Apple Cracks Back At iPhone Hacks

Apple announced plans to update the iPhone firmware later this week. For those who have embraced an unlocking solution, beware:

Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed.

For early adopters who grabbed one of the first iPhones on the market and later unlocked it, the iPhone could become a $599 paperweight. Unlocking the iPhone voids the warranty and violates the software agreement, Apple said.

If your iPhone quits working after the update, well, it sucks to be you. But the news from Apple was inevitable, as its wireless carrier partner AT&T likely complained about their exclusive agreement turning into pixie dust every time someone fired up an unlocked iPhone on another network.

Unlockers may not be doomed, as the race is on to find ways to relock the iPhone. Erica Sadun at TUAW.com has instructions for doing so; these instructions may change and are definitely not guaranteed to enable the iPhone to survive the firmware update.

Hackers Remind That iPhone Is Still MyPhone

Cable packages filled with channels you don’t want, $300 DVRs you don’t really own, DRM on the music you buy, two broadband providers to choose from, $500 phones that only work on one network – consumers are getting fed up with a so-called free economy where vendors, not consumers, dictate the terms by which items are sold.

Yes, it’s your phone, but it’s worthless unless you use it the way we tell you to use it. Pretty soon, if you buy a certain brand of bread, you’ll be locked into buying a specific brand of peanut butter, too.

UniquePhones, a company that planned to release software that would unlock the iPhone for use on other networks says it got a crack-of-dawn call from an AT&T attorney alleging copyright infringement and illegal software dissemination.

Though AT&T definitely has a dog in this fight – they could lose some money if customers actually have some free choice – it’s not completely clear what legal ground the company is standing on. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act allows consumers to unlock devices, and any copyright infringed is owned by Apple, not AT&T.

And even then, it’s unclear if Apple could apply law intended to prevent illegal copying and distribution of DVDs, CDs, and video games.

BusinessWeek brings up the best reminder:

Remember, decades ago, automakers built their instrument panels so that only authorized radios of their own manufacture would fit in. Eventually, U.S. courts ended that practice. "If Apple and AT&T push too hard, they might see a revision of [the Copyright Act, and it won't be in their favor]," says Richard Doherty, director of consultancy the Envisioneering Group.

And, in my estimation, if companies keep being hyper-restrictive and consumer unfriendly with everything they produce and sell, they’re likely to see consumer revolt, or at least government intervention.

There was dead silence on the phone.

I could sense her struggling to react to my spontaneous overture at making personal, genuine contact. She was so locked into her presentation or script that she had no idea how to respond to me.

The idea of just conversing with me in her most natural way was a completely foreign concept.

(She eventually took a deep breath and we transitioned into a very pleasant conversation about the possibility of us being a “fit”.)

What has happened to us?

Can’t we just strike up a conversation with people we don’t know and build a relationship that way?

It’s ironic that most of us take it for granted that spontaneous, natural communication is the right way to relate to our friends, spouses, relatives, and others in our personal lives — but, when it comes to selling, our language becomes, almost robotic.

Why the breakdown?

Because when we make a sales call, we want something. The people we’re talking with sense this immediately. They put up their guard. Our hidden agenda and their reaction immediately destroy the trust-building process of communication.

We go into our personal relationships wanting to simply know the other person. But we go into sales situations with agendas and assumptions.

And because we’ve been conditioned that a sale can happen only if we control the process, we never even consider the possibility that there can be total flexibility in how we communicate and build trust.

Quick self-assessment: When you pick up the phone to make a sales call, what are you hoping will be the outcome?

Let me guess:

* Get information

* Find the decision maker

* Schedule an appointment

* Make a sale

In other words, you want something even before the person you call says “Hello.”

It’s time to throw out your “selling” language and unlock your natural language.

Here’s how:

Be willing to challenge everything you have learned about selling up to this point. If you aren’t open to questioning conventional sales thinking, you’ll never have a chance to experience selling in a completely different way.

* Replace your goal-oriented agendas with trust-building agendas.

* Learn to enjoy the processing of building a new relationship.

* Build a dialogue.

* Avoid centering the conversation on you and your offerings.

* Enter the conversation without assumptions.

* Trade overconfidence for humility.

Any signs of overconfidence when you first make contact with a potential client will only set off “sales alarms.” Humility (not weakness) starts the trust-building process.

Visualize the person you are speaking with as a potential friend rather than a potential client. This will help you to converse rather than “sell.”

When you tap into your natural language abilities, it triggers the person you’re speaking with to tap into their own natural language as well.

Like you, they will abandon their “business language” and begin communicating with you in their most natural way.

Natural language is the crucial secret to transforming the outdated, ineffective “buyer-seller” role into a trust-based relationship based on open, natural communication.

With a Masters Degree in Instructional Design and over a decade of experience creating breakthrough sales strategies for global companies such as UPS and QUALCOMM, Ari Galper discovered the missing link that people who sell have been seeking for years.

His profound discovery of shifting ones mindset to a place of complete integrity, based on new words and phrases grounded in sincerity, has earned him distinction as the worlds leading authority on how to build trust in the world of selling.

