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 The original intent of the Internet was for sharing, however, as more and more services become available, so has the need for security.
Almost every service - or account we sign up for - now requires a password – some passwords are not as important as others. With hackers becoming more aggressive and increasing in number, the possibility for your identity (username and password) to become compromised has reached new levels. And, while there is a growing demand for more secure hardware devices, most of the time these devices are either too expensive or too complicated for the general public. Not any more.
I don’t very often see a new product that I would recommend, but saw this little device last week and was impressed not only with the simplicity of it (uses a USB port) but also the low cost. If you are in a situation where you need or want to protect your laptop or computer, then the Yubikey may be just what you need.
Quoting from the website, “The YubiKey is a hardware authentication token that looks like a small USB memory stick, but it is actually a keyboard. With the command of an integrated touch button, the device can send a time-variant, secure login code as if it was typed in from a keyboard. And because USB keyboards are standard on all computers the YubiKey works on all platforms and browsers without the need for client software.”
This simple bit of hardware can be used for secure access to e-mail, VPN, Windows login, disc encryption and web single sign-on – as well as many other applications. And, from some of the comments I read, it is practically indestrutible.
It would be the perfect way to secure access to laptops/computers for students, office workers, or anyone who feels their computer and it’s contents might be at risk of prying eyes. It might also prove effective for those who use the cloud for computing and want to restrict access through their computer.
Even though we work from a home office, I’m tempted to buy one of these . We have no affiliation with this product, just thought it was a good idea we wanted to bring it to your attention if you haven’t already heard of it. You can read more about this product at their website – www.yubikey.com. (Just copy and paste into the address bar).
Pictures are typically a big part of any website – but if you’re planning on offering items for sale via either a cart or catalog, then pictures can take on a whole new importance. As discussed in a previous post, ‘how to get a ‘white background‘ – you want to start with the best-lighted original picture you can get. While very few of us can’t afford a well lighted studio set-up, most of us can afford to build a good light box out of PVC that will give excellent results.
Before you begin the building process, you should decide where you are going to be using your light box. Preferably this will be somewhere you can leave everything set up. If you don’t have a place like this, then building your light box out of PVC is even better since you can take it apart and reconstruct it easily.  Once you’ve selected where you want to take you pictures, you should measure the maximum space available for the light box. In my case, I had a table that would accommodate a 2′ x 2′ area. Once this was decided, I sketched my diagram and listed the needed supplies.
To build a 2′ x 2′ light box, you will need the following. I might add that regardless of the size of light box you decide to build, the number of pieces needed are the same. Simply replace the length of PVC pipe you need for your light box for my 2′ sections. The diameter of PVC used was 3/4″.
PCV Supplies
- 2 back pieces – top & bottom (2 foot each)
- 8 side pieces - (2 foot each)
- 4 back extender pieces (4 inches each)
- 8 PVC ‘L’ pieces
- 4 PVC ‘T’ pieces
You’ll also need a measuring tape and a PVC pipe cutter. Once you have the correct lengths cut, the light box is as simple as connecting the dots.
Instructions
1. Connect the back top and bottom pieces using the 2′ center sections, 2 T’s and the 4 extender pieces.
2. Finish the back section by placing an L on each end and then connecting the sides together with a 2′ section vertically. You now have a rectangle.
3. To complete the sides, place a 2′ section into the open end of the T – top and bottom.
4. Place an L connector on the end of each section
5. Place a 2′ section between the L’s vertically. You now have a completed side.
6. Repeat stepd 3-5 for other side
Picture Taking
 You are now ready to drape a white sheet over the framework and take pictures. For my light I chose a 500 LED Light Panel with dimmer switch by Fancier 500A available from Amazon. So far – for all the pictures I have taken over all these 15 years, I have found that this light gives the best light of any I’ve used when compared to outside light. Best part is I can dim the light to suit the subject.
Regardless of what you’re doing, due diligence should be part of the equation. Like most of you, I’m always looking for the newest or easiest way – to market either a product, ebook, or such on the Internet. So, when I received an email from one of the Internet’s long-time gurus touting a program that would allow me to publish content in a manner similar to Click Bank, my interest was piqued. Seems I could upload my content, set my own price and share the link to start making sales right away – and for free – I was impressed. But I wanted to know more.
I visited the multiple links embedded in the email and found that each one went to the same page. No where could I find any information about the website and the process to make all this happen. No terms and conditions, no user agreement defined, and no privacy policy. All the stuff you need and want to know beforehand. Bottom line, I had a lot of questions… particularly since it would appear they are based out of the country.
In addition, there was also an affiliate program tied in with no clarification. All of this had me wondering….
- Who are the owners running this system?
- How long have they been in Internet Marketing?
- Do I maintain ownership of my product once it’s on their site?
- How are payments made when a sale is made?
- Who gets the affiliate sales monies… and how is it paid?
- If there is a problem, which country’s laws are used for resolution?
- How are product returns handled?
- Can I remove my product when I want with no penalty?
