Anyone with an Apple mobile device - iPhone or iPad or iTouch - is familiar with the "This device does not support Flash" message, especially when browsing websites such as YouTube.

And now in a move that will have big consequences for everyone, Microsoft has announced that it's new OS Windows 8 (which is a big deal, but that's another blog post) will have a mobile version called Metro, which will not support Flash.

Basically explained for most of us, this is because playing a Flash component on a web page requires a plug-in for your browser.  Which Metro will not use. This is with the aim of using less battery power, bandwidth, and being touch interface friendly, and open web standards - all those goals that mobile devices are striving for.

What does it mean? Well, basically, if you want your website to be visible (specifically the picture or video parts of it) then it's time to "remodel" without Flash. Or at least develop a "mobile only" version.

All those lovely home page rotating images, they can still be there, but not in Flash. Apparently, Microsoft recently examined 97,000 web sites, and discovered that 62% of them do currently use Flash - but many of those use it only to display ads, not their content.

All the numbers say that a larger and larger proportion of web browsing is done on mobile devices. And now that Microsoft has joined Apple in this particular attribute, this is one feature that's going to become almost impossible to ignore.

So, it's time to look again at your website, and decide what YOU are going to do.

As you probably know, as part of a website set up, I help my clients to set up their Facebook business pages. And in the course of talking to both clients and friends, it seems there are a lot of people out there who are using Facebook, or want to start, but are quite concerned about all the privacy issues - in the news, some of the alarms, what really goes "out there".

Now, I do not profess to be a social media "guru"  (I think that phrase gets a bit too much use) but I do get asked about it quite a lot. So when I saw this article come up in my techie news yesterday, I though it would be a good thing to pass along.

"The Definitive Facebook Lockdown Guide - Securing your profile page".

It's a photo step by step guide on a reliable tech resource website - zd.net. And being all screenshots, it really is easy to follow. I'll open comments on this post, and just let me know if you find this useful. And if you have other questions about using social media for your business, let me know. If I can't help you myself, I probably know someone who can.

I went to #BarCampCHS on Saturday, an "ad-hoc user-generated unconference" which was mostly lots of techie people getting together, swapping lessons and ideas, and being geeky without fear of reprisals. I learned a lot. I was also very alarmed.

I attended two sessions involving web security - and really, we should all just disconnect, get off the grid and never use the internet ever again! And these people really know what they are talking about - way beyond the world of "don't open an attachment if you don't recognize and trust the sender " (although that is still good advice, apparently).  Even websites that seem to be not critical (the example of a Frisbee club was cited?!) apparently have a place in the chain of events that can make them need to be secure (ever seen your domain name appear in spam?  hmm?)

So, on to the basically not-very-good news for all of you. I know we set up your websites so you would not need the services of a web designer on an expensive monthly fee for updating - yes, you are your own web editors! That is what content management systems are all about. However, security concerns mean that your core framework (the part that lets you do your on online editing without software) still needs to be updated regularly.  Plus there are a few "security protocols" that we can put in place to make your site more secure.  

If your website was completed a year ago or more (wow, has it been that long?) and you did not sign up for regular yearly (or every six months for high traffic websites) maintenance, then please send me an email, and we'll get you sorted.

Good news for you foreverpix clients out there...many of you receive monthly Google Analytics reports. And aren't all those numbers and URLs just fascinating!? I know, some of you are less than enthralled.

So, to the "getting easier" part: check out this (beta) improvement from Google:

http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/15/google-analytics-gets-a-visual-layout-for-the-numbers-impaired/

Now website stats really can be fun and engaging, yes?!  Welcome to the world of geek...
(and if you didn't sign up for the Analytics option, email me.)