Zach Attack » Internet

Freelance Freedom

Zach — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:37:45 +0000

Since I started in the web design industry, I’ve definitely had some interesting experiences working on projects and met a number of clients. There have been some pretty funny stories along the way, some of which I’ve shared with colleagues in the industry. The people at freelanceswitch.com had the idea to create a comic strip from the perspective of someone like me. Well, to be exact the main character is a freelancer, but every new comic hits close to home. If you’re in the web design industry this comic is a must read every week!

Freelance Freedom

Google Chrome

Zach — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:05:50 +0000

I’m a big fan of most of the stuff Google puts out, so naturally I was intrigued when I heard they had developed a web browser. I downloaded it a few weeks after it came out and have been using the browser ever since. The final verdict you ask? It’s great! The design is clean and simple, web pages load quickly, and it doesn’t crash nearly as often as IE or Firefox. Below is an article that talks about how it compares to the other browser and the potential for the future. One thing I would like to see is more support for third party plug-ins similar to Firefox. As a web developer there are a number of nifty browser plug-in’s to facilitate web design and SEO which are not currently available through Chrome. Regardless, this browser is a great starting point and I look forward to seeing how they integrate it with their new web based OS coming out later this year.

Google Builds a Better Browser

Download Chrome

UPDATE

It looks like Google Chrome has enabled pug-ins! You can view them here: Google Chrome Extensions

10 Web trends to watch in 2010

Zach — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:07:23 +0000

Below are the 10 Web trends to watch in 2010 as reported by Pete Cashmore in an article on CNN Tech. The most interesting trend was the last one about fame abundance and privacy scarcity. He said “We’re all reality stars now, on Facebook, Twitter and all the myriad online outlets where we hone our personal brands.” I never thought about social networks from that perspective, but that is a big draw for a lot of people with websites like Facebook and Twitter. You know the type, people that update their status on an almost hourly basis mostly with a five or six words about what they are doing. I’m sorry, but seeing someone is “bored and watching TV” is not the reason I’m on these sites. These people either don’t know how to use social networks properly or love the fact that they are updating their “adoring followers” with the minutia of their day to day lives. Reality TV has really messed up the way a lot of people think of the world. It makes you think that you could be on TV and be a celebrity when in reality nobody cares.

Real-time ramps up

Location, location, location

Augmented reality

Content ‘curation’

Cloud computing

Internet TV and movies

Convergence conundrum

Social gaming

Mobile payments

Fame abundance, privacy scarcity

1. Real-time ramps up
2. Location, location, location
3. Augmented reality
4. Content ‘curation’
5. Cloud computing
6. Internet TV and movies
7. Convergence conundrum
8. Social gaming
9. Mobile payments
10. Fame abundance, privacy scarcity

Microsoft: From Trailblazer to Tailgater

Zach — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:34:14 +0000

It looks like Microsoft is trying to steal some of the mobile phone market share away from the iPhone. They released their new mobile OS and are trying to mimic some of the things the iPhone does such as it’s App Store (Windows Marketplace). When did Microsoft change from a trailblazer to a tailgater? They seem to only put out products based on ones already developed and successful. Examples include the Xbox (PlayStation), Vista (Apple’s OSX), and Zune (iPod). I’m all for competition in the tech industry, but I feel like Microsoft is making the moves of a company much smaller. They should be pumping money into research and development to come up with the next wave of cool gizmos and programs instead of playing catch up. It makes you wonder if Microsoft has fallen because of the departure of Bill Gates and in turn if Apple will be able to sustain their momentum once Steve Jobs is gone. My guess is that in 10 years Google will overtake both of them and we’ll all be running Chrome on our computers and using the new release of Android on our phones.

Microsoft’s Windows phones hit the market

Weaponizing Web 2.0

Zach — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:39:53 +0000

There are so many people out there trying to do malicious things on the web that you need to protect yourself as much as possible. With all the personal information on social networking websites, it’s important to keep up to date with the latest techniques being used to exploit users. The scenario that scares me the most is someone getting my login information to my online banking websites. Imagine waking up one day and all your money has been transferred to a Swedish bank account. The worst thing is…it looks like you made the transfer. Below are a few tips for staying protected on the web.

Make sure you have up to date virus protection on your home and business computers.

Norton or AVG. McAfee sucks. You get what you pay for with free programs.

Use different passwords for all you important accounts.

Try and use a combination of numerals and characters when creating a password. Keep a list online using an online document program such as Google Docs. That way you can check your password from any computer that is connected the the Internet.

Make sure you fully understand what links you are clicking on.

Look at the link URL in the browser when you hover over it. Make sure the website name matches the context the link is presented in. If you aren’t sure, avoid clicking. If anything pops up when you do click over to the web page, make sure to close the window by clicking the corner right x or from the task bar. Never click on a “Close” button in the window. This could be a way to trick you into forcing a download of a malicious virus on your computer.

Don’t disclose any sensitive information in emails or chat programs.

Emails can get intercepted and online chat programs can get spied on. You should never email anyone your social security number.

Log out after you’re done

If you are in your banking website or on a social network, make sure to click the “Log Out” link once you are finished. This will kill the session so someone can’t hit the back button or click on a link in your history and access personal information.

Here is a great article that talks about real world hacking scenarios: Weaponizing Web 2.0