Leading companies such as Gateway, Clear Channel Communications, Brother International and Fidelity National Mortgage have called on Ari to keep them on the leading edge of sales performance. Visit http://www.unlockthegame.com to get his free sales training lessons.

This week we continue with the final article in our ‘Google Adwords Will Change the World’ series. If you didn’t catch the other two, check them out here: www.build-passive-income.com/subscribe

Google Adwords Will Change the World? Maybe and maybe not, but I’ll bet that if you put in the time and effort, they’ll change YOUR world. They have mine. Besides, they’re a fun way to be creative and lucrative at the same time.

This week we talk about generating keywords. Next to finding the right Affiliate product to promote, finding the right keywords can be the most difficult part of your Adwords experience. Not to worry, however, because there are an increasing number of tools and sources for you to generate a good, solid keyword list. Sit down, grab a legal pad, and let’s get moving.

The absolute most important resource you have is easy. It’s you. When you come up with a product to promote, pretend you were trying to look for whatever need the product satisfies. What would you look up? When you’re typing the most obvious keywords, what else comes to mind? Is the keyword or phrase tough to spell? Make sure you use the misspelling as well. You aren’t the only one that stumbles on tough words.

Then come the keyword generators. There are a bunch of good sites that will help you in your quest to find good keywords. There are the free: Google’s keyword suggestion tool, Overture’s keyword suggestion tool, and Google’s Set tool that will give you additional ideas. Then, there are the not-so-free, but very good: Adword Analyzer, WordTracker (with a free version available), and others.

Next, make sure that you are trying all the different variations of the word. Did you use plural and singular? How about pushing the phrase together with no spaces, like `runningshoes’ instead of `running shoes.’ Depending on the word or phrase there can be a ton of misspellings or common typos, like `learn to play gitar’ (where guitar is obviously spelled incorrectly). Don’t forget the good, ole Thesaurus. That resource never fails to give me new ideas for the words I’m bidding on.

Also, if your product has a large internet presence, use the URL as a search term. You would be surprised how many people type the web address into their search engine instead of the web browser address bar. Example: for a music related campaign, try `www music com.’ It might just be cheap and popular.

If your product could be geographic, use location names. For instance, if you’re promoting an ebook on learning Spanish, try keywords in different cities such as `learn Spanish in Chicago’ or `Las Vegas Spanish lessons.’

If your product can be associated with a person of any notoriety, use their name as a keyword even if they don’t have anything to do with the product. For example, you may be trying to promote a book that teaches drumming. One of your keywords, might be `Vinnie Colaiuta,’ a huge name in drumming for several decades. Even though he has nothing to do with the ebook, people searching for Vinnie may also be searching for an instructional book like the one you are promoting.

Honestly, these tools and ideas only scratch the surface of where you can find good, cheap, and effective keywords for your Adwords campaigns. Does it take work that sometimes seems fruitless? Yes, but there are times when you find the right product with the right keywords and then the money streams in like broken dam. They’re out there just waiting for you to pick them up.

Remember, be good to yourself and never underestimate the power associated with the intensity of your passion.

Wayne and Scott Foreman are co-owners of
www.build-passive-income.com

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Learning more about yourself is an important first step in creating balance in your life. It is easy to get caught up in the fast pace and pressing schedule of our busy lives. We loose sight of what is important to us, what we want to accomplish.

Maybe you have always been this busy. Going from school and college to your job or career. Never really taking the time to get to know who you are, what you like and dislike and what areas you would like to strengthen in your life. Where you would like to go next and what new things you would like to learn and experience.

Being clear about who you are will help you to make better choices, choices that will positively impact your future. There is a lot of emphasis in popular business books on how to set goals, run your business, advance your career. But there doesn’t seem to be much emphasis on finding out who we are, what we really want and why we want it.

The experts tell us its important to have a business plan to start or grow our business. It’s a tool to see where your business is and where your business is headed.

It seems to me that we need to have a life plan as well. You say you’re too busy, you have an insane schedule, no time to sit around talking to yourself. But if you’re not sure who you are or where you are now, what you want, where you want to go and why you want to be there you won’t know if you have arrived.

Trust the things you experience. Listen, look, touch and smell all that the world around you has to offer. Trust that your feelings are the right guides for you.

Notice all the should’s and have to’s that come up every day. Are these really important to you? Can you change the circumstances that make you feel this way?

Write in a journal every evening before bed. Just free write for 10 minutes, write anything that pops into your head. Don’t edit, or censor. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, or penmanship. Just write. This exercise will allow the junk mail of your mind to be released. It will let your negative thoughts out on paper and clear your body of these toxins.

If you can do this every night, you will find in a few weeks that things seem clearer to you. You will be more comfortable with your thoughts. You will even find little gems among the junk that will help you gain a better understanding of who you are and what your heart’s desire is.

Take a moment, sometime every day just for you. Just sit or stand quietly and pause. Take several deep breaths and take a moment to be still. Don’t do anything, just take hold of that moment for yourself and do absolutely nothing!

As you get to know yourself better and bring your life into balance you will realize that you are a unique and important person. Your life has a purpose, everything that you say and do matters. Believe in yourself, be proud of who you are and what you have to offer to others.

