, teach young artists how to run a business, and give everyone an opportunity to be part of the renaissance. We hope you will visit our links to the fine folks at Light up the Queen Foundation, and tell them you want to light up your life!

Best,

Greg

Warning: Rough Flight Ahead?

There are three things that make for a good (or in this case, bad) airline experience: attitude, equipment and amenities. In my opinion,  being American means having a can-do attitude. It means having the best equipment for the job and being prepared. It also means offering amenities as a way of acknowledging  “We’re all in this together!” Or better yet, “Thank you for your business!”

Recently,  I flew two airlines for business, and I had markedly different experiences. The first was Southwest Airlines. The gate staff was outwardly cheery and described the boarding process in a fashion that made me want to stand in alpha-numerical order. My boarding number was A-50 and the friendly attendant said, “Not to worry if you are not exactly between 49 and 51 in line. It was OK to be close.” This immediately took the stress of having to compare boarding passes with five other people for fear that I would be budging in line or losing choice seating.

In comparison, my flight through US Air was atrocious: boarding was haphazard and stressful. There were so many people standing at once around the gate that it made me feel like the plane was oversold. Before I was even half way to the counter I could hear announcements over the pager that carry on roller bags would have to be checked. The whole reason I carry on is because of the inevitable 45 minute wait at the Philadelphia baggage claim; which I will get to later. When I boarded the plane I asked if my luggage could be returned back to me like a baby strollers when you exit the aircraft. The response was, “I’m sorry, we can only do that for first class passengers.” So much for a can-do attitude; let’s see how the equipment compared.

Southwest has modern, American made Boeing 737 jets. One of the best parts about this jet is the fact it has ample overhead room for carry-on bags. If you have larger bags, seek seats in the back of the plane as the overhead is larger than in the front. Lots of room is American. US Air, not so. The jets are Airbus, made in Europe. And for whatever reason, the overhead compartments are much smaller than its American made counterpart. How convincing is it to call yourself US Air when you fly foreign planes? The flight attendants must know this because the first thing they said upon my boarding was, “That bag will have to go under the seat. It must fit fully underneath.” Holy shit Batman, do you mean I have to fly across country with my feet pressed up against the bag? No way. I spent the next five minutes cursing, cajoling and outright embarrassingly repositioning other peoples’ bags to the side to fit my unwelcomed carry-on.

As for amenities, both airlines offer free water and soda. However, Southwest does still offer free snacks like peanuts and pretzels. US Air must be hard up to turn profits as it does not offer free snacks. They are eking out every penny possible offering only paid snack boxes or paid lunches. And for that matter, when I did whip out my credit card to pay for the ‘All-day fruit and cheese platter $8’ it must have been an Alaska summer night airspace crossing because, you guessed it, they were all out and it was sunny as day outside my window. Guess what? I did see some peanut bags in first class; how luxurious!

Southwest Airlines is American as apple pie while US Airlines is American as Heffeweisen at Octoberfest. I conclude this in flight comparison with the unattractive thought of having to navigate through the grungy Philadelphia Airport. Is US Air is nickel and diming me for peanuts?

I ask US Air is reconsider their service offerings from their customers’ perspective.  Their approach to flying leaves much to be desired for Philadelphia travelers.  We deserve better.  It’s the American way to want better.

Greg

In this part of the Delaware Valley, horse breeding and racing is a revered and beloved past-time. Many famous jockeys and horses have come out of Pennsylvania and Delaware – you hear the success stories every race season. However, there can be a dark side to the industry as well. Recently a heart-wrenching story of a Unionville, Pennsylvania jockey was published in our local paper.

The jockey, Jake Chalfin, was hurt badly in a riding accident at the Blue Ridge Fall Races in Berryville, Virigina – a young, un-tried filly panicked and ended up throwing Chalfin into a fence, paralyzing him from the chest down. Chalfin’s decision to try the horse was no easy task – he freely admits he took an educated risk designed to boost his career and that of the unknown racehorse.

After the accident, however, is when Jake felt the full measure of his life, his career and his friends. And he had no idea what was to come. Immediately after his hospitalization, friends and family began setting up funds and accounts to try and assist Jake with what he knew would eventually be staggering medical bills. The result? Tickets to the first fundraising event are sold out – at $150 a ticket. A trust fund with a million dollars has appeared out of nowhere. And the friends? They’re everywhere – “They have come out of the woodwork,” says Jake, “I’m so overwhelmed by it. I can’t believe how fortunate I am that I have this network of friends who has my back!”

When I see and hear this kind of triumph arising out of personal tragedy – I am touched and awed by the bonds of human relationships. I encourage you to look around you at the community you live and work in, and become an active participant in your social network, no matter the scope. In these post-holiday months, don’t forget that giving and caring for others need not be restricted by season. In each of us lies the potential to enrich and support another’s life – and the rewards of caring for others knows no bounds.

Best,

Greg Gurev, Head Sherpa