February 9th, 2008 |
By Joel Dehlin |
15 Comments »
How many of you would take your home computer to a public place and leave it running?
Or make a list of every web site you browse (EVERY WEB SITE YOU BROWSE) and publish it in the newspaper?
Would you write your credit card number down on pieces of paper and pass them around large groups of people?
We are engaged in the digital analogs of these things all the time, and most of us don’t know it.
How many of you would take your home computer to a public place and leave it?
If you fire up a wireless laptop in my house you’ll see four of my neighbors’ wireless networks, all but one open to the world. I’m about as technical as the sole of an old shoe, but it would be trivial for me to hack into one of their computers and cause all kinds of problems: peek at pictures, read on-line journals, grab credit card numbers or snag on-line passwords stored in cache. Though I’m harmless, some are not. This type of cyber-tom-foolery happens regularly. Thieves drive around looking for wireless networks, discover them, break into them (usually trivially) and make off with the digital rewards.
Or make a list of every web site you browse (EVERY WEB SITE YOU BROWSE) and publish it in the newspaper?
If you think only you know the web sites you visit, think again. Your computer stores traces of where you go in cyberspace and, depending on the security settings on your browser, other web sites can get access to that data. Even if you’re careful on your computer, the ISP you use to connect to the Internet can store that data. Some of them are even starting to sell that data–in a way that is actually pretty ingenious. Let’s say you’re up on a web site reading a review of the movie “Bourne Ultimatum.” You might notice that the next web site you go to has an ad to rent or buy one of Matt Damon’s other movies. This is possible because some ISP’s are starting to provide data about the last place you browsed to the next place you browse and charging for that information. Read the privacy notice of your ISP carefully and I imagine that in many cases you’ll find that you can’t prevent it.
Would you write your credit card number down on pieces of paper and pass them around large groups of people?
If you send your credit card number over email or tell someone your credit card over the phone (land-line or cell phone) you might as well be writing it down on little pieces of paper and dropping them off a building roof into a crowd. Technology for “listening” to phone calls and “sniffing” emails on the Internet is basically mainstream. It’s easy to rationalize, “Oh, I’ll just do it this once,” but the first time you find big charges on your credit card that you didn’t make, you get serious about protecting yourself.
It’s interesting to me that we can be so much more careful about protecting our non-digital assets, when our digital assets can be stolen or undermined so much more quickly.
I’d love to hear what precautions you’re taking to protect yourselves.
February 7th, 2008 |
By Joel Dehlin |
4 Comments »
This is an interesting/sobering/motivational video on YouTube which offers some interesting factoids to think about.
February 5th, 2008 |
By Joel Dehlin |
3 Comments »
The activity on the Internet surrounding President Hinckley has been huge this and last week.
Newsroom has an article pointing to some of the major coverage.
BlogPulse ranked “Gordon B. Hinckley” as the third most mentioned person in the blogosphere on the day after he died.
As of 11:20am this morning there were 170 groups on Facebook created in memory of President Hinckley. 29,038 individuals belong to the largest group which is called “In Memory of Gordon B. Hinckley.” Over 90,000 people have subscribed to at least one of the groups.
There’s also a new web site called HinckleyChallenge. This is an unofficial web site which challenges people to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days (in commemoration of his age when he died).
Finally, there is a great video up on YouTube where young people share their feelings about the Prophet.
February 4th, 2008 |
By Joel Dehlin |
1 Comment »
In honor of President Hinckley’s passing and President Monson’s new assignment two new web sites were created to celebrate these wonderful men.
gordonbhinckley.com
thomassmonson.com
In addition, the MoreGood Foundation has also created web sites:
www.gordonhinckley.com
www.thomasmonson.com
January 30th, 2008 |
By Joel Dehlin |
6 Comments »
Thanks to Brad Stoddard for pointing me to Glenn Beck’s comments the day after President Hinckley’s passing.
January 27th, 2008 |
By Joel Dehlin |
8 Comments »
President Hinckley passed away tonight at 7:00pm, MST.
I will miss his sense of humor, his energy, and his passion.
What a wonderful man.
December 19th, 2007 |
By Joel Dehlin |
1 Comment »
The Culture Code is an amazing read. I don’t claim to agree with everything that Rapaille writes, but it’s undeniably interesting. The author comes off as a little cocky and presumptuous. If you can get past that, then if part of what you do requires understanding a market then you would do well to read this book.
November 29th, 2007 |
By Joel Dehlin |
2 Comments »
Recently, Washington Post London burea chief Mary Jordan published this article on the expanding global nature of the Church.
It’s a great article. It names the Internet as one of the tools that is allowing the Church to reach people who wouldn’t have heard about the Church before.
We occasionally post links to articles like this on newsroom.
November 27th, 2007 |
By Joel Dehlin |
9 Comments »
A key principle in one of my favorite books, Good to Great, is described metaphorically as “getting the right people on the bus.” When a manager is trying to move toward a vision, the most important thing he can do to be successful, I believe, is to have great people along for the ride. You can cover an awful lot of organizational weakness by having great people. Some managers feel threatened by surrounding themselves with great people. I try to always hire people who are smarter and more capable than myself. It makes my job much easier and increases my organization’s effectiveness.
Hiring great people isn’t a panacea, however. It’s easy to thwart even the most proficient employee by surrounding him with ineffectual or slow systems. By system, I mean interdependent process and tools–not just tools. Too many times I’ve hired someone who was very successful in one context, only to see her become frustrated and ineffectual with the context I hired her into.
When facing a situation where an employee seems not to be working out, first consider the system you’ve surrounded him with. Does she have the tools she needs to be successful? Is he clear on his role? Are you running interference for her? Does he have the time he needs to do his job or is he spending his time floundering in administrivia?
Good managers fix systems first and employees second. In the coming weeks, I’ll talk about some of the systems an I.T. shop can focus on improving.
November 19th, 2007 |
By Joel Dehlin |
No Comments »
Dr. Charles Knutson, a computer science professor at BYU, has started a new podcast called Internet Safety Podcast where he talks about safe driving on the Internet. The first few episodes deal with what kinds of things kids are exposed to on the Internet and some techniques for coping.
Check it out.
