Looking for business success?

Interesting post on Link4Business talking about "How to succeed in business". I was reading the post and wondering if my readers would be interested in what it says; so I decided to cross-post it here. Have a read:

It appears that great entrepreneurs have 5 key qualities that help them succeed in situations that others may fail…

1. A desire to succeed – not having an employee 9 to 5 mentality. They want to go that extra mile to succeed and will do whatever it takes.


2. A positive Mental Attitude – both towards themselves and their business. They see opportunities where others see obstacles, their cup is always half full and disappointments don’t get them down. They look forwards, not backwards.


3. A commitment to hard work – they’re not afraid of hard work and the commitment needed to succeed.


4. Patience – Rome wasn’t built in a day and as well as being committed they have the patience to see the job through, taking it step by step.


5. Persistence – challenges and problems will reveal themselves along the pay but the successful entrepreneur will persist with their ideas and not give up or change direction.

I thought that made interesting reading, especially as a know a number of entrepreneurs that fit the points above like a glove. It doesn't matter if you're selling live event video streaming or wordpress blogs, the desire to success coupled with the other points above are critical to make sure you arrive at your final destination.

What's Arthur getting for Christmas?

Well, Christmas is just round the corner (well, close enough), so I’ve been keeping my eyes open for different ideas as to what we can get him. One idea I came across whas that of personalized books just like the ones down at Frecklebox. You get get ones with all sort of different things in it, like stories and pictures and even personalised placemats (like the picture I’ve included here).

Even though Arthur is still two, he can recognise and even spell out his name, even if he can’t write it out yet. I would prefer to get him something like this than plain baby clothes, as he can build more of an emotional attachment to it and it’s something he can take forward with him; rather than grow out of.

Shop and Win

Do you have a great shopping cofession story to share? Well, if you pop down to ShopandConfess.com you can share your experiences and see what other great stories other shoppers have left. And you can win some great cash prizes for sharing your story if you're lucky. Here's something to give you a taste:



Here's how you sign up. Head down to the Registration Page and sign up there. If you'd like to give me credit for referring you, just pop the URL of this blog into the URL field on the signup form (that's http://www.u-g-h.com). It doesn't matter if your experience is about Danze faucets, jazz shoes or grow lamps; if you have a great story .. share it! .. It could make you rich!

Watch full-length videos on YouTube

Image via CrunchBase

Interesting news this morning that YouTube has announced that they are going to start featuring full-length movies and episodes which will include in-steam video ads to keep the broadcasters happy. This seems to be a move directed to counter the threat that Hulu affords them, particularly as they have launched similar features to them in the recent past. It seems that shorter videos will still be ad-free, but the full-length features will need to be monitised to support the model they have pursued with their advertisers.

So, down I popped to give it a try and here’s what I get:

Hmm, seems like they’ve decided to omit 95% of Internet users by restricting usage to just one country. I’m hoping that this is for scaling/trial reasons rather than something their broadcasters are insisting on (which is probably the case). The reality is, if they restrict access to this material, then it will just drive users to seek out other services and this will really prevent users from adopting their services.

So, before you throw away your TV, invest in some new modern furniture and high speed satellite internet and a new giant monitor for your computer, check if the service works in your area. You may be disappointed, I know I was.

Related articles by Zemanta

• YouTube launches full-length episodes
• Users OK with ads in streaming TV, not on YouTube uploads

Hmm .. 2:00 am .. time for bed. Seems like I like to stay up late even when I'm on holiday *grin*

Weather doesn't look 100% for swimming and Arthur's a bit moaney

In the meantime Camille's off to look at cool baby clothes. Maybe I should point her at http://ping.fm/Ke16W

Might be heading off to town to help a friend look through some mens wedding bands just like the ones at http://is.gd/4fnx

If I signed up to live event video streaming I'd be streaming live right now: http://todocast.tv/

Which camera should I get?

Well, it's my birthday next week and Camille is getting me a new compact camera to replace my old Minolta (which is now 5 years old). To tell you the truth, 3.2 megapixels is still great for online photos, but it's slow, doesn't give any control over exposure time and the battery really doesn't last long. So, I've been looking around for what to get and here are my choices:

• Samsung NV100HD - Specs look impressive, boasting a 14.7 megapixel sensor a a wide array of features. Some of the reviews suggest that the quality of the photos doesn't do the camera justice, so not sure about this one.


• Sony Cybershot DSCW120 - I really really like this camera. It has a whole bunch of features I love, but I'm not too fond of Memorysticks to store images on. I'm a bit of an SD man I guess.

I'm a bit torn between the two, but I think the Cybershot is the one that might win in the end.

There's a new model out too that seems just perfect for me, but it's a touch more than I wanted to spend. It's the Sony Cybershot T700 and has some amazing features. It's ultra-slim, does everything all the other cameras seem to do, has a massive touch screen on the back and even have 4Gb of internal memory. Check out the review here.

