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Image representing RescueTime as depicted in C...
Image via CrunchBase

Ready to learn more about how you spend your time than you may really want to know? Welcome to RescueTime. This program is one of the easiest ways I’ve found to monitor productivity.

Installing a simple program keeps track of the websites I visit and the programs I run.  Simple configuration allows me to train the system to know that some sites are work related. Google, in my case, is more often “Business:Operations” rather than “Research”.    And when Rescue Time doesn’t recognize a site or program, you get to categorize the time.

The result is a series of regularly updated reports that show how much productive time I’m spending.  I knew, for example, that the sites I visit each morning took some time.   I was surprised to learn the time some mornings was more than double.  I also set the system to alert me when I spent an hour each day on “very distracting” applications or sites. Those site visits mount up fast.   (cough) Eventually I found myself with dozens of hours in the database.

Like many businesspeople, I spent far too much time in email.  There was also a lot of time in Excel.  The real findings were the 5 and 10 minute visits to other sites.  During a week, that time added up too. I remember reading a Bill Gates quote that he and Steve Ballmer would exchange calendars and critique each others time.  Since Ballmer is apparently busy, I used Rescue Time.    The program runs quietly in the background, doesn’t seem to use too many resources and is a good bargain at $64/year or only $8/month. Try it for a month or two and see what time you can rescue.

Note: Joe & the RescueTime team just wrote and suggested we share with everyone there is a referral program.  I had seen that and promptly forgot all about it.  So the link was here changed to a referral link.  If you decide to install RescueTime, you get 2 weeks free for others you refer and 4 weeks if they get a paid account.

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That seemingly safe PDF you receive may not be as innocuous as it looks, warns Washington Post security guru Brian Krebs. Writing in today’s online edition, Krebs reports that PDF-format owner Adobe is warning of security vulnerabilities.  According to Krebs, the company plans to release a fix Tuesday so that its software updates at the same time that Microsoft sends its weekly operating system update. Put a note in your calendar now to have your company’s computers updated Tuesday.  Meanwhile, be on the lookout for a blizzard of PDFs even from addresses that you know.   A good rule of thumb:  if you’re not expecting a file from someone and the tone of the email doesn’t sound like your acquaintance, send a short note and ask them to confirm they sent you a file.

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Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Federal T...
FTC’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. Image via Wikipedia

News around the blogosphere is rampant with warnings about the Federal Trade Commission‘s update to the documents used to explain and enforce actions regarding testimonials and endorsements. The big issue for online marketers is that spam blogs and blogs must disclose when a material connection is present between themselves as publisher and a post — even if that post is a review.

With my big disclosure that I am not an attorney, and this is not legal advice, I don’t understand why legitimate businesses are concerned.  Isn’t disclosure a good business practice?  Certainly anyone reading this blog follows these sort of guidelines. Creating a spam blog is easy.  For that matter, we own multiple web properties that publish reviews.  If we accepted payment (the FTC says “cash or in-kind payment”) to publish a review then the review is considered an endorsement.   As an endorsement, the review then falls under advertising guidelines. But as I told group at a review site earlier this week, “You have always been responsible for what you publish online” Nothing has changed in that regard.

The FTC’s Guides are updated sporadically and these provisions don’t take effect until December.  On top of that, the FTC can make life miserable for bad businesspeople, but the FTC’s administrative actions are different from the FTC Act.  Yes, as good businesspeople you need to follow FTC guidelines and not be like the cretin I once advised about the FTC’s Mail Order Rule. “What is the penalty,” this person asked when I advised that their subscription model could be considered to be in violation of the FTC’s rules. Businesspeople who weigh penalties against knowingly violating rules and laws should be dealt with quickly.

Now the FTC has some more ammunition to go after people who create a new site on a different server through a variety of names every week.   Placing  a fake review site in the public and using good SEO tactics to rank for well-paying keywords is easy.  I can name more than a hundred people right now who have the skill sets across editorial, design, marketing and technology to put such a site in place tonight between the time they get home from work and the time they go to bed at a reasonable hour. The point is that they don’t do that kind of thing, you don’t do that kind of thing and people who follow best business practices have nothing to worry about.

If you want to read the rules for yourself, here is a PDF link to The Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Disclosure:  Neither Chairman Leibowitz nor President Obama nor any person affiliated with the federal government and specifically the Federal Trade Commission, made any payment regarding this review of the new Guides or an incentive to provide a link to the FTC’s site. It does get rather silly, doesn’t it?

Executive Summary: The FTC is there to catch the bad people.  Still, talk with your marketing agency or attorney about a blanket disclosure and make sure your policies regarding accepting gifts or payments for goods and services you promote are up to date.

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