We operate our business out of the medium sized city of Greenville,SC. Greenville is and has been a center for various kinds of technology and manufacturing over the years, even since it was founded as a mill town many years ago and is now home to such large companies like Michelin North America, BMW Manufacturing of North America is headquartered not far from here between Greenville and Spartanburg. Greenville has and is located not to far quite a few major universities including Clemson, Furman, Erskine, USC Upstate, Greenville Tech, Bob Jones University, Wofford, Winthrop, etc. All that being said it is set apart in many aspects from the rest of South Carolina in terms of education, industry and quality of life.I was born in Greenville and decided to stay or rather move back here because I love the town. I love it not just because of what it is but because of it’s potential in terms of quality of life and potential business growth, not to mention I have a lot of family that lives in the general area. Greenville is located a fairly close driving distance from both the Blue Ridge Mountains of North and South Carolina as well as the beaches of South Carolina not to mention we are in between two of the most progressive growing large cities in the Southeast Atlanta, GA and Charlotte, NC.

Before I write just another travel brochure their is a reason I am mentioning Greenville and the Upstate of South Carolina. I recently got back from a planning meeting for the Upstate Entrepreneur’s Forum. We are fairly new group but we are committed to promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in the Upstate of South Carolina. Each month we hold a monthly meeting in which local entreprenuer’s come and share their story, present an educational topic that is focused on fostering innovative and entrepreneurial skills. Right before we closed the meeting we as a group of organizers were discussing “what was in it for us?” I left saying it was service (helping my community grow), security (securing a financial future through innovative business growth) and satisfaction (knowing that I have pursued my passion and helped other’s pursue their as well thus doing my part to create a happier community.)

Are you thinking about locating to the upstate of South Carolina and becoming an entrepreneur? How can the UEF help you? Also as a company who helps a lot of small businesses, how can SpinningSilk Multimedia help you get the word out and grow your business? Are you already a small business owner or entrepreneur in the upstate? How can the UEF and/or SpinningSilk Multimedia help you innovate in 2008?

I monitor the statistics for visits to this web site. I can tell what people are searching for, when they come here, what operating system they use and also what browser they use. One thing that really captured my attention is a majority of the site visitors are still using Internet Explorer 6.  It’s not just my site however. According to overall web trends on the Internet Explorer 7 page on Wikipedia about 40% of people using Internet Explorer are using version 6. I can understand why most people use Internet Explorer as that’s the default browser that comes with Windows which most people are using but Internet Explorer 7 has been out about a year now and Microsoft has pushed it out with Windows updates so two things concern me.  A lot of people are not running Windows Update and installing the latest security patches and they don’t have service pack 2 of Windows XP which Internet Explorer 7 requires.

Of course I would like our clients and their customers to only used the latest official releases of the most popular browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and maybe Opera) I’m even more concerned that a lot of you are vulnerable to security threats and also are missing out on a better web experience.

Are you still running Internet Explorer 6 and anything before WindowsXP service Pack 2?  Leave a comment here and tell us why. do you have fears or concerns about upgrades?  How can we help? If you can’t upgrade to Internet Explorer 7 for various reasons have you considered the alternatives on Windows like Firefox and Opera?

For the record I’m currently using Firefox 2.0.0.11 followed by Safari on my Mac followed by Internet Explorer 7 in my WindowsXP Service Pack 2 virtual Machine.

One of the most effective means to market a company is through personal relationships both locally and online in the virtual communities of blogging, “micro-blogging”, social networks and web forums.

It’s true we get some business from people doing web searches and finding and contacting us but the greatest bulk of our business has come from local networking efforts. We are currently involved in the following groups in the upstate of South Carolina;

• GSATC
• Greenville Mac User’s Group
• Upstate Carolina Linux User’s Group
• Greenville Area Security Professionals (GASP - love that Acronym )
• Upstate Women in Technology
• South Carolina Women’s Business Network
• Upstate Entrepreneur’s Forum
• Professional Network Connections

We have also participated in the Innovision program sponsored by the Innovision Technology Awards which included a creativity seminar and forums on business innovation in the upstate of South Carolina. We also have plans to join the local camber of commerce. Of course we are not restricted to these groups and are always looking to get involved in any social situation where we can share our services during appropriate times. If you would like us to be a part of or attend on of your meetings in the upstate of South Carolina please let us know. These local groups have helped us get our name out in the community and make connections with other businesses that need our services.

At this very moment I am using the blogging feature on our web site to connect with site visitors and at the same time I have made great connections with other bloggers who are experts in their fields. Another place we have found clients is by participating in online forums where a lot of people gather to discuss specific topics. Other interesting tools for getting the word out are “micro-blogging” tools. Right now we using and testing out Twitter, Jaiku and Pownce and the results are more interesting and productive that you would think. A couple of the social networks we are using are Facebook and Linkedin.

Technorati Tags: blogging, business, clients, communications, culture, fellowship, innovation, Internet, leadership, linking, meeting, security, twitter

Free wireless Internet is great. In recent months and in the past year I have been able to enjoy “free” wireless at locations around town like the public library, various coffee shops, free municipal wireless and with the permission of a few clients. Last night I was at a church supper and the speaker for the evening asked about the legality of using unencrypted “free” wireless connections they pick up from neighbors and last night at the church they were picking an unsecured connection from one of the neighbors of the church. At the time I said that a big responsibility rest on the person who owns the wireless network to lock their system down but I’m writing this to give a more detailed explanation and will focus on the responsibility of the wireless user in regards to personal security and legal issues. Please be aware however that I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on T.V. but I will be talking to some contacts I have in the legal field on this issues.

First of all this can be a “gray” area in terms of legal ramifications. That being said, remember that “gray” while not “black” is not pure “white” either in terms of the old “white and black hat” analogies. In some places charges and arrests have been made and in a lot of other cases you have users who don’t care if others are using their wi-fi. Instead wondering if you are going to “get caught”, slapped with a fine or thrown in jail they are other issues to be concerned about. First of all, just because you can use someone’s wireless connection without using a password does that mean you should? Some analogies to think about, If my neighbor never used curtains and I could look in his or her house should I set up a view spot and look in on them with a telescope or binoculars? What if my neighbor never locked his house? Should I go in and help myself like Kramer on Seinfeld? Those example seem extreme because you would say, of course not, I would be caught and my neighbor would call the police or even beat me up. It’s easy to use “free” wi-fi because for all practical purposes it’s invisible or so you think. You can be traced and you are not as anonymous as you think you are.

Another thing to think about, they person “giving away” the “free wireless” may not be a dumb as you think they are. I’ve heard of stories of people going into coffee shops and setting up “free wireless” from their own laptops. People who can automatically login in the closed wirless network may be logging on to their system instead of the wireless connection at the coffee shop. This post is already getting quite long so I will share some things you should be doing to secure your system in another post. In the mean time here are some other articles to read;

Encyrpted Wi-Fi Networks Make Good Neighbors

How to avoid Ethical and Legal Issues in Wireless Network Discovery

Whose Wi-Fi is it?

Using Other’s Unsecured Wireless

Fined of using someone Else’s Wi-Fi