The question is .. which one would YOU go for? (continue reading &aquo;)

Honeypot Post: Which camera should I get? http://s3nt.com/vee

Honeypot Update: Which camera should I get? http://s3nt.com/vee

Show me the honey

We haven't had a honeypot in some time, so here's a chance to catch up on some great links to keep you nice and distracted:

• How to network: Excellent advice on how to get out there, make friends and build business contacts


• Twittex: Here's how to resume your Twitter-SMS service in the UK


• AVS Video Converter: Free tool that lets you rotate and flip video


• A tale of love: Great gadgety video


• Save My Boys: Help Jenn and Carolyn get their boys back


• E: Is this the future of social networking?


• SuperPress: Get your mitts on the theme I'm using for this site


• Tater Titan: Some people just have too much time on their hands

Enjoy! (continue reading &aquo;)

Honeypot Update: Show me the honey http://s3nt.com/u8u

Honeypot Post: Show me the honey http://s3nt.com/u8u

SuperPress is a modular WordPress theme that gives you the choice to completely change the way your blog looks: http://is.gd/3Ibs

Clickjacking here's how it works

I've posted before about Clickjacking and how scary this is for most Internet users, regardless of which browser you're using or whether you have Javascript turn on or off. There's more information about the threat on the Interweb today, including a demo of how the exploit works and some advice on how you can avoid it. First of all, what is clickjacking? There's a great writeup on Securoris that explains it quite succinctly:

Clickjacking allows someone to place an invisible link/button below your mouse as you browse a regular page. You think you’re clicking on a regular link, but really you are clicking someplace the attacker controls that’s hidden from you. Why is this important? Because it allows the attacker to force you to interact with something without your knowledge on a page other than the one you’ve been looking at. For example, they can hide a Flash application that follows your mouse around, and when you go to click a link it starts recording audio off your microphone. We have protections in browsers to prevent someone from automatically initiating certain actions. Also, many websites rely on you manually pressing buttons for actions like transferring large sums of money out of your bank account.




There are two sides to look at this exploitation- user and website owner. As a user, if you visit a malicious site (either a bad guy site, or a regular site that’s been hit with cross site scripting), the attacker can force you to take a very large range of actions. Anytime you click something, the attacker can redirect that click to the destination of their choice in the context of you as a user. That’s the important part here- it’s like cross site request forgery (really, an enhancement of it) that not only gets you to click, but to execute actions as yourself. That’s why they can get you to approve Flash applications you might not normally allow, or to perform actions on other sites in the background. As with CSRF, if you are logged in someplace the attacker can now do whatever the heck they want as long as they know the XY coordinates of what they want you to click.




As a website owner, clickjacking destroys yet more browser trust. When designing web applications (which used to be my job) we often rely on site elements that require manual mouse clicks to submit forms and such. As Robert (Rsnake) explains in his post, with clickjacking an attacker can circumvent nonces (a random code added to every form so the website knows you clicked submit from that page, and didn’t just try to submit the form without visiting the page, a common attack technique).




Clickjacking can be used to do a lot of different things- launching Flash or CSRF are only the tip of the iceberg.




It relies heavily on iFrames, which are so pervasive we can’t just rip them out. Sure, I turn them off in my browser, but the economics prevent us from doing that on a wide scale (especially since all the advertisers- e.g. Google/Yahoo/MS, will likely fight it).




Clickjacking is very difficult to eliminate, although we can reduce its risk under certain circumstances. Because it doesn’t even rely on Javascript and works with CSS/DHTML, it will take a lot of time, effort, and thought to eliminate.

If that sounded scary, have a look at a video showing one application of the exploit:

If you want to study that further, you can actually run it through it's paces here.

So, what can be done about this? First of all, it's worth realising that while it's a powerful threat, the risk of it happening isn't that high at the moment. Vendors have started recognising the threat and coming up with solutions for dealing with it. Adobe has come up with a workaround and NoScript has released ClearClick to help address it. It's only a matter of time before this is quashed too (won't be easy though) (continue reading &aquo;)

Honeypot Post: Clickjacking here's how it works http://s3nt.com/u1e

Honeypot Update: Clickjacking here's how it works http://s3nt.com/u1e

Exciting news tomorrow

We're almost there! Hyder and I have been working on a massively exciting theme for WordPress which will be unveiled very very soon. I'm using it on this blog as well as on WordPress Guru and you can tell just how customisable it us but looking at the differences between the two sites.

There's a superb feature set sitting behind the theme and it's a culmination of many hours of work from both of us. I've even managed to lose weight by skipping meals to work on the theme! It has tons and tons of options and some really exciting unique features (I love my media manager for example)

I'm not going to talk any more about the Super WordPress theme, just want to mention that you can win a free copy of the theme by signing up at our contest here

Keep an eye on the blog, more news soon! (continue reading &aquo;)

Honeypot Update: Exciting news tomorrow http://s3nt.com/uzk

Honeypot Post: Exciting news tomorrow http://s3nt.com/uzk

Buy your specs here

It's always great what you can find on the Web. Tonight I came across a website where you can get eyeglasses from as low as $8.00. Ok, they're based in the United States, so there's probably shipping, tax and all the other stuff, but that price is so cheap it's just remarkable. They claim that their cheap prices are due to the fact that there are no middlemen and using the Internet as a sales medium allows them to offer the cheapest price available.

I decided to do some further digging and found a mention of ZenniOptical on Clark Howard's Radio Show Blog. Unfortunately the comments aren't all good claiming that refunds are impossible to obtain and warning there's little or no customer support. I suppose that's the other great side of the Internet; just looking for some information can quickly give you all the data you can require about any particular subject. Don't get me wrong; there are some positive comments too claiming how the shoppers are delighted with their purchases (especially those who paid $8 for the specs and $5 for shipping) and how they had positive experiences with the company.

I suppose it's all a matter of expectations and getting exactly what you're after. (continue reading &aquo;)

Honeypot Post: Buy your specs here http://s3nt.com/uzg

Honeypot Update: Buy your specs here http://s3nt.com/uzg

WordPress v2.7 will be awesome

I just came across a video recorded by Allen Stern which shows Matt Mullenweg (one of the co-founders of WordPress) showing off some of the new features in WordPress 2.7 (due in around a month). Here's the video:



There's quite a bit of excitement about in the Wordpress ecosphere, and there's little doubt that lessons have been learnt and this release will be just great. If you want to get a feel of what it will be like, here are the Wordpress 2.7 wireframes. You can also get a first look at the new version of WordPress here.

(continue reading &aquo;)

Honeypot Post: WordPress v2.7 will be awesome http://s3nt.com/uqy

Honeypot Update: WordPress v2.7 will be awesome http://s3nt.com/uqy

Watching The Andromeda Strain (new version)

Internet Satellite technology is pretty cool: http://ping.fm/ovRT8 - Get coverage anywhere in the world!

Loving the Velvet Lobster on the Quay

I met up with some mates at the Velvet Lobster here in the Isle of Man and was pleasantly surprised how great it was. It's always the same when you find a new place, you don't want to share it with everyone, for fear that it will be packed next time you turn up, but this place was just great. It's a coffee shop/snack bar sort of place with great ambiance and the food was very very nice. I had a coffee banoffee shake and it was to die for!

Anyway, I met up with @jamesq and @nickop, two Twitter buddies of mine (unfortunately @toonjamie couldn't join us) and we decided we should probably meet up more often and maybe organise something for all our Twitter friends. So if you're based in the Isle of Man and use Twitter, follow one of the guys above and you'll know when the next one it ;)

p.s. I love the way Zemanta automatically picks out your Twitter friends and lets you link directly to their profile ;)

(continue reading &aquo;)

Honeypot Update: Loving the Velvet Lobster on the Quay http://s3nt.com/t7a

Honeypot Post: Loving the Velvet Lobster on the Quay http://s3nt.com/t7a

Honeypot Update: Amazon to offer Windows services on EC2 http://s3nt.com/t0u

Honeypot Post: Amazon to offer Windows services on EC2 http://s3nt.com/t0u

Amazon to offer Windows services on EC2

The "cloud" market is certainly getting hotter and hotter. Amazon is making huge inroads into this space and their descision to host services created by Microsoft is testament to the Microsoft arena catching up in this space. The interesting thing about this is that it will increase take-up of cloud services and (this is what I find most exciting) on a "pay-as-you-go" basis. They haven't announced pricing yet, but the price points of the different elements in the AWS stack is pretty compelling, so I'm sure it will be quite reasonable. (continue reading &aquo;)

Microsoft tries the "Tesco strategy"

It seems like everyone and his dog has some sort of loyalty scheme nowadays. You can collect points when you shop in your local supermarket, when you take a trip in a plane and now, even when you Microsoft's Live Search. It's a scheme called SearchPerks and is designed to allow web surfers to collect tickets ("points") that they can redeem for various prizes. This technique worked for Tesco, so why shouldn't it work for Microsoft?

Well, the bottom line is that Microsoft's search engines consistently returns worse results than Google. Don't believe me? Try it for a few days. You'll find yourself switching back to Google when you REALLY need to find something. The problem that Microsoft faces is not one of getting people to try their product, the problem is that their search technology is inferior to Google, and at the end of the day, that's all punters care around. You may attract a small segment of bargain hunters with this strategy, but as soon as you remove the incentive, you will lose them to other schemes like Homepage Friends, who pay hard cash if you search through them (using Yahoo! incidentally)

What do others think? Well, nobody really seems really convinced, with some parties actually finding the attempt hilarious. Begging people to use your products is no way to increase their confidence and it's practically impossible to "earn" anything of value.

Once again, the search engine war is all about relevance, and until Microsoft get that into their head, they're just going to keep pumping money into it for nothing. What a waste!

(continue reading &aquo;)

Honeypot Post: Microsoft tries the "Tesco strategy" http://s3nt.com/twv

Honeypot Update: Microsoft tries the "Tesco strategy" http://s3nt.com/twv