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Category: How to: Tricks of the Trade

Help I am running out of space my iPhone!

I ran in to this just today – I have the 16 GB iPhone 5 – and I love it! While 16 Gigs sounds like a lot, and it really is.

I tend to run out of space really fast!

I have about 3 gigs of music and gig of photos tones of apps, podcasts and  audiobooks – wow to think I grew up before Cell Phones and PCs, and now I get withdrawals if I forget the phone at home. Fantastic stuff!

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Great PhotoShop Tool for Designers

SlicyIf you were at the Designers Tool Kit talk in the Atlanta WordCamp you may remember an app called Slicy by MacRabbit.

It takes a PSD and creates an individual and optimized PNG and JPEG etc. for each Photoshop layer.

Pretty freaking awesome right !?

But what happens if you are not on a Mac or don’t have the 30 $$ lying around to purchase it?

cutandslicemeWell here is a great alternative for you.

It is a Photoshop extension that creates a panel right in Photoshop. It’s very easy-to-use and at the website you can download an example PSD file to see all the ins and outs.

If you use it and like it please give its developer at least five bucks as I’m sure took him many hours to create.

http://www.cutandslice.me

WordPress Security – The Weak link is YOU!

WordPress, as a Content Management System, is a secure platform. The Weak link is YOU!

Yup it’s your password the one that you use for every website from bank accounts to email. It could be your dog’s name, wife’s middle name and birthday, it’s something that no-one who didn’t know you would ever guess.

The problem is that Software can guess it

WPScan is a “WordPress Security Scanner” Sponsored by the RandomStorm Open Source Initiative *. WPScan like a scalpel is a great tool in the right hands, it’s just destructive when used by the malicious or the criminal.
WPScan is free and available to anyone with an internet connection.

Using WPScan a bad player can attack your login using the aptly named Brute Force Attack **.

A Brute Force Attack is when software like WPScan is used to figure out your website’s username, easy if it is admin, once it has that it will try every possible password until it succeeds.

If your password is letmein or jesus ***, God help you! You’ll be owned in a few hours.

This is where common sense can save you

  1. Don’t ever use a password like the two above! Shame on you!
  2. Don’t ever use admin as your username, if you do call me so I can come over and slap you. And YES you deserve it.
  3. Update WordPress when a patch is released.
    1. This is because any security fixes addressed by that patch are also common knowledge soon after the patch is pushed to you.
    2. The major feature updates are normally released as point upgrades. As in 3.4 to 3.5. These updates you can wait on if your worried about a Theme or Plugin breaking.
  4. Hire a professional to manage your site.
    1. If you make money off your website and it is a crucial part of your business treat it with the respect it deserves. You’re not a web developer you’re a Lawyer, an Innkeeper, a fill in the blank. And  your nephew with a computer is… well… you get it.
  5. Install the Limit Login Attempts **** plugin.
    1. This plugin will block software like WPScan from Brute Forcing your password. It works by blocking an IP address of a user after X amount of login attempts.
    2. You can set the length in hours of the block and the number of failed attempts before the block kicks in.
    3. If you forget your own password just remember to reset it before you get blocked.
* http://wpscan.org/ a black box WordPress vulnerability scanner.
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_cracking
*** #7 and # 21 on CBS list of most common passwords for 2012 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57539366/the-25-most-common-passwords-of-2012
**** Limit Login Attempts
Video Icon

It’s easy to add Video to your Website!

It’s super easy to create video content to add to your website. This generate interest in your business and drives traffic to your website.

For example if you’re an innkeeper you have plenty of opportunities to create really fun short videos that can cover a range of themes including gardening, cooking, home repair, etc.

All these topics relate directly to your business, and are an interesting way to engage with your current and potential customers.

This example can be applied to any business. Hair Salons could give reviews on products they use and hair care tips. Dentists could give kid friendly tooth brushing tips etcetera …

I have put together a short video on how to poach an egg, it’s just a minute long. Enough time to comunicate my message with out wasting anyone’s time.

Once it plays another quick 45 second video showing you how the first video was shot will auto load. If you want to skip over the first video just scroll down the page and play the second video that’s embedded into the webpage.

How to Poach an Egg by Rew

How the Poach an Egg Video was made