I office out of the Idea Finishing School space in San Antonio. I have a desk set up in the “school room” and most of my day is spent working on different sites that CFO Rudy owns. In all, I work on about 6 sites daily. We also brainstorm on other things, like now he’s started an app company, so in addition to laying out the site, I also get to help with the actual apps. It’s definitely keeping me on my toes.

Right now, one of the “students” of the Idea Finishing School is PREE Corp. They are  4 grad students from UTSA who have invented a phone charger that works by harvesting Wi-Fi signals and using those to charge your  iPhone. Last week, I was in charge of helping them set up a temporary website, so they would at least have something out there. There had been a bunch of press releases and they were showing up on the IFS site, but they didn’t have anything of their own to show off. So, we grabbed a WordPress site and started putting up some stuff. Matthew, who is one of the PREE Corp people and is also officing here right now and I played around with it so I could teach him all the back end stuff. He had never used WordPress before, but I assured him it was super easy and Google loves it.

Today, Matthew was so excited, because last week, PREECorp.com didn’t show up anywhere. Today, they were number one on Google. Admittedly, there’s not a lot out there about PREE Corp, so he should rightly be number one. But, it was pretty cool that in only a week, with some SEO tweaking, he got that coveted number one position.

So, make sure when you’re working on your site, if you’re using WordPress, have the SEO pack installed. Use that extra bit to make sure you’ve got all your keywords included. Use that description section. Make sure you take advantage of using tags. It really does make SEO so much easier for your site.

Now, we just have to make sure we keep up with the PREE Corp site so he stays number one. We don’t want some press release pushing us off the position.

LOL, Matt was just walking out the door for the day and said my blog post here better not push his PREE Corp off number one, since his only competition was my blog posts on IFS and the press releases…..

Out-of-Cycle Adobe Reader Update Fixes Zero Day Vulnerability

Severity: High

June 30, 2010

Summary:

• This vulnerability affects: Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.3.2 and earlier, on Windows, Mac, and UNIX computers
• How an attacker exploits it: Typically, by enticing your users into viewing a maliciously crafted PDF document
• Impact: An attacker can execute code on your computer, potentially gaining control of it
• What to do: Install Adobe’s Reader and Acrobat 9.3.3 updates as soon as possible (or let Adobe’s Updater do it for you).

Exposure:

A few weeks ago, we released an alert warning you of an Adobe Flash update that fixed a zero day vulnerability that attackers were exploiting in the wild. In that alert, we also mentioned that Adobe Reader was susceptible to the zero day flaw as well, but Adobe had not had time to patch it, and were planning to release a Reader update on June 29th. As promised, yesterday Adobe released an update for Reader and Acrobat that fixes seventeen security vulnerabilities (number based on CVE-IDs) in their popular PDF reader, including the zero day flaw in Reader’s Flash component (authplay.dll).

The 17 flaws differ technically, but most of them consist  of buffer overflow and  memory corruption vulnerabilities that share the same general scope and impact. If an attacker can entice one of your users into downloading and opening a maliciously crafted PDF document (.pdf), the vulnerability can be exploited to execute code on that user’s computer, with that user’s privileges. If your user has local administrative privileges, the attacker gains full control of the user’s machine.

Since attackers have actively exploited this Flash-related Reader vulnerability in the wild for weeks now, we greatly encourage you to download and install this Reader update as soon as possible. Also note, Adobe typically sticks to a monthly patch cycle that falls on the same day as Microsoft Patch Day (the second Tuesday of the month). However, since they chose to release this Reader update early due to its critical nature, they will not release any Reader updates on their normally scheduled patch day, July 13.

Solution Path

Adobe has released Reader and Acrobat 9.3.3 updates to fix these vulnerabilities on all platforms. You should download and deploy the corresponding updates immediately, or let the Adobe Software Updater program do it for you.

• Adobe Reader 9.3.3
  • For Windows
  • For Mac
  • For UNIX
• Adobe Acrobat
  • Standard and Pro for Windows
  • Pro Extended for Windows
  • 3D for Windows
  • Pro for Mac

For All WatchGuard Users:

Many WatchGuard Firebox models can block incoming PDF files. However, most administrators prefer to allow these file types for business purposes. Nonetheless, if PDF files are not absolutely necessary to your business, you may consider blocking them using the Firebox’s HTTP and SMTP proxy until the patch has been installed.

If you decide you want to block PDF documents, follow the links below for video instructions on using your Firebox proxy’s content blocking features to block .pdf files by their file extension:

• Firebox X Edge running 10.x
  • How do I block files with the FTP proxy?
  • How do I block files with the HTTP proxy?
  • How do I block files with the POP3 proxy?
  • How do I block files with the SMTP proxy

• Firebox X Core and X Peak running Fireware 10.x
  • How do I block files with the FTP proxy?
  • How do I block files with the HTTP proxy?
  • How do I block files with the POP3 proxy?
  • How do I block files with the SMTP proxy?

Status:

Adobe has released patches that correct these vulnerabilities.

References:

• Adobe’s Reader Security Bulletin for June

This alert was researched and written by Corey Nachreiner, CISSP.

Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing this domain. Due to the volume of interest in this domain, we will be accepting bids.

Please email me with your offer.

Guess who’s the guest speaker for the Idea Finishing School Idea Xchange on July 30?
Yep, that’s right, it’s ME!

Each month the Idea Finishing School hosts an open house called the Idea Xchange. Each month, they have a guest speaker to talk on a different topic in relation to small business start-ups. So far they’ve had Matt Reedy, a hugely successful San Antonio entrepreneur,  John Bray and Court Allen, lawyers from Cox Smith, and Rudy De La Garza, who’s specialty is in taking companies public.

So this month they wanted someone to talk about how to make your company visible and get your name out there. Since I do most of the blogging, tweeting and social networking for the Idea Finishing School as well as several other companies, I guess I was the natural choice…

I believe in using a combination on SEO, social media marketing and face to face time to build a brand. I don’t think you should put all your efforts in one area, but I don’t think you should spread yourself so thin with being social that you’re not getting any actual work done. So, at this months Idea Xchange, I’ll be discussing how to use all of these methods to build your brand, create awareness of your company and most importantly, how to build relationships with your clients.

Social media shouldn’t be used just to blast out what you’re doing.  It’s not just about advertising. It’s also a great way to see what people are saying about you. It’s a way to connect to people, to interact with them.

We’ll also go over the myths of public relations, like “all publicity is good publicity”.  Having just come back from Australia, and been on the cover of several magazines, I can give first hand accounts of why your reputation is more important than any giant publicity blitz. We’ll also talk about how to pick who’s going to be the one who’s doing your social media. It’s important to have someone who really cares about your brand. You never want the type of person who says “never let the truth get in the way of a good story” to be in charge of your reputation….

So, if you’d like to hear me speak, or just want someone else’s opinion on all things publicity/marketing/social, come along to the Idea Xchange.

Idea Xchange

Wednesday, June 30th 4-6pm

3463 Magic Dr, suite 245
San Antonio TX 78229

RSVP HERE

Rudy De La Garza will be speaking at the Idea Finishing Schools open house, The Idea Xchange on how to get that plan, meet the VC’s and still retain control of your company.

The Idea Finishing School is an incubator for small business startups in San Antonio. Their goal is to help you make a perfect business plan and then present you to their team of Venture Capitalists who are actively looking to invest in Healthcare, Technology and Green companies.

If you’re looking to grow your business and could use that injection of cash, without losing control of your company, come to the Idea Finishing Schools open house; The Idea Xchange.

We hold an Idea Xchange of the last Wednesday of each month. The May exchange is:
May 26, 2010
4pm – 6pm
at
Idea Finishing School
3463 Magic Drive, Suite 245
San Antonio, TX
Inside the big red SATC building.

You can RSVP your interest here: http://twtvite.com/MayIdeaXchange

There’s no cost, no paperwork, it’s just a way for people to come out and meet the Idea Finishing School team and see if there’s a way we can help you and your small business.

It’s not publicly visible on all my sites, but it is in the dashboard of each. I know that there are other analytics tools out there. I have Google analytics installed, and I occasionally pop over to previous employer, Pear Analytics to use their site juice tool. But, there’s something nice about the visitor maps. Maybe it’s because I don’t have to go somewhere else to see the information. Maybe it’s that I’m a very visual person, and I like seeing the actual map. I like that it tells me how many times a visitor has been there before. It also tells me if they were referred from another site.I can see what term they were searching for in Google that brought them to me. When I send out a tweet with a link back to my blogs, I can see how many people actually clicked on that link and went to read it.

I guess I’m just amused by small things, but I really like this plug in. Even if you have, and you should have, another analytics tool installed, I’d get this one, even if it’s just for the fun of it.

Looking at the visitor maps on the Sarah Monahan website, I’m amused by how many people come to the site just by searching my name. Guess it’s an inside joke though. Ryan at the Pear made fun of my old site for not being properly SEO’d. He said it was only SEO’d well for “Sarah Monahan” and nobody would be searching for that.  Over 39k hits in 4 weeks for “Sarah Monahan” ain’t bad Ryan.

No matter what tool you’re using, make sure that you’re using something. You want to know who your visitors are and why they’re looking for you.

It all started because Dean McCall was the go-to guy in San Antonio for start-ups. He figured if he was always going to be giving all this good advice, he may as well make it formal and start the Idea Finishing School. On the other side, Dean is hooked up with Rudy De La Garza, a financial wiz. People with money to invest came to Dean and Rudy, looking for start-ups to invest in. So, here we are today, at the San Antonio Technology Center building on Magic Dr, ready to help you out.

The Idea Finishing School is an incubator for small business start-ups. Basically, if you have the next big thing, and you’re super focused on your product, but you’re having trouble getting the business off the ground because you’re no good at the paperwork or legal stuff, then we’ve got your back. You’re free to focus on making a great product, while we teach you how to deal with marketing, legal, financial, etc. Once we’ve got your paperwork looking pretty, then we can take you to meet some investors who’d like to help you grow your company. Everyone knows you can’t get funding till you’ve got a great business plan, and the Idea Finishing School will make it perfect.

The most important thing about the school, and what sets it apart from anything like it, is that once you’ve “graduated”, Dean and Rudy will take your finished business plan and present it to 16 big money investors in San Antonio who are actively looking to invest in new companies in the San Antonio area. Where else will you get to present your idea to that many people? Well, besides some shonky reality show? Now, they are biased and prefer technology start-ups, but at least if you’ve got the next great SAAS product, you won’t be competing with a pet rock guy….

The best way to check out the school and see if there’s something in it for you is to come along to one of our mixers, The Idea Xchange. It’s always on the last Wednesday of the month. This month, we’ll be having it on April 28th. It starts at 4pm. People get to mingle and meet other entrepreneurs, as well as some VC’s. This month our guest speaker is a lawyer, who’ll give advice on new businesses.

So, if you’re in San Antonio and you’ve got a start-up that you could use some help getting in front of investors, come out to the Idea Xchange. Pick our brains, meet some people and see if there’s a way we can help you.

RSVP for the April event here: http://twtvite.com/AprilIdeaXchange

Facebook already has pages up to let people post photos of missing loved ones, in the hope that people will respond and let them know if they are found. The couple of videos on CNN last night and this morning came from user videos posted to YouTube.

So while people may scoff at Social Media as merely a time waster, in this tragedy in Haiti, Social Media proves once again that it can be a powerful tool. Just like in Iran, the first messages out, before reporters can fly in, are coming from Twitter and Facebook. The images that we’re seeing are actual eyewitness accounts, from locals on the ground. We no longer need to wait for Anderson Cooper to get his bearings in a new country, we can be fed the news almost immediately, by those most affected by it.

I predict that Social Media will only continue to grow into a news force. Sure, people will still use FaceBook to play Farmville, but when dister stikes, they’ll also use it to get their important message out.

Hopefully, with the use of the internet and Social Media, people will be able to find their loved ones quickly.

We worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday OUTDOORS in sub zero temperatures. The 7am start time was pretty brutal. It was about 19′F. Thankfully on Saturday the sun was shining and there was no wind, so the 20′F wasn’t so bad…

The marketing company is charge did a great job of providing everyone with a super warm branded jacket. They also made sure we had plenty of water and hot coffee. The first 2 days we had those outdoor heaters and they also gave us hand warmers. I learnt that although these are great in pockets, they shouldn’t be used on bare skin. I had burns at the end of the day on my wrists…

There was a lot of staff originally scheduled, however, after we were given a security briefing about some guy who was supposed to be upset at the US Army after he couldn’t enlist, as well as the super frigid temperatures, we still had a decent turnout, but a lot of staff didn’t show.

The US Army bowl is the Army’s biggest promotional event of the year. They had teams come in from bases all over the US. It’s a fantastic display of the different jobs available in the US military, as well as a look at some of the future technologies, and a way to meet and thank some of the troops for their service.  Everybody loves the give aways. I grabbed a couple of metal water bottles and a camo hat for myself. Everybody wanted our jackets, but even we had to hand those back in every day… They actually had us hand over our drivers license in the morning to get one and swap back again at the end of the day to ensure they didn’t wall walk off.

Of course, now that I can be back indoors and enjoy the warm office space the Ideagin folks let me use, it’s finally warmed up outside. Oh well, such is life!

Folks at the Ideagin office are excited today. I came in to find I had been moved into the main room next to Rebel. It was lonely by myself in the big space, so this is nice.  Tomorrow they’re getting all new furniture for the Idea Finishing School. Should be a fun day.

Where did the year go? It seems every year just goes faster and faster! I did a lot this last year. I started off with Matt up in Iowa, freezing my butt off. We headed to Tampa for my birthday/Easter and to take a break from the Iowa cold. We were also seriously considering moving to Florida, so it was also a scouting trip. Then Matt got a new job in San Antonio. So we came back home to our nice house. It seemed so big after that little corporate apartment in Iowa.
I got a job teaching acting classes and working for a SEO firm. I was also going to do a bunch of filming and diving, but the jobs got in the way! So, after a work trip to New York City, which was also a first for me, I finished with that company and added SEO services to ShrimpTank. The beauty of the web is that I can work from anywhere, so now if I have a weekend shoot, I can take my laptop with me and work on the road. It’s probably much less distracting than working in an office where everyone is playing Wii tennis anyway.

So I’m looking forward to doing a bunch of stuff in 2010. I hope we’ll get several more episodes filmed for Going Down. I’d like to see a few more cities I haven’t been to yet. I’d like to get healthy and back into shape. I hope this is the year my folks finally visit me from Oz.

What are you hoping the New Year brings?

Here’s wishing you Health, Prosperity and Good Times. I can’t help you with your health, but if you need support for the Prosperity or Good Times, give me a shout. We can work on your SEO and Social Media campaign over a cold beer!