- Will you at sometime charge for this program in the future? And if so, can I opt out at that time with no cost?
In all honesty, I have to say I did not go through the sign-up process… all this information may have been available there. But for me I like to know what I getting into before I have to sign up. And, while everyone is hoping to find the best money-making program out there, you have to know what you’re getting into before ‘signing’ on the dotted line” which means taking a deep breath and spending a little time to perform the necessary due diligence before making a decision and commitment.
With most people the primary goal of having a website is to make money. That being said, how you present your product is important, i.e, having good, quality pictures. While we’d all like to have catalog type pictures – you know the kind….no shadows and nice white background – getting this type of picture is not easily accomplished for the amateur photographer who is using basically ‘off the shelf’ equipment and software. However, there is a way you can maximize your picture quality using the equipment you have to get a comparable ‘catalog’ image. OK – maybe not as good… but totally acceptable for not having to spend any extra cash.
Getting Started
This procedure can be done pretty much using any good graphics program that allows you to manipulate the image’s color. And, we’re assuming you are taking pictures with a standard digital camera. If you happen to have a light box then this makes the process even easier as it will help eliminate shadows. Even if you’re not using a light box, you want to have the objects placed on a snow white background. Depending on the size of the item this might be a sheet of paper, poster board or a white bed sheet. The less texture the background has, the better and easier it will be to get a good quality image.
Graphics Program
If you’ve used any graphics program, you know about adjusting the color,brightness and contrast of an image; however, you may not be familiar with using Curves to brighten the background. The curves function is typically available through the program’s Color icon.
A good graphics program will allow you to use the curves function to edit all color channels (RGB) at once or individual channels as needed. My experience has been that I’ve found using all three channels results in getting the best catalog picture for individual items.
For our sample, we’re using the picture of a tile, taking it through the process we needed to get the background we wanted. In the picture bar, we’ve used a black background for the dual images to highlight the white background from the post background. The white (or non-white) you see around the tile is what would appear if we were using it on a web page. Also, the original picture below was taken inside, on a white sheet of cardboard with no special lighting or flash. Not what we’d ever want on a webpage.
Steps:
The steps below are the basic steps to follow to accomplish a white background. The only step you would most likely skip would be step 4 – otherwise you will need to go through the whole process.
1. Take picture on white background with as little shadows as possible.
2. Size the image and save
3. Open the ‘Curves’ function and adjust the brightness to your satisfaction and save (If you are satisfied with the results you can skip Step 4 and go to Step 5, however, if you want to enhance the contrast of the item(s), then continue with Step 4)
4. Use the ‘color adjust’ to further brighten the background and adjust the item colors/contrast as needed and save
 5. Use the ‘magic wand’ selection tool to select the product item including the image’s edges. When this is done you should have both the item and the edges of the image selected, ie., each major piece of the image will be selected… this will vary depending on how many product items you have in the picture. You may also find that setting the feathering to 3-5 will give a better result when you fill in the background eliminating any hard edges.
6. Once you have the different portions of the image selected, use the color fill tool to fill in the background with white and save.
The left picture above is Step 3; the right picture is Step 6.
Conclusion
Note in the sample image on the right, there is a slight increase in the white background from the left image (note light ‘yellow’ to left side of left image). While this may seem a multi-step process just to get one ‘catalog-style’ picture, if you’re looking for a way to get images that have white backgrounds without having to hire a pricey professional graphics person or spend money on fancy software and equipment - then investing a little time is not a bad trade-off in my opinion.
If you’re designing a website, you’ve probably given a little, if not a lot of thought to the header.
- How big?
- How busy?
- How much information should it include?
In years past when monitors were much smaller, the maximum width was pretty much set at either 800 or 1024 pixels. However, today there are some very wide monitors allowing you a lot of flexibility. A few things to keep in mind when planning the size of your header are:
- Where you place the navigation bars (across or down the page)
- Length of text lines
- Size of images you want to use
All of these things should be taken into account when considering a header. Another consideration is whether or not you want to have AdSense or some other advertising medium on the page. If this is the case, you will want to have a bit wider site with room on either the left or right to display your ads. This type of site would do well at 900-950 pixels. Anything wider than this can be distracting because part of the page may be off the screen, the text lines may be too long to read easily and overall it is distracting for the viewer trying to ‘put it all together’.
Most of the top websites including Twitter and eBay fall within the 750-950 pixel range. A good rule of thumb might be to use 750 for single column websites and 950 for those websites where you want to use either a navigation menu or advertising to the left or right.
If you’re artistic you probably won’t have any trouble putting together a good header, but for those that have trouble with design or perhaps don’t have a graphics program, then you need to take a look at xHeader. This is a program that comes with pre-designed headers where all you do is select the one you want and fill in the name and slogan. You can get a free version of this program with 500 headers by visiting this link.
Once you’ve downloaded it be sure to take a few minutes and watch the tutorials. It is very easy to understand and when you’re through you’ll have a header you’ll be proud to call your own. BTW – the images used on this post are from the free version I downloaded.
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