Blog Archives
-
The (Lack Of An) Internet Business Model
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Tuesday May 10, 2011For those who follow my various writings here and in the magazine, I am seriously concerned about the way in which we are being tracked, monitored, studied and captured by various kinds of Internet sites. Virtually all of the search engines and browsers. All the Social Networking sites. And about half of the ecommerce sites. The latest: 1) Sony admitted to the theft of customer data for 20 million of its users for the PlayStation Network, including credit card data. No idea which thieves took the data, but Sony's response was rated as tepid to downright sluggish. 2) Google is the target of legal investigations in a number of countries for its intrusion into privacy, and for its tendency to track and capture everything you... -
Will the really useful Tablet PC please report to the Marketplace?
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Thursday April 28, 2011You have to love the speculatory nature of the tech industry. Give us two unrelated facts and a dash of hope, and off we go running with wild abandon to create the illusion that something is about to happen.Which in my case, includes the possiblity that Amazon.Com will, by this summer, introduce its own tablet PC.Believe me, it would be welcome. We have now seen the Motorola Xoom (z.z.z.z.z!), the SamSung Galaxy (out of this world, get it?), and the Blackberry Playbook, which as its name infers seems to be targeted at kindergarteners who don't really do anything serious with their tablet PCs. Oh, and the iPad that started this whole craze, which seems more than anything else aimed at selling us stupid games from someone called Angry... -
Is there a future for iPhone apps?
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Thursday March 17, 2011They are tres cool. The future of business and pleasure applications. The fastest, most amazing, most useful little gadgets on the planet, delivered directly to your iPhone, iPad or iPod. Or Blackberry, Android, or Windows Mobile 7 device. Or any of the tablets based on these.But before we bet the farm on these things, I have four basic questions: 1) Do these really respresent value, or are they simply a flash in the pan worshiping at the altar of 20-something coolness? 2) How many people actually buy them. No, wait. How many people actually use the things two months after they install them? 3) Is it feasible for programmers to create and support good applications across four or more different... -
The 3-Stage Backup System.
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Tuesday March 15, 2011On a tech engagement a year ago, I wandered into the client offices first thing in the morning to find a young man sitting, staring intently at a bax in the server rack."I'm doing the daily backup," he explained. When I asked where the daily backup tapes went, he showed me a cardboard box filled with used tapes. Sitting on the floor beside the server rack.There are three things that I know about the backup tapes for the majority of accounting offices: 1. 77 percent of all backups tapes are worthless because the data can't be restored from the tape. 2. If a fire or flood strikes the firm, the backup tapes will be destroyed along with the originals. 3. If the backup copies are lost with the originals, the firm will be... -
Windows 7, Service Pack #1
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Tuesday February 22, 2011Windows 7 reached its first milestone as an operating system today with the release of Service Pack #1. Those who have the automatic updating feature selected will begin to see it download later today. Others, including system administrators who need to use their own update schedule, will need to manually download the update from the Microsoft Download Center. Don't expect any visible changes. Most of the updates are to the system itself to make it run a little faster. And of course, the inumerable security updates and patches that you should have already installed just to keep pace. But for those who wait to upgrade their operating system until after the first Service Pack can look to do so...after tax season. In other news... -
Accountants and Social Networks
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Thursday February 3, 2011Another week, another problem with privacy issues on Facebook. This week, Congress demands to know why FaceBook is constantly changing -- and diluting -- the privacy protection of its users. And that begs the question, why are some acounting firms, companies, non-profits and government agencies so hell-bent on forcing their customers to join a social network that exposes them to fraud, privacy invasions and computer viruses? I collapsed my Facebook page last year when the first problems with privacy cropped up. The issue is not whether Facebook and other public venues are useful and inexpensive -- they are. But the problem with Facebbook and many other such services is that they have no sustainable business model. That is... -
Five New Year's Resolutions
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Monday December 27, 2010So this is Christmas And what have you done Another year over And a new one just begun... That was John Lennon's take on the holidays, with the good and the bad. And so this is Christmas, and a new year, and what have you done? Well, it's a time for resolutions for the coming year, and I have a few to offer: 1. Volunteer. The nation's non-profits have been battered not only by the recession and a change in culture -- more people staying home, giving less, and volunteering less -- but by a lack of financial controls and audits. Show me a non-profit in trouble, and I will show you a non-profit with a poor board of directors and no accountants to help them. You can... -
Holiday Madness, Part II
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Thursday December 9, 2010Okay, I blew it on the Dancing With The Stars call. Dead, dead wrong. Who knew? Well, I did, when the last show opened and they announced that Jennifer Grey would perform in **spite or her back injury**!! Oh, no -- The hero moment! That meant...she would win. OMG, as we say in blog-text! Just for the record, like the other 95% of men who watch Dancing With The Stars (the other 5% being dance officionados), I watch it because The Lady I Love Dearly forces me to. She believes in the theory of osmosis, in which if she forces me to watch the show for ever and ever I might some day be able to dance like that. Sigh! Anyway, I got it wrong. Which is humble pie for the guy who has done tech predictions for the CPA Technology... -
Losing Your Domain...And Your Mind.
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Thursday December 9, 2010Here's an interesting dilemma. One morning you log into your firm's web site to find that it is now home to a porn distribution site. Or even something not even vaguely related to your firm. Or a competitor. Here's how it can happen. If you choose to register your domain through your web hosting service, and that service runs into administrative or financial troubles -- not uncommon in today's economy -- their wholesale account can be frozen. That means that your domain renewal notice doesn't get sent to you. Even if you find out that the domain needs to be renewed, you can't do it -- because the wholesaler owns the account, not you. Even if you are listed in the WhoIs database as the account holder. And when Network... -
Holiday Madness
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Monday November 22, 2010Each year, for reasons even I do not understand, I blog something that has nothing at all to do with technology or accounting. Last year, for example, I gave away my sister-in-law's super-secret recipe for eggnog, an act for which she has yet to forgive me. But the truth is that tech is mostly wrapped for the year. The Form 990's are filed, tax season is a few weeks away, the Q3 and October filings all done... This year, I'm going to place a bet on the final outcome this week of "Dancing With The Stars." To cut to the chase, I think it's going to be Kyle Massey. And I will be glued to my TV this week to see if my powers of prognostication hold true. Understand, I am not a dance kind of guy. I watch "DWTS" for the same...