You are exactly where you are supposed to be!

BZ Riger-Hull. www.in-spiros.com. For valuable free articles, assessments, & practical success tools mailto:A1@smartautoresponder.com Certified as a Success Coach, Four Agreements Facilitator, & Tele-Course leader We help you communicate powerfully, reduce stress, Strategically Attract success, & increase your financial well-being.
bz@in-spiros.com

2) Put yourself in your visitors’ shoes. Design your site for them, not for yourself. Create your product around your visitors, not because you would buy it. For example, if you were selling to people who were thinking of going bankrupt, think about how they feel. They would likely want to avoid bank- ruptcy, they would feel tired of not be able to afford anything, they would be fed up with creditors calling, etc.

3) Buy Internet business books, e-books, private site memberships, etc. Study and learn all the new web site promotional ideas you can. For example, take notes either while you’re reading the e-book, or afterwards. Write down a list of tips you could apply or use for your own business. You should never stop educating yourself because technology and info- mation will always keep changing.

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How do you do that? Focus all your content on your customer. That means communicating with them as individuals, via your text, about things that they are interested in and want to hear about. And also by using words like “you” rather than “we” or “our” in your text, you will make them feel that you are speaking directly to them as an individual, rather than some vague corporate text that speaks to nobody in particular.

Get personal. Show them that you are indeed focused on them and ready to help in any way you can.

So, how can you easily tell if your website is focused on your customers now? Well here’s a simple technique that will give you an excellent indication. Just do the following steps:

Step 1 - Select webpage(s) to examine.

Step 2 – Count how many times “we” or “our” or other words used to describe your organisation appear within the page(s). Write the total number down.

Step 3 - Count how many times “you” or other words used to describe the customer appear within the page(s). Write the total number down.

Step 4 – Add the two totals to give you an overall total of appearances. Write it down.

Step 5 – Compare the results. It is a matter of balance. The more “you’s” you have the better, because that will indicate a clear focus towards your customers rather than your organisation. If you have more “we” and “our’s” then your focus is more on your organisation rather than your customers and you need to work to change that.

Aim for at least twice as many “you’s” than “we” and “our’s” to reflect your high focus on your customers. Ideally though it should be higher at three or four times as many to indicate your complete customer focus.

Just ask your customers what they think of your newly focused website after you’ve done it. They’ll be delighted and much more likely to buy from you and you will see the results in your sales figures.

Good luck as always!

Peter Simmons is editor of the DYNAMIQ EZINE. GET MORE SALES FROM YOUR WEBSITE STARTING RIGHT NOW at http://www.dynamiq.co.uk/ezine or email me anytime to find out how i can help you at peter@dynamiq.co.uk

To win in the Real Estate business – you must know how to market to the Internet homebuyer. Don’t get confused. The Internet Homebuyer doesn’t complete the entire transaction online – like some wild-eyed idealists predicated during the late dot-com hysteria. Instead The Internet Homebuyer uses the Interent as a critical tool for researching their next home purchase.

To these buyers, cruising neighborhoods, clipping classified listings, and relying on the realtor to gain access to MLS listings is definitely – “old school” This new wired homebuyers – move fast and close quick. Many times they know they home they want to buy – before – they talk to a realtor.

Your success depends on your ability to understand this new breed of homebuyer. Here’s a quick primer – on what makes them tick.

Information: The Wired Homebuyer is an information bloodhound. They will sift through mountains of data to find the perfect neighborhood, the perfect school district, and the perfect home. They will not take your word for it – they have to find their answers themselves.

Tip: Get in the habit of being proactive with information. Be the first Realtor to offer a email report on new listings and comunity information. If you wait – you might get one-upped by another more digitally-savvy realtor. Check out www.RealtorInternetTips.com for some good ideas. —– Anonymity: The Wired Homebuyer – hates to haggle. In fact they use the Internet to put up a wall of anonymity to make sure they can move through the homebuying process on their own terms.The Internet allows them to get educated before the start down the road to home ownership.

Tip: Respect your online prospect’s privacy. Provide them with the information they need and subtly include your contact information. A good rule of thumb is – contact your prospect in the same manner they contacted you. If they emailed you – email them back. If they called you – call them back. But under no circumstances should hunt down their number and call them – if you do – you’ll get demoted to the telemarketer bench.

Time- Starved: Like everyone – the Internet Homebuyer is running on a tight schedule. Many times – the only time they have to do the homebuying reseach is at night – after the kids are in bed. They go to websites that are easy to recognize and easy to navigate.

Tip: In my book – I talk about how important it is to make sure that your web site is listed prominently in the search engines. Take time to review of your site to make sure it is search engine friendly and easy to navigate. It just might need a “Success – Makeover” —–

Credibility: The Internet Homebuyer is a very skeptical hombre. They know that the Internet is the Wild Wild West, and they are very stingy with their trust. Before, they will part with their contact information – they want to make sure that you are absolutely legit’

Tip: Don’t expect the Internet Homebuyer to be so impressed that your resume – that they rush to the phone to call you. On the Internet – you must earn trust. I recommend that you build your reputation by having: