Category: Technology

The Best Pizza?

Midway through an article in the CPA  Practice Advisor  on the best websites for tax season is a fun discussion:

Domino’s Pizza (www.dominospizza.com). You can pretend that you don’t order pizzas during tax season, but no one will believe you. That’s why Dominos made this list. Technically, most pizza lovers give Papa John’s a higher rating for taste, but that chain’s website and online ordering systems are a disaster. Pizza Hut is a close contender, with an excellent online order system and great pizzas. But the difference that puts Dominos at the top of our list is the “Pizza Tracker” feature that allows you to know within minutes when your pizza will be delivered. That, combined with economy and selection, put this at the top of the delivery list if not the flavor list.

More Pizza:

Sausage Maker’s Trade Secret Was Not a Capital Gain

 

So, Who’s Counting?

Researchers have tracked Tweets to see which part of the country is happy or if our mood changes during the week.  Here is evidence that retailers will use sales information to change the way merchandise in their stores is organized.  I think this is how Wal-Mart “realized” consumers were having stay-cations.

At the height of the recession in 2008, Wal-Mart Stores realized that consumers were “cocooning” — vacationing in their yards, eating more dinners at home, organizing family game nights. So it responded by grouping items in its stores that would turn any den into an at-home movie theater or transform a backyard into a slice of the Catskills. Wal-Mart wasn’t just selling barbecues and board games. It was selling experiences.

But Will It Make You Happy? By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

To friend or not to friend, that is the question

Therapists and many other independent professionals need to keep a clear line between their professional relationship with clients, not stepping over the line into being friends.

Many therapists are asking how to draw the line on dual relationships when they are also active on social media, and a client sends them a friend request.

For a great resource on how to respond when clients send a “friend request” on Facebook, MySpace, LInkedIn, Twitter, or other social networking sites go to   http://www.zurinstitute.com/facebook_clinicalupdate.html.

Thanks to Pat Wicklund of Leading Your Organization of One for the notice.

Three Steps to Protect Data from Rogue Employees

Robert Grapes, Chief Technologist of Cloakware, Vienna, Va., posted these tips at Business Week’s, Today’s Tip:

1. Know who has access to privileged information. Assess who has access to what data so you can understand and manage access as appropriate.

2. Apply appropriate policies to protect sensitive information. Create an actionable plan and put it into place, applying privileged passwords and access management controls throughout each level of information.

3. Update security and access credentials regularly to monitor and maintain control. Implement a regimented program to automatically update access management and passwords so you can ensure that the right people have the right amount of control over critical information.

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Who’s up to date on your Facebook updates?

From American Public Media, Future Tense:

MP3 – iTunes

Facebook is about to change. Oh, you’ll still get surprising friend requests from obscure 3rd grade classmates but the site dedicate to public sharing is about to get more private thanks to new privacy settings that will allow you to decide, update by update, who gets to see what you’re doing.

It’s a valuable tool in managing your privacy, at least to a certain degree. At the same time, however, Facebook still has access to all your data and it pays its bills by tailoring advertising to you based on the information you provide. And if you install a third party app to play a game or something, those outside developers have access to your information as well.

Guest: Michael Zimmer, University of Wisconsin