Focal Point - Shopping Security

Internet retail sales will be at their biggest this Christmas season. Do you know how to shop safely on-line? Chris and Gihan discuss the facts, fears and fiction about on-line shopping, so you can shop safely and securely all year round.


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Web sites we discussed:

• eBay
• Froogle
• Shopping.com

Social Networking

Have you tapped into the social networking buzz, with LinkedIn, Facebook and mySpace? Chris Pudney and Gihan Perera help you understand these popular social networking services, and how to tap into them in your personal and professional life.


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Web sites we discussed:

• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• mySpace

The Federal Election and the Internet

In Australia, a Federal election is just around the corner - perhaps the first in Australia where a mature Internet might have an influence on the result. Chris Pudney and Gihan Perera talk about the lead-up to the election, and rate the major political parties on their use of the Internet during the campaign.

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Web sites we discussed:

• ABC
• Google
• Get Up

Winner of ABC video competition:



Another competition entry:



And a report that came in after we published the podcast: ABC Radio National talking about the level of engagement of citizens in politics.

Social Bookmarking

You've got a Web site or a blog, but is it getting "dugg"? And is it "del.icio.us"? These are just two of the services promoting "social bookmarking". Listen to Chris Pudney and Gihan Perera discuss this important new trend on the Web, and learn how to use it to improve your Internet research skills and your business position on-line.



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Web sites we discussed:

• del.icio.us
• digg.com
• reddit.com
• addthis.com

Information Feeds

If you're suffering from information overload, that's good! Your clients and customers expect you to take information, filter it, and present it in relevant, meaningful ways for them. But how do you do this without collapsing under the weight of all that information? Chris and Gihan talk about ways to gather and process relevant information easily, while ignoring the mass of irrelevant junk on the Internet.



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Web sites we discussed:

• bloglines.com
• Google Reader
• Google Alerts

Example of RSS icon:

YouTube and the Politician

Get a life. With the interactive Web 2.0 world, it's not enough to make a token effort to be in the "in crowd" - as Australian Prime Minister John Howard discovered after his first lame foray into on-line video. Learn why he got it wrong, and how you can avoid the same mistake.



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Web sites we discussed:

• Wikipedia
• WikiScanner
• YouTube.com
• Get Up - Action For Australia
• John Howard's YouTube video
• Frito Lay's Superbowl video idea

Wikipedia

Wikipedia, the world's free on-line encyclopedia, is a success story in the power of Web 2.0: Community collaboration to build a free resource to serve the Internet community in return. Gihan and Chris talk about the site, the concept and the ways you can take part in the Wikipedia experience.


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Web sites we discussed:

• Wikipedia
• Citizendium
• WikiScanner
• The Wired article about WikiScanner
• Add your comments about the WikiScanner

Focal Point - Phishing

Protect yourself from Internet scammers! The increasingly common scam of "phishing" takes advantage of people's implicit trust in authority and their fear of financial loss. Learn what it is and how to protect yourself from it.


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Additional resources:

• Test your knowledge - which of these are scams?
• Mozilla.org - get a better browser and e-mail program
• MailWasher - check your e-mail before downloading it

Focal Point - eBay

eBay is more than just a Web site for consumers to sell their unwanted goods. It's now a multi-billion dollar marketplace, and a viable distribution outlet for any on-line business.

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Additional resources:

• IAmSiamese.com (Chris' product that he's promoting using YouTube)
• YouTube
• Skype
• eBay

What is Web 2.0?

Just what is Web 2.0 - the phenomenon sweeping the Internet? Chris and Gihan give you the big picture overview - explaining the principles of Web 2.0 and how to change your thinking to take advantage of it.



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Additional Resources

Wikipedia has an introduction to Web 2.0.

Download "An Introduction to Web 2.0", a special report from the Change This Web site. This report gives you an excellent introduction to Web 2.0 from a business perspective.

Focal Point - Flickr

Learn how to use Flickr.com, one of the world's leading photo-sharing sites, in your personal and professional life. Chris and Gihan share tips about loading photos, making them accessible to others, and managing copyright issues.




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Web sites we mentioned in this program:

• flickr.com
• photobucket.com
• istockphoto.com

Google, Privacy and You

Are you a private person? Really - are you sure? The Internet makes it so much easier for people to find out about you, your lifestyle and your habits. Chris and Gihan talk about how you could be exposing yourself (so to speak!) to a world-wide Internet audience.




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Be An Affiliate

Even if you don't have your own products to sell, you can become an "affiliate" to sell other people's products. Chris and Gihan talk about the pros and cons of affiliate marketing.

Listen to our conversation here:



Or download it to your computer:

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The Web sites we mentioned were Commission Junction and ClickBank.

Outsourcing - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

A couple of weeks ago, an article in the Sydney Morning Herald asked whether computer science was dead. In this week's podcast, Gihan and Chris ponder the question and talk about the growing trend of outsourcing IT services. Is it really such a bad thing, and can you take advantage of it in your business?

Listen to our conversation here:

Or download it to your computer:

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The Web sites we mentioned are elance.com, guru.com and RentACoder.com.

Find out more about outsourcing your services.

Blogging - The New Wave

In the last two years, everybody's been talking about blogs. In this chat, Chris and Gihan talk about their blogs - why they create them, how they update them, and what value they create on the Internet.

Listen to our conversation here:



or download the MP3 file to your computer:

MP3 File

In the show, we referred to these Web sites:

• Blogger.com - to sign up for your own blog
  
• I Know Funny - Chris' blog for sharing jokes with friends
  
• Ubuntu Linux on a Dell Inspiron 9400 - Chris' second blog
  
• Our Passive-Solar, Energy-Efficient & Water-Wise House Project - Chris' third blog
  
• Make More Money From Your Ideas - Gihan's Q&A blog
  

Find out more about blogging here

.