Enjoy the Transit, as it’ll be a once-in-a-lifetime event!

Many Subjects Continues – Part 2

By making it illegal to ask for your login and password, you are protected from an employer or potential employer trying to obtain information that would normally be illegal for them to ask about during an interview. Questions like, “what is your religion,” “what is your marital status,” “what is your sexual orientation,” “do you plan to have children,” and a host of others are illegal to ask during an interview because they can be used to discriminate against potential employees or get rid of existing ones. But all these things can be easily obtained through many social networking sites (especially if you haven’t checked your privacy settings).

Even if an employer doesn’t think they’re making an unreasonable request, the fact is they are opening themselves up to legal trouble.

Additionally, that’s one more party that has your login and password. If their security is compromised or an employee malicious, you could have more problems down the road with your account.

The Password Protection Act is in both the House and Senate, so contact your representatives! Not in Hawai’i? Visit http://www.senate.gov/ and http://www.house.gov/ to find your representatives!

• http://www.akaka.senate.gov/ – Senator Daniel Akaka, US Senate
• http://www.inouye.senate.gov/ – Senator Daniel Inouye, US Senate
• http://hanabusa.house.gov/ – Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, Hawai’i 1st District
• http://hirono.house.gov/ – Congresswoman Mazie Hirono, Hawai’i 2nd District

And, this is an election year, so be sure to ask all the campaigning candidates what their thoughts on the matter are!

For more reading:

• http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/05/congress-doesnt-like-it-when-employers-ask-for-facebook-login-details/
• http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/password-protection-legislation-introduced-house-and-senate

Unfortunately, it looks like Hulu’s owners are planning to change all that. Right now they’re considering changing Hulu from being available for all to being only for cable subscribers. Its believed this is a deliberate move to discourage people from “cutting the cord,” dropping cable in favor of only using the internet for their entertainment.

While its understandable for them to try and protect their business, it sadly ignores a variety of things going on in the market today.

• With the economy being what it has been, cutting back on non-essentials is important. People who “cut the cord” to help make ends meet can still use Hulu and Hulu+. More importantly for Hulu’s owners, however, is that these people are still being reached by advertisers via the limited commercial breaks in the programming.
• With smartphones, tablets and game consoles being so popular, Hulu goes where people do. Like Netflix’s streaming, technology now allows entertainment to fit our lifestyles and schedules rather than us having to center ourselves around it. For living situations where family or roommates might be utilizing the main HDTV of the home, it allows people to go off and enjoy other programming.
• By allowing us to consume what we want, when we want, we actually consume more content than if we couldn’t. You can watch whatever you want on a bus-ride, lunch break, or a lull between things. Content being available ala carte like this allows consumers to dive into more than what cable has to offer. Much like you can’t eat everything on a buffet, you simply cannot (and likely don’t want to) watch everything that is being shown on cable. But, ala carte, you can enjoy more of what you want, more often, and that’s a tremendous opportunity for advertisers who feel like social networking, video games, and other hobbies are stealing people away from traditional media.
• By making Hulu available for only cable-subscribers, Hulu’s owners will encourage people to find other sources of entertainment. Certainly, there’s no lack of competition for those viewers, ranging from well known services like YouTube and Netflix to ones we haven’t even heard of yet.

Business guru Brian Tracy has a very simple business equation: things need to be Win/Win or No Deal. Whatever you do should be a Win for you and the other party! If its not, you either work it out until it is, or you decide “no deal.” The cable companies, unfortunately, are trying to make it into a Win/Lose situation by not adapting to what we, the market, wants.

FreePress.net has an online petition you can sign. Be sure to speak up, not only to the big companies, but to companies who make things you like. Let them know what you think, so the advertisers can put pressure on Hulu! Let them know that the old ways of doing things aren’t the way things are really going!

Did you know that Google not only has a free version of Google Docs for people to use, but a paid version as well? Meant for businesses and organizations, Google Apps for Business offers more than what you’d get for the free version?

But, don’t forget Microsoft!

Users of Microsoft’s Hotmail, Skydrive or Live services can open, edit and create Word, Excel, Power Point, and OneNote files online. Just like Google Docs, its all saved online for you, with better compatibility for Microsoft Office as well as a similar interface. And if you wanted more than just the basics, Microsoft’s Office 365 is available with a variety of options available to allow you to find the right plan for your needs. But, unlike Google Docs, Microsoft’s Office 365 is meant to compliment Office, not replace it.

Both have free trials for their business plans.

Thanks to Alert Internet Surfer Tim for calling in this past Saturday!

From dinner parties to dance parties, big things are happening in your world. With the KODAK EASYSHARE Camera / C1530, you can share all your hottest moments with just a touch of a button. Taking beautiful pictures, more often, automatically, is what this camera is all about. And once you’ve got that amazing shot, you’ll love sharing it to your favorite places. Press Kodak’s Share button to e-mail to friends and KODAK PULSE Digital Frame or upload to KODAK Gallery, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, YouTube, FLICKR, ORKUT, YANDEX, and KAIXIN001 sites.

To enter, all you have to do is send us an e-mail at mauionline@q-a.net with your name, and a question, comment or show topic. You can send us as many e-mails as you like, but they’ll only count for one total entry into the contest. We’ll bundle up all the submissions, then during our next Viewer Mail show (We’re looking at August), we’ll go through as many as we can and pick a winner!

Internet Privacy and the Law – Part 2

Servers and You! – Part 2