Chris Dick

Google has a new Privacy Policy and new Terms of Service which will be taking effect on March 1, 2012. The new Privacy Policy will be replacing over 60 different Privacy Policies across Google’s various products and was re-written to be much more easily read (which is a nice change when it comes to privacy policies).

The main change is that if you have a Google Account and are signed in, Google can now treat you as a single user across all Google products. This means that Google can share information you provide one service with other services. For example, if you specify a language preference in one Google product you won’t have to specify that language preference in other Google products.

As far as I can tell other than being able to share your information across Google products (which should improve your Google experience) nothing else has changed. No more data is being collected about you, you still have the ability to update your information, etc.

After reading the old privacy policy and the new privacy policy I do find it easier to read and understand. In the old policy there are sections where related information is combined (e.g. what information Google collects and how Google uses it) while in the new policy that type of information is separated. In addition, there are a lot more bullet lists in the new policy which helps with comprehension. In the old policy it is easy to skim through a large paragraph of information and not retain the information while in the new policy that information is in bullet form and easily digested.

I still suggest you read the new Privacy Policy and Terms of Service to make sure you understand what Google collects and how it is used. Once you’ve done that you can also visit the Google Dashboard to see what information is stored in your Google Account and make any changes you want to what is stored about you.

Our friends over at ChillBed Industries just informed us that they will be appearing on the highly popular national TV show Dragon’s Den on February 1st (check your local listings for times). Regular viewers of our show may remember Jeff reviewing the ChillTab tablet stand by ChillBed Industries back in episode 241.

We’re excited to see a great Canadian company that produces a Canadian made product get exposure on a national level. Be sure to tune in to show your support. For more information you can read the ChillBed press release. Good luck in the den!

Our very own commandN co-host @LaraKillian will be speaking at Podcamp Halifax 2012 this weekend along with Joel Duggan, co-host of several audio podcasts and the artistic (not to mention frequently funny) mastermind behind the weekly comic StarcrossedOnline.com. Lara and Joel co-founded The Dating Digital Podcast in 2010, and Lara left after a year to start co-hosting commandN. Joel and Lara will be chatting about getting started with podcasting. Joel will be streaming the audio live as well as recording the talk, so watch for links here to both the live stream and the archive.

ETA: You can now listen to our talk here, and check out the great questions our audience asked at the end.

Lara’s cartoon avatar was drawn by Joel; if you’re interested in one for yourself, he takes commissions! See more examples here. 

As always, the best way to boost your twitter traffic is to write great content that people find interesting and will ReTweet. However, an article by Neil Patel on Quick Sprout titled 10 Ways to Get More ReTweets details some interesting things to do (and avoid) when trying to get ReTweeted.

The 10 ways to get more ReTweets listed in the article are:

1. Avoid least tweetable words
2. Time your tweets
3. Time peoples tweets
4. Tweet quotes
5. Place retweet buttons throughout your blog posts
6. Add links within your tweets
7. Let people pay you with a tweet
8. Build relationships
9. Use 1.62 Syllables per word
10. People follow hashtags

For the most part the article offers solid advice on increasing your chances of getting your tweets ReTweeted but here is some extra information that may help as well.

In regards to number 2 on the list (“Time your tweets”), Neil mentions that 48% of Twitter users are based in Eastern Standard Time. While that may be true, the most important thing to consider when timing your tweets is what time zone your followers are in and when they are online. Tweeting something during the middle of the night to your followers when they are in bed won’t help much even if it is 9am in the Eastern time zone. Using a service like Tweriod which analyzes your tweets to find out the best times to post can be helpful.

Finally, in point number 10 on the list (“People follow hashtags”), Neil suggests that “if you can leverage popular hashtags, your tweets will be more likely seen by others, which will cause more retweets.” While this is true I would advise you to be cautious doing this as it can be seen as trying to hijack a twitter conversation and backfire on you. Instead only use popular hashtags if you have something genuine to add to the conversation.

If you have any suggestions on how to boost your twitter traffic be sure to let us know in the comments.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal published an article on what Apple’s plans for televisions are. While Apple likes to play their cards close to their chest the article does mention a number of features Apple is working on.

1. Apple is working on its own television that relies on wireless streaming technology to access shows, movies and other content. The TV device Apple is working on would use a version of AirPlay to allow users to control it from iPhones and iPads.
2. Apple described future television technology that would respond to users’ voices and movements.
3. Apple discussed new ways they could stream media companies’ content, allowing a user to watch a video on a TV set, then pick up another device, such as a smartphone, and keep watching the video on the move.
4. Apple has worked on technologies for integrating DVR storage and iCloud.

Of the four items mentioned above, it is #4 that makes me the most excited. Number 1, 2, and 3 are about how you access the content (all TVs have a way to access content) but number 4 is where you access the content. It would be amazing if you could just log into any Apple TV (or iOS device) with your Apple ID and have all your DVR’d shows waiting there in the cloud for you to start streaming. It’s not hard to imagine a senario where you’re at a friend’s house and you want to watch the latest hit TV show and you access your iCould DVR on your iPhone and send the feed to your friend’s Apple TV via AirPlay. I don’t know if this is how #4 would actually work or not, but one can hope.

What’s your take on the WSJ article?

A great video from a very up-and-coming Haligonian. I’ve known Rich Aucoin for a few years now and it’s been very cool to see his development. His live show is not to be missed but this video is a great example of his creativity…

When I saw this video show up in a friend’s random video playlist I couldn’t wait to share it. It’s not super new but it has garnered a modest 7 figure YouTube number of plays – and it’s so fun! A great play on the karaoke method of having a bouncing ball show when to sing which word. I’ll be checking out more of Metronomy’s videos, I love creative ones!

In honour of Jimmy Kimmel’s second annual National Unfriend Day, here’s William Shatner on how to handle being unfriended:

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While I was in Toronto last weekend Chris D pointed me to this fantastic short featuring Ben Stiller, Kristin Wiig, Sean Penn, and a bunch of other great cameos – but just because I didn’t find it myself doesn’t mean I can’t share it with you!

We were looking for a great Halloween video to share with all you guys and it’d be hard to find something much better than local Halifax musical hero Buck 65‘s “Zombie Delight”.

Fantastic/hilarious lyrics, awesome shooting, and scary goodness. He’s @buck65 on Twitter if you want him to know you love him like we do – Happy Halloween!