Boxcar Marketing on Dancing Matt in the Vancouver Sun

We did a fun interview with Nicole Tomlinson for a story about Dancing Matt‘s internet video phenomena for the Vancouver Sun. Nicole did a really nice job of summarizing our chats and emails and the Dancing Matt phenomena.

And just in case you’re not one of the 15-million+ people who’ve watched one of Matt’s dancing videos, please let the one below load and enjoy 4 minutes of delight.

Pull a Face for PutPlace: Photo Contest

My bookkeeper pointed out the other day that the backup on her computer hasn’t been working for the past couple of months. Eek gads! What that means is that all the information she is entering for my bookkeeping purposes could disappear. By “her” computer, she means my computer, which I’ve set up for her to use.

Documents, photos, music, videos ... there’s all sort of valuable stuff on that computer because it used to be my home computer.

So here is my data loss disaster story in a series of photos.

It starts like this:

Oh, that was weird!

Oh, that was really bad.

Oh, I don’t know how to fix this.

Oh, I really don’t know how to fix this.

====

Oh, James?

Oh, geez.

Oh. Ooooooooh.

Oh. No.

Have your own story? A single photo will do.

One of my clients is PutPlace. And they are all about preventing data loss disasters like this one.

* PutPlace offers real-time backup.
* PutPlace protects and organizes your photos, documents, emails, music and home movies.
* PutPlace enables you to publish a file on multiple sites and find it later.

PutPlace is more than file backup. It’s a lifesaver and they are running a photo contest.

All you have to do is submit a photo of your shock or horror with a caption about your data loss fears. The prize is an annual subscription to PutPlace for 100 GB of data + $200 USD Amazon gift certificate.

As Darren says, “Go forth and panic for the camera.”

Submit your photo: Putplace.com/pullaface

Vancouver Startups Career Fair

Looking for a job with a growing high-tech company in Vancouver? Want to learn first-hand what it’s like to work at a tech startup?

The good folks at Techvibes have joined up with more good folks at Launch Party Vancouver to host the Vancouver startups career fair Wednesday, May 21st at 3:00pm at Republic on 958 Granville Street.

Who should attend? From web designers to systems engineers and all stops in between. If you’re a student, a recent graduate, or just part of the workforce and curious about what its like to work for a Start-Up — this FREE event is for you.

Sign up on Facebook for the startups career fair.

ChangeEverything.ca Nominated for a Webby

ChangeEverything.ca, the online community developed by our good friends at Social Signal and built for Vancity, has been nominated for a Webby Award.

Huge congratulations for Social Signal, Change Everything and Vancity!

The competition in the social networking category is really steep:

* Bebo: “a social media network where friends share their lives and explore great entertainment”
* Facebook: “a social utility that connects you with the people around you”
* Flock: “the browser for people who like to be connected”
* Ning: “free online service for creating, customizing and sharing your own Social Networks”

What’s ChangeEverything.ca? ChangeEverything.ca: “the site for people in Vancouver, Victoria and the Lower Mainland who want to change themselves, their communities or their world”

Vote for ChangeEverything in the Webby Award for Social Networking.

4 tips to detect phishing attempts

Late last week I received an email from Google AdWords at an email address that looked like . Except the email wasn’t from Google AdWords and the originating email address wasn’t really .

It was a phishing attempt. Phishing?

In computing, phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. eBay, PayPal and online banks are common targets. Phishing is typically carried out by email or instant messaging,[1] and often directs users to enter details at a website, although phone contact has also been used.

Most phishing attempts are pretty easy to spot. Misspellings, fake email addresses and domain names in Russia or some other country extension usually give them away if you know what to look for. But this scam was above average in its execution.

Here’s what the email looked like.

And here’s the landing page the link in the email brought up.

Here’s the actual login page for Google AdWords.

I was following along half absentmindedly up to this point. Then I took a closer look at the URL.

adwrods.google.select.wapisbank.cn/select/Login/index.html

The actual domain name is wapisbank.cn, in China. I smelled a rat.

At the same time I was impressed. This was phishing done far better than I had seen before, and for Google AdWords, not common targets like banks, Paypal or eBay.

So how can you spot an attempt at phishing that shows up in your inbox?

1. Are you expecting an email from the sending organization? If you don’t deal with a bank, they won’t send you email. If you don’t have a Paypal account, they also won’t send you email.
2. Don’t trust email. The sender email address can be masked or ‘spoofed’ very easily. Email is inherently an unsecure communication. Email messages travel over the open Internet just as they are. A detection program called a ‘sniffer’ can watch the traffic going past and respond to specific words or cues (like passwords or credit card numbers). Don’t email sensitive information. Don’t expect large organizations to email sensitive information.
3. Watch URLs. The URLs are the address of the web page you’re visiting. Phishing attempts almost always use URLs that mimic the URLs of the organization they’re impersonating, but they can never be that organzation. Here’s a short example of the distinctions between URLs, domain names and registered domains.
   
   • URL: http://www.example.net/index.html
   • Domain name: http://www.example.net
   • Registered domain name: example.net
4. Contact the organization sending you the email directly, not through a link in the email. Go straight to their website. Call them. Ask through a channel you’ve used before if you need to do anything to manage your account. Also, be ready to send the phishing email to the organization being impersonated.

Now that you’ve been warned, here’s the phishing webpage in case you need to see it in action.

Work Industries becomes Boxcar Marketing

Spring is traditionally associated with change and renewal. A time to clean things up. A time for new seeds to be planted. Spring also happens to be an excellent time to announce the evolution in our business.

As of April 2008, Work Industries will be Boxcar Marketing.

Same great service, strategy and team you expect, with a new name. It’s still Monique Trottier and James Sherrett and a merry band of partners working hard behind the scenes. Except now the scenery has changed.

Why the name change?

We wanted to better describe the type of “Work” we do: “Marketing.” At the same time, we wanted to keep the feel of a hard-working, industrious shop, which led us to “Boxcar.” Last, we wanted to do away with inconsistency over our name (Work Industries) and domain name (www.iworkindustries.com).

So after a few sessions at the white board and too many domain name searches, Boxcar Marketing was born.

We’ve let some friends and colleagues know about the name change, so it’s percolated out there into the great Google. Now this announcement makes it official.

What does the name change to Boxcar Marketing mean to you?

Where you saw Work Industries, now you’ll see Boxcar Marketing. On invoices, cheques, business cards, contracts and in email addresses, we’ll be Boxcar Marketing. We’ll do our best to redirect all the Work Industries points of reference to Boxcar Marketing. But if you spot an old reference to Work Industries, please let us know.

As is the nature of our business and our philosophy, we expect and want your feedback. We practice and preach conversational, 2-way communications.

So let us know what you think. If you have questions or concerns or just want a little more information on the name change, please contact us. We’re still at the same phone numbers and office address. But now we’re Boxcar Marketing. Please update your email address book:

Monique Trottier
Email: monique[at]boxcarmarketing[dot]com
Monique Trottier’s vCard / hCard: View.

James Sherrett
Email: james[at]boxcarmarketing[dot]com
James Sherrett’s vCard / hCard: View.

(hCard? Make your own!)

Rachael Ashe Joins Boxcar Marketing

Boxcar Marketing would like to welcome Rachael Ashe to the team. Rachael is a talented office manager who is willing to jump in and help us on any project that needs extra hands and brainpower.

If Rachael is actively working on your project, you’ll receive a more personal introduction. In the meantime, I must direct your attention to Rachael’s incredible photography.

Rachael also works with our fantastic design partners at Hop Studios.