Material Monster

You nay have heard the term RSS, however didn’t know exactly what it was or how to use it. Now you will learn how to use this technology to keep your websites “fresh.”

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site

Summary. It also has been referred to as a “pull” technology rather than a “push” technology. And, in fact, this feature is what makes RSS so popular in terms of today’s Internet usage.

It’s probably hard to argue that anyone who uses the Internet today hasn’t heard of spam. If they have an email inbox it is probably full of it.

Spam, for the uninitiated, is the receipt of unwanted emails from people whom you did not request to receive information. Spam represents the “push” technology. That is, people “push” their email message at your inbox, whether you have asked to receive the email or not.

And that aspect of “push” technology is what many have come to believe is the death of email. It’s arguable that email will still be around for quite a long time, even though there are still people who continue the illegal spam process. In fact, companies are making millions now just providing everyday users as well as huge corporations, solutions claiming to solve their spam problem.

RSS, on the other hand, can be said to be the exact opposite of the email “push” technology. Because you cannot “push” your message to subscribers. In fact, the only way that people can subscribe to an RSS feed is to do so voluntarily. And, at the same time, they can unsubscribe whenever they want.

That’s why it’s called a “pull” technology. Because subscribers “pull” information into their readers and, if the content isn’t what they expect, they can unsubscribe whenever they’d like. So, unlike the email “push” technology, there is no one using RSS that is experiencing an inbox full of spam. All they have to do is to unsubscribe and they will never receive another message from the person who provided the feed.

RSS has become a popular way to make money on line too. And that is due in part to the popularity of the RSS “pull” technology. Here’s one way of monetizing a website using RSS feeds.

Imagine setting up a static one page web site - a minisite if you will. Now, add either Google Adsense code or the new Yahoo version of the Google Adsense style ads that, when clicked by a visitor - you earn cash.

This gives you a nice starting point and, if you optimize your web page properly, there is a good chance you will get a high ranking in the search engines. And, the more people who see your page, the more likelihood they will click on one of the links on your web page and you’ll earn revenue from the click.

But RSS provides an even greater potential. Because by adding an RSS feed to that same web page, you turn a static web page that only contains the information you placed on it, into a dynamic ever changing web page that others will likely come back more than once to read.

After all, once someone has read a one page web site, what incentive is there for them to come back? Plenty, if you use RSS feeds on your web page. It is possible to add 5, 10 or 15 feeds on your once static web page and now, you’ve got a page that automatically updates itself and provides something that people will want to come back to read time and time again.

You can easily convert any web page into a dynamic web page using free RSS creator software. One of the most popular free versions is called Carp and you can download it at this web link: http://www.geckotribe.co m/rss/carp/.

Once you’ve set this program up on your website and added the proper code to your website, then you will need to collect RSS feeds that relate to the topic of your web page.

Let’s say that the topic of your web page is flower gardens. You could go to Google News and get their RSS feed code, place it into the appropriate position in your Carp coding you put on your web page and then adjust the code as follows:

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=flower+gardens&ie= UTF-8&output=rss

You can also get a similar feed from Topix.net and you’d adjust the code like this:

http://r ss.topix.net/search/?q=flower+gardens&xml=1

Now, once you have uploaded your web page, your site will automatically pull in fresh information from Google and Topix about flower gardens. Simply follow this illustration for any web page you’d like to monetize and watch your search engine ranking soar and also your bank account!

SPAM! You hear about it all the time. But what exactly is it?

SPAM is ANY unsolicited or unwanted message received via email. It is untargeted, and sent to people who have expressed no interest in receiving info on your product or service.

When a SPAM complaint is filed, it is up to the ISP and web-hosting companies to determine what is and is not, SPAM. Often providers terminate website or dial up access based on just one complaint. Providers must strictly enforce their terms or they will face action by their upstream providers.

Normally, the email addresses that make up SPAM mailing lists are picked at random. A good example of this are the CD’s you see advertised with millions of email addresses. Do NOT buy these. These are emails harvested off the internet and you will be spamming these people.

Sometimes people new to the internet believe that since email is free, they should blast out their ads to as many people as possible. After all, the more mail that goes out, the better the chances of getting a sale.

The reality is very different. People sending out millions of email this way usually get only a few orders, if any. More importantly, they get many recipients upset by sending out this unwelcome message. Normally the offender’s ISP will immediately shut him down, usually without asking questions first.

The best way to protect yourself is to be very careful of who you send your email to. You also need to be aware of what your follow up messages to people should contain. They MUST have:

Valid “from” address

Valid “reply to” address

Valid sender information including the name of the company or individual that sent the message

Valid removal instructions to instantly remove any individual upon request. This is VERY important!

If all these are present, and the mail is sent with the prior permission from the recipient, then the mail being sent in not SPAM.

Of course in the real world, things aren’t always so cut and dry.

For instance, what if it’s a one time mailing. You would have no need to put removal instructions, right? Wrong. This would be considered SPAM.

How about if you visit a person’s website and you mail them individually saying, “I visited your website and see you might be in need of my service”. This too, is considered SPAM.

Remember, be smart when you contact people!

You will probably never be able to totally protect yourself from SPAM complaints. Just take precautions in sending email and have procedures in place to deal with SPAM complaints. Once an abuse is reported, you can be certain that your host, internet provider, and others have received the same complaint. If you have a website, you should make sure your abuse@yourdomainname.com is working.

When a complaint is received, reply to the letter and include all addresses that also received the original complaint. Address the individual by their name, and provide a copy of the original request with date and other supporting information.

Tell the user that you have processed their removal instructions, and that the letter was requested and not SPAM. Be brief. Also, make sure you reference the URL where you post your terms of service and the URL where the user agreed to receive your mail.

Be sure you send the letter to all of the addresses listed in the original complaint immediately. Some providers will shut down a site as soon as a complaint is received so make sure you act fast.

To run an effective email campaign, be sure you send your mail to targeted prospects and avoid spamming internet users. Correct email marketing can produce amazing results and increase your bottom line dramatically, while SPAM will only lead to problems.

By: Anne Ahira
Editor The BEST Affiliate Newsletter
http://www.thebestaffiliate.com

Don’t wait until your identity has been “stolen” to worry about it. Identity fraud is a severe crime with serious repercussions that can take months or even years for victims to repair, not to mention hundreds to thousands of dollars. If someone has stolen a credit card, or has obtained enough information about you to start applying for new loans and credit cards, your credit score is going to be adversely effected. You will likely have difficulty obtaining a job (employers are making credit checks a regular part of the interviewing process), you’ll be denied credit for things you apply for. You will have a hard time, if not find it impossible, to obtain college loans, vehicle financing, credit cards, and mortgages. In some cases, identity fraud victims may even be arrested for crimes they haven’t committed, because someone else is living under their name as well.

How does identity theft happen? Most people are fairly careful with their personal information, so how can someone steal the “identity” of another human being and get away with it?

There are many ways identity thieves are able to get personal information from people. In some cases, the thieves work for companies where they have access to individual records via a computer or through paper files. Sometimes, a person doesn’t even need access to the information, they’ll just hack into the computer system and retrieve the information they need to steal someone else’s identity. One of the most traditional ways for someone to obtain your personal information is by going through your mail. Whether they steal it right from your mailbox or find it in the garbage, if someone finds bank or credit card statements, checks that have been voided but not ripped up, new credit card offers and tax related information, they usually have enough information to become “you”. People who go through garbage containers are known as “dumpster divers”, and will often be found looking for information in public trash areas and business dumpsters.

There are people and businesses in the world that have a legitimate right to access another person’s credit report. These people include landlords, employers, and businesses that must run credit reports prior to extending credit. Identity thieves often become employed at these organizations in order to obtain access to the personal information they need to do their crime.

Opportunities for thieves to find your information are endless. Identity thieves are smart; you have to be smarter.

There are a few cautionary things you can do to help prevent identity theft. After reading your mail, cleaning your desk at home or work, or cleaning out your car- do not just throw your personal items in the trash. Receipts, utility bills, bank statements, loan statements and credit card offers and statements should be completely destroyed prior to throwing away. Invest in a paper shredder and shred everything you are throwing away to eliminate the possibility of someone finding out information. Alternatively, you could burn your paperwork. When throwing away credit cards, shred them or cut them into many small pieces.

It used to be that people felt it would be difficult to use another person’s credit card. After all, you have to sign your name when making a purchase with a credit card, right? You need to protect your credit cards in the same way that you protect your cash. Merchants rarely check that the signature on the back of a credit card matches the signature that is signed on a receipt when a purchase is made.

If you have lost a credit card, or it has been stolen, report the situation to your creditor immediately. The credit card company will put a hold on the account to prevent any purchases from going through- and they can also track the location where someone has attempted to use the card. This will help in the efforts to find the thief. When you are dining at a restaurant, be mindful of paying with a credit card. Most waiters will take your card to the register to process it, and the card is out of your sight during this time. How do you know the waiter or someone else isn’t writing the numbers and name down from your credit card to use it for online purchases later on? Consider paying with cash whenever you are at a restaurant.

The biggest precaution you can take on a regular basis is to view your credit card statements and bank statements as soon as you receive them. Look for any purchases that you did not make, and call the credit card company immediately if you find something you are unsure of. If identity theft is caught early on, it can often be stopped before it gets out of hand. Also keep track of whether or not you’re receiving your statements every month. If you are missing a credit card statement, call the company to verify the address it’s being mailed to. It’s possible that someone filled out a change of address form at the post office or with the credit card company, and is receiving your statements at a different address with intent to use the information.

This article has been provided courtesy of Creditor Web. Creditor Web offers great credit card articles available for reprint and other tools to help you search and compare credit cards.

There have always been scams. Get-rich-quick letters, pyramid schemes, fake competitions, charities that don’t exist. The Internet hasn’t increased the chance of falling prey to scammers - it just makes it easier for the scammers to get your attention. The tools available to senders of disreputable e-mail are extensive and cheap. Spam is illegal in many countries but we still get a lot of it. The same goes for the scams that arrive in our inbox.

These days, there are so many possible scams that it can be hard to tell the difference between them. The first we’ll focus on is the practice of ‘phishing‘ - the word is derived from ‘fishing’ for consumer information, and ‘ph’ is a common replacement for ‘f’ in the hacking community. Phishing refers to the process of tricking you into giving up personal details such as your bank account or credit card details, or your passwords. Phishing is so prevalent on the Internet today that if you receive an e-mail purporting to be from your bank, it’s likely to be either a criminal attempt to find out your login details and steal your money, or a real e-mail warning you to be careful of this phenomenon.

When I use my online banking service, I’m faced with no less than three separate warnings to ignore any e-mails claming to be from my bank. At the same time I receive genuine e-mails from my bank, which themselves tell me to ignore e-mails from the bank. Another example is eBay, the popular web auction site. There was a time when eBay sent me regular e-mails about my account and the progress of my auctions. Now eBay urges their users to use an internal messaging system, akin to e-mails that only work when you’re using the site, to communicate with the company. It’s less convenient, but it is safer.

Due to the prevalence of this scam, most reputable companies, especially banks, will not ask you to take any direct action as a result of receiving an e-mail from them. They specifically request that you visit their company website directly and type in the address yourself, in order to seek more information.

Here’s what to look out for. A phishing e-mail will often look and read like genuine material from a real company. So when you receive an e-mail from a company with whom you do business, think before you respond. Why did I get this e-mail? What is it asking for? Do I really need to take action now or can I verify it first? If the e-mail seems suspicious, for example if it’s out of the blue, or contains spelling or grammar mistakes, you should check it before doing anything else by calling the company.

You can also visit the website of the company, and login to check on your account, but be very careful not to click on any links from the e-mail. Through the use of pictures that look like text links, and also through the use of IP addresses (like 203.23.45.61) instead of regular web addresses, the e-mail changes where you end up but not the text that you see on the screen. Using this method, scammers can unknowingly redirect you to malicious sites. This is how they get people to enter personal details which are then sent over the Internet: not to your bank, but to criminals. The solution to this is easy - type the address you know, for example www.paypal.com, directly into your web browser yourself, and make sure you don’t make any typing mistakes.

There are also e-mails which clearly and simply request - for example - your credit card number, and some people do reply with these details. Just remember that you’ll never be asked for such details in a legitimate e-mail.

An interesting but rare form of phishing involves criminals purchasing a misspelled website name, for example www.payplal.com, and constructing a real-looking site designed to fool people. Only a small percentage of web users will incorrectly type the name, and less still might go on to enter their private details, but this can be enough for web bandits to make a tidy profit.

It’s clear that banks and Internet giants are worried about the problem. But how concerned should we be, as Internet users? According to Gartner Research, phishing fraud between mid-2004 and 2005 cost over US$2.4 billion. Phishing is big business. The good news is that prevention is not difficult. The popular and free Gmail service, from Google, includes a phishing filter that alerts you to most kinds of phishing e-mails. You can find an anti-phishing attachment on Microsoft’s free MSN Toolbar and also in the next version of Internet Explorer (7.0). To report an e-mail or a site that you believe is a scam, you can visit www.antiphishing.com.

Technology can only help so much. The best defender against phishing scams is you. Take care when you receive e-mails and type in web addresses and remember, if in doubt: close your browser window or e-mail, and verify.

Article Source: http://www.softwaretalks.com/phishing/
MP3: http://www.softwaretalks.com/files/softwaretalks-phishing.mp3

SoftwareTalks features regular articles from in-house experts facing personal technology issues rarely raised in popular media: http://www.softwaretalks.